“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”

After several minutes of furious Googling, it’s unclear whether Oscar Wilde actually spoke the above quote or if it’s just from the Monty Python skit but, either way, it sums up the current Web video phenomenon pretty frickin’ well.

Go viral video PR!

Case in point, the Boston Pops’ current promotional contest. The Pops are running an online (you can also send in VHS tapes if you’re still living in the 20th century) contest called PopSearch. Yes, American Idol is now influencing respectable cultural institutions. The winner gets 5,000 samoleons and a chance to sing with one of the foremost interpreters of John Phillip Sousa’s oevre. If you want in, you’ve got to submit your video by 11:59 p.m. tonight. Get singing!

The contestant featured below is San Francisco’s own Aaron Drake.