Brookering a deal: The first YouTube celebrity

vgfhod lrsh Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 11:51 AM EST

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koeuu Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 05:25 AM EST

I love debbje! thanks for mentioning her

luciani Thu, Oct 25, 2007 at 09:30 AM EST

Good day to you
I appreciate when you speak about new talents, mostly they come from the US but this time I want to promote an all-Italian songwriter who is slowly making herself up to the top, I like her.
her youtube is www.youtube.com/debbje
and in Italy she has already gained a fanclub

MisterBidness Tue, Aug 29, 2006 at 06:01 PM EST

Two thoughts...ONE: The web is a completely bizarre place....full of the self-obessessed, the delusional, and the just plain nasty. Which leads me to TWO: In that YOUTUBE is a channel of sorts for pirated and archived clips...that's nice...wanna see a Cardigan's Video right now....There it is...Sonic Youth's McCarren Park show: Yep! You can. But I find it fascinating that their first revenue producing venture was in tandem with PARIS HILTON who personifies the talentless vaccuous moron that inhabit the channels of cyberspace.....and this attempt to monetize the 'TUBE'....well, Paris is now the owner of a certified FLOP....a BOMB....her album stinks....people just aint buyin' it....it's one thing to separate someone from minutes of their time, but hard earned cash that could be used to buy gas for the SUV...Now that is another matter.... What people should really consider is how valuable their time (and that of the employer who loses money as they surf YOUTUBE from the CUBE)....Do yourself a favor. Step away from the computer....pick up a good book, read a newspaper (while you still can)....step outside....breathe some fresh air....this'll all be over soon!

baranoww Mon, Aug 21, 2006 at 01:22 AM EST

Come On, lighten up, it'll all be over on 08/22 anyway; in the meantime, this young lady turned nothing into something and gave us some laughs; think young Streisand, Duse, I. Duncan, Imogene Coca; she'll bury Carson soon and will be the Disney of '08 thru '22; just WATCH!

Dean Sat, Jun 17, 2006 at 04:04 PM EST

In regard to Brookers's post, I would say to Brookers--like Annie--let your work speak for you. You will prove yourself I do not doubt. And if you need defending from critics--LET YOUR FANS DO IT. Many people would be happy to take up the cause.

Regarding Brooker's latest video, though, I disagree with Annie's intepretation. Brookers is NOT responding to *her* "haters." She's making fun of the ubiquitous phenomenon of video bloggers responding to *their* haters.

rm249 Sat, Jun 17, 2006 at 02:07 PM EST

Great job Brooke, I love your Numa Numa video, Paste, and your V-Clog videos, they are awesome, keep up the great work :D

Ryan

annie Sat, Jun 17, 2006 at 12:39 PM EST

God has given Brooke a wonderful combination of talents, beauty, personality, etc, but as one would expect, she is very naive at the fame game that has been thrust upon her. Actually, she would call herself a "noob" at fame if only she understood enough about it to realize that much. I do know one thing - Brooke has amazing potential. We have only seen a glimpse of some of her talents in her YouTube videos.

Her move to Carson Daly Productions and all the various media outlet opportunities presented there, will be a fun trip for all of us to watch, but sadly, her outcome is not certain. She has repeated many times that haters, loosers, non-believers, trash talkers, etc do not bother her, however, as you can read in her own comments here on this page, they clearly do. We see the seeds of self destruction taking root.

Brooke seems to have two possible career outcomes facing her.

1.) She can continue to let the haters eat away at her insides to the point where it drives her to "prove" that she has talent. This course will make her life miserable and will affect (and ruin) her creative productions. "Proving" herself to some anonymous hater will take over as her driving force. Read her comments - This is now in progress and must be stopped if she is to succeed.

This scenario will also be a very exciting, but sad, situation to watch. Kinda like watching an accident where someone gets hurt (her) at the end of her short one-year stand in the spotlight.

2.) The other scenario is that she can work real hard with her family, friends, and new-found celebs (who have been there-done that) to "get over" this obsession with haters. She needs to not even notice them. She needs to NEVER EVER even think of them, and certainly to never speak of them (which only encourages them). They are like a poop stain on the inside of a sewer pipe buried underground in a city a thousand miles away - WHO CARES THAT THEY EVEN EXIST.

If Brooke can accomplish this single most vital goal, her career and future are suddenly unbounded. Her achievements will be limited only by her creativity, her talents, and the choices she makes.

I think that one of those choices if pressing down on Brooke right now and she must deal with it VERY SOON.

Sadly, she just uploaded another Video last night - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COmws6rfVhE - which deals with the haters. Great Video but SAD to see that the haters control her thoughts. Brooke will only succeed what she herself is in control of her thoughts and her life.

