Still Life With Robin: Watch This Space...and Some Others, Too

Photo by Tom468, Wikimedia Commons

by Peggy Robin

I’m taking the easy way out this week. By that I mean I’m taking this occasion to pass along some time-wasting but amusing videos that others have passed along to me. (You can stop reading now if you're sure that you're in the loop for everything that goes viral on the internet these days.)

The first one is for those who missed seeing the opening skit of Saturday Night Live last week. This is an instant classic, and I'm sure it will make lots of "Best of SNL" collections in the future, but it's good to see it while the parody is politically fresh:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/Sci-Fi-Cold-Open/1383274

Here's another one that's good to see while the buzz is still very "buzzy": It's the Chrysler commercial that ran during the Superbowl on Sunday, "Halftime in America" narrated by Clint Eastwood, praising the comeback of the American auto industry (and implicitly, the bailout): http://bit.ly/Ao67jD

Speaking of controversial commercials that ran during the Superbowl: Have you seen this political attack ad run by Republican US Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra? All week long it's been raising an outcry about its use of negatives Chinese stereotypes.  First, take a look: http://bit.ly/wdYpru

Among those calling for Hoekstra to apologize for the ad are some Asian-American Republicans (according to this story on Politico.com): http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72532.html

If you missed the Superbowl on Sunday (and I'm apparently one of the few who did), you may have also missed out on the mainstreaming of the hot new sport called slacklining, which I predict right now will one day become an Olympic event. Here's a link to the performance by Andy Lewis that was part of Madonna's halftime show: http://bit.ly/w0wajT  And if that just piques your curiosity and you want to learn a bit more about Andy Lewis and slacklining, I’d recommend: http://bit.ly/rVdHHB

If you’d like to be up on one of the biggest Youtube trends, then take a look at some of the "Sh*t People Say" videos. It all started with "Sh*t Girls Say" but now it seems there's one (or several) for every category. The "People from DC" version is pretty spot-on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuPwy77scvw
If you've got a little more time to waste, then try "Sh*t Nobody Says"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-x8t0JOnVw

And if you've really got extra time on your hands, then revisit that perennial Youtube favorite, the talking twin babies:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-x8t0JOnVw.  Some of the sequels and parodies are even better:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XFPzihuzow&feature=related (Talking Twin Babies, Translated) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIysKu_w5Us&feature=fvsr (Talking Twin Boys All Grown Up)

If you haven't seen "Surprised Kitty" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8, see it, just so that you're not the last one on the planet who hasn't.

[I had to include an addendum to this column after I saw the front page story in today's New York Times about the most viewed non-commercial video in Youtube's history, "Charlie bit my finger," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he5fpsmH_2g.Apparently, it beats out "Surprised Kitty" in popularity...though I can't really understand why. See both, and judge for yourself (provided you have sufficient time to waste, that is).