Friday, February 21, 2020

Blog pages in a series, part 2


These pages have YouTube videos that are part of a theme.  Sometimes, the whole theme is contained on one page, but other times, the theme shows up on multiple pages.  These pages are arranged in chronological order.  The first page listed was published the earliest.

I try to update the viewer numbers for the videos in each set after a year has passed since the last update, but sometimes a year and a half passes since the last update.  If one video has had a large percentage change in its' viewership since the last update, I will keep a record of the viewer numbers during each update.

Sometimes, a video will have such a large increase in its' viewership, it will end up with more viewers than other videos that were listed higher on the page.  When that happens, I will adjust the order of the videos to maintain the ranking.



International Talent Shows

The pages in this section show people competing in shows like America's Got Talent and the X-Factor, except that they're competing all around the world.  Some of these videos show the contestants talking with the judges in languages other than English.  Some of these videos show people dancing, doing magic tricks, working as a ventriloquist, and showing other talents.

I try to update the viewer numbers once a year for these pages, but sometimes, the updates are made more than a year after the last update.

Page 1

All of the 21 videos on this page have been watched more than 40 million times.  The most-watched video has been watched 241 million times. as of the February 2020 update.

Page 2

All of the 21 videos on this page have been watched a minimum of 4 million times.  Any video that has more than 40 million viewers will be moved to the first page.



Popular Videos

The pages in this section have videos with a wide variety of subjects.  Some are homemade and planned, some are the records of unplanned events, and some are scenes from Hollywood movies.

I try to update the viewer numbers once a year for these pages, but sometimes, the updates are made more than a year after the last update.

Page 1

All of the 23 videos on this page have been watched from 5 million to 15 million times, although there are links at the bottom of the page to videos that have less readership.  I still recommend those videos.

The topics on this page include Saddam Hussein's last moments before he was hung, trick shots performed on a pool table, a store security camera that recorded the unsuccessful attempt to rob a gas station, and a woman who briefly came out of a long coma with the help of a new drug.

Page 2

All of the 21 videos on this page have been watched from 15 to 30 million times.  The topics include a woman in England who weighs 610 lbs. (her 11-year-old daughter performs some grooming on her), a collection of short videos of babies who taste lemons and limes, Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, a U.S. Marine Corps sniper doing his job, and an Uber driver who registered a Mercedes car but who sometimes uses a two-seat Lamborghini to pick up passengers.

Page 3

All of the 32 videos on this page have been watched more than 30 million times.

These topics include a 6-year-old girl that has played the piano at the White House, a 6-year-old boy who has played the violin at an André Rieu concert, two surprise marriage proposals, a woman with two heads, an expert belly dancer, a 60-year-old man who is friends with a polar bear, and a python that eats a whole alligator.

The most-watched video in this set of three pages is a one-man show about the evolution of dance.  This 6-minute video has been watched over 300 million times.



My Favorite Music

The videos on these four pages are all music videos.  Some of them are live performances.  Others are heavily-edited collections of film clips and still photos.  Others, however, simply combine one still photo of an album cover with music from a store-bought CD.

Most of the music in this collection is early Rock and Roll, but I also like late 1950s Doo-Wop music, some country songs, some jazz music, and some classical music, typically played by an orchestra.  Some of the songs on these pages are deliberately funny and even silly, such as a song that is often heard on Halloween about a party with Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman.  A few music videos are copied from movies.  One of the most watched videos was taken from the movie "Grease", starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Any performer or group who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or the Country Music Hall of Fame has a link to that page in the description of the video.  Some songs on these lists appear on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  The bottom of Page 1 of this series names and links to the top five songs on this list.

The #1 song on Rolling Stone's list is Like a Rolling Stone, sung by Bob Dylan.  The description of this song was written by Jay-Z.  I disagree with him.  I think the song is too serious.  I prefer songs that can be listened to as entertainment, not because they inspire social change.

