The 10 Greatest Things The Internet Gave Us In 2013

If you are a fan of the truly wonderful, bizarre black hole of humanity that is the internet, then, Jesus, wasn't 2013 just a magical year? Sure, the web coughed up its usual assortment of infuriating, questionable and downright uncomfortable content, but now is not a time of year to dwell on awful things. It's a time for celebration, camaraderie, thanksgiving, gross commercialisation, general goodwill for your fellow man, and dogs wearing pantyhose.

Merry Christmas.

And, in 365 days that gave us everything from Side Eyeing Chloe, the little girl who gives zero fucks about Disneyland, to the Do She Got a Booty? Dog, the most hilariously pervy Chihuahua ever captured in a two-piece photoset, it felt like if the internet were a real place, it would definitely be located at the end of a rainbow, built on top of a mass pirate treasure buryin' site, because there is just a ludicrous amount of gold around these parts.

10. Ryan Gosling Won't Eat His Cereal

Video app Vine, another product of this fine past revolution around the sun, can be pretty hit and miss – sometimes, these looping six-second slices of creativity are genuinely provocative, breathtaking, entertaining, funny, and even hypnotic to watch, and other times it's just some obnoxious narcissist shouting into the camera while they're driving a car, which you just know is going to get somebody killed sooner or later.

And, sometimes, as with this series of Vines uploaded by one Ryan McHenry, in which an unseen hand tries to spoonfeed cereal to a reluctant Ryan Gosling, they're simply inspired.

9. Sport Balls Replaced with Cats

Look, it wouldn't be a list about the internet if cats weren't involved. But, also, I feel like maybe I'll be able to better speak to an audience I'm not usually able to by acknowledging this Tumblr. Launched in April, I have to say, it really helps me relate to people who are, you know, physically active, because, hell, if cats were involved you can bet I would be way into whatever the hell this game is:

I call it “kitten keep-away”, and the only rule is that it has to be adorable.

8. Vadering

And, just as soon as inroads were made with the sports crowd, they are lost, all because of the frankly incredibly nerdy but still pretty awesome Vadering. Come on, who wouldn't want photographic evidence of them apparently using the dark powers of the Force against some hapless coworker/relative/friend/associate by choking the life out of them using nothing but their mind?

Wait! Sports crowd! Come back!

7. Thumbs & Ammo

A single-topic Blogspot created by two friends engaging in a good, old-fashioned bout of Photoshop one-upmanship, Thumbs & Ammo delivers a genuinely encouraging and unfailingly chuckle-worthy (at least) stream of tough-as-balls action heroes whose guns have been replaced by thumbs-ups. Let's be real: little else in this life says “hey, buddy, hang in there, it's going to be fine,” like Bruce Willis apparently screaming that at you while throwing up his opposables in support.

I have this hanging in my office and toilet, the two places where I need encouragement the most.

6. Kai, the Hatchet-wielding Hitchhiker

God bless YouTube, because otherwise there is every chance the story of Kai Lawrence, the gallant, colourful homeless hitchhiker who used a hatchet to rescue a woman from an attacker, would have completely passed us by. Even though it didn't, the story would only have been mildly interesting at best given its distant location so far outside the realm of stuff that influences us on a daily basis if not for the sheer entertainment value of this accidental hero and subcultural phenomenon and this spirited interview with a newsman, which earns him his spot of honour just for being a total dude.

5. Sloth-facing

Ahhh, Reddit. What would we do without you? Well, we probably wouldn't have had the amazing trend of sloth-facing gifted to us by user treverhaas, who is credited with at least being responsible for getting the ball rolling with this Imgur album of Photoshopped actors made to look like, well, sloths. The end result is equal parts disturbing and hilarious, kind of like the Noseless Gifs meme that surfaced this year also.

Live slow. Die whenever.

4. Actresses without Teeth

On the one hand, I feel like there may be a positive message hidden in this one – that if “beauty”, as we are conditioned to perceive it, is so fragile that even the most attractive people on Earth can be rendered… well… not-so by the simple loss of their teeth, then maybe it really isn't worth all that much. On the other hand, I also feel like there's probably some kind of biological imperative that directs us towards wanting to partner up with people who can actually chew their food, so, you know.

I did it. I found a picture of Lana Del Rey actually smiling.

3. Serge the Llama

I have gravitated away from Facebook, largely, for various reasons, but even I can still acknowledge that occasionally, among the vague, passive-aggressive status updates, inane ruminations on daily minutiae, and months-old reposts of content from other sites, it manages to produce some genuinely glorious stuff all on its own – like when a bunch of teenagers in Bordeaux uploaded photos from the night they stole a circus llama and took it out on the town. I don't know about you, but I can't say that, presented with a similar opportunity, I would necessarily do any differently. Besides, the llama looked like he had a pretty good time.

“Wait till the zebra hears about this.”

2. Doge

If you've seen a rise in the number of people talking like they have the flimsiest of grasps of the English language, in two-word sentences like “So fitness” and “Many active” and “Such running”, but you're not sure why, you have Tumblr and the proliferation of the doge meme to thank for that. And, yes, even though, as with all good things in any kind of media space, the joke has long since been run into the ground from overuse – even though the very make-up of the joke goes against everything I believe in as a writer and editor and lover of the English language and hater of Comic Sans – I can't deny that, despite myself, I really got behind the infectiously plucky little shibe with the multicoloured captions and worried expression and poor, poor English.

Many worry. Such horrible. Wow.

1. Princess Monster Truck

You knew it was going to end like this. It had to be a cat. It was always going to be a cat. I don't know why you thought it would go any other way. Last year gave us the inimitable Grumpy Cat and Colonel Meow. The year before, the endearingly derpy Lil Bub. But 2013 gave us Princess Monster Truck, who rose to fame through Instagram and is the latest in a growing line of what would traditionally be considered “ugly” cats who are inexplicably the most delightful little fluffballs on the planet. Sit proud, you statuesque beast. You stole my heart as nature stole your bottom jaw's alignment.

I want to hug the shit out of that cat.

There are probably untold numbers of trends, memes, events, personalities, characters, and the like that are missing from this list, so feel free to add your suggestions in the comments, whether you agree or disagree with my assertions – although know that I do not count “being wrong” among my skill set.

That's it for this list, and for this year, so thank you dearly for reading. Be sure to look after yourselves and each other over the festive break, and we'll see you in the New Year.