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How GMail really works (sort of)

When Google wanted to make an ad for Gmail, they asked people who use it to send in video clips showing the GMail logo passing from the left of the screen to the right. The best of the 1,100 entries have now been edited together into this, probably the most entertaing ad for an email service that you'll ever see.

Can a real hamster survive in a retro videogame? Yes, he can.

In Iceland, it's very cold and the nights are very long. That's probably why amateur organist Musikvatur devoted many hours to building an accurate, moving scale model of the set from an 1985 video game, then teaching his hamster how to play it, for real. That's really the only possible explanation for this extraordinary clip.

America needs more maps!

Here's Caitlin Upton, AKA Miss Teen South Carolina 2007, being asked why so few Americans can find their country on maps of the world. Her response is so baffling - involving references to "US Americans", Iraq and South Africa - that it's made her a bigger Internet star than Miss Teen Colorado, who went on to win the Miss USA competition.

Jamie Bell vs KateModern vs LonelyGirl15

Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) is promoting his new film Hallam Foe by appearing as himself in KateModern - the new British fictional video diary series from the people who made LonelyGirl15. If you're over 14 and this makes no sense at all, don't worry too much.

Here's the press release about the sponsorship deal.

When your whiteboard comes to life

Armed only with a whiteboard, a pen and a digital camera, Swedish artist/musician Kristofer Ström made this incredible zero-budget video for techno band Minilogue, which has been watched almost two million times on YouTube. It moves so fast, you might need to see it a few times to take everything in.

Here's Kristofer's blog, and don't miss his Kobra series for Swedish television.

Mind-blowing Finnish cover version of YMCA from 1979

It's what the Internet is for: Eye-popping video of a 1979 cover version of the Village People's YMCA, played by Finnish 'dance and exercise' band Gregorius. Gasp at the tight white running shorts, swoon over the rockin' bass player, and wonder just what they were putting in the water in Helsinki back then.
Of course, Finland is famous for once having created the worst music video ever.

If you need a palate cleanser after that, here is The Muppets singing 'In The Navy'

Terry Gilliam's Storytime

Run Fatboy Run: The new Simon Pegg film

Here's a strange idea: A British romantic comedy starring Simon Pegg (from Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead) as a chubby guy who abandons his pregnant fiance (Thandie Newton) at the altar. To win her back, he has to get in shape and run a marathon. And the whole thing is directed by David Schwimmer from Friends.

Not enough fatboys? Here's  the official website featuring the juvenile-but-fun Fatboy Frogger. And if you're actually a fat boy who wants to run, Run Fat Boy Run is a clever exercise website.

Phenomenal Japanese wave pool action

Tired of the dismal weather? In Japan, indoor swimming pools are phenomenally popular. This incredible clip shows the  pool at the huge Tokyo Summerland theme park on a recent holiday weekend. 23,000 people turned up to swim, paying up to £20 each. At 3pm, they turned on the wave machine and this happened...

(via Trends in Japan with more on Tokyo indoor pools at News on Japan and there's a great picture series at Theme Park Review) 

Amazing Aerogel videos

Inspired by this Sunday Times story about Aerogel - the world changing 'frozen smoke', here are three clips of the stuff for real. They're not very informative, but this stuff is just hypnotic:

Door-to-door atheists

Have you ever had a weekend lie-in spoiled by annoying, if well-meaning missionaries ringing your doorbell? Australian filmmaker John Safran was so exasperated by antemeridian Mormons that he flew to Salt Lake City Utah and tried some atheist evangelism. For Mormons, or for people who may be offended by a certain amount of fruity language, we don’t recommend this video. Everyone else should find it rather droll.

For a more balanced and sensible view on religious matters you might like to visit Libby Purves' excellent blog Faith Central

Whatever happened to Arnold?

It seems that no band’s live set is complete these days without the obligatory quirky or slyly ironic cover version. As part of their 4oth anniversary celebrations Radio 1 have commissioned a delicious smorgasbord of the things. We especially liked Corinne Bailey Rae’s slinky take on Justin Timberlake’s ‘Sexyback’ which is, therefore, today’s Clip Joint presentation.

