Most of us have probably heard the term “internet meme” but weren’t exactly sure what it meant.

At it’s most basic, it refers to a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly via the internet. (usually through blogs and social media sites) What makes a “meme” different than just a “viral video” is that a meme inspires lots of emulation or duplication by other people. You could think of a meme as a giant “in-joke” that most of the world happens to be in on.

Some are quite famous like putting mentos in soda bottles, or LOL cats – where people put funny phrases over cat pics.

There’s also  Chuck Noris Facts, or Nic Cage as Everyone, Photo Crasher Squirrel (also available as an app) People Playing Chess on Roller coasters, and a bunch of other lesser known memes, like the above Serious Cat (this one is neat because it revolves around just one cat.)

KNOW YOUR MEME.com researches and archives all of the big (and most of the small) internet memes. It’s a great reference site and it’s incredibly up to date so check back often.

For more details, Here’s the wikipedia entry for internet meme.

As seen on the internet. People in South Korea too cold to take their gloves off have started using snack sausages as a stylus for their iPhones. Here’s the blog that spotted it.

An Olympic themed graphic in our Montreal office featuring the Bombardier designed Torch. Go Canada Go.

This art piece called “A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter” puts itself up for sale on eBay every seven days. The purchaser must agree to a legal contract which includes the following stipulation:

“1. Collector agrees that the Artwork will remain connected to a live Internet connection at all times, with disconnections allowed only for the transportation of the work from one venue to another.”

Here’s the link to it’s current listing on eBay. As of this writing it’s up to $4,250.

Congratulations and thank you to all who participated.

Here’s a previous post with links to all the blogs.

I went out in my neighborhood early Sunday morning and took some post-halloween shots. For some reason I always find decorations more interesting the day after; when they’ve entirely lost their context. Check out the full Flickr gallery here.

It’s taken a while, but the judging panel has finally been assembled and will be going through all the entries this week. The winner will be announced next Monday, Sept 28th.

For your review, here’s all the entries in one spot:

Ed Hardy Hall of Fame

Words that can fuck right off

Where I Farted

Things my Dog Did

Free the Unicorns

Douche Bag Syndrome

Dear Olive

I So Shame Myself

Stuff I’ve Noticed

Billy Zane Sucks

Emoticons Gone Wrong

5 Mins

Stuff I Wear When I’m Not Wearing Anything

Whipper Billy Watson’s guide to Cottaging

No Time for Blogging

One Letter Away from Fame

I love Jason McCann

Annoying Things

ENTERED BUT NOT IN COMPETITION

Cats Described in Spanish

What I’m Looking At

This is TAXI’s latest piece in support of the One Laptop Per Child program.

Knowing that animation was going to play a key role in the creation of this short, we worked with The Ebeling Group and XYZ Studios in Australia to create something that was both polished yet innocent and child-like.

The animation was married with actual photographs, giving it a fresh feel and creating life in an otherwise desolate landscape. Much like the song, where each letter of the alphabet is connected to the one before it – each element of the animation, photography and lyrics was dependent on the other to build a fluid story with seamless transitions.

For more info on OLPC or to donate a laptop please visit laptop.org

This crew travels to different cities and asks 50 people the same question – a different question in every city.  The answers can range from funny to poignant to sad; but they are always compelling. Great music, great editing, minimal camera work. It’s a great lesson for those of us in marketing… a remarkably simple idea  made powerful through execution.

Click the image to see this video and dozens of others.

See the rest of the videos here.

More blogging fun…

Douche Bag Syndrome.

I So Shame Myself.

Billy Zane Sucks.

Stuff I’ve noticed.