W.i.p and do not ask about the tags, right?

About

the Duct tape or Duck tape is a scrim- or cloth-backed tape often coated with Polyethylene^[1]. It comes in different color and size.

History

The exact time of creation of Duct tape is set back to the second World War while a cloth called Duct tape was in use since the start of 20th century and it was used as decoration and shoe fixing, the Brooklyn bridge’s steel cables were covered with this material too before they were laid in place^[2].

During World War II, Revolite, then a division of Johnson & Johnson, developed an adhesive tape made from a rubber-based adhesive applied to a durable duck cloth backing. This tape resisted water and was used as sealing tape on ammunition cases during World War II.^[1]The first material called “duck tape” was long strips of plain cotton duck cloth used in making shoes stronger, for decoration on clothing, and for wrapping steel cables or electrical conductors to protect them from corrosion or wear^[1].

Variations

The Duct tape has many variations. These are the:

• Scotch tape
• Gaffer tape
• Surgical tape
• Friction tape
• Gorilla tape

Fandom

Major W.i.p spot

External references

^[1]Wikipedia – Duct tape

^[2]Wikipedia – Brooklyn bridge

About

Airbnb is an online marketplace where users can rent, rate and review housing properties for short-term lodging in locations worldwide.

History

In October 2007, entrepreneurs Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia initially came up with the concept of the Airbnb site during a conference held by the Industrial Designers Society of America. In February 2008, technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk joined the team as a third co-founder. On August 11th, the site Airbedandbreakfast.com was launched, which initially focused on providing accommodations near large-scale events. As a promotion for the site, special edition presidential candidate breakfast cereals were sold for $40 each, raising the company more than $30,000.

In January 2009, the founders were invited to join the Y Combinator’s incubator for three months of training and given a $20,000 investment. In March, the site domain was shortened to Airbnb.com and was expanded to provide accommodations for a wide variety of properties. In November 2010, the site raised $7.2 million in Series A funding. By February 2011, one million listings were booked on the site. In May, the German competitor site Accoleo was acquired by Airbnb, launching the company’s first international office.

Features

Airbnb users create profiles as either a “host” or a “guest” using official government issued identification. Accounts have the ability to place properties up for rental, post reviews, ratings and establish social connections with other users.

Highlights

You’re Gonna Die Here

On May 13th, 2014, the single topic blog “You’re Gonna Die Here” was launched on Tumblr,^[10] which highlights unsettling and disturbing photographs from Airbnb listings. The same day, several examples from the blog were highlighted on Gawker.^[7]

Controversies

Data Subpoena

In October 2013, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a subpoena to Airbnb demanding data for 225,000 New Yorkers registered on the site as part of an investigation into residents illegal renting properties in the state. On May 13th, 2014, the State Supreme Court struck down the subpoena for being overly broad.^[8]

Orgy Scandal

On March 15th, 2014, comedian Ari Teman published an open letter to Airbnb titled “Dear Airbnb, No thank you for the XXX Freak Fest” on his Tumblr^[1] blog, which explained how he discovered that a man named David had organized an orgy at his apartment after renting it on Airbnb. After becoming suspicious about the renter, Teman searched the provided phone number on Google and found a tweet advertising a “freak fest” at his apartment building. In the coming days, the story was reported on by several news sites, including Gawker,^[2] The Huffington Post,^[3] New York Post,^[4] The Daily Mail^[5] and Time.^[6]

Traffic

As of May 2014, Airbnb.com has a global rank of 1,418 and a United States rank of 581 on the traffic analytics site Alexa.^[9]

Search Interest

External References

About

Jews vs. Nazis Beer Pong is a variation on the popular drinking game in which the plastic cups are arranged in the shapes of a Star of David, a symbol of Judaism, and a swastika, a controversial symbol associated with Nazism. Since its emergence through social networking sites in 2011, the game has gained both popularity and notoriety for its controversial nature.

Origin

The Daily Dot^[1] has traced one of the first mentions of Jews vs. Nazis Beer Pong to a photo tweeted by Twitter user Pure_Nonsense^[2] on November 7th, 2011.

Spread

On January 24th, 2013, Redditor TrepidaciousFatGuy^[5] posted a photo of the game along with detailed rules, which contained many insensitive references to the Holocaust such as:

“The Jews have the ’Anne Frank Cup,” and this ability allows them to pick any one of their cups and hide it anywhere in the room, but it has to be shootable, obviously."

The photo was featured on Coed^[8] the same day and on Viral Viral Photos^[7] on January 25th. The photo and game were featured in a post published on BroBible^[6] on May 28th, 2013, titled “Jews vs. Nazis Beer Pong Exists and The Rules Are Pretty F*cked Up.” On February 19th, 2014, the rules to the game were added to Drinking Game Zone’s^[10] Drinking Game Encyclopedia.

The game came to the attention of online news sites again in 2014, when the same photo was tweeted out by HSConfessionaI,^[3] supposedly by a student from Cape Coral High School in Florida, on April 27th, 2014.^[3] Within a month the photo had gained over 1,000 retweets and over 3,000 favorites.

On May 7th, Florida’s Fox4^[9] published an article about the game which featured an interview with local Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz. He commented on the game, saying:

“As a rabbi, I like to look at the world as a beautiful place. So, my first assumption is let’s assume it’s just children that are immature with no ill intent, not trying to be malice. This is a wake up call. We are not doing enough of a job educating people to be nicer, kinder, more polite.”

