Tim Street and the buxom girls behind French Maid TV are well aware that sex sells. In fact, they even understand that sex can teach. While the priority of the site is clearly entertainment before education, Street has called what he does “edutainment.” He also refers to the show as “integrative advertising,” since episodes are primarily commercials for the products and services his Maids demonstrate. Gaining his humble inspiration from working in cable television and producing a segment where several voluptuous women were hired to read video game cheat codes, Street knew he had a hit on his hands when the first episode of French Maid TV was posted online in late 2005 and soared to the number one spot on the iTunes charts within three days.

All sporadically released episodes follow a similar format: the girls explain a task using screen captures and demonstrations, all while wearing their French Maid uniforms, pin-striped nurse skirts, two-piece gypsy rags, and anything else Street can procure that is skimpy and somewhat sheer. The education is interspersed with shots of the girls dusting, pillow fighting, and vacuuming around a hotel room in costume, with a voiceover explaining the task in an exaggerated accent over a kitschy, accordion-friendly French soundtrack. The actresses are attractive recent college grads who are professional and amateur singers, dancers, models, artists, and athletes. Through the power of cleavage, they teach how to create a video podcast, give CPR, and barter online. But once again, the focus is on entertainment. Occasionally, the voiceover will declare, “This may take a while, find something else to do,” and give suggestions like vacuuming or going down the Slip N’ Slide. Stray sexy female viewers are encouraged to audition to become officially sanctioned French Maids.

One of the show’s recurring motifs is a pillow fight atop a very bouncy bed. This plays out well in the CPR episode when one of the maids accidentally swallows a feather and stops breathing, providing the viewers with a chance to recap the proper steps to restore healthy respiration. It’s also one of the only episodes not to feature a sponsored product demonstration.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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Barrio 305 has a ton of worthwhile content, which can probably be attributed to the fact that Noah and Antonio are fully involved in the Latino scene that they target. The site is fully bilingual, with text and video dialogue in both English and Spanish. Each video section has dozens of vids to chose from.

Musica TV is the primary channel, featuring event coverage, interviews, and making-of featurettes. The actual music can be found in the Music section, where professional, amateur, and concert videos are uploaded, along with plain old music files. On top of that, Barrio 305 TV shows the viewer exclusive footage of club openings, release parties, magazine launches, and everything else that’s worthy of note in South Beach’s Latino music scene. Kalle TV is Barrio 305’s all-access car network. And then there’s Hotties TV, which features professional videos of professional hotties being hot. (If you’re an amateur hottie, you can submit your video for viewing in the user video gallery.) 

Coverage of events like the Latin Urban Mix, which is a conference on familiarizing Latin music with corporate sponsorships, is something that rarely gets any screen time in mainstream media. It’s an example of how this site’s high quality focus on such a specialized interest group pushes it above and beyond the competition.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Nicholas Mosquera
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Merlin Mann, site creator and host of “The Merlin Show,” offers wise ways to make life a little simpler. With weekly installments produced with the help of Ben Durbin, in association with Pixel Corps, Mann interviews musicians, technology geeks, and entrepreneurs who offer personal insights about everything from working with teams to the ascendance of the MP3 blog. Launched in February 2007, the show is a spin-off of 43 Folders, a popular site created by Mann that helps users navigate their computers with an expert’s ease.

A regular writer for WIRED, Make, Popular Science, and MacWorld, and occasional host on the MacBreak video podcast, Mann sums up his inspiration and reasoning for “The Merlin Show” better than I ever could: “Benjamin Franklin was a statesmen and an inventor…one reason he was so careful with his time and that he was so productive ultimately was so that he’d be able to drink and have sexual intercourse more often. And so I think that’s something we’re going to be talking about. Is how you can cut through the mire of modern life to do more of the things that you enjoy, whether that’s drinking, sexual intercourse, or occasionally being electrocuted by a kite.”

On average the shows run around 15 minutes, during which time, Mann engages his subjects in witty banter that complements his quirky style and easy-going, guy-next-door demeanor. On a patio in San Francisco, Mann interviews Chris Wetherell, Google application coder/rock band drummer about email overload and the “information rat race.” And in a dusky coffee shop he chats with Jonathan Coulton about juggling his roles as a father and a singer/songwriter, while dealing with technology glitches. Though the interview format of the show is straightforward, its design is crisp and professional from the filming and graphics to Mann’s weekly introduction and delivery. In addition to the interviews, the site also has videos in which Mann provides functional “how-to” guides for Mac users that deal with specific software. So if you’re dying to learn how to create a temporary stack in Quicksilver to allow for easy multi-tasking, Mann will walk you through it.  In all cases Mann imparts practical information with a fun flare that is fittingly user friendly.

