About

Fire Alarm Dancing refers to the act of performing an improvised choreography in rhythm to the beeping sound of a fire alarm notification system and uploading the recorded footage on video-sharing platforms like YouTube and Vine. In late 2013, the idea evolved into a popular dance video fad among teenagers and college students on Vine, presumably due to the frequent observance of fire drill exercises in school and university buildings.

Origin

One of the earliest “fire alarm dance” videos was uploaded by YouTuber DustyRoxas^[3] on October 28th, 2007. In the video, a group of cosplayers can be seen dancing to the sound of a fire alarm at Shikkaricon 2007, an annual anime convention held in Newtown, Pennsylvania. As of September 2014, the video has gained over 40,000 views.

Spread

On March 28th, 2009, YouTuber hustle boy^[4] uploaded a video titled “baby dancing to fire alarm in walmart,” as of September 2014, the video has gained over 20,000 views.

On December 6th, 2011, YouTuber AmeliaRebecca’s channel^[6] uploaded a video titled “Fire alarm dance party,” as of September 2014, the video has gained over 1,000 views.

One of the earliest Vines featuring fire alarm dancing is titled “THEFIREALARMDANCE,” which was uploaded by Vine user Mike Nicklas^[1] on October 13th, 2013, by September 2014, the Vine has gained over 1,000 likes.

On December 26th, 2013, Vine user thunthun skittles^[2] uploaded a video titled “Idek…” As of September 2014, the Vine has received for 210,000 likes and over 240,000 revines.

On September 24th, 2014, Buzzfeed^[5] published a round up of fire alarm dance Vines titled “17 People Who Know A Fire Alarm Is Really Just Another Chance To Turn Up.”

Spread

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

“Fuckboy” used as a pejorative toward men who are perceived as immature, weak or disrespectful toward women. On Tumblr, the term has also spawned a derivative phrase “en garde (English: on your guard), fuckboy," which is often accompanied with images of skeletons in a similar vein to 2Spooky.

is an Internet slang term used as a pejorative toward men who are perceived as immature, weak or disrespectful toward women. On , the term is associated with the phrase “En garde, fuckboy,” which is often paired with images of skeletons in a similar vein to .

Origin

On December 29th, 2004, Urban Dictionary^[1] user bretb submited an entry for the term “fuckboy,” defining it as “a person who is a weak ass pussy.”

Spread

On November 29th, 2008, YouTuber DJFullmoon uploaded a music video for the track “Fuck Boy” by hip hop artist Papa Duck (shown below). In the following years, prior to its adaptation by Tumblr, the term became used in the lyrics of several other hip hop and rap songs.^[8]

On October 23rd, 2013, Tumblr^[6] user adotjam published a post falsely attributing the quote “Once a fuckboy, always a fuckboy” to the deceased Roman Catholic Religious Sister Mother Teresa. Over the next year, the post gained over 81,000 notes. On March 11th, 2014, YouTuber BrealTV uploaded a satirical video titled “Signs you may be a fuckboy with Professor Houseshoes,” which called out submissive, unoriginal and fake men as being “fuckboys” (shown below).

On April 30th, the “No time for dat goku” Tumblr^[2] blog posted a photoshopped image of a retro-themed video game featuring a skeleton wielding a knife with the caption “En Garde, Fuckboy” (shown below). In the first four months, the post gained over 39,000 notes.

On August 7th, 2014, the “Get Wrecked Fuckboy” Tumblr^[3] blog was launched, which highlights images and animated GIFs of skeletons. On September 5th, Redditor ThirdWaveSTEMinism submitted a post questioning the use of the term “fuckboy” toward perceived bigots to the /r/socialjustice101^[4] subreddit. On September 17th, Tumblr^[7] user misslahla posted an image macro of a skeleton with the caption “Parlez vous francais, fuckboy?”, gathering more than 36,000 notes in two weeks (shown below, left). On September 27th, Tumblr^[5] user rememberingsuunday published a list of “fuckboy symptoms,” which accumulated upwards of 165,600 notes within 48 hours (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References

About

Steal Her Look is a meme which involves taking a character, person, or inanimate object which is unlikely to make a popular Halloween costume and put it beside a collection of clothes and accessories that would roughly replicate their look. This meme can also be used to insult the person in the original person, by including something unpleasant, such as a garbage can as their look, implying they are in face garbage.

