[Editor’s Note: This entry is currently being monitored by staff researcher(s) for the latest developments. Feel free to join the research efforts by requesting editorship.]

About

Making a Murderer is an American web documentary series that recounts the story of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who served 18 years in prison after being convicted of rape and attempted murder of a local woman, then exonerated and released as a result of DNA analysis in 2003, only to be subsequently convicted of the murder of a local photographer and sentenced to life in prison. Upon its Netflix premiere in December 2015, the documentary was immediately met with critical acclaims and reinvigorated public interest in the case.

History

The series was co-created and filmed in the states of New York and Wisconsin over the course of a decade by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, a duo of filmmakers who began the project as graduate film students at Columbia University after learning about Steven Avery’s case through a New York Times article in 2005. Following the completion of the post-production process, the documentary was picked up by Netflix as a ten-episode original series and premiered on December 18th, 2015, with the simultaneous release of the pilot episode via YouTube that same day (shown below).

Background

The ten-episode series follows the story of Steven Avery, a resident of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, who served 18 years in prison from 1985 to 2003 after being wrongfully convicted of rape and attempted murder of a local woman named Penny Beernsten, with a particular focus on his legal battle against Manitowoc County following his exoneration by DNA analysis in 2003. Later on, the series also highlights the case of Brendan Dassey, Steven Avery’s teenage nephew who is charged with, and eventually convicted of, being a conspirator to the murder of another local woman and photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005.

Online Presence

On December 17th, the eve of the premiere date, the official Twitter account for the Netflix series was launched. On December 23rd, the official Facebook page for the show was created, accumulating nearly 100,000 likes within first two weeks.

Reception

Online Reaction

Upon its premiere on December 18th, 2015, Making a Murderer immediately became a trending topic on Google Search and several major social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Reddit, as well as drawing the attention of the Anonymous hacktivist collective and prompting the launch of “Free Steven Avery” petitions on Change.org^[17] and WeThePeople.^[18]

Search Interest

External References

About

Garfield Kart is go-kart racing game which bears many similarities to Nintendo’s Mario Kart series. Following the its release on the 3DS and the Steam store in 2015, the game was widely mocked online for its unimaginative gameplay, low production value and poorly designed mechanics.

History

On November 7th, 2013, Garfield Kart was released for the PC, Mac, iOS and Android platforms. In the game, the player controls one of many characters from the Garfield franchise while racing go-kart vehicles around various tracks. In the summer of 2015, the game was released on Steam^[4] and on the Nintendo 3DS.

Online Presence

Let’s Play Videos

On October 17th, 2015, YouTuber Jim Sterling uploaded a video titled “Garfield Kart – Oh Just Shit Right Off,” in which he pays the Steam version of the game (shown below, left). On January 5th, 2016, YouTuber OfficialNerdCubed uploaded another Garfield Kart gameplay video (shown below, right).

Steam Sale

On December 22nd, 2015, the /r/steamsaledetectives^[3] subreddit was launched for investigations into rumors regarding the 2015 Winter Steam Sale. On December 31st, Destructoid^[2] reported that Valve had hidden a new alternate reality game (ARG) within the sale. After a /r/steamsaledetective user joked that Valve hid secrets within the game Garfield Kart, many began joking that it was the key to solving the sale’s ARG.^[5] On January 2nd, 2016, the /r/dankgarfieldkartmemes^[6] subreddit was created. The following day, the Garfield Kart Wiki^[1] was created in reference to the Steam sale joke.

Reception

On July 6th, 2015, the Nintendo news site Nintendo Life^[7] published a review of Garfield Kart, giving the game 3/10 stars and describing it as “a bland, horribly un-balanced Kart game.” On September 1st, the gaming news site Hardcore Gamer^[8] gave Garfield Kart a rating of 1.5, criticizing the game as “absolutely dreadful.” On August 15th, 2015, YouTuber Haedox uploaded a review video titled “Garfield Kart: The Worst Game Ever?” (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

About

The Khajiit are a cat-like people from the video game series, The Elder Scrolls. While known for their mercantile skills as well as their abilities in sneaking and thievery, with these tendencies often reflected in gameplay, they are also fondly and memetically remembered for their quirky speech patterns and their tendency to refer to themselves in third person or merely as “Khajiit”.^[1]

Origin

Khajiit are one out of ten playable races in the series, first appearing in the first series entry, Arena in 1994, althought the Khajiit sub-species seen in that game are not very cat-like compared to later entries.

The Elder Scrolls Wiki and series lore confims that there are many different subspecies of Khajiit, and the ones we see are merely the most widespread bipedal variety.

Spread

As Khajiit have been more and more clearly defined as the series progresses, their traits and quirks have become more clear. Accordingly, several of their actions and statements from the most recent game Skyrim warped into memes on the fandom scale. There is a subreddit for Khajiit fans and roleplayers of Khajiit at r/Khajiits.^[5]

Sub-Memes/Derivatives

Khajiit has wares, if you have coin

“Khajiit has wares, if you have coin” is a memetic line of dialogue from the 2011 video game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The meme seems to have spread due to the highly exploitable nature of the line combined with the stereotypes of the Khajiit race.

