About

Random Acts of Pizza (RAOP) is a community on the social news website Reddit where users can ask to receive free pizza or volunteer to donate pizza to others in need. The community’s slogan is “Restoring Faith in Humanity, One Slice at a Time.”

Online History

On December 8th, 2010, Redditor Gadianton created the /r/Random_Acts_Of_Pizza^[1] subreddit, which gained over 24,600 subscribers in the following three years. On June 18th, 2011, the site RandomActsOfPizza.com^[6] was launched with a description of how the subreddit works, instructions on sending or receiving pizza and a verification system. On July 2nd, a Facebook^[4] page titled “Random Acts of Pizza” was launched. On October 4th, the @random_pizza Twitter^[3] account was created, which reposted many of the submissions to the subreddit. On October 12th, 2012, RAOP creator Gadianton posted a photograph of a document (shown below) revealing that Random Acts of Pizza, Inc. had been formed as part of a step towards becoming a tax free charity.^[10] Prior to being archived, the post accumulated more than 250 up votes and 30 comments.

Related: Usage on 4chan

Users of the imageboard 4chan have been known to send pizzas to people’s homes as an ongoing prank. On October 16th, 2009, BuzzFeed^[17] published a post featuring a screenshot of a pizza order being sent to the house of the Balloon Boy family, along with a photograph of a television news segment in which the delivery vehicle can be seen near the home (shown below, left). During the police standoff with Chris Dorner at Big Bear National Park in February of 2013, an image began circulating of an Domino’s pizza order sent to a Big Bear Lake address (shown below, right).

Nonprofit Incorporation

On October 12th, 2012, /r/RAOP creator Gadianton revealed his intention to incorporate the community into a nonprofit charity organization^[10], along with a scanned image of a certificate document (shown below) confirming that the application has been filed. Prior to being archived, the post accumulated more than 250 up votes and 30 comments.

Reception

The subreddit has been lauded as example of Reddit’s potential to encourage and foster altruism and generosity. On June 27th, 2011, CNN^[7] reported that the subreddit had become increasingly popular with a recent influx of 226,000 visitors in one week. On the following day, ABC News^[8] published an article with several accounts of people who received donations from strangers on the subreddit. On August 5th, 2011, The Daily Dot^[9] reported that a con-artist had threatened to send several users genital crabs after obtaining their personal information.

Derivatives

Similar subreddits are listed on the sidebar on /r/Random_Acts_Of_Pizza for other types of donations, including /r/RandomActs,^[11] /r/RandomActsOfCoffee,^[12] /r/RandomActsOfCookies,^[13] /r/RandomKindess,^[14] /r/RandomActsOfChristMas^[15] and /r/RandomActsOfCards.^[16]

Highlights

Austin’s Pizza Donation

On August 21st, 2011, Redditor luckykobold submitted a post to the RAOP subreddit^[20] thanking the the pizza restaurant Austin’s Pizza^[18] for donating nine pies for his sons birthday party. Prior to being archived, the post received over 830 up votes and 120 comments.

2011 Holiday Pizza Giveaway

On August 21st, 2012, Redditor IdTugYourBoat submitted a post to the RAOP subreddit,^[19] which announced that he was holding a giveaway where he would be donating pizzas to those who requested them in the comments with the only requirement that they wear a “ridiculous holiday sweater” for the delivery man upon arrival. After closing the offer, IdTugYourBoat replied to over 20 commenters that they could send him a private message to received a free pizza. Prior to being archived, the post accumulated upwards of 740 up votes and 340 comments.

Boston Bombings

Following the bombings in Boston, Massachusetts on April 15th, 2013, hundreds of users donated over 1,500 pizzas to the emergency centers and hospitals in the area. Many of the pizza orders were organized in Google Doc spreadsheets^[5] and made through Anytime Pizza, who called in their entire staff to make and deliver pizzas.

Search Interest

External References

About

How Animals Eat Their Food is a series of short comedy skits in which the actors humorously depict how different species of animals would feed at a dining table.

Origin

On April 8th, 2013, YouTuber MisterEpicMann^[1] uploaded a video showing two men seated at a table sharing a meal, with one of them performing an interpretive dance to show how different species of animals eat while the other sits quietly, unaffected. In just four days, the video reached 7 million views.^[12] Within the first two weeks, the video accrued nearly 47.5 million views on YouTube and 3.5 million shares on Facebook.^[2]

Spread

The day after it was uploaded, MisterEpicMann’s video was shared on the /r/videos subreddit^[3], where it earned 1,941 upvotes and 1,083 points overall. Also on April 9th, the video was featured on College Humor^[4], Tastefully Offensive^[5], Pleated Jeans^[6], Laughing Squid^[7], eBaum’s World^[8] and the Huffington Post.^[9] On April 11th, YouTuber Art The Bird^[10] uploaded the first parody video (shown below, left) featuring re-enactments of how cats, sharks and elephants would eat food at a table, which accrued more than 1.4 million views in 12 days. On April 12th, German comedy troupe Onkel Bernis Welt^[11] uploaded another parody video, using Grumpy Cat, an eagle and a sloth as examples. Within 11 days, this video has been watched more than 2.7 million times.

As more parodies began to pop up on YouTube throughout April, a number of them were featured on Laughing Squid^[13], CollegeHumor^[14], Dorkly^[15] and the Huffington Post.^[16] On April 22nd, Crave Online^[17] compiled a list of 8 of the best parody videos.

Notable Parodies

Search Interest

External References

About

Childhood Enhanced describes a discovery or easter egg in a nostalgic subject that fans find positive and/or badass. This is the opposite of Ruined Childhood. May also refer to nostalgia-based Gritty Reboots.

Origin

The earliest use of ‘Childhood Enhanced’ was used to describe a picture of a Katy Perry wearing a white dress with a picture of Smurfette on it. It was uploaded to Funnyjunk by user cunthearyou on June 28, 2011.

Awesome Childhood Was Awesome

Your Childhood Was Awesome refers to events people found relatable when they were children. The Youtube video 50 Awesome Childhood Checklist by user GermaniProductions has over 250,000 views.

Notable Videos

Notable Examples

External References

^[1]Tumblr – Fuck Yeah Childhood TV

^[2]Reddit – Childhood FUCKYEAH

Overview

Sorority Girl’s E-Mail Rant was an e-mail sent by University of Maryland student Rebecca Martinson to her fellow Delta Gamma sorority sisters, in which she berates them for being “boring” and “awkward." The e-mail was subsequently leaked online and reblogged via internet news sites, even inspiring the creation of celebrity dramatic readings.

Background

On April 18th, 2013, Gawker^[1] published the transcript of an email that was forwarded from an anonymous tipster and originally addressed to the University of Maryland chapter of the Delta Gamma sorority (shown below). Written by a senior member of the club, the e-mail scolded sorority sisters’ behavior at recent events, threatening them with violence if they did not improve their social skills with members of the brother fraternity Sigma Nu. Within five days, the article received over 420,000 views and 2,600 comments.

If you just opened this like I told you to, tie yourself down to whatever chair you’re sitting in, because this email is going to be a rough fucking ride.

For those of you that have your heads stuck under rocks, which apparently is the majority of this chapter, we have been FUCKING UP in terms of night time events and general social interactions with Sigma Nu. I’ve been getting texts on texts about people LITERALLY being so fucking AWKWARD and so fucking BORING. If you’re reading this right now and saying to yourself “But oh em gee Julia, I’ve been having so much fun with my sisters this week!”, then punch yourself in the face right now so that I don’t have to fucking find you on campus to do it myself.

Notable Developments

Delta Gamma’s Response

The same day, Gawker updated the post with a follow-up e-mail sent from the Delta Gamma chapter president, who asked for the website to remove the offending e-mail or the names “Delta Gamma” and “Sigma Nu.”

“My name is [redacted] and I am the current president of Delta Gamma at the University of Maryland. It has been brought to my attention that you recently published an unsavory email that was sent out over my chapter’s list-serve. Is it possible for you to either remove the article or just remove the names “Delta Gamma” and “Sigma Nu” from your article? This email absolutely does not reflect our chapter’s values nor Sigma Nu’s and any assistance you can give us is greatly appreciated."

Identity Revealed

The same day the e-mail was leaked on Gawker, the author of the e-mail was identified as University of Maryland student Rebecca Martinson. Photographs of Martinson were subsequently posted on the Total Frat Move Forums^[2] (shown below), where members discussed her attractiveness and speculated about her sexual interests.

In the coming days, screenshots from her now-deleted Twitter^[6] feed (shown below) began circulating on various news sites, including Scallywag And Vagabond,^[3] The Frisky,^[4] Bro Bible^[5] and Jezebel.^[7]

Dramatic Readings

On April 18th, 2013, the Pophangover YouTube channel uploaded a video in which actress Alison Haislip performs a dramatic reading of the email (shown below, left), which received over 268,000 views and 600 comments in the next five days. On April 22nd, Funny or Die released a dramatic reading by actor Michael Shannon (shown below, right), gaining more than 27,000 up votes and 71,000 Facebook likes within the first 24 hours.

Punishment

On April 22nd, the Delta Gamma sorority president Laurie Petrucce Roselle issued a statement via Facebook^[8] announcing that Martinson will be reprimanded for her “inappropriate” and “profanity-laced” e-mail.

We want to make it clear that this letter in no way reflects the values of Delta Gamma as an International Fraternity or our chapter at the University of Maryland. The processes by which Delta Gamma handles member discipline are confidential, but we have a team of women working with the chapter to take all appropriate action including protecting, educating and supporting the chapter members in the aftermath of this event.

Search Interest

External References

About

Clip Art Covers are a series of photoshopped images in which iconic cover art illustrations and photographs are recreated in clip art and the Comic Sans font. While the series initially started with album cover parodies, the concept has spread to video games boxes and DVD sets as well.

Origin

On December 13th, 2011, the “Clip Art Covers” Tumblr^[3] blog was launched, which features music albums that have been recreated using clip art images. The first post highlighted a clip art version of the 1991 grunge album Nevermind by Nirvana (shown below). Within the next two years, the blog posted over 365 examples from the series.

Spread

On February 16th, 2012, Facepunch Forums^[1] member Robbl started a thread calling for other users to submit cover art from films, games or albums that were recreated using clip art images, stock photos and the Comic Sans font. As an example, Robbl provided a clip art version of the cover for the first-person shooter video game Bioshock (shown below, left). On April 21st, 2013, the Aurorashaman Tumblr^[5] blog posted a recreation of the Pokemon Blue Gameboy game cover (shown below), accumulating over 19,200 notes in the following three days.

On April 22th, the Gawker Media video game blog Kotaku^[4] published an article highlighting several notable examples from the series. On the following day, NeoGAF member sixteen-bit submitted a thread for clip art video game covers^[6], which received more than 380 responses in the first 24 hours. Also on April 23rd, Redditor Celeste1492 submitted a Tumblr post to the /r/MassEffect^[8] subreddit, featuring a clip art version of the Mass Effect 2 cover (shown below). In the same timeframe, the post gained upwards of 580 up votes and 35 comments.

Notable Examples

Additional examples can be found on Tumblr under the tag “#clipart.”^[7]

Search Interest

External References

About

Ameristralia is an Internet slang term that was coined on Reddit to celebrate the symbiotic relationship between American and Australian Redditors on the site’s front page, mainly due to their opposite time zones. The term is a portmanteau of America and Australia.

Origin

On April 22nd, Redditor realms_board submitted a post titled “How I picture the Australians coming on to reddit” to /r/Funny,^[16] suggesting that Australian Redditors tend to take over the posts submitted by American Redditors due to differences in time zones. By the next day, the image had accrued more than 23,000 upvotes, 1,300 points and nearly 900 comments.

On April 23rd, 2013, Redditor lefoss submitted an image post titled “Team Ameristralia, with our powers combined….” to /r/AdviceAnimals,^[1] which depicted a koala riding an eagle with the caption “We will rule Reddit by day and by night.” Within 19 hours, the post accrued more than 21,000 upvotes, 1,100 comments and nearly 1,700 points overall. Prior to this post, the portmanteau had been used in a discussion thread about American expats living in Australia on the Family Based Immigration forums^[2] in December 2010.

Spread

Within an hour after the first appearance of the advice animal, Redditor Badfickle created the subreddit /r/Ameristralia,^[3] gaining more than 3,400 subscribers within 18 hours. Shortly after the subreddit was created, another Redditor by the name of Ameristralia^[4] began posting in related threads across the site. Around the same time, Redditor stunami submitted the first image macro commentary on the intercontinental alliance from the perspective of a third-party state, which illustrated Kim Jong Un’s dismay^[5] over not being included. However, the post went relatively unnoticed, receiving 6 upvotes.

In less than 24 hours, more than 300 Ameristralia-related threads^[6] were posted on numerous subreddits, including commentaries from Redditors residing in other countries such as Sweden^[10] and Canada^[11] (shown below). At least five of these posts, including ones in /r/Funny^[7], /r/MURICA^[8] and /r/AdviceAnimals^[9], reached the front page with more than 1,000 points overall. Additionally, the subreddit /r/NewZanada^[12] launched to celebrate a similar coalition of New Zealand and Canada.

Search Interest

[Not Currently Available]

External References

[Work In Progress, please request editorship]

About

Daft Punk is an electronic duo consisting of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Daft Punk has gained a cult following on the internet, and some of their most popular songs, such as Da Funk, One More Time, Robot Rock, and Digital Love, are common in YouTube Poops.

Origin

Daft Punk began experimenting in house music around 1993. In 1995 they released a single for Da Funk/Musique. the song peaked at #1 in the US^[1], and quickly earned them a small following.

Spread

On June 6th, 2007, Fr. Eckle Studios uploaded a YouTube video titled “Daft Hands– Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”. The video showed a pair of hands with writing on them that spelled out the lyrics to Daft Punk’s song, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. Within five years, the video had received around 53 million views and 175,000 comments.

Search Interest

External References

[Work in progress]

Overview

NYPD Cop Buys Homeless Man Boots refers to New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Larry DePrimo’s act of generosity toward a shoeless man in November of 2012.

Background

On November 27th, 2012, the official NYPD Facebook page posted a photograph of a police officer kneeling in front of a shoeless man. The caption contained an account by Arizona resident Jennifer Foster, who claimed she heard the officer offer the man a pair of boots as a gift. Over the course of the next six months, the post received over 617,000 likes, 218,000 shares and 48,500 comments.

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

The same day the photo was posted on Facebook, Redditor fett4ever reposted it to the /r/pics^[2] subreddit, where it received over 13,900 up votes and 580 comments in the following four months.

News Media Coverage

On November 28th, 2012, The New York Times^[4] published an article about the photograph, identifying the police officer as Larry DePrimo of Long Island. In the next several days, the story was covered by several news site, including Jezebel,^[6] The Daily What,^[7] People,^[8] Gothamist,^[9]NPR^[10] and CBS.^[11]

Today Show Appearance

Deprimo appeared on the Today Show on November 30th, 2012, where he (shown below).

Homeless Man Identity Revealed

On December 2nd, The New York Times published an article identifying the homeless man as 54-year-old Jeffrey Hillman from South Plainfield, New Jersey and reported that he had been seen on the Upper West Side without shoes on. When asked about the boots, Hillman responded that he had hidden them:

“Those shoes are hidden. They are worth a lot of money. I could lose my life.”

Hillman was also quoted saying that he wanted a “piece of the pie” since the photograph had been spread around the world.

On December 3rd, 2012, the NY Daily News^[3] published an article revealing that the Hillman was not homeless and had been living in a Bronx apartment for the past year.

Search Interest

External References

(work in progress)

About

Hold My Flower refers to a series of comics based on a Tumblr post featuring Kaomoji emoticons preparing for a fight.

Origin

On March 25th, 2013, Tumblr user louwhis^[1] posted a series of three Kaomoji emoticons, with the first depicting a serene character wearing a flower. The second shows the emoticon with wide eyes paired with the phrase “what you say ’bout me” while the third shows the emoticon passing the flower off to someone, paired with “hold my flower.” As of April 24th, 2013, this post has more than 90,000 notes.

“Into the trash it goes!” is a meme that was originated from 4chan’s /pol/ board. It features American illusionist Penn Jillette saying the phrase “into the trash it goes!”
[Needs to be elaborated]

About

Foreverial Tiedup Delitized is a copypasta that is known to be circulating around the internet that is used to satirize deviantART fetishes and bad arts in general. Originating from the works of deviantART user Rafe15, it gained popularity in around February 2013 and began spreading heavily in many forums, particularly Facepunch.

Origin

The deviantART user Rafe15 has a collection of such pictures that can be dated back to 2010. The earliest instance of such pictures was titled “A very different Jake”, featuring his OC rat character Jake and was uploaded on June 10, 2010. Pay attention to the following description.


“This is a very different Jake, not the UDC Field agent Desert hopping mouse nor is it the Australian Kangaroo rat from the Rescuers Down Under. species is Kangaroo rat and nationality is Australia, but of something separate and different. This Jake the kangaroo Rat has become Foreverial Tiedup Jake and he was fully delitized with his organs and inside and literally his whole body changed into a permanent living bologna version with permanent living bologna organs and insides and a permanent bologna, ham and cream cheese tongue. nose is a permanent pastrami nose and has two permanent ham lips and two permanent bologna and ham ears. Fully wrapped like a mummy, tiedup this way to remain and always jumping around with a permanent smile on his face and a wide open permanent bologna mouth speaking constantly ready to lick anyone or anything with his permanent Bologna, ham and cream cheese tongue. The furry art bondage borgified version of Jake the kangaroo rat. there are other Australian Jake the Kangaroo Rat characters i have done besides this and the UDC field agent. This is defanitely not the UDC field agent Jake as this doesnt exist at all in that series that I do, this is in the genre of fully permanent living deli and full permanent rubbery rope bondage. This also is defanitely not the Jake from the rescuers Down Under as this doesnt happen to him either, just a different character whom becomes Foreverial Tiedup Jake”

After that he began uploading artworks with very similar construction and description throughout 2010. The most notorious one is “Sparky Changed”, which garnered over 30 comments in a few months.

Spread

Sometime in January or February 2013, the picture of “Sparky Changed” began going viral in certain forums such as Facepunch and Neogaf. Notable for its repetitive sentences and strange words like “foreverial” and “delitized” together with the strange premise of turning cartoon mice into deli meats and sauces, it quickly gained recognition in sites like Reddit and 4chan. In 4chan, it’s known as the poster child of “deviantART autism”.

There are many derivatives for it, but this one is the most commonly used style, taken from “Pikachu Tiedup Roped up”.
A Fattened fully delitized rubbery rope bondage wrapped version of Pikachu. Full permanent ham head, full permanent ham body, two permanent ham feet, a permanent ham tail, two permanent bologna and ham ears, two permanent bologna lips, a huge thick permanent bologna, ham and cream cheese tongue, a permanent bologna nose, permanent ham organs and ham insides and the typical blood type of ketchup, tomato, pizza, taco and bbq sauce. fully wrapped up, tiedup, bound, all foreverially tiedup all over from full permanent ham head to full permanent ham feet and enjoying it. Does the same thing as the other Pikachu who is just like him, only delitized differently

Notable Examples

Some copypastas were found in the internet, such as “foreverial tiedup Jun” started appearing, and it’s also quite ubiquitous in certain gaming communities and social sites as a humorous name. Parodies like this one can even be found.

Links

rafe15.deviantart.com

About

“Dark Side of the Rainbow”, sometimes referred to as “Dark Side of Oz” refers to the synchronization of the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” with British band Pink Floyd’s 1973 album, “Dark Side of the Moon”

Origins

Although the exact origin is not known, this phenomenon was first thought to be a discussion on a Pink Floyd usenet group in 1995. It was brought to more widespread attention by author Charles Savage in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette – “The Dark Side of the Rainbow: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. The film version of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ Two profoundly successful pieces of pop art you would think are completely unrelated. Yet there exists a connection – no, really a synchronicity – between the two that escapes logic or understanding.”^[1]

In the article, Savage gives directions on how to synch the film and the album, “turn off your television sound, put Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon in your CD player and press play at the exact moment the MGM lion roars for the first time.” and points out some of the more notable parallels.

Spread

On May 30, 1997, MTV.com posted an article^[2] that tried to trace the origins of the phenomenon, with some people dating it back 18 years prior. In the article, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason described the movie/album pairing as “absolute nonsense,” and said “it has nothing to do with ‘The Wizard Of Oz.’”

