Meme Day 29: Socially Awkward Penguin

Why don't we take all of the awkward things that people do, and project them on to a penguin.  Brilliant!

Meme Day 28: Bill Gates/Steve Jobs

Apparently Bill Gates and Steve Jobs actually did some sort of talk together, and there were some good screen grabs from it.  Of course people made sport of it, and funnies ensue.

Weekly Meditation: 2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Read more of my thoughts on this here.

Meme Day 27: Technologically Impaired Duck

This may hit close to home for some, but consider it a Public Service Announcement.  That's all I'll say.  Besides my apparently not optional explanations (Stephanie made me).

Remember way back when with dial up?

Meme Day 26: Aliens

So there was this guy one time on the History channel (maybe more than one time, not really sure), and he's a big alien believer.  He also has some really strange hair.  Anywho, he talks about aliens all the time and has all sorts of strange theories.

Obviously the only real explanation is aliens did it, right?

Meme Day 25: Chubby Bubbles Girl

Don't worry, February is almost over, which means I'm almost done with my meme posts.

Until then, here's another meme.  What started as this image of an unknown girl from an unknown source:

...got the Photoshop treatment onto all sorts of other images.  Think of Disaster Girl, just with a girl running with bubbles.  Since there's no end to the creativity pool on the interwebs, you get all sorts of images if you extract just the girl with bubbles.  Some images keep the bubbles, others substitute the bubbles for something else.

Kaden: Another Year Older

You may remember a little interview I conducted with a little friend of mine a little over a year ago.  Okay, maybe it was a lot over a year ago.

Anyway, Mindy and I thought it would be fun to check back with him and see how he has grown and changed since my last interrogation.

Meme Day 24: Baby Godfather

Take a stereotypical mob boss and mix it with a baby, and whaddya get?  This:

Yes, I'm making you click a link to see the rest.  It's much nicer looking, and keeps you from an overloaded blog look.  You may or may not thank me one day...

Meme Day 23: Seems Legit

If you saw something that looked like it was plausible, what would you say?  "Seems legit," right?  Yeah, that's what this is about.  Like this:

Completely and totally legit.  Nothing wrong with that at all.

Meme Day 22: Yo Dawg

Yo Dawg is similar to Inception in the sense that it's things inside of things.

Like a pool table inside of a pool inside of a pool.  It's called "Yo Dawg" because of that guy in the bottom corner - Xzibit, some rapper and also the guy on Pimp My Ride.  He's good at putting strange things in cars, and I guess it kind of came out of that.  I'm not really sure how it made that leap, but it did somehow.  Anywho, it started off with captions like, "Yo dawg, I herd you like (thing), so I put an (thing) in your (thing) so you can (do something) while you (do something)."  Yes, "heard" is spelled "herd" on purpose.  That might be a little confusing, so here's an example of the original form:

Most are just references back to this original form - you fill in the recursion yourself.

Meme Day 21: Inception

Hopefully you've either seen the movie Inception or at least know what it's about.  If not, it's a movie about dreams within dreams...and even dreams within those dreams within a dream.  From what you've learned so far this month, it should be no surprise that an idea like this would be parodied across the web of the wide world.  This meme kind of took two forms.  One was just using the sample panes to have a mock conversation and come up with words ending in -tion, like Inception.  Others just used the theme of "going deeper" or things inside of things.  Some used combos of both.  Ok I'll quit talking before your brain blows up just like it did when you watched Inception (you did see the movie, right?).

Meme Day 20: Nokia phones

Anyone remember Nokia?  Remember those phones that everyone had and were practically indestructible?  Yeah, they turned into a meme because they're practically bulletproof.

So there's your preview.  We've gone pro now (ok I wish), so click on the title link or the "Read more" to see the rest!  (Edit ALL the previous posts!)  BTW, the technical term for this is a "jump break."  Something I didn't really know before - I thought it's just what people tended to call it.  It's called a jump break because it's a break in the post, and you have to jump to another page to see the rest.  There, you learned something for today and can go to bed now.

