What makes a great thing even better, however, is when fans offer their take on an already-great intellectual property, much like YouTube user Tyrannicon has provided us. Uploaded on February 7th, the video has already amassed over 700,000 views, thanks in large part to its promotion on sites like Joystiq and to a lesser extent, Reddit.

As you can see, the video absolutely takes an awesome thing and adds just a touch more “awesome” to it:

According to the video’s description , the video was made with the following characters:

Epic machinima battle of 500 Draugr, 200 skeletons, 500 Dwarven Warriors and a dragon using mods and console commands.

And for all you SOPA/ACTA watchers out there, Tyrannicon even added something of a copyright disclaimer, one that extols the virtues of fair use:

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Would that be enough, under a SOPA-controlled Internet, to satiate the copyright enforcers?

First, there was the song “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye (pronounced Go-Tee-Yay) The video for that has been viewed 67 million times.

Then came the cover by Walk On the Earth. 50 million views in its own right.

Now, the parody of the cover, this one by Key of Awesome. Almost half a million views in a day and a half.

eecards is getting in on the action as well, something the lead image indicates quite nicely. Currently, there are four versions of the digital love notes, however, if you haven’t sent one by Sunday (2-12), there’s really no point in it. Granted, Valentine’s Day is on Tuesday, but considering the card features a “The Walking Dead returns 2-12-12…” disclaimer, the meaning will be lost by then.

YouTube is also burning with Walking Dead love, or, at least the official AMC YouTube page is, and the latest promotional video is naturally the featured video:

On Twitter, The Walking Dead is the leading trend, courtesy of its Promoted status. A quick glance around the world of Twitter reveals anticipation is high:

Some of the show’s talent gets in on the Twitter fun:

Facebook is ready too as the zombie fans all over are Liking just about everything the gets posted to the account. All in all, just another day in The New Marketing Age, a place where word of mouth is monitored by the amount of retweets and likes content receives.

It’s interesting watching an industry embrace one side of Internet technology — the side where people praise their product — but absolutely freak the hell out about the side of the Internet that revolutionizes the way in which content is delivered. Digression aside, get your zombie survival kits ready, because The Walking Dead are coming.

He announced today the release of his mixtape, titled: ‘The Cold Republic: Episode 1 – The Empire Likes Rap‘. You can download it for free here.

Here’s a track list for the mixtape:

Here are some samples of Branson’s work.

This song has to be my favorite, as it is definitely a hassle to look for a group when you’re DPS (Scoundrel user here). For Branson, he’s a Sith Assassin…

Here’s ‘Jedi Nights’, with in-game recordings….

and, the album titled song ‘The Cold Republic’…

He doesn’t have a video up for the song, but when you download the mixtape I highly recommend Emmitt Sith. The legendary frog-dog Huttball player. Love it.

In the bluntly titled, “What happens online when you die?,” Life Insurance Finder lists the various policies that Web sites and social media sites have in place to handle a user’s death.

They present interesting stats such as the fact that three Facebook users die every minute for a total of 1.78 million Facebook users in 2011.

All the data that you have created on these Web sites belongs to them once you pass on. It’s usually up to your family to present proof of death or an attorney’s order to get the information back into the hands of your family.

They do all this to remind people that it’s important to set up plans for how your data should be handled when you die. You don’t want just anybody digging through your emails to find dirt on your after your passing.

Here’s a handy video that shows what Web sites do with your information after you die:

In a video he posted to Youtube and Facebook, he set a camera up in the yard, and read his daughter’s post aloud to the camera. He then announced her grounding and loss of her laptop. Then, he shot the laptop.

Shot the laptop. With hollow-point exploding bullets.

As of this writing, the video has been viewed 1.4 million times. The Facebook entry from which it came has 13,500 likes, 6,200 shares and 7,000 comments. Phrases like “father of the year” are being tossed around. Sure, there are some who do not approve of his techniques, his use of a firearm, his destroying a laptop, etc. But, he seems to have far more thumbs up than down.

Chris Hardwick, actor and comedian, has taken to the YouTube blog to announce Course of the Force. Nerdist Industries is partnering with Lucasfilm and Machinima to host the event which will see a five-day Olympic-torch-style lightsaber relay run that will begin on Santa Monica pier on July 7 and end in San Diego on July 11 – just in time for the San Diego Comic Con.

About 500 people are going to line up along the California coastline as runners pass off a lightsaber one person at a time. Segments can be purchased in quarter-mile increments and all proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Hardwick details the inspiration behind the event:

Here’s some backstory you didn’t ask for! In 2012, I will be attending my 9th San Diego Comic-Con. While I always look forward to that extended weekend of Nerdvana, I sometimes feel a bit like the commercial shininess of it slightly eclipses its intended spirit. To me, going to Cons as a kid was all about having a safe haven—a place where like-minded folks could come together to celebrate nerdly passions and accept each other for the oddball (by the larger and more boring sector of society’s standards) stuff we were all into. Ultimately, it should be the most fun thing of the year. For poop sake, most of you save up your whole year of cash and vacation time to go to SDCC sowhy not run at it screaming?? This is a rare opportunity to dress like a Sith (or ANYTHING of your choosing, Star Wars-y or not) and run down the beach while power chanting with a glowing sword made of light in your hand. On ANY OTHER DAY that would easily get you arrested or at the very least, detained. Don’t feel like running but want to support someone who is? FINE! Join us for parties, live music and comedy each night along the way.

For those interested in taking part in Course of the Force, you can claim a running spot at the official Web site. Those who buy a part on the course will receive a limited edition lightsaber and a swag bag that would apparently “make a scavenging Jawa jealous.”

The entire relay is going to be streamed on the Nerdist channel for those who can’t make it out.

It’s a good cause that should provide plenty of awesome content for Star Wars and general nerdy fans everywhere.

We always think of the Internet, social media, and memes as the domain of the young. But, everybody gets old.

What kind of conversations will we have when we are old about cat videos, Anonymous, ragefaces, and general lulz? And, what will replace all that? Remember Digg? Myspace? Prodigy?

Each generation is so cutting edge. But, eventually, the next media format comes along. Boundaries get pushed. Previous ways to measure popularity pale in comparison to current ways.

But, for now, we can laugh at the concept of aging hipsters.

The first new channel comes to you from Motor Trend. Here’s what the Motor Trend Channel will offer users:

Get your automotive adrenaline charge right here on the Motor Trend channel. From first drives and tests of the hottest new supercars, muscle cars and motorcycles, to the latest automotive news from around the world, to the incredible machinery and personalities from beyond the automotive mainstream, the Motor Trend channel has it all, delivered daily. The Motor Trend channel. We drive it. We ride it. We live it.

You can expect the channel to have original programming from the folks that brought you Hot Rod, Motorcyclist, Lowrider, and Car Craft.

The other new channel is the Drive Channel.

Drive celebrates the culture of cars. On the road, to the races, to the factories, to the studios — to the places you can’t go. Cars may be something you need, but drive with us and you’ll never look at them the same way again.

YouTube says that on the Drive channel, we can expect to find news, reviews, and commentary from people like Mike Spinelli, Leo Parente, and Chris Harris.

Ever since YouTube launched their new homepage, they’ve made a point to focus on channels. YouTube wants to beef up their offerings of original content, and promote those channels so that users can easily subscribe to their interests.

Last month, YouTube added new entertainment channels as well as new action sports channels, one of which features Tony Hawk.

Granted, Internet videos of people fighting are as old as the invention of online video, but after seeing these pop up over and over again after any sporting event of note, it’s becoming clear that the downfall of society will not be a nuclear war or a zombie apocalypse.

It will be because people were too concerned with getting good video of the world crumbling around them instead of trying to do something about it.

Perhaps I’m overreacting, but after watching the upcoming video of Giants fans fighting at the Super Bowl parade — female fans, no less — the fact people are more concerned with letting the fight happen, all so they can film it is disheartening.

Or maybe I’m just getting old. Here’s the video in question:

Cat fight! Cat fight!

Let me guess. The first girl slept with the other girl’s boyfriend while Eli Manning was doing his MVP thing at the Super Bowl and got caught. Now, they’re playing the feud while a bunch of useless bystanders sit, watch, and video. Naturally, additional fights break out — again with females — as they, I don’t know, try to defend their “girl’s” honor?

Or maybe they just wanted to be on YouTube with they hair flying hither, dither and yon.

While the fighting itself is pretty standard for an Internet video, I’m still drawn to the crowd, one that’s more concerned with getting good video instead of putting a stop to the needless fracas. Is this what we’ve become? A society of attention whores who care more about being popular on the Internet than acting in a somewhat civilized manner?

Like I said, maybe I’m just getting old.