Kittens, Inspired by Kittens: Best Internet Video Evar?

kittens inspired by kittens, by blakekelly0. Probably the best internet video in the history of all time this week. (Thanks, John Walsh!).

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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Tenn

Thirding the remake with John Hodgman plz.
robulus

I remember when, as a boy, my father sat me down and told me about bow-chiky-chicky-bow-wown.

“When a mummy and a daddy love each other very much, they have a special cuddle, and bow-chiky-chicky-bow-wown!”
Cupcake Faerie

Oh you youngsters! 20/30 somethings…. kids are not, I repeat, not something to be afraid of…
Just wait someday, you’ll find one at your doorstep. It’ll be strange at first but it will get easier, and you’ll find, yes, yes I can be around children. Teenagers on the other hand….
the Other michael

I wonder what’s going to happen to this generation of kids being pimped out on 8mm films and 35mm slideshows for the profit-free gratification of their irresponsible movie-and-slide-recording habits.

Won’t someone think of the guests?!!
mellon

Wasn’t there just a big foofooraw on BoingBoing about the boundary between referencing and plagiarism? The kid is cute, like most kids her age, but this video is basically a bunch of shots of a children’s book with a child narrating. How is this the best Internet video evar?
dbarak

Quick! Where’s the salmonella-tainted peanut butter?! I need something to put me out of my misery, right now!
Xeni Jardin

@#13 Mellon, why don’t you tell us Santa Claus is a lie, next, huh?

@#12, and others, I’ve asked the Hodge if he’d do this. Awaiting an answer.
tubacat

Ok, so nobody jump all over me or laugh or get too graphic, but — what does “bow-chika-chika-whatever” mean?

(and yes, I probably spend more time with my cats than keeping up with popular culture…)

As for the video, I loved it!
robulus

@Cupcake Faerie
When he was just a couple of days old, a nurse said to my wife and I “You didn’t know him a week ago, but you’d jump in front of a bus to save him now, wouldn’t you?”

Truer words never spoken.
Bekah

quick quick where is the authors guild?
Anonymous

Whoever thinks this is funny must’ve been born yesterday. This is 1) stupid. and 2) stupid. and 3) stupid. It’s a good thing parents love their kids enough to delude themselves that they have interesting kids.
robulus

Its supposed to be like the wha wha funk music from seventies porn. See the Lizardman @#60 for an excellent description of how it now brings joy to our everyday lives.
The Lizardman

Some kids are OK, almost all parents are not.
winkingskunk

This child actually annoyed me.

…until the end, then she got really bizarre.
Takuan

you do realize that driving away the children means going back to the stray dogs and cats and odd raccoon.
cjp

Which brings us full circle to: Chad after the Dentist in which Darth Vadar can’t see anything…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGTAnXqn9Jc&NR=1
LavenderNotes

What #6 said, what #6 said, what #6 said! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ. You can make it my birthday AND holiday gift!
Crispinus211

Such haters!
cryptique

I kept reading the idea from #6 as involving John Houseman, not Hodgman.

…which would be amazing in its own way (too bad he’s no longer around).
NidSquid

Don’t quite know what to think of this vid. Kinda made me laugh but got the strange impression that this kid is a super annoying brat in real life.

Interesting to read the comments – I thought I was the only one not really into the whole kid thing. It’s hard to blame or dislike kids in general though – they’re just innocents learning to navigate the world. Most modern parents of my generation however (mid-30s) that I have met are brutally annoying – over-protective and obsessive who seem to go through life thinking the world revolves around their brat.
Katerade

Um, HOW is this the “best internet video in the history of all time this week”? I did all sorts of annoying crap as a kid. The fact that YouTube and oversharing parents didn’t enable my “adorable” observations/nasal voice doesn’t make it any more noteworthy.
wolfiesma

In Texas, the raccoons are given free reign to reproduce, thus, we have no need to eat our own human babies.
celia

I don’t think John Hodgman can get quite the piercing shriek that some of the images call for. The “bow chicka” bit, on the other hand should be less disturbing.
Manooshi

Dudes, whatever. It IS cute. She’s actually a sharp little girl with a healthy imagination… especially since she doesn’t look be of reading age yet.
mdh

Randomly watching tv and “Kittens” was just on E!

