Tag: YouTube
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The Air India Pilot YouTube Rap That's Going Viral

Very quickly: an Air India pilot dressed himself up in his uniform, and then filmed himself rapping about how Air India sucks, and then put the video up on YouTube. How do you think that went for him? No cheating.
If you answered "obviously he was forced to write an apology and now will face disciplinary action, because employees don't get to post themselves trashing their employers on YouTube," congratulations, you're a more astute observer of organizational dynamics than is this guy. Who has flown airplanes. Filled with people inside of them. For a living.
Airline News / Airlines / Singapore Airlines / LAN / 787 / Boeing 787 / Boeing 787 Dreamliner / Dreamliner / 787 Dreamliner / ANA / SEA / SCL / YouTube / → All Tags
Airline News Round-up: 787s and an A380 for Everyone!
Too much awesome aviation news came down the pipeline this week, so we'll just wrap it up neatly for you with some bullet points:
· LAN's first 787 Dreamliner hit the South American skies: Well, it's official; South America's first Dreamliner is running its first regularly scheduled service, flying 22x week between Santiago (SCL) and Buenos Aires (EZE). The inaugural happened on October 1 after the plane got some fresh ink (check out the 787 underneath the cockpit windows). Wanna see more? LAN's Facebook page has an entire gallery from the event and our own photos and video of the delivery event are still hot and fresh.
Videos / Airlines / Airline Ads / Travel Ads / Air New Zealand / Social Media / YouTube / Celeb Travel / Playboy / Skycouch / Seats / Seating / → All Tags
A History of Air New Zealand's Crazy Celebrity Videos, Now Including the 'Playboy' Twins
They call it "Cuddle Class," but we affectionately think of it as "Economy Kama Sutra." That's right, we're talking about the infamous Air New Zealand Skycouch.
It's an unconventional seating ideaselling three economy seats with extra room as a kind of convertible bed for two passengersand AirNZ has been going about marketing it in unconventional ways. But then, when have they ever been conventional? They have a pitch-black plane and body-painted crew for goshsakes!
Lately, however, Air New Zealand has taken the celebrity route to pitch the seats, involving such unlikely names as Richard Simmons, David Hasselhoff, Snoop Dogg and now...the scandalous Playboy twin ex-girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. Watch above as they flirt with AirNZ's latest mascots.
Travel Search Engines / Hipmunk / Social Media / YouTube / Videos / → All Tags
'Everything's Better With Cute Animals,' and Doesn't Hipmunk Know It

We've made the point once or twice before, but not only do we adore innovative travel search engine Hipmunk on its merits, but there's also something about their cute little mascot that seems custom-built for the Internet. We're not sure that the success can be reduced down to a simple formula, except inasmuch as the Internet loves cute animals that are kind of animated, and the Hipmunk mascot is a cute animal that's kind of animated, and so the Internet loves the Hipmunk mascot.
Hmmm. Apparently it can be reduced to a simple formula after all.
So much can viral videos be reduced to formulas, apparently, that the Hipmunk people have gone ahead and done exactly that in their first stab at video advertising. Explaining on their blog that "everything's better with cute animals," the search engine brought together members of sketch comedy show SMBC theater and asked them to dress up like some of the Internet's most famous stars. Then they had the actors recreate those stars' most famous moments, the result being a series of homages to cute animals doing cute things (with some exceptions for annoying animals doing annoying things, because sometimes the Interwebs have a problem distinguishing cute from annoying).
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Grand Rapids, Michigan's Flash Mob Video About Death Goes Viral. Yay?

A few months ago Newsweek published its list of "America's Dying Cities," putting Grand Rapids, Michigan at #10. The rust belt city is demographically upside down, having lost more under-18 residents than it gained in the last decade. Wikipedia says that the per capita income for the city is $17,661, with one in every five children living below poverty. Being mayor is a part-time job. Literally.
In an effort to show that Newsweek was wrong and that they were still hip and relevant, Grand Rapids responded with a YouTube video of thousands of residents lipsyncing to Don McLean's American Pie. And to think, there are people out there who think that the Internet is dumbing down public debate.
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Why You Should Watch 'Girl Walks Into A Bar': Our SXSW Chat with Director Sebastian Gutierrez
The movie will debut on YouTube Friday, March 11, as it is simultaneously screened at South By Southwest.
Zachary Quinto stars in the movie as a dentist who hires a would-be assassin (played by Carla Gugino) to kill his wife. As he finalizes the assassin's payment, he unknowingly sets off a chain of events that fuels a cross-town journey through 10 of L.A.'s many lounges, bars, and strip clubs, all in one night. Girl's stellar cast also includes Danny DeVito, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Alexis Bledel, Josh Hartnett, and Rosario Dawson, among others.
Social Media / YouTube / Ryanair / LCCs / Airline Fees / Baggage Fees / Checked Baggage Fees / Baggage / Luggage / → All Tags
Ryanair Embraces YouTube, But Only to Mock Past and Future Customers