In 2000, Turner Classic Movies ran “The Wizard of Oz” and used “Dark Side of the Moon” to replace the audio of the original film.^[3] Over the next few years, websites listing the film/album parallels started springing up. ^[4][5][6]

Search Interest

^[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20060422200308/http://members.aol.com/rbsavage/floydwizard.html
^[2] http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1433194/pink-floyd-wizard-oz-connection.jhtml
^[3] http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4551633.html
^[4] http://dark-side-of-the-rainbow.com/dsotr1.html
^[5] http://www.ingsoc.com/waters/info/oz.html
^[6] http://www.everwonder.com/david/wizardofoz/

About

Banana Slicer Reviews are satirical testimonials submitted by users on the online shopping site Amazon for the kitchen gadget product Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer. Due to its perceived lack of utility, the product page became an easy target for tongue-in-cheek reviews, in similar vein to the consumer reviews of the Three Wolf Moon shirt shirt, Tuscan whole milk and BIC“For Her” pens.

Origin

On December 6th, 2009, the Internet news blog BoingBoing^[1] published a post titled “Just look at this awesome banana slicer,” which linked to the Amazon^[2] page for the Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer. The product page remained relatively unknown until March 2nd, 2011, when the first satirical review was submitted by Amazon user elven, who lauded the product by comparing it to the Honey Badger and Charlie Sheen.

“I can’t believe I have wasted the first 35 years of my existence on this earth by not having this wonderful banana slicer. All this time I have been standing there at the kitchen counter like a complete IDIOT wasting countless seconds slicing my bananas with a knife. A KNIFE!!!! Can you believe how foolish I was? Listen. This banana slicer will change your life. After slicing a banana, or two, or three (hell slice as many as you want – it takes no time at all)you will feel like you have honey badger blood flowing through your veins and have Charlie Sheen DNA.”

Spread

On September 17th, 2012, The Huffington Post^[6] reported that the banana slicer page had garnered upwards of 250 reviews. On October 1st, BuzzFeed^[4] highlighted several notable reviews from the Amazon product page. On December 6th, the Internet news blog The Daily Dot^[5] published an article about the tongue-in-cheek reviews, noting that the product had received more than 500 testimonials. On December 31st, NBC Today^[8] published an article comparing the trend to the Three Wolf Moon and BIC“For Her”^[7] ballpoint pen reviews. On January 13th, 2013, Hutzler Manufacturing Company responded to a tweet about the reviews, acknowledging that they were generating more sales as a result of the trend.

<a href="https://twitter.com/pickletoon">pickletoon</a> Well, those hysterical reviews certainly are creating more sales. Glad you enjoyed them. We're all crying with laughter!</p>&mdash; Hutzler Mfg. Co. (HutzlerCo) January 13, 2013

On January 29th, 2013, YouTuber DartanionLondon uploaded a parody review video of the banana slicer (shown below), garnering upwards of 4,100 views and 110 comments in the next three months.

On March 17th, 2013, Redditor Silver_Cyanide submitted a link to the banana slicer Amazon page on the /r/TheBestOfAmazon^[3] subreddit, receiving over 425 up votes and 20 comments in the first month. On April 20th, Redditor Headbandwarrior submitted a gallery of banana slicer reviews to the /r/TheBestOfAmazon^[9] subreddit (shown below), which gained more than 860 up votes and 20 comments in the following four days.

Notable Examples

Reviews

As of late April 2013, the Hutzler 571 banana slicer review page has received upwards of 3,900 reviews.

No more winning for you, Mr. Banana!

For decades I have been trying to come up with an ideal way to slice a banana. “Use a knife!” they say. Well…my parole officer won’t allow me to be around knives. “Shoot it with a gun!” Background check…HELLO! I had to resort to carefully attempt to slice those bananas with my bare hands. 99.9% of the time, I would get so frustrated that I just ended up squishing the fruit in my hands and throwing it against the wall in anger. Then, after a fit of banana-induced rage, my parole officer introduced me to this kitchen marvel and my life was changed. No longer consumed by seething anger and animosity towards thick-skinned yellow fruit, I was able to concentrate on my love of theatre and am writing a musical play about two lovers from rival gangs that just try to make it in the world. I think I’ll call it South Side Story. (by Amazon user SW3K)

Saved my marriage

What can I say about the 571B Banana Slicer that hasn’t already been said about the wheel, penicillin, or the iPhone…. this is one of the greatest inventions of all time. My husband and I would argue constantly over who had to cut the day’s banana slices. It’s one of those chores NO ONE wants to do! You know, the old “I spent the entire day rearing OUR children, maybe YOU can pitch in a little and cut these bananas?” and of course, “You think I have the energy to slave over your damn bananas? I worked a 12 hour shift just to come home to THIS?!” These are the things that can destroy an entire relationship. It got to the point where our children could sense the tension. The minute I heard our 6-year-old girl in her bedroom, re-enacting our daily banana fight with her Barbie dolls, I knew we had to make a change. That’s when I found the 571B Banana Slicer. Our marriage has never been healthier, AND we’ve even incorporated it into our lovemaking. THANKS 571B BANANASLICER! (by Amazon user Mrs Toledo)

