•GOOGLE BUYS YOUTUBE>
Ever wonder how much YouTube would cost? Web giant Google announced yesterday it has bought the wildly popular video site YouTube in a cool $1.65 billion stock-for-stock transaction. Google execs said YouTube would continue to operate independently out of its San Bruno, CA headquarters and added no job cuts are planned.

•DJ SHADOW HOLDS VIDEO CONTEST>
DJ Shadow is staging a competition to tap new creative talent for his next video. The hip-hop musician is giving fans and creative-types until October 20 to submit videos for his new single, "This Time". Island Records, Channel4.com and E4 are backing the contest. The winner will also receive ₤1,000. Entries can be uploaded to http://www.DJShadowVideo.com.

•GOLDEN DRUM FEST RECOGNIZES UNBRANDED ADS>
Winners of the inaugural OpenAd Golden Drum Idea Competition were announced this week. The awards were conceived by OpenAd.net and the Golden Drum Festival to recognize the best ghost ads. Media House, a Macedonian agency won in the TV category for "Pool," a spot promoting a business school. The winners will be offered for sale to registrants on OpenAd.net as unbranded creative concepts.
http://www.openad.net

•NOVOCOM ADDS CONSULTING, MUSIC SERVICES>
Motion graphics specialty agency Novocom has restructured to offer new consulting music production services. The consulting arm will help clients establish their own, in-house graphics and promo agencies, while the "Music Branding" division will be headed by VP Peter Meisner to provide "all-encompassing" original music production services.
http:www.viaworldwide.net

•Y&R RECRUITS LONELYGIRL15 FOR ANTI-POVERTY PSA>
Teenage YouTube sensation LonelyGirl15 aka "Bree," aka actress Jessica Lee Rose, has joined the chorus of voices calling for an end to global poverty thanks to Young & Rubicam. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Y&R created a viral Web spot for a United Nations' Millennium Campaign against poverty and has posted it on You Tube.

PEOPLE MOVES

The Cannes International Advertising Festival has appointed Philip Thomas as CEO. Thomas previously worked as the managing director of EMAP Australia. The festival's operations director Carolyn Lowery will step into the role of Festival Director.
http://www.canneslions.com

Chicago-based post-production house Optimus has added Glorily Velez and Justin Amore to its lineup of editors. Both have already worked as assistant editors on high-profile projects for the company.
http://www.optimus.com

London's Stink has added the New York-based collective Psyop to its director roster.
http://www.stink.tv

Fashion photographer and documentary filmmaker Douglas Keeve (Unzipped, Seamless) has signed with Saville Productions for North American representation.
http://www.savilleproductions.com

After spending 12-years as Radke's head of sales and 18 months as executive producer/head of sales at Circle Productions, Jamie Phair moves to Toronto's Brown Entertainment to head up the commercial division and director roster as executive producer/head of sales.
http://www.brown25.com

Toronto-based Fever Films has added three new directors to its roster: Rob Groenwald, Esteban Sapir and Jeffrey Dechausse.
http://www.feverfilms.ca

Brian Latt has left MJZ to step into an executive producer role at Tool of North America. A freelancer for more than 10-years prior to working at MJZ, Latt has worked with directors Craig Gillespie and Rocky Morton. He will be based in Tool's Santa Monica office.
http://www.toolofna.com

Amy Kindred has moved from New York visual communications studio PURE to Eyeball NYC, where she will take over executive producer duties from Mike Eastwood. After six years with Eyeball, Eastwood left to pursue "his long-time dream of surfing the world."
http://www.eyeballnyc.com

Special effects house Digital Domain has added three new faces to its executive lineup. Mark Miller, who spent 22 years at Industrial Light & Magic and oversaw effects for such films as Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and The Hulk, is the firm's new president. Former chief technology officer for LucasFilm Cliff Plumer will head up the same office at DD and lead the convergence of the firm's film and video game departments. Kim Libreri becomes DD's new vice-president - advanced strategy. Libreri worked on all the three Matrix films for ESC Entertainment.
http://www.digitaldomain.com

Emmy- and Clio-award winning audio engineer Vance Walden has joined the team at AudioBanks. Walden is the latest addition to LA-based audio post company, which also includes Mark Bauserman, Tony Pepper and Pete Kneser. Walden comes to AudioBanks from Polarity Post and One Union Recording in San Francisco, where he is recognized as one of the Bay Area's top audio engineers.
http://www.audiobanks.com

Flame artist Jaime Scott has joined New York effects studio MassMarket after a stint The Mill NY.
http://www.massmarket.tv

British post-production house Rushes has hired a new visual effects artist. Adam Watson previously worked for Animal Logic and Digital Pictures. His credits include campaigns for Visa, Kelloggs and Mercedes as well as the feature films Moulin Rouge and The Matrix.
http://www.rushes.co.uk

Director Ericson Core has signed with Toronto's Wilfrid Park for exclusive Canadian representation. Core is returning to the commercial fold after directing his first feature film, Invincible, starring Mark Walberg.
http://www.wilfridpark.com

Jeannine Angelique at Paradigm LA will rep DP Anthony Hardwick and PD Nelson Coates for commercial and music video work.
http://www.jeannineangelique.com

Editor Chris Hellman has joined New York-based Cut + Run after spending six years as a partner at Homestead Editorial.
http://www.cutandrun.tv

Editor Jair Peres has joined New York post house (wild)child. He has previously worked on campaigns Volkswagen, Coca-Cola and Smirnoff Ice.
http://www.wildchildpost.com

Hollywood's SonicPool has hired a new mixer. Brett Butler will handle mixing for TV shows and gaming trailers. He joins SonicPool from New York's Broadway Sound.
http://www.sonicpool.com