Still from Paperman, Disney's Oscar-nominated animated short
We take a look at some of the most-viewed and most-shared videos on the web. This week features a can of mixed nuts in space, Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, a very determined dog, some illegal basketball manoeuvres, Disney’s Oscar-nominated short, and Samsung’s ad for that big American football game thing.
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.
Samsung Mobile USA – El Plato Supreme
Tonight at 11.30pm Irish time, Super Bowl XLVII touches down (sorry) and with it comes a slew of high-profile ads for which big brands pay big bucks to air during the big game. Advertisers have to pay up for prime placement during the sporting event that attracts some 90m viewers and, if they use any of the trademarked terms associated with the event, the price goes up.
But Samsung Mobile’s USA branch has skirted around this issue and, moving on from taking jabs at Apple and BlackBerry, has released a new ad starring familiar faces Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd (plus Breaking Bad’s Bob Odenkirk) poking fun at El Plato Supreme, which will see the San Francisco 50 Minus 1-ers take on Baltimore’s Black Birds.
Uploaded: 31 January 2013
Mixed Nuts in Space
Chris Hadfield, everyone’s favourite Canadian Space Agency astronaut, is doing more than just tweeting us glorious images from space, he’s also answering burning questions like ‘what happens when you open a tin of mixed nuts in the International Space Station?’ on YouTube.
Uploaded: 25 January 2013
Dumb as stick
We all have our favourite toys we wouldn’t want to leave behind, and for a dog that cherished accessory is often a really large stick. But what’s a bow-wow to do when faced with a narrow gap in the fence? Perseverance, that’s what this video will teach you.
Uploaded: 26 January 2013
Moment of the year in Russian basketball
Check out this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it illegal assist for a three-pointer in a Russian basketball game. Well I never!
Uploaded: 28 January 2013
First look at Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs
The upcoming Steve Jobs biopic focusing on Apple’s early days debuted at Sundance last weekend and is due for release in the US on 19 April, the anniversary of the founding of Apple Computers. While Ashton Kutcher has received praise for truly taking on Jobs’ look and mannerisms, the overall reception to jOBS (which doesn’t even follow the iDevice naming format, if that’s what they were reaching for) has been lukewarm. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who is played by Josh Gad in the released clip, said this scene is far from the reality, but at least we have the possibility of Steve Jobs penned by Aaron Sorkin (the man responsible for The Social Network) to look forward to if this film turns out to be as bad as it looks.
Uploaded: 24 January 2013
Paperman – full animated short film
We’re really looking forward to the release of Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph this month – even more so now that we know we’ll get to see this charming accompanying short on the big screen. Paperman has been nominated for Best Animated Short Film at this year’s Oscar’s (where it’s up against Irish producer Cronin O’Reilly’s Head Over Heels) and the groundbreaking film uses a technique that seamlessly merges CGI and hand-drawn animation. And the heartwarming story ain’t too bad either.
Uploaded: 29 January 2013
