Disclaimer: video clips in this entry contain insensitive language.

About

Kevin Antoine Dodson is a Huntsville, Alabama resident recently interviewed by NBC affiliate WAFF-48 News in a news clip about the local police searching for a man who broke into the Dodsons’ home and then tried to assault one of his sisters in bed.

Origin

On July 28th, 2010, North Alabama’s NBC affiliate WAFF-48 News reported that local police are searching for a man who broke into a home then got into bed with a woman. According to the news story, that Wednesday morning, Kelly Dodson woke up to an intruder in her bed. The woman’s brother, Antoine Dodson, rushed to her room after hearing his sister scream. After a brief struggle, the intruder escaped through a window. Antoine said the suspect left behind his shirt and fingerprints.

WAFF-48 sent a correspondent to speak with the victims, which resulted in the following report:

“Well, obviously we have a RAPIST in Lincoln Park. He’s climbin’ in your windows, he’s snatchin’ your people up, tryin’ to rape ‘em. So y’all need to hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husband cause they’re rapin’ everybody out here.”

Spread

• First memetic hub post to Reddit on 7/29.

• BuzzFeed posted Don’t Cross Antoine Dodson on 7/29. Other places that covered the video on the 29th included dlisted, Best Week Ever, and 2Snaps.tv.

• Over the next few days, Antoine was mentioned in another Best Week Ever article, Cnet News, and Oh No They Didn’t.

• A few of the articles focused more on the serious parts of the situation: possible reinforcement of stereotypes (The Washington Post and the BVX) and overlooking the attempted sexual assault (Jezebel and Woman’s Day’s blog).

• Antoine Dodson’s Facebook Page

Criticism & Response to Popularity

While Antoine was becoming an internet sensation, many residents of the Alabama community criticized WAFF-48, saying that “interviews with people like Antoine reflect poorly on the community.”

WAFF-48’s corespondent Elizabeth Gentle officially responded to criticism by saying that “censoring people, like Antoine, is far worse.”

On July 30th, 2010, WAFF-48 aired the following report in which they address the criticism and get Antoine’s reaction to his newly-found fame:

By August 3rd, he had created a website for himself, Antoine-Dodson.com, as well as a YouTube channel.

On August 26th, he was interviewed on the Today Show

Derivatives

Remix by Kidstatic

You’re So Dumb Remix by SimplySpoons

MC Antoine Dodson Remix by Peepholecircus

8-bit indie pop remix by dimkeal

Parody by edbassmaster

Auto-Tune the News

On July 30th, the Gregory Brothers’ Autotune The News released the “Bed Intruder Song”, which would rise to popularity as the 25th most bought song on the main iTunes charts when it was released, selling more than 10,000 copies in the first two days of its availability ( Source: Wired interview with the Gregory Brothers).

Bed Intruder Song has entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at #89, selling 30k downloads.

The video spawned derivatives on its own, including covers on piano, acoustic guitar, marching band, ukulele, and a Tsugaru Shamisen:

YouTube user omnomnomandrew posted an acoustic mashup of the Bed Intruder Song with the Double Rainbow song.

Marching Band Cover

On August 11, 2010, YouTuber ShowTimeWeb posted a cover video of Bed Intruder Song by the North Carolina A&T University Blue & Gold Marching Machine.

Please note: That this is a reading / practice session.

Pop Punk Cover

On August 25th a pop punk version of the song was uploaded to YouTube by Hayley Williams (Paramore), Jordan Pundik (New Found Glory), and Ethan Luck (Relient K).

Antoine on the Today Show

On August 26, 2010, Antoine Dodson was featured on the Today Show in an interview by Mark McCarter.

About

T-Rex Jet is an image macro series based on cartoon drawings of a Tyrannosaurus piloting an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet. Originally featured in Calvin and Hobbes comics as one of Calvin’s alter ego characters, the nostalgic image of T-Rex placed in the cockpit is most frequently used on forums to signify one’s approval of the thread.

Origin

The image shown above can be found in a January 1st 1995 edition of Calvin and Hobbes^[1]. Whilst the comic stated the plane was an F-14, a closer analysis suggests that the design was influenced by both F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle model, marked by its flat-sided wings.

Calvin and Hobbes is a daily comic strip syndicated from November 1985 to December 1995, written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson. Even after the conclusion of daily comic strip in 1995, Calvin and Hobbes^[2] remains in syndication around the world.

Spread

It is difficult to pinpoint when or where the image was first uploaded online, however, Google Insights results for “T-Rex Jet” indicates the first spike in interest occurred sometime in November 2007. “T-Rex jet” still remains highly visible across comics-related forums and geek-oriented sites like Jurassic Park forum^[3], My[confined]Space^[4] and The Escapist^[5].

Usage in Discussion Threads

In the context of forum discussions, T-Rex Jet images may be used to express one’s excitement or approval of the thread, similar to the usage of Awesome Smiley and This Thread is X.

Ninjas vs. Pirates vs. T-Rex Jets

Another notable inclusion of the meme can be found in a hypothetical debate known as “Who would win? Ninjas vs. Pirates vs. T-Rex in jets”^[6] which stems from another popular debate called Pirates vs. Ninjas.

Tribute

Notable Examples

External References

^[1] Slate – The Appeal of Calvin and Hobbes – Posted on 11-7-2005

^[2] Wikipedia – Calvin and Hobbes

^[3] Jurassic Park Forum – Tiranosaur (French) / Posted on 12-1-2007

^[4] My[confined]Space – Tyrannosaurus in an F-15 / Posted on 3-23-2009

^[5] The Escapist – Most Awesome Dinosaur / Posted on 3-17-2010

^[6] AnswerBag – Who would win; Ninjas, Pirates or T-rexes in Jets / Posted on 4-16-2007

About

Basil Marceaux is a Republican candidate for governor in Tennessee’s 2010 election. His appearance on a Nashville Tennessee’s NBC4 local news was uploaded to YouTube and quickly began to spread. In the video, Marceaux refers to himself as “Basil Marceaux Dot Com.”

Visiting Basilmarceux.com reveals a number of gems:

VOTE FOR ME AND IF I WIN I WILL IMMUNE YOU FROM ALL STATE CRIMES FOR THE REST OF YOU LIFE! (Except violating a citizen rights this would be a special punishment )

The primary election was held on August 5th, 2010. Basil Marceaux won over 3000 (.5%) of the day’s votes, losing to Bill Haslam, the current mayor of Knoxville, TN.

After his loss, Basil told the Washington Post that he “set the Internet up so they would talk bad about me because it’s the only way to get hits.”

Spread

On July 21st, Basil’s Youtube video was posted to knucklesunited.com

On July 27th, a Reddit thread entitled Hello, name is Basil Marceaux and I am runninf for Republican Governor of Tennessee made it to Reddit’s front page.

July 30th, Asylum’s Tommy Christopher posts Meet Basil Marceaux — Most Awesomely Inarticulate Political Candidate Ever

Search

Official Campaign Ad

On gun control

On campaign finance reform

Opie and Anthony interview

Colbert Report

Jimmy Kimmel Live

About

“You just activated my trap card!” is a catchphrase derived from the Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game, which is typically used as a warning from one person to another that something malicious is about to occur or someone is about to get owned.

Origin

Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game is a Japanese collectible card game developed and published by Konami, based on the fictional game of Duel Monsters created by manga artist Kazuki Takahashi. The game was first launched in 1999 and distributed worldwide throughout the 2000s, mainly in Japan, North America, Europe and Australia. In July 2009, it was named the top selling trading card game in the world by Guinness World Records with over 22 billion cards sold worldwide.^[1] In the game, Trap Cards^[1] are a special type of playable card that can be used to inhibit your opponent and make the duel turn easier for you. These cards, however, could only be “activated” during your opponent’s turn.^[13]

Fake Trap Cards

Fake Yu-Gi-Oh Trap cards were shared on DeviantArt as early as July 22nd, 2004, when ~MaJoRoesch^[14] uploaded a fake trap card featuring child television show character Barney. Since then, over 1000 other fake cards^[15] have been posted to the site and they continue to be shared on Tumblr.^[22]

“The Playa”

The phrase is often associated with a demotivational image macro of a man playing Yu-Gi-Oh cards in a library. The image became popular through its usage in You Laugh, You Lose forum threads throughout 2008^[6][7], with the earliest dated instance posted to Digg on July 23rd, 2008.^[8] The man depicted in the image remains unidentified.

