About

#UnfollowAMan is a satirical feminist hashtag campaign purportedly calling on Twitter users to protest against mansplaining and the men’s rights movement at large by unfollowing a male Twitter user. Upon its introduction in late July 2014, the hashtag immediately became a topic of heated discussion among Twitter users in the continuation of precedent hashtag-based gender debates, most notably #YesAllWomen and #NotAllMen.

Origin

On July 27th, 2014, Buzzfeed writer Katie Notopoulos^[1] introduced the hashtag #UnfollowAMan and encouraged her followers to unfollow one male Twitter user they were already following. Within three days the tweet gained over 1,000 favorites and over 800 retweets.

Notopoulos was inspired to create the hashtag after unfollowing all men for six months, something she undertook after her fellow Buzzfeed employee Charlie Warzel^[8] created a series of internet-based challenges for himself and Medium writer Anil Dash^[7] challenged himself not to retweet anything tweeted out by a man for one year.

Precursor: #FollowATeen

#FollowATeen is a Twitter hashtag associated with a practical joke that involves following a random teenager on the microblogging site and covertly tweeting about his or her daily updates. #FollowATeen was first proposed by Something Awful writer David Thorpe via Twitter in late December 2011, who suggested that adults on Twitter should follow teenagers to get a perspective on modern teen life.

Your twitter feed isn’t complete unless you follow a random teen and just enjoy their little teen life. #followateen

— Lucrative Trillion (@Arr) December 29, 2011

Spread

Media Coverage

On July 28th, Vocativ^[6] published an article titled “Today Is the Day to #UnfollowAMan” which covered the hashtag as well as the angry tweets it elicited from mens rights activists. On July 29th, Notopoulos published an article on Buzzfeed^[3] titled “Why I Created The #UnfollowAMan Movement” which explained her motivation for creating the hashtag, explaining she had unfollowed all the men she had been previously following six months prior to introducing the hashtag after realizing she was interacting with primarily men through Twitter, saying:

“Unfollowing men was more than just a silly stunt to try out for something to write about; I needed a change. A digital man cleanse, if you will. Maybe you do, too.”

Also on July 29th, The Daily Dot^[4] published an article titled “One man’s humble endorsement of #UnfollowAMan.” Within three days the hashtag^[2] was tweeted out over 2,000 times.

Notable Examples

External References

About

Sarah Palin is an American author, former Governor of Alaska and former Republican Vice Presidential nominee in the 2008 Presidential election. Palin is known for her conservative political leanings and endorsement of the Tea Party movement.

Political Career

In 1992, Palin was elected to the City Council in Wasilla, Alaska. In 1996, Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla, defeating incumbent John Stein. In 2006, she defeated Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary in Alaska. In November, Palin went on to defeat Demoncrat Tony Knowles and became the state’s first female governor. In 2008, Palin was selected as Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate. The pair were defeated by Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the November election.

Online History

On August 29th, 2008, the official “Sarah Palin” Facebook^[1] page was launched, garnering upwards of 4.2 million likes in the next six years. In August 2009, Palin created a feed on Twitter,^[2] gathering more than 1.08 million followers in five years.

2008 United States Vice-Presidential Debate

Sarah Palin Rap Facts

#PalinRapFacts is a Twitter hashtag associated with various tweets poking fun at former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin’s raising issue with the White House inviting Grammy-winning rapper and actor Common to a poetry event hosted by the first lady in May 2011. Following the mainstream coverage of the controversy, Twitter users have been posting tongue-in-cheek tweets about Sarah Palin being at the center of major events throughout the history of hip hop.

#AccordingtoPalin

#AccordingtoPalin is a Twitter hashtag used to preface an ignorant, historically non-factual claim in jest. It is meant to satirize Sarah Palin’s inaccurate description of American patriot Paul Revere’s heroic “Midnight Ride” in the early stage of the Revolutionary War.

News Channel

In July 2014, Palin announced she would be launching a premium online news channel titled “The Sarah Palin Channel,” charging subscribers $9.95 per month.

