You can have a meme

You can tell the internet meme (or viral video) craze has reached a high point when even President Barack Obama isn’t safe from Rickrolling. From Rickrolling–a popular bait and switch tactic design to trick internet goers into clicking a link of the 1987 Rick Astley video, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” no matter what the subject matter–to the ever popular Cat Macros seen on icanhascheezburger.com, internet memes are slowly weaving their way into our everyday lives, and even the media is taking notice. The story of Christian the Lion, a video depicting the amazing event of a wild lion once nurtured in his youth by two men, recognizing and embracing them upon their reunion nearly a year later, made headlines on the The Today Show. Even Yahoo has its own video section that features the occasional viral video. You can have a meme, too.

The Numa Numa Dance Meme

Many of the people on the internet have seen Gary Brolsma dancing to O-Zone even if they didn’t know it. Gary, also known as the “Numa Numa guy” received sudden internet fame when he posted a video of himself dancing to “Dragostea din tei”,” a Moldovian pop song, on a website known as Newgrounds.com back in 2004. This video quickly went “viral” as Newgrounds users began to pass it around between one another and post it in various forums. The video ultimately crested at over eighteen million views, making it one of the most widely viewed submissions on Newgrounds.

This sudden and undesired fame initially was hard on Gary, but he quickly adapted to it, and he has since posted additional videos on his own website, though they have failed to capture the fame and viral spread of the original work. Still, the “Numa Numa Dance” is an example of how a simple, funny video can quickly become powerful through the voice of public opinion, as demonstrated on the internet.