Getting Lost on YouTube

Time magazine published an article on YouTube, a popular free video sharing website that allows users to upload, view, and share video clips, the last week of 2006. YouTube, the magazine's "invention of the year," was founded in February 2005. Quickly, it has reached the top attracting youngsters, middle-aged, and the older generation because of its simplicity. One can watch videos at a click of a button without the hassle of logging in. Even better, it is a medium that allows anyone and everyone to upload clips in no time. This is why Google was willing to pay $1.65 billion to purchase YouTube, the most popular video-sharing site, this past October.

One could find virtually anything on YouTube, from countless music videos to clips of popular TV shows and movies. YouTube is practically an archive where one would be able to find past award show clips, interviews, and those first American Idol audition tapes before Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson hit it big.

Yes, it's easy to get sucked into the world of YouTube. Finding endless TV and talk show clips from all over the world is always fun for those who appreciate foreign television. But what YouTube really does is that it gives amateurs a medium where they could present their talent and be discovered. Who could forget the two Chinese boys Huang Yixin and Wei Wei aka "Back Dorm Boys" who lip -synced to Backstreet Boys and got instant web-fame? Or David Elsewhere, the guy whose contemporary dance routine of popping and liquiding from the talent show Kollaboration was posted on YouTube. You know the guy with all the right moves that was featured in that iPod commercial. Yeah, he smooth-danced his way on to some late night shows and the movie You Got Served. More recently, there has been a trend in video-blogging. Lonelygirl15, otherwise known as New Zealander Jessica Rose, did just that as she talked about her lonely life on YouTube. Yup, you guessed it-it was a hoax, Rose is really an actress. But nonetheless her videos were a big hit and she even won an award at this year's VH1 Big in 06 awards.

With what seems like a bajillion videos on YouTube, how would one know, which one to watch? Here's a brief suggestion of some interesting, notable clips on YouTube. Some new, some old, some forgotten, but all timeless. YouTube has it all.

1. Numa Numa Song- the original "Numa Numa Dance" video, lip- synched by Gary Brolsma to the song "Dragostea din tei" by Moldovan band O-Zone. Of course, now you may find other renditions of Numa Numa.

2. End of the World Animation- a flash video poking fun at nuclear warfare. It's absolutely hilarious.

3. Milk and Cereal- the original clip is of two guys Matt and Dan singing to "Milk and Cereal" by G. Love & Special Sauce. They call themselves "VT's finest." Since then there are many other generations of Milk and Cereal.

4. Pachelbel Rant- comedian Rob Paravonian was at Penn State when he did this piece about how much it sucks to play Pachelbel's Canon in D on a cello and how virtually all of today's pop songs have the same chords as those in Canon in D. Since this clips existence over a little month again, it already has received over 750,000 hits.

5. Polina Seminova- an inspiring video featuring Russian ballerina Polina Seminova. She dances with such grace, beauty, and poise to music by Herbert Grönemeyer. This passionate and skilled performance is absolutely breathtaking.