Am I the only one who hasn't posted a video on YouTube yet?  It seems like everybody's there.  Even the Queen of England has her own channel.  And I don't mean Helen Mirren.  It's getting to a point where saying that you haven't posted on YouTube is like saying you've never done a Google search.  Was it just ten years ago that we were marveling at cell phones that took pictures?  Things are moving entirely too fast for me.  But part of my beat with my new gig at BlogHer is to cover the goings on over at YouTube.  So I'll make an effort to keep up.  Here's a round up of what I've been viewing lately.

A few weeks ago after Ike Turner's death, for old times sake, I wanted to see Ike and Tina Turner's performance of "Proud Mary."  Now you have to understand, whenever Ike and Tina Turner, the Supremes, Gladys Knight and The Pips, or any of those classic black music groups were on television, everything in our house stopped so we could sit down and watch.  My cousins would start singing, my mother and aunt would do a hipper version of the funky chicken and my grandmother would beam and say how all good music ever created came from black folks.

Those were the days.  Anyway, I don't know what my grandmother would think of all this, but how cool is it that today on YouTube I can choose from several different versions of the performance of Ike and Tina Turner's "Proud Mary?"   The best one, at least quality-wise was a live performance aired on the old NBC show, "The Midnight Special" in 1974.

While in the "Proud Mary" neighborhood, I came across this gem from Diana.  Diana's the star of a whole series of homemade dance videos and "Proud Mary" is one of them.  Turns out Diana expresses herself with paint and canvas as well as dance since she's also an artist.   Now Diana's no Tina Turner but her enthusiasm's infectious and I dare you to not smile when you watch it. 

Speaking of art, my next video sampling was "Women In Art."  It's billed as "500 years of female portraits in western art."  Basically it's four minutes of portrait closeups morphing into each other set to classical music.  It's hypnotic and lyrical and made me want to pick up a paintbrush. 

After adding "Women In Art" to my list of YouTube favorites, a guy named Giuseppe saw it and sent me one of his videos.  It's called "The Kiss," and though it's similar to "Women In Art" it's kind of, well...weird.  Take a look and see what you think.

YouTube has become such a huge phenomena, even the Queen of England has her own channel.  How hip is she?  The woman is a cultural maverick, no doubt about it.  It's called The Royal Channel and on it you can see archival footage of events at Buckingham Palace, clips of garden parties, state dinners and a nice little travelogue about The Royal Household.  If you're looking for the Queen's "E True Hollywood Story," this isn't the place for you, but if like me, you think she's a tough old broad who's led a pretty interesting life, it's worth taking a look. 

If you're in the mood for heavier material, click on  "What's The Difference Between Blacks and Jews?"  It's a message video about why blacks and Jews should get along.  I found it via Voogling, a site that's "dedicated to curating the best and worst of citizen TV." 

For comic relief, over at GenPink I discovered a link to "My Cool Tongue"  It's about this girl's, well, cool tongue.  (Nothing dirty, I assure you.)  Then, via WOW Video, there's "Men vs. Women In The Shower."  It's about, well, men vs. women in the shower.  (Nothing dirty, I assure you.)

After surfing through YouTube the last few weeks, I've discovered there's a whole untapped world out there of frustrated performers willing to do just about anything to gain attention of some kind.  I also discovered there's a whole untapped world of talent as well.  I'll keep you posted.

Contributing editor Megan Smith is an admitted TV Junkie and her personal blog is Megan’s Minute