About

NBA 2K15 Facescan FAIL refers to poorly-scanned 3D models of players faces using images captured with the PlayStation Eye or Xbox Kinect in the basketball video game NBA 2K15.

Origin

On September 17th, 2014, the NBA 2K YouTube channel uploaded a promotional video for the upcoming NBA 2K game, which showcased the game’s new face scanning technology which creates a 3D model of the player’s face (shown below).

In the early morning on October 7th, Twitter user @Shannah221^[1] tweeted a photo of a poorly-modeled NBA 2K15 character (shown below).

Spread

Shortly after, Twitter user @LilCutty^[3] posted a photograph of his poorly-scanned NBA 2K15 avatar (shown below). In the first 24 hours, the tweet gained over 500 reweets and 260 favorites.

That morning, other Twitter users began posting photos of their face scans, which were subsequently compiled in an Imgur gallery by Redditor Composingcomposure (shown below). Within 11 hours, the gallery garnered upwards of 1,100 votes (88% upvoted) on the /r/funny^[2] subreddit.

Also on October 7th, staff member Owen Good of the video game news blog Polygon uploaded a video of himself failing to use the face scanning application (shown below).

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the face scanning FAILs, including The Daily Dot,^[4] SB Nation,^[5] Kotaku,^[6] Engadget^[7] and UpRoxx.^[8]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

(This article is a W.I.P.)

About

DreamWorks Animation is an American animation studios based in Glendale, California. It creates animated feature films, television programs and more.

History

DreamWorks Animation’s was founded in 1994 when DreamWorks SKG was formed by Stephen Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeffery Katzenberg. Over the next year, DreamWorks would sign a co-production deal with Pacific Data Images to form PDI, Inc. Later, in 2000, DreamWorks created a new business division in DreamWorks Animation, and would later acquire majority interest in PDI, Inc. In 2004, DreamWorks Animation spun off from DreamWorks to form into a public company, headed by Jeffery Katzenberg.^[1]

Reception

DreamWorks Animation has established a name for itself, as it’s one of the few animation companies whose films are almost never mistaken for Disney or Pixar. Since their first film, Antz, released in 1998, they have made 29 more films under the DreamWorks name with more along the way.

Fandom

DreamWorks Animation has a Tumblr blog where they post info for the fans as well as fanart. ^[2]

Related Memes

Shrek

Shrek is DreamWorks Animation’s most successful film franchise, spawning 4 films, a spin-off film, a number of specials, and a theme park attraction. It also has a notable internet following.

DreamWorks Face

The DreamWorks Face is a notable trademark of DreamWorks Animation’s marketing, as many of their characters featured in their posters have a raised eyebrow and some type of grin. It has since been copied by many of their competitors.

External Links

About

Dan Savage is an American advice columnist and LGBT activist, best known for starting the It Gets Better project.

Online History

Savage Love

It Gets Better

It Gets Better Project project is a social media campaign launched by Savage in an effort to prevent suicide among LGBT youth by encouraging gay adults to spread the message that their lives will improve. Since its foundation in September 2010, the project has grown into an international movement with more than 50,000 video messages and 50 million views. The project was founded by Savage in response to the suicides of Billy Lucas and other teenagers like Raymond Chase, Tyler Clementi, Ryan Halligan, Asher Brown, and Seth Walsh who were bullied for their homosexual orientation or suspected to be gay. The project was formally announced on September 21st, 2010 in a YouTube^[1] video titled “It Gets Better: Dan and Terry” featuring Savage himself and his partner Terry Miller.

In the video, Savage and Miller reaches out to teenagers who have ever been bullied for their sexual orientation and tell them that although life may seem difficult now, things will get better in the future as they grow older. The video was positively received within the YouTube community, accumulating one million views and over 200 video responses the first week of the campaign.

Social Media Presence

As of October 2014, Savage’s Twitter account^[2] has gained over 200,000 followers and his Facebook page^[3] has gained over 240,000 likes. He has also gained over 30,000 Instagram^[4] followers.

