For some, the way to know how everything began. For others, the beginning of the end, and according to some, 2008 was supposed to be the last year of our collective existence. Planet Earth, eaten by a black hole. As far as I know, the world is still spinning on its axis….

2) 2008 Summer Olympics

What will you remember of the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

The magnificent opening ceremony, co-directed by filmmaker Zhang Yimou and choreographer Zhang Jigang? Perhaps it’ll be the political issues and demonstrations, or the one and only Michael Phelps? To me, the Olympic mascots say it all – The Fuwa!

3) R.I.P

Two big icons left this word in 2008, the fashion emperor Yves Saint Laurent and the pin-up classic Bettie Page. Also, some all-time-idols passed away: Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, Estelle Getty, comedian George Carlin and our Golden Globe 2009 favorite, Heath Ledger.

4) Global Financial Crisis

They say it’s the greatest financial crisis since the great depression. If you play this video, close your eyes and ignore the old school narration style, it does sound incredibly current. Only time can tell what the history videos will call this crisis in the future, but there’s one thing you can be sure of: we will be in color.

5) Obama Wins U.S. Elections
As a fan of David Letterman’s “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches” I was a bit ambivalent about Obama’s victory. Sure, he can give a good old inspirational, larger than life speech, but where’s the humor? What can late night shows do with an actual great presidential speech?

6) Slumdog Millionaire

This modern-day fairy tale  by Trainspotting’s Danny Boyle is already collecting awards, and showing that smaller films can shake the world. And that a bit of Bollywood spice  is  needed in the sometimes-boring Hollywood, by combining social criticism without leaving the groove behind…You’re sure to relish in the delectable soundtrack, courtesy of A. R. Rahman and the powerfully talented M.I.A., who pumps an irresistible spirit into the film with her track Paper Planes.

7) Tweets Gone Wild – the Mainstream Rise of Twitter

Nerdy as it sounds, Twitter definitely deserves merit and a place in our top 10 of 2008 list, a this year wa a barrier-breaking one for Twitter, sparking a debate whether Twitter represents a “new breed” of citizen journalism. From a service that was barely stable for more than a few consecutive hours when we first started tweeting (5min totally hearts the Fail Whale, btw), Twitter has gone on to become more than just a another ranting ground for the tech-forward community, exploding into the mainstream of contemporary Web.
Spanning the pre-election buzz, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, arrests on foreign soil, a multitude of natural disasters across the globe, real-time plane crashes and just about any other bit of life-altering news (alongside the trivial, of course), this past year Twitter has proven to be a vital if non-traditional source of breaking news.

8 ) Farewell to Baltimore – The Finale of HBO’s The Wire

For five long seasons, the enigmatic city of Baltimore, Maryland, had become a home to those who, like myself, had become shameless junkies of the genius work of David Simon and Ed Burns. In their HBO masterpiece, The Wire, we were offered a glimpse into not only the city and the self-sustaining systems within, such as the drug trade and the local police department, but to the very heart and ultimate downfall of every American city, the potential deterioration of every moral belief system. Pegged as a crime drama, The Wire was (and still is) anything but your typical crime drama – it was one of the best television shows ever, if not the best drama I have ever had the privilege of following so religiously. And so, despite the curtain closing on five beautifully-executed seasons rich with complex characters and the feeling that you may never see the big picture in its entirety, I am still wondering – what could Jimmy McNulty be up to these days?

9) CassettePlaya’s To-Die-For Fashion

CassettePlaya, Carri Munden’s eye-popping fashion label, has had us wowed for some time now. After having dressed up the Klaxons, Dizzee Rascal and grime guys Boy Better Know, 2008 saw Munden enlisted by Nintendo DS to whip up artwork inspired by the console’s MySims game. CassettePlaya’s work references odd-ball motives such as retro video game, YouTube, virtual reality, rave culture and text-messing, armed with an unmistakable color pallet fueled by crazed creativity. Heck, she even paid homage to LOLCATS!

