Drunk baby

Yet another 'baby' image macros meme!

This meme started on Reddit when someone posted a picture of a baby girl sitting next to a pint of beer with the title 'she tells the worst jokes'. Within a few hours, the first image macros had appeared.

This isn't the first meme to feature a drunk baby - but this one seems to have taken off more than any other image.

 

Success kid

Success kid (also known as 'victory baby' and 'I hate sandcastles') is another baby image macros meme.

It features a baby fistpumping the air with a smug facial expression on his face.

The original image was taken by Laney Griner of her 11-month-old son Sammy, way back in 2007 - and it's still doing it's rounds on the internet today.

Some of the earliest versions of this photo to appear on the internet included a version with a Photoshopped background of a boy standing next to a broken sandcastle, crying. The title 'I hate sandcastles' was also added.

 

Since then, the meme has been used to depict situations where things turn out better than expected. It's sometimes used with a blue 'advice animals' background and sometimes with the beach background.

 

 

Success kid has even been featured in a Virgin advertising campaign.

Five years later, 'success kid' is going on for 5 years old.

Skeptical Baby

Skeptical baby is an image macros meme (in other words, a meme that uses a picture with funny text superimposed on top) that started on Reddit.

When father and photographer, Jarod Knoten, uploaded this picture of his son and himself to Reddit he had no idea his little boy would become 'internet famous'. Redditors soon got hold of the quirky picture and added 'skeptical baby' captions - most of which began with something along the lines of 'you mean to tell me that...'

This meme normally highlights the innocence of young babies, and some of the 'harsh realities of life' they will soon discover.

Want to create your own Skeptical Baby image? You can do so here.
 

Hitler reacts

Also known as Hitler Rants or Hitler's 'Downfall', this meme is based on a scene from Der Untergang (2004) - a German world war II film showing Hitler's last days in his bunker.

In the scene, Hitler finds out that his final counter-offensive against the Soviets has failed, and he's losing the war. The scene show Hitler yelling, screaming and berating his top generals.

If you're familiar with the meme, but you actually don't know what Hitler is really saying, take a look at the original scene.


The meme started way back in 2006 when someone added Spanish subtitles to the clip, with Hitler complaining about the lack of new features in Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X.

Since then, thousands of parodies have been made. By changing the subtitles on Hitler's meltdown, video creators get to play screenwriter and director, building the tension and telling their story.

There's a YouTube channel dedicated to collecting these parodies - and it has over 34 million video views. Parodies have been made in many languages including Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.

It seems a new Hitler Rants video rears it's head every time something topical happens. Here's how he reacts to twitter going down:

Here's Hitler's reaction to the fact that the iPad can't multitask:



And here's how he takes the news of Michael Jackson's death:


How does the director of the film feel about the viral videos? He loves them!
On January 15th, 2010, New York Magazine’s entertainment blog interviewed Hirschbiegel, the director, asking his opinion of how the scene has been used online:
"Someone sends me the links every time there’s a new one… I think I’ve seen about 145 of them! Of course, I have to put the sound down when I watch. Many times the lines are so funny, I laugh out loud, and I’m laughing about the scene that I staged myself!"

Don't lose your job
Of course, using the Hitler parody video could be a career-limiting move for some. Take for example Scottish Labour party Member of Parliament Tom Harris. Harris thought it would be a good idea to  upload a Downfall parody to his personal YouTube channel criticizing Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond. But by comparing his rival to Hitler, he created an uproar - and eventually was forced to resign. 

Here's a list of some of the older memes on the internet. Check them out.

1. LOLcats
2. AYBABTU
3. Stuff on my cat
4. The cake is a lie
5. Fail
6. The Hampster Dance
7. I love horses
8. Rickrolling
9. Demotivational Posters
10. Numa Numa
11. Chuck Norris
12. The Hoff
13. Post Secret
14. A Series of Tubes
15. Leeeroy Jeenkins
16. Tourist Guy
17. Dramatic Hamster
18. Techno Viking
19. The Dancing Baby
20. Badger Badger Badger
21. Chocolate Rain
22. Over 9000!
23. Pirates
24. Ninjas
25. Ninjas vs Pirates
26. McCain Old Jokes
27. Peanut Butter Jelly Time
28. Do not want!
29. The Star Wars kid
30. In Soviet Russia
31. Crazy Frog
32. L33t
33. I'm in your base...
34. Lolrus
35. The Internets

Shoop da Whoop

Here’s another meme (like Over 9000) that started with a Dragonball Z character - Cell is one of the main villains in Dragonball Z (specifically 'Imperfect Cell').

Someone on 4chan’s /b/ board used the very basic paint program, MS Paint, to alter Cell’s face into what is now known as Shoop da Whoop.

