Overview

2014 Miss Indiana’s “Normal Body” refers to a series of responses online, primarily through Twitter, praising Miss Indiana Mekayla Diehl for her fuller figure after she competed in the 2014 Miss USA swimsuit competition in June 2014.

Background

On June 8th, 2014, the Miss USA competition, which was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, held its swimsuit competition, requiring each of the 50 contestants to model a bathingsuit. Shortly after Miss Indiana Mekayla Diehl modeled her swimsuit, viewers on Twitter began to comment on and praise her body for not conforming to the stick-thin body type normally associated with pageant contestants.

Notable Developments

News Media Coverage

The following day on June 9th, E! Online^[1] published a Twitter round-up titled "Miss USA 2014: Stunning Miss Indiana Mekayla Diehl’s “Normal” Body Applauded on Twitter During Swimsuit Competition," which highlighted tweets praising Diehl’s “normal” body. The same day several other sites published Twitter round-ups including Jezebel^[6] and Hollywood Life.^[7]

On June 12th, People^[8] published an article titled “Miss Indiana Mekayla Diehl Talks Praise for ‘Normal’ Body: ’I’m Confident in My Own Skin’.” In the article Diehl explains:

“I’m confident in my own skin. I didn’t obsess over being too skinny or not being tall enough. I knew that I would be going up against some girls that were 6’1” and professional models. That’s them; I’m celebrating who I am."

Backlash

On June 10th, 2014, The LA Times^[2] published an article titled “Miss Indiana Mekayla Diehl’s body is not ‘normal’ or ‘average’.” The article explains Diehl is much thinner than the average American woman, explaining:

“Diehl is a size 4. The 25-year-old is 5 feet, 8 inches, tall. She says she has a BMI of 18. A bag of bones she is not, but she is far from average. The average American woman, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is 5-foot-3 and 166 pounds. A waist circumference of 37 1/2 inches means that, on some clothing-size charts, miss average America is in the plus-size category.”

On June 11th, The Washington Post^[3] published an article titled “Why it is dangerous to label Miss Indiana as ‘normal’,” which explained beyond a discussion of whether or not Diehl is thinner than the average women, fixating on women’s bodies alone can be a problem for society. Articles criticizing labeling Diehl’s body as “normal” and criticizing the fixation on body type were also published on Jezebel^[5] and The Huffington Post.^[4]

Search Interest

[not available]

External References

About

Reggie Vs. Iwata is a promotional video featuring Nintendo executives Reggie Fils-Aime and Satoru Iwata competing in a battle which was released during the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Origin

At the beginning of Nintendo’s event at E3 on June 10th, 2014, the company played a video featuring a battle between Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime and Nintendo of America CEOSatoru Iwata (shown below).

Spread

That day, the video game news blog Kotaku^[1] highlighted the promotional video and Redditor BattleChimp submitted a YouTube upload to the /r/wiiu^[2] subreddit. Also on June 10th, Viner Brian Crecente uploaded a video clip of Fils-Aime mimicking fighting moves from the ad (shown below).

Meanwhile, the video game news blog Polygon^[4] published an article featuring several animated GIFs made from clips of the ad and YouTuber PotatoStep uploaded a dubstep remix version (shown below).

On June 11th, 2014, Tumblr user luna-sy^[3] highlighted a GIF of the battle mashed up with clips from the Japanese animes Fist of the North Star and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, gathering upwards of 6,600 notes in the first 48 hours (shown below).

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

[Editor’s Note: This entry is currently marked as ‘Event’ in order to cover the initial reaction to the announcement. This will be changed should a notable fandom arise after the game’s release]

Overview

Splatoon is a third-person shooter announced for Wii U during the Nintendo Digital Event for E3 in 2014. Unlike other shooters, the goal of Splatoon is not to kill other players but instead to cover the battlefield with colored ink. Whoever has the most ink on the battlefield by the end of the match becomes the winner. Other mechanics include the ability to turn into a squid to swim quickly through ink of your own team’s color. Splatoon gained an immediate internet following for its unique game play.

Background

Splatoon was first announced during the Nintendo’s E3 Digital Event on June 10th 2014. The title gained notability for its unique take on the shooter genre and for being one of Nintendo’s first new Intellectual Properties intended for hardcore gamers since Pikmin’s announcement in 2001.

Notable Developments

Fan Art

The unique art-style of Splatoon has led to a large upsurge in fan-art.

Search Interest

External References

Overview

2014 Brazil World Cup is the 20th international men’s football tournament organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) taking place in Brazil from June 12th to July 13th, 2014.

Background

On October 30th 2007, Brazil was officially chosen uncontested as host nation of 2014 FIFA World Cup after Columbia, the only other candidate nation, withdrew from the process. It is the second time that Brazil has hosted the competition, the last one being in 1950.

Qualification

The preliminary round for the 2014 World Cup began on June 15th, 2011 and concluded on November 20th, 2013, during which 203 senior men’s national teams from six confederations competed on the regional level for a place in one of the eight groups, each comprised of four qualified teams. A total of 64 matches are to be played at 12 different venues in mostly metropolitan areas across Brazil.

Preparation

According to the Brazilian government, the costs of the tournament are estimated at $14 billion USD, the highest in history of the FIFA World Cup, which covers the renovation or construction of the World Cup stadia, improving infrastructure, as well as logistical and security plans in host cities. The construction of stadia and public transportation systems in host cities ran many months behind schedule, leading to criticisms from within the FIFA organization and drawing scrutiny from the foreign press.

Protests

The World Cup preparation in Brazil was stymied by waves of protests against the government’s lavish spending on the event, in stark contrast to the dire need of funding for public infrastructure and social welfare in less developed regions. The online opposition to World Cup first erupted with the Bus Taxes Protests in São Paulo and other major cities in June 2013 and continued through the first half of 2014, reaching its peak with an explosion of anti-World Cup hashtags during and after the Confederation Cup in January.

Notable Developments

Opening Ceremony

On June 11th, 2014, the opening ceremony of 2014 World Cup commenced at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo, which included a festive program in tribute to Brazil and a performance of the World Cup official song “We Are One (Ole Ola)” by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, and Brazilian star Claudia Leitte. The 30-minute show was followed by the opening match between Brazil and Croatia.

External References

About

Donkey Kong is a series of video games starring a gorilla named Donkey Kong and other members of the Kong family. While the series technically started with the Donkey Kong arcade game in 1981, it didn’t really come into its own until Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo was released in 1994. The series has continued to this day with the most recent entry being Donkey Kong Country": Tropical Freeze for the Wii U.

History

Donkey Kong made his first appearance in the arcade game of the same name in 1981. The game play was simple: you play as a small italian man named “Jumpman” and have to climb scaffolding (jumping over barrels and avoiding fireballs in the process) to rescue your girlfriend, Pauline, from the evil clutches of Donkey Kong. The game was a huge hit for Nintendo and spawned quite a few spin-offs and sequels such as Donkey Kong Jr. and Donkey Kong 3. However, the most notable spin-off was Super Mario Brothers starring a renamed Jumpman. Ironically, by that point, the original Donkey Kong was looked at as more of a Mario game than a Donkey Kong game. If Nintendo wanted to cement Donkey Kong’s status as a character, he needed to be the protagonist of his own game…

Donkey Kong Country was first released in North America on November 21st 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It went on to become the second best selling game for the console with Super Mario World as the first. The game was revolutionary as it was one of the first video games ever to use pre-rendered 3D graphics. Two sequels were made for the system both utilizing the 3D technology that the first game put in place. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble sold 4.37 million and 2.89 million copies, respectively, proving the success of the franchise.

In 1999, Donkey Kong Country got its first sequel for a new system with Donkey Kong 64 on the Nintendo 64. The game featured game play similar to other platformers of the time like Banjo Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day with a heavy emphasis on collecting items and five different playable characters. The game came with an expansion pack and banana themed controller.

The Donkey Kong Country series was forced into a transition period shortly after the release of the Nintendo Gamecube. After a falling out between Nintendo and their subsidiary, Rare (which had developed all of the previous Donkey Kong Country games), Rare was purchased by Microsoft leaving Nintendo confused over their rights to the Donkey Kong Country franchise. On the one hand, Donkey Kong himself was a Nintendo property having premiered in the arcade game Donkey Kong over ten years prior to Donkey Kong Country’s release. On the other, almost all other assets of the Donkey Kong Country series were created by Rare at least, in part. Between 1999 and 2010, Nintendo released several spin-off products starring Donkey Kong such as the racing game, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast and the rhythm game, Donkey Konga but no entries into the main series.

In 2010 Retro Studios (a Texas-based developer which had previously worked on the Metroid series) released Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Nintendo Wii. The game was a return to Donkey Kong Country’s roots with an emphasis on 2D platforming and challenge. In 2014 Retro released a direct sequel for the Wii U called Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze which gained a sizable internet following for its introduction of the new playable character, Cranky Kong.

Reception

Fan reception for the Donkey Kong Country series has always been high. For many years critics and fans alike have praised the series for its graphics, level design, challenge, and music. Nintendo has taken note of this and has used the Donkey Kong cast for many of their other titles such as Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. series.

Related Sub-Memes

Expand Dong

Expand Dong is a photoshop meme in which pictures of fictional characters are placed above a message (usually sexual in nature) derived from words found in various cartoons and video games. The original image comes from the Donkey Kong 64 box art with the “expand” coming from the phrase “expansion pack included” and the “dong” coming from the game’s title.

