About

Don’t Lose Your Way Goes with Everything is a series of YouTube Poop videos that play any footage with a segment of “Before My Body is Dry”^[1] in the background, a popular song from anime Kill la Kill^[2], where the line “Don’t lose your way” is sung. It is done in a similar fashion to Guile’s Theme Goes with Everything, making the footage to appear greatly more epic^[3].

Origin

The first known mashup video using the song was posted by a YouTuber Stalker Humanoid^[4] titled “Kill la Eddie” on January 5th, 2014. The video contains a scene from television crime drama series Miami Vice^[5] in which Eddie gets shot with a shotgun while “Don’t lose your way” segment plays in the background, parodying how the song is used in Kill la Kill. On January 7th, a redditor defearl^[6] posted a link to the video on Kill la Kill subreddit^[7], coining and popularizing the phrase “Don’t Lose Your Way Goes with Everything” among the anime community.

Spread

Following defearl’s thread, many redditors on Kill la Kill and anime subreddits began creating and posting similar videos, stating “it really does go with everything”. The used footage range from television shows and other anime to video game clips.

Notable Examples

External References

^[1]YouTube – Before My Body is Dry Preview

^[2]Wikipedia – Kill la Kill

^[3]TV Tropes – Soundtrack Dissonance

^[4]YouTube – Stalker Humanoid’s Channel

^[5]Wikipedia – Miami Vice

^[6]Reddit – defearl

^[7]Reddit – Original Thread

About

Nancy Grace is an American television personality and former special prosecutor who currently hosts the CNN Headline News’ current affairs program Nancy Grace in which she covers a mix of news topics and gossip. On the Internet, she has come under sharp criticism for prematurely declaring suspects in high-profile criminal cases guilty without concrete evidence or due diligence.

TV Career

Grace’s self-titled talk show, Nancy Grace premiered on CNN’s HLN (Headline News Network) on February 21st, 2005. As of January 2014, the show has recorded over 500 episodes. She has made multiple appearances as a guest co-host on the morning talk show The View since her show premiered, and has also been on Good Morning America. She has appeared as herself on several scripted shows since the mid-2000s including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2007, The Wire in 2008 and Raising Hope in 2012. Grace competed on the 13th season of the reality competition show Dancing with the Stars in fall of 2011. While performing a dance number on the show she had a wardrobe malfunction that resulted in a nip slip that was widely reported on, though TV viewers didn’t see the malfunction.^[2] She was eliminated during the eighth week of the competition.^[3] She made her acting debut in the 2012 television movie The Eleventh Victim.

Online History

The Twitter account^[5] for Grace’s show has over 390,000 followers as of January 2014, while the show’s Facebook page^[6] has over 1.6 million likes.

Elizabeth Smart Kidnapping Case

During the 2002 Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case, when suspect Richard Ricci was arrested by police on the basis that he had a criminal record and had worked on the Smarts’ home, Grace immediately and repeatedly proclaimed on Court TV and CNN’s Larry King Live that Ricci was guilty, although there was little evidence to support this claim.

In 2008 Smart was interviewed by Grace on CNN regarding a sex offender bill she supported. When Grace continually asked questions regarding the kidnapping Smart appeared exasperated and eventually refused to answer questions that were not about the bill.

Duke University Lacrosse Case

During the coverage of the 2006 allegations that three Duke University Lacrosse players had raped a woman, Grace continually suggested the students were guilty on air, making sarcastic statements such as:

“I’m so glad they didn’t miss a lacrosse game over a little thing like gang rape!”

Why would you go to a cop in an alleged gang rape case, say, and lie and give misleading information?"

On the April 27th, 2007, Jon Stewart suggested in an episode of The Daily Show that Grace had someone fill in on her show the night after the rape allegations were proved false because of her previous statements.^[12]

About

Hilary Clinton’s New York Times Magazine Cover, also known as “Planet Hillary,” refers to a magazine cover featuring a composite image of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s face superimposed on to the surface of a planet. Following its unveiling in late January 2014, the cover art quickly inspired a photoshop meme based on the exploitable image of “Planet Hilary.”

Origin

On January 23rd, 2014, New York Times Magazine editor David Joachim tweeted the cover for its upcoming January 26th issue, featuring Hillary Clinton’s face on the surface of a planet in space. Less than 15 minutes later, Twitter user Luke O’Neil replied to Joachim’s tweet joking that the Clinton planet looked like a “sentient space testicle.”

Hillary Rodham Clinton, as you've never seen her, on the cover of this Sunday's NYT Magazine pic.twitter.com/QIsqibZaq5

— David Joachim, NYT (@davidjoachim) January 23, 2014

Spread

The same day on January 23rd, 2014, several other Twitter users began posting photoshopped images featuring cutouts of the Clinton planet edited into other base images of various contexts. At 11:44 a.m. (ET), the design and multimedia manager for GLAAD Chris Carlon tweeted a photoshopped picture of a nude Miley Cyrus riding the Clinton planet like a wrecking ball.

Miley and Hillary on NYT Mag cover. how weird pic.twitter.com/OxsGxVMUtK

— Chris Carlon (@christofear) January 23, 2014

Less than two hours later, the director of social media for Fluency Media tweeted a photoshopped cover of the children’s book Goodnight Moon with “Planet Hilary” superimposed in the window.

i'm sorry darth</a> i couldn&#39;t wait <a href="http://t.co/tLtBUflkod">pic.twitter.com/tLtBUflkod</a></p>&mdash; lindsay blackwell (linguangst) January 23, 2014

Also on January 23rd, The 6th Floor New York Times^[5] blog published an article about the backstory behind the magazine cover, explaining that “Planet Hilary” was inspired by the man-on-the-moon from the 1902 silent film Le Voyage Dans la Lune. Throughout the day, several news sites highlighted notable examples of the photoshop meme, including The Daily Dot,^[1]The Wire,^[2] Jezebel^[4] and BuzzFeed.^[3]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

A trust fall is a form of trust exercise where one person either blindfolds themself or they close their eyes, and fall backward, hoping the other person, or people, will catch them.

Backround

The first trust fall to ever go onto media was on the movie Mean Girls on the “Attitude Makeover” scene, and then it was shown on the 4th season on The Wire

Surprise Trust Fall

In 2010, Daniel Tosh made a skit on his show, where he randomly trust fell at several different occasions.

Since then, there have been many inspired “Surprise Trust Fall” videos posted on Youtube.

(REST OF PAGESTILL IN PROGRESS)

About

Bill Gates is an American computer engineer and philanthropist who founded the computer software company Microsoft.

Career

Microsoft

Gates founded Microsoft, originally called Micro-Soft, with his partner Paul Allen on April 4th, 1975.^[12] He held the position of CEO of the company until 2000. From 2000-2006 he worked as the chief software architect, and by 2008 he remained at the company only as a chairman of the firm so he could devote more attention to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 2000 based in Seattle, Washington, run by Gates, his wife Melinda, and his father William.^[4] The foundation also has locations in Washington, D.C., Delhi, Beijing, and London. As of January 2014 the foundation employs over 1,000 people and has paid over $28 billion in grants. In a letter on the foundation’s website Bil and Melinda Gates explain the its mission:

“For each issue we work on, we fund innovative ideas that could help remove these barriers: new techniques to help farmers in developing countries grow more food and earn more money; new tools to prevent and treat deadly diseases; new methods to help students and teachers in the classroom. Some of the projects we fund will fail. We not only accept that, we expect it--because we think an essential role of philanthropy is to make bets on promising solutions that governments and businesses can’t afford to make. As we learn which bets pay off, we have to adjust our strategies and share the results so everyone can benefit.”

Online History

As of January 2014 Gate’s Twitter account^[1] has over 14.7 million followers and his Facebook page^[2] has over 6.4 million likes.

Reddit Secret Santa

Gates participated in Reddit’s annual Secret Santa gift exchange in December 2013.^[3] His gift recipient was a Reddit user named Rachel, who received a stuffed cow, a book titled Journeys of a Lifetime , and a donation on her behalf for Heifer International. A photo of Gates holding the gifts was included among the presents to prove he really was her Secret Santa.

Related Memes

Chair Leap

In a 1994 interview with Connie Chung, Gates was asked if the rumor that he could leap over a chair from a standing position was true. He demonstrated his skill by successfully leaping over the chair he had been sitting in. The clip was uploaded to YouTube by user buzzert^[11] on June 26th, 2008. Though it was originally uploaded in 2008 it went viral in fall of 2011 after sites like Buzzfeed^[13] and UpRoxx^[14] reported on it. As of January 2014 the video has more than 2.1 million views.

Dreamy Bill Gates

Dreamy Bill Gates is an advice animal featuring a picture of a young Gates draped over a computer. The captions on the picture are sexual and involve computer or Microsoft puns. The captioned picture was first submitted to the r/AdviceAnimals sub-Reddit by user ALottaHOOPLA^[10] on December 30th, 2011.The Tumblr blog sexybillgates^[8], which posts examples of the meme, was created on December 31st, 2011.

Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates

Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates is a multi-pane webcomic series illustrating a brief exchange between Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The photographs of Jobs and Gates having a conversation were taken during a panel session hosted by All Things Digital^[5] co-executive editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the D: All Things Digital conference (D5) on May 31st, 2007. The iconic photograph of Gates and Jobs laughing together was taken by Joi Ito^[6] and uploaded via Flickr later that same day. However, the earliest known instance of a multi-pane comic based on Ito’s photographs didn’t emerge until it was highlighted on the Internet humor blog Sad and Useless^[7] on May 16th, 2010.

Code.org

Code.org is a non-profit dedicated to getting computer coding into the circulum of more schools, with a special focus on offering coding experience to children of color and female students.^[15] Gates appeared in a video for the organization on the importance of coding for a student’s education along side other tech leaders like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and DropBox creator Drew Houston. The video was uploaded to Code.org’s YouTube channel^[16] on February 26th, 2013. As of January 2014 the video has over 11.4 million views.

GatesLetter.com

Gates released his annual letter for 2014 on his foundation’s website in late January 2014. The letter is titled “3 Myths That Block Progress From the Poor,” and in it he explains these myths are: poor countries are doomed to stay poor, foreign aid is a big waste, and saving lives leads to overpopulation.^[9]

To promote the letter Gates appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and released a video featuring himself repeating “GatesLetter.com” while wearing a variety of hats and wigs. The video was uploaded to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’s YouTube channel on January 21st, and as of January 24th the video has over 800,000 views.

Personal Life

Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 28th, 1955. He began attending Harvard University in 1973, but never graduated. He married Melinda French in 1994. The couple have three children. As of September 2013 he has a net worth of $72 billion .^[8]

Search Interest

External References

About

Menswear Dog is the nickname of a Shibu Inu dog owned by New York City residents David Fung and Yena Kim, that is known for being photographed while wearing men’s apparel.

Origin

On January 27th, 2013, the Menswear Dog Tumblr^[2] blog was launched, featuring photographs of Bodhi, a Shibu In dog wearing men’s clothes (shown below).

Spread

On January 27th, a Facebook^[8] page titled “Menswear Dog” was launched. The same day, a Menswear Dog Instagram feed was created. On January 28th, 2013, the @Mensweardog Twitter feed was launched. Within the first year, the Instagram^[3] page gained over 79,000 followers, Facebook received more than 26,000 likes and the Twitter feed accumulated upwards of 3,800 followers.

Staying Warm with Layering: http://t.co/zL8PHrns

— Menswear Dog (@Mensweardog) January 29, 2013

Within the next week, several news sites published articles about Menswear Dog Tumblr blog, including GQ,^[6] The Daily Mail^[5] and Today.^[7] On February 9th, Redditor Manpreetdhot posted an Imgur gallery featuring photographs of Menswear Dog to the /r/pics^[1] subreddit, garnering upwards of 29,400 up votes and 730 comments. On March 1st, Menswear Dog appeared on the Internet-streaming talk show Huffpost Live.

Documentary

On October 15th, 2013, the Blue Chalk Vimeo channel released a documentary short about Menswear Dog’s rise to fame on Tumblr (shown below) and his owners quit their jobs to manage the dog fulltime.

Search Interest

External References

About

Rules Of Nature Goes With Everything is a series of videos that combine footage from a variety of sources with Rules Of Nature, a boss battle theme from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.^[1] The theme is usually used in tandem with over-the-top action to allow for more exciting skirmishes.

Origin

The song first plays in the tutorial level of Revengeance when Metal Gear RAY attacks Raiden, the game’s protagonist.^[2] The vocals kick in when Raiden initiates the finishing move on his enemy, which first involves launching the machine upward before jumping on it and cutting off its arm, and the song returns for a reprise when he cuts off the other arm and bisects the Metal Gear.

The first parody utilizing the song was posted by Youtube user KazNDS on March 8, 2013, and featured footage an obese woman picking up and throwing a table and subsequently blocking and dodging chairs thrown at her during a riot (shown below, left). The video has since gained over 19,800 views and 407 “Likes”. In homage to the original Guile’s Theme Goes With Everything video^[3], another YouTube user by the name of RulesOfNatureFitsAll juxtaposed footage of the Super Mario Brothers live-action film with the song on April 24, 2013, utilizing “Soundtrack Dissonance”^[4] in order to make the scene more engaging (shown below, right). This video has gained over 2,200 views and 31 “Likes”.

