Ricky Gervais' Golden Globe Monologue.

Watch this video. Fall in love with Ricky Gervais all over again.

I’ve never been to any sort of entertainment awards ceremony, let alone the Golden Globes, but I hope to attend someday.  However, I have the feeling they’re just as stuffy and conservative as they look on TV. I appreciate someone, especially Ricky, coming in as host and shaking it up a bit. I truly believe comedy is an art form that needs to be taken lightly in all respects. Yes, we make jokes based on truths in order to comment on the absurdity of a situation.  Yes, these jokes are meant to lighten people’s perspectives on said situations.  No, you shouldn’t be offended if a comedian makes fun of you. Be honored.  Going off some of the crowd’s reactions in this clip, they chose the former.  It’s like when you roast someone.  The jokes are mean, cruel, and brash.  They’re also a fantastic way to let go of your own insecurities and have a laugh.  Go, Ricky Gervais.  Go, girl, go.

Here are some other highlights courtesy of Gawker.com

Ok, so there’s this renowned film critic named Roger Ebert. Some of you may have heard of him.  Well, he just listed this 3 minute YouTube video, “Idiot with a Tripod” as Oscar-Worthy. Uh…Whositwhadda??  Here are his arguments:

“This film deserves to win the Academy Award for best live-action short subject.
(1) Because of its wonderful quality. (2) Because of its role as homage. It is directly inspired by Dziga Vertov’s 1929 silent classic “Man With a Movie Camera.” (3) Because it represents an almost unbelievable technical proficiency. It was filmed during the New York blizzard of Dec. 26, and Jamie Stuart e-mailed it to me with this time stamp: December 27, 2010 4:18:18 PM CST.”

And here are my counter-arguments

• Quality. Ok the film isn’t even listed at any resolution higher than 360p. Show me something at 1080p and THEN we’ll talk.  But let’s say Roger is talking about the quality of imagery.  Ok, fine, he has some interesting shots taken with his Canon 7D, but show me a first year film student who couldn’t shoot similarly framed shots with their own Canon 7D/5D/t2i.  Maybe it’s the fact he documented this small moment in time and that’s what’s so beautiful?  Ok, sure, but let’s be honest. OSCAR-WORTHY!?
• Homage.  So you’re admitting that these 3 minutes aren’t even sprung from an original idea? “Man With A Movie Camera” is gorgeously shot, 68 minutes in length, and pushed film to new heights when it was released in 1929.  This is not innovative.
• Quick Turn-around. This is what gets my goat.  I have friends that turn out more beautiful work by the end of a standard work day.  Shit, all of the videos that we created as a part of the Samsung Mobile Explorers Program during the Olympics were written, pre-produced, shot, captured, transcoded, edited, post-produced, and published to the web in under 12 hours!  I’m not saying the quality of “vision” is any better than this, but it’s just an example of how 24 hours is NOT an example of  ”unbelievable technical proficiency”.  This guy stole someone else’s music and edited snow footage to it.  Not even that well I might add.

Dear Mr. Ebert,
If you want to see some amazing quality and  technical ability, please check out some of my YouTube friends: FreddieW, DeStorm, Mystery Guitar Man, Totally Sketch, Black Box TV, and, hell, ME.  We regularly churn out amazing work in LESS time than this guy from New York.  He just happened to email you a link to his.  Well guess what, check your inbox tomorrow. I bet you’ll realize just how wrong you’ve been.  Welcome to new media, my friend.

~Ethan Newberry

PS – Normally you’re pretty awesome.

Samsung Mobile Explorers Victory!

Well, it’s been almost 3 weeks since I have returned from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the Samsung Mobile Explorers Competition.  I miss it.  I miss the people, the city of Vancouver, and the excitement of the competition.  The question I have been getting the most from friends and family is, “So, how was it?”.  My responses have varied between, “Awesome”, “Unbelievable”, “Exhausting” and “How was what?”.

There really is no way to describe the feeling of witnessing history.  I would say that I experienced two sides to the Olympic Games, both very different and memorable for different reasons.  First of all, being in the center of all the action was an intense experience – one that I will remember always.  Every night seemed to be a bigger and better party than the night previous.  Whether it was stumbling in line for the Zip Line across Robson St., devouring massive amounts of food and drink at Korean BBQ and The Kobe House, weaving in and out of the crazy crowds on Granville Street during the nightly street parties, or slipping through the VIP access to the Olympics LIVE venue to see Deadmau5 tear up the turntables.  Vancouver managed to exceed my expectations on all levels and left me dying to get back in the near future.

The other side of the Olympic Games was one that I didn’t anticipate experiencing.  The side of the city that bonded together not only as a community but as a country.  We talked to hundreds of native Canadian residents from around the nation on the street over the course of our stay and every single one of them was enjoying “the spirit” of the games.  I’ve heard talk of “the spirit” and even thought I had seen it on TV during Olympics past.  But nothing prepared me for getting caught up in “the spirit” of an Olympic Games during my stay.  I thought I would be an outsider, looking in on a big party I couldn’t join.  The reality was, I was embraced as an outsider and by the end of my trip felt as much a part of the Canadian pride as Canadians themselves.

Hosting the Olympic Games in Vancouver, winning their first gold medal during a games hosted on home-turf, and the elite honor of winning the most gold medals in any winter olympic games in history bonded Canadians together.  I was a part of history just by being there.  It was quite an experience.  I have been telling people it was like watching a country bond together in the same respects the US bonded together post 9-11.  Everyone wanted to show you how much pride they had in any way they could.  It was humbling.  So now when people ask me, “So, how was it?” I can confidently say “The most amazing experience I’ve been a part of in a very long time”.  And with that, I’m off to enjoy spending my $24,000.  See you at the 2012 games in London!

Team Cool Kids FTW!

So we can finally announce it:  Samsung has chosen Team Cool Kids to compete in their Mobile Explorers competition up in Vancouver, Canada during the 2010 Winter Olympics!  My partner, Lindsay Harbert, and I are STOKED to have been chosen as a finalist but our work is not yet complete. We need your help. Here is the video that got us into the competition:

The competition pits Team Cool Kids up against 4 other highly qualified teams in a series of Olympic challenges involving video making, blogging, twittering, and social networking.  The challenges have yet to be announced, but you can count on them being fun!  IT’S THE OLYMPICS!  Now what are we competing for? Well, $24k, a bunch of Samsung schwag, and the potential to do more Mobile Exploring with Samsung (wait, A JOB!? YES PLEASE!).

How do we win? Another good question.  We will be graded on the following criteria: best balance of communication skills, creativity, originality, personality and social media networking capabilities in addition to audience votes and views.  This is where you come in.  We will be posting videos and promoting them while we’re up there for the competition.  We hope that you can help us by checking out these videos as they come up, vote for us, and help us come home with the big grand prize!

The best way to stay up to date with us while we’re there is to follow us on twitter, facebook, youtube, and on the Samsung USA website.

• Twitters: @teamcoolkids, @ethannewberry, @lindsayharbert, @samsungtweets
• Facebooks: Ethan’s FB, Lindsay’s FB, Samsung’s FB
• Youtube: Ethan’s YouTube, Samsung’s YouTube
• Websites: EthanNewberry.com (you’re already here), Samsung.com/MobileExplorers

I’ve also attached the Samsung Official Press Release HERE.  If you know anyone in the press, blogs, or any other way we can help spread the word about Team Cool Kids in this competition, we would be much appreciative.  Here is the second video we made prepping for the competition:

So again, thank you so much for helping us get this far.  We have the best fans in the world.  Just a little more to go and let’s win this sucker!  Stay tuned for more information!

Neil Patrick Harris wins a Streamy Award 2009!

So The Real Cool Club just wrapped our first season and we couldn’t be more excstatic.  We feel we’ve really pushed the live streaming medium to new heights and limits.  Just looking back, we’ve managed to incorporate LIVE green screen, we did a LIVE interactive murder mystery (Thanks Sandeep!), we constantly engage our interactive audiences with challenges and opportunities to work themselves into the show, we did an 80′s sitcom callback episode, drag episode, celebrity guests and so much more.  This was just the first season, people!

Now here’s what we’d love: to win a Streamy Award.  The Real Cool Club fits into nearly every category that they are listing this year, and we truly feel that with a zero dollar budget we’ve managed to do more than anyone else out there.  We have a lot to be proud about.  But we’d love some of your help to win an award to bring back to our mantles at the end of the day.  It wouldn’t be just The Real Cool Club’s award, it would be OUR award – you included.  Obviously the show would not be where we are today if it wasn’t for our fantastic live viewers and fans.  We love you.

Click here to vote for THE REAL COOL CLUB at Streamy.org

So here’s the deal, nominations have begun on the Streamy Awards website (Http://Streamys.org) and we’d be honored if you would jump over and vote for The Real Cool Club in as many categories as you see fit.  The best part is that you can vote once a day in every category, so keep doing it up until the deadline of January 15th!  Okay, here are some categories we’d love to win:

• “Best Hosted Web Series”
• “Best Comedy Web Series”
• “Best Live Production in a Web Series”
• “Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series”
• “Best NEW Web Series”
• “Best Branded Entertainment Web Series”
• “Best Experimental Web Series”
• “Best Web Series Host — Ethan Newberry”
• “Best Art Director — Ethan Newberry”
• “Best Celebrity Appearance in a Web Series — Debra Skelton, The Real Cool Club   or  Sandeep Parikh, The Real Cool Club  or  Alan Thicke, The Real Cool Club”

What do you guys say?  Want to help the lil engine that could win a big giant award? Please??  Finally, promote it on your twitter.  Include @streamyawards and @TheRealCoolClub.  This helps spread the word.  Thanks!