You need to have several characteristics to be considered a YouTuber. You need to be original, productive, have a decent audience, and that’s just to name a few. Recently, several people have expressed that they felt Ray William Johnson doesn’t fit the YouTuber profile with his show =3.

If you’re not aware of Ray’s series, =3, it’s a short 4-5 minute show that makes observational humor out of three videos. These videos are content uploaded by other websites or various individuals. You can easily compare this to The Soup; a television show that makes observation humor out of other shows. There’s no question that Ray is equally as funny as Joel McHale.

The argument is that Ray isn’t original, because he’s using others videos to support his own. This is half true. Some originality is loss from the use of others’ videos; however, another type of originality is gain. Never before has a YouTuber MCed viral videos the way that Ray has.

Too many networks have tried to create shows that are base on web videos. While this may bridge the gap between online and television entertainment, shows such as Web Soup won’t get the audience it deserves. It’s only natural that a web version of Web Soup would become successful. The =3 show brings both the internet audience closer together and gives new media more merit.

Ray William Johnson’s main channel fits the profile of a YouTuber. He’s productive with two shows a week, has an audience that rivals that of some television shows, and is both original and innovative with something that brings the community closer together. It’s also a step closer to seeing a full fledge YouTube channel that focuses YouTubers’ videos rather than YouTubers themselves. By the way, he’s doing your mom.

When we think of parodies we often think of YouTubers, VenetianPrincess and Dave Days. Soon there may be another YouTuber that you’ll think of. However, will it be one too many, or will he bring something new to the community?

Like many, the first time I saw Slyth66 I titled my head in curiosity, “Does he have one arm?” but I tilted my head in the other direction, “Wow, is he really that good?” Here I found a young, dedicated YouTuber who has overcome more challenges than most. That alone impresses me.

His content is original, even for music parodies, which are becoming even more difficult to stand out. Yet, they continue to pull in thousands of views. The first one I recall seeing was his Single Ladies parody Pregnant Ladies. Between the catchy lyrics and humorous dancing, I found myself hooked to this YouTuber.

Some don’t like his videos, because of the quality. The problem is that they’re trying to compare him to that of VenetianPrincess or other various top YouTubers. Yes, there’s room for improvement, but it’s not necessary to enjoy his videos. Also, it’s evident that he does everything he can to produce the highest quality videos possible. That in itself is good enough for me.

Slyth66 is unquie amongst the community for various reasons. One reason is that he’s a right arm amputee, but you’ll soon forget that when you start to realize the other reasons. He’s a talented, dedicated, hardworking YouTuber and it’s been paying off for him. Which is why you’ll be both entertained and inspired at the end of his videos.

When CincoDeVlogo first started I was impressed and expected a lot from this collab channel. It was made up of two YouTubers that I already spotlighted, two more that I would end up spotlighting, and one that I had the privilege to do a Skype interview with. I even did a guest spot and was going to sponsor their channel. However, like a gas station burrito, what was great has now given me an upset stomach.

CincoDeVlogo’s first mistake was neglecting their individual YouTube channels. It’s been months since AyyLucky uploaded new videos onto his own channel. With Andy Warski’s hectic life his time has been poorly invested into a collab channel. Both Ricky and Edwin are hanging in there, but not at a 100%. By not investing in themselves, the member of CDV are or have they lost touch with their own subscribers and potential growth in their own styles.

The next mistake happened with the lost of GraphyteTV. There was nothing wrong with him leaving. In matter of fact, it was the best move anyone in that collab channel has made for themselves regardless of why of he had left. The mistake they made was the replacement they decided on; DFizzy.

Yes, he’s funny and has a unique style that I enjoy, but it doesn’t work for CincoDeVlogo. His style clashes too much with a couple of the other members such as Andy. Also, why would you bring on someone who has been neglecting with his own channel? It gives off the impression that whoever wanted him on CincoDeVlogo only wanted to gain access to his subscribers even though it was stated otherwise.

To make matters worse, I was told they’re taking a three week break. This is an awful idea, because anytime you go on a long period without new videos you’re going lose your steam. A week long break would have been better. Enough time to get their act together, but not too long to lose their subscribers’ interest. At least respect your subscribers by making a video informing them, because I shouldn’t have to find out from a Skype call days later.

Both Andy and DFizzy would be better off walking away from CincoDeVlogo. They need to focus more on their channels which demands more from them since they’re partners. Otherwise they’ll continue to lose respect from their subscribers and never grow any bigger as YouTubers.

Lucky, Edwin, and Ricky need to think about what they want. Do they want to be known as a collab channel or as individual YouTubers? At the moment there’s little hope that they can manage both. However, I would be more than happy to be proven wrong.

