Youtube

Back in the early 1980s, when I was simultaneously mastering middle school and Rubik's Cube, a new fad hit town that turned my peers, literally, on their heads: breakdancing. I was fascinated. But how was a white boy from the burbs supposed to learn how to breakdance? There was no manual and only an occasional sighting on TV. "Look, look!" my mother would yell from the living room, but by the time I got there: "Oh, you missed it. " For months I begged my parents to take me to New York City, the breakdance capital of the world.

A Cherry Hill father said he sent his autistic son to school with a recording device and has posted a video of what resulted on YouTube. He said school staff can be heard speaking inappropriately in class and using bullying language toward his son. Now, he said, he wants the staffers involved to publicly apologize to his son, and has posted an online petition calling for legislation that would require educators who bully students to be fired....

What's become as routine as dirty boots in a battle zone and as entertaining as a USO show? The answer's all over YouTube, as troops performing choreographed dance numbers - not exactly with military precision - and lip-synching to mega hits have transformed desert bases into music-video sets. A remake of Lady Gaga's "Telephone" by soldiers from the 82d Airborne Division stationed in Afghanistan has been viewed more than six million times since it was uploaded in April. Troops in Iraq made news in May when they posted (and quickly took down)

L ADY GAGA HAS been booted from YouTube after her account was suspended yesterday. The notice read that the suspension was due to "multiple or severe violations of YouTube's copyright policy. " Who complained, Madonna ? The Google-owned YouTube declined to comment (but maybe someone could post a video commenting for YouTube). YouTube's policy is to remove accounts after three copyright violations, though they can be restored after being corrected. Reports have suggested that the infringing video was a recently uploaded clip of Gaga's performance on Fuji TV. The account, "ladygagaofficial," is one of two for Gaga and is run by Gaga's camp, which isn't really a camp except it involves a lot of athletic, young people who have fun. Gaga also has an unaffected Vevo account.

FORMER North Carolina coach Butch Davis posted a video on YouTube defending himself from allegations following an NCAA investigation into the UNC football program, saying he is "absolutely committed to a clean program. " In the 9 1/2-minute clip, Davis says his philosophy has always been to succeed academically and on the field. "Those who have implied my ethics were different at the University of North Carolina couldn't be more wrong," Davis said. He said he didn't know about ex-assistant John Blake's close friendship with an NFL agent, a focus of the NCAA probe into improper benefits and academic misconduct.

REBECCA BLACK'S icky "Friday" video has topped all other YouTube vids of 2011 with 180 million views. This is the level of non-news culture you will inherit when newspapers are no more - one of fake Jon Bon Jovi -is-dead stories that traverse the Internet like the Silver Surfer, babbling babies, genius cats and insipid songs like "Friday. " The second-most-popular video, announced yesterday by the Google-owned YouTube, was "Ultimate Dog Tease," in which an owner taunts a dog with food and voices its reactions.

Did you hear the one about the archbishop, the vice president, and the piano-playing cat? Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, Vice President Cheney, and Nora the Piano-Playing Cat all wander in to a popular meeting place known as YouTube. The cardinal looks around and thinks, Mercy, this venue is a great place for me to spread the word of God! So Cardinal Rigali posts a video called "Living Lent Faithfully," offering reflections on the Scriptures for each week of Lent.

Philadelphia mayoral candidates Michael Nutter and Al Taubenberger think you ought to be in pictures - on YouTube, that is. The candidates have agreed to field citizens' questions during their Oct. 15th forum posted in the form of videos. The event will focus on the candidates' "Visions of a Sustainable Philadelphia," according to organizers from the Next Great City project. It's a good, meaty topic, and the YouTube approach - patterned after the CNN/YouTube forums for presidential candidates - offers a unique means of exploring the issue.

Investigators searching for leads in last month's beating death of a Rowan University sophomore are trying a new approach: YouTube. They submitted a 30-second clip to the popular video Web site yesterday of a suspect in the killing of Donald Farrell, who was beaten during a campus robbery Oct. 27. "Since the suspect and his companions have been described as young males, we thought it could be helpful in identifying the individual captured on...

JAMEEL SALEEM wasn't getting the types of parts he wanted when he and his girlfriend moved to Los Angeles to make it big. Saleem rattled off a list: gang banger, parolee, ghost rapper. How could he turn down ghost rapper? "It wasn't a comedy," Saleem said. But instead of waiting around for the right part, Saleem, who spent his early years in Germantown, followed in the footsteps of his hero Woody Allen: He wrote his own material, enlisted girlfriend Kimelia Weathers, picked up a camera and shot a series of YouTube videos.

