Posts Tagged "youtube"
Halloween and Nonna Maria!
I had a pretty surreal Halloween. In case you’re wondering what I went as, just refer to my latest Nonna Maria video and you’ll know. In case you don’t know, yes, I’m Nonna Maria’s puppeteer. I provide her with her voice and actions. I channel the little old lady inside me. It helps when I put on some granny panties and walk around, just to help me get into character. Okay, seriously. Here’s a little back story to Nonna Maria.
As random as it would seem, Nonna Maria is not something born out of nowhere but rather an idea that had been festering and has been brought to life. We asked the question – “what can we add to Italian comedy?” Nonna Maria is our answer. I’ve worked a lot with Italian comedians – namely the Calabrese duo Pasquale and Rosina Parmigianno who’s videos can be found easily on YouTube. Their most famous video being the one where they have to turn to OnStar for help and instead get chewed out by the gay OnStar representative. I was behind all the animated elements of those videos. It was fun too do but grew very tedious by the 8th video in which the formula was very apparent ( Pasquale + Rosina + Conflict + Italian Swear Words = Skit ). The greatest thing I had against those videos were that they weren’t mine. I mean, sure, I animated them but the audio was all provided. I had no say in the story, conflict, or development of characters.
Frank Spadone introduced me to Pasquale and Rosina Parmiggiano. Frank is the awesome Torontonian comedian who has found a comfortable space in the niche of Italian comedy. You can find my animated version of one of his songs on YouTube. Frank is really what inspired me to take a look into the world of comedy, starting with Italian comedy. My music video for one of his songs was basically some born from just being a fan of Frank and wanting to help him get his name out there via the internets. I met Frank when I was ushering at a theater in St.Leonard – he was the opening act for the famous Australian-Italian comedian Joe Avati. Frank opened up to night after night of sold out shows to predominately Italian crowd. Years later, Frank would headline his own show and easily pack the place. Check out more of Frank’s stuff on YouTube.
I always remained the dude who worked in the background. The guy who would take your skit and turn it into an animation. I was the Lady Gaga of Italian comedy (holy shit, a Lady Gaga reference). Even now, you really don’t see my face in the skit. I still remain in the background, a mystery. I kinda like it that way. This is what lead to my Halloween costume which was basically me, dressed all in black, carrying around Nonna Maria who was in her Dave costume.
Here's MJ, a Gypsy, Nonna Maria as Dave, and some random dude in black.
It wasn’t until Halloween that I realized how big Nonna Maria really was. Nonna Maria’s is doing pretty well on YouTube. Her most popular video has amassed over 30,000 views and continues to grow. When you think about it, 30,000 pairs of eyeballs have watched only one of Nonna Maria’s videos. That’s like one Bell Center that’s illegally over capacity. That doesn’t even count group viewings, as I heard of many stories where groups of people get drunk and watch Nonna Maria. However, those were just ways of rectifying it in my head. The real impact of all this hit me on Halloween when people I didn’t even know recognized her and took pictures with her. Even in her costume, people knew that she was Nonna Maria. I heard that it’s also the most popular thing at my former High School. How ironic, it took my 8 years after I graduated to finally be the most popular thing at High School. The most surreal thing was running into someone at the Halloween party dressed as Nonna Maria. Not sure what to make of it when you meet someone dressed as one of your characters. I’ve never really dealt with this amount of success before. It feels a little dangerous. Almost as if something wrong can veer it in the wrong direction. Either way, I’m learning bit by bit.
One thing I can’t get over is the fans. The fans are awesome. Consisting mostly of High School students, they repeat Nonna Maria’s most famous phrases with such ease. They know every video, some of them by heart. One girl told me how she watches Nonna Maria to cheer her up. My friend’s nephew (who’s a little over 1) recites her most famous quotes while he’s in the bath. This all takes me back to when Nonna Maria was just an idea and down on a piece of paper I had the question – “What do you want to accomplish with Nonna Maria?” I wrote down, “I want to make people laugh.”
That was it, simply enough, I wanted to make people laugh and add just that little bit of happiness to their day. After what I witnessed on Halloween it seems I’m well on my to accomplishing that. Also, I’ve proven to myself that if you really do what you love the most, the rest will fall into place. Thank you everyone who’s watched a Nonna Maria, sent it to a friend, got drunk and watched it in a group, told me how much you love Nonna Maria, told me how sexy you think Dave looks as Nonna Maria, sent me comments, suggestions, anything. I love hearing from the fans!!