Search Interest

External References

About

Quickscoping is a technique used in multiplayer first-person shooter video games to quickly kill an opponent with a sniper rifle by centering them on the screen and firing immediately after zooming in with the gun’s scope.

Origin

The earliest known use of the term was submitted to Urban Dictionary^[1] by user Kevinsss on August 6th, 2007, describing it as a technique used in games like Counter-Strike to kill an opponent with a sniper rifle at the same time the zoom feature is used.

Spread

In November 2007, technique was further popularized with the release of the game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. On August 10th, a how-to article for quickscoping in Call of Duty was submitted to the site Wiki How.^[6]

On November 22nd, Call of Duty Forums^[4] member deadopoerator submitted a thread titled “Why You Can’t Quickscope in Real Life,” which argued that real sniper rifles are too heavy to perform the technique effectively and are not guaranteed to kill an enemy in one hit. On November 13th, 2012, YouTuber 9Lives uploaded a tutorial video on quickscoping in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which accumulated upwards of 500,000 views and 1,300 comments in the next two years (shown below).

On May 5th, 2014, Redditor MoistCludderduck released a first-person shooter game parodying MLG montage videos titled Quickscope Simulator, in which the player kills approaching enemies by quickscoping with a sniper rifle.^[5] On June 23rd, Broarmy Forums^[3] member MKeRix posted a download link to Quickscope Simulator and two days later YouTuber PewDiePie uploaded a video of himself playing the game.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

W.i.p. any help welcomed

About

The Weekly World News (WWN) was weekly a black and white news tabloid with fictional stories based on paranormal or supernatural events. The tabloid was printed and published in the United States from 1979 to 2007.

History

Features

Highlights

Traffic

About

Fire Challenge is a dare game in which the participant voluntarily sets oneself on fire for a short period of time by applying flammable liquids or igniting combustible parts of one’s body and filming the outcome, similar to other pain endurance challenges that have spread through the social media, such as the Eraser Challenge and the Hot Pepper Challenge.

Origin

One of the first fire challenge videos uploaded to YouTube is titled “Fire challenge” and was uploaded on April 5th, 2012, by YouTuber 1BlazinEagle1^[2]. The video features the YouTuber lighting his chest hair on fire. As of July 2014, the video has gained over 100,000 views.

Spread

On April 7th, 2013, Viner RolandConstantino^[7] introduced the hashtag #FireChallenge to accompany Vines that involve bringing a flame in contact (or near contact) with your body. As of July 2014, the Vine has gained over 1,000 loops.

On June 7th, 2013, YouTuber Fana Long^[9] uploaded a video titled “Hand sanitizer and fire challenge.” As of July 2014, the video has gained over 2,000 views. On June 24th, 2013, YouTuber 1BlazinEagle1 uploaded a video titled “Nuts & Chest Fire challenge” which featured a group of men lighting their chest hair, leg hair and pants on fire. As of July 2014, the video has gained over 30,000 views.

Media coverage of the challenge increased in late July of 2014, after teenager James Shores died after attempting the challenge in Buffalo, New York^[3] and a teenager in Lexington, Kentucky^[4] was hospitalized for his injuries suffered from attempting the challenge. On July 29th, Live Leak^[8] posted a video of a young man attempting the challenge titled “Fire Challenge Gone Wrong,” within 24 hours the video gained over 80,000 views.

Also on July 29th, 2014, the challenge trend and the injured teens were covered in an article published on Bustle^[5] and The Washington Post.^[6] The following day the challenge was covered by The Daily Dot^[1].

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

“I’m in Me Mum’s Car, Broom Broom” is a quote uttered by British teenager Tish Simmonds in a video clip of herself sitting in her mother’s car that was uploaded to Vine in July 2014. The video quickly went viral and spawned a series of remix videos, mostly due to the awkward, sing-songy manner in which she delivers the quote, combined with her strong Yorkshire accent.

Origin

On July 21st, Viner Tish Simmonds uploaded a video of herself singing the phrase “I’m in my mum’s car” in the driver’s seat of an automobile, to which her mother responds “Get out me car” (shown below). Within two weeks, the video gained over 165,000 likes and 16,000 comments.

