About

Grindr is a mobile dating and social networking application that serves as a matchmaker for gay and bisexual users within close proximity. The GPS allows users to see how close other users are and begin chatting. It is available for iOS, Android, and Black Berry.

History

Grindr was founded by Joel Simkhai and launched on March 26th, 2009.^[1][5] Simkhai came up with the idea for the location based app when he became frustrated that dating sites couldn’t tell you when a match is in your immediate proximity.^[7] Grindr has received many awards including Best Dating App from About.com’s 2012 Reader’s Choice Award^[8] and Techcrunchies’ 2012 awards in Best Mobile Dating App, Best Location Application, and Best New Technology.^[9] On September 13th, 2013, Grindr released Grindr Xtra, which gives users access to the app with no banner ads and unlimited blocking.^[14]

Online Presence

As of February 2014 Grindr’s official Twitter account^[10] has over 44,200 followers and its Facebook page^[11] has over 77,000 likes.
The site has sparked many YouTube parodies and pranks. On April 12th, 2012 popular gay vlogger Davey Wavey uploaded a video to his YouTube channel titled “Real Life Grindr!” that outlined a few of the “types” you often see on Grindr. As of February 2014 the video has over 1.1 million views.

On April 9th, 2013 YouTube prank channel Break^[12] uploaded its first “Grinder Prank” video, which featured girls on spring break gaining basic information about straight men on the beach, then a Break man approaching them and using the information to convince those around them that they had been talking on Grindr. As of February 2014 the video has over 2 million views, and a second “Grinder Prank” video was uploaded on April 16th.

Tumblr Blogs

In August 2011, the Tumblr blog grindrlulz^[2], which posts screen shots of gross or weird conversations on Grindr, launched. A similar Grindr screenshot Tumblr, grindrstories^[3], was launched in June 2012.

In July 2011, Douchebagsofgrindr^[4], similar to Nice Guys of OkCupid, launched. The blog uploads screenshots of Grindr profiles that make the users come off as jerks.

Traffic

As of March 2013 Grindr had more than 5 million users.^[6] Their user base is spread over 192 countries and the app receives around 10,000 new downloads every day.^[13]

Search Interest

External References

About

Facebook Look Back Videos are personalized video montages highlighting each Facebook user’s life events and milestones, as well as most liked photos and status updates, in chronological order. The feature was released in early February 2014 to coincide with the social network’s 10th anniversary.

Origin

On February 4th, 2014, Facebook unveiled a special feature called “Look Back,”^[3] which provides every user with a personalized slideshow reflecting on his or her life events and notable status updates, in celebration of the company’s 10th anniversary. Users can view their Look Back Videos and share them publicly by posting them to their timelines.

Each video, about 62-seconds long in duration and accompanied by a subtle instrumental soundtrack, opens with the year the user joined the site and covers a selection of his/her first milestones on the site, most liked statuses and pictures. According to Facebook, the feature will be available for a month, though videos shared on timelines will not disappear.^[5]

Spread

On February 5th, The Huffington Post^[4] published a piece titled “Nobody Wants To See Your Facebook Look Back Video,” suggesting there was already some frustration and fatigue over the sudden influx of the videos in users’ feeds a day after their release. Also on February 5th, SFGate^[6] published a post titled “11 Facebook look-back videos flooding your feed” which outlined different types of Look Back videos you might see in your feed. Later that same day, Facebook reported that “hundreds of millions of users” had watched their Look Back videos.

Also on the 5th, John Berlin uploaded a video to his YouTube channel^[1] explaining that his son had died in 2012 and he would love to see his Look Back video, but he could not access his son’s Facebook account. Later that day, Berlin was contacted by a Facebook representative and assured that he would get a Look Back video for his son’s account within a few days.^[2] Within 24 hours, the video had gained over 900,000 views.

Notable Examples

Several parodies of Facebook Look Back videos have been uploaded to YouTube, including ones for Kanye West, Rob Ford (shown top, right), Justin Bieber (bottom, left), and Bruce Jenner (bottom, right).

Search Interest

External References

About

Free Bleeding refers to the practice of abstaining from using feminine hygiene products during menstruation. In February 2014, free bleeding was promoted by members of 4chan as a prank to convince women that feminine hygiene products were a form of patriarchal oppression.

Origin

The concept of free bleeding has been discussed online since the early 2000s, with the earliest known article on the topic posted by the women’s reproductive health blog All About My Vagina^[5] on March 31st, 2004.

Spread

On January 6th, 2011, the political blog Red Light Politics^[1] shared a link to the article on All About My Vagina, praising the controversial idea as “a nice and necessary departure from the usual discourse surrounding menstruation, blood and the female body.” On August 27th, the feminist blog Feministing^[4] published an article titled “Letting Ourselves Bleed,” which encouraged readers to let themselves bleed for once. On October 27th, Funny or Die^[7] posted a comedy sketch video satirically promoting the practice of free bleeding (shown below).

On November 3rd, 2013, women’s interest blogger Kendra Smith mentioned free bleeding in an article about “period shaming.”^[3]

Operation Freebleeding

On January 31st, 2014, a thread was created on 4chan to propose the launch of “Operation Freebleeding,” a false flag campaign in which 4chan users would rally around “free bleeding” under the pretense of promoting feminism and self-empowerment, thereby hoping to provoke angry responses from the feminist blogosphere.

The same day, several fake Twitter feeds were launched with tweets ostensibly promoting the act of free bleeding in protest against “male-dominated companies” behind the feminine hygiene products.

I am not ashamed of natural bodily functions. No longer giving my hard earned money to male dominated companies. Free Women #freebleeding

— Sweet Cooze (@CozyCooze) January 31, 2014

The Tampon is a MALE invention designed to OPPRESS women into RAPING themselves and spending their hard-earned money.

— Roaring_Womyn (@Roaring_Womyn) January 31, 2014

I'm a woman and I'm proud to be a #feminist! Have you all heard of #freebