Internet Meme
Inspirations Attend Meet And Greet; One Forever Diminished
New York (AP) They are faces familiar to many. Some of them
have had acting careers long past. Others still are actively in the
entertainment business, and thus not present. And still others have become well
known because of a particular photograph that has taken on a life of its own as
an internet meme. A meet and greet this past weekend at the AMA Center brought
a good number of internet meme figures together for interactions with the
public.
Bad Luck Brian, as he’s known to the world at large, was
supposed to be there, but tripped on the staircase heading into the building,
inexplicably fell backwards instead of forwards, and fell into the path of a
street sweeper. A funeral has been set up for the end of the week in his home
town. The church is expected to be filled with meme photos of his sweater vest
high school portrait that made him famous. Eulogies are to be given by Good Guy
Greg and Scumbag Steve. The former will be eloquent while the latter is
expected to bring up every last bad luck moment that happened to Bad Luck
Brian, before stealing the watch off the corpse’s wrist.
Dating Site Murderer, the meme started with a dimly lit
photograph of a bearded man, often featuring a threatening tone in the top line
and a twist in the bottom line, was present and accounted for. The man in
question, who’s evasive about his identity, walked around looking very much
like one sees him in the memes- black and white plaid shirt and t-shirt, the
scowl and glare- and carrying an axe. People tended to give him a wide berth.
The trio making up the more recent meme, Distracted
Boyfriend, were present and accounted for, striking up the pose that’s made the
photo meme worthy. Whilst unnamed at present (at their request) the man and his
brunette girlfriend spent much time posing as in the picture, while the red
headed woman in the red dress stood a distance away from them with her back to
them, oblivious to the attention of the guy.
Disaster Girl is all grown up, but she was present as well.
Zoe Roth was photographed by her father in 2004 at the scene of a burning
house, looking back over her shoulder and smiling. The four year old girl is
now eighteen, and spent time posing with the photograph that made her a meme
star, still flashing the same devilish smile that would make you think twice
about having her around your children when she was growing up, or house sitting
for you these days.
Overly Attached Girlfriend was the subject of much attention
throughout the event. Laina Morris, a Youtube star whose demented expression in
the occasional photo has launched a hundred thousand memes, has cultivated some
of the Overly Attached Girlfriend jokes herself over time. With a good measure
of sportsmanship, she posed for pics with people, men and women, and mimicked
the deranged stalker that the fictional character is supposed to be.
Jonathan Goldsmith, the grizzled but debonair actor who
spent ten years from 2006-2016 doing ads for Dos Equis as The Most Interesting
Man In The World, was present. He spent the day regaling the crowds with
stories of bullfights in Barcelona, claim-jumping a prospector site, taking
part in Desert Storm, taming a Tasmanian devil, and breaking into the Louvre to
test their security system. “Let us just say that the Mona Lisa enjoyed a few
hours in my hotel room, my friends,” Goldsmith said with a sly smile.
Photographs of working actors who weren’t present, but who
have become memes in their own right, were on display here and there. Sean
Bean, Laurence Fishburne, Patrick Stewart, Robert Downey Jr., and more have
been the subject of multiple memes down through time. “We’d have loved for them
to be here,” event chairman Stewie Wallace admitted. “But all of them are busy
on set elsewhere. Sean, for example, said he was getting killed again in his
latest movie. You know, he tends to get killed a lot in whatever he does.”
One actor who seems to have a lot of time on his hands these
days was present. Chuck Norris, the one note former 80s action star who hasn’t
had much to do since Walker Texas Ranger
ended, was present. The actor is often given to appearing in memes venerating
his toughness and macho status. He posed for pictures with fans, went back and
forth between scowling and smiling (as much as his plastic surgery allows him
to smile), and played the part of the tough guy while interacting with the
fans.
But the big star of the meet and greet was one who is of a
superior species to humanity. Tardar Sauce, the dwarf cat with a perpetually
irritated expression that has made her well known as Grumpy Cat, was present.
She was perched on a pillow with her human, Tabatha Bundesen, nearby, as well
as a couple of security guards to keep the riffraff away. Sometimes she was
asleep. Other times she was gazing out at onlookers with an expression that
suggested sheer contempt.
“She’s really not that much of a grouch,” Bundesen admitted
to this reporter. “She just looks that way. Especially after she wakes up from
a nap. Incidentally, I make a point of letting her sleep until she wants to
wake up.”
At this point in time, the aforementioned Norris was passing
by. The actor noticed the line-up of fans, longer than his had been, and came
to see what the fuss was all about. He made eye contact with Grumpy Cat. She
made eye contact with him. An epic stare down commenced. The legendary
Hollywood tough guy (and horrible actor) and the fierce contemptuous glare of a
feline who gazed on him as if he was something unpleasant she had stepped on.
Silence filled the air. The fans looked on, feeling the
tension of the moment. Grumpy Cat continued to stare in the exact same way,
passive and unmoving. Norris started to tremble after five minutes. Until he
broke. He came apart before everyone, broke down into tears, and rushed away,
bawling his eyes out. For a moment, this reporter could have sworn that Grumpy
Cat shrugged. Then she put her head down and dozed off.
It seems that Norris will never live it down. It took him
seven hours to stop crying, according to doctors at the nearest hospital,
rambling incoherently about ‘the furry horror, the furry horror’. For thousands
of meme fans who have made him a meme of alpha male toughness, it was hard to
see the action star reduced to a puddle of tears.
And for Grumpy Cat? She really doesn’t care either way.