Tish: I’m in my mum’s car. Broom broom.
Mother: Get out me car!
Tish: Aww.

Spread

On July 22nd, Simmonds tweeted that she would not be making anymore Vines after being bullied for the videos (shown below).^[4][5]

On July 23rd, Gawker^[2] highlighted a YouTube^[3] upload of Simmonds’ Vine. The same day, YouTuber SalemKhazil uploaded a house music remix of the video, garnering upwards of 130,000 views and 120 comments in the first week.

On July 25th, Viner Allison Asdfghjkl uploaded an edited version of the clip featuring a horrific car accident (shown below). In five days, the Vine received more than 13,000 likes and 2,300 comments. On the following day, a Facebook^[7] page titled “Tish Simmonds” was launched, gathering over 138,000 likes in four days.

On July 28th, Simmonds tweeted the hashtag “#TeamTish,” which had been used by other Twitter users to circulate her videos.^[6] The same day. BuzzFeed^[1] highlighted the original Simmonds Vine along with several notable remixes.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Hijabi Problems refers to the everyday annoyances muslim women have to deal with, specifically problems that arise from their hijab, a piece of cloth observant Muslim women wear to cover their hair. These problems are often lamented, with humor, on Tumblr and Twitter.

Origin

On March 3rd, 2011, Twitter user elnoorE^[1] introduced the hashtag #hijabiproblems to express her annoyance at dealing with her hijabi in the wind.

Spread

On August 21st, 2011, the Tumblr blog hijabiproblems^[1] was created. The blog features examples of awkward questions the Tumblr’s creator and readers had gotten about their hijab.

On April 27th, 2012, the Twitter account HIjabiProbs^[4] was created. As of July 2014, the account has gained over 3,000 followers.

On December 16th, 2012, YouTuber Husna Hadi^[5] uploaded a video titled “Stuff People Say to Hijabis” which is done in the same style as Shit People Say. As of July 2014, the video has gained over 30,000 views.

On May 21st, 2014, Buzzfeed^[6] posted a list titled “28 Struggles Only Hijabis Will Understand,” within two months it gained over 690,000 views.

Yasmeen’s Tumblr

On July 25th, 2012, Tumblr user Yasmeen created her Tumblr blog Yayasmeen^[8]. On July 28th, 2014, she posted a collection of selfies with funny captions and doodles added to them. Within three days the post had gained over 150,000 notes. On July 30th, the selfie post was featured on Buzzfeed^[7].

Search Interest

External References

[This entry needs some general improvments, especially grammatical ones, feel free to edit!]

About

“Goku in Smash Bros” is a popular request to include Dragon Ball’s main character Son Goku in the Nintendo crossover fighting game Super Smash Brothers. The subject, due to the high improbability of actually happening, has become an in-joke in the SSB community to mock cringeworthy and unlikely characters requests.

Origin

Super Smash Bros is a fighting video game franchise developped by Nintendo and featuring a large cast of iconic Nintendo characters such as Mario, Pikachu or Donkey Kong. Since the second entry of the the franchise Super Smash Bros. Melee on GameCube in 2001, the debate of which character should join the roster became a popular subject amongst gamers. This leadt to the creation of several fake screenshots depainting absurdly large rosters including characters not only from Nintendo games, but also mangas, comics, cartoons and movies.

Son Goku is the main character from Akira Toriyama’s cult classic manga Dragon Ball. The character started as a parody of Sun Wukong (aka the Monkey King), the main protagonist of the chinese tale Journey to the West, but became more fleshed out and separate in Dragon Ball Z, the second part of the manga and anime. He has featured in dozens of movies and video games, including several crossovers with other Weekly Shonon Jump characters.

Spread.