On May 9th, 2014, Heeb Magazine published an article titled “Hot New Drinking Game: Jews vs. Nazis!” The game was featured on several sites on May 15th, including The Jewish Daily Forward^[11] and The Daily Mail.^[12]

Search Interest

External References

About

Crossfit is a fitness company which promotes itself as a physical exercise lifestyle and competitive fitness sport, which sells licenses to affiliated gyms across the world. Crossfit athletes are often associated with various types of weightlifting, body weight exercises, high-interval training and unorthodox fitness routines.

History

Crossfit was founded by entrepreneur Gleg Glassman in 2000, with the first affiliated gym located in Seattle, Washington. The Crossfit company licenses its name to gyms for an annual fee and provides a certification program for Crossfit trainers. Workouts include gymnastics, Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, running and endurance. The “Crossfit Games” event has been held every summer since 2007, in which participants compete in a variety of fitness challenges. As of March 2014, there are over 9,000 Crossfit gyms around the world.^[6]

Pregnant Weightlifting

Several Crossfit gyms incorporate weightlifting programs for pregnant women. On May 12th, 2014, the Barcroft TV YouTube channel uploaded an interview with Crossfit athlete Megan Leatherman, who continued performing various barbell lifts up to her ninth month of pregnancy (shown below).

Reception

Many athletes praise Crossfit for bolstering an inspirational and motivating fitness community, urging members to push themselves and make healthy lifestyle choices. Critics often accuse Crossfit of being too lax with certifications for trainers and cite a high prevalence of injuries among Crossfit enthusiasts.^[5]

Online Presence

On July 2nd, 2008, a Facebook^[2] page titled “Crossfit” was launched. On December 25th, the /r/crossfit^[1] subreddit was launched for discussions about the fitness company and affiliated gyms. In the first six years, the Facebook page gathered upwards of 1.5 million likes and the subreddit gained over 25,100 subscribers. On February 16th, 2012, YouTuber Jenny Morgan uploaded a video titled “Shit Crossfit Girls Say,” mocking stereotypes associated with female Crossfit athletes (shown below, left). In three years, the video gathered more than 1.03 million views and 590 comments. On February 19th, 2013, YouTuber durianrider uploaded a compilation of workout FAIL videos mocking Crossfit techniques (shown below, right).

On November 11th, Redditor mikemulloy submitted an image macro of himself performing stand-up comedy captioned with a joke about Crossfit athletes talking too much about the fitness company to the /r/standupshots^[4] subreddit (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post accumulated upwards of 5,500 upvotes and 175 comments.

On December 5th, the BroScienceLife YouTube channel posted a video titled “What is Crossfit?”, in which host Dom Mazzetti mocks the fitness company for focusing on endurance training over heavy lifting (shown below). In six months, the video received over 2.4 million views and 2,800 comments.

Fandom

Related Memes

Crossfit GIFs

Animated GIFs of people performing bizarre or unorthodox exercises have been created that are often captioned with flashing “Crossfit” text, some of which mock the Crossfit-style “kipping” pullup which uses swinging and jerking movements to pull oneself up on a bar (shown below, middle, right).

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: This entry is currently being worked on, feel free to request editorship

About

Run! It’s Godzilla! is an memorable quote said by a Japanese pedestrian played by the Japanese actor Masi Oka in the 2002 American spy comedy Austin Powers in Goldmember. It has often been used in many images

Origin

Austin Powers in Goldmember was released on July 26th 2002 and received mix reviews upon release and parodies the spy genre of films like the other films in the series and won five awards

In one of the scenes, the main character runs into the the back of a van with what appears to be a lizard type of creature on the top of it, apparently resembling Godzilla, a Japanese pedestrian played by Japanese actor Masi Oka accuses it of being the famous monster Godzilla and says “Run, it’s Godzilla” before another Japanese pedestrian runs by and says it looks like it is but it isn’t due to “international copyright laws”, Oka’s character responds by saying they should run like it is

Spread

As of May 17th 2014, several images with the quote have been made and posted on sites such as Cheezburger

Notable Examples

(Work In Progress)

About

Hypernova or Hypernova Yourself!^[3] is an online photo editor which most notably allows users to apply a “Hypernova” effect from Kirby: Triple Deluxe, which involves a swirly colored overlay and a Spherize effect. Aside from applying the Hypernova effect, the site also allows to add various Kirby-related stickers on the pictures.

History

The site first appeared on April 22nd, 2014, as an advertisement for an upcoming Nintendo 3DS game Kirby: Triple Deluxe^[4]. In the game, the Hypernova ability amplifies Kirby’s signature inhale ability, allowing him to inhale larger objects and projectiles.

On May 2nd, 2014, the same day when the US version of the game was released, the link to the site was posted on 4chan’s /tv/^[1] (Television & Film) and /a/^[2] (Anime & Manga) boards. It is highly likely that the link was originally posted on /v/ (Video Games) board, but at the time the board’s activity had not been properly archived.

Highlights

Since the time when the link to the Hypernova site was posted on 4chan, the users had created a staggering amount of pictures, using the editor. The images include characters from a variety of franchises, like Sonic the Hedgehog, Shrek, Donkey Kong, etc.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

[Unavailable]

External References

About

Featuring Dante From The Devil May Cry Series is a phrase taken from a seal placed on the cover of the European release of the video game Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer’s Call to promote the addition of Dante, the main protagonist from the Devil May Cry series into the game. The addition of the seal on the European release, which wasn’t present on the releases of the game elsewhere, became a target of mock by the gaming community due to Dante’s rather trivial part in the game’s plot.

Origin

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne^[1] marks the third installment in the Megami Tensei series. The original game was only released in Japan in February 2003, but was followed by a director’s cut edition a year later in 2004 in January for Japan and October for North-America. The director’s cut edition of the game featured an additional ending and included Devil May Cry’s Dante as a guest character after Atlus (the creators of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne) was allowed to use Dante in the game by Capcom (the creators of the Devil May Cry series). It would however take until July 2005 before the game was released in Europe, where it was published by British video game publisher Ghostlight. The European version of the game was renamed to Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer’s Call and used a different cover which also promoted the inclusion of Dante (shown below, left).

Spread

[Researching]

Tracing back on the 4chan archive Foolz^[2] shows that the phrase started picking up in popularity in the first half of 2012, often referenced in discussions related to the series or the publisher on 4chan’s /vg/ (video game generals) board.

On March 30th, 2014, a Tumblr blog related to the phrase was created,^[3] although it got inactive again after making 15 posts that same day.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

[Not Available]

External References

About

Shailene Woodley is an American actress best known for portraying Tris Prior, the main protagonist of the young adult science fiction trilogy Divergent, in the film adaptations of the books and Hazel Grace, the female protagonist in the 2014 teen drama The Fault in Our Stars. On Twitter and elsewhere online, Woodley has developed a fan following for her advocacy of holism and homeopathy and apparent bohemian lifestyle.

Acting Career

Woodley began his acting career^[2] in the early 2000s through minor roles on TV series before landing a recurring role on the teen drama series The OC from 2003-2004. In 2008 she landed the lead on the ABC teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which concluded in 2013 after five seasons. She received critical acclaim for her roles in the dramatic films The Descendants (2011) and The Spectacular Now (2013) and truly rose to high profile fame after being cast in the film adaptations of two young adult novels, Divergent (2014) and The Fault in Our Stars (2014).

Online History

Beginning the fall of 2013, Woodley became more visible online as she began doing press events and interviews for the-then upcoming 2014 young adult science fiction film Divergent. On March 13th, 2014, Woodley appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she gave him a collection of vegetables and roots, including a phallic looking horseradish. Because of Fallon’s amused reaction and the gift fitting in with her natural persona, the segment was covered by several websites including The Wrap,^[15], E! Online,^[16] and Us Weekly.^[17] It was uploaded to the show’s official YouTube channel^[13] the same day, and as of May 2014, the video has gained over 350,000 views.

Reputation

Woodley became more visible online as she began doing press events and interviews for Divergent in Fall 2013. Many sites began to focus their coverage on her “hippie persona,” as she often spoke about using natural medicine and food and living simply, as well as hailing her as the next “It” girl. On October 11th, 2013, Buzzfeed published an article titled “The 9 Most Wonderfully Hippie Things That Shailene Woodley Has Said.” On December 4th, New York magazine published an article about Woodley’s easy going attitude titled “Shailene Woodley’s Beauty Mantra: ‘You Do You’,” and on February 4th, 2014, Buzzfeed published an article titled “9 Reasons Shailene Woodley Is The Next Jennifer Lawrence.”

On Homeopathy

Woodley has frequently spoken to interviewers about the importance of homeopathy and natural living. In an interview published by In the Gloss^[23] on March 17th, 2014, she said:

“I love a natural way to heal. You can do something called ‘oil pulling’ where you swish coconut or sesame oil in your mouth when you wake up and spit it out. It’s amazing!

She also tweets about homeopathy.

Homeless Lifestyle

On May 16th, 2014, Woodley appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. During an interview she explained to Kimmel that she had given her house to her grandmother, as she has so few possessions she can fit them all in a suitcase and when she’s in her hometown she prefers to couch surf at her friends’ homes. Many sites reported on the clip creating headlines calling Woodley homeless, including E! Online^[20] and Gawker.^[21] The clip was uploaded to Jimmy Kimmel Live’s YouTube channel^[22] the same day, and in less than 24 hours it gained over 50,000 views.

Feminist Backlash

On May 5th, 2014, TIME^[4] published an interview with Woodley titled “Shailene Woodley on Why She’s Not a Feminist.” When asked, “Do you consider yourself a feminist?” she explained:

“No because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. "

There was an immediate backlash against her assertion and incorrect definition of feminism on Twitter.

Several websites ran pieces highlighting her incorrect definition and examining what her confusion could mean for feminism in general. On May 6th, Hello Giggles^[5] published an article titled “Shailene Woodley Feminist Just Doesn’t Know It.” The same day BUST, who had Woodley as their cover model for their February 2014 issue, published “An Open Letter To Shailene Woodley From BUST Magazine,” which dissected the TIME’s quote and explained her misconceptions about feminism. On May 7th, New York Magazine^[6] published an article titled “I Was Shailene Woodley: I Used to Say I Wasn’t a Feminist.”

Fandom

As of May 2014, Woodley’s Facebook page^[9] has over 140,000 likes and her Twitter account^[10] has over 590,000 followers. Fans have created several Tumblr blogs dedicated to her including Shailenewoodleydaily^[12] and Shailenewoodleysource.^[13] DeviantArt^[11] has over 800 fan art submissions featuring Woodley as of May 2014.

In The Fault in Our Stars

On January 29th, 2014, 20th Century Fox’s posted a trailer for The Fault in Our Stars, narrated by Woodley, on their official YouTube^[2] channel. On May 7th, the trailer broke the record for most liked YouTube video,^[3] passing the previous record holder, the trailer for the One Direction concert film 1D: This is Us. As of May 2014, the video has gained over 280,000 likes and 18.1 million views.

