About

Tao Lin is an American author and poet well-known for his unique style of approach to short fiction, poems and online essays, which eventually became closely associated with the alt.lit movement. Since making his literary debut in 2006 with the publication of you are a little bit happier than i am (2006), the author has published three novels, two books of poetry and a collection of short stories in print, including Eeeee Eee Eeee (2007), Shoplifting from American Apparel (2009) and Richard Yates (2010).

Career

In 2006 Lin published his first book^[11], a book of poetry titled you are a little bit happier than i am. In 2007 he published two bookstitled Eeeee Eee Eeee and Bed. He followed those up with cognitive-behavioral therapy (2008), Shoplifting from American Apparel (2009), Richard Yates (2010) and Taipei (2013).

Online History

On November 30th, 2007, Vice^[10] published Lin’s semi-autobiographical novella “Shoplifting From American Apparel.” Since then, Lin has continued to work with the magazine as a regular contributor of op-ed articles and essays. On June 2nd, 2010, Thought Catalog^[12] published Lin’s article “Marina Abramović, “The Staring Woman at MoMA." Lin went on to write more than fifty pieces for the site.

Accusation of Sexual Assault

In September 2014, Lin became involved in a controversy after he was accused of sexual assault. On September 25th, 2014, Twitter user alonewiththeTV^[3] (known as Ellen at the time of the relationship with Lin, now a trans-man going by ER) sent out a series of tweets accusing Tao Lin of forcing her to have sex with him and otherwise abusing her during their relationship, which occurred when she was sixteen and Lin was twenty-two.^[2] On October first, Tumblr user saramountain^[4] posted screenshots of the Tweets, within 48 hours the post gained over 9,000 notes.

Lin countered some of the accusations in a Facebook post which has since been made private, which explains that he did have sex with Ellen when she was sixteen and he was twenty-two, but he never forced her and maintained a strong personal and working relationship with him until this year.

On October 2nd, ER tweeted^[5] that Lin was planning to sue him for “character defamation.”

Also on October 2nd, Buzzfeed^[6] published a post titled “Tao Lin Responds To Abuse Allegations On Facebook” which featured a quote from Lin in which he explains:

“In the relationship, in 2006, I was, I know, a shitty person (but I only had consensual sex with someone who, in PA, was not a minor), which I documented in the novel Richard Yates.”

Social Media Presence

As of September 2014, Lins’ Twitter account^[7] has gained over 25,000 followers and his Facebook page^[8] has gained over 5,000 likes. His Instagram account^[9] has gained over 3,000 followers. On July 14th, Flavorwire^[1] named Tao one of “The 35 Writers Who Run the Literary Internet” which explained:

“Lin has used the Internet in ways that people will probably study ten or 20 years down the line (if they aren’t already).”

Search Interest

External References

About

#FeelingNuts, also known as the Feeling Nuts Challenge, is a hashtag campaign and photo fad aimed at encouraging men to get checked for testicular cancer on a regular basis. While the hashtag was officially launched in April 2014 to promote the Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, the campaign saw a notable resurgence in early October as a spin-off of the Ice Bucket Challenge, which also coincided with the beginning of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Origin

On April 10th, 2014, the UK-based testicular cancer prevention and support group Check One Two^[3] launched the hashtag #FeelingNuts to promote the Testicular Cancer Awareness Month and encourage men to regularly check themselves for testicular cancer.^[1]

Spread

On June 12th, 2014, the Check One Two YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Are You #FeelingNuts”, urging viewers to share pictures of themselves grabbing their genitals with the hashtag #FeelingNuts to raise awareness about testicular cancer (shown below).

On August 28th, actor Will Arnett tweeted^[10] a photograph of himself holding his crotch, which gained over 1,000 favorites and 230 retweets in the next month.

On October 1st, actor Hugh Jackman tweeted^[2] a photo of himself and three other men clutching their genitals, while publicly challenging actor Neil Patrick Harris, talk show host Michael Strahan and comedian Ricky Gervais to do the same (shown below, left). That same day, Gervais replied to the tweet^[4] with a photograph of himself flipping off the camera while grabbing his crotch and nominated former Star Trek cast member William Shatner to join in (shown below, right). In the first 24 hours, the tweets garnered upwards of 1,900 and 790 retweets respectively.

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the photo fad, including Time,^[5]CNN,^[6] Complex,^[7] Just Jared^[8] and UpRoxx.^[9]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Not available

External References

About

Beale came under public scrutiny after publishing his 2009 paper “There Is No Marital Rape”, in which he states that rape between married persons is impossible^[1]. He reasoned that marriage acts as a permanent display of consent, and may only be revoked through divorce.

Vox Popoli

Named for the Biblical phrase Vox popoli, vox dei, Vox Popoli is Beale’s blog and primary publishing outlet. The site currently ranks 7,104 in most visited domain within the United States, and has accumulated upwards of three million views in 2014.

Philosophy

Beale is a proponent of the philosophy of racial realism, which states that one’s race directly correlates with their ability to think and create. At the top of the proverbial pyramid are white persons, with black persons at the bottom, with Hispanics, aboriginals and Asians forming strata in between.^[3]

Additionally, he holds that, second to women’s suffrage^[1], atheism and autism are the greatest causes of moral degradation in the Western world. He asserts that the two are one and the same, controversially stating “the anti-religious socially autistic crusaders[…] simply cannot understand that your religious beliefs, whatever they might be, are no legitimate concern of theirs. High Church atheism may be little more than a mental disorder taking the form of literal autism.”^[2]

On the game industry

Beale is an outspoken critic of women in video games, both as characters and as developers. In his proposal for First Sword, a gladitorial fighting game featuring orcs and trolls, he asserts that the game will not include any female characters to preserve the game’s historical plausibility^[4]. His reasoned “women cannot credibly fight as gladiators. We don’t put women in the game for the same reason we don’t put bunny rabbits or children in the game.” He further stated that female gamers are a non-existent demographic and should not be given serious thought in developing games^[4].

Beale suggested the proper solution to the Gamergate crisis is to counter-attack the movement’s critics with threats and vulgarity^[5]. His suggested “we have to punch back twice as hard. Trash back twice as hard. They’re not used to it. They can’t take it. They freak out when we simply point out the observable fact that Zoe Quinn aka Chelsea Van Valkenburg is a slut, and, allegedly, a whore.”^[5]

Authorship

Beale’s most famous work, The Irrational Atheist, declared expressed atheism to be directly in conflict with science and the natural world. The book received praise from Christian publishers, particularly the National Review.

Beale served as a lifetime member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and ran for president of the organization in 2013. After failing to secure the popular vote, he was defeated by N. K. Jemisin. Beale, a explicit supporter of white superemecy^[3] and repealing women’s suffrage^[8], was outraged to find a black woman took the position from him. In response, he hijacked the organization’s Twitter account and called her “an educated, but ignorant half-savage”. He was promptly expelled from the guild^[6].

In 2014, Beale’s short story Opera Vita Aeterna was Hugo Award nominated for Best Novelette. The novelette came in sixth place out of five stories, losing 855-1232 to a placeholder entry.^[7]

Search Interest

External References

^[1]Vox Popoli – There is no marital rape 9-26-2009

^[2]Vox Popoli – Scientific American and social autism 5-21-2010

^[3]Vox Day – Live free or else 11-5-2007

^[4]Vox Popoli – Why we don’t put girls in games 2-17-2014

^[5]Vox Popoli – Escalating #Gamergate 9-22-2014

^[6]Locus Online – Beale Expelled from SFWA 8-14-13

^[7]The Hugo Awards – 2014 Hugo Award Statistics

^[8]World News Daily – THEREALASSAULT ON SCIENCE 3-10-2008

^[9]Amazon – The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, And Hitchens 2-9-2008

WIP

About

Hasbro Inc. (formaly been derived from Hassenfeld Brothers) is a toy, board game and animation production company founded on United States of America, Rhode Island.^[1]

Early History

The company has started its early business with the said name Hassenfeld Brothers; most of the product were school supplies, such as pencils by the mid-1920s.^[3]
The company changed its direction to the toy manufacturing by 1930s.

Highlights

My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a Canadian/American flash cartoon series, developed for television by Lauren Faust with Studio B Productions’s association. Fans outside the show’s target demographic, especially teen and adult male fans, have come to be known as “bronies”. Female fans of the show may also be referred to as “pegasisters”.

Transformers

Transformers is a toy franchise created by children’s entertainment company Hasbro. The story itself involves sentient robots who have the ability to change shape. These robots come from the planet Cybertron, which has been ravaged by civil war between two factions, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons.

Monopoly

Monopoly is a tabletop game series based on capturing the entire market and property locations, meanwhile developing them with homes and hotels in order to be the last stander against each other and the bankruptcy.

Scrabble

Scrabble is an American board game in which players attempt to create words using only the wooden letter pieces left on the board by other players and the seven wooden letters they have pulled at random.

Magic The Gathering

Magic the Gathering (or mtg for short) is a popular trading card game in which you play as a powerful wizard who casts spells to fight the opposing wizard.

Hasbro and Wizard Of Coast have collabrated on September 1 2011^[5] to launch new comic book series based on Magic The Gathering universe.

G. I. Joe

Potato Head

Risk

Search Interest

External References

This article is a W.I.P.
<!-- needs a bit of more information. chances of entry getting deadpooled (in percentage) is about 62%. -->

About

The Dubstep Gun is a fictional weapon that, when used, is meant to fire pulses of energy synched up to dubstep music.

History

CorridorDigital

The first instance of the Dubstep Gun traces back to YouTube special effects collaborator CorridorDigital^[1] that posted this video on August 19, 2011, which demonstrates how the weapon would be used during a gunfight. As of October 2014, the video gained over 16,000,000 views.

