Happy Tree Friends Break – Seize The Day

Find out why Lumpy doesnt play well with others.

4 Swirlies

34 seconds!

Back in my sketch comedy days, this is what we used to call a blackout, one short gag and then you’re out.

Happy Tree Friends Break is a shorter version of the internet staple series, Happy Tree Friends. And this one is a good one.

If you want a quick laugh, watch this. If you’re prone to seizures, you can view it as a cautionary tale…

Raising Kayn – Ep. 1 The Puzzle of the Coin

The first episode of the popular web series “Raising Kayn”. Vampires, were creatures, ninjas and mad scientists, the Kayn family deals with them all in their search for the source of a mysterious coin.

2 Swirlies

This is an attempt to make a supernatural show for a family audience. Because there’s so many parents and kids watching online videos together?

This series is about The Kayn family and its involvement in supernatural mysteries. The mom is some sort of expert on everything whose biggest challenge in life is getting all her children to sit down for dinner together. The son is a sort of mad scientist who doesn’t like to come out of his lab (insert comic relief here). The older daughter fights things (that’s all we know so far) and the younger daughter is a teenage girl. They’re trying to solve mysteries and be home in time for prayers and bedtime.

This is the first part of the story, we don’t get very far into what’s going on except for a strange coin. Then the Ninjas show up. The production isn’t terrible, but the acting could be a lot better (like most webseries). It reminds me of syndicated series from the 80’s – the kind you’d watch on Sunday afternoon when nothing else was on.

This has that same feel as a tween comedy like Wizards of Waverly Place or iCarly, but not anywhere as clever or funny. (I should point out it is not a comedy). If you’re looking for something to watch with your children for family time, you might want to give this a chance. Me, I’m giving it two swirlies for now and waiting to see if it picks up next episode.

Baman Piderman – Tell the Joke

Baman has a joke to tell Piderman so he tells him it!

3 Swirlies

Whaaaat?

I’ve never seen an episode of Baman Piderman before. (By MondoMedia, the folks behind Happy Tree Friends and Dr. Tran Mail) I knew going in that there would be some child’s logic going on. I was not expecting this.

I suppose that this could be very funny, but I spent too much time trying to figure it out to laugh. Maybe I just didn’t get it. Why don’t you check it out and get back to me, cause I don’t even know what to say.

What was that screaming face thing on the couch?

EAT GHEE – Ep 1 – Part 1

READ FIRST: THIS IS A SATIRE ON INDIAN SOAP OPERAS

2 Swirlies… no, okay. 3

“No, Buddha. That’s ignorance. We also eat paneer.”

The good is pretty good, but the bad is really bad.

Talk about your slow start. But if you give it time, like past the 3/4 mark, things start to get nicely weird. There’s all kind of weird shots and camera usage. A fight. And then Jesus appears (I shit you not) and eventually, turns into Jerry, the cartoon mouse from Tom and Jerry and walks away.

It’s long. And often out of focus and the sound is pretty bad, sometimes it is hard to hear what’s being said. If you want to give it a change, skip to around the 4:50 mark. It’s loooooong. Of course, if you do that, you’ll miss the guy who speaks only in vocoder (“You sound like T-Pain or some shit”) at around 2:30. If it hadn’t been for that, I might bailed.

The music’s awesome, too. Really, the weakest parts are when they are just sitting talking – even with the excessive dolly movements. Almost unwatchable. But they hooked me enough to give the second part of Episode 1 a chance (yes, it is so long they had to split it two.) I’m told (via annotations on screen) that it pwns this one.

I’m curious to know what you guys think. Does the good stuff outweigh the bad?

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising – Ep. 1

[No official description. After a total party wipe out, a group of gamers decide to try the Dungeons and Dragons campaign again... only with a girl this time!]

3 Swirlies

“I haven’t gamed since… the incident.”

Yes, this is what it is like to game.

Okay, so a bit of a confession, this is a movie chopped up and placed on Youtube. (Yes, legally.) And I really enjoyed watching this as a movie, so I’m excited to include it here.

It seems that this is sequel to “The Gamers,” a movie I’ve never seen. Rest assured, I’ll get it on here sooner or later. But for now we gotta dance with the one what brung us.

Despite being chopped up and having an abrupt ending just before the ten minute mark, it’s a good first episode in that it sets up everything and tells a little story. This story is satisfying on its own but fits into a larger narrative. Sure, ten minutes is on the long side but there are two minute videos that had me looking at the timeline at the 1:00 mark, while I didn’t look down once.

Where this production could have been improved is the craft of it all. Lighting, camera, acting… it very much shows it amateur nature. But the story rises above all that to make on enjoyable watch. And it does a good job of capturing the feel of a tabletop role playing session.

And it is a snapshot of an era. I mean, how many of you have played a table top role-playing game? In another 20 years it’ll be deader than M. J.

Heather’s Vlog: New Moon

Heather’s dad can’t wait to see New Moon. He also gives advice about how to deal with werewolves. Heather doesn’t seem impressed.

5 Swirlies

“[Werewolves can't] transform out in the open. You have to be able to tuck your balls underneath inside.”

