Okay. We get it. You're busy. It's hard to budget the time to watch every viral video we throw at you.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should be left out on all the fun.

Here, for those of you who have missed any notable viral video over the past half-decade or so, is (arguably) the 100 best viral videos in under 3 1/2 minutes.

Included, among other favorites, are "Here it Goes Again" by OK Go, keyboard cat, Leroy Jenkins, David after his dentist appointment, Susan Boyle, the dramatic "chipmunk," the Zinedine Zidane headbutt, the Iraqi shoe-thrower and, possibly my favorite, the dog running in his sleep... and into a wall. Enjoy, and feel free to share your favorites in the comments below:

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Do you think New Yorkers who ride the subway just expect Improv Everywhere to do something like this every six months or so? Because they seem awfully willing to have their photos taken.

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I'm posting this clip to drive home this point: repeatedly talking about Jell-O pudding and Jell-O pudding pops does not a Bill Cosby impression make.

Or if you're old school, you sing: "Dad is great! He gives us chocolate cake!"

This video does do a public service, in that it reminds us of something we all should know already: Don't do Bill Cosby impressions.

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How not to get ahead at work... Take a sneaky cigarette break in a walk-in cooler at a Subway restaurant equipped with a powerful and sensitive sprinkler system.

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True story: A few years ago, a rival reporter covering the same city as me would routinely fall asleep during City Council meetings.

He is so lucky that I didn't have a video camera at the time, or that YouTube wasn't invented then.

Here's what happened to a reporter in Oak Park, Ill., when he dozed off during a public meeting -- it became a viral video sensation.

Enjoy. And read more about it here.

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Maybe they're starved for entertainment in Nuanquan, China. Or maybe they're easily bored. But these guys' idea of fun is little short of insane. Every year, farmers put on something called the Lantern Festival, which involves hurling molten iron at a wall -- at huge risk to themselves. Hey, it's OK. They wear protective sheepskin coats and wide-brimmed hats, both well-known for protection against white-hot metal!

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Just this morning I was reading a cheerful News Illustrated piece about the End of Times -- you've got a couple of years, so relax until Dec. 21, 2012! -- so imagine my surprise when I went on YouTube and found this video by Barats and Bereta about the apocalypse.

Coincidence? Probably. But I'm thinking maybe I should remember to take Dec. 21, 2012, off...

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Ben Gullett's dad, Mark, had been a marketing executive for the Tampa Bay Lightning before he was laid off.

So Ben made this video for his dad, and it's getting tons of attention. It's only been up for a week, but already was featured on the Today Show. Here's a St. Petersburg Times story about Ben if you want background, and here's the video, which is quite a lovely tribute to his father.

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Twenty-five random things is sweeping through Facebook right now. Here's the counter to that from a pretty bitter guy.

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So somewhere in Turkey, a train hit a truck as it was crossing the tracks. The truck then hit a man. Miraculously, the man suffered only minor injuries.

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Did you catch Will Smith's "boom goes the dynamite" reference in the middle of presenting the 200th technical award of the evening during the Oscars?

"Boom goes the dynamite" is a Jason Lee line from a Kevin Smith movie -- I forget which one -- but I'm pretty sure Will Smith is referencing this classic video here:

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Note to petty criminals: If you are going to steal a restaurant's tip jar, don't leave a completed job application behind because:

1) You will not get the job.
2) You will get caught.
3) You will end up on YouTube.

This amazingly stupid footage is from a Subway sandwich shop in Montreal. Watch carefully around the :34 mark.

So a woman walked into a Subway sandwich shop in Montreal to apply for her job.

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This video appeared on YouTube on Thursday and already has in excess of 500,000 hits. There's not a whole lot known about it except it features a very agitated woman who missed her flight at Hong Kong International Airport.

Then again, maybe that's all you need to know.

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Rob wants to give you a high-five. And Improv Everywhere wants to shoot video and post it on YouTube.

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Watch This Now loves a good Mr. T clip and this one just surfaced yesterday. It's Mr. T holding a fashion show.

I do agree with him on the point that you need to wear clothes or you could be arrested.

And Jeff, poor Jeff. This video must haunt you.

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CBS News is reporting that some YouTube celebs are starting to pull down six figures.

Watch CBS Videos Online

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What I like most about this year in review is there is no mention of an election, a recession, layoffs, Bernie Madoff, or anything that was news in 2008.

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WTN's very own Kevin Cobb made this tribute to Live Puppy Cam a few weeks ago, before the Shiba Inu puppies went off to their new homes.

Now Live Puppy Cam is officially dark, and Kevin's video has received more than 89,000 hits since he posted it on Dec. 4.

I want to see if we can make it to 100,000.