Skyrim was originally released for consoles and PC on 11/11/2011. The line is often spoken by the non-player Khajiit named Ma’jhad, who is part of a merchant caravan and fence for the Thieves’ Guild, when approached by the player. Due to the travel pattern of the caravan, this encounter will often take place early in the game as the player approaches the city of Whiterun, and was many first-time players’ encounter with Khajiit.

Internet users have been seen photographing their own cats in situations where they resemble Khajiit merchants and captioning image macros with the line. Additionally ‘shitpost’ threads are often spotted on places like GameFAQs where the original post or thread title is merely the line in question recanted.^[2] Google search for ‘Khajiit has wares’ produces over 67,000 results at time of writing.^[6]

Khajiit stole nothing

A similar meme exists along the lines of “Khajiit stole nothing”/“Khajiit is innocent of this crime” which appears somewhat popular due to its similarity to Dindu Nuffin, in which various captivated felines such as lions are shown imprisoned or restrained, with the image captioned to suggest a Khajiit resisting arrest.

This meme references the racial stereotype and prejudice by other races within the Elder Scrolls world that all Khajiits are thieves on some level. ‘Khajiit stole nothing’ turns up approximately 31,000 Google search results at time of writing.^[7]

Skooma

Skooma is a fictional drug within the world of The Elder Scrolls, which is often traded or used by Khajiit. It produces psychedelic effects as a hallucinogen. Although invented by the Dark Elves, its use in-game is often by the Khajiit, and they are more commonly the ones who tend to appear under its influence in fan-created content.^[3]

M’aiq the Liar

A fourth-wall breaking Khajiit who has appeared in multiple entries in the series despite their temporal incongruency; he serves more as a joke character than anything else. He often comments on differences between the current game and previous ones. The Skyrim version of M’aiq implies that M’aiq may be more of a legacy character who always names his child after himself, rather than one entity, but this is unconfirmed since the source is someone who uses ‘the liar’ as an epithet.^[4]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

The United States Gun Control Debate is an ongoing political discourse between those who advocate American citizens’ constitutional right to bear arms and those who demand stricter regulations for possession of firearms, with the primary disagreement resting on the role of the federal government in overseeing the sale of firearms in the interest of public safety.

Background

The Second Amendment

On December 15th, 1791, the First United States Congress adopted ten amendments to the United States Constitution, otherwise known as The Bill of Rights, the second of which guarantees the right for citizens to “keep and bear arms,” or more simply put, personal possession of firearms. At the time of its passage, the second amendment was seen as critical for providing Americans with the ability to defend themselves, organize militias, participate in law enforcement, deter invasions, suppress insurrection and counter tyrannical government.

Regulations

Notable Incidents

A number of major gun violence incidents occurred in years leading up to the 2010s, including the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 and the Tucson mass shooting in 2011. Each event was typically accompanied by a surge of interest in gun control.

Liberator 3D Printed Gun (2012)

On June 4th, 2012, 24-year-old University of Texas law student Cody Wilson founded the organization Defense Distributed with the intent to create a completely 3D-printed, open source gun, which was inspired by gunsmith Michael Guslick’s partially printed rifle. The staff launched the official website that July and released a video (shown below) detailing their ideas to create a “wiki weapon” that would be accessible to anyone. In May 2013, blueprint for the “Liberator” fully 3D printed gun were made available online on May 5th, 2013, they were downloaded more than 100,000 times within four days. On May 9th, 2013, the US Department of Defense Trade Controls requested the files be removed from the database, but were quickly mirrored on various torrent sites.

Aurora Colorado Theater Shooting (2012)

At around midnight (MST) on July 20th, 2012, a masked gunman opened fire during the premier screening of the 2012 superhero film The Dark Knight Rises in a “movie theater in Aurora, Colorado”:http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/aurora-colorado-theater-shooting. According to multiple witness accounts on the scene, the shooter used gas or smoke-emitting canisters to distract the audience before opening fire with a semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and a handgun. The attack killed 12 moviegoers and injured 59 people and the gunman was immediately apprehended after the police arrived on the scene. The shooter was later identified as a 24-year-old James Holmes.

Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting (2012)

On December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza, a 20-year-old resident of Newtown, Connecticut, entered the premise of a the Sandy Hook Elementary School and fatally shot 20 children and six adult faculty members before killing himself. According to the police investigation, Lanza showed up at the school around 9:35 a.m. (ET) dressed in black fatigues and a military vest with two hand guns, two rifles and a semiautomatic rifle , all of which were purchased legally and registered under his mother’s card. Following the incident, many called for new gun control restrictions as a preventative measure against school shootings. In January, President Barack Obama announced plans to curtail gun violence by closing background check loopholes, renewing assault weapons bans and improving mental health services.

Christopher Dorner’s Shooting (2013)

On September 4th, 2008, Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner’ was terminated from the Los Angeles Police Department for filing a false report against officer Teresa Evans alleging excessive use of force. Beginning on February 3rd, Dorner fatally shot and killed four victims across the counties of Southern California over the course of nine days. During the manhunt operation that ensued thereafter, police officers shot several bystanding civilians after mistakenly identifying their vehicles as Dorner’s. The incident led some Los Angeles residents to wear tongue-in-cheek signs proclaiming they were “not Chris Dorner.”