Youtube video diary comedy gold.

I stumbled on Heather’s Vlog completely by accident. I gotta tell you, this hysterical series could use a better title.

Cause this is a comedy vlog about a 16 year old vampire and her vampire Dad. Who, in this episode, happens to be obsessed with New Moon.

Once you figure that out (the blink and you missed it intro isn’t much of a help) the episode is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. The Dad’s feeling of community with the porn-for-13-year-old-girls’ film New Moon, his advice for dealing with werewolves, and Heather’s perfect reactions make this a perfect storm of comedy for me.

Maybe I’m over-reacting because of the excitement of discovery. It’s the first perfect 5 I have personally awarded. I think it deserves it, and even more I want you to watch this one. And tell us if you agree with me by leaving a comment.

We Need Girlfriends – Episode 1

The inaugural episode of Ragtag Productions new ongoing web series “We Need Girlfriends.”

2 Swirlies

“Suitcases!”

Sometimes ‘fine’ isn’t enough.

So, I’ll start with the reasons to watch. There’s one… one and a half… very funny scenes where Rod (I think) freaks out on Tom (I think) for going after a girl that he called “squirrel” on. And this creates a somewhat abrupt cliffhanger that actually made me wonder what’s going to happen next. Nice job.

As to the negatives, I won’t dwell on them except to say that everything else about this inaugural episode is fine. The production is fine, the writing is fine, the acting (for the most part) is fine. The first half could be a little faster. The biggest problem is that ‘fine’… well… kinda boring.

Things really picked up in the second half, so maybe the rest of the series will do the same.

This episode raises a tough ethical question. Is it okay to go after a buddy’s “squirrel”? What about you gals? Is there a rule about a guy your BFF has her eye on?

Dr. Tran Mail – S01E06

Ask Dr. Tran questions at TranLetters@gmail.com

4 Swirlies

“Why I have so an hard feeling…?”

Nice twist on an internet stand by.

The gag here is an internet advice show starring a little kid who doesn’t want to have anything to do with it.

There’s not really too much to say about it. It’s pretty funny, and the central gag of Tran desperately trying to refuse to do the show gives the whole thing an emotional center to it that helps carry the piece. That being said, this one beat over and over also makes the show a tiny bit on the predictable side. (Hmm… am I putting too much thought into a funny cartoon?)

In this episode, Keith writes in to say he understands Tran, and Daniel asks about boners, prompting the perfectly over dramatic narrator to reveal a few of Tran’s embarrassing secrets.

Well animated (as always from Mondomedia), worth watching and (at least as importantly) nice and short.

Have any of you ever written into an internet advice show? Let us know about it!

The Website is Down – Ep. 1: Sales Guy vs. Web Dude

Web Dude tries desperately to get his work done while assaulted on all sides by rampant incompetence. Will he survive???

5 Swirlies

Note: I realize many of you have probably already seen this video. In fact, it won a Webby in the viral video category. But if you haven’t it’s definitely worth checking out.

Most exciting use of Windows I’ve ever seen in a video.

Derrick, an IT person for PlasTrolTech Inc. gets a call from Chip in the sales department because he says the company’s website is down. Despite Derrick’s insistence that the site is up and running, Chip convinces him to reboot the web server and then all Hell breaks loose.

The entire episode is told from Derrick’s point-of-view. All of the visuals come from his computer screen. We see Derrick as he tries to troubleshoot the Internet problem, taking calls from various people after no one can get online – and most importantly, playing Halo, where he seems to gain the utmost enjoyment from shooting his comrade multiple times in the crotch.

The characters speak in a sort of South Park-esque style which adds to the absurdity of the situation. But what’s ingenious about it is that it speaks to anyone who has worked in an office setting and had to deal people that don’t understand how anything technical works. I’m not an IT person myself – but I’ve also been confounded by people’s ignorance when it comes to people not knowing how the Internet works even on the most basic level.

On the other side, I guess it also touches on how when people call tech support they often get the run-around or have more problems created, as is seen when Derrick reboots the web server “the wrong way” so the network needs to be rebooted on location.

But that might be pushing it a little because Chip is clearly an idiot, as we can see when Derrick uses Remote Desktop to access Chip’s computer and finds it with six million programs open and desktop icons arranged in a comical, insulting manner. Someone played a prank on Chip years earlier and he never knew how to rearrange them.

But simply put, the video is funny. Much funnier than most videos on the web. And although it’s the first in a series, it’s wonderfully self-contained. It tells a full story and doesn’t rely on you having to watch 20 episodes of it to figure out what’s going on. (Actually, that would be pretty annoying considering there’s only four episodes so far.)

And the show’s site has fun features to play around with too, such as a fake UNIX terminal and a Sales Guy Simulator (though that more relates to the second episode).

Finally, as it did win a Webby, I’ll just throw up a funny little promo video the creators made to announce this show was a nominee. I’m not reviewing it as it’s not really a separate episode. It’s more of a DVD extra, if the Internet was available on DVD:

Sales Guy vs. Web Dude vs. The Webbys