A short interview with Paul Marion, as well as his great "Still Being Breen" music video made in Half Life 2 - over on YouTube. Currently you get 2150 results if you search for Machinima over there, with the most-watched racking up over 2 million views since September 13th ("Male restroom" - psa style with Sims2 and edited in 'special effects') while the rest of the top five have 100 - 250 thousand.
So, not quite LonelyGirl style fascination - but then again most series have their own sites, such as RvB from Roostertheeth with 1/2 million registered users, or put their clips up at machinima.com (2317 shows, total of 4,7 million views)
The next big thing? Well, at least it is a great channel and tool for aspiring filmmakers to test their skills at writing scripts, editing dialogue and cutting scenes into a cohesive story. Maybe the next George Lucas is picking up Sims2 or HalfLife2 today.
...and the sun is slowly setting behind the clouds...
