I remember turning to my friend with a quizzical look on my face when I first heard the lyrics to, "Somebody Told Me":
"Is he singing about what I think he's singing about?"
Yes, indeed and the catchy songwriting (along with the darling Brandon Flowers) has stayed with me since and made a fan out of me.
Clever, memorable lyrics, a New Wave sound with a synthesizer overlay, and (if you're lucky enough to see them in concert) an involving, magnetic stage presence make The Killers hot. Their Sophomore album titled, "Sam's Town" will be released October 3, 2006, but if you want a taste of "Sam's" beforehand, tune into the making of The Killers' new music video, "When You Were Young", exclusively here on Google Video.
A little more about myself (as if my Backstreet Boys declaration wasn't enough, right?):
I graduated high school in the year 2000 which made my friends and I one of the first classes of the new millennium. It sounds cool enough, but really, what does it mean?
I found the answer today and I thought I'd share it with you. According to the United Nations Millennium Campaign, we're the first generation that can eradicate poverty. I just have to say it again because I didn't think those two words would ever be in the same sentence: eradicate poverty. Can you imagine?
According to millenniumcampaign.org, "In 2000, world leaders from rich and poor countries alike committed themselves--at the highest political level--to significantly reduce poverty, illiteracy, inequality and disease in poor countries and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals." What the Campaign is asking you to do is to remind our leaders of the commitment they made and to make them keep their promise about ending hunger, reducing child mortality, and promoting gender equality. So join the Campaign and accept No Excuses.
We're excited to announce that Google Video launched in Australia today on the video.google.com.au domain, complete with a large range of fantastic local content Australian users will immediately recognise and enjoy viewing. Not only is there the usual treasure trove of user uploaded footage already on Google Video, but we have worked closely with great partners like ABC, AFTRS (the Australian Film, Television and Radio School), Channel 10, Film Australia, Fairfax and SonyBMG to enhance the overall experience for our Aussie users. Whether you want to laugh at comedy from the ABC's We Can Be Heroes series, study some archival footage of Don Bradman at the crease courtesy of Film Australia or view some new material from Pete Murray thanks to SonyBMG, we're sure you'll find something that you'll be forwarding to your friends in no time. Not to forget that you can still use Google Video to upload your own videos, share them with friends locally and globally, comment and rate other people's content, download your favourites to your PC or handheld device as well as post videos to your own website (including MySpace and blogs). Happy Viewing Australia!
As an added bonus, you can now see the Top 100 videos being watched just by people from your own country. Or if you're curious, see what videos are appearing in the Top 100 from the country next door. This new Top 100 by country is now available on all Google Video domains!
Nick Carter, from the Backstreet Boys, has everything he could want. Except for a normal family life. What will happen if Nick tries to make one happen for him, his brother, and sisters? This is the foundation for E! Entertainment's new show "House of Carters."
I'll admit it (and I hope the following bold declaration will not turn you away, oh-faithful-blog-reader). I knew the lyrics to almost every single Backstreet Boys hit when I was a freshman in high school. But what I didn't know was that Nick Carter, known as the heart throb of the band, was the eldest of five children and that his family suffered from a bitter divorce.
You see it plastered on the tabloids and you hear it dripping from the news that Hollywood is drama, drama, drama. It can be nauseating at times, and a guilty pleasure at others. In the world of reality tv, celebrities (and I use that term loosely) whine despite being rich, beautiful, and practically worshipped. At the same time, it's captivating to watch these people, who we place on pedestals, suffer from normalcy such as sibling rivalries and a failing marriage. In "House of Carters," the drama is real.
Watch the one hour premiere of "House of Carters" for free here on Google Video.
Today's Highlighted Video
Click here to watch "House of Carters - Premiere Episode" Like fame, controversy has followed Nick and Aaron Carter and their three sisters. Now they're getting a second chance to put family first. Can the Carters put their rocky pasts behind them and come together as a family? Watch the entire full hour premiere episode right now. 43 min 41 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 26, 2006:
Could you imagine working in a high-volume, bulk-discount retailer where spaghetti sauce is sold by the gallons and you need a cherry-picker to reach the top shelf? Could you imagine trying to impress the girl of your dreams while wearing a vest on loan to you from the high-volume, bulk-discount retailer and sporting a mop to clean up the mess on aisle 12?
Whatever you imagine, I'd imagine that it'd be funny.
Today on Google Video you'll find an exclusive clip of the upcoming movie "Employee of the Month" starring Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson.