So if you will, please take a minute to watch Kevin's video, and if you like it, bookmark this link and visit another few thousand times so he can reach the 100,000 mark. Consider it your holiday gift to WTN.

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We've made our lists. We are, in fact, checking them twice. But we still need to know what you, our faithful WTN readers, think is the best viral video for 2008.

Got a suggestion for our top-10 list? Post the link here, or send an e-mail to kbushouse@SunSentinel.com. We need your picks by Wednesday so we can wrap this list up before 2009.

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This makes me feel old. In my day, we just partied.

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You hate to see something that took so much work, fall apart so quickly. Except for the folks at Failblog.org, who are quite fine with it.

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You might remember Internet sensation/Palm Beach County fifth grader Damon Weaver from his excellent interview with now-Vice President Elect Joe Biden.

Now Damon wants to interview Barack Obama, and he's got some pretty big backers in his quest (though I won't spoil the surprise for you). He also has the endorsement of Watch This Now, especially if he sends us the raw footage to post on the blog.

We'll let Damon tell you about his mission to make Obama his homeboy, and after the clip, get more information about how to help Damon in his efforts.

Damon needs money to help pay for his trip to Washington, D.C., for the inauguration. If you're interested in helping, contact Brian Zimmerman at KEC/Canal Point Elementary. The number is 561-924-9800. Here's the school's web site.

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This photographer is amazingly calm after eluding certain death by just inches.

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Was it Live Puppy Cam? SNL Pepper Sketch? Charlie Bit Me (or its 400,000 parodies)? Let us know before Dec. 15, so we can include it in our Best of 2008 list. If we get enough suggestions, we'll put together a separate Readers' Choice list.

Got something to send? Post a comment or e-mail it to kbushouse@SunSentinel.com. And don't forget, we need your suggestions by Dec. 15.

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You may have noticed that we at Watch This Now love lists. Favorite Michael Jackson videos? Check. Worst NFL raps? Done. Crazy political brawls? You betcha.

With the end of the year drawing near, we're compiling our lists of favorite viral videos for 2008. And we want to know your favorites.

So send us your top clip of the year -- the one you forwarded to all your friends, watched 800 times and it still cracked you up, whatever -- and we'll throw it in the mix for our top 10 list that will come out later this month. If we get enough reader entries, we'll do a separate reader's choice list.

Because you know, we can't get enough of lists.

Send your links to kbushouse@SunSentinel.com or post them as a comment. Either way, we'll get them.

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More online experimentation from YouTube -- now you can audition for a symphony orchestra by uploading two videos.

Check out this video for details and let us know if you 1) enter, or 2) make the cut. If you do, we'll gladly post your clips here.

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The guy behind YouTube sensation Charlie the Unicorn did a new version of his animated short for last week's YouTube Live festivities. There's no Candy Mountain, but there is chocolate rain and a plethora of viral video-related quips:

In case you haven't seen the original version, check it out here:

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Who knew the people behind the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade had a sense of humor? Or Rick Astley's phone number?

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I've been watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade since I was a kid, and now, thanks to this video, I know how the balloons are made.

Interesting stuff, but I hope the Macy's people keep a lid on other info -- like how they get Santa Claus to come down from the North Pole for the end of the parade. That, I just don't want to know.

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This is kind of nice: the wacky artist types at Improv Everywhere decided to stake out an airport and greet random people as they returned from their trips.

I like it. Very much in the spirit of the upcoming holidays. Even if some of the people featured in the clip seem vaguely creeped out by the whole deal.

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Is it art, or just a bunch of young people being annoying at a Russian furniture store? You decide.

I will say, at least they didn't put their feet on the beds or couches. At least they're considerate like that.

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ONN nails it again.

As someone who browses YouTube frequently, I'm never surprised by the amount of videos of people just talking into a camera. Sure it amuses yourself, but if you're sharing it for everyone else, why not make the extra effort to be entertaining?

YouTube Contest Challenges Users To Make A 'Good' Video

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This old clip of presidential candidate Ralph Nader appeared on YouTube on Monday. I don't know where it came from, but I suspect it was a promotion for one of the Superman movies.

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Here's a new way to waste time on YouTube -- an interactive game.

Here's how it works: You click the little button marked "click" anytime the button pops up on the screen. If you click the button in time, you advance to the next level. If you don't, you have a spectacular wipeout.

There's no boss button, so you'll just have to make sure you don't get caught if you play during work hours.

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For the past month or so, astronaut Greg Chamitoff -- currently on assignment at the International Space Station -- has been taking questions and answering them via clips on YouTube.

He's not answering questions about the meaning of life, but he can tell you about getting a haircut in space or whether being in the space station causes hallucinations.

Here, Chamitoff answers a question about what happens when you light a match in space.

If you have a question, click here.