Spread

On September 27th, 2014, Tumblr user vaginawoolf^[2] posted a GIF of The Pumpkin Dance next to pictures of a black turtleneck, black leggings and a pumpkin with the caption “get her look.” Within 48 hours the post gained over 40,000 notes.

On September 29th, Buzzfeed posted a steal her style round-up titled “Tumblr’s “Steal Her Look” Meme Is All The Halloween Inspiration You Need.”

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Faux Cyrillic is the practice of replacing letters in Latin text with Cyrillic letters that are similar in appearance. It is often employed in Western media that deals with themes relating to Russia, the Soviet Union, or communism.

Origin

The earliest known use of Faux Cyrillic in popular media dates back to the 1966 American comedy film The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming^[1] by Norman Jewison, which utilized Cyrillic letters in its promotional posters.

Modern Usage

Although originally designed in order to look childish, and not as a reference to Eastern European culture, the backwards ‘R’ in the name of the Nu Metal band KoЯn^[2] is perhaps the best-known mainstream example of this meme. The 2006 mockumentary comedy film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan^[3] also features an example in its stylized title, BORДT.

TV Tropes has an article^[4] about Faux Cyrillic which compiles many notable examples.

Examples

Notability

External References

About

Synonym Rolls is a misspelling of “cinnamon rolls” that first appeared in a tweet describing a photograph of baked cinnamon-flavored pastries, which became widely mocked on Twitter and Tumblr upon its spread in August 2014., in a similar vein to parodies of the phrases “chicken nuggers” and “commit sudoku”.

Origin

On November 1st, 2011, a 5th grade teacher published a post on Blogspot^[7] about using using construction paper to make “synonym rolls” teaching aids to help children learn to properly identify synonyms in context.

On July 9th, 2014, Twitter user @placelikethis^[1] tweeted “Made some synonym rolls” along with a photograph of freshly baked cinnamon rolls (shown below). Within three months, the tweet garnered upwards of 950 retweets and 800 favorites.

Spread

On August 9th, 2014, Twitter user @IAmDeionte^[2] posted a photograph of cinnamon rolls with the caption “Just made some synonym rolls” (shown below). In the first two months, the tweet gained more than 370 retweets and 335 favorites.

On the same day, Tumblr^[3] user drinksallroundcunt highlighted @IAmDeionte’s tweet. On September 16th, Tumblr user gonzozeppeli reblogged a screenshot of the tweet with the caption “Just like grammar used to make,” gathering upwards of 210,000 notes in the next 2 weeks.

On September 15th, Tumblr^[4] user SirArtwork published a comic in which a chef if forced to make “synonym rolls” for a large group of people (shown below). In the first week, the post gained over 37,450 notes.

Search Interest

External References

Overview

The Shellshock Bug is a security flaw in the Unix Bash Shell which can be used by attackers to grant unauthorized access to computer systems, including Apple’s Macintosh computers and smartphones running the Android operating system. After it was discovered in early September 2014, reports of hackers using the bug to create bot nets for DDoS attacks began widely circulating online.

Background

In 1987, programmer Brian Fox wrote the Bash Shell as a free piece of software which was subsequently used on a variety of computer operating systems, including GNU, Linux and Mac OS X. In 1992, Fox handed over Bash to programmer Chet Ramey, who maintained the software as a hobby. According to an interview with the New York Times,^[1] Ramey speculates he may have introduced the Shellshock bug in a software update after taking control of Bash that year. On September 12th, 2014, Ramey was contacted by programmer Stephane Chazelas about a Bash security flawed he dubbed “Bashdoor.” On September 24th, Seclist^[2] mailing list member Florian Weimer started a thread about the discovery, noting an official upstream patch would be released soon. That day, Twitter user Andreas Lindh^[4] posted a tweet referring to the bug as “Shellshock” (shown below).

Notable Developments

Compromised Machine Reports

By September 25th, reports began circulating that hackers were attempting to exploit the vulnerability with malware titled “Bashlite.” That day, the software security company Kapersky Labs claimed three machines had been compromised and were carrying out DDoS attacks against various unidentified targets.^[3] On September 26th, the network security company Incapsula reported that upwards of 17,000 attacks were being carried out against more than 1,800 web domains in the United States and China over the past 24 hours.^[5]

Apple Statement

On September 26th, Apple released a statement informing Mac OS X users that the “vast majority” were not at risk to the being compromised by the bug:

“The vast majority of OS X users are not at risk to recently reported bash vulnerabilities… With OS X, systems are safe by default and not exposed to remote exploits of bash unless users configure advanced UNIX services. We are working to quickly provide a software update for our advanced UNIX users.”^[6]

Search Interest

External References

About

Hon Hon Hon is a slang phrase which is often used to comically depict something or someone who is French.

