SHAYE SAINT JOHN (Thanks, Dave Pair!)

SHAYE SAINT JOHN DOT COM (warning: embedded audio) was a stupid multimedia performance-art thing from like 2003 that hasn't aged well. It's centered around the character Shaye Saint John, a mysterious entertainer/singer/model/actress who reconstructed her body with mannequin parts after being horribly disfigured in a car accident. She also suffers from all sorts of anxiety disorders, from CCB to DDC and TBD.

This cloyingly "bad on purpose" website aims to be as obnoxious as possible, with embedded clips of daytime TV and screaming everywhere you click. I guess this is what the Internet considered "weird" and "disturbing" before it started frightening itself with stuff like Slenderman and creepypasta. Then there's Shaye's writing style:

SHAYE'S GRANNY IS VERY OLD...NOT EVEN SHAYE KNOWS HER REAL AGE. RECENTLY SHAYE HAS DISCUSSED HAVING GRANNY MOVE INTO THE FUNBUBBLE. SHAYE NEEDS THE EXTRA HELP...SINCE KRISTEN AND POTTY CAME FOR A VISIT AND NEVER LEFT. GRANNY CAN MAKE A MEAN POT OF STUMP-WATER SALAD...SHAYE'S FAVORITE THING TO MAKE AND EAT...NEXT TO SLOPPY JOES OF COURSE.

Wow so wacky and random!

Shaye's biggest claim to fame is her series of short films, which have been branded "outsider art" and screened at actual theaters with public appearances by Shaye herself. Well, at least the ones that weren't deemed "too scary." Oh brother.

Everything about this bullcrap seems so basic and trite. Nevertheless, Shaye is a fondly remembered meme from before we started calling them memes, with new tributes pouring in to this day. Some guy is even making a documentary about Shaye and the late video artist who was behind it all. Can't wait for the documentaries about the dancing baby gif or the Numa Numa guy.

– Adam "rubber cat" Jameson (@robbercat)