Numa Numa: The Best

2007-09-06T00:33:00.000-04:00

Yeah, yeah, I know it seems as though we've abandoned this blog. Not really. Keep that numa numa faith! We'll be posting more great "Numa Numa" videos, and commenting on them, very soon.

Meanwhile ... and admittedly a bit off topic ... I know that many people are looking for legitimate ways to make a living online. The best program I have found is called Blogging To The Bank. I've devoted a whole web site to it here. Or, you can go directly to the source to find out more.

Shameless Plug

2007-03-04T22:54:00.000-05:00

OK, this is nothing to do with the Numa Numa song, but here's a new blog for fans of good writing: Solid Gold Writers. Check it out.

Computer Class(ic)

2006-05-19T23:29:00.000-04:00

Steve: This was one of the earliest "numa numa" videos to circulate following the classic Gary Brolsma take. It's a computer class watching Gary on a big screen and imitating his moves. But what's with the guy in the yellow shirt who's not getting with the program? Leave it to the kid who always sits in the back to try to ruin it for everyone.

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

Final Fantasy Numa

2006-05-10T00:41:00.000-04:00

Steve: Great job. Someone mixed parts of different Final Fantasy game versions and laid them over an audio of the "numa numa" song (this one with English lyrics). I'm not a gamer, but this makes me appreciate the art and technology that must go into making a video game. I assume that the different levels of sophistication and realism of the character renderings in this video reflect the improvement that was introduced with each new version of the game.

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

Mabel's Numa - Can You Say 'Cute?'

2006-05-02T00:44:00.000-04:00

Steve and Carter: Awwwwwwww!!!!!

The Drama Shoot

2006-05-01T00:56:00.000-04:00

Steve: At first, you will probably be thinking, "What does this have to do with 'numa numa?'" But then, as it goes along, you will find yourself thinking, "What the @#!& does this have to do with 'numa numa?'" Patience, my friend. Just keep watching.

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

Meanwhile, At the Debutante Ball

2006-04-29T14:53:00.000-04:00

Steve: I guess it's the dresses, but somehow these don't look like the usual geeks you'd expect to be making a "numa numa" video. Now I'm fantasizing that this is what women on double dates do when they leave the table to go to the ladies' room together. Watch the one on the left for some really wild hair swinging.

Carter: Why are they dressed so fancy? P.S: I'd like to be in the hamster dance video! (You have to watch this one to the end to understand that remark.)

Housekeeping Notes

2006-04-29T14:07:00.000-04:00

This blog is getting a fair number of hits now. We seem to have been discovered by the search engines. Of course, you can find "numa numa" videos and sites all over the Web, but we think we've made some small contribution to the phenomenon by zeroing in on the best (best being completely subjective, of course, even acknowledging our superior taste and discernment in this sort of thing).

I changed our settings so that only the 7 most recent posts will show on the main page. This is to reduce the load time with all those embedded video screens. To see earlier posts with additional "numa numa" videos, click the "Archives" links in the right-hand nav bar.

We're spreading out the posting of our videos across days and weeks, so what you see here is not all of the ones we intend to bring you. There are about 20 more in the queue at this moment, and once all of them are posted, we'll comb the net to see if there others we deem worthy of your attention.

As you may have noticed, all of the videos posted here are from YouTube. That's because YouTube makes it incredibly easy to embed their videos in a blog or other web page. But you can find "numa numa" videos in many other places, Newgrounds being one of the more notbable sources (it's where Gary Brolsma's famous lip-synching take first surfaced).

Occasionally, you may find that the video windows on our site are blank and there's no way to play them. That happens when the YouTube site is down for maintenance. If that happens, just come back a little later.

We Pause to Worship at The Fount

2006-04-25T00:47:00.000-04:00

Steve: This is it. This is him. Gary. The one who started it all -- the whole numa numa lip-synching craze, that is. I can't add much to the reams of ink, virtual and real, that have been spilled over this (then) 19-year-old guy from New Jersey. Just read the links on the right-hand side of this page if you're not yet acquainted with his story. Of course, we had to include his version in our "best numa numa" site. Even now its specialness, its moment-in-timeness, reverberates. What strikes me most is how iconic it is. It set the pattern for all (or many) who followed. As you'll see by viewing the other videos on this site, Gary's imitators often seem compelled to follow the pattern he set out here--the arm pumps (starting precisely with the third "maia hi" verse), the eyebrow flicks, the cheek stroking. Gary's "numa numa" was (is?) sui generis. Enjoy. (Note: There are several minor variations on the Gary clip floating around. This one has been emended with some sort of explanation, in Portuguese, at the end, along with photos and cartoon renderings of O-zone, the Romanian group that recorded the song. It's a small, small world,indeed.)

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

VoTech: Where the Action Is

2006-04-15T11:24:00.000-04:00

Steve: Some of the students (and one teacher?) of Cumberland-Perry Vocational-Technical School made this happy dancing video. No great effects or anything; they just look like they're having fun. You know you're getting your virtual money's worth when the credits include "guys slapping each other," a hall monitor, "bums," and Casey doing the electric slide. My favorite is "lip syncer and choreographer" Katie, assuming this means the blonde in the doorway.

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

Blue Man Group Wannabes?

2006-04-13T00:07:00.000-04:00

Steve: Who are these people? Where are they from? Let's see ... they kind of look like mimes, their overall tone seems to be one of existentialist ennui, and one of them appears to be smoking part-way through it. Until proven otherwise, I blame the French.