About

Windows is a series of computer operating systems developed and sold by the American consumer electronics company Microsoft.

History

Windows 1.0 OS was released on November 1985 as an extended version of MS-DOS, which featured a variety of built-in applications, including Calculator, Calendar, Paint, Notepad and Terminal. In December 1987, Windows 2.0 was released, leading Apple to file a lawsuit against Microsoft for copyright infringement. On August 24th, 1995, Windows 95 was released, including the Comic Sans font that was supplied with each subsequent version of Windows. On June 25th, 1998, Windows 98 was released, followed by Windows ME in September 2000. On October 25th, 2001, Windows XP was released for retail sale, selling an estimated 400 million copies within the first five years.^[5] On November 30th, 2006, Microsoft released the Windows Vista OS, which was criticized for having performance issues and restrictive licensing terms. On July 22nd, 2009, Windows 7 was released, receiving more favorable reviews than its predecessor. On October 26th, 2012, Windows 8 was released to mixed reviews due to its revamped interface designed for touchscreen devices.

Windows 10

[Researching]

Related Memes

Blue Screen of Death

Blue Screen of Death (also shortened as “BSoD”) refers to the notorious “stop error” message displayed in Microsoft Windows operating systems. Because the BSoD message indicates an unrecoverable system crash or freeze and leaves the user no option but to reboot the computer, the blue screen has been both feared and ridiculed by Windows OS users ever since its introduction through Windows 3.1 in March 1992.

Delete System 32

Delete System32 is a popular trolling scheme used to hoax inexperienced PC users into deleting the Windows system directory called System32. It is essential to the running of the Windows OS since the release of Windows 95.

Microsoft Sam Can’t Say Soi

Microsoft Sam Can’t Say Soi is a series YTMND pages and YouTube videos mocking the default male voice in the Windows 2000 text-to-speech application.

Microsoft XP Bliss Wallpaper

Microsoft XP Bliss Wallpaper refers to edits and parodies made to the image of a rolling green hill and a blue sky that acts at the default Microsoft XP desktop background image.

Windows 7 Launch Party

In September 2009, Windows released a “Windows 7 Launch Party” advertisement to promote the Windows 7 OS, which featured a group of Windows enthusiasts providing instructions on throwing a Windows 7 launch event (shown below). The commercial was criticized by many for being cringeworthy and inspired a series of remix videos mocking the premise of the ad.

This article is W.I.P

About

Dingo Pictures is an German animation company that has gathered infamy for it’s badly-animated low-budget knock-offs of Disney movies^[1] and terrible voice acting, involving only one or two voice actors per movie.

Reception

Dingo Pictures is negatively criticized for ripping off many known Disney movies as well as the laziness of the voices, it also has gathered a small fandom for their use of the “So Bad It’s Good” effect effect on their movies.

Fandom

Dingo Pictures, and it’s former Netherlandic video game development derative “Phoenix Games”, have been the subject of a lot of YouTube “Lets Watch” videos. In addition, clips of their movies are frequently used in YouTube Poops.

Related Memes

Yee

’’Yee’’ is an onomatopoeia taken from a video featuring an animated dinosaur singing a small jingle, only to be interrupted at the end by another dinosaur shouting “Yee.” It originated from Dinosaur Adventures, a knock-off of the Don Bluth’s 1988 animated film The Land Before Time. Within three years, the video gained over 320,000 views and 370 comments.

Epic Head Bobbing Guy

The Epic Head Bobbing Guy, (sometimes referred to as Guy Who Moves His Head) is a background character from Aladin a knock-off of the 1992 Aladdin. He is seen moving his head to the left and right, independent from his body. He commonly appears in YouTube Poops and other strange YouTube videos.