Search Interest

External References

About

5 Seconds of Summer is an Australian pop punk band consisting of members Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin. The band rose to notoriety online in 2011 after posting cover versions of pop songs on YouTube.

Online History

On February 3rd, 2011, Hemmings uploaded his first video to YouTube, in which he covers the 2011 pop song “Please Don’t Go” by Mike Posner on an acoustic guitar (shown below, left). In the next four years, the video gained over 910,000 views and 6,300 comments. In March, the @5SOS Twitter^[2] feed was launched. On April 4th, the band’s Facebook^[1] page was created. In 3.5 years, the Twitter gathered upwards of 4.74 million followers and the Facebook accumulated more than 7.3 million likes. Hemmings continued to upload solo covers until April 16th, when he posted a video with band mate Calum Hood asking fans to follow the Facebook and Twitter pages for 5 Seconds of Summer (shown below, right).

On June 4th, the band uploaded their first cover video, featuring a rendition of the 2004 alternative rock song “I Miss You” by Blink 182 (shown below). The band continued to upload covers to the YouTube channel, many of which reached over one million views. In December, drummer Ashton Irwin joined the group. On February 14th, 2013, 5 Seconds of Summer was booked to tour with the British-Irish boy band One Direction for their “Take Me Home” tour.

5 Seconds of Summer Album

On February 5th, 2014, the band released their debut single “She Looks So Perfect”, which was followed by a music video for the song on YouTube later that month (shown below). On June 27th, the band’s debut album 5 Seconds of Summer was released in Europe and Australia.

Derp Con

On August 28th, 2014, the 5 Seconds of Summer YouTube channel uploaded a video announcing a fan convention for the band titled “Derp Con,” with plans to hold the event on November 15th and 16th in Los Angeles, California (shown below).

Fandom

Several 5 Seconds of Summer Tumblr blogs have been launched by fans of the group, including 5sos-at-heart,^[3] FallenFor5SOS^[4] and 5SauceFeels.^[5] On DeviantArt,^[6] over 5,850 fan arts depicting the band have been submitted with the tag “5 seconds of summer.”

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Stephen Collins’ Molestation Confession refers to the publication of privately-recorded audio tapes first obtained by the celebrity gossip and news site TMZ in which Stephen Collins, the American actor best known for playing the pastor and patriarch on the long-running WB family drama TV series 7th Heaven, confesses that he had inappropriately touched young girls.

Background

On October 7th, 2014, TMZ^[1] published a tape recording of Collins which was obtained in 2012, by his now estranged wife Faye Grant during one of their meetings with a therapist. TMZ explained that police is now involved with the tapes and the crimes detailed within, saying:

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.

“TMZ has learned … the NYPD is in possession of the tape, and last Wednesday 2 NYPD detectives from the Special Victims Unit flew to L.A. to interview Grant. We’re told they asked her about the tape and about other potential witnesses.

An NYPD official tells TMZ… there is a current, active investigation. The official says there are “at least 3 victims” and the nature of the investigation is “inappropriate sexual contact with minors.”

Notable Developments

Direct Messages on Twitter

The following day, The Daily Dot^[2] reported Collins had been in touch with underage fans through Twitter, though there isn’t evidence that the messages exchanged were suggestive.

Hollywood Reaction

On October 7th, Collins was dropped^[4] from the upcoming sequel to Ted.

On October 8th, E! Online^[2] published a post titled “Stephen Collins’ 7th Heaven Co-Stars React to His Alleged Child Molestation Confession,” which featured quotes from several 7th Heaven cast members, including 7th Heaven mother Catherine Hicks who said:

“Stephen’s a good guy in my opinion.”

Search Interest

External References

About

7chan is an imageboard site modeled after the Japanese site Futaba Channel. The site rose to prominence in 2006 as 4chan users fled to 7chan for fewer posting restrictions.

History

7chan.org^[1] was launched on September 25th, 2005, by founders Symbion and Zeneslev. On August 23rd, 2006, a large number of threads featuring nude photographs of under aged girls were posted to 4chan’s /b/ (random) board, resulting in the heavy moderation of the board known as “/b/-day.”^[3] According to Encyclopedia Dramatica,^[3] 4chan founder Christopher Poole posted a warning that any users participating in threads dealing with illegal content or “jailbait” photos would be globally banned:

Participating in a thread dealing with illegal content will get you globally banned for two weeks (thread starter is indefinitely banned). This means merely replying to it removes you from this site for a minimum of two weeks. This includes JB and any other “gray area” threads. Posting any piece of personal information or inciting/participating in an invasion of any sort will also get you, and anybody who replied to the thread globally banned. You have the option to either report or ignore (not reply to) threads that break the rules. Thanks!

Following the announcement, many 4chan users left the site for 7chan to evade the restrictions. The exodus resulted in a rivalry between users on 4chan’s /b/ and 7chan’s /b/.

Features

7chan contains six different board categories containing a total of 50 boards. Users can create new threads by submitting an image with an accompanying message. When a thread is replied to, it is bumped to the top of the board and is deleted if it reaches the end of the 10th page without receiving a reply. Content that is illegal to view in both Luxembourg or the United States is prohibited. The site previously contained a /i/ (invasion) board for users to organize off-site raids, but admins deleted it after the 7chan’s web host demanded its removal. 7chan maintains an active /fur (furry) board which was temporarily deleted in 2007.

Highlights

X is Not Your Personal Army

“X is Not Your Personal Army” is an expression rumored to have originated on 7chan’s now defunct /i/ (invasion) board, which was employed for raids on external sites. The phrase is typically used to scold those who ask Internet users to raid or harass someone based on a personal vendetta.

Epilepsy Forum Invasion

On March 28th, 2008, 7chan users purportedly hacked the Epilepsy Foundation of America’s epilepsy support forum with JavaScript code causing flashing animations aimed to trigger headaches and seizures.^[4][5]

Traffic

As of October 2014, 7chan.org has a global rank of 59,548 and a United States rank of 19,776 on the traffic analytics site Alexa.^[2]

Search Interest

External References

About

What am I doing with my life is a phrase often paired with photos featuring people wearing hopeless or troubled expressions, implying the speaker’s life is going nowhere.

Origin

On February 21st, 2012, redditor facebook_hero posted a GIF of a hopeless looking cat to the r/funny subreddit^[1] titled “What the fuck am I doing with my life …” As of October 2014, the post has gained over 1,000 points.

Spread

On November 5th, 2012, CollegeHumor^[3] posted an image titled “Introducing Depressed Cat” which featured a picture of a cat asking, “What am I doing with my lives?”

On December 12th, WeKnowMemes^[2] published a comic titled “What Am I Doing With My Life.”

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Slittens, a portmanteau of “sloth” and “kittens”, is a single topic blog featuring photographs of kittens with their faces digitally swapped with sloths.

Origin

The Slittens Tumblr^[1] blog was launched on July 6th, 2014 with several photoshopped images of sloth kittens (shown below).

Spread

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

This meme often displays the “Know that feeling bro” guy sitting in front of a computer, representing a country or a culture.

About

Garfi is the name of the cat who gained internet fame after pictures of him was posted to Flickr. Its extremely angry expression has caused his rise to fame, leading him to be compared to Grumpy Cat.

Origin

On December 6th, 2010, Flickr^[2] user lov-ela posted a picture of her angry looking cat, Garfi. As of September 2014, the photo has gained over 30,000 views.

On October 2nd, Bored Panda^[5] published a collection of the photos titled “Meet Garfi, The World’s Angriest Cat,” which identified his owner as Turkish woman Hulya Ozkok.

Spread

On October 7th, 2014, Redditor Dre2k posted a set of images of Garfi to the r/funny^[1] subreddit, titling them “Grumpy cat…move over! There’s a new sheriff in town! Meet Garfi!” Within 48 hours the post gained over 3,000 points.