Drivin Around in a Fancy Car

Drivin Around in a Fancy Car (sometimes referred to as “Droppin Around in a Fancy Car”) is a line taken from the song “I Wanna be a Star” in the 2000 episode of the Donkey Kong Country cartoon series. The line has been frequently remixed by fans and used in a number of YouTube Poops

Cranky Kong

Cranky Kong is a character from the Donkey Kong Country series said to be the original Donkey Kong from the arcade game of the same name. Most games in the series feature him as a sort of in-game guide, allowing players to sit on his porch and listen to his tips to help them progress in the game. Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze marked his first playable appearance. This sparked a massive spike in popularity from fans who noted the similarities between him and Scrooge McDuck from the NES Ducktales game and the sheer oddity of his inclusion.

It’s on Like Donkey Kong

It’s on Like Donkey Kong was a line first used by rapper, Ice Cube, in his 1992 song “Now I Gotta Wet’cha”. Since then the quote has been used in sports, commercials,movies, and television with a huge surge in usage from the years 2000 through 2005. In 2010, Nintendo trademarked the phrase in order to promote the upcoming Wii game, Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Search Interest

About

Spornosexual, a portmanteau of sports, porn and metrosexual, is a neologism used to describe a new male aesthetic marked by physical fitness, certain types of body art and social media narcissism. in June 2014, the term gained widespread exposure with English pop culture journalist Mark Simpson’s declaration of “spornosexual” as the new metrosexual in an article for The Telegraph.

Origin

On June 19th, 2004, Simpson coined the term “sporno” in an article in Out^[4] magazine to describe sports stars who were “fetishizing themselves.” On June 10th, 2014, The Telegraph^[1] published an article written by Simpson which described a new wave of body conscious men influenced by social media culture with “chiselled bodies, muscle enhancing tattoos, piercing, adorable beards and plunging necklines” labelled as “spornosexuals.” The article included a photograph of Dan Osborne, a cast member of the reality television series The Only Way is Essex, as a an example of the spornosexual aesthetic (shown below, right).

Precursor

On November 15th, 1994, The Independent published an article written by Simpson, who used the term “metrosexual” to describe men living in urban areas and demonstrate an interest in grooming, fashion and shopping.^[7] On July 22nd, 2002, Salon^[6] published another article by Simpson titled “Meet the Metrosexual,” which identified soccer player David Beckham as a prime example of the aesthetic.

Spread

On the same day, a Wikipedia^[2] entry for the term spornosexual was created. Also on June 10th, 2014, The Washington Post’s Style Blog^[5] published a reaction to the Simpson article, describing spornosexuals as the “hyper-sexualized, body-obsessed cultural offspring of the metrosexual.” On the following day, The Telegraph^[8] published an online quiz titled “Are You Spornosexual?”, which includes questions regarding social media habits, television show preferences and fashion choices. On June 12th, The New York Daily News^[3] published an article about the neologism. On the following day, The Daily Mash^[9] published a satirical article titled “Britain Hoping ‘Spornosexual’ Just Goes Away.”

Notable Examples

Other figures that have been cited as examples of spornosexuals include (from top left, clockwise): professional soccer player David Beckham, professional football player Colin Kaepernick, Maroon 5’s lead vocalist Adam Levine, model Ricki Hall, deceased bodybuilder Aziz Shavershian and actor Zac Efron.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

Overview

#SurvivorPrivilege is a Twitter hashtag campaign launched in response to American conservative columnist George Will’s assertion in a Washington Post op-ed article that being a rape victim in college is a “coveted status” sought after by women because of the privileges it grants them

Background

On June 6th, 2014, The Washington Post^[1] published an op-ed titled “Colleges become the victims of progressivism" by George F. Will, a Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative commentator, in which he suggests that rape is not an epidemic on college campuses and posits that if the reporting rate of sexual assaults is low, the crime rate itself must also be low. Furthermore, the author also asserts that becoming a victim of sexual assault could become a point of pride for college students, saying:

“Colleges and universities are being educated by Washington and are finding the experience excruciating. They are learning that when they say campus victimizations are ubiquitous (“micro-aggressions,” often not discernible to the untutored eye, are everywhere), and that when they make victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges, victims proliferate.”

On June 9th, Wagatwe Wanjuki (Twitter handle wagatwe)^[2], who was the victim of a sexual assault during college, introduced the hashtag #SurvivorPrivilege to refute the claim that such a thing exists for rape victims.

Notable Developments

George Will’s column, which came amidst an ongoing national debate in the United States over violence against women in the wake of the 2014 Isla Vista Killings, was quickly met with criticism on Twitter. According to Topsy, the hashtag #SurvivorPrivilege^[3] was tweeted out more than 20,000 times within the first week.

News Media Coverage

That same day, several websites reported on the Twitter backlash against George Will’s op-ed, including PolicyMic^[4], Buzzfeed^[5] and Feministing.^[6] Following the spread of the hashtag, several blogs and news sites ran personal essays written by women who had survived sexual assault and wished to confirm it was not a coveted status. On June 11th, The Huffington Post^[7] published a personal essay titled “Dear George Will -- A Few Words on My #SurvivorPrivilege.”

