There is no such thing as a ‘best’ meme, a meme of the year, or a ‘top’ meme. No one meme is greater than all other memes, and to rank memes in some order of ascendent excellence is stupid. In fact, all memes are stupid. Memes are great, granted; but all memes are stupid, which is perhaps why they’re so great.
Who doesn’t love to share all the hilarious memes on their Social Media Channels? No one, that’s who. Sharing a zeitgeisty meme with a relevant caption that best suits your circumstances is nothing short of your obligation as an active member of The Internet Community. That’s why the following is not a list based on qualitative merit ranked in not-really-quantifiable measurements like ‘virality,’ ‘LOL-factor’ or ‘click-ability’; instead, it’s a list (in no particular order except that first little guy) of Pedestrian’s Favourite Memes of 2012. Here are ten captioned photos that have provided us with a great deal of joy, distraction and substitutive human interaction in 2012 :///
IKEA MONKEY
Ikea Monkey is a Rhesus Macaque monkey. His real name is Darwin. He is wearing what is obviously his favourite custom-made shearling Bane/Margot Tenenbaum coat. Darwin was lost in an Ikea in Toronto; he is all alone in this cold world of ours and he is our breakout star of 2012. Look at this little face.
Not that face; this face.
ERMAHGERD!
This is (probably) the only meme that has quite literally changed the way we speak/sign emails/interact with each other everyday every since its inception via Reddit in March. We’re also particularly fond of its animal incarnations and the accompanying translator website (for those who need it).
GRUMPY CAT
The Internet is 30% cats. This little grumpy crumb is 100% everything. Grumpy Cat’s real name is Tardar Sauce and Tardar has only been doing rounds for a few months now, but it feels like forever. Not sure if that’s a good thing. Regardless, good one, Internet.
PHOTO-BOMBING STINGRAY
If you stand in front of your bathroom mirror in the dark and say “Photo-Bombing Stingray” three times nothing will happen and you’ll just look like a fucking idiot – exactly like this creep of a stingray did when s/he photobombed some gal pals on vacation in the Caribbean. Photo-bombing Stingray’s moment in the sun actually arose five years ago but only surfaced and came to prominence this year via Reddit. For this we give thanks and a healthy distance from large bodies of water at all times.
QUEEN ELIZABETH AND MCKAYLA ARE NOT IMPRESSED
Perhaps one of the only memes with the President’s Seal of Approval (that we know of for sure), US gymnast McKayla Maroney didn’t even win the most Olympic medals but she did win our hearts by becoming the scathing personification of the second-best-is-not-enough ethos that is so popular around these parts. Also, Queen Elizabeth’s visible disproval of everything and anything about the Olympics made readily available for all the world to see in easily-digestible meme format is nothing short of sublimeme.
BOTCHED ECCE HOMO FRESCO
Octagenarian Cecelia Gimenez is the artist responsible for one of the year’s greatest feats of public art. Soz, Anish Kapoor. In fact, as of yesterday you can buy original Cecelia Gimenez artworks on eBay for totally reasonable and not at all absurdly inflated prices (and you can also see the Anish Kapoor retrospective at the MCA in Sydney). “Who the shit is Cecelia Gimenez?” you ask. She’s an absurdly under-appreciated genius who achieved infamy earlier this year after her attempted restoration of a 19th Century fresco was botched completely because she’s an idiot. In doing so she became the laughing stock of the Internet. And rightly so. This is some sub-pre-school craft lesson level of brushwork.
DOGSHAMING
Like 2012’s worst favourite pasttime, Slut-shaming, but infinitely more adorable and containing 100% more embarrassed pugs eating their own sick.
SOMEBODY THAT WE USED TO CALL GANGNAM STYLE, MAYBE
All excellent examples of what is both ‘viral’ and ‘meme’ should you ever have to (repeatedly) explain either to your parents. I pray that you don’t.
QUEENSLAND RAIL ETIQUETTE POSTERS
60% of Pedestrian’s editorial team are from Queensland, so I can imagine they were especially proud when something as simple as these gross out parodies of the Queensland Rail Etiquette posters became a meme that was both informative and hilarious. Meme etiquette, super simple stuff. Cheers, Internet.
OVERLY ATTACHED GIRLFRIEND
20 year old Overly Attached Girlfriend – real name Laina – became a viral sensation when a screen-grab taken from her Justin Bieber fan parody video became a winning vehicle for overly zealous Redditors to convey their crippling insecurities at their lack of any attached girlfriend IRL whatsoever.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Angelina Jolie’s Leg, Ridiculously Photogenic Guy, that Really Stoned Guy (‘How high are you?’ ‘Yes’), Bad Luck Brian, Drunk Baby, Sceptical 3rd World Kid, Texts from Hillary.
