Hello people of the internet!!! On today’s ‘Monday Memos’ we’re going to talk about that internet meme that EVERYONE is buzzing about, you know the one. Yes, we’re going to talk about the ‘Damn Daniel’ meme. This meme which stars 14 year old Daniel Lara (back at it again with the white vans…sorry I couldn’t help it), and 15 year old Joshua Holz (who provides the voice behind the meme). So what is it about this meme that has taken the internet by storm? Keep reading to find out. Ready? Ok, let’s go!!!
For years the internet has been flooded by viral hits from the 2007 YouTube videos ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ & ‘Chocolate Rain’, to the 2011 mega hit ‘Friday’, and more recently 2015’s ‘The Dress’. So what is it that makes a viral hit? Is there a formula for internet fame, or is it truly a fortunate accident? Personally I think that the answer is both more complicated, and simpler than people think. The thing that all of these viral hits have in common is the use of a “good” idea in combination with whatever the new technological fade is at the time. With ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’, ‘Chocolate Rain’, and ‘Friday’, it was exploring what YouTube was truly capable of. The dress took advantage of our love of arguing over the internet. ‘Damn Daniel’ started off as a series of Snapchats that quickly gained popularity over a series of days. This meme took off because it was funny, creative, and took advantage of the fact that we all love videos that only last a few seconds. We love to be entertained, but right now the Internet demands instant entertainment, which makes ‘Damn Daniel’ perfect. With a song made about the meme, a ton of media attention, and even a guest spot on Ellen, it’s obvious that Daniel & Josh did something right, and we will see a lot of similar memes coming out this year.
•All photos and information used in this blog belong to Daniel Lara, Josh Holz, Damn Daniel, Harry Davies-Carr, Charlie Davies-Carr, Tay Zonday, Adam Bahner, Rebecca Black, ARK Music Factory, Clarence Jey, Patrice Wilson, Roman Originals, Bobby Murphy, Evan Spiegel, YouTube, Vine Compilation, and all companies, individuals, corporations, managers, writers, producers, and/or businesses that should receive credit for anything mentioned in this blog post, and all original owners. I do not own anything in this blog. If any people, corporations, businesses, companies, etc, were not previously given credit for their work, they are given credit now and their previous absence was unintentional. All opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I wrote this blog for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended
Hello people of the internet!!! On today’s ‘YouTube Wednesday’ we’re going to discuss an amazing YouTube guru that you need to subscribe to now (like literally go subscribe right now, I’ll wait right here for you. Everyone done? Good, then let’s continue!). If you love watching gurus that are entertaining, knowledgeable, and unique YouTubers then you’re going to love Ellie Kodia’s (aka Ellko) channel. In a little over a year Ellie has obtained 422,700 subscribers, and 56,045,021 total channel views (so obviously this is a CAN’T MISS channel). So now let’s get to the part you came for, the videos. Ready? Ok, let’s go!!!
The first video that we’re going to talk about is Ellie’s ‘Mascara Tournament’ video, which was uploaded on August 10th, 2014. In this video we are able to not only see how knowledgeable Ellie is about beauty products, but also get a small glimpse of how naturally gifted she is as an on-camera talent. If you want to check out an amazing, entertaining video that will help you decide what mascara you should try next, then this is the perfect video for you. The next video that we’re going to discuss is Ellie’s ‘Beauty Hacks: Fail or Holy Grail? Red Lipstick Concealer, which was uploaded on February 6th, 2015 (you can check out the video below). This is one of the many awesome videos that Ellie has in her channel’s show ‘Beauty Hacks: Fail or Holy Grail’. In this show Ellie tries different internet beauty hacks and let’s us know if it works or not. So if you want to know whether or not you should try an internet beauty hack, then this is the show you’ve been waiting for.
The next video that we’re going to talk about is Ellie’s ‘Dia&Co Unboxing Haul & Try On’ video, which was uploaded on August 27th, 2015. In this video we not only get introduce to an awesome subscription site, but also get a sense of Ellie’s personal style (on a side note if you love fashion & wear a size 10-32 then you’ll want to check this site out). In this video Ellie explains why she loves this subscription service, and even models the clothes so you can get a sense of how they fit. If you love fashion then you HAVE to watch this video. The final video that we’re going to talk about is Ellie’s ‘Art Haul: My Agnes Cecile Print Collection’, which was uploaded on February 17th, 2016 (you can check out this video below). I chose this video as the last one that we’re going to discuss because I thought that the subject matter was very unique and intriguing. I love it when beauty gurus use their amazing sense of style in unexpected avenues. It’s videos like this that show how different Ellie is from other beauty/fashion gurus, because she is able to add that special something that makes each video an Ellie original.
Keep up with everything Ellie is doing:
YouTube: ellkoNYC
Twitter: ellkoNYC
Tumblr: ellkonyc
Facebook: ellkoNYC
•All photos and information used in this blog belong to YouTube, Ellie Kodia, Ellko, ellkoNYC, Dia&Co, Agnes Cecil, Beauty Hacks: Fail or Holy Grail, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, and all products, companies, individuals, corporations, managers, writers, producers, and/or businesses that should receive credit for anything mentioned in this blog post or the videos mentioned and/or featured in this post, and all original owners. I do not own anything in this blog. If any people, corporations, businesses, companies, etc, were not previously given credit for their work, they are given credit now and their previous absence was unintentional. All opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I wrote this blog for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended.