Meme Day 19: Close Enough

Close Enough is evoked when you try to do something and it doesn't quite turn out as expected, but close enough for rock & roll (or CEFR² as Richard Bugg would say).  Many of these examples deal with recipes found online and the results of people trying them.  Others are just pure hilarity.  See for yourself.

Jump past the break to see the rest!

Meme Day 18: Joseph Ducreux

Joseph Ducreux was a French painter in the 1700's.  One of his more famous self-portraits, Portrait de l'artiste sous les traits d'un moqueur, is pictured below.

This painting, for whatever reason, has been the subject of taking common phrases from either song lyrics or sayings (mostly common to the Internet) and re-wording them using old English language.  See if you can figure out what they are.

See more?

Meme Day 17: Chemistry Cat

Chemistry Cat is comprised of an image of a cat in a lab and a whitty joke based on some form of chemistry.  Most are either a play on words or use the Periodic Table of the Elements, the elemental names, and elemental symbols to make the joke.  It's a meme that us nerds appreciate :)  I'll try to explain these...

Light is made up of photons that travel through space

More past the break!

Meme Day 16: Strutting Leo

Strutting Leo comes from a picture taken from the set of Inception.  It's a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio merrily strutting on his way somewhere.

He has been Photoshopped out of the image and on to many, many other pictures, mostly scenes from other movies and scenes of the Disaster Girl type - wherever his jolly strut and face seem to somewhat fit, albeit ironic in some pictures (kinda the point).

Jump past the break for more.

Meme Day 15: Challenge Accepted

If I were to present you with a challenge, would you accept it?  Challenge Accepted guy sure would, no matter what the challenge!  If you have a challenge, he'll accept it - no challenge is too daring or ludicrous for him to accept.

Visit the rest after the break.

10 things I have learned by being a dog-mom

Tim and I always hope that having three dogs is in some way preparing us for being parents someday.  Otherwise, we are wasting a lot of time and energy.


A few people have been very kind and reassuring (if not completely honest) and said that it is possible that three dogs could be harder that three children.  Afterall, kids have words.  So they can tell you what they are thinking.  The downside is that they do tell you what they are thinking.


In any case, I am trying to make the most of the blessings God has given me at this moment.  In an effort to learn things (and remember what I learn) here are a few things I have discovered by having three dogs.

Meme Day 14: Conspiracy Keanu

Conspiracy Keanu consists of a picture of Keanu Reeves (from "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," of course) and various conspiracy theories.  Most are contrived around Internet themes or other memes, and are usually more absurd than serious conspiracy theories (I would hope...).

More past the break.

Meme Day 13: Business Cat

Business Cat is a cat that's all business in a cat sort of way.  They pretty much all use the same picture, and they all have some sort of cat theme to them (hence the name).  Things like strings, laser pointers, sleeping, and kitty litter are common threads (pun intended).

Meme Day 12: Troll Science

Hot on the heels of Troll Quotes comes Troll Science.  Remember trolling?  Sarcasm of the interwebs?  Here we have science exploited by small misconceptions or almost true assumptions, leading to some not so true conclusions.

Something I should have brought up with Troll Quotes, but probably a little more applicable here: there is an official "face" for trolling, called troll face:

Anywhere you see that face, a troll is somewhere nearby.  Also, when a troll is trolling, his arms get longer and more loopy (see jet one below).  Newho, on to Troll Science:

Weekly Meditation: Psalm 61:2

"When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Psalm 61:2

Meme Day 11: First World Problems

First world problems are a little different than real problems.  Real problems are things like hunger, disease, etc.  First world problems...well...

Meme Day 10: Troll Quotes...with a contest!

Trolling is kind of like the sarcasm of the internet.  Since it's really hard to read into body language and tone in typed form (read: basically impossible), it's quite easy to pull off and make someone think you're completely serious.  Troll quotes are quotes that show a face with the quote, along with who said the quote.  Problem is...none of those match up.

"MOAR" cries the audience.  Past the break!

Meme Day 9: The Rock Driving

The Rock Driving is based on a series of screen grabs from "Race to Witch Mountain".  It follows the form of The Rock saying something, the girl saying something back unexpected, and The Rock turning around in the car with a surprised/stunned/TheRock look.  Lots of the comments have to do with wrestling and things not actually being real.  I mean, The Rock is from wrestling after all.