The inclusion of Goku in SSB has always been a somewhat common joke amongst gamers but was never taken seriously and the same could have been said for characters like Darth Vader, SpongeBob or Superman. But the inclusion of the non-Nintendo characters Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog in the third installment Brawl on Wii in 2008 started to devide the comunity of the likeness of non video game character to be include in the future. The producer of the games Masahiro Sakurai quickly clarified the situation, stating that only characters originating from a video game and having apparead at least once on a Nintendo console could have a chance. Despite this statement, the character is still an heavily requested character.

With the annoncment of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, the argument came back stronger than ever, espacially due to the rise of social media since the last game and the implementation of the Miiverse community, always strongly reacting to each annoucment concerning the game, and the fact that Bandai Namco, owner of the Dragon Ball franchise, is co-developing the game.

Response

Though nothing have ever been officially confirmed, the inclusion of the Pokémon character Lucario could have been influenced by the Goku requests. The two characters share some notable similarities, including the Final Smash of Lucario in Brawl strongly ressembling a Kamehameha. In Super Smash Bros. 4, Lucario is even dubbed by Sean Schemmel, the iconic voice actor of Goku, who previously portrayed him in the Pokémon movie Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.

On another note, if Dragon Ball’s Goku is still an unlikely character, Nintendo could eventually include their own version Goku in the game, having released in 1989 on Famicom Disk System an adaptation of Journey to the West called Famicom Mukashibanashi: Yūyūki.

Hacks

With the strong modding community of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, numerous hacks have been made over the years, including texture hack, custom stages, musics and character models and movesets. The most popular Dragon Ball related one on Brawl Vault is a complete Goku hack by user Mariodk.

Similar cases

• Ridley– See “Ridley is too big”
• Geno: He is one of the main character from the SNES game Super Mario Bros. RPG. Despite being a fan favorite and coming from a Mario game, the character (as well as all the original characters and music) belongs to SquareSoft (now Square-Enix), thus his inclusion in a SSB game would be as much complicated for Nintendo than a guest character like Mega Man.
• Shadow the Hedgehog: This “darker” version of Sonic the Hedgehog is usually really popular amongst teenagers but more criticized by older audiances. Despite beeing a relatively recent character, his popularity conviced the developers to include him in the game as an Assist Trophy in Brawl and SSB4 instead of a more recurring character like Tails or Eggman. Despite that, he is still a heavily requested character on Miiverse.
• Shrek: with the emergence of the Shrek fandom at the same time as the development of SSB4, numerous pictures and videos of Shrek beeing a confirmed playable character started to appears. Contrary to the aboves exemples, this character request is much more ironic and played for laugh and/or trolling purposes.

Notable Exemples

Search Interest

About

TMZ is a celebrity gossip and news site known for breaking celebrity scandals and releasing videos of celebrities behaving badly. Its ethics, both for what they chose to post and how they get their information, has been questioned.

History

TMZ^[3] was launched in November of 2005^[2] by AOL with Harvey Levin acting as the managing editor. One of the site’s first big stories was Mel Gibson’s anti-semitic remarks^[1] made to a police officer, which they broke on July 28th, 2006. On September 10th, 2007, TMZ TV, a half hour celebrity gossip news program hosted by Levin premiered. As of July 2014, the show has aired five seasons.

Notable Stories Broken By TMZ

Christian Bale Rant

Christian Bale Rant refers to an audio segment released by TMZ, featuring the voice of American actor Christian Bale angrily yelling at Shane Hurlbut, the director of photography for the 2009 film Terminator Salvation. On February 2nd, 2009, TMZ released an unedited audio segment from the set of Terminator Salvation, which features Bale very angrily yelling at Hulbut.

Justin Bieber’s Arrest

On January 23rd, 2014, celebrity TMZ broke the news that Justin Bieber was arrested and taken into custody by the Miami Beach Police Department on charges of driving under the influence, driving with an expired license, drag-racing and resisting arrest.

According to the arrest report first obtained by TMZ, Bieber was pulled over in his yellow Lamborghini by Officer Steve Cosner at 4:13 a.m. in the morning after his entourage reportedly blockaded an intersection for a drag racing strip in downtown Miami Beach. After failing his field sobriety test, Bieber reportedly lashed back at the officer with expletives and admitted to having THC and prescription drugs in his system.

