Let me be honest, I'm a HUGE fan of web video. So one of the top things I do to kill time is check out various interesting online videos. I dig through the backlogs of College Humor uploads, I scour YouTube, I make my rounds through the various Next New Networks online shows. I try to find those videos that really jump out at me. A good web video should inspire as much as entertain.

Somewhere buried amongst the weird teenage vidblogs and network TV mash-ups are some true creatives. These are auteurs. These are joyful artists. Over the next few Boredom Busters, I'm going to try to highlight some of my absolute favorites. Here's an old favorite always worth another watch, or perhaps newly discovered gem -- I take great pleasure in introducing this week's Cheetos Boredom Buster:

FATAL FARM

From their site's ABOUT page:
"Fatal Farm is these two guys, Zach and Jeffrey. They live in Los Angeles and do videos for the internet."

That's all the information they seem to be offering. Two old friends who pair their talents to make a slew of twisted and entertaining videos. They seem to make three kinds of videos, and I'm going to offer up the best example of each --

1.) Alternate Television Themes: Fatal Farm's most popular series of videos are these creatively edited versions of old television opening sequences. Take your childhood memories and run them through a blender, mixing in the darkest parts of your brain, and maybe you'll end up seeing something close to Fatal Farm's alternate versions of TV show openings.


(Alternate) Facts of Life TV Intro by Fatal Farm

For more, check out the Alternate TV Themes Home Page. Keep in mind, a good lot of these may not be entirely safe for work.

2.) Infinite Solutions with Mark Erickson: There's something to be said about a good internet stunt, and "Infinite Solutions with Mark Erickson" is one of the best. Fatal Farm created the Mark Erickson character and developed a series of self-help videos that are full of lies. That's correct, most of these tips are completely untrue. The joy of the videos comes in equal parts from how faithfully they spoof the genre and imagining anyone who's tried the video's "solutions."


How to Recharge Batteries - by infinitesolutions

With nearly 900,000 views, you have to imagine a good amount of these people have tried to recharge their batteries. No one should feel stupid for it. Fatal Farm is just that good. For the rest of the series, check out the Infinite Solutions website.

3.) Lasagna Cat: The most recent set of videos released by the Fatal Farm guys was a bizarre and hilarious Garfield tribute. Twenty-seven recreated Jim Davis comic strips, that end in some sort of interesting musical reinterpretation. It's the perfect demonstration of just how dynamic and different these guys are.


03/08/1997 - by lasagnacat

I think I watched every "Lasagna Cat" in one sitting. It left me inspired and excited to know videos could be so bizarre and still so entertaining. You can check them all out here: Lasagna Cat Home Page.

So, a bunch of kudos to the Fatal Farm guys for keeping internet video exciting. Hopefully they come out with some new videos soon, because they haven't released anything in quite awhile. I hope you enjoyed what I showed you today and your boredom was busted. For the Cheetos Boredom Buster, this is Dave Seger saying "Later Dudes!"