W3C HTML5 Logo (Thanks, Lowtax!)

Have you guys heard about HTML5? It's the newest thing! I don't know much about it, because honestly I don't know dick about the mechanics of the Internet, but I do know people are getting really hyped about it! How hyped? Apparently hyped enough to make a Web page that pretty much screams HEY HOLY FUCK, IT'S HTML5!, on the Web site of the company that designed it, no less.

Anyway, while I'm sure HTML5 is probably a big deal to a lot of people, I'm not quite sure why these guys thought the best way to promote it was to make it seem like a cult/gang sign/bumper sticker. (Actually, as part of their "people are making stuff!" initiative, they really did make it into a straight-up bumper sticker; I assume I'll be seeing that mostly on Jettas.) This approach makes for a really awkward campaign where everyone seems to be getting really excited about BADGES and LOGOS. But they are all over this shit, doing some intense Web 2.0 promotion like Twitter hashtags (which, on a recent search, seem to be used mostly by Japanese people) and using weirdly propagandist language that matches up well with the vaguely-authoritarian-but-nicely-colored aesthetic they seem to be going for.

Oh, plus there's a weird grassroots thing to it, which is bizarre not only because it's about a language for Web pages, but also because there are nerds with enough free time on their hands to join a grassroots campaign for a language for Web pages. I appreciate that it's important somehow, but between this, nerdcore, and Ron Paul, the Internet's track record for things it "gets behind" is looking more and more grim. Anyway, join up now, because from the looks of it, this thing will succeed, which means it will become commonplace and everyone will forget about how it started. Someday you'll be able to brag to folks at the nursing home about how you were on the ground floor of the movement that eventually put the guys from Google in the White House, while your grandchildren shift around uncomfortably.

– Daryl "Fucking" Hall