Have you Seen This?: The Viral Videos of Tennessee

We get them in our in boxes, from Facebook Friends and Twitter- well not sure what you call people you follow on Twitter- but you have them to thank or blame. They are the flash mobs dancing to The Sound of Music, laughing babies,  funny pets and almost all other subjects imaginable.

They are the viral videos and what the hulu hoop was to the 1950′s, disco to the 1970′s, these are the fad of this generation.  It is hard to remember a time before You Tube and Vimeo.. you know, like ten years ago. But today they are home to some creativity often done solely for the desire to get one’s creativity out there. It is not without controversy as Edward Greenberg, a New York, New York intellectual property lawyer,  called “possessing the fatal flaw many artists have which is the overriding desire to be liked.”  Creativity becomes harder and harder to be a career as so many people do it for free. Steven Spielberg and James Cameron may not be nervous, but just ask that communications major who wants to create WITH OUT needing two other jobs.

Controversy or not, video sharing is not going away. So here are a few vistas of Tennessee through the eyes of YouTube and others.

 

BAPTIST HOSPITAL – MEMPHIS

In about ten seconds on November 6, 2005 Midtown Memphis was changed and changed dramatically when not just a building but a HUGE building came tumbling down to make way for a new biotech center.

BRENTWOOD SHOOTOUT

Officer Stephanie Bellis ( now Warner ) was on duty May 6, 2002 when a bank robber was shooting at Old Hickory Blvd and Franklin Road. Belis was hit in the arm and officer Tommy Walsh was injured more seriously. Both recovered but the bank robber was killed. Here Belis’ drive camera shows the suspect’s bullet hitting the windshield as she returns fire.

HOW TO ENTER BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

and avoid parking! This one speaks for itself.

THE CHATTANOOGA KIDS

So who wants to go to Disney World when we live in Tennessee? This video made national news after the family sent it to the Chattanooga Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Perhaps “We wanna go to Chattanooga” would not be a bad city motto?

THE COVINGTON GHOST HUNTERS

Ghost Hunters of Southwest Tennessee made this video of a former funeral home now residence in Covington. Of course, there is controversy. Some skeptics see overactive imaginations. Some religious people see a dangerous step into the occult. But it is worth a look, just not by yourself in the dark.

DAY GLOW KNOXVILLE

Now this had to have been a show – good looking young women, acrobats, music and a whole lot of day glow paint!

EARNEST GOES TO CAMP

Like you have never seen it. Those creative movie trailer recuts met Tennessee in their version of the 1987 film Earnest Goes to Camp. The movie was filmed at Montgomery Bell State Park in Dickson.

FEDEX TRAFFIC

Across Tennessee, as a few of you may know, originates from the Cooper-Young area of Memphis. Get a good wind out of the South and us Midtowners have the fleet of FedEx planes descending over us at night. Admittedly the music, an acoustic version of Led Zepplin’s Goin’ to California, is an odd choice considering very few of these planes are going to California.  This shows the scale of the Memphis Hub.

MEMPHIS MURAL

Rhodes College of Memphis tasked themselves to make a blank wall of the old Toof Building. Shortly after the project began a camera was set up in the Fogleman YMCA taking a picture every thirty seconds for about two months in the Spring of 2009. And some music and the creation of the mural also becomes a thing of beauty.

POLK COUNTY ROCK SLIDE

Imagine seeing something like this coming down the road. Tennessee Department of Transportation geologist Vanessa Bateman was at the scene of the unstable bank and heard a regular popping sound from the rocks and ordered fellow TDOT employees and the WDEF news crew fro Chattanooga to clear the area. Allen Fairbanks of WDEF had his camera rolling when the 14,000 cubic yards of rocks and soil did.

TEDx TALKS

Alison Lebovitz of Chattanooga discusses the concept of being part of a community.

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TORNADOES OF HAMILTON COUNTY

Several cameras give different looks at the October 26, 2010 tornadoes which injured five.