Isla Vista Killings (2014)

On May 23rd, 2014, a 22-year-old University of California student named Elliot Rodger went on a mass killing spree near the “Santa Barbara campus in Isla Vista”:http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/2014-isla-vista-killings, California, killing seven people, including himself, and wounding 13 others. After engaging several police officers on the road and crashing into a parked vehicle, Rodger was found dead in his vehicle with a self-inflicted bullet wound to his head. The next day, Richard Martinez, the father of one of the victims Chris Martinez, made an emotional plea against gun violence in a press conference. That same day, D.C.-based Italian journalist Antonella Ciancio expressed her solidarity with Martinez’ call for action by tweeting out the hashtag “#notonemore”:/memes/notonemore.

Reynolds High School Shooting (2014)

On the morning of June 10th, 2014, Jared Padgett, a student at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon, entered the gym at his school with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun, fatally shooting 14-year-old freshman Emilio Hoffman and injuring physical education teacher Todd Rippler, shortly before ending his own life.

Charleston Church Shooting (2015)

On the night of June 17th, 2015, a lone shooter embedded among the prayers suddenly opened fire in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest black congregations in the Southern United States, during a Bible study session, killing six women and three men all of whom were identified as black. After about 14 hours of an intensive manhunt for the suspect, a 21-year-old man named Dylan Storm Roof was arrested and taken into police custody during a traffic stop on U.S. Route 74 in Shelby, North Carolina.

WDBJ-TV On-Air Shooting (2015)

On August 26th, 2015, news reporter Alison Parker and camera operator Adam Ward were interviewing Moneta Chamber of Commerce employee Vicki Gardner during a live broadcast on the CBS affiliate WDBJ near the Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia. During the interview, former WDBJ reporter Vester Lee Flanagan II walked up to the group and began firing upon them, killing Parker and Ward while severely injuring Gardner.

Umpqua Community College Shooting (2015)

On October 1st, 2015, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office received the first 911 emergency call about a gunman walking through several campus buildings and shooting people indiscriminately at Umpqua Community College in Roseberg, Oregon. The gunman, later identified as 26-year-old UK-born immigrant Chris Harper-Mercer, killed nine people and injured seven others before he died during a shootout with police officers who arrived on the scene. According to multiple witnesses, the shooter reportedly asked several students their religion before shooting them.

Black Lives Matter Protest Shooting (2015)

On November 20th, Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis, who had been in the midst of protesting a police shooting of a young black man named Jamar Clarke, posted that some white supremacists had attended their protest the previous night. They had suspected that the men were scoping out their protest for a future violent action by their behavior, which included filming the protests. Later, the activists found a video made by the men where they brandish guns and threaten the protestors with racist terms, including Dindu, and made a couple of references to 4chan’s /pol/ (Politically Incorrect) board. The activists also found a Pastern where the men were coordinating their plans for violence.

San Bernardino Shooting (2015)

On December 2nd, 2015, the married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik left their six-month-old daughter with Farook’s mother before traveling to the Inland Regional Center wearing ski masks, camouflage and armed with two AR-15 rifles and two semi-automatic pistols. The two opened fire on people in attendance of a holiday party for the San Bernardino County Department of Health, killing 14 people and injuring 21 others. The pair fled the scene and were pursued by law enforcement, ending in a shootout on East San Bernardino Boulevard approximately 1.7 miles away. Both suspects were killed and one officer was injured in the conflict.

Related Memes

Thumbs and Ammo (2013)

Thumbs and Ammo is a single topic blog featuring photoshopped movie stills in which firearms have been replaced with a thumbs-up hand gesture. Following its launch in March 2013, many news sites highlighted the blog as a commentary on the national debate on gun control.

#NotOneMore (2014)

#NotOneMore is a hashtag campaign inspired by an emotional plea against gun violence made by Richard Martinez, the father of a victim of the Isla Vista Killings in May 2014, in which he urged Americans to contact their local lawmakers and ask for stricter gun-control legislation in a press conference held on the day after the tragedy. The hashtag quickly evolved into a grassroots sign-holding campaign on Twitter with participation from celebrities, survivors of gun violence and other advocates of gun control in the United States.

Ai Weiwei’s Leg Gun Pose (2014)

On June 11th, 2014, renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei uploaded an Instagram of himself holding up his one of his legs with both hands while sitting on a chair in nothing but a pair of shorts, socks and a straw hat. The accompanying caption in Chinese read: “Beijing anti-terrorism series.” Due to the lack of context provided by Weiwei as to the meaning of his picture, many of those who saw the image offered their own interpretations, with Chinese bloggers speculating it as a subversive tribute to the Chinese propaganda ballet program Red Detachment of Women in remembering the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, while American followers instilled a message of anti-gun violence using the hashtag #endgunviolence in the wake of the recent school shootings in the United States.

Some of You Guys Are Alright (2015)

“Some of You Guys are Alright, Don’t go to School Tomorrow” is an expression uttered by a 4chan poster believed to be Umpqua Community College shooter Chris Harper-Mercer, warning /r9k/ board readers not to attend school the following day if they lived in the Northwest United States. Following the shooting, many 4chan users posted mock warnings using variations of the phrasal template “Some of you guys are alright, don’t go to X tomorrow.”

