About

Math Lady / Confused Lady refers to pictures or gifs of Brazilian soap opera actress Renata Sorrah^[1] playing Nazaré Tedeseco in a scene from the telenovela, Senhora do Destino. The pictures are often used as reaction images to express confusion.

Origin

Tedesco is very popular in Brazil, and images of her have been photoshopped into reaction images and image macros. On Facebook, there is a fan page devoted to posting such pictures of her.^[2] The earliest known example of the original gif (shown below) being used as a reaction image is from October 31st, 2013, when UKMix forum poster CrazyCrazy posted the gif with the caption “I’m sure there is better music to hear while you wait for Beywance…”^[3]

Spread

The gif saw light use as a reaction image over the next two and a half years. It began growing in popularity around the summer of 2016. Buzzfeed Portugal^[4] included it as a reaction image in a “top post” on July 29th. A popular post on 9Gag^[5] featured four screenshots from the gif of Sorrah with math equations over her face, captioned “when she tells you she’s 29 weeks pregnant.” The post has over 33,000 points as of October 11th, 2016.

After the math symbols were added, the image and gif surged in popularity, particularly on Brazilian parts of social media, before it grew popular worldwide. On October 2nd, a thread appeared on /r/OutOfTheLoop^[6] asking about its origins.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Explosion Controversy refers to reports that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone batteries were exploding while charging beginning in August 2016, which led to a worldwide recalls and a permanent end to production of the device.

Background

On August 19th, 2016, Samsung released the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in the United States. On August 31st, Samsung delayed shipments of the device in following reports that batteries were exploding while charging in South Korea.^[1]

Developments

First Recall

On September 1st, 2016, the South Korean news site Yonhap^[2] reported that Samsung would be recalling the device worldwide due to the reports of faulty batteries. The following day, Samsung halted all Galaxy Note 7 sales, enacting an exchange program for customers to trade-in their smartphone for a replacement or other Galaxy S7 models. On September 15th, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission issued an official recall of all Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, advising all owners to immediately discontinue use of the devices. On September 19th, Samsung launched a Note7Recall^[3] site, allowing customers to input their phone’s IMEI number to check if their device was likely to be faulty.

Second Recall

In early October 2016, several reports that replacement Note 7 batteries explosions led all five major wireless carries to suspend sales of the devices in the United States. On October 11th, Samsung announced they would discontinue production of the device permanently.

Online Reactions

On September 10th, the “Nigga you just went full plebian” Facebook^[4] page posted a photograph of a burning automobile with caption “When your friend tells you to pass them the Samsung Galaxy Note 7” (shown below, left). On September 12th, Redditor bjrnlxndr posted a photoshopped image of Psi walking away from an explosion in the “Gangnam Style” music video with a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 logo placed in the bottom left corner (shown below, right). In the first month, the post gained over 3,000 votes (89% upvoted) on /r/funny.^[5]

On September 27th, 2016, Redditor Juicy_Pete submitted a photograph in which two fire extinguishers are placed behind a Galaxy Note 7 exhibition to /r/mildlyinteresting,^[6] where it accumulated more than 8,100 votes (89% upvoted) and 500 comments within two weeks (shown below).

On October 9th, the @TheGameArmory Twitter feed posted a video of a Grand Theft Auto V mod featuring Samsung Galaxy Note 7 grenades (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

About

“Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” is a quote from scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist and credited father of the atomic bomb.^[1] Online, it has grown into a popular caption for image macros.

Origin

In an interview about the first test of the atomic bomb, first televised in 1965 as part of a documentary called The Decision to Drop the Bomb, Oppenheimer remarked that upon seeing the test, he thought “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” He was quoting the 1944 Prabhavananda and Isherwood translation of Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita.^[2]

Spread

The quote became one of the most famous in American history.^[3] In pop culture, it has been widely referenced, appearing in films, television shows, video games, and more.^[4] Online, the quote has drawn discussion since as early as 2003,^[5] as people have discussed its significance in American history and pondered about its peculiar grammatical construction.^[6]

The quote has long been humorously applied to images of non-threatening subjects, one of the earliest being “Fluffy,” shown below, who dates back to 2004.^[7]

Memes that have used the quote include Luigi Death Stare, Star Wars, Grumpy Cat, and many more.

