YTMND is Dead - Happy April Fool's Day! Also, fonts

Today might be the worst day of my life. Maybe.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm a huge fan of YTMND.com (and if you don't believe me you can ask this guy. He'll be happy to tell you why I'm retarded on this point). For those of you who are new to the Internet, allow me to elaborate: YTMND stands for You're the Man Now Dog, and it is/was without question the GREATEST SINGLE SITE ON THE INTERNET. Bar none. If you are shaking your head in disbelief right now - I respect your opinion, and that it differs from mine, and can only hope to God that you're not sitting there thinking about something like “4Chan pwns, OMG this guy's such a nub” because clearly 4Chan is the Internet's Toilet and should be desytroyed for the betterment of humanity.

4Chan

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I first stumbled upon YTMND in the summer of 2006 and pretty much only went online to look at new 'sites' for a solid 6 months. I never bothered to create an account – I didn't really care to become part of a 'community' or anything – but, man, did I ever watch a lot of sites. I took a look through the Hall of Fame, Moderator Favorites, Highest Voted, Most Watched, Most Commented – I was a YTMND vacuum.

The love affair with YTMND ended just around the time I went back to work (was gainfully unemployed that summer) and I stopped visiting the site with such fervent regularity. It obviously left an impression though, because here I am, 2 years later, sitting at my computer, beginning my foray into blogging with a post on the only thing I can think of right now.

I don't remember what made me start visiting YTMND again: I was probably trying to avoid my Web Dev homework or something. Anyway, sometime late last year (October-ish) I started checking YTMND out again, just to see what was up in my old neighborhood. Well, it was like I never left. Sure, there were lots of new names and such, but that uniquely YTMND sense of humor was still intact – irreverent, outlandish, absurd, sometimes even poignant. This time around, however, I got hungry for more; I started paying attention to names of YTMNDers whose sites I really liked. I read the comments for each site I watched – and, truly, the comments section are half the fun of a great site. I began to see different factions in the community: DarthWang and the FPA (Forgot Poland Army), the 'pinks' (Featured Users), the NARVs (look it up), upvoters, downvoters, noise site makers, ArtTMND makers (like Female and Roy4l), and the guys I liked to privately call the FSF Light Brigade, those exceptionally talented YTMNDers whose skill with Photoshop, GIF creation, and sound editing allowed them to make 'faggy short films,' inevitably drawing the ire and wrath of the FPA and its clingers-on. Of course, I loved the faggy short films. I discovered the difference between these faggy short films and the 'classic sites' – picture, text, sound, a singular focus. I began to appreciate all the different kinds of YTMNDs that were made and were still being made.

It got to the point where I finally had to create an account and start voting on sites. That quickly led to leaving comments on sites – and although I have zero skills with Photoshop, I even made some incredibly bad sites. Four, to be exact. I was routinely checking YTMND every day – hell, every hour, if we're being honest – to watch for new sites and new comments. YTMND had become part of my routine, like breathing. My classmates were amused at the degree of my devotion to what many of them consider a lame website (again, just ask this guy). But there is/was something about YTMND that perfectly fits with my way of seeing the world, and then laughing at it.

So this morning I logged into YTMND before school and was greeted with the worst sight I have ever seen:

YTMNDEAD

Gut punch.

Quick check on reality.....oh, it's April Fool's right? Of course, no big deal. Catch breath, continue to news section. No....no wait, it looks official. Max WOULD do something like this - announce the death of YTMND on the day everyone would be like “HAHA Aprl Fool's lulz,” wouldn't he?

I've been wondering all day if this really is a sick joke. I pray to God it is. I had planned on doing a weekly thing like YTMND of the week for the blog – hell, I was even planning on learning Photoshop this summer just to start making these stupid things.

Instead of a “YTMND of the Week”, then, I think I'll be posting an awesome site a day until YTMND is dead – unless it isn't, in which case I'll probably be too happy to care about this stupid blog. So, let the candlelight vigil begin for my one true Internet Love. YTMND is/was a place where Internet and pop culture memes go to die – only then to be reborn, phoenix-like, as something greater. I hope YTMND is a phoenix too. Long Live YTMND, the greatest Photoship/Audacity pissing contest in the Webs.

What else, what else.....oh, yeah, this blog will contain lots of gaming-related articles in the future, if you didn't glean that from the title.

AND I need to talk about fonts for 60 words. Which, surpisingly, will be rather easy, since I watched an incredible documentary on fonts last week called Helvetica. It talks about the secret and actually-quite-fascinating history of Helvetica's creation, the modernist philosophy behind its creation, the 70s rebellion in graphic design against Helvetica which culminated in the 90s (remember Raygun magazine?), and the far-reaching politics of typeface. It's a documentary that makes you think about the powers words have on you – the printed word conveys a message beyond the simple meaning it tries to carry to mind. The very look of the word itself influences your perception of the message – for example, imagine reading War and Peace in Comic Sans MS. Wouldn't seem like such a grand piece of lit at first blush, now would it?

Anyway, I got a Hardware assignment to finish. Go and watch Helvetica – and if you hear anything about YTMND, let me know.