Related Subcultures

Phoenix Games

Phoenix Games was a Netherlandic video game developer studio that appears to be a derative from Dingo, publishing their movies and games based on them around parts of Europe.^[2] This studio is known for making their games in a 3-5 month development period with a small elite team of six and a very low budget^[3], publishing them on the Playstation, Playstation 2, Wii, and Nintendo DS. They are also known infamously for publishing Animal Soccer World and Dalmatians 3

Search Interest

External References

About

Jim Carrey is a Canadian American actor, producer, and comedian best known for his exaggerated facial expressions and energetic style of slapstick comedy. Since his on-screen debut in the early 1980s, the iconic comedian-actor has starred in over 40 feature films, most notably in classic comedy films released between the late 1980s and 1990s, including Ace Ventura films, The Cable Guy, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber.

Acting Career

Carrey made his on screen debut in the 1984 film All in Good Taste. He had a handful of movie and TV roles throughout the 80s before landing a starring role in the sketch comedy show In Living Color, which ran for five seasons from 1990-1994. His film career took off in 1994, when he starred in three of his most recognizable films: The Mask,Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber. He starred in many comedies throughout the 90s and 2000s including Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) and Yes Man (2008). He has won two Golden Globes, one in 1999 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama (The Truman Show) and one in 2000 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical (Man on the Moon).

Online History

Fandom

The Jim Carrey website^[19] was registered in June of 2009^[20] and features many sections including a Bibliography of the actor’s life, his TruLife uploads, and many different cameo references to roles he has played. Carrey also joined social media site Twitter in June 2009 and currently (as of October 2014) has 13 million followers on his verified account.^[4] His Facebook account is also verified, and has 4.2 million likes.^[3] Though he has yet to appear in an AMA, the /r/JimCarrey sub-reddit ws registered in March of 2012 and currently has 168 subscribers.^[5] The first definition for Jim Carrey was submitted to Urban Dictionary on January 21, 2005.^[6] Fan run Tumblr blogs include jimcarrey^[17] and obsessedwithjimcarrey.^[18] As of September 2014, DeviantArt^[19] has over 4,000 fan art submissions dedicated to the actor.

Jim Carrey’s Message to Emma Stone

On August 24th, 2011, Jim Carreyuploaded a satirical Message to Emma Stone in which he expresses his love for the American actress. It was rumored to have been a viral marketing gimmick for his website TruLife,^[9] but the video was subject to a number of remixes and was parodied by other celebrities and received media attention.

Related Memes

What is Love

In 1996, Jim Carrey preformed as one of the three cast members from the iconic sketch The Roxbury Guys as preformed on Saturday Night Live. ^[10] His sketch later went on to inspire the hit YTMND for What is Love in 2005.

Sellotape Selfie

Sellotape Selfie is a photo fad in which individuals take pictures of themselves after wrapping their faces in adhesive tape as to appear grotesque in a contorted and squished manner. Each Sellotape selfie is then uploaded to Facebook with an invitation for a friend to take one. The original instance of the meme comes from a scene in Yes Man in which Jim Carrey is exchanging faces with his co-worker across the hall.

Alrighty Then

Alrighty Then is a catchphrase from the movie series Ace Ventura. Two separate macro generators exist for Alrighty Then. The first generator was created Jul 15, 2012, and features 372 images.^[12] A seperate “Alrighty Then” generator was created on Mar 14, 2013, and features 1,855 images. ^[1]

h4. Did Someone Say…

The “Jim Carrey Limo” generator was created on Nov 08, 2013, and features 448 images.^[2] The macro features a still from the intro of Dumb & Dumber and usually is captioned with some form of “Did Someone Say…” or “My Face When Someone Says…” as the header.

Lady Gaga ft. Jim Carrey

On May 13th, 2010, user fourest registered the YTMND“ladyahhhahhhh” which featured a face swaped gif of Lady Gaga along with the background song of Bad Romance.^[13] On top of the track were samples from “The Most Annoying Sound in the World” scene from the Jim Carrey movie Dumb & Dumber.^[14] The YTMND was uploaded to YouTube two days later, and has since received over 9.6 million views.^[15] A 10 hour version of the song was uploaded in February of 2012, and currently (as of October 2014) has 3 million views.^[16]

Search Interest

External References

About

Scrubs is a comedy-drama show which aired on NBC which ran from 2001-20110, which follows medical intern JD as he progresses in his medical career. The show was notable for its frequent use of flashbacks and dream sequences.

History

Scrubs premiered on October 2nd, 2001, on NBC. The series was created by Bill Lawrence. The show ran for nine seasons and 913 episodes, its series finale airing on March 17th, 2010.

