Fun with Youtube!

Left: Barbara Stanwyck in the delightful "Lady of Burlesque" just one of the many classic movie clips available on Youtube.

Recently I was working on a piece for this blog about my all-time favorite classic screen kisses and I couldn't decide which of the kisses from Notorious to choose. No problem. Youtube to the rescue.

I know what you're thinking. "Youtube? Soooo 2006. it's all just Two Girls and a Cup parodies now. But, hey, I'm writing a Blog here people. If that doesn't scream the year six, than I don't know what does.

Let me just say upfront that I'm a Youtube junky. I can't get through the day without at least one playlist. I have a list built around a single obscure U2 song and another compiling my favorite musical moments from The O.C. But it is as a classic film fanatic that I go to Youtube with complete awe almost every day. I can't believe the rarities that would take years of expensive and painstaking collection, available for all to see with a quick search term or two. Want to see Gary Cooper's star-making scene in Wings without sitting through the whole movie? No problem. A lovingly edited tribute video featuring scenes from every Cary Grant movie where his hair gets messed up, set to "Lend me your comb?" They've got that. How about Barbara Stanwyck inventing break dancing in Lady of Burlesque? Yup. That's there too.

No matter how obscure your obsession you can be sure someone out there shares it and has probably uploaded an under-ten minute video about it. Of course there are whole movies, sliced into a dozen or so chunks if you want to waste your morning at work watching, say, The Quiet Man. You can do so. There are even movie of the week style "shows" like the Cinemated Man where films are introduced and discussed in a clever way.