A Dramatic Surprise in a Quiet Part of Town

What's trending this week is a video that has gained 6 million views in under 2 days! It's being compared to the viral video "Kony 2012" with its mass views. I have to admit, after watching this video, I got pumped.

The creators and host of the video is a television broadcaster called "TNT". They focus mostly on drama shows. You can visit their website at http://www.tntdrama.com/. This video is actually a commercial for their program and so far it's been working. Publicity for this video has increased drastically. I can assure you that the marketing team is going to be really happy with their results.

The video takes place in a quiet square in Belgium. It's filmed in a town that never has any action. So what TNT has decided to do, was place a random red button in the center of the town square and hope for people to push it. They place an arrow above the button that says "press to add drama". The idea was to promote curious people into pushing the button. Once a person pushes the button, a lot of craziness happens. For example, an ambulance comes speeding in grabbing a man in a stretcher out of a near restaurant. The ambulance then speeds off with the doors open and the guy in the stretcher comes flying out. The town barely sees any exciting things, so a crowd forms due to word of mouth! I'm not going to ruin the rest, take a look.

Watch the video for yourself and let me know what you think!

Nyan Cat.. what did I just watch?

I have just watched this very strange video.. and apparently, this video that has been watched over 70 million times is celebrating it's one year anniversary.

The video is called Nyan Cat. It looks to be an animated gif that includes a Japanese pop tune combined into some strange looped animation. After extensive research, I have come to find out that the song is a remix of a Hatsune Miku song. This clip has comments like "this song is ear rape" and "My brain is hiding behind the sofa but the rest of me is boogying! :)"(Yup... read the comments yourself)

This clip was released one year ago and blew up to become one of YouTube's top 10 most-viewed videos of 2011. This weird video/song has appeared on comedy networks "Tosh.0" blog with Daniel Tosh making fun of it. There have been many re-created parodies, remixes and covers for this song. Believe it or not, but there's a 100 hour version of this song that has been released. (I guess some guy hated pressing the replay button) This 100 hour video has 6 million views.

Looking at the YouTube data, this video averages roughly around 1 million views per week over the past year.. That's impressive.

I'd like to meet the guy who thought of the idea to create a half cat, half toaster pastry flying into a rainbow space with a speed-up japanese song. Kudos to you sir.
Let me know what you think about this video..

Justin Bieber - Boyfriend

What's trending this week is a video that has been watched/listened to by 5 million people(March 29th). The video was posted on Monday, which means that it gained that many views in just 3 days of its release.

This video isn't really meant to be watched, but to be listened to instead. The video is song. Looking at the background of the video, we can see that the singer is quite obvious, Mr. Justin Bieber. I'm sure 80% of the population has heard of this young superstar. Plus, he's the only one who usually sings about love, being a girl’s boyfriend and missing girls (of course).

I’m personally a fan of this kid. Why? Because I'm not the type of person to hate on someone for being successful. I am proud of how far he's come, being 18 and making $53 million dollars last year. I'm sure we can all agree that being average sucks. People say if we find a job that pays more than $50,000 dollars a year “we're lucky”. Back to the topic, what made me gain respect was the way he promoted his new song. Justin used many different marketing techniques to increase the "hype" of his new single. For example, he made twitter posts about his song "boyfriend" and how it’s going to be insane. He even created a count down on his website for its release. He also went on radio stations and TV personalities like Ellen to release 15 second clips of what the song sounds like. He reached the top trending on Twitter worldwide for 3 days in a row (don’t quote me, it could have been longer). Unfortunately, there were so many different techniques that I forget some. However, I still managed to point out the majority.

Justin keeps making more money year after year. I respect him for the fact that he’s not singing for money, but just because he wants to. If Justin really wanted to retire and relax with all his money; he could, but he doesn’t. He continues to sing because he enjoys to.

So what do you guys think? Check out the song and let me know.

Bromance - Nothing Really Gay About it

I’ve dedicated this week to men who are “really” close with their friends and gay guys who are happy in their relationships (why not).

What's trending this week is a video that currently holds 1.1 million views (March 22). The video was uploaded yesterday. Therefore, making this video only a few hours old... wow. It's been seen on Smosh Articles, an online video database that posts popular videos.