The same day the pictures were covered by The Daily Mail^[3], and the following day the pictures were covered by several sites including The Huffington Post.^[4]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

2014 Red Bull Refund Settlement refers to an online initiative started by Red Bull, the American energy drink company, to grant anyone who had purchased one of their energy drinks a small portion of funds from a class action lawsuit brought against the company.

Background

On July 31st, 2014, Red Bull reached a settlement^[6] of $13 million in a class action lawsuit brought against them by Benjamin Careathers, who alleged the drink’s slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” and other assertions about it improving the drinker’s performance were false, as he had not experienced those effects even after drinking Red Bull for over a decade.

On October 8th, Buzzfeed^[2] published a post titled “If You Bought A Red Bull In The Last 12 Years They Owe You Money -- Here’s The Easy Way To Get It” which explained any Red Bull consumer who had bought the drink between 2012 and October 3rd, 2014, was eligible to sign up to receive $10 (or $15 in Red Bull merchandise) from the settlement. They also included a link to the site^[3] where they could sign up to receive the money, as long as they sign up before May 2nd, 2015.

Notable Developments

Site Crash

Within 24 hours the Buzzfeed article gained over 4.9 million views. The settlement was covered by several other websites the same day including Life Hacker^[4] and USA Today.^[5] On October 9th, TIME^[1] reported that the surge in traffic had caused the settlement site to crash, and went on to explain that because Red Bull had only committed to pay out $13 million to its customers, it was likely that money would be spread so thin between respondents each person’s portion of the money could be only $3. The same day Buzzfeed included an update to their original article which featured alternate ways of contacting Red Bull to sign up for a piece of the settlement:

“- By mail: Class Action Settlement Administrator at Energy Drink Settlement, c/o GCG, P.O. Box 35123, Seattle, WA 98124-5123
- By fax: (844) 553-1373
- By email: energydrinksettlement@gcginc.com”

Search Interest

External References

About

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a musical comedy film which follows a young couple as they encounter a group of eccentric aliens after their car breaks down. The movie gained a large cult following, which often gathers for regular screening which encourage the audience to talk to and interact with the screen at predetermined moments.

History

The Rocky Horror Picture Show^[1] was released on August 31st, 1975. On October 26th, 2010, Glee aired an episode titled “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” which features several numbers from the film.

Premise

After the wedding of their friend, Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) and Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) become engaged. To celebrate, they decide to visit their old college professor who taught the class where they met. On the way their car breaks down, and they decide to go to a neighboring castle to use the phone. Their they meet Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), an evil scientist who is just revealing Rocky (Peter Hinwood), a man he’s created to be his boyfriend. Brad and Janet are troubled by Frank-N-Furter, but through deceit he eventually seduces them both, then Janet seduces Rocky. Eventually Janet, Brad, Rocky, and Frank-N-Furter, as well as Frank-N-Furter’s ex, Columbia (Nell Campbell) perform a burlesque show, before Frank-N-Furter is informed by his servants that their home planet has decided he is out of control and must be killed. They kill him before launching the entire house, once Brad and Janet have escaped, into outer space.

Reception

The film earned a score of 7.4 on IMDB and a rating of 58 on Metacritic.^[4] In 1980 it was entered into the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Hall of Fame and in 2005 it was entered into the National Film Preservation Board’s National Film Registry.

Fandom

As of October 2014, there are over 7,000 pieces of Rocky Horror fan art on Deviant Art.^[2] Fan run Tumblr blogs include fuckyeahrockyhorror^[3] and rockyhorrorpictureshowpics.^[8] As of October 2014, the films Facebook page^[9] has gained over 1.2 million likes.

Related Memes

Antici…..pation

On May 8th, 2009, Twitter user DrFNFurter^[6] created his account naming it after the Rocky Horror character and sending out a series of tweets quoting the film:

“So, come up to the lab, and see what’s on the slab! I see you shiver with antici …”

Fours years later, he tweeted the rest of the word “pation,” playing off the long pause in the middle of the word in the film, as well as the meaning of the word. The stunt was covered by several websites including The Huffington Post^[5] and The Independent.^[7]

Search Interest

External References

About

Oppressed SJW is an image macro born during the GamerGate controversy. On October 9, 2014, a social justice warrior created an image macro called Oppressed GamerGater in an attempt to mock the side of the controversy that identified as “GamerGaters.”

