For all of your screenshot/death scene meme needs.

This article is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
This article is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
Masha Gessen writes about a series of recent recent Russian parody videos, started by air-transport cadets as a spoof of the music video for “Satisfaction,” by Benny Benassi, from 2002.
A few weeks ago, fourteen Russian first-year air-transport cadets made a parody of a fifteen-year-old music clip, and now it’s all a lot of Russians can talk about. This is a story of spontaneous solidarity, self-organization, and, ultimately, just possibly, the triumph of freedom over bureaucracy.
The original clip, set to the 2002 track “Satisfaction,” by the Italian d.j. Benny Benassi, is itself a parody: of music videos, erotica, and advertising. It features a series of scantily clad young women working with tools, starting with a hammer and graduating to a masonry drill, a belt sander, and an angle grinder. The screen features names and technical descriptions of the tools while the women pose with their bodies contorted and their mouths open, as though they were in a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. In their parody, the air-transport cadets used an all-male cast, the interior of a well-worn student dorm, and the kinds of tools that are found there: a broom, a clothes iron, a spray jar of glass cleaner. Mostly, though, they used their own very young bodies, dressed in underwear, with belts, neckties, and military caps arranged in apparent homage to Tom of Finland.
…
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Official Post from Rob Sheridan: That goober you see above is me as a nerdy high school kid in my bedroom in 1998, being interviewed on TV for a dumb website I made. Allow me to explain.20 years ago this month, an episode of the TV show Ally McBeal featured a strange animated baby dancing the cha-cha in a vision experienced by the
That goober you see above is me as a nerdy high school kid in my bedroom in 1998, being interviewed on TV for a dumb website I made. Allow me to explain.
20 years ago this month, an episode of the TV show Ally McBeal featured a strange animated baby dancing the cha-cha in a vision experienced by the show’s titular character. It immediately became an unlikely pop culture sensation, and by the tail end of the 90s you couldn’t pass a mall t-shirt kiosk or a Spencer’s Gifts without seeing corny merchandise for The Dancing Baby, or “Oogachaka Baby” as it was sometimes known. This child of the Uncanny Valley was an offensively banal phenomenon: It had no depth, no meaning, no commentary, no narrative. It was just a dumb video loop from the internet, something your nerdiest co-worker would have emailed you for a ten-second chuckle. We know these frivolous bite-sized jokes as memes now, and they’re wildly pervasive in popular culture. You can get every type of Grumpy Cat merchandise imaginable, for example, despite the property being nothing more than a photo of a cranky-looking feline with some added text. We know what memes are in 2018 but in 1997, we didn’t. The breathtaking stupidity of The Dancing Baby’s popularity was a strange development with online origins that had no cultural precedent. It’s a cringe-worthy thing to look back on, appropriately relegated to the dumpster of regrettable 90s fads. But I have a confession to make: The Dancing Baby was kinda my fault.
…
Internet memes of the 1990s were a very different beast to those you see today. A combination of the slow connection speeds, lower population of “netizens” (can you believe we used to call ourselves that), and the fact that many of the things we take for granted today were then cutting-edge or experimental technologies like animated GIFs or web pages with music means that memes spread more-slowly and lived for longer. Whereas today a meme can be born and die in the fraction of a heartbeat that it takes for you to discover them, the memes of 1990s grew gradually and truly organically: there was not yet any market for attempting to “manufacture” a meme. If if you were thoroughly plugged-in to Net culture, by the time you discovered a new meme it could be weeks or months old and still thriving, and spin-off memes (like the dozens of sites that followed the theme of the Hampster Dance) almost existed to pay homage to the originals, rather than in an effort to supplant them.
I’m aware that meme culture predates the dancing baby, and I had the privilege of seeing it foster on e.g. newsgroups beforehand. But the early Web provided a fascinating breeding ground for a new kind of meme: one that brushed up against mainstream culture and helped to put the Internet onto more people’s mental maps: consider the media reaction to the appearance of the Dancing Baby on Ally McBeal. So as much as you might want to wrap your hands around the throat of the greasy teenager in the picture, above, I think that in a way we should be thanking him for his admittedly-accidental work in helping bring geek culture into the sight of popular culture.