Online Presence

[this section is currently being researched; feel free to request editorship]

On Reddit, several communities related to firearms and gun control have been created, including /r/guns,^[2] /r/firearms,^[3] /r/gunpolitics,^[4] /r/progun,^[5] /r/guncontrol^[6] and /r/trueguncontrol.^[7] On 4chan^[8] and 8chan^[10] many gun enthusiasts congregate on the /k/ (weapons) boards. The political website ProCon^[9] contains a detailed section with information about both sides of the gun control debate.

Search Interest

External References

About

Werner Herzog is a Bavarian filmmaker and film producer best known for his dramatic documentaries and narrative films, which often star non-actors or unusual actors in intense situations. Online, he is often noted for his unique narration technique, improbable background, and personality.

Career

Born in 1942 in Germany and raised in a home with no running water, flush toilet, or telephone, Herzog began making films in the 1960s, during college, with a 35mm camera he stole from the Munich Film School. His first feature film, Signs of Life was released in 1968. Since then, he has made one to two films per year, beginning by alternating features and documentary, and later making all of them at once. as of January 7th, 2016, 18 fictional feature films and 27 documentary feature films, plus many short films. In addition, Herzog has extensive acting, screenwriting, and production credits.^[1]

Some of Herzog’s most famous films include Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo (which won the best director award at Cannes in 1982), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1975)_, Grizzly Man, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Fata Morgana, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, and Into the Abyss.^[2]

Herzog’s films, both narrative and documentary, are known for their visceral, intense qualities. Herzog often uses non-professional actors or alternative methods of filming or acquiring film to create a sense that people are not “acting” in the films, but are rather more authentic. Of the actors he has collaborated with more than once, Klaus Kinski is most well known, and the history of their artistic duality is well-documented, including the facts that they have had many fights on set. Herzog has a great appreciation for music, especially operas, which he has also directed; he often uses music to dramatic effect in his films. He often narrates his own documentaries, modifying the action with philosophical pronouncements.^[1]

Werner Herzog has made cameos on many television shows, usually playing himself or a Herzog-like character; these have included both Parks and Recreation, The Boondocks and Rick and Morty.^[4]

Online History

Herzog does not maintain any social media presences, nor does his professional team. A Twitter account, which may or may not be official (it’s not verified) has over 64,000 followers, but has not been updated since 2010.^[5] The Herzog fandom is unstructured, but he has been the subject of many viral videos, including a video, based on an AMA he engaged in with two other directors,^[6] where he revealed that his biggest fear was chickens (below left) and a parody film where an actor imitating Herzog narrated “Where’s Waldo.”

Inspirational Posters

Herzog is known for his slow, methodical way of speaking, and also for the things he says, which can often seem outlandish or extreme. One project to parody this aspect of his persona was the single topic blog Werner Herzog Inspirationals,^[7] which combined Herzog quotes with motivational pictures in the style of Demotivational Posters. Founded on December 6th, 2014, the blog received international attention from news sources like Good and the Independent.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

On January 4th, 2016 Herzog announced^[8] that he had made a documentary about the history of the Internet, a drastic change in subject matter from his other documentaries, which tended to focus on more ancient or ephemeral topics. The film, entitled Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, was set to premiere January 23rd, 2016, at the Sundance Film Festival.

Personal Life

Herzog’s personal life is often a topic of interest, because of its improbability. For instance, his personal history, in which he claims to have never heard music or seen a film until his late teens, is wildly out of step with the career he has created. In addition, his relationships with creative peers and collaborators, have been documented widely, as in the Les Blank documentaries Burden of Dreams about the making of Fitzcarraldo, and Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (below left), about a bet he had with filmmaker and collaborator Erroll Morris. One incident that is well-known is when Herzog was shot on camera during an interview with the BBC; he called the bullet “not significant” and continued with the interview (below right).^[1]

Search Interest

External References

About

“This Poster is a Skeleton”, more commonly used as a snowclone “This Poster is an X”, is an image macro used on various imageboards to point out that the next post will be made by skeleton or whatever else the image alludes to.

Origin

One of the earliest archived examples can be dated back to August 13th, 2014, where an image post on 4chan alluded that the next poster will a skeleton. The following post resulted in an accidental pun about being “dead serious”. On the same day, the screencap of the posts and the replies was posted on r/4chan Subreddit^[1].

Spread

Various Examples

External References

About

Just Cause is an action-adventure video game series featuring the protagonist Rico Rodriguez who battles against totalitarian government forces on various tropical islands. The games are known for their large open areas, destruction objectives and grappling hook weapons.

History

On September 22nd, 2006, Just Cause^[1] was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Windows platforms. In the game, the player controls Rodriguez as he battles against the forces of dictator Salvador Mendoza on the fictional Caribbean tropical island San Esperito. On March 23rd, Just Cause 2 was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One systems. In the sequel, Rodriguez allies with several criminal gangs to cause chaos in the fictional Southeast Asian island Panau.

On November 30th, 2015, Just Cause 3 was released for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems, in which Rodriguez battles against the forces of General Sebastiano Di Ravello, the dictator of the fictional Mediterranean island Medici. The game includes improved grappling hook and parachute mechanics, as well as the inclusion of a new permanently-equipped wingsuit.

