America Rickrolled: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Macy's done did it, they Rickrolled America. Aside from the Keith Haring balloon almost going rogue and smothering Meredith Viera, Matt Lauer, and Al Roker, this morning's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was uneventful (i.e. lame) as always. Until, that is, the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends float ground to a halt for its spotlight performance. Everything started off innocently enough, with Blooregard Q. Kazoo singing the Henry Nilsson song "Best Friend." But about 20 seconds in, the music abruptly stopped. Next thing you know, Rick Astley emerges from a door in the float and begins performing (i.e. lipsyncing, like most if not all Macy's Parade performers) his 1987 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." I was really dumbfounded at first, then had to laugh when I realized what had happened: America got Rickrolled. Though I'm not sure if Macy's was in on the joke, I would imagine Astley has to know about Rickrolling.

The Definition of Rickrolling:
Rickrolling is an Internet meme typically involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch: a person provides a Web link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand, but the link actually takes the user to the Astley video. The URL can be masked or obfuscated in some manner so that the user cannot determine the true source of the link without clicking (and thus satisfying their curiosity). When a person clicks on the link given and is led to the web page he/she is said to have been "Rickrolled" (also spelled Rickroll'd). By extension, it can also mean playing the song loudly in public in order to be disruptive.