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Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

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About

“Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy” is a rhyming expression used to describe tasks that are simple or undemanding, which has been featured in films, television shows and image macro captions circulated within ironic meme communities online.

Origin

According to Wiktionary,[1] the British detergent brand Sqezy began using the catchphrase in product commercials sometime in the 1950s. However, an article published on the news site Newser[4] in August 2009 noted that the commercials only used the phrase “easy Sqezy,” not “easy peasy” (shown below).



Spread

On July 22nd, 2002, the comedy film Austin Powers in Goldmember was released, in which the line was uttered by the character Nigel Powers (shown below).



On September 11th, 2006, a thread about the expression was submitted to the WordReference Forums.[5] On September 4th, 2009, the British comedy film In the Loop was released, in which two British operatives argue about a course of action, with one saying “it will be easy peasy lemon squeezy,” to which the other replies “it will be difficult difficult lemon difficult” (shown below).



On November 4th, Urban Dictionary[6] user nick_f submitted an entry for the catchphrase, citing a “British detergent commercial” as the origin of the expression (shown below).



On May 5th, 2016, Redditor Siziph submitted a photoshopped picture of Bernie Sanders as a hacker titled “Romanian hacker known as Bernie ‘4chan’ Sanders hacked Clinton server saying ‘easy peasy lemon squeezy’ to the /r/circlejerk[3] subreddit, where it accumulated upwards of 5,600 points (91% upvoted) over the next year. On November 13th, ”The Walking Dead":http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/the-walking-dead aired an episode in which the character Negan says the catchphrase after killing a zombie with a baseball bat.[2] The following day, YouTuber Socka-2-May uploaded a remix of the scene from The Walking Dead, (shown below).



On April 12th, the @Dory[8] Twitter feed posted a screenshot of a character from The Magic School Bus "When you thought everything would be “easy peasy lemon squeezy but it’s actually difficult difficult lemon difficult” (shown below, left). On April 15th, the Dank Memes Melt Steel Beams Facebook[7] page uploaded an image macro of a woman biting a laptop with the same caption (shown below, right). Within four days, the post gathered upwards of 26,000 reactions, 11,500 shares and 6,000 comments.



Search Interest

External References


Bill O'Reilly

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About

Bill O’Reilly is a conservative American political commentator and television personality most known for his show The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News. Though popular with conservative viewers, O’Reilly has often been criticized by liberal commentators like Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann for his positions on various issues. He has been involved in several sexual-harassment lawsuits while on Fox News.

History

O’Reilly was born on September 10th, 1949.[1] He graduated Marist College and received a Masters in broadcast journalism from Boston University. He began his career on local news stations, where he won local Emmy awards for investigative reporting. Shortly after, he was hired by CBS and then ABC as a correspondent. In 1989, he joined tabloid talk show Inside Edition, becoming the program’s anchor 3 weeks into its run. After quitting the show in 1995, he attended Harvard and gained a Masters Degree in public administration. At Harvard, he was hired by Roger Ailes to host The O’Reilly Report, later renamed The O’Reilly Factor. The show airs every weekday on Fox News at 8:00 PM EST. The O’Reilly Factor routinely is the highest rated television program among the three major 24/7 cable news networks.

Criticism

The O’Reilly Factor has been frequently criticized for it’s conservative talking points that sometimes distort facts or give erroneous statistics. In 2008, website Media Matters named O’Reilly “Misinformer of the Year.” In 2005, O’Reilly regularly denounced Kansas physician George Tiller, who performed late-term abortions, nicknaming him “Tiller the Baby Killer.” After Tiller was murdered by an anti-abortion activist in 2009, Salon asserted that O’Reilly’s rhetoric created an atmosphere of violence around Tiller. In 2007, researchers from Indiana University analyzed O’Reilly’s “Talking Points Memo” segment, and using techniques developed by the Institute of Propaganda Analysis, found that O’Reilly used propaganda, frequently engaged in name calling, and consistently cast non-Americans as threats and never “in the role of victim or hero.” O’Reilly is cited as the inspiration for Stephen Colbert’s foolish conservative talk show host character on his satirical news program “The Colbert Report.”

Reputation

Though O’Reilly often gives what are considered conservative viewpoints, O’Reilly himself is a registered independent and claims he does not identify with any ideology. He has been accused of racism. In a 2007 interview, when talking about a meal with Al Sharpton, he said:

“You know when Sharpton and I walked in, it was like… big commotion and everything. But everybody was very nice. And I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship… “(no one was) screaming ’M’Fer, I want more iced tea…’ I think that black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves, getting away from the Sharptons and the Jacksons and people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They’re just trying to figure it out. ‘Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it.’”

The statement drew criticism from several political commentators. He also drew criticism from a 2010 appearance on The View in which he claimed Muslims committed the September 11th, 2001 Attacks. During the interview, his comments prompted hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to walk off the set.

Sexual Harassment Scandals

On October 13th, 2004, O’Reilly sued Andrea Mackris, a former O’Reilly Factor producer, for extortion. The same day, Mackris sued O’Reilly for $60 million alleging that O’Reilly had called her and sexually harassed her. According to Mackris, he also threatened that if Mackris went public with this, Fox News owner Roger Ailes would “go after” her. The suit was settled out of court, with O’Reilly paying Mackris $9 million. In April 2017, The New York Times reported that O’Reilly had settled 5 sexual harassment lawsuits, three more than the previously known public lawsuits. This caused almost 60 companies to pull their ads from the show. On April 19th, Fox News announced that they had decided to terminate their relationship with O’Reilly, and that Tucker Carlson would be taking his place.[2]

Related Memes

We’ll Do It Live

In May of 2008, footage surfaced of O’Reilly getting very angry on camera while trying to perfect a take on Inside Edition.



The rant became one of O’Reilly’s most famous and widely parodied moments.



U Mad?

The famous U Mad? image macro comes from a segment in which rapper Cam’ron appeared on The O’Reilly Factor.



DAMONDASH: How do you hurt children by promoting to be an entrepreneur and a CEO and to do right…

(CROSSTALK)

O’REILLY: Hold it! Hold it! You’re looking at a principal…

CAM’RON: Why don’t you want to let him talk? You mad. You mad.

O’REILLY: You won’t let me finish.

CAM’RON: Where did you start, A Current Affair, right?

O’REILLY: No, wrong.

CAM’RON: I’m going to get at you in a minute.

O’REILLY: You go ahead. You get at me.

CAM’RON: I’m going to get at you in a minute.

You Can’t Explain That

You Can’t Explain That is an advice animal style image macro series featuring American Fox News Channel political commentator Bill O’Reilly. The captions presuppose that O’Reilly does not understand how mundane occurrences work, similar to the confusion presented in derivatives of Insane Clown Posse’s song Miracles derivatives.



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External References

ChalkZone

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About

ChalkZone is an American animated television series created by Bill Burnett and Larry Huber for Nickelodeon. The series follows Rudy Tabootie, an elementary school student whose magic chalk allows him into the ChalkZone, an alternate dimension where everything drawn on a blackboard and erased becomes real. The show concentrates on the adventures of Rudy, his sidekick Snap, and classmate, Penny Sanchez, within the zone.

Origin

ChalkZone was originally featured as a short on Nickelodeon’s Oh Yeah! Cartoons in 1998. In 1999, ChalkZone became the first spin-off of Oh Yeah! Cartoons to enter production and be greenlit. Despite this, ChalkZone did not make it to the air until 2002, even though all six episodes of the first season had been completed by 2000. Frederator Studios announced in 2005 that the series had been cancelled at 40 episodes.



Reception

W.I.P.

Fandom

W.I.P.

Related Memes

Rudy! You Gotta Draw Something!



Rudy! You Gotta Draw Something! is a phrase commonly spoken by Snap from the 2002 Nickelodeon series, ChalkZone, whenever he is in danger.

Search Interest

Fujoshi

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About

Fujoshi (腐女子) is a Japanese slang term used to describe female fans of yaoi, also known as Shounen-ai/Boy’s Love. While often used in a pejorative context, the term has also been adopted by fans themselves, in a similar fashion to the terms Otaku and Weeaboo, and is also often used to refer to female Otaku in general.

Origin

The term Fujoshi can be loosely translated to mean “Rotten girl”, a self-deprecating phrase which plays on the Japanese term “婦女子”, also pronounced “Fujoshi” but instead meaning “respectable woman”, by replacing the character 婦, meaning a married woman, with the character 腐, meaning rotten. The term is thought to have first originated on Japanese message board 2Chan[1], but is also thought to have been coined by the media[2]. Despite initially have been thought as a derogatory term, it has since been adopted by many fans themselves.



Online Presence

The fujoshi community has a large presence on many sites, most notably sites such as Tumblr[3], DeviantART and Fanfiction.net, and is often known for it’s fan art and fanfiction, which are often yaoi based. As the Fujoshi community has grown online, Fujoshi-orientated manga and anime series have started to become more frequent, as have Fujoshi characters, most notably the character of Kae Serinuma in the series Kiss Him Not Me[4] (shown below).



The topic of Fujoshis has also been covered by many different anime-centered sites. On Dec 21, 2016, Anime News Network posted an article titled “What is a Fujoshi?”[5], breaking down notable aspects of the Fujoshi fandom. As well as this, anime streaming site Crunchyroll uploaded a Fujoshi themed episode of their “Anime Academy” series to YouTube on April 4, 2017[6] (shown below, left), similarly breaking down the meaning of the term. The topic of Fujoshi was also covered by Channel Awesome contributor Rantasmo[7], as part of his “Needs More Gay” series (shown below, right).



Fudanshi

Fudanshi is a term used to describe male fans of the yaoi and boy’s love, who are generally not interested in guys themselves. While not as common as Fujoshi, Fudanshi have become increasingly common on sites such as Tumblr[8]. The term has increased in popularity, following the airing on the short anime series The High School Life of a Fudanshi[9] (shown below) on July 5, 2016, based on the manga series of the same name.



Notable Events

Swimming Anime

Swimming Anime was the fan-given name for a commercial for animation studio Kyoto Animation, which gained popularity among Fujoshi on sites such as Tumblr, due to the attractive male characters featured in the trailer, unlike other shows by the studio at the time. This led to a fan outcry for a full TV anime based on the commercial, later being announced as the anime series Free!.



Search Interest

External References

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

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Overview

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, commonly referred to as Coachella, is an annual music and arts festival which takes place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, which is best known for its music performances by aritsts from a variety of genres, including rock, indie, hip hop and EDM.

Background

In early November 1993, the grunge rock band Pearl Jam performed a concert at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, which established the location as a concert venue. On October 9th, 1999, the first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held at the polo club, featuring the artists Beck, Tool, Chemical Brothers, Morrissey and Rage Against the Machine as headliners. After a brief hiatus in 2000, the event returned as an annual single-day festival in April 2001. In 2002, Coachella became a two-day event, which expanded to three days in 2007. In 2012, a second weekend was added to the schedule.