Every video on every page has been watched millions of times.


Page 1

All of the music videos on this page have been watched from one to five million times each.  The performers include Sam Cooke, Whitney Houston (pictured on the right), Anne Murray, Brenda Lee, Ray Charles, and Pat Boone.  The Beach Boys have three songs on this page.  One video shows an unusual song because the "music" is played by a manual typewriter, with the help of an orchestra.

The description of the Connie Francis video includes her page on the Biography Channel and her IMDb page.  The description of Mahalia Jackson's music video also includes a link to her page on the Biography Channel.

Page 2

All of the music videos on this page has been watched five to ten million times each.  The performers include Roger Miller, Ray Charles, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Chicago, and Ricky Nelson.  Two Doo-Wop groups, The Isley Brothers and The Platters, pictured on the left, have a video on this page.

A live performance of God Bless America, sung by Kate Smith, is also on the page.  A silly song called Popcorn is also on the page.

Page 3

All of the music videos on this page have been watched from ten to twenty-five million times each.  The Beatles and The Beach Boys have three songs each on this page.  There are two videos of the song "Proud Mary", sung once by Tina Turner with her husband Ike and a live 2009 performance by Tina without her husband.  Other performers include Diana Ross, Charley Pride, Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra, The Monkees, and a man who plays boogie on a piano inside a shopping mall.  The #1 song on this page is a famous song from the 1938 movie "The Wizard of Oz".

Page 4

All of the 38 music videos on this page have been watched more than 25 million times.  This page includes four Beatles songs and five Elvis Presley songs.  There are five Doo-Wop songs on this list, one each from The Temptations, The Drifters, The Ronettes, The Platters, and The Crystals.  Other performers include Aretha Franklin, The Righteous Brothers, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, The Doors, and Johnny Cash.

One music video, with 31 million views as of March 2019, was recorded during a live performance by Simon and Garfunkel in New York City's Central Park.

One music video, with 60 million views as of March 2019, is a small-band jazz group headed by Dave Brubeck (see the photo on the right) that plays a quiet tune without any singers.  This song, "Take Five", was on the jazz charts and the popular music charts for a long time.

One music video on this page, with over 127 million views as of March 2019, was sung by Frank Sinatra's daughter.

The most-watched video in this set is the last scene of the movie "Grease".   It has over 330 million views as of March 2019.



Christmas Music

This series was published in December 2013.  Most of the music is copied from a CD.  I update the viewer numbers once every year, and usually in early December, but one year, I did the update in late November.  Some of the music is sacred music, appropriate for a church service, but other music was recorded by individuals and groups who wanted to sell extra records and CDs in December.  Two videos show Christmas music sung inside a shopping mall.

This set of videos also includes some silly songs, including one recorded by The Chipmunks, one about Snoopy fighting in a biplane battle, one about a woman who sings, tongue-in-cheek, about Santa giving her some very nice presents, and one about someone's grandmother who was in an accident that involved Santa's sleigh.

One woman, who was a regular performer in a Las Vegas hotel many years ago, sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas", with altered lyrics.  One of her early presents in the song was an alcoholic beverage, so every time she sang a verse, she pretended to get more drunk. 

The best-selling song in human history was first recorded in December 1941 by Bing Crosby, shown on the right.  One reason why it sold so well then and still sells now is because it gives comfort to deployed servicemen who miss their families.  Wikipedia's page that lists the best-selling singles proves this.  This page of the History Channel commemorates the first time this song was released, on Christmas in that year as his gift to the world.


Page 1

Every video on this page has been watched from one to five million times.  The description of "Sleigh Ride", an instrumental song (no vocals) includes links to seven other videos of the same song, performed by other people.  One video shows a parade during December at Disney World in Florida.