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Remember the two guys from Eepybird.com who did that thing with the Diet Coke and Mentos? Now they've moved onto office supplies, and much higher production values.

The clip is pretty cool, but I couldn't help thinking that it was a tremendous waste of paper.

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One of the (few, for me) appeals of American Idol and their ilk are the early train wreck performances. "Scat girl" is my favorite. But the following performance, from Bulgaria's "Music Idol" comes a very close second.

Best line: "Tulibu Dibu Douchoo!"

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On Wednesday, Seth MacFarlane unveiled his first short animated skit from his Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. It features Mario, a Princess and Bowser, yup.

These bits are made exclusively for the Internet and feature the sort of non-sequiter gags found frequently in Family Guy, i.e. "It's almost as bad as that double date we went on with Mr. T!" Except there won't be any FCC rules to follow.

MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, is set to make millions of dollars with these shorts from his partners Google and Burger King.

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Mythbusters explains just why your voice gets all weird when you suck helium out of a balloon. Or why it gets so low when you inhale some other gas with a name I can't remember.

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I know I should not find this funny:

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Here's a look at how YouTube operated before the Internet.

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Check it out for yourself:

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You have to admire someone with this much patience, and the ability to not wave his hands around so he knocks over the thing he just took several days to construct:

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Watch This Now readers! All 18 of you! Check out this clip and vote for Franchesca so she can win a trip to Hollywood and mingle with famous people.

About a month ago I posted an item about this YouTube contest where you could send in a video and win a shot at being a red carpet reporter at an unspecified major awards event next month (I would still guess it's the Emmys, though maybe it's some MTV thing? I'm not sure.).

Turns out we have a local finalist here, Franchesca, who alerted me to her big news by commenting on the old entry from last month. Which shows some initiative on her part, because sometimes I don't even think we can find or remember what we posted last week, let alone last month.

Just for taking the time to search our blog, I will give her a plug and hopes that she'll return the favor with a WTN plug from the red carpet. Don't forget us when you make it big, OK?

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WTN-ers, there isn't much time -- get out your video cameras and start asking people who they're wearing!

The folks at People.com and YouTube are running a contest that runs until midnight on July 23 (that would be this Wednesday), and the winner gets to do some red carpet work for People.com.

I'm not sure which red carpet they're talking here. It's a "major Hollywood event this September," according to the contest page on YouTube.

People.com and YouTube contest organizers, could you be more vague? I'm thinking it's the Emmys but I'm not motivated enough to go hunt down the information.

In case you're interested, here's a video giving you everything you need to know for the contest (except which event you'll be covering). Good luck, and make sure to plug Watch This Now if you win:

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When we look for new clips to post on Watch This Now, we often check out www.viralvideochart.com to see what's popular with the YouTube set.

We've long hypothesized that we could get thousands of hits for the blog if we simply posted cat videos. And if you check out Viralvideochart.com, it would seem to confirm that -- seven of the top 10 clips feature real or cartoon cats.

Here's the clip at no. 1 for now. Enjoy:

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I thought this was just a weird YouTube clip -- like a hip-hop takeoff of the old Blind Melon "No Rain" video with the Bee Girl -- until I clicked the "more info" link on the clip and discovered it's actually a public service announcement of sorts for this effort to save honeybees.

You can watch the clip here, and find out more about what's happening to the bees by clicking this link.

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The wacky kids from Improv Everywhere are at it again...

This time the Improv Everywhere folks recruited identical twins to sit on a subway car and freak people out. And they filmed it. Here's what happened:

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He must have written all the parenting books I've ever read:

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Fellow blogger Ralph de la Cruz posted this video of an office worker going postal on his blog. Turns out it's fake, but it's entertaining so go visit Ralph's blog to check it out.

I'll even provide you the link.

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Oooh, very cool.

and this video is a tutorial behind one of the cool moves you see above.

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Those crazy Improv Everywhere kids -- the ones who brought you the people frozen in Grand Central Station -- recently got their agents to span the Brooklyn Bridge so they could create a wave of camera flashes along the bridge. Why? I have no earthly clue.

Even weirder: This all happened in the rain. Meaning, 700 people agreed to stand in the rain to be part of this project. I doubt they were paid.

There are very few things for which I would stand in the rain. This would not be one of them.

Kinda cool video, though. Check it out:

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Is this real? Because for some reason this clip totally reminds me of the movie "Gremlins."

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For a long weekend, there was no shortage of viral videos. Here are four that people will be talking about at work this week.

1) Weezer's "Pork and Beans" video. I know we've already done a few posts on this one, but it's dominated the viral video world this weekend. Released on Friday, it's already got more than three million hits and counting. Best video since J.U.S.T.I.C.E's "Dance."

2) David Beckham's long goal. In a Saturday matchup with the Kansas City Wizards, L.A. Galaxy player (and the only soccer player I know) David Beckham scored a 70-yard goal.