Online Presence

On December 25th, 2007, the Just Cause Wiki^[3] was created, garnering upwards of 1,400 pages in the following nine years. On March 20th, 2011, the Machinima YouTube channel uploaded a montage of glitches and bloopers in Just Cause 2 (shown below, left). On July 21st, 2012, the /r/JustCause^[2] subreddit was launched for discussions about the series, garnering more than 11,000 subscribers in the next four years. On March 26th, 2014, YouTuber PewDiePie uploaded multiplayer gameplay footage from Just Cause 2, receiving over 8.02 million views and 16,200 comments in two years (shown below, right).

On December 17th, 2015, YouTuber jacksepticeye uploaded footage of himself playing Just Cause 3 (shown below, left). In less than a month, the video accumulated more than 2.1 million views and 7,400 comments. On January 3rd, 2016, YouTuber ThingsWePlay uploaded footage from Just Cause 3, in which violence and chaos erupts while the player stands motionless in the middle of a street (shown below, right).

Reception

The games have received generally positive reviews, with many critics lauding the games’ open worlds, grappling hook and parachute mechanics. On Metacritic,^[4]Just Cause has a rating of 75 for PC, 73 for Xbox360 and 67 for PS2. Just Cause 2 has a score of 84 for PC, 83 for PS3 and 81 for Xbox360. Just Cause3 holds a rating of 75 for PC, 74 for PS4 and 70 for Xbox One.

Search Interest

External References

About

Whatsapp is a carrier-free messaging app that allows phone-to-phone messaging over the Internet, creating a free method for text-message style communication internationally. The app, which is owned by Facebook, is the biggest messaging app in the world, with over 900 million users as of September 2015.

History

Founded in 2009 by two ex-Yahoo employees, WhatsApp was originally created as a status-showing app, and named due to its linguistic similarity to “What’s Up?”.^[3] When Apple released push notifications for the iPhone in June 2009, WhatsApp enabled them for status changes, and introduced a messaging feature; within a few months more than 250,000 people had downloaded the app.^[1] Later that year, after receiving a seed investment, WhatsApp introduced a version for Blackberry, which allowed Blackberry users and iPhone users to communicate for free via messaging internationally.

The company switched from a free structure to a $0.99/year plan to keep the system from growing too fast. By 2011, WhatsApp was usually found in the top 20 apps list in the iPhone app store. By February 2013, the app had more than 200 million users, and it had doubled that number by the end of 2013; as of September 2015, the app has over 900 milion users.^[1] It is most popular in India, where it has over 65 million users, but people worldwide use it on both Android and Apple phones. In 2014, the company was acquired by Facebook for $19 billion. Many users disagreed with the acquisition, and moved their messaging to competing services like Line and Telegram after a service outage.^[4]

Features

WhatsApp allows anyone with the app to message anyone else with the app, which is common in messaging, but it also allows people with the app to message anyone with a cell phone number as well, but using the smartphone’s wifi connection instead of its cell connection. This innovation freed the phone from international data and text-messaging fees, and made it easier for people to communicate by text messaging to their friends and family in other countries.^[5]

WhatsApp interfaces on iPhone and web.

Highlights

“Los Mensajes del WhatsApp”

In January 2014, Mexican singer Cartel de Santa released a single called “Los Mensajes del WhatsApp,” which gained popularity in Spanish-Speaking cultures worldwide.^[7] As of January 2016, the video has almost 42 million views.

Jo Baka

Jo Baka (જો બકા) is an Indian phrase which roughly translates to “So, my friend”. The phrase, typically associated with the Indian state Gujarat, reached nationwide popularity in 2014 due to a series of image macros distributed via WhatsApp.

Search Interest

External References

^[1]Wikipedia – WhatsApp

^[2]iTunes App Store – WhatsApp

^[3]Forbes Tech – Exclusive: The Rags-To-Riches Tale Of How Jan Koum Built WhatsApp Into Facebook’s New $19 Billion Baby

^[4]Tech Crunch – Mobile Messaging App Line Claims 2M New Users In 24-Hour Period After WhatsApp Outage

^[5]Laptop Mag – How to Get Started with WhatsApp

^[6]Stuff – 21 secret WhatsApp tricks you (probably) didn’t know about

^[7]Remezcla – Cartel de Santa’s Unfortunately Catchy Viral Video: ‘Los Mensajes del Whatsapp’

About

“Mehmet, My Son” is a series of comics featuring a Turkish father asking his son to choose a fiancée in order to start a family. The original strip was consequently parodied with different nationalities and cultures.

Origin

The original comic was first posted on 4chan’s international board /int/ in early 2015, in order to mock a Turkish user post. The comic features a Turkish father asking his son Mehmet if he would choose a Turkish or a Balkan woman to marry, Mehmet chooses the Balkan.

Spread

During the following months, the comics inspired several parodies based on different countries, along with the use of the faces from the original comic as exploitables] One of the most popular versions include an Indian father asking his son where he would prefer to defecate, in reference to the catchphrase “Designated Shitting Streets” used in /pol/ to mock Indian users (shown bellow, left). On August 27th, 2015, FunnyJunk user inquisition posted a compilation of the comics, gaining over 1,100 likes during the following months.^[4] On September 11th, 2015, YouTuber autistic af posted a video version of the comic, gaining over 1,100 views in the following months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Sportsgasm is an Internet slang term for passionate, celebratory reactions to impressive plays and feats of athleticism witnessed during various sports competitions.

