Kutiman's video series has generated awe and praise in the week since it debuted. One fan even issued a preemptive warning to entertainment executives who might be contemplating lawsuits:

...if your reaction to this crate of magic is "Hm. I wonder how we'd go about suing someone who ‘did this' with our IP?" instead of, "Holy crap, clearly, this is the freaking future of entertainment," it's probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page.

Because, this is what your new Elvis looks like, gang.

Like Elvis, Kutiman follows in some impressive footsteps:

Girl Talk, a Pittsburgh musician and former engineer whose albums are built from unauthorized samples. His 2008 Feed the Animals was a critical smash, but Rob Walker noted in the New York Times Magazine that the "music is a lawsuit waiting to happen." (The music in the video at left is Girl Talk; the images were put together by students at Concordia University in Montréal based on a Girl Talk concert video.)

Parry Gripp, the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer's theme song, writes short songs to accompany his YouTube video cocktails, built from the time-wasting video service's typical fare (think pets, family home videos) and mixed with short songs he writes himself. The result is a pretty brilliant visual punk rock. At left, "Young Girl Talking About Herself."

Poster Boy, the famed "remixer" of subway advertising posters, is possibly facing trial (depending on whether his real name is Henry Matyjewicz or not). His work is, variously, anti-consumerist, anti-gentrification, and anti-war, and he's trying (possibly with some success) to turn "Poster Boy" into a broader movement.

[via Daring Fireball]

Everything that makes YouTube a time-wasting creative desert is just fodder for Gripp's brilliant mind. Take "Young Girl Talking About Herself," which remixes clips of well, exactly that, paired with lyrics of a frenetic energy that reminds me of They Might Be Giants or Weird Al Yankovic.

"If this catchy tune were made into a real 3 minute song I'd download it," one commenter writes in a YouTube comment. But that misunderstands Gripp's genius. If he were just copying Yankovic's schtick, he'd do classic three-minute rock songs about the Internet, designed for radio play; or he'd just carelessly slap a bunch of viral-video references into a song, like Weezer.

How backwards! Three minutes might be right for archaic formats like the LP, but it's wrong for the Web. Most of Gripp's video-mashup songs are one minute or less in length — exactly right for the YouTube attention span. The joke doesn't get played out. It's over before you know it, and leaves you hungry for more — click, click, click. But enough words. Behold the brilliance of Parry Gripp!

"Shopping Penguin"

"Dramatic Chipmunk Hey"

"Spaghetti Cat (I Weep for You)"

"Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)"

"Cat Flushing a Toilet Music Video"

"This Is My Ringtone"

"Robot Hamster"

"Puppy Time"

"Do You Like Waffles?"