Blake Snow

writer-for-hire, content guy, bestselling author
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Part-time vlogger: These are my most popular YouTube videos

I launched a YouTube channel several years ago solely out of curiosity.

To date I’ve uploaded 38 videos, half of which are songs from my debut record.

Most of my videos have a few dozen total views, but a few surprisingly have numbered in the thousands. They are as follows:

  1. Underdog swing fail. This is a six second video of my youngest son kicking the camera out of my hand after attempting an underdog. It has 123,000 views!
  2. Newfoundland road trip. This is a three and a half minute video of my road trip through Newfoundland with my brother-in-law Clay. It has 2,000 views.
  3. Utah Lake: We found the elusive Bird Island by jet-ski. This is a 30 second video of my buddy Garrit and I happening upon a bird filled island several years ago. It has 376 views.
  4. Backpacking the Uintas: 5 men, 1 mountain, lots of fish. This is a 3 minute video of a recent backpacking trip with friends. it has 354 views.
  5. Super Cover performing “Lonely Boy” by Black Keys. This is a 3 minute video of my cover band playing after only a couple of practices. It has 212 views.

Thanks for watching!

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This performance gives me chills and makes me smile every time I watch it

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqrn2q3WCS8[/youtube]

I get it. These guys are overplayed. The Old Navy of Rock ‘N Roll. Maybe even a bit pompous.

But if the above video doesn’t alter your opinion of said musicians, you’re a snob.

DISCLOSURE: U2 doesn’t make my top 10 or even top 20 band list. But I still believe they’re deserving of much of their success. This is my favorite song of theirs. And Achtung Baby is a ’90s masterpiece.

Click: A few of my favorite links this month

link

In an effort to reduce the spam I email to friends and family, take this:

See, I told you Provo is magic

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N2LwP5X2Z4[/youtube]

Just watching this reminds me of Turk Malloy’s comment, “I think you’d dig Provo. You could do well there.”

It’s been 10 years since I moved to Provo. After seeing it from almost every angle, it still stops me in its tracks. This short video is no different.

I think that’s what happens when you find a place you truly fall in love with, wherever that may be.

Call that a yo-yo? This is a yo-yo

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sCb4sAoOMs[/youtube]

I like the part where he yo-yos. And slips knots. And wears really cool high tops.

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Clever ad: Turning the tables on obsessive geek culture

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVkH9Hgvda4[/youtube]

Using iOS is still less of a pain than using Android. That is, the form is still better.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the attached ad is incredibly effective in speaking to the majority of smartphone users who don’t appreciate, nor do they want to associate with, the millions of off-putting Apple fans parodied above.

In any case, wouldn’t it be great if phones could go back to being useful tools rather than modern day golden calves?

Humans do really cool things

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYsZ_R6EzO4[/youtube]

I had a bit of a moment connecting with humanity last week. After taking in popular YouTube videos on Flip Board, I was impressed by all the random talent on display.

Not a cat video in sight.

For example, amateur acrobats eschewing the laws of gravity (shown). Surfers hitching a ride on mother nature’s back. Engineers constructing 100 year old dams in Washington,then blowing them up. An elite basketball star mingling with the hoi polloi of Stillwater, Oklahoma, where I lived for half my adolescence (and even used to buy Air Jordans at DuPrees, the small sporting goodies store where Durrant got his impromptu flag football jersey).

The list goes on.

Like Rémy from my favorite Pixar movie says, “Humans don’t just survive, they discover, they create.”

Group hug!

Rockstar endorsements make my religion slightly less peculiar

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PF0h7oqUEQ[/youtube]

I’d be a Mormon even if one of the most poetic, influential, and “let’s bring keyboards and saxophones back” rockstars of the last decade wasn’t.

Plus, if I wanted to align myself closer with celebrity thinking, there are a lot more popular, less demanding belief systems in existence to boost my status.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to have Brandon Flowers of The Killers publicly casting his lot with mine. If anything, he rocks a religious promotional video better than other celebrities.

Of course, religion, following Christ, or believing in God will never be cool. Nor should it be. Depending on the community, persecution rightfully comes with the territory. (How else would deity test the faith of its followers?)

Nevertheless, it’s nice to have backup. Superstar DJs very much included.

We now return to regularly schedules jokes about magic underwear, big love, how religion (not greed) ruins the world, why educated people have a harder time believing in God than uneducated people, great and spacious buildings, how successful people often get prideful and turn into jerks, yesterday’s news that Joseph Smith was a controversial man since he was entitled to agency like everyone else (including other purported prophets), why neither atheist nor believers have faith-shattering proof of anything, and Christians calling other Christians non-Christians because the second group worships in a different way. Go figure.

