Viral videos of the week: Carlton dance, kangaroo boxing and NASA’s Orion

11 Oct 2014

This week’s viral videos feature the return of the Carlton dance, two kangaroos getting into fisty cuffs in Australia, and US space agency NASA shows off Orion, its latest spacecraft.

About 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, Facebook videos see over 1bn views per 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.

The Carlton dance returns!

Alfonso Ribeiro, aka Carlton Banks, may only really be known for his portrayal of Carlton in the massive 90s sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel Air, but while a little bit older now, boy does he still have the moves.

Particularly when it comes to reviving the dance to Tom Jones’ It’s Not Unusual that has made him not just a TV legend, but an internet legend in gif form.

This week Alfonso appeared on the American version of the reality tv dancing show, Dance with the Stars where his moves melted the hearts of the audience and made this journalist feel overcome by nostalgia.

Apologies for the stupid annotations on the link but viewing rights don’t extend to Ireland.

Uploaded: 07 October 2014

Kangaroo knock out!

When the saying ‘only in …’ is bandied about, the term is usually pretty negative about wherever that place happens to be.

But in this case, saying ‘only in Australia’ is rather apt as two kangaroos battle it out in an Australian suburb.

Safe to say there’s a lot of kicking involved as they stand on their tail but both seem to be evenly matched in this version of Australian ‘Street Fighter’.

Uploaded: 06 October 2014

God Only Knows – BBC Music

For the launch of the new BBC website, BBC Music, the broadcaster pulled out all the stops to bring 32 of some of the biggest names in music to do their own version of the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, thankfully including Brian Wilson of the original band.

As well as a very impressive set and CGI, someone must find it hard not to watch and feel a big smile come across their face.

Uploaded: 07 October 2014

Key & Peele – Text Message Confusion (NSFW)

As many will know, a text message can, on occasion, be slightly misconstrued as the facial expressions and tones that give away what a person’s emotions are, are slightly lacking.

In this great sketch by Key & Peele over at Comedy Central, the two totally misunderstand each other’s tone leading to what looks like a showdown.

Take note people, this is pretty important for future reference.

Uploaded: 09 October 2014

Man causes Ebola scare on US flight

I think it’s safe to say that we have an early contender for the next Darwin Award.

Given the obvious panic people feel with regard to the spread of the Ebola virus, airlines in particular are looking to take every particular caution that no one with the virus is entering a country with the virus.

So when one idiot sneezes and tries to make a joke about recently coming back from western Africa and may have Ebola, be prepared for an almighty spectacle.

On Flight 845 from Philadelphia to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, a man did just that and made the rest of the passengers go through the ordeal of watching as two officials in large, blue hazmat suits entered the plane to re-create something from a disaster film.

Thankfully, everyone remained calm but the idiot in question is unlikely to find it so funny as he deals with the cost of an ordeal such as this.

Uploaded: 09 October 2014

Guy torments girlfriend with Lord of The Rings quotes

Amazingly, the man in this video still has a girlfriend.

As a die-hard Lord of the Rings fan, he decided to show how much he did to his girlfriend in the only way someone with too much time on their hands would know: torment her by sneaking up on her when she least suspects it and quote it to her.

However, from reading the YouTube comments, more people are concerned with the fact that the video is shot vertically to the disdain of people who feel the vertical video went out sometime in the mid-2000s.

Uploaded: 07 October 2014

Orion: Trial By Fire

Space exploration is finally back on the come-up with SpaceX, Boeing and NASA in the US and India sending a craft into Mars’ orbit, but now NASA are showing off its next step to getting humans to Mars, the Orion spacecraft.

In this cool video with NASA’s head space engineer on the project, Kelly Smith, NASA are showing how exactly their craft will make it past the many challenges that exist in the harsh surroundings of space.

The Orion craft will make its inaugural journey by the end of this year in December and will test whether it can be durable enough for human space flight.

Here’s hoping!

Uploaded: 08 October 2014

Five-year-old JP Gibson plays for the Utah Jazz

And now to finish on a touching moment as Gibson, a five-year-old kid who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2012, was given the honour of running out for his local team, the Utah Jazz, in their full kit.

Coming off the bench, Gibson somehow managed to dribble his way past all his opponents before leaping in the air for an epic slam dunk.

A nice touch and well done, Gibson!

Uploaded: 06 October 2014

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Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com