Sunday, January 31, 2010

Weekly Poll Result 2 - Image/Video Dominated

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/weeklypoll2

Photobucket

When you are watching television/video or looking at an image, what catches your attention most? The image, video, the caption or sub titles? Most likely it will be the image or video because human beings tend to pay more attention to graphics than text. And that was reflected in the result of our last week's poll where we asked the respondents - "What do you like about an Internet Meme?".

The result shows that fifty-eight percent of the respondents preferred the image or video more in an Internet Meme. This could be due to the fact that they have seen or came across hilarious or funny images or videos recently. And we are pretty sure that some of the Internet Meme like the Oolong the Rabbit or Om Nom Nom Nom have played a part in this result.

Unfortunately, most of the respondents disliked Internet Meme as twenty one percent of them chose that option. Judging from that result, it shows that they perhaps have no interests in Internet Meme or they could have gone through the Internet Meme but none of it "succeeded" in attracting the voters.

The next result is a little more encouraging as fourteen percent of the respondents like the caption in an Internet Meme. When someone likes the caption more than the images or videos, it could be because the words phrasing are hilarious or maybe the caption is just too catchy for the voters to avoid laughing at it.

Finally, the remaining seven percent of the respondents chose the option "Both". In other words, they like both the images or videos and caption. A great combination of a funny image or video with a good caption will certainly catch the attention of Internet users and make them laugh all the way. The Lolcats Internet Meme is a good example of this.

In the end, we can conclude that most of the respondents like Internet Meme particularly the image or video but what about those that dislike Internet Meme? We would you like to hear your opinion on this. And what do you think of this week's poll result? Do share your opinion with us.


Jason

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Babies Got Some Skills

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/babiesskills

We all heard of the phrase, "Dance like there's no tomorrow". That phrase was used backed in the 80s where disco was the so-called in-thing. Till today, people are still using this phrase to describe almost anything. For example, "Eat like there's no tomorrow" or "Laugh like there's no tomorrow". The next internet meme, like the phrase itself, was an old hit that regained its fame in the new century. The Dancing Baby or also known as Baby Cha Cha was an internet phenomenon back in the 90s. It is an animated 3D baby, wearing only white diapers, dancing and also break-dancing.

"...is a short 3D animation of a baby dancing..."
(Know Your Meme, 2009)

Photobucket
Download 3D Disco Baby, Brothersoft [Image Online], Retrieved 28th January 2010.
URL: http://www.brothersoft.com/3d-disco-baby-68361.html


Like other internet meme, Dancing Baby became a popular short video with the help of e-mail chains. Some people find it offensive while some find it hilarious. It even made a television debut on "Ally McBeal" as part of Ally's hallucination.

Forward to 2010, after more than a decade, Dancing Baby is back and this time, it is not in 3D but instead, real-life. However, this time, Dancing Baby is not spread through e-mails; it is spread through YouTube videos.

Beyonce's famous hit song, Single Ladies topped charts across the world but these babies took over the YouTube charts instead. What the babies were doing was dancing to the song Single Ladies and somehow, their parents' video recorded them. From a funny home video to an internet phenomenon, parents after parents posted up videos of their child dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies. It has now become like a competition. YouTube users would comment on the video whether critisizing or praising. The baby would actually try to mimic the exact dance moves from the original Single Ladies music video. It sounds quite adorable and to actually watch the baby dancing is very hilarious. We guess that is one way to gain fame at an early age.


201Karin, Baby Dancing to Beyonce, YouTube [Online], Retrieved 27th January 2010.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXMy8_26c3U



23sevak23, Baby Dancing - Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) Official, YouTube [Online], Retrieved 27th January 2010.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk42wSXXGq8

Approximately 4,000 videos were uploaded on YouTube, almost all featuring a baby and Single Ladies song. If you were to search "Baby dancing to Beyonce", you may see videos of grown men doing the same thing as the babies - white diapers and Single Ladies being played in the background. It may be something like a parody of this internet meme. Imagine an ordinary home video, becoming so famous that people actually feel worth making a parody out of it?

Is it a natural talent by the young infants? Or was it a fake where the parents taught them in advance? And is it even an ethical thing for the kids to watch a leotard-dressed female dancing?


References:
1. I Awesome, Dancing Baby, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 27th January 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dancing-baby

2. Barb Dybwad, Baby Dancing to Single Ladies:No Really, The Greatest Video of All Time!, Mashable [Online] Retrieved on 27th January 2010.
URL: http://mashable.com/2009/09/24/baby-dancing-to-single-ladies/



Cheers!

Vivienne

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Show Me Your Face

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/showmeyourface

Pokemon, short for Pocket Monster is a famous anime series in the world and they have a legion of fans around the world ranging from children to parents. Why? It is because of the exciting and interesting story of Ash - the main character and his favorite Pokemon - Pikachu. Pokemon was created by Satoshi Taijri and owned by the video game company Nintendo. The first Pokemon anime series was released in 1995 and since then, many other products of Pokemon was developed such as Trading Card Games and Adventure Games. Most of you will probably know that Pikachu is the most famous Pokemon but actually, there is another well known Pokemon and that is Squirtle.


Squirtle
Logan Zezima, Give Squirtle a Face, Know Your Meme [Online], Retrieved on 18th January 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/give-squirtle-a-face

In 2008, the face of Pikachu was taken by an Internet user and being edited by putting some funny faces on its body and it was posted on the Internet. Surprisingly, it turned into an Internet Meme in a short time because of Pikachu's popularity. In Pokemon, Pikachu is the main character and that is why usually Pikachu is being promoted everywhere and thus making it more popular than any other Pokemon, causing the picture of Squirtle to go unnoticed most of the time despite it being a well known Pokemon.

Three weeks ago on January 8 2010, another Internet user took the face of Squirtle just like what happened to Pickachu and created a thread named "Give Squirtle a Face". Unfortunately, it did not work. Well, at least for a day because on the next day, an Internet user by the name of Little Washu posted the same thing in a thread section and inviting other users to "Have At It! Give Him a Face!". This time however, it worked!


Faces of Squirtle
Logan Zezima, Give Squirtle a Face, Know Your Meme [Online], Retrieved on 18th January 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/give-squirtle-a-face


Most Internet users thought that this Internet Meme was created by Little Washu but little do they know that it was actually created by someone else. However, because of Little Washu, this Internet Meme became very popular. This applies to our life as well. Opportunity waits for no one but rather, it is something to be achieved. If we want to achieve success, we must take the opportunity when it is presented to us as waiting will bring a naught. Also, we must be hard working and do our utmost to achieve our dream. So people, Go For It!


Reference:
1. Logan Zezima, Give Squirtle a Face, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 18th January 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/give-squirtle-a-face

2. Matt Swider, The Pokemon Series Pokedex (Special), Gaming Target [Online] Retrieved on 18th January 2010.
URL: http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=6531


Advin