And I’m not just saying that because I, too, spent the latter half of the 1990s putting things online that I ought to by right have been embarassed by in hindsight. ;-)
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Historical generals pointing out the toilets: a short thread.pic.twitter.com/WYzsnRlszj
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I’ve been sticky googly eyes to things.
(it looks like one of the robot’s eyes fell off before the bar‘s owners Instragram’d it)
There are those who would argue that this isn’t true eyebombing, because I ought to be sticking eyes to non-anthropomorphic, inanimate objects, and making them look alive by doing so. But the folks on /r/eyebombing don’t seem to mind: they’re far more-focused on the chaos and hilarity that ensues when you just put eyes on any damn thing that looks like it could benefit from them.
When I was on holiday in Jersey, for example, I found an unattended rack of tourist information leaflets that were just crying out for a ‘bombing.
And because I pretty-much carry googly eyes around with me all the time – in the pocket that generally contains my headphones, a pen, a hair tie, and other everyday essentials – I started sticking eyes onto things.
The game didn’t stop even when I touched back down on the mainland.
Where next…
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Rating of posts in LiveJournal blogs. LJ Top is automatically generated.
In the same vein as I had the previous month and Matt promised to for a long while, Matt eventually completed the meme in which he replied to me, and various other friends, with (1) something random about me, (2) a challenge, (3) a colour, (4) something he likes, (5) an early or clear memory, (6) an animal, and (7) a question he’d always wanted answered. He wrote:
…
Dan
1. Your hair is longer than mine was. I was intimidated.
2. I don’t know how much Buddhism you’ve studied. If it’s a little then study some more and try some meditation. If you have studied Buddhism then learn to unicycle.
3. A light blue.
4. JTA mentioned it once in his blog and it stuck with me as a perfect example of one of your best characteristics: he called early one morning and asked if he and Ruth could stay on your sofa. Rather than asking what happened and if they were all right you said yes, got the bed ready and put the kettle on. Many people, when helping someone, want to fix the problem and force their help and solutions on others. You don’t and it’s refreshing.
5. My earliest memory was the pre-training meeting. My clearest was about a year later when I shamed myself in how I treated you. I apologised but I don’t think I apologised enough. I’m sorry.
6. If you were shorter you’d probably be an Ewok.
7. You’ve always seemed relaxed and easy about how attached you are to things, but do you plan on leaving Aberystwyth? Would you object to it if Claire suggested it? Where would you live otherwise? I know that’s three questions but I don’t care.…
I responded almost immediately:
1. Aww. Someday I’ll get it cut and it’ll be less-long than yours was in it’s hayday.
2. Quite a lot. Unicycle it is, then.
…
7. Have always promised myself I’d leave before 10 years was up, and I’m still – give or take – planning to stick to that. Claire seems to approve, and even encourages it. We have a few ideas as to what we’ll do after we graduate: one idea that’s being knocked around is to move to Aberdeen, where she can get involved with the university (perhaps a postgraduateship).
Update – 27 February 2019: I replied again, to update on progress.
7. And I managed, give or take, although it wasn’t in Claire’s wake but despite it.
2. I’ve tried a few times but I’m going to have to give up. My unicycle’s sat rusting in the shed; I don’t think I’m ever gonna crack this one, sorry.
So yeah. Still can’t unicycle.
I promised a few people I’d do this meme with them, you see…
In case you’d forgotten, here are the things I’m writing about:
Incidently, Jon: no, my comment authentication system only has one (non-original) goatse.cx picture, and I don’t seem to get it. It seems the RNG favours you: perhaps somebody rigged it by IP address? Nah.
Matt (of the In The Hat variety)
If I missed you because you were late, you can still put your name down and I might just do you, too, but don’t count on it. I hope I haven’t offended anybody too badly, and I hope I haven’t embarrassed anybody any more than I meant to… it’s been a fun little meme, but it was a lot more work than I expected. Still; I’m glad to see that several other people have begun doing it, too, and I’ll enjoy getting my own back by commenting on their “invitation to apply” message thing. Plus, I’m looking forward to seeing how other people interpret the challenge and what they all write about me and about each other.
If I’ve asked you a question, I’d quite like an answer: leave a comment if you’re brave, send an e-mail if you’re not, don’t send an e-mail if you’re very-not. Oh; and if I’ve given you a challenge, don’t take it too seriously. Or do. Both good.
Update 27 February 2019: Matt had a go at this soon after and I shared my recent thoughts.