Spread

Following the initial parodies, montages featuring the song became increasingly popular. User Versacality uploaded two volumes of moments edited to feature the song, and two other users known as Baiken 梅喧 and CesiumHippo included their own moments. Each video has over 10,000 views and over 100 “Likes”.

Furthermore, more users selected single scenes from shows, films, and video games to combine with the song. The series of videos became popular enough that “Rules Of Nature Goes With Everything” became a search tag on YouTube.^[5]

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Amazon’s Monsterotica Controversy refers to the removal of adult-themed book titles from the Amazon Kindle store which contained graphic sexual encounters with various horror creatures.

Background

In December 2011, stay-at-home mother Virginia Wade published a novella titled Cum For Bigfoot on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service. During 2012, the book was downloaded over 100,000 times off Amazon, earning Wade anywhere from $6,000 to $30,000 per month.^[1]

Notable Developments

On October 11th, 2013, Kernel Mag^[1] published an article titled “An Epidemic of Filth,” which criticized online bookstores for profiting off of sexually deviant ebooks. That month, several online retailers began removing hundreds of self-published adult titles from their sites, including several of Wade’s bigfoot erotica titles. On November 27th, TheBooksellerChannel YouTube channel uploaded a speech by Kobo executive Michael Tamblyn, who referred to the ebook removals as “erotica-gate” (shown below).

On December 21st, 2013, Business Insider^[3] published an article about the book removals, containing statements from several self-published monster erotica authors. On December 26th, Redditor porn_flakes submitted the Business Insider article to the /r/offbeat^[4] subreddit, where it received over 1,100 up votes and 150 comments in the first month. On January 3rd, Business Insider published a video reenactment of the novel Taken By The Monsters: An Erotic Monster Tale by K.J. Burkhardt (shown below). In the coming weeks, several news sites published articles about monster erotica ebooks, including The Daily Beast, UpRoxx and Jezebel.

Search Interest

External References

When doing their Tekkit series in Minecraft, the Youtuber Yogscast Sjin and Yogscast Sips were making a door for their secret base. Sjin put down a door, claiming it was mahogany. He kept on repeating “mahogany doors”. After doing this for a few seconds, Sips told him that it is not mahogany. The following scene takes place at around 13:20 in the video “Tekkit – Episode 71 – Mahogany Doors” (link provided at the bottom).

Sjin: Check this out this bling, Sips. Check this out. Boom. Mahogany doors.

Sips: Oh wow

Sjin: Mahogany doors

Sips: Ok, I’ve got-

Sjin: Mahogany doors

Sips: Wha- What?

Sjin: Mahogany doors. Mahogany doors. Mahogany doors. Mahogany doors.

Sips: What

Sjin: Mahogany doors. Mahogany doors

Sips: laughs That’s not mahogany! The f*ck are you talking about?

Sjin: Yes it is

SIps; That’s just normal wood. That is not mahogany

Sjin: F*ck you, I- it’s, it’s mahogany wood, Sips

Sips: It’s not mahogany

Sjin: Mahogany doors

Sips: It’s not
*
Main video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ejsRfhJSQo

(Work In Progress)

About

“Edgy” is a term used to describe something that is provocative, trying to go against the societal norms. On the internet, it is often associated with tryhards and gratuitous dark themes.

Origin

According to Online Etymology Dictionary,^[12] the word originated in 1775 and meant “having sharp edges”. By 1837, the meaning “tense and irritable” was attested, from the notion of being on the edge of doing something irrational. The online usage is mostly attributed to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of “having a bold, provocative, or unconventional quality”.^[13]

Spread

On November 13th 2011, a YouTuber named Errant Signal^[11] released a video discussing edgy concepts in video games, using footage from the 1997-2001 American animated television series Daria. As of January 25th 2014, the video has around 45,000 views and 1491 likes.

On June 18th 2012, an image saying “Now That’s What I Call Edgy” (pictured below) had been posted on the “Oh No They Didn’t” LiveJournal page.^[8] The image eventually came up on other sites. Same year, on July 1st, the image was posted on 4chan’s /v/ (Videogames) board in a thread about Felicia Day.^[9] Since then, it has been used as a negative reaction image.

On October 25th 2013, Twitter user Triple-Q uploaded a parody image of a Canadian-American cartoon show Ed, Edd and Eddy, named “Edg, Edge, and Edgy”, featuring the likenesses of Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill, Dante from DmC: Devil May Cry, and Shadow the Hedgehog from Sonic franchise^[10]. As of January 2014, the tweet has been retweeted 41 times and favorited 32 times.

