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steve2470

(37,456 posts)
Sun Jan 14, 2018, 12:23 PM Jan 2018

The strange history of one of the internet's first viral videos

https://www.wired.com/story/history-of-the-first-viral-video/



YOU’VE SEEN THE video. Everyone on the internet has. A man sits in a cubicle and pounds his keyboard in frustration. A few seconds later, the Angry Man picks up the keyboard and swings it like a baseball bat at his screen—it’s an old PC from the '90s, with a big CRT monitor—whacking it off the desk. A frightened coworker’s head pops up over the cubicle wall, just in time to watch the Angry Man get up and kick the monitor across the floor. Cut to black.

The clip began to circulate online, mostly via email, in 1997. Dubbed “badday.mpg,” it’s likely one of the first internet videos ever to go viral. Sometimes GIFs of it still float across Twitter and Facebook feeds. (Most memes barely have a shelf life of 20 minutes, let alone 20 years.)

Beyond its impressive resilience, it’s also unexpectedly significant as the prime mover of viral videos. In one clip, you can find everything that’s now standard in the genre, like a Lumière brothers film for the internet age: the surveillance footage aesthetic, the sub-30-second runtime, the angry freakout in a typically staid setting, the unhinged destruction of property.

The clip also serves up prime conspiracy fodder. Freeze and enhance: The computer is unplugged. The supposed Angry Man, on closer inspection, is smiling. Was one of the first viral videos—and perhaps the most popular viral video of all time—also one of the first internet hoaxes?

Can't believe I NEVER saw this LOL
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The strange history of one of the internet's first viral videos (Original Post) steve2470 Jan 2018 OP
Would nt have noticed unplugged computer if you hadn't pointed it out. Also on closer inspection... Fla Dem Jan 2018 #1
Maybe someone played a trick on him and unplugged the moniter and keyboard Kaleva Jan 2018 #2
According to a wiki article, the video was staged Kaleva Jan 2018 #3
Oh, THAT video. Iggo Jan 2018 #4

Fla Dem

(23,339 posts)
1. Would nt have noticed unplugged computer if you hadn't pointed it out. Also on closer inspection...
Sun Jan 14, 2018, 12:46 PM
Jan 2018

The keyboard is not connected. You can see the connection just hanging down the front of his desk.

What struck me almost immediately was the angle of the monitor. At an inconvenient angle for viewing by man at desk. Also set very far back on computer base. Almost teetering over the edge. Probably set up like that so when he swings the keyboard at the monitor it's guaranteed to fall over.

Kaleva

(36,145 posts)
3. According to a wiki article, the video was staged
Sun Jan 14, 2018, 02:32 PM
Jan 2018

The angry office manager is Vinny Licciardi who appeared in many promotional videos.

"The video clip was staged and produced by Durango, Colorado-based Loronix Information Systems to demonstrate the benefits of their digital video surveillance system for release on a promotional CD.[3] The video is an example of a potential use for the surveillance system.[3] The video's subject is Vinny Licciardi, the company's shipping manager.[3] Licciardi appeared in a series of promotional videos extolling the benefits of Loronix's special brand of digital video recording systems. Loronix was the first company to develop a digital video surveillance system to replace video tape recorders. As of 2008, Loronix is a subsidiary of Verint Systems.[4]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Day_(viral_video)

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