The best way to deal with not having a sweetheart on Valentine’s Day is to have a sense of humor about it. If you’re at all familiar with the “forever alone” meme, you know that it’s all in fun, and nothing is forever. With that in mind, Ranker has collected the 40 best images about how those who are “forever alone” deal with the most romantic of holidays. Link

I tend to liken horse_ebooks to some wacky public access show you might have watched in college. There’s no comedic motive — as with the weirdo doing a foreign events call-in show at 3:00 in the morning, there’s no irony — but it doesn’t carry that guilt of mockery: you are not, and couldn’t be, making fun of Horse_ebooks. If anything, it’s making fun of you.

Whatever the appeal — explication does more harm than good — it’s stuck with people. Someone started a genuinely good horse_ebooks fanfiction site. There’s Horse_ecomics, which posts comics inspired by the account’s Tweets, and a litany of smaller tributes: people have had ordered framed images of the account’s avatar, turned Tweets into mug inscriptions (“Swallow that garbage”), and renamed their Twitter accounts in it honor.

John Herrman at Splitsider explains what he knows about this account, and how it has taken off as a rising star on Twitter and in the larger internet universe. Link -via Boing Boing

(YouTube Link)

We all know Danny Trejo is a badass as far as actors go, but now he’s going to star in a movie that casts him officially as Badass.

Loosely based on the true story of Epic Beard Man, a guy who valiantly defended himself on the bus and became an internet sensation because of his actions, this looks like the good old action flicks you know and love, and Danny Trejo is once again in a starring role so I’m definitely on board.

Hopefully if this movie does well, they will consider making Badass 2: Trejo vs. Chuck Norris!

–via Ology

Tim proposed to his girlfriend Audrey through a glass door using image memes. This video is a lot sweeter and happier than that short description makes it sound. You can see all the individual images at Audrey’s blog. Link -via YouBentMyWookie

What makes a viral video go viral? While cats certainly helped, the secret sauce of making viral videos is a highly sought after knowledge. After all, every advertising agency and their grandpas want to know a sure-fire way of making their next ad-masquerading-as-viral-entertainment be seen by millions of eyeballs.

Well, marketing professor Brent Coker of the University of Melbourne, Australia, came up with a recipe of viral videos. All you need, he says, are four things:

According to the algorithm, the four ingredients required for a video to go viral are congruency, emotive strength, network involvement, and something called "paired meme synergy."

First, the themes of a video must be congruent with people's pre-existing knowledge of the brand it is advertising. "For example, Harley Davidson for most people is associated with Freedom, Muscle, Tattoos, and Membership," Coker explained on his website. Videos that strengthen that association meet with approval, "but as soon as we witness associations with the brand that are inconsistent with our brand knowledge, we feel tension." In the latter case, few people will share the video, and it will quickly "go extinct."

Second, only viral-produced videos with strong emotional appeal make the cut, and the more extreme the emotions, the better. Happy and funny videos don't tend to fare as well as scary or disgusting ones, Coker said.

Third, videos must be relevant to a large network of people — college students or office workers, for example.

And last, Coker came up with 16 concepts — known on the Internet as "memes" — that viral-produced videos tend to have, and discovered that videos only go viral if they have the right pairings of these concepts. "When combined, some combinations appear to work better together than others," he told Life's Little Mysteries.

Natalie Wolchover of Life's Little Mysteries has more: Link

How many internet memes are in this song by the GAG Quartet? All of them! Well, according to the YouTube page, there are forty -in case you want to try to find them all. -via The Daily What

One way to breathe new life into a meme is to autotune it. This was made from the original Rhett & Link ad for Ojai Valley Taxidermy plus the Kids React to Chuck Testa video by the Fine Brothers with audio treatment by the Gregory Brothers.  -via Blame It On The Voices

If you wear a costume that illustrates an internet meme, you might find yourself explaining it over and over, but when someone “in the know” sees you and gives a thumbs up, it’s all worth it! Still, this Old Spice Guy shown here will probably be recognized by everyone. Our own Jill Harness put together a list of the hottest meme Halloween costumes for this year in a list at Oddee. Link

If Nyan Cat were around in 1988, he would the star of an NES game. And it would be in the bargain bin now. J. R. Baker took this idea and ran with it, designing both the front and back of the game case in the style of Konami games from the ’80s. See the expanded art and work in progress at his site. Link

Image: Photo_History [Flickr]

Tired of the Keyboard Cat? Perhaps you need this: Banjo Cat. And 'fess up - who hears the Dueling Banjo just now?

