THE WEEK May 17: Gas pump prank goes viral

Gas pump prank goes viral

A couple in Los Angeles was in the right place at the right time this week when they went to fill their gas tank. It’s typical in the US for gas pumps to house little television screens featuring a man reading local news and weather. But this time, as part of the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the man on the screen was live with a camera at the pump. After the news anchor complimented the man’s singing voice musical magic ensued, and this video became one of the biggest viral hits of the year – not to mention the biggest laugh Jay Leno’s show has earned in a while.

Drama in the skies

A woman who refused to stop singing Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” forced a cross-country flight to make an emergency landing. When asked why she wouldn’t stop the woman responded that she has diabetes. That doesn’t make sense. In other airplane news, the founder of Virgin Group lost a bet and had to serve as a flight attendant, which is no easy job in today’s world of smart-phones and cameras.

Sports fan PSA

The sports world is a buzz this week as the playoffs for professional basketball and hockey are underway in North America. Teams are fighting to keep their championship dreams alive, and fans sometimes seem to be just as passionate. A photo of a female Miami Heat fan shoving her middle finger into Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah’s face. Passionate banter and trash talk have their place in sports, but there is a line that needs to be drawn. Fans must remember that players are humans, too, and that is why this photo went so viral: Noah did nothing to offend the woman, and her gesture was extremely vulgar and personal. (The popularity of this photo may also be due to the fact that the woman had been accused of killing her first husband for money.) So, sports fans, stay passionate, but don’t try to get in a cheap last word. Because usually some light-hearted banter in sports ends up working itself out.

This wacky world!

A Canadian astronaut recorded the first-ever music video in outer space. He performed David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Perfect choice.

A group mainly made up of teenage girls is fighting to have the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect released, because, as the Facebook page says, he is too good looking to be guilty.

A man in the US was found soaked in urine and hiding in the ceiling of a grocery store he broke into after eating steaks and shrimp, drinking beer and inhaling 57 cans of nitrous oxide to get high.

This week’s best viral video – other than the gas pump karaoke video – comes from the US where we see, in my opinion, the most skilled hunter to ever live.

Sun Tianyuan

Graphic Design: Zhang Xiao

Videographer: Cong Ruiting

Producer: Chris Clark

Executive Producer: Flora Yue