Viral videos of the week – 31/03/2013

31 Mar 2013

Still from 'Things you could have said in the 80s' by Republic of Telly

We take a look at some of the most-viewed and most-shared videos on the web. This week features a bumbling burglar, some eighties nostalgia, short ways to describe Ireland, Ron Swanson popping and locking, and Wayne Rooney repeatedly being hit in the face with a football.

More than 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, 500 years of video watched on Facebook every day, and more than 700 YouTube videos shared on Twitter each minute, ensuring there is always video trending on the web.

With so much video available for viewing, we take a look at some of the viral videos that have caught our eye this week.

Video captures bumbling burglary suspect

I’ll start this week off with a short surveillance clip of, quite possibly, the world’s worst criminal released by police in Redding, California. The would-be burglar chose an unorthodox disguise and method for breaking into this grocery store earlier this month, and I guess his punishment is being the laughing stock of the internet this week.

 

Uploaded: 27 March 2013

Things you could say in the 80s

This nostalgic look at Ireland in the eighties comes from RTÉ’s Republic of Telly and reminds us of a time when people were planning to vote for Bertie Ahern, crispy pancakes were a delicious delicacy, phones and microwaves were the height of technology, and a mammy weilding a wooden spoon was a most terrifying sight.

 

Uploaded: 25 March 2013

Ireland in three words

Anyone with a keen eye on the Twittersphere in the past week may have spotted the hashtag #Irelandin3words trending along with some glib and accurate summations of our little isle. This compilation, which features contributions from Irish Twitter stars Damien Mulley, Darragh Doyle and fictional Dubliner Ross O’Carroll Kelly, was helpfully uploaded for us all to enjoy by Colin Brady.

 

Uploaded: 26 March 2013

Nick Offerman break dances

Earlier this month, Nick Offerman (AKA Ron Swanson from Parks & Recreation) took part in an AMA on Reddit where he broached the subject of break-dancing in his younger years. Naturally, the actor was asked if he still had the moves when he appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Turns out, he does.

 

Uploaded: 28 March 2013

Why do we play games?

This week’s Vsauce contribution not only explains how games are good for our brains, dispelling the old notion of jocks and nerds being disparate groups, it also tells us why Americans call it ‘soccer’ instead of football (turns out it’s the Brits’ fault), and the difference between BIRGing and CORFing.

 

Uploaded: 23 March 2013

Telepathic football

Speaking of the games we play, check out this telepathic football challenge set by Manchester United’s class of 1999 (the golden year) in the form of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole against current strikers Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez.

 

Uploaded: 28 March 2013

Stay informed – get daily updates on the latest happenings in technology directly to your inbox.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com