This kind of thing is what the internet was invented for.
According to YouTube user "imyourhooker":
"Novemember 22, 2011 at the TERRYXGAGA book signing, I stuck my phone in my pants, while it was recording, told her what I did, and asked her if she could whisper happy birthday to my crotch.
SHE DID IT, I LOVE HER SO MUCH."
I should hope so! It would feel weird to have someone you didn't love serenade your genitals.
In the days before the modern internet, it took a lot of awesome to make a meme. Usually, these were faxed visuals of dirty cartoons, pictures or jokes. But there were also audio memes. They were dutifully recopied from one analog cassette tape to another, resulting in increasing levels of hiss.
Some, like tapes of the Tube Bar prank calls, became permanently embedded in pop culture by getting written into The Simpsons. Others just faded into memory when the tape got eaten.
For about 13 years, I have occasionally searched for one of my favourite audio memes from the '80s and '90s: Cable Guy. But somehow I missed it when the recording finally surfaced on YouTube last year (and two years before) and was covered on BoingBoing:
The transcript has errors ("AutoMag" was the name of the show, and "Dogan" is an ancient slur against Catholics) but there it is.
According to No Cable: "This tape came from the answering machine at Cablenet (now Cogeco) in Kingston, Ontario in the mid 1980's. "Automag Magazine" was a car review show that used to air in the area. This customer obviously loves his Automag Magazine! Not safe for work or near children due to the excessive (and hilarious) profanity. This tape was recently featured on Boing Boing, and yes, copies were made and distributed at my high school as well."
From Kingston (my hometown) it spread across Canada in both Beethoven and non-Beethoven versions. The band my brother played in at the time, The Pariahs, used to play it at The Toucan before they took to the stage. It was shared in dorm rooms, at parties, through the mail.
And then the tapes got worn out. Our cassette decks became obsolete. And we forgot about it.
The rate and frequency at which new online memes emerge, spread and fade today is dizzying. You basically need a daily update. Back in the day, though, these things were unusual and long-lasting enough to leave a mark.
And now it's back. It has even been Xtranormaled:
Welcome to the 21st Century, Angry Cable Guy. Wherever you are.
It's been a long time since the world has had a talented, relevant, five-piece boy band thrusted into their face, and perhaps with good reason. There's some much to live up to - NKOTB, BSB, NSYNC - how could any newbie group every dream of competing. Maybe with a little help from a former boy band member…
Lance Bass would like to introduce you to his new boy band, Heart2Heart. Their first single, Facebook Official, hit the web this week, and it's getting a lot of attention … because people are trying to figure it out!
What is this? Is it a parody? An homage to 2Gether, perhaps? Or has Lance fallen into RB-Rebbecca Black territory? You know, like, he's completely serious with this - the video, the costumes, the horrifying lyrics - and people will jump on board only because the enjoy the sheer ridiculousness of it!
It's part of a big social media outreach that includes all kinds of user-generated content. (I'll bet they get some pretty icky ones, too.)
Plus, everyone knows that women only make this face for Manolo Blahnik
The concept isn't that far off, though, as shoes have long been considered a vaginal symbol. I recall hearing an Italian proverb against women having concurrent sexual partners that translated to something like "you can't put two feet in the same shoe". You get the picture.
This modest Indian take away menu from the UK has been makingthe roundsonline this week as "the greatest typo ever". I found one reference to it that was over 2 years old (with tasteless ads). I'll have to assume they've fixed it by now. Unless, of course, it resulted in a huge increase in soon-to-be-disappointed customers.
