Salon.com > meme

The short, strange life of an original viral star

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:52:00 +0000

Today, we live in a world where wedding proposals are elaborate productions, tantrums aren't discouraged but disseminated, and there's always a danger of a flash mob breaking out. But back in 2006, when YouTube was still relatively new, one Renaissance man helped define the term "viral star." But when Aleksey Vayner died of unknown causes in New York last Saturday, he was a man who defined his moment of notoriety as "rock bottom," a man who just last year changed his name to avoid association with the one that had briefly made him famous. A man claiming to be a relative told Gawker, "It looks like he took some drugs or medicine, had a heart attack, a friend of his drove him to the hospital, and they couldn't resuscitate him."

Buy a Twinkie for $8,000

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:50:00 +0000

Not long after Hostess Brands, the makers of junk-food classics like Ding Dongs and Twinkies, filed to liquidate its assets in bankruptcy court this morning, the rest of America began to panic: Will we lose our beloved Twinkies? Although the New York Times doubts that, the Internet, being what it is, found a way to turn the news into a two-second meme. People took to Amazon and eBay to auction off Twinkies, some for thousands of dollars, deeming them collectibles. Here are some of the best ones:

Product: Single "collector's item" Twinkie
Price: $8,000

Product: 10 count box of Twinkies
Price: $1,000

Product: A Hostess Twinkie Cake Adult Costume
Price: $46.69

Amazon customers review “Binders full of Women”

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:12:00 +0000

The "Binders full of women" meme now lives on in an unexpected medium: Amazon. Amazon reviews are known to be a source of unintentional comedy, but these reviewers, spawned by Romney's comment at Tuesday's town hall, are in on the joke.

Behold, Amazon user reviews of the Avery Durable View Binder: