A Brief History of Meme

Cover of Weezer are known for their inventive videos, from Buddy Holly (which was included as part of Windows ’95 to show off its multimedia capabilities) to Islands in the Sun.

The video to Pork and Beans, the single from their soon to be released Red Album,
contains a potted history of some of the more pervasive internet memes. If you’re having trouble finding them all Fox Australia has a nice little cheat sheet.

“And then they bring out Maria…”

fitness tortureAngharad has been going to the gym for a couple of months and in some sort of masochistic way has
started enjoying it. Of course, when one enjoys something the first thought is to share it with your friends and loved ones which is why the little darling gave my name and phone number so I could have a free trial.

I found out about this today when Roberta, the peppy Spanish fitness instructor, called me to bully me into going down.

Me (confused because my phone is ringing on a Saturday afternoon):
Hello?

R.T.P.S.F.I: Hallo Mr. Ryan, this is Roberta from L.A. Fitness. You have been referred by a friend who thinks you need to go to the gym. How about a free session to see what you need to do.

Me (battered by the joint attack of peppiness and Spanishness):
Uhm. Yes. That sounds like a good idea.

R: Great. Can you come down in five minutes.
Me: Woah there lil horsey. I can come some time next week.

R: I don’t think that’s enough motivation, why don’t you just skip along right now.
Me: No. Really. Next week.

R (Showing her true alien side, for all fitness instructors are
from a dying alien planet come here to steal our
hard-earned flab
)
: Now really Mr. Ryan, don’t you want to be
fit. It’s in your best interest to come down tomorrow.
Me: But it’s a three-day weekend. I’m being lazy!

R: That’s not good enough. You have to make an appointment now.
Me (starting to sob): Okay okay. Tuesday evening.

R: That’s better. We’ll see you at 6pm on Tuesday. Don’t forget, we know where you live…

Help.

Doomed to repeat its mistakes

Sid JenkinsSkins in its present form had its final episode last night. True to form it was a rather stylised presentation of an A-level results day with some smashing music and a hard hitting performance from Larissa Wilson.

Next year’s series will feature a while new cast of rowdy teenagers with Sid and Cassie popping in occasionally. I’m not sure how it’ll work as, for me, it was the characters that made the show, but I’m prepared to give it a chance.

Godwinned

Deutsch: WikiHistory-Screenshot Deutsch: WikiHistory-Screenshot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wikihistory is a wonderful short short story which portrays time travel as a Wikipedia edit war.

Happy Easter folks. I’m off to Cornwall.

Elbow Patches, Redux

This is the time of the year when the excitement of a new set of books and a new course with the OU fades with the onset of the first Tutor Marked Assignment.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been leaving these to the last minute, which has ended up with me writing all night before it needs to be in and trying to buy time travel delivery from the local Post Office.

This year, however, I’m trying to be grown up so I’ve decided to get cracking a week and a half early. I’ve used Mind Maps before when taking notes so tried this
open source application
. I’ve managed to create my entire outline in the time it’s taken the boss to have a bath. Maybe I won’t be sneaking envelopes through my tutor’s door this year.

Bob the Angry Flower tells you how it is

Required reading for anyone who intends to write on the Internet.

Sanctimonium

I heard about this case on the BBC Newspod podcast yesterday afternoon and it just seemed like so much American-style Christianity. Sanctimonious, full of hubris, and an almost sociopathic belief in the rightness of only one opinion. But it seems that while the case is being brought forward as a human-rights issue, the real reason is something more sinister.

According to research carried out by the Ministry of Truth blog, Lydia Playfoot’s family is involved in a business franchise promoting the sale of these purity rings and it could be imagined that they are more worried about losing their client base than about any real religious reason.

Have your own beliefs if you want to, but don’t try and use religion in order to sell what amounts to something Elizabeth Duke wouldn’t even stock.

Ah sure Ted, we’re havin’ an oul’ vote

I’m moving to Laois or Offaly just so I can vote for this guy. His election song shows that Irish politics isn’t just about brown paper envelopes and tribunals.

Send them down the mines

In a Grumpy Old Man moment, I previously remarked the young people today seem to have too much self-esteem which leads to an inflated sense of entitlement and general rudeness. While I had nothing to back up my opinion it turns out that my rant was at least close to the truth.

An extensive study of 16,475 college students from the United States has revealed narcissism has risen steadily among that population since 1982 due to the last couple of decades’ obsession with promoting self-esteem.

Is it my turn to call for national service to be reintroduced?

The study is due to be published in April and, of course, the author has a blog. Ironically the blog is hosted on Livejournal – home of the narcissistic, illiterate, and rude youth she highlights.

One elbow patch

Having attempted a piece of minor madness, I’ve got my first year’s results back. I was hoping for a bare pass in the exam just so I could have a couple of month without worring about a resit, instead I got 60%.

One year down, another five to go.