Another video shows President Obama's dog walking through part of the White House.  President Obama and Michelle spent seven of their eight Christmases in Hawaii.  This is documented on this blog page.  Two songs on this page, "Silver Bells" and "An Old Christmas Card", were sung by a country singer named Jim Reeves, shown on the left.  This is his page on the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Page 2

Every video on this page has been watched between five and fifteen million times.  This page includes the music that is heard during a half-hour movie, starting the characters in the Peanuts comic strip.  This page also includes another song that is the basis for a much-loved half-hour children's television show, called "Frosty the Snowman".

There are two videos that have songs sung by Gene Autry, shown on the right.  He wrote and sang "Here Comes Santa Claus" in 1947, and he sang a song written by Johnny Marks, who is in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame because he wrote a lot of much-loved Christmas music.  That song is "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

One video on this page has a traditional Christmas carol called "Silent Night", which was originally intended to be sung during a Catholic mass.  The video shows Beyoncé singing it during a network television show that airs every morning, but the bottom of the page has links to videos of 24 other people, including Elvis, the Boy's Choir of Harlem, the New York City Children's Chorus, Andy Williams, Whitney Houston, Connie Francis, Aretha Franklin, and Connie Francis, all singing the same song.

Page 3

All of the 17 songs on this page have been watched more than fifteen million times.  The most-watched video, a song sung by Mariah Carey, was been watched almost 400 million times as of the last annual update in December 2019.  The performers include Nat King Cole, The Jackson 5, Elvis, José Feliciano, and Brenda Lee.  One video, with 16 million views as of the December 2019 update, has a collection of 15 songs.  One video shows a light-hearted performance of "The 12 Days of Christmas" by an all-male group called Straight No Chaser, shown below.


One video shows a flash mob that sang "The Halleluliah Chorus" inside a shopping mall.  That video has been watched 53 million times since it was uploaded in November 2010.  A video of "Let it Snow", sung by Dean Martin, has been watched 121 million times as of the December 2019 update, but because this song is now "controversial", that video has been watched seven million more times in the last two months.


Other pages that have videos

These pages don't have enough videos to be shown on multiple pages, but each page has many videos.


Happy Valentine's Day!

This page was published on February 14, 2013.  It has a set of four videos about military life.
  • a video of a surprise to a sailor who was commissioned as an officer without any advance notice

  • a video of the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon performing in front of a large crowd

  • a video, produced by the Army National Guard, of part of the Ranger school

  • a video of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbird pilots
This page also includes a short video, less than a minute and a half, that has some inspiring words from President Ronald Reagan, as well as a printed copy of a soldier's prayer and this photo of a soldier who is praying.


Happy Mother's Day!

This page, written on Mother's Day in 2013, has four videos of female members of the U.S. military making a surprise reunion with their families in a public place.  Two of those four videos were recorded in a football stadium.  The page also shows two reunions between women who were adopted and the women who gave birth to them.


Surprise Reunions in Military Families

Thee are 16 YouTube videos on this page that show military families who didn't know that one of their family members, who has been deployed to another country, would be visiting them.  One video shows a woman who had no idea that her brother was able to obtain a one-day leave of absence so that he could attend her wedding.

Sometime after the 2020 President's State of the Union speech, I added a short video that shows the reunion, in the House Chamber, between this U.S. Serviceman and the wife and child who thought that he was still out of the country.

One more reunion video is also on the page.  It shows a surprise reunion that took place in England between a girl who sang a song with other girls, with the Queen watching, followed by the surprise reunion with her father, who is a member of the British military.

This page has a special section at the bottom of the page.  I ask discharged U.S. Servicemen and -women to consider running for public office.  Brian Mast, pictured on the left, was discharged from the U.S. Army when a bomb took both of his legs, but after he was released from Walter Reed Military Hospital, he decided to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This video was produced by his 2016 campaign for the U.S. House.  It shows him literally running, with two prosthetic running blades.

He won that election and was reelected in 2018.  This is a link to a November 2018 article in the Palm Beach Post.