This clip had more than 900,000 hits within 24 hours.

3) Kobe Bryant teamed up with the crew from MTV's "Jackass" for this follow-up to the clip of him hopping over an Aston-Martin.

Hmmm... I wonder if footage of Kobe jumping over a pool of snakes might be doctored.

4) Last and least -- Sharon Stone's commentary on the earthquake in China.

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I've always wondered, how much these guys practice before these crazy stunts. Did Robbie Knievel actually already jump over 24 delivery trucks -- breaking his dad's record of 14 trucks -- on some deserted farm somewhere? Or was this the very first time he did it?

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Mr. Tuba Player, the band uniform does not give you the authority to push people around. Or, in this case, trip them.

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Apparently some of us do not put on our pants one leg at a time.

Two questions are begged from this video:

1) Who came up with the idea to jump off a roof/car/friend into a pair of jeans?

2) Doesn't it hurt?

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My vote is for fake shark. And silly surfer who thinks the YouTube universe will believe this is real.

Then again, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe a shark just happened by the pier while this surfer happened to have a video camera, surfboard, fishing pole and what appears to be raw meat on a hook.

I like the music, though. Very Jack Johnson-y (if it is not in fact an excerpt of a Jack Johnson song, with a little added scratch).

Your thoughts? Fake shark? Real Jack Johnson song? Discuss.

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The Japanese are not really a sea-faring people, but they live on a very big island surrounded by lots and lots of clams. I could wax on about the sacred nature of the clam, the sexual mystic of its pearly essence hidden inside a shell. But this clip of the annual clam harvest-dance party pretty much says it all:

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I disagree with one point in this short clip -- there is always time to play ping pong.

Quick viewer warning: This song could get stuck in your head. It's stuck in mine as I write this.

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Tricia Walsh Smith is a British actress-playwright and the wife of the Schubert Theater Organization's president, Philip J. Smith.

That's all you really need to know.

Oh, yeah, they're also getting a divorce, and it's getting nasty. There's been a fight over the pre-nup (which apparently includes an apartment in Florida) going on since last fall.

Now Ms. Walsh Smith has decided to air her dirty laundry on YouTube. At first I thought this was another hoax, what with the soap opera introduction and all. But apparently it's real:

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Those of you who are familiar with "Will It Blend?" may enjoy this clip from the Orlando Sentinel's "What the Blog?" blog. The clip is like the microwave version of putting random items in a blender.

So if you were wondering what else you can put inside a microwave besides TV dinners and marshmallow Peeps, this entry will provide an answer.

Consider it a Watch This Now public service.

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Despite years of filling my brain with pop culture knowledge, I had no clue until last week what it meant to be "Rick Roll'd." But it is apparently all the rage with the kids on the Internet, and last Tuesday if you looked for videos on YouTube, you probably got Rick Roll'd.

If you want a definition of getting Rick Roll'd, here's the link to the Urban Dictionary definition. Or, you can watch this clip of a TV news anchor getting Rick Roll'd, live during an April Fool's Day broadcast. You'll find it's fairly self-explanatory.

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Want to go to Mars? Founders from Google and Virgin announced (on April 1) that they would be taking hundreds of people to colonize the red planet. The joint venture? It's called Virgle.

All you have to do is fill out this application (some questions ask about your tolerance for algae as food) and then submit a 30-second video of yourself explaining why you want to go to Mars.

So far, there have been more than 400 responses-- some weird, some funny, and some obvious product placements.

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Happy April Fool's Day, everybody! Is this what happens when jokes go too far?

I'm left to wonder if this clip is itself a joke, because I can't imagine a workplace that would allow its employees to spend their work hours executing an elaborate prank on a vacationing colleague. That said, I urge my fellow Sentinel cubicle dwellers to feel free to go ahead and do this to my desk next time I'm on vacation. Except you can leave out the ceiling fan, because I imagine it would be awfully hard to stand up without getting whacked in the head.

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Where I work, if you're tired of your holiday candy, you just bring it into the office and set it out on a table or stick it in a candy dish. I guarantee by the end of the day, it will be gone.

Then again, your co-workers devouring candy probably doesn't make as interesting a video as melting chocolate bunnies:

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Nothing screams "bad idea" like this clip here, where a groom-to-be gets drunk at a horse race, finds his way onto the track and decides to race the horses -- naked.

I hope his buddies saved his clothes and brought them to him once he was done on the track. I also hope they brought him a towel, because that face-plant toward the end looks pretty brutal.

I can only imagine what his bride-to-be had to say when he got home.

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Happy Easter, everybody. What better way to celebrate than to recreate the great Peep Battle of 1989? The only thing outweighing the casualties was the amount of actual destruction. Tip: Frozen Peeps taste wonderful.