Cell's face has been blacked out and big eyes and red lips have been painted in amateurishly. A picture of ‘Shoop’ is usually accompanied by a phrase like 'IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZER’

But Shoop da Whoop has a dark side – apparently, the Shoop da Whoop character was intended as a parody of early comics and thetre shows that featured black people in a stereotypical way, with bright red lips and very dark faces. (Like the 'Blackface' theatre characters seen on the American stage in the 1830's.) Even the ‘Shoop da Whoop’ wording and the phrases ‘IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZER’ or ‘FIRIN’ MAH LAZER’ are meant to imply a typical African-American Southern drawl. The 'Imperfect' Cell character and another Dragon Ball Z character called Mr. Popo both caused some controversy for their resemblance to 'Blackface characters.

Pictures of the Shoop character generally appear in succession. Shoop usually starts by charging his laser, then shooting it out his mouth, then swallowing it.

Since the meme's introduction, numerous spinoff images have also been created, featuring various characters painted with the Shoop face. Check out many YouTube videos featuring Shoop.

Here's a YouTube video, featuring the 'Firing my laser' phenomenon.

The US Elections as a World of Warcraft campaign

McCain: [talking to his Campaign advisers] OK guys, this Obama character has given us a lot of trouble in the past, so here’s what we’ll do:

I'll run in, and use Intimidating Shout, to kinda get everyone’s attention. Then I’ll try a couple of Mocking Blows and a Demoralizing Shout. That should do it.

I’m hoping for some Divine Intervention, because if we can’t bring these guys in quick we'll be in trouble. Uhh, I think this is a pretty good plan, we should be able to pull it off this time. Uhh, what do you think Weaver? Can you give me a number crunch real quick?

Weaver: Yeah gimme a sec... I'm coming up with sixty-two point six six uh, repeating of course, percentage, of winning.

McCain: Well, that’s great. Uhh, alright, you think we're ready guys? [interrupted]

Palin: Alright, chums, let's do this... SAAAARRRRRRRRRAAHHHH PAAALLLLLLLLLLLIIIINNN! [runs into room full of press]

-Short pause-

Schmidt: ... Oh my God she just ran in.

McCain: Oh jeez, who knows what she’s going to say. Stick to the plan guys. Stick to the plan!

Palin: I can see Russia from my house!

McCain: What the—what the hell?

Palin: Bail out? Health care reform! Tax payers... Job creation!

Salter: Shut up – backfire has been cast; you’re just hurting yourself!

Palin: We got em, we got em! I got it, I got it. I'm going to be VP - I own this place!

Schmidt: Shut her up! Someone!

McCain: Goddamnit Sarah! Goddamn it...

[Various others]: Yeah, Sarah you moron, Sarah!

McCain: Listen, this is ridiculous.

Salter: You dumbass.

McCain: I'm down, McCain down. I’m down 5 points Goddamnit. Why do you do this shit, Sarah?

Palin [crying]: It's not my fault!

McCain: Oh for - Great job! Sarah, you are just stupid as hell.

Palin: At least I have a new $150 000 wardrobe.

Cakes: no lie

Previously I blogged about a Rickroll cake that was hidden beneath a 'cake that was a lie'...


Well, here’s yet another Rickroll cake.



It’s not too surprising though. It seems that the Internet memes and in-jokes have long been the inspiration for some fantastic cake ideas. It all goes to show, if it exists, there is cake of it.

Check out some of these geeky masterpieces:

The perfect Portal cake, baked using the recipe found hidden in the Portal game. (Instructions via instructables)


The AYBABTU cake from Flickr


The Mudkip cake made by Clever Cake Studio. Here's another.


The Domo cake found on Deviant Art and instructions on how to make your own.

 The Dramatic Hamster/Prairie Dog cake (via Flickr)

 The Lolrus cake... made of fish!

Two 1337 cakes

Pirates vs Ninja cake from Scienceblogs

The Chuck Norris cake

The Hypnotoad inspired Hypnocake.




And here's a bonus: a FAIL cake - they asked for it to read "Best Wishes Suzanne" and underneath that, "We will miss you".

For more Internet-inspired cakes, see Gizmodo’s cake gallery and this geekcake blog.

And while we’re on the subject of baked goods, here’s a Pi Pie.

Domo

Domo-kun (or just Domo) is the mascot for the Japan's NHK television station. The station made various 30-second stop-motion promo spots for their channel featuring Domo. They are rather strange to say the least…

Domo spends most of his time hanging out in a cave with the wise rabbit Mr. Usaji and watching TV. Apparently, "his body is stout, but his heart is pure". The clips also feature a bunch of bats (one of which has a drinking problem), a hungry bear and a girl-weasel.

