YouTube Year in Rewind

I try to stay pretty up on my Techno Trends and Pop Culture. Especially with my work in teens. Twitter has been good to me this year in terms of a mouthpiece to fire off quick quips or political bites. I am dutiful on my Facebook #tbt and even jumped on the Bitstrips Boat for the short time that sailed (I still find it pretty comical and it is as close as I will ever come to being a comic strip hero)

Occasionally I stumble into the void of YouTube... When searching for some rare television special or old music video that might be floating around in cyberspace. I know we have a YouTube channel for TCCAN that gets no usage or postings. But I was slightly unaware that it is a mecca all of its own with a plethora of small screen celebrities waiting for the viral blitz that will take them mainstream. Much in the way that we used to think of television as a precursor to the Silver Screen. There are tons of personalities forging a following of their own here on YouTube with little expectation of bigger things to come.

Thus I bring you the YouTube Rewind 2014 video which is a time capsule of all things video in the year. I have to honestly admit I knew the pop music cuts in the mix, but had to wait for the credits rolling at the end to figure out who the footage was of. None of them are the artists in the recording, but are memes and icons who have found their niche in the cloud. There are notable names like Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien and even Big Bird who I certainly know. Even a few wild cards like Trans-Phenom Conchita Wurst and singer Sam Tsui. But there are many rags to rag-tag stories like Tyler Oakley, Jenna Marbles, DanIsNotOnFire and MN's own Connor Franta who make daily posts that chronicle the daily adventures of their lives. Also international hitters like Hikakin, Cyprien, Sami Sliman & Andy Raconte - from corners of the globe where I have no idea what they are saying. I found great little musical parody acts like the Gregory Brothers who I will now track down. How about Epic Rap Battles where they pen weekly hip-hop rants that pair up the musings of Oprah vs. Ellen? Or Rhett & Link who call themselves Intertainers with hijinks similar to the Jackass reject storyboards. There is much to be seen, heard and learned. It takes work to stay on the cutting edge. Hopefully I am still hanging on the ledge.