Resident internet scientists Jamie Dubs, Yatta & Elspeth Jane investigate the breakout Internet phenomena of our time

Om Nom Nom Nom

Slang, indicating eating. Commonly used is lolcats and similar image macros. It usually translates as, “I am absorbed in eating this” or “OMG this is awesome eats, I’m eating it!”. The phrase is suspected to have it’s origin in the sounds the Sesame Street character Cookie Monster when eating cookies.

Entry added Jan 02, 2009 at 10:49PM UTC; last edited Jan 25, 2010 at 09:12PM UTC

Tagged lolcat, engrish, language, slang, food, eating, onomatopoeia

Balloon Boy

A 6 year-old boy named Falcon Heene reportedly climbed into a helium-filled balloon which was meant to hover only 20 feet above the ground, but took off. Before a captivated world, news stations tracked the flight of the balloon with video over 8000 feet into the air. A global media frenzy would ensue, with an enraptured Internets audience tracking every move… that is, until it was discovered that Falcon wasn’t onboard at all, and that the whole incident was entirely fabricated by his attention-seeking parents.

Entry added Oct 15, 2009 at 09:42PM UTC; last edited Jan 14, 2010 at 07:05PM UTC

Tagged media frenzy, non-event, newscast, twitter, TV, mainstream, metameme

Auto-Tune

Auto-Tune is a pitch-correction plugin created by Antares Audio Technologies in 1997. It was meant to subtly correct a singer’s off-key notes, but its usage has expanded far beyond its creators’ intentions, pushed to near art-form status by Internet remix

Entry added Jun 07, 2009 at 02:17PM UTC; last edited Jan 06, 2010 at 02:45AM UTC

Tagged autotune, vocal effect, youtube, pop culture, music, t-pain, jay-z, cher, celebrity, hiphop, newscast

Where The Hell Is Matt

“Where the hell is Matt?” (aka “Dancing Matt”) is a series of viral videos featuring Matt Harding dancing in front of famous landmarks and sightseeing spots around the world.

Entry added Jun 26, 2009 at 06:43PM UTC; last edited Jan 06, 2010 at 02:45AM UTC

Tagged viral videos, dancing, music, travel, montage, international, art meme, commercial, internet famous

Get Down (ゲッダン)

Get Down is a Japanese meme that originated from a glitch in the N64 game Goldeneye, where the characters (and vehicles) would suddenly “spaz out” if the game cartridge was only partially inserted in the console.

Entry added Mar 04, 2009 at 12:20AM UTC; last edited Jan 11, 2010 at 01:27PM UTC

Tagged japan, video games, dancing