Friday Videos: Kangaroos, Cookie Monster, Beagles, and Pee Wee

As I ramp up the restructuring of my blog, let's keep it entertaining. Here are some of the most interesting videos I came across this week:

Catching a Kangaroo

I don't know what this is, besides a very odd 30 seconds.




Cookie Monster: Share it Maybe

Between this and Mr. Rodgers, PBS has it going on. Sounds like a blog post on viral media and public television coming up.




Beagle Flips Out Over Lemon

Exactly what it sounds like :)




Pee Wee Herman Voices the Dark Night Trailer

From Jimmy Fallon




Have a great weekend!

April 1: Get Your Internet Game Face On

If you're internet savvy (or if you're not and getting there), you know already that not everything you read online is valid. You need to check sources, hoaxes, and any other reason to tear silliness to ribbons.

Get your internet game face on.

Today is April Fool's Day.

While you should always check backgrounds and sources, April 1 is notorious for being a source of bedlam for the internet world: anyone who has a computer can post anything on the internet. And while most of these April Fool's bits of humor are not remotely malicious, they will make you look like a fool if you read something and say OMG! I have to pass this on to everyone I know!

Credible sources - including Google - have been party to such tomfoolery.

The lesson on April 1 is: Do your research and wait until tomorrow. Then, if still credible, do your email forwarding then.

Save the servers! No April 1st email forwards!

Unfortunate Ad: HISCOX

I saw this ad over at The Oatmeal, a site full of witty and insightful web comics, seated amongst similarly-sized comic links like "How to Pet a Kitty" and the like.



Then I clicked it 'cause I was all like "OMG - thorough, well-thought-out joke site by which I may waste my time!" But I looked and I looked. And I couldn't find the funny fake-ness I anticipated it to be. And then I saw the figurative, tall, angry HR lady in a pant-suit looking down upon me with the disappointment of a sister in a habit, making that sad clicking noise out of the side of her mouth before barely audibly sighing "And what did you think would be so funny?" *

Did I mention I grew up with Cox Cable in the house?


* While I made a point of dramatizing it a bit, I am a professional when it comes to usability; the ad size tip-off, pre-click, to a quick scan and click-through of the target site lasted less than six seconds.

Friday! Snow FAIL, Scrollwheel, Starting Line FAIL

Things still snow-covered? Don't try to remove it like this:




I love helping others in understanding technology and the internet. But sometimes it's even worse than this:




And I guess we can close it out with one more FAIL:



Have a great weekend!

Friday Videos: Fried Gnocchi, Metrodome, Worst Web Meeting Evar

Fried Gnocchi

A cautionary tale. Don't fry your gnocchi. Really. Don't. Evar.


(via urlesque)


Metrodome Roof Collapse snOMG!

If you haven't seen it yet, here's your chance.




Worst Web Meeting Evar

A little creation of my own, collecting all the head-shaking moments as a web developer in one meeting from hell.

Videos for Monday: Star Wars, Catnip Tigers, Piggies

This week, let's start it off with some videos. Little thinking, lots of smiling.

A couple years old, but classic.




I've always wondered this...




...and the last commercial that made me LOL:




Make it a great week!

MONDAY Videos: Hat Cat, YMCA Classic, Gandalf, Snowboard WIN

Missed the post on Friday, so what better way to start out the week than with those interesting videos?

Kitty + Hat + Cat = Hilarity!




YMCA: Christophers

This one's a few years old, but good all the same.




Gandalf Goes to the World Cup!




And a WIN!

I know we usually focus on FAILs, but this is just too cool.




Have a great week!

Videos: Awesome Chemistry, Pacman, Wedding FAIL

The Awesome of Chemistry


Science!


Pacman Ghosts Discuss TV




...and because it's just not Friday without some FAIL,

Wedding Photo FAIL



Have a great weekend!

Gink! Way Better Social Media!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Friday Videos: Tiger After Dentist, Old Spice, Trampoline + Pool FAIL

Tiger After Dentist

I was going to post the original Tiger Nike commercial here, but after finding out the audio was pulled from a 2004 DVD and (unsurprisingly) that his father wasn't really addressing the problem at hand, I was left only with the fact that Nike sees more profit than liability in the long-term investment in Tiger, to the point that they will exploit a recording of his own dead father. Boo.

So how about a parody instead? The audio is pulled from the monstrously viral David After Dentist, and is oddly relevant.




Odor Blocker from Old Spice

Have you seen the new commercials? Me neither. But they're Awesome. I guess it's not a coincidence they're directed by Tim & Eric from the Tim & Eric Awesome Show. Awesome. Here's the channel, and here's a few examples. Did I say Awesome?

Flex




Punch




Pool Trampoline FAIL

Because it all comes down to the FAIL. But wait, you say. How can a pool and a trampoline possibly combine into a fail scenario? Allow me to show you...

Friday Videos: Grizzly Bear, Regeneration, FAIL

If you've never heard of Grizzly Bear, take a minute and check this out. The video is a little odd (meaning I love it) and vocals are fantastic.




Regenerating bodies from New Scientist. Always something to drop your jaw, those guys.




