The latest in this series of “Pam is baffled” is an interview of a blogger who covers family and parenting topics from a highly personal point of view. Heather Armstrong, who runs dooce.com, is a popular blogger who has managed to turn her website into a family business with annual profits that are enough to support the family. Pretty good job, I’d say, for any small business.

She’s now also published a book, which led to the interview on Good Morning America. The piece begins with a taped report on the phenomenon of “mommy blogging,” and then goes to the studio for an interview with Anderson. What baffled me about the interview was that the pov of the two interviewers was totally bogged down in “how could you do this to your kid and family?” Anderson was very articulate, very engaging, and very intelligent in all her answers, despite the fairly accusatory nature of the questions. Basically, the interviewers seemed offended that Anderson makes money writing about her daily life with her daughter.

It’s certainly not unique, nor even new, that parents can make a living from their kids. Child actors are exhibit number one. It’s also not new for parents to write publicly about their kids - Erma Bombeck, anyone? The permanent nature of the internet is not anything new either - films certainly live a long time and so do published books and even newspaper columns. So I’m at a loss to find any coherent reason for the “concern” shown about blogging on your kids.

But, here are my top possibilities for non-coherent, non-sensical reasons for the “concern:”

1. Unlike most print publications, blogs are not subject to editing, feedback, or review before they are published, which can lead to rash and unconsidered posts if the bloggers are not careful.
2. Women are not supposed to make money from traditional or exclusively female activities (after all, what else explains the fact that you can sell sperm but not eggs)
3. Some people just don’t get it.

See what you think about this story.

For all that, though, our candy making is fairly rudimentary. Candy making is a fine art, one that requires precision and care. Which is why fine candies are so very intriguing.

The video below shows a true “lolliologist” at work, making a wonderfully unique hard candy with words written in the middle. You’ll be amazed at how they accomplish this.

It is a classic piece of insanity.

There’s an old fiction writing exercise that involves the task of taking a random list of objects and working them into a story. A friend of mine who throws great parties told me the secert to a good party is to invite a mix of people from disparate worlds. The cable show “The Surreal Life” took this concept and created a whole series out of it - take random people from different walks of life (only requirement being that they have some sort of celebrity status), make them live together in close quarters for a while, and see what happens. Road movies are all about the premise of putting mismatched couples into a situation where they have to work together, and waiting for the story.

My point is, as bizarre as this video is, it really isn’t that different from many, many other creative works that people have created. It’s weirder, no doubt about it, but not really that much different. Does it work? Well, I found it oddly compelling. Not seven minutes worth of compelling, but I found myself, after the initial open mouthed puzzlement, smiling at the joy in the dance. Is it really all that different than the secret dances you do in your bathroom, or even in the kitchen when nobody else is home?

Here’s another weirdo for you.

Well, if this guy hasn’t mastered it all, I don’t know who has, I mean, Completely ! Everything from jumping off of roofs to jumping onto roofs, he’s got all of the moves you’ve ever wanted. Watching this video may convince you to believe that you can do it yourself.

I actually want to give it a try and just do one of the things that this guy does. Its my goal to do a backflip off of a wall, meaning that I run up a wall (in theory) and do a backflip as I (theoretically) jump off the wall. The only thing I need to do to complete my goal is to practice practice, practice :!:

I hope you enjoyed by little banter here at Youtube Digger, hope to see you next time :D

Technorati Tags: Urban Ninja, Youtube Videos, Urban Ninja Youtube

This video shows a battle between two street dance crews on some kind of organized event, but I thought the two primary dancers were exceptionally good - especially the guy in white.

He’s the first guy that dances - and the guy that does most of the dancing - is amazingly springy. I want springs on my feet, too. I wonder if they’re stick-ons or if he had them surgically implanted?

Wandering around youtube to discover that such a cute baby existed wasn’t to hard for your average joe, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the video shown is going to be an average joe video. Well, whatever it is that makes this video good, maybe its the laughter of the baby, will definitely make you smile when you see this.

I believe its a well stated situation in Psychology that when you see another person laugh, you are just as likely to have a happy thought when you see that person laugh, I don’t know if its entirely true for you, but when I see this video, its completely true to me.

Well, here I am off once again to find some more videos that catch the interests of my inner-self, I’ll keep posting as long as long as I can find things, and believe me I will find them, because, of course, it is the large database of Youtube that I am search. (Not to mention metacafe, and megavideo as well…)

Technorati Tags: Laughing baby, Youtube Videos, Laughing Baby Youtube Videos, baby Ding

As a soccer player myself, I’ve found it hard to hit the top post of a soccer goal even 2 times in a row. I’ll be able to get it once if I’m really really lucky, but chances are, as most novice players find it, that the ball will go over the post. So, how does Ronaldinho hit the post not 3 but 4 times :!:

That deserves the credit that it is getting, its one of the most viewed videos on youtube and now I know why ! I applaud this guy who has made the most viewed videos on youtube only because he is a professional at what he does and wouldn’t be there if he couldn’t do what he does.

I hope you enjoyed the daily video here at Youtube Digger. Hope to see you next time :D

Okay, so I am simply pre-occupied with this one because I’ve been playing guitar for a couple years now, and still have no idea how this guy learned this so fast and could play this so well. Of course, I can try to play the intro to this on my acoustic, but it still doesn’t sound the same as how this guy does.

There are plenty versions of Canon Rock played on youtube, but this one is by far the best of them all. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you can never see this guys face, so its all mysterious and whatnot. Anyways, another noted Youtube video has been noted, so now on to more Youtube Videos! See ya next time on Youtube Digger :!:

Her obsession extends to collecting pictures of favorite characters off of the web. She has large photo album files of various characters, ranging from shots of the actors in and out of character to cartoon and odd anime versions of the characters. And she also spends hours combing YouTube for homemade video montages of the series. There has sprung up a huge community of amateur film editors producing music videos, parodies, memorials, and all kinds of other “things” based on Harry Potter, all of it available on YouTube. Here are some notable bits.

Harry Potter scenes with South Park voices dubbed in.

The Harry Potter Rap

Wal-Mart invades the Magical World

A Memorial

When my kids were little, the Street had started to have guest appearances from some very big celebrities, including many musicians and bands. They always perform one of their big songs, but with some sort of Street twist on it. Many of them have been extremely clever, but none more so than REM’s Street rendition of “Shiny, Happy People,” originally released on their 1991 album “Out of Time.” The Street version is called “Happy Furry Monsters (having fun).” The whole band performs it in the midst of a crowd of happy (wait for the twist!) bouncing muppet monsters. Keep your eye out for guitarist Peter Buck, here on banjo, trying not to laugh while a big yellow muppet cuddles up to him.