Video a-go-go

Given the high level of enthusiasm folks in Asheville have for the Google Fiber for Communities initiative, it should hardly come as a surprise that a great many of the local videos uploaded to Google-owned YouTube this week were about why Google should consider Western North Carolina as their test city. However, since there’s already a project cataloging all of those videos, and since Xpress has been thoroughly covering the topic, we thought we’d focus on something else for this week’s roundup.

What’s the closest thing to a tightly connected network of people all working towards a common goal that will make Asheville a sweeter place to live and work? How about a tightly connected hive of bees all working together towards a common goal of making nectar into a sweeter thing to eat? That’s exactly what’s happening at Windhorse Zen Community this week, as their bees start to recover from a long, cold WNC winter.

Of course, some folks aren’t really too inclined to jump aboard the digital-revolution bandwagon. They’re more content to withdraw from the information overload of our modern era, kind of like a turtle withdraws into its shell. Then again, even some turtles aren’t free from the trappings of the digital age. Like AJ the Eastern Box Turtle, who lives in Earthshine Mountain Lodge in WNC. Thanks to a radio transmitter, AJ may as well be posting to Foursquare from her smartphone. Unfortunately, that transmitter appears to be broken, and she needs to be relocated from her hibernation spot so she doesn’t get lost.

If encouraging people to make promo videos for you works for Google, why couldn’t it work for a smaller business? A few weeks ago, we mentioned a do-it-yourself marketing campaign by the Asheville Yoga Center, which took the form of a contest. The rules were simple: Explain why you love the Asheville Yoga Center in a 30-second video, win a free yoga mat. (Notably more tangible a prize than an ultra high-speed network, one might add.) Let’s take a look at one of the recent entires.

Speaking of the Asheville Yoga Center, the group actually produced one of the more interesting non-Google video blogs this week. It’s all about the communication gap between grandparents and grandkids, with a little yoga humor thrown in for good measure.

Is this round up a bit too … coherent for you? After all, one of the best things about YouTube is the sheer strangeness of some of the videos. Student films are a great source for bizarre content, because they’re generally the result of short turnaround periods, limited production resources and an overall lack of knowledge about basic video production. But that doesn’t mean the end result is always unwatchable. Sometimes, they’re perfectly entertaining, just kind of weird. Like this video from Asheville High’s digital media class.

And we end this week with a video by Asheville-based “modern-vintage” band The Black Rabbits, recently relocated to the area from Orlando. And since they’re one of the few groups not performing a song about Google, they’ve made the cut this week.

Each week, dozens upon dozens of interesting local videos are uploaded to YouTube. It’s a lot to keep up with. Did we miss a particularly interesting, recently uploaded local video? Share it by leaving the videos URL (but not the embed code) in the comment fields below. Also, please mark it Not Work Safe if there’s any controversial content to the video.