TamenTube

The Associated Press put together their list of the top 10 YouTube videos of 2006. I've seen all but two; it's a pretty decent list, can't really disagree with what's on there.

And reminds me that I haven't yet blogged my favorite YouTube discovery of the year--the Back Dorm Boys. Here's the Wikipedia entry on them:

Back Dorm Boys (Traditional Chinese: 後舍男生; Simplified Chinese: 后舍男生) refer to a Chinese male duo who gained fame for their lip sync videos to songs by the Backstreet Boys and other pop stars. They are also referred to as "Back Dormitory Boys", "Chinese Backstreet Boys", "Dormitory Boys", and "Two Chinese Boys". Their videos, captured on a low quality Web cam in their college dorm room, have been viewed by Internet users within China and around the world. Many of their videos can be seen on YouTube. The two, Wei Wei (Traditional Chinese: 韋煒; Simplified Chinese: 韦炜) and Huang Yi Xin (Traditional Chinese: 黃藝馨; Simplified Chinese: 黄艺馨), were sculpture majors at the Guangzhou Arts Institute (Traditional Chinese: 廣州美術學院; Simplified Chinese: 广州美术学院). They graduated from that university in June of 2006.

They're definitely the funniest thing I've ever seen on YouTube; out of their 12 videos, I particularly like these:

Dadada, Trio

The choreography is hilarious; and has an amazing high degree of difficulty (all in one take, no less). Their moves are somehow very apt; anyone can lip synch, not very many can capture the essence of the song in such telling and funny ways.

Don't Lie, Black Eyed Peas

Their outfits are ridiculously funny--and you've never seen guys vamp so convincingly before. A lot of the BBD charm is their Mutt & Jeff aspects, which really come out here. And the ending--my gosh....


Fairytale, Guang Liang (Malaysian singer)

This is in many ways their masterwork. I recommend watching it after the others, to get the full effect. I imagine thousands of people watched the first minute, wondered what all the fuss over a couple of poor saps was, and left clueless. The second half of the video shows them practicing for Superstar, by S.H.E.

You can see all of their videos via their 'English language' website; which, oddly fittingly, is run by imposters.

I am entirely serious when I say the Back Dorm Boys have done as much to change the image of China among the gweilos as anyone, with only Yao Ming and the student-in-front-of-the-tank as peers. They're strong, self-confident, and totally in charge. And, of course, funny as hell.

They're also a great example of the mostly-young revolution now underway in the world's most populous land, one that fully feels a part of the world, and that is eager to engage, learn from, teach and work with both its neighbors and the West (in that order), whether from within or without China.

Yo Yo Ma and Ha Jin are one aspect of this wave; Tan Dun, Chen Kaige and the seemingly thousands of Chinese who are taking over the modern art world are another. It's only a matter of time before a Chinese Bill Gates or Tiger Woods or Madonna joins them on the world stage. Heck, maybe it's already happened, and we in the West simply aren't yet aware of it--a sinking feeling that we won't want to get used to if this indeed turns into the Chinese century.

In any case, we better hope that this creative side of a China-with-a-sense-of-humor is what emerges--because otherwise, we're gonna be dealing with Bus Uncle.

On a related note, Rosie O'Donnell is a complete idiot. She doesn't get it; her 'apology' for chingchongate only underscores how clueless she is, right down to the chinese/japanese/any asian/whatever part, I do accents all the time (uh... ching chong isn't an accent, Rosie; it's like mocking african americans by making jungle noises) and the 'two Asian girls in the audience think it's funny, so it's okay' ending.

Not to mention I doubt she's been hearing from "Asians" on this--it's your fellow Americans, dearie. Many of whom are part of an interesting discussion on Gothamist Rosie could profit from. Complete with this Stephen Biko quote: "Not only are whites kicking us; they are telling us how to react to being kicked."