Personal Life

Woodley was born on November 15th, 1991 in Simi Valley, California. She attended Simi Valley High School.

Search Interest

External References

Overview

#MyStealthyFreedom is a social media campaign launched by Iranian women to protest against the enforcement of the hijab, a veil covering the head and chest worn by Muslim women, in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Background

On May 3rd, 2014, Iranian journalist and writer Masih Alinejad launched a Facebook page titled “Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women” urging other Iranian women on the site to share photographs of themselves without the headscarves to challenge the mandate. Over the course of two weeks, the Facebook page garnered more than 232,006 likes and hundreds of photographs submitted by the supporters.

Laws in Iran

The movement came amidst ongoing tensions between religious hardliners and reformists in the Islamic Republic of Iran, where women are required by the law to cover their heads and much of their body to obscure their figures. With the heat of the summer approaching, however, the hijab has become a contentious issue.

Notable Developments

Pro-Hijab Protest

On May 7th, more than 4,000 conservative Iranian men and women rallied in Tehran to demand a strict enforcement of the hijab, a policy that has been somewhat loosened since October 2013, when the newly-elected President Hassan Rohani asked the police to be more lenient on the issue.

#MyStealthyFreedom

As of May 16th, 2014, at least 200 Iranian Facebook users from all over the world have shared photographs of themselves without the mandated headscarves. Facebook is banned in Iran, but it is believed that as many as four million Iranians use the social networking site on a regular basis.

News Media Coverage

On May 9th, the Facebook campaign was first reported on by French newspaper Le Figaro in an article titled “Iranian women take off their veil on Facebook,” and in the following days, the story subsequently spread across the French and French-Canadian news sites. On May 13th, several UK and U.S.-based news sites began covering the campaign, including BBC, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TIME and Huffington Post.

External References

About

Hero Cat is the nickname given to Tara, a family cat from California who became internet famous after rescuing her caretakers’ child from being attacked by a neighbor’s dog in May 2014.

Origin

On May 14th, 2014, YouTuber Roger Triantafilo uploaded a video titled “My Cat Saved My Son,” which shows surveillance camera footage of a dog viciously attacking his son Jeremy while riding his tricycle in their driveway in Bakersfield, California, though not long before the family cat Tara appears out of nowhere and lunges at the canine to chase it away (shown below). In the first 48 hours, the video gained over 16.8 million views and 18,000 comments.

Spread

On the same day, Redditor manufaktor submitted the video to the /r/videos^[1] subreddit and Redditor immorta1 posted an animated GIF of the video to /r/gifs^[2] (shown below). In two days, the posts gained more than 1,200 and 49,100 upvotes respectively.

Also on May 14th, TMZ^[3] reported that after the canine was picked up by animal control and continued its aggressive behavior, the decision was made to euthanize the dog. On May 15th, the Triantafilo family was interviewed on the morning talk shot Today, where they recounted the incident and praised their cat Tara for defending their son (shown below).

On May 15th, the Bakersfield, Florida news channel ABC 23^[4] reported that Tara would be throwing out the first pitch in an upcoming Bakersfield Blaze baseball game. In the coming days, several news sites reported on the incident and nicknamed Tara “Hero Cat,” including CBS News,^[5] The Huffington Post,^[6] LA Times,^[7]Gawker^[8] and Mediate.^[9]

Search Interest

External References

About

Kevin Durant Can’t Watch is a photoshop meme based on a picture of American professional basketball player Kevin Durant sitting on the court and facing the opposite direction as his Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Russel Westbrook threw three foul shots during the final seconds of their NBA Playoff game against the Los Angeles Clippers in May 2014.

Origin

On May 13th, 2014, the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers in an NBA Playoff match with three foul shots by Thunder guard Russell Westbrook during the last minute of the game. As Westbrook took his shots on the free throw line, Thunder’s small forward and star player Kevin Durant sat down on the basketball court and looked the other way.

In the early hours of the next morning, NBA writer Matt Moore challenged Twitter users to photoshop a picture of Durant seated on the court.

Photoshop contest! Huge events behind KD! RT mikepradasbn</a> Ronald Martinez/Getty Images <a href="http://t.co/M364pQ2Yjp">pic.twitter.com/M364pQ2Yjp</a></p>&mdash; Hardwood Paroxysm (HPbasketball) May 14, 2014

Spread

The same day, Twitter user Alessandro Miglio replied to Moore with a photoshopped picture of the Hindenburg disaster^[1] with Durant superimposed into the foreground.

.HPbasketball</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MikePradaSBN">MikePradaSBNpic.twitter.com/5TOgrPbovA

— Alessandro Miglio (@AlexMiglio) May 14, 2014

Several hours later, managing editor of the sports blog SBnation tweeted an edited version of a 1964 photograph of professional boxer Muhammad Ali standing over downed opponent Sonny Liston with Durant seated in the boxing ring. In the coming days, several news sites published compilations of notable Durant photoshops, including Mashable,^[3] Fox Sports,^[4] Bleacher Report^[5] and News OK.^[6]

Kevin. Behind you pic.twitter.com/FFfyt4iEPa

— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) May 14, 2014

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

Geoff Keighley Dorito Pope refers to an interview between LevelSave.com and video game journalist Geoff Keighley. The effusive amount of product placement for Mountain Dew and Doritos during the interview led to large amounts of criticism and made the interview to become a notorious example of the state of gaming journalism, and also went on to grant Keighley the nickname of “Dorito Pope”.

