Wednesday, December 17, 2008

'Hamster on Piano': watch 'Hamster on Piano' YouTube viral video


The actual title of the video is "Hamster on Piano Eating Popcorn" but its too long a title for this post so I shortened it a bit. It's the latest viral video success on YouTube getting thousands of hits daily. It shows a little white hamster lying on his back on the piano keys eating a piece of popcorn (exactly what the title says), and stays there even it the keys are 'played'.

It puzzles me, however, why this video is such a hit. The hamster does nothing except lie on its back. I would have understood the fuss if the little pet did tricks or something, or at least run around the piano keys. But as Time magazine
says in naming it one of the top ten viral videos of the year, it's such mundane made madcap that makes us log to to YouTube.

One of the best things about the internet is its ability to make a star out of the little guy. This couldn't be truer than in the case of the wee white hamster lying on his back atop a keyboard, made famous with the help of Parry Gripp, a whimsical songwriter formerly of the group Nerf Herder who, if his random musical oeuvre is any indication, apparently has way too much time on his hands. The riff is catchy, the pet is adorable -- and, we're pretty sure, was unharmed in the making of this video. Why is it so funny? Well, as the song says, there's a hamster on a piano and he's eating popcorn...on a piano. In short, it's the mundane made madcap. That's why you log onto YouTube, right?

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