Two days ago I saw dentist kid on O’Lielly.

BB is officially 5 days in the future.
Darren Garrison

Countdown for the Christian Bale remix…
Tom Hale

What’s the opposite of a Unicorn Chaser? I think I need one. thx
ridl

The idiots behind celebretainment television are officially trolling BB for content…

Seacrest reveal yourself!
mdh

The fact that YouTube and oversharing parents didn’t enable my “adorable” observations/nasal voice doesn’t make it any more noteworthy.

Your parents may have been on to something (that you still have never picked up on).
Katerade

@#25: and yet, you seem too myopic to apply the same criticism to yourself.
Aurophobia

I had that same kitten book as a kid! I remember those pictures….

:)
Bender

Amusing vid, whether scripted or not.

I find people who are quick hate on kids just as crazy clueless as the way Octo-mom wants kids, just in a different way.
Anonymous

I wonder what is going to happen to this generation of kids being pimped out on YouTube for the profit-free gratification of their irresponsible video-recording habits. Dental-drug kid, Kitten girl, Harry and Charlie are going to be interesting case studies for Psychology Today in 10-20 years.
Anonymous

How ’bout Hodgman narrating in the style of Houseman? And he could totally do the piercing shriek, I bet.
Shelby Davis

Wait, bow-chicka-wow-wow is about porn? I just thought it was from the Chipmunks movie…
mlc2475

Is that a tattoo on her forearm?
teleny

“Wha-chicka-bow-wow” makes me think of the old funk song “Brick House”. So, she hears the oldies station on the radio? I can remember (at that age or near-to) peppering my monologues with Yiddish and Jewish references (and this from a kid from a Preppy family who was born in 1958) as well as medical and financial doggerel simply because most comedians on TV were Jewish and we lived fairly near New York. Folded into “Peter Pan” and The Canon of classic little-kids-books, it probably sounded awfully weird. (For the record, my favorite song at that point was the “March of the Toreadors” from “Carmen”, played from a 78 record we had lying around.)
Fact is, what makes her commentary, and the rest, so delightful is that she’s gotten the idea of captioning so spot-on, and everything, just everything, she knows gets put into the mix. Hate to analyze it to death, but that’s just my 2Â¢.

I hope she makes more documentaries…perhaps when she’s a bit older!
timtastic

How is it that no one gets that this is scripted and created by adults?
skatanic

I was about to rant about how annoying the little girl is, but instead i will jump on the bandwagon. Internet, remake this video with Mr. Hodgman doing the voice over and all will be forgiven.
Doug Nelson

It was cute, if grating. But my strongest reaction was from the “Replay?” button at the end (“Oh, God no!”)
Glossolalia Black

I had my tubal ligation about a year ago. And I love the hell out of it.

“SSSSSSSS!”
lumpi

Reminds me of “Wonder Showzen”.
laserone

I couldn’t stand to watch more than a few seconds of this! Nails on a chalkboard! I can’t stand kids (and I’m a female). First kids on cuteoverload, now this. I’m canceling my internet account.
Talia

the bow chicka bow wow was VERY creepy. i wonder where she got that refrain from :P

I was all set to dislike this video as I’m not a fan of children, but the “I’m her mom” “no she isnt!” cracked me up and it got better from there.
Miss Jess

I haven’t laughed so hard in a LOOOOONG time. I had tears! I was a weirdo kid too, and I know lots of little weirdos now – this video is ALL her. LOVE IT.
roundabout

clearly, children are not for me.
Sekino

Years ago, I also thought I wasn’t a ‘kid type’. Then I realized it was because I was hanging out with the parents too much.

When I started hanging out with *children* more, I was amazed at how witty, funny and sensible they can be… If one allows them to be, of course, and doesn’t trample them with their own hysterics and condescending nonsense.
sswaan

Kids, I can take or leave ‘em, I don’t like cats of any size, but I somehow found this delightful.

