In February 2005 two friends met in a garage in California to discuss creating a new web community. The idea was for any web user to be able to upload videos, share them, comment on each other's clips and generally surf around for interesting stuff (and without any dodgy content). They called their site YouTube, and this week the internet behemoths Google bought it for US$1.65 billion. So to give them a bit more publicity - everybody loves it when geeks become billionaires, after all - I had a quick rummage in YouTube's vaults and uncovered the following gems. Just click on the play button in the centre, and enjoy...
What did we do without the internet? Before it we wouldn't have been able to see things like this - a clearly lunatic woman who posesses mythical powers of control over houseflies. I'm not sure how she's able to hypnotise her Dipteran captives, but instead of making them do her evil bidding, she gets them to do acrobatics. Watch the clip of the four of them juggling balls and try not to be amazed...
Still in Japan - as predictably many of the greatest nuggets found on YouTube hail from - we have someone playing Tetris. Invented in 1985 by a Russian, Alexey Pazhitnov, it was so-called because each falling piece in the puzzle is made up of four squares. Working for the Soviet Academy of Sciences Computer Centre, he made very little money from his creation. A Soviet government company called 'Elorg' sold the international rights to Atari and Nintendo and everyone else made a packet. This clip features somebody playing the game at a staggering speed. There are rumours that it's been speeded up, but it's still eyewatering.
This middle-aged man with a play button for a nose is a planespotter. He's at the famous airport at the Caribbean Island of St Martin. Well, famous within planespotter circles, anyway. Julianna Airport's runway finishes at the beach, and apparently you can stand there and watch fully-laden 747's blast overhead right at the point of landing. You might want to bring earplugs though, and not just because this clip has backing music (that annoying Dick Dale tune from Pulp Fiction). For you fact lovers out there, St Martin is half owned by France (St-Martin), and half by the Netherlands (St Maarten), making it the smallest divided country in the world (38sq miles). Thanks Wikipedia!
I'm something of a tshirt person, having a collection numbering 48 at the last count. I don't fold any of them, but if I did - I'd try and do it like this (and fail). It starts off methodically and slowly, then without warning, SNAP!!, it's exactly folded in front of her. I've watched this many times and still can't figure out the method - it's like instant origami.
We all know there's nothing more amazing than an octopus - and here's yet another reason why. A diver swims towards a rock in the middle of a tropical seabed, which suddenly becomes an annoyed octopus and bolts off. Watch the slow-mo reverse footage and see how stunningly well it mimics the background environment.
I just can't watch this without laughing. Penguins are brilliant.
Over the next few weeks I'll be YouTubing (it's predictably now a verb) various videos I took on my travels, and will pop them up on here when inspiration strikes. Or when I can't think of anything else to put up, whichever happens first.