Users of 8chan quickly got wind of this attempt to force a meme, and decided to hijack it and turn it into around and mock the social justice warriors instead.

Over 1,000 memes were created in a short time, including a few obligatory bane posts, ensuring much hilarity and anger from the SJW’s.

Origin
A social justice warrior Brianna Wu tried to spread a forced Oppressed Gamergater meme on twitter. A poster on 8chan’s /gg/ board learned of the forced meme and suggesed 8chan users either report the image macro to get it deleted or hijack it for 8chan’s own purposes. Other users of 8chan quickly agreed that hijacking the meme would be the funnier option.

About

Pumpkin Carving Art is the craft of carving images or patterns onto pumpkins. Traditionally known as jack-o-lanterns, photographs of intricately carved pumpkins are shared online every year around the beginning of autumn in celebration of Halloween

Origin

Pumpkin carving evolved from carving potatoes and turnips in Ireland.^[2] The tradition was picked up in America in the early 1800s, coinciding with the American adoption of Halloween. On October 15th, 1999, EHow^[11] published a pumpkin carving guide titled “How to Carve a Pumpkin With Paper” in one of the earliest online mentions of pumpkin carvings.

Spread

One of the earliest videos uploaded online featuring pumpkin carving is a short film titled “The Life and Death of a Pumpkin.” The video features a dramatic narrative around the carving of a jack-o-lantern and was uploaded by YouTuber BlameSociety^[3] on July 19th, 2006. As of October 2014, the video has gained over 2.5 million views.

On October 1st, 2008, Extreme Pumpkin Carving^[4] published a gallery of pumpking carving art.

On October 12th, 2009, redditor krisdafish created the subreddit r/Pumpkins,^[1] which features photos of pumpkin carving art, as of October 2014, the subreddit has gained over 1,000 readers.

On October 10th, 2010, Amusing Planet^[5] published a collection of pictures of pumpkins carved by New York sculpture Ray Villafane. The realistic carvings were also covered by CBS News^[6] and The Daily Mail.^[7] His pumpkin carving were also covered by many sites in 2011, including The Daily Beast^[8] and The Telegraph.^[9]

On October 16th, 2013, Pleated Jeans^[10] published a list titled “The Art of Pumpkin Carving.”

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Poor Kids of Tehran is an Instagram account which highlights the poverty of young people living in Tehran, Iran, which was created in reaction to the Instagram account Rich Kids of Tehran.

Origin

On October 5th, 2014, the Instagram account Poor Kids of Tehran^[1] was created. Its first uploaded picture features a picture of a broken down refrigerator. In less than two weeks the account gained over 4,000 followers.

Precursor

On September 13th, 2014, the Instagram account Rich Kids of Tehran,^[6] inspired by Rich Kids of Instagram was created.^[7] In less than a month the account gained over 90,000 followers. As of October 10th, the Instagram account has been set to private,^[8] explaining:

""This page has currently been shut down to the the high amount of false publicity."

Spread

On October 7th, Poor Kids of Tehran launched an official Facebook page,^[4] in less than a week the page gained over 1,000 likes.On October 7th, BBC News^[2] published an article on both Instagram accounts. The account was covered by Elite Daily^[3] on October 9th.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

The Worst Cat is a single topic Tumblr blog which features photos and GIFs of a baby hippo which is being presented as “the worst cat.”

Origin

On September 4th, 2014, the Tumblr blog The Worst Cat^[1] was created. The first post is a detailed outline of the worst cat, which explains:

“Welcome to the Worst Cats. Some people like all breeds of cat. But I think some breeds are just gross.
THINGSPEOPLEARESAYINGABOUT The Worst Cats:
“Oh man I don’t like looking at deformed animals” – coworker
“I don[‘t think that’s a cat, Sara. HOw did you find out about this cat” – cat expert
“It looks like a combination between a cat, a dog and a pig. Is that what they look like when they’re newborn?” – friend
“That’s disgusting. Are you trolling me?” – computer expert
“That is a hippo” – someone who knows nothing about cats"

The blog features photos and GIFs of baby hippos, “the worst cat.”

