5/26/2009 - We Didn't Start the Flame War

This video really encapsulates the state of the Internet today in it's "Web 2.0" state where everybody can many any comment on anything, good or bad. As you can imagine, message boards and comment sections are perhaps the least civilized stomping grounds in today's society:

5/10/2009 - Opera Face Gestures

This was originally an April Fools joke by Opera, the alternative browser to IE and Firefox. In actuality, however, something like this could be quite useful, especially to the handicapped. Of course, the user will still look somewhat ridiculous...

5/7/2009 - Christian Bale Freak Out

In light of today's news about the arrest of Kiefer Sutherland for his alleged head-butt of a fashion designer, I wanted to give my take on another celebrity freak out: the now infamous audio of Christian Bale yelling at the director of photography on the set of Terminator: Salvation. These two incidents have much in common with each other in that the two actors are known to play badasses on the screen and are in some way bringing their on-screen personas to real life. Headbutting an annoying fashion designer is something Jack Bauer would really do (if you caught him in a good mood). Kiefer should really be cheered instead of being put in handcuffs.

As for Christian Bale... well, he IS Batman, after all. He's somebody who is badass enough to play both the Dark Knight AND John Connor, the savior of mankind against the Terminators. I haven't seen American Psycho, but I've heard that character makes Bruce Wayne look tame. As you can imagine, he is not somebody to be messed with. So when the DP was walking into Christian's shot, I can't say that he deserved to be berated with excessive profanity, but he should have known what was coming. When you hear the audio, it's actually kind of scary to hear, especially when you can imagine Christian at his most disturbed state.

What totally turns the perception of the audio, however, is some video of a fan recreation of the event. The audio is intact, and even the context may be the same, but for some reason, what may have been scary before is hilarious now:

4/23/2009 - THE LEGEND of Hamster on a piano and pop corn

So let's get this straight... if you can videotape a hamster being extremely lazy, you can get over 5 million views on YouTube. I'm sure that if I was to videotape myself being that lazy, I'd be lucky to get 100 views. It's just not fair:

4/15/2009 - Man Survives After Getting Hit by Truck & Train

Being a geek, my first thought after watching this video was how Mr. Glass engineered this accident:



Yes, that was an "Unbreakable" reference.

3/19/2009 - A woman missed her flight at the boarding gate HKIA

Wow, over 5 million people watched this next video. And I'm sure most of them have the same impression: that the woman has lost her mind. Well, being Chinese, I have a somewhat unique perspective of this. The woman may be overreacting to a somewhat trivial matter of missing a flight, but her reaction is pretty characteristic of that of a middle-aged Asian woman. Trust me, I've seen this kind of behavior happen when rice is overcooked. I don't know what it is about Asian adults that take things so seriously. I mean, it's like that "parody" video of an Asian mom who berates her son for getting a B+ (and I put parody in quotation marks because I think it holds more truth than fiction). Yeah, and you thought you had crazy parents.

3/7/2009 - Prison Escape Fail

Like Jay Leno, I like hearing stories of stupid criminals. It seems like there are more criminals that are stupid than not. Of course, one could argue that being a criminal is stupid in the first place. Then there are those cases that make you scratch your head and make you wonder what they were thinking. This attempted prison escape is one of those cases:



Yes, they were escaping with handcuffs and tried to go on opposite sides of a light pole. Brilliant. It is such slapstick nonsense that you wouldn't even expect to see that in a Pink Panther movie. Then again, the new Pink Panther movies are pretty bad.

2/24/2009 - Diane Sawyer Drunk

Alcohol is another thing that has little logical appeal for me. Yes, I see it as some kind of relaxant for social inhibitions, and bars that serve alcohol are places of adult congregation, but for something that has so many negative consequences for health and for safety, it's a phenomenon that can only be explained by man's imperfections. Plus, I just think it tastes bad.

Being drunk, however, is a sensation that under controlled conditions I wouldn't mind experiencing. And when I say "under controlled conditions", that means no video cameras. Otherwise I'd look like this clearly toasted Diane Sawyer:

1/13/2009 - Gaming Expert

Forget about being smarter than a fifth grader, try your gaming knowledge against this ONE YEAR OLD GIRL:



Seriously, if your heart doesn't melt from hearing her recite what Pikachu says, you're not human. There is a little debate going on as to if this is healthy learning for the child, but I would say that if this makes learning fun, then roll with it.