Premise

The show opens on JD’s (played by Zach Braff) first day as a medical intern at Sacred Heart Hospital. He is joined by his best friend, surgical intern Chris Turk (Donald Faison), fellow medical intern Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), his mentor Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley), Turk’s love interest nurse Carla (Judy Reyes), and his nemesis The Janitor (Neil Flynn). Each episode follows the doctors’ personal lives and their medical cases, and each episode features JD’s voiceover and depicts his frequent daydreams.

Reception

The show has earned a 8.5 on IMDB^[1] and a 79 on Metacritic.^[3] The show was nominated for three Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy (Zach Braff) in 2005, 2006 and 2007. It was also nominated for 17 primetime Emmys.

Fandom

On May 23rd, 2010, the r/Scrubs^[2] subreddit was created by Redditor WoozleWuzzle, as of September 2014, the subreddit has gained over 27,000 readers. As of September 2014, the show’s Facebook page^[4] has gained over 12.9 likes. Fans can also read episodes guides and character sketches on the show’s Wikia.^[5] As of September 2014, DeviantArt^[6] has over 20,000 pieces of fan art tagged Scrubs. Tumblr blogs dedicated to the show include fuckyeahscrubs^[7] and scrubslove.^[8]

Related Memes

Screams Internally

The descriptive phrase“Screams Internally” has been associated with a reaction GIF taken from a scene in the first episode of television comedy Scrubs in which Zach Braff’s main character J.D.‘s boss, Doctor Kelso, asks him if he’s excited for his first night as an on-call doctor in the hospital. The camera quickly flips back to J.D. who is shown trying to keep a straight face while screaming internally. A GIF version of this moment has been circulating online since as early as December 2011.^[14]

Bromance

Bromance^[9] is a close non-sexual relationship between two (or more) men in the homosocial^[10] nature. The term was brought into the mainstream in 2008^[12] to describe the relationship of the lead characters in the sitcom Scrubs^[11], J.D. Dorian (portrayed by Zach Braff) and Christopher Turk (portrayed by Donald Faison). The following year, the Boston Globe and entertainment site Starpulse^[13] compiled lists of televisions most well-known bromances. There is also a TV Tropes^[14] page for the term.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Smooth McGroove is a YouTube musician known for his a cappella cover of video game music.

Online History

McGrove created his self-named YouTube channel^[1] on December 20th, 2012. He uploaded his first video on the same day, which features McGrove singing a song titled “Jeren.” As of September 2014, the video has gained over 100,000 views. He uploaded his first a cappella cover, titled “Zelda’s Lullaby Acapella” on January 13th, 2013, as of September 2014, the video has gained over 600,000 views.

As of September 2014, McGrove’s two most popular videos are “Street Fighter 2” which was uploaded on April 8th, 2013, which has gained over 6.5 million views, and “Super Mario World – Overworld Theme Acapella” which was uploaded on August 5th, it has gained over 3.8 million views.

On April 16th, Buzzfeed^[4] ran a profile of Smooth McGrove titled “Meet Smooth McGroove, The Gamer With The Golden Voice,” which featured a round-up of his a cappella covers. His videos were featured on Mashable on September 2nd,^[5] and December 4th.^[6]

Reputation

As of September 2014, McGrove’s Twitter account^[3] has gained over 50,000 followers and his Facebook page^[2] has gained over 180,000 likes. His Twitter account has gained over 1 million followers.

Notable Videos

Search Interest

External References

About

Pandemic is a board game for two to four players to cooperate and contain four diseases spreading throughout different regions across the world. Each player assumes the role of one of five specialists, including a dispatcher, doctor, medic, scientist, researcher and operations expert. The game later inspired the strategy video games Pandemic 2 and Plague Inc., in which the player attempts to destroy all life on Earth with a deadly pathogen.

History

Pandemic was created by game designer Matt Leacock and released by Z-Man Games in 2008. In 2009, the “On the Brink” expansion was released which added new roles, an optional fifth player variant and “special event” cards. In the summer of 2013, a second expansion “In the Lab” was released, allowing players to discover cures for disease in a laboratory.

Online Presence

Pandemic 2

On July 21st, 2008, the game Pandemic 2^[1] was released by Dark Realm Studios, in which the player attempts to infect the entire Earth with a virus, bacteria or parasite by avoiding detection and evolving new abilities. The game features a world map view allowing the player to monitor the spread of a disease across the globe, which is shown through animated airplanes and boats. If a country becomes suspicious of an epidemic, they can close off all ports making it difficult or impossible to infect the area.