Irish LCC Ryanair has long been notorious for eschewing social media. Their reasoning is unclear, but we've always guessed it goes something like "if we engage our customers they might think we don't hate them, and then where will we be?" It turns out, though, that the airline makes exceptions on its embargo when it can use platforms like YouTube to be extra douchey.
You'll recall how, just before the weekend started, we posted this story about a near-riot that broke out on a Ryanair jet. A vacationing Belgian student had overpacked but refused to pay the airline's draconian baggage fees. He was duly denied entry onto the plane, which upset the students with whom he was vacationing, which led to something of a scuffle, which ended with dozens of arrests and the entire plane getting cleared. We kind of sort of sided with Ryanair, since we don't expect anything better from the airline and we don't understand how anyone else possibly could.
Nude Travel / Naked Travel / Airport Security / YouTube / TSA / Full-Body Scanning / → All Tags
Wear Clean Underwear for Your Next Airport Full-Body Scan
The hot topic these days is Full-Body Scanning and exactly how much radiation it gives you, or how much nakedness it reveals, or how much of a right the TSA has to force you into one at an airport. As a result, airport security is the butt of many jokes, but as the above Australian commercial and the Japanese comedy skit below reveal, this is far from the first time.
Travel Shows / TV Travel / Television Travel / YouTube / → All Tags
Zach Anner Brings Wisecracks and His Wheelchair to a New Travel Show
Move over, Rick Steves. There's a new travel show host on the scene and he's much funnier than you. What also makes Zach Anner different is that he has cerebral palsy, which he says is the "sexiest of all the palsies.” Anner's condition is explained on his Facebook fan page: "He also is confined to a wheelchair like that kid from Glee, but for real, and can't sing."
The 26-year-old became an Internet darling for his hilarious audition video to Oprah's Your OWN Show contest. The comedian proposed that if he got his own show, it would focus on travel "for people who never thought they could travel" that would tell you "how to have the perfect vacation when things don't go right at all."
Dance Travel / Philippines Travel / Michael Jackson / YouTube / → All Tags
Could the Jail With the Thriller-Dancing Inmates Become a Tourist Site?
We've all seen it and thought it the weirdest/awesomest thing ever: the prisoners who perform the full dance routine for Michael Jackson's Thriller in the prison yard. Back in July 2007 when this video hit YouTube, it took the world by storm and now has garnered over 38 million views. We're sure we're not the only ones to wonder exactly where this prison with rhythm is, and thanks to a little digging, we've discovered its location.
Although it could probably become a tourist destination if the prison was open to giving performances, we doubt there are any plans for that happenso long as they've still got access to YouTube.
See where the inmates dance to Jackson, after the jump
Literary Travel / Tourist Traps / YouTube / Amsterdam Travel / → All Tags
The Anne Frank House Joins YouTube With New Footage
A museum's newest treasure has become an international sensation thanks to the magic of Web 2.0. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam has already strengthened its international profile in 2009 by sending a traveling exhibit called "Anne Frank - A History For Today" all around the world, from San Antonio to Soweto.
Last week, the museumcommemorating the teenage girl whose wartime diary chronicled her family's attempts to avoid the Nazis by hiding in the attic of an office buildingtook its subject to your home. Yes, you, sitting right there in front of that computer; the museum launched its own YouTube channel. The centerpiece is not a chat with Nelson Mandela or the testimony of diary finder Miep Gies, but instead a recently discovered bit of footage of Anne herself, the only such known moving image of her in the world.
Airline Hell / United / YouTube / Luggage / Travel Gripes / United Breaks Guitars / → All Tags
Put Your Hands Together For 'United Breaks Guitars' Part Two
The saga of the PR nightmare for United Airlines continues with the second installment of the 3-part music video series from a United passenger who had his guitar smashed by baggage handlers.
The music group, Sons of Maxwell, were headed on a week-long tour when they flew United through Chicago, and glimpsed their checked guitar cases being roughly handled on the tarmac. Sure enough, the lead singer's guitar was broken and required $1,200 in repairs. United refused to pony up any dough in retribution, and so Sons of Maxwell vowed revenge in the form of musical shame.
