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How To Explore Internet Memes | How To Split An Atom
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How To Split An Atom is a blog about using, abusing, and surviving in the Web X.0 landscape. It's Internet culture, split open.

How To Explore Internet Memes

Published by Steve Spalding | Filed under How To Keep Up | Stumble it!


If there is one constant on the web it is that once every few months some wonderful, ridiculous or utterly strange phenomenon will enter the minds and hearts of the webosphere. These memes will spread like wildfire through internet forums, make their way into software as easter eggs and every once in a while even spread into mainstream media.

This is a compilation of some of the more famous of these memes. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it does provide a good cross-section of internet oddities.


This Is Sparta!


A parody of Leonidas’ famous line, “This Is Sparta!” From the movie 300. In it, he is justifying what could be considered an over-reaction by calling on the historically no nonsense Spartan culture. It has spread through the internet mostly as Leonidas’ head super-imposed on unrelated images often with slightly modified versions of the quote.


All Your Base Are Belong To Us


The granddaddy of Internet Memes, this one is based on a poor localization of the Japanese game Zero Wing. For those who are interested, here is the real text translated from Japanese.

AD 2101
War had begun.

Captain: What on earth are you saying happened!?
Engineer: It seems that someone has set explosives.
Communication operator: Captain! We’ve received a signal!
Captain: What!?
Communication operator: Main screen, incoming visual.
Captain: Y-you’re—!
CATS: You gentlemen seem preoccupied.
CATS: Thanks to the co-operation of the Federation Government forces, all of your bases belong to us.
CATS: It seems your ship will eventually meet its end as well.
Captain: It-It can’t be…!
CATS: I thank you for your cooperation.
CATS: Cherish these few remaining moments of your lives.
CATS: Ha ha ha ha…
Communication operator: Captain….
Captain: All ZIG units, take off!!
Captain: There’s nothing but to put our trust in them…
Captain: Our future, in hope…
Captain: (We’re) Depending on you. ZIG!!


Real Ultimate Power

Based on a opus by a fictional 13 year old, this site chronicles a child’s obsession with Ninjas and can be summed up like this.

  1. Ninjas are mammals.
  2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.
  3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.


The Bus Uncle


From Wikipedia,

“The Bus Uncle” is a Cantonese video clip of a quarrel between two men aboard a bus in Hong Kong on April 27, 2006. While the older man (Chan), who came to be nicknamed the Bus Uncle, scolded the man seated behind him (Ho), a nearby passenger used his camera phone to record the entire incident to provide evidence for the police in the event of a fight.

It gained international attention for raising questions about civic awareness and cultural mores.


Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris

Things you may not have known about Chuck Norris.

  1. Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
  2. Chuck Norris has two speeds. Walk, and Kill.
  3. When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.


Lemon Demon


This is an absolutely incredible summary of mostly 1980s pop culture put together by Neil “Lemon Demon” Cicierega. The video was a breakout success on the flash animation site Newgrounds, and has been referenced in a number of parodies.


Group X


Self styled “Arabian Rap Sensations,” this band is actually composed of four people from Marietta, Georgia and is best known for its mangled English and its satirical anti-American lyrics. One of their most famous videos is Mario Twins. While they did not actually participate in making the animations, they did inspire these popular videos and provided the soundtrack.


Boom Goes The Dynamite


Brian Collins, a college sports anchor, fumbles his way through a highlight reel. Most of the video is incoherent except, of course, for the now famous catch-phrase. Internet celebrity followed close at its heels.


Impossible Is Nothing


The self-aggrandizing video resume of a Yale Student, Aleksey Vayner, to the wealth management company UBS. It almost seems designed for the internet, complete with a ballroom dancing scene and a rambling staged interview. The video spread across the web and led to threats of legal action against UBS, YouTube and a number of other entities by Vayner.


Dramatic Chipmunk

Fact: The dramatic “Chipmunk” is actually a prairie dog.