Animal videos

I wrote this page in October 2017.  It has 25 videos.  Three of them show animals (a snake, a hermit crab, and a lobster) throwing off their outside skin or shell.  Three other videos show animals (a tiger, a dolphin, and a giraffe) giving birth.

Other videos show animals in unusual environments.  One shows a young fox who had its' head stuck in a tin can.  Another videos show two foxes on a backyard trampoline.  Another video shows a young deer that accidentally went into a backyard swimming pool.  Another video shows how a young woman in Cambodia catches eels for her family to eat.

Two videos are about a fish that is sometimes caught by Japanese fishermen (see the photo).  Parts of its' body contains a poison that is deadly in very small amounts, yet it is sometimes served in Japanese restaurants after being cooked by experts who have a special license.  Some Japanese fishermen catch this fish and bring it to their wives, who cook it without this special training.  Sometimes, the results are tragic.

The top of this page states that wild animals often have a violent death.  Some of these videos show it, but the video with the largest viewership on this page shows a man giving a banana to a monkey.  That video has been watched 276 million times as of the February 2020 update.


Television Commercials

There are 26 videos on this page.  All of them were made to advertise a product or a service offered by a company.  Most of these companies are based in countries outside of the United States.  Two of these companies are an insurance company, based in the Netherlands, whose corporate logo is shown on the right.

Most of these commercials are very entertaining.  Some of them don't tell you what the product is until the last seconds.  My description of some of these videos doesn't announce the name of the advertiser because I don't want to spoil your fun when you watch the video.

A few of the commercials involve sexual situations, but they always do it with humor.  For example, at the beginning of one commercial, a woman is lying in bed, alone, when a dog enters and licks one of her feet.  This excites the woman because she thinks that her husband is doing the licking.  In another commercial, a woman sits on an office copier, with her skirt raised, to take a picture of her bottom, but when the copier malfunctions, she kicks it with the back of her feet while she still sits on top of it.  This commercial is for a company that repairs copiers.



Politics

All of the 20 videos on this page have a political theme. Four of them are about Michelle Obama, four others are about Ronald Reagan, and six of them are about Barak Obama, but other videos are about politics without mentioning politicians.  These 20 videos have all been watched a minimum of one million times.  The most-watched video has been watched 20 million times.

For example, one video has a scene from the television show All in the Family, which was on the air from 1971-79.  In this video, the character called Archie Bunker discusses politics with his wife.  In another video, a Louisiana State Senator explains why he switched from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party.  He has since left public office, but he is now part of the executive team inside the Louisiana Republican Party.

Another video shows brief interviews with Sarah Palin, who was a Vice-Presidential candidate in 2008.  Another video shows an on-air comment made by Bill Maher on his own show soon after the 9/11 attack.  His network cancelled his show soon afterward.  Another video shows a comedian named Red Skelton, who is in the International Clown Hall of Fame and the Radio Hall of Fame.  He hosted a show which premiered in 1951 on one network, but it moved to another network.  One day, he explained the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance.



Reasons to Home-School Your Child

This page is part of a six-page set of essays about public-school horror stories, but this page is the only page that has videos.  There are currently 23 YouTube videos on the page.  They all show inappropriate behavior by teachers or other public school personnel.  Similar stories are shown in the form of quoted news stories on the other pages in that series.  You can find that series by clicking the "Education" tag at the bottom of the page.

At the moment, one video in this set is unavailable, but every so often, I find more videos to replace the ones that cannot be shown for whatever reason.



Special Note

A third page in this series will be added soon.  It will have links to a series about factions within the two main political parties in America and links to a nine-page set of essays that helped to reelect Senator Ted Cruz to his second term.

When a hurricane was approaching Houston in 2017, the Senator sent out many tweets, some of them written in Spanish, to prepare the people of Texas for this disaster.  Those tweets are copied onto two extra blog pages.  All of these pages will be linked in the next page in this series.

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