She reminded me of my niece, who I’m sure could come up with just as many commentaries…with a few cuts in the filming here and there…although the bow chicka bow wown did make me do a double-take.
Anonymous

Really, should a child know bow-chiky-chicky-bow-wown?
teeman

@29 this was my first thought -

A grown-up told her what to say – no child would come up with these references on her own…
“Brainstorming?” “I’m her mom. No she’s not.” I won’t touch the “bow chicka bow bow”

Come on – not particularly clever – might be fun for the grandparents.
SednaBoo

This is just further evidence that the Sumerian dialect mentioned in “Snow Crash” is actually lolcats.
doktor tchock

shit, this ruined cat macros for me. i’m going to hear that kid’s voice reading every caption on every macro for evar. sigh.
the Other michael

amongst all the wonderful comments, I’m going to pedantically reply to mr crankypants who wonders how this is different from Shep. Fairey’s apropriations: because Fairey denied it at first, then sued when confronted. And becuase this video is “kittens, inspired by kittens” — the inspiration is right up front in the title and, unless I’m mistaken, directly shown in at least one frame of the video.

This is the best video since CDO’s “Shine.”

Mmmmm…. now _there’s_ a mashup: “Shine…. kittens have enemies.”
Xeni Jardin

@doktor tchock, I get the sly Radioheadonic reference in your nym. And I salute you. In that same voice.
gndmdthsyth

Just because she says bow chika bow wow, doesn’t mean that she understands what most people associate it with.
robulus

Really, should a child know bow-chiky-chicky-bow-wown?

The decision of when to talk to your child about bow-chiky-chicky-bow-wown is a personal one for every family.
Flying Orca

Meh. I mean, I like kids AND kittens, but… meh. I think you have to be this kid’s parent, or have a busted Cute-O-Meter, to think this is even in the running for Best. Video. Evar.
joanna

gee you people are really sour.
The Lizardman

Regardless of whether she understands it, I can’t see how anyone could wonder where she might have picked up the “bow chicka..” nonsense. I don’t go a day that I leave my house or turn on my TV without hearing it several times. It has become a grating cliche bordering on the level of the budwesier ‘whazzzup’. I’d be more impressed if they had successfully sheltered their child from hearing it much less getting the subject reference
Noelegy

OMG, I own a copy of that book!
maxoid

man, why so much hate on kids? you ever been around ‘em lately? kids are pretty awesome. and so is this video.
Fred H

The “bow chicka…” may have come from the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. I saw it in the tv ad. Alvin was singing the song as they spied on Dave and his date in the other room. It kind of freaked me out, but I just assumed it was a joke parents would get, and kids would just think the chipmunk was doing a funny song and dance.
I totally used to do wacky stuff like this kid before I could read. So did my siblings. Kids get bored easily, and try to entertain themselves or others.
jkaymartin

Ack!

Worst! Internet! Video! Evar!

Seriously.
Jack

@#34 POSTED BY TEEMAN

A grown-up told her what to say – no child would come up with these references on her own…

Yes, all children are stupid and need to be protected from the world.

You need to be exposed to more children. They are great.

I am a secret agent.
Anonymous

Hey my friend and I made a video response mashup of this and Tila Tequila’s book. Check it out and tell me what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q6mZ5bSA1I&feature=channel_page
KidDork

Good thing I already had my insulin today.
mdh

@#25: and yet, you seem too myopic to apply the same criticism to yourself.

Now say it in a Henrietta Pussycat voice.
zish

I think BoingBoing should give out an annual award for something. They should call it the “Paper Craft Steampunk Unicorn”.

Now back to my other non-sequitor.

Oh yeah, and wubba wubba John Hodgman hoo hoo hoooo, and all that jazz.
Keeper of the Lantern

I always kinda liked kittens but now I just want to whip out a flame thrower and torch a few of ‘em.

Sometimes “cute” gets pushed so far it gets transmuted into its opposite.
arborman

Clearly bow-chicka-chicka-bow-wow needs to be taught in schools at an early age so kids don’t get confused.
Abbey

The best thing about kids is that they’re such fricking weirdos! I love it. I’m student teaching in a kindergarten class and the absolute strangest stuff comes out of their mouths.
doktor tchock

@xeni the first time i commented on BB, you said the same thing. :)
Anonymous

this video should be peddled as a form of birth control.
Dayv

Tom Hale asked:

What’s the opposite of a Unicorn Chaser?