Saints Row 4

Another instance that managed to put the aforementioned weapon on the map was on the video game Saints Row 4. It is an unlockable weapon that uses the same basic concept, with the inclusion of an improved design and 3 variations of it containing different songs.

This video by YouTuber GamingMistress^[2] showcases the weapon’s variations in the game. The video earned over 1,000,000 views as of October 2014.

Reception

Since Saints Row 4 was released, people took advantage on making a Minecraft mod about the weapon as well as making a full-size replica of it.

Search Interest

External References

Princess Sarah(小公女セーラ Purinsesu Sēra) is a 1985 Japanese anime series produced by Nippon Animation which was based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, A Little Princess.

The anime originally premiered as part of Nippon’s World Masterpiece Theater, and was later broadcast by Animax in Japan and several other countries, especially in Southeast Asia, where an English dub was aired. Princess Sarah was also translated into several languages, including French, Italian, German, Arabic, Tagalog and Spanish.

Plot

Directed by Fumio Kurokawa, the series was made to be faithful to the original source material, doing away with the artistic liberties introduced with the 1939 Shirley Temple film, although it spanned 46 episodes and introduced new scenarios and characters exclusive to the anime. As mentioned earlier, the premise remains the same, with nine-year old Sara Crewe attending a boarding school run by Miss Minchin. Things seemed well during her stay, but Minchin grew jaded at the girl, and when Sara’s father went bankrupt and died from fever, Minchin used it as a leverage against Sara and mistreated her by any means possible. In spite of this Sara took it as an inspiration for her to stay positive, persevere and overcome her trials.

Reception

Owing to the anime’s inspirational and educational premise, Princess Sarah gained a following in Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. In Saudi it was shown in Arabic and aired in various stations across the country, while in the early 1990s Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN aired a Tagalog-dubbed, or in local parlance, “Tagalized”, version of the series under the title Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa. The latter was so widely received that it spawned two locally-produced adaptations of Burnett’s novel, one a 1995 feature length film shot on location in Scotland^[1], and a 2007 fantasy-drama serial starring child actress Sharlene San Pedro.^[2]

Online presence

Princess Sarah Image Macros

In September 2014 a series of exploitable image macros using stills from the anime circulated on Facebook, Tumblr and other social sites, and spawned a fan page^[3] dedicated to the meme.

The macros either depict her as having a strange obsession with potatoes, similar to Senyora Santibañez and her preference for corned beef, or in a random, off-character or at times explicit context ala-60s Spiderman, usually with modern popular cultural references such as iPhones and local jokes thrown in the mix.

Footnotes

^[1]Child actress Sharlene San Pedro gives life to “Princess Sarah”

^[2]Sarah… Ang Munting Prinsesa

^[3]Princess Sarah Memes on Facebook

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About
Made by Jeremy Scott and Chris Atkinson, Cinemasins is a Youtube series that is well known for its main video series “Everything Wrong With…” that humorously points out flaws in movies. The channel has over 3 million subscribers and 457 million video views so far.

Origin
Jeremy and Chris made Cinemasins and started their first “sins” video in December 11, 2012 titled “Everything Wrong With The Amazing Spiderman In 2 Minutes Or Less”

Videos
Their most popular upload at the moment is “Everything Wrong With Frozen In 10 Minutes Or Less”. The video has over 10 million view so far.

They have many other videos pointing out mistakes in other movies that are also well received.

They have also pointed out the flaws in their own channel.

Search Interest

About

LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. On the Internet and in the English-language media, the term has been generally used to refer to the community of the aforementioned gender minorities and advocacy for the advancements of their civil rights, most notably in the issue-areas concerning same-sex marriage, adoption and homophobia.

Online History

Fuck You Anti-hate Collaboration

Fuck You Anti-hate Collaboration is a series of LGBT lipdub tributes to Lily Allen’s 2008 anti-hate single “Fuck You (Very Much).” Sung to cheerful, musical-type music, the song’s lyrics directly address racists and homophobes as generally small-minded and culturally unprincipled people.

On May 4, 2009, Australian YouTube user "\steviebeebishop put a video called BIGFATGAYCOLLAB! online, which consisted of members of the international LGBT community lip dubbing to the song.

“It Gets Better”

It Gets Better Project is a social media campaign launched by American author and gay rights advocate Dan 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.

Red Equal Sign

Red Equal Sign is a banner image of an equality sign based on the official logo of The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest LGBT equality-rights advocacy and lobbying group in the United States. In March 2013, more than 10 million Facebook and Twitter users replaced their profile avatars with the logo in support of same-sex marriage.

“Santorum” Googlebombing

Santorum is a term that has been popularly defined as “byproduct of anal sex.” It was first conceived and coined by American columnist Dan Savage and his readers in an effort to publicly shame the former Republic senator Rick Santorum for the anti-gay remarks he made during an interview with the Associated Press in April 2003. The term still remains as the top result for Santorum’s name on several search engines, including Google, Bing and Yahoo, as of September 2011.

Notable Episodes

George Takei Calls Out Anti-Gay Arkansas School Board Member

George Takei Calls Out Anti-Gay Arkansas School Board Member is a viral video featuring a public service announcement message by George Takei, a Japanese American actor best known for his supporting role as “Hikaru Sulu” in the sci-fi TV series Star Trek and political activism in advocacy of Gay rights. The message is specifically addressed to Clint McCance, a Arkansas School Board member who posted a series of highly homophobic comments on his Facebook page in response to recent the school-wide LGBT rights campaign.

Audio (mp3 link):“You Are, A Douchebag!”

Chick-Fil-A Gay Marriage Controversy

On January 4th, 2011, Metro Weekly published an article titled "Is “Chick-fil-A”: restaurant against gay rights?", which reported that the anti-gay marriage organization Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI) listed American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A as a co-sponsor of two marriage conferences. On January 6th, Chick-fil-A posted a statement on its official Facebook page, downplaying the company’s relationship with PFI by claiming it only provided sandwiches to the marriage seminars.

Oreo’s Gay Pride Cookie Controversy

On June 25th, 2012, a picture of an Oreo cookie with six layers of frosting in the colors of the rainbow flag was posted on Kraft Nabisco’s Facebook page.^[1] The image was accompanied by the captions “June 25 | Pride” and “Proudly support love!” in recognition of LGBT Pride Month in the United States. The Facebook image post was instantly met by polarized opinions between supporters and critics of gay marriage, quickly escalating into a lengthy debate of more than 23,000 comments in the first 24 hours. As of December 11th, 2012, the Facebook post has accumulated more than 297,700 likes, 90,700 shares and 60,400 comments.

Daniel Pierce Coming Out Video

Daniel Pierce Coming Out Video refers to a video Daniel Pierce, a nineteen-year-old from Georgia, which was uploaded to YouTube and shows his father and stepmother abusing him after he told them he is gay. After the video went viral a crowd funding campaign for Pierce’s living expenses gained over $100,000.

Duck Dynasty Controversy

Phil Robertson’s Anti-Gay Comment, better known as The Duck Dynasty Controversy, refers to a controversial statement made by the star of the A&E reality TV series Duck Dynasty on the subject of homosexuality in a feature interview with GQ in December 2013.

Barilla’s Anti-Gay Controversy

On September 26th, 2013, Guido Barilla, the chairman of the Italian food company Barilla Group, stated in an interview on the radio show La Zanzara that the company would not consider using gay couples in advertisements for their pasta brand because he does not agree with their lifestyles. He went on to emphasize the importance of what he considers a traditional family, stating “If gays like our pasta and our advertising, they will eat our pasta; if they don’t like that, they will eat someone else’s pasta.”

Pat Robertson’s Gay AIDS Ring Controversy

Pat Robertson’s Gay AIDS Ring refers to a video clip of the conservative Christian talk show host claiming that some in San Francisco’s gay community intentionally try to spread the HIV virus by cutting each other with special rings. The video saw a surge in popularity in late August 2013 after Robertson failed to have it removed from YouTube, resulting in the blowback phenomenon known as the Streisand effect.

Related Memes

Sassy Gay Friend

Sassy Gay Friend is a YouTube series created in 2010 by the online team of the Chicago-based improv company The Second City. The series starred actor Brian Gallivan as the titular character who visits famous characters from literature and film, as well as a handful of historical figures, to give them advice from the perspective of a over-the-top stereotypical homosexual male.

Boyfriend Twins

Boyfriend Twins is a single topic blog dedicated to curating photographs of male couples who resemble each other as if they were brothers. Boyfriend Twins^[1] was launched on April 6th, 2014 by a Tumblr user who wishes to remain anonymous. In an interview with BuzzFeed^[2], the creator said he decided to start the blog after discussing the concept with a friend, initially dubbed “doppelbangers,” in order to “start a conversation about narcissism, exhibitionism and sexuality."

Notable Figures

George Takei

George Takei an author and actor known for playing the character Hikaru Sulu in the science fiction television series Star Trek and his strong online presence in advocacy of LGBT rights.

Neil Patrick Harris

Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor best known for portraying the title character in the ‘80s TV series Doogie Howser, M.D. and Barney Stinson in the 2000s sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Outside of his acting career in television and musicals, Harris has garnered a large following online for his active social media presence and advocacy of LGBT rights as an openly gay actor.

Tyler Oakley

“Tyler Oakley”: is a YouTube vlogger and online activist best known for his advocacy for the LGBT community and humorous commentaries on popular culture and social media. He was also a member of the YouTube channel Five Awesome Gays^[1] that ran from 2008 to 2011.