Spread

As early as in September 2005^[12], YTMND users began using the phrase “you have activated my trap card” outside the context of the card game, often paired with “Not So Fast, Kaiba”^[16], another catchphrase that stemmed from a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction^[17] that year. In 2007, the phrase “you’ve activated my trap card” was referenced in the Ars Technica forums^[18] and 4chan.^[19] It was first defined on Urban Dictionary^[5] in July 2009.

Due to its atypical method of play, many Yu-Gi-Oh card players sought out help with using Trap Cards on Yahoo! Answers between 2008^[2] and 2009.^[3][4] The image macro featuring “The Playa” has also appeared on the Body Building Forums^[20] and gaming site Joystiq.^[21]

Advice Animal

The image has also evolved into an advice animal style image macro called Cunning Black Strategist.^[9] As of February 2012, there are over 1000 different instances and has appeared on FunnyJunk^[10] and Tumblr.^[11]

Usage on the Korean Web

Circa 2008, the image macro of “The Playa” also spread across the Korean imageboard site DCInside, where it became primarily associated with bait and switch threads. The image macro was initially posted onto the Board Game gallery, but became heavily used as a bait and switch image with the Yu-Gi-Oh soundtrack “Passionate Duelists” on the World of Warcraft gallery.

By July 2010, the image spawned numerous parodies on DCInside’s Photoshop Source Material gallery (shown left) and quickly gained mainstream exposure through usage on other websites like Naver webcomics. The meme was also referenced during the broadcast of a pro-league Starcraft match that same month, when pro-gamer Gu Seong-hun (shown right) performed a victory ceremony in tribute to “The Playa” image.

Search Interest

According to Google Insights, online interest in Yu-Gi-Oh trap cards predates 2004, however, online interest in the phrase “you’ve activated my trap cards” did not commence until January 2008. This interest gradually increased until it exploded in June 2010.

External References

Note: This entry contains NSFW subject topics & links; viewer discretion is advised.

About

Shock Sites are websites that are designed to offend the viewer. They are typically of a “pornographic, scatological, extremely violent, insulting, painful, profane, or provocative nature.”¹

A person may be linked to a shock site directly, asked to view one “as a challenge,” or through Bait and Switch.

“Traditional” shock sites are intended to get an immediate reaction and generally fall into one of the following categories.

Pictures – Displaying a static image:
Example: Goatse
Flash loop – Short looping SWF video clip, usually set to music
Example: Meatspin
Video – Extended video, usually not set to music
Example: swap.avi
Virus – Displaying shock content and simultaneously crashing the viewer’s browser or harming the viewer’s computer
Example: Last Measure²

There are also “Nontraditional” shock sites that can be just as provocative, but instead offend in a subtler way by attacking the viewer’s principles (covered later in the entry).

Bait and Switch

The most common way to get people to view a shock site is through the bait and switch technique. The practice involves sending a link to a victim, and suggesting that they should open the link because of some incentive (humor, information, service, etc.). However, the link will not be what was suggested.

Example of Bait and Switch being used for Shock Sites

For the complete article on Bait and Switch, click here.

Rotten.com

Founded in 1996, Rotten.com³ was one of the first sites on the web to curate morbid, graphic, and perverse content. Many shock images that still get passed around on sites such as 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica originated on Rotten.com.

Goatse

For the complete article on Goatse, click here.

List of Popular Shock Sites and Compilations

Here is a list of some of the most notorious traditional shock sites:

- Goatse.cx
- Funnelgirl
- 2 Girls 1 Cup
- Jizztini
- Church of Fudge
- Meatspin
- Zippocat
- Bluewaffle.net
- Tubgirl
- Mr. Hands
- Pain Olympics
- eFukt
- 1guy1jar
- Stile Project
- Last Measure
- Lemonparty
- Cakefarts
- Eel Girl
- 3Guys1Hammer

Here is a list of some traditional shock site compilations:

- Ballsack.org
- Discharges.org
- Shock Horror Media
- Gardener Plants ²
- Ogrish.com
- Rotten.com

Most shock videos cannot be uploaded to YouTube without being taken down quickly because of their offensive content, and thus require the internet user to watch the video on another website.

One shock video, however, called Goosh Goosh has not been for three years.

“Ethical” Shock Sites

These websites are not usually pornographic or scatological in nature, but instead offend the viewer’s principles. They sometimes offer a “realistic” service or product, but are mostly hoaxes.

The most infamous example would be Bonsai Kittens, also known as Rectilinear Kittens. This was a hoax claiming that kittens could be raised in a container for the purpose of molding the kitten into a specific shape.

Another example is Dog Island, a site advertising for a fictional land where thousands of dogs without homes can be sent to live out the rest of their days enjoying wonderful encounters with bears and hurricanes.

Examples

- Bonsai Kittens
- Puppy Beef
- Child Trader
- AIDS Mapper
- Kids Concentration Camps
- Victims of Children
- Abortion Tracker
- CheapAbortions.com

Reaction Videos

The spin-off of Shock Sites are reaction videos, where the viewer records his/her reaction while or after they look at the shock site. The most famous example of a Shock Site producing reaction videos is 2 Girls 1 cup. Examples include:

Reaction to 2 Girls 1 Cup

Reaction to Meatspin

Reaction to 2 Guys 1 Hole

References

¹ Wikipedia

² Encylopedia Dramatica (Very NSFW)

³ Rotten.com

External Links

Urban Dictionary

About

Fuck the Police (also known as Fuck tha Police, after the NWA song) is an image macro used in times of extreme irony or contempt for authority figures.

Origin

“Fuck tha Police” was originally a song released by the rap group NWA off the 1988 release of the album “Straight outta Compton” Although not released as a single, the song became popular for its controversial and often violent lyrics about maiming and killing Police officers.

Image Macros

Fuck the Police spread on the internet with a picture of Frog and Toad with a “Fuck the Police” caption underneath. This led to many other image macros featuring characters riding bikes with the “Fuck the Police” caption, and are somewhat similar in tone to haters gonna hate image macros.

Search

Search seems to be predominantly centered around the NWA song, and has remained steady over recent years.

Videos

About

BRODYQUEST is an animated music video featuring an exploitable image of actor Adrien Brody going about his normal day set to catchy music. Throughout the video, Brody continually walks from the left of the screen to the right of it while the scenery behind him changes in repeated cycle. The video became immensely popular on YouTube for its catchy tunes and psychedelic visuals, spawning a series of parodies and derivatives titled (X) Quest.

Origin

The original song and the music video was produced by Neil Cicierega^[1], the creator of “Harry Putter Puppet Pals” and “Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.” He uploaded the video via YouTube on June 1st, 2010 with the description “the best day of Adrien Brody’s life.”

The video recounts a day in the life of Adrien Brody. Brody is shown waking up early in the morning and starting his journey from home and then to park. He then travels to the ocean where he is joined by starfish in his journey. He then travels past numerous famous landmarks. He then travels to the outer space where Brody becomes a intergalactic rock n’ roll star, and uses his new-found power to create a world that revolves around him.

Spread

The video became popular primarily in the United States and Canada, where the online buzz generated over one million views, at least 10,000 comments and 20,000 likes on YouTube. Numerous derivatives soon followed as response videos, featuring similar themes and the same soundtrack with different celebrities and well-known characters.