See also:

Interesting perspective on overpopulation

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZVOU5bfHrM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

I suppose the above is possible, but why might the Earth’s population decline after reaching 9 billion in 2050? Deficit fertility rates?

In any case, check out the follow-up shorts as well: Offsetting low fertility rates, Food: There’s lots of it, and Why poverty isn’t caused by overpopulation.

Pretty convincing thesis.

Good movie alert: The King’s Speech

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kPRIQlNu9A[/youtube]

Although I normally avoid “restricted” movies on principle, I make exceptions when referred to by friends with good taste, especially since the Motion Picture Association of America hasn’t always shown the best judgment when rating movies.

Like Shawshank Redemption and Schindler’s List before it, The King’s Speech is one of those movies I’m glad I excepted. It’s not as good as the aforementioned. But it’s a feel-good story with great acting. Recommended for Royal Monarchy and British accent fans everywhere.

Microsoft and Apple beware: Google on to something with new OS

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFeD3qGVsrM[/youtube]

I watched the Google Chrome OS demo today and came away impressed. The product won’t meet the need of power-users, producers, and mult-media creators. But for everyone else, including power-users when they don’t need extra power, Chrome OS is the first legitimate consumer rival for both Macintosh and Windows I’ve ever seen. Much more so than Linux ever was (at least in a consumer sense).

Some highlights about Chrome OS, which has a planned release of “mid-2011” in select Acer and Samsung laptops:

  • “Nothing but the Web.”
  • Chrome OS features a fast and simple setup process, remarkably fast boot times and an instant resume feature to minimize wait time when the OS wakes from sleep.
  • Unified experience across Chrome on netbooks, desktops and more.
  • Multiple user support and guest mode — everything a user does in guest mode is private and history is deleted instantly when a session is ended.
  • Verizon Wireless cellular data connectivity (international options are available as well) in every Chrome OS notebook/netbook — no contracts, no activation fees and monthly plans starting at $9.99.
  • Updates are seamless — no user operations are required to update the OS or apps.
  • Most secure OS in the world — security is a major focus of Chrome OS; all Chrome OS data is encrypted by default.
  • Verified boot — core OS components are in firmware that cannot be modified.
  • Enterprise options — Google is working closely with partners like Citrix to ensure the enterprise market is addressed.
  • Google’s Chrome OS PCs get faster over time, not slower like other PCs.
  • Initial manufacturing partners include Acer, Samsung and Intel.

Will Chrome OS overtake the world? No. But I could see it becoming as ubiquitous as Google’s own Gmail, if not bigger. Which is huge.

In other words, watch this space. Desktop computing is about to change. If only in how we store an access many of our files.

See also: Will Google Chrome OS change computers?

Think your clients are unreasonable? Imagine dealing with this on a daily basis

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pU1LoZeBYk[/youtube]

My brother-in-law works in a Manhattan commercial music studio, producing jingles and licensing original music for use in advertising. Apparently, he deals with this regularly. Favorite line: “That is insulting. We would go out of business if we agreed to terms like that.”

More proof that unrealistic buyers are everywhere. (Although I still think there is value in licensing consumer music in advertising, which this video seems to discredit in an effort to sell more commercial music. What’s more, if demand is this high for “rip off” commercial music, I imagine a supplying studio could really clean up.)

See also: I’m sorry we can’t make a deal. Please don’t heckle me.

Remember when pro basketball was awesome?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idA9Vym1F54[/youtube]

It was the ’80s or ’90s. It moved at a faster pace because officials actually let the players play, unlike today. And uh, as the above video shows, it was a lot more physical. Good times. (Thanks, Tim).

My favorite scene from my favorite Kung Fu movie

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHKfmAGguRE[/youtube]

The film: Iron Monkey. The scene: “Gone with the wind.” While most people panic when wind takes hold of loose items, these two stay cool, react quickly, and gracefully prove they’re not exactly who they appear to be (i.e. doctors).

In case you didn’t know, Kung Fu movies are to the Chinese as comic book movies are to Americans. Both are awesome. But instead of childish names and muscly tights, Chinese superheroes are ninja fast and averse to gravity.

Despite being 50 years old, my favorite jazz song makes $100k year

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs[/youtube]

That’s what I call perpetuity.

According to Spirited Men by Brian Doyle, Dave Brubeck’s classic cool jazz track Take Five makes a cool $100,000 a year in royalties. Imagine how much it made at its height in the early ’60s!? Yeah, baby!

Cooler still, the beneficiary of said royalties is none other than one of my favorite charities: The Red Cross. Song writer and Brubeck saxophonist Paul Desmond left the rights to the song to The Cross upon his death in 1977, as opposed to some deadbeat son like Will from About a Boy.

Bonus link: Radiohead vs. Dave Brubeck mashup in 5/4 (Thanks, Lexi Sara).