While the Internet is a vast supply of hilarious, saddening and maddening stories, videos, photos, GIFs, etc., there is only so much that we are capable of taking in during the span of one week. Sure, if you’re really good at being terrible at your job, you can probably cover most of your bases in five days. But let’s face it, most of us just can’t watch every video that our crazy aunts email to us or read every list of reasons why Oprah is better than sex or look through each list of demotivational posters that our friends who think it’s 2007 still send us daily.
That’s why I’ve decided to put together weekly recaps so the next time your coworkers ask you if you saw that hilarious video of the one guy doing that thing to the other thing, you’ll be able to say yes, instead of crawling under your desk and crying in the fetal position. So without further ado, here’s the best of this past week…
https://www.youtube.com/v/6gyIE4Cl-BM&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3
Last week, Radiohead surprised fans across the world with news that the band would be releasing its latest album for digital download over the weekend. Along with the album, the video for the first single, “Lotus Flower”, was released and we were all exposed to frontman Thom Yorke’s dance routine. And because the Internet is a magical place filled with geniuses with video editing software, Thom’s dancing became the meme du jour. RoboPanda at Gamma Squad gave us the first batch of “Lotus Flower” memes on Monday and then followed up with an awesome second helping on Thursday. I’ve included my favorite above.
Ah Tumblr, where memes are born and then reposted without credit by thousands of other people. But the newest hit, Cats That Look Like Ron Swanson, won’t have that problem as a huge reception on Twitter helped make this site into an instant sensation within a few days. How big is CTLLRS? Nick Offerman, who plays the character Ron Swanson on NBC’s outstanding Parks and Recreation, recognized his fondness for the site in a recent interview with Vulture.
Buffalo Beast editor Ian Murphy took prank phone calls to an entirely new level this week when he watched Wisconsin governor Scott Walker say that he would not talk to anybody during the heated debates over his decision to eliminate state employee collective bargaining rights. Murphy, though, smelled a little of what the farmers call bovine excrement and he took Walker to task… by calling his office and pretending to be billionaire Tea Party supporter David Koch. What resulted was the above clip, as well as the second clip here, and enough material to fuel The Daily Show and The Colbert Report through June.
There’s not really much I can say about the now famous audio clip of Charlie Sheen talking about… stuff. I mean, you just need to listen to it to appreciate it. You can give it a listen at What Would Tyler Durden Do? and then you can sit back and think about everything you thought you knew about life and how Charlie just completely freed your brain. Church this Sunday? Nah. Go fly yourself in a private jet up a dragon’s butt to save Cookie Monster. That’s life, man.
While Tumblr is seemingly the home of endless recycled memes, there is beautiful originality hidden within the networking/blogging site’s cyber loins. Take the instant hit Snooki in Wonderland, for instance. The geniuses behind this Tumblr page have created a new retelling of the classic Lewis Carroll tale, replacing the precocious young girl with The Jersey Shore’s Snooki. Original artwork, like the scene above, depict Snooki and her MTV roommates – The Situation, Pauly D, J Woww, Angelina, Vinny, and those other two that everyone hate – fist-pumping their way through a fantasy adventure in Wonderland. Best part of all, the Kindle version is available for .99 on Amazon.
A 7-year old Serbian boy named Bogdan became an Internet wonder this week after video surfaced of the boy’s family placing metal objects on him. Sounds like a typical day at Roman Polanski’s house, but in Bogdan’s case it’s because he is magnetic. While it is unknown if the boy plans to rally his own army of mutants to fight back against human oppression, he’ll at least have a great parlor trick to show off in college. To which Bogdan’s family would reply, “Haha, what’s college?”
This title pretty much speaks for itself, but Oscar the Grouch of Sesame Street fame made his Academy Awards picks this week, what with the 83rd annual ceremony airing this Sunday on ABC. As for the video, it’s a simple idea – Oscar on the Oscars. But I’m a huge sucker for anything involving Sesame Street or the Muppets so this was making the list even if it was universally loathed this week.
https://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf
Speaking of Oscars, Funny or Die released this video of famed film critic Leonard Maltin discussing this year’s Academy Awards nominees with legendary heavyweight boxer and insane monster Mike Tyson. I don’t really think I need to describe much more than that basic premise, but if you need more details about why you should watch Maltin and Tyson discuss the year’s best films, then I can only suggest that you just watch Kangaroo Jack again and leave the movie humor to anyone else.
Teen pop sensation Justin Bieber dropped by the Ellen show this week to discuss hair, but it wasn’t because of their similar taste in styles. Bieber got a haircut this week, leaving behind his trademark modern bowl style, and while showing off his new ‘do to the daytime talk show host, he donated a lock of his old hair to be sold for charity. The gift fulfilled Ellen’s birthday wish in January, and is currently fetching $7,000 for The Gentle Barn on eBay, which is great but I can’t go much higher than $8,000.
Long and painfully confusing story short – someone wrote a “press release” on behalf of the Internet “heroes” Anonymous calling out the Westboro Baptist Church’s leaders for their protests of things like the deaths of American soldiers and the deaths of children and homosexuality, among many others, and demanding they cease with their actions. The church leadership responded suspiciously quick, leading everyone to believe they wrote the press release to provoke Anonymous. Fast forward to this appearance on something called the David Pakman Show, and Anonymous proved to Westboro’s leader, Shirley Phelps-Roper, that the group certainly can shut down their web sites if she wants to challenge them. And all the while, the rest of the world went outside and interacted with society.