Spread

On October 2nd, io9^[2] published a post about the blog titled “This Is the Greatest Cat-Related Tumblr You Have Ever Read.” The same day Catster^[3] published an article titled “Mmm, Moist: We Love This Tumblr Called ‘The Worst Cat’.”

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Super Saiyan Remixes are videos and animated GIFs that are edited to appear as if the subject is turning into a Super Saiyan, a transcendent state of being assumed by the warring members of the Saiyan race in the Dragon Ball manga franchise.

Origin

On August 12th, 2008, YTMND user Herald77 submitted a page titled Michael Phelps is going Super Saiyan, which featured an animated GIF of olympic swimmer Michael Phelps turning into a Super Saiyan while celebrating at a competition (shown below).

Spread

On July 14th, 2009, YouTuber alreson uploaded a video of American radio host Alex Jones turning into a Super Saiyan (shown below). In the next five years, the video gained over 740,000 views and 2,300 comments.

On February 23rd, 2011, YouTuber CalicoJackCash uploaded a video titled “Real Life Vegeta Super Saiyan Transformation,” garnering more than three million views and 3,200 comments in four years (shown below).

On May 27th, 2013, the /r/SuperSaiyanGifs^[1] subreddit was launched, which gained over 9,100 subscribers in the next year. On February 10th, 2014, Redditor bfinleyui posted a GIF of an Iowa Cheerleader turning into a Super Saiyan to the /r/CollegeBasketball^[3] subreddit, accumulating upwards of 1,000 votes (90% upvoted) prior to being archived (shown below).

Notable Examples

Super Saiyans Are Real

“Super Saiyans are Real!” is a YouTube video of a teenager named Jalen discussing the possibility of becoming a Super Saiyan. On February 21st, 2012, YouTuber TheSheepKnowThings uploaded an edited version of the video in which Jalen appears to become a Super Saiyan (shown below).

Miguel Herrera’s Goal Reaction

On May 27th, 2013, Redditor chluaid submitted an edited GIF of Mexico’s national footbal team manager Miguel Herrera turning into a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z while celebrating a goal made during a match between America and Cruz Azul in 2013 to the /r/gifs^[2] subreddit, where it gathered more than 1,100 points and 50 comments prior to being archived.

Search Interest

External References

Donald Norcross Meme

Work in progress – event developing

Overview

The Snappening refers to a supposed ongoing mass leak of approximately 200,000 nude Snapchat photos and videos. Since around half of Snapchat users are thought to be under the age of 17, it is suspected that the leak may contain child pornography. It is currently unclear whether or not it is a hoax.

Background

A third-party Snapchat client app had been collecting data sent through it for several years, eventually storing up over 13GB of media that Snapchat users had thought were deleted.^[1]

The term “Snappening” was coined by the userbase of 4chan in reference to The Fappening, a similar event in which the nude photos of hundreds of celebrities were leaked by a hacker.

Notable Developments

Snapsave, a third-party app, was identified as the most likely source of the leakings. SnapSaved.com (no longer functional) was suggested as another possible source.^[2]

Snapchat promptly issued a statement condemning unauthorized third-party apps and people who had chosen to use them.^[3]

Search Interest

External References

WATER(: is a meme that originated on the Social Networking site Twitter. The meme began with a user asking “how empty is new hampshire”. The first user to reply added “I’m here and that’s all that matters??(;”, Another user replied to both users adding “all the more reason to stay away you fake binch(:”. User 1 replied adding “don’t make me brew more tea for ur pig henny(;”. The creator of the meme replied “sweatie(: show me some #receipts ! otherwise you are just spilling WATER(:” and thus, the meme was born.