Memeburn’s outstanding memes of 2010

Culture defines an era and the internet is our time’s Rosetta Blog. While the cultural touchstones might be ephemeral and fleeting, we have to realise and appreciate the journey that brought us here. An insignificant event or idea can gradually evolve into a complicated and awesome product that needs to be recognised. We need to embrace the year for what it has given us and Memeburn is proud to bring you (in no particular order) the Best Memes of 2010.

Still not sure what a meme is? It’s an idea or belief, or pattern of behaviour that spreads throughout a culture either vertically by cultural inheritance (as by parents to children) or horizontally by cultural acquisition (as by peers, information media, and entertainment media).

Or, as UrbanDictionary puts it, it’s the thing that’s on your mind when nothing else is and your fingers are on a keyboard.

Sad Keanu

One of my personal favourites, Sad Keanu is the story of man coming to grips with his mortality. His moment of sadness trapped in a photograph. A soul yearning for nourishment from a sandwich of loneliness.

He’s bringing emo back with an apathetic vengeance.

The last time I experienced this level of sadness was the 90 mins I endured during “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”.

#shakespalin

Sarah Palin has the grace of an epileptic swan and her mastery of the English language was brought to the forefront with her splendid use of portmanteau in a word mash up of historic proportions. Repudiate + Refute = Refudiate. Genius in a Rain man sort of way.

This spawned a Twitter craze. The trending topic #shakespalin was born, where tweeple replace Shakespearean quotes with Palin-isms.

“@spsenski: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some are just picked by John McCain’s aides.” #shakespalin”

“How’s all that bein’ and not bein’ workin’ out for ya?”

Antoine Dodson (Bed Intruder Song)

No-one makes ghetto living more lyrical than Alabama-born Antoine Dodson. After a home invasion, a local American news channel broadcast Antoine and his sister’s account of the event. Like Romeo and Jequisha, their tale of intrigue and suspense was one narrated with an illegally obtained poetic license. And it was begging for a remix. Thanks to the Gregory Brothers, the Bed Intruder Song was born.

Live performance on BET Awards presented none other than Mike “quick, we need a black comedian” Epps.

Vuvuzelas

The Fifa World Cup will never be the same again. The monotonous drone of the vuvuzela captured a nation’s heart and the world’s frustration. The backing “track” to the world cup, vuvuzelas, has become one of the strangest memes in football history.

The vuvuzela has been transformed into an iPhone App (with over 1 million downloads), Online Flash Games with YouTube getting in on the world cup hype by placing a vuvuzela button below some videos. It also became the first ever World Cup twitter trending topic.

Double Rainbow

While camping, the beautiful ray of sunshine named Paul Vasquez chances on a glimpse of a rainbow. A trip to the mountains is always special, but should you chance upon not only one but a Double Rainbow, an emotional breakdown is in order. He spends an hour videotaping, and marveling at the natural splendor and narrates his excitement.

LolCats

This meme just doesn’t die. But who isn’t bemused by the random-cat-related memes that endlessly circulate around the net?

Well if Twitter says so, it must be true.


I especially like the voiceover of this particular video.

Old Spice Guy

Yes, it’s back to him. And back to a successful advertising campaign by Old Spice and Isaiah Mustafa, ex NFL Player. According to Wikipedia, “On July 14, 2010, Old Spice launched the fastest growing online viral video campaign ever, garnering 6.7 million views after 24 hours, ballooning over 23 million views after 36 hours”.

Old spice then carried on this momentum by having a live YouTube response to tweets.

It has subsequently been parodied by Sesame street with Grover telling us how to smell like a monster.

Don’t touch me on my studio!

The warning signs should have been seen before the e-TV interview between AWB secretary-general Andre Visagie and Chris Maroleng, however this didn’t prevent the pair from diving into the shallowest of gene pools and cracking their heads on stupidity.

The ensuing debacle sees the infamous words repeated and begging for comic ridicule.

Honourable mentions

When I was a youth, my school days were spent getting consolation awards like “due diligence” (the sympathy vote). So here are some that didn’t make the list but deserve their 15 minutes of fame.

Being a dickhead is cool: The BEST video of the year sees a catchy song poking fun at those hipster kids.

Buble-raptor: Micheal Buble is stalked by a velociraptor. Do I need to say anything more!

Lesbians who look like Justin Bieber: because Sinéad O’Connor cant have all the fun.

Wobble girl: After receiving a flu shot, this poor girl contracted a vaccine-induced dystonia and was unable to walk forward. But since the rumors are that she is faking and this is all a hoax for a court case, don’t feel guilty for laughing. Especially the interview when her accent changes which is hilarious.

Fred the raver: A cute 3 year old “drum and bass facing” to some intense music.