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The creator of 2007's most talked about viral video has just released his latest offering. Chris Crocker posted this to his YouTube account March 17, and he already has over 600,000 views.

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What happens when the stopwatch application on your iPhone reaches 1,000 hours? I know you've been wondering! You could either wait 41 days... or just watch this video.

For a quick Q&A with the stopwatch guy:
http://weblogs.redeyechicago.com/iphoneblog/2008/03/an-interview-wi.html

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Remember last week's post about the improv group that got a group of people to freeze in their places in Grand Central Station Freeze? Now the freeze has migrated overseas. A group in London did their own freeze on Saturday in Trafalgar Square, and a few videos have made their way onto YouTube.

Here's a crowd shot:

And here's one from the participant's perspective:

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Dinosaurs "sweded." It all makes sense if you read the article in the Features section today. (alright, it probably still won't). Watch this video if a) you love "Jurassic Park" and b) you've got at least 5 minutes of free time.

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Have you checked out the article in our Pl@y section about "sweding"-- the act of recreating something you love with yourself in it? (It's all about the heart, kid).

We will be rolling out "sweded" videos all morning long and also be publishing interviews with the films' creators over the next few days. You'll be able to watch "Lord of the Rings," "Jurassic Park" and "Karate Kid" in your cubicle (albeit shortened versions done by people who are probably sitting in cubicles right now themselves).

Here's "Lord of the Rings: Swede"

Watch part two here.

And come back tomorrow for a long Q&A with the creator, who will provide trivia about how the video was made.

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Cool in theory, but annoying if you're trying to get somewhere.

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This isn't my sort of thing. I actually find it kind of annoying. But I bet this has 1 million hits by the end of the week.

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I like my Kimchi hot, preferably with big bowl of rice and a cool Japanese beer. But I had no idea it goes with spaghetti:

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As we become more of a virtual world, it only makes sense that more songwriters will sing to the glories of spam and penile enlargment ads as opposed to meadows, trees and streams. Here's the latest entry in this emerging genre: I Want More Porn.

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Reason #487 not to work on your computer at a coffee shop.

Or, how about this:

It's safe to assume if you fly off the handle in public, you will get videotaped and that video will get posted on YouTube and you quite possibly could become an Internet phenomenon. Consider yourself warned.

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People of a certain age no doubt have fond memories of Fred MacMurray and flubber, a mysterious concoction that, as I recall, would allow a high school basketball team to play like the (old) Miami Heat. Well, it turns out that flubber is back, and it has domestic uses that may appeal to South Florida couples. No word on whether this is on sale locally, though shovels are in abundance.

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A teenager’s parents go out of the town and he decides to have a few friends over. A few friends soon become more friends. More friends become a full-fledged party.

It's a story we've all heard before. But what happens when the party grows to more than 500 people and people start vandalizing police cars and terrifying neighbors? Enter 16-year-old Corey Worthington Delaney, who has become a bit of a media sensation in Melbourne, Australia, for his out-of-control party. Corey clips are now dotting YouTube, but this one is my favorite.

The combination of this numbskull and an indignant news anchor makes for fun TV.

Best line- “I’d say sorry, but I’m not taking off my glasses…Because they’re famous.”

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Comedian Mark Malkoff asked IKEA if he could live in its Paramus, New Jersey, store for six days and strangely enough, IKEA agreed. Malkoff created a site documenting his experience. He’s the same guy who visited 171 Starbucks in New York City in one day.

Here’s what it was like for him to wake up at IKEA:

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One of the new genres emerging in viral video is the musical tribute to online services. Though this may eventually become as inane as rock n' roll tributes to the glory of rock n' roll (see under: Seeger, Bob; Starship, Jefferson), right now it's fresh and pretty funny. It's also a very telling indicator of the enthusiasm for new forms of media.

Here's one of the best making the rounds these days: "YouTube is My Life":

And check out this ditty for Digg:

The media theorist Jeff Jarvis has quite rightly asked if anyone can imagine fans writing songs about CBS or The New York Times, not to mention our own beloved Sun-Sentinel

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If you've seen Superbad, then you're going to really enjoy this.

If not, just imagine discussing your teenage sex life with your hyper-articulate grandparents. Imagine them discussing sexual technique, profanity and slang terms for parts of the body. Then think of them going over the profane scribblings you might have made in your class notebooks in embarrassing detail.

This is a review of Superbad from reelgeezers, two elderly film buffs who seem to be filming this from their home in the suburbs of Boca Raton.

I love it:

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I'm waiting now for the Ron Paul/RuPaul collaboration:

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Gnos eht sseug ot yrt | Try to guess the song

Half-way through the video, it will switch in reverse so you can recognize the song.