Saab Car Ballet

Motorists are increasingly (and you may well say justifiably) demonised for their contribution to climate change and for generally stinking up the great outdoors. There’s more to driving than that though, and more even than getting from A to B. Today’s Clip Joint celebrates the splendid but forgotten art of showing off in cars.

At last: Chocolate Rain

In case you’re the one person on Earth who hasn’t heard ‘Chocolate Rain’ or seen at least one of its many spin-off videos we’ve found a clip of literally and figuratively booming Internet sensation Tay Zonday being interviewed by US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel and singing his worldwide web hit in front of an audience who (endearingly) can’t quite decide how to clap along.

So it goes...

The music world became a less exciting place last weekend when impresario and commentator Tony Wilson died at the shockingly young age of 57. His magpie eye for a new trend, combined with a curmudgeonly refusal to become absorbed into the London media hydra, was instrumental in the establishment of Manchester as a creative hub to rival Liverpool or the Capital. We have rounded up a documentary retrospective, plus some clips from his greatest discoveries as Clip Joint pays tribute to one of the last great Pop Culture mavericks.

Say cheese!

With an exponential increase in channels and a commensurate collapse of audience share programme makers like to fill their schedules with ‘ordinary people’ because, frankly, they’re so cheap. Regrettably they’re also not especially entertaining: Why couldn’t someone sign up this ordinary person? Jordan Greenhalgh took 987 Polaroids and made the most interesting film you’ll see all day

It was twenty years ago today...

Today we have a song that will touch the heart of every gentleman (and many gentlewomen) of a certain age: It’s a tribute to that golden age of television when every other programme seemed to be an implausible Glen Larson action show. If you ever watched The A-Team, Airwolf, MacGyver, or Knight Rider, this one’s for you

Decks and Violins

When you hear the words ‘scratching’ and ‘violin’ together you’ll probably think of some laudably earnest but conspicuously talent-free youngsters torturing the catgut in their school orchestra. Think again: Today we have two inventive young men do their best to give a very old instrument a fresh new voice.

A wild & crazy guy

Before Steve Martin elected top star in a series of decreasingly funny films about hapless dads, he was one of the most original comedians in America. We’ve rounded up a couple of examples of his ‘earlier, funnier, work’ for your entertainment today: First up, a rarely-seen short film and then for dessert a clip of some highly influential zip-based prestidigitation.

Will it de-blend?

You may recall us introducing you to the ‘will it blend’ series back in March of this year. Evidently French director, writer and all-round hipster Michael Gondry was paying attention because he’s now produced his own idiosyncratically surreal take on the genre – de-blending a shattered DVD in defiance of both entropy and good sense.

Man cooks Chicken and Pears.

The King of New York gives cookery lessons? Who knew? I'm Cooked is a repository of amateur cookery videos and features hundreds of decidedly non-celebrity chefs sharing their special recipes via the wonder of the Internet. Today's video though features the coolest man in movies demonstrating his signature dish for your pleasure:

By popular demand we've disabled the embedding for this clip, as in some browsers it seems to start spontaneously. Click on this text if you missed Christopher Walken cooking poultry and fruit.

Boldly splitting infinitives for 40 years

Star Trek is the TV show that just will not die: Cancelled in the 1960s but then, like some warp-engined phoenix, coming back from the dead to become one of the biggest sci-fi franchises ever. At any given moment it's always on somewhere, and it's normally an episode you don't remember having seen before. With a prequel featuring the original characters currently in production this clip of a fresh-faced Bill Shatner talking about the first series before its launch is both timely and strangely entertaining.

As a little bonus, here's Leonard Nimoy with some more musings on the fledgeling science fiction juggernaut.

You call that a shark? THIS is a shark!

The silly season is upon us, with politicians and journalists putting their collective feet up just as ice-cream men and deckchair superintendents prepare for a long hard summer's work: The frankly specious news reports of a giant killer shark off our coast are classic silly season fare, with a harmless basking shark cast in the role of the implacable predator intent on eating holidaymaker and jet-ski alike. If you want a real monster shark though you need look no further than this piece of timeless drollery from Shark Attack 3: The Megalodon.