4/1/2008 - You've been Rickrolled

I wouldn't be doing my job as the YouTube Addict if I didn't inform you about the whole "Rickroll" phenomenon, and today being April Fools, there's no better time. Have you ever been enticed by a link to a YouTube video by an interesting or even titillating title or description, and all you got was a video of a cheesy 80's music video? Well, you've been "Rickrolled", my friend. The music video is actually of Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up" and it certainly hasn't aged well.

I don't know who started the trend, but it has suddenly exploded as an internet meme. It has all culminated to this day, when all of the technology websites out there collectively pull their April Fools pranks out of their bag and unsurprisingly most are using the Rickroll in some way. YouTube itself got into the act earlier this week by stating that the Rickroll phenomenon has eaten up so much of their bandwidth that they were going to pull all of Astley's music video. Well what did they decide to do this morning? They linked all of their featured videos on the front page to the music video. Yes, they set everybody up to take the fall. It was probably one of the better April Fools pranks I've seen to date.

So what is all the hubbub about? What does it really mean to be Rickrolled? Well, here's the video:



Oops, did I just fool you? You weren't Rickrolled... you were bitchslapped! :)

6/24/2007 - Tourette's Guy

Rated R for extreme profanity

I don't know if Tourette Syndrome is a real physical or psychological condition, but it's in Wikipedia, so that's good enough for me! And if it didn't exist, the guy in this series of videos has some kind of illness that should be named after him. Unnecessary profanity usually gives me a chuckle, so when I saw this "best of" video of the "Tourette's Guy", I just couldn't stop laughing.

Even though he's probably an unpleasant character to be around, there's something endearing about him. He's not a totally bad guy... he does say "I love you" to his ex-wife... right after calling her a "bitch" of course. I think the highlight of the video is when he's complaining to the Colgate customer service department. One piece of advice to anybody riding in a car with him... don't play any music by Sting. I didn't think that a neck brace would be any kind of flattering accessory, but for Tourette's Guy, it fits pretty well. Judging from his "exuberance", it's not hard to tell how he got that kind of neck injury.

6/23/2007 - OVER 9000 COMBOS!!!

You wanna know an easy way to make a great YouTube video? Take an already existing video that has become an internet meme, in this case a strange Dragonball Z clip (found HERE), and mash it up with another popular genre. There exists customizable rhythm games out there similar to Dance Dance Revolution, but operated by the keyboard instead. While most use popular music or vidoe game music as the soundtrack for these games, this one uses the Dragonball Z clip. I think it's even better than the original.



Uh, how many combos? OVER 9000!!!!