You might recognize Craig Frank as an established actor within the web series world, including shows like Compulsions and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. But he’s got some street cred beyond that thanks to commercial work for products including KFC and DiGiorno.

So Craig is uniquely qualified to react to a Saturday Night Live bit from this weekend, which mocked the Only Black Guy In Commercials trope, with Kenan Thompson wearing a very-Craig Frank-ish pair of glasses. And react Craig Frank does, especially to the concept that he is “non-threatening.” Well-played, Craig. Well-played.

I’ve had many a friend dive into this beer-making trend. The smell and amount of equipment required has only furthered my thought that buying beer is best. Admittedly, I am spoiled by all the amazing local brews in San Francisco. There are also a fair amount of shops that sell rare bottles and small batch here.

Though, I must say, I am charmed by this video. The couple is cute and I’m really routing for them. Will I ever brew my own beer? Probably not. Like cooking, it sounds like a fulfilling yet really expensive hobby. But I like to hold on to the idea that if I wanted to I could. I have never lived in a house nor do I think I will any time soon. So seeing two people pursuing their passion from their apartment is inspiring (to me at least).

As someone who watches too many videos, I have come to realize that when I click the play button my expectation is that I will be entertained and informed. The secondhand benefit is that independent media serves as an escape that calms and relaxes me. I have established these presumptions for myself. There are no rules for what makes a compelling video. It’s easy to forget that video is perfectly suited for capturing beauty. And when the beauty of nature is paired with the right music, magic happens. Magic that can be relaxing and emotional without having to make you laugh or have a message.

Maybe I’ve been watching too much West Wing lately, but this series of sketches remaking recent films with two talented ladies and Aaron Sorkin’s signature rapid-paced dialogue amused me quite a bit. The Twilight one here is probably the best-produced, but the Star Wars and Avatar parodies are also worth checking out, especially for their recreation of costumes and scenery from both films.

I admit that this is the first episode of the Machinima Prime series Good Cops I’ve ever seen, but it’s damn impressive: In part because it’s a silly yet fresh take on over-dramatic cop dramas, but more importantly because it’s a silly yet fresh take on over-dramatic cop dramas that, for this episode, was filmed in a single five-minute take. There are fight scenes and taco jokes, all set against a beautifully setting sun. It’s a damn impressive achievement for anyone, but most especially for a web series.

…I’d imagine it would feel a little something like this. Initially, I was thrown off by this videos overly scientific title and gritty, scifi opening but once the beat kicked in, it was not at all what I expected.

Major Scaled #1 : Metallica – “Nothing Else Majeur” from major scaled on Vimeo.

You’ve probably seen/heard the video where REM’s Losing My Religion is pitch shifted so that all those depressing minor notes are replaced by upbeat major notes. It’s all the work of Vimeo’s Major Scaled – but as awesome as Hearing REM sounding all happy is, personally I think their best work was done on Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters, above.

I know this song back and forth from my high school years spent blasting it through 80 watts of pure, angsty, four speaker power out the open windows of my Volvo Station Wagon. It was cool, and therefore by association I was cool. Together, we were awesome.

And now…now…all I hear is…

This reader submission from the lovely François will be great fun for any Run Lola Run fans, as well as anyone who’s ever ridden on the subway and thought “man, I could have run there by now.” Beautifully put together, this video. Congrats!

I really like the way your more web-savvy talk shows repackage episodes for YouTube these days, and here’s a great example of that: During last week’s appearance on Conan, Ryan Gosling made one audience member very happy — a moment with plenty of evergreen potential, even after we’ve all forgotten about Gangster Squad. Enjoy.

Oh man have I been negligent in my posting duties. So to make it up to you wonderful, beautiful people, today I’m posting a double-whammy – two of my favorite videos from 2012 (really, they’re both from about 2010, but I didn’t discover either until 2012 so deal with it.)

You might remember Bobby McFerrin from an earlier post called Music Is A Human Universal – or from his 80′s hit Don’t Worry – Be Happy. If you only know him from the second reference, what you might not know is that the dude is as close as we’ve come to a living, human synthesizer. He’s able to do with his mouth and body what us less evolved people are only able to do with a five piece backing band. Even more impressive, he’s also an enabler of others.

For my first piece of evidence, above is Bobby getting 50,000 people singing in nearly perfect harmony along with a purely improvisational piece he’s inventing on the spot.

Not impressed yet? Fine, lemme bring out the big guns: Here’s Bobby McFerrin getting a crowd of hundreds of complete strangers to simultaneously sing one of the most difficult arias ever written: Gounod’s Ave Maria.

I think even the most doubtful of you can admit that’s impossibly, impressively, talented.