4 (US). Click here to watch "Crossover Trailer" The clock strikes midnight, the ball hits the floor, the word has spread and the converted rail station is alive with basketball. They don’t play for a school and they don’t cheer for a pro team. They play for the street and it’s underground…way underground. Crossover is a gripping urban drama set against the thrilling world of streetball. The story follows two young hopefuls, Tech (Anthony Mackie) and Cruise (Wesley Jonathan), who must bring every move they have to the floor to unseat the reigning champions from the throne they have held for far too long. There are no rules. Only the respect that comes with winning. In Theaters 2 min 36 sec
Share these videos with your friends using the "Send link to a friend" feature! Learn how here.
Don't know what to do this weekend? Here are a couple options:
Based on Robert Penn Warren's 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "All the King's Men" offers a superb cast including Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Anthony Hopkins. Way, way, way on the other side of the spectrum is "Jackass: Number Two" where Johnny Knoxville spends an hour and 35 minutes behaving irresponsibly, per usual. And if you're into World War I epics, "Flyboys" may be the movie for you. It's the first World War I aviation film in over 40 years about the legendary Lafayette Escadrille.
Click here to watch "Flyboys" They were ordinary boys who volunteered for the first World War looking for adventure, and in the process, they became heroes. Never before has a movie so accurately portrayed the thrill and danger of the aerial dogfights that played such an integral role in the Allied resistance.
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 22, 2006:
4 (US). Click here to watch "HowStuffWorks" Learn how elevators, submarines and airplanes work in this action packed animation from the folks at HowStuffWorks! 2 min 1 sec
So you know you can't dance? Today's Highlighted Videos from TotalVid will help you find your feet. Also check out today's picks from Google Video's Movers and Shakers list. The first two videos will hopefully coax a smile out of you and the third, well, coming from a self-proclaimed gamer as myself, it's wii-derful. Okay, that was bad. But it's a really awesome montage.
Click here to watch "Anyone Can Dance - Hip Hop: Intermediate -- Preview" Download the entire 23 minute video free at http://totalvid.com/index2.cfm?source_id=12157&v=61789326 A high-energy video that breaks down the basics of break dancing and brings together today's latest Hip Hop and Funk moves. With this program, you are going to sweat and have fun doing it! 1 min 53 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 21, 2006:
Gosh, it feels like Christmas has come early this year. Yesterday, we announced Captioned Playback and today, it's Public Page Views! One goody after another!
"Ever wonder how many times a video has been watched? Now you can see the all-time number of views of a video, right on the playback page. You can also see how many times the video was watched yesterday. The stats are updated daily, and include views on other sites that have embedded the Google Video player for that video. We'll be adding more interesting stats in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!"
-- Matthew Weaver, Software Engineer, Google Video
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 20, 2006:
By now, you may have noticed that we've just introduced a small but significant new feature that many of us have long awaited: playback of captions and subtitles! If you haven't tried it yet, you can go to this page, select a captioned video, and while playing it you can click on the symbol to turn captions on and off.
Although many of us are responsible for making this possible, it's particularly meaningful to me because I'm not only an engineer fortunate enough to work on Google Video -- I'm also deaf. In some ways this reminds me of when closed-captioning (CC) was first introduced; before that, little on TV made sense and the only movies worth paying for were foreign films, because those were the only ones with subtitles! I now have the same sense of hope that I did then, when you could finally see visible progress and knew for sure that however long it took to perfect things, we really were on the way.
But I won't kid you -- there are still light-years to go, and I'm painfully aware of how limited our first implementation is. For example, you'll notice that it only works for videos using our Flash player (in a browser); US viewers may be bothered that our captions look more like subtitles than TV captions, and non-US viewers may be baffled by the [CC] symbol; and so on and on, not even counting the bugs that infect all new features. But most importantly by far, only a very small fraction of videos are currently captioned. Nor is the quality always good.
However, this is exactly the same problem faced by the early proponents of CC, and it is this very issue which has compelled us to start with baby mis-steps sooner, rather than a giant leap of perfection later. Now that viewers can see the results, we hope that more people will be inspired to caption more videos, and that other services will be encouraged to support similar capabilities. The potential applications here for search quality, automatic translation, and speech recognition should also become more obvious.
Every time I watch TV I'm thankful to all of the many people who first developed and brought closed-captioning to fruition, and wish I could have helped them. So it's enormously gratifying that Google Video has given me an opportunity to help carry on their work into new domains.
And you, too, can help! Please do send us your comments, bug reports, or suggestions; whether or not you think they're new, your collective feedback will be invaluable in helping us promote these capabilities and guide our decisions on which features need to be done next.
Clay Aiken may not have won American Idol, but he's not doing too shabby with a third album titled "A Thousand Different Ways" hitting stores tomorrow.
