Rickrolling shows laziness of generation
Caitlyn Scott
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: Opinion
I have been the unsuspecting victim - more than once - of a Web trend going around.
Imagine: There you are checking your Facebook.com profile to see if Mr. or Miss Hottie from Fred's actually friended you - like they said they would - when all of a sudden your buddy instant messages you a mysterious link. Thinking it'll be something hysterical or vile - or both - you click on the link only to be faced with the singing styles of Rick Astley.
Congratulations - you've just been rickrolled!
The freckle-faced, Clay Aiken of the 1980s belts out his one hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up," with a voice more appropriate for Paul Robeson in "Showboat" than the skinny white kid in a trench coat you see on screen. Meanwhile, you die a little inside as you lose your faith in humanity.
Astley's hit song was the best selling single in the United Kingdom in 1987 and topped the Billboard Hot 100. But the song's popularity has recently had a resurgence thanks to YouTube.com.
Rickrolling first gained mainstream prominence early this year when it was used in protests against the Church of Scientology, and it shows no sign of letting up.
On April 1, 2008, all the links on YouTube's homepage were relinked to the Rick Astley video.
According to SurveyUSA, as of this month over 18 million Americans have been rickrolled.
It is officially this year's Chuck Norris joke.
But the rickrolling phenomenon leaves me with one burning question : Is this the direction practical jokes are headed?
Instead of the old water pail propped on the door trick, you send a Rick Astley video disguised as "Two Girls One Cup," - though I'm not sure why you would ever want to click on that link anyway.
Will dipping a sleeping friend's hand into lukewarm water no longer be the established way to prank? Will taking the mickey out on someone now entail viral videos?
I suppose I should have seen this coming.
My introduction to viral videos started with "Aicha" my senior year of high school. Watching that sad, pathetic, Napoleon Dynamite wannabe lament - and dance - was the highlight of my AP History classes.
College introduced me to the fat guy singing "Numa Numa," the Star Wars Kid, "Chocolate Rain" and many others.
But none of this truly prepared me for the terror of rickrolling.
I was once rickrolled three times in a day.
It's getting out of hand.
I went to summer camp just like every other self-respecting, middle class kid. It's the stomping ground of pranksters in training. Someone toilet-papered our cabin once. Another time a bunch of guys pelted the girls with water balloons when they were leaving the showers.
Will this kind of pranking no longer happen?
I can't imagine a summer camp where kids sit around in their cabins e-mailing one another links.
The youth of America will just grow more fat and lazy.
Instead, we should have a resurgence of traditional pranking.
I encourage every one to go out there and prank a friend. I don't care if it's the old shaving-cream-in-the-hand trick or stringing wire across the top of the stairs. I want physical pain - not emotional scarring - to be the reminders of these pranks.
I heard Star Wars Kid was suicidal after the video of his Jedi stylings hit the web. I bet he would have preferred eating an Oreo with toothpaste subbed for cream.
Vomiting up minty chocolate is a better alternative to being mocked by your peers and most of the civilized world.
So this plea is for the good of all mankind, and because I'm sick and tired of being rickrolled.
I suppose in this new, modern, techno-savvy world the ultimate prank would be filming your friend being hit in the genitals by an adorable sneezing panda while "Chocolate Rain" plays in the background then posting the video on YouTube.com and replacing it with the music video for "Never Gonna Give You Up."
It seems like a lot of work for one prank. I'll stick to saran-wrapping the toilet.
----
Contact Caitlyn Scott at cscott@lsureveille.com
Imagine: There you are checking your Facebook.com profile to see if Mr. or Miss Hottie from Fred's actually friended you - like they said they would - when all of a sudden your buddy instant messages you a mysterious link. Thinking it'll be something hysterical or vile - or both - you click on the link only to be faced with the singing styles of Rick Astley.
Congratulations - you've just been rickrolled!
The freckle-faced, Clay Aiken of the 1980s belts out his one hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up," with a voice more appropriate for Paul Robeson in "Showboat" than the skinny white kid in a trench coat you see on screen. Meanwhile, you die a little inside as you lose your faith in humanity.
Astley's hit song was the best selling single in the United Kingdom in 1987 and topped the Billboard Hot 100. But the song's popularity has recently had a resurgence thanks to YouTube.com.
Rickrolling first gained mainstream prominence early this year when it was used in protests against the Church of Scientology, and it shows no sign of letting up.
On April 1, 2008, all the links on YouTube's homepage were relinked to the Rick Astley video.
According to SurveyUSA, as of this month over 18 million Americans have been rickrolled.
It is officially this year's Chuck Norris joke.
But the rickrolling phenomenon leaves me with one burning question : Is this the direction practical jokes are headed?
Instead of the old water pail propped on the door trick, you send a Rick Astley video disguised as "Two Girls One Cup," - though I'm not sure why you would ever want to click on that link anyway.
Will dipping a sleeping friend's hand into lukewarm water no longer be the established way to prank? Will taking the mickey out on someone now entail viral videos?
I suppose I should have seen this coming.
My introduction to viral videos started with "Aicha" my senior year of high school. Watching that sad, pathetic, Napoleon Dynamite wannabe lament - and dance - was the highlight of my AP History classes.
College introduced me to the fat guy singing "Numa Numa," the Star Wars Kid, "Chocolate Rain" and many others.
But none of this truly prepared me for the terror of rickrolling.
I was once rickrolled three times in a day.
It's getting out of hand.
I went to summer camp just like every other self-respecting, middle class kid. It's the stomping ground of pranksters in training. Someone toilet-papered our cabin once. Another time a bunch of guys pelted the girls with water balloons when they were leaving the showers.
Will this kind of pranking no longer happen?
I can't imagine a summer camp where kids sit around in their cabins e-mailing one another links.
The youth of America will just grow more fat and lazy.
Instead, we should have a resurgence of traditional pranking.
I encourage every one to go out there and prank a friend. I don't care if it's the old shaving-cream-in-the-hand trick or stringing wire across the top of the stairs. I want physical pain - not emotional scarring - to be the reminders of these pranks.
I heard Star Wars Kid was suicidal after the video of his Jedi stylings hit the web. I bet he would have preferred eating an Oreo with toothpaste subbed for cream.
Vomiting up minty chocolate is a better alternative to being mocked by your peers and most of the civilized world.
So this plea is for the good of all mankind, and because I'm sick and tired of being rickrolled.
I suppose in this new, modern, techno-savvy world the ultimate prank would be filming your friend being hit in the genitals by an adorable sneezing panda while "Chocolate Rain" plays in the background then posting the video on YouTube.com and replacing it with the music video for "Never Gonna Give You Up."
It seems like a lot of work for one prank. I'll stick to saran-wrapping the toilet.
----
Contact Caitlyn Scott at cscott@lsureveille.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 6
Bob
posted 4/22/08 @ 11:05 AM CST
The Daily Reveille really advocates the one-sentence paragraph.
Slowpoke
posted 4/22/08 @ 12:21 PM CST
The following link is to a video of Rick Astley performing "Never Gonna Give You Up":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU
Soccer Mom
posted 4/22/08 @ 3:55 PM CST
"his one hit, 'Never Gonna Give You Up,'"
Excuse me?? ONE hit?
How about Together Forever? Whenever You Need Somebody? The list goes on.
How fitting of the Reveille to go out of their way to slam one of the finest artists of the 80s. (Continued…)
Sue
posted 5/19/08 @ 10:20 PM CST
yeah.. the good ol'days of physical pranks.. like this one time that my roomie thought it would be hiLARious to set a bucket of bleach over a door to fall on the first unsuspecting person entering the room. (Continued…)
Post a Comment