(Charles Dharapak/AP)
Did you miss Monday's inaugural ceremonies? Never fear, the Internet captured all the important ... well, all the buzz-worthy moments.
Michelle rolls her eyes, wears a stunning red gown
According to social analytics service Topsy, the buzz on Twitter around the first lady's dress Monday night was "dazzles."
Michelle Obama wore a jewel-box red gown by designer Jason Wu—the same designer she wore four years ago to the first inaugural.
Designers are not told in advance if their work will be worn; hence Wu's reaction:
#Inshock!!!
— Jason Wu (@JasonWu) January 22, 2013
If anything could eclipse that dress, it was the first lady's eye roll at the official luncheon—caught by Tumblr blogger Mattyrab. The image was quickly gif'd.
Is the first lady expressing exasperation at House Speaker John Boehner? Did she just catch word that the lunch clocked in at a reported 3,000 calories? The mystery is half the fun.
Scalia steals the hat title from Aretha
"Teenage Dream" singer Katy Perry brought a miniature version of Aretha Franklin's 2009 inaugural hat with her to the ceremonies:
Big inauguration, tiny Aretha hat. twitpic.com/bx3k4a
— Katy Perry (@katyperry) January 21, 2013
You could see the pop star playing with the hat, at one point getting boyfriend John Mayer to pose "wearing" it. But Aretha had some stiff competition in the hat department from Justice Antonin Scalia. Four years ago, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill was a Twitter newbie just testing the waters: "Scalia in a really weird hat." She wondered if he would wear it again this year:
Four years ago today I began tweeting. One of my first tweets was a comment on Scalia's weird hat.Will he wear it again? Stay tuned. — Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) January 21, 2013
And he did:
"Aretha won't top me THIS year!!!"-Scalia while applying headgear this morning.
— Kevin Murphy (@murphoniousmonk) January 21, 2013
Obama's Address: By the (Twitter) numbers
The president's second inaugural address was live tweeted by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.” — Obama Inauguration (@obamainaugural) January 21, 2013
The @WhiteHouse account went a step further, retweeting quotes shared by others:
@whitehouse: "The most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is still the star that guides us still." #InaugQuote — Brian Kamoie (@BrianKamoie) January 21, 2013
The president's address was the high point of Twitter activity for the day, according to a graph released by the service. During the ceremony, 1.1 million tweets were sent. Volume peaked when the president delivered the line, "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, name calling as a substitute for debate" at 27,795 tweets per minute.
Beyonce's photo bombs
The star previewed her performance the night before on Tumblr and Instagram, sharing photos of her rehearsal:
The megastar nailed the National Anthem (despite what appeared to be a malfunctioning ear piece that she discarded partway through the song)—but Twitter was mostly abuzz with politicians either star struck (Rep. Pete King) or those overshadowed by Beyonce and husband Jay-Z (Rep. Paul Ryan).
Um, is that Rep. Pete King snapping a cell phone pic of Jay-Z and Beyonce? twitter.com/SladeHV/status…
— Slade Sohmer (@SladeHV) January 21, 2013
Paul Ryan and Jay-Z standing side by side and pointedly not conversing.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 21, 2013
Spaceships and D.C. statehood at the parade
We got a taste of the parade early thanks to NASA, which shared pictures of the Mars Curiosity rover and Orion floats traveling to the capital on Flickr. The images were trending on Twitter Sunday, according to Topsy.
the inaugural floats are transported to the staging area for Monday's parade #inaug2013 #NASA flic.kr/s/aHsjDG5e4q
— NASA HQ PHOTO (@nasahqphoto) January 20, 2013
Monday morning, the Mars Curiosity account (which is written in the "voice" of the spacecraft and usually limits itself to updates on the exploration of the red planet) gave a shout-out to its Earthbound doppleganger:
My double is ready to roll in #inaug2013 parade with @nasa & @nasajpl mission team members.twitpic.com/bx6jbu
— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) January 21, 2013
And D.C. Mayor Vince Gray made a political statement during the parade, sharing a photo of his sign calling for D.C. statehood:
Here's a better pic of my sign from today's inagural parade for @barackobamaow.ly/i/1p0KD
— Vincent C. Gray (@mayorvincegray) January 21, 2013