Maybe it’s just my internet habits that have changed, but it seems that well-wishing MySpace wall posts, Facebook gifts, and regular old e-mails have supplanted the once ubiquitous phenomenon of electronic greeting cards…at least amongst the web’s cool crowd. My parents occasionally send me things like bee-boppin’ penguins wishing me happy birthday, but the genre seems to have lost some relevance among those who are more connected.

In the past couple years, however, there have been some notable exceptions that have made e-mail greeting cards once again funny and cool. CareerBuilder’s Monk-e-Mail uses talking monkeys, accents, and personal messages to great comedic effect. JibJab’s pay-for Sendables are appropriately branded as “greetings that don’t suck.” GBEHH has messages that are full of offensive, NSFW fun. And someecards combines seemingly innocuous Rockwellian sketches with brutal honesty for some precarious and hilarious results.

You can now add Carded.tv to the list.

 

 

The site was created by Matt Semel, Lee Semel, and Chris Chang who, with their powers combined, are the web video production company 10ton.  It officially launched today, offering live-action, video greetings featuring an ensemble cast of characters for “life’s other occasions.” ###

According to the site, the creators’ friends were “losing their virginity by the dozens and getting divorced in droves,” and no appropriate e-cards existed to celebrate such events. Creating their own customizable, personalizable, sendable videos seemed like the only logical solution.

The 45 or so vids currently available touch on topics including a fighting couple that settles a domestic dispute with lightsabers and carnal romance, low job expectations after graduating from college, and moving out after breaking up.

You’ll also see many of the same characters pop up in similar situations, weaving some semblance of a storyline throughout the greetings. Chris (whose excited voice you’ll hear at the beginning of each greeting) told me over e-mail, “I think you really start to root for the characters. This makes our cards very different from Sendables or someecards. See our goal is to make Carded more of a community.”

In terms of building the community, users can currently submit their videos to the site, but Chris and the rest of 10ton hope to create a sort of Threadless-like edited and curated submissions process, where the site’s staff and users determine which greetings make the grade.

A little outside help could spice things up a bit. Many of the videos occupy a space just a touch too short of absurdity to make them memorable, however, there are a few that are unexpectedly fantastic. A favorite of mine (and Chris’) is Wish I’d Gone to Prom with You followed by I Don’t Know Many People…. Chris also points out that Drunk and Thinking of You might win out in terms of sendability, and is also possibly funnier and less self-effacing than a drunk e-mail or text message.

Subscribe to find out when new videos are available with which to assail your current, future, and former lovers and friends, and if there’s nothing that fits the occasion, do what 10ton did. Create your own.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Mark Day, your friendly, bald-headed, surly Scottsman, is leaving his yellow backdrop from where he dispenses topically comedic metaphor and observation to manage a more digital stage. The political and pop culture pundit just announced that he’s now on the job as YouTube’s new “Comedy Manager.”

That means that Mark – a YouTube user since March of ’06 and a top 100 most subscribed to producer – will be sifting through the haystack of comedy uploaded to the internet’s biggest video-sharing site to find the few shiny needles that are sharp enough to prick the funny bones of the masses. He’ll be doing everything he can “to bring you the full range of comedy available on YouTube today – from the best sketch groups and the latest movie parodies to up-and-coming stand-up comedians, and the kind of videobloggers who love to make their subscribers laugh.”

It also means, if you’re a creator of comedic internet content, you should befriend Mark Day.

###Though some may purport to have secret strategies behind viral videos – and despite the likelihood that some of those strategies might even work – the featured videos on YouTube are still chosen, programmed, and promoted by actual people. On a site that reportedly serves upwards of 100 million videos per day, this generally equates to tens of thousands of views – and tens of sexually charged and/or homophobic comments – for the lucky, chosen few.

It’s a shot. A break. A ticket to web consciousness. Here’s Mark’s contact info: comedy AT youtube.com and markdaycomedy AT gmail.com.

One casualty of Mark’s new gig is that he won’t be lending his insightful, impassioned rhetoric to your computer screen anytime soon:

 

“Now that I’m part of the YouTube team, you won’t be seeing much of my big bald head any more (which is, perhaps, a blessing). But I do want to thank everyone who made it fun for me to get in front of a video camera in the first place. Now I hope I do my part to encourage more users to post their own rants, skits and amusing opinions.  As for my yellow wall, it’s currently hoping to film its own sitcom pilot as soon as the writers’ strike is over.”

