Babelgum Player for Mac, coming soon

Published by catherine on November 28, 2008 in and News. 0 Comments

This is a quick update for all those who are wondering when they’ll be able to use the new Babelgum player on their Macs.

Unfortunately we were not able to get both versions of the new player out on the same day. Rather than delay the new release entirely, we preferred to go ahead and release the Windows version. Our developers are working round the clock to ensure that the Mac version will be out early next week.

We are really keen for our Mac users to get hold of the new player – especially as we know that many of our Music Video Awards competitors and viewers fall into that category. So please bear with us for a few more days; we’re nearly there now, and we appreciate your patience.

Round 1 of the Babelgum Music Video Awards now closed

Published by catherine on November 27, 2008 in . 2 Comments

Announcing the 10 winning entries of the first round of the Babelgum Music Video Awards, with a total of 7 semi-finalists (as some of them have more than one entry in the top ten - well done!)

Insiders’ Pick:

National Curriculum by Out from Animals (Andy Morgan)

Audience choices:

Making the new album (Alex Giordani)

Can’t You See by Right Side of the Tree (Lindsay Payne)

John Song by Brent Jordan (Mark Lukach)

I Have a Dream (Alex Giordani)

TIME (Natalie Paige Bentley)

Do You Think I Care? (Pedro Vieira)

I’m Breakable (Pedro Vieira)

Peter Pan (Pedro Vieira)

This Is Love (Pedro Vieira)

These videos win the Babelgum Mobile Award, meaning that they will be showcased in the Babelgum Mobile application – coming soon to a mobile phone near you.

They also enter the Semi-Finals, and have a chance to win a live gig in the UK and a record development deal with Universal Music UK.

Now that they’re semi-finalists, these videos can no longer be voted for until the Semi-Finals phase begins.
Votes for all other videos are reset with the start of each new Round – so go back and vote for your favourites to keep them in the game!

Round 2 of the contest has just kicked off: keep voting to choose the next lot of semi-finalists and maybe discover the next big thing “before they were famous”!

The next voting rounds are as follows:

Round 2 begins on November 27th and ends on December 10th

Round 3 begins on December 10th and ends on December 22nd

Round 4 beings on December 22nd and ends on January 7th

Each round begins at 2.01pm GMT and ends at 2pm GMT. The winners of each round will be announced at 5pm on the day the round ends.

The Semi-Finals phase will begin on January 7th and end on January 27th, when the finalists will be announced.

Thanksgiving - a different view

Published by catherine on November 26, 2008 in General. 0 Comments

Thanksgiving is here again! Despite the economic doom and gloom, it may be a particularly joyous occasion for many Americans this year given the current mood of positive change and progress.

Think of Thanksgiving and you generally imagine a big meal with family and friends gathered around to eat roast turkey, sweet potatoes and other specialties. But here are some alternative visions of the traditional American holiday, picked from some of our channels.

Travel

Michael Palin spends Thanksgiving in Venice Beach, California, on his journey Around the World in 80 Days.

History

Urbain Ledoux, champion of the unemployed, organized an affordable Thanksgiving dinner for the needy during the Great Depression in 1929; while there was a more optimistic feeling of Christmas in the Air during the spectacular Manhattan Thanksgiving parade of 1946.

Film

In 1923 silent comedy the Courtship of Miles Sandwich, a father tells his son the story of the first Thanksgiving, leading to some elaborate daydreams…

Comedy

Red has an inventive solution for cooking the Thanksgiving dinner, although his somewhat unconventional methods might put you off your food…

Fishy Canusa Games on Babelgum

Babelgum Music Video Awards: Voting begins today!

Published by catherine on November 18, 2008 in and News. 1 Comment

Following on from our revamped website, we’ve got more news for you today: the moment has finally come for the Babelgum Music Video Awards to go live.

We’ve been receiving a steady flow of entries since we launched the contest with Music Nation in October, and submissions are now closed.

Judging from the videos we’ve seen so far, the standard is pretty high. But judge for yourselves - the first round of audience voting begins today.

All of the entries are now screening in the Music Video Awards Channel and Community on the Babelgum player. You can view them and help launch the career of your favourite artists by casting your vote in a few clicks.

You decide which videos make it to the finals in early 2009, and get to be seen (and judged) by Michel Gondry and David Ford.

So turn up your speakers and get voting now!

Introducing the new-look Babelgum Beta

Published by catherine on November 18, 2008 in and News. 1 Comment

If you’re reading this, you’ll have noticed that we’ve made a few changes around here - yes, Babelgum has had a huge makeover!

The layout and graphics have changed, and so has the way we’ve arranged the content: we’ve categorized our thousands of videos into nine Channels, each on a different theme. So now you can go straight to the subject matter that interests you, whether it’s Comedy, Sport or Science, to name but a few.

In addition to the 9 Channels, we have 3 Passions. For now these are Indie Film, Indie Music and Underwater – we’ll be introducing more in the future. We know that you, our audience, are particularly passionate about these subjects, so we wanted to create a space to share that interest with you.  Each Passion will have a dedicated publisher to pick the best content and open up the debate.

But the changes don’t stop there: our new player comes with a much faster, more streamlined installation process - and once you’ve installed the player, you can view videos directly in your web browser. To access the full set of functions on the player (Passions, Communities, My Babelgum, social features and so on) simply go full screen.

We’ll be kept busy over the next few weeks building upon these changes. And Mac users: be patient, your new version of the player is coming very soon…

Have fun exploring the new site, and let us know what you think.

Let Babelgum cure your election fever

Published by catherine on November 3, 2008 in . 1 Comment

It’s the eve of the 2008 US Presidential Election. The world awaits with bated breath: Will it be Obama or McCain?

Whoever wins the race to the White House, the outcome will affect the future of us all, even those of us outside the United States.

But I’m not going to attempt to talk politics here. I just wanted to suggest a few videos for anyone who’s been bitten by the election bug.

So if you’re still hungry for political entertainment after the election circus is over, you’ll enjoy these:

  • In Control - tongue-in-cheek animation: Dubya gets hold of a remote control. Disaster follows…
  • Election 2000 Debate - a satirical revisitation of the Bush vs. Gore Presidential debate
  • Spat Nav - a drive in the country for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown doesn’t go quite as planned
  • Is Politics the New Black offers lively discussion on the links between political activism and filmmaking
  • Animal Politics - a science documentary investigating the political structure of animal societies
  • The Culture Guy - short doc on small town politics in the run up to a local election in Poland
  • Kennedy Elected - AP newsreel of another exciting moment in US political history, as JFK is elected President
  • The Ultimate Truth - a feckless young Australian sets up a new political party to prove his own worth in this full-length film
  • Twin Set - a short political comedy set in an election year
  • For Which it Stands - an experimental political short
In Control on Babelgum Twin Set on Babelgum/>

It’s Halloween - get spooked on Babelgum!

Published by catherine on October 31, 2008 in Featured. 0 Comments

The Witching Hour is upon us: the goblins, ghouls and spooks are out and it’s time to tell - or watch - some ghost stories…

But do you believe in ghosts? If not, the Best Ghost Cases Ever Caught on Tape might change your mind. Still unconvinced? Harriet’s Ghost visits a school in California that’s haunted by a little girl; while the presenter of Hollywood Ghosts is pretty spooky himself!

From Hollywood to Bollywood - Aatma: The Ghost is a spine-chilling tale from India, while The Snow Witch is a beautiful 3D animated Japanese ghost story.

If you prefer your ghouls in cartoon form, the Groovey Goolies and Mondo Mini’s Halloween Special will have you laughing. And Casper, of course, is the classic Friendly Ghost.

Short film fans can scare themselves silly with Trick or Treat… and Little Pumpkin tells the touching story of a boy whose best friend is - yes, a large orange vegetable.

Speaking of pumpkins, here’s an original recipe for that leftover Jack O’Lantern. And if you’re stuck for ideas on how to dress up, the flamboyant West Hollywood costume carnival might provide inspiration. Happy Halloween!

"trick or treat" on babelgum casper the friendly ghost on babelgum

Babelgum Music Video Awards launched in partnership with Music Nation. Michel Gondry heads the jury

Published by catherine on October 6, 2008 in News. 2 Comments

Calling all musicians!

Hot on the heels of the Babelgum Online Film festival, our talent-scouting mission continues with the Babelgum Music Video Awards: a whole new competition, dedicated to upcoming musicians and video directors – in partnership with Music Nation and with creative genius Michel Gondry heading the jury.

The contest is free to enter and open to independent acts looking to get noticed and get a record development deal: participating artists have the chance to win

  • the “Mobile Award” (promotion on a Babelgum application for mobile devices)
  • the “Performance Award” (the opening slot at a gig in the UK), or
  • the Grand Prize, a record development deal with Universal Music!

You can upload your videos from today until November 16th – you’ll find all the info you need on the Babelgum Music Video Awards website including FAQs, details of the prizes, jury and voting system.

Videos will of course be screened on Babelgum. Public voting will begin on November 17th and end on January 27th 2009, and the final winner will be announced in early February 2009.

Time - October’s theme on Babelgum

Published by catherine on October 1, 2008 in Theme of the month. 0 Comments

It’s already October! That crept up quickly didn’t it? As the days grow shorter and the leaves start to turn, the passing of time becomes all the more perceptible.

Time is a precious commodity. I often find myself wishing there were more hours in the day. Ever had the impression that time is slowing down – or going too fast? And given the choice, would you prefer to go back in time – or travel into the future?

Beyond Human Limits: Time

Take some time out, and watch our selection of videos on the theme:

  • Walk Through Time with Baxter Smalls – a time-travelling documentary maker meets a Viking family
  • A man discovers a USB cable that lets him access his own past – and future!
  • Terra 2050 – what does the technology of the future have in store for us?
  • Top Gear asks: is a plane or car better when you want to beat the clock?
  • Michel Siffre spent 2 months living underground, isolated from time, unravelling the mysteries of the invisible clock that ticks inside us all. Find out more in Beyond Human Limits: Time
  • Oetzi man lay Frozen in Time for 5000 years in the Italian Alps - until scientists discovered who he was and how he died
  • A trip down memory lane for children of the 80s: He-Man goes back in time to thwart Skeletor’s evil plans

For more, see our Time playlists on our Homepage and Films & Festivals page.

Fashion Week on Babelgum

Published by catherine on September 22, 2008 in Featured. 0 Comments

It’s September and the world’s fashion capitals are taking turns to show the spring/summer collections. Whether you’re a style maven or a clothes-phobe, there’s no doubt that fashion is big business, and holds an eternal allure for many.

In these greener times even the frivolous fashion industry is slowly coming around to eco-fabrics and ethical manufacturing. Luckily, vintage clothing is not only environmentally friendly, it’s trendy too: VidCat and the Fashion Channel have archive catwalk show footage that’ll give you inspiration.

Supermodels are now as well-paid and famous as film stars: but how do beautiful teenagers end up strutting down the runways? Scouted from afar, they leave home to seek their fortune in the cut-throat fashion world.

Here’s a “tailormade” playlist for anyone with a passion for fashion:

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