Origin

On April 2nd, 2007, Urban Dictionary^[3] user Jamie Douglas submitted an entry for the term “sportsgasm,” defining it as “when the sheer volume and quality of live sport induces a feeling not dissimilar to an orgasm in you.”

Spread

On June 11th, 2010, the web comic Sinfest^[4] published a comic titled “Sportsgasm,” in which a character proclaims that a sportsgasm is “better than sex” (shown below).

On December 9th, 2014, the Felger and Mazz Vine channel posted a clip of a sports commentator announcing that he experienced “a full-on sportsgasm in my shorts” (shown below).

On January 7th, 2016, Redditor obadetona posted a video of a South Korean footballer Ji-Sung scoring a goal, resulting in the audience shouting “Yeah!” all at once (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post gained over 5,800 votes (92% upvoted) and 1,100 comments on /r/videos.^[1] That day, the /r/sportsgasm^[2] subreddit was launched for videos containing enthusiastic reactions at various competitions.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

“Fish Meme”, also known as Fred or Fishposting, is a popular shitpost relating to the character “Fred” from the TV show Spongebob. Fred is typically depicted with a disgruntled expression, and holding a burger. The meme is also frequently paired with the formula “When you are at the X and someone says they’re the best at X”

Origin

The first instance of the meme was on the subreddit me_irl^[1]. The post^[2] contained an image of Fred with the caption “When you’re at a party and someone says they’re the best at smash.” The post gained 5,997 points (94% upvoted) and 377 comments.

Spread

Notable Examples

External References

^[1]Reddit – Me IRL
fn2. Reddit – Original Post

About

Christian Sonic Fanart refers to fanart of the Sonic the Hedgehog series which heavily features Christian themes. The fanart is typically noted for its bizarreness and is typically considered “cringeworthy”.

Origin

The exact origin of mixing Sonic the Hedgehog and Christianity is unknown. Based on several factors, however, it can be assumed that the “genre” of Christian Sonic Fanart likely originated from the United States, which notably has both a large Christian population, especially in more Southern states, as well as a large Sonic fanbase.

Spread

One of the largest producers of Christian Sonic Fanart is Mobian Ministry, a DeviantArt group which has over 120 members.^[1]

In 2012, Sonic Retro published an article without commentary on the phenomenon.^[2] In January of 2013, reddit user /u/sharkdance posted a gallery of Christian Sonic Fanart to the subreddit /r/cringepics, which gained over 400 upvoted before becoming archived.^[3] On Jully 22, 2014, CollegeHumor published a listicle of Christian Sonic Fanart; two days later, the “genre” was featured in a Cracked article about strange fan art subgenres.^[4][5]

Example Images

Search Interest

External References

About

Tehnoobshow (aka Bob) is a Youtuber known for creating Runescape machinimas with self-referential humor that pokes fun at his status of being a perpetual noob in the game as he ironically calls everyone he meets a noob.

Origin

With the launch of Runescape 2 in 2004 it was considered to be the golden age of the game as there was a large player presence and PVP was a popular activity within a specialized area known as the Wilderness. Machinimas were being made in this version of Runescape and quickly became popular with the community for their comedic entertainment and remain a source of nostalgia.

Series

Tehnoobshow

This series stars its namesake and follows his adventures around the game as he becomes a target of disasters, assassinations, scams and other mean-spirited players because of his perceived weakness from low skills as well as his general gullibility as a noob.
(insert teh evil king video here)

Runescape Gods Exposed

Runescape Gods Exposed is a sitcom series that follows the daily lives of the three main gods of Runescape, Saradomin, Zamorak and Guthix, as they struggle with being stuck on Gielenor and dealing with its citizens. Most of the time. Saradomin and Zamorak bicker about the most trivial things with the mighty warrior GONTHORIAN having to attempt to fix things between the three while Guthix’s mind just wanders off because of his attention span and intelligence of a toddler.

Talking to Famous Noobs

This series documents Bob interviewing various famous Runescape players who are known for their in-game achievements (e.g. high skills, rare collectibles in their possession, evil chicken) or through their work on youtube and having collaborated with Bob.

Bob IRL

Bob IRL was a series that documents the real life of Bob (a stuffed toy monkey) as he struggles with life at home with his housecat while calling everybody and his cat a noob.

Online Presence

YouTube

As of December 2016, his channel. Tehnoobworld, has 181,110 subscribers.

Within the Runescape Community

Being a player since Runescape 2 he is regarded as one of the original famous Oldschoolers and one of the few remaining videomakers as other known players (e.g. Dark Arm3, Maxboison, Excl, Vodka5) have already retired from the game and have moved on to other games or quit entirely. He remains active now on RS 3 mostly and is a link between RS 2 Old Schoolers and Runescape 3 players

He’s got a face only a mother could love: Peanut, a rescue dog with unknown breed origins, was crowned the World’s Ugliest Dog at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, Calif., earlier this week.

The dog’s owner, Holly Chandler of Greenville, N.C., says 2-year-old Peanut is a victim of animal abuse and was injured in a fire, though he’s healthy now, CBS reports.

