Random Ramblings

Internet Historian

Prompt Day 2: You are curator of a museum. This museum has an area of interest to you. Take us on a guided tour of your latest exhibition.

Why hello there! Are you here for the tour? Splendid, please sit here and watch this introductory video before we begin. There is a content advisory warning, so if you dislike profanity you'd best steer clear.

Welcome to the Internet!  

Did you enjoy that? Yes, it was a little off-putting but we are still working on it... Follow me to our first exhibit!

This was one of the first viral videos.   Uploaded in 2006, the famous lip-syncing subject in this clip would later go on to record a music video with the same Moldovan pop group O-Zone.

Here is another example of historical hilarity. Charlie is a biter!   These children are fully grown today and have pursued very successful careers.

It's a shock to realize this video first had its inception back in 2007. Youtube itself only launched in 2005. Sadly, it is a much different place from the raw wild wild west of people just trying to be silly. Now it's an entire factory of content creators churning out videos for a quick buck. I miss the times when we uploaded dumb things we did with our friends and didn't care about monetization, views or subscribers... Yes, I just pulled a "back in my day  " on you.

On we go.

Let's take a look at memes, shall we? This video   is one of the earliest examples of meme culture, something which is defined by a perfect storm of topical references, trending tastes, subversive humor and sheer popularity. It is still hard to dissect what makes a meme. The only way I can describe one is a humorous image or video which elicits a reaction. It is essentially a joke in digital form, made to be easily shared and imitated. Animated GIFs, or 'reaction gifs' are a sub branch of this.

Many careers were launched through this infant video platform. One such example was Funny or Die. This comedy group would later go on to create shows such as Billy on the Street, Drunk History and Between Two Ferns. Here is the first video they uploaded: The Landlord   (profanity warning)

Unfortunately, this exhibit is still a work in progress and far from complete. Thank you for taking our Viral Tour through the Years! I leave you with this closing song as we slowly filter out into the sunlight. Thanks for popping by!