Meme Monday #2

Wonga Man

In the book of television adverts, this has to be one of the very worst in recent years. A collection of smiling people you wish would just disembark from the screen in front of you, and disappear into the night sky. Too jolly for my liking.

But then, like a punch in the face:

“Dosh?”
“Reddies?”
“WONGA?”

 

The thumbnail guy, plotting your demise.

Suddenly, nothing else matters. Everything is still in the room. Something almost…magical has been witnessed. Who is this fellow? Why is his face so very, very large? He even cancels out the semi-attractive redhead who precedes him. You have to feel for the well-groomed fellow who has the misfortune of following Wonga Man. The audience is most likely still in a state of WTF? And it doesn’t exactly help that he does that peculiar little wiggle after he shuts his mouth. It’s also nice how any thoughts of helping the environment are given all of 2 seconds at the end. Yeah, money matters people. Don’t give your phone to people purely to recycle. Get some piffling amount of money for it.

But that isn't why we're here.

After starring in a series of user-created videos, Wonga Man garnered a kind of semi-meme status. Perhaps he would have even ascended into the halls of superior memes, had Envirofone not been so keen on utilising him in every advert from that point on. Some things are just not destined to stay underground. Some things are destined to make people money. You can’t fault the community for trying though.

W-wonga.

But in a way, I’m happy for the guy; sure, I’d do everything in my power to avoid someone like him in a social situation, but you have to assume he’s enjoying his moment in the spotlight.

And who would want to take that away from him?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The word "Meme" can be defined by typing it into Google and hitting "search." Meme Monday, on the other hand, is a series of articles seeking to elucidate and educate. It deals in those memes, which may find themselves on the fringes of super popular, world conquering status. It is concerned only with spreading joy and attempting to answer that question posed so many years ago..."Where is the love?" The answer, is right here.

Meme Monday #1

What Is Love?

Well, what is it exactly? The Black-Eyed Peas asked where it was some years back, then rather too willingly threw themselves down the stairs, those very same stairs that lead to the fiery pits of nightmare, torture, oblivion and shockingly horrible music. I say "music." But that's a whole different story best reserved for, well, never.

But that isn't why we're here. This is:

Throughout the 1990s, Will Ferrel and Chris Kattan performed a Saturday Night Live sketch known as "The Roxbury Guys." Guest hosts for the show would, on various occasions, participate in the filming; luminaries including Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson and Sylvester Stallone. This particular video stars a young Jim Carrey, displaying his elastic physicality, madcap acting, and joining the two regulars in their synchronised head-bobbing. Their car, the vessel of choice to take them on a neverending quest, hitting up parties and functions, to find some hot females to umm, "dance" (?) with. At least, they call it dancing.

The song in the video, "What is Love?" by the group Haddaway, was released in 1993, topping the charts in 13 countries, but failing to break the top 10 in the US. Though the skit would eventually spawn a commercially successful, though critically humiliating film version, the song lived on, gaining meme status by way of a .gif posted to YTMND. This clip of a few seconds of bobbing head movements, spawned many variants, often with the original music re-jigged to fit the new visual.

Some of these, can be seen in these conveniently compiled videos:

OMG HE JUST POSTED YOUTUBE LINKS FOR A BLOG ENTRY :O

Yes, yes he did.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The word "Meme" can be defined by typing it into Google and hitting "search." Meme Monday, on the other hand, is a series of articles seeking to elucidate and educate. It deals in those memes, which may find themselves on the fringes of super popular, world conquering status. If you wish to complain that the articles contained within are about memes which are, in fact, really quite well documented and popular, i'm afraid i find it hard to care enough to even finish thi...