The Donald Sterling Racism Controversy

The Donald Sterling Racism Controversy refers to an ongoing controversy surrounding Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling after a tape was leaked in which he makes racists remarks against African American athletes in the National Basketball Association. On April 26th, 2014, TMZ published a post titled, “L.A. Clippers Owner to GF: Don’t Bring Black People to My Games …Including Magic Johnson,” which featured an audio clip featuring Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist remarks to his girlfriend V. Stiviano.

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.

Jay-Z and Solange Knowles Elevator Fight

Jay-Z and Solange Knowles Elevator Fight was a physical altercation that took place between the celebrity rapper and his sister-in-law in an elevator after attending a Met Gala after-party at the Standard Hotel in New York City in May 2014. The scuffle was recorded on a surveillance camera in the elevator and subsequently released via TMZ, leading to much speculation about the state of Beyonce and Jay-Z’s marriage, as well as the state of their relationship with Solange. On May 12th, 2014, TMZ released an elevator surveillance video clip from the Standard Hotel which apparently shows Solange Knowles, an American singer-songwriter and the younger sister of Beyonce, slapping and punching a man identified as celebrity rapper and her brother-in-law Jay-Z, coming from a 2014 Met Gala after-party in New York City on May 5th, 2014.

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.

About

Auntie Fee is the nickname of YouTuber Felicia O’Dell, who rose to Internet fame for her cooking instructional videos that showcase easy-to-make recipes, with each episode accompanied by her expletive-ridden and funny commentaries.

History

On November 27th, 2013, uploaded a short video to her Facebook page in which she makes a pork loin (shown below).

On July 25th, O’Dell uploaded several new cooking videos to her channel, including a video titled “3 dollars and 35 cents” in which O’Dell demonstrates how to make a meal using Ramen noodles and steak (shown below). In one week, the post gained over 100,200 shares, 6,400 likes and 370 comments.

On July 29th, O’Dell uploaded a video titled “I’m so angry rite now,” in which she responds to those who have left negative comments on her page, claims she served time in prison and shows how to prepare pre-made peach pies.

On July 30th, the Sista Girl YouTuber channel reuploaded the Ramen noodles video. The same day, the channel uploaded a video titled “Sweet Treats for the kids,” in which O’Dell makes several fried pastries (shown below, left). On the following day, an instructional video for making baked chicken was posted on the channel (shown below, right).

On July 31st, three of O’Dell’s videos reached the front page of the /r/videos subreddit.^[1][2][3] In the comings days, several Internet humor blogs highlighted the videos, including Brobible,^[4] Elite Daily^[5] and Awesomely Luvvie.^[6]

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

First Words refers to a text post meme on Tumblr which features a baby beginning to say their first word, their parent assuming it is a common first word such as mom or dad, and the baby finishing the word to reveal it is actually dark or insulting. This format is often used to make jokes within fandoms and is sometimes incorporated into a cartoon.

Notable Examples

About

Pokemon Wearing Glasses is a photo fad that involves putting a pair of eyeglasses on a stuffed Pokemon doll and sharing the photograph online. The meme is believed to have been inspired by an advertising campaign for an officially licensed Pokemon-themed eyewear accessory that was released in July 2014.

Origin

On July 27th, 2014, Instagram user JohnTV^[1] uploaded a photo of a display for Pokemon-themed sunglasses which featured two cardboard Pikachus in glasses with thick black frames, within a week the photo has gained over 50 likes.

Pokemon Sunglasses for Kids

In June 2014, Nintendo teamed up with the Japanese eyewear makers Zoff to introduce a line of officially licensed Pokemon-themed sunglasses for kids, which also comes with a toy replica of the Pokeball. The product wasreleased across Japan on July 19th at a retail price of ¥3,500, or approximately $35 in USD (shown below).