However, the word “edgy” had seen a lot of misuse since it started to be used widely. The word had become associated with shitposters due to them calling out simple opinions as “edgy”. In December 2012, several threads^[4][5][6][7] on 4chan’s /q/ board had been made, requesting to filter the word.

Notable Examples

The term is widely used on internet sites like 4chan,^[1] reddit,^[2] Funnyjunk,^[3] therefore numerous reaction images and image macros have been made around it.

External References

About

Jazz For Your Soul is an image macro series based on on a double exposure image showing a person passionately playing an instrument (or an object like it’s an instrument) with a digital composite of the subject’s head superimposed on the front, in a similar style as the PTSD Clarinet Boy and Karate Kyle. Although the images already managed to gain attention in the South-Korean blogosphere as early as 2007, it wasn’t until 2010 before it started gaining momentum on the English web.

Origin

The first instance of the image dates back to September 13th, 2004, in a blog post on the South-Korean website Oeker.net,^[1] showing a picture of a man using a fire extinguisher like he’s playing a saxophone alongside the caption “Jazz for your Soul.”

Spread

On February 21, 2007, the image was posted on the Japanese Yahoo.^[2] On April 29th of the same year, the image got posted on a blog on the Korean website Egloos^[3] alongside two derivatives showing two men playing guitars as if they were violins with the texts “Falling in your soul…” (shown below, left) and “Classic for your soul” (shown below, right). After that all three images were shared numerous times on South-Korean blogs from 2007 to 2010, mainly on the blogging platforms Egloos and Tistory, where more variations were created and spread over time.^[4][5]

In November 2010, the original image was posted on the Cheezburger website Pictureisunrelated. Although the post has since been lost, it was shared on the Gentleartofmeme Blogspot^[6] and FunnyJunk^[7] that same month. On September 24th, 2012, Youtuber James Russel posted a video^[8] on Youtube showing the original image with smooth jazz playing in the background, which has gathered over 4,000 views as of January 2014.

On August 1st, 2011, Tumblr user Hazyville posted the original image to his blog.^[10] On September 22nd, 2012, Tumblr user Factsaboutmycat posted a derivative of the original on her blog showing a little kid using a toy like a saxophone (shown below, left).^[11] On August 23rd, 2013, Tumblr user te--love posted a photo showing a kid playing saxophone on a longboard (shown below, right).^[12] As of January 2014, the three posts have gained respectively over 24,000; 39,000 and 178,000 notes.

Notable Examples

Additional examples can also be found on Tumblr through the tag #jazz-for-your-soul.^[9]

Search Interest

External References

About

Pharrell Williams’ Hat is a photoshop meme featuring the oversized mountie hat worn by American singer and rapper Pharrell Williams during the 56th Grammy Awards in January of 2014. Photos of Williams in the hat are often shown besides photos of cartoon characters known for their distinctive hats.

Origin

On January 26th, 2014, the 56th Grammy Awards was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. During the red carpet ceremony, Williams made an appearance while donning a large brown hat that resembles the brown hats traditionally worn by Candian Mounties. The similarity was subsequently pointed out by Ed Robertson^[3], a member of the pop-rock group Barenaked Ladies, in an interview with the rapper, who commented:

""I think you styled yourself after Canadian mounties."

Williams continued to wear the hat throughout the ceremony, eventually appearing on-stage with it to accept the Record of the Year along with Daft Punk and Nile Rodgers for their song “Get Lucky.”[^[1][2]

Spread

At 7:12 p.m. (ET) parody Twitter^[6] account @Pharrellhat sent out its first tweet, and in less than 24 hours, the account has accrued over 15,700 followers. Around 7:58 p.m. (ET) viral news website Buzzfeed^[5] posted an article titled “Pharrell’s Hat Is The Most Important Thing At The Grammys,” highlighting a collection of image macros inspired by the hat and the novelty Twitter account @Pharrellhat. Thirty minutes later, fast food chain Arby’s^[4] tweeted:

“Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs”

Many websites covered the hat and sorrounding meme over the course of the evening including E! Online^[7], The Washington Post^[8], and Variety.^[9]

Over the course of the evening, many entertainment news and celebrity gossip sites picked up on the story, including E! Online^[7], The Washington Post^[8] and Variety,^[9] among many others. At 4:31 a.m. (ET) on January 27th, Williams tweeted an image macro of his head, complete with the mountie hat, superimposed on the body of Woody from the animated Pixar movie Toy Story (shown below, left), followed by another tweet highlighting a fan art illustration of Williams wearing the hat (shown below, right) by Twitter user @MINAKWON as “my fave.”^[12]