Notable Examples

Creator’s Response

On June 22nd, 2010, an interview article with Cicierega was posted on Screened^[2], in which he discussed his reaction to the viral success of Brodyquest. In the interview, he explained that the video was made to fit into the theme of his redesigned Youtube Channel and that the catchy word “Brodyquest” inspired him to make the video.

Months later on May 26th, 2011, Cicierega released the sequel to his original BRODYQUEST video through a separate YouTube account 2Neil2Cicierega. For this video, Cicierega used footage of Adrien Brody receiving his first Oscar for Best Actor in 2003, and replaced the background orchestra with the BRODYQUEST theme.

The Actor

Adrien Brody was born April 14th, 1973 in Woodhaven, Queens. He is an Oscar-winning actor who is known for his roles in numerous movies including King Kong, The Pianist, and Midnight in Paris. In 2003, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the age of 23, the youngest actor to receive the honor. During the award ceremony, he kissed American actress Halle Berry, which was sampled in BRODYQUEST 2.

Search Interest

External References

^[1] YouTube – User Profile: Neil Cicerega

^[2] Screened – Interview with Neil Cicierega, The Man Behind Brodyquest

^[3] YouTube – User Profile: 2Neil2Cicierega

About

Butthurt Dweller, also known as “Gordo Granudo”, is an image macro series that features a photo of a young adult male with a ponytail and glasses accompanied by overlaid text that involves a smug or judgmental statement.

Origin

The man in the image is Finnish resident KimmoKM, and in an irc interview he discusses the meme’s origin:

The meme started in a Finnish imageboard as “Ruma huora, en panisi” (ugly whore, I wouldn’t fuck her) and then later I’ve occasionally seen it flying around 4chan and other sites

There are now plenty of English variations that use the same smug approach, usually judging how sexually attractive he finds a member of the opposite sex.

Basement Dweller

“Basement dweller” was first registed on Urban Dictionary on October 16, 2003:

A male over the age of eightteen, usually with no formal education, who continues to live at home with his parent(s) and has no ambition to move out or contribute to society. His will to live is sucked by his daily marijuana regiment. He can be found working second shift at your local gas station. Lives in a perpetual state of “Getting his shit together.”

Template

Search

Search traffic for “butthurt dweller” saw a huge spike in February of 2011, and the search traffic is shown to be almost exclusively from Spain.

External Links

• Quickmeme page

About

I love bell peppers ! is a YTMND fad featuring Iron Chef’s chairman Takeshi Kaga biting proudly and enthusiastically into a bell pepper or other various vegetables/fruits/objects, also having his face replaced by many others faces, mostly from well-known YTMND characters.

Origin

On July the 2nd 2005, YTMND user AcidicConcepts made a YTMND site featuring Takeshi Kaga in one of his show’s opening scenes where he is seen biting into a bell pepper. That site was called I love bell peppers!, having a short loop of the scene while the Dragonforce 2004 Fury of the Storm song is playing in the background.
According to YTMND wiki, The audio loop was already used in another previous YTMND-site and the .gif animation was found in an AlbinosBlackSheep forum thread from early 2002.
The Iron Chef episode from which the animation has been made of is unknown.

As of today, that first YTMND has got more than 300 000 views and rated 4,32 out of 5 on the website.

The fad

The fad didn’t take off immediately.
The first YTMND parody jumping on it is I Liek Milk!!1 the 4th of August 2005.
The next day, among other YTMNDS sites going along, the most popular iteration from the fad was created by YTMND user dmac and entitled Brian Peppers loves bell peppers!, gathering more than 330 000 views and reusing another popular internet phenomenon at that time : Brian Peppers.
While the “X loves bell peppers” formula is often used in the meme, many others YTMNDS on the same theme without a similar title were made.
By comparing the list of sites using bell peppers as keywords and Fury of the Storm as soundtrack, we can guess that there has been about 200 sites created to date.

Among the most populars, sorted by views, are :

• I love Tiger Handhelds! (Updated Sound) (more than 100 000 views)
• iRon Chef (iPod) (more than 70 000 views)
• I Love Bell Peppers XP (more than 50 000 views)
• how i did love bell peppers by andy age 9 (more than 44 000 views)
• Iron Chef VS Steve Colbert (more than 42 000 views)
• Iron Chef: Tasty Mac! (more than 38 000 views)
• A-ha loves bell peppers (more than 27 000 views)
• Bell Peppers Loves Takeshi Kaga! (more than 23 000 views)

Concerning famous personalities and characters used in the fad can also be found :

• Mario vs Luigi (more than 41 000 views)
• Khaaan (more than 29 000 views – Khan! meme)
• Senator Ted Stevens (more than 20 000 views – Series of Tube meme)
• Weird Al Yancovic (more than 12 000 views)
• Family Guy (more than 7 400 views)
• Cutie Honey (more than 7 100 views)
• N*gg* loves bell peppers! (mora than 6 900 views – Stole my Bike meme)
• Lazy Town (more than 6 000 views)

Influence within Y.T.M.N.D

According to the YTMND wiki, this meme is one of the most difficult to create on YTMND because of the amount of editing required.
Nevertheless, it was, according to the article again, the one that launched the “Fury of the Storm”‘s popularity as a song within YTMND. That soundtrack would also be included in the YTMND Soundtracks volume 3.
Lastly, Takeshi Kaga’s picture would also appear as a cover for the Volume 11 edition.

Iron Chef’s opening sequence

The main appeal of the Iron Chef’s cooking show is the Takeshi Kaga’s character, always expressive, especially in the opening sequence in which, among famous catchphrases like Allez Cuisine ! starting every cooking “battle”, can be seen his signature, the bell pepper biting :

(Bell pepper biting at 2:00)

Actually, Takeshi Kaga has done many different intros featuring different ways of biting his bell pepper :

While not really related to the meme itself, there is a certain amount of video on Youtube parodying this intro and presenting people biting into various vegetables/fruits :

The bell pepper biting move was also reused in Iron Chef America. The show is presented as a successor to the original Iron Chef, as opposed to being a remake. In it, the Chairman is portrayed by martial artist Mark Dacascos, who is introduced as the nephew of the original Japanese chairman Takeshi Kaga.
For the show, Mark Dacascos is seen, in almost every opening sequence, holding a bell pepper before biting into an apple :

About

America: Fuck Yeah! is a multi-purpose phrase that can be used as an authentic display of strong approval, or ironically in response to extreme or unwarranted patriotism.

Urban Dictionary states the following:

America Fuck Yeah
1) Theme song of “Team America: World Police”
2) A great phrase to sarcastically add after any statement promoting unnecessary American interventionism.
1) Comin’ again to save the motherfuckin’ day yeah!
2) Ann Coulter: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity.”
Rational People: “America Fuck Yeah!”¹

Origin

The phrase America: Fuck Yeah originated in a satirical political action film involving puppets, released in late 2004 by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, called Team America: World Police. The movie contained a song titled “America: Fuck Yeah!”, with the following lyrics:

America…
America…
America, FUCK YEAH!
Coming again, to save the mother fucking day yeah,
America, FUCK YEAH!
Freedom is the only way yeah,
Terrorist your game is through cause now you have to answer too,
America, FUCK YEAH!
So lick my butt, and suck on my balls,
America, FUCK YEAH!
What you going to do when we come for you now,
it’s the dream that we all share; it’s the hope for tomorrow

Spread

Fuck Yeah! was an active phrase before October of 2004 and no doubt influenced the creation of “America: Fuck Yeah!”, it experienced an explosion of online interest when “Team America” was released. From that point onwards, the phrase America: Fuck Yeah! and Fuck Yeah! were closely linked in terms of online interest, with both gradually declining until Febuary of 2009. At this point, interest in America: Fuck Yeah! evened out whilst interest increased in Fuck Yeah!.

Search

By February of 2010, interest in Fuck Yeah! had tripled, at which point a new meme was created: Fuck Yea, a derivative of Rage Guy. Interest in Fuck Yeah doubled by the time the Fuck Yea guy peaked, around early June 2010, by which point interest in America: Fuck Yeah! was close to an all time low.