 Here’s a look at a typical moment of Mark in front of said wall for the sake of posterity and a laugh:

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Like Ze Frank, I don’t generally celebrate the Super Bowl. This year, however, because the New York Giants are involved, and because I live in Brooklyn, and because I’m from Arizona and the game’s being played in an undercrowded version of hell Phoenix, I’ll be traveling to the Giants’ home turf in New Jersey for a party. Makes sense, right?  

Normally, I wouldn’t care about not knowing anything about the big game beyond the facts that Eli Manning’s brother is a better quarterback than he is, and that Tom Brady is apparently the best because he’s dating Gisele. But, considering that I’m going to be surrounded by dudes that provide the inspiration for sitdotcoms like this one, I feel I should gather some material on New England so I can make fun of it. Boston.TV is a good source.

The site is an independent online network with all original programming. Its local newsy segments feature Bostonian food, arts and entertainment, business, lifestyle, and the Patriots.

But if you could care less about pre-game info on the players, you could always study up on pre-game info on the ads. ###

In an interesting twist of marketing savvy or silly (I’m leaning towards the latter), many advertisers are releasing shortened teasers and full clips of their Super Bowl spots before game time. My favorite to bow this weekend is the 60-second Coke commercial that features a friendly James Carville and Bill Frist segwaying around D.C. Not a classic, but still funny.

To brush up on the best ads of Super Bowl’s past, your friendly neighborhood Gawker has put together a good top 25 list. Though it’s missing my all-time fav that doesn’t feature Britney Spears or Pepsi:

Whether its the game itself, the ads, or puppies, happy viewing!

 

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Created by Tommy Watson and Daniel Baxter in August 2005, How It Should Have Ended rights the many wrongs that have been forced upon us at an expense of $11 for each cinematic mishap. Baxter, whose award-winning illustrations pepper the site’s clever, animated complaints, has worked with such high profile clients as Microsoft, Penguin-Putnam, Forbes, and the New York Times and with his own storyboard design company, Simple Cap Storyboards. While there are other people who work on the site (like Kiddo the Dog) who write reviews, the cartoons are primarily written and drawn by Watson and Baxter.

Watson and Baxter’s alternate endings to popular movies are brief (30 to 60 seconds) and funny. Their solutions to flaws in storytelling are sometimes obvious (yes, Superman should have thwarted Lex Luthor’s bombs between being told about them and being confronted with Kryptonite) and sometimes hilariously astute (yes, Gandalf should have just flown the ring to Mordor via eagle since he flew the eagle straight there at the end anyway). Each one is done in Baxter’s curious and somewhat renowned illustrating style. Other destinations on the site include comic strips by Baxter and movie reviews by producer Tina Alexander. While months can pass before a new cartoon is released, there is a nifty status sheet on the homepage that keeps fans abreast of progress on new episodes, listing work done on the script, artwork, animation, and final editing in graphed percentages
As far as video sites are concerned, the status feature on the homepage is great. With sites like this that promise to update “once in a while,” you never know if a site is permanently offline or work on the next big release is lagging because the creators’ day jobs are getting in the way of artistic progress. So it’s great to see a website that shows you that while its updates may be rare, they will continue in the future.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Zach Jones
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Dov Charney is no prude. Sexually suggestive advertisements featuring ethnically ambiguous models in poses inspired by French pornography have been the hallmark of his clothing manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer, American Apparel. This marketing scheme, backed by simple, high-quality products, has proven to be (more or less) effective.

Given his success, it only makes sense that Dov would want to spread the sexy, alternative message of his couture far and wide. That’s why I’m surprised it’s taken them this long for his company to have an official YouTube channel.

Launched less than 24 hours ago, American Apparel Video only features a handful of videos in what looks like will become a a self-indulgent smorgasbord of clothing tips and trends, sexy models, and wannabe counter culture.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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In retrospect, it’s a beautiful thing that Fox didn’t greenlight Heat Vision and Jack. Otherwise we wouldn’t have been given the sweet gift of awesome that is Channel 101.

In 1999, the network rejected the futuristic Knight Rider spoof.  It was directed by Ben Stiller and features Jack Black as a renegade astronaut with a medical secret who is on the run from evil, trying to easy ride his way to freedom on a talking motorcycle voiced by Owen Wilson. After being told their pilot wouldn’t be picked up, writers Don Harmon and Rob Schrab became appropriately disgruntled.  They decided to take things into their own hands.