Plague Inc.

On May 26th, 2012, the game Plague Inc. was released by developer Nmdemic Creations for iOS devices on the Apple app store.^[2]Plague Inc. features gameplay similar to Pandemic 2, in which the player names a new disease which can be evolved to wipe out human life on the entire planet. On October 4th, it was released for Android mobile devices. In 2013, it became the 5th most downloaded paid iPhone game in the United States.^[3]

On February 20th, 2014, a PC version of the game titled Plague Inc: Evolved was released on the Steam software distribution service.

Screenshots from the game featuring humorous disease names are often posted on various community sites online (shown below).

Related Memes

Shut Down Everything

“Shut Down Everything” is an expression derived from a webcomic about Pandemic 2, in which the Republic of Madagascar is often considered the most difficult target to infect with contagions due to the island nation has no airports or bordering countries.

Search Interest

External References

About

Lena Dunham is an American actress and writer best known for creating and starring in the HBO series Girls

Acting Career

Girls

Girls is an American comedy television show that follows the lives of four women in their early twenties living in New York City. Upon its premiere on HBO in April 2012, the show quickly became a hot topic on entertainment and women’s issue websites, with bloggers often criticizing the lack of racial diversity on the show.

Online History

Vogue Cover

On January 16th, 2014, after Vogue released photos of actress and comedian Lena Dunham appearing in their February issue, Jezebel published an article titled, “We’re Offering $10,000 for Unretouched Images of Lena Dunham in Vogue.”^[5] The feminist website explained in the article,

"Lena Dunham is a woman who trumpets body positivity, who’s unabashedly feminist, who has said that her naked body is “a realistic expression of what it’s like to be alive” and “if you are not into me, that’s your problem.” Her body is real. She is real. And for as lovely as the Vogue pictures are, they’re probably not terribly real. So Jezebel is offering $10,000 for pre-Photoshop images from Lena’s Vogue shoot."

This call for the originals drew criticism, with TV critic Emily Nussbaum tweeting,

“If Dunham wanted to release her own retouched photos, that might be interesting. Asking for a bounty on them? GROSS.”

and screenwriter Diablo Cody adding,

“This is total mean-girl shit masquerading as feminism. I’m disgusted.”

Jezebel reported receiving the alleged untouched images two hours after their call, and published them in the form of before and after GIFs in an article posted on January 17th.^[8]

Search Interest

External References

About

“K Den”, short for “OK then”, is an Internet slang expression that can convey either a sense of mild affirmation or indifference towards an action or statement undertaken by another individual, in a similar vein to the use of the phrase “I’m Okay With This”. In online conversations, the expression is typically brought up in the form of a reaction image based on a selfie of a young man wearing an ambivalent facial expression.

Origin

On November 18th, 2003, Urban Dictionary^[2] user Eric Nakagawa submitted an entry for “Kden,” defining it as a Hawaiian expression used to bid farewell.

Spread

On December 12th, 2012, FunnyJunk^[4] user LuumedAffencer uploaded a photograph of a young man with the caption “K den” (shown below).

On July 23rd, 2013, a Facebook^[1] page titled “K Den” was launched, which gathered more than 3,390 likes in the next 15 months. On May 21st, 2014, YouTuber AnimationRewind uploaded an animated music video titled “The K den Official Song” (shown below).

On July 2nd, Redditor Daryl Dixon FTW posted an animated GIF titled “K den” featuring a glitched player flying in the air in the open world survival game DayZ to the /r/dayz^[3] subreddit (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

Overview

2014 Hong Kong Protests, also known as Occupy Central With Love and Peace, refer to ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong against the Chinese government’s proposed electoral reform which would require the pre-approval of political candidates by a nomination committee before proceeding to a vote by the general population.

Background

On August 31st, 2014, several new regulations for the 2016 Legislative Council and 2017 Chief Executive Elections were set at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee in the 12th National People’s Congress, which imposed that a nominating committee should be formed to vet two to or three candidates by a simple-majority vote before they can contest in the general election. The decision was met by dissent from the citizens of Hong Kong, which has traditionally enjoyed universal suffrage under the principle of “one country, two systems” designated during the transfer of sovereignty from the British government to China in 1997.

“the method for selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage must provide corresponding institutional safeguards for this purpose.”