Call for George Will’s Termination

On June 10th, UltraViolet, a group devoted to fighting sexism, launched an online petition^[9] calling for Will to be fired from the Post, and Terry O’Neill, the president of National Organization for Women, told Media Matters^[8] the group was calling for Will’s column to be dropped. She explained:

“George Will needs to take a break from his column and The Washington Post needs to take a break from his column, they need to dump him. It is actively harmful for the victims of sexual assault when that kind of man writes a piece that says to assault victims, ‘it didn’t happen and if it did happen you deserve it.’ That re-traumatizes victims.”

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Gary the Goat is the nickname given to a goat owned by comedian James Dezarnaulds (a.k.a. Jimbo Bazoobi), who are known for performing stand-up comedy tours with the farm animal across Australia.

Origin

On January 31st, 2012, the “Gary the Goat” Facebook^[1] page was launched, which highlights photos and video featuring Gary the Goat. In the next three years, the page gathered over 466,000 likes.

Spread

On January 23rd, 2013, the Australian news channel 7 News aired a segment on Dezarnaulds’ legal battle for allowing Gary to eat plants on public property, which noted that the case was thrown out by magistrate Carolyn Barkell (shown below).

On February 23rd, 2014, BuzzFeed^[2] highlighted several photos of Gary in a post about the goat’s Australian tour (shown below).

On March 2nd, 2014, the Gary The Goat YouTube channel was launched with the first uploaded video featuring Gary and his owner attending an Australian Mardi Gras celebration dressed in flamboyant costumes (shown below, left). On March 23rd, the channel uploaded a video of Gary playing on a children’s playground (shown below, right).

On April 2nd, 2014, Dezarnaulds uploaded a video featuring roadtrip footage with Gary (shown below, left). On May 30th, the YouTube channel uploaded a video in which Gary chases after his owner on a road in Cooktown, Australia (shown below, right). On June 12th, Redditor AtomicSlothCreature submitted the video to the /r/videos^[3] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 2,100 upvotes and 100 comments in the first 24 hours.

Search Interest

External References

About

Ai Weiwei’s Leg Gun is a photo fad that involves raising one’s leg above the waistline and wielding it with both hands as if aiming at a target with a rifle. The pose was introduced by Chinese political dissident and renowned artist Ai Weiwei via Instagram in June 2014.

Origin

[researching]

Search Interests

[not yet available]

External References

About.

Bayonetta takes place in Vigrid, a fictional city in Europe. The titlular character is a witch who shapeshifts and uses various firearms, along with magical attacks she performs with her own hair by summoning demons to dispatch her foes. She awakens after a 500-year sleep and finds herself in an unfamiliar area with no memories of who or what she is.

Gameplay

Bayonetta is a single-player, third-person 3D action game. Its combat system is similar to that of director Hideki Kamiya’s previous title, Devil May Cry. The player controls a witch named Bayonetta, and using both melee and long ranged attacks, complex combo strings, and multiple weapons, is encouraged to explore ways to dispatch angelic enemies with as much flair as possible. Special commands or actions are woven into events, finishes, executions, and unique “Torture Attacks” in which Bayonetta summons a variety of devices to deal devastating blows to her enemies. Such devices range from chainsaws to iron maidens.

Notable Developments

Fan Art.

Bayonetta has been featured in a number of fan art over tumblr and deviantart.

Cosplay

Search Insights

Overview

#EndFathersDay is a Twitter hashtag campaign launched as a prank by 4chan supposedly to garner public support for dismantling of Father’s Day, an annual holiday celebrated on the third Sunday of June in honor of fatherhood, under the false banner of radical feminism, in a similar vein to previous 4chan-initiated anti-feminist hoaxes like Free Bleeding and Bikini Bridge.

Background

On June 12th, 2014, a post titled “#EndFathersDay Straw Feminist”^[1] was added to 4chan’s^[2] /pol/ board. The post asked for the spread of the hashtag #EndFathersDay, explaining:

“Fathers all over the country are refusing to pay alimony or child support, which should not celebrated and rewarded, but should be shamed. ‘Father’s Day’ should not be about celebrating the role of a father in the family, but about correcting it. It shouldn’t be celebrated in its present form."

The hashtag was tweeted out over 40,000 within 24 hours.

News Media Coverage

Before the hashtag was revealed to be a hoax, several sites reported on #EndFathersDay as an earnest hashtag campaign started by feminists on the Internet. On June 13th, the National Review^[9] published an article titled “#EndFathersDay Tweets Seek to Stop Misogynistic Celebration,” which highlighted tweets that seemed to support the idea of ending Father’s Day. The hashtag was covered as a serious campaign the same day by The Washington Examiner^[11] and Western Journalism.^[12] Also on June 13th, the LA Times^[8] and TIME^[10] both ran op-ed articles challenging the grounds for celebration of Father’s Day with a mention of the hashtag in their headlines. Within five days of its introduction, the hashtag^[7]has been tweeted out over 62,000 times.