FCK H8

FCK H8 is an online store and activist organization promoting tolerance of the LGBTQ+ community. The group has garnered attention for its celebrity endorsements, as well as criticism for commercially exploiting the movement and blatantly pandering to young adults with provocative slogans.

Search Interest

External References

About

Bill Maher is an American political commentator, pundit and television host well known for his aggressive atheism and tendency to say politically incorrect things.

Career

Maher made his first TV appearance in 1983 in a special titled The 8th Annual Young Comedians Show. He went on to appear in several more specials throughout the ’80s, and ’90s with extended runs on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Hollywood Squares. He hosted his political commentary show Politically Incorrect from 1993-2002, and Real Time with Bill Maher from 2003 to 2012. In 2008, he released his documentary Religulous, which earned a 69% on RottenTomatoes.^[9]

Online History

9-11 Comment

A week after the terrorist attack of 9-11, Maher spoke about the attack on his show, saying:

“We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.”

I Am Not a Witch

Prior to her political affiliation with the Tea Party movement, Republician senate candidate Christine O’Donnell worked as a political commentator promoting conservative Christian values in a number of major news media outlets, including Bill Maher’s 1990’s late night talk show Politically Incorrect. During the 2010 special election to fill Vice President Joe Biden’s vacated Senate seat in Delaware, O’Donnell’s interviews from that time were brought back into the political spotlight by Maher on his HBO talk show Real Time, as he threatened to air one clip per episode until she appeared on his new show. On the September 17th, 2010 episode of Real Time, Maher selected a portion from an October 29th, 1999 episode of Politically Incorrect where O’Donnell admitted to dabbling in witchcraft while in high school (shown below, left). On October 4th, 2010, in effort to do damage control after backlash from that commentary, O’Donnell uploaded a simple ad (shown below, right) to her official YouTube channel, Christine4Senate, stating that she is not a witch and is a normal person, just like her constituents.

Maher vs Ben Affleck

On October 3rd, 2014, Ben Affleck appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher.^[4] During a segment which featured a debate on whether western liberals should feel comfortable criticizing sexism and radicalism within Islam, Affleck and Maher got in a heated debate, with Meher saying liberals should criticize them, while Affleck said he was stereotyping. The same day YouTuber PumpedToWatch^[5] uploaded the clip to his channel, within a week the video gained over 4.1 million views.

The television debate sparked an online debate. On October 6th, Salon^[3] published an interview with Maher, who avoided talking about the segment, saying when the topic came up:

“You know, I don’t want to talk about this. You just said we’re not going to talk about this and now we’re talking about it.”

The video and surrounding controversy were covered the same day by several other websites including Us Magazine^[6] and TIME.^[7]

Social Media Presence

As of September 2014, the Maher’s Twitter account^[1] has gained over 2.7 million followers and his Facebook page^[2] has gained over 2.5 million likes.

Search Interest

External References

This Entry isW.I.P.

About

Samurai Champloo is an animated series created by Manglobe in 2004. The series is set in the Edo period of Japan and follows a woman named Fuu, Who comes along the path of two samurai named Mugen and Jin. Who she made promise them to help her find a samurai who “smells of sunflowers”.

Characters

Fuu is the insatiable adventurer. Whether it be food or venturing she just can’t stay away either. Her main goal is to find “the samurai who smells of sun flowers”, and to confront her father for leaving her and her mother. Her adventure began when the tea shop she worked at burned down, giving her courage to start her journey since nothing was holding her back. She made Mugen and Jin agree to follow her on her quest after she won a coin toss. Only one problem, Mugen and Jin were in the middle of a duel that wasn’t finished. So she has to find the samurai and her father, all while keeping Mugen and Jin from killing themselves, or each other.

Mugen is the loose cannon and always looking for a fight. He’s known in the series for using an unorthodox break dance fight style, and being the wise cracker who plays by his own rules. Most often being a pervert around women and picking fights with people he doesn’t like.

Jin, is the polar opposite. The prodigy of his master’s dojo and a master swordsman who uses the traditional style of fighting. However Jin is very cynical and shy when it comes to being social. He’s an enemy of everyone at his dojo for killing his master. Which puts him in a constant battle with assassins and students of the same dojo.

Reception

During its time. Samurai Champloo was a must watch for any Anime enthusiast or somebody new to the field. It was most notable for sporting an urban, hip-hop-esque style of theme. Similar to that of the long running series, The Boondocks. The show was such a hit. That after its finale, fans wanted to have another season. Even though the story that was promised was over. Many other Anime’s in the following years have tried in taking the route that Samurai Champloo had. With never getting too serious about the story and having funny, memorable events.

(W.I.P Major Rewriting Will Be Done)

About

A fandom is a social group based around a particular interest and comprised of individuals who share that interest. On the internet, the term is typically used to refer to the fans of media franchises. It is often associated with fanfiction, as well as fan-made art and music.

History

Fandoms have been around long before the internet, with fans of the Sherlock Holmes novels writing fanfiction and holding public demonstrations of mourning after Holmes was killed off in 1893.

