YouTube is fun!

I am now a big fan of YouTube. A much bigger fan. I mean, I've known YouTube for quite some time now, mainly from forwarded links of friends concerning various videos of interest. But it was only fairly recently that I discovered the real power of YouTube.

It was one of those eureka moments. This is what happened. I was studying for an exam and needed a break so much that I thought of browsing the internet and listening to some music. In the past, I used to log on to Yahoo! Music and check their videos on demand. Unfortunately, they have a very limited repertoire, that I usually end up gnashing my teeth for the cornucopia of pop music available. Hey, I've got nothing against pop music. To each his/her own. I just wanna be happy (and finding the videos I like is what will make me happy) :)

For example, "Somebody" by Depeche Mode was one of my favorite songs while growing up (a choice influenced by an older brother who also was a big fan of the song). When MTV Asia became more accessible to us cable-less citizens, I became a sucker for the classic videos (on a side note, it was a bit depressing to see "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis on Classic MTV, because these were the songs during my golden years of transitioning from high school to college). Seeing them old videos always brought a tear or two from my eyes (but of course, couldn't have been from my nose). Now I thought, I've seen "With or Without You" by U2, and "Shout" by Tears for Fears but I have yet to see "Somebody."

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago. So there I was, in front of my handy-dandy laptop, when a lightbulb lit. Two syllables. YOUTUBE. And that's how I ended up browsing available videos in YouTube for most of that night. I would have been at it till the ungodly hours, definitely way past the witching hour, had my responsible and studious alter-ego not taken over so I would go back to studying (he always wins in the end). Video after video, repressed desires let loose after all these years.

Here's a sample of the videos I looked up.
Disarm (Smashing Pumpkins) - Second video I looked up after Somebody
Tonight, Tonight (Smashing Pumpkins) - I remember the video from way back in 1996, and it was just so surreal. I love this video since it allows me the usage of the word "surreal," thereby making me seem more than the dunce I am.
No More I Love You's (Annie Lennox) - Again, surreal and weird (this is a good thing in my book). Whoever doesn't like her voice should be lowered slowly to a pit filled with hungry sharks. It's just so other-worldly.
Freshmen (The Verve Pipe) - I was a college freshman when this song came out. It was also during this time that I was transitioning from RX93.1 to NU107.5. Connect the dots, people!
Adam's Song (Blink 182) - Nobody knows this song. Except for people in internet forums. But then, there are no real people in internet forums and message boards. Hahaha.
Motorcycle Drive By (Third Eye Blind) - Again, a song nobody knows. Wonderful. I actually like those songs only us special people know.
Deep Inside of You (Third Eye Blind) - Moderately known.
Black Balloon (Goo Goo Dolls) - There's more to them than "Iris."
Change is Breaking Us Apart (The Dawn) - For the Filipino in me. Also, it's a damn good song.
Somebody (Depeche Mode) - I don't need to explain further.
Through the Barricades (Spandau Ballet) - Since I am a softie at heart.
We Didn't Start The Fire (Billy Joel) - Doing this for karaoke is a good vocal exercise.
Runaway (The Corrs) - One of the highlights of this song for me is the guitar riff-raff (somewhere around the third minute) after the chorus, or refrain (wait, I don't know how to call it). Anyway, they always seemed to play a different version on radio - the one without said riff-raff (I think I just made up this word). I thought I've been imagining the riff-raff all these years. After I looked it up in YouTube, it seems I'm not delusional after all.

Always been a fan of Star Trek. We didn't have cable in our home in the Philippines, so I never got to watch Star Trek Voyager, except for a few episodes on ABC 5 (free channel) back home. And so it was absolutely fantastic news when I found out last December about the marathon on Spike TV. I'd sleep at 5 am (because of studying), and wake up in time at 9 am. For one week.

Of course, they didn't show all episodes, and didn't get till the final episode. Surprise, surprise. The final episode was on YouTube. Happy happy joy joy.