Today's Highlighted Video
Click here to watch "Walmart Soundcheck: Clay Aiken Promo" The project, Aiken's first outing since 2004, combines 10 cover versions of well-known songs from the '70s, '80s and '90s with four brand-new songs. His fan base has only grown since his days on American Idol. 1 min 51 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 18, 2006:
79 (US). Click here to watch "Save the Stingray - R.I.P. Steve Irwin" Michael Hornby, the executive director of Irwin's Wildlife Warriors conservation group, said he was concerned the rays were being hunted and killed in retaliation for Irwin's death. "It may be some sort of retribution, or it may be fear from certain individuals, or it just may be yet another callous act toward wildlife," he said. He said killing stingrays was "not what Steve was about." 2 min 13 sec
Sierra Club Chronicles shares seven stories of dedicated individuals striving to save our communities and the health of our environment. You can find all seven episodes here on Google Video.
Today's Highlighted Videos
Click here to watch "Sierra Club Chronicles: 9/11 Forgotten Heroes" The terrorist attack on 9/11 was one of our country's most horrific moments, and the damage continues. Told there were no health hazards in the aftermath, the truth shows there was and many first responders are now afflicted and ignored by our government. 28 min 35 sec
Click here to watch "Sierra Club Chronicles: The Day the Water Died" March 24, 1989 will forever plague history as one of the worst environmental disasters of our time. Eleven million gallons of oil spilled into the Prince William Sound killing thousands of wildlife and destroying a complex and delicate ecosystem. Exxon promised they would clean up the spill and promised that those affected would get their lives back. Sixteen years later and the people are still waiting for their lives to become "whole" again. 28 min 34 sec
Click here to watch "Sierra Club Chronicles: Rats to Roses" This multi-year time arc witnesses the threat and loss of the community gardens in New York - but also the commitment and resilience of community organizers. Charles Louis founder of the Euclid 500 Gardens, says "these gardens have become community centers for people with nowhere else to go." 28 min 33 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 15, 2006:
Click here to watch ""Ryan" Maverick Month Promo" Ryan, directed by Chris Landreth, is an animated tribute to Canadian animator Ryan Larkin. Thirty years ago, at the National Film Board of Canada, Ryan produced some of the most influential animated films of his time. Today, Ryan lives on welfare and panhandles for spare change in downtown Montreal. How could such an artistic genius follow this path? 50 sec
Click here to watch "Ears Open Eyeballs Click - Promo" This unique, eye-opening documentary by newcomer filmmaker Canaan Brumley shows us the hardship a band of United States Marine Corps recruits face during one trip through boot camp. This film is the first half of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket brought to reality. Told in a handful of titled chapters, this portrait of soldiers in training isn’t your average documentary; with no interviews or narration, Brumley presents our characters with visual emotion and intensity. Rather than getting to know each of the recruits personally as they fight through boot camp, we travel the road with them and witness the experiences up close and personal. 52 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 14, 2006:
Movie stars, films, television shows, and musicians are not just for entertainment anymore. The media and the superstars we admire are powerful vehicles and voices to encourage and motivate people to do the right thing.
"ROCKWORKS is a non profit 'construction-production' organization that is inspired by the power of music and the efficiency of Roadies, using their talent and skill, as well as that of recording artists and celebrities, to actually do the work, not just raise the funds."
Because really, the only way to help New Orleans is to get your hands dirty...
Today's Highlighted Videos
Click here to watch "Rockworks [re]building the Gulf Coast" One year after Hurricane Katrina’s brutal sweep across the Gulf Coast, the area is still on the path to recovery. This video features the community of Forest Heights, Mississippi, and ROCKWORKS Foundation’s efforts to help them rebuild their lives. Visit www.rockworks.us for more information. 6 min 3 sec
Haydenfilms.com is an online community that allows filmmakers (like yourselves) to participate in their Online Film Festival. Below you'll find some of Haydenfilms' top picks!
Connect with Haydenfilms for Season Two of their Online Film Festival. Fifty short films from around the world are competing for a $10,000 grand prize, with the online community selecting the winning film! Go to www.haydenfilms.com to vote for this year's winner and for more information.
Smartcard is a story about a man who realizes that his perfect automated life is not in his control, but the corporation that created the system. After the discovery, does he have the will left to escape? 15 min 39 sec
An old man searches in the grainy darkness for one last conquest – one last test of worth – before the light fades forever from his eyes. Alone, frail and confused, he wanders the harsh lonely wilderness, haunted by memories and hallucinations. 6 min 14 sec
An inspirational speaker, JESSE THOMAS, while selling his tapes door to door, unwittingly inspires a potential serial killer to act on her desire TO KILL. Properly motivated she chooses him as her first victim. Trapped in the house he scrambles to escapes with his life. 9 min 5 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 12, 2006:
"Five years ago, I found myself watching a heartbreaking disaster from my office window that seemed like the world was coming to an end: The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as they burned and crumbled. Out of a desperate need to do something useful, I gathered some members of my team and we began to film. After weeks of staring at the buildings burn [on the tapes we shot], I realized that these attacks needed to be told by a community of voices, with a multitude of perspectives.