Notable Developments

On September 22nd, the demonstrations began with an assembly outside the government headquarters led by the Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism. The protest quickly escalated into a violent clash by the evening of September 26th, when several hundreds of protesters breached a security barrier and occupied the front plaza of the Central Government Complex. They were subsequently removed by force on the next day.

Occupy Central with Love and Peace

On September 28th, Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong, announced the official launch of a civil disobedience campaign to demand universal suffrage during an appearance on the stage of the student protests. That same day, the demonstrators began occupying several major hubs across Hong Kong, prompting the riot police to disperse the crowds with pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon following several hours of stand-off. However, the excessive use of force by Hong Kong Police only fueled the demonstrations to expand into a non-centralized Occupy movement, as thousands more began participating in the protests throughout the country.

Censorships

As the demonstrations continued to spread across Hong Kong, photographs and videos of crowds being dispersed by the riot police began to emerge on Instagram, Kakaotalk and other online photo-sharing services. On September 28th, the Chinese government began censoring the news coverage and witness reports from the scene by blocking access to certain social media accounts on Sina Weibo and blacklisting phrases “Tear Gas”, “Hong Kong Students” and “Occupy Central” on the country’s largest search engine Baidu.

Search Interest

External References

^[1]Wikipedia- Occupy Central with Love and Peace

^[2]Wikipedia – 2014 Hong Kong protests

About

Smokin’ Jay Cutler is a photoshop meme that involves digitally manipulating photographs of the NFL athlete and Chicago Bears’ quarterback to make it seem as if he is smoking a cigarette on the field during the games.

Origin

On September 13th, 2012, Chicago Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler became the subject of a minor controversy in the NFL blogosphere after the athlete was seen on camera yelling at his teammate and left tackle J’Marcus Webb before walking past him with a cold shoulder bump. Cutler’s confrontational moment with his teammate quickly prompted criticism of unsportsmanlike behavior from the fans and other professional football players alike, leading the athlete to issue a statement regretting his actions (shown below):

On the following day, Brandon Freeberg created the single topic blog smokinjaycutler^[1] on Tumblr to feature a series of photoshopped images in which Cutler appears to be surly and smoking a cigarette on the field.

Spread

On September 19th, USA Today^[4] published an article titled “Smokin’ Jay Cutler lights up the web.” The same day the meme and Tumblr blog was covered by the Bleacher Report^[5] and CBS Sports.^[6] On December 5th, The Village Voice^[8] named the blog the Best Sports Tumblr. On December 10th, Complex^[3] named the meme one of “The 25 Funniest Sports Memes of 2012.” The blog’s output and popularity reached its peak during the latter half of NFL’s 2012-2013 season, though the blog continued to remain active for the 2013-2014 season as well. As of September 2014, the Facebook page^[7] has gained over 2,000 likes.

Aaron Rodgers’ Tribute

In late September 2014, Smokin’ Jay Cutler saw a second wave of news media coverage^[9][10] when Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers revealed that his trademark “smoking a cigarette” gesture is a tribute to the Tumblr blog (shown below.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Laci Green is an YouTube who vlogs on sexuality and sexual activism.

Online History

On November 14th, 2008, Green created her YouTube channel^[1] Sex+. On November 17th, Green uploaded her first video, an informational review titled “Birth Control: NuvaRing Review.” As of September 2014, the video has gained over 300,000 views.

As of September 2014, two of Green’s most popular videos are “THENAKEDLIFE! – NUDISM” which was uploaded on November 12th, 2011, which has gained over 2.2 million views and “You Can’t POP Your Cherry! (HYMEN 101)” which was uploaded on April 26th, 2012, which has gained over 2.1 million views.

Slur Controversy

On July 6th, 2012, Green published a question^[5] a Tumblr user had submitted through her ask box, which read:

“Hi Laci. Why do you use the word “tranny” in your video about Haters from 2009? (The one talking about Miley Cyrus, Fred, and Chris Crocker). You really shouldn’t be using that word as a cis girl and it’s really disappointing for the people who look up to you."

She also published her answer, which read:

“Probably because I was 18 and ignorant. You are totally right and I sincerely apologize for my mistake. Before I educated myself about trans issues I had not the slightest inkling of how the word is used to dehumanize nor its place in the cycle of violence against transfolk. Now I have seen people hurt by it and seen it used as a nasty slur. Words have power, and “tranny” is not a word for anybody but transfolk themselves to use because only they can reclaim it. If I knew that was in a video, it would have been long long ago removed. Consider it banished forever."

