Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
Tuesday, 02 December 2008
I always admire initiative among the young people, particularly when it comes to Internet pranks. So I find this inspirational: At the extremely orchestrated, extremely annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in NYC, those rascals at the Cartoon Network managed to Rickroll a crowd of millions, both in person and via the live broadcast on NBC. If you're not familiar with the concept of Rickrolling, there's a good primer here.
Basically, it's a fun but aging Internet meme -- an endlessly
perpetuating prank that tricks people into watching a full-screen,
full-volume version of Rick Astley's 1987 video, "Never Going to Give
You Up."
In a live-action version of the prank, the Cartoon Network's
kiddie-song float presentation was interrupted a few seconds in by the
Man Himself, Rick Astley, who appeared out of nowhere, jumped onto the
float, and gamely lip-synched along to his signature song. Surrounded
by cheering children. And monster puppets. Check the video below to
watch it all go down.
Astley has shown an admirable willingness to embrace his
newfound-if-ironic fame. As well he should. Rickrolling has
single-handedly revived his career – the video has been viewed more
than 20 million times on YouTube, and he was recently voted "Best Act
Ever" at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Like any good prank template, Rickrolling is a simple concept that can
be extrapolated endlessly. We killed a few weeks at Dyscern World HQ labs trying to figure new ways to Rickroll each other, disguising various
links and otherwise customizing what is essentially a bait-and-switch
con. But that was almost a year ago -- an eternity in webtime. With the
Macy's prank, I think we can safely retire the bit. Like so many
Internet memes before it, Rickrolling has officially gone mainstream.
Kudos to the Cartoon Network, though. That's a pretty good way to go
out.
RIP: Rickrolling
Time of Death: Thanksgiving Day, 2008
"All Joking Aside, That Guy Really Could Dance"
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