Developments

Online Presence

On February 6th, 2009, the /r/Coachella[1] subreddit was launched, which gathered upwards of 19,200 subscribers. On April 19th, 2010, YouTuber StankShag uploaded footage of an inebriated man having difficulty putting his sandals on at the festival, which gathered upwards of 7.6 million views and 4,300 comments over the next seven years (shown below, left). On April 23rd, 2013, Jimmy Kimmel Live uploaded a Lie Witness News segment to their official YouTube channel, in which various Coachella attendees were asked about their feelings toward non-existent bands (shown below, right). Within four years, the video gained over 17 million views and 8,700 comments.



Philip Anschutz Controversy

In early 2017, after the year’s Coachella lineup was announced, Afropunk reported that the owner of the festival, Philip Anschutz, was a climate change-denying conservative who had donated large sums of money to anti-LGBT groups.[3] This inspired the creation of poster parodies that lampooned the festival’s tie to Anschutz.

Related Memes

Coachella Fashion

Image macros mocking the hippy-style fashions associated with women attending the festival, most notably including flower crowns, frequently circulate across various social media platforms (shown below).



Coachella Lineup Poster Parodies

Coachella Lineup Poster Parodies are photoshopped variations of the promotional lineup posters for the Coachella festival.



Tupac Hologram

Tupac Hologram is a Pepper’s ghost optical illusion of the deceased rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur that premiered during a performance at the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Although the event was widely reported as a hologram projection, it was actually created using similar technology to that of the Japanese virtual pop star Hatsune Miku.



Jumping Alex

Jumping Alex is a photoshop meme featuring a photo of the Arctic Monkeys guitarist, songwriter and vocalist Alexander David Turner jumping on stage in mid-air at the 2012 Coachella festival. The images are typically edited to make it appear as if Turner is jumping in a variety humorous contexts.



Coachella Kid

Coachella Kid is the nickname of a young boy who was filmed enthusiastically rapping at the 2017 Coachella festival (shown below). On April 18th, a collection of Coachella Kid videos were published on BuzzFeed.[2]




Search Interest

External References

13 Reasons Why

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About

13 Reasons Why is an American television show produced by Netflix based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Jay Asher. The show revolveds around a young girl, Hannah Baker, who commits suicide after a series of failures in her life brought about by people in her high school. In the first episode, a series of cassette tapes is anonymously dropped on the doorstep of the main character, Clay Jensen. Each tape is of the deceased girl addressing a person who led her to commit suicide. The series has been received generally favorably, though it has attracted criticism from those who feel it glorifies suicide.

History

13 Reasons Why is run by Diana Son and Brian Yorkey.[1] The series, along with the special 13 Reasons Why: Beyond the Reasons were released on March 31st, 2017. It was originally conceived as a film that would star Selena Gomez, but was later adapted into a Netflix series for which Gomez served as executive producer. The series stars Katherine Langford as Hannah Baker and Dylan Minnette as Clay Jensen.



Reception

The show has been generally well received by critics, with a score of 76 on Metacritic[2] as of April 19th, 2017. While critics tend to agree it is not without its flaws, many praise the show’s honesty with which it treats the subject matter. However, it has also received criticism for the way some feel it glamorizes teen suicide. The Chicago Sun-Times[3] argued that the underlying message of the show was, “Commit suicide and you will make people regret they mistreated you, while assigning responsibility to others for your terrible decision.”

Also, the show received criticism for the graphic way it depicts Hannah’s suicide in the final episode. The Chicago Tribune[4] said that the graphic depiction of Hannah’s suicide may inspire copycat suicides.

Online Presence

The show and book are popular online. On Facebook,[5] the fan page has over 360,000 likes. Fans of the series have also responded by making memes about the show, sometimes mocking Hannah’s decision to make a tape for the people who wronged her.



Refinery29[6] wrote that the memes of the show missed the point, though they did link to several popular examples.



Search Interest

External References

Bouncing DVD Logo

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About

Bouncing DVD Logo refers to the animated screensaver commonly found on DVD player, in which the DVD Video logo bounces to different parts of the screen and changes color. Online and in pop culture, people brag and joke about seeing the logo land perfectly in the corner of the screen.

Origin

The bouncing DVD logo came as the standard screensaver on many American DVD players, which went on sale on March 26th, 1997.[1]

Spread

While the bouncing DVD player logo could be found in any home with a DVD player, the bouncing logo became the subject of a popular cold open on the America television sitcom The Office. On the fifth episode of season four, entitled “Launch Party[2],” the cast hovers around a TV playing the bouncing logo in hopes of witnessing the logo hit the corner. The episode aired on October 11th, 2007.



Mathematical Properties

On September 30th, 2013, software engineer Bill Green posted an explanation of the math behind the bouncing DVD logo on his blog.[3] In his entry he discovers, among other things that it is possible to determine when it will hit the edge, as well as:

  • When you hit a corner, you will hit a different corner before hitting the same one again, etc.
  • You can never hit 1, 3 or 4 corners, always 2 or 0.
  • It’s a loop, at some point it will always repeat.


  • Search Interest

    External References

    Bendy and the Ink Machine

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    About

    Bendy and the Ink Machine is an episodic puzzle/action/horror game developed by Meatly Games for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The game’s first chapter features animation reminiscent of early black-and-white cartoons, as players, set in an old animation show, work to activate a large ink machine via puzzle solving.

