LAZY FRIDAY - Happy Birthday David

It has been a while since I offered a Lazy Friday video for your enjoyment but this is quite brilliant: I only hope the movie itself is as good. Introducing the David 8 - Michael Fassbender's android character in Ridley Scott's Aliens prequel "Prometheus".

LAZY FRIDAY - What If Computer Problems Were Real?

What if computer problems were real? This week's Friday lunchtime distraction is for everyone having a really bad day at the office.

LAZY FRIDAY - Go Forth And Revolt

This Friday's lunchtime distraction is a anti-capitalist parody of the staggeringly awful Levi's advert playing in cinemas at the moment. It gets far closer to some real truths than the noodling jazz of the jeans ad.

LAZY FRIDAY - Your Ad Here

I'm guess I'm not the only one who gets irritated by adverts in front of YouTube videos. Today's Friday lunchtime distraction features Mario and Fafa from Glove and Boots discuss the finer points of YouTube advertising as they try to figure out how to make money their video blog.

Hat-tip: The Laughing Squid

LAZY FRIDAY - The Forces of Anarchy

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction is from the classic 1970s sitcom The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin. Just like Perrin's brother-in-law Jimmy, what little that goes on in the minds of grandstanding politicians, rabid right wing newspaper columnists and merciless magistrates benches in the aftermath of England's riots is a moral panic about the threat from the "forces of anarchy and wreckers of law and order." They're out there, you know...

LAZY FRIDAY - Animated Debate

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction is a great little animation by Intelligence Squared of a debate between former MP turned dodgy reality TV star Ann Widdecombe and professional smug git Stephen Fry, who lock horns over the motion 'The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world'. For those who can't be arsed to see it through to the end, Fry wins on evidence-based points.

LAZY FRIDAY - "Plot Device"

Another great Friday lunchtime distraction for film fans in particular - when an aspiring filmmaker adds a "Plot Device" to his Amazon shopping basket, he has no idea of the consequences.

LAZY FRIDAY - "These Strikes Are Wrong"

Despite the fact that this is such a dispiriting but inevitable betrayal of the labour movement, Ed Miliband behaving like an spin doctor's automaton is one of the funniest things I have seen in ages. The sense that the eyes are open but nobody is really home is almost too painful to watch.

So repeat after Ed for two minutes and 30 seconds - "reckless and provocative manner" .... "set aside the rhetoric"... ""get around the negotiating table"..."resistance is futile"... "exterminate!"

LAZY FRIDAY - Star Wars Meets Withnail & I

Back after an eight month absence, today's Friday lunchtime distraction comes courtesy of Raff Jones. When an out-of-work droid finds himself far from his natural habitat of Camden, thrown deep into a galaxy far far away, it does nothing to dampen his quest for cake, tea and the finest wines available to humanity...

Hat-tip: Boing Boing

LAZY FRIDAY - Never Say No To Panda

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction comes courtesy of an Egyptian advertising agency, who clearly have a very odd sense of humour. Don't feel its OK to pour scorn on this because it's made by weird foreigners - it's more a reminder that ad execs are as mad as a bag of doorknobs the world over:

Hat-tip: Owen Jones

LAZY FRIDAY - The Dangers Of Staying Silent

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction is is actually an advert for some crappy brand of cider - but it's funny, nevertheless. Next time you up get up in the middle of the night and are trying not to wake your partner, remember to take care...

LAZY FRIDAY - I Was Beckham's Grandad

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction was sent to me by Rob Konway earlier in the week and outlines his claim that Peter the Painter, the mythical anarchist leader of the famous Siege of Sidney Street of January 1911, was also the grandfather of well-known corporate shill David 'Golden Balls' Beckham. Frankly, the evidence is compelling...

LAZY FRIDAY - Mugabe Chicken Jibe

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction comes courtesy of the South African band Freshlyground, who wrote and performed this year's World Cup anthem Waka Waka and who have now been banned from playing in Zimbabwe.

Apparently ridiculing President Robert Mugabe is illegal in Zimbabwe and that includes depicting the old election fraudster as a chicken in the video for their song Chicken To Change:

Hat-tip: Boing Boing

LAZY FRIDAY - God-O-Matic

I guess some of you have guessed that I really like Mark Fiore's work and today's Friday lunchtime distraction is another fine example. It's a reworking of the Ten Commandments according to right-wing media pundit and Tea Party spokesloon Glenn Beck - the man who had a dream, one that included stealing the clothes of Martin Luther King.

LAZY FRIDAY - 21st Century Enlightenment / Inception Cat

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction comes in two parts. The first is a heavyweight and thoroughly absorbing lecture on the meaning of 21st century enlightenment, which was given last month by Matthew Taylor, the Chief Executive of the RSA, and has been given the RSA's typically brilliant animation treatment:

The second is far less high-brow. It's the Inception Cat, currently very popular on YouTube. Enjoy:

LAZY FRIDAY - Frienemies

Today's Lazy Friday lunchtime distraction is courtesy of Mark Fiore, with more News-In-A-Nutshell. Love the cartoon depiction of Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange, "some guy with a popular website, a man on the run with a global network of leakism!"

LAZY FRIDAY - Diana Conspiracy Explained

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction comes courtesy of David Mitchell and Robert Webb, who explain how Princess Diana's assassination was really planned.

This clip was broadcast on Tuesday and the rest of the programme is available on BBC iPlayer until 24 August.

LAZY FRIDAY - Newport State Of Mind

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction comes courtesy of Goldie Lookin Chain, who are from Newport and they tell it like it is. You knows it. Rhys and his mate Jon recorded it on Eggsy's camera phone, apparently...

Hat-tip: Tom Fowler

LAZY FRIDAY - Canvas Bags

Today's Friday lunchtime distraction is from Tim Minchin, one of my favourite comedians, who mocks pop star pomposity whenever addressing 'issues' with his gloriously bombastic anthem against plastic bags. Sing along if you can follow the lyrics...

More from Tim with a brilliant nine-minute 'beat poem' at this earlier post.

LAZY FRIDAY - First as Tragedy Then as Farce

In today's Friday lunchtime distraction, the philosopher Slavoj Žižek gets the RSA Animate treatment as he investigates the surprising ethical implications of charitable giving.