Origin

On October 18th, 2012, Canadian video game journalist Geoff Keighley^[1] held and interview with video game website LevelSave.com^[2] to talk about his experience with with Comic-Con, Halo 4, and Mtn Dew and Doritos XP. During the course of the interview, Keigley was surrounded by product placement for Mountain Dew, Doritos, and the Mtn Dew and Doritos XP event for Halo 4, a promotional event by Mountain Dew and Doritos which would give the buyer double experience on Bungie’s Halo 4 through codes placed on their products. As of May 17th, 2014, the video has nearly 50,000 views and over 1,200 downvotes against just 125 upvotes.

Spread

[Researching]

On January 1st, 2013, Youtube channel AngryJoeShow listed the interview and other events surrounding gaming journalism that were sparked by the interview as his number 3 of his top 10 gaming controversies of 2012, only being beaten by The Mass Effect 3 ending and the Arma III espionage arrests.^[3]

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Doritosgate was a controversional event aimed at gaming journalists and their notorious reputation with product advertising. The controversy was sparked by writer Rab Florence in an article posted on Eurogamer.net covering the shortcomings of video game journalism and how he believes they are influenced by ad revenue.

Background

On October 24th, 2012, writer Rab Florence posted an article titled “Lost Humanity 18: A Table of Doritos”^[1] on Eurogamer.net. In the article, Florence comments on the state of gaming journalism due to his personal experiences with the Games Media Awards 2012^[3] a week prior on October 18th and after seeing an image of Geoff Keighley surrounded by product placement (shown below) from that same date spread on the internet. In the article, Florence is especially critical towards gaming journalists and their relation with product advertising, specifically Doritos and Mountain Dew. The article was edited after its release by the Eurogamer staff due to a libel complaint, but an unedited version can still be found on NeoGAF.^[2]

Notable Developments

Following the publishing of the article, journalist Lauren Wainwright, who was quoted in the article for several tweets she made during the GMAs 2012, filed a libel complaint towards Eurogamer together with her employer Intent Media, the organisor of the GMAs. This lead to Eurogamer to remove the specific sections in the article where Wainwright was quoted a day after the publishing, which was also explained through an official tweet from Eurogamer (shown below).

Following receipt of a complaint from Lauren Wainwright, Eurogamer has removed part of the article Lost Humanity 18. [1/2]

— Eurogamer.net (@eurogamer) 25 oktober 2012

On October 25th, following the decision of Eurogamer to edit the article, Rab Florence decided to leave Eurogamer by his own accord. Alongside his departure, Florence tweeted that he didn’t blame Eurogamer because of the pressure of legal action they were placed under and was aware which parties were to blame for the events that happened (shown below).

Also, don't blame Eurogamer for this. The threat of legal action brings unbelievable pressure. I am clear on who the bad guys are in this.

— Mr Nyarlathostep (@robertflorence) 25 oktober 2012

In the days following the above mentioned events, various news and gaming websites reported on it alongside their stance on video game journalism. Many of these shared Florence’s message and were displeased with the legal threat by Wainwright, such as Forbes,^[4] Rock Paper Shotgun,^[5] Penny Arcade,^[7] Destructoid^[8] and CinemaBlend.^[9] Kotaku, a gaming blog often accused of posting biased reviews based on ad revenue, didn’t share Florence’s opinion.^[10] On October 30th, Eurogamer’s Tom Bramwell, the person who edited Florence’s article, also made an aftermath article^[6] to cover his view and opinion towards the events. In the weeks following the publishing of the article, both the article and the events that followed were commonly discussed on NeoGAF.^[11] On November 25th, Geoff Keighley, the person who held the initial interview that led to Florence’s article, shared on Twitter that he would respond to Doritosgate (shown below), but never followed through with this.

Search Interest

External References

About

Sword Art Online (Often abbreviated to SAO) is a Japanese Science-Fiction series created by Reki Kawahara. Ever since it’s creation, the series has spawned a significant fandom, as well as a significant anti-fandom, mainly due to the themes presented in the series.

Premise

The series takes place in the world of Sword Art Online, an MMORPG released in 2022, controlled using Virtual Reality helmets which allow players to play their onscreen avatars using their minds. However when players log in for the first time, they find that they are unable to log out, with the only way of escaping being to beat the final boss on the 100th floor of the in-game tower. However, also find out that if a player is to die in-game, they also die in real life. The series follows the adventures of Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya, one of the chosen beta-testers for the game, joined by female player named Asuna, who tries to stop the game’s creator and free all the other players.

History

The original Light Novel for Sword Art Online, written by Reki Kawahara, was first created in 2002 as a competition entry for the ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Game Novel Prize, but as the work exceeded to required page limit, he instead decided to publish the work as a web novel under the pseudonym Fumio Kunori, later adding three further volumes as well as several short stories alongside it. However, in 2008, after winning the competition’s grand prize with his work Accel World, he was requested to send in his original Sword Art Online novel as well. He then later took down his novels online after agreeing to this deal, with the first republication being released on April 10, 2009. A second novel series, titled Sword Art Online: Progressive, was also released on October 10, 2012. An anime adaptation of the series, created by A-1 Pictures, was also aired between July 7 and December 22, 2012, with a movie recap titled Sword Art Online: Extra Edition airing on December 31, 2013. A second season is also set to air in July 2014. As well as this, there have been a total of 8 manga adaptations of the series published to date, all written by Reki Kawahara, as well as a number of video game adaptations also. Also, starting on July 27, 2013 and concluding on February 15, 2014, the anime series was also aired on Adult Swim’s Toonami block.

