Effete Musings

Here we go. You probably know this one:

The audio is from Finding Forrester. They even put it in the trailer – that shit was all over the TV in 2000 or so. It was unbelievable, and this guy Max was smart enough to immortalize the ridiculously condescending line as a standalone website. How many times would I visit that site in a compulsive pique? Not sure. From yourethemannowdog.com sprung YTMND, a “community”-oriented site that allows randos to build similar – or not so similar – sites from scratch. At some point they allowed you to upload Flash video files, which changed the texture of the submissions a bit. The above is known as the classic style: IMAGE + TEXT + AUDIO. (See also: ptkfgs.ytmnd.com, which spawned a litter of “alternate universe” YTMND site. The conceit being, of course, that a different ridiculous line was chosen for icon status.)

Next, we witness one of YTMND’s peak moments in the popular imagination. Either that or Trebek is just one of the biggest dweebs in history.

Notice the awkward disconnect between the brain of Trebek and those of the contestants. These people have never even heard of Finding Forrester or Internet memes. He refreshes the ytmnd home page every ten minutes. (The other “moment of triumph” for YTMND, as far as I can remember, is the day after the 2006 World Cup Finals. Zidane headbutted that guy, which was the ultimate in raw material for any YTMND head with a working knowledge of Adobe After Effects. Keith Olbermann: Also a huge dork.)

Speaking of memes, Trebek was undoubtedly thrilled when he became one (or at least threatened to).

God that one made me LAWL the first time I saw it.

Next, we have a meme that started out pretty lame, I thought. The recipe was kinda bunk: Chunk from the Goonies gives that one famous rant before Congress instead of Samwise Gamgee and Llewelyn Moss. Yeah, haha whatever. But from busted soil sometimes grow mighty Joshua trees. It just takes thousands of Internet years, i.e. a few months.

Terrell Owens sheds crocodile tears at a press conference: Was this charade self-aware or not? Either way, total larity.

If you’re going to mine pop culture for LAWLs, I like an artifact that’s obscure enough and ridiculous enough to trigger laughs at the mere mention of its name.

Surf Ninjas? Never seen it. But yes please.

On to the broader world of web video. One of YTMND’s strengths is its focus on isolating – and repeating – just the humor. If the lulz increase with each viewing, you’re onto something.

A little person? On COPS? On sherm? I’m pretty certain that that’s a yes, yes, and an oh hell, yes.

That audio just begs for a remix.

(See also that local news story about the leprechaun in Mississippi a few years back.)

This one is part of a small constellation of sites that phonetically “translate” foreign versions of the Duck Tales theme back into English. (I feel muy macho, writing about such things.)

Hahahahaha. I can’t decide what’s funnier, the words or the pictures. This is like the Naked Lunch of YTMND sites.

Speaking of heroin, here’s Kelsey Grammer falling over. I did some research on this one, but the context, I’ve learned, simply does not matter. All you need is “…my 400th trip through It’s A Small World pretending I was a UN interpreter… OH GOOD LORD!!!”

Scrambled Eggs. They’re calling again:

Haha.

Howard Dean + Led Zep =

Tons of “political” YTMND’s from say 2005-2006 relied on the audio from one of the 2004 Presidential debates, the one where Kerry forgot to include Poland in Bush’s “grand coalition.” Here’s an outsider’s view.

That shit was interesting and like, artistic for a while but got boring and ear-rapey. So instead I present to you:

Your next President, trapped in like three simultaneous memes: “Bill Cosby” as portrayed on Family Guy, Cat on a Keyboard Floating in Space, and that black preacher who said Obama isn’t a black maaaan, he’s biracial! And a long-legged mack daddy!

Ever seen The Big Lebowski on Comedy Central? I haven’t, but apparently they don’t let you say certain words on certain networks. Huh.

Again with the scrambled eggs. Did John Goodman really say those words?

Did Michael Phelps?

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