According to wikipedia, bromance is a 'close non-sexual relationship between two (or more) men, a form of homosocial intimacy'. There has also been research conducted that shows recent generations of men who were raised by feminist mothers are less masculine and express emotions more openly to friendships. I've also noticed that the amount of celebrities who have joined in a bromance relationship have gotten quite popular now. For example, George Clooney and Brad Pitt have become very close after the shooting of "Ocean's Eleven". Another example would be Seth Rogen and James Franco. You can find numerous articles of them hanging out and just spending time with each other. How cute.

The video opens with 5 guys playing pool when one of the guys has to leave. The guy whose leaving says bye to each friend very sexually that makes one friend speak out about it. The other four guys explain to the friend who's confused that its very normal and that they're "best friends". The four guys look at each other contemplating on what the word is called where men really like each other. Then all of a sudden, the music video starts with a guy shouting "bromance". Watch the video for yourself. It's quite funny!

Jimmy Kimmel Live Presents - Movie: The Movie

What's trending this week is a video by Jimmy Kimmel live that currently holds 14 million views (March 15 2012).

Jimmy is always looking for ways to make people laugh. So, just recently, Jimmy decided to put together “something that packs everything moviegoers love” into one “spectacular motion picture event.” He released this 9-minute trailer on February 26 that apparently holds numerous genres packed in one film. Is this even possible?!

This late night comedian lined up numerous actors to participate in this "joke" of a movie for a post-Oscars show. The majority of these celebrities are: Kevin James, Gary Oldman, Taylor Lautner, Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Phillippe, Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell, Charlize Theron, George Clooney, John Krasinski, Tom Hanks, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Ed Norton, Jason Bateman, Jon Hamm and Tyler Perry. I am missing a few, I know I am!

In this hilarious film, we can expect to see Samuel L. Jackson in a snake filled plane again as well as things we would never expect to see like Matt Damon wearing an amazing costume and Gary Oldman as a centaur. (That's right, I said Centaur). Just when you think it couldn't get anymore strange, Tyler Perry plays George Washington and Gabourey Sidibe as Black Hitler! Yeah, that explains all the views.

It's a shame that Jimmy stated that we'll never actually see the completed version of “Movie: The Movie” since the film has not yet been filmed. Nevertheless, this 9-minute trailer is just as awesome.

So what do you think? What was your favourite celebrity cameo?


                                        

KONY 2012

This weeks most shared and talked about video made the world record of the the fastest growing views in 24 hours. I had taken a screenshot of the views on Thursday March 7th which was 7.3million views. I have taken another screenshot of the views today (Saturday March 10th 2012) which totals to 66 million views worldwide. For a video to gain views this quickly in only 5 days of its release, makes this the most viral video in internet history.

For those who don't know what Kony 2012 is, it's a film created by Invisible Children, a not-for profit organization founded in 2004 to bring awareness to the practices of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa, and its leader, Joseph Kony.

The goal of this film was to bring awareness to the LRA and how they perform actions that include abductions and abuse of children, and forcing them to serve as soldiers at a young age. The video asks the viewers of a small favour, the favour was to talk about "Kony" and to make him "famous". According to the narrator of the video, 99% of the population didn't know who he was a week ago. Their goal is to make him so internationally known that America will see him as threat and arrest him for his violent actions. In order to do this, the video and the not-for-profit organization Invisible Children ask us to "cover the city" in posters and stickers of Joseph Kony on April 20 of this year. There are twitter campagins and facebook groups gathering supporters for many known cities already (Vancouver, Toronto, Los Angelas).

The video was such a success, Invisible Children's website www.kony2012.com crashed shortly after it began gaining widespread popularity due to its intense exposure internationally. The video was the top trending on twitter for 2 days in a row and is still one of the trends today. The video has also seen by a number of celebrities agreeing with this message such as Taylor Swift, Bill Gates, Nicki Minaj, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Christina Milian.

The group has created action kits that include campaign buttons, posters, bracelets, and stickers to help spread awareness.If you would like to help spread awareness for Joseph Kony, you can visit their website at www.kony2012.com.

