i have, in fact, warmed up since that video was shot. our landlord called in a repairman, who determined that the root of our problems was... that the emergency gas shutoff lightswitch had been turned off. oops! it's not marked as that, it just looks like a lightswitch.
@russ_buss: thanks! i made a new video (another cover) a few weeks ago and uploaded it but i think the file size was too large and youtube didnt know what to do with it, so i'm going to try to re-render it in a smaller file. also i'm getting a new camera with HD recording ability so that'll make me more likely to make videos ( i hate the isight camera! )