Disappointed

I had lost all hope. Wars, poverty, honey boo boo. Truly these were the end of times. And then I saw it…this Banana Slicer. A slicer that slices bananas, who could of thought of something like this? And that’s when I knew…clearly we are not alone in this universe. A simple human could not have created a machine this genius. This banana slicer, a slicer that slices bananas, produces perfectly round slices with such mathematical precision that only an advanced being could have bestowed this upon us. Clearly these beings have taken mercy on us and wish to restore our society with their advanced technology, starting with this banana slicer, a slicer that slices bananas. Get ready people, THEFUTURE IS HERE!!!!! (by Amazon user L. A. Williams)

My 27 trained monkeys love this

As you may or may not know, I have 27 trained monkeys I use to do my evil bidding. Well, the younger monkeys teeth have not fully developed and so slicing a banana to feed them is a necessary chore. The adult monkeys used to have to chew up bananas and feed their young but not anymore with the Victorio Kitchen Products 571B Banana Slicer. The adults are going bananas over this time saving easy product. No longer so they have to taste and chew the deliciousness banana without eating it teasing them like a teenage prom date.

Now, they can eat and enjoy while i feed the young by slicing the bananas into small pieces that’s easy for them to digest, This product is aces in my book and if you have 27 trained monkeys that will help you take over the land of OZ, i highly recommenced this product. This product is more useful than a barrel of monkeys. (by Amazon user L. Blankenship “Lundy Love”)

Images

Many Amazon users have submitted joke images to the banana slicer product page, including image macros with The Most Interesting Man in the World and Ermahgerd advice animal characters.

Search Interest

External References

About

Daym Drops is a YouTube video blogger known for his reviews of fast food meals while sitting in the front seat of his car. He initially rose to viral fame in August 2012 after The Gregory Brothers auto-tuned one of his reviews and continues to publish videos through his YouTube channel. In April 2013, he announced he would be taking his enthusiastic reviews to cable TV with the upcoming Travel Channel series Best Daym Takeout.

Online History

Daymon Patterson originally launched his YouTube channel^[1] under the name “Ghetto News Network” on May 23rd, 2010. His first upload was a commercial-style video for a McDonald’s frappe (shown below, left). After uploading two other videos and setting up his Twitter^[2] and Facebook^[3] fan page in spring of 2011, he switched to an in-car monologue format with a review of a Dunkin’ Donuts Frozen Hot Chocolate drink (shown below, right) uploaded on June 7th, 2011. In the 5-minute clip, he tastes the drink and shares his thoughts about its flavor before serenading the cup in happiness.

By June 2012, Patterson’s YouTube account had reached 1,000 subscribers, and by March 2013, he had reached 100,000 subscribers. As of April 2013, he has more than 114,000 subscribers and nearly 11 million video views, averaging approximately 9,600 views per day.

Five Guys Review

On April 26th, 2012, Patterson uploaded an emphatic review of a double cheeseburger and french fries from the American restaurant chain Five Guys. Almost four months later, on August 2nd, 2012, the video was featured on men’s culture blog Mantra.^[4] On August 12th, Redditor Just4Lulzz submitted the review to the /r/videos subreddit^[5], where it accrued more than 8,000 upvotes, 1,000 comments and 2,000 points overall before being archived. Over the next several days, the video was featured on Hypervocal^[6], What’s Trending^[7], MSN Now^[8], Gawker^[9] and the Daily Dot.^[10] As of April 2013, the Five Guys review has more than 3.5 million views.

On August 15th, The Gregory Brothers released an autotuned version of Daym Drops’ Five Guys review titled “Oh My Dayum” (shown below, left). This auto-tuned version was featured on a number of news and food blogs including Grub Street New York^[11], NPR^[12], Eater^[13] and Laughing Squid.^[14] Five days later, Daym Drops uploaded a response video (shown below, right) thanking the Gregory Brothers for remixing his video and singing their version into an oscillating fan.

Travel Channel TV Show

On April 23rd, 2013, the Travel Channel announced Patterson would be hosting a limited series titled “Best Daym Takeout,”^[15] and document his cross-country journey in search of the best carry out restaurants. The following day, he explained further details in a YouTube video (shown below), noting that the show would not deter him from regularly updating his YouTube channel. Although the airing schedule has not been revealed yet, the series is slated for premiere some time in 2013.

Notable Videos

Personal Life

Daymon Patterson was born on September 24th, 1977 and resides near Hartford, Connecticut. While making his early videos for YouTube, he also maintained the blog Ask Daym^[18], where he posted written prose as well as relationship advice. Following the success of the auto-tuned version of his Five Guys review in August 2012, he participated in a video Reddit AMA (shown below), where he spoke about the process of working with the Gregory Brothers as well as his future plans as a food reviewer. He was also profiled by the Daily Dot^[19] that month, sharing his reaction to his sudden fame and his dedication to his fanbase, which he calls his “fam.” He became a YouTube partner^[16] that October, allowing him to quit his day job at a car dealership to make videos full time within a month. In addition to Facebook^[2] and Twitter^[3], he also maintains accounts on Instagram^[20] and Keek^[21] to stay connected with his fans.

Search Interest

External References

About

Experiment: text your parents “got 2 grams for $40” then right after “Sorry ignore that txt. Not for you” Then tweet pic of their response

Experiment: text your parents “got 2 grams for $40” then right after “Sorry ignore that txt. Not for you” Then tweet pic of their response.