Thanks again and as Nonna Maria would say, ” I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!”
Time Traveling and The Internets.
Late one night, I sat and I contemplated. I thought long and hard. I stared at my ceiling fan. I paced back and forth in my room. Then I asked the internet, “what is the internet.”
The internet (wikipedia) replied with this:
The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available servers and other computers by moving information from them to the computer’s local memory. The same connection allows that computer to send information to servers on the network; that information is in turn accessed and potentially modified by a variety of other interconnected computers. A majority of widely accessible information on the Internet consists of inter-linked hypertext documents and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW). Computer users typically manage sent and received information with web browsers; other software for users’ interface with computer networks includes specialized programs for electronic mail, online chat, file transfer and file sharing.
Wow. Thanks Internet. You really answered my question… NOT!
No, I’m talking about what really makes the internet. It’s not computers, megabytes, or megapixels. It’s the people. It’s people like you and me. People like Kevin Rose and Mark Zuckerface. People who like to burp out the theme to Super Mario Bros. or stick jars up their asses. The internet is ALIVE.
Now, let’s go back to when there was no internet (it’ll be hard but bear with me). Let’s go back to ancient times when the natives roamed these lands and the Americas had yet to be discovered. These natives hunted, lived in tribes, made snow shoes out of racoons, etc. It has been said that when the first ships from Europe arrived at the shores of America, the natives didn’t see them because they didn’t comprehend them. Basically, to these natives, giant ships that sail across the oceans were something that was never fathomed or thought about. It was something unimaginable, mysterious. It would be as if U.F.Os are completely different entities then what Hollywood makes us believe they are. If we can’t comprehend or visualize something how could we manifest it in our lives? These natives studied the waters and saw the waves lapping in different ways, they felt a presence, and slowly they began to understand the ships and, therefore, be able to see them.
I think technology and the internet is presenting us with an equivalent situation that the natives ran into back when the ships hit their shores. Technology is allowing our ideas to evolve at a lightning pace. It is allowing us to evolve faster and faster. Eventually leading use to micro-evolve by the minute. Each minute would be a new epiphany, a new evolution. The internet is a perfect example of how ideas manifest. It’s my belief that when you get an idea it’ll manifest itself through any means possible. Perhaps it’s happened to you already that you thought of an idea and later saw that idea manifested in real life, making you point at your idea and say “HEY! I thought of you first!!” It’s kind of like when you start reminiscing about an old Simpsons episode and then you’ll find that episode playing on TV the week later.
Let’s talk a little about the brain now. It’s said that the brain and the subconscious cannot distinguish what’s real (happening in the present moment) from what’s not (being stuck in a memory). For example, right now, think of a vacation you went on and really try to put yourself there on that beach, in that pool, on the ski hill, wherever it was. Feel the environment around. Smell the air. Hear the sounds. Order another Sex on the Beach. See,when you think of a vivid memory and put yourself there, just because you’re not physically there your brain actually thinks you are. The same physical things that happened when you were on vacation also happen when you relive that memory. Here’s where I’m going with this: the internet can be seen as a possibility for time travel. Did I lose you? No, okay, good. Now, I don’t mean flux-capacitor equipped Delorean time travel, no, I’m talking about a mental time travel. Let’s take YouTube as an example. Ever been on YouTube and stumble upon a clip of an old TV show that you completely forgot about? What arises is that nostalgic feeling, you’re taken back to that place. Maybe you were a kid and your brother always used to steal the remote and would refuse to watch anything but “The Cosby Show.” Well, since the mind thinks this is real (and the ego or the secondary voice doesn’t) then wouldn’t that be seen as a sort’ve time travel? Now that everyone’s hooked up to cameras and media creation technology, we’re basically find ways to capture the moment. I’d like to think of this as adding points and moments to your past. You can travel to these moments any time simply by watching/listening/looking at them. Now, we’ve always had pictures, music, and video but with the internet you’re presented with the idea of looking at things from the perceptions of others. Going back to events that changed history. Watching things that make you relive your past. You can also run into new ideas (playing the Super Mario Bros. song with an RC car is one that comes to mind). So you have this ability to touch base with things that give texture to your past as well as run into completely new, unfathomable ideas (like why I guy would stick a jar up his ass).
I know I went all existential on your ass with this post but only because this really interests me. The internet is further proof of this collective conciousness that we all share. It’s as if it’s mapping it out.
Okay, I’m done. What are your thoughts?
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