After a few iterations (you can read the whole back story here), in 2003 they started Channel 101, a monthly, offline, competitive short film festival (whose submissions can be seen on the web) where anything goes as long as its funny, and under five minutes. In the past 5 years, it’s been a virtual fount of absurd entertainment, spewing forth classics like Blame Society’s Chad Vader, You’ve Been Kicked in the Nuts, Planet Unicorn, and Lonely Island’s The ‘Bu, in addition to spawning a season of similar fare showcased on VH1’s Acceptable TV (Tilzy.TV page).

And every month, more potential cult classics just keep on coming. Here’s a look at the winners from the recent January screening.

2 Girls, 1 Cup: The Show – Episode 1

After watching College Humor’s Moments Before Cup Chicks, I decided that comedy derivative of the only scat film that has made its way into America’s pop culture had peaked. I was wrong.  From Channel 101 vets Justin Roiland and Christian Le Guilloux, it’s kinda like Three’s Company, only if Jack Tripper was a red plastic cup and constantly fantasized about Janet and Chrissy’s excrement. (NSFW due to language.)

 

###The Bed and Breakfast Club – Episode 1

So Andy, Brian, John, Claire, and Allison have all gotten out of detention, out of high school, and into owning and operating their own bed and breakfast. The funniest part is the emotional Simple Minds riff that that plays during any and all character interactions.

 

 

Stop It – Episode 6

Many Americans are addicted to…stuff. Dr. David Gliza, a Stop It Counselor, helps them with their addictions by attending interventions and telling them to….“Stop it!” Mike Rose’s portrayal (he plays the addicted individual in every episode) of a Latina that can’t stop cooking is what saves this show – brought to you by the creators of Planet Unicorn –  from mediocrity.

Groove Fighters – Episode 3

Groove Fighters is a “high-energy show about the lines that blur between fighting and dancing” from Abed Gheith and Emi Walker. While previous episodes use 80s fitness paraphanalia, training montages, and sweet dance movies to great comedic effect, this month’s effort appears to be a little too fuzzy.

 

 

Return to Supermans – Episode 2

Return to Supermans answers the question, “What if Borat directed his own public access Superman show?” The premise is genius and the execution is even better. I especially like the lack of super powers, affinity for violence, and Superman’s fear of “the green.”

Check out all the shows that didn’t make the cut – including the Tilzy.TV favorite, Cautionary Tales of Swords – at the Channel 101 site.  Next month’s releases debut February 24. We’ll be watching.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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There are a few things that all music reviews of the new hotness that is Vampire Weekend have in common:

1) They all use adjectives like “pop,” “preppy,” and “Ivy-educated.”
2) They all and mention South Africa and Cape Cod.
3) They all are overwhelmingly positive.

If you haven’t heard VW’s self-proclaimed “Upper West Side Soweto” sound, you should give it a listen. If you’ve been pining to see them in person, but couldn’t nab tix to either of their sold out, album release shows in New York City, you should give the below a watch:

This beautifully crafted, intimate moving picture portrait of the band was filmed at the 12-year-old, New York City CD/Vinyl retailer, Other Music. It’s the fifth installment in an ongoing series of in-store recordings, from the type of shop that makes New Yorkers say, “I love this town.” ###

Music geeks behind counters suggest obscure selections, few of which you could find in a name brand retailer, to music geeks scanning the store. And unlike similar outlets that have been forced to shut their doors due to increased competition in a digital age, Other Music embraced the download business last Spring, and began selling performance quality tracks with no DRM. Co-owner Josh Madell tells me over e-mail, “We felt there was a real need for a shop online that would recreate the experience of shopping in your favorite indie record shop, with a curated selection, staff recommendations and all that.”

Not content to limit its digital offerings to audio, the store has further ventured into the online media space with its Live at Other Music video series.

Executive produced by Madell, and tapping the expertise of the incredibly talented Dig For Fire production crew, the filming began last November with a powerful performance from St. Vincent. Madell wishes he could’ve started sooner: 

“We’ve hosted in-stores since we first opened the shop; my biggest regret is that we didn’t have the resources or technology to capture all of them from the beginning! We have wanted to document these for a long time, it has always been obvious that we get a great behind-the-scenes look at some of our favorite artists, and when I met Natalie Johns and her Dig For Fire production team, it was just a perfect fit.”