— nathan fielder (@nathanfielder) April 24, 2013

In the spirit of “Bros before Ho’s” I introduce Purples before Nurples! The theme of prioritizing the acquisition of digital loot at the expense of one’s real world existence is full blown cliche and has been for some time now. No further explanation should be needed.

Fuck your policy of not making entries for the sake of launching my own creation! Neglecting one’s family, friends, job, sleep, hygiene, nutrition, social or religious obligations, and especially their significant other (if they’re lucky enough to have one) is a time-honored tradition of all MMO players all over the world and it’s time to put a face on it! What better representation than the most impossible mount to attain in the golden era of the world’s largest MMORPG ?! What better way to honor their sacrifice and ridicule them at the same time?! This needs to happen, you know it, I know it, and the rest of the whole damn internet knows it!

About

Faith in Humanity Restored is an expression indicating an event or good deed has improved one’s outlook on the overall ethical standards of human beings. The phrase can be seen as the antithesis of I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

Origin

On October 3rd, 2000, a post titled “Nice Things That Restore my Faith in Humanity” was submitted to the writing database Everything2^[7] by user Nailbunny, featuring a short story about a heartfelt phone call from a close friend.

Freddie Mercury Rage Pose

“Faith in humanity has been restored” is often associated with the Freddie Mercury Rage Pose image (shown below.

Spread

On April 5th, 2007, Livejournal^[15] user salaroo submitted a post to the “We Huge Sloths” community titled “My faith in humanity has been restored,” which celebrated the adoption of a sloth. On August 31st, 2010, a TV Tropes page for “Restored My Faith in Humanity”^[8] was created, which associated the theme with the “Rousseau Was Right” and “Humans Are Good”^[9] tropes. On September 3rd, a series of photos featuring a man rescuing a drowning dog (shown below) were highlighted on the Internet humor blog Ned Hardy.^[11]

On December 8th, the “Random Acts of Pizza” subreddit was created with the slogan “Restoring Faith in Humanity, One Slice at a Time.” On February 13th, 2012, a Facebook^[1] page titled “Faith in Humanity: Restored” was launched, gaining more than 11,000 likes in the next two years. On June 20th, the viral content site BuzzFeed^[5] published a round-up of “21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity,” which received upwards of 12.9 million views and 17,000 Facebook shares in the first 10 months. On August 27th, the Internet humor site Cracked published an article titled “6 True Stories That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.” On December 14th, BuzzFeed^[6] published another photo compilation titled “26 Moments That Restored Our Faith in Humanity This Year,” accumulating over 7.4 million views and 542,000 Facebook shares in the following five months. The same day, the Internet humor blog Smosh^[13] published a similar photo compilation titled “24 Photos That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.”

Notable Examples

Image macros containing heart-warming stories can be found on Pinterest^[10] and Tumblr^[12] with the description “faith in humanity restored.”

Search Interest

External References

What is Blood Raining Night?

     Blood Raining Night started off as a terribly written fan fiction published on Quizilla, March 19th, 2012, by ReicheruKetsuekineko. Its infamy increased on DeviantArt around chapter 9 (an ass-wrenching sex scene), and it soon graduated into an animation. Lightly treading the clusterfuck footsteps of My Immortal and Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls, Blood Raining Night has rightfully earned its own unique spot on the shelf of hilariously bad fandom. The story is about a 17-year-old girl who is a hybrid of a cat-demon and a vampire with a few magical powers that works for the Yakuza. She is classified as a “Mary Sue” due to her overly tragic past, bland, ever-changing personality, cute cat ears, and boobs that are so enormous that they are sometimes unintentionally used as a weapon. This girl, named Reicheru Ketsuekineko-Oni, is confronted by her abusive father who is back with a vengeance after he was supposedly killed by her many years ago. His hatred for her is rooted in an event that happened when she was a little girl; her cat-demon had randomly decided take over and that resulted in her eating her mother alive.

What Happens in the Story?

     Soon after the fan fiction begins, Reicheru cheats on the “love of her life” (Denmark from Hetalia) and is impregnated with Inuyasha’s rapidly-growing baby. This baby actually turns out to be the god of the world. With the help of her friends Yuki, Minna, and Aza, Reicheru is determined to kill her father and protect her child. Many characters in the Blood Raining Night fan fiction and fanime are from popular sources such as Inuyasha, Hellsing, Elfen Lied, Legend of Korra, and Hetalia. Most, if not all, of these characters are described poorly and written completely out of character. Most of the author’s OCs are bland and unimpressive, but she did create some memorable ones. Sensei Hanayubi is probably the most loved OC in Blood Raining Night. He is endearing, funny and kind in both the fanime and the fan fiction, and is portrayed as a dedicated teacher who often finds himself in obscurely perverted situations that he’s completely oblivious to. In the fanime, Alucard is also a very popular character because of his oddly funny voice acting and silly dialogue. In contrast to the real Alucard from Hellsing, Reicheru’s version of Alucard tries to be bad-ass but epically fails and comes off as an utter joke, but even then he is still a likeable and popular character.