    History

    On January 30th, 2017, animator, webcomic artist,[1] and game developer theMeatly uploaded the first trailer for Bendy and the Ink Machine to YouTube (shown below).



    The first chapter was approved for release on Steam after it gained popularity on Steam’s crowdsourcing platform, Steam Greenlight. It was released on February 10th, 2017.[2]

    Developments

    The game was immediately met with support from fans and gained wide exposure over the following two months after it was played on popular Let’s Play channels such as Markiplier, whose playthrough of the first chapter gained over 3 million views (below, left), and jacksepticeye, whose playthrough of the first chapter gained over 1.9 million views (below, right).



    Furthermore, a song inspired by the game composed by DA Games called “Build Our Machine” gained over 15 million views on YouTube (shown below, left). The song was then included in Chapter Two, released April 18th, 2017 (release trailer shown below, right).



    Search Interest

    External References


    Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin White House Photo

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    About

    Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin White House Photo refers to an image of musicians Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Shemane Deziel, and Audrey Berry posing next to President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of The White House. The photo was mocked on Twitter after its publication.

    Origin

    On April 19th, 2017, the White House’s dinner guests were Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin, Shemane Deziel, and Audrey Berry. According to a tweet by Jake Tapper,[1] the first post to include the photo online, Rock, Nugent, Deziel, and Berry were guests of Sarah Palin (shown below).



    Spread

    The initial response to the tweet was confusion and despair that such people as Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, who had in the past said demeaning and arguably racist comments about Barack Obama, was now a welcome guest at The White House.



    Soon, however, people began to make jokes about the photo, lampooning the cartoonish and celebrity-focused nature about the Trump administration. One popular tweet by @bobbyfinger photoshopped the picture to make it appear as a CBS sitcom (shown below). The photo and ensuing response was covered by Twitter Moments,[2]USA Today,[3] Consequence of Sound,[4] and more.



    Various Examples



    Search Interest

    Unavailable

    External References

    #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly

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    About

    #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly is a Twitter hashtag and game in which users attempt to describe the story of a movie in such broad strokes that it points to the socially unacceptable or contemptible behavior of the characters.

    Origin

    The first iteration of #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly appeared on Twitter on September 5th, 2014. The earliest Tweet containing the hashtag comes from Twitter user @_demondeanl[1] (shown below), which said, “#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly Two brothers. Supernatural things. Everybody dies. #SupernaturalTheMovie”.



    The Wizard of Oz Synopsis

    In 1998, Rock Polio[2] wrote a description (shown below) of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz for the Marin Independent Journal. Jay Leno later featured the clip on The Tonight Show, and On October 26th, 2012, Redditor Snatchateer posted the synopsis to Reddit under the thread "The Best Film Synposis ever.[3] The post received more than 7,500 points (98% upvoted) and 480 comments.



    The review became one of the more heavily shared descriptions in #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly. On September 14th, 2014, Twitter user @InterestingLit[4] tweeted the picture, garnering more than 1,900 retweets and 1,700 likes.



    Spread

    On September 7th, Twitter user @DJPMoore tweeted[5]“Teenage girl slaughters children and tries to convince her friend to commit suicide #explainafilmplotbadly” (shown left). The tweet received more than 390 retweets and 450 likes. That day, @erinrueberry[5] tweeted (shown center) the_ Wizard of Oz_ synopsis, garnering more than 490 retweets and 420 likes, and @Haroooooooon[6] tweeted (shown right) “Two lovers take the ALS ice bucket challenge and one dies #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly,” receiving more than 410 retweets and 370 likes.



    Nearly three years later, on April 10th, 2017, @amilie_barnett[8] tweeted “Guy who can’t swim ends up marrying a fish #explainafilmplotbadly” above a picture of Ariel from The Little Mermaid (shown below). The tweet received more than 210 retweets and 700 likes.



    Twitter published a Moment of the hashtag’s revival on April 20th.[9]

    Notable Examples





    Search Interest

    External References

    Thursday the 20th

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    About

    Thursday the 20th refers to a screen captured image of a rapper wearing a “Thursday the 20th” chain necklace in an episode of The Simpsons, which is often circulated online whenever the 20th day of the month falls on a Thursday.

    Origin

    On February 13th, 2005, Season 16 Episode 9 “Pranksta Rap”[3] of The Simpsons was broadcast, in which a rapper is performs on stage while wearing a necklace with the words “Thursday the 20th” (shown below). On May 18th, 2010, the Blogspot blog Simpsons Prophecies[5] published a post titled “9:30 Thursday the 20th,” which attempted to decipher a hidden prophecy from The Simpsons episode based on the date.



    Spread

    On November 20th, 2014, Redditor ElderCunningham submitted the screenshot of the rapper in a post titled “Happy Thursday the 20th, everybody!”. Prior to being archived, the post received more than 1,800 points (95% upvoted) and 40 comments on /r/TheSimpsons.[8] On August 19th, 2015, Imgur[2] user MrTallThatsMyNameThatNameAgainIsMrTall submitted a screenshot of the character along with instructions “upvote this now, or else you won’t get a chance in another 14 months.” Within two years, the post gained over 882,000 views, 30,600 points and 460 comments. The following day, Tumblr user sunshinebunny posted a phototshopped version of the image with actor Misha Collins’ head superimposed over the rapper (shown below).