“He doesn’t have lips anymore,” Chandler says. “His eyelids are also gone, and so he can’t close his eyes, so therefore his eyes water. The tears drain into his nose and so he has nice little snot bubbles because of it. So it’s great, that adds to his character.”

Chandler plans to use the $1,500 prize money to help pay for other pets’ veterinary bills and hopes Peanut’s big win will call attention to animal abuse, the Associated Press reports.

“He’s my baby,” she said. “I guess I don’t see him every day as being that ugly. But I guess the judges thought so.”

People use this image to scare or disgust the viewer. It is also to show a sign of WTF is going on.

((work in progress))

About

Hamilton is a 2015 musical created by Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda. The musical is about the life of Alexander Hamilton and is based on the biography Alexander Hamilton by Rob Chernow.

Origin

Hamilton opened off-Broadway in February 2015 at The Public Theater and later moved to Broadway in August. Critical acclaim and praise for the musical’s soundtrack and casting generated an online interest in the show even before the soundtrack was made readily available to the public.

Spread

Online Presence

“Ham4ham” is the name of special ticket lotteries thrown before certain shows. At these lotteries there will usually be a special performance done by either the cast of Hamilton or by a special guest. Guests have included Lea Solanga, Taran Killam, and George Takei.

Search Interest

External References

The Lakewood Elementary News programs that informed famous celebrities that passed away, suspended, or arrested. But Maria Pappas interviews Mr. Ratburn. She has a stutter during the interview. Maria Pappas, the background character is the main protagonist for Season 20. Her motto, “I’m Maria Pappas, Signing Off!!!”

About

Supreme is a streetwear clothing brand based in Downtown Manhattan, New York. Due to it’s limited releases and low quantities of clothing for sale, the brand has formed a strong aura of hype around their releases.

Origin

The first Supreme store was first opened by James Jebbia in 1994 in Downtown Manhattan. Jebbia had helped create other brands at that time including Stussy and Union NYC. The original logo, which is now one of the stores most popular shirts was based off the art of Barbara Kruger^[1]. The store continued to gain popularity, especially in the New York skating scene. In the early 2010’s, the brand gained immense popularity as Tyler, The Creator of Odd Future gained popularity following his Yonkers single, and the growth of the Odd Future fanbase. Other artists that have worn Supreme in the past include Kanye West, Drake, A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Three 6 Mafia, as well as celebrities including Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, and Kermit the Frog.

Spread

Supreme Resell

Due to the limited quantities and extreme hype, Supreme clothing is sold for high prices, almost always twice the price of retail, on sites such as eBay^[2], and other resellers choosing to use social media such as Instagram, with the #Supreme tag having over 3 million posts^[3] and Twitter. In late 2015, Complex released a documentary discussing the market of Supreme resell. The documentary was released in pieces, and then as a full length video, with all videos in total accumulating over 1,200,000 views.

Online Presence

Supreme is the subject of heavy discussion around the internet, specifically fashion or streetwear sites, based off the price of their clothing and the brands notability. The subreddit for Supreme, /r/supremeclothing has 17,000 subscribers. The store for Supreme clothing, supremenewyork.com is known for how quickly clothing sells out, due to bots.

Google Trends

External References

Editor’s Note: This entry may be offensive to some users. View it with your own discretion.

About

“Designated Shitting Streets” is a catchphrase used to mock India’s open defecation issues, which is employed on some online communities like 4chan in order to make fun of Indian users, also being used as shitposting practise. An associated catchphrase, “Poo in the Loo”, has been used in similar way.

Origin

The earliest use of the phrase comes from a 4chan’s politically incorrect board /pol/ thread submitted on July 13th, 2015, where an Indian user complained about the “India smells bad and is dirty” jokes, claiming that people only defecates on “designated shitting streets” and not everywhere. That statement was consequently mocked in the thread and several compilations of reactions from users were made. The earliest archived use of the phrase can be found on a /pol/ post from July 22nd, 2015.^[1]

Click to enlarge

Background

India is the lead country in open defecation, with near half of the population not using toilets in order to defecate.^[2][3] During recent years, government from India has tried to find a solution to the issue.

Spread

During the following days, the catchphrase started gaining traction on /pol/, being used as reply to Indian posters and any post related to India, and shitposting practises like vertical posting or Lankyposting.^[5] In late July 2015, a Mehmet, My Son version mocking the catchphrase and a post claiming India would be a “superpower by 2020” started circulating on 4chan’s international board /int/, being the first archieved use on /pol/ a post from July 25th, 2015.^[4] On September 16th, 2015, reddit user binaryballsbikers submitted to /r/4chan a reaction compilation from the original thread, gaining near 500 points and over 60 comments in the following months.^[6] On December 26th, 2015, reddit user butthole-scientist asked about the meaning of the catchphrase, gaining over 2,200 points and 360 comments in two weeks.^[7]

Poo in the Loo

On February 14th, 2014, UNICEF India released a song titled “Take The Poo To The Loo” and launched a campaign by the same name in order to fight open defecation in the country, with the music video of the song recieving over 900,000 views in less than two years (shown bellow). However, the campaign was mocked on several online communities like /pol/, gaining traction in early July 2015, the time when “designated shitting streets” started being used.^[8] Since then, it has become an equivalent catchphrase, being used to mock India too.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

“In The End” is a popular rock song by the band Linkin Park, which gained popularity because of it’s widely well known and constantly sung chorus; “I tried so hard, and got so far, in the end it doesn’t even matter”.