Debunkery

On June 13th, 2014, Death and Taxes^[6] published an article titled “No, feminists are not trying to #EndFathersDay -- it’s a 4chan hoax,” which explained the hashtag was created by 4chan as a prank. The same day several more sites published articles explaining the hoax, including The Daily Dot^[3] and Twitchy.^[5] Also on June 13th, Thought Catalog^[4] published a satirical essay titled “I Started The Hashtag #EndFathersDay, And Here’s Why,” in which the author claims to have started the hashtag, and did so in earnest. On June 16th, 2014, Buzzfeed^[8]published an article titled “Here’s How A Fake Feminist Hashtag Like #EndFathersDay Gets Started And Why It’ll Keep Happening,”^[15] which explained the hoax in the light of 4chan’s previous hoaxes aimed at feminists.

Princeton Mom Reaction

On June 15th, Susan Patton, nicknamed the “Princeton Mom,” after her book Marry Smart: Advice for Finding the One^[14] included some sexist ideas about the need to find a husband during college (as she did at her alma mater, Princeton) was on Fox and Friends to discuss the hashtag. During the show Patton criticized those who tweeted out the hashtag, calling it “nasty feminist rhetoric,” and explaining:

“They’re not just trying to end Father’s Day, they’re trying to end men.”

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Stannis the Mannis is a nickname given to Stannis Baratheon, a character in George R. R. Martin’s series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire and the adapted HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones. In fan art and photoshopped stills and GIFs from the show Stannis the Mannis is made to look cool.

Origin

Stannis Baratheon (played by Stephen Dillane),^[5] brother of Robert Baratheon, who rules as king of the realm until his death in season one of Game of Thrones, first appears in the show’s second season premiere “The North Remembers” which first aired on April 1st, 2012. As Robert’s eldest brother Stannis is the heir to the Iron Throne, though few see him as a threat initially because few know Joffrey and Cersei’s other children are Jaime’s illegitimate offspring. Stannis tries to gain the Iron Throne with the help of his right hand man, Ser Davos Seaworth, and Lord of the Light priestess Melisandre. In May 2012, a page was created on Quickmeme^[7] featuring Stannis the Mannis image macros (shown below).

Spread

On June 30th, 2012, YouTuber dharmabro^[2] uploaded a video (below, left) titled "Game of Thrones – Stannis “The Mannis” Baratheon," which featured clips of Stannis’ quest for the Iron Throne set to triumphant music. As of June 2014, the video gained over 43,000 views. On May 24th, 2013, YouTuber Kevin Blizzardous^[3] uploaded a similar clip compilation titled “Stannis the Mannis.” As of June 2014, the video gained over 3,000 views.

On March 10th, 2013, the Facebook page^[6] Stannis the Mannis was created. On June 8th, 2013, Redditor theDashRendar added a thread to the /r/gameofthrones/^[7] subreddit titled “[Season 3] The 10 Reasons Why You Should Throw in with Stannis the Mannis,” which outlined 10 reasons fans should root for Stannis in his quest for the Iron Throne. Within a year the post gained over 1,000 upvotes. On March 3rd, 2014, The Daily Dot^[4] published an article titled “An introduction to Stannis Baratheon, the Internet’s King of Westeros,” which explains the Stannis fandom.

Season Four Finale

During the show’s season four finale “The Children,” which originally aired on June 15th, 2014, Stannis and his army come in at the last minute to defeat the wilding army that threatened the Wall and the Night’s Watch. On the same day YouTuber FatBoyStoich^[10] uploaded a video titled “Stannis the Mannis,” which featured Stannis’ victory scene set to a victorious techo song. In less than 24 hours the video gained over 6,000 views.

On June 16th, YouTuber Cory Baxter uploaded a video titled^[9]“Stanis the Mannis,” which features the Stannis’ victory scene with the Team America: World Police song ‘America, Fuck Yeah’ playing in the background.

Notable Examples

Fan Art

As of June 2014, there are over 1,000 submissions under the tag “Stannis” on the art sharing website DeviantArt.^[1]

Search Interest

External References

About

#VanPersieing is a photoshop meme based on an image of the Dutch national football player Robin van Persie scoring a dramatic equalizer against Spain with a flying header during the World Cup group match on June 13th, 2014.

Origin

On June 13th, 2014, the World Cup Group B match between Spain and the Netherlands was held at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, Brazil. Despite the odds slightly being in favor of Spain, the defending champion of the tournament, especially after Xabi Alonso secured the first goal with a penalty kick in the 25th minute, the Dutch team captain Robin van Persie managed to catch up with a dramatic equalizer in the 44th minute of the first half (shown below), ultimately leading the Netherlands to a landslide victory of 5 – 0.

Spread

Robin van Persie’s crowd-pleasing equalizer was immediately met with praises and excitement from the Dutch and World Cup fans alike on Twitter^[6], giving rise to a slew of photoshopped parodies and a photo fad reminiscent of the Planking pose. According to Topsy^[9], the hashtag #VanPersieing was mentioned more than 3,500 times within the first 48 hours of the goal.