    On October 20th, 2016, Imgur[4] user icrychickenstrips resubmitted the image, which received upwards of 230,400 views and 11,200 points. On April 20th, 2017, Redditor aknboy2df submitted a photoshopped version of the screenshot, in which his eyes are reddened and a marijuana cigarette is placed on his mouth, in reference to the cannabis code-term 420 (shown below). In seven hours, the post gained over 78,600 points (83% upvoted) and 1,200 comments on /r/funny.[1] Meanwhile, the Facebook pages Incoming Memes[6] and Ouch Right in the Childhood[7] posted the original image, with each receiving thousands of reactions.



    Search Interest

    External References

    Tucker Carlson

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    About

    Tucker Carlson is an American political commentator, co-founder of the conservative website The Daily Caller and host of the Fox News current affairs program Tucker Carlson Tonight.

    Career

    Prior to working in television, Carlson began his career as a journalist at the national conservative journal Policy Review, later being hired to editorial staff at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and The Weekly Standard. In 2000, Carlson became the co-host of The Spin Room with Bill Press, becoming the youngest anchor ever hired at CNN.

    Crossfire

    In 2001, Carlson replaced Mary Matalin as a co-host on the CNN debate program Crossfire. On October 15th, 2004, Jon Stewart appeared as a guest on the show, where he criticized hosts Paul Begala and Carlson for being “partisan hacks” and “hurting America” with polarized political rhetoric. Following the appearance, videos of the exchange spread widely across the Internet with many praising Stewart’s arguments. The following year, the show was canceled and CNN’s incoming president Jonathan Klein referenced Stewart’s comments when asked about the year’s cancellations.[9] On January 16th, 2006, YouTuber Alex Felker uploaded a clip of the appearance, which gained over 8.4 million views and 15,800 comments over the next nine years (shown below).



    Tucker

    In June 2005, Carlson’s early evening program Tucker premiered on MSNBC, which lasted for only three seasons before being canceled for low ratings in March 2008.

    The Daily Caller

    On January 11th, 2010, Carlson and political advisor Neil Patel launched the conservative news site The Daily Caller.[1] Carlson served as the site’s editor-in-chief for several years before leaving to work on his Fox News television program Tucker Carlson Tonight.

    Tucker Carlson Tonight

    On November 14th, 2016, Carlson premiered on Fox News as a replacement for the show On the Record following Greta Van Susteren’s departure from the network. In early January 2017, Fox announced the show would replace The Kelly File after Megyn Kelly left the network. In late April 2017, Fox News announced that Tucker Carlson Tonight would replace The O’Reilly Factor for the network’s 8pm timeslot, following the termination of Bill O’Reilly.

    Online Presence

    Fandom

    In May 2014, a page for Carlson was created on Facebook,[2] which gathered upwards of 183,000 likes within the next three years. On November 22nd, 2016, the /r/tucker_carlson[3] subreddit was launched for discussions about political commentator, which gained over 8,500 subscriptions within four months. In December, the High Energy YouTube channel released the first volume in their Can’t Cuck the Tuck series, featuring MLG-style remixes of Carlson’s interviews on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Over the next several months, an additional 17 videos in the series were released.



    Search Interest

    External References

    [1]The Daily Caller – The Daily Caller

    [2]Facebook – Tucker Carlson

    [3]Reddit – /r/tucker_carlson

    Draymond Green Talking to Kevin Durant

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    About

    Draymond Green Talking to Kevin Durant refers to a gif of Golden State Warriors basketball player Draymond Green talking to teammate Kevin Durant during a game. The gif has been used as an image macro on Twitter with many people captioning what they think Green is saying .

    Origin

    On April 16th, 2017, the Golden State Warriors basketball team played the Portland Trailblazers in the NBA playoffs. During the game, cameras caught player Draymond Green speaking to teammate Kevin Durant.[1]

    Several hours after the game, on April 17th, Twitter user @TalkWithTone[2] posted a gif of the talk to Twitter with the caption “Your mum trying to cover you with the blood of Jesus before you leave the house.” The tweet received more than 6,900 retweets and 8,300 likes.




    Spread

    That day, Twitter user @Mayberrykush[3] posted the gif with the caption “When ya drunk friend start rapping at the club,” garnering 6,900 retweets and 9,500 likes.




    Several hours later, Twitter user @Richie_l0c0[4] tweeted the gif with the caption “The drunk dude in the club giving you a 2 minute explanation as to why he accidentally stepped on your shoe.” The tweet received more than 40,000 retweets and 79,600 likes.




    News Media Coverage

    Several news media outlets covered the meme including Complex,[1] Fader,[5] Vibe,[6] Popsugar,[7] and more.

    On April 17th, Twitter[8] published a Moment to catalogue and archive the meme.

    Draymond Green’s Mother’s Response

    After noticing that Draymond Green’s mother retweeted several of the memes, The Fader[5] reached out by email for comment. On the memes, she said:

    “I showed it to Dray! [The memes] are hilarious, I laughed so hard. It looks like he was saying, ’Don’t you let them stop you, go for it! THEY CAN’T STOPYOU!’”

    Notable Examples





    Search Interest

    Not available.

    External References

    The Second iFunny Server War (2017)

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    About

    When a relatively new group, known as Meme Team Six, took matters into their own hands and struck the Brazilian server for a second time. (The majority of the groups membership consists of veterans from the First, Second, iFunny Server War, and Skeleton War along with various other meme-related conflicts) A war was called for and demanded by users of the app, for the First War was a stalemate.