In early June 2010, interest in America: Fuck Yeah! and Fuck Yeah increased, peaking around July 4th. Fuck Yea increased during this period as well, but peaked around June 26th. Whilst all three declined from their peak levels of renewed interest at this time, only Fuck Yeah! has shown an upwards trend since then. As of August 2010, Fuck Yeah! has reached 84% of the popularity it enjoyed at its highest peak in October 2010. The increased interest in June/July 2010 can most likely be attributed to the U.S Soccer teams relative success in the 2010 World Cup.

Usage

America: Fuck Yeah! is most often used for:

• Strong approval of an America action or ideal
• Satire of an American action or ideal
• Reference to the theme song from Team America: World Police

Osama bin Laden’s Death

On May 1st, 2011, after it was announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed by US troops, a thread was stickied in 4chan’s /b/ board with 4 american flags and the words “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” overlaid. An audio track of “America: Fuck Yeah” was set to autoplay in the background.

“Fuck Yeah” Tumblrs

“Fuck yeah” single topic blogs on Tumblr have been on the rise since 2008 when Ned Hepburn created "Fuck Yeah Sharks, the first of it’s kind. Search queries picked up in May of 2009, and have been on the rise ever since.

Derivatives

Demotivationals: Fuck Yeah!

America: Fuck Yeah! and Fuck Yeah! are prime material for demotivational posters.

Other Countries: Fuck Yeah!

Other countries are occasionally referenced instead of America:

External Links

¹ Urban Dictionary – America: Fuck Yeah

² Urban Dictionary – Fuck Yeah

³ About.com – The Origin of the F-Word

About

“Don’t Obsess Over Me, I Am Only a Legend” (Chinese: 不要迷恋哥，哥只是个传说; Pinyin: Bù yào mí liàn gē gē zhĭ shì gè chuán shuō) is a popular catchphrase stemming from an eccentric discussion thread posted on the Chinese MOP forums. The expression is mostly used in an ironic way: either to mock someone “trying to act cool,” or as a caption to “awkward” images. However, sometimes the phrase is used literally to describe a cool person, and has a correlation with Brother Sharp.

Origin

The original “Don’t obsess over me, I’m only a legend” thread was posted on March 25th, 2009, on the MOP forums.

Referring to himself as “big brother”—a common label carrying the connotation of playful narcissism or self-conceit, the OP goes on a rant about how people shouldn’t embrace his presence with open arms, as the big brother is a a legend to be admired and feared at the same time. The original post can be translated to:

[Note: “big brother” is reference to himself; grammar is very bad; message sounds very “cheesy”]

This world created the ‘big brother’ in order to for us to offer our respect and honour, and also to give us hope and a direction in our lives. With hope, life has meaning and worth. If, on the other hand, the presence of the big brother brings tragic effects, the big brother will be ill at ease with himself.

For our future and for the harmony of our family, let us not lose ourselves or adore or love him blindly. Only by proper understanding and and respect can we fulfill the beautiful sentiments that the big brother ushers in. We can, without inhibition, share the joy and transcendent feelings that come from our spiritual connection with him—like the realisation of a dream.

So do not obsess over the big brother. He is only a legend. He is no longer or perhaps was never part of this world, but the world still continues to work through him…

Confused by the ridiculous, “higher-than-thou” tone of his post, other forum users quickly reacted to the thread by mocking the OP with over 4900 tongue-in-cheek replies.

Popularity

Google Trends for 哥只是个传说 and 不要迷恋哥.

• Another popular forum called End of the World contained several threads on the topic:

- One with 100+ replies (Mar 30, 2009)

- 50+ replies (Mar 30, 2009)

- 250+ replies (Dec 20, 2009)

• List of variations on the catchphrase. (Aug 18, 2009)

• Reference to the phrase on nddaily (October 28, 2009)

• Usage in the NBA (Oct 29, 2009)

Derivatives

Text variations

There are many satirical versions of the phrase:

Examples: [Once again, in the process of translating]

不要牵挂妹，妹只是两行泪
不要恶搞姐，姐会让你吐血
不要迷恋妹，妹才十九岁
不要小看弟，弟可是兴奋剂
不要羡慕爸，爸只是个神话
不要忘记爷，爷落下一双鞋
不要单恋奶，奶只是个二奶
不要忽略妈，妈当年一朵花
不要埋怨嫂，嫂如今男人少
别老想着姨，姨让你脱层皮
不要盯着姑，姑让你想哭
不要意淫姐，子宫出过血
不要蔑视叔，叔也出过书
不要迷恋锅，锅是平底锅

Videos

Most video derivatives use the song, “Only a Legend” (哥只是个传说) by Chen Xu (陈旭).

Examples

*"Brother Sharp":http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/brother-sharp-x%C4%AB-l%C3%AC-g%C4%93-%E7%8A%80%E5%88%A9%E5%93%A5 version (380,000+ views)

• 不要迷恋哥 哥只是个传说—陈旭

• 不要迷恋哥 哥只是个传说

• 不要迷恋哥

About

“Who’s awesome? You’re awesome!” is a catchphrase typically used in image macros where the subject is pointing at the camera while smiling, and sometimes winking.

Origin

It is widely held as true that the phrase became adopted into common usage on the popular imageboard 4chan^[6]. The earliest known image macro is of the pointing dog pictured below and it appears to have begun circulating the Internet in 2008 to sites like SFWChan^[1] and Funny Junk.^[2]

Spread

The single serving site whosawesome.com^[3] was created in May of 2009, and the nearly identical site who-is-awesome.com^[4] was created in July of 2009. Both sites feature the original picture of the pointing dog. On November 25th, 2009, Urlesque^[5] did a round-up post of various image macros that included the word “awesome”, with the dog’s image among them.

The meme also became quite popular on the microblogging service Tumblr^[7].

Search

Search queries for “whos awesome” saw a brief spike in November 2008 before picking up again in June 2009. Searches for “you’re awesome” didn’t pick up until September 2009.

External Links

^[1] SFWchan

^[2] Funny Junk – Who’s Awesome

^[3] Whosawesome – whosawesome.com

^[4] Who is Awesome – who-is-awesome.com

^[5] Urlesque – Awesomest Things / 11/25/2009

^[6] 4chan – [researching]

^[7] Tumblr – [researching]

About

Cat on a Keyboard in Space (also known as Space Cat or Astro Cat) is rather self-explanatory: an image of a cat posing on a musical keyboard set to the background of outer space. Due to the nonsensical yet amusing nature of the artwork, it became a popular template for image macros and video remixes, particularly on the popular image-sharing community YTMND.

It is not to be confused with Keyboard Cat, an unrelated YouTube phenomenon based on a video clip of a cat ostensibly playing a melody on the piano.

Origin

The original picture reportedly comes from a promotional website for Oddssey keyboard products¹, originally titled Space ARP and credited to an individual who goes by the name of Andy Squirrel. The image was first published online via personal blog MatrixSynth² in June 2006.

On September 18th, 2006, YTMND user napalmnabuco created a strange site called catonakeyboardinspace] under the subdomain “whatyouseewhenyoudie.ytmnd.com,” featuring a picture of a cat sitting on a keyboard in outer space and Jean-Jacques Perrey’s “Brazilian Flower”⁴ playing in loop.

The highly eccentric combination of a dated electronic song, the image and the curious subdomain “What You See When You Die” soon proved its potency within the YTMND community and gave way to a popular phenomenon now known as “Cat on a Keyboard in Space” (sometimes abbreviated as “coakis”).

The YTMND Wiki article⁵ describes the phenomenon as :

[…]an example of an independently successful ytmnd; a testament to the potential of original creativity.

