The Buzz...About Books

Planning a Harlem Shake? Resources to Optimize Your 30 Seconds of Fame

Just perfected your Gangnam gallop?  Forget it - the Harlem Shake is where it's at.  Baauer, a Brooklyn producer, released this electronic dance groove last May. This month, a 30-second concept video set to Baauer's song went viral.  Not only that, 40,000+ videos have since been posted to YouTube by people doing their own version. Celebrities, office workers, firefighters, grannies, cats, campuses and the military are offering their spin on the Shake.  Check it out on CBC and CTV, in the Star, the L.A. Times, the Independant, Forbes, and the Huffington Post. 

Here's how it works: a lone dancer (wearing a helmut or mask) dances to the intro, ignored by those around them. The beat drops, a jump cut, and everyone goes nuts. Dancers in costume (or in underwear), waving props, do a very loose approximation of the Harlem Shake - an old-school hip hop dance made famous by American rapper, G-Dep in Let's Get It.  

Here is a fraction of the funniest (heads up: some are nerdishly naughty).

*Updated*  Check out this interesting video response: Harlem Reacts to 'Harlem Shake' Videos.

Planning your own Harlem Shake video?  Hurry, before the cool kids on Tumblr say this meme is over.   

• Culturematic by Grant McCracken
• Conquering YouTube: 101 Pro VideoTips to Take You to the Top by Jay Miles
• 15 Minutes of Fame: Becoming a Star in the YouTube Revolution by Frederick Levy
• eBook: YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts by Alan Lastufka and Michael W. Dean
• Watching YouTube: Extraordinary Videos by Ordinary People by Michael Strangelove
• YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture by Jean Burgess
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Memes by John Gunders

  

This version has only two people, but it's sweet.  Note the bemused family dog in the background.

Con los terroristas!

 

Related Posts:

• Millions and Millions of Cats
• Reading Gangnam Style

Millions and Millions of Cats

Millions of cats roam the Internet, from legendary kitties like Ceiling Cat, Keyboard Cat, and the touchingly rotund Maru to the captioned "kittehs" in I Can Haz Cheeseburger. 

In less than a decade, net cats have multiplied exponentially - with no sign of letting up. Chances are, you have at least one cat right now in your inbox or posted on Facebook. In particular, library staff have a symbiotic relationship with cats (if you don't own a cat when you are hired, you are issued one).

Some popular web cats are prowling their way into print. And we can help you find them.

Check out Cat vs Human by Yasmine Surovec which originated as a personal blog.  Simon's Cat and Simon's Cat: Beyond the Fence by Simon Tofield, a British animator, started as a delightful series of Internet shorts.

 The popularity of cat videos spawned "Catvertising," a brilliant parody by a Toronto-based ad agency:

  

Watch a real commerical that used cats to their ad-vantage.

Not all Internet cats are sweet like the Talking Cats.  Some are nightmarishly creative. Watch "Welcome to Kitty City" by the UK animator, Cyriak.

 

 Want more funny felines in print (beyond Garfield)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Fat Freddy's Cat Omnibus by Gilbert Shelton
• Great Comic Cats by Malcolm Whyte
• The New Yorker Book of All-New Cat Cartoons

 

Ceiling Cat is watching . . .

Top eBook Downloads February 10-16

 These are the top eBook downloads at Toronto Public Library for February 10-16.

1.  The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
2.  The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud
3.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4.  Private by James Patterson
5.  The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
6.  The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
7.  The Confession by John Grisham
8.  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
9.  Secret Daughter by Shilpi Gowda
10.  The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss

eAudiobooks, eMusic and eVideo are also available through Toronto Public Library.

Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy Tops the List of Holiday Downloads

As the use of eReaders has increased so has the popularity of Toronto Public Library's digital media collection.   Items in the collection include eBooks, eAudiobooks, music and video.  Downloads are free to anyone with a valid Toronto Public Library card. 

Additional information about the service is available at Toronto Public Library.

The top ten eBook downloads of the 2010 holiday season were:

1.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

2.  The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

3.  The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

4.  Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas

5.  The Confession by John Grisham

6.  Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

7.  Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

8.  The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

9.  The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud

10.  The Help by Kathryn Stockett

 

 

What do Books and Google Maps have in common?

Check out this unusual form of storytelling, in which six modern authors, inspired by six Classics, re-invent story-telling by incorporating web-based technologies.
 
In particular try out 21 Steps (inspired by John Buchan's The 39 Steps) which includes Google maps as a visual aid, as you read about the hero's journey through the streets (and the Tube) of London. It is a bit "dizzying" at times, but inventive. 

 
The site was created last year by Penguin UK.