    Origins

    The First iFunny Server War began when an iFunny user uploaded a photo of a burning Brazilian flag. A Brazilian mod banned that post, thus aggravating American iFunny users and starting the war between the American and the Brazilian servers.
    Popular users “Ark” and “Sandpapercondoms” were also banned by the moderators enraging American users. Especially among “offensives”.. Even popular moderator “Weest” contributed to the raiding. Only to take back what he said after it was over. The War ended when American users began to leave the Brazilian servers is large numbers, or were banned themselves. iFunny Chef, the head of the app, then IP Banned all English-speaking countries to stop further instigation and remnants.
    Many thought the concept was dead, but when it was discovered that VPNs could be used to mask IP and avoid the ban, this lit a new flame in the hearts of veterans and users alike. Strikes began on April 18th, 2017-present. The conflict is still raging on. Casualties have been taken on both sides so far.

    Spread

    News of a new war with Brazil spread like wildfire all over the app, mainly in the veterans and Kekistan community. The war is currently still active.

    Notable Images

    Juicero Juicer Controversy

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    Overview

    Juicero Juicer Controversy refers to an online backlash toward to Juicero company after Bloomberg News revealed that the juice from the company’s packs could be squeezed out by hand just as effectively as the company’s expensive Juicero Press device.

    Background

    In 2014, Juicero received $120 million in startup venture capital. In March 2016, they released the Juicero Press, a Wi-Fi connected juicing device that presses single-serving packets containing chopped fruits and vegetables sold by the company. While initially sold for $699, the price was reduced to $399 in January 2017. On April 19th, 2017, Bloomberg News[1] published an article titled “Silicon Valley’s $400 Juicer May Be Feeling the Squeeze,” which revealed that Juicero’s juice packets could be squeezed by hand just as effectively as their $399 press machines. Meanwhile, the Bloomberg YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Do You Need a $400 Juicer?”, demonstrating that the press machine was unnecessary to extra juice from the Juicero packets (shown below). Within 24 hours, the video gained over 1.1 million views and 920 comments.



    Developments

    Online Reaction

    That day, the Bloomberg article was submitted by Redditor pynzrz to /r/technology.[2] Meanwhile, Redditor keeferc posted Bloomberg’s video to /r/videos.[4] within 48 hours, the posts received more than 2,000 points (94% upvoted) and 19,100 points (91% upvoted) within 48 hours. Also on April 19th, Twitter user @darth[7] posted a photoshopped screenshot from the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad superimposed with a Juicero juice pack (shown below, left). Additionally, many began comparing the Juicero Press to the Juice Loosener device featured in The Simpsons episode “Marge in Chains” (shown below, right).[8][9]



    On April 20th, Twitter published a Moments[5] page featuring tweets related to the controversy. On April 21st, Redditor imx3110 submitted a post titled “What is the deal with Juicero controversy” to /r/OutOfTheLoop,[6] to which Redditor SegoliaFlak provided a brief explanation of the backlash.

    “Everyone’s kind of scratching their heads over it now since there seems to be no point to it – it’s more expensive than a normal juicer, the sachets have a very short shelf-life, are only sold to people who own a machine, are limited to the flavours that juicero makes and are just as expensive as going to a store and buying cold-press juice.”

    Juicero’s Response

    On April 20th, Juicero’s head of communcations Chrissy Trampedach posted a video on Vimeo in which a Juicero packet is cut open with a pair of scissors to reveal an orange mulch inside the bag (shown below). Meanwhile, Juicero CEO Jeff Dunn published a blog post on Medium,[3] in which he argues against hand-squeezing the company’s juice packs, claiming the result will be “mediocre (and maybe very messy).” Additionally, Dunn offered a chance for owners of the machine to receive a full refund if they return the device within 30 days.



    Search Interest

    External References


    Spotify Playlist Messages

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    About

    Spotify Playlist Messages are an online social trend in which a person arranges songs in a playlist on the music-streaming service Spotify such that when the titles of the songs are read in order, they form a message. After a tweet in which a girl arranged songs in a Spotify playlist to tell a boy she was no longer interested in seeing him grew popular in mid-April 2017, others began uploading joke variations.

    Origin

    On April 4th, 2017, Twitter user @errikkxa[1] tweeted a Spotify playlist her older sister made for a boy she was no longer interested in seeing. When read in order, the song titled read “Do You Still Want To Kiss Me Because I Am Kinda Lovin Someone Else But We Can Still Be Friends.” Her tweet gained over 14,000 retweets and 21,000 likes. The moment, including the sister’s and the boy’s response, was covered by Buzzfeed[2] a week later and others.



    Spread

    On April 17th, Twitter user @hanwoodley made a playlist for her crush in which the arranged song titles admitted she had feelings for them. The titles spell out “I Kinda Like You and I Wanted to Tell You You Might Not Feel the Same and That Is Okay But I Thought You Should Know if u Don’t Feel It I Still… Wannabe Friends I Am Corny.” That tweet,[3] shown below, gained over 131,000 retweets and nearly 400,000 likes. It was covered in a Twitter Moment,[4] Thought Catalog,[5] Cosmopolitan,[6] and more.



    The popularity of the tweet inspired joke variations of the format. In the responses to @hanwoodley’s tweet, other people “did the same” as her by tweeting humorous screenshots of playlists supposedly sent to crushes.



    After the wave of tweets making jokingly lewd playlists, others began creating more absurd variations referencing text-based memes such as Jughead’s “I’m Weird” Speech or the Mesothelioma Ad Copypasta. These were covered by SelectAll[7] on the 20th.

