About

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

Origin

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

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

Spread

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

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

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

Search Interest

External References

Overview

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

Background

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

Notable Developments

Compromised Machine Reports

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

Apple Statement

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

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

Search Interest

External References

About

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

About

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

History

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

Windows 10

[Researching]

Related Memes

Blue Screen of Death

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

Delete System 32

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

Microsoft Sam Can’t Say Soi

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

Microsoft XP Bliss Wallpaper

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

Windows 7 Launch Party

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

This article is W.I.P

About

Dingo Pictures is an German animation company that has gathered infamy for it’s badly-animated low-budget knock-offs of Disney movies^[1]. In addition, the voice acting is usually terrible, involving only one or two voice actors per movie. Being horrible, they have become a popular subject for “Lets Watch” types of videos.

Reception

Dingo Pictures has gathered a small fandom for it’s movies “So Bad It’s Good” effect. As mentioned earlier, they are a popular subject of “Lets Watch” videos.

Fandom

Dingo pictures, and it’s American division “Phoenix Games”, have been the subject of a lot of YouTube “Lets Watch” videos. In addition, clips of their movies are used frequently in YouTube Poops.

Related Memes

Yee

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

Epic Head Bobbing Guy

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

Related Subcultures

Phoenix Games

Phoenix Games is Dingo’s American branch, publishing their movies and games based on them.

Search Interest

External References

About

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

Acting Career

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

Online History

Fandom

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

Jim Carrey’s Message to Emma Stone

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

Related Memes

What is Love

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

Sellotape Selfie

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

Alrighty Then

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

h4. Did Someone Say…

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

Lady Gaga ft. Jim Carrey

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

Search Interest

External References

About

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

History

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

Premise

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

Reception

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

Fandom

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

Related Memes

Screams Internally

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

Bromance

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

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

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

Online History

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

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

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

Reputation

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

Notable Videos

Search Interest

External References

About

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

History

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

Online Presence

Pandemic 2

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

Plague Inc.

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

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

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

Related Memes

Shut Down Everything

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

Search Interest

External References

About

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

Acting Career

Girls

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

Online History

Vogue Cover

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

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

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

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

and screenwriter Diablo Cody adding,

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

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

Search Interest

External References

About

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

Origin

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

Spread

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

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

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

Search Interest

External References

Overview

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

Background

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

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

Notable Developments

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

Occupy Central with Love and Peace

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

Censorships

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

Search Interest

External References

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

^[2]Wikipedia – 2014 Hong Kong protests

About

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

Origin

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

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

Spread

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

Aaron Rodgers’ Tribute

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

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

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

Online History

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

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

Slur Controversy

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

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

She also published her answer, which read:

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

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

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

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

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

Sam Pepper Controversy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Social Media Presence

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

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

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

Orgin

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

About

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

Origin

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

Spread

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

Related Memes

Innocence of Muslims

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

Search Interest

External References

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]

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