News Media Coverage

Throughout the day, several major Dutch news outlets and European sports news blogs began covering the fans’ tributes to the Dutch captain’s airborne header, including the NL Times^[2], MemeDeportes^[5], Metro UK^[4] and GQ France^[7], as well as The Huffington Post^[1], CBC^[3] and a few other English-language news sites, with nearly all publications declaring #VanPersieing as the first internet meme to have come out of the 2014 World Cup.

Notable Examples

Photoshop Parodies

Photo Fad

Search Interest

According to Google Trends^[10], searches for the Dutch star striker Robin Van Persie skyrocketed after his equalizer against Spain, even overtaking the search volume for the renowned Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh.

External References

About

“I feel this on an emotional level” is a phrase popularized on Tumblr which is used to express an extreme emotional connection or feeling of empathy with an image or text post. The phrase is often used in a self deprecating context.

Origin

The phrase was first used by Tumblr user oomshi^[1] on May 30th, 2013, to describe his connection to an image of a man despairing over his spilled McDonald’s meal. As of June 2014, the post has gained over 270,000 notes.

Spread

In late 2013 the phrase spread to other social media platforms. On November 3rd, 2013, Twitter user zachsnacks^[7] tweeted the phrase to describe his relationship to an image set from the film The Adams Family. In less than a year the tweet gained over 500 favorites.

On December 6th, 2013, Twitter user ryanisnasty^[6] used the phrase to respond to a tweet sent out by Fall Out Boy member Pete Wentz.^[5]

On December 16th, 2013, Tumblr user amberawesomesauceinhiding^[8] published a post featuring the phrase to relate to a tired looking Bart from The Simpson’s. As of June 2014, the post has gained over 160,000 notes On January 21st, 2014, Tumblr user armins-blog^[2] published a post featuring the phrase relating to Attack on Titan. As of June 2014, it has gained over 8,000 notes. On February 15th, 2014, Tumblr user aphnetherlands^[4] published a post featuring the phrase relating to annoying siblings. As of June 2014, it has gained over 2,000 notes. On April 7th, 2014, Tumblr user hellkatsally^[9] published a post featuring the phrase in response to a tweet by musician Jack Barakat. As of June 2014 it was gained over 7,000 notes. On May 13th, 2014, Tumblr user dreambiglivebigger1^[3] published a post on featuring the phrase as a response to one of singer Marina Diaminda’s tweets. As of June 2014, the post has gained over 42,000 notes. On May 27th, 2014, kisslng^[10] added the phrase to a photo of two police officers posing with some anti-police graffiti. As of June 2014, the post has gained over 1.2 million notes.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Not enough search interest.

External References

Overview

Operation World Cup is a cyber attack campaign orchestrated by members of the hacking group Anonymous in protest of the Brazilian government spending public funds on the 2014 FIFA World Cup rather than diverting resources to poorer parts of the country. The campaign resulted in the outage or security breach of dozens of Brazilian government websites.

Background

On May 30th, 2014, Reuters^[1] reported that Anonymous was preparing a cyber-attack on corporate sponsors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil to protest spending resources on soccer games while parts of the country live in abject poverty. According to a hacker using the alias Che Commodore, hacking targets included Adidas, Emirates airlines, Coca-Cola and Budweiser. The article also reported that 333 documents had been extracted from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry’s computing network by a hacker known as AnonManifest, which included a briefing for talks with United States Vice President Joe Biden and a list of sport ministers planning to attend the World Cup.

Notable Developments

Cyber Security Report

On June 2nd, 2014, the technology company Symantec^[2] published a “Latin American + Caribbean Cyber Security Trends” report, which outlined several potential World Cup security vulnerabilities and noted that Anonymous had threatened attacks against FIFA websites, corporate sponsors and the Brazilian government.

Anonymous Videos

On June 3rd, the AnonBRNews YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “#OpHackingCup – Let the Games Begin,” which criticized the Brazilian government using public funds to build and reform soccer stadiums for the World Cup (shown below, left). On June 10th, the Vimeo channel @AnonymousVideo uploaded a video titled “#OpMundial2014,” announcing plans to attack Brazilian government websites for creating “a system which ensures the poor remain poor and the wealthy remain wealthy” (shown below, right).

Cyber Attacks

On June 11th, a Pastebin^[3] page was created for updates on activities related to the operation, which listed several Brazilian government websites that had been targeted with DDoS attacks. On June 12th, the Hackers News Bulletin Twitter feed posted a list of websites that had been targeted in the operation.