Due to the support of well established and credible YouTubers and even a member of CincoDeVlogo itself I have decided to make this post public once more with a few minor changes. Note that comments that support the YouTubers mentioned or that supports my opinions are welcome. However, any comments that are personal attacks or contains vulgar language from either side will not be approved. I am OutbackZack and I’ll continue to voice my opinions.

I remember growing up with The Muppets with everything from the Muppet Babies to the Muppet Treasure Island. It was one of those things we all loved and knew. My personal favorite was Fozzie Bear, and I always questioned the relationship between a pig and a frog. The Muppets is just one of those icons that makes you instantly smile, and that’s exactly what I did when I came across Muppets Studio.

When I first heard about the YouTube Channel solely dedicated to The Muppets I knew right away it was going to be a hit or miss. In the back of my head I was screaming, “Hell yes!”, but I didn’t want to give my hopes up. The first video I saw was Bohemian Rhapsody and within seconds I knew this is what I grew up with. Not only is the original song amazing, but what they did do it blew my mind away along with nearly 8 million other viewers.

There it was; Gonzo with the chickens, Rowlf the Dog, Animal, Pepe the King Prawn, Bobo the Bear, Beaker, Big Mean Carl, Crazy Harry, Fozzie Bear, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhen, and the list just goes on and on. Somehow in just five minutes I was revisited by a huge part of my childhood, but in such a unique and refreshing approach. Two hours of my day was invested into watching the rest of these videos. Those were the best two hours of my life.

Bohemian Rhapsody has many of the fans' favorites.

Seeing Waldorf and Statler make video replies had me appreciating the sarcastic wit that I have. Watching The Swedish Chef launch a bazooka into a couple of talking pumpkins made my insane personality feel at home. Signing a musical parody staring Gonzo and his chickens made everyone wake up in the house. With each video I soon realized that these were the traits of so many YouTubers. Which is why seeing The Muppets on YouTube felt so natural to me.

I now better understand why I’m a YouTuber myself. It’s because I grew up with the insane, unpredictable, rich comedy of The Muppets. There’s no doubt in my mind that they had this effect on many of today’s biggest YouTubers. This is why the Muppets Studio earned both my subscription and my respect.

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This isn’t the first time that a popular YouTuber has put out their own CD. VenetianPrincess and DaveDays are just among the few. So there should be no surprise the Luscas would create a Fred Christmas album. However, many YouTubers have been posting negative reviews simply because there’s a song about money. Is this really a reason to pass up this album?

PauseStopRewind was given a free copy of It’s Hackin’ Christmas to write a fair and honest review on. Instantly I was shock to find there’s only four songs. Even though the CD is a cheap $3.99, if you’re going to put out a Christmas album there should be at least ten songs to keep my attention for more than 15 minutes.

With that said, there really wasn’t anything else that I disliked about this album. I grew up listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks which is what Fred’s songs felt like with the high pitch voice. Just a more insane version. Each song was really catchy too, and they kept my attention the entire time. What exactly do I mean by catchy?

Well, the lyrics were cleverly written with humor, and they referenced characters and events from Fred’s videos. That alone will make any fan happy and appreciate the songs more. Also, the beats had both that Christmas feeling, but with a refreshing pop mix. Like a more modern Christmas song to catch the today’s youth’s attention. Overall the songs were what I expected in then some, and surprisingly I was impress. Hell, I liked it.

There are those, however, who are ripping apart the Christmas Cash song saying that it’s a sign that Lucas is greedy. It’s more like a sign that these reviewers are full of ignorance like ErickWithNok. When you only look at and read the money money money lyrics, yeah, it’s going to sound like someone is greedy. However, when you look at the whole song you realize it’s just about keeping Christmas simple, and giving him money for him to pick out his own gifts. This is exactly what I told my mother I wanted for Christmas, “Just give me some cash.”

Like I said there’s only four songs; Christmas Cash, Christmas is Creepy, Fred’s One Squirrel Open Sleigh, and Fred’s 12 Days of Christmas. They’re not Grammy worthy, but they are worth the $3.99. Trust me when I say they’re actually fun to listen to.You can purchase It’s Hackin’ Christmas over at iTunes.

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Miley Cyrus deletes her twitter! Oh no! What will we do?! Oh, wait, I never followed her so this doesn’t concern me at all. It’s her life so I have nothing bad to say concerning that. That was until she went and made a YouTube video about it.

Incase you somehow safely escaped into a cave to wait it out, her video was a rap song about why she left Twitter. Yeah, she could have just said, “Hey, I got tired of it. I have a life. Bye.” Then we would all had move on. No! She had to grab four of her friends, dress them up as rejected background dancers from a Lady Gaga music video, and have them shake their asses around. This year’s Christmas came early for the pervs.

At least they knew how to bop their heads to the beat. Miley, on the other hand, looked like bubblehead in an earth quick. Then she started rapping. This is where I should have closed my laptop and walked away. Between her rhymes of “pimples” and “people” I found myself asking, “Why not just stop being a twitter whore then?”