Various Examples

External References

About

“Watch Those Wrist Rockets” is phrase said by NPC clone troopers in the Star Wars video game Star Wars: Battlefront II.

Origin

The phrase “Watch Those Wrist Rockets” is a phrase used by the republic clone troopers in the 2005 game Star Wars: Battlefront II. It refers to the wrist rockets built into the Super Battle Droid, one of the enemy units in the game

Spread

Various Examples

Search Interest

Preview Embed (queries with commas won’t work)

External References

About

Lightning McQueen’s Ka-Chow is the catchphrase of the character Lightning McQueen from the 2006 Disney and Pixar film Cars. It began spreading in 2016 as an ironic punchline in image macros on Facebook, iFunny and Reddit.

Origin

In Disney/Pixar’s 2006 film Cars, protagonist Lightning McQueen is a cocky and popular rookie racer in a world of anthropomorphic cars. His catchphrase is “ka-chow.”

Spread

Following the release of Cars, “ka-chow” was primarily used as a reference to the character. The second most popular Urban Dictionary^[1] definition of “ka-chow” describes a male orgasm after oral sex. On May 14th, 2015, Weird Facebook page Family Friendly Memes For The Dankest Of The Tweens^[2] posted a picture of Lightning McQueen with the caption “KACHOW / ~frenchfag.” The post gained only 7 likes, but was reposted to Onsizzle^[3] in the “Dank Memes” entry on July 17th, 2016, where it gained over 300.

Towards the end of August, Instagram thenochillpost^[4] posted an image advising men to start a conversation with a girl using “Kachow” in a post that gained 1,255 likes. On August 25th, the Twitter @DankMemePlug^[5] reposted the joke in a tweet and gained over 4,200 retweets and 6,300 likes as of October 12th, 2016.

Over the course of September, Kachow memes grew popular on iFunny^[6] and Reddit.^[7][8]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Kayla Berg YouTube Abduction Video refers to a horror sketch video on YouTube, which many internet users speculated depicted the abduction of missing teenager Kayla Berg. After police launched an investigation into the video in 2016, it was determined that the footage was faked by the comedy group 2150 Studios and unrelated to the incident.

Background

In August 2009, 15-year-old Kayla Berg from Antigo, Wisconsin went missing after she was dropped off at her boyfriend’s house 24 miles away in Wausau by one of her brother’s friends. In October, a video titled “Hi Walter! I got a new gf today!” was uploaded to YouTube, featuring a man who describes meeting a woman and purchasing things for her at the mall before taking her home. The video cuts to a shot in front of a closed door, which the man opens to reveal a woman bound on the floor crying and pleading to be released (shown below).

Developments

On July 26th, 2016, a Facebook^[4] page titled “Hi Walter Its me Patrick” was created. On August 2nd, YouTuber Walterr’s Horror uploaded an analysis of the video in Spanish (shown below).

On October 9th, Imgur^[7] user TheGeminiTiger posted a gallery containing an analysis of the video and comparing the blurry footage of the woman to pictures of Kayla Berg (shown below).

The following day, the Antigo, Wisconsin Police Department posted a message on Facebook^[3] announcing they had begun an investigation into the YouTube video (shown below). Meanwhile, the local Wisconsin news station reported on the video investigation, in which Berg’s mother Hope Sprenger said that the woman in the footage sounded like her daughter, gave her “chills” and made her “sick to my stomach.”^[5]

On October 11th, Redditor ajwgeek submitted the original video to /r/videos,^[1] claiming that it was being used as “new evidence for case of missing girl.” Within 24 hours, the post gathered upwards of 5,400 votes (74% upvoted) and 2,300 comments. Shortly after, YouTube removed the video for violating the site’s “Community Guidelines.”

Man Identified

That evening, Redditor myCoderAccount replied to a post about the incident in /r/UnresolvedMysteries,^[6] claiming that he discovered that the man seen in the video was a “small-time actor who appears in a few dark humor sketches” (shown below).