List of affected websites right now under #OpHackingCup#OpWorldCuphttp://t.co/k2Nft6BthUCharafAnons</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AnonBRNews">AnonBRNewspic.twitter.com/kxBfBTdcK5

— Hackers NewsBulletin (@HNBulletin) June 12, 2014

News Media Coverage

In the coming days, several news sites reported on the #OpWorldCup cyber attacks, including International Business Times,^[4] Financial Times,^[5] Reuters,^[6] Mashable,^[7] ZDNet,^[8] RT^[9] and Motherboard.^[10]

Search Interest

External References

About

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a Jihadist militant group of Sunni Muslims based in Iraq which originated as part of the global Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. The group has gained notoriety for their aggressive propaganda campaigns and prolific social media presence, which came under even more scrutiny by the press in June 2014 after the group released morbid photographs of an apparent massacre of captured Iraqi Army soldiers via Twitter.

Online History

The Dawn of Glad Tidings

The Dawn of Glad Tidings^[2] (Dawn) is a Twitter app launched by ISIS for android phones. The app is available to download through the Google Play store. The app launched for the public in April 2014, and has sent out up to 40,000 tweets per day.^[3] On June 15th, 2014, the group sent out a tweet through Dawn which featured a picture of Baghdad with their flag flying above it with a message reading, “We are coming, Baghdad,” calling attention to their move towards the city.

Facebook

A fan page for the group titled “Shia Ibn E Mutta,” which is a phrase against Shia marriages, was active on Facebook until June 16th, 2014, at which point Facebook removed it. It was removed shortly after The Washington Times^[9] published an article titled “HUSAIN: Facebook refuses to take down ISIS terror group fan page,” which covered Facebook’s previous refusal to remove the page. Before the page was removed it had gained over 6,000 fans. Content contained on the page included graphic photos of violence carried out by ISIS and suggestions as to how the group can take over the city of Baghdad.

Social Media Censorship in Iraq

In response to ISIS social media campaign, the Iraqi government began to block the country’s access to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook as early as June 13th. That day, Twitter sent out a tweet^[7] saying:

“Users in #Iraq are reporting issues accessing our service. We’re investigating their reports and we hope service will be restored quickly.”

Without access to other forms of social media, Iraqi citizens began using the secret sharing app Whisper^[8] in large numbers.

Search Interest

External References

About

Beard Shaving Comic Parodies are photographic recreations of a webcomic in which a bearded man shaves his face and surprises himself upon noticing his own youthful appearance.

Origin

On October 29th, 2013, Redditor Kornichon submitted a comic of a man shaving in a sink who uncovers a baby face underneath his facial hair to the /r/funny^[1] subreddit. Prior to being archived, the post gained over 40,300 upvotes and 1,500 comments.

Precursor

On May 13th, 2013, Redditor Pritchardzz posted a comic titled “Shaving,” which featured an illustration of a bearded man with an eye patch labelled “Before” next to a drawing of a wide-eyed young man labelled “After” (shown below). The post garnered upwards of 12,700 upvotes and 180 comments on /r/funny^[4] before it was archived.

Spread

On November 6th, 2013, a parody of Redditor Kornichon’s comic featuring photographs of a man shaving his beard with a safety razor was uploaded to FunnyJunk,^[5] where it garnered upwards of 54,000 views and 1,000 upvotes in the next six months (shown below).

On the following day, Redditor matt_777 submitted a series of photographs of his friend performing the poses from the same comic, in which he is shown flipping a middle finger while displaying his beard fully intact in the final panel (shown below). Before it was archived, the post received more than 25,400 upvotes and 800 comments on /r/funny.^[3]

On April 3rd, 2014, Redditor thesleeb posted several photographs of his friend mimicking the beard-shaving comic to /r/funny^[2] (shown below). In two months, the post gathered upwards of 17,100 upvotes and 775 comments.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

“GO! GO! MANIAC” is the 1st opening theme song for the 2nd season of a Japanese TV anime K-ON! which was produced by Kyoto Animation. This monumental work in the anime song history has earned many tributes and parodies on YouTube and the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND).

Origin

The 2nd season for K-ON! was aired from April to September 2010, and this opening song “GO! GO! MANIAC” was played in the first half of the season. It was written by a Japanse composer Tom-H@ck^[1]and sung by female voice actors for the main characters.

Commercial Success

On April 24th, 2010, a CD single for the song was released under the name of Houkago Tea Time, a fictional band of the anime characters. This single which was issued by a typical anime song format became to the first anime image song to get the 1st place at weekly Japanese major pop music chart.^[2] On the Japanese web, it had been thought as a pipe dream that anime image songs occupy the top of popular music chart because there is a fact that large online campaigns of pushing “Happy Material”, "Hare Hare Yukai" and "Motteke Sailr Fuku" into the top of the music chart had been organized by 2channel or NND users in mid-2000s but all of those operations ended in fail. Therefore this historical success of “GO! GO! MANIAC” was received by Japanese internet users and Otakus in huge amazement.

Spread

Against the backdrop of a huge popularity of this song and the anime, a plenty amount of fan works and parodies for the opening movie with this song has been posted to online video sharing services.^[3][4] In particular, it’s a popular subject for op parody videos and also a well-used musical resource for MAD videos on NND.

