It’s 4 a.m. in foggy Gangnam, and I’ve just found out that I’ve missed Psy’s monumental free concert at Seoul Plaza by a few hours. The irony isn’t lost on me, but it matters little. After all, I’ve finally arrived in the very place that the South Korean rapper’s sensational dance single has, quite literally, put on the map.
Robert Blair Carabuena vs the MMDA traffic enforcer. John Paul Encinas vs the resto cashier. “Amalayer” vs the female guard. These examples of bad behavior all had one thing in common: YouTube. With every phone now equipped with a camera, in HD to boot, you have to always be on your best behavior lest someone upload your spectacular hissy fit on YouTube. But then, we are always supposed to be on our best behavior and the fear of being YouTubed shouldn’t be the main motivation for us to behave in public.
From YouTube stars and viral videos to much-shared memes and top trending topics, here are the online scene-stealers that we found ourselves clicking on in Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the cyberspace in 2012.
Hundreds of millions have watched the dance and listened to the song— most without understanding a word—but very few have any idea what “Gangnam” is and what, if any, particular “style” it might have.
Shadowed by the high-rises of Seoul’s wealthiest Gangnam district, Kim Bok-Ja, 75, pulls her trolley of folded cardboard through a shanty town that sits uncomfortably in one of Asia’s most developed cities.
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