This article is a W.I.P.
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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 hid a sense of disdain at the girl; she would pretentiously praise Sara due to his father’s social status. 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

Princess Sarah gained a following especially in Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, mostly due to its educational premise and social message. At the time when the series was first released, some have speculated that it, especially with Minchin and Lavinia’s behaviour towards Sara, alluded to numerious bullying incidents in Japan, which was a contentious issue in the country during the 1980s, though director Fumio Kurokawa stated that the series was not necessarily about bullying and any parallels between the incidents and the show were merely coincidental.

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, which has gained over 100,000 likes as of October 2014.

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

About

Cinema Sins is a YouTube channel created by Jeremy Scott and Chris Atkinds which features videos which highlights mistakes, both technical and logical, made by popular films.

Online History

Cinema Sins uploaded its first video, “Everything Wrong With The Amazing Spiderman In 2 Minutes Or Less” on December 11th, 2012. The video was featured on several websites including Wired^[2] and Vulture.^[4] As of September 2014, the video has gained over 7.1 million views.

As of September 2014, the channel’s most popular videos are “Everything Wrong With Frozen In 10 Minutes Or Less” which was uploaded on June 12th, 2014, which has gained over 10.8 million views and “Everything Wrong With The Hunger Games In 3 Minutes Or Less” which was uploaded on January 8th, 2013, which has gained over 10.7 million views.

On April 13th, 2014, The Daily Beast^[7] published an article titled “The Witty Genius of YouTube’s CinemaSins: Everything Wrong with Your Favorite Movie.”

On September 2nd, Screen Junkies partnered with CinemaSins to release a video titled “Everything Wrong with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 13 Minutes or Less.” As of October 2014, the video has gained over 2 million views.

As of September 2014, the subreddit r/CinemaSins/^[6] has over 1,000 readers.

Reputation

As of September 2014, the channel has gained over 3 million views. Its Facebook^[3] page has gained over 10,000 likes and Twitter account has gained over 26,000 followers.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

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)

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

About

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

Origin

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

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

Spread

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

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

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

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

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

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

About

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

History

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

Reception

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

Fandom

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

Related Memes

Shrek

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

DreamWorks Face

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

External Links

About

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

Online History

Savage Love

It Gets Better

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

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

Social Media Presence

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

Search Interest

External References

About

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

Online History

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

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

5 Seconds of Summer Album

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

Derp Con

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

Fandom

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

Search Interest

External References

Overview

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

Background

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

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

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

Notable Developments

Direct Messages on Twitter

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

Hollywood Reaction

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

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

“Stephen’s a good guy in my opinion.”

Search Interest

External References