The interview Mann does with Indie rocker, John Vanderslice is a good one, especially when talk turns to vibrating beds. Singer John Roderick is my favorite eccentric subject, who pauses his rant on web-based business to curse at on-set hippies.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Anusha Alikhan
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As the name would suggest, Foxxy News is a send up of various programs on the Fox News Channel. The hosts include a rotating collection of Playboy models, actresses, and those aspiring to be one or the other. Foxxy News’ motto, “Fair, Balanced…and Hot!” succinctly captures the spirit of the site, which seems to have been on again off-again since late 2005, despite the promise of new anchors and new programming posted every weekday. 

Part of the ironic pleasure of Foxxy News is that none of the commentary is actually witty or insightful. Whereas most left-wing news programs are extensively researched, Foxxy falls back on pretty women in outfits that are just revealing enough. Nearly all installments run one to two minutes and generally tend to focus on the hosts’ assets, rather than pressing news stories. Many of the anchors of both past and present, resemble hosts from familiar news program. Viewers will find titles such as the news spoof “The Weekly Update,” “Dr. Phyllis,” the self help program, and “The O’Really Factor.” In addition to the dedicated Foxxy Sports offshoot, other segments include news on everything from Nascar updates, weather and ex-boyfriend reports, to Senate Minority Whips. In the case of “This Week With God,” the site is actually mimicking the segment “This Week in God,” a popular series on the Daily Show, itself a fake news show and avowed enemy of Fox News. Apparently no subject is safe from the Foxxy News programmers.

The problem with a fake news show that isn’t updated constantly is that timely jokes don’t stay funny for long (try watching old segments from SNL’s Weekend Update). Thus, stick with the less temporal segments. Episode 7 of “This Week with God” depicts Ms. McKay vividly describing her sexual fantasy involving a well-known deity.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Nicholas Mosquera
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Joe Bereta and Luke Barats are a Spokane-based comedy duo that became famous for their popular YouTube channel, particularly for their videos Completely Uncalled For and Mother’s Day, both of which have been viewed over two million times each. The two began working together in their college improv group in 2003, and started making videos and posting them on YouTube the same year. In 2005 they won first place in both the Brickwall Amateur Comedy Competition and the Spokane First Night Film Festival for their film, Just Wonderful. The duo signed a deal to write a pilot for NBC in the fall of 2006, and launched their website around the same time. Both currently work at Cornerbooth Film & Video Production and perform improv with ComedySportz in Spokane, Washington.

Many of the Barats and Bereta videos involve someone getting slapped in the face- really hard. You might think it’s juvenile, but I swear, you’ll love it so much you’ll start thinking its actually appropriate behavior. And then you’ll get fired. Or arrested. See Completely Uncalled For, Two Scoops, or Mother’s Day for some great slapping action without such serious consequences. Or if you’re in the mood for some fairly astute parodies of middle to upper middle class white people, check out music video spoofs Suburbanites or Gonzaga Love. Like many YouTube viral hits Barats and Bereta definitely caters to a college student or recently graduated crowd, but the duos fine-tuned comedic timing and improv abilities are sure to appeal to just about any demographic. 

My absolute favorite video has to be Cubicle Wars. If you like either version of The Office, the movie Office Space, the internet puppet comedy dotBoom, or can relate in any way to the maddeningly dehumanizing and isolating effects of working in a cubicle, you’ll love this. It will make you feel better about having a job you hate for at least one more day.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Kate Dundon
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In 2004, wedding, corporate, and music videographer Arin Crumley and visual artist Susan Buice met online and began to collaborate on an art experiment. They decided to spend the first months of their relationship communicating digitally, leaving a trail of letters, text messages, and notes behind. The two develop a relationship during the project and the idea became fodder for a film, Four Eyed Monsters. Collaborating with friends and actors, they created a feature film that was received by sold-out crowds at major film festivals like Sundance, Slamdance, and SWSW, but didn’t garner any distribution. In November 2005, Crumley and Buice turned to the web to promote their creation through production podcasts to moderate success while the film continued to make laps around the film festival circuit.

