A New World

I am not, by a long shot, considered a youth anymore...just stillbarely middle-aged. So it's probably not a suprise that I've only just discovered youtube.com. It is the world of videos...video blogs, video parodies, video everything, and mostly inhabited, it seems, by teens and 20-somethings. So, it was also not a surprise that I have just discovered lonelygirl15, a video blogger on youtube. Her earliest blog was this past June. An adorably cute young girl who goes by the name of Bree and is 16, homeschooled, and "very religious." I couldn't get enough of this kid's videos. Even as I was watching them, I wondered, "Is this all for real? Is this some kind of hoax?" She talked about how she was selected for this secretive religious ceremony, a huge honor and so exclusive that her parents wouldn't even be there. She talked about sneaking out of the house to go to a party ("my first!"). She shared the drama of her first boyfriend, who seemed like a creep, but who seemed to be trying to get her away from what sounded more and more like a cult-ish religion.

Well, it was NOT real. Two guys (funny, it never occurred to me that SHE might have invented lonelygirl15) held auditions that they posted on craigslist, hired her, and began this series of video blogs. As a matter of fact, my suspicions were confirmed online, when an interview with her on the Jay Leno show was posted, along with another interviews of her and one of the creators of the "show." He said that the plotline was developed based on the input from viewers who got caught up in the angst of this young character. All I can say is GENIUS! It's unfortunate that they came clean, because the whole mystery of is she or is she not for real added to the enjoyment of the blogs, but I'll still tune in to see what happens. It's a new art-form, beyond reality shows...audience interactive drama."

I also like youtube because it's so interesting to see what people will share about themselves on video to the world, and for the hilarious videos...go there and search "cats" and be prepared to laugh hard and long.