10) Britney: Reloaded

From Catholic school-girl outfits and circling hearts around the initials “JT” to soaring through rehab, a shotgun wedding and Reno divorce, yet another failed marriage to a failed rapper, procreating faster than you can say “comeback”, alternately shaving her head, touring gas stations barefoot, getting strapped with a 5150 involuntary psych hold and battling over child custody in court, Brit-Brit has done it all. Not quite ready to step away from the limelight, Britney Spears has completely owned 2008, making the inevitable comeback with the aptly titled Circus, her sixth studio album to date.

We can’t help it, Womanizer was that good.

Happy New Year from the 5min Team!

]]> http://blog.5min.com/2008/12/28/on-the-5min-radar-our-top-picks-of-2008/feed/ 0 http://blog.5min.com/2008/12/02/5min-unveils-videoseed-for-smart-syndication/ http://blog.5min.com/2008/12/02/5min-unveils-videoseed-for-smart-syndication/#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:49:21 +0000 Ealeal http://blog.5min.com/?p=302 We’re stoked to finally be launching our exciting new syndication tools, spearheaded by 5min’s proprietary VideoSeed technology.

5min’s semantic syndication platform for instructional video programming now reaches 100M unique users via our vast network of partner publisher sites. This platform pairs brand advertising with relevant video from 5min’s library of hundreds of thousands of new and existing professionally-produced, niche-specific how-to titles licensed from content partners like NBC Universal, Ford Models, Elle and Kiplingers, for semantic delivery across the 5min network.

The VideoSeed, which we see as the very heart of our growing syndication platform, uses smart page analysis to contextually match only the most relevant videos to your existing content. In effect, the VideoSeed enables you to breathe life into your website with a direct source for tens of thousands of high-quality videos from 5min’s rich how-to library. That’s right – we’ve cracked the very DNA code of video, so that you don’t have to! Now website publishers can easily add entire video sections to their websites, using a customizable version of 5min’s innovative SmartPlayer and vast content library.

Instantly add relevant, video content to your website in the click of a button, coupling the existing content on your site with hundreds of thousands of high-quality, ad-supported, contextually relevant videos from 5min’s segmented library – all without a single day’s work!

We’re also excited to be announcing our new syndication partners, among them Answers.com, WikiHow, Wikia, Helium , AskTheBuilder and many more.

To find out more about syndication opportunities and how you can benefit from VideoSeed, contact us.

That’s why in September of 2007 I watched with surprise-horror-admiration how my all-time-favorite, Fernando Gonzalez, was defeated by Dudi Sela. And there was little that I could do to cheer my hero: the only thing I could think about was to repeat the classic “Come on, Fernando” over and over again.  Even after watching the Davis Cup and Wimbledon for years, my knowledge on tennis was reduced to Woody Allen’s prerogative on MatchPoint: it’s all up to luck.

Now, his team is back to the game entering the play-offs of the Worlds Group, and will play against Australia between September 19^th and the 21^st. So in the meantime, I’ve been training myself: by watching FastLaneTennis, coached by Joe Dinnofer, I now know How to do a Wrist Snap in Tennis, How do an Inside-Out/In Tennis Forehand, and especially, The Importance of Serves in Tennis. And I’ve learned that it’s not all up to luck when playing tennis. So instead of wishing good luck, I wish him a good game. 

Please note that both the DJ and the Wrestler are animal lovers.

One, is Jonathan AKA DJ Ellaskins , a massive DJ from England, with over 20 years of experience in setting up raves, working the club scene and slicing up the dance floor with all types of equipment. In the two years since he has opened an account on Youtube, he has amassed a massive following. Gathering over 12,000 subscribers, half a million channel views and a library of over 1,200 videos all about his life on the road as a DJ, a nearly daily updated vlog and hundreds of tutorials in the art he has mastered.