Later that night, the Antigo Police Department issued a statement on Facebook^[2] announcing that the video was identified as “100% fake” and had “no connection” to Berg’s disappearance:

2150 Studios Response

On October 12th, the comedy group 2150 Studios published a post on Facebook^[8] apologizing for causing the Berg family distress with the video, claiming they knew noting about Berg’s disappearance they produced the sketch in 2009 (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

About

In a Major/Minor Key refers to a series of videos of popular songs digitally manipulated to be in its opposite mode.

Precursor

On November 24th, 2007, Youtube user Gallas created the first In G Major video, in which he took the intro to Hotel Mario and digitally manipulated the notes to match a standard G Major guitar chord.

The video launched a series of “In G Major” remix videos, as users exploited how creepy the manipulation sounded.

Origin

On October 23rd, 2010, Youtube user M’siou Rigolitch uploaded his rework of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” called “Nothing Else Majeur,”^[1] in which he says he used “‘the rockband multitrack’ and melodyne” to put the song in a major key.

Spread

On June 10th, 2011, a Vimeo account “major scaled”^[2] launched with “Nothing Else Majeur” as their first video. On January 18th, 2013, they uploaded a mix of R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” in a major key (shown below). The video garnered media attention from Vice^[3] and Nerdist,^[4] among others.

On January 29th, 2013, Youtube user Oleg Berg launched a channel devoted to reworking songs into their opposite key when he uploaded a reworked version of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.”^[5] The second video he uploaded that same day was of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and it became one of his most popular works, garnering over 500,000 views as of October 12th, 2016 (below, top left). Some of his other popular reworks include Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” (below, top right), the theme from Tetris (below, bottom left), and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Californication” (below, bottom right).

On May 2nd, 2015, Youtube user Muted Vocal uploaded a video called “5 Horror and Movie Themes in a Major Key,” which took the themes of X-Files, Halloween, Saw, The Exorcist, and A Nightmare on Elm Street and reworked them into a major mode. The video, shown below, was covered by The AV Club.^[6]

Search Interest

External References

About

Geofeedia is a social media intelligence platform which tracks the geolocation of posts made on various social media platforms in real-time. Geofeedia has been controversially used by United States law enforcement to monitor political activists, drawing criticism from civil rights groups.

History

In July 2011, Geofeedia was founded by entrepreneurs Scott Mitchell, Phil Harris and Mike Mulroy.^[4] By 2014, the intelligence platform allowed clients to view social media postings in a defined geographic area in real-time (shown below). In October that year, Geofeedia published a blog post^[6] revealing that the they closed a $3.5 million Series A round of financing, and that the fast-food chain McDonald’s, the computer technology company Dell and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department were using the company’s software.

Surveillance Controversies

On April 13th, 2016, the San Francisco Bay Area news site East Bay Express^[2] published an article titled “Oakland Cops Quietly Acquired Social Media Surveillance Tool,” reporting that the Oakland Police Department had been using Geofeedia to monitor “large public gatherings, possibly including political protests” since 2014. On September 19th, The Daily Dot^[7] reported that they had obtained documents under the Colorado Open Records Act revealing that the Denver Police Department was using Geofeedia (shown below). That day, both Facebook and Instagram cut off Geofeedia’s access to the platforms.

On September 22nd, the American Civil Liberties Union of Norther California published a blog post on Medium,^[3] reporting that Geofeedia was marketing itself to police as a tool to track protesters at demonstrations in Fergusion, Missouri (shown below).

On October 11th, 2016, the ACLU posted a report on their official blog,^[1] alleging that Geofeedia was being used to identify and arrest activists protesting Freddie Gray’s death during the 2015 Baltimore Riots. That day, Twitter suspended access to Geofeedia. Meanwhile, Geofeedia CEO Phil Harris released a statement defending the software, claiming the company is “committed to the principles of personal privacy, transparency and both the letter and the spirit of the law when it comes to individual rights.”^[8]

Search Interest

External References

About
“Buddies” are comic series, that originated from /pol board, on 4chan. Original comic displayed 4 British people (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish) being interacted by a South African shitposter.