Bad Sex Scenes and Horrendous Writing

     BRN doesn’t just have butchered, beloved characters to offer- oh no! If you like to read about people being killed with dildos or cum raining down upon innocent citizens, then this story will suit you just fine! Besides the outrageous and confusing plot, the writing mechanics are just plain terrible; Misspelling after misspelling, inappropriately used Japanese, perfectly placed typos, and Reicheru’s signature similes create one funny but headache-educing experience. The estimated amount of chapters that Reicheru wants to accomplish is 50.

But this must be a parody, right?

     Well, to be honest, no one really knows at the moment. Blood Raining Night’s infamy has spread across YouTube, Deviant Art, Fanfiction.net, and Tumblr.; and you will find that on all of those sites, you will receive quite conflicting answers to that question. You will hear people strongly argue that Reicheru-Ketsueki is not a troll, and then you will also hear people who are certain she is one. “Reicheru” herself has not admitted to being a troll, if she even is.
Take a look at an excerpt from the Troll Debate: Reicheru-Ketsueki,

“If you look at everything Reicheru does individually (the fanfic, the fanime, her OCs), you might say that she’s definitely trolling. But you can’t just focus in on one thing; you have to look at the whole picture…On her Deviant Art, Reicheru doesn’t just post chapters to her fan-fiction. She also posts poems, drawings, art-trades and everything else someone who is serious about their Deviant Art would do.”

And of course, she is also involved in her animation project and various other hobbies. The confusion as to whether she is or is not trolling has also greatly contributed to Blood Raining Night’s growing popularity. As time has gone on, people that see Reicheru as an extremely crafty and dedicated troll or as a serious-but-terrible artist have embraced Blood Raining Night and have even shared a few tears. Reicheru has improved on not only her attitude towards harsh criticism and being seen as a joke, but also her artistic skills; and through all the hatred and general negativity, she still manages to write a new chapter and animate a new episode. Blood Raining Night even holds some of its own originality; it’s considered funny, terrible, mind-fucking, heart-warming, and bizarre; but whatever it actually is, it’s here to stay.

External References

The Troll Debate: Reicheru Ketsueki
http://bloodrainingnight.tumblr.com/post/48436889786/the-troll-debate-reicheru-ketsueki

Sources From Reicheru:
http://quizilla.teennick.com/user/reicheruketsuekineko/
http://reicheru-ketsueki.deviantart.com/
http://www.fanfiction.net/~reicheruketsuekinekooni
http://www.youtube.com/user/ReicheruKetsuekineko/videos?view=0

BRN Fan Site:
http://bloodrainingnight.tumblr.com/

Official BRN Fan Site:
http://reicheruskittypowers.webs.com/

About

The Goonies is a classic favorite adventure–comedy movie made in 1985 by Richard Donner, Chris Columbus, and Steven Spielberg. The film’s premise features a band of pre-teens who live in the Goon Docks neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon, attempting to save their homes from demolition, and in doing so, discover an old Spanish map that leads them on an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of One-Eyed Willie, a legendary 17th-century pirate.

Origin

W.I.P.

Spread

W.I.P.

Related Memes

Chunk Is Indestructible is a popular YTMND of Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation movie First Contact, shooting a tommy gun at Gonnies character Chunk while doing the truffle shuffle, reflecting the bullets away. It is uploaded uploaded by YTMND user Syncan from his Chunk Is Indestructible website.

Sloth Love Chunk is a famous line in The Goonies from Sloth to Chunk. The line became really famous for t-shirts, fanarts, posters, and other accessories of the popular duo.

Search Interest

External References

Mentos commercial parody

About

This meme is a collection of parodies which consists variety of content: from home made to montages of movies, animation or TV shows. The main objective is to spoof the commercial and the main idea of it, though some versions do not have any reference to mentos until the very end, in a sense, enforcing the idea that you can advertise anything no matter what.

Origin

Mentos Commercial Spoof was first discovered in 2006 at Youtube channel, when with the original 90’s commercial came its parody version. It is however unknown if older versions of parodies exists.
First notable example (and probably the first to recognize the potential of the meme) was FND Films made “Magic mentos” which main target was the commercial theme song.

Structure

The structural body consists of the problem, solution and ending, which are in many successful videos, specific (though there are exceptions).
The beginning shows a problem, which cannot be solved by simple means
The solution is divided into two parts – inclusion of mentos and quick find of the solution and its execution by any means necessary.
The ending shows the consequences and is ended by still shot of a person making pose, gesture or is a still shot of person in mid action. The shot is in most cases a montage with Mentos slogan “Mentos – The fresh maker”
The main song that is used in the spoofs is from 90’s mentos commercial that is found in 2007 (interestingly a year after the appearance of the parody)

Spread

The gag spread and variety of spoofs popped in the “Youtube” space. Many were home made by various people, but the most popular and most frequent were parodies which used footage of famous films and series, starting from Star Wars to Scarface, to American Psycho.

Today, about 46 thousand entries of “mentos commercial parody” can be found on YouTube alone.

Search Interests

External References

^[1]CraveOnline – 5 Best Mentos Commercial Spoofs / Posted on May 7th, 2012
^[2]. Adweek – ‘Breaking Bad’ Mentos Commercial Is Fresh, Full of Life / Posted on August 27, 2012
^[3]. Humor’s Office – Top 10 Classic Mentos Commercials / Posted on September 13, 2010