    Various Examples



    Search Interest

    Unavailable

    External References

    Cocaine, Marijuana, Beer

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    About

    Cocaine Marijuana Beer refers to a series of pictures in which a vertical list of three images, always people’s eyes on cocaine, marijuana and beer, are preceded by a fourth set of non-drug or alcohol related eyes as a punchline.

    Origin

    On November 14th, 2014, Vice[1] published the article “Here’s What Your Eyes Look Like When You Take Different Drugs.” The article features pictures of people’s eyes after they’ve taken various drugs, which are laid out in a list form. This article provided the images for the first three images in the meme.



    On April 11th, 2017, Twitter user @cadey_mercury[2] tweeted the list with a fourth set of eyes with the word “DICK” photoshopped over them under the caption, “When you get that good dick 😌👌🏼.”



    Precursor

    Expanding Pupil is a multi-pane image macro series captioned with the claim that pupils can dilate up to 55% while looking at an object of affection, followed by a series of images in which a pupil expands or contracts in reaction to various humorous photographs.

    The earliest iteration appeared on October 11th, 2014, when Twitter user @NathanZed[6] posted a similar factoid juxtaposed with a photograph of a man with rainbow-colored hair and a photoshopped contracted pupil (shown below, right). Over the next three years, the tweet gained over 2,400 likes and 1,000 retweets.



    Spread

    On April 12th, the Facebook account Universal Troll[3] posted a variation (shown below, left) on the “Cocaine, Marijuana, Beer, Dick” meme, adding a fifth image, the face of the passenger removed from the infamous United Airlines controversy. The post received more than 4,600 reactions and 1,600 shares.

    Following the United Airlines post, the meme went back to the four panel format. On April 15th, the Instagram account @memesformemers[6] posted a version (shown below, right) by @mc3smemedream that received more than 24,000 likes.



    On April 18th, Instagram user @daquan[8] posted version (shown below, left) with an image from the show Drake and Joshthat received more than 560,000 likes.

    On April 20th, Redditor OfficialPS[4] posted a variation(shown below, right) to the /r/dankmemes in the thread “🅱️avioli 🅱️avioli, what’s in the 🅱️ocketoli?” This image, which featured an image from YouTuber Filthy Frank’s[5] ravioli prank video, received more than 1,100 points (96% upvoted). That day, Redditor Xavienth[9] posted “Effects on Eyes memes on the rise!” to the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit. The post received more than 2,800 points (96% upvoted) and 45 comments.

    The Daily Dot published an article about the meme on April 21st, cataloguing its evolution.[7]



    Notable Examples





    External References

    Alex Jones' Child-Custody Battle

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    About

    Alex Jones’ Child Custody Battle refers to the news stories circulating around the Infowars-founder Alex Jones’ ongoing child-custody trial against his ex-wife.

    Background

    On April 17th, 2017, Alex Jones, the founder of the conservative news website Infowars, began child custody hearings with ex-wife, Kelly. The trial attracted major media attention following a series of tweets from reporters covering the proceedings.

    Developments

    Performance Artist Defense

    On April 17th, 2017, Jones’ attorney Randall Wilhite argued that the court should not to consider Jones’ public persona when evaluating his fitness as a parent of his three children with ex-wife Kelly. “He’s playing a character,” said Wihite. “He is a performance artist.”[1]

    Jones’ ex-wife, however, claimed that he was not a stable person, citing violent comments he’s made toward various public figures. “He says he wants to break Alec Baldwin’s neck,” she said. “He wants J-Lo to get raped.”

    “I’m concerned that he is engaged in felonious behavior, threatening a member of Congress,” she said, referring to comments about Democratic Representative Adam Schiff. “He broadcasts from home. The children are there, watching him broadcast.”[2]

    Stephen Colbert spoofed Jones’ “performance artist” defense on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.



    Bowl of Chili

    On April 18th, Twitter user @JTiloveTX[3][4] tweeted “Newman says that in deposition, Alex Jones said he couldn’t recall basic facts about kids, because, ‘I had a big bowl of chili for lunch.’” Within the first 12 hours the tweet received more than 1,500 retweets and 2,900 likes.



    That day, the website Death and Taxes[11] photoshopped a bowl of chili into the infamous picture of shirtless Alex Jones.



    According to Buzzfeed,[5] the next day in court, cross examination began with the following interaction:

    “You haven’t had any chili this morning, have you, Mr. Jones?”

    “Is that a serious question?” Jones shot back.

    Various Revelations

    On April 18th, Twitter user @JTiloveTX[6] tweeted “Another classic Alex Jones riff caught on tape. Grousing that he never got Pulitzer – don’t even want that – for telling truth about 9/11.”



    That day, Kelly’s lawyers entered videos of Jones drunk and shirtless into court, arguing that this indicates that he is unfit to retain custody.[8]

    On April 20th, Buzzfeed’s Charlie Warzel, who is covering the trial, reported that Jones admitted to smoke marijuana yearly “to monitor its strength, which is how law enforcement does it.” Jones also revealed that he believes that marijuana has become too strong, which he blames on political donor George Soros.[5][13]



    From his Twitter account, Warzel also tweeted "UPDATE: Jones took stand again. mentioned kids watching him. “they’re very proud of the comedy memes that i appear in; online i’m a #1 meme.” The tweet received more than 550 retweets and 1,200 likes.