Origin
on 12th October of 2016, A comic called “buddies” was submitted in a British thread (brit/pol) to avoid south African spammers and shitposters. Comic was very well received and adored by /pol users.

The comic displayed 4 British people, while having fun, were interacted by SA shitposter, speaking typical /pol replies to other users. Shitposter eventually left them, as they weren’t irritated by him.

Source: http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/92629804

Salty Owner, also known as Chip1234RR, aka chip NFS, legid roadrunner, and also one of the people that broadcast in Rimcast, is a 15 year old person that’s known for exaggerating a lot. Chip1234RR was first banned from the CraptasticJack server due to the matter of fact that he called another admin the c-word, he got banned afterwards. (June) Little to be known, MD01 tried to help him at that time bringing him to his own server. (June) Chip1234RR is also on CarThrottle, and is also known to be a muscle car fanboy, and a Miscief fanboy. His favorite car is the Plymouth Roadrunner, which he claims to be “its one of the best cars ever” of the world. Chip1234RR also hates some Japanese cars, like the Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7/8/9, and the Mazda RX-7 FD3S. His only favorite japanese cars are the Mitsubishi Eclipse (1996, pre-face lift GS-T), Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-R, and the Toyota Supra RZ (MkIV) which he claimed those were overrated. In August 2016, he betrayed MD01 by banning him from the server (hence why owner rank exist), and later he made Rimcast talking crap about him. September 2016, MD01 striked him due to Chip was using a image of his face with earrape and it was spinning for 20 seconds, making the video as bullying and spam. In Skype, Chip1234RR overexaggerated due to the strike that he was given and decided to milk owner rank once again. In October 2016, someone else contacted MD01 with evidence of Chip’s saltyness, making this meme exist.

About

Flash is a character witch happen to be a sloth from Disney animated movie Zootopia:/memes/zootopia.

Origin

[[reassuring]]

Spread

[[reassuring]]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Takahiro Karasawa(BAR Association: Daiichi Tokyo Bar Association, Japanese: 唐澤貴洋) is Japanese lawyer who specializes in online abuse.^[1][2]
He is slandering in 2Channel due to got his client in 2012.
He often is referred a guru(Japanese: 尊師“Sonshi”) on the Internet.
Guru is the best class in Aum Shinrikyo,^[3] It became his nickname by influence of Japanese TV program"NHK Special unresolved incident File.02 Aum Shinrikyo(Japanese: NHKスペシャル 未解決事件 File.02 オウム真理教)".

Why he is slandering?^[3][4]

All starts from the fact that Hasegawa Ryota^[5] identified himself as Yagami Taichi at /livejupiter/ of 2Channel.
He repeated talking himself including tilt and slander while he acted as his handle so he was hated by many BBS user, and he wrote fragmentary information about his day-to-day life to 2Channel.For the above reason, NanJ people’s hostility concentrated toward him, and they began the uproar to make his personal information well known all over the world and many people blamed him.
He couldn’t withstand many abuse for him, so he finally relied on a lawyer, Karasawa Takahiro.^[4]

Disclosure of slander

Karasawa Takahiro had got Hasegawa Ryota’s request, and then he applied for request to delete writing that damaged Ryota Hasegawa to the operator of 2Channel.

Career ^[1]

1978 – He was born in Minato-ku Tokyo.
Mar. 1990 (12) – He graduated from St. Joseph school.
Mar. 1993 (15) – He graduated from Housei 2nd junior high school.
Mar. 1998 (20) – He graduated from Tokyo metropolitan Shinjuku Yamabuki senior high school.
Apr. 1999 (21) – He was admitted to Environmental Information Faculty of Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus.
Mar. 2003 (25) – He graduated from Policy Faculty of Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus.
Apr. 200? (2?) – He was admitted to Waseda Law School.
Mar. 200? (2?) – He graduated from Waseda Law School.
Jul. 2011 (33) – He established Koushin Law Firm.
Feb. 2015 (36-37) – He established Cross Law Firm with Yamaoka Hiroaki.

