All You Need Is FAIL

One thing the internet loves (aside from cats) is feeling better about itself. With one word, a YouTube commenter can belittle the work of others while making him or herself feel like a big strong man or woman. That word is "FAIL," and it is evidence of the constant cynical undertone beneath every single pixel we see. It's the America's Funniest Home Video Syndrome. The internet loves seeing people fall down, figuratively and literally. It loves seeing people fail miserably at anything they try, whether it's walking...

Photoshopping Funny Pictures Into Other Pictures: The Poor Man's Anything

If you are familiar with the internet, you are probably familiar with a little meme called "Sad Keanu." One day, Keanu "I see dead Kung Fu" Reeves was photographed eating a sandwich alone. This was hilarious, because no one ever eats sandwiches alone. Then a memo was sent to the internet to put said picture into any other picture ever. Enter: LULZ.

"Hahaha! Have you seen the one where he's on a car?"

Following this trend were clever photoshops involving Strutting Leonardo Dicaprio, Prancing Michael Cera, and Sad Don Draper.

Above: creativity.

You Didn't Forget About CATS, Did You?

No, of course I fucking didn't. Cats cats cats. There, ya happy? Cats may always control the internet, but the web is so huge, there is still room for the underdog. Or undersnail, or whatever animal is not a cat. Not all animals can be adorable, but all animals do use poor grammar and horribly misspelled words. That's just an internet fact. I figure I kan kash inn on dis stoopid twend by introducing the world to something I like to call "BRBworms."

Turning Others' Despair Or Embarrassment Into Toe-Tappin' Fun!

Perhaps the best way towards internet memety (if you don't happen to have adorably pink, pink paw pads) is to embarrass yourself or to freak out or to embarrass yourself by freaking out. You could be a red-headed kid freaking out about being tormented at high school or you could be

a man having a genuine moment appreciating nature. One thing you won't be, though, is happy with the results, because you are about to be ridiculed and remixed the world over by everyone with an internet connection. There will be remixes and there will reenactments, and the devastating party won't stop until some other lost soul makes a fool of himself on video.

It's not all mean-spirited, though. The talented Gregory Brothers share their profits with the subject of their songs. This is a good thing, but it is not always the case, and the fact that it's "all in good fun" doesn't mean the ridiculed party will necessarily see it that way. Because these remixes occur on the very impersonal internet, we can distance ourselves from these people's very real issues. It helps us ignore the fact that sometimes people on the internet go too far and it can lead to suicide. Eventually a mostly good-natured remix is going to push some poor sap down so far that they end up killing themselves, and then someone will turn their suicide into a remix and their suicide will kill itself.

"Double suicide all the waaaaaaaaay..."

Maybe I'm being a bit extreme here, but the fact remains that these remixes are dependent upon previous knowledge of the meme. They are not objectively funny and they have the same problem you run into when watching a reference movie. A reference is made, you recognize said reference, and you "laugh" because you remember what they're referencing, but is it actually a joke? Are they tickling your funny bone or are they just pointing at your recollection bone? If you saw an auto-tuned remix of a video you've never seen, would you still find it funny? If you're not in on the joke, is it still a joke? You tell me. Here's a remix of a non-existent rant from "sad/angry internet celebrity" LaughPuppy23...

LaughPuppy23's Twelfth Freak Out: The Song!

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Cody hates the internet, loves the internet, and is the internet. Because of this, everything is a metaphor for everything. He likes Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, but not as much as he likes fake Twitter.