Origin

This song is just one of the many from Linkin Park’s first album Hybrid Theory^[2], but was the most critically acclaimed of them all, having as much as 14 million views on YouTube.^[3]

Spread

The most notable spread of this meme would be from the site 4chan where an anonymous user posted a thread about how his friend had almost 30,000 plays of “In The End” on his iTunes. The others in disbelief wanted proof that his friend indeed had 30,000 plays, only for OP to deliver, and shock all the others.

“In The End” obtained more recognition since the song was used in many multiple AMV’s, and because of that, most of the AMV’s featuring this song have about over a million views on YouTube.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External Refereces

About

David Bowie, whose real name is David Robert Jones, was a prolific English musician and songwriter who rose to international fame as a rock icon during the 1970s and 1980s, most notably for his highly successful record albums like The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Heroes and Hunky Dory, amongst many others.

History

Career

Born David Jones in Brixton, England, David Bowie released his first self-titled record in 1967. It wasn’t a hit, and didn’t bear much resemblance to his later music. His first real hits came from his second record, titled Space Oddity, which was released in 1969. It’s title single reached #5, beginning Bowie’s stardom there; true international pop stardom came with his fourth record, Hunky Dory, which had two hit singles: “Changes” and a re-issue of “Life on Mars.” Bowie would go on to release 23 more studio albums after those initial four, including The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Pin Ups, Aladdin Sane, Low and many other hits. In addition, he released 9 live albums, and 46 compilation albums. He also appeared as a guest on albums by Iggy Pop, Tina Turner, Mick Ronson, and Lou Reed.^[2]

Bowie’s career was known for its shapeshifting nature – his records often sounded radically different from each other in style, instrumentation, and content. Bowie was also know for changing his personal style as well, often to fit the album’s theme or vice versa. Ziggy Stardust was not only the name of one of his albums, but also its corresponding persona; in another creative era, Bowie went by the nickname “The Thin White Duke,” a reference to a more straight-laced persona. Bowie was internationally regarded as a fashion icon as well as a musical one, and his costumes and off-stage clothing set trends worldwide. In 2012, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London created an exhibition regarding Bowie as an icon, featuring many of his original costumes and photographs from his own archives.^[9]

Bowie was also known as an actor, especially in the 1980s.^[8] Two of his more notable film roles were in 1983’s The Hunger, in which he played a diabolical vampire, and Jim Henson’sLabyrinth, in which he played Jareth, king of the Goblins. Both these films and others depended on Bowie for their soundtrack, as well.

Personal Life

Bowie was married in 1970 to Mary Angela “Angie” Bowie, and they had a child named Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones in 1971. Despite his marital status, Bowie was well known for embracing his bisexuality and disrupting the much stricter gender norms of the 1970s. In 1972, he declared himself gay in an interview, and was rumored to have had an affair with Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones around this time; however, he also pursued relationships with women, and he is considered an iconic figure to many who pursue lifestyles other than cisgender heterosexuality.

Throughout the 1970s, Bowie had a well-publicized addiction to cocaine, at one point claiming to exist purely on “cocaine, peppers, and milk.” He suffered from several overdoses throughout the middle of the decade, and David and Angie Bowie divorced in 1980. In 1992, Bowie married the Somali supermodel Iman, and they had a daughter together in 2000. The couple has noted publicly that much of the success of their marriage has depended on keeping their personal life private, and have mostly stayed out of the spotlight with the exception of pursuing charitable causes.

Bowie has also been known for speaking out against racism in the music and media industries. After telling a journalist that he “believed strongly in fascism” during his “Thin White Duke” phase (a time during which he was also caught crossing a border with Nazi memorabilia), young British activists formed a movement called Rock Against Racism, calling Bowie and others out for their possibly tongue-in-cheek remarks. After that formation, Bowie reformed, and was repeatedly quoted on record asking MTV and others why they refused to play as much of the work of black artist as of white artists.^[13]

Death

On January 10th, 2016, Bowie died from liver cancer. The news was made public by his various social media accounts,^[4][5] and reported on by news outlets including the New York Times,^[3] the BBC,^[6] and the Independent,^[7] among others.

Online Presence

The domain for the official website of David Bowie was registered at davidbowie.com^[10] on August 6th, 1995, and the website has been actively running since then. In addition to the website, the official Facebook fan page^[11] for the artist was created in May 2008, followed by the launch of his official Twitter account^[12] in May 2009. At the time of his death (as of January 11th, 2016), the Facebook page has garnered nearly 6.4 million likes and the Twitter account has more than 756,000 followers.

Related Memes

Chris Hadfield “Space Oddity” Tribute

Chris Hadfield is a retired Canadian astronaut who is best known for his active social media presence while serving as the commander of the International Space Station (ISS) from December 2012 through May 2013. On May 12th, 2013, the day before his trip back to Earth, Hadfield shared a music video of himself covering David Bowie’s 1969 pop hit “Space Oddity” onboard the ISS (shown below). Within the first year of its YouTube premiere, the music video garnered more than 22 million views.

Search Interest

External References