The 3 to 15-minute episodes play like a serial auto-docu-drama about making “Four-Eyed Monsters”. Arin and Susan introduce each video together on-camera, before all the behind-the-scenes conflicts unfold like a carefully laden plot from one post to the next. The only way to see the feature film they created is to request a screening in your area (or check out their MySpace page to see if there are any screenings scheduled near you). The podcast and website have turned into an additional experiment, this time in marketing. At one point, they decided to give credits to the musicians and other friends that were in the building during the process to expand their fanbase, which became a point of contention among some of their collaborators (see episodes six through eight). Whether or not props should go to Arin and Susan or to the endless list of “friends” who helped direct, write, and mold the film, their ongoing turmoil is nevertheless compelling. In addition to periodic video posts with news, invites, and special messages between episodes, the two artists provide lessons in producing creative content specifically for the web. Episodes are released irregularly, so it might be a good idea to subscribe to the “Four-Eyed Monsters” feed if you get hooked on past posts.

If the film has even half as much drama, suspense, and creativity as the podcasts, there will be no question why it has already sold out several film festivals. The great thing about their podcast is the very high level of talent it displays; these two really are artists. One of the between-episode segments, for instance, involved the coolest use of Second Life avatars I’ve seen in a vlog yet.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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Average Betty is the online persona of Los Angeles-based freelance artist Sara O’Donnell who combines zany comedy sketches with demonstrations of easy-to-follow recipes in creatively themed episodes. The site started as a personal blog in June 2005 with a grassroots-like appeal: “Who is Average Betty? I am. You are too. We are the girl next door, up the street and down the block. We make decisions. We get things done.” Fast forward one year later to July 2006, and the made-over site features Average Betty as the star of her one-woman cooking show. Thanks to her quirky, look-you-in-the-eye humor and self-professed “punk-rock attitude to home and cooking entertainment,” Average Betty won the Yahoo!Video Award for Best Internet Personality in February 2007.

Average Betty’s hip, entertaining, three-minute episodes feature recipes ranging from comfort foods like barbeque pizza and garlic mashed potatoes to ethnic favorites like Chinese Beefy Noodle. Her genius lies in attaching each dish to a quirky, topical theme that most people wouldn’t immediately associate with the food. Hence, we get episodes like “You Gotta Beefy Noodle?”, in which Average Betty dons one of her many alter-egos (her repetoire includes playing a pseudo-British rocker and a victim of radiation) by becoming a reporter of a “breaking news” segment about the various ways in which two people/entities can have a beef with one another. (e.g. “Starbucks has a beef with reasonably priced coffee”). Somehow, Average Betty always manages to transition flawlessly and charmingly from the comedy to the cooking. (“When life hands you a beef, make beefy noodle!”) Don’t worry if her step-by-step cooking tips go by a little too quickly; the website devotes a detailed section to recipes, instructions and accompanying pictures. The site also features a “Projects” section, in which Average Betty imparts tips on do-it-yourself home maintenance – but it hasn’t been updated since July 2006 and, for now, it seems she’s wisely chosen to stick with food.

The lemon scone episode, “SconeWorld,” cleverly features a hilarious, spot-on parody of Steve Jobs and the ipod. Average Betty becomes “Eve Gobs” and introduces the “iscone.” For a concise and funny recap on other “multiple personalities” of Average Betty, check out her Valentine video.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Pearl Chen
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Brian Storm is bringing the art of storytelling to a new level. With over a decade of multimedia and photojournalism experience, the former Corbis VP launched MediaStorm in November 2005 as the online multimedia arm of his highly successful production company and consulting firm.

From in-depth documentaries and personal essays to the purely artistic, MediaStorm provides a dynamic showcase for next-generation storytellers to connect their engaging narratives with viewers seeking impassioned content. 

An Emmy award-winning producer/director, a Magnum photographer, and a top underground hip-hop DJ/producer comprise just a portion of the list of storytellers whose live-action and photo-audio-driven projects you can find featured on MediaStorm.  The stories cover a wide array of relevant topics – an aging man’s live-action struggle with Parkinson’s; a photographic journey through the ghettos, farmlands, and lifestyles of modern-day Cuba; an insight into the lives of Americans with loved ones killed in Iraq.

The one thing each video has in common is that the quality is incredible. A quick glance at the viewer’s feedback below each story will tell you that, “From heartwarming to heartbreaking, these are timeless and intimate tales.” MediaStorm is always willing to support poignant projects of a “diverse nature and of varying scale,” so long as it delivers its message in a well-executed manner. If you think your project would fit in the mix, check out their submission guidelines on how to give it a shot.