Who says internet memes don’t last? Some people have the most fleeting memes tattoos on their bodies. Imagine trying to explain to your grandchildren why those things were so important to you that you had them permanently inked into your skin. Ranker has a list of ten memes, some with more than one tattoo found. A couple pics are NSFW. Link

A meme finds its way into toenail art. I honestly envy anyone who has the time to do something like this. Link

A very internet video, indeed! This collection of clips features just about every video meme that ever hit the ‘net, edited into appropriate places to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Some language NSFW.  -via BB Spot

YouTube combines vintage footage, special effects, and modern memes to salute the viral videos of 100 years ago with this top 5 countdown. Somehow this video has 7,200 likes and a few hundred dislike, but only 489 views -but it’s their website, so I guess they can do that. The YouTube page has links to the videos that inspired this compilation. -via Buzzfeed

Ben Huh, who found success with I Can Has Cheezburger and its many spinoff sites, recently secured $30 million in investment funding. That may sound like success, but the real sign that you’ve arrived is when NMA makes an animation of your story for Asian news outlets. -via Laughing Squid

Caldwell Tanner and Kevin Corrigan rounded up internet memes to bedevil Batman and Robin in a series of comic book cover mashups. There are five in all; this one is my favorite. Link -via Gorilla Mask

The line-up for the annual Coachella festival was leaked a few days ago, and dozens of parody posters featuring everything from deceased artists to the most horrific music combinations have been designed. Urlesque collected the funniest posters into one post, and added this one featuring internet memes. Link

We’ve already posted twice about Amy Chua’s essay “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, so is it any wonder that a new image meme has grown up around the backlash? Note: the image used in the generator is not Amy Chua; it’s a stock photo. Link -via Buzzfeed

A recent meme is to mix up science fiction universes to provoke an indignant response from science fiction geeks. A quote from a movie, TV show, book, or video game will do, but make sure it’s mis-attributed and laid over a picture that has nothing to do with the quote or the attribution! See 32 examples at Geekosystem. Link

The Gifford Children’s Choir of Racine, Wisconsin perform Trolololo (previously at Neatorama) as a Christmas gift to the people on the internet! Link -via The Daily What

Link

Where would the Net be without all those funny pic memes? Even if you’re tired of LOLcats, you’ll still enjoy this big list of image-driven memes lovingly compiled by Geekosystem.

This one above is part of a long CAPTCHArt (previously on Neatorama) thread over at Something Awful’s legendary Photoshop Phriday:

CAPTCHArt [Part 1, Part 2]

CAPTCHArt, or works of art MSPaint inspired by those squiggly CAPTCHA codes some websites make you type in to post or comment, is making a comeback lately since 4chan implemented it recently, but we’ve got to give Something Awful credit for pioneering the form. This is also the origin of Internet hero Responsibility Scallop.

Link

Update: Finally, an answer. Link

The latest meme is to mix two or more memes together. The result is exponentially more amusing or annoying, depending on your perspective. This video combines Keyboard Cat with David After Dentist. It was made by Charlie Schmidt, the original creator of Keyboard Cat.

via Urlesque

Josh Millard turned a little idea into a flier which turned into a meme. Deservedly so, don’t you think? Other people are now putting them up in far-flung places. Link -via Metafilter

Update: Josh has started a blog to document these useless fliers.

Taking photos of people lying facedown on the ground in public is an emerging Internet meme. Facedowns is a photoblog of such pictures. The goal of the bloggers behind it, Lynn and Michael Chealander and Amy Mihyang, is to get facedown photos of themselves in many different countries around the world. Above is one of Lynn Chealander’s photos of a facedown from the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone.

