You Tube

Dear Readers, most ofl you are middle-aged people not up on technology who read this blog. A few months ago I brought your attention to MySpace, the group social networking website that has ensnared many a young lad and lassie into ill-advised activities due to youth or rebellion or both. They do seem to go together.

In the spirit of being informed, here is another online phenomenon: YouTube and other video posts. Much like blogs, these are snips of home movies that are comedies, serious commentary, etc. Here is a snippet that almost every kid under 25 knows by rote. You should, too, if only because it represents the sensibilities of a generation. It is the climax of the movie Napolean Dynamite, this generation's Ferris Bueller and if you don't know who that is because you're too old, there really isn't a similar film from the 50s and 60s. (Which explains Ferris' cult status.) Probably the closest you'd get is Eddie Haskell from Leave It To Beaver. Actually, though, Napolean is hardly cynical, never really bad and his worst emotion exhibited seems to be that he's forever put upon. Haskell, like Bueller, were manipulative and rotten in a fun-loving way.

Anyway, media is being experienced by young people through these on-line vehicles, not the TV exclusively. They play video games, they play virtual reality games online with thousands of other people (I haven't tried it, honestly, because I just know I'd get addicted. I liked Dungeon's and Dragsons but wasn't allowed to play with the guys when I was a young teen. You keep not believin' how nerdified I really was as a youth. Things haven't changed much.) Kids today and adults, too, are searching for original sources of all information: music, news, entertainment, arts, everything.