On the Friday of a week where the viral videosphere was dominated by a song called, incidentally, “Friday,” how can we think about anything else? This cover by Matt Mulholland ensures that we cannot. While the original was lambasted for the lack of emotion on the part of the singer, this dark twist will take no such criticism. Check out the video after the click.

As so often happens on the internet, last week saw an unusual piece of media — in this case a bizarrely bad teen pop single called “Friday” by previously unknown Rebecca Black — absolutely explode in popularity. The auto-tune, the inane text, the blank expression on the performers’ faces, all conspired to make this one a hit. And so the parodies started coming. There have been plenty of covers and responses, but none has been so pitch perfect as this video, which suggests that the song was actually originally performed by Bob Dylan. Watch the video after the click.

The Lonely Island, the American comedy group behind megahits like “I’m on a Boat,” “Like A Boss,” and their ur-hit “Lazy Sunday,” is crude. And they’re sophomoric. But they also seem to be incapable of producing anything that doesn’t go crazily viral. In “I’m on a Boat,” they teamed up with autotune superstar T-Pain, whose involvement was a massive wink at the ridiculousness of the genre; here they’ve joined forces with R&B singer Akon in a song that seems to parody his directly. Uploaded on Saturday, it’s already soared past 3 million views. Check out the new video after the click.

Is Warner Brothers the first studio to (finally) learn about the “Streisand-Effekt”? Last week, a conspicuously well-produced parody “alternate ending” to the upcoming film “Yogi Bear” came out on YouTube that improbably credited the real film’s cast and crew. In a common sense move that still feels astonishing, Warner Brothers (the studio who’s making the real film) has stated that they won’t try to go after the parody. Smart. Check out the video after the jump.

Privacy and privacy policy are tough to understand, especially when you have to go through the mental acrobatics of justifying some of the laws that major governments are trying to pass. Fortunately, animator Mark Fiore has jumped in to help out with his satirical cartoon series about Snuggly the Security Bear. Check out his take on the “wiretap friendly” encryption proposal after the click.

Let’s face it: social media strategy can be a hard thing to wrap one’s head around. But if you want to take it to the next level–with your company, your project, or yourself–you’ve got to have it together. Check out these (not very) serious tips on how to get a bajillion hits from social media guru Alex Blagg. See the video after the click.

A few weeks back, Cee-Lo came out with a catchy song whose title was vulgar enough that it couldn’t be played on American radio. (It wasn’t even close.) But the internet picked up the song and loved it–if you still haven’t seen it, Google will help you find it–and now we get to see great projects like this one: a chiptuned version of the track with re-written lyrics all displayed on an NES intro screen. Fantastic. See the video after the jump.

Bei Peter Kröner entdeckt: Python versus Google. Sehr verzerrte Stimme, aber gute Ideen. Ich sag nur: “Stoppschilder davor anbringen”…