Link via DudeCraft

Forty-four years after he recorded the song we’ve come to know as Trolololo (previously at Neatorama), Eduard Khil is offering to sing the song again, this time with lyrics! -via Buzzfeed

You might remember the picture of Disaster Girl that was a popular meme a couple of years ago. Jack Shepherd at Buzzfeed called the child pictured here “Disaster Girl’s evil grandma”. She is actually Flickr user Nathan Callahan’s mother, pictured after the Long Beach earthquake of 1933. Link -via Buzzfeed

This is just one of 5 Science Fair Projects for the Internet, brought to you by College Humor. Other subjects are Facebook, Google search, comment thread eruptions, and how to build a great website. Link -via Digg

The year end lists are coming fast and furious! Here’s one you don’t see year after year, since flash mobs have only recently been numerous enough to invite ranking. Each one has a video, so you can see whether they deserve the honor. Pictured is the promotion for Elf Yourself last month in New York City. Link

Just in time for Christmas gift-giving, the wolves you know and love are howling at the moon on a one-piece footed pajama set!

# The Official Three Wolf Moon Pajamas.
# Increases Sex Appeal*
# 3 Wolf Moon has been Featured on The Office, ABC News, & The Chicago Tribune
# WARNING! Wolves on PJs May Occasionally Come to Life*
# Chicks Dig Guys in Wolf Pajamas*

* Results may vary.

They feature a trap-door opening so that you never have to take them off! Only $44.95. Link -via Buzzfeed

Jacki was Spaghetti Cat in 2008. You don’t have the time to make a better costume for this year, unless you have been working on it a while already. In case you’ve forgotten, here is the origin of Spaghetti Cat.

Brad O’Ferrell showed up at the “A Night To ReMEMEber” internet meme party in a Keyboard Cat costume.  All it took was a cat costume and a keyboard.

Matt Cutts is a LOLcat. Or he was for Halloween last year. The cheeseburger was a nice touch!

This LOLcat costume is perfect for trick-or-treating. You won’t get the full effect until you see the back of the t-shirt.

This Ceiling Cat costume should be easy to do, depending on the size of the ceiling. If you are going to sit on the porch and hand out candy, this would be OK. It might be a problem if you are a cab driver.

You can buy Hello Kitty costumes of all kinds, but making your own is a real accomplishment. Pink Daisy at Craftster made her own version of Hello Kitty for Halloween 2008.

This costume was posted earlier on Neatorama, but this collection wouldn’t be complete without Lime Cat, Melon Cat, Helmet Cat, or whatever you want to call this. Flicker user Alida Saxon’s brother put this costume together at the last minute. The helmet is a basketball painted green, and the fur was salvaged from a stuffed toy.

A warning: if you dress as an internet meme for Halloween, be prepared to explain yourself. Unless you’re meeting up with your online group, you’ll probably have to tell the whole story of your costume. If you’re willing to do that, the few who will “get it” will make the entire effort worthwhile.

Move over, LOLcats! There’s a new meme in town. Here’s LOL Fat Cats: Link (Now, why didn’t I think of this?) – via Nag on the Lake

Previously on Neatorama: Top 15 Amazingly Fat Cats

Andy Baio of waxy.org blog posted 23 photos of backgrounds from various internet memes. Like Garfield without Garfield, the result is strangely disconcerting.

Would you still recognize what these Internet memes are, well, without the actual memes?

These photos are banal out of context. Only someone familiar with the original memes would sense something’s amiss, like the set of a play waiting for the actors to stumble into history.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.

John of The Zeray Gazette asks this interesting question: what causes an Internet meme? What gives some web sensation staying power?

What makes some video, idea, or motif a predominant meme? Why do people blog about bacon, zombies, and lolcats, but not so much about pork shoulder roast, mummies, and parakeets? Why does one guy mouthing the words to Numa Numa in front of his PC become famous, while almost all others who do likewise do not?

John went on to explain his theory, which includes penetrability (i.e. how a successful meme crosses niche web communities) and instantaneous comphrehensibility (how easily it can be grasped in under 10 seconds).

Actually, I can answer that question with one word: 4chan.

What do you think? Link

I dare you: Link (with apologies to The Cure)

One of the funnest categories is the Meme of the Year. This year, "Fail" scored an Epic Win at the Urlies …

As far as memes are concerned, it was the year of FAIL. Sure, the four-letter word has been trolling around the web in various forms for years, but as countless image macros fueled the fire and everyone added the catchphrase to their vocabularies this year, writers were sparked to write lengthy pieces about the phenomenon — thus instigating a complete FAIL overload. Oh the irony.

And yes, Neatorama was nominated for "It" URL: Site of the Year, but we lost out to one of the neatest websites around today and one of my own personal favorites, Buzzfeed.

Link