JK Wedding Dance, Indian Style?

This weeks most-shared and most-viewed video is about an Indian couple getting married inside the Sri MahaMariamman Temple in Singapore. This video has sparked 1.3 million views (Feb 28 2012) Could the reason for this video being popular be because its similar to the 2009's "JK Wedding Dance"?

For those who don't know the JK Wedding Dance, I will post both videos below for you to view. It is still today's most-viewed wedding video on YouTube. The video takes place inside a Minnesota church. It opens with family and friends waiting for the bridesmaids and best men to walk down the alter. We the viewer and guests expect to hear typical wedding bells and piano sounds; However, it is replaced by Chris Brown's "Forever". It shocks us the viewers as well as the audience there. The bride and groom dance and act all goofy which makes the video worth watching. This is definitely not what you expect from a wedding. The video sparked over 70 million views till this day.

I assume the Indian couple has watched this video before, because they seem to do a similar opening. Even though I've never seen an Indian-style wedding, I enjoyed watching this one. The song may not be by Chris Brown, but I still find it amusing. They seem to have chosen a song from some Tamil language Indian action-comedy film. The reaction by both audiences are both similar in a way. I give respect to this couple for breaking tradition and making news!

                                      

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more.

The "Cinnamon Challenge"

What's trending this week is an internet meme that has attracted millions across the web. For those who don't know what an internet meme is, I'll quote UrbanDictionary.com for you. According to them an 'Internet Meme' is "a word, phrase, expression, iconic imagery or recognizable reference popularized amongst online communities such as on forums or in online games".

So, back to the topic, this "online trend" is a challenge that is directed to anyone. This challenge requires a person to eat or swallow a tablespoon of ground cinnamon in under 60 seconds without drinking any form of liquid. Although this challenge sounds quite simple, it's not. Cinnamon is known to dry out the mouth; therefore, making it hard for the contestants to not drink anything. Those who surpass the challenge unfortunately do not win anything. However, they do get bragging rights.

The video that I will be posting is the most viewed "Cinnamon Challenge" video to date. It currently holds 6.5 million views (Feb 23rd 2012). The video is posted by "GloZell" a YouTube veteran who is known for her criticizing videos. She has started many trends herself with videos of her personal opinions that happen to get people talking. I wasn't much of a fan of hers because I found her to be "fake" and just "camera freindly". However, I personally find this video hilarious and understand why it's the most viewed video for a reason. I give credits to GloZell for trying the cinnamon challenge and can now say that I like her a whole lot better. Hope you all take the time to view the video and who knows, maybe you can try it out yourself and see if you can do it?

Facebook Parenting: For the Troubled Teen

What's trending this week is a video that has EXPLODED in just 5 days! It currently holds 20 Million views in under a week. It is the most talked about video of the month hands-down. It is called Facebook Parenting: For the trouble teen.

The video opens with a father who records himself sitting on a wooden lawn chair smoking a cigarette while holding a piece of paper. He then explains to us how he has done a lot for his 15 year old daughter and how she doesn't respect him after all the things he does. He tells us that his daughter has blocked him and his wife from Facebook to see any of her posts. However, he goes on about how she posted on her status saying how her parents are lazy, don't do anything for her and treat her like garbage. She wrote all of this thinking her father wouldn't see, however he seem to have found a way. He explains on the video of what part of the letter is true or not and what chores she exactly does. Long story short, he trys to teach her a lesson about disrespecting her family, so what he does to make her realize what she was done was shocking. He pulls out a gun which he calls a "45" which I'm assuming is also known as a "Colt 45" and shoots 7 bullets into her laptop.

The video has sparked thousands of comments. Some agreeing with his technique while others are not. I personally believe what he did was right, he purchased the laptop, therefore it makes it his property. He can do whatever he wants with it. He also managed to find a way to teach his daughter a lesson without laying one finger on her, kudos to that man for opening teenagers eyes about what the world has to offer. He is being called nicknames like "godlike" and "Chuck Norris". (I can see that).

The original video is posted as well as the YouTube insights.