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Some of the most ambitious television commercials over the last few years have been for Guinness Beer. They are more like short films. Here’s my favorite. In case you’re wondering, the song is by Sammy Davis Jr.

Then there’s this strange one directed by acclaimed music video director Jonathan Glazer. How many other beer commercials feature a talking squirrel and a writhing mass of humanity?

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One of my favorite YouTube bloggers is supricky06. Part of the reason I’m a subscriber of his is because he updates regularly (take note William Sledd, whose last update was a month ago).

In this video, he rants on receiving pat-downs by airport security, sitting on an airplane next to someone with big shoulders and describes how picking up your luggage at the carousel is like a game of double-dutch.

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Former Dallas-Fort Worth news anchor Michael Scott has a close encounter with a reptile in this classic August 2002 clip:

In an interview with the Huntsville (Ala.) Times earlier this year, Scott described the encounter:

"I lost my mind and dropped an F-bomb on the air. I was shaking, and my wife thought I'd been electrocuted. I was just trying to get the thing off me, lost my balance and fell. I just kept saying, 'Get this thing off me!'

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I don't particularly like this song, and I don't know much about this artist. He's apparently French, which may explain a lot after you watch the video.

What's intriguing is that there's a lot going on here that I don't fully understand. It's like that with great art.

For example: What do sheep have to do with Michael Jackson and Britney Spears? Is this a meta-commentary that we who follow pop stars are sheep? Or was it just that the local sheep farm was available for filming that day.

Oh, and don't miss the dancing David Lynchian Michael Jackson dwarf in the third act:

And if you just want to skip the song and gift the sheep dancing to a friend for the holidays:

Britney Sheep Thriller

Add to My Profile | More Videos

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The excessive body movement, the cheesy lighting effects-- this cello-inspired cover of Europe's Final Countdown is brilliant. I half-expect Gob from Arrested Development to pop out and shower pennies upon the audience.

Thought: This arrangement would be a great replacement for the procession song during weddings! Or this.

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He’s dresses like an orphan out of a Dickens novel, sings in a bizarre falsetto and hangs out at bus stations. And Little Lad has become a YouTube phenomenon with more than 5 million hits.

When I first saw the commercial I was vaguely disturbed, but it’s grown on me. Maybe it’s just the sheer randomness of the spot. Or maybe I’ve been won over by the actor’s manic intensity.

Since the Starburst commercial’s debut seven months ago, it has spawned a variety of music remixes, this one being the most popular with 1.5 million hits:

But I think the best user-generated video featuring Little Lad has to be this one posted last month.

I have no idea how Little Lad, Stars Wars and Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” work so well together, but they do:

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Full disclosure: I'm a dog person. But I'm not above shamelessly using singing cats to draw traffic to our blog.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Jingle Cats:

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What if one of Santa's reindeers snapped and went after him? What if Santa later went on a cheesy reality show to re-enact the mauling?

Watch the video until the end for the pay-off.

My favorite lines:

"All that changed the day Casper went bad."

"This is the most bizarre case I've ever been on involving a reindeer and man." (As opposed to the run-of-the-mill cases involving reindeer and men.)

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The new Star Trek film, the so-called "reboot" of the franchise, is a year away. But even hardcore fans may be surprised that there are new Trek episodes on the web. These are wholly web-produced "fan fictions" that actually feature some of the stars of the original series and boast pretty good production values.

You can generally pick the fans from the professional actors, but you have to think, "Wow. What a geek's dream! To walk on the deck of the USS Enterprise! To sit alongside Vulcans and Klingons!"

The United Federation of Planets for me was always a bit like an interstellar South Florida, a beguiling and sometimes dangerous place where cultures clash and compromise.

Check out this clip with George Takei, the original Mr. Sulu, from startreknewvoyages.com:

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MTV may no longer play music videos, but there are some great ones floating around the Internet.

One of my favorites this year is a user-generated video of Arcade Fire’s “My Body Is A Cage” set to scenes from Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West. It's a top-notch editing job.

The music site Pitchfork gave the video some well-deserved recognition this week, rating it one of the top 50 videos of the year.

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Here are a couple well-done, user-generated videos featuring Jack Bauer from the fast-paced world of 24.

The first video imagines how difficult the counter-intelligence agent's job would be if he was stuck in 1994. The second changes his job description to that of a 24-hour pizza deliveryman.

Overall, it kind of highlights how we take for granted how quickly we get our information today.

This next video is a bit longer, just to warn you. You can find Part 1 (which sort of explains the whole Cougar character) here.

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Newsrooms are full of televisions and for more than a year, I faced one tuned to WTVJ-Channel 6 (usually on mute). That meant that for more than a year, I would occasionally look up and see Ellen DeGeneres and her audience dancing.