The site also offers an innovative revenue stream. If you like the story you’ve watched, check out the tabs on the right of the page; in addition to transcripts, related links, and the option to leave feedback, you can also purchase an array of items associated with the story you’ve just seen – the book the film is based on, music from the piece, or other offerings from the producers. 

Brian Storm calls the synergy of picture and text captions with the addition of audio the “Fourth Effect of Multimedia” and lauds this as the future of storytelling. Watch “Never Coming Home” and you’ll understand what he means.

Photographs of deceased coalition soldiers in Iraq and their loved ones is compelling enough, but add clips from audio interviews with their families and it creates an incredibly touching, memorable tale. Olivier Jobard’s “Kingsley’s Crossing” is also a powerful photo-audio-video piece describing an individual’s encounter with war, only with a more comforting conclusion.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Visitors may have a hard time telling whether Bold Moves is an authentic move on the part of Ford to involve its audience in the company’s turnaround or simply an ad campaign seeking to gain sympathy and product support. Airing from May 2, 2006 to January 5, 2007, the 30-part series explained the reasons for the company’s paradigm shift, methods to make change, and a behind-the-scenes look at how Ford planned to implement these alterations. With its last episode titled “Change or Die” and an entrance reading “Venture into the site and become a part of Bold Moves today. Ford’s future depends on it,” the focus is on you, the potential Ford buyer, to decide whether or not the company will succeed the site must make you believe it has made enough of a bold move to continue the company’s century of success into the next hundred years. The results of the campaign still remain to be seen.

The episodes, which are all about five minutes long, serve as focal points for discussion about Ford’s attempt to recreate itself in the public eye, allowing viewers to become a fly on the wall at executive meetings and give feedback via comments and blogs. Videos look into the company’s past, its present, and its future, with a tendency to promote new vehicles at the same time. For example, Episode 15 (the description reads: “With the future at stake, how does Ford balance risk with reward? By daring to be different!”) shows executives debating whether people at a Detroit car show will enjoy a new product, but the episode mostly features the aforementioned product, which does indeed appear to go over very well at the car show. What’s interesting is that two Op/Ed articles, called “Point vs. Counterpoint”, written by bloggers and journalists in an attempt to show two sides of the story, accompanied each episode. On top of that, A mix of related Features and Websites allowed viewers to do their own investigation and the Community boards allowed viewers to post comments, most of which were very harsh. So while the videos clearly had a marketed slant and the company chose which critical bloggers to feature in the end, the site did have a balance of opinionated input. Whether or not you accept the premise that the documentary is authentic, good-natured, and impartial, it certainly is both an innovative and effective way to get consumers talking about Ford’s products.

History buffs will enjoy the Inspiring Imagination series (Episodes two through five) which brought viewers on a trip back in time to the Mustang’s early years in the 1960’s and 70’s. Engineer and racecar driver Shelby makes for a colorful narrator and his reemergence into the Ford company helps create the underdog feel that the Bold Moves creators use to garner sympathy.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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The clever pun, Clef PALATE, is the work of a New York based, Devo–inspired, jumpsuit wearing musical trio, Red, Kid, and Pappy. They are, respectively, the brains, the heart, and the soul of their collective, the Fandangos. Looking for a way to mix their two main loves, music and food, they stumbled upon this bizarre combination, which they describe on their site as “1 lb. cooking, 2 cans film, and 3 qts. karaoke.” In each installment, they attempt to bring their loves to the masses – and have a good, home cooked meal while they’re at it.

In each episode, the eccentric trio decides to cook some admittedly delicious looking comfort food. None of the choices are all that demanding or original – chicken quesadillas, pigs in bacon blankets, coconut chicken curry are three of the highlights – but what they might lack in creativity they make up for in familiarity with the recipes. Though the episodes could stand a little bit of editing, as they tend to drag a bit in the middle, they are otherwise well done. Viewers are treated to the collection of the ingredients, the preparation and consumption of the food, and, oddly enough, an episode-capping karaoke performance by one of the trio. The first episode ends with a fantastic rendition of Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I do) I do it for you” in a disco setting. Later, viewers get hits from Bon Jovi, the Bee Gees, and others. After seeing a few, the combination of food and song may even end up looking normal. You can also try the recipes yourself. The directions aren’t listed, but surely you’ve watched the highly stylized depictions of the cooking enough to try it yourself.

