Do you ever eat a piece of whole wheat toast with butter and homemade raspberry jam on it and think: "Wow. This is pretty much as good as it gets. Bread. Butter. Raspberries. I could eat ten more pieces just like it."

You don't? Oh. Well, come on over to chez-moi and I'll give you a bite of mine. Then you'll see.

I wouldn't call myself much of a You Tuber (and I guess not much of a blogger lately either). I don't spend hours on the you tube searching for remixes of remixes of remixes of a song made from a local news interview, like some of my generation do. Don't get me wrong, I find the You Tube just as useful as the next person to stalk and re-stalk a Tony or So You Think You Can Dance performance (which are the perfect amount of time for a quick homework break) and for finding videos for lesson plans or other multimedia whatnots. But I still consider myself to be a mild to moderate You Tube user.

Genrally.

There are a few exceptions. Yes, I am sad to say, exceptions. Even a mild-moderate You Tuber has them. These are the exceptions that have helped to keep the You Tube firmly planted in the bottom lefthand corner of my favorites sites page on Safari. On this rather snowy and blustery Spring day, let me share them with you. Help keep you warm, happy and You Tubing.

(**Note that these are not in any particular order as far as favored status goes**

SASSY GAY FRIEND - Hamlet

Video #1: Sassy Gay Friend: Hamlet

We'll definitely consider this my guilty pleasure of the You Tube. It was all the quoted rage in my acting class in the fall and I didn't understand, until I watched. I understood. Maybe it's just a stupid theatre thing but there's something so funny about inserting a modern stereotype in to a play chock full of Elizabethan stereotypes. And it really puts things into perspective. Did Ophelia actually have to die I mean die?

Thought of You - by Ryan Woodward.flv

Video #2: Thought of You (animated by Ryan Woodward)

Sweet mercy. We all know what a sucker I am for dance . . .especially modern dance . . .especially modern dance made up of a boy/girl duet with an ambiguous love story. Add gorgeous pencil animation, the Weepies and the fact that my most darling MM friend is the boy dancing (the first time I saw this I was with him and after, I looked at him maybe with a tiny almost tear and said "that was you. he looks just like you" and he laughed "that's because it is me!") and you've got me hook line and sinker as the saying goes. And that doesn't even take in to account the fact that this is the result of a collaboration between animation and dance faculty at BYU. Friends?! Creative friends?! I'm a gonner for sure.

Subtitled "How to speak with an irish accent"

Video #3: Potatoes

I was introduced to this little gem by a girl in my Adolescent Development and Multicultural Education classes last fall. Maybe I am so attached to this and giggle like a little school girl every time I watch it because it was the thing that counter balanced the monotony and eye-rolling blah of those two courses. Thank you 1996, I really appreciate it.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

Video #4: Macel the Shell with Shoes On

Oh people. Come on. This is a fat sack of funny stuff. You may find yourself saying "come on, come on, I love you" next time you're trying to get a clog out of your vacuum hose, or you're stuck at an eternal red light. Listen for the interviewer, the existence of that character makes this even funnier.