"7 Days In September" is the result. It's a work of collaborative filmmaking, a collection of voices, cameras, and perspectives. It begins on the morning of 9/11, and ends the evening of 9/18. Those seven days are full of fear, anger, pain, loss, and a deep sense of community. I'm told that the film touches people in different ways, and that there is no single message or point of view. I hope that's right. It isn't meant to be an answer, but rather a sounding board that may help people to ask deeply personal questions.
On the fifth anniversary, we had many options for this film. We could have put it back in theaters. We could have played it on television in the U. S. and around the world.
We choose to do neither. Instead, we are sharing it on Google Video for free. For those of you who choose to watch, we hope it helps you connect with feelings that are productive rather than simply painful.
And if you have your own video or footage to share, we hope you'll use our CameraPlanet 9/11 Archive site to post your own videos and thoughts. This archive is built to gather and protect the images, video, and stories of 9/11 for future generations. We hope this memory helps bring context and understanding to future generations."
Click here to watch "Watch the Entire Prison Break Episode: Scan" Michael and Lincoln experience car trouble as Mahone's pursuit of them goes up in flames; Sucre hits the road to stop Maricruz from taking a gamble; C-Note is determined to reunite with his wife and daughter despite their surveillance; a familiar face keeps a close eye on Sara, who finds the tables turned on her; determined to cash in on the prison break, Bellick partners with an unlikely ally. Prison Break airs Mondays 8/7c, only on FOX! 43 min 55 sec
Click here to watch "Watch the Entire Vanished Episode: Drop" Senator Collins grapples with a new development while FBI Agents Kelton and Mei follow leads regarding the inexplicable disappearance of Sara. The senator's ex-wife, Jessica Nevins, is brought in for questioning and admits to wanting her kids back in her life. Meanwhile, Marcy rendezvous with her boyfriend, who, Max informs her, is now a suspect. Armed with new footage from when Sara Collins was known as Nikki Johnson, ambitious reporter Judy Nash uncovers more mind-bending evidence into Sara's mysterious disappearance. Vanished airs Mondays 9/8c, only on FOX! 42 min 13 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 8, 2006:
Click here to watch "Improv Everywhere's Suicide Jumper Prank" This is a video from Improv Everywhere in which they stage a fake suicide jump from a ledge about 4 feet off the ground. It's hilarious. For more imformation on Improv Everywhere, visit their site at www.improveverywhere.com 3 min 56 sec
Click here to watch "Best Buy" 80 Improv Everywhere Agents enter a Manhattan Best Buy in blue polos and khakis 1 min 31 sec
Click here to watch "Improv Everywhere's Cell Phone Symphony Prank" This is a clip from Improv Everywhere's cell phone symphony prank in which they checked 60 bags with cell phones into Strands discount bookstore. The phones were then called all at once. Hilarious. 4 min 9 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 6, 2006:
57 (Hungary). Click here to watch "The LEGO Man Matrix" Our second stop motion video. A scene from the epic movie, “The Matrix” recreated using LEGOs. This video has been amazingly popular over the years. It almost made it into a DVD as an extra feature but was not selected. Also it was almost shown on a UK talk show with other people’s Matrix videos, but the guest that day canceled and it never aired. Now it is on Google Video. Enjoy 1 min 25 sec
75 (US). Click here to watch "Boeing 737-300 Cockpit Landing" This is the famous "Kai Tak style" approach in Funchal, Madeira Is. This was a calm day! Boeing 737-300 SATA International. Approach as seen from the cockpit. airline airplane 3 min 5 sec
Highlight: Tributes to Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter
Rest in Peace, Wildlife Warrior.
Today's Highlighted Videos
Click here to watch "Steve Irwin Tribute" I made this video because Steve Irwin was one of a kind. He lived and died doing what he loved. Steve will be forever missed! 2 min 27 sec
New videos appearing on the Google Video Movers & Shakers list for September 5, 2006:
19 (US). Click here to watch "Tribute to STEVE IRWIN" i dedicate this song to a true hero and champion of people and animals. My hero Steve Irwin, may you rest in peace. condolences to steve 's family, this song is for you. 5 min 24 sec
100 (US). Click here to watch "Steve Irwin's Death News Report" As many of you know Steve Irwin died in a tragic accident while filming an underwater documentary. RIP Steve Irwin February 22, 1962 – September 4, 2006 9 min 59 sec
Do you have your own tribute to Steve Irwin? Upload it!
![[CC]](http://www.google.com/images/cc.gif)
symbol to turn captions on and off.