Besides, because the copyright holder for this song, Pony Canyon, is much more permissive against fan activities than the copyright holder for the anime,TBS/MBS, fan creations for “GO! GO! MANIAC” are rarely removed in contrast to MADs or parodies which take visuals from the main part of the anime.

Notable Examples

Instrumental Covers

Left: Bass by H.J.Freaks | Right: Household Goods^[5]

Left: Drums by Senri Kawaguchi | Right: Guirtar

Parodies & MADs

【ニコニコ動画】GO!GO!RAILGUN【ニコニコ動画】【そうおん！！】ZO! ZO! MANIAC【松岡修造×GO! GO! MANIAC】
Left: A Certain Scientific Railgun | Right: Shuzo Matsuoka
【ニコニコ動画】GO!GO!ドナルド!! /GO!GO!Mcdonald【ニコニコ動画】【エルシャダイ】 ＮO!ＮO!PROBLEM【けいおん！】
Left: Donald McDonald – Ran Ran Ru | Right: El Shaddai

Search Interest

Since NND’s tag for this song is “GO!GO!MANIAC” which doesn’t have spaces, this tag name shows larger spikes than that of original song title.

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos listed in this section.

Overview

#BringBackOurBoys is a Twitter hashtag campaign launched by students of the University of Haifa to raise awareness and call upon the international community for action after three teenage Israeli boys were abducted by pro-Palestinian terrorists in June 2014. The hashtag was directly inspired by the #BringBackOurGirls campaign launched earlier in April to raise awareness of mass abduction of Nigerian schoolgirls by the Islamic jihadist terrorist group Boko Haram.

Background

On June 12th, 2014, three Israeli teenagers, Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frankel and Gil-ad Shaar, were kidnapped in the West Bank on their way home from school, prompting a massive manhunt in the region. The Israeli government subsequently issued a statement accusing the Islamic terrorist group Hamas^[3] of involvement in the abductions and the military detained 80 Palestinians suspected of affiliation with Hamas.

On June 14th, the hashtag campaign #BringBackOurBoys was launched by students of University of Haifa^[5] as part of the Ambassadors Online program which teaches its students to use the Internet for activism. Within three days, the hashtag was tweeted out over 8,000 times.

Notable Developments

On June 13, 2014, a Facebook page^[2] for the campaign was created. Within five days the page gained over 98,000 likes. On the same day the campaign launched an Instagram account^[4] which features examples of sign holding activism as well as photographs and biographies of the three kidnapped boys. Within five days the account gained over 2,000 followers.

On June 15th, Neil Lazarus, a lecturer at the University of Haifa, uploaded a video to his YouTube channel^[6] titled “#BringBackOurBoys,” which features the hashtag on everyday public items like clocks and sidewalks. Within three days the video gained over 1,000 views.

News Media Coverage

On June 14th, IBTimes^[9] published an article titled “#BringBackOurBoys IDF Hashtag Sparks Palestinian Outrage On Twitter,” which covered the hashtag campaign. Several news sites covered the hashtag campaign in the following days including The Jewish Daily Forward^[10] and the New York Post.^[11]

Three Fingered Salute

Meanwhile on the Arabic web, pro-Palestinian Internet users responded to the news of the abductions with photographs^[7] of their children gesturing a “three finger salute” in celebration. The salute was nicknamed “three Shalits”^[8] after another Israeli who had been kidnapped by Hamas, Gilad Shalit.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Guillermo Ochoa’s Saves are a series of photoshopped images praising Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa for his remarkable performance during the group-stage match against Brazil at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Origin

On June 17th, 2014, Mexico played against Brazil in their second group-stage match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Pitted against a star-studded team playing in their home country, Mexico maintained their line of defense throughout the game and concluded the match in a goalless draw, thanks to an especially spectacular performance by the 28-year-old goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. He was named the Man of the Match for making at least six crucial saves to prevent Brazil from scoring a goal.

Following the game, fans began posting photoshopped images praising Ochoa for his impressive performance.

¡San Memo Ochoa! pic.twitter.com/LUjNpDdT9Y

— Mark Tacher (@MarkTacher) June 17, 2014

Spread

The same day, Twitter user Good Bull Hunting posted a photograph of a spectator reacting to Ochoa’s save with her mouth agape to form an “O” for the caption “Ochoa,” which gathered over 1,100 retweets and 700 favorites in the first 24 hours.

OCHOApic.twitter.com/XxDm2XmsWh

— Good Bull Hunting (@GBHunting) June 17, 2014

Meanwhile, Redditor dunkyfunky posted several animated GIFs featuring Ochoa’s saves to the /r/worldcup^[5] subreddit (shown below).

Also on June 17th, 2014, several news sites highlighted notable examples of the photoshop meme, including Fansided,^[2] Gamedayr^[3] and Bleacher Report.^[4] According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,^[1] there were upwards of 2.61 million tweets containing the keyword “ochoa” posted that day.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References