Western, Sci-Fi, Furry, and Anime/Manga fandoms have also been around longer than the internet.

Fan Activities

Cosplay
Shipping
Conventions
Fanfiction
Rule 34

List of Notable Fandoms

A Song of Ice and Fire fandom
Beatlemaniacs (fans of The Beatles)
Browncoats (fans of Firefly)
Bronies (fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
Deadheads (fans of Grateful Dead)
Furries (fans of the furry genre)
Janeites (fans of Jane Austen)
MSTies (fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Parrotheads (fans of Jimmy Buffett)
Potterheads (fans of Harry Potter)
Sherlockians (fans of Sherlock Holmes)
Stargate fandom
Star Wars fandom
Tolkien fandom
Trekkies (fans of Star Trek)
Whovians (fans of Doctor Who)

Search Interest

External References

About

Thug Life Kids is a series of YouTube videos in which preadolescents say foul-mouthed expletives, followed by a freeze frame and fade out to Dr Dre’s 1992 gangsta rap song “Nuthin’ But a G Thang.”

Origin

The earliest known instance of the “Thug Life Kids” series, titled “Thug Life (nerf gun review,” was uploaded by YouTuber lolonym on June 13th, 2014. In the video, a young boy opens up a monologue of a toy gun review, before he trails off and says “I don’t know what it’s called… maybe it’s called fuck you.” (shown below)

Spread

External References

^[1]Reddit – /r/UnexpectedThugLife

Working in Progress. My apologies for the mess.

About

NSFW-Comix, or sometimes Not Safe For Work Comix is a adult humor webcomic and Newgrounds flash parody series created by a person with a nickname known as Cybersp0nge.

Origin

Cybersp0nge started the webcomic website NSFW-Comix around May 2005 with a purpose. That purpose is to make NSFW-Comix a place for adult jokes way too dirty. He started making comics on May 15th, 2005, and flash animations at Newgrounds on June 1st, 2005.

Spread

By the time he posted The Ultimate Orgy, a parody of The Ultimate Showdown, with lyrics by Patrick Smythe on August 8th, 2006, Cybersponge gain a lot of fans, praise, and popularity. The Ultimate Orgy made Daily 4th Place and the day after, Tom Fulp calls it the “Best. Spoof. Ever.”. Cybersp0nge continues to do other award winning flash parodies (along with his webcomics) on Newgrounds.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

On July 17th, 2011, Cybersp0nge started doing some parodies of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic after he found out about the popularity and fandom.

My Little Parody: Friendship With Benefits is Magic

On April 22nd, 2012, Cybersp0nge posted a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic flash parody on Newgrounds and its current project called My Little Parody: Friendship With Benefits is Magic. Fans have been asking Cybersp0nge a lot about the project and current updates. Cybersp0nge stated it will be complete at the end of 2014.

External References

^[1]NSFW-Comix – NSFW-Comix

^[2]Tumblr – Cybersp0nge AKANSFW-Comix on Tumblr

^[3]Tumblr – Ask Cuthwald

^[4]Tumblr – My Little Mod Blog

^[5]Newgrounds – NotSafeForWork

^[6]Newgrounds – The Ultimate Orgy

^[7]Newgrounds – The Omega Kowai Cuthwald Song

^[8]NSFW-Comix – My Little Pony: Friendship With Benefits is Magic

^[9]Newgrounds – Dakimakura For Christmas

About

Evil Goddess MOCCOS (Japanese: 邪神モッコス, Jashin Mokkosu) is a nickname given to a figurine which was bundled with the limited edition package of a J-RPGXenosaga Episode II^[1] released by NAMCO in 2004. This infamous figure is the progenitor of an online parody faith to “Evil God” among the Japanese and the Chinese/Taiwanese otaku people.

Origin

The special limited edition of the video game, Xenosaga Episode 2 Premium Box Set, was released on June 24th, 2004. Its price 17,800 Yen (About $166 at the rate at that time) was 3 times as expensive as that of the normal edition, and what made almost $100 difference between these editions was the figures of KOS-MOS^[2], an android lady and the key character in this trilogy (shown below, left). However, the figures revealed at the release date were quite clumsy and its painting was awfully rough (shown below, center & right). It’s known that Namco outsourced the figures production to a Japanese media company Enterbrain.

On the same day as the releasing date, a Japanese figure freak posted a quite acrimonious review for the figures to his website.^[3] That review said “It’s terribly bad, sucks, nothing more than industrial junk.”, “No movements or facial emotions.”, “Is this a horror figure?” and “Enterbrain, Do not move into figure productions again!”.

This severe review for the poorly-made figure was soon shared on the web via Futaba Channel (2chan), 2channel and several popular otaku hub sites. Shortly after, the figure’s sinister look was likened to Evil God, and people began to poke fun at the figurine with the nickname “Evil Goddess MOCCOS”. “MOCCOS” comes from an anagram for the android’s name, “MOCKOS”, and it sounds quite stupid to Japanese sensibilities.