We can only watch as Brooke makes her career choices - for better or worse.

Your Cyber Friend
annie

Brooke Sat, Jun 17, 2006 at 02:32 AM EST

i cant wait to show you all. The videos you see on my youtube are all that i can host with the crappy equipment that i own. I couldnt dare try to make a serious video with the equipment i have because it would look so bad it would be hilarious !! I am an artist i paint i draw i sketch and these particular videos that i host on youtube are just another outlet such as that !!!! i have a serious director side to me to and i have an extraordinary artistic eye. None of you people KNOW carson daly personally NONE you cannot sit there and judge him based on his TV personality alone ! That is however exactly what you are doing to me. You take these few videos of me that you have seen on youtube and rip them to shreads and say things such as whats this this isnt talent ??? No its funny and maybe its not talent but its just one of my many sides there is so much more to me that i cannot WAIT to show you PEOPLE ! YOU ALL JUST WAIT! that is all i have to say ...the more you talk like this the bigger the fire within me grows and the more i want to show you all that you are wrong ! I cannot blame you for thinking this but i am annoyed with how people JUDGE other people so quickly ...people like carson ...people like me...you dont know ME and sadly you never will know the REAL ME !...no maybe thats a good thing... i dont need to prove myself to anyone but i will show you if you are willing to watch.

Dean Fri, Jun 16, 2006 at 11:57 PM EST

I'm an old fogy--I'm 45--so fogyish, in fact, that I didn't even know YouTube existed until about a month ago. The second YouTube video I ever watched was Brooker's version of Liam Lynch's "My United States of Whatever." I liked it a lot, so I went and looked up the original, professionally-produced version. Brooker's was better, even though she had zero budget and was working with the most basic video equipment imaginable.

I was hooked. I began checking out her other videos, and I realized right away that this girl had what the late Pauline Kael called "film sense." Phil Wang is a funny guy, but he does not have it. Look at the filmette Michael linked to; the visuals are dull as toast. Now look at Brooker's "Chips," with its wacky sendup of horror and suspense movie conventions. Hers is obviously the more visually interesting of the two.

Anyone can stare into a videocam and lipsinc a song, although only a few folks are fun to watch doing it, like the original Numa Numa boy and those Chinese guys. Brookers, in the couple of videocam lipsincs she posts, is also fun to watch--yet she never just lipsincs, but experiments with comedy, too. The video Karla linked to goes well beyond a basic videocam lipsinc; it's like a semi-pro, if straightforward, music video. But Brookers, in my opinion, in her music covers, comes up with something that's wackier and more original than that. She's constantly experimenting, trying out camera angles, effects, personas, costumes. She laughs at herself continually. There's a reason she became (at least for a time) the most watched female on YouTube without once baring her bellybutton.

Maybe I'm going too far, but I actually think she's participating in the invention of a new genre. It's not exactly a film, or a video blog, or a music video, but something else that doesn't have a name yet. As one of Brooker's fans (from Denmark!) has noted, we don't know what exactly she does, but it sure is entertaining. And she accomplished everything in only eight months, without any professional help or equipment!

In short, I think Carson Daly's picked a winner. I wish her well. I urge people to go look at her two most recent YouTube posts, made in the last day, which are pretty sharp sendups of video blogging.

Michael Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 08:05 PM EST

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Kay Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 05:35 PM EST

I just watched her for a minute, and I would like that minute of my life back, please.

I love the original Numa Numa guy, and the Chinese BSB guys, and especially that hidden video of the air force academy guy dancing, but this is just the worst collection of videos I have ever seen.

If, as fuhg has stated, that Variety said that Brookers has "considerable directing skills", well, that's just about the saddest thing I've heard in a very, very long time. Good directing would be more along the lines of Philip Wang, for Yellow Fever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOyRWuklsiQ&search=yellow%20fever

Karla Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 05:34 PM EST

Beautiful post, fuhg, and not too long because you done SAID IT! Excellent social commentary, especially on the no talent ass clowns who try to capitalize on the internet vibe, or exploit a person who is actually liked, apparently, because she's so, um, untalented in a friendly way.

And thanks for the link to slate, where I got to see more of the Chinese Dorm Boys!

fuhg Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 03:57 PM EST

Carson Daly is trying to stay relevant by poaching 'talent' from the internet and capitalizing on the viral video craze. It's no wonder, Carson Daly has no discernable talent whatsoever, so it makes sense he'd want to further the career of someone else who wants to be famous but has no reason to be.

I can't believe I'm sitting here writing about this 'Brookers' girl, because there has got to be another 20 year old girl out there who can actually sing, act, or play an instrument and deserves some attention. God help us when this girl has to actually produce something based on her own material. Maybe I'm juding too quick, but Youtube has several lip synching videos already, so to single this girl's videos out as exceptional is crazy. In fact, Slate wrote a good article on how most of Youtube's content is simply this type of stuff, boring people lip synching
http://www.slate.com/id/2140697/.

The thing about Youtube is; as long as you are a young, (somewhat) attractive girl, losers will watch your awful videos and then post comments like "wow! ur cute!! you should IM me!!" because they're pathetic web nerds who think they might have a chance of luring you into their basement dungeon. Any mildly attractive girl can get a million views. Hell, even a butt-nasty girl can post a video of herself and some loser will send her a comment telling her "ur beutiful!! I'm in love!,"

Here's a video from Youtube that has almost the same exact stuff as Brookers (see link at end of paragraph). Why isn't the girl from this clip getting a development deal, she's equally as talented as Brookers, and she got 5 million page views for this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_CSo1gOd48&feature=Favorites&page=1&t=t&f=b

A lot of the kids who post on Youtube are worse than failed reality show contestants, because having such a large potential audience brings out their inner attention-whore.

And in that Variety article it says Brookers has "considerable directing skill!" So pointing a webcam at yourself is directing? Oh, she cut to the music's beat! Guess what, anyone can do that with simple video editing software that comes packaged with every computer.

I think my generation has some seriously questionable taste.I can understand Youtube becoming popular, but who passes around videos of a girl lip synching and says it's funny? It's this exhibitionism thing my generation has, young people all think we care about their blindingly routine lives. They post pictures on webshots of them partying in their dorm and blog about their boring job and fill their myspace accounts with every personal detail as if anyone asked for that information.

I can understand if your friends want to check out your stuff and use the internet to keep in touch w/ you, but total strangers investing time in this garbage? What happened to real talent? Doesn't anyone get discovered who actually warrants the type of hype they get? The more i write, the more frustrating it is getting, because every movie, band, or TV show seems directed at stupid kids who can't pick up on subtlety and aren't discerning at all about what they listen to/watch.

dma69 Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 03:07 PM EST

I guess I'm another old fogey because I don't get what's so appealing about this. It looked like bad home movies to me. I just don't get it.

C Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 02:26 PM EST

Weird. I don't see anything great about this. It was cute for all of 30 seconds and then I was done with it.

Karla Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 02:25 PM EST

Hmmmm.... Brooke is very sweet, but I agree with alanna that cutesy describes her. I don't see a lot of originality. But as far as I can see, Carson Daly isn't very instested by originality. So maybe they'll be happy. I just shudder to think of a sweet, fatherless girl being thrust into fame. Ooh, Brooke, just watch yourself, okay?

I like the original Numa Numa guy. Him I would watch!

And how about those nutty Chinese university students singing I Want it That Way? Those two knock me out because they COMMIT to the song, baby! They're just heartbreakingly wonderful.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6739710473912337648

johnathan Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 02:22 PM EST

she reminds me of amanda bynes. I don't know if that's good or bad. I guess we'll wait and see.

mike Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 01:16 PM EST

Everyone so excited about being excited about the next big thing. Will anyone remember her next week when the new YouTube phenomenon gets Carson's buzz?

finn Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 12:57 PM EST

Is this really what qualifies as entertainment now? How sad.

ryan Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 12:23 PM EST

I looked up a few clips when I read about this and...yea, I don't get it. It's lip-synching and Legolas cutouts, right? That's about it? Hrm. But then again, I don't get Carson Daly, and that's so far not been a negative thing in my life. Props to her for scoring a deal and all, not gonna hate on that, but not really sure how this is gonna translate down the line.

What would be more interesting if production companies such as Daly's took online, interesting, independent, "viral" content and found a way to expand the viewership of the existing product (while figuring out how to make everyone some coin in the process) versus trying to package it into a more "traditional" media format such as a TV show. Networks as we know it will be gone by the time MySpace kids graduate from college anyways...using Brooke as a model for this new (un)distributed way of delivering content would be interesting as hell. But I probably shouldn't expect this much from good ol' Carson.

alanna Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 11:52 AM EST

I have apparently entered Old Fogeydom at the ripe old age of 31, because I don't see anything remotely "cute" about this -- though I do see lots of "cutesy" (and I usually love this sort of thing.) It's a great idea, and I applaud her enthusiasm. But the 4.2 facial expressions and repetitive lip-sync got really old, really fast.

Amelia Wed, Jun 14, 2006 at 11:41 AM EST

Don't worry, Scott. I'm 19 and never heard of her. Okay, so maybe I'm just really out of the loop, but hopefully that makes you feel better!