Blogs and Stories
Real-Life Mario Kart and Other Crazy YouTube Stunts
3. Real-Life Mario Kart
Oh, Mario Kart, how do I love thee? In this video, Remi Gaillard, French prankster and performance artist, careens through the streets of France in a white-knuckled real-life version of the Nintendo racing game. With banana peel weaponry, a go-kart, a fake moustache, and the full range of sound effects, Gaillard reenacts the game in hilarious, bold, and, I would argue, heroic fashion in a country where many people drive as if they were in a French Connection chase scene.
4. Mega 64
If you see a guy hopping down the street in a Super Mario Bros. costume, there’s a good chance you’re being filmed (unless you’re in Times Square or Venice Beach, in which case it’s business as usual.) Mega64 is a series of low-budget, DIY comedy sketches that reenact video games on the streets of San Diego. Co-creator Derrick Acosta describes it as "Jackass with video games.” The characters interact with innocent bystanders who are understandably peeved, amused or freaked out. In a coup, they even managed to get Nintendo creator Shigeru Miyamoto in on the act.
5. Human Tetris
You know the world is running dry on ideas when Human Tetris appears on TV. In this Japanese game show, Hole in the Wall, contestants contort their bodies into improbable shapes to try to fit through a human-sized cut-out in a moving wall. If they aren’t able to fit through the hole, they’re tossed ass-backwards into a pool of water. These clips became such sensations on YouTube that the Fox network debuted an American version in September. It was pulled due to poor ratings, but the Japanese version remains a massive viral phenomenon.
Randi Zuckerberg works in marketing at Facebook, where she leads the company’s election strategy and has pioneered several large media partnerships. Included in The Hollywood Reporter’s 2008 Digital Power List, she is also a founder of The Dot Comix, an online video troupe that creates satirical videos about technology and geek culture.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
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Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
Dance Your Way to a Ph.D.
Randi Zuckerberg works in marketing at Facebook, where she leads the company’s election strategy and has pioneered several large media partnerships. Included in The Hollywood Reporter’s 2008 Digital Power List, she is also a founder of The Dot Comix, an online video troupe that creates satirical videos about technology and geek culture.
My Top 5 Videos of Turkey Gone Wrong
Randi Zuckerberg works in marketing at Facebook, where she leads the company’s election strategy and has pioneered several large media partnerships. Included in The Hollywood Reporter’s 2008 Digital Power List, she is also a founder of The Dot Comix, an online video troupe that creates satirical videos about technology and geek culture.
Online, Reality TV Gets Even More Absurd
Randi Zuckerberg works in marketing at Facebook, where she leads the company’s election strategy and has pioneered several large media partnerships. Included in The Hollywood Reporter’s 2008 Digital Power List, she is also a founder of The Dot Comix, an online video troupe that creates satirical videos about technology and geek culture.
living in japan, shows like human tetris are totally not out of the ordinary, the game shows here are all a bit on the bizarre side. the best episode of human tetris features the Korean K-1 fighter Choi Hong Man, seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM3DPELmMVw
The Mario Kart and Guitar Hero videos were brilliant. I'm not much of a video-watched online, so I hadn't seen any of these. I'll definitely be passing those two along.
I think the Human Tetris is awesome. Too bad the show didn't make it in the USA. As far as the other videos go, it's amazing what people have time for. Guess I spend too many hours working to make sure I hit all those correct colors for Guitar Hero.
Does trolling youtube really constitute a column?
Thank you.
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