Friday, January 9, 2009

Big in Japan

Well, maybe not BIG in Japan, but at least VIEWED in Japan. I have a fantastic idea about how to teach Americans about a subject at which we generally suck: geography. Teachers should have their students post a video on YouTube and then track the viewings! They have a great little stats counter ("Insight") that shows you the number of views you have and all your demographics, including countries of the entire world. I seriously have learned more geography in the last couple weeks than I ever did in 12 years of Catholic school. Though my trailer hasn't been seen in any of them, I've learned (or at least read) the names of a lot of countries I'd never even heard of. Presumably some of them don't have internet yet, which might have something to do with that.

I am happy to say my trailer has been seen in five continents, 19 countries, and 37 of the 50 United States of America. So far, it hasn't had a blip in Africa, and Antarctica is not on the YouTube map. It has been seen in Canada (Hi Bentley!), Australia (Hey Dan!), Brazil, China, Japan, Indonesia, Ireland, UK (Hi Matthew!), Netherlands, France (Allo Jerome and Arnaud!), Italy, Greece, Germany (Hi John & Anja!), Slovakia, Hungary (Hi, Jonathan!), Ukraine, Russia, and Estonia.

It is easier to list the States that it HASN't been seen in, and I am on a mission to make sure it is seen in all 50 States. Just one of those things, being able to say you did it, like going to Prom (check) or jumping out of an airplane (which I will never do on purpose, unless the plane is on fire, and I can live with that). So if you have friends in these States, please ask them to view the trailer! I'll be checking back on them until this feat is accomplished.

Those States are as follows: On the Eastern seaboard, the only folks not on task are in New Hampshire and Rhode Island; also South Carolina. Furthest west, we have no views in Alaska (though we do in Hawaii!). The problem area is a strip right through the middle of the country, and a few sparsely populated Western states: Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota (Canada, a.k.a. North North Dakota, is with us), Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Idaho.

So help me out, people! Get your friends in these states to watch the trailer for Smalltimore. And for your own educational purposes, see if you can locate Kyrgyzstan on a map. And if you know anyone there, get them to watch my video!

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