She Likes to Watch

You never known what you’re going to find on YouTube.

A dorky kid swinging a homemade light saber? Yup. A distraught teenager defending Britney Spears? You betcha. Chad Vader? Tron Guy? “Chocolate Rain”? Check, check and check.

As music and movie buffs have discovered, however, the Web site has also become an amazing resource for concert footage, music videos, trailers and film clips.

Britain’s “The Observer” has hunted down 50 of the best arts videos currently available on YouTube. They range from Jimi Hendrix and The Who smashing their equipment to Jack Kerouac reading from “On the Road.”

Some of these clips are a bit erudite for the average viewer, but here are some of my favorites:

Nirvana, circa 1988: The band, minus drummer Dave Grohl, rehearses “Love Buzz,” “Scoff” and “About A Girl” in a dingy Aberdeen, Wash., garage. Witness a raw but inspiring performance by Kurt Cobain and Company, three years before they hit it big with “Nevermind and launched a grunge revolution.

Kurt Russell and Carrie Fisher try out for “Star Wars“: A surprisingly baby-faced Kurt Russell puts a genial cowboy spin on the character of Han Solo. And Carrie Fisher turns on the husky sensuality for her Leia tryout, opposite Harrison Ford.

James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti sing “This is A Man’s World”: Sounds like an odd pairing, but turns out the Godfather of Soul and the legendary opera tenor make a good team.

The Beatles’ final concert: The Fab Four unite one last time on a New York rooftop in 1969. Awesome music. Incredible historic significance.

Vladimir Nabokov talks “Lolita”: One of the world’s greatest writers discusses his greatest novel in this two-part video. Nabokov’s Russian accent is pretty thick, but his comments on his “shocking” novel are enlightening. (Hint: He’s the chubby guy wearing glasses.)