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When the poet sat in "vacant and pensive" mood, what he was suffering from was the lack of availability of funny online videos to amuse him.

I know that almost sounds corny. But without any of the fanfare that accompanied other online technologies and applications, online videos have altered the way that we live. It has made everyone of us a media mogul. A mogul of the kind that does not make too much money unfortunately.

For instance, suppose you come across something funny, say the way people look while walking through a sheet of glass. What do you do? Simple, record it in your video camera and post it online.

So, you are about to do something that your dorm-mates find hilarious. Why restrict your responsibly humorous act to dorm mates? Why not share it with the rest of the world? Of course several of these matters become a subject of taste. For instance, I know of a lot of people who create videos where they depict themselves setting fire to expelled body gas.

Some people found that so ragingly funny that they set up entire sites dedicated to collecting such videos. Others find them taste-less, though they are still unclear about whether to classify these videos as odor-less too. There, you saw my feeble attempt at humor.

So you create funny videos and post them on your site. Or you could post them on one of the many sites out there that allow free uploads as well as downloads. Some such sites have actually started offering monetary rewards. These are usually in the form of compensation based on the number of people who view the video.

So, you do the funny stuff, make the video, upload it and declare it to the rest of the world. That is not the end of the story. Indeed it is just the beginning. If you really want the video to become famous, you will have to make it famous. Promoting it decently at many online venues is a good choice. At the very least you can forward the links to your friends and family.

Personally, I am not too much into funny online video creation. While all of you generous producers make this stuff, I am the consumer. In fact, I cannot help but watch a video or two at sites that have a video section. I am usually interested in top rated videos and editor's choices.

Funny videos are of two types: candid, there the person was not specifically trying to be funny, and staged, where actors, amateurs or otherwise are basically performing. I enjoy both kinds, though I tend to be partial to the former. One of my favorites is serious videos, e.g., tutorials, news videos and the like, that go wrong.

For instance, I just finished watching a video where the newsreader rapidly recovered from using the preposition "off" instead of "up" when referring to "power companies are planning to jack up your electricity bill.' I watched it like a million times and then forwarded it to all I know.