The Wood Whisperer may claim that homemade gifts are for those who are “too cheap to buy real presents,” but we don’t buy it: There’s something special about receiving a handcrafted gift that’s unlike anything else. There’s even a pledge going around right now to buy nothing but handmade gifts this holiday season. On YouTube, you don’t have to look very far to find DIY inspiration. Our gurus give lessons on how to make everything from holiday cards and one-of-a-kind gifts for your family — creative pencil holders, crazy quilt stockings, Christmas aprons, anyone? — to decorations for your home. They are YouTube’s elves, video‘ing in workshops all over the world: Have a great handmade gift idea that you’d love to share? It’s not too late to respond to Todd Oldhams’s holiday call out. Your DIY video could be featured on the home page with other great guru! The last day for entries is December 19th so hurry! Happy Crafting, Sadia H. aka sublinx YouTube HowTo + Style

2007: The Year in Review (Part 1)
With 2008 around the corner, we pause to reflect on the year that was. There’s a lot to say, so this is just part one of our year-end musings…Comment below and tell us what your highlights were, and/or make a video — you can even pin it to this map. (We’ll be looking to feature a few of these around the new year.) A Vibrant Community Through YouTube events like 7.7.7., the debates, and programs like the Community Council, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many wonderful ‘Tubers in the flesh. Observing how you guys love, loathe, and live through YouTube has been phenomenal and inspiring. The stories I’ve heard of how this site has brought people together would make you cry (in a good way). As diverse as the YT community is, you all have one thing in common: dedication. It’s quite astounding when you stop and really think about how much time goes into creating, editing, watching and sharing videos, building and maintaining relationships, and having a real life all the while. Although you don’t see me, I’m constantly sifting through your feedback to find out what features you guys would like to see, where you think we can make improvements, and making sure your voice is heard. And for the record, I watched this video obsessively in 2007. — Michelle S. aka missribs The World’s Largest Town Hall With dorm-room presidential interviews, citizen-created campaign commercials, question-and-answer sessions, two presidential primary debates, and much more, you’ve made 2007 a big year for YouTube politics. Just a year ago, YouTube had gained a reputation as a place where voters held candidates accountable for their mishaps. Your use of YouTube has been making the political process more transparent, and the pressure you’ve applied brought candidates to the platform to join the discourse as well. Now we have a big, video-powered Town Hall where everyone is at the table — you might say it’s the largest and most diverse political discussion in our nation’s history. Looking forward to continuing the dialog in ‘08… - Steve G. aka citizentube The Year in film: Innovating and Reshaping 2007 was a groundbreaking year for film on YouTube: M dot Strange made it into the 2007 Sundance film Festival with his YouTube-grown film, WE ARE THE STRANGE; Four Eyed Monsters released their critically-acclaimed feature length film on the site; Project Direct, the first ever short film competition on YouTube, and also the first international contest, received stellar submissions, and the winner, celioclarice, came from Brazil; renowned film schools, including, USC School of Cinematic Arts Vancouver film School and New York film Academy joined or grew on the site; prolific content creators and aggregators like, Future Shorts, Aniboom, Future Thought and Mondo Media became partners; and incredibly talented filmmakers and animators like SCADshorts, Walter Robot, Andrewhu, Bridle films, Agent XPQ and so many more shared their work with us. 2007 showed how much room there is for artistic creativity online, and there is no doubt that in 2008 the film community on YouTube will innovate even more and continue to reshape the way film content is created, shared and consumed. - Sara P. aka TheStoryBoard

We Didn’t Start the Viral
Have you noticed how Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ has been popping up in videos about, well, video? First there was Dan Meth’s Internet People, which loosely used the song’s structure, but not its melody to give an animated retrospective on viral video: Then there was Cakke’s The Internet Stars are Viral, which used Joel’s actual tune in a kind of hyper-clip show of Internet memes: And just recently, we’ve been treated to Not Another Bubble by The Richter Scales, which borrows the song to have a laugh at this whole Internet video thing: So, is this the last we’ll hear of ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’? Is there another song more well-suited to retrospective? Or will someone create a whole new video summing up this phenomena? -Kent, Yahoo! video Team

The New York Anime Festival on YouTube
Anime may have its roots in Japanese pop-culture, but it has undoubtedly developed into a worldwide phenomenon. Indeed, Naruto and Pokemon have become part of our global lexicon. Accordingly, the company behind New York Comic Con has now created a festival devoted entirely to anime: The New York Anime Festival, featuring exclusive anime screenings, manga, cosplay, video games, live-action Japanese cinema, Japanese fashion and food. If you weren’t in New York last week to catch the festivities, have no fear IFCNews is bringing the festival to you. Check out the film & Animation page for your anime update! Still not hip to the anime phenomenon? Check out some of these videos from YouTube partners and you will be. Enjoy the fest, Sara P. aka TheStoryBoard YouTube film

Bumbo Love
Last week the Yahoo! video team received this sweet, autographed photo from the star of the popular Ready-Set-Bumbo videos. Check it out, it says Yahoo! video Team Rocks! That s some love right there. If you re not familiar with the Bumbo videos, check em out below. To further satisfy your Bumbo fix (and get some Bumbo shwag), check out their site at ready-set-bumbo.com. Ready-Set-Bumbo Ready-Set-Bumbo 2 Ready-Set-Bumbo 3 -Kent, Yahoo! video Team

Holiday Food & music Ideas
There’s just a few days left to complete your shopping or make a gift; now it’s time to think about the actual feast and festivities. So put aside silly notions of calories (that’s for later) and dig into these recipes for Christmas pudding, hot winter soup, “cookie bark” (huh?), and a whole lot more: Once the pots have been washed and it’s time to kick back and finally relax, don’t settle for the same ol’ holiday tunes. Embrace the DIY spirit and play your own. These videos will teach you how to do just that on instruments like the guitar, harmonica, and piano: We’re going to sign off for a few days to spend time with friends and family and to try out some of Todd Oldham’s favorite user-generated gift-making videos - but we’ll be back before the ball drops. Have a good one, Sadia H. aka Sublinx YouTube HowTo & Style

Fringe Fridays Welcomes VanArts
Fans of animation have good reason to be happy. Today we welcome the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts to Yahoo! video. They’ve uploaded a lot of videos to their channel. Here’s a sneak peak at a video we’ll be featuring on Sunday and it features two of our favorite things around here: ninjas and pirates. Enjoy! Ninja vs. Pirate -Kent, Yahoo! video Team

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