On the 2nd of April 2011, Nyan Cat was launched into (cyber)space by PRguitarman. This is the sort of thing that young people do these days. I used to make Airfix model planes. Is there much of a difference?

Nyan Cat is a happy little guy. He has the the body of a cherry Pop-Tart and leaves an unbroken stream of rainbow fart wherever he goes. Originally, he cruised through the cosmos in silence. The catchy music that you hear was added by saraj00n just three days after launch date (note that as well as getting involved in pointless practices, young people these days don’t have normal names). This was not a planned collaboration. PRguitarman and saraj00n had never met before.

Nyan Cat proved to be very popular with the kids and the YouTube video went viral. But young people these days aren’t passive consumers. Since the happy digital feline was created, hundreds of remakes, remixes, parodies and mashups have been uploaded onto YouTube. Here are some of my favourites:

The Nyan Cat is an example of an Internet meme. Internet memes have a habit of coming together in diverse and unpredictable ways. Watch the following two videos and you will see what I mean:

Despite the fact that Nyan Cat was born only 4 months ago, it is most likely that his time is up. He now joins the Internet meme hall of fame where he can mingle with other stars such as dramatic chipmunk, badger badger badger and the sneezing panda.