Spread

On July 29th, 2014, Kotaku^[2] published an article titled “Pokémon Wearing Glasses Is a Meme” which cited JohnTV’s photo as launching the meme and included a roundup of notable examples found on Twitter. On July 30th, Fashionably Geek^[3] published a post titled “Pokémon Wearing Glasses Is An Adorable New Meme.” On July 31st, the official Facebook page^[4] for Nintendo 3DS Singapore posted images of the meme asking their fans:

“Pokemon wearing glasses is now officially a meme because they look so good in them. What do you think?”

Notable Examples

External References

About

Tombstone Parodies refer to various images of gag names or epitaphs inscribed on gravestones that are often shared online, including both untouched photographs and photoshopped images.

Origin

The earliest known examples of humorous tombstone epitaph were highlighted on Colorado resident June Shaputis’ personal website Webpanda^[1] in 1998 (shown below).

Spread

On October 3rd, 2006, The Magic Cafe Forums^[2] member Marvello submitted a thread containing “funny Halloween tombstone names.” On July 19th, 2007, the pop culture blog Oddee^[7] published a round-up of notable joke tombstone pictures. On March 2nd, 2008, the facts and trivia website Mental Floss^[3] highlighted 10 photos of humorous celebrity tombstones (shown below).

On January 27th, 2010, the Internet humor site Holy Taco^[6] published a compilation of 25 humorous tombstone photographs. On February 28th, 2011, Funny or Die^[4] featured a slideshow titled “The Most Badass Tombstones Ever.” On September 19th, 2012, the Internet humor blog Mandatory^[5] published a photo gallery of humorous tombstones. On July 29th, 2013, Redditor thumz submitted a photograph of a tombstone for the Red Power Ranger to the /r/pics^[8] subreddit, where it gained over 3,200 votes (96% upvoted) prior to being archived.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

According to Google Trends, the search interest for “funny tombstone” seeks a spike around October every year, mainly due to its cultural association with the celebration of Halloween in the United States.

External References

About

Scarfolk Council is an alternate reality website which presents itself as the official blog of Scarfolk, a fictional town located in North West England where time has ceased to pass beyond the year 1979. Since its launch in February 2013, the blog has ran a series of elaborately designed vintage product advertisements, book covers and public service announcements that are truly reminiscent of an authentic, small-town community in England during the 1970s, albeit with some dark and mysterious elements that suggest otherwise.

History

The Scarfolk Council Blog^[1] was created on February 4th, 2013, by Richard Littler. The first post published, titled “Practical Witchcraft Today,” features the cover of fictional vintage book titled Practical Witchcraft Today: How to Hurt People.

The description of the blog, included underneath the title reads:

“Scarfolk is a town in North West England that did not progress beyond 1979. Instead, the entire decade of the 1970s loops ad infinitum. Here in Scarfolk, pagan rituals blend seamlessly with science; hauntology is a compulsory subject at school, and everyone must be in bed by 8pm because they are perpetually running a slight fever. “Visit Scarfolk today. Our number one priority is keeping rabies at bay.” For more information please reread."

A book based on the blog titled Discovering Scarfolk will be released in the fall of 2014.

Media Coverage

On May 17th, 2013, TOR^[6] published an article titled “Welcome To Scarfolk… Hope You Survive.” The site was covered by The Independent^[8] on April 17th, 2013, and The Laughing Squid^[7] on July 9th, 2013. On July 31st, 2014, The Daily Dot^[9] published an article titled “Welcome to Scarfolk Council, an eerie alternate reality imagined in blog form.”

Online Presence

As of July 2014, the blog’s official Facebook page^[3] has gained over 6,000 likes and its Twitter account^[4] has gained over 2,000 followers. Its YouTube account^[4] has gained over 400 subscribers. As of July 2014, its most popular video titled “We Watch You While You Sleep,” which was uploaded on February 19th, 2014, has gained over 14,000 views.

News Media Coverage

Search Interest

External References

About

Lurking Ashley Cole is a photoshop meme based on a cutout image of the English professional soccer player taken from an official photograph of his team, the Italian club A.S. Roma, in which the famed defender is shown standing apart from the rest of his teammates.