1/3/2009 - The Price is Right, Showcase Showdown PERFECT BID!

Have you ever watched the movie "Rain Man"? You know, the one with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, where Dustin Hoffman plays the title character who is an autistic savant that can barely function in society, but has extraordinary recall abilities that allow him to count cards to win at blackjack and even count toothpicks. Well, I think this Price is Right clip features a real life Rain Man:



What's extraordinary is how close Terry's competitor was as well in her bid. But what will blow your mind is what you didn't see: that Terry had another perfect bid on the opening item that led to him being in the Showcase Showdown! Unless he cheated, he should go down in the Price is Right as their greatest contestant.

12/25/2008 - Santa's helpers disable naughty cameras in Tempe

Merry Christmas everybody! I'm not exactly a speeder when it comes to driving, but I do get paranoid by the red light cameras on the road that takes pictures of your license plate if you go speed through a red light and mails you a ticket. I always wonder what would happen if the cameras malfunctioned and got the wrong car ticketed. How exactly would you fight that in court? Anyway, it looks like some enterprising gentlemen in Tempe took it upon themselves to fight the oppressive local government there. They did so, however, in some very festive costumes:

12/20/2008 - Ice Sculpture Fail

I spent two and a half hours the other day installing new servers into our server rack at work only to discover that the servers did not have the operating system installed in them. It was a lot of work for basically no reward. And yet, it wasn't nearly as bad as what happens to the sculpture artist in this video:



And this is why there is a need for math and physics classes.

11/2/2008 - Slide Fail

This next video really boggles my mind. I know what it looks like, and I think I know what the maker of the slide was thinking. What I don't know is why the park officials would approve it on their land. What I also don't know is why the kids seem to be having so much fun in it. It's like they're living their pre-embryonic stage or something:

10/13/2008 - Biological Fail

Wow, if what this reporter claims is actually true, then Barack Obama really is a "once-in-a-lifetime" politician:

9/28/2008 - Ninja cat comes closer while not moving!

Here's a very popular video making the rounds right now, and for good reason... you've probably watched an episode of Scooby-Doo where Shaggy and Scooby are walking along, minding their own business while a ghost or monster stalks them from behind. However, when they look behind them, the monster pauses and becomes part of the scenery. They continue on their way, but can sense that there is someone or something stalking them, and they look behind again, only to see that the monster has inched closer, but still part of the scenery. I can't tell exactly which episode this is, but I'm sure it has happened more than once, and in other cartoons. Well, this scenario has been recreated so perfectly in this video starring a cat:

8/4/2008 - MIT Bunny Letter Opener

I don't have a pet, but if I did, I would definitely train it to do menial tasks like this:

7/22/2008 - Crazy Girl on Train

Yes, gas prices are ridiculously high right now. My New Beetle doesn't get really good gas mileage, and there's the thing about global warming. I'd like to get a hybrid, but they're just a bit expensive right now. So there's this whole bandwagon that says I should be taking public transportation to save money and help out the environment. And yet I have to refuse, and without much thought, too. Why? Because of stuff like this:



So who says public education is going down the tubes? I have to admit, this video makes good use of YouTube's new annotation features.

7/8/2008 - Pop corn with cell phones

Alright, this video HAS to be a hoax. If not, then everybody who has a cell phone is killing themselves. I mean, I'm sure that there is some extra electromagnetic radiation that we are exposing ourselves to when we use cell phones, but we've had television and radio waves go through us for decades now without any proven ill effects. People have been raising the possibility of a cell phone/cancer link for years and for this video to fool anybody, there must be some lingering fear out there about cell phone use. I have to admit, though... it is quite the magic trick:

7/2/2008 - Charlie bit my finger - again!

My casting call for the movie:

Harry (the older boy): Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"
Charlie: Hannibal Lecter

7/1/2008 - Guys backflip into jeans

This one is pretty self-explanatory by the title. What I can really appreciate about these guys is that if they miss, it would REALLY hurt: