What Is a Meme?
#1. Lolcats
LOLcat Gallery
Crash Course in LOLspeak
- Often start your sentences with 'oh hai' and end them with 'kthxbye'.
- Lolcats go OM NOM NOM NOM when they eat foodz.
- White cats are usually Ceiling Cats. They are the Gods of the lolcat world. Correspondingly, black cats are Basement Cats and they are the loldevils.
- Have fun messing with the spelling, as long as the word is still pronounced similarly (action becomes akshun, etc).
- Use some popular lolcat sentence structures, such as:
- In your noun, verbing your noun (In ur fridge, eating ur foodz) - which is really a spinoff from another meme, "in your base, killing your dudes".
- Adjective noun is adjective (Long cat is long).
- OH HAI. I verbed ur noun (OH HAI. I eated ur cakez).
- Use left dislocation: Skillz. I has dem.
- Use singular verbs: I has a bunny.
- Use white Arial Black font with a black outline for lolcat captions.
- A LOLcat Colleckshun - a book with the best lolcat pictures ever. Great gift!
- ICanHasCheezburger.com - the home of lolcats with a gallery and a lolcat maker.
- LOLCode.com - a programming language based on lolcat grammar.
- SpeakLOLSpeak.com - lolspeak glossary and lessons.
#2. Rickrolling
Real-Life Rickrolling
Rickrolling has become so popular that it has spread even outside the internet. On April 4, 2008, many blogs asked their readers to vote "Never Gonna Give You Up" for the 8th inning sing-along at Shea Stadium for the New York Mets season. The Mets posted a web poll to select a song, and left a blank field for write-ins. To the great surprise of the organizers, Rick Astley's song was the winner with more than five million votes. It was played during the home opener and greeted with a shower of boos (watch New York Mets get Rick Rolled) from a crowd of 55,000 people.
Similarly in November 2008, Rick Astley was nominated for Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards after the online nomination form was flooded with votes. However, during the actual show the Best Act category was treated like a joke, with Perez Hilton announcing that "MTV had been rickroll'd" instead of actually awarding Astley.
Rickroll Video on Youtube
If you've never been rickrolled in your life, now is the time. Click the video below and enjoy (over 40 million happy viewers!):
#3. This Is Sparta!
Want to create your own funny THIS IS SPARTA poster with King Leonidas' face on it? Use this template.
THIS. IS. SPARTA!!! is a meme inspired by the brutal and overly dramatic movie 300 in which the Spartan king Leonidas shouts the line before killing a Persian messenger. The whole dialogue goes like this:Messenger: Choose your next words carefully, Leonidas. They may be your last as king.
King Leonidas: [to himself] "Earth and water"?
[Leonidas unsheathes and points his sword at the Messenger's throat]
Messenger: Madman! You're a madman!
King Leonidas: Earth and water? You'll find plenty of both down there.
Messenger: No man, Persian or Greek, no man threatens a messenger!
King Leonidas: You bring the crowns and heads of conquered kings to my city steps. You insult my queen. You threaten my people with slavery and death! Oh, I've chosen my words carefully, Persian. Perhaps you should have done the same!
Messenger: This is blasphemy! This is madness!
King Leonidas: Madness...?
[shouting]
King Leonidas: This is Sparta!
[Kicks the messenger down the well]
#4. All Your Base Are Belong To Us
AYBABTU became so popular not because of the game itself (indeed, most people spreading the meme never actually played Zero Wing), but because of various message boards (starting with SomethingAwful.com) and fan-made flash clips. The meme survived to this day thanks to occasional appearances in media, video games, T-shirts and webcomics. Some of these references are listed below.
All Your Base References
- On April 1, 2003 seven people placed signs all over Sturgis, Michigan that read, "All your base are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time." While it was only an April Fool's joke, the police chief Eugene Alli said the signs could be "a borderline terrorist threat depending on what someone interprets it to mean."
- In February 2004, North Carolina State University students made the phrase appear in a news ticker on a live broadcast if News 14 Carolina channel.
- On June 1, 2006, YouTube was taken down temporarily for maintenance. The phrase "ALL YOUR VIDEO ARE BELONG TO US" appeared as a placeholder while the site was down. Some users really believed the site had been hacked, so YouTube later added a message: "No, we haven't been hacked. Get a sense of humor."
- During the MSNBC show "Countdown" on September 22, 2008, Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman said that the proposal presented to the US Congress concerning the federal bailout of failed financial institutions was the equivalent of US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson saying, "All your decisions are belong to me."
In A.D. 2101
War was beginning.
Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
CATS: How are you gentlemen !!
CATS: All your base are belong to us.
CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
CATS: Ha ha ha ha ....
Operator: Captain !! *
Captain: Take off every 'ZIG'!!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move 'ZIG'.
Captain: For great justice.
All Your Base Video
You can watch a techno remix of All Your Base Are Belong To Us which contains the original cut scene from the Zero Wing game as well as a lot of instances where this meme had been used, both online and in real life:
#5. Oolong the Pancake Rabbit
Oolong (named after a certain variety of tea) was a domestic rabbit owned by a Japanese photographer Hironori Akutagawa. The rabbit was famous for the ability to balance various objects on his head (the owner called this trick "head performance"). Oolong achieved the status of an internet meme with a single photo where he balances a pancake on his head (see above). The picture was made into an image macro - much like with lolcats - and frequently posted on various online forums. The caption said: "I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head."
Oolong Gallery
You can view the entire gallery of photos on the owner's website. While it is in Japanese, it has received thousands of visitors from around the world and created a surprising number of Oolong fans.
Sadly, Oolong passed away on January 7th, 2003. His owner now has a new rabbit namedYuebing, which is a female of gray Netherlands dwarf variety. Akutagawa has been training her in the arts of "head performances" as well.
#6. The "O RLY?" Owl
The meme later came to include two more phrases, used in response to the first one:
"O RLY?"
"YA RLY"
"NO WAI!!!"
O RLY Owl References
- In the Game Boy Advance game "Mega Man Battle Network 6", if the player tries the Humor program at Cyber Academy, Lan responds to a certain joke with "O Rly?" and MegaMan.EXE replies with "Ya Rly!". Also there is a "No Wai!" joke at the Expo Site.
- In the Xbox 360 version of the football game Blitz: The League, one of the hidden gamer achievements is called "O RLY?". It is earned by losing a Campaign Mode game by more than 24 points. Unsurprisingly, the image of this achievement is a snowy owl.
- The promotional video announcing the American license of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime features a short segment using pictures with the caption "O RLY?" in both English and Japanese. It starts with Yuki Nagato making a statement in Japanese, with an "O RLY?" image displayed, and with her replying, in Japanese, "Really." At the end of the segment, another picture saying "NO WAI!" is displayed.
- The Australian sketch show "The Ronnie Johns Half Hour" included a sketch called Ham1337 in which Hamlet's "To be or not to be" was translated via subtitles into internet abbreviations. At one point, the subtitles read "O RLY?", "YA RLY", "NO WAI!".
- In the MMORPG Everquest 2, Orly and Yarly are two Hooluk (owl-like race) NPCs that stand above the portal on Whisperwind Isle in The Barren Sky.
- The TV show "Totally Viral" featured the O Rly Owl in its opening titles.
#7. Leeroy Jenkins
The video and the character have become extremely popular (to the point of being mentioned in a TV show) and achieved the internet phenomenon status. Watch the original Leeroy Jenkins YouTube video below:
Leeroy Jenkins References
- Blizzard added a "Jenkins" title to WoW players who could kill 50 of the famous dragon whelps from the movie within 15 seconds, with the achievement "Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy!" being attained for the same accomplishment.
- In Bioware's RPG/Shooter video game Mass Effect, there is a character named Jenkins who at the very beginning charges in to attack the enemies and promptly dies.
- Leeroy Jenkins was mentioned as part of a clue on the November 16, 2005 episode of the TV show Jeopardy! as part of their college week tournament.
- There is a Leeroy Jenkins card in the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.
- There are many Leeroy Jenkins parodies and fan videos - click here to watch one. For more info on Leeroy Jenkins, visit http://coolest.character.ever.com
#8. It's Over Nine Thousand!
It's Over Nine Thousand Original Transcript
Nappa: "VEGETA! What does the scouter say about his power level?"
Vegeta: "IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAND!" *crushes scouter*
Nappa: WHAT, NINE THOUSAND!?
You can watch an excerpt from the original DBZ "over 9000" scene below:
The Dow Jones is... under 9000 :(
#9. Epic Fail
While you could say that Epic Fail is more like internet slang than a meme, it has spawned thousands of image macros and videos. Fail BLOG, a website dedicated to sharing fail photos and other images, is probably the most popular source. Youtube also has many fail video compilations which show people failing to do something and often getting hurt as a result - something most people secretly love to watch, if the popularity of these videos is any indication. You can watch the biggest Epic Fail compilation 2010 below:
#10. Loituma Girl
This web fad quickly became popular and hundreds of websites and blogs started linking to the flash animation of Loituma Girl. The Finnish band Loituma were shocked to see the massive amount of traffic to their website and thousands of fan letters from around the world and even more confused when they saw the animation. Watch the Loituma Girl original animation on YouTube below:
- In early 2009 Weetabix Limited - a UK food company - used the song in an advert for their "ready brek" cereal. Watch it on Youtube.
- In April 2007 Eneco - a Dutch power company - used the song of Loituma Girl in its TV commercial for "ecostroom" (green energy).
- In May 2007, Wrigley's used this song in an ad on German TV for their "Extra" gum.
- The Dutch company Artiq Mobile launched a website where people could upload home-made Loituma girl spoof videos and compete for a prize of 500 euros.
- Patrick Macias from BBC radio said the following: "This is basically a joke for someone who spends all of their time staring at a computer, made by people who spend all of their time staring at a computer. It's possible to read deeper meanings into it, but it sort of defeats the purpose because in the end it's just this hypnotic clip of animation.
Loituma Girl Vocaloid Adaption
One of the promotional videos for Yamaha's voice synthesizer and singer program Vocaloid featured Hatsune Miku (an anime-style mascot character for the software) waving a green onion and performing the Ievan Polkka using Vocaloid's digital singing synthesis. This "Leek Girl" video has received over 3 million views. Click here to watch it.
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