Dancing Baby

Dancing Baby

Welcome back 1997, we missed you. By the way, this is the first and last time you will ever see an animated gif on this site. For those who are interested, the Dancing Baby was created in 3D Studio Max and has appeared in mainstream media on shows like Ally McBeal.


Leekspin


From Wikipedia,


“Loituma Girl (also known as Leekspin) is a Flash animation set to a gibberish section of the traditional Finnish folk song ‘Ievan Polkka’ (sometimes misspelled Levan Polka) sung by the Finnish quartet Loituma, taken from their 1995 debut album Things of Beauty. It appeared on the Internet in late April 2006 and quickly became popular, drawing over a million viewers.”


O RLY?

O RLY

“O RLY?”

“YA RLY”

“NO WAI!”

Typically framed by an Owl Image, this meme was spawned on the Something Awful forum and is commonly used to deride someone for a comment that is blatantly obvious. This picture has been refactored numerous times and has been featured offline on television and in video games.


Bert Is Evil

Bert Is Evil

“We have reason to believe that Bert of Sesame Street is evil and you should keep your children away from him. Here in these pages are collected incriminating images and documents that prove that Bert is not the lovable harmless geek he so successfully makes us think he is.”


Web 2.0 Roundup

What do you need to become an internet phenom? Well, if these memes are any indication it looks like Flash talent, a video camera, or the willingness to do something absolutely ridiculous on video tape will get you far.

Here is a bonus, from right in my backyard.

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September 30th, 2007
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16 Responses to “How To Explore Internet Memes”

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  1. sickr Says:

    Great reference point for anyone who has a burning curiosity about meme’s.

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  2. Craig Says:

    I built wikirage as a tool to help track internet memes by watching the popularity and number of edits on wikipedia. Another good resource is Google Trends.

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  3. en3r0 Says:

    Meme Vote is another good way to explore memes as well.

    http://www.memevote.com

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  4. MF (Profile)
    MF Says:

    wow that was a shitty list

    O RLY did not originate on SA. it came from 4chan. do your research, dummy.

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  5. Steve Spalding Says:

    From Wikipedia,

    The phrase “o rly?” was used on the Something Awful Forums at least as early as August 2003.[1] The original “O RLY?” Snowy Owl image macro is based on a photo taken by nature photographer John White, which he posted to the newsgroup alt.binaries.pictures.animals in 2001.[2] The snowy owl image was Photoshopped on 4chan after the word filtering of the word “repost” to “owl”.[3] The owl image macro was posted or linked to on other websites, spawning many more image macros involving owls, notably those with “YA RLY” and “NO WAI”.

    My suggestion is that you change that, it looks like I’m not the only person confused. :)

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  6. How To Explore Internet Memes | The Best Article Every day Says:

    […] Written by Steve Spalding […]

  7. Mark O (Profile)
    Mark O Says:

    Chuck Norris, former student at Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee. True!

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  8. White Collar Forums » How To Explore Internet Memes Says:

    […] Written by Steve Spalding […]

  9. Melody (Profile)
    Melody Says:

    re: Leekspin

    You might be interested to know that the image of the girl speaking gibberish is actually from the popular Japanese animation show “Bleach”, probably the second or third episode, and the character’s name is Inoue Orihime.

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  10. smalltowncynic Says:

    Where is LEEEEERRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSS???

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  11. Leroy jenkins (Profile)
    Leroy jenkins Says:

    “At least I have chicken”

    priceless.

    If we’re talking about that where is ‘The internet is for porn!” ?

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  12. liderr Says:

    Unless I’m wrong, there’s no mention of “peanut butter jelly time”.

  13. bla (Profile)
    bla Says:

    I really miss “chocolate rain”

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  14. The New Internet Eclectic | The Internet Eclectic Says:

    […] Internet Memes and how to explore them. If there is one constant on the web it is that once every few months some wonderful, ridiculous or utterly strange phenomenon will enter the minds and hearts of the webosphere. These memes will spread like wildfire through internet forums, make their way into software as easter eggs and every once in a while even spread into mainstream media. […]

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