Hello people of the internet!!! On today’s ‘Monday Memos’ we’re going to talk about the meme that has the internet in a craze, ‘Be Like Bill’. If you’ve been on Facebook this month then you’ve probably used this meme to generate your own hilarious story. However if for some strange reason you haven’t heard of this meme, I would definitely check it out. All you have to do is write you name and select your gender and the meme automatically gives you a funny short story about yourself (and if you don’t like the story you get then you can always click try again and well, try again until you get the perfect story for you). Also for fun this is the story I got, and yes it’s true, good job Bill! So now let’s talk about why memes like ‘Be Like Bill’ become so popular in the first place. Ready Ok, let’s go!!!
So why do we love memes and other viral internet trends so much? I’m sure that there are scientific and/or cultural reasons as to why this happens, but I think that the answer can be summed up two words: enjoyment and involvement. Of course we like watching or participating in anything that’s fun, but internet culture is built on involvement. Whether you tweet your fav celebrity, join a fandom, make a YouTube video, or even write a blog, we all like sharing the things we like (and occasionally the things we don’t like) with people who feel similar. So whether you want to be like Bill or can’t stand him, we all have to admit that everyone likes to be apart of a movement, and as long as we feel this way, there will be many more viral memes to come.
•All photos and information used in this blog belong to the creators, distributor, marketers, designers, an any other person, business, company, or corporation that in involved in the creation, marketing, and distribution of the Be Like Bill meme in any way, shape, and/or form, and all other original owners. I do not own anything in this blog. All opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I wrote this blog for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended.
Hello people of the internet!!! On today’s ‘YouTube Wednesday’ we’re going to talk about a recent YouTube video that we can’t stop watching. I know we often talk about how talented, funny, and creative YouTubers are, but sometimes we forget that they are regular people who just share their awesomeness with us. However, sometimes we get videos where our fav YouTubers discuss social issues with us, tell us about their fears/problems, and basically treat us like the BFFs that we all wish we were to them. If you love the popular YouTube channel ‘Angry Grandpa’ and/or videos that will make you cry then please keep reading. Ready? Ok, let’s go!!!
A few weeks ago the YouTuber ‘thekidwiththecamera’, who is the son and one of the masterminds behind ‘Angry Grandpa’, uploaded a “prank” video that will melt your heart. If you’ve never seen ‘Angry Grandpa’ before, it’s a YouTube channel where a man named Michael “Pickleboy” Green uploads his father (Charlie Green) reacting to current events, celebrities, and pranks that Pickleboy pulls on him. There are videos of Angry Grandpa pulling pranks on his son as well (disclaimer: The only video on this channel that I’ve seen is the one that I will post below, but some of the other videos do contain language that may be inappropriate/insulting to some people, so keep that in mind if you check them out). Anyway, in this video, Pickleboy, his girlfriend, and his father are looking at a house because Pickleboy has told his dad that he’s interested in buying it. The three go through the house, and after they get Angry Grandpa’s approval, Pickleboy tells him that he’s not buying the house for himself, he’s actually buying it for Angry Grandpa. The reaction to this is priceless and will definitely make you want to go and hug your loved ones (just round them all up in a big group hug…no it’s really not as weird as it sounds…moving on). Before this, Angry Grandpa lived in a trailer home, so that fact just breaks you heart even more (seriously I haven’t cried this much since I saw ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ and now YouTube has me crying again…anyways…). Personally I like seeing videos like this because it’s cool to see that there are so many good things in the world, check out the video below, but have some tissues on standby.
Hello people of the internet!!! On today’s ‘YouTube Wednesday’, we are going to talk about a YouTube video that you just gotta see! On April 13th, 2015, actor/Vine star Jamie Costa uploaded a tribute video to legendary actor/comedian Robin Williams (who passed away in 2014). In the video, Jamie portrays many of Robin Williams’ most beloved characters, and even uses uses costumes to really get into these characters. In the description of the video, Jamie states that he wanted to make this video (which is titled “Never Had a Friend Like Him,”), as “my tribute to the man whose spark ignited my passion,”. I definitely think that Jamie did such an amazing job in portraying these characters, so let’s talk about a couple of these impressions below. Ready? Ok, let’s go!
Even though there are so many AMAZING impressions to talk about let’s go ahead and start with a film that I know everyone has seen more times than they can count, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’. This is definitely one of Robin Williams’ really fun films, because of his character Daniel Hillard, who has to pretend to be an elderly woman in order to get a job as a nanny so he can see his kids (he and his ex wife are going through a custody hearing and he doesn’t feel he gets to see his kids enough). This movie is full of so many hilarious moments, but I really liked the one that Jamie decided to take on, which was the scene where Mrs. Doubtfire uses a pie as a disguise (check out this moment at 1:40 in the video). Of course we have to end this post with the character of the Genie from Aladdin because, well he’s so awesome! This is one of those roles that I think is really special because in the movie the Genie is funny, wacky, witty, and honestly a friend we all wish we had. At 1:33 we get a small snippet of one of the scene were we first meet the Genie, and of course the classic line “You ain’t never had a friend like me”. These moments definitely remind us of how much we’re going to miss Robin Williams on the big screen. Check out the full video below!