...and an obvious, thoughtless end to the week: Backflip fail.



Have a good one!

Friday Video: Google FTW, Media Crank, Raptors!

Google "Responds" to Buzz Feedback

(NSFW language bleeped)




CNN Jersey Prank




Raptor Devours Cheerleader




Have a great weekend!

We Got That B-Roll!

Friday Videos: Generic News, Pants on the Ground, and Gibson/Kimmel

Here's your videos for this Friday! We've got a generic template for a news report, Pants on the Ground, and Gibson doing the Jimmy Kimmel Story. Enjoy!

The world's most generic news report - Charlie Brooker's Newswipe




Pants on the Ground from American Idol




Gibson does Kimmel




Have a great weekend!

Hitler, Hitler, Hitler - Social Media!

Same clip. Different subtitles. For your Friday Video enjoyment.

Best: Hitler checks Toyota Yaris Social Campaign (read = funniest):




Hitler gets angry about Facebook:




And Hitler gets angry about social media in general (read quickly!):



I don't pretend to think that Hitler's legacy is anything funny. But the parody is. And turning it into a post-modern mashup? Brilliant.

Why? Because turning evil into a cartoon is a way of taking ownership back. A way of not just killing it, but humiliating it.

Let me know your thoughts.

Friday Film on Tuesday: Dumb Funny, Darksiders, Avatar on Pocahontas

This isn't early, but late. So more to love this Friday! Enjoy.



Hahaha...someone said in the comments of this video "If you think this is funny you must be six years old." I did not realize I was six.


Darksiders

One of my pleasures is video games. Granted, I only just finished Mass Effect and Bioshock this past year. And I'm working - very slowly - on Fallout 3. But I played the demo of Dante's Inferno (AWESOME!) and was impressed.

This looks equally impressive:



Avatar on Pocahontas on Avatar on...

I recently saw Avatar in full-on IMAX 3D. It was tasty and delicious. And it blew my mind. For me, the story was a 6.5/10, but the movie magic that happens with 3D and the special effects would bring my overall rating to an 8.5/10. The trailer blew my mind. But let's look at the mashups, shall we?

Friday Video Overlap: FailBlog's Top 10 FAILs ++

So good it deserves its own post.




...and I've really just got to stop with YouTube today. Here are the Sleep Sweepers:

Friday Vids: FFXIII, Iron Man 2, Toyota Sexist? (+ Stoned Cats)

Another Friday, another bunch of videos, and always more to love. To keep the streak going, we're going to continue to geek out on you, starting with some video games:

IGN Daily Fix

Final Fantasy XIII has been released!

...in Japan. Check that fanfare!



So pleased it will be coming to Xbox360.

And the Jessica from the Fix was right...


Iron Man 2 Trailer

...is frickin' awesome!



Noms for the eyes.


Toyota Yaris: FAIL or WIN?

So Toyota Australia had this idea: jump into the social media bus and try to steer it a little in their direction. They solicited user-generated entries for ads for the Toyota Yaris AND let the world decide which one would win.

The following video, the winner, is safe for work, but the language is VERY double-entendre and has been called worse things than sexist. And they're Australian.



And a barrage of bloggers and tweeps and "opposition" popped up and had that winner pulled before going to air.

So, the question is: fail or win? I think their idea was a win, but the result of the idea was questionable. But not a fail. It's a lesson learned for anyone trying to exploit social media. You're herding cats. It can be a win and a fail. And when you're dumping something onto the internet, you're not just dealing with your consumers. You're dealing with every single person who has nothing better to do during the day than become offended by something and write letters.

But in a way, this is a huge success. Lots of coverage, lots of media - at least on the internet. And if you think about it, when user-generated content generates more content, you've arrived. I present a parody of the marketing initiative that led to the Yaris experiment:




Random: Catweed

So here's something relatively random: cats getting high on plants. Weird thing is, it was in my search results for the Yaris. Not so weird it turns out: the clever bugger listed the video description as:

Fresh Organic Chronic Catnip @ www.catweed.com .Toyota Yaris - Clean Getaways commercial rocks, now catweed rocks.

See? SEO isn't exactly magic ;)

Now, for those stoned kittehs!



Have a great weekend!

Friday Videos: Pee Wee Returns, Gap Girls, Dog Fail

Pee Wee Herman Returns

Well it's about time!




Gap Girls

Why does this video scare the heck out of me?




Dog Fail




...and that is all! Have a great weekend!

Friday Videos: Wicked, Voice Acting, FAIL

Wicked

This recording of the Glee cast recording the Wicked song "Defying Gravity" has gotten a lot of play and has turned people onto Glee as well as Wicked, which I saw at the Aronoff Center for the Arts about a year ago. I've never seen Glee, but did grow up (and still occasionally partake in) acting in the theatre. It's a fantastic song from an amazing musical.



Here's Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth performing Defying Gravity at the Tony Awards, if you want to know what it looks like. [insert superlative here]


Wouldn't want to get too silly with the art stuff when we could get silly with bad voice acting. Here's the top 50 worst voice acting clips from video games. Evar.




And then there' Risky Business Gone Wrong, for a piece of FAIL this week.



Have a great weekend!