Broadband Jungle Blog

Minnesota Stories

A terrific and very creative example of how to program local video content for a global audience. Well produced and delivered with great heart, Minnesota Stories offers many rewarding treasures to its viewers.

The ingredients are simple: Information, humor and lots of very specific details about the urban Midwestern identity. Calling it This American Life from Lake Wobegon would be quite appropriate.

"A daily videoblog focused on what's going on in Minnesota, Minnesota Stories is an evolving showcase for local citizen media. There are so many stories in this state - personal stories, independent films and music, hyper-local politics - yet they're rarely seen or heard. Minnesota Stories puts a spotlight on the little gems that fall through the cracks of broadcast media."

How Do You Watch the Internet TV, their contribution to a network2.tv clip competition,  could become the comedic anthem of broadband television and deserves to be widely seen: The brilliant team from Minnesota Stories finally clear up everything you ever wanted know about Internet television in this little late night TV parody.

Minnesota Stories: How do you watch Internet TV?

Also accessible through GoGOOROO.

Ze Frank catches his breath

Last week, the funniest man on the web resigned from his throne and stopped broadcasting his daily mix of adrenalin-fuelled instructions for mankind, at least for now. After one year of daily ramblings about all things current and some things personal, Ze Frank is ready to move on to calmer, less structured things.

Ze single-handedly pushed the floundering video blog genre into the realm of self-styled Tonight Show monologue heights for the 2.0 generation. A terrific performer who addressed his viewers as ‘sports racers’, Ze delivered his posts as if his life depended on them: Extremely precise and tightly written, even if they came off as (and might have been) mostly improvised.

The way he cut his dialogue track contributed greatly to each episode’s impact: Overlapping audio between choppy cuts increased the intensity of his punchy delivery. Over the course of the last 12 months, Ze Frank tuned himself into a master. It’s not hard to imagine where he’ll end up next.

Michael Agger wrote the perfect obituary about The Show in Slate:
Laptop Celebrity: How Ze Frank became a Web Video Star.

Here’s a classic from last August, including Cleo-song and all…

Click To Play

Girls On Film

Fellow movie lovers and entertainment industry veterans Suzanne Keilly and Heather Stewart (from Revision3's 'Ctrl-Alt-Chicken') review two movies a week on this frank and entertaining videoblog. Not too shy to pluck away on current blockbusters, the gals apply an innovative and convincingly simple ratings system: 'Run to the theater', 'walk to the theater' or 'netflix it'.

GOF follows an interesting distribution model: Instead of licensing their own broadband player, the Girls and the series’ producer, Diggnation's Alex Albrecht, opted to upload every episode to Revver and then string them together embedded in a TypePad blog. And voilá—the Girls on Film Network.

Check out the first episode they ever posted: The show’s domestic setting and laid-back single-set-up shooting style blends well with Suzanne’s and Heather’s tongue-in-cheek screwball delivery. The show open is adorable with sprinkles of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, only here two gals share top billing.

Run to the theater!

Andrea Allen on Vimeo

Vimeo is one of the most intriguing viewer-generated  video platforms out there right now. Founded in 2004 by Jakob Lodwick in New York, it’s managed to attract 85.000 registered members who provide unique spirit, spunk and discerning taste.

The site’s entire demeanor is an open invitation to create and share content with like-minded folks. Somehow word got around that there’s a place for curious people creating interesting, funny and very personal material, and it’s keeping the copycats and mindless copyright-infringers away.

Wichita, Kansas, hipster-gal Andrea Allen is one of Vimeo’s more frequent contributors who passionately answers its call. Her 100+ clips and vlog entries from the last 10 months provide remarkably personal insight into the life of this twenty-something and what must be the most self-amusing group of friends east of Las Vegas. 

A born entertainer, she’s resisting exhibitionist impulses but displaying cheerful charisma. Her quirky motto is: "Hello! My name is Andrea Allen. Turns out the universe is an accordion. I take this as vindication of the polka."

Andrea creates quick vignettes around the house, at the office and the public pool, usually starring her and a friend in lighthearted conversation. She’s at her most unique, however, when the camera’s taping unattended from the corner of the living room and she’s simply delighting in sock-dancing to a corny Neil Diamond track.

My favorite so far: Andrea performing the catchy ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)’ with the help of 2 regulars to quite unforgettable results. A new career in the making?

Lip Dubbing: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) on Vimeo

Rocketboom

Looks like Rocketboom is way over the Amanda Congdon dramedy from earlier this summer: Joanne Colan, her successor, is already knee-deep into starting her own legacy. Who would have thought?

Joanne’s obviously done her homework and got a terrific sense of the complexity of current events in new media land. And she gets the subcultures involved. Blending well into Rocketboom’s quirky sense of humor, she brings great energy and professionalism to the table. When was the last time you saw an anchor give a cohesive interview in pitch-perfect French on any American network?

Rock on.