It only took 48 hours to blow up.
Spokane filmmaker Adam Harum, a co-creator of the locally-produced sci-fi web series Transolar Galactica, wasn't expecting his parody remake of the 50 Shades of Grey trailer — in which he splices Lord of the Rings wizard hero Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) in place of the overhyped BDSM film's male lead character Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) — to gain much traction. But since he posted the video on a few blogs and Reddit two days ago, it's gathered up an impressive (as of this posting) 80,500 144,800 views on YouTube.
Several thousand of those more recent clicks are in part thanks to a pick-up by the Onion's (not fake) entertainment news site, the A.V. Club.
The parody took three hours for Harum, an audio engineer for local studio ILF Media, to produce and while he didn't think it would "go viral," he decided to try an online social experiment, posting it on various sites, then sitting back to see if it would take off.
"I try the same channels to get my work out there, and I used the same pattern I've always done with my content of where, what time and what sites," he explains. "This is one of those things that is easily digestible and quick and fast, and people could easily click and share," unlike some of the professional video work Harum says he's shared through similar channels.
"It's been interesting to see the process," he says. "Most people don't get to see how this type of online content works, and the way Google and YouTube allow you to track data."
And for those wondering, Harum says he indeed saw 50 Shades of Grey in theaters.
"It was hilarious. One of the greater comedies that's recently come out."
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Though there is no equal comparison and none could take the place of beloved Internet cat leader Colonel Meow, who departed this world a little more than a year ago, the latest Internet cat king bears a striking resemblance to the stern Colonel.
Meet Atchoum, a Quebec native whose piercing orange eyes and majestic fluff are a sight to behold.
Earlier this month, the French-speaking cat broke through several viral sharing sites, and has since shot to the online stardom that only cats can achieve these days. Atchoum's likeness has appropriately been said to resemble to Ewoks, David Bowie in Labyrinth, Elvis, Batman, the Lorax, a Gremlin and a devil. With a little button-black nose and such full face fur, the handsome cat often also resembles a toy dog breed, perhaps a shih-tzu.
The Montreal-based Persian's looks are surely unique, but there's a medical explanation for the floof overload. Atchoum has a rare condition called hypertrichosis, which causes excessive fur growth and also makes his fur much longer and fuller than other members of the feline species and his Persian breed. Knowing this, the translation of his name makes even more sense: Atchoum is French for the onomatopoeia sneeze sound "achoo."
In the past several weeks, the nine-month-old kitten has racked up more than 22,500 followers on his Instagram account, and is set to soon surpass 30,000 Facebook followers. Get with the program and start following him right meow, because Atchoum's star is obviously rising, and you don't want to be late to this party.
With the motto "I'm hairy, not scary!!" who couldn't adore this fancy, fluffy-faced feline?
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I grew up loving everything they put in front of me. There’s not a lot that I don’t like. I like good ethnic food. I like comfort food, too. It’s a big variety.[Editor's note: Bloem's comments compiled from an interview transcription, and lightly edited for length]
I took three people with me [to Satay Bistro] and we tried several things. I had the chicken dish. And the filet mignon is well known at that restaurant, so we had that, too. And my daughter had the sea bass. So we had a great variety.
We all had a chance to taste each dish, and all three were fabulous. There’s a sauce they’re making [a smoked tomato vinaigrette], it was on the chicken dish and on the sea bass dish. The flavor was spectacular. It was THE best chicken dish I’ve ever had. It was tremendous. I liked it because it was very unusual in flavor. It really was spectacular.
The ambience in Satay is very pleasant. The way it’s put together, it’s a very special place. Our service was top-notch, and it has been when I’ve been there before. They have a really nice wine list, and their own wine cellar. They do some things that just add a lot of flavor to the experience. They serve a small loaf of bread fresh out of the oven, warm, with butter and fresh dill all over it. That can be a meal in itself. It’s a very special place to go.
I think this opportunity offered during these couple of weeks gets people excited, gets people out to these restaurants to see different places. I talked to a friend of mine, and they’d already been out four times and were going for a fifth time this Saturday. Satay was full the night we were there. It brings the Coeur d’Alene, Liberty Lake and Spokane communities together, and that’s not always easy to do. This shows you can be very successful doing that.
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