geekosystem

What, exactly, is a viral video? That's what this PBS Off Book video attempts to tackle. Sprinkled throughout you'll find delicious nuggets of videos we all know and love as well as, perhaps, a few you've never seen. They speak with a number of people who are in the know, including but not limited to Jonah Peretti from BuzzFeed, Brad Kim from Know Your Meme, and Casey Neistat on the nature of viral video and the future of what's quickly becoming the goal for many content producers.

BuzzFeed, the web aggregation juggernaut, has announced that popular political writer Ben Smith will be taking over as Editor-in-Chief of the site as of January 1st. With the new face, there will be a new emphasis on breaking news and original reporting. In celebration of the announcement, BuzzFeed let loose a new meme they've christened "Ben From BuzzFeed."

How many of us have woken up the morning after a hard night of traveling through time and killing/becoming our own grandparents and wondered, "is this a paradox??" Well, thanks to the fine folks at BuzzFeed, you can know for sure. Though if you're capable of following the Yes/No loops, you're probably some kind of Time Lord and wouldn't need a mere infrographic to navigate the seas of time. See the full version after the break.

While Inception mashups are hardly new, it doesn't make them any less awesome when they're done well. And with the best movie of all time. (via BuzzFeed)

Back in the early 1990s when some of us were watching "The Real World" when it was real and were stubbornly making the transition from cassette tapes to compact discs, AT&T made some bold predictions related to technological advances of the future. Crazy things, like video conferencing, paying tolls without stopping, reading books on computers. Crazy! Well, as we know, all that stuff happened. Slightly differently than depicted, but it happened. And when you think about it, it's pretty cool that we made it happen. (via BuzzFeed via Best Week Ever)

This is exactly as fun as it sounds. (via BuzzFeed)

I was right. This is exactly how they do this. (I Love Charts via EPICponyz via Blame It On the Voices via Buzzfeed)

And remember: Lucas isn't making three sequels. Definitely is not. You can breathe again. You don't have to spend time figuring out whether you're excited or angry. Not until about three years after the movies are done coming out in 3D and our boy George needs something to do again, at least. (via Buzzfeed.)

Researchers at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science have discovered that cockroach and locusts brains house antibiotic properties that could lead to treating bacterial infections.

Space Invaders Now on the iPad (Joystiq)

StarCraft II One of the Most Expensive Games Ever Made (That VideoGame Blog)

Arrested Development Movie is Go (Bleeding Cool)

Tron Legacy Banners (ScreenRant)

How To Win At Rock Paper Scissors (BuzzFeed)

Static Shock is Back (Comic Book Resources)

Surprisingly Beautiful Red Dead Redemption Time Lapse Vistas (Digital Foundry)

(image via Toycutter.)

Found Footage Festival has a lovely clip of one of the modern world's great philosophers, Mr. T, waxing eloquent about not just his mother, but every mother, everywhere.

Happy Mother's Day!

Video after the jump.

BuzzFeed and HuffPo co-founder and Nike Sweatshop Email correspondent Jonah Peretti has added another, arguably grander feather to his cap: A handcrafted Choose Your Own Adventure game, in homage to the classic, nostalgia-inducing children's book series, playable entirely on Twitter.

The Batman & Robin Comic Generator is just the kind of single-serving site we like: retro, referential, and a step up from image macros in its usefulness for helping non-'Shoppers create new things on the quick.

Just what are Batman and the Boy Wonder saying to one another as Batman slaps his cheeky sidekick in the face, complete with motion lines?