As you probably know, I’m not a huge fan of most of the memes that float around Blogland (Abnib, etc.), and generally steer clear. But I did this one on Faye‘s blog, and thought I ought to pass it on.
What you do:
What I do:
UPDATE: Monday 3rd July 2006, 21:43: I’ve had comments from Jon, Matt, Sian, Binky, Adam and Beth, and I’ve started writing responses. If you can get a comment in before I finish writing the responses, I’ll do you (ahem) at the same time. If you’re late, I’ll do you later. Should have these first lot finished (assuming I’m not suddenly swamped with comments) either tonight (if Mario fails to distract me) or tomorrow (if he succeeds). If you want in, get your comment in.
UPDATE: Monday 3rd July 2006, 22:38: Other Matt is in, too.
UPDATE: Tuesday 4th July 2006, 00:16: Well, I’m not going to finish all of these by tonight: I’ve done Jon, Matt, Sian, and most of Binky. I’m yet to start Adam, Beth and Other Matt. And Bryn’s hinted that he might be putting his name down, too. [sob] Ah well; I brought this upon myself. I’ll try to get them out during my lunch break. My response to everything received by that point will appear in a new blog post. I apologise in advance to Abnib readers who don’t want to have their screen cluttered by the whole thing; however, I give no apologies for any embarrasment caused to folks who brought it upon themselves by putting their name below knowing that I’ll be responding with things like “something random about [them]” and “my first or clearest memory of [them]”…
UPDATE: Tuesday 4th July 2006, 11:13: Making progress again, but people keep adding themselves to the list! Paul, Bryn, Andy K and Faye are now on the list. I’m working through them all in a pretty random manner: almost everybody’s animals and colours are done, I’ve completed everybody up to and including Beth, and Matt P’s mostly done.
UPDATE: Tuesday 4th July 2006, 14:54: JTA’s on the list. Only him, Faye, Andy K and Bryn left to finish, and most of them have been started.
UPDATE: Tuesday 4th July 2006, 17:48: Andy R’s joined the party. I’ve got JTA to finish, and Andy R to do. This turns out to be harder work that I first imagined. I’m impressed that, having seen what it’s taking, Matt R’s giving it a go too (so… go harrass him as well!).
UPDATE: Tuesday 4th July 2006, 19:12: A 40-minute Aberystwyth-wide power cut slowed down my progress, as well as eating some of it, this evening, but I’m ready to push on for the final stretch now. In addition, the following people have begin their follow-ups: Andy R and Andy K.
UPDATE: Tuesday 4th July 2006, 19:48: Well; that’s everybody done. I’ll be making a blogpost of the responses to you all in the next few minutes (I’m glad to see this meme is already spreading: I’ve put my name in a few comments and I’m looking forward to seeing other people’s responses back to me). If you missed it and you leave a comment “late” I might still “do you”, if I can be bothered. Right… off to post the responses…
I’ve seen some pretty stupid test memes. So I’ve made one of my own:
In other news, “Hook” by Blues Traveler (lyrics) is a spectacular song.
I have an unbelievable amount of work to do today, and I’ve used the morning just dealing with my e-mail and the things that I’ve been asked to do by that medium. Fuck a brick.
Tell me, have you seen the marvellous breadfish?
My friend Jen has done one of those god-awful survey thingies where you supposedly reveal yourself better to your friends, on her blog. Not one to miss out, I’m going to do it, too… I’ll be skipping a few of the more boring questions and adding a couple more…
1. BASICS:
FULL NAME: Daniel Huntley
SEX: Male
BIRTHDAY: 8th of January, 1981
HEIGHT: 178cm (about 5’10”)
WEIGHT: Not sure; probably about 80kg at the moment
HAIR COLOR: Light brown
EYE COLOR: Blue
PETS: Would love to have cats, but don’t really have space to keep any right now
SIBLINGS: Two younger sisters, Sarah (15) and Becky (14).
RELIGION PRACTICED: Devout atheist
RIGHT, LEFT, OR BOTH HANDED: Right
STRONGEST ATTRIBUTE: Stubbornness? Intelligence? Extrovertism?
WHAT YOU’RE KNOWN FOR: Being “the axe man” of Aberystwyth, Penbryn-Hall.co.uk, Scatman Dan, that thing with the goat, etc. etc. I’m a local …