Origin

On July 29th, 2014, the @PaddyPower^[1] Twitter feed posted a photograph of Cole standing awkwardly to the side of his new football club AS Roma (shown below, left). That morning, the @PaddyPower^[3] posted a photoshopped image of Cole standing in the crowd in the 2010 Cigar Guy photograph in which Tiger Woods is shown hitting a golf ball directly at the camera (shown below, right)

Spread

That day, additional Twitter users began posting photoshops featuring Cole lurking to the side in other base images. Also on July 29th, The Independent^[2] published an article about the photoshop meme, which highlighted several notable examples from Twitter. On the following day, Cole retweeted a photoshopped image in which he is shown lurking through a window behind his ex wife Cheryl Ann Fernandez-Versini (shown below).^[4]

In the coming days, several news sites reported on the photoshop meme and Cole’s controversial retweet, including The Independent,^[5] The Daily Record,^[6] The Daily Mail,^[7] The Mirror^[8] and The Huffington Post.^[9]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

LifeCall Informercial Parodies are a series of short sketch videos on Vine and YouTube spoofing a well-known 1980s TV commercial for LifeCall, an American personal emergency response service mainly geared towards senior citizens with mobility problems, in which an elderly woman named Mrs. Fletcher uses the LifeCall pendant device to call for paramedics by yelling “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up” after having fallen in the bathroom.

Origin

The LifeCall commercial which features the line “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up” was first aired in 1989, and first uploaded to YouTube by YouTuber HauntedGeorge^[1] on August 10th, 2007. As of July 2014, the video has gained over 1 million views.

On September 12th, 2013, a parody of the commercial titled “Ghetto Life Alert!” was uploaded by YouTuber DashieXP^[3], as of July 2014, the video gained over 380,000 views.

Spread

The first LifeCall parody uploaded to Vine was posted by Viner rham^[4] on February 27th, 2014, which has gained over 190,000 loops as of July 2014. In less than six months over 6,000 Vines^[6] have been tagged #lifealert.

On April 7th, 2014, Funny or Die^[7] uploaded a video titled “Life Alert Remix” which featured the original commercial autotuned to sound like a club song. As of July 2014, the video has gained over 40,000 views.

On July 31st, 2014, AdWeek published an article titled “Kids on Vine Are Weirdly Obsessed With Spoofing ’I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up’ Mrs. Fletcher would be proud.” On August 1st, The Daily Dot^[5] published a post titled “Teens love spoofing the ‘Life Alert’ commercial on Vine” which featured a roundup of the Vine parodies.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Shadbase is a sexually explicit art and webcomic site operated by illustrator Shaddai Prejean (a.k.a. Shadman), who is known for creating various “rule 34” depictions of fictional characters.

History

On July 10th, 2009, Shadman created an account on the entertainment portal site Newgrounds,^[3] where he began sharing his original artwork. Shadbase.com^[1] was launched on October 15th. On March 28th, 2010, the Shadman YouTube^[9] channel was created, which features speed drawing videos by the artist (shown below).

On January 29th, 2011, the Shaddai Prejean Facebook^[2] page was launched, garnering upwards of 11,200 likes in the next five years. On October 7th, YouTuber Lyle McDouchebag uploaded a parody video in which he impersonates Shadman and demonstrates how to illustrate a nude cartoon character using only scribbles on a touch pad (shown below). In the first three years, the video gained over 1.04 million views and 3,500 comments.

On July 9th, 2012, Redditor Middy13 submitted an animated GIF comic by Shadman featuring the Team Fortress 2 pyro to the /r/tf2^[5] subreddit (shown below, left)

On January 22nd, 2013, the @shadbase^[4] Twitter feed was launched, gaining over 8,400 followers in the next two years. On March 29th, Shadman launched the Shadbase Tumblr^[8] blog, highlighting many of his original artworks. On July 15th, 2014, Shadman’s rule 34 comic featuring the characters Violet and Helen Parr from the 2004 animated film The Incredibles was submitted to the /r/rule34^[7] subreddit, where it accumulated upwards of 2,100 votes (92% upvoted) in the next three weeks.