For more on the Domo characters, check out their official website.

Without ever being shown outside of Japan, Domo-kun became an Internet hit. And while the strange-but-endearing movie clips had something to do with his fame, it’s mostly thanks to Domo’s ability to be Photoshopped into some amazing situations that made him the Internet star he is today.

A lot of his original fame can probably be attributed to this image of kittens running from Domo-kun.

The image was created by a Fark user, who used this student magazine front page as his inspiration.

More recently, this Domo-kan image has found its way onto forums and boards, and is used after a noob has made a stupid comment…

A quick search on Flickr and Deviant Art will show you just how widespread Domo-kun’s fame has become, especially amongst Anime fans. Domo plush toys, t-shirts and other merchandise are all the rage.

Domo’s popularity continues to grow – he’s now appearing in the UK on Nicktoons (part of Nickelodeon) in short 2-minute spots.

He’s also being used as the theme of Target’s 2008 Halloween promotions.

If you're looking for a Halloween costume, here's a Domo-costume how-to.

And just in case you haven’t had enough Domo for today, go check out the Domo-Kun’s Angry Smash Fest flash game.

Upsidedown Dogs

It's not quite a meme yet... but who knows. This could take off.

Upsidedown dogs are just like regular dogs, except they are upside down...

I can see Russia from my house...

As the American elections draw closer, you can’t help but feel a little sorry for Sarah Palin, the current governor of Alaska and the running mate of Republican John McCain. The woman is just totally out of her depth.

As John McCain is the oldest man to ever run for office, the Republicans probably wanted to soften their campaign with a young, female face. A face they hoped ‘your average American woman’ would associate with.

Problem is, Palin has provided the Internet with far too much funny (and controversial) material to poke fun at.

Palin describes herself as a Hockey Mom, a cliché that many women feel insulted to be associated with. Matt Damon had a really good go at this one. He said in an interview… “There’s a really good chance Sarah Palin could become president… It's like a really bad Disney movie: the hockey mom, you know, 'Oh, I'm just a hockey mom'... and she's facing down [Russian] President Putin... It's totally absurd... It's a really terrifying possibility.”

Comedy site CollegeHumor.com even created a mock trailer for this ‘really bad Disney movie’ movie featuring a Palin look-alike.




Then there are the strange names of her kids: Track, Trig, Bristol, Piper, and Willow. Check out this Sarah Palin baby name generator.

Then there are her policies: Palin has stated that abortion should be banned in nearly all cases, including rape and incest, except if the life of the mother is endangered.

She has just had her latest baby – Trig – who was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Controversially, Palin was attending a conference in Texas when her water broke. She was in labour but continued to give her speech then got on a plane and flew for 12 hours before delivering her baby.

Although Palin preaches abstinence, her oldest daughter, who’s only 17, recently fell pregnant by mistake, and so mother and daughter will have children round about the same age. For a laugh, check out the blog: Teen Moms for Palin.

She’s also not very pro-environment – she’s trying to get Polar Bears off the endangered species list and is opposed to listing beluga whales as endangered. Apparently she believed that humans were around when dinosaurs roamed the earth. And she keeps changing her view on global warming.

When Sarah Palin appeared in an interview with Katie Couric of CBS News, her lack of experience really showed. The interview was widely criticised, and was parodied on Saturday Night Live, the late-night sketch comedy/variety show.

When asked about financial bail-out deal, Sarah Palin proved she had no idea what she was talking about. Confused by Couric’s question, she started throwing in key-words like healthcare and education.



When Saturday Night Live got hold of this they created a brilliant parody. Ironically, they didn’t need to write too much of a script – they used Palin’s own words to show her ineptitude.



Then Palin went on to talk about her foreign policy experience. Palin has very little foreign policy experience – but she sited the fact that Alaska is close to Russia as her ‘experience’ in dealing with superpowers of the world. In the Couric interview, Palin tries to explain her position, but again the Saturday Night Live Parody took this to a whole new level.




In the SNL parody, Tina Fey (playing Palin) again makes Sarah's comments look ridiculous.




But the meme that's going around at the moment all started when Tina Fey first parodied Sarah Palin on SNL... Together with Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. Fey delivered the line: "I can see Russia from my house" (again based on Palin's assertion that she is so close to Russia) which has now become a meme.



This brilliant poster held up at a political rally reads: "Hey Sarah, I can see the end of your political career... From my house!"

Stay tuned... because my feeling is that we haven't heard the last from Sarah - something crazy is going to happen. And the Internet will be all over it.

Like, who knows, maybe someone will make a Porn Movie featuring hr life story perhaps?


For more great Sarah moments, check out Red Green and Blue's take on Sarah and her policies.