First, I want to sincerely apologize to those of you who have been waiting for this to get posted, only to have to wait until the 10th day of March to do so rather than much earlier. I myself know that I have been a bit of a dirtbag for doing so, and for that I'm sorry. But, let's put that bitterness aside, shall we? After all, you wanted this done and now I finally have it in reading form. So, without further interruption, here are my (extremely late) choices of the best and the worst from February 2011, with a few March-related contents and thoughts added into it:
END OF THE MONTH:
Memes of the Month: "Who is Arcade Fire?" and "Hipster Ariel"
February was quite a decent month in the Internet department, as it usually is during this time of year. Two of the latest Internet sensations that stuck out to me, however, had something to do with hipster and the longtime mockery of it. The first was introduced right after Arcade Fire, a very good and uber-hipstery alternative rock band, defeated some big names like Eminem and Lady Gaga to win the award's coveted Album of the Year for 2010. Because they were the most lesser known of the Album of the Year nominees, it resulted in a surprise reaction from the majority of Americans hearing or watching this unfold, tilting up the Twitterspehere, bloggersphere and Facebook in the process with messages from celebrities to casual music fans alike simply asking just what the hell an Arcade Fire is and why something I never heard of won. Tumblr and the AV Club, among others, have posted Twitter posts during the hours and days following the surprising victory, which range from the hilarious to the just plain nasty.
The second meme of the month came a few days before Arcade Fire's sudden recognition. Although making fun of hipster is about as played out as Rex Ryan's foot fetish jokes, the Tumblr website Hipster Ariel managed to make the mocking fun again by adding the stereotypical hipster glasses to an image of the Disney princess looking very serious, and then letting the world add in stereotypical things thoughts in the caption. Its success (Internet success, that is) has now expanded to include many other Disney princesses from Snow White to Pocahontas to even Rapunzel. The meme is currently in minute 14:59, but at least they were able to make their usage of irony and feeling more holier than us funny one more time.
Commercial of the Month: Volkswagen's "The Force"
This ad was, by far, was one of the three best commercials to air during this year's Super Bowl. The ad has nothing to do with the car whatsoever other than the fact that you can lock your car from the inside of a house, but it easily makes up for it with entertainment and cuteness. But then again, I am a big "Star Wars" fans, and any commercial with a kid wearing a Darth Vader costume does seem to win me over easily, so I may be a little biased.
Stories of the Month:
- The Most Revolutionary: Hosni Mubarak Steps Down as President/Dictator of Egypt
See, Gaddafi? This is how you step down from your longtime reign as the supreme ruler of a country! Not by the murder of thousands of people and a possible Civil War outbreak, but with only a few injuries and a symbolic waving of the white flag after many days of protesting.
- The Most Union-Tastic: Thousands Gather in Wisconsin State Capital To Protest State Bill Outlawing Collective Bargaining for Public Workers
Apparently the Packers Super Bowl XLV victory could not calm down the frustrations of Wisconsinites, even for a tad.
- The Bloodiest: The "Friendly Fire" Fighting in Libya
There's really not much left to be said about this. Let's hope that this ends real quickly.
-The Most Pun-tastic: The Hary Baals Building Story
Fort Wayne, Indiana is like the Moe Syzlak of America. I'm surprised that Amanda Huggankiss wasn't on the ballot as well.
- The Story That Began The Wackiness Soon to Come: Charlie Sheen Goes on Rant Against Chuck Lorre and CBS, Halts Production of "Two and a Half Men"
That's our Charlie! I swear, the man could strangle one of his goddesses on live television and people would still love him.
- The Most Scandalous: NY Rep. Christopher Lee Resigns After Photos of Him Trying to Woo Women Through Craigslist Becomes Identified on Gawker
So, the guy resigns after photos of him shirtless are found on the Internet, and yet Larry Craig is still in office despite having gay sex in a public bathroom. The rules of when or when not to resign in Congress becomes even more confusing by the day.
- The Most Intriguing Consumer Deal: Alabama Sex Shops Swaps Guns for Sex Toys
This takes the word "make love, not war" into a new level.
- The Biggest Blockbuster: Carmelo Anthony Finally Traded From Denver to the New York Knicks
Just what the team needs, more players who can't defend. Seriously, though, it was a very good trade for the Knicks, and for the Nuggets as well. The Knicks finally have the superstar player that they have always wanted, while the Nuggets finally have that "Will they, won't they?" distraction off their back.