On the next day, the post-Grammy coverage of Williams’ mountie hat continued with BuzzFeed’s compilation of “33 Things Pharrell Is Hiding Under His Hat”^[10] and Esquire’s identification of the headwear as a park-ranger style “Campaign” hat designed by Vivienne Westwood.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9wgI6rCbY4 CHEEKIBREEKI

Overview

Scarlett Johansson’s SodaStream Ad Controversy refers to the online backlash surrounding the American actress’ formal endorsement of SodaStream, an Israeli home carbonation product company which runs one of its factories inside Ma’ale Adumim, the third largest Jewish settlement in the disputed territory of the West Bank.

Background

On January 10th, 2014, SodaStream unveiled Scarlett Johansson as the company’s “global brand ambassador” and model for its upcoming TV commercial to be premiered during the Super Bowl on February 2nd.

Notable Developments

News Media Coverage

In the following days, the company’s announcement was covered by a number of Israeli news outlets as well as English-language business news sites overseas, including Haaretz, Forbes, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek and Bloomberg, with many articles juxtaposing SodaStream’s latest endorsement deal with its most recent report of the company’s largest decline in its stock shares since 2011.

Op-Ed Criticisms

On January 12th, 2014, Middle Eastern political blog Mondoweiss picked up on the story in an article titled “Scarlett Johansson for SodaStream: ‘Set the bubbles free’ but keep the Palestinians bottled in Area A,” bringing an emphasis to the company’s operation of a factory in the internationally disputed Mishor Adumim Industrial Zone. Written by Mondoweiss’ editor-at-large Annie Robbins, her column prompted nearly 100 comments from the readers.

On January 13th, Al Jazeera’s The Stream blog first reported on the emerging online backlash against the American actress and her endorsement deal from Pro-Palestinian supporters, citing several comments as posted in the Mondoweiss article as well as a round-up of tweets reacting to the news. Then on January 15th, The Daily Beast called the accuracy of Al Jazeera’s report into question, arguing that the so-called controversy on Twitter merely consisted of four angry tweets.

OxFam’s Statement

On January 23rd, the international humanitarian organization OxFam released a statement criticizing the business partnership between SodaStream and Scarlett Johansson, who has served as an ambassador for the group since 2007.

We are proud of our relationship with Scarlett Johansson who has worked with Oxfam since 2005 to support Oxfam’s mission to end poverty and injustice. As an Oxfam Global Ambassador, she has travelled to India, Sri Lanka and Kenya to highlight the impact of traumatic disasters and chronic poverty, and she has helped to raise critical funds for life-saving and poverty-fighting work around the world. We deeply value her support.

Oxfam respects the independence of our ambassadors. However Oxfam believes that businesses that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support. Oxfam is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.

We have been engaged in dialogue with Scarlett Johansson and she has now expressed her position in a statement, including stressing her pride in her past work with Oxfam. Oxfam is now considering the implications of her new statement and what it means for Ms. Johansson’s role as an Oxfam global ambassador.

Photoshopped Parodies

On January 25th, Abe Greenhouse tweeted a photoshopped image of Johansson sipping on a SodaStream-made drink set to the backdrop of Palestinians crowded in a West Bank security checkpoint.

Scarlett Johansson enjoys a refreshment in the employee lounge at #SodaStream's West Bank factory: pic.twitter.com/FRDns5ZwjL

— Abe Greenhouse (@grinhoyz) January 26, 2014

#ScarlettJohansson’s #SodaStream Endorsement Deal Conflicts w/ Charity Work http://t.co/cY4rxILPuvnytimes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Oxfam">Oxfampic.twitter.com/QUwmXQoDuR

— Maie ⭐ (@Maie_AD) January 26, 2014

Scarlett Johansson "This #Sodastream is going to look so great in my kitchen" @Oxfamhttp://t.co/cH7FNkT12d#BDSpic.twitter.com/L9UClkEhD3

— Stephanie Westbrook (@stephinrome) January 25, 2014

Scarlett Johansson’s Response

On January 27th, the actress released an official statement to address the backlash via Huffington Post, clarifying that she “never intended on being the face of any social or political movement, distinction, separation or stance as part of my affiliation with SodaStream” while defending the company’s operation of a factory in the West Bank:

While I never intended on being the face of any social or political movement, distinction, separation or stance as part of my affiliation with SodaStream, given the amount of noise surrounding that decision, I’d like to clear the air.

I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights. That is what is happening in their Ma’ale Adumim factory every working day. As part of my efforts as an Ambassador for Oxfam, I have witnessed first-hand that progress is made when communities join together and work alongside one another and feel proud of the outcome of that work in the quality of their product and work environment, in the pay they bring home to their families and in the benefits they equally receive.

I believe in conscious consumerism and transparency and I trust that the consumer will make their own educated choice that is right for them. I stand behind the SodaStream product and am proud of the work that I have accomplished at Oxfam as an Ambassador for over 8 years. Even though it is a side effect of representing SodaStream, I am happy that light is being shed on this issue in hopes that a greater number of voices will contribute to the conversation of a peaceful two state solution in the near future.

Search Interest

External References

About

Cannibal Rat-Infested Ghost Ship is the nickname of the Lyubov Orlova, a 1976 Yugoslavian cruise ship that became a floating derelict after being abandoned in 2013.

Origin

The Lyubov Orlova, named after the Russian film star, served as an expedition cruise ship beginning in 1976 for the Soviet Union Far East Shipping Company. In February 2012, the ship was sold to Neptune International Shipping to be scrapped and was docked in St. John’s harbour in Newfoundland. On January 23rd, 2013, the ship was towed out for delivery to the Dominican Republic. One day later, the ship began floating out to sea when the tow line broke. After being recovered by Canadian authorities, the ship was set loose into international waters.

On February 24th, 2013, the Where Is Orlova?^[9] blog was launched, featuring news and sightings of the ship. On January 23rd, 2014, the British tabloid The Sun^[1] published an article about the Lyubov Orlova, which included an interview with salvage hunter Pim de Rhoodes who speculated that the ship may be infested with cannibal rats and heading for the coast of England.

Spread

The same day on January 23rd, 2014, several news sites published articles about the derelict vessel, including Gawker,^[2] Daily Record,^[3] The Independent,^[5] The Telegraph^[6] and Uproxx.^[7] Meanwhile, Redditor Happyginger submitted The Independent article to the /r/worldnews^[11] subreddit, where it received more than 5,800 up votes and 1,100 comments in the first week. Also on January 23rd, the Smithsonian^[8] published an article refuting the claims that the ship is heading towards English waters, citing statements by the Irish Coast Guard and the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency. On January 24th, The Guardian published an article about the ship, containing a statement by the UK coastguard announcing that the vessel may have already sunk:

“The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has received no sightings of the former Soviet cruise ship Lyubov Orlova since April last year and there is no evidence to suggest it is still afloat.”

On January 26th, Fox News^[13] published reported that British officials believe the ship had sunk due to volatile storms in the region. On the following day, NPR’s The Two-Way^[12] blog published an article containing a revised statement from Rhoodes, who acknowledged that they rats may have all died over the course of the last year.

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External References

About

Weird Stuff I Do Potoo is an advice animal image macro series featuring a photograph of a potoo bird accompanied by captions confessing strange idiosyncrasies and other unique behaviors.

Origin

On September 15th, 2013, an Imgur gallery of potoo photographs was submitted to the /r/funny subreddit, where it gained over 16,400 up votes and 500 comments in the first four months. Among the photos included a picture of a wall-eyed potoo (shown below, left). On January 25th, 2014, Redditor Robeast submitted an image macro of the potoo photograph confessing a desire to sleep in a pillow case titled “Introducing Weird Stuff I Do Potoo” to the /r/AdviceAnimals^[2] subreddit (shown below, right). In the next 48 hours, the post received more than 19,100 up votes and 540 comments.

Spread

Notable Examples

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Not available

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About

Frozen is an animated Disney film released in 2013. The film follows Queen Elsa, who has the power to create ice and snow out of nothing, and her sister Anna, who grows up with no knowledge of her sister’s ability.

Origin

Frozen was released on November 27th, 2013.^[1] The film stared Kristen Bell as Anna, Idina Menzel as Elsa, Jonathan Groff as Kristoff and Josh Gad as Olaf.