Seriously, you could have kept the Twitter account to update your fans on new songs, concerts, and other projects, and stop with the pointless tweets. However, you choose to delete it due to lack of commonsense of keeping your private life private. Now, I’m all for her trying to stay out of the tabloids. What I don’t understand is creating this whole Twitter situation for tabloids to write about!

Then she goes on to say she’s “too busy” which I was true. That way she would have never made the video in the first place. From here, the rest of the lyrics made Kevin Federline look like a professional rapper. However, I was disappointed most at Kanye West. I was waiting for him to come in and say, “Yo Miley, I’m really happy for you. I’m gonna let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best Twitters of all time!” At least we have videos such as this to laugh along with.

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Success on YouTube and on the internet in general comes down to one of two things; looks or brains. Either you need to be good looking or have the ideas and creativity to grab enough attention to earn a living off the web. However, one YouTuber not only used, but mastered both beauty and brains to launch their career on YouTube.

Marina Orlova, a native 28 year old Russian, runs the popular YouTube channel and corresponding website Hot for Words. In case you’ve been too focused on other adult websites, I mean other forms of entertainment, Hot for Words is a series of videos in which Marina teaches the origin of words. Sometimes these are everyday words such as bikini. While others make you do a 180 such as floccinaucinihilipilification.

If you think she’s some ex-porn star trying to get a clean slate then you’re wrong. Marina holds two degrees in philology from the Nizhny Novgorod State University. Philology is the study of linguistics and etymology. Meaning she’s well qualified and knowledgeable on languages.

Screen cap from HotForWord's animated intro.

Now that we better understand who she, what she does, and why she can do it, there’s one question that remains, “How do her videos stack up?” Get your head out of the gutter; I’m talking about quality not her boobs. Or is my head in the gutter? Anyways, every time I watch her videos I find myself able to recite what I learned a week later. Isn’t that the purpose of her videos, to teach us? So far, she’s doing an excellent job.

There’s no doubt that because of her good looks and questionable outfits that I’m retaining more knowledge. However, who cares? I often hear that learning should be fun, and it’s defiantly fun in this case. Also, it’s evident that she puts effort and hard work into her videos. Instead of just sitting at a chair in front of a webcam with her boobs hanging out (which would still work), she actually takes the time to deliver a high quality production.

She’s also one of the few YouTubers to have expand beyond the internet. Her recently published book titled Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings actually made for an enjoyable read on a recent flight of mine (thanks mom ). On a bad note though, I do wish that she would cool it down on her dirty annotations during her videos. It often makes me feel like I’m watching porn a little too much. Next thing I know I’m confessing my YouTube viewing sins to a Catholic priest, and I’m not even Catholic. With that said, Hot For Words receives a 4 out of 5.

The massive YouTube collab, The Station, started off rocky and left me on the fence. Between the less than realized original ideas and out of place acting, The Station was falling short with their first few videos. It’s rare that someone gets something right the first try, and even rarer for a group of people to do the same. With this in mind, I decided to give these professional YouTubers some time to fall into place… and I’m happy that I did.

The first set of videos showed evidence of the cast members’ talents clashing and out of place roles. Then came the release of Chris Brown Larry King Interview… It’s like WOW. It’s not shocking that The Station would do a parody of the interview, but LisaNova playing Chris Brown? That was an interesting twist, and her acting is nothing less of spectacular. Every facial and eyebrow expression was right on the spot. KassemG portrayal of the Larry King was slightly off, but nevertheless it was refreshing to witness him expanding out into some new roles.

Then when I thought they couldn’t impress me even more, they released HOT GIRLS on Teen Cribz. Both LisaNova and KassemG truly tricks you into believing that they’re not the same people from the Chris Brown parody. The video quickly turns into a laugh out loud riot. There was never a dull moment between the cross eye KassemG in drags and LisaNova’s perfect portrayal of those MTV bitches that we all hate. I even find myself annoying those around me as I recite the “I only eat breakfast in the breakfast room at the breakfast table” quotes.

Are KassemG and LisaNova the only YouTubers that have recently impressed me up to this point? Honestly, somewhat. It’s great to see DaveDays’ talent get put to great use with the video Baby We’re Through. However, his acting at the beginning started the music parody on a bad note. Dave needed to work on his emotional expressions to really set the appropriate mood for the rest of the video. It’s also great to see The Bdonski stand out more even if his recent role was minor. By the way, for those of you who thought Shane Dawson played Chris Angle, you need to actually take the time to check out the credits. I too was surprised when I found out it was WhatADayDerek.

