Video aggregators and filters -- Motion Abbey and others

Drilling into referrals I found a vlog aggregator/filter. I knew they were out there but I didn't know how to find them. There are probably more, but Motion Abbey is for me like a saloon to a drunk. Wow! This is the kind of place that will give rise to internet addiction Twelve-Step programs.

First off, look at this.

Before you click, check this out from the New York Times...

EIGHT months ago a mysterious image showed up on YouTube, the video-sharing site that now shows more than 100 million videos a day. A sinewy figure in a swimming-pool-blue T-shirt, his eyes obscured by a beige baseball cap, was playing electric guitar. Sun poured through the window behind him; he played in a yellow haze. The video was called simply “guitar.” A black-and-white title card gave the performer’s name as funtwo.

The piece that funtwo played with mounting dexterity was an exceedingly difficult rock arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon, the composition from the turn of the 18th century known for its solemn chord progressions and its overexposure at weddings. But this arrangement, attributed on another title card to JerryC, was anything but plodding: it required high-level mastery of a singularly demanding maneuver called sweep-picking.

Over and over the guitarist’s left hand articulated strings with barely perceptible movements, sounding and muting notes almost simultaneously, and playing complete arpeggios through a single stroke with his right hand. Funtwo’s accuracy and velocity seemed record-breaking, but his mouth and jawline — to the extent that they were visible — looked impassive, with none of the exaggerated grimaces of heavy metal guitar heroes. The contrast between the soaring bravado of the undertaking and the reticence of the guitarist gave the 5-minute, 20-second video a gorgeous solemnity.

Like a celebrity sex tape or a Virgin Mary sighting, the video drew hordes of seekers with diverse interests and attitudes. Guitar sites, MySpace pages and a Polish video site called Smog linked to it, and viewers thundered to YouTube to watch it. If individual viewings were shipped records, “guitar” would have gone gold almost instantly. Now, with nearly 7.35 million views — and a spot in the site’s 10 most-viewed videos of all time — funtwo’s performance would be platinum many times over. From the perch it’s occupied for months on YouTube’s “most discussed” list, it generates a seemingly endless stream of praise (riveting, sick, better than Hendrix), exegesis, criticism, footnotes, skepticism, anger and awe.

Lots more at the Times link.

I had to turn of the CD player so I could stop to enjoy the video. And they're right. This kid's a wonder!

Okay, then.
Changing subjects...

I'm in the food business and anything about food interests me.
So this is in the category of Why-didn't-I-think-of-that-before?

Ingenious Potato Peeling Method -- You can peel a potoato skin by boiling it, then dropping it in ice water.

Gotta go now.
It's time to enjoy the Labor Day holiday.

Back again.

And shame on me. I stopped keeping up with Rocketboom a few weeks ago because I thought they were not serious enough and I wanted to keep up with the War in Lebanon, election politics, the RedBlue Christian website and other somber banalities.
Silly me.
Last Thursday's Rocketboom took a look at some "underground videos" (don't bother) and linked to Motion Abbey (cited above) and two others, apollo pony and zombo com (which I haven't figured out how to work, by the way).

I'm like a kid in a candy store.

Later -- d'oh...

I'm learning, but it's like watching a tree grow.