Computer of the Month: IBM's "Watson"
for crushing his two main competitors on an episode of "Jeopardy," and for introducing the world just how influential of a device that it can be. And even though that this is probably the first signal towards the rise of the machines and the total takedown of human civilization as we know it (watch the "Terminator" series if you don't believe me!), I am still very optimistic of the possibilities of this machine.
Trainwreck of the Month: The 83rd Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco
Maybe David Letterman wasn't that bad of a host after all.
Snowstorm of the Month: The So-Called "Blizzard of 2011"
If you want to read and see my first hand account, click here and it will transfer you to last month's installment of End of the Month where I discussed in deatil about the main stories and impact of the storm not just in the city of Chicago where the storm hit the hardest, but all across the country as well. It's been over a month since the storm ended, and I still see some parts around my neighborhood with a few inches of that snowstorm left, all frozen and ready for spring to come and melt it away for good. Now that, my friends, is a blizzard!
Videos of the Month:
- The Best Little Feminist: "5 Yr. Old Needs a Job Before Getting Married"
And that little girl grew up to be..the white Beyonce Knowles.
- The Most Parody Friendly: "Radiohead- Lotus Flower"
Because the music video of the song simply consists of singer Thom Yorke dancing unusually and awkwardly, it has inspired a great amount of parody videos, from one in which he is dancing to "All the Single Ladies" to one in which he dances at the pace of the Benny Hill theme song, and many more. While posting a slideshow of these parody videos, the website Gamma Squad put it really nicely when they simply pointed to these parody videos as a reason "Why the Internet Was Invented." Personally, I couldn't have said it any better myself.
- The Most Dramatic: Justin Bieber Getting Shot to Death on "CSI"
Now it's time for the dead to listen to the man's mediocre music first hand.
- The Best Live-Action Adaptation: "Real Life Mario Kart!"
God bless these men.
- The Best Introduction of Their Talent: "LADY GAGA- Born This Way (Cover)"
It's official: with Grayson Michael Chance and now this girl, Lady Gaga songs have now officially become the golden ticket for young and aspiring singers to make their mark on the world.
- The Best Insult: "An Awkward Moment"
Oh, the things I would do to try to see the additional footage of the guy's reaction! He probably just took it and acted like a true professional, but I still want to see some proof!
- The Most Crowd Pleasing: "Blake Griffin Dunks Over a Car During the 2011 NBA Al-Star Slam Dunk Contest"
If you ever needed evidence to show that the NBA fixed the contest from the beginning by having Griffin win it, this was it.
- The Best Solution to the Great CBS Dilemma: "Two and a Half Men Leaked Finale"
Now I completely understand why he said that he's "a bitchin' rock star from Mars" last week.
People of the Month: (tie) Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi
Two men, both beginning the month of February as dictators of a large north African nation, now ending it on two completely different notes despite going through similar circumstances. The first one, Mubarak, finally stepped down as President of Egypt for over 35 years after failing to stop the growth of his country's massive protests against him and his regime. The second, Gaddafi, too had himself a string of protests and riots in his country and him and his regime during the past month (only his didn't start until days after the Egyptian uprising ended). However, unlike Mubarak, Gaddafi has ended the month still not giving up to the growing anti-Gaddafi fighters, urging his supporters and armed soldiers to end it by any means necessarily, whether through violent beatings or by gunning them down. Criticize Mubarak all you want, but at least he never killed thousands of people during his fall from grace.
Things have gotten so bad that the country of Libya is inching ever more closer to the break of a Civil War. However, there are some good news afoot. As of March 7th, reports have been emerging through various worldwide media outlets that Gaddafi is, in fact, negotiating his exile from the country and his exit as its dictator. In other words, there's a good chance that this man could add one more similarity between him and Mubarak very soon, in that both dominated the world headlines in headlines with their stubbornness to leave their office only to resign and complete the uprisings of their country's revolutionaries. Until then, however, we are only left with the sights and the sounds of these two men and their nations during the month of February, along with those of the protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan and Iran and reminders of how this generation of Middle Easterners and Northern Africans have changed the outlook in many parts of the world more and more in ways that we haven't seen in years, even decades.
And that's the way it was! Happy now? That's good. See you again this weekend!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or
tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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