joluijten.com
"Jo Luijten is causing a stir with
his whimsical flashback video."
- Huffington Post
"Jo Luijten has seen those ghosts of technology
past, creating a series of smart, funny videos."
- Wired
"Luijten's loving enthusiasm for the dead tech of year past is apparent in the attention to detail in the videos."
- CNET
"Masterful videos."
- George Takei, actor
"I am OBSESSED with this!!!"
- Darren Hayes, singer of Savage Garden, actor
(about Jo Luijten's Stranger Things parody video)
"This is hilarious."
- John Legere, American businessman
"This is SO cool!"
- Nina García, editor-in-chief of Elle
"He has an awful Dutch accent."
- Jo's wife
Video producer - neerlandicus - retro nerd - editor - father - husband - youtuber - hobby programmer
ABOUT
Hi!
Thank you for visiting my website.
I'm a husband, father, video maker, hobby programmer, hobby musician, absurdist, and neerlandist ("neerlandicus", a specialist in Dutch language/culture and Dutch historical and modern literature).
After studying Dutch Language & Literature (BA) and Communication Studies (MA) at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, I discovered that my knowledge about Dutch literature, communication sciences, and generative grammar were the perfect items on a curriculum vitae for people who aspire to be jobless.
Luckily, I had the chance to start a career as a web editor for several radio and television shows, and as a text writer for medical e-learnings and software manuals for teachers. After that, I was the social media manager, content manager and information specialist of the Veterans Institute, the Dutch equivalent of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In this combined job I had a lot of creative freedom and challenges. I made several videos for the company and I designed the first Christmas card every Dutch veteran (over 125,000) received from the Minister of Defense.
In 2012, I started a satirical retro video channel, Squirrel Monkey. After a couple of months several videos went viral. I received a lot of reactions and media requests. I appeared in hundreds of (web)magazines and on several television and radio shows. Daily Motion selected one of my videos for a film screening in New York. Warwick Davis (Star Wars, Willow), selected my video as one of the best tech comedy videos during the Youtube Comedy Week. Five times my videos were highlighted on the frontpage of Funny or Die. My Youtube channel won several awards as well.
In 2014, I moved to the USA to get married to my American girlfriend. Because English is my 3rd language I could not continue the work that I did in the Netherlands. I found a job as a video editor/content engineer at Pilgrim Studios (now Lionsgate). Since 2019, I work at Ranker as a producer & editor for Weird History. I also made some videos on a freelance basis for MTV (Viacom) and Skillshare.
Since I moved to the USA I've been on an existential creative journey. I attended stand-up comedy classes by David A. Arnold (known for his viral comedy videos and his Netflix special), I've done some voice-work, and I conducted several creative experiments. Currently I'm working on an animated series.
Click on "projects" to see some of my work.
Love,
Jo Luijten
PROJECTS
ELECTION
PRESIDENTIAL BLITZ
For this 2016 election game I did the programming, graphics, and music. Read the CNET review here or watch the trailer.
YOBOT
YOBOT THE VLOGGING ROBOT
Yobot the Robot can listen, look (in stereo), talk, and remember names. For this project I was interviewed for the book Hallo Robot (ISBN 9781912454051).
PYRAMID
PYRAMID EARTH ASSOCIATION
Believe it or not, but our precious planet Earth is not a globe but a pyramid.
IGODU.ORG
INTERNATIONAL GUILD OF DOS USERS
When I founded the International Guild of DOS Users I received a lot of fanmail. Archived.
AS FEATURED IN