Hello people of the internet!!! On today’s ‘Monday Memos’, we are going to talk about the picture that had us glued to Twitter/Tumblr/Vine, and basically every other form of social media this weekend. Yes, we’re going to talk about…THE DRESS. This dress was such a huge internet topic this weekend, that a man from Texas actually got it tattooed on his leg, probably from san diego best tattoo artist. Crazy right?
So why is it that everyone was so fascinated by this picture? This picture has trended multiple times on Twitter, and has sparked an argument that even celebrities are lending their opinion to. Some say the dress is White & Gold, other people say it’s Black & Blue…so what’s the answer? Can the answer be found through science? Is it a photography trick? Are we all just going crazy? Well keep reading and we’ll talk about why we care so much about the color of this dress, why we all see different colors, and most importantly…WHAT COLOR IS THE DRESS???
Let’s start off by exploring why everyone is so obsessed with this dress. I think that the main reason why this picture turned into a big deal is the fact that we all like to feel like we’re “right”. As humans we love to argue, and more importantly…we love to win. Because we’re a society who loves competition ( I mean look at all of the competition shows we have, how much we love internet challenges, even the way we all compete over who has the most friends/likes/retweets/favorites/etc., etc.,), then you can see how we were all instantly drawn to this conversation. So now we can move on to why we all see different colors when we look at this dress. According to the YouTube channel AsapSCIENCE (a YouTube channel that explains the great mysteries of the world through science), the answer to this question can be explained by how your brain processes colors in relation to light. Basically the short version of this is, if you think that the background of the picture is set against natural light (like near a window or outside), then your brain processes the colors one way, and if you see the dress in a room with artificial light, then your brain processes the colors in a different way. That’s why we all see different colors (personally I kept seeing light blue and gold…so IDK what that means). It’s all a little confusing, and maybe this explanation isn’t correct either, but it’s the seemed to make the most sense, so check out the video for yourself below.
So now we move on to the big question on everyone’s mind…what color is the dress? The answer according to the company that produces this dress is…Black & Blue. So whether you were “right”, “wrong”, or are just SERIOUSLY tired of hearing about this dress, you have to admit that it was interesting to see the internet (and traditional sources of media) practically stop because of 1 picture. It seemed like everybody (even some of our favorite celebrities) stopped and gave their opinion about what color they thought the dress was. Whether you were a part of this internet moment, or wish people would stop talking about it, I think that we can all agree on 1 thing…this picture and all of the discussion that came with it will definitely go down in internet history (sorry but it’s happening, and we all know it). I mean we all still ask whether the chicken or the egg came first, so I guess this is the new question that we’ll ask ourselves for years. I think that this was a fun internet moment that we can all playfully (or seriously) debate and laugh about. Let me know what y’all think about THE DRESS below! I think this vine best sums up our frustration about this topic
Hello people of the internet!!! On today’s ‘YouTube Wednesday’ we are going to discuss an AMAZING new video that is ALL over the internet. In just 3 days (as of January 27th, 2014), this video has already gotten 1,753,423 views on YouTube. What started off as a simple school project for A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School (a high school in Dallas, TX) students has now grown into an epic viral video. It all began when Theatre Arts Teacher Scot Pankey asked his classes to ‘let go of their fears’ (as the video’s description says) and help create this project. The video was shot and edited by students at the school, and all of the participants worked tirelessly for weeks to get the chorography just right. Once I saw this video I just knew that I had to tell y’all about it, because it is such an incredible video! Now if you want to see this awesome video (over and over again, because honestly who how can you only watch it once right?), then you check it out at the end of this post. So y’all ready to talk about it? Let’s go!
I would have to say that the number 1 thing that I love about this video is the effort that seemed to go into it. The choreography is really cool and fun to watch. Even though the teacher is the one in all of the shots, the students all shine just as brightly. The fact that this video was done in 1 shot completely amazes me, because can you imagine how hard it must be to get that many people to do the correct chorography simultaneously on cue (#mindblown!). I have to admit that if this video was found on newsflare videos for sale or on any similar sites, I think it might have the potential to be purchased by a content company as well. Another thing that I really love about this video is that this is an AWESOME project to assign to students who want to learn about technology. It’s really cool to see a school not only promoting the arts, but doing so in such a way that will encourage other people to try a similar project. I think it’s really cool that now these students might have been exposed to how much work and fun goes into a large scale project like this, because now they might create more awesome videos for us (fingers crossed we see more dance mob videos). With so many people trying to get a video to go viral these days, it’s cool to see a bunch of really awesome, creative people get together and make a fun project…that just happens to go viral. I think Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson would be proud!