Reception

The Sword Art Online series has received mixed reception since its first creation, especially in regards to the anime adaptation, with many critics criticizing the second arc of the show especially. Kotaku’s Richard Eisenbeis, while originally praising the show as being one of the smartest series in recent years after viewing the first arc^[1], lost some of these positive opinions after viewing the second arc, especially in regards to the portrayal of the character Asuna, stating that she is “reduced to nothing but the quest item the male lead is hunting for.”^[2] Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network also criticized the series, pointing towards it as having pacing problems and “sloppy writing”^[3]

Online Relevance

In North America, Sword Art Online is licensed by Aniplex of America and available for streaming on Crunchyroll^[4]. The show has gained a large online following on many sites, including on Tumblr^[5], Reddit^[6], 4chan’s /a/ (Anime and Manga) board^[7], Fanpop^[8], My Anime List^[9], and DeviantART^[10]. There are numerous sites that provide episodic information about the series, such as the Sword Art Online^[11], TV Tropes^[12] and Anime News Network^[13]. In addition, the Sword Art Online Facebook page also has over 600,000 likes^[14].

Fandom

The series has spawned a large number of fan creations on the web since it’s creation, such as Fanart and Fanfiction. For example, on the Japanese fanart site Pixiv, there are over 8000 illustrations tagged under “ソードアート・オンライン”^[15], as well as over 2800 results on video sharing website Nico Nico Douga^[16]. On the western web, DeviantArt also has over 29000 images based on the series^[17], and Fanfiction.net also has over 1400 fanfictions based on the series^[18]. On Tumblr, there are a number of blogs dedicated to Sword Art Online, including Sword Art Online Fans^[19], Sword Art Online Confessions^[20] and Sword Art Online ^[21], among others.

Related Memes

Glop Glop/Chapter 16.5

Chapter 16.5 (Also referred to as Glop Glop) refers to a special chapter from the original Sword Art Online novel, featuring a sex scene between the characters of Asuna and Kirito. Due to the out of place and awkward nature of the scene, the chapter became notorious online, spawning many parodies.

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Editor’s Note: This entry is currently being worked on, feel free to request editorship

Overview

The 2014 Laos AN 74 Disaster was an airplane related disaster referring to a Antonov AN 74 military type of airplane that crashed in northern Laos on May 17th 2014, taking the lives of 17 people, including the mayor of the country’s capitol city, Vientiane

Background

The Ukrainian built an Antonov An-74 that was carrying several top officials of the country to a 55th anniversary of the second division of the Lao’s People Army, the plane had lifted off from Vientiane to it’s destination at Xieng Khouang Airport

At around 6:15, 6:30, or 7:00 am local time on May 17th 2014, the airplane crashed into Nadee, Xiang Khouang. 2,000 meters from it’s destination, it has since been marked the second deadliest accident in Laos history, 20 people were believed to be on board and the cause of the crash is unknown

Notable Developments

Soon after the crash, #PrayForLaos was one of the many trends on Twitter
The ceremony was cancelled, and the loss of the two most powerful people in the security apparatus was considered a big blow in the communist party for power, and it was reported only three passengers survived the crash

News Reaction

The crash had became the subject for many news sites and channels, including NBC and New York Daily News
Lao national television also showed pictures of the mangled wreckage

Related Disaster

In October 2013, A Lao Airlines ATR-72 had crashed due to a heavy storm while approaching Pakse Airport, all passengers on board died, and it was ranked the deadliest Lao accident

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W.I.P

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W.I.P

About

ASPCA Commercial Parodies refers to videos parodying advertisements for the animal rights charity organization ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Because the ads feature images of abused animals they have a reputation for making those who see them extremely emotional. The parodies often spoof an ad featuring singer Sarah McLachlan whose melancholy song “Angel” plays in the background.

Origin

Sarah McLachlan’s ASPCA ad was first uploaded to YouTube on October 3rd, 2006, by user ragefc^[1]. As of May 2014, the video has gained over 1.5 million views.

Spread

On February 14th, 2011, YouTube user Ibish Comedy^[3] uploaded a video titled “Depressing ASPCA Commercial,” which features a PSA for those who are too sad because of McLachlan’s ad. As of May 2014, the video has gained over 55,000 views. On March 12th, 2012, Funny or Die^[2] posted a video titled “Charlize’s ASPCA Spokesperson Audition Tape,” which featured actress Charlize Theron “auditioning” to replace McLachlan by making a less somber ad. As of May 2014, the video has gained over 320,000 views.

Mclachlan herself parodied the ASPCA ads in a 2014 Superbowl commercial for AUDI which featured McLachlan showing support for the fictional “Doberhuahua” while playing the guitar. The video was first uploaded to YouTube by user Creative News^[4]. The commercial was covered by several websites including The Huffington Post^[5] and PopCrush.^[6] As of May 2014, the video has gained over 1,000 views. On April 24, 2014, YouTuber Phillip Henry^[7] uploaded a video titled “gAySPCA: An ASPCA Parody,” which featured the song from the original ad over a call to help insecure gay men dependant on likes on their selfies. As of May 2014, the video has gained over 89,000 views.

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Overview

Maya Angelou was an award-winning American author, poet and actress best known for her series of autobiographies, including the critically acclaimed I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and other literary contributions to the civil rights movement. In late May 2014, Angelou passed away at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the age of 86.