Spread

The fame of MOCCOS spread from Futaba along with many of its parody photos and gif animations made by Futaba users. 2channel users made horrific Shift-JIS arts and flash movies for MOCCOS as well. Those creative works were archived in a web page specializing for the phenomenon launched in the following month.^[4] By the help of internet users creativity and playful mind, the figure didn’t fall into a mere subject of online mockery but instead it succeed to establish the “Evil God” personality as subject for awe.

MOCCOS Shift-JIS arts by 2channel users

The online fame of MOCCOS is not only described in joke encyclopedias such as Nico Nico Pedia^[5] and Uncyclopedia^[6] in several languages but also mentioned in Wikipedia articles.^[7][8]

Evil God as Title

By the huge impact of MOCCOS, it became to a manner of otaku people to give the title of “Evil God” to extremely poorly-made figures. The famous subsequent Evil God figures are “Evil Goddess Inphyy” (邪神Inphyy) from the Taiwanese limited edition of XBOX360 title Ninety-Nine Nights^[9] released on May 24th, 2006 and “Evil Goddess Silmeria” (邪神シルメリア) from the Japanese limited edition of PlayStation2 title Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria^[10] released on May 24th, 2006 and “Evil Goddess Saber” (邪神Saber).

Left: Evil Goddess Inphyy | Center: Evil Goddess Silmeria | Right: Evil Goddess Saber

Particularly, this “Evil God” manner became familiar to Chinese/Taiwanese otaku people because 2 of these Evil Goddess were born in the Chinese-speaking area. Parody ceremony videos for praying over the “Evil God” figurines were shot by Taiwanese otaku people in those days (shown below). Additionally, another name for Balancing Sasuke figure “Evil God Sasuke” comes from this naming manner, too.

Official MOCCOS Parodies

Evil Goddess MOCCOS owns the official parodies by the developer Monolith Soft and Namco Bandai Games (NBGI). A secret boss monster “Arma Prototype M” in Monolith Soft’s 2006 title for GameCube Baten Kaitos Origins^[11] is known as a homage to MOCCOS. Though its looks is completely different, it has the same special attack with KOS-MOS, and it’s named “Evil X-Bluster” (十字邪光線, Jūji Jakousen) in the Japanese edition. And the in-game field guide describes that the monster’s power is infused from the “wicked” god.^[12] In addition, several characters in NBGI’s 2008 Nintendo DS title Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier^[13], where KOS-MOS made a guest appearance, order her to “curse” the enemies or call the android lady as “Evil God” openly in some scenes.

Various Examples

Photos & Illustrations

Flash Videos

Search Interest

External References

About

“Stevie Wonder is not Blind” is a tongue-in-cheek online conspiracy theory claiming that the American musician Stevie Wonder faked being blind his entire career.

Origin

On November 14th, 2005, Gov Teen Forums^[6] member mikeduff919 submitted a thread titled “Is Stevie Wonder 100% Blind?”, in which forum member Kard replied that he had seen an interview in which musician Boy George claimed he had been strangled by Wonder at a party.

Spread

In 2007, a post stating that Stevie Wonder was faking blindness was submitted to Yahoo Answers.^[1] In 2008, a Yahoo Answers^[2] post was submitted which claimed Wonder was not blind and drove a bus. On July 23rd, 2011, YouTuber rafael cma uploaded a video titled “Is Stevie Wonder really blind?”, showing footage of Wonder appearing to lean into a falling microphone while performing on stage with musician Paul McCartney (shown below). In the first four years, the video gained over 100,000 views and 40 comments.

On February 29th, 2012, YouTuber Jay Bav uploaded videos of ESPN television host Bomani Jones discussing the arguments behind the conspiracy theory (shown below).

On April 3rd, 2014, the Bold Symmetry Wordpress^[3] blog published an post titled “Is Stevie Wonder Really Blind?”, which highlighted several online sources claiming that Wonder was pretending to be blind. On August 6th, TMZ^[5] published footage of retired professional basketball player Darryl Dawkins claiming Stevie Wonder could see. On October 2nd, Gawker^[4] published an article titled “Stevie Wonder if not Blind: The Truther’s Case”, which outlined claims made by conspiracy theorists. On October 6th, The Daily Dot^[7] published an article about the online Stevie Wonder “truthers.”

Search Interest

External References

About

Twin Peaks is an American TV drama series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch that follows an investigation of the murder of the high school homecoming queen Laura Palmer in the fictional town with the same name in the state of Washington. Often cited as one of the top-rated shows of the 1990s and a milestone in David Lynch’s screenwriting career, Twin Peaks has continued to remain highly relevant in pop culture through the emergence of a cult fan base online and occasional tributes in other TV shows, films, video games and song lyrics.

