Weekly Internet Roundup: Kevin James, Girl Math, and Britney's Knives

Hello! It's time for another glance at online trends that have been all the rage this week. For once, things have been pleasingly heavy on the memes and light on the discourse. This being today's internet, though, some of the memes have caused discourse. Let's begin. 

Being a Rascal is In 

We don't always see a lot of cheekiness about these days. People on social media learned what the word ‘audacity’ meant and then it was game over for anyone who liked to engage in a little friendly interpersonal button pushing, or in-person trolling, if you will. 

That is, until now. Some legend decided to unearth a Getty Image of Kevin James doing a promotional shoot for 90s sitcom The King of Queens, leading to his smug little face becoming inescapable in the land of memes. He's proved a versatile character for visualizing scenarios that range from brazen to slightly awkward. They do say that over half of communication is body language, and he's communicated a lot with a simple shrug and smirk. We have no choice but to commend the acting skills, even if this dude did give us Paul Blart. 

Next Stop, Sword Swallowing 

Britney Spears' Instagram has long been dominated by videos of her interpretive dance routines, but it's not every day that she has props. On Tuesday, she announced on her account that “I started playing in the kitchen with knives today”, and the rest is meme history.

As the caption suggests, the clip shows Britney doing some elaborate and rather dangerous looking dancing with a large pair of kitchen knives. While this led some to voice concerns for her current mental state, plenty of others were delighted with an opportunity to green screen her into a Hibachi restaurant and watch the engagement roll in. While her performance is a mesmerizing one, it can't be forgotten that Azealia Banks did it first.

It's OK to Sit

It's no secret that Brian Jordan Alvarez has been going from strength to strength with his character-led comedy over the past few months (lest we forget his eternally fortunate European grad student). However, September has seen one of his multiple personalities in particular on the receiving end of all the attention. A few quick facts about TJ Mack: he has a shopping addiction at the store that is his namesake. He has an infant “som” who loves running around, and a tic that makes him laugh after every other sentence. He is also the world's current No.1 advocate for sitting down.

A couple of weeks ago, Alvarez posted a TikTok in which Mack sang a catchy tune about the virtues of sitting. After gaining hundreds of thousands of views, it swiftly went from viral video to full-blown phenomenon. Fans started doing covers and remixes, Alvarez got interviewed on an Australian news channel, and TJ Mack wound up in Time magazine. It's nice to see a good guy winning!

The Internet Needs an Accountant

Great news, everybody who wanted to puncture an eardrum when every other video on their FYP was accompanied by the insufferable song for Girl Dinner. We now have yet another cutesy, gendered trend that is seemingly everywhere on social media!! Girl Math is a concept also first popularized on TikTok, a running joke between women about the unstable logic they might use to justify purchases they can't really afford. 

As self-professed girls continued to provide examples of their best Girl Math moments, it was decided to extend it to the opposite sex with Boy Math. Soon, the whole thing did away with the concept of money and numbers and became a means to gripe at the stereotypical behaviors of both. Oh, and there was a backlash from men who didn't seem to understand that the meme wasn't being serious. I'd argue that joking about your gender being illogical and dumb when it has historically maligned for this myth is not that funny, but what do I know? I don't even do my own taxes. 

Thank God, We've Figured Out Taylor Swift's Preferred Chicken Condiments

It's been a huge week for Swifties and their apologists being annoying, which is saying something considering their general notoriousness as a fandom. First up is the news that Taylor is dating NFL player Travis Kelce, while also loaning actress Sophie Turner her NYC apartment as she navigates her acrimonious split from Joe Jonas (cue Gaylor conspiracies).

As if that wasn't enough, America's most hyped female singer-songwriter was also partly responsible for yet another new meme. This was after being pictured “eating a piece of chicken with ketchup and seemingly ranch!”, as stan account @tswifterastour put it. 

Before long, this enthusiastic summary of Taylor's snack had become a phrase dropped in satirical tweets and plastered across various different image macros. It was soon big enough that brands were getting in on the act, with Mrs. Met partaking in the very same meal and the Empire State Building deliberately being lit in the same colors as the infamous condiments. Did we used to be this insane about celebrities?

That's everything we have to look at for now. Take a moment to digest, and prepare yourself for whatever the next few days is going to bring. Whether humorous or dumb, we're going to talk about it. See ya!