If for some horrible reason I ever ended up in her studio audience, I think my reaction would be similar to that of comedian Zach Galifianakis:

Ellen’s crowd seems downright sedate, though, compared to the studio audience for Oprah’s recent"Favorite Things" episode.

I might cry for joy, too, if I got a refrigerator with a television on the door.

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Every Sunday, I check PostSecret for the weekly updates. It's a Web site where people send hand-written postcards sharing their secrets.

The project has been around since 2004, but the site has started welcoming video submissions. Here's one of the first:

PostSecret is the third most popular blog on the Internet, according to Technorati. I can see why. Although it's disheartening to see people express pain and regret, it's sort of invigorating to see people share so much of themselves. Here's a trailer for a Web site showcasing a collection of submitted post cards.

Want more information? Check out this news segment on the site's origin and creator.

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Former major leaguer Mark Littell claims he’s revolutionized the world of athletic protective cups. He’s so confident his product works, he’s willing to…oh, just watch this now:

This video has been floating around YouTube since November 2006, but it looks like Littell and the Nutty Buddy are going to get much more exposure after an Associated Press article this week (written by reporter Chris Kahn, friend of WTN).

The cups come in four sizes—“Hammer,” “Boss, “Hog” and the extra-large “Mongo.”

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Is ABC's Lost coming back in February, and is it coming back for six episodes or eight? Right now fans are very lost.

The word on the net is that it's up in the air. Eight episodes are in the can, but because a natural arc occurs at the end of six, the producers are reportedly reluctant to toss out two more with no end in sight for the writer's strike.

Until that's decided, we've got this very intriguing trailer playing on screens nationwide.

Losties, look carefully about midway through for a very different looking image of Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), whose character died during last year's season final. Maybe a Charlie from a parallel universe?

(Shoutout to DarkUFO blogspot)

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Remember that kid on the playground who used to make make rather rude noises by pressing his hands together?

Now imagine if a teacher walked over to him and said, “Keep practicing and you could become famous."

Meet Gerry Phillips, the hand musician.

He’s got 66 videos on YouTube, everything from Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” to the “Benny Hill Theme.”

This one is my favorite, though:

To learn more about the man behind the hands, go to his Web site. You can book him for parties.

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For some reason, I'm sick of hearing Xmas songs already.

It might be that the image of doe-eyed, pajamaed tykes opening presents with glee on Christmas morn has given way to hairy teenagers confronting me with lines like "Can't you just give me the iPhone now and let's call it even."

Whatever it is, I'm in no mood for holiday songs, especially those sung by aging rockers. So the image of a dirty,methed-up Santa digging a desert grave for the lead singer of The Killers is just what I want in my eggnog.

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This guy was projected to be a first-round pick in the 2007 NFL draft, but his stock fell after teams started questioning his maturity.

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Male flute players in junior high weren’t thought of as rough and tumble guys.

I should know -- I was one.

I started with the trumpet, but my parents and band teacher decided I needed to switch to the flute. They said I didn’t have the lung capacity to play the trumpet. I really think it was that they didn’t have the ear capacity to listen to my sweet trumpet styling.

The only rock n' roll flutist I had for inspiration was the dude from Jethro Tull. I’ve never seen anyone smash a flute on stage.

Now there are beatbox flute players. Who knew?

Never thought of "The Knight Rider Theme" as a flute song.

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Thanks to our own South Florida Taser Boy, a new genre has been born: the Taser video.

Expect more of these in the coming year. Perhaps we’ll get to see a Taser blended?

You’ll find this under several headings on the net. My favorite: “Man Gets Tased by Bored Utah Cop”:

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The movie The Wedding Singer was hilarious. But wedding videos in general are boring (unless you are the bride or groom or maybe the bride's mother).

Wedding videos are interchangeable. White dresses, awkward dancing, vested groomsmen, ugly bridesmaid gowns.

That might be why mainstream TV shows about weddings fail. Last year's The Wedding Bells on Fox lasted seven episodes and NBC's reality show The Real Wedding Crashers succumbed early.

So it's great when weddings break out of the tradition and try something bold.

According to YouTube, Thriller is the most popular dance at a wedding.

(It’s all part of the Thriller resurgence. Expect a future blog post exploring this)

But what’s better than the first dance? The first light saber duel.

Speaking of Star Wars:

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If the video's good, we're not above shilling for soft drinks here at WTN.

I first heard Chocolate Rain on my way to cover a hurricane in Jamaica last summer. The song, by web phenom Tay Zonday (Minnesota PhD. candidate Adam Nyerere Bahner) had all of the earmarks of an ad song you can't get out of your heard.

Now it's been revamped by Dr. Pepper for its Cherry Chocolate Diet line with some astounding lyrics.

Any song that contains the line: "Cherry Chocolate Rain/Ohio's agriculture's based on grains" has a special place in this Ohioan's heart.