The other is a young strapping lad, Richard Whirley, born and trained in Covington, Georgia. He has dedicated his life to the study of a variety of martial arts. Originally under the tutelage of Gary Brown and George Allen, he rose to high ranks receiving a 2nd Degree Brown Belt. The videos hosted on his 5min Studio are “dedicated solely to developing your game in Submission Grappling and Mixed Martial Arts competition”. He awfully likes the competitive sport of grappling, and hosts a treasure chest of combative moves like: The Turtle Leg Escape, the Turtle Roll, and the fearsome Turtle Twister.

So Richard and Jonathan, both champions of their respective fields, both dedicated competitors of an underground sport, have set up camp in the 5min corner of the webiverse. They are serving up hundreds of videos in each studio, spreading their knowledge to the world, all for you to learn from.

So maybe, in an alternate universe both would be close friends. Jonathan and Richard might have studied in the same school. Both united by their love for animals, fighting bullies who would attack small children on the playground.

But who knows?

Having sports teachers who were trained under a military regime, volleyball didn’t seem so much fun when I was in high school, even though I didn’t have to worry about Health Insurance at the time. I mean, I still had a limited number of fingers that couldn’t be replaced… But watching the Brazilian team jump and hit the ball made me change my mind, and wonder what my teachers missed in their explanations of what seemed to be the War of the Worlds.

Kudda’s videos explain quite well the steps of how to play volleyball, so now I understand. Passing the ball is not an attack. It is a move, and you could have fun doing it, too. Especially if you’re playing on a Brazilian turquoise-water-paradise beach.

Like myself, Pat and Isabel came from a school that had field hockey as the main sport, so it was very shocking for me, as a 10 year old girl, to see that my heroines were forced to move to St. Claire’s, where field hockey wasn’t in the featured activities, but had lacrosse as their official sport.

After reading the word lacrosse I just felt a big echo in my head. I was absolutely clueless about it, and I still had to picture the twins playing. I ended up searching in the old library of my school for lacrosse books, looking for pictures that could give me an idea of the lacrosse racket, and after a lot of research, I got a slight picture of what lacrosse was.

But just now, watching Kudda’s coach Diane teaching the girls how to play lacrosse, I get the exact idea of what Pat and Isabel went through when they moved to St. Claire’s.

“The harder you practice the better you’ll be become; there are no secrets to the game.” – Sheila Masterson, soccer expert.

Coach Emmitt Carney steps up to the mound facing the plate, sweat on his brow, the sun reflecting its light in his opponents eyes. He prepares himself for the pitch. After years of preparation and perfecting his technique he begins the warm-up.

How To Play Football: All About Pass Blocking
Coach Scott Phelps forms a huddle, his teammates are, bound tightly together, listening to his every word as he describes the next play, he looks over his shoulder and his eyes meet those of the quarterback of the opposing team, grabbing the ball pigskin tightly in his hands, he yells one final encouragement for his team to get them ready for the next few moments.

How To Play Soccer: Master Juggling Begins Here!
Sheila Masterson is controlling the ball with enviable skill and speed. She briskly moves herself through each line of defense, dogging various attempts to get at her ball, she positions herself and the ball to align with the goal post and aims for the shot, it’s all clear and with full force and great ball handling she shoots for the goal. The ball flies over 30 yards before passing through the goalies outstretched hands, hitting the net.

All these sport heavy weights have something to offer us; they’ve got years of experience on the field, on the court and in the baseball diamond. Hundreds of games, years of studying technique and posture, drills developed through thousands of hours of practice. They’ve seen it all. These men and women have the skill the required to make it, but they have also opted to teach; to spread their personal knowledge about the sport that they know and love! Baseball, basketball, soccer, football, golf… Heck, they even covered Tee-ball!

5min is proud to present Sport America, a team of dedicated professionals who are here to teach, show and contribute to the 5min community and the world at large. Over 2,000 videos are now available on 5min, for you to learn from and enjoy. Practice with your very own private coach and you can learn from the best and become even greater!

Go ahead grab your weapon of choice, whether it’s a baseball bat, soccer ball, golf club or football, we’ve got it all for you to watch and benefit from!

This is just the tip of the many great studios Sport America has set up here on 5min – so come on, get down with your sporty side!

Game on,

Aron Joseph

This year marks the 42nd annual Super Bowl, meaning we just don’t seem to get tired of this stuff! This time, in order to crown the champs of the 2007 playing season, the New York Giants will be facing the New England Patriots in a bout for the shiny trophy. The action will be taking place tonight at 6:30 PM EST (or a bit later if you’re further out on the West Coast), and will be broadcast live from the University of Phoenix Stadium in glorious Glendale.

If you’re a big football buff, there is no doubt in my mind that you have already secured a hip and happening Super Bowl screening party to attend. For those of you who are either apathetic, clueless about football or simply didn’t RSVP to any hot viewing parties, we’ve got a few suggestions to make this oh-so-special weekend fly by with ease and maximum comfort.

If you, like myself, care more about shopping on eBay than about the Super Bowl, let me clue you in on some football facts that may help you survive watching the game with your male companions.

Even if you are completely clueless as to the rules of football and the glory of all things NFL, if you plan on sitting through the entire event with your boyfriend, take the time to wise up and really grasp who’s fighting who here. Wanna really find your way? Here’s what you need to know to maximize your enjoyment for what many consider the greatest day of the year.

WHERE?!

This year the party’s going on in Glendale, AZ. The Super Bowl usually generates an economic impact of, on average, $200 to $300 million for the hosting city, so it’s easy to understand why cities compete aggressively for the right to hold these games. So…Hooray, Glendale! We hope you spend that money wisely.

WHAT?!?

Much like the plot on any Aaron Spelling show, the Super Bowl’s roots were not so super – they were about competition, jealousy and money. In 1960, Lamar Hunt, a Dallas businessman, established the American Football League (AFL) as a direct competitor to the already popular NFL. Why would someone play for the newbie AFL? It’s all about the money, and the AFL offered much higher salaries. Ahh, greed…Nothing like it!

In 1967, the two leagues decided to play a championship game. The first two years of this championship didn’t create that much interest, maybe because it was not yet called the Super Bowl, but had a much less catchy name. With time, this annual championship grew to be a mammoth television event and one of the highest paid slots for advertisers to fight over.

WHO…?

This year pits the New England Patriots verus the New York Giants. What does this mean, you ask? Well, one major issue here is the Giants’ defense. The Patriots offense has been nearly unstoppable, but this event’s Giant defense is TOUGH. Defensive End, Osi Umenyiura (pronounced OH-see yoo-men-YUR-ah, FYI), has played like a true Jedi, and their leader, Michael Strahan, might be feeling a little more driven than usual, as this is probably his last chance to win a Super Bowl. Yikes!

So…How to live through this?

The best way to cope with the situation is to admit you have a problem – here you are watching the Super Bowl, and you’ve got no clue as to what’s going on. Who are all those men in itty bitty shorts, chasing a ball around? Why do they have to stray so many yards down in order to make a difference? What’s a touchdown, anyway?!

Relax! Football is a game of inches played on a field measured in yards — English measurements are used to track movements on the field. When two teams step onto a football field, each is battling for every inch it can take from the other. Each team wants to defend the field that is behind it and invade the field in front of it. Ultimately, they want to gain enough ground to score a touchdown or field goal. If you still find yourself confused, you can at least make sure one thing goes right at your Super Bowl party – the dip!

If you don’t have the faintest interest in football, I strongly suggest you just fake it, at least if you intend on sitting through the game with friends – sure, you may hate football and the pagan rituals surrounding Super Bowl Sunday, but hey, no use ruining it for everyone else!

Have a great game! 5min is rooting for you!