Staff Picks of the Week

Every week, we weigh in on some of the videos that speak to us on a personal level.



Joe:

While I don't agree with all of his opinions and diatribes, there is one arena the NewWarriorMan owns. Just the other day, he sent me an email called "Taking Original Poetry Seriously at YouTube,” proving that beneath his "warrior" exterior there’s someone sensitive; someone who can dig deep and share his soul via artfully placed words. I'm still not brave enough to share my poetic ramblings so publicly, so Reid provides me with inspiration. His "Hands" is a moving, reflective piece about being powerless in a dim situation.






Sadia:

I love street art. I grew up surrounded by it in Chicago’s Hyde Park and have been lucky enough to see it as a valid form of expression, not vandalism. I've lived in L.A.’s Silverlake and S.F.’s the Mission, which are adorned with some pretty vibrant street paintings, and I nearly cried when my copy of "Bomb the Suburbs" went missing. The moral of the story? I really love street art. Perry Farrell created a cool interview series called "Lolla Lives", and one of his interviewees is Shepard Fairey, an artist well known for taking street art in a different direction. Here Fairey takes Farrell around southern California to show him works by Banksy, whom I consider to be one of the most socially poignant artists working today. Is it art or is it vandalism? That’s up for debate, but you have to admit it's worth looking at.






Steve:

Art and politics meet in this vignette of a young woman coping with the loss of her husband to the Iraq war. Set in the California desert, the video is well shot and has a sharp shift in perspective about halfway through that kept me interested. The director, Ken Sheetz, gets political with the dialogue in a few spots, though overall I think this tells a very basic human story about love and loss.







TTYL,

YouTube Programming Team