Meme Day 8: Brushie Brushie Brushie

Yep, that's a bat with someone using a toothbrush to clean it, or something like that.  Somehow people thought it was a good idea to take not the bat from the picture, but the hand holding a toothbrush and put it in other pictures.  Pictures range from people to animals to inanimate objects:

Meme Day 7: The Most Interesting Man In The World

I don't always talk about memes, but when I do, no one knows what I'm talking about.

This meme started with the above commercial, and is based on his closing line - "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis."  Many of the modifications are still done with his picture, but others have Photoshopped heads on them.  Most will follow the basic format of "I don't always...but when I do...".

Meme Day 6: Disaster Girl

Day 6 of our meme adventure takes us to Disaster Girl.  This is one of those memes that you're not sure if you should laugh at or...not laugh at, so falls under the category of "Mean or Funny".  It started with a picture that a guy (Dave Roth) took of his girl in front of a fire fighter training fire.

The face is what does it, and from this picture, people Photoshop the girl's face on to other pictures of disaster-like scenes, making it look like she caused that disaster.  These are some of the less controversial ones.

Reference to Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV awards

Weekly Meditation: 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up...

Meme Day 5: Chuck Testa

There's a bear in my bed!  NOPE.  Chuck Testa.  I present you with some viral content (~10.6M views as of writing):

Here shows the close link between viral content and memes.  Things go viral, and people make spin offs of the viral content.  In this case, there were a whole range of spin offs, ranging from the same deal as in the video (fake animals) to the outlandishly outlandish.

Classic from The Lion King

Meme Day 4: Hipster Kitty

Hipsters are people that do things because they're not mainstream, or don't do things because they are mainstream.  They listen to music that no one has ever heard of before, don't listen to the bands that everyone listens to, do crazy things just cuz no one else does it that way, liked everything before everyone else liked it, and even knew about everything before everyone else.  They're obsessed with being "underground".  At least that's the way the interwebz portrays them, and the interwebz never lies.  So along came Hipster Kitty as a way to poke fun at them.

Meme Day 3: Philosoraptor

What do you get when you cross a velociraptor and a philosopher?  Why a philosoraptor of course!  Now if you take that philosoraptor and give him a voice, what would he say?  It certainly wouldn't be anything other than deep thoughts and witty remarks, duh!  Such as:

Meme Day 2: X all the Y

Today's meme is technically called "X all the Y", but that's just the format that it takes.  You replace X and Y with something, depending on the take on the meme at the given moment.  It originally started from a Hyperbole and a Half blog post, where the author was explaining how she cyclically sets out to be an adult, but then realizes how much responsibility it is.  The two particular images from her blog that started the meme are:

Of course, as memes do, many takes on this quickly appeared.  The first time Steph saw this, it was actually on that blog, and she didn't realize it was a meme.  Katie was trying to get her pumped up to clean ALL the house, so showed Steph that blog post.  Steph mentioned it to me, and I informed her that it had actually turned into a meme!

I think this one was created with our dogs in mind

Meme Day 1: Rickrolling

The first meme of February (also known as Febtober by Sean Connery...at least according to SNL's rendition of Celebrity Jeopardy) - Rickrolling!

A Rickroll is when someone pulls a bait and switch on you on the Internet, making you think that you're going somewhere, but you end up seeing a video of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video.  So for instance, I might say something along the lines of, "Here's the awesome trailer for this new movie that everyone's been waiting for!"  You click on the link, expecting to see a trailer for that new movie.  Instead, you get a video to Rick Astley's music video.

Many variants of this have been spotted in the wild.  There's that time in 2008 that fans of Rickrolling flooded the European MTV music awards and got him the title of Best Act Ever.  If you happened to click on any links on YouTube's main page on April Fool's day 2008, you would have been Rickrolled - every front page video redirected to the Rickroll video.  Then there's that time that Rick was himself Rickrolled.

I've recently been made aware of the Russian Rickroll.  It's also the theme song of trolling (hence the "trolololo").  We might get into that another time.