Koushinism^[6][7]

koushinism(Japanese: 恒心教“Koushin-Kyo”) is internet meme(Parody religion) that his nickname was formed in the cause.
They are called the Koushinist(Japanese: 恒心教徒“Koushin-Kyoto” Meaning: laity of koushinism),and worship him,base is a BBS called “Karakee”(Japanese: カラケー).
They originally was peaceful population, but gradually they began to also do crime such as crime notice and hacking.

Activities of each sect

Their activities are different for each denomination.

Kill faction:Sect seeking to release God’s spirit from the prison of the body, causing the day of salvation to arrive.

Chant faction:Faction to consider trying to meet with the light of salvation to the world by continuing to chant the words earnestly honor God.

Mythology faction:Faction to consider trying to clarify the sense of this world by telling the myth depicting the activity of God

Art faction:Sect considered to try to see the world of God by the creation of music and painting

Scripture faction:Faction that thinks of trying to reach the truth by deeply explore the fact

Approaching intercom faction:Sect by direct contact with God(Karasawa) and prophet(Hasegawa) think of trying to get the gospel of truth

AUM faction:The guru regarded as a reincarnation of the Asahara, revived the former cult sect think of trying to conquer Japan

END faction:Faction that look forward to the arrival of the day of the end by the force of the nucleus

Incarnation faction:Faction to consider trying to feel God more familiar by calling God

Lore faction:Faction to think God can bestow the teaching more deeply to know become ignorant person to try to increase the congregation of God

Sources

^[1]Koushin Law firm | Profile€œ (Japanese)

^[2]Karasawa Takahiro lawyer cross law firm – bengo4.com (Japanese)

^[3]Wikipedia- Guru

^[4]Takahiro Karasawa wiki-Takahiro Karasawa

^[5]Takahiro Karasawa wiki-Hasegawa Ryota

^[6]Takahiro Karasawa wiki-koushinism

^[7]Koushinism official site (Japanese)

About

#Tawawa_Challenge (Korean: #타와와_챌린지 / Japanese: #たわわチャレンジ) refers to Twitter’s hashtag for uploading photos or movies where people are tyring putting a smartphone or something on their chest, which is inspired by an episode in a Japanese webcomicTawawa on Monday / Getsuyōbi no Tawawa (月曜日のたわわ)^[1] written by Japanese mangaka Kiseki Himura. On October 2016, this fad began among Korean Twitter users and was also imported to Japan.

Origin

Tawawa on Monday is a 1-page manga which concept is to heal people on blue Monday by cute illustrations of large breasts girls. Himura, who is also known as the artist for a comic adaptation for Sword Art Online, has continued uploading new episode as his personal activity on every Monday since February 23rd, 2015, and has also compiled it in Doujin books. Its popularity began growing around the beginning of 2016, and an interview to the creator by Japanese online news media ITmedia in August 2016^[2] reported that every new Tawawa posts immediately earned over 20,000 likes and 10,000 retweets, at that point.

On October 10th, Tawawa’s short animated video series started on YouTube, which was produced by NBC Universal. In association with it, the creator uploaded the 86th episode titled “Please watch this, too. OK?” (ちゃんとこっちも見てくださいね？) where a high school girl named Ai-chan is balancing a phone of playing the YouTube video, on her chest. This tweet had earned over 36,000 rewteets and 47,000 likes within its first 4 days.^[3]

Spread

This photo fad of reproducing, or parodying, that Ai-chan’s impressive pose started among Korean Twitter users on the night of October 10th, where it made headline that the YouTube video had been taken down for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.^[4] The first instances using the hashtag was posted by Korean user @Pleasure54 at 11:24 PM (KST) (Shown below).^[5] After a few hours, Japanese Twitter users came to notice this fad by the help of another Korean users @akatuki11 and @Biddunggi who introcuded this fad in Japanese and put the Japanese translated hashtag.^[6][7]

Transcript:

#Tawawa_Challenge

Looking forward to your participation

Many Japanese twitter users, including Japanese idols and sexy models, were participating on the trend. And parody illustrations tagged under this hashtag are also posted to the Japanese illustrators community Pixiv.^[8] This online fad was reported by Japanese online news media^[9] as well as Kotaku in English.^[10]

Various Examples

Tweeter Feeds

Editor’s note: This Twitter timeline may include mature contents.