A Cherry Hill father said he sent his autistic son to school with a recording device and has posted a video of what resulted on YouTube. He said school staff can be heard speaking inappropriately in class and using bullying language toward his son. Now, he said, he wants the staffers involved to publicly apologize to his son, and has posted an online petition calling for legislation that would require educators who bully students to be fired....

MUSIC Lady of Mystery Matching her haunted, tremulous voice to darkly poetic, dramatic songs of the country-rock persuasion, Megan Reilly casts an enchanting spell. There's some sonic kinship to Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris, though Reilly seems more forceful and spirit-shaking. It's an impression enhanced on her new album ("The Well") by the rocking/tremulous guitarists James Mastro and Lenny Kaye and, in her mellower mode, by a fingerpicking/singing John Wesley Harding, whom Reilly's opening for Friday night.

By David Kenner Here's a puzzle: A video calling for international action to capture Joseph Kony, a Ugandan guerrilla who commands a couple hundred men and has killed 151 civilians during the past year, has been viewed by about 80 million people on YouTube. Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - who boasts 600,000 men under arms, along with almost 5,000 tanks, and who often kills more than 100 people a day, according to activists - generates exponentially less outrage. The imbalance is particularly striking on Twitter.

Would you intervene if you witnessed an attack similar to what occurred in a River Line incident seen on YouTube?

SAN FRANCISCO - A morbidly obese California man whose tearful, videotaped plea for help became a YouTube sensation may be getting the support he wanted. The "Dr. Phil" show reached out to Livermore resident Robert Gibbs, 23, after he posted his three-minute video last week. Gibbs mentioned the program in his clip, which has been viewed more than a million times and inspired dozens of responses from viewers offering diet tips and encouragement. A crew from the "Dr. Phil" show was scheduled to come to his house and film him today, Gibbs told the Associated Press.

Jackie Milestone hopes YouTube can be her ticket to Yale. The 18-year-old Harriton High School student applied for early admission to the Ivy League university in November. When her application was deferred until spring with thousands of others, Milestone decided to try an end run by way of the Internet. Aided by some friends, Milestone created a video performance featuring a self-authored anthem to her dream school, which is her father's alma mater. The video opens with the Harriton senior cuddling a stuffed bulldog, Yale's mascot, and later alludes to the school's chief rival when Milestone is seen roughly elbowing a passing jogger wearing a Harvard T-shirt.

Lower Merion school officials are warning parents about an outfit that posted a YouTube video of local high school and college students engaging in what appears to be underage drinking and illegal drug use under the name "I'm Shmacked. " In a letter sent home Tuesday, the principals of Harriton and Lower Merion High Schools termed the images "reprehensible and cause for great concern. " The video shows binge drinking, marijuana use, window smashing, and use of drugs and alcohol in cars by students purported to be from Lower Merion - all presented as a lark.

JERSEY CITY is rolling out the welcome mat, or throwing some more peanut shells down on the barroom floor, for the "women" of the "Jersey Shore. " Jersey's second-largest city has issued producers a permit to film a spinoff of the "reality" series featuring Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jenni "JWoww" Farley . Filming is expected to begin later this month. Hoboken last week denied the permit, citing safety and quality-of-life concerns for residents. Not sure what it says about the residents of Jersey City that Snooki doesn't bring down their quality of life.

JAMEEL SALEEM wasn't getting the types of parts he wanted when he and his girlfriend moved to Los Angeles to make it big. Saleem rattled off a list: gang banger, parolee, ghost rapper. How could he turn down ghost rapper? "It wasn't a comedy," Saleem said. But instead of waiting around for the right part, Saleem, who spent his early years in Germantown, followed in the footsteps of his hero Woody Allen: He wrote his own material, enlisted girlfriend Kimelia Weathers, picked up a camera and shot a series of YouTube videos.

REBECCA BLACK'S icky "Friday" video has topped all other YouTube vids of 2011 with 180 million views. This is the level of non-news culture you will inherit when newspapers are no more - one of fake Jon Bon Jovi -is-dead stories that traverse the Internet like the Silver Surfer, babbling babies, genius cats and insipid songs like "Friday. " The second-most-popular video, announced yesterday by the Google-owned YouTube, was "Ultimate Dog Tease," in which an owner taunts a dog with food and voices its reactions.