This is where the review was originally going to conclude. However, recent life events postponed me from posting this and since then The Station has uploaded two new videos. BEST WEBSITE EVER! was one of the best videos ever! The energy and fast pace from the actors kept me interested throughout the entire video. What was truly spectacular was that Shane Dawson was playing himself, and no one was trying to force him into this claustrophobic role. The use of guest roles was right on the money. Danny Diamond pulled off that arrogant attitude needed for his character, and Ryan Nigahiga gave all of us assholes that stereotype of Asians that we love. This is how The Station needs to make use of their guest cast more often instead of having them play themselves. Which, as I said in my previous review, leaves many casual viewers in the dark.

Now there’s no doubt that many YouTubers and viewers are not fans of The Station. Some even hate this collab with a passion. So what did The Station decide to do? Make a video about if of course. Burn Down The Sation… Burn Burn Burn is by far one of my favorite videos. Not because I agree with the title (which I don’t), but because they have enough sense of humor to poke fun at themselves. Every performance, every line, every cruse word and big Jew nose joke was perfect. I’m not surprise either since it was directed by Will Watkins from the HiImRawn series. The change up of the scenes kept grabbing you in for more while sticking to the main point of the video. The use of comments and video responses made The Station look stronger rather than an epic fail. Rawn only strengthen my belief in his talent to adapt to various roles, PhillyD has become my favorite douchebag on camera, DaveDays can perform at my next wedding crash, and ShayCarl needs to take over my local news weather station.

I also have to give them two thumbs up for Adopt a Terrorist. Not only are they sticking to a segment, but they’re pushing the limits. Yes, it might have been harsh, but honestly, it was funny. People need to understand they weren’t pissing on the 9/11 incident, but instead stereotyping like most do with Asians, Mexicans, Jews, etc and creating humor. Then for those who said that they don’t notice the smaller YouTubers, you been proven wrong. Sammah1 had recent small guest roles in their videos, and shows that The Station is growing with ideas. With that said, I have fallen on the side of the fence where my head wont get blown off. The Station has my 5/5 approval.

Make sure to check out their videos and follow them on twitter! Also go read the hilarious interview I’ve conducted with HiImRawn, and look out for one with Sammah1 in the near future.

Some people are born for YouTube, and their success makes perfect sense. While others should have never been introduced to the website, and yet we wonder how they’re doing so well. Cynbin20, a young woman from Canada, falls into one of those categories. Trust me; it’s not the first of the two.

I had high expectations when I was first introduced to the YouTuber. She has nearly 11,000 subscribers, a decent amount of content, and is a YouTube partner. However, after I saw her videos I found myself brain dead. Nothing about her is appealing to me besides her good looks. Sadly, that seems to be the only thing that appeals to most of her subscribers.

The titles of some videos such as Stripping, Webcams and Skype!?? and 2 Girls 1 Bed don’t bother me. I appreciate sexual humor. However, when your content lacks substance the titles start to look like a desperate pled for “Hey! Look at my videos! You might see something naughty ” Luckily I’m smart enough to know that YouTube isn’t going to provide me porn. Some, on the other hand, seem to fall for these when they comment “show me ur fucking boobs already!”.

Not once have I laughed when she was trying to be funny, and I found myself getting bored while watching nearly every video. To me, it seems like she doesn’t really try, and it shows. Only three of her videos are maintaining a 5 star rating, and two of them are collabs. It’s like she thinks “Oh let’s make a video!” then five minutes later it’s uploaded. While some can pull this off she just doesn’t have that type of talent. Honestly, it feels like she is throwing away her talent for cheap shots at appealing to the male crowd.

Two videos that appealed to me were completely different from the rest. Forbidden Fruit and Being Alone Sucks actually shows effort and time put into them. She knows how to deliver a thought provoking message, and I appreciate these more. If she had shifted her focus onto more videos such as these then I my opinion of her would be different. However, she chooses to put on the same act that Paris Hilton does. At least I hope it’s an act. Until then I’m better off just watching reruns of The Simple Life.

The Station released another Hump Day Quickie titled Porn Set. Within the first ten seconds Shane Dawson instantly stands out. Seriously, who wouldn’t expect him in a porn video? There wouldn’t be one without him. Kassem G is seen for a briefly as the director. I know I stated in my review of The Station that I hope he doesn’t get all the perverted roles, but he truly pulls off the part as a sleazy porno director.

Philly D then takes over for nearly the rest of the video. He does have some humorous dialogue, but I felt Shane should have played the role of “Roger” instead. Shane has that natural style that fits more with the role than Philly D. Also LisaNova didn’t really do much. She was just put in to play the “chick” role. In other words, she was there more for looks than an actual role.

The HIV joke at the end was without a doubt the highlight of the video. However, I wish more was done to make it feel less of a one minute “punch line joke” and more of a good quality video. The Station is on to something, but to give the cast their roles right and expand on their jokes. I’ll give this video 3/5 stars.