4 in the Afternoon: Soldier Dentist Space

Twice each day we scan our YouTube metrics as well as websites on the cutting edge of internet culture to discover the most buzzed about videos.

Irene from Space	Soldier Surprise	Emile After Dentist	You Got What I Need

1. NASA released new footage Friday of Hurricane Irene taken from the International Space Station.


2. U.S. soldier returns home early to surprise his mother at a UPS sorting facility in Michigan. As seen on Daily Wh.at.


3. Actor Emile Hirsch after having his wisdom teeth removed. As seen on BWE.tv.


4. Kevin Youkilis and a hip-hop star appear in this New England-area spot. As seen on SI.com.

Preparing for Irene

As Hurricane Irene makes landfall in the Southern United States, those in the Northeast and elsewhere have begun preparing for the storm. In the past day or so, we've seen a great many videos regarding the storm that have been uploaded to YouTube.



In fact, roughly 4,000 "Irene"-related videos have been uploaded in the past 24 hours. Many of these videos consist of on-the scene footage -- like those we began receiving late this morning from Jacksonville and North Carolina -- aftermath footage, or clips people have posted of the preparations they're making.



We've seen quite a variety -- from the official to the foul-mouthed and funny. Here's a selection of a few we've come across today:







On a lighter note, searches for a number of songs relating to the storm are sharply on the rise, including "Goodnight Irene," "Rock Me Like a Hurricane," and a certain popular song from 1982 though it's not 100% clear if these are searches specifically for parodies or just searches by people who have mistaken the songs lyrics: