This week in viral videos, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart gets teary eyed during his final show after a 16-year spell and we finally get a glimpse of what Shrek would have been like had Chris Farley been in the role.
Jon Stewart bows out of The Daily Show
For 16 years, Jon Stewart has hosted The Daily Show, easily one of the most influential shows as far as satire in the US goes, having already spawned off not one, but two, variations which have gone on to great success themselves.
If it weren’t for Stewart, Stephen Colbert wouldn’t have been considered for the role of speaker at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and his own satirical show, and John Oliver would not be hosting Last Week Tonight on HBO.
To mark the occasion, Colbert paid an unscheduled visit to the set to do what everyone else there wanted to do, thank Colbert for his service, and it made the man a little teary-eyed.
Uploaded: 06 August 2015
Chris Farley as Shrek
Some out there might not be aware that before Mike Myers went into the recording booth and began talking as everyone’s favourite Scottish-accented ogre, the part of Shrek had been cast as Chris Farley.
The actor, who had been a star on Saturday Night Live and subsequent films, was just 33 when he went in to work with Eddie Murphy on the voiceovers for the now-legendary film but, sadly, he died prematurely before it could be finished.
Despite having recorded nearly all of the dialogue – between 80-90pc – the film was re-cast with Mike Myers, but now, early drawings and Chris Farley’s dialogue has emerged, giving a rather interesting insight into the early Shrek character.
Uploaded: 04 August 2015
Husband shocks wife with pregnancy news
Some guy called Sam has made a load of people on YouTube do that thing where people flap their arms up and down in happiness and then say, “aww”.
The video follows the same concept where momentous occasions in a couple’s life are recorded for the sake of viral-ility (to coin a word) and, in this case, it’s the surprise of a wife being told she’s pregnant.
Believing it to be a prank at first, the wife Nia finally realises that her husband somehow managed to obtain a sample of her urine and decides to ignore that because, pregnant.
Kids are pretty adorable too.
Uploaded: 05 August 2015
Basking sharks filmed from a drone in Tobermory, Scotland
While probably not as terrifying as the seaweed shark, the basking shark is still a shark, and the team at Sea Life Surveys decided a drone was going to help them do something cool.
The shark is something like a giant ocean vacuum cleaner given that it opens its enormous mouth to devour vast quantities of plankton.
But now, a drone has been able to get closer than any boat could, just by hovering over the sharks as they swim close to the surface.
A pretty cool sight.
Uploaded: 03 August 2015
Dog learns to say ‘mama’ to get food, baby furious
You can’t teach a dog new tricks, but you can certainly get it to say whatever the hell you want as long as you have food for it.
That was the case for one family where the mother makes the baby and the dog compete for the same bit of food.
While the baby just stares at it with hunger, the clearly smarter dog decides to take matters into its own hands and break the species communication barrier.
The dog did eventually get some food, though, so I guess it’s time to begin promoting dogs to public office.
Uploaded: 05 August 2015
Are computer graphics (CG) ruining films?
No, according to RocketJump Film School. The real reason we think CG sucks is that we only ever notice bad CG, which in today’s day-and-age is pretty limited in Hollywood.
From its breakdown of blockbuster films, it seems that pretty much all large-scale scenes in films are the result of CG, whether it’s a busy street, or even a plane flying in the air because it’s clearly cheaper.
So the next time you want to give out about CG, it might be worth checking out this video.
Uploaded: 04 August 2015
Ares 3: The Right Stuff
The upcoming film The Martian, based on the very popular book by Andy Weir telling the tale of a NASA astronaut stranded on Mars, is coming soon, featuring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels and Kristen Wiig.
And if there’s one thing you can’t deny, it is the movie company’s hype game is strong, having already released a number of teasers — viral trailers profiling some of the characters.
This video teases the idea of the astronauts being asked about their experiences of isolation, something Matt Damon’s character will become all-too familiar with in the film.
Uploaded: 04 August 2015
Giant iMac wheel
What happens when you take 36 discarded iMac boxes and combine them to form a giant wheel? Well, you get the iWheel.
Seemingly with more time on their hands than sense, employees from the George Fox University IT department in the US did just that and seemingly had a blast.
Who needs a scroll wheel when you can have an actual wheel?
Uploaded: 04 August 2015
Jon Stewart image via Cliff/Flickr
Want stories like this and more direct to your inbox? Sign up for Tech Trends, Silicon Republic’s weekly digest of need-to-know tech news.
