Keeping the internet on the internet

A lot of people get annoyed about internet memes and the like finding their way into the real world. I can't say it really annoys me, although I do find it quite amusing that people think it's a good idea. I saw a kid on the train today wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with Rick Astley's face, with text reading, "I roll with Rick".

>2011

The thing that gets me here is not only that rickrolling never was funny enough to justify putting it on a t-shirt, but also that he's missed the boat by a good three or four years. You know a meme is well and truly dead when it's covered by the mainstream media, and that happened at least a couple of years ago. Maybe he was wearing it "ironically", whatever that means.

I also saw this masterpiece scrawled on the wall near my bus stop. Now I don't even have to be near a computer to get my daily fix of internet crap! At least this one is still somewhat relevant I guess.

The main problem with this sort of stuff is that internet memes are inside jokes. They can be (though certainly don't have to be) funny, but the humour relies nearly entirely on context and shared experience. Take that context away (i.e. out of the internet) and the joke becomes meaningless. If you've ever been in a situation where a few people in a group have some private joke that makes no sense to anyone else yet they keep repeating it ad nauseam then you'll know how obnoxious this can be. I think the appeal comes from being privy to some cool hip thing on the internet that no one else knows about, and getting to feel all superior as a result. Just as likely is the possibility that I'm overthinking things and the reason is nothing more than "rofl so randum xD". Either way, I dislike it.

In a lot of ways I wish the internet wasn't quite as mainstream as it's become. It's not that I want the secret clubhouse back, I don't care about that at all. The problem is that seeing these memes in real life is an acute reminder that the demographics of the sites I visit are changing, and that I have less in common with the users than I once did. This doesn't say much about the sites I don't visit, and I'd be curious as to how a Yahoo Answers user manages to function in the real world without constant life support.

On a completely different topic, today is the worst day of the week because I have the longest amount of time to go until the next Steins;Gate episode. I've still successfully managed to avoid all spoilers, and I'm really enjoying the show so far. You've probably already seen this clip (spoilers for ep 13), I laughed.

I have no idea what I'm going to watch in the new season, what's looking good?