TL20070903-01 "Sept. 3, 2007 Monday www.thetowerlight.com Now on TheTowerlight.com: View video of Thursday�s tailgate and Towson�s win against Central Connecticut State... 15 minutes well spent Patrick Smith/The Towerlight Junior Brandon Hardesty reenacts his popular �Strange Faces and Noises� YouTube video. The video has been featured on a Geico Auto Insurance commercial since April 2007. Students stray on LaborStay Band, comedian draw crowd; small turnout for Saturday�s �Beach Bash� Krysten Appelbaum Senior Editor Every class has that shy, quiet guy who sits in the back of the room and keeps to himself. But while he doesn�t say much in class, that shy guy may just be a YouTube celebrity, like junior EMF major Brandon Hardesty. Hardesty has uploaded about 50 videos showcasing his directing, edit-ing, acting, and face distorting skills to the YouTube Web site since September 2006. �The first thing I put on YouTube was me reenacting a scene from �Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.� I filmed that thinking I�d just show that to my parents and friends and they all said �Oh yeah, that�s pretty funny.� Then one of my friends told me about YouTube and I was like �oh yeah, I could do that.� So I uploaded four vid-eos at once, and I�ve just been upload-ing ever since,� Hardesty said. That first post launched Hardesty�s YouTube career, which would lead him to a nationally aired Geico commercial and the possibility of a show on MTV. The Geico commercial is a series of clips taken from Hardesty�s most pop-ular YouTube video, �Strange Faces and Noises I Can Make III,� which has been viewed over 3 million times. �The Martin Agency, who does all of the Geico commercials, contacted me and said they were doing a new ad campaign and thought the video would be good for it, so we shot back and forth and it worked out from there,� he said. In the commercial, which began airing April 30, a series of Hardesty�s strange faces accompanied by even stranger noises is concluded with �There may be better ways to spend 15 minutes online.� However for Hardesty, his time spent online has been worthwhile. �Every opportunity I�ve ever had up to this point has come from that video, me just making faces,� Hardesty said. �I got my manager because he saw that video, and when he saw the other vid-eos I had made with the reenactments and all, he said �hey, I can get you work.� So I signed a three-year contract with him.� Now Hardesty is on a pilot for an See YOUTUBE, page 14 Kara Manos Staff Writer Daniel Gross Contributing Writer Towson hosted a variety of events over the weekend, hoping to keep students on campus as part of LaborStay, and the atten-dance was as varied as the event themselves. Among the successes was a concert Friday night featur-ing Dropout Year and American Diary. The event, sponsored by the Campus A c t i v i t i e s Board, was held in Paws in the University Union. In addition to live music, stu-dents watched �Stomp the Yard� outside Smith Hall, as part of the Movie on the Hill event. Students sat on blankets eating snacks as they watched the movie. Fre s h m a n Stacey Davis brought a cou-ple of friends with her to the movie, which was sponsored by Campus Life. �We wanted to be social and meet new people,� Davis said. Only a small group of stu-dents attended Saturday�s �Beach Bash,� one of the University�s sig-nature LaborStay weekend events. Exact attendance numbers were unavailable but CAB director Lynn Bucci said the attendance was about what she expected. �It�s kind of one of those week-ends, it�s hard because there�s always temptation for people to go home for that weekend or to the beach. We would love for more people to come, but it was kind of what we expected it to be,� Bucci said. Freshman marketing major Melissa Moritz said she wanted to attend the event but was confused about the event�s location. �I wanted to go to the Beach Bash, so I went to the Beach, but nobody was there. I didn�t know where it was, so I didn�t go,� she said. Last year�s event was held on �the Beach,� the grassy area outside the Cook Library but this year it was held on Burdick Field. �We chose this area because there was more room and more of a traffic flow of students,� Bucci said. �Beach Bash� events included a water gun moon bounce, a tiki bar for smoothies and mocktails, two caricature art-ists, hot dogs, soft pretzels and free pizza. Bucci wasn�t sure how many students showed up because peo-ple would come for a little while and then leave. �It was a beautiful day to have this event and unfortunately not many people are here,� Jenn Pretyka, a junior occupational therapy major, said. Bucci, said the organization began planning the event during Published by and for the students of Towson and Baltimore -- twice-weekly The Towerlight It�s kind of one of weekends, it�s hard because there�s always temptation for people to go home for that weekend or to the beach. We would love for more people to come, but it was kind of what we expected it to be. Lynn Bucci Director Campus Activities Board �o those week becaus See STAY, page 9 YouTube, Geico, strange faces launch student to success Club sports, the largest student group on campus, begins practice this week Sports, page 26 Samuel Santos begins as LGBT director News, page 7 "