Features

The Shadbase website features a webcomic archive, art gallery, video gallery, web forum, store and a link to the Shagbase spin-off site which contains the most explicit of Shadman’s works.

Traffic

As of August 2014, Shadbase has a global rank of 8,731 and a United States rank of 2,898 on the traffic analytics site Alexa.^[6]

Search Interest

External References

W.I.P. Please request editorship if you’d like to help

About

Tin Foil Hats refers to a type of fashion accessory made out of aluminum foil that are usually worn under the belief that it protects the user from mind control, electormagnetic fields, and mind reading, tin foil hats have also been stereotyped to be a fashion accessory for conspiracy theorists both online and the real world

Origin

In 1717, non-freemasons began suspicion on the brotherhood, and suggested that the Freemasons were using mind control on them ^[1], soon forming a club called the “Mad Hatters”, the members eventually found out about the protective properties of aluminum foil, and began making hats out of it

Spread

In 1927, Julius Huxley published the short sci-fi story “The Tissue-Culture King”, in which one of the characters that caps of metal foil can block the effects of telepathy, the short story is believed to be the first known use of tin foil hats

Notable Examples

W.I.P

Search Interest

External References

^[1]The History of The Tin Foil Hat

About

Bionicle is a line of construction toy action figures created by the LEGO Group.

History

Bionicle, short for Biological Chronicle, was conceptualized after LEGO decided to create a toyline with an overarching story. Following in the tracks of it’s failed predecessors, Slizer/Throwbots^[1] and RoboRiders^[2], Bionicle was first released in Europe in December of 2000 as an online game, before sets were launched in early 2001, reaching North American markets in the summer. The line lasted nine years, creating a large universe and amassing a large amount of fans in its wake.

Reception

Though initially facing some resistance from within the company thanks to its new storyline-based format and more war-themed premise, the line was well received upon release, making £100 million ($161.7 million) in its first year^[3]. It also went on to receive Toy of the Year Award for Most Innovative Toy in 2001 from the Toy Industry Association.

Impact

Bionicle had a large impact on both the LEGO Group and the general public. Stephanie Lawrence, the global director of licensing for Lego, stated “We’ve created an evergreen franchise to complement the many event-based properties on the children’s market. An increasing number of category manufacturers want to tap into the power of the Bionicle universe, and the key for us now is to manage the excitement to stay true to the brand and the lifestyle of our core consumer.”

Since its launch, toy critics have said that Bionicle has changed the way children think and play with Lego products by combining “The best of Lego building with the story telling and adventure of an action figure”. Toy statistics have revealed that 85% of American boys aged 6–12 have heard of Bionicle while 45% own the sets.

Fandom

Over the years, Bionicle has amassed a a large following, the most of which discuss and celebrate the series on forums and wikis such as BZPower^[4] and BIONICLEsector01^[5], though a large presence has been noted on sites such as Tumblr^[6] and deviantArt^[7]. Quite a few stopmotion and live-action series have been created on YouTube^[8] using official Bionicle sets and fan-made creations, in a similar vein to Brickfilms.

Search Interest

External References

^[1]Wikipedia – Slizer/Throwbots / 1-22-2006

^[2]Wikipedia – RoboRiders / 9-9-2006

^[3]The Telegraph – Lego: play it again / 12-17-2009

^[4]BZPower / 7-20-2002

^[5]BIONICLEsector01

^[6]Tumblr – search results for ‘bionicle’

^[7]deviantArt – search results for ‘bionicle’

^[8]YouTube – search results for ‘bionicle’

(Note: this entry is in development and I would appreciate help in making this.)
About
OFF is the critically acclaimed French surreal adventure RPG made by Mortis Ghost.
Origin
The game OFF was made by french-man Mortis Ghost (Which he is called on Deviantart). Off was made with RPG Maker 2003. It gained more popularity when the game was translated to English in 2011.
Plot
The games starts with the player, or “puppeteer” as the game says. The player has full control over a being called “The Batter”.
The objective of the game is to “purify” all three zones by defeating their guardians, which also keep the world from being turn into nothingness.