From now on they’ll be releasing an episode every two weeks, with Celebration, White Williams, and Richard Hawley on the calendar, in addition to some big productions planned for the upcoming SXSW Music Festival.

The series doesn’t have the impromptu, whimsical aesthetic of Take-Away Shows, but at times it feels just as private – like you’ve stumbled upon some secret venue where you can hear, meet, and greet talented musicians who you didn’t know before. And I think it’s nearly as good.

It’s hard to find resources for discovering great music and watching great video. Live at Other Music does both.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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That’s right, our talks with the stars and the creators — the movers and shakers — of internet-TV are now available on iTunes.  Subscribe to our videos in iTunes by clicking on the image below.

We’d love to talk to you about your show or project.  Contact us!

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Jamison Tilsner
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There’s a lot of cool happenings going on in the backyards of America.  VIMBY is capturing it on video.  It’s a place made by, of, and for creative minds where individuality and passion come together.  A lifestyle video content site spotlighting youth culture across the nation through collections of “Videos in My Back Yard.”

“We are an authority and trend setter, and we celebrate people,” says founder Dean Waters over e-mail, who came up with the idea for VIMBY after working many years in advertising and noticing “a huge void in good relevant associations for advertisers” with the younger, 18-24 demo. 

At the heart of the site is VIMBY Nation, a network of 90 or so aspiring filmmakers who are chosen through a screening process and paid to document eclectic lives and tastes.  Waters elaborates:

“We find our filmmakers through postings and word of mouth…Once they are identified we go through a screening process to make sure they have the right skill set and access to our target subcultures.  After we approve them as a filmmaker, they start exploring happenings where they live.  Our in-house producers green-light stories, the filmmaker submits their first rough cut,  producers work with the filmmaker through notes and phone conversations.  Eventually we arrive at a final piece that we buy.”

While Waters did not disclose a pay scale, he did add, “Each filmmaker needs to pump out at least two segments a month to stay in the VIMBY Nation….This is how we maintain quality and commitment.”  What does that quality look like?  Check out this vid, recommended by some of the males over here at TIlzy.TV, of this nerdcore calendar release party for an idea (it’s branded “XXX” for a lot of good-looking geeks in bikinis and one or two who are topless):

And there’s a lot more. ###

FIlmmakers, or “preditors” (they produce, edit, and shoot their own material), give us a unique glimpse into subcultures categorized on VIMBY’s friendly site: Music, Nightlife, Cars, Travel, Life, Action Sports, Alternative (aka slightly Not Safe for Work), Viral (comedy), and soon, Urban Fashion.

As diverse as these subcultures can seem, what they all have in common on VIMBY is a commitment to creativity – making one’s passion one’s own. You’ll see people like the Budos Band, a local instrumental group defining their own sound through Afro-beats; Joe Sizemore, a skateboarder cultivating a one-man show of technical tricks; and Kreatures Car Club, automobile enthusiasts who literally put their own spin on wheels by customizing vintage rides.

Not creative? Not a problem – VIMBY shows you how to experience other people’s cutting-edge endeavors. In Life, for instance, you’ll hear about a myriad of fun shops, boutiques, art galleries, and community events. And in Nightlife, you’ll get a flavor of unconventional after-hours partying, like this “altered state of mind” event in downtown L.A.

My favorite is Travel, which provides ideas on customizing our own trips, from featuring their “Local Weekend Trips for Under $500” series to introducing points of interest like the Hotel California in Santa Monica (I’m an Eagles’ fan).

It’s not hard to see that VIMBY’s preditors take their work seriously. Each clip is carefully produced; many devote 1/3 of the time to interviewing subjects and 2/3 of the time showcasing them in their element with simple but stunning montages. Though more narrative could make some of the storytelling even tighter, VIMBY does well as a sheer sit-back-and-relax, visual experience. Once you start the ride, you can rest happy that the scenery will change.

If you live in one of the 17 (and counting) “backyards” that VIMBY features, you can also access local information about your city such as calendar events, photographs, and message boards.

“Vimby’s future is all about the brand,” says Waters. And if that brand extends, we might expect more diversification on the website in the coming years, from branching out to more backyards to dipping into lesser-known subcultures. If the site stays true to its promise of showcasing quality content, participants of young creative cultures, will be able to keep following their passions for a long while over at Vimby.com.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Pearl Chen
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I got a call around 1AM in the morning a couple weeks ago from an inebriated friend in D.C.