Highly Anticipated Videos "Mirror" and "Turn Me On"

The highly anticipated videos "Mirror" by Lil Wayne and Bruno Mars has just been released this week and currently has 9.8 Million views. During this time as well, David Guetta has also released his newest video featuring Nicki Minaj called "Turn Me On" which currently holds 6.5 Million views. These music videos can now be seen on Television including networks like "Much Music" and "Much More Music".

These songs were monster hits when they first came to air on the radios and everyone was talking about it. After a couple of months pass, newer songs get played and the songs become forgotten. However, now that the music video has just been released a couple months after the song has, the attention has now returned. Is it a marketing scheme? I think so. I think it's smart because if you release the video and song during the same time, months later it will be forgotten. This way, you release the song first and wait a bit for the hype to slow down. Once the hype is down, the producers then release the video to bring the hype back up. This increases revenue and gets people talking more.

These videos are the top trending this week because a lot of people seem to be talking about it. I myself, could learn a few techniques from these producers. Sometimes we may not see it, but marketing techniques are everywhere. This is probably a few things that actually got me interested in pursuing this field. Enough about me though. These trending videos will be talked about for awhile, let's just see how much attention it will actually get.

I thank Lil Wayne and David Guetta for releasing these videos and getting us all listening to these songs again.

Sh*t [Fill in Name Here] Say

What's trending this week are videos about things that people say and don't say. It sounds alittle far fetched I know, but don't worry. These videos are super hot right now and seems to be spreading fast. A lot of people seem to be jumping on the opportunity and making these videos.

An example and my personal favourite, would be by IZZO productions, "Shit Guys Don't Say"

These videos usually contain 1-4 second clips of people speaking and saying things that you wouldn't normally hear or things that you hear too frequently. These videos also contain random shots of people speaking out in different locations and situations which also add to the comedy. Personally, I think these videos are getting over played and too many people are jumping on the bandwagon. I have just did a search on youtube and found atleast 10 or more of these similar videos. I give credits to the first and ORIGINAL poster of the video that started this revolution.

What proves that this has been a huge trend would be the fact that you type in "Sh*t" on Google search, Google recommends 3-4 different Sh*t my dad says and Sh*t girls say. What makes these videos so popular is the fact of how easy they are to create. All the person has to do,  is create a YouTube account and record them saying stupid or funny things, and who knows maybe it might attract over 100,000 viewers for it.

It's amazing that once a trend starts, it's funny and new to you, however, after a while.. it gets old and tends to be boring. A similar example would be listening to a good song on the radio and then after a couple weeks of the radio "over playing" that song, the "feeling" just isn't the same. My tip to all you YouTube-rs, stop making these videos! They're getting old. Thank you.

Stay posted for more.

Chicago boy beaten by 6 other kids

What’s trending this week is a video that shows 6 high school kids beating on 1 Asian kid. This video has become an international hit with talks of donations being sent to the victim’s house.

The video was recorded by a female accomplice. She uploaded the video on YouTube the day of the attack. Although the camera operator is looked at as an "accomplice" People must know that without her help, nobody would have known about the attack at all.

Moments after the video had been posted comments were already being posted about the fight. It had spread like a virus and became an instant hit. It brought awareness to bullying and how it can have permanent effects on an individual. CBS Chicago News and NBC Chicago have spoken about the matter. Area 1 Police Headquarters in Chicago say they have 6 in custody and are looking for 2 more who were apart of the attack. The victim had been reported to be in the hospital recovering with just minor cuts and bruises.

Although the poor boy had gotten beaten up, I think that this was a good thing because it has brought bully awareness globally. My heart goes out to the victim’s family and I think that the boys are getting what they deserve. I will comment on this blog once I find out what caused the 6 boys to beat on the Asian boy.

Trending is interesting because it can vary from many things, just a few months back we were all talking about Rebecca Black and her “Friday” video. It goes to show how amazing information travels. Hope the boy makes it home safe and knows that he has people on his side.

The video was originally posted by: 52ohatelove which was the camera operator

A link to Huffington Post newspaper: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/chicago-teen-beating-video_n_1211460.html?ref=chicago

Yours truly,
TR3NDMASTER.