{"id":1590,"date":"2008-04-01T11:11:48","date_gmt":"2008-04-01T16:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=1590"},"modified":"2008-04-01T12:15:36","modified_gmt":"2008-04-01T17:15:36","slug":"april-fooled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=1590","title":{"rendered":"April Fooled"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right now on the YouTube<\/a> front page, every single one of the featured videos links to the same Rickroll<\/a>. The videos themselves have thumbnails that indicate they are really something else, which means this can only be a practical joke on the part of YouTube. (That is, different thumbnails and descriptions, linking to the same video with the same ID. That’s not normally possible.)<\/p>\n

As an aside, I’ve always wondered if Rick Astley knew that his 80’s pop song has become the payload for an internet meme \/ prank<\/a>, and what his reaction was. Turns out he’s a really good sport about it<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In a March 2008 interview, Astley said that he found the rickrolling of Scientology to be “hilarious”; he also said that he will not try to capitalize on the rickroll phenomenon with a new recording or remix of his own, but that he’d be happy to have other artists remix it. Overall, Astley is fine with the phenomenon, although he finds it a little “bizarre” and only hopes that his daughter receives no embarrassment over it<\/div>\n

Elsewhere: <\/p>\n