When do you know that your job has consumed you?

Is it when all you can talk about is your job, it’s importance, how you’re changing the world, and any other topic expressed is boring and you would rather just talk to the guys you work with because they “get it”?

Is it when you fall asleep, the scalding hot MacBook Pro roasting your privates, and dreaming that you’re at the office, that the site is down, and that deal just fell through (again)?

Is it when you need a day and a night pass for your car at the lot at work?

Is it when you sleep on the couch in your office and then head over to the gym for a quick shower and shave before that investor meeting?

Or that you dream of Unix commands, and wake up in a cold sweat almost every morning panicking that the site is down and no one is working on a solution to fix it?

Sometimes I think it would be best if a piano fell from the sky and put us all out of our misery.

Other times I think we are really on to something, that we’re about to blow this whole thing open, spin it for a while and then punt it into orbit - when it comes back to earth it’ll be space-aged and dangerously different.

And then everyone will understand what we’ve been talking about. And then all this work might mean something. We are almost to the starting line.

T minus 13

We have a bit of a dancing theme going on with videos this week, and we won’t stop till we get enough. This simple, thoughtful, and pleasant piece from Roger Bindl of HEM Productions is a rumination on the cycle of life - every ending is also a new beginning, and so we dance.

Check out Roger’s other videos, which include some great animation created with the assistance of his children. Also, make sure to visit his site, a great example of how you can host your revverized videos on your own website and receive both the creator and affiliate commissions!

For armchair thrill-seekers who’ve exhausted the adrenaline rush of watching well-known dangerous bull-related activities like bullfighting, bull-riding, and running with the bulls, this one’s for you. Once a year in Tultepec, Mexico, locals “dance” with colorfully constructed bulls loaded with fireworks and other pyrotechnics. It’s amazing, insane, and strangely beautiful. Enjoy.

See more bull and pyrotechnic related videos from this contributor here.

Wearetheweb.org have just made fighting for net neutrality fun. By gathering together some of the net’s brightest stars for a net neutrality rap, they’ve made it easier than ever to understand and act on this important issue. We here at Revver feel passionately about equal access to the internet - the democratic nature of the net is what allows us to bring together creators, sharers, and sponsors in an open network. Check out the video, dance around in your chair a bit, and take action by writing your local congressperson!

It’s a shame that baths have gone the way of the rubber duckie. Who has time for a bath anymore? Even those of us who have the time probably have scuzzy tubs anyway.

Concurrent with the wane of the bath has been the disappearance of the rubbery bathing companion, whether it be a duck or a dolphin or a porcupine. Fortunately, Jonathan Mitchell from Ear Crack is keeping the tradition of bathing companions alive with his ode to kaleidescopic porcupine love.

Check out his blog, it’s chocked full of other fun stuff.

The San Francisco Chroncle has named Revver as one of the years coolest up-and-coming web 2.0 companies! The article acknowledges that the handful of sites receiving the lion’s share of attention as the posterchildren of web 2.0 are just the tip of an iceberg’s worth of fantastic new sites that everyone should know about. Here’s what they had to say:

But what about the Web 2.0 companies that haven’t made the cover of a magazine?

This is their week. The Chronicle today highlights some of the startups from this hot sector of the tech world — companies that fulfill the Web 2.0 philosophy of community, sharing and user-created content, and that fit in the modern gestalt with things like video, music and digital photos.

The only real requirement is that the companies are something you probably haven’t heard of before. And if you have, consider yourself hip.

Did you hear that, Revver contributor? You’re “hip.”

Check out the list!

Yeah, yeah, it’s another meta Revver video. But I swear, that’s not why we’re posting it. The Revver Death Match video is a new installment from the very prolific Revver member, Invisible Man. You should check out his other videos - they’re all really creative. Invisible Man has also firmly taken control of his content. Note the screenshot above. This plays before the movie so no matter where his video goes online, viewers will know that the creator does not wish his video to be uploaded to sites that remove the Revver ad. You will also note that the end of the video includes information about the creator and where you can find more of his work. This is a great way to promote yourself! Imagine your video out in the wilds of the internet. Whatever information you want attached to that video you must include in the video itself because chances are, people are going to see that video all over the place, not just on Revver.com or your website.

So keep up the good work, Invisible Man. And thanks for the shout out on your Myspace page!

Cross-posted from Worldchanging.com: 

Chances are, if you’re a regular Worldchanging reader, the notion of copyfight and the good works of Creative Commons are nothing new to you. But there couldn’t be an issue more timely given the explosive growth of “user generated” media and the recent boom in popularity of Creative Commons licenses.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig at an event hosted by the Hollywood Hill. Given that the audience was comprised mostly of Hollywood insiders, this was Lessig’s chance to explain the value of Creative Commons and outline what’s at stake in the current debate over copyright.

Mr. Lessig noted that the intent of copyright law is to provide incentive for people to create more work. But law changes much more slowly than technology and people are instead, using the law to slow change. Remixing the creativity of others is nothing new. Culture evolves when we build on the creativity of those before us. But in a digital world, every time you interact with a piece of media, you are in effect, producing a copy. Under current copyright standards, you can’t do that without permission of the author. This puts big media companies and copyright-owners in a position to stifle the creativity of an entire generation growing up online.

“ You can’t stop creativity,” Lessig said. “You can only criminalize it.” By creating mash-ups and Anime Music Videos, kids are doing what they have always done – only the medium has changed. And yet we are telling them that those activities are illegal. Do we really want our kids growing up with such little respect for the law? “This is corrosive to our values and our democracy,” according to Lessig.

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Another monday at the office. In the grand tradition of slighly creepy children’s entertainment (a la Pee Wee), we’re very excited to bring you this fun and fruity treat from Will Quenum, a French creator who’s work we’ve been enjoying of late here at the Revver headquarters. Enjoy!

Check out Will’s other videos, especially this one.

You may have seen this one already since it’s become such a quick sensation. Watch a new mother’s belly grow over the course of 9 months of pregnancy in just 20 seconds. The video has had great success on Revver, Digg and just about everywhere else. There’s an article about it in today’s Seattle PI and and will be airing on Inside Edition next week!