This reporter recommends choosing based on cuisine. My own eating habits make the barbequed tofu episode one of my favorites.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Nicholas Mosquera
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Brian Gruber, a 20-year veteran of the media marketing industry, founded FORA.tv in 2006 with funding from William Hearst, III, a director of media giant the Hearst Corporation and Hearst-Argyle television. “Fora” is the plural of “forum”—a place for discussing issues of public interest. FORA.tv does just that. Based in San Francisco, the site brings viewers conversations about timely political, social and cultural issues around the world, and through its multiple interactive tools it allows a place for visitors to become a part of the conversation. A variety of public forums are helping to build the platform, including C-SPAN, the Hoover Institution, the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, Link TV, Cambridge University and Americans for Informed Democracy, among others.

Looking to zone out to mindless entertainment? Look elsewhere. Looking for intellectual stimulation? Come to FORA.tv. This site is a library of discussions on all topics imaginable. Here you’ll find unedited, in-depth, C-SPAN-style discussions from leading figures about today’s important political and social issues. Experts and leaders speak on the topics of business, education, environment, politics, religion, science, health, technology and cover all the regions of the world. Find a debate on the freedom of artistic expression with screenwriter Michael Arndt discussing his experience writing the hit 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine; watch Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales discussing the future of free culture; or see Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Turki Al-Faisal arguing for America’s continued involvement in Iraq. The Think Tank section groups together segments on an individual topic, bringing together ideas from different speakers and events into one larger discussion. The speeches and panels are recorded at events like book readings and conferences, and while the unedited content can make for long segments, the pop-out FORA player makes it easy to navigate and skip to the segment you’re looking for. It’s the closest thing to directly accessing world leaders that you’ll find anywhere on the web.

Through its multiple interactive tools (including transcripts, comments, and translations) FORA also gives a place for viewers to become a part of the conversation. If you are looking for ways to end global poverty or want to share your thoughts on the role of religion in American public life – or any topic in between – visit FORA’s own forum join in on the discussion. Want more ways to get involved? Those interested in world affairs who have the right filming gear are encouraged to contact FORA to help out.

The New York Public Library played host to a debate on religion between Pentecostal Minister and social activist Al Sharpton and journalist and author Christopher Hitchens on May 7, 2007. Hitchens’ uses his book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything as the basis for his arguments against religion. Only a man of Hitchens’ temperament and conviction would try to argue the existence of God against one as religious and outspoken as Sharpton.  The two also touch on civil rights and Iraq. It runs over an hour in length, but the strong arguments and energetic personalities going head-to-head make for some big entertainment that’s worth a watch.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Sushil Cheema
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Josh Johnson, father of Nick and Kayla, decided to combine his love for filmmaking with his love for his kids to create this new video podcast centered on movies acceptable for children. Cinekids TV started recording and posting episodes weekly in January 2006 from Josh’s family’s home in Raleigh, North Carolina, though since then the posting has slowed down a bit. At first, they only reviewed one show at a time, but as they noticed fewer kids’ movies being released in theatres, they expanded the content to include DVDs – both new releases and older favorites.

Each new episode involves two reviewed movies – one currently in theatres, the other rented and watched at home. The kids give their own descriptions of the plot (not always accurate, but what can you do?), describe favorite moments, and then give their ratings. Each has their own review style – the non-committal Kayla can’t ever decide on an appropriate “rating” for the films. Based on the Siskel and Ebert (and Roeper) two-thumb method, her thumbs tend to waver and multiply depending on how she feels about the film at hand. Nick is a little more confident, but infinitely harder to understand – he still can’t quite pronounce his “r”s. But they’re both just as cute as can be. The episodes are largely unedited, leaving in all the silliness and gaffes that come with the territory of filming kids. You never see an adult, and for the most part you can’t even tell that the dad had a hand in it at all.

Kayla seems to go a little nutso while reviewing Cars and High School Musical. I’m not sure if her wild hand motions while giving her thumb review of Cars is supposed to imitate the cars themselves or her ever-changing feelings about the movie, but she seems to enjoy doing it! She signs off the episode with a very Mary-Kate and Ashley-esque “See you later, dudes.” Nick is adorable as he reviews RV (or, as he calls it, “Aw vee”), quickly speeding through the plot description and review – presumably to end the episode more quickly.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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