After the post was published, Green received many angry comments and messages^[6][7] from people who did not believe her apology was adequate and were still angry with her for using the slur. On July 9th, Green posted a threatening e-mail she had received which included a picture of her apartment, she explained she would be taking a break from the internet, saying:

“hey peeps,
i am going to be taking a break from tumblr. i’m not sure how long. i have been getting a slew of people (who i can only guess are from “social justice” tumblr) telling me to kill myself, making violent threats, sending me my home address they somehow found. my inbox this morning was graced with pictures of my apartment building.
i honestly have no words.
love you all.
lace”

On April 6th, 2013, Tumblr yourfaveisproblematic^[9] published a post on Green, which listed the use of the slur as well as:

“Believes that the “Friend Zone” is an actual thing that exists
“I lost 35 pounds by learning to love and take care of my body”
When criticized for fatphobia she responded with this (more on this)
Patronized someone calling her out on cissexism
More cissexism (woman = vagina)
Even more cissexism (“I know lesbians don’t know a lot about penises”)
Trans* erasure and telling trans* people how to identify”

Sam Pepper Controversy

On September 20th, 2014, British vlogger Sam Pepper posted a video, which was removed two days later by YouTube, titled “Fake Hand Ass Pinch” which featured Pepper touching women’s butt’s with a fake hand (shown below).^[5]

On September 21st, Green published an open letter to Pepper on her Tumblr blog.^[6] A bolded section of the letter reads:

“We are deeply disturbed by this trend and would like to ask you, from one creator to another, to please stop. Please stop violating women and making them uncomfortable on the street for views. Please stop physically restraining them and pressuring them to be sexual when they are uncomfortable. Please show some respect for women’s right to their own bodies. While it may seem like harmless fun, a simple prank, or a “social experiment”, these videos encourage millions of young men and women to see this violation as a normal way to interact with women. 1 in 6 young women (real life ones, just like the ones in your video) are sexually assaulted, and sadly, videos like these will only further increase those numbers.

On September 23rd, Green tweeted about the reveal, alleging it was just a way for him to cover up his mistake. Further tweets explained she had been receiving threatening e-mails by someone claiming to be Pepper.

On September 24th, an anonymous YouTuber uploaded a video titled "Sam Pepper – The Real “Reveal” in which she describes being sexually assaulted by Pepper without her whole face being shown. Within 48 hours the video gained over 30,000 views.

On September 25th, Green uploaded a video to her YouTube channel^[23] titled “Sam Pepper Exposed.” In the video, Green explains that she has spoken with several women who allege Pepper had groped or sexually harassed them. Green went on to name two other male video bloggers she felt were being sexually abusive with their “pranks,” including Kong of Simple Pick-up,^[24] and Adrian Van Oyan.^[25] Within 24 hours of upload, Green’s video gained 40,000 views.

Social Media Presence

As of September 2014, Green’s Facebook page^[2] has gained over 280,000 likes and her Twitter account^[3] has gained over 160,000 followers. Her Instagram^[4] account has gained over 19,000 followers.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Coincidence? I think NOT! is a quote from 2004 Pixar film The Incredibles. It’s usually used as a reaction image to serious or sarcastic attempts to find connections in seemingly unrelated instances.

Orgin

The quote originates from a scene where Dash Parr’s teacher Bernie Kropp tries to prove that Dash has been putting tacks on his chair. He notes that in the recording from the classroom, Dash (who’s able to move in super speed) happens to move suspiciously right at the moment the teacher sits on his chair, leading to the memorable sentence.

About

#Benghazi is an ironic hashtag typically used to mock those who believe the Obama administration ignored calls for extra security personnel prior to attacks by Islamic militants at the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Origin

On September 11th, 2012, U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith were killed at the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The same day, a nearby compound was attacked by militants, who killed CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty. U.S. State Department officials were subsequently criticized for increasing security at the compounds prior to the attacks. On January 23rd, 2013, Hilary Clinton took responsibility for lapses in security.

Spread

On May 20th, 2014, Vox^[1] published an article highlighting notable #Benghazi tweets mocking the Benghazi allegations (shown below).

Related Memes

Innocence of Muslims

Innocence of Muslims is an anti-Islam film allegedly produced and directed by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and Alan Roberts, excerpts of which were uploaded onto YouTube in July 2012. The video rose to controversy months later in early September following the attack in Benghazi.

Search Interest

External References