Friend: “Dude (screaming into the phone over loud bar noise), what’s the name of that [buxom] (he used a different adjective) French maid in the move version of Clue?”
Me: “Actor or character name?” (Full Disclosure: I know everything about the move version of Clue.)
Friend: “Dude!! Just tell me wtf her name is!!!
Me: “Yvette.”
Friend: “Yvette!” (Screaming excitedly. The receiver picks up another chorus of “Yvette!” in the background, and my friend abruptly hangs up.)

I thought the interaction was a product of typical bar banter, but it could’ve very well been part of a pilot for Buzzed, an upcoming, first of its kind, “TV-style game show” produced specifically for the web.

Variety reports that video-sharing site, Metacafe is teaming up with television production company, Endemol to create between 20 to 30 two-minute episodes of the show to launch in the spring. It will feature (drunk) bar and club goers as contestants on a trivia game where real money is at stake.  In a play on “lifelines,” if a particular question surpasses a participant’s cloudy cognitive skills, he or she can “drunk dial” a clearer-minded friend for an answer.

No, it’s not classy and it’s nothing revolutionary. It’s Girls Gone Wild meets Cash Cab on the web instead of your TV. But so what?

Metacafe is no fractacular, testosterone-fueled Break.com, but it isn’t exactly the purveyor of high internet cinema. It does have the Steven Boncho produced, personal storytelling series, Cafe Confidential (Tilzy.TV page), but just a glance at its top channels will tell you what type of content runs rampant on the site (Hint: It has a lot in common with Yvettte from the movie version of Clue). I would put Endemol productions – including Deal or No Deal on old TV, and Joe Cartoon and the upcoming Gap Year on new TV– in the same category.

The majority of this stuff isn’t for cinephiles or film students. It’s specifically made to target teenagers; a market that’s already getting its entertainment kicks online. And if edited well, this new Buzzed might just be entertaining enough for older demos to tune in, too.

It’d be nice if everything created for the web used the tools of the medium to their fullest capabilities, but not everything has to.  New media companies can still be entertaining when performing old tricks.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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LX.TV, the lifestyle channel which we’ve covered on a few occasions, has found a new home at NBC.  Acquired for an estimated $10 Million, according to Paid Content, LX will ostensibly produce “cultural and lifestyle programming” across the NBC’s local media platforms, but I think the deal might also represent something similar to the CBS’ acquisition of Wallstrip and Co.  NBC needs the talent and know-how to convert their assets for the new media market, and who better to help them then the creators of a successful broadband channel with funny guest hosts like Mo Rocca….

LX.TV is a prime application of broadband video with a very narrow local niche,### in this case nightlife and lifestyle, but this same concept can be pushed in other areas of local interest.  One of the benefits of a diffused television market is increased specialization; on the local level, that means the ability to shift resources from generic, national or headline coverage to a more thorough exploration of local issues. Bob Pittman, former CEO of AOL and investor in web content companies, considers local TV stations undervalued assets that aren’t threatened by internet-video.  Though they may not be threatened, they will be forced to realign resources for audiences with an increased taste for hyper-specialization.

Mike Hudack, co-founder of Blip.tv, often speaks of an emerging middle class of television producers empowered by open distribution.  Similarly, Jeff Jarvis has predicted/promoted the emergence of hyperlocal news.  Brian Connley, creator of Alive in Baghdad (Tilzy.TV Page), envisions a future in which a larger body of middle-class producers will better explore issues of concern and consequence for America’s cities. 

So what does this have to do with the sleek-stylings of a yuppie-culture broadband TV channel?  LX.TV has developed a cost-effective system for developing high-quality compelling content about specific locations.  NBC will incorporate this content and production system into its growing cross-platform network of on-demand content as it begins to shift its resources for a competitive advantage on a level playing field.

We expect many new applications of this cost-effective, consumer-friendly sleek production. 

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Jamison Tilsner
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Re-cutting political footage for comedic effect and/or commentary has become a popular internet genre better performed by some than by others.

Mahalo Daily has provided a very useful application of this practice; I sat through all 47 minutes of George Bush’s ill-crafted drawl when the same information could have been conveyed through this simple 60-second re-cut video.

Now, for some biting commentary on the address, the mind-numbing political punditry that followed, and the state of our f&$ked-up political process,  The Ill Doctrine speaks some sense…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Jamison Tilsner
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