Premise

Set in the strange, fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington, the series follows the murder investigation of Laura Palmer (played bySheryl Lee), the town’s homecoming queen, headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan), who manages to uncover a series of paranormal secrets about the victim’s friends and family members, and eventually, all the citizens of Twin Peaks at large.

History

The pilot episode of Twin Peaks premiered on April 8th, 1990. During its original run on ABC for two 15-episode seasons between 1990 and 1991, the series enjoyed critical acclaims both nationally and internationally; however, due to the declining viewership, the series was ultimately cancelled following the airing of the second season finale on June 10th, 1991. On October 6th, 2014, it was announced^[3] that the show will air a third season on Showtime sometime in 2016.

Reception

The show earned a rating of 9 on IMBD^[1] and a score of 96 on Metacritic.^[2] The show won three Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series (Drama) and Best TV Show (Drama). It was also nominated for 18 Primetime Emmys.

Fandom

On April 15th, 2010, the subreddit r/twinpeaks^[8] was created by redditor demote, as of October 2014, the subreddit has gained over 7,000 readers. As of October 2014, DeviantArt^[4] has over 5,000 pieces of fan art tagged Twin Peaks. Fan run Tumblr blogs dedicated to the show include twinpeaksgifs^[6] and twinpeaks.^[7] As of October 2014, the show’s Facebook page^[5] has gained over 750,000 likes.

Related Memes

Twin Peaks Harlem Shake

On February 13th, 2013, Official Comedy’s YouTube channel^[10] uploaded a video titled “Harlem Shake: Twin Peaks Edition feat. Kyle MacLachlan” which featured many Twin Peaks references in a video performing the Harlem Shake. As of September 2014, the video has gained over 190,000 views. The video was covered by several websites such as The Mary Sue^[9] and io9.^[11]

Search Interest

External References

About

Pimp Squad Baby is a viral sensation that stemmed from a recorded KBTV interview of Donna Goudeau; a Texas woman charged with aggravated robbery. Her, along with 2 other individuals; Keyron Elmore, and Jeremy Goudeau were connected to the armed robbery of Juan Sustiata, a pipefitter working in the area.

According to authorities, the three were accused of forcing their way into a room at the Driftwood Inn in Port Arthur on July 20.

They then beat and stabbed the 73-year-old Juan Sustiata who was staying in the room, stole numerous collectors’ coins from him and used his debit card to withdraw money from an ATM, according to court documents.

Donna was arrested that day and the now infamous news interview was shot as she was being placed in the squad car. As she is being led out, she proclaims her innocence saying “They said I drove a getaway car, but I can not see. I am legally blind.”

At some point her gender is confused by the reporter which leads her to proclaim “I’m from Port Arthur Texas, and I’m a Female!” After that point she is sitting in the car while the police officer allows her to smoke a cigarette while she continue’s to claim her innocence. After that the officer closes her door and drive off presumably to the police station.

According to Texas court records, Goudeau was sentenced to serve 18 years on July 20, 2011. She currently has about 15 years left and is still locked up in Gatesville, Texas^[1].

Spread

Even though the original video was from 2011, it recently gained popularity after clips from the interview began appearing on Instagram^[2] and Youtube^[3]. Soon after, the video went viral partly due to Donna’s notable quotes which have now become catchphrases such as “Momma I love you. P.O.P. Hold it down. Pimp Squad baby FORLIFE!” There have been a surge of parody videos and macros mocking the situation. Popular urban news site World Star Hiphop even posted a remix by rapper Beat King utilizing clips from the video^[4].

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Refrences

^[1]The Port Author News – http://www.panews.com/news/local_news/article_40fec093-ee45-52d1-8da6-d4844475b277.html?mode=jqm

^[2]Websta Instagram Search – http://websta.me/tag/pimpsquadbaby

^[3]Youtbe – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pimp+squad+baby

^[4]World Star Hip Hop – http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhjkOiewp6llbB090e

About

#WakeUpCall is a hashtag fundraiser campaign for UNICEF in which the participant posts a selfie immediately upon waking and pledge to donate money to help the children displaced by the ongoing civil war in Syria, then challenge three others to do the same, similar to the nomination method used in the Ice Bucket Challenge for the ALS foundation.

Origin

On October 6th, 2014, UNICEF’s UK Twitter account^[4] introduced #WakeUpCall with an instructional message urging people to share a wake-up selfie and donate to the international organization’s humanitarian efforts for the refugee children in Syria. Within 48 hours, the hashtag was tweeted out over 11,000 times.

Spread

Several prominent English celebrities tweeted #WakeUpCall selfies. On October 6th, Tom Hiddleston^[6] tweeted a selfie, and on October 7th, Hugh Grant^[5] tweeted a selfie.

On October 7th, Buzzfeed^[1] published a round-up of #WakeUpCall selfies titled “Celebrities Have Started A New Morning Selfie Craze Called #WakeUpCall.” It was covered on the same day by several websites including Refinery29^[2] and The Telegraph.^[7]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References