What's New, Memecat?

Info Montage

2008-10-06T05:10:27Z

An abundance of tributes to the real estate crash and ensuing financial crisis are being uploaded to YouTube. These information montages mix visceral news footage, fear-inducing music, and bold text in order to reinforce a message of doom and gloom. In stressful times like, say, right this instant, superstitious narratives provide false comfort by filling in the gaps with conspiratorial mumbo jumbo. After all, weren't we all prone to believing in UFOs during the Cold War? No? Well, some people were. The inevitable day the Dollar crashes

Except that the dollar is currently rising against most major currencies. Well, never mind that. Inevitable doom feels good. Hypnotically good. Symphony of the Falling Dollar

And now for something even more hallucinogenic. Robot voice over. Hubble space shots, cave people, CNBC swivel graphs. This montage will be looping at raves held in soon-to-be abandoned trading floors across NYC and London. Our economy: Headed to collapse, recession, depression?

Obviously, there is a Part II. While this is a gift, we will understand it if you don't want to watch any more. Because you must be very recessed by now. But remember that even the Great Recession can proceed to an upbeat. Beat. Mr. Recession Strikes AGAIN!!!.

Request For Urgent Business Relationship

2008-09-23T23:19:05Z

Look out for this new email scam from Washington D.C.:

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP DEAR AMERICAN: I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE. I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

Spotter: The Big Picture

Hipsters: The End of Western Civilization

2008-08-01T06:12:32Z

There is always a sign of an impending social disaster to be found in each youth subculture. Adbusters takes aim at the hipsters.

An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization - a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the "hipster" - a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society. Source: Adbusters

Pool's Closed

2008-07-16T05:48:28Z

This is an interesting case of simultaneous culture jamming and race-baiting using a popular 4chan meme. I don't think that the world is ready for the tender mercies of 4chan.

Bad Television: Dating on Demand

2008-06-22T18:04:57Z

I am a proud connoisseur of bad television. Late-night religious historical dramatizations. Spanish-language soap operas and infomercials. The Tennessee-accented Jewelry Television. But Dating on Demand sounds like a good reason to upgrade to digital cable. For a small price, you can survey the dark underbelly of permanent singlehood in America. In what can only be called a subculture, this is a community of people who cannot find sexual compatibility among their friends and coworkers and so forms an alternate universe with its own social norms. And a complete dearth of individuals within two standard deviations of "normal". Thank goodness for the lint-attracting quality of YouTube, for I can now enjoy the lurking without having to pay for the privilege. Meet Amanda, who likes furry things.

Meet Danny, Gomer Pyle's less fortunate cousin. He ran across the street and never looked.

Meet Katie. She pretended to sleep in the back of some dude's car after he committed a pedestrian hit and run. That she watched unfold. Log in soon, because you could be the one who turns her in to the police:

Obviously, there is a lot of potential for spoofs in this genre of video.

Unhuggables: The Best Coca Cola Ad Series Ever

2008-06-03T07:43:25Z

Unhuggables is the best Coca Cola ad series I've ever seen.

This ad from the series combines several unhuggables, and then introduces the worst on of them all: Mr. Porcupine:

Let the spoofs begin!

Boats and Bots: Two Workable Themes for a Swedish Pop Hit

2008-05-30T09:26:48Z

Watching the Boten Anna music video, you'd think that Basshunter is singing about a boat named Anna that he pedals in a channel, in between using his computer and hunting bass at the club. Many people across Europe apparently thought so. However, a translation of the lyrics reveals that Boten Anna is about a girl named Anna that Basshunter thought was a bot in his favorite IRC channel. What is amazing to me is that either of these scenarios provides song-writing material for a blow-the-doors-off European hit song. Now watch the translated version of Boten Anna. It all should make sense now.

The Fishstick Dance

2008-05-28T08:44:41Z

Adam Lisagor, Merlin Mann, and Scott Simpson of the You Look Nice Today podcast have unveiled a non-dance that is sure to take YouTube and the blogosphere by storm. There are many, many people out there who cannot dance (yet really want to dance). If you have been to a party, alone, sipping beer there by the fireplace, listening to music, attempting to look like you're enjoying yourself, you may have inadverdently done the Fishstick dance. Doing the "Fishstick" -- An Instructional Video.

Spotter: Mental Floss

What is a videosong?

2008-05-24T09:08:05Z

Jack Conte defines a "videosong", an interesting type of music that is emerging on YouTube:

A VideoSong is a new medium with two rules: What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice). 2. If you hear it, at some point you saw it (no hidden sounds).

Push

The Giant

Captains of the Same Chuckleboat

2008-05-23T07:54:33Z

"You see, most people understand that they aren't funny. Internet people, on the other hand, each believe they are the captain of the same chuckleboat; this perception often can be seen in their clothing, which denotes that unique and skewed sense of reality that could've only been reproduced in the hundreds of thousands by a factory in Indochina." Source: Bob "BobServo" Mackey

Bob "BobServo" Mackey at last begins the process of (gloatingly) admitting guilt for their central role in the so-called "utter destruction of humor". Not really, though. Waving his hand about the dotted lines of some ill-defined problem is no way to gloat.

Finding Emo

2008-05-16T17:47:46Z

Mirror's Edge

2008-05-14T19:31:54Z

Mirror's Edge is a "first-person runner" from EA that appears to be inspired by parkour. Taking the role of the traceur are agents of a dystopian police state. They chase Faith across a mirrored skyline as she delivers messages and attempts to free her imprisoned sister.

Animating Public Walls

2008-05-14T08:46:00Z

I am loving MUTO, a wall-painted animation by BLU.

Spotter: Andy Baio.

ROFLCon Road Trip: FAIL!

2008-04-18T20:46:25Z

Kathy and I were on the road to ROFLCon for only 8 hours on Wednesday in when our dog Sparkle's permanent urinary catheter failed. The balloon holding it in place apparently had been losing air in recent weeks and perhaps the sitting position in the car or the air pressure changes were the last straws. At 4:00 am, in Utah, it simply fell out. Sparkle was overjoyed, and I was completely devastated.

We knew what we had to do. Kathy literally turned around and we drove another 8 hours back to our animal surgeon in Los Angeles. Sparkle is doing well now, recovering after a new catheter was implanted into her side. It goes without saying that the road trip to ROFLCon is off. We will stay here to take care of our dog. Oddly enough, I believe that the experience was worth it just to see how far you can push yourself when you have to.

Supercuts

2008-04-12T08:42:31Z

Andy has identified and named a film genre meme in which an editor creates a repititive montage of a television show or movie: supercuts. This editing pattern is perhaps most famously expressed in a Casino remix that contains exactly what would be cut out from the movie in order to run it on prime time television.

I also stumbled on a gem of a supercut a while back: Like, The Real Orange County. Watching it again and again, I realize that I am still, like, not over it.