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Katie Couric's ratings are continuing to plummet at CBS News, and with them, the same old formulas that continue to plague old media.

What's really tragic is that, in her unguarded moments leaked on the Internet, she's quite funny, biting and sarcastic.

There's the now-classic riff on Dan Rather caught before a stand-up.

And there's this funny little bit from the emerging web comedian Nalts:

One of the things we're trying to do here at WTN (We're less than a week old so I thought I could be cool and use the shorthand) is give shoutouts to some of the emerging talents of new media.

So check out more Nalts here, a funny riff on the temptations of the iPhone:

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I love Japanese commercials. Because even if you understand Japanese, even if you are Japanese, they’re pretty surreal. This is just to alert parents that if a mute man in a dog costume begins signing to their kids, don’t worry, he just wants a potato chip.

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From Thanksgiving Day to Christmas Day, the mainstream media vilifies one particular group. The MSM has blamed these individuals for crimes stretching from Ontario to Florida. Yet there only has been one documented case of these bizarre creatures and that dates back 40 years ago to the town of Who-ville.

I’m talking about Grinches.

The media can’t seem to help themselves in blaming Grinches for felonious holiday activities. Daily newspapers have attributed more than 100 crimes since November 2005 to “Grinches,” according to a scan of the LexisNexis database. I can’t even guess at how many times local television reporters have accused Grinches of wrongdoing. Here’s a sample of misdeeds attributed to Grinches:

* Stealing toys from the Gardena, Calif., Chamber of Commerce.
* Pilfering dozens of large holiday bows from downtown Des Moines.
* Snatching presents from under two Christmas trees in Fenton, Mich.
* Swiping a Salvation Army donation kettle in Fruitland Park, a central Florida town.

In other words, the MSM believes Grinches are penny-ante, non-violent thieves who go on crime binges every December.

Now newspapers are warning people about “cyber-Grinches.” Just who is allowing Dr. Seuss characters to have Internet access? Can I expect a Nigerian scam e-mail from the Lorax?

“The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” has spawned a wonderful cartoon, a big-budget movie and a Broadway production, but the book also has given birth to a crime-reporting cliché that rivals “pool of blood.”

Let’s reclaim the Grinch’s good name and remember him for this:

And if you wish to gain a better understanding of Grinch culture, go here.

So unless a green tuft of hair is found at a crime scene, let's reserve judgment.

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The “Will It Blend?” series on YouTube reminds me of the kind of stuff we did to entertain ourselves as kids. Along the lines of, ‘Let’s see what happens when we throw these Ewok action figures into the kitchen ceiling fan while it’s on high.’ (Answer: I don’t remember what happens. It was more than 20 years ago.)

Here’s the basic rundown: Tom Dickson, a genial fellow in a lab coat, takes stuff that you shouldn’t put in a blender, puts it in the blender, and blends it. He’s destroyed a dazzling array of items, including an iPod, an iPhone, glow sticks, lighters and a Chuck Norris action figure.

Tom’s latest experiment is whether he can blend Guitar Hero III. Check out the results here:

My favorite so far was the glow sticks. Here’s that video:

There is, of course, a “Will It Blend?” Web site. You can buy “Will It Blend?” merchandise and suggest stuff for Tom to blend. Here’s the site.

Given that we’re in the holiday season, I asked Tom to blend some Christmas tree garland. Yes, I know it’s lame because it’s unlikely that garland will produce any kind of toxic smoke that billows from the blender when Tom is through mixing it, but I can’t bear to watch him annihilate another piece of pricey electronics equipment.

Maybe I’ll suggest some Christmas lights instead?

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The upcoming movie Be Kind Rewind will be introducing a new word to the pop culture vernacular: Sweded.

The comedy's premise: Video store clerks played by Jack Black and Mos Def must film movie reenactments after accidentally erasing all their videotapes.

Jack Black’s character tells customers that their movies are "Sweded"- customized from Sweden.

If the term becomes widely accepted, it could replace more general words to describe videos such as “homemade” or “adaptation” or “reenacted.”

Here’s the trailer to a great "Sweded" film based on Raiders of the Lost Ark:

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This won’t be news to anybody living in South Florida, but for the first time the Spanish surnames Garcia and Rodriguez are among the top 10 most common in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That means both the Smiths and the Joneses are more likely to find themselves in the place of the beleaguered singer of the “One Semester of Spanish Love Song:”

The subtitled version:

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Welcome to Watch This Now.

This blog exists to find cool stuff on the Internet for you so you don’t waste your time and brain cells having to hunt it down.

We could blather on about the blog, but to very loosely paraphrase Leo Tolstoy:

“We don’t tell. We don’t explain. We show.”

So on with the show.

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