Jorge & Alexa Narvaez

'Kid In The Front Row' - what does it mean? Well, the obvious interpretation -- it means to love movies so much that you're like an excited kid in the front row. But furthermore, when you look at the content of what I write about--- I'd say it's equally about trying to maintain that essence of childhood in your creative work. The play, the fun, the experimentation. It's about not getting caught up in your head every time you create something.

"In my house we follow four guidelines -- family, community, art and music"

-Jorge Narvaez

Jorge & Alexa Narvaez are the perfect example of what it is to be a Kid In The Front Row. A Father & Daughter team who like to have fun. To sing, create, and have a good time.

The naysayers on YouTube criticise her voice, but they're missing the point. The reason it has twelve million views on YouTube is not because it's perfect. It's because it isn't perfect. At least not in the way we've become accustomed too.

The video connects so deeply because of the connection of Jorge and Alexa. Look at how she casually leans on him while they're singing (in the first video). Look how encouraging he is. Look how comfortable she is. Of course, she's lovely and cute, but more than that--- she's FREE! She's having fun! Totally comfortable singing and creating.





All the comments say the same thing. They say "What a great Father!". And you can't help but think he's fantastic. He's in his mid-twenties, and he's taking the time to do this with his daughter. It's such a rare thing to see. Look at the joy in their faces!

I have been watching their videos non-stop for a few days. You just can't help but be drawn to their magic, their connection, their love for each other. It's so rare to see. Love gets distorted and confused and hidden and made to look complicated. Instead of saying 'I love you' we create barriers and hire lawyers and make incomprehensible art.

Jorge & Alexa Narvaez just do the simplest thing. They're just a family sitting down and singing. Yet they're the most truthful, honest, and downright lovely thing you could ever hope to see.

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The T-Mobile Royal Wedding Video Is GENIUS!

I am so jealous of the people who make these, who conceive of the ideas. This video is absolutely marvellous (I have not used the word marvellous in a long time, and even had to check the spelling).

I wrote about a viral video called Sexy Sax Man a little while ago. I wrote "That's why this video is so funny. Because it's a big fuck you to the man. The Sexy Sax Man is above the law. He's being creative and hilarious in a way we rarely are in our well-planned, carefully constructed lives. He shows a side of us we crave for. He's liberated. And for the five minutes we're watching, we're liberated too." And I think the same things apply to the T-Mobile Royal Wedding Video. 

Sure, everyone will be watching the wedding when it happens tomorrow, but it'll be boring as hell. Loads of Royal people walking into a Church, sitting down, and listening to all the boring stuff. When we're at weddings, we get so bored and just want to get to the meal afterwards-- but tomorrow we're sitting down to watch this and we don't even know the participants. It's crazy.

But this video breaks free of all the Royal rules. We get to imagine a different wedding. And when you think about it --- the wedding could be this way. I mean, why not? Humans came to Earth, just another piece of nature, and then as time went on we got more and more rigid, self-aware, and boring. The way we walk down a street, the way we greet a friend, these aren't natural, they're socially conditioned. It could easily have been that men have ponytails and women kick a ball around a football pitch. But society went a different way. Most of what we do is acting. Acting and restraining. That's how we've decided to live.

So when we see a good viral video, like this one, we see a part of our nature that we oppress. I am not a dancer, not at all; I'm a writer who sits in a corner and avoids conversations. But a part of me would love to come flying down the isle like Prince William does in this video. It's in me somewhere, it's in you too, whether you believe me or not.

And that's the reoccuring theme with viral videos. They're a new art form which expresses the little tiny parts of ourselves that get amused by absurdity, or by betraying authority, or by seeing Prince Charles and Camilla getting their groove on. I guess the lesson is that we should try and inhabit a bit more of the spirit of the characters in this video, but the likelihood is that we won't. 

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Sexy Sax Man - Hilarious

I love viral videos. I'm also kind of jealous, because I've never created one and probably never will. It's not how my brain works. I don't have that talent. Not that it's always about talent; sometimes it's just about humiliating someone.

But the Sexy Sax Man is absolutely hilarious. Before we talk more about it; watch it:

Did you laugh? I hope so. 

I always find repetition funny. Often a bad joke gets amusing merely by the fact it gets repeated. A topless guy playing "Careless Whisper" to unsuspecting Walmart customers is hilarious to begin with -- and it just gets funnier and funnier. 

A good viral video teaches us a lot about ourselves. Watching this, you can't help but notice how insane and power hungry the security staff get, but why? It's just a very funny guy and his filmmaker friend doing something fun--- and I am certain that, for the people who witnessed it, it's something they'll remember forever. 

The Sexy Sax Man teaches us so much about our society. The security staff aren't just security staff in a shopping mall--- they're the government who have all your details, they're the managers at your work who flip out if your cigarette break lasts two minutes two long, they're the airport security staff who waste your time for fifty minutes looking for bombs in your underwear. 

That's why this video is so funny. Because it's a big fuck you to the man. The Sexy Sax Man is above the law. He's being creative and hilarious in a way we rarely are in our well-planned, carefully constructed lives. He shows a side of us we crave for. He's liberated. And for the five minutes we're watching, we're liberated too.

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REBECCA BLACK

"De do do do, de da da da

Is all I want to say to you

De do do do, de da da da

They're meaningless and all that's true"
-Rebecca Black

"Oo-ooh-ooh, hoo yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah"
-Sting

Rebecca Black is a 13 year old girl somewhere in America who, for whatever reason, made a pop song and a video. If it had only been witnessed by seven people - would it still signal the end of music as we know it? At the time of writing, close to five hundred thousand people have hit the 'dislike' button on her YouTube video. These aren't 13 year old girls disliking it, they're angry forty year old men who are pissed that nobody's listening to Metallica anymore.

I don't see how Rebecca Black is relevant to me. Her video is fun. I remember being fourteen - it was similar to the video. You talk shit, you see your friends, you look forward to the weekend. Great, I hope the kids enjoy the song. It wasn't made for me. I only saw it because of the media storm.

So 500,000 hit 'dislike.' That's a lot of hate. Couldn't we do something more productive? The comments are mostly people bitching about how awful the music industry is, how this is the worst thing ever. But how many of them are creating the alternatives? Like it or not, the talentless can get famous in five minutes, but for the talented it takes years. The forty year old singer/songwriter might have more talent than Rebecca Black, but none of his songs are as good as Bruce Springsteen's. That's not Rebecca Black's fault. The guy just needs to keep making music. Whether Rebecca Black exists or not; everything is still the same.

But Black actually has some talent. She performed it acoustic. I've heard worse. There's a bunch of young girls in the audience. They seem to dig it. Should we force them to listen to Bob Dylan records?

Good music, good films, good art, whatever --- they don't exist in a vacuum. You can't get the good stuff without the bad. We enjoy Tom Petty because he isn't Rebecca Black. But the Petty's don't exist without the Black's and the Britney's. If the mainstream loved what we love on a personal level, it wouldn't mean anything. When Springsteen sings about bustin' outta town, or when Aretha Franklin sings about freedom - they're powerful because they come from outside, they come from a place that hurts. That matters. The mainstream frames this perfectly, it's what makes it meaningful. That's why the greatest hits are never your favorites, they mean too much to too many.

But we don't need to be so angry every time a teenager sings about the weekend. She's just a kid.

What's the meanest thing you've read, that hurt you the most? -Interviewer.

I hope you cut yourself and I hope you get an eating disorder so you'll look pretty. And I hope you go cut and die. -Rebecca Black, 13.

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