Search Interest

External References

About

#repealthe19th is a hashtag advocating that the United States Government should repeal the 19th amendment to the US Constitution, which grants women the right to vote. It surged in popularity among Donald Trump supporters in October 2016 following an article on FiveThirtyEight.com that suggested that if only men voted, Trump would with the 2016 United States Presidential Election easily.

Origin

The hashtag first appeared on Twitter on May 4th, 2011^[2] when @RUALegend tweeted “PS – End women’s suffrage NOW #IfwomencanvoteIwant2votes #repealthe19th #19thamendmentisajoke #getoutofmyvotingboothandmakemeatunasandwich.” Over the next five years, it was used predominantly by men to tweet anti-women and anti-feminism remarks.

Spread

On October 11th, 2016, American statistician and writer Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com published two pictures of the United States electoral map, one showing what it would look like if only men voted, the other showing what it would look like if only women voted.^[1] The “only-men” map projected that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would win the 2016 Presidential Election handily, while the “only-women” map projected a landslide win for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

This prompted a spike in Trump supporters tweeting the hashtag #repealthe19th to advocate repealing the 19th amendment to the constitution which grants women the right to vote. This in turn prompted an outpouring of disgust from women and men alike who were outraged at what the hashtag represented, and these sorts of tweets soon dominated the use of the hashtag. The spread of the hashtag was reported on and widely condemned by media outlets, including Bustle,^[3] Buzzfeed,^[4] The New York Daily News,^[5] Uproxx,^[6] The Daily Dot,^[7] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Sexy Halloween Costume Parodies are humorously revealing Halloween costumes associated with a variety of pop culture topics, including film, television, politics and internet memes.

Origin

On December 6th, 2006, CollegeHumor released a parody commercial titled “Girl’s Costume Wearhouse,” featuring women modeling a variaty of “sexy” costumes (shown below). Within 10 years, the video gained over 2.8 million views and 3,000 comments.

Spread

On October 24th, 2010, Cracked published a “listicle”: highlighting photographs of “sexy Halloween costumes that shouldn’t exist,” including “Sexy Sentient House” (shown below, left), “Sexy Naked Woman” (shown below, middle) and “Sexy Pregnant Raggedy Ann” (shown below, right).

On October 14th, 2011, a TV Tropes^[4] page titled “Sexy Whatever Outfit” was created, describing the trope as a sexy women’s outfit modeled on something that “isn’t really sexy on its own” (shown below)

On October 25th, 2013, artist Rebecca Cohen posted a series of sexy Halloween costume parody illustrations on Tumblr,^[3] including “Sexy Cockroach,” “Sexy Frying Pan” and “Sexy Poo” (shown below).

On September 30th, 2013, the BuzzFeedVideo YouTube channel posted a slideshow of bizarre sexy Halloween costumes (shown below, left). On October 22nd, 2014, BuzzFeedVideo uploaded a video in which men try on sexy Halloween costumes (shown below, right). In the next two years, the videos gained over 11.9 million and 2.9 million views respectively.

That month, BrandOnSale.com^[5] began selling a “Sexy Ebola Containment Suit” costume (shown below, top). In October 2015, the online costume retailer Yandy^[1] began selling a Sexy Pizza Rat costume (shown below, bottom).

In October 2016, Yandy placed a “Sexy Undecided Voter Costume” up for sale on their website, mimicking the outfit worn by Ken Bone and the second 2016 United States Presidential election debate (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

About

Electoral College Map Parodies are humorous edits to the map of the United States used in presidential elections to project and see which state will vote for which candidate.

