If you want to find the worse excesses of spite, ignorance and irrelevance, the comments on YouTube take some beating. But sometimes you can also stumble across some really interesting stuff.
Yesterday for example, I wanted to know what J’Ouvert Morning in a Trinidad Carnival song meant. I found this clip with a comment from the poster that was a whole history lesson.
Here’s an excerpt.
“J’ouvert morning” (from the French “Jour Ouvert”, meaning “day break”) is a lesser known part of the annual carnival that occurs in the city of Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago on the Monday morning before the daylight carnival parades begin. In the early hours of the morning, whilst it’s still dark, people daub themselves and others, in mud, grease and paint whilst they dance, drink and sing to “soca” music, “chipping” along the roads of the city until the sun rises.
J’Ouvert morning is a time when established identities become blurred. When differences of gender, sexuality, class and race can become anonymous beneath costumes, mud and paint.
Blimey! That sounds a bit different.
Anybody else found any quality comments on the Tube?
Another Tube phenomenon I would like to praise, is when posters provide subtitles in English of songs in French, Portuguese etc. Invaluable.
Anybody else had any pleasant experiences on the Tube? Or do you just find it baking hot, full of rude people, overcrowded and a complete nightmare in the rush hour?
In a similar vein, some of you may know the lovely Canto de Ossanha by Vinicus de Moraes.
I stumbled across this blogspot with a translation which explains a lot of background.
https://blogdobatman.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/translation-of-%E2%80%9Ccanto-de-ossanha%E2%80%9D-by-baden-powell-and-vinicius-de-moraes/
Made my day.
Adam Buxton’s television series was pretty much exclusively him commenting on comments from YouTube. I’ve never been to any of his Bug shows but I believe they are more of the same. Is quite astounding what people say and, at the same time, quite sad how people can get quite so wound up by what is often a small error.
It’s a strange world.
But one where many kids spend an enormous amount of time. My son never watches any TV channels at all. And I can see why: the variety is amazing.
Like if you’re reading this in 2015!
(This, and allusions to any type of featured music being better than Justin Bieber make me despair).
I don’t understand your despair Milky. I love the Tube and spend far too much time watching it.
Is it that i’m making a statement so obvious that it doesn’t need to said?
Ah no KFD, I’m probably being obtuse (sorry). I can spend hours on Youtube, it’s fantastic. It’s the comments that make me despair.
There seems to be some sort of meme at the moment where folk comment on an old video (from 2011 perhaps) “Like if you’re watching in 2015!!!”. It just strikes me as banal – I watch loads of old stuff but don’t feel the need to tell everyone I’m doing it.
There was also a thing on music videos a few years ago where every single one had a “This is much better than Justin Bieber” comment on it. Yeah, it probably was, but it just got silly.
I’ve read my post again and I’ve made a right tit of myself because I’ve tried to crack a joke about the comments on Youtube videos and it looks like I’m moaning about your post, which I’m not. Sorry for the confusion – just shows how easy it is to cock up on a comments section 🙂
Here’s a link to one of my current Youtube faves as an apology. It’s over 5 years old, but is fantastic. There are a few more of these…
That’s excellent!
No worries;Milky. Our brief misunderstanding led to you posting a great clip.
Know what you mean about those comments. I sometimes wonder if the comment writerhas even bothered to watch the clip.
Looking at old stuff and enjoying the archives of TV stations all around the world is one of the great joys of the Tube.
Like going back to 1978 and the great and wonderfully charming Brazilian songwriter Vinicius de Moraes.
With subtitles. In Portuguese unfortunately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPypoG0rAfc
One of my favourite Tubers is Sighkid who I’ve mentioned before on the AW.
The clips he does from the gigs he goes to are always excellent.
The Divine Comedy live.
Both sad and cheering…but thankfully no snark.
That Peel clip was very fine. I got to listen to Andy Kershaw doing the fine Peel tribute show and also playig Harper.
The Tube is great for topical stuff. I can sit in Sweden and Watch some of the stuff from this year’s Edinburgh Festival.
This is rather sensational.