"How television ruined your life"

YouTube link.

Explained by Charlie Brooker, whose rants I have featured at TYWKIWDBI on three previous occasions (irritating sweet 16 brats, network news, and American news media.)

A reprise of the "Cat Herding" video

I was thoroughly "underwhelmed" by the (lack of) quality of the Super Bowl advertisements this year, so I'm going to repost this old one.

"Buy one - get five free !!"

The Winnipeg Humane Society adapted hard-sell local advertising techniques to finding homes for cats, with help from Andy Hill from Kern Hill Furniture Co-op in Winnipeg. The midnight madness event is not real, but the Winnipeg Humane Society is real, and will be glad to accommodate you during regular hours.

Found at the prize-winning humor blog Miss Cellania.

Rooftop sled ride - Russian style

Wild turkey chases the light from a laser pointer

I've seen videos of cats, dogs, a spider, and a drunk doing this, but the turkey is new for me.  I think I'll take a pointer with me the next time I hike the arboretum.

Via Nothing to do with Arbroath.

Addendum: One of the anons says goldfish will also chase the dot. !

"Feed the Flock" Pepsi ad pulled from Super Bowl consideration

This ad was pulled from consideration for use by Pepsi during the Super Bowl because it was deemed to be "irredeemably offensive" to Christians.  A representative from Pepsico has apologized to the public for having the ad even in consideration.

It has been pulled from their website and reportedly also from YouTube.  So this embed may not last long.   Warning:  This advertisement this might offend your religious sensibilities (or just your sense of good taste).

Via Althouse (another Madison blogger). 

Update: As predicted, the video has been yanked from YouTube.  It is, however, now available at this link.  At least for a while...

Gandalf battles the Balrog in the sewers of New York

(More prosaic explanation here).

Ladybug and sprinkles

Found at Boing Boing.

Leslie Nielsen videos

Every blog this week seems to have some sort of tribute to the late Leslie Nelson.  I've embedded two videos above.  At the top, from Cynical-C, a segment from one of the Police Squad programs for those of you who aren't familiar with that series.  Below that, from The Smoking Jacket, a collection of scenes from the Naked Gun movies; probably impossible to watch without laughing out loud.

Fry and Laurie

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie reunite for a 90 minute TV special to mark the 30th anniversary of their partnership. The programme sees the former double act reminiscing about their friendship, careers and sketches.

Embedded above is Part I of five parts (a rather lengthy introduction to the program).  The other parts of the program are here, here, here, and here.  The format is a series of reminiscences, so the program is probably best for enthusiasts already familiar with the two comedians.  Newcomers might do better to get A Bit of Fry and Laurie DVD to watch.

Via Metafilter.

"Oktapodi"

Winner of many animation awards, and a nominee for the 2009 Academy Award for short animated film.

Homepage.

Fed Ex caveman commercial

Old as the hills, but still generates a chuckle.

Simon's cat - "TV dinner"

Simon's cat videos are widely enough seen not to be TYWK-type material, but this one was posted two years ago, and I apparently missed it at the time.  All of them are remarkably true-to-life re feline behavior.  This one via Ravings of a Semi-Sane Madwoman.

Simon's Cat's website.

This video defines "schadenfreude"

I feel guilty about posting this, and will probably take some flak from readers - but it does exemplify the term quite well:

Schadenfreude = pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.

and for completeness, these complementary terms:

Empathy = unhappiness at another's misfortune
Envy = unhappiness at another's good fortune
Mudita = Buddhist concept of happiness at another's good fortune

I found myself frankly uncomfortable watching the video, because the participants appeared to be at risk for significant injury.  The video is apparently compiled from segments of a television program called "Wipeout," which may or may not air in this country.   If nothing else, this reminded me of why I stopped watching TV.

Addendum:  This from a comment by Conor:

After all these years being told there's no English for for schadenfreude (and even explaining to some surprised German that we had to translation for schadenfreude nor doppelganger), I found that there sort of is: epicaricacy. Found in archaic dictionaries, and modern collections of rare words, and not much in between. Of course, now that it's on TYWKIWDBI, it will surely flourish.

It's not in my Random House, or my OED, but it is in Wiktionary, as he notes, with this etymology:

From Ancient Greek ἐπί (epi, “upon”) + χάρις (kharis, “joy”) +κακός (kakos, “evil”).

The next time I hear this word, I'm going to ask the speaker if they read this blog...

Spiders on drugs

Not your average nature video...

Actual information on spiders on drugs here.

More "Hinterland" videos by apeman888 (like the above, which is really what you want...) at these links:
The Bear
The Ant
The (Huge) Manatee

Loose tire at an auto race

This is an old video, but I've never posted it before.  If you've not seen it, I think it's worth 45 seconds of your life.

Found at The Upcoming Queue.

"Inception" trailer - AND - Inception/UP mashup

This is the newest offering from Christopher Nolan, who has directed seven films, including Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, and The Dark Knight.  Quite an impressive résumé and success rate!

The Atlantic has a review.
And here is Roger Ebert's review.

Addendum:  Now see the mashup of Inception + UP:

Via Nerd Approved.

Even better - play them simultaneously.  They both have the same runtime and same audio (that of the Inception trailer).  So start them both at the same time (it may take a brief tap one pause button or the other a time or two to get them absolutely synchronized).

Presto! by Pixar

Presto! by Disney's Pixar from Matthew Gephardt on Vimeo.

This is the short film that was presented in theaters right before WALL-E.  I thought I had posted it before, but I can't find it with a search, and it's definitely worth the risk of a possible repost.

Wonderful animation.  Watch it full-screen.  Bet you can't do so without at least a chuckle...

Via Kuriositas.

The "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch

John Cleese and Graham Chapman (before their Monty Python fame), with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman, lampooning the stereotypical "rich people claiming they were happier when they were poor."

One of my favorite comedy bits of all time - and one that is especially relevant in times of economic uncertainty.   I had posted this a long time ago, but the video was pulled from YouTube - so watch it now, because it may not stay up long.

"Major Slut Spill in California"

From the Onion News Network: "Clean-up crews are hard at work after a VH1 bus carrying reality show contestants overturned, spilling 2,000 pounds of highly concentrated slut."

Safe for work except for one word at the end.  Juvenile humor - you'll know whether you want to watch it or not.

Via Videosift.