    That day, The Washington Post[7] reported that “psychologist Alissa Sherry, the case manager for Jones’s divorce from his wife, Kelly, testified that Jones has been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder.”

    News Media Coverage

    Several news media outlets have had continued coverage of the trial, including The Washington Post,[7] The Daily Beast,[8], Buzzfeed,[5] Mother Jones,[9] Uproxx,[10] and more.

    Search Interest

    External References

    Spotify

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    About

    Spotify is a music, podcast, and video streaming service developed by the startup company Spotify AB in Stockholm, Sweden.[1] Using a “freemium” business model, Spotify is free to use, though users can pay a monthly fee to remove ads and have an improved experience. It is available for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux users, as well as Apple and Android mobile users. It is one of the most popular music streaming services online, with over 100 million monthly active users and 50 million paying subscribers.

    History

    Spotify AB was founded in 2006 by Daniel Elk and Martin Lorentzon, and the Spotify application was launched October 7th, 2008. After opening public registration to the free service to the United Kingdom in February 2009, registration surged. The service then launched in the United States in July of 2011, with US users able to access unlimited, ad-supported music. The free trial expired in January of 2012, and Spotify limited users to 10 hours of music each month and five song replays, but those restrictions were removed in March. In April, the service provided embeddable music players for blogs. In January 2016, Spotify and music annotation service Genius formed a partnership, bringing annotation information from Genius into infocards presented while songs are playing in Spotify on iOS playlists. In September 2016, Spotify launched Daily Mix, a series of playlists that mix the user’s favorite tracks with new, recommended songs.

    Criticism

    Spotify has come under criticism from artists who claim they are not being compensated fairly for their work. Spotify pays artists a “market share” per stream, which means that the amount paid is relative to the total number of songs streamed on the service. This is different than other models, which pays artists a fixed rate per physical purchase or download. Spotify then distributes 70% of the profits to rights holders, who then pay artists based on the individual contracts.

    Prominent critics of this system include Taylor Swift, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, and David Byrne of Talking Heads. In July 2013, Yorke removed all of his work under the Atoms For Peace moniker, tweeting: “Make no mistake new artists you discover on #Spotify will not get paid. Meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it. Simples.” His producer, Nigel Godrich, stated: "[Streaming] cannot work as a way of supporting new artists’ work. Spotify and the like either have to address that fact and change the model for new releases or else all new music producers should be bold and vote with their feet.

    Swift withdrew her music in November of 2014, “I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists and creators of this music. And I just don’t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free.” Several other major artists have delayed streaming their music on Spotify because of the platform’s poor compensation.

    Sleepify

    In March 2014, the American band Vulfpeck released an album called Sleepify on the platform, looking to expose a loophole in Spotify’s service. The “album” consisted solely of silence. The group asked their fans to have the album playing on loop as they slept. Before Spotify removed the album without giving a reason, the group had made $20,000 dollars in royalties.

    Related Memes

    Spotify Playlist Messages

    On April 4th, 2017, Twitter user @errikkxa[2] tweeted a Spotify playlist her older sister made for a boy she was no longer interested in seeing. When read in order, the song titled read “Do You Still Want To Kiss Me Because I Am Kinda Lovin Someone Else But We Can Still Be Friends.” Her tweet gained over 14,000 retweets and 21,000 likes. The moment, including the sister’s and the boy’s response, was covered by Buzzfeed[3] a week later and others.



    The popularity of the moment inspired other, sincere posts using the format, which in turn led to joke variations.



    Search Interest

    External References

    House Hunters

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    About

    House Hunters is a reality television program that airs on HGTV. In the show, couples looking to purchase a home look at three different houses with a real estate broker, deciding by the end of the episode which house they’ll take. The show’s wide popularity has made it the subject of jokes online.

    History

    House Hunters first aired on HGTV in October of 1999 and has been on the air ever since.[1] As of April 2017, there have been 126 seasons of the show and over 1,700 episodes. It has over 25 million viewers per month and has myriad spinoffs, including House Hunters International and Tiny House Hunters.

    Format

    In the show, a couple is shown three houses by a real estate broker who is keeping in mind their budget and living preferences. The couples often disagree with each other about what type of home they’d prefer, leading to much of the drama in the show (sample episode shown below).



    It has been confirmed that the show is not true to its premise. Participants on the show have already agreed to buy one of the three houses they are shown prior to taping, and the other two houses are houses they considered purchasing.

    Online Presence

    House Hunters is very popular online, with over 480,000 Facebook[2] followers and a wide fandom across social media that tends to affectionately ridicule the show. The show’s popularity has inspired parodies of the its format and premise. On August 25th, 2015, Boldly uploaded a parody of the show titled House Hunters: If Couples Were Honest that poked fun at the obliviousness of the show’s participants. The video, shown below, gained over 711,000 views.



    Twitter Parodies

    The show has often been a target of mockery on Twitter due to what some viewers find silly about the show’s premise. For example, one popular style of joke is to point out how despite the couple’s low-paying jobs, their budget is often very high (ex: shown below).



    Buzzfeed has run several articles[3][4][5] compiling amusing fan reactions to the show. Jokes about the show became a widespread social media trend in mid-April of 2017, as social media users created dozens of low-wage/high-budget jokes. These made Twitter Moments[6] on April 20th, and were covered by The Huffington Post,[7] Mashable,[8] and more. Meanwhile, on Me.me,[9] there are over 165,000 results that appear when searching “House Hunters.”



    Search Interest

    External References

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