Background

Maya Angelou^[1] died on May 28th, 2014, in her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her death was confirmed by the town’s mayor’s office and her literary agent that morning. Angelou sent out her final tweet^[3] on May 23rd, and in less than a week it gained over 50,000 retweets and over 30,000 favorites.

Writing Career

Over the course of her literary career spanning over four decades, Angelou won dozens of awards and nominations^[2], including a National Book Award nomination and a Coretta Scott King Honor for her first autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1970 and a Pulitzer nomination for her poetry collection Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie in 1972. Angelou was chosen as the Inaugural Poet for the inauguration ceremony of President Bill Clinton in 1993. She also received numerous awards in the fields outside of literature, including over 30 honorary doctoral degrees, three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album in 1993, 1995, and 2002 and a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 1974

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

Shortly after the news of her death broke, Angelou’s friends and fans took to Twitter to express their sadness over her passing, including a long list of celebrities and politicians who shared some of her most memorable quotes in remembrance of the poet. In less than 24 hours, the hashtag #MayaAngelou^[4] was tweeted out over 160,000 times, and the keyword “Maya Angelou” was searched more than 2 million times on Google.

Angelou’s Quotes

Many websites remembered Angelou’s passing by publishing collections of inspirational quotes attributed to the author, including BuzzFeed’s^[5][6]“12 Must-See Video Clips Of Maya Angelou” and “21 Life-Changing Tweets From Maya Angelou,” Mother Jones’^[7]“7 Pieces of Timeless Wisdom From Maya Angelou,” the Huffington Post’s^[8]“9 Inspiring Maya Angelou Poems You Can Read Online” and Mashable’s^[10]“10 Maya Angelou Quotes That Will Lift You Up,” among many others.^[9][11]

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About

Sabu is the pseudonym used by Hector Xavier Monsegur, an American computer hacker best known for co-founding the Internet hacktivist group LulzSec. Following his arrest in June 2011, Monsegur became an informant for the FBI and played an instrumental role in identifying a number of fellow hackers suspected of involvement in Lulzsec and other hacktivist campaigns.

History

HB Gary

According to USA Today,^[7] Sabu may have been involved in the February 2011 attacks against the intel consultancy HBGary in retaliation against CEO Aaron Barr’s attempts to sell lists of the identities of members of Anonymous to his clients.

LulzSec Formation

The earliest known hack attributed to LulzSec occured on May 5th, 2011, when the Fox Broadcasting Company’s database for applicants in the television talent show X Factor were compromised. That month, LulzSec successfully orchestrated additional high profile hacks, including a breach of several Sony databases and the defacement of the PBS homepage.

Identity Exposed

On March 21st, 2011, the now-defunct website Backtrace Security posted a PDF document listing the claimed identities of nearly 80 members of the hacktivist collective Anonymous, which included Hector Monsegur as Sabu. Later that same day, Monsegur created the @anonymousSabu Twitter feed to “clear some things up” in response to the leak. The original PDF document was subsequently removed from the site at the request of the United States FBI.^[2]

hai! I go by the name of Sabu these days. I made this account to clear some things up, especially after the leaks by #backtraceinsecurity.

— The Real Sabu (@anonymouSabu) March 22, 2011

Sentencing

On May 27th, 2014, Monsegur was set free after being given “time served” for what chief judge Loretta Preska referred to as "“extraordinary cooperation” as an informant for the FBI. In a sentencing memorandum,^[8] it was revealed that Monsegur had assisted the convictions of eight of his peers in both LulzSec and Anonymous, including Jeremy Hammond, Ryan Cleary, Mustafa Al-Bassam (a.k.a. T-Flow), Darren Martyn, Donncha O’Cearbhaill, Ryan Ackroyd (a.k.a. Kayla) and Jake Davis (a.k.a. Topiary). That day, The Guardian published an article about the sentencing, which included a statement from a “spokesperson for Anonymous” condemning the FBI and Monsegur:

“Monsegur is, first and foremost, a criminal; the FBI’s cyber crime task force are his co-conspirators. While operating under their supervision, Monsegur committed numerous felonies which should in no way be excused due to his protected informant status. The FBI continues to use captured informants, who commit egregious crimes in pursuit of reduced sentences, for the sole purpose of creating ‘examples’ to frighten the public. They do this with the hope of pacifying online dissent and snuffing out journalistic investigations into the US government’s misconduct.”

Arrest

On June 7th, 2011, Monsegur was arrested by Federal agents and immediately became an informant. In August, he plead guilty to 12 counts of conspiracy to attack computers. On June 25th, a Pastebin^[3] page was created which claimed that Sabu was a Puerto Rican man named Hector Xavier Monsegur.

New Scientist Interview

On July 4th, 2011, the science news site NewScientist^[6] published an interview with Sabu, in which he claimed to have become a hacktivist at the age of 16 and that he joined Anonymous in 2010 after being outraged over the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Reddit AMA

On September 23rd, 2011, Sabu began answering questions via Twitter from an “ask me anything” request post on the /r/IAmA^[4] subreddit. In the comment section, Redditor yorabbits asked Sabu “What advice would you give new hackers?” to which he replied to be wary of friends who would “try to take you down if they have to.”

Reputation

Sabu has been criticized by hacktivists for his work as an informant with the FBI, having been involved in identifying several suspected members of both LulzSec and Anonymous.

Informant Status Revealed

On March 6th, 2012, court documents were released in a case against four men in Britain and Ireland charged with computer crimes, which identified Sabu as informant Hector Xavier Monsegur.^[5] That day, writer Barrett Brown tweeted that his apartment had been raided by the FBI earlier in the morning, adding “Sabu is a traitor.”

