Dino Ignacio on Revision3's Internet Superstar
On the recent episode of Rev3‘s Internet Superstar, host Martin Sargent welcomes into his shack Dino Ignacio, the creator of Bert Is Evil. So in case you’ve been living under a rock (or are too young to remember), Bert is Evil was a hugely popular site that Ignacio created and maintained during the late 90s.
The site featured Bert, a muppet from Sesame Street of the Ernie and Bert duo, and was geared towards pointing out how Bert was as innocent as he seemed by displaying an array of fake (read: Photoshopped) images that depicted the muppet either conniving with various nefarious historical figures or being the big brass behind histories largest controversies and tragedies.
The site was probably one of the first few fruits of the Internet that carried a viral appeal to it, so much so that it was one of the most popular memes at the time, even with copycats coming out of the woodwork, all berating the evils of Bert. The project also won for Ignacio a Webby Award and a People’s Choice Award.
Ignacio talking about how Bert is Evil was born and how popular it was, citing several anecdotes about how it was accepted in the booming Internet community of the 90s.
Ignacio, a Marikina native, went to UP’s College of Fine Arts where he stayed for three years and published Memento Mori and the mini comic Sigaw Saklolo under Alamat Comics, which was how I first heard about the guy. In 1998, after he wen to to the US to accept his Webby Award for Bert is Evil, he decided to stay on and enroll at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His work on Rex Navarette‘s “Maritess vs the Superfriends” flash animation is probably one of his more popular works,and can be safely seen as onf of the Internet’s earliest viral videos, even before the term was coined. To be honest, I simply cannot remember how many people have recommended that I watch it, being linked by countless local blogs and sites and circulated via e-mail and social networks. He is now living my dream of working for Electronic Arts.
Internet Superstar host Martin Sargent and Dino Ignacio
Despite being an ancient meme by Internet standards, Bert Is Evil was resurrected from near obscurity after Bert resurfaces as a familiar figure next to Osama Bin Laden at a Bangladesh anti-American rally after 9-11, proving that a good meme never dies. Ignacio’s phone started ringing with calls from the authorities about his possible link to the terrorists.
Here’s the link to watch the video interview if you haven’t already, or you can also download the episode by subscribing to Internet Superstar on iTunes.
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