Background

The Electoral College started after the creation of the United States of America in the late 1700s as a way for individual states to have importance in presidential elections beyond the popular vote.^[1] The popular map of the electoral college features states colored in to reflect the party the state voted for (i.e., blue for Democrat, red for Republican), and has been a staple of American politics since the first presidential election held in 1789.^[2]

Origin

The origins of electoral college map parodies and edits can be traced to the 2004 election, when demotivational posters and image macros used maps of the electoral college to mock Jesusland, a term used to mock Middle America which at the time voted with strong conservative and Christian beliefs.

Spread

As technology improved, cable news networks began incorporating interactive electoral college maps to their coverage, which prompted a Saturday Night Live sketch in 2008.^[3] Still for the next two elections, electoral college map edits were not incredibly popular beyond some political cartoons and applications to preexisting memes like Scumbag Steve.

On November 3rd, 2014, Funny or Die^[4] posted a collection of surreal Electoral College map edits in one of the more notable collections of Electoral College map edits.

In 2016, many media outlets^[5][6][7] covering the election included an interactive map, which allowed users to see how the map would look if states voted certain ways, which in turn created the opportunity to make funny images, like a play on CADbortion/Loss, shown below.

“What the Electoral College Map Would Look Like” Edits

On October 11th, 2016, American statistician and writer Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com published two pictures of the United States electoral map, one showing what it would look like if only men voted in the 2016 United States Presidential Election, the other showing what it would look like if only women voted.^[8] The “only-men” map projected that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would win the 2016 Presidential Election handily, while the “only-women” map projected a landslide win for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The tweets, shown below, have gained over 29,000 retweets combined as of October 13th, 2016.^[9]

Their popularity and the related #repealthe19th controversy led to an October 12th surge of edits and jokes on Twitter where users posted pictures of the country edited to fit “What the United States Would Look Like if Only X Voted.”

The popularity of the jokes gained media attention from New York Magazine,^[10] The Hill,^[11] and Wired.^[12]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

The Meme Renaissance refers to the revival of interest in memes, usally with large nostalgic elements on /r/Me_Irl, following the Great Meme Drought of October. What set’s this particular event apart is the relative quick shift cycling through of forced memes.

Background.

On October 4th, 2016, Redditor Zoneasta8 submitted an image to /r/memeeconomy speculating that Bear In The Big Blue House memes could be the possible solution the the Great Meme Drought of October

Later on October 4th, bradfordGT submitted a picture of Bear from Bear In The Big Blue House, along with the caption “Trying to sneak in the new meme of the month like”. Within 72 hours, the post received upwards of 1,500 votes (93% upvoted) on the /r/me_irl subreddit. The Bear reaching the front page is attributed by many, as the end of the Great Meme Drought of October and the start of The Meme Renaissance.

Notable Developments.

After the meme of Bear from Bear In The Big Blue House reached the front page of /r/me_irl, several entries followed including Bear. The following day, October 6th, redditors began submitting images of skeletons, in refference to the annual skeleton war, framing Bear as an enemy of the skeleton army.

On October 7th, the skeleton army had been declared victorious over Bear, which ushered in an era goosebumps memes.

October 8th featured crusading and trebuchet memes.

October 9th marked the rise of Bionicle memes.

October 10th was still dominated by Bionicle memes, but also featured memes of Ken Bone.

October 11th was the 3rd and final day of bionicle memes.

October 12th featured Battlefront 2 & Stormtrooper memes.

October 13th featured Wallace and Gromit memes.

Various Examples:

Search Interest:

WIP

About

“Worms On A String”, also known as “squirmels”, are small fuzzy worms that are controlled by a string. They gained significance during The Meme Renaissance of Me_IRL.

Origin

Spread

Various Images

Search Interest

External References

WIP

About

Wallace and Gromit is a British claymation series created by animator Nick Park, and featuring Wallace, the cheese loving inventor, and his pet dog Gromit, who happens to save Wallace when his inventions go awry.

Origin

Films

A Grand Day Out (1989)

This was the debut short film of the due. Where Wallace and Gromit take a holiday on the moon, in search of cheese, with their homemade rocket.

The Wrong Trousers (1993)

A Close Shave ()

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit ()

A Matter of Loaf and Death ()

TV Appearances

Spread

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

WIP

About

Origin

Spread

Various Images

Search Interest

External References