I think that would be a Leaping Maggot Cheese Chaser.
Anonymous

Look, it’s not that she sings bow bow-chicka-wow-wow that is disturbing. It’s the picture that she sings it to. I sure hope she doesn’t get the reference, but whichever adult had her sing that to a shot of a cat with white stuff on its face is showing bad judgement.
Shelby Davis

33, 34–trust me, kids do come up with stuff just this bizarre. This is actually pretty reassuringly tame compared to some of the stuff my younger siblings used to come up with while “reading” books.
icky2000

I found the shrieking dreadful. The whole video has left me in a nervous, sweaty, trembling state the likes of which could only be cured by the dulcet tones of John Hodgman. Mr. Hodgman, won’t you please make me forget about the children?
Jake Bullet

Am I the only one who heard a Ricky Martin song in the way she sang “bow-chicka-chicka-bow-wow”?
Dayv

This kid almost makes me want some of my own, and I’m a dedicated non-breeder.
Axx

Goddamn. That reminds me that *I* want pie and beef jerky too. I’d better put some pants on and head out to the 7-11.
Glossolalia Black

#83 : Most modern parents of my generation however (mid-30s) that I have met are brutally annoying – over-protective and obsessive who seem to go through life thinking the world revolves around their brat.

I don’t know about that, I suppose every generation of parents has its faults. Arguments could be said that Boomers’ parents raised them to believe they were the Center of the Universe. So, that means kids born during The Depression are assholes, right?
Anonymous

everyone who’s being a butthole with their comments please go ahead and get your vasectomies and tubal ligations right now–if this didn’t tickle your funny bone there is something seriously wrong with you, or you are an insufferable snob/total jerk/hardened meannie. “KITTENS–INSPIRED BY–KITTENS!!!” love it. mean it . :-)
Anonymous

I find children revolting, but the material’s solid.

I’d like a remake with John Hodgman performing the voice over.
Takuan

OK, I’ll do it: “bow-chika-chika-bow-wow” is now going to be a skipping rhyme. The meme is planted.
A few centuries from now, they will still be skipping to it.
Roach

Haha, awesome. (Move down to her feet!) ssssssssssssssssss…
The Lizardman

I’m not a fan of kids. I don’t like kittens.

However, this kid and the other people involved in putting this together have got some talent. I would (cautiously) like to see more offerings.
rhys

kids rule.

“cuteness is justice”
– Usakottsu
jennybean42

It is QUITE possible for a child that age to say “Bow chicka bow wow”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkxpHt2cNwQ

Phineas and Ferb FTW
Anonymous

Am I the only one who thought of the ‘bow-chika-chika-bow-wow’ as representative of porn music? Like, for kittens?
mellon

#15 POSTED BY XENI JARDIN , FEBRUARY 11, 2009 2:37 PM

@#13 Mellon, why don’t you tell us Santa Claus is a lie, next, huh?

OMG, I’m really sorry to have to be the one to break this to you, but…

No. I can’t do it.
Anonymous

Oooh, I really hope Hodgman agrees!
garyb50

Good Lord.

My vote: Most Irritating Internet Video EVER.

It’s embarrassing.
Renwick

How about “Kittens Inspired by David after Dentist”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh8UttrmmLc

Funniest mashup ever!
Eduardo Padoan

Xeni is in a conspiracy to make all happy mutants want to have their own children.

I have a 4 years old cousin who often says all kind of crazy stuff you would never expect to hear from a kid.
- Xeni Jardin
  
  What Eduardo said.
Anonymous

You owe me 2 minutes of my life back. That was just plain awful.
Random_Tangent

What #6 says. Immediately.
Bevin

Too funny. Too cute. I haven’t laughed that hard in a few days, so yes: Best. Internet. Video. EVAR. (this week).
Anonymous

DOUBLE HEAD!
Gilbert Wham

#6: Oh god, yes. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease internets? Can you do this one thing for me?
Error Gorilla

Blue-eyed kitteh @ 1:11 is the star of Manchester indie combo Misty Dixon’s CD.
Jack

Sorry folks who hate this: It’s the best video of 2009.

#43 POSTED BY THE LIZARDMAN

I’m not a fan of kids. I don’t like kittens.

You were once a kitten.
larsrc

No.
tubgull

Ooh. She’d better watch out for Paul Aiken.
yellom

i have to say, “we are wine bottles!” is the of her narration. it’s unfortunate that it is so early in the video.
Gainclone

I’M HER MOM!

…

NO SHE’S NOT!