Carter: Cool! Blue skin!

Calling David Seville

2006-04-12T01:20:00.000-04:00

Steve: People who hate the "numa numa" song should appreciate anything that gets it over with quicker. Enjoy!

Carter: Has this girl had too much chocolate or caffeine? Plus, could you slow it down a bit?

Three Amigos

2006-04-11T01:52:00.000-04:00

Steve: There are now tons of numa numa videos featuring children lip synching the song ... more or less (usually less). Despite the cuteness factor, most are not very good (but then, most of the ones with adults in them are not very good, either). I think it's because whoever is making the video--parent, uncle, grandparent--is usually more into the thing than the little performer is. Not here. These three boys are taking it seriously while having fun. I like the cry of triumph at the end: "We got it!"

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

This Could Get You Shot In Tel Aviv

2006-04-09T14:17:00.000-04:00

Steve: This version of the numa numa song, with Hebrew lyrics, is probably the slickest one I've seen. I've read that people from Israel detest it because it was played over and over and over in conjunction with, or as part of, some popular children's TV show there. The comments I've seen from Israelis who are familiar with it are almost unanimous in their hatred. Personally, I rather like it ... but I've only watched it five times so far.

Carter: Funky hair, guys!

Demented Or Merely Deeply Disturbed? You Decide

2006-04-08T21:44:00.000-04:00

Steve: This song version presumably is some club mix. It contains sounds that ratchet up the tension rather appropriately given the video's crazy-person story line. The "star" of this one makes me wonder: Whatever happened to Tracy Ullman? ... Go home!

Carter: She looks just like me when I go crazy!

Redeemed

2006-04-08T21:35:00.000-04:00

Steve: This lip-synching version is terrible in so many ways. There's a man giving instructions throughout the song, trying to direct everybody, who is absolutely annoying. There's a kid and a woman who come into the picture now and then, almost pointlessly. And, the people are breaking up hysterically, which is usually funnier for the "performers" than it is for those having to watch them. So why do we include it as one of our "best" numa numas? It's because of the main person on camera, a young woman whose great expressions redeem the whole thing. Also, even when she breaks up laughing she manages always to get back on track with her lip-synching, as if she were auditioning for a part for which she can't allow herself to blow her lines, no matter what. Against many odds she redeems what would otherwise be a complete mess.

Carter: I don't think this one was very well planned. Do you?

Numa Dancing Moose ... er, Reindeer ... Whatever

2006-04-08T15:30:00.000-04:00

Steve: Viewed one way, this could be seen as pretty lame. I mean, it's a grown (or nearly grown) guy making his girlfriend's toy animal "dance" for the camera. Hey, dude, I can see your hands! Oh, you're not even trying to hide them. ... But viewed another way--the way we choose to--it's actually sort of sweet.

Carter: Very cute! For some reason I sort of like their bad special effects. That's pretty much it.

'We' Are Smitten

2006-04-08T11:50:00.000-04:00

Steve: How do I say this without coming across as The Creepy Guy ... or stirring up trouble on the home front? OK: I have to say that this is about the cutest girl I have ever seen ... EXCEPT FOR MY DAUGHTER AND HER MOM, of course. (Although I don't really get the part with the Billy Bob teeth. ) She has other videos on the web, too, most of which I don't completely get because they're in (I assume) Japanese. And she's just as cute in all of them. (Such as these. [And particularly this one.]) I'm still in trouble, aren't I?

Carter: Nice flower.

Brother and Sister (Carter's Favorite)

2006-04-06T23:12:00.000-04:00

Carter: I like this because finally some kids my age are performing it. Also, it doesn't cut off early -- it goes all the way to the end of the song.

Steve: This looks to me like an excuse for indulging in a little sibling violence toward the end. Watch out for those arm thrusts!

The Sims Do Numa Numa - In 3 Languages!

2006-04-05T00:26:00.000-04:00

Steve: Lots of value-added features in this one! Not only did its creator do a commendable job of making "The Sims" game characters sing and dance the "numa numa," he or she worked in three different versions of the song--a English one, a German one and a Chinese one. Someone clearly spent a lot of time putting this together (or as my wife would say, someone may need to get a life).

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

Lego People Do the Numa Numa

2006-04-04T23:44:00.000-04:00

Steve: This is a stop-motion video of little Lego people dancing to "Dragostea Tin Dea." I'm pretty sure it appeared pre- the Numa Numa lip-synching craze, and is actually a parody of the original O-Zone music video (also posted on this site) -- airplane and all.

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

Music Video from France(?)

2006-04-04T23:17:00.000-04:00

Steve: The version of the song heard in this music video has a female singer. Commercially produced, obviously--has that MTV look. Someone said it's from a French music channel. The lyrics are still the original Romanian ones, though.

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

This Is Different

2006-04-04T23:10:00.000-04:00

Steve: I guess this is some kind of club mix of the song. The girls in the video scared me. Sometimes that's OK.

Carter: [Awaiting comment]

In the Beginning: O-Zone

2006-04-04T22:57:00.000-04:00

Steve: This is a music video of O-Zone, the Romanian pop group who first recorded the numa numa song, whose actual title is "Dragostea Din Tei." I find it moderately visually interesting, but of course the great cultural contribution represented by this video is the incredibly (bordering on preternaturally) catchy tune.

Carter: I like it, but why an airplane?