Premise

The film opens with princess Elsa and her younger sister as young children. As they play one morning Elsa accidentally injures Anna with her icy powers. A magical troll is able to heal Anna, but also erases all her memories of Elsa’s powers. Elsa spends the rest of her childhood and adolescence with little contact with others, including Anna, as her powers get more powerful and uncontrollable. When their parents die Elsa must open the palace to the public for one day for her coronation. When Anna meets prince Hans, who proposes, she asks for Anna’s permission, but she refuses. The fight between them reveals Elsa’s powers to the kingdom and she flees, unintentionally setting off an eternal winter in her wake. Anna goes after her to talk to her, on her way meeting Kristoff, an ice delivery man who begrudgingly agrees to help, and a magical snowman named Olaf. When she reaches Elsa they fight again, and Elsa unintentionally hits Anna’s heart with her ice. Kristoff takes her to the magic trolls, who are also his adoptive family, who explains only an act of true love can save her. Kristoff, who has fallen in love with Anna, rushes to bring her to her fiance. He drops her off, but it turns out Hans only wanted Anna’s kingdom, and does nothing to stop her death, while he imprisons Elsa. Sensing Anna might be in trouble, Kristoff hurries back, just as Elsa escapes her prison. As Anna sees Kristoff, she also sees Hans about to kill Elsa, and she runs towards them, stopping the sword just as she freezes to death. She quickly thaws as saving her sister was an act of love, and Elsa’s love for Anna helps her to thaw the kingdom and gain control of her powers. She reclaims her thrown with Anna by her side.

Reception

Frozen was a critical and commercial success. The film earned a 89% on Rotten Tomatoes^[2] and a 74 on MetaCritic.^[4] The film broke the record for best performing opening weekend for a Disney film, grossing $67.4 million in the first three days of its release.^[3] It grossed $347.8 million overall. On January 13th, 2014, Disney confirmed a stage musical adaptation of Frozen would be created.^[5]

Fandom

As of January 2014 Frozen’s official Facebook page^[10] has over 1.9 million likes. Fanfiction.net^[11] has over 1,500 submissions under Frozen, while fan art community DeviantArt^[12] has over 37,000 submissions for the film. Popular Tumblr blogs dedicated to the film include Disneyfrozen^[13], frozendailydose^[14], and annaandkristoff.^[15]

Related Memes

Frozen Whitewashing Controversy

Frozen’swhitewashing controversy is an ongoing online debate surrounding the lack of people of color in Disney’s 2013 animated feature film Frozen. This debate has come to include accusations against Disney of “whitewashing” the Sámi, the indigenous people of Scandinavia. The controversy began on Tumblr, and is largely driven by social justice bloggers who accuse the movie of racism, and fans of the film who are outraged by these accusations.

“Let it Go”

Let it Go is a song composed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, sung by Elsa (Idina Menzel) after she flees the kingdom.^[6] Multiple covers and parodies were created including an explicit version (top, left), a My Little Pony version (top, right), a toddler version (bottom, left), and a version told from the perspective of an alto (bottom, right).

Shipping Elsa and Jack Frost

Fans of Frozen sometimes ship Elsa with Jack Frost from the DreamWorks animated film Rise of the Guardians(2012). On January 8th, 2014, Buzzfeed^[7] published a post titled, “Why Jack Frost And Elsa Would Make The Cutest Couple,” exploring the ship through fan art. As of January 2014 there are over 300 entries under Frozen and Rise of the Guardians crossovers on Fanfiction.net.^[8] Fan art site DeviantArt^[9] has over 1,200 submissions for Elsa and Jack Frost.

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About

X is a Spy is famous quote from popular first-person shooter Team Fortress 2. Ever since the game’s release, there has been various variations and parodies of the quote all over internet.

Orgin

In Team Fortress 2, the Spy class has an ability to disguise themselves as members of enemy team in order to backstab players, destroy Engineers buildings, and generally sabotage their efforts. If the enemy suspects one of his teammates being Spy, he can alert his friends by looking at the dubious player and using x+2 default key. Depending on the class you’re playing and the Spy is disguised as, your character uses some variation of “X is a Spy!”

About

The Banana Challenge is a dare game that involves attempting to head a banana through pantyhose covering the participants face.

Origin

On March 26th, 2011, YouTuber skrockstar^[1] uploaded a video titled “banana challenge.” The video depicted a man trying to push banana he had chewed up through the panyhose he had on his head into a plastic cup. On March 26th, 2011 YouTuber Ashton Craig-Parlier^[3] uploaded a video of teens in a youth group racing each other to eat bananas through pantyhose.

Spread

On January 28th, 2014, Buzzfeed^[2] published a post titled, “Apparently People Have Been Trying To Eat Bananas Through Pantyhose On YouTube.”

Notable Examples

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About

The Banana Sprite Challenge, not to be confused with the Banana Challenge, is an endurance test in which the participants must quickly eat two bananas and drink one liter of Sprite or similarly-flavored carbonated soft drink without vomiting.

Origin

The dare game is believed to have existed since the early 2000s.

[researching]

Search Interest