Okay today I had the biggest presentation of my life (thus far), so pardon the break I have taken for the last few days in the interest of that assignment and subsequently trying to graduate college.

BUT ALAS!

Today's entry is lighthearted and really has nothing to do with advertising other than the fact that it was an article in Ad Age. The topic: LOLcats.

Oh that's right!, the online phenomena which has lovingly filled many a google search for me over the years has made it into advertising trade publications. I opened my Ad Age email to find the following sub-head: Theyz In Ur Ad Budjit, Steelin Ur Dolarz. I then proceeded to laugh for a good 20 minutes, two of my loves, advertising and silly internet humor united as one. Why did Ad Age feel the need to embrace Lolcats? I'm not quite sure, but I'm glad they did. It just goes to show the true impact of the internet and viral content in today's world.


Now for any of you out there in internet land who might be completely lost....
I present to you, useless knowledge you need to know according to Kristin: lolcatz edition.


I was introduced to the world of lolcatz by a dear friend who sent me a picture to brighten my day. This image captured my heart and has remained to this day my favorite lolcat: Invisible bike! I feel that invisible bike captures the heart of lolcats....which is simply: take picture of cat, insert funny line.

However there is more to understanding lolcats than meets the eye.

For instance, many lolcat photos rely on leet-speak. To fully understand the humor of lolcats you need to at least somewhat understand leet.

Leet, or 1337, is a internet slang deriving from the description of hackers as elite, which often used in chat rooms and online gaming. Letters are replaced by numbers and words are abbreviated and commonly mispelled. ie: lol, brb, omg, ftl, ur, w00t, and plenty of other words/expressions found in Lolcats!





Lolcats often feature geek humor such as IT, internet, and video game references




But there's even more...

Many lolcats depend on the formula of "I'm in ur (noun)(verb ending in ing) ur (noun)"
Huh?....Think:"I'm in your base killing your d00ds"

This was the origin of the saying, beginning with an online game like Counterstrike, Red Alert, or Starcraft (the exact origin is debated). Basically while one player was out of their base, another snuck in and attacked, announcing "I'm in your base, killing your d00ds"
Quickly this became the shortened leet of "Im in ur base killin ur d00ds" and then blazed into internet glory with many parodies including, of course, lolcats.

I even have a parody over my fireplace....
A wonderful print done by Married to the Sea reading, "Im in your mountains transporting your passengers"
Still confused? Scroll down for more examples, try visiting icanhasacheezburger, or doing a flickr search.


And so there it is.....Lolcats. Pictures of cats with funny sayings.

Is it advertising? I dont think so.
Is it funny? I definitely find it to be.
Is it a prime example of viral phenomena? Oh yes!
I guess just another one of those things you either get or you don't.





More "in ur" fun:






oh and of course...

no cats, but a brilliant combo of kevin spacey, super-lore, and the caption of "omg spoiler alert"

So it's been about 4 months....


but after seeing this film I really need to write some things down. Smokin' Aces is the most ridiculously absurd movie I think I have ever seen (and this is coming from someone who just watched 'Cat Women of the Moon' last night).

It's as if Joe Carnahan (the writer/director) took every movie, tv show, and album he currently is in love with and either referenced it somehow or made some sort of an homage.

Let's list some thoughts Mr. Carnahan may have had:

Oh man Ben Affleck is ridiculous, I'm going to put him in my movie....and kill him.
Oh and let's set it in Las Vegas...and make it all Ocean's 11-like
but more clever...like Lock,Stock
oh and it will have to involve mobsters...a mob family, like the Godfather,
lets cast Andy Garcia....but we'll give him a weird southern accent.
you know what else is sweet...Goodfellas...oh shit let's cast Ray Liotta
and lets throw in some russians
oh and some angry black thugs
well then there will have to be hookers!
oh shit, and what if there is a hit woman who pretends to be a hooker
but she's really a lesbian!
Let's not forget neo-nazis.....but what if they're really rednecks
and then there can be this spaz kid who's like Napoleon Dynamite....on crack
but we'll dress him up like Ralph Macchio and make him have a boner.
And his grandma can be huge and manly and have a dildo by her bathtub.
Now who else can we cast?
I've been watching a lot of Entourage lately....maybe Jeremey Piven can be in it
Oh and Alicia Keyes and Common have amazing new albums...them too
I loved Ryan Reynolds in Blade Trinity....but lets make him not funny
You know what my favorite shows are though?
Lost and Arrested Development
Oh shit, Matthew Fox can be in my movie...but I can't really think of a role
He'll just be a pointless security guard
and Jason Bateman!
He'll be a sleezy lawyer with low self esteem...and an alcohol problem.
Oh and he'll just sit around and masterbate all day....in women's underwear..
AND have herpes!!!
So what else is cool...
Oh I know torture...like in Saw
and crazy disguises
and 50 caliber machine guns
and old timey FBI footage
and of course hacking people to bits with chainsaws


Yeah that'd be a sweet movie




So maybe that's not what he was thinking....buuuut that's definitely what made it into the film.

Sadly enough though....I kinda wanna see it again.