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YTMND (You're The Man Now Dog) is a creative community that, like the forums 4chan and Fark, starts a lot of internet memes that spread to YouTube and blogs. To make a YTMND page, you need a picture, a sound, and optionally some text. That picture can be an animated GIF. This YTMND of Arnold Schwarzenegger sharing his feelings is a typical example.

Most YTMND pages use obscure jokes and only entertain regular users of the site. But the all-time most popular ones are fun and accessible to everyone. The top ten sites, listed below, have each been seen over two million times. (Skip to #8 to see how YTMND.com started.)

10. 3.141592653589793...


  • pi ytmndThe sound: 'Pi' by Hard N Phirm, which has its own creepy music video.
  • The image: A fancy pi symbol.
  • The draw: 'Pi' is just catchy, and it's the most complex number most normal people know anything about. This song wouldn't work with any other number. 'Pi' is the 'Hey Ya' of math music.



9. Breakup Letter, Dramatic Reading


  • break up letterThe sound: A serious dude reads a hilarious illiterate breakup e-mail. Contains the epic line, "You make me touch your hands for stupid reasons."
  • The image: The breakup e-mail, pulled from Bored.com.
  • The draw: YTMND has loads of dramatic readings. This most famous example works because you don't need to know anything about the author or the recipient. Like most good YTMNDs, the pleasure is pure zen.



8. You're The Man Now Dog!


  • The sound: Sean Connery saying, "You're the man now dog!"
  • The image: Sean Connery pointing. At you. You're the man now. Dog.
  • The draw: This is the primal YTMND, the one after which all others are named. Max Goldberg was just this guy until in 2001 he saw a trailer for Finding Forrester, heard Connery saying these words, and made this site. Max says this was the precise moment that Connery lost his remaining dignity, and Max wanted to commemorate it. The idea was so popular that he built an entire site for pages just like it. Eight years later, this page has 2.7 million views.



7. HTTP 404 MAN NOT FOUND (DOG)


  • The sound: Static, a broken-up "You're the man now dog," and the "you lose" trombone from 'The Price Is Right'
  • The image: Sean Connery's silhouette filled with static
  • The draw: This is YTMND's 404 page, so it racks up views every time someone messes up a URL. It's also the only page on this list that requires a little prior knowledge of the site.



6. Paris Hilton doesn't change facial expressions...





5. Picard Song


  • picard songThe sound: "Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise." Over a club beat.
  • The image: Captain Picard
  • The draw: This was the first YTMND to go huge. It's just a simple loop, unlike the more sophisticated Picard rap. But it's catchy and it's classic.



4. The Emo Song


  • The sound: An original song by Adam and Andrew, two song parodists who haven't updated their site in two years.
  • The image: An emo photo collage
  • The draw: 'The Emo Song' is a cute little mockery of a teen subculture. The jokes are so-so – "Dear diary, mood: apathetic" – but the appeal is wide.



3. Batman: ualuealuealeuale


  • The sound: The chorus of El Chombo's song 'Macarron Chacarron.' It sounds like, uh, "ualuealuealeuale."
  • The image: Live-action Batman going nuts
  • The draw: It's fun to see a cultural icon wiggling and gibbering like a moron. See also: Darth Vader, Michael Jackson and an orange.



2. Blue Ball Machine


  • The sound: 'Breakfast Machine' from Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
  • The image: A massive blue ball factory. It's epic. It's hypnotic. It was drawn as a collaboration.
  • The draw: This is the ultimate in YTMND zen. The blue ball machine wouldn't be as good as a video or a soundless animated GIF. Because of how YTMND works, it fills your screen and puts you in the middle of an infinite factory. It also inspired the greatest spin-offs: YTMND for the Blind, Another Blue Ball Factory, Blue Ball Factory Game Boy and the epic Tragedy at the Blue Ball Factory. I have invented a word for this, and it is: awesinine. "Tragedy at the Blue Ball Factory" is awesinine.



1. How To Prank a Telemarketer


  • The sound: A telemarketer prank call, played on the Bob and Tom Show. (NSFW)
  • The image: Captions
  • The draw: This guy Tom Mabe responds to telemarketing calls with pranks. This one time he decided to pretend he was murdered. After the Bob and Tom Show, a national radio show and podcast, played the tape, the audio went all over the net, and Digg linked to the YTMND page. While the site's borrowed content makes it controversial among diehard YTMND users, it inspired at least one elegant parody.