We got Maria on Ellen!

This blows my mind:

One week ago she was an anonymous girl from Winnipeg singing a cover song on Youtube.

Today, she's on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

Next month, she'll be singing on a concert stage with Lady Gaga!

And it all began with this Twitter hashtag: #getmariaonellen

Related articles

• Canadian tyke sings version of Lady Gaga hit for daytime TV's Ellen (video) (canada.com)
• Maria Aragon, Gaga-Covering YouTuber, On "Ellen" (popcrunch.com)
• Our Favorite Little Monster Is Going To Be On Ellen - Today! (perezhilton.com)

Let's #getmariaonellen

Was intrigued by the hashtag  #getmariaonellen on Twitter yesterday and discovered ten year old Filipino-Canadian Maria Aragon.

Here she is with her cover of Lady Gaga's Born This Way:



(Incidentally, that video is now approaching 3 million views -- way, way up from just 700,000 hits yesterday afternoon.)

Could she be the next Charice?

It depends on whether more people see her -- calling Ellen DeGeneres!

How to get 5 million people to read your website

If you've ever  checked out TheOatmeal.com, I'm sure that you've been sucked into it for at least half an hour.

Why is it so engaging and funny and sticky and bookmarkable?

Why does it get five million visitors a MONTH?

Just a few simple rules.

Watch this video and learn from Mr Oatmeal himself -- it's a fun watch -- almost as funny as reading his comics.

The Magical Pop-Up Paper Theatre

Amazing stuff found via FastCodeDesign. I'm sure there are lessons to be learned about this, technique-wise, but for the moment, just sit back and marvel at how a papercraft theater and a projector can bring you to a magical world for a minute or two.


The Ice Book (HD) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.


Read this link to see how they did it.

Darth Vader Jr. discovers the Force

Check out this cute commercial for Volkswagen. It's supposed to be airing for this weekend's Superbowl but has already racked up more than 2 million views on Youtube.

I don't think it will sell more of their cars though.  (Quick -- what car is it selling? Why should you buy this car? See what I mean?)

On the other hand, it does make me want to watch the Star Wars franchise all over again.  The Darth Vader theme ("The Imperial March", if you must know) is just so iconic! Plus that kid is just so cute!

Is this dunk a WIn or a Fail? You decide

On the one hand, he didn't plan to dunk his whole body in. On the other hand, dang -- that was pretty cool, donchathink? In a totally unplanned way, of course.

Kitty Midnight Madness!

The Winnipeg Humane Society invites you to come over and adopt a kitty.



I wonder if that's where this family got theirs.