Following its initial rise throughout the summer of 2006, MatrixSynth posted a follow-up blog article⁶ on September 22nd, linking to the notorious original YTMND site:

Well, it looks like someone took the image and made a page featuring it and Jean Jacques Perrey’s Brazilian Flower. Title link takes you there. Just load the page, listen and look at the cat. Enjoy. Also note the name of the URL. I seriously hope not.

Spread

In February 2007, the original YTMND site was picked up by social bookmarking sites like Digg⁷ and StumbleUpon⁸ and the first Urban Dictionary⁹ article for “Cat on a Keyboard in Space” was posted on September 22nd, 2007.

CatonaKeyboardinSpace: “something that we see when we die”

The YTMND phenomenon was also referenced in a XKCD comic¹⁰ published in September 2008, not to mention the launch of Facebook¹¹ tribute page in 2009.

Search Interest

Notable Examples

The YTMND influx of “Cat on a Keyboard in Space” sites continued with pop culture-related mash ups, such as Harry Potter Sees The End of Book 7 site posted by user quacx on September 20th. Eventually, it spawned more than 110 YTMND sites¹² under the tag “catonakeyboardinspace” and an additional 20 sites under the initialized tag “coakis.” Other notable examples include:

• Attack of the Dean Fighters (more than 209,000 views / one of the highest rated sites with a 4.71 / 5)
• The New Ruler of Hell. (more than 98 000 views)
• Stephanie Is about to DIE ! (more than 46 000 views)
• Can You HeaR Me , Major Tom Arnold? (more than 32 000 views)
• A Close Encounter (more than 29 000 views)
• Death and the Cat (more than 27 000 views)

Videos

The first YouTube video edition of the celestial cat was uploaded on March 7th, 2007 :

Other remixes featuring alternative backgrounds followed:

It has also been mixed with the Keyboard Cat phenomenon in June 2009:

External References

¹ Odyssey – The Ultimate ARPODYSSEY Information Resource Page

² Blogspot – MatrixSynth – SpaceARP

³ YTMND – What You See When You Die

⁴ YouTube – Jean-Jacques Perrey’s Brazilian Flowers

⁵ YTMND Wiki – Catonakeyboardinspace

⁶ Blogspot – MatrixSynth – Cat on a Keyboard in Space

⁷ Digg – Cat on a Keyboard in Space

⁸ StumbleUpon – WhatYouSeeWhenYouDie.YTMND.com

⁹ Urban Dictionary – CatonAKeyboardinSpace

¹⁰ XKCD – xkcd: Height

¹¹ Facebook – Cat on a Keyboard in Space

¹² YTMND – Search Results – catonakeyboardinspace

About 

Interior Semiotics is a viral video uploaded in May 2010 on YouTube, later gaining widespread popularity in early-August 2010.  The video depicts a young art school student engaging in a bizarre art performance, which includes opening a can of SpaghettiO’s, rubbing them on her shirt, and proceeding to finger herself and urinate in a can.  Due to its prominent display of “hipsters” watching the performance, the video quickly became an example of the ridiculousness of hipster culture.

Origin

The original poster for the Forever(21) event.

According to one of the Forever(21) curators, Hiba Ali, the terms “pizza slut” and “Forever(21)” have a deliberate meaning:

Pizza slut is a classification of the the idea of in-differentiation of progress that is aging. The blatant idea that we will never have that idealized fantasy realized that no one will be forever young or 21. These processes are professed through kitsch scheme overlaid with truths and desires of the individual artists featured in this exhibition.

The Performance

• The video starts out with Stolz using a manual can opener to open a can of clearly expired SpaghetiO’s.  It takes her two minutes to do so because she has trouble using the can opener. 
• She pours the SpaghettiO’s into a pan and adds water.
• Stolz then recites a nihilistic poem:

“Everything is shit.  We apply meaning, value, and worth to the shit surrounding us.  We live by this meaning and by our words.  We live by worth and apply value, but everything is shit.”

• She mutters her poem backwards in monosyllabic form while rubbing the old black SpaghettiO’s onto her shirt.
• Stolz cuts open her denim leggings and puts her dirty fingers into her vagina, expelling vaginal discharge.
• As the camera turns away, Stolz urinates into the empty can of SpaghettiO’s sitting on a platform.
• Stolz takes off her shirt with her bloody and dirty hands, wipes up the mess, and exits the room.
• The audience applauds.

Popularity & Spread

During the week of August 5th, the video was posted to 4chan. Many more threads were posted and the video soon went viral. Along with many image macros being created from the video, the performance elicited extreme responses, from threats of violence against “hipsters” to threats against Stolz herself. The video went on the accumulate over 200,000 views in 48 hours during this week. The YouTube analytic graph shows the extreme spike in views—having amassed nearly 400,000 by the second week of August.

As the video gained popularity, Stolz’s personal information was revealed, including her Facebook account, phone number, home address, college, and website.  She was added on Facebook by several people, and dozens of photos of her and her art were leaked.  Stolz later unlisted her Facebook from searches and the name in the video description was changed to Gabbi Colette, causing many to believe that a Facebook account by this name was indeed the performance artist featured in the video. The video was also flagged, thereby excluding it from the “Most Viewed” page on YouTube.

Since the video’s “explosion”, threads about the performance and its creator have been rampant on 4chan and other forums.  Due to Stolz’s insertion of SpaghettiO’s into her vagina, she has been dubbed as SpaghettiO Girl in a large amount of media.  Blog posts and articles have mostly referenced her use of SpaghettiO’s in her performance.

Recently, the search terms “interior semiotics” and “gabbi collette” are showing results from Google Trends.

Blogging and Reposting:

• Posted on Buzzfeed (Aug 4, 2010)
• A tumblr is created. (Aug 4, 2010)
• Posted on The Daily What (Aug 4, 2010)
• Blogged by popular satirical website Hipster Runoff (Mild NSFW) (Aug 5, 2010)
• A thread about the video was started on Reddit, eventually accumulating more than 970 replies. (Aug 5, 2010)
• Posted on i am bored (Aug 6, 2010)
• Posted on GeenStijl (Aug 7, 2010)
• Tribute post on Hipster Runoff (Aug 10, 2010)
• Article on The Elitist Magazine (Aug 10, 2010)
• Blogged by ScottPilgrim.Ning (Aug 16, 2010)

What Happened “Behind the Scenes”?

A large amount of debate concerning the video has been centered on what happened while the camera was turned away from Stolz during the course of her performance.  Although the YouTube video depicts Stolz putting her SpaghettiO-covered fingers in her vagina, the camera turns away after this point and is focused on the audience’s reactions to the performance.  Some have speculated that she defecated, but what actually happened remains to be seen.

Others have been curious about the circumstances surrounding the event itself. Before the art show in March, a video was posted to Forever(21)’s Facebook event page featuring Stolz and others organizing “Pizza Slut” postcards for distribution, in order to advertise the event:

Reaction Faces

A number of screenshots showing the reactions of the audience have become popular, especially those of audience member Vincent Uribe:

Other Reaction Faces:

Reactions & Remixes

Because of the video’s offsetting content, many reactions to the video have been posted online, in the fashion of 2 girls 1 cup reactions. Remixes have been created as well.

Below are just a few of such videos:

Recently, a band has named themselves “Interior Semiotics” in dedication to this meme:

About

Elyse Porterfield Dry Erase Board Hoax (a.k.a Girl Quits Her Job On Dry Erase Board, a.k.a HPOA Dry Erase Girl) is a series of images where an office assistant quits her job in a dramatic fashion by writing her messages on a dry erase board. Shortly after the story posting the girl would be revealed to be actress Elyse Porterfield, and the story a complete hoax.

Origin

On August 10, 2010, photo aggregation blog theCHIVE posted a series of pictures of a girl holding a white board with the following description as to the origin.

We received the following photos last night from a person who works with this girl. Her name is Jenny (not confirmed) – we’re working our contact for Jenny’s last name. Yesterday morning, Jenny quit her job with a (flash)bang by emailing these photos to the entire office, about 20 employees we’re told. Awesome doesn’t begin to describe this office heroine. Check back as we will be updating if we get more details.

The notes contained on some of the boards expresses the hatred “Jenny” has towards her boss and reveals some private information like his on the clock FarmVille habits.

The day after posting, the blog post has acquired over 340,000 Likes on Facebook, over 7,000 diggs, and over 2,750 page comments.

Hoax Revealed

The following day, theCHIVE posted an article A Word from Jenny which shows another series of images featuring “Jenny” and her white board, revealing the entire photo series was a prank.

“Jenny” is actually Elyse Porterfield, a Los Angeles area actress who auditioned for the part following an ad from job site Actors Access. The ad was posted August 3rd 2010, auditions happened two days later on the 5th, the photo shoot took place the day after that on the 6th.

Spread

• 8/10 Digg posts “Girl quits her job in the most creative way”.
• 8/10 Reddit posts “Girl quits job via picture email, takes bosses dignity with her”.
• 8/10 BuzzFeed posts “Woman Creatively Quits Job”, then later that day posts “How To Make A Web Meme”.
• 8/11 TechCrunch exposes the hoax.
• 8/11 BuzzFeed post on Elyse Porterfield.

HOPA/HPOA

The acronym HPOA (pronounced or also spelled as HOPA) was dropped in a few of the white board pictures as something “Jenny’s” boss was calling her behind her back. It is explained that HPOA stands for Hot Piece Of Ass. Urban Dictionary has had the term on record since April 2nd, 2004 and was made the August 11, 2010 Urban Word of the Day.

Some blogs and references to the hoax would refer to “Jenny” as a HPOA or identify her as the HOPA Dry Erase Girl.

Impact

The Girl

The Blog

Steven Slater/JetBlue Comparison and Clarification

A day before this hoax was posted, a JetBlue flight attendant quit his job by snatching a beer and leaving on the escape schute. Many comparisons are made between these two stories, both involving a grandiose way to quit a job, however the hoax was planned a week ahead of time. The JetBlue incident happening the day before is pure coincidence. theCHIVE owners Leo and John Resig have commented saying the hoax was not made in reaction to Steven Slater.

Wil Quits w00tstock!

On August 16, MythBusters host Adam Savage, actor/author/blogger Wil Wheaton and music-comedy duo Paul and Storm from w00tstock, a website describing itself as presenting “a night of songs, readings, comedy, demonstrations, short films, special guests, and other clever widgets born from and dedicated to the enthusiasms, obsessions, trials and joys of geek pride”, did their draw based upon the meme as a parody :

They are also introducing it as the following :

The w00tstock organization wishes to post the following photo correspondence from “Wil”--which is most certainly not a hoax, and is not just a derivative attempt to cash in on some meme that was funny for 36 hours last week--without comment.

That reenactement was also covered on Wil Wheaton’s personal blog as well as many other places.

About

Steven Slater is a former flight attendant who became an internet sensation after he was arrested following an altercation with a passenger on his airplane. The dramatic fashion in which he left as well as his frustrations as a worker resonated with many people, and he was dubbed a “working class hero.” However, his status as a “hero” has been in question since further investigation has been done regarding the altercation.

The Original Account of the Incident

The following summary of the altercation is what was originally reported by news outlets.

On August 9th, flight attendant Steven Slater was preparing to help passengers disembark a Jetblue Airways flight from Pittsburgh that had just landed at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. An impatient passenger stood up and tried to get their bag from the overhead locker¹. Slater asked the passenger to sit down, but they did not¹. As Slater approached the person, the bag hit Slater on the head. Slater demanded an apology, but the passenger reportedly cursed at Slater. In his frustration, Slater got on the plane’s PA and complained to everyone on board.

There are three different accounts of what he said:

As reported by NYDailyNews:

“To the f*cking a**hole who told me to f*ck off, it’s been a good 28 years. I’ve had it. That’s it.”²

As reported by Telegraph.co.uk:

“To the passenger who called me a motherf*cker, f*ck you. I’ve been in the business 28 years. I’ve had it. That’s it.”³

And Steven Slater’s own account, as reported by Gawker

“To those who have shown dignity and respect these last 20 years, thanks for the great ride.”⁴

It is interesting to note that while he is quoted saying he’s been working for 28 years, he is only 38 years old.

The Passengers’ Account of the Incident

More than 90%⁵ have reportedly been interviewed and none of them corroborate with Steven Slater’s claim that he was provoked.

One passenger stated, “He was very rude to everyone throughout the entire flight,” and “I feel like, yeah, we all have our moments where we’re pushed to the limit, but there’s a line that he crossed. I don’t think this man should be called a hero at all.”⁶

There is, however, one passenger who said, “I just feel so bad for him, I’ve been on flights with him and he’s the one who is always so nice. He makes your flight enjoyable.”⁷

Deploy the Slide

Feeling frustrated, Steven Slater pulled a lever to activate the emergency exit, grabbed two beers from the beverage cart, and slid down the inflatable chute onto the tarmac.

(note: the view of the slide is partially blocked, but you can see the slide on the side of the front of the plane)

Aftermath

Slater took off running to his car and drove home to his boyfriend. Police arrested him there soon afterwards for criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, and trespassing. He needed to post $2500 bail to get out of jail.

The story was soon reported by NYDailyNews and other news outlets. One aspect of the JetBlue flight attendant incident that was often reported was that Slater may have been influenced by his mother’s illness and his father’s recent death.⁸

Steven Slater gained a lot of popularity on the internet, and eventually posted his bail.⁹

On August 11, 2010, JetBlue finally responded to the incident. They had no comment. Later they would say that Steven Slater’s behavior was inexcusable, stating that “Slides deploy extremely quickly, with enough force to kill a person,” and “Slides can be as dangerous as a gun.”¹⁰

Currently, Steven Slater is out of a job:

However, there are rumors that he may be getting his own television show.

Popularity / Spread

Steven Slater soon became a Facebook phenomeon (see “Facebook Groups” later in the article). At the peak of his popularity, he was trending on Twitter,

and on Google:

Blogging and Reposting:

• Buzzfeed (Aug 9, 2010)
• Gawker (Aug 9, 2010)
• Qweerty (Aug 9, 2010)
• Gawker reports Dan Lacey’s painting of Steven Slater (Aug 10, 2010)
• Perez Hilton (Aug 10, 2010)
• Free Steven Slater website started. (Aug 10, 2010)
• CustomInk T-shirts (Aug 11, 2010)
• BuzzFeed on Steven Slater backlash. (Aug 12, 2010)

Miscellaneous

Steven Slater referenced by several comedians:

New Media’s (also famous for its Tiger Woods and Al Gore animations) 3D animation of the incident:

Facebook Groups

Steven Slater became the subject of many Facebook fan pages and groups. Currently, the most popular fan page is Steven Slater with over 210,000 members.

Other examples include:

• Free Steven Slater (36,000+ likes)
• Steven Slater (9900+ likes) (not to be confused with the other Steven Slater page; also now currently defunct)
• I Support Steven Slater (6700+ likes)
• What Would Steve Slater Do? (2700+ likes)
• Steven Slater Is My Hero (2400+ likes)
• I want Steven Slater to be my flight attendant (1600+ likes)
• I hate the motherf*cker that called Steven Slater a motherf*cker (1500+ likes)
• Can Steven Slater get more fans than Justin Bieber? (1300+ likes)
• Steven Slater Legal Defense Fund (920+ members)
• Steven Slater: Hero of the Working Man (600+ likes)

Notably, the “Steven Slater Legal Defense Fund” fan pages and groups raised thousands of dollars to support Steven Slater.

“Free Steven Slater!” / “Working Class” / “Ballad of Steven Slater” Videos

Free Steven Slater!

Jet Blue Flight Attendant Steven Slater (Some language is NSFW)

The Ballad of Steven Slater

Song A Day #587: The Ballad of Steven Slater (Some language is NSFW)

The Ballad Of Steven Slater.wmv

Other Videos

World According To Jon: You Gotta Get Two Beers And Jump!

Steven Slater Working Class Hero, Child Prodigy

ONBOARD STEVEN SLATER FREAKOUT!!! JetBlue Flight Attendant!

JetBlue Flight Attendant Steven Slater: A Dramatic Recreation

Epic Quitting: A History

One of the reasons Slater’s story has spread so quickly is because he did the seemingly impossible: he quit his stress-filled job with such a dramatic exit, he would not be forgotten. He was seen as a working class hero, doing something many other discouraged workers only dream about.

On August 11th, the New York Times reported that he was not the first man to make waves by quitting. In 1947, a bus driver from the Bronx named William Cimillo got into his bus and drove all the way to Hollywood, Florida. His son Richard told the Times, “he was tired of driving the bus and throwing the change in the changer and the monotony every single day.” After his two week departure, he sent his employers a telegram asking for 50 dollars. When the cops were sent to retrieve him, he returned to New York to face an indictment for grand larceny. However, he was welcomed home as a hero by his coworkers, who held a dance to raise money for his legal fees. The charges were eventually dropped. He was flown to California where he appeared on several news shows. Three years later, there was even a copycat bus driver, In the June 30th, 1958 edition of Billboard magazine, Elizabeth Taylor was to make her singing debut in a movie based on Cimillo’s adventure entitled “Busman’s Holiday.” Sadly, the movie was never actually filmed.

The epic-quit has also been seen in movies, notably in Office Space, American Beauty, and Fight Club, all three of which are included in the following video:

Moviefone has a collection of more quitting scenarios from popular movies.

After Slater’s story went viral, sharing heroic quitting stories became a topic of conversation on WYNC, Gawker, Anderson Cooper 360 and the City Room on the New York Times.

References

¹ BBC News

² NYDailyNews.com

³ Telegraph.co.uk

⁴ Gawker

⁵ NBC New York

⁶ CBS News

⁷ NYDailyNews.com

⁸ The Hollywood Gossip

⁹ Anorak

¹⁰ Gadling

External Links

- MSNBC
- NY Times
- smh.com.au
- The Wall Street Journal

About

Toei Spider-Man (sometimes called Supaidā-Man or Spy-Darma) is the Japanese tokusatsu television series loosely based on the Marvel Comics character, Spider-Man. In this version, Spider-Man is portrayed as a live-action hero equipped with a giant mecha and cheesy, over-the-top entrances. Due to the drastic changes made to the storyline and character settings, the series was eventually rediscovered by the Japanese internet users, opening up the door for memetic mutation.

Origin

Spider-Man (スパイダーマン, Supaidāman) is a Japanese superhero television series produced by Toei Company in 1978, based on Marvel’s popular Spider-Man character. While Toei’s version of Spider-Man’s costume was based on the original, the overall plot and storyline had little to do with the Marvel character in the original canon. Producers Tōru Hirayama and Susumu Yoshikawa initially sought to make the series faithful to the famous web-slinger’s origins, but Japanese toy manufacturer Bandai, one of the sponsors, told the studio to include a giant robot for the hero. Hirayama and Yoshikawa met their demand with complete incredulity, reluctantly rewriting Spider-man’s origins for the show.

Many things about the show were quite strange, such as the gigantic monster enemies, Spiderman’s giant mecha robot “Leopardon” and other vehicles, as well as his need to yell out his name (“Spy Darma!”) and freeze in awkward poses during his entrance scenes. In addition, there are many misheard lines found in serious scenes of the series.

The series also had a major impact on other Japanese live-action superhero shows by popularizing the use of piloted giant robots to destroy giant monsters. This series also introduced the formula of featuring monster battles on two scales in the same episode. This formula would latter become a standard in the Super Sentai series (which would latter be adapted in America as Power Rangers), starting with its third entry, Battle Fever J

Etymology

“Spy Darma,” the well known nickname of Toei Spider-Man, comes from Spiderman’s bad pronunciation. Viewers in Japan can never understand the way Toei Spider-Man shouts his name. With a lack of pronouncing the “n” sound, it sounds like he is shouting, “Spy Darma!”(スパイダーマッ!)

Spread

Toei Spider-Man rose to resurgence on the Japanese video-sharing site Nico Nico Douga in April 2007, weeks prior to the theater release of the Hollywood live-action blockbuster Spiderman 3. To distinguish the Toei incarnation with the modern version portrayed by Tobey Mcguire, the Japanese referred to the former by its old nickname “Spy Darma.”

MADs

The majority of Toei’s Spiderman-related MAD videos can be found on Nico Nico Douga (NND); however, numerous media uploads that fall under the category have been deleted due to copyright claims by Toei. As a result of takedowns, there is no definitive tag associated with Toei Spiderman MADs.

• Chirumiru Cirno

• Miku Hatsune / Vocaloid

• Hyadain’s One-sided Love-C / Nichijou Opening Parody

M.U.G.E.N

Toei Spider-Man was also introduced as a playable character in the freeware fighting game engine M.U.G.E.N on October 9, 2008 by M.U.G.E.N artist fu-lin. An A.I. patch for fu-lin’s creation was released by Kokekoko. In this video, Spider-man goes up against Donald McDonald (Ran Ran Ru) in a stage based on the popular Japanese board game Battle Dome (バトルドーム):

Another M.U.G.E.N contributor ju created a character name “Nico,” a teenage girl who performs moves previously portrayed through numerous MAD videos on NND, including the gestures of Toei Spiderman:

Appeal Outside of Japan

Many viewers outside of Japan criticized the Marvel Comics character for being so different compared to the original canon, most noticeably having his own vehicles, especially his giant mecha “Leopardon.” Even a short clip of the show was featured in one episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien for comedic purposes.

In an episode of the online show Movie Buzz uploaded on May 15, 2009, the host Peter Ballis expressed his appreciation for the show because he considered it to be “so funny because it’s so bad”. This opinion is similar to the fandom of Kuso games.

YouTube Poop

There are a variety of YouTube Poop videos that have used Toei’s Spider-man series as the source material.

External References

About

Teabonics refers to spelling and grammatical errors associated with members of the Tea Party movement, particularly the picket signs displayed during various Tea Party demonstrations.

Origin

The American conservative / libertarian populist political movement known as the Tea Party began holding demonstrations as early as March 6th, 2009.^[1] On March 28th, 2010, Flickr user Pargon^[2] uploaded a set of photos under the tag “Teabonics.” The photos featured signs and banners with incorrect spelling and grammer from various Tea Party protests around the country, and were accompanied by the following description:

These are signs seen primarily at Tea Party Protests.

They all feature “creative” spelling or grammar.

This new dialect of the English language shall be known as “Teabonics.”

Spread

Much of the initial spread occurred on March 30th, 2011 after the Flickr page was posted to the Balloon Juice^[3] blog. The single topic blog Tea Bag Fail^[5], and the first Urban Dictionary^[4] submission were created the same day. The political blog Little Green Footballs^[6] began featuring a teabonics “sign of the day” on April 9th, 2010. Pargon’s Flickr page has been featured in The New York Daily News^[7], Seattle Weekly^[8], The Guardian^[9], Boing Boing^[10] and Gawker.^[11] A Facebook^[15] fan page has accumulated 847 likes, and the original Flickr set has received over 1 million views as of October 12th, 2011.

Notable Images

Pargon’s Reaction

Pargon has commented on the spread of Teabonics, clarifying how it began and spread so rapidly.

The first indication I got that this was gonna be big came the afternoon of Tuesday, March 30 when I started to get emails from Flickr that people were following me. Just a few, then more and more. I also received a direct message from a Flickr user letting me know they found my Teabonics collection because of a posting on Bob Cesca’s blog. Bob Cesca attributed this to John Cole, who linked to the Flickr collection on the Balloon Juice blog^[3], which, as far as I know, is the first source of publicity.

It was even a trending Twitter topic for awhile. (Even Roger Ebert tweeted about it, which made my day!)
Within a couple days I had received a number of solicitations from literary agents asking if I’d be interested in turning the set into a book. (As I said, I didn’t shoot the photos, so I certainly wasn’t going to try and profit from someone else’s work or let it be falsely attributed.)

It was by no means expected or even hoped for, but was awesome to see nonetheless.

Controversy

The images became controversial among Tea Party members, who claimed that a few signs with misspelled words painted an over-generalized picture that the protesters were uneducated and clueless. They pointed out that many of the signs were being carried by children or senior citizens, who may have had a harder time spelling. They also responded with several images of pro-Obama and teachers union rallies featuring grammatically incorrect signs. Many Tea Party candidates and leaders, including radio host Rush Limbaugh^[16], claimed that the rallies were being infiltrated by Democrats with misspelled and racist signs, in an attempt to make the movement look bad.

#Shakespalin

On July 18th, 2010, Tea Party member and former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin tweeted a comment regarding a planned Cordoba House project, also known as the “Ground Zero Mosque”, in New York City. Followers began to notice that Palin had invented the word “refudiate” in the tweet, for which there was no known definition. The tweet was quickly taken down, but screenshots of the tweet were subsequently posted on various sites around the web. The next day, Palin sent out another tweet embracing the newly coined word, going as far as to compare herself to William Shakespeare.

This inspired the creation of a new hashtag on Twitter, #shakespalin, #bardofwasilla and #cariboubardbie that would take famous quotes from Shakespeare’s plays and comedically intertwine them with quotes from Sarah Palin or comments on her personality. The refudiate controversy and #shakespalin were featured on various sites including Huffington Post^[17], The Washington Times^[18], The New Yorker^[19], The New York Times^[20], and Pundit Kitchen.^[21] On November 15th, 2010 “refudiate” was named one of Oxford English Dictionary’s ‘Top Words of 2010’.^[22]

Videos

Search

Search queries for “teabonics” spiked in April of 2010, the month after Pargon’s Flickr page was created.

External References

About

Tuzki (Chinese: 兔斯基; Pinyin: Tùsījī) is a popular rabbit character used in emoticons, similar to Onion Head and Yoyo & Cici. Tuzki is very popular among Chinese internet users on forums, Tecent QQ and MSN messenger and its popularity has led to fanclubs, postcards, posters, t-shirts, books, games, cards, and more. Tuzki can also be used with popular Chinese catchphrases by superimposing text onto Tuzki emoticons.

Origin

Interview with the Creator

Tuzki was created by Chinese netizen Wang Momo in 2006. Wang Momo was nicknamed “rabbit” in her childhood and learned how to paint. The earliest working image of Tuzki on her blog was posted on September 6, 2006.

In November 7, 2006, she posted Tuzki on her blog, with this GIF being the original:

Popularity

The official flash movie for Tuzki was released in 2008.

Motorola Advertising Campaign

You can see Tuzki promoting the product here.

Genetically Modified (GM) Food Awareness

Greenpeace is an environmental organization dedicated to ensuring “the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity.” The organization marks genetically modified as red, and “normal food” as green.

In mid 2008, Greenpeace used Tuzki to explain the color system.

Here is the video with English subtitles:

More Tuzki Madness

- Official website in 2009.
- Official Book (《I,TUZKI,U?》TUZKI的第一本書出版) (Mar 24, 2009)
- Tuzki Games
- iPhone App

Fan Made Videos

Chinese

Many of the most popular Tuzki videos were uploaded to Chinese video sharing sites (like Youku, 56, and Tudou). There are only a few mirrors on Youtube.

By far, the most popular video is a Tuzki rendition of Nobody by the Wonder Girls.

Other Videos:

Tuzki Emoticons: Real Person Version

兔斯基跳迈克杰克逊的《smooth criminal》

猫眼看世界]大学无罪_兔斯基_网友自制

NOBODY 兔斯基 3D版

兔斯基穷开心舞蹈

兔斯基跳 Sorry,sorry

《我是你得XX》MV

兔斯基进行曲

Non-Chinese Videos

While Tuzki continues to be most popular in China, the character has been referenced by internet users all over the world.

This is how university life is!!

See You Again－Hot_Cute Tuzki Dance兔斯基舞 搞笑

Αφιερωμένο στον ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ της Εξεταστικής..!

TUZKI bailando el Chiki Chiki

My tuzki left me

Tuzki Stats:

-Birth: Born with unexplained memory loss.
-Height: 1.2 m
-Personality: Sometimes optimistic and sometimes depressed; likes to entertain itself with imaginative, simple, easygoing and casual things.
-Mood: Exaggerates its body language. When it is not happy it recovers quickly, and loves everyone.
-Likes: Milk, buttermilk, juice, coffee, tea, bread, fruit skins.
-Hates: Turnip, cabbage, sweet foods
-Biggest Fear: Wine
-Strength: Inventing small things.
-Weakness: Inventing small things brings unforeseen trouble.
-Will never do: Obscene “adult” action
-Pets: 萝卜耶夫
-Friends: R1.

External Links

- Baidu Encyclopedia
- Club Tuzki
- Club Tuzki (English)
- Facebook Page
- Hudong Wiki
- MSN-Smiley
- Tuzki Emoticon Collection
- Wang Momo’s Blog

About

Alt+F4 is a bait and switch trolling technique used against users who don’t have too much knowledge about their OS shortcuts and features. When asked how to perform an online action (i.e. “omg how do I use colourz?!?!”) a helpful troll will offer advice in the form of “press alt+f4”—this keyboard shotcut command closes down the active window in most Windows applications, at which point the successful troll wallows in their own crapulence.

Urban Dictionary defines this process as:

shortcut key for nearly all Windows Operating Systems to Close the active window or application. Also used as an insulting tool by the 1337 or l33t people to have a bad/angry gamers, aka noob, to trick them to quit the game.

friend: dude, how do I quit this?
me: hold ‘Alt’ and press the ‘F4’ key at the top of the keyboard.

also:

l33t: to fix the lag, hold Alt and press F4

l33t: sweet, less lag…works all the time.

The technique is likely to work on n00bs due to their lack of computing experience, both with computer commands and trolling, and as such it is the troll equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel:

It must be noted that the Alt+f4 command works for Unix-based systems such as KDE and GNOME graphical user interfaces, that Windows has several other commands to close a focused window (ctrl+f4, alt+space+c, ctrl+w) and that the Mac OS command is Cmd+w, according to a Wikipedia list of shortcuts.

That meme’s process is very close, in its application, to the Delete System32 meme, though less harmful for one’s computer.

Origins

This trolling technique most likely originated on mIRC, a multiple internet relay chat program popular in the late 90s and early 00s. It is very effective here due to two major limitations of the program:

1. No “are you sure” question before conducting a shut down
2. Highly attractive program for n00bs and trolls alike

Insights

Google trends indicates sustained and strong levels of interest in Alt+F4:

Current Use

These days, Alt+F4 is most commonly found on online games:

Nooboligist | August 06, 2007
I like to call this video…“A Perfect Ownage” basically got this guy to alt f4 about 9-10 times trying to teach him how to “hotkey” spells. Deffintely no script here.

[58,149 views as of August 14, 2010]

The effect of Alt+F4 is however diminished by advances in Windows programming which require confirmation before executing a shut-down command on some programs:

Future

This meme will be in use for as long as the Alt+F4 command works, and trolls can interact with n00bs. This is due to the positively reinforcing lulz that occur when Alt+F4 is used.

Wikipedia on reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is an increase in the future frequency of a behavior due to the addition of a consequence immediately following a response. Giving (or adding) food to a dog contingent on its sitting is an example of positive reinforcement (if this results in an increase in the future behavior of the dog sitting).