My apartment was raided this morning by the FBI. Feds also came to another residence where I actually was. Sabu is a traitor. #Anonymous

— Barrett Brown (@BarrettBrownLOL) March 6, 2012

Also on May 6th, the @YourAnonNews Twitter feed recommended that followers block the @anonymouSabu Twitter account.

We all know that anonymouSabu</a> is now controlled by feds. We have blocked the account and we suggest you do as well. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BlockAnonymouSabu&amp;src=hash">#BlockAnonymouSabu</a></p>&mdash; Anonymous (YourAnonNews) March 6, 2012

Portrayal in House of Cards

In the second season of the American political drama series House of Cards, a character named Gavin Orsay (played by Jimmi Simpson) is introduced as a former hacktivist-turned-informant recruited by the F.B.I to entrap the investigative journalist Lucas Goodwin and prevent him from uncovering the crimes of the show’s protagonist character Vice President Frank Underwood. Since the premiere of the second season, the character’s story arc has drawn a lot of comparison to the fate of Monsegur since his arrest in June 2011, during which he contributed to the prosecution and conviction of eight of his co-conspirators, including the FBI’s most wanted cyber-criminal Jeremy Hammond and Anonymous-affiliated journalist Barret Brown.

Personal Life

According to an article in The New York Times,^[9] Sabu was born Hector Monsegur in 1983. In 1997, his father and sister Iris were arrested for selling heroin and were both sentenced to seven years in prison. Monsegur subsequently went to live with his grandmother in a Lower East Side housing project in New York City. Following his grandmother’s death, neighbors claimed Monsegur became more disruptive and “partied all night.”

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Overview

#SkinFor1D is an online hoax purported as a hashtag campaign urging fans of the British boy band One Direction to share nude photographs of themselves on Twitter in support of the band members Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson, following the leak of a video showing them smoking cannabis during a trip to Peru.

Background

On May 27th, 2014, The Daily Mail^[1] posted a video clip showing One Direction bandmates Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson smoking what appears to be a marijuana cigarette while riding a cab during their trip to Peru in April (shown below).

On the following day, the account @CaitlinPrauge was created, which promoted the hashtag #Nudefor1d along with a photograph of a nude woman.^[4] Less than 30 minutes later, @CaitlinPrauge tweeted that the new hashtag would be “#SkinFor1D” since the previous hashtag was not working.

umm apparently, twittr wnt let nudefor1d work those haters! the new hashtag is #SkinFor1D

— Caitlin Prauge (@CaitlinPrauge) May 28, 2014

Precursor

This hashtag prank can be seen as a direct successor to #CuttingForBieber, an online hoax and Twitter hashtag campaign launched by members of 4chan to spread a rumor that fans of Justin Bieber were cutting themselves in response to photographs of the singer allegedly smoking marijuana leaked in January 2013.

Notable Developments

On Twitter

Over the course of the next hour, several newly-created Twitter accounts began posting nude photographs of young women accompanied by the hashtag #SkinFor1D.^[5][6][7][8] Other Twitter users reacted by posting tweets discouraging the hashtag.

"#SkinFor1D" to those who actually posted nudes pic.twitter.com/IcqeppPrJP

— Pablo Franke (@pablofranke) May 28, 2014

According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,^[2] #skinfor1d was tweeted over 110,000 times within the first 48 hours.

#WearAsManyClothesAsYouCanAtOnceFor1D

Also on May 28th, One Direction band member Liam Payne reacted by introducing the hashtags #WearAsManyClothesAsYouCanAtOnceFor1D and #wearahoodyfor1d, challenging One Direction fans to layer as many items of clothing as possible, take a picture and tweet it out. Immediately after, Payne added that fans should “keep the pg rating.”

Today is such a weird day why don't we do a #wearahoodyfor1d or a #WearAsManyClothesAsYouCanAtOnceFor1D

— Liam Payne (@Real_Liam_Payne) May 28, 2014

Right everybody concert time let's try and keep the pg rating lol for Christ sake somebody help me restore sanity

— Liam Payne (@Real_Liam_Payne) May 28, 2014

In less than 24 hours the tweet gained over 100,000 retweets and over 100,000 favorites. In less than 4 hours the hashtag #wearahoodyfor1d^[14] was tweeted out over 160,000 times and the hashtag #WearAsManyClothesAsYouCanAtOnceFor1D^[15] was tweeted out over 170,000 times.

News Media Coverage

Also on May 28th, the Daily Dot^[3] published an article about the hoax, noting that the hashtag had briefly become a worldwide trending topic. In the comings days, the Twitter prank was reported on by several pop culture news sites, including Smosh,^[9] UnrealityTV,^[10] Cambio^[11] and Perez Hilton.^[12]

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About

Overly Upset Optimus Prime (also known as “Kneeling Prime”) is an image macro featuring a poster of the character Optimus Prime in the upcoming Science Fiction Movie “Transformers: Age of Extinction”. The meme involves things that are in Disgust, Disappointment, Anger, Joy, Excitement & Humor.

Origin

On May 12, 2014, a day before the release of the second theatrical trailer of the movie. TFW2005 members ILikeSoundwave & SilverOptimus reported news on the site from an Article on USA Today featuring Three new Stills for the Movie. One Includes of a Poster that has Optimus Prime Kneeling on the Ground. Within minutes & hours since the news, Fans across the site had made Image Marcos of the poster featuring Captions based on what if Prime was Doing and/or Saying.^[1]

Spread

[Researching]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

[Researching]

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