One of the better short films around at the moment, from Israel:

About three years ago I started writing a script for a comedy series about a boy band. I planned it as a Spinal Tap for the noughties, but as with so many of my script ideas I never pursued it past the second page as I was busy with other things at the time (honest!).

So I was a little gutted to see Jamie Deeks and Ewen Mcintosh have been writing and actinting in Toyboize for Talkback Thames, an internet series about a 1980’s child boyband making a comeback twenty years later. It’s a little hit and miss but there are some great moments:

You can follow the series on the Toyboize YouTube channel.

Another viral classic from Jib Jab:

I’ve been meaning to post about this for the last couple of weeks but never got around to it. Anyway, I recently had the pleasure of attending the BECTU (the media and entertainment union) Freelances’ Fair at BAFTA in London. The fair was pretty much what you’d expect - stalls, workshops and seminars, but I was blown away by the high standard of the seminars in terms of presentation, speakers and content. That said, there’d be something wrong if the media and entertainment union couldn’t put on a good show.

First up was the seminar titled ‘Exploiting The Digital Future’. The speaker who caught my attention most was the charismatic Dean Whitbread, Chair of the UK Podcasters Association and owner of Talking Voices, a podcasting production/consultancy company.

Whitbread started out by rubbishing the traditional media as ‘dinosaurs’ and pointed to a future - and of course the present - where individuals take control and launch their own platforms for content. It’s a familiar and well-worn narrative for anyone involved in the Web 2.0 industry, and something I’d question now that the traditional media dinosaurs are beginning to evolve into companies capable of making a significant mark on the Web 2.0 world (on a personal level, this is reflected by the increasingly large amount of time I spend on the BBC’s iPlayer and Channel 4’s 4oD rather than YouTube).

Pictured above you can see Philip Bourchier O’Ferrall, Vice President of Digital at MTV Europe, filming Whitbread using Whitbread’s mobile phone, which was providing a live stream of Whitbread’s talk via Qik.com

As Whitbread was talking to an audience of people working in media production, his main point was that the tables had turned. Rather than going cap in hand to the corporates, now media producers can build their audiences independently online and then let the money men come calling to your door.

Though little was said that I hadn’t heard before, it was refreshing to look at Web 2.0 from the perspective of dramatic and documentary content producers. With high quality camcorders and sound kit becoming increasingly affordable, I think we can look forward to seeing more and more high quality media coming at us via YouTube et al.

The FT reports that marketing budget cuts are predicted to deepen, but online advertising continues to grow, albeit at the slowest rate since 2003.

However, that just might - and that’s a big ‘just’ - be good news for those of use advocating alternative forms of promotion using new media. If companies across so many sectors are being hit as much as we’re being told, surely employees have a little more time on their hands, time which could be used to assist with marketing their company online.

At TBCP, we’re hoping the current doom and gloom will force companies who haven’t gotten to grips with Web 2.0 yet to exploit its potential. After all, why spend fortunes on mass marketing when you can target your niche online?

If you remember Matt’s last dancing around the world video, you’ll enjoy his latest attempt. It’s amazing how a guy dancing badly in different environments can be strangely moving. The film was 14 months in the making, featured 42 countries, and a cast of thousands.

This video should be prescribed by doctors everywhere as an antidepressant.

Om nom nom nom.

Whether you’re a Flight of the Conchords veteran, or new to the series, it’s always business time.

And then there’s Bowie’s in Space, with a remarkably accurate Bowie impression from Jermaine:

Image from catfishwithabeard

I have to confess I clicked on a link to ManBabies.com in the hope of encountering a website featuring adult fetishists who enjoy dressing up as babies (I saw them on telly once - they’re the funniest, although perhaps one of the most psychologically needy ‘fetish community’).

What I got instead was far better. The concept’s simple. Switch little Tommy’s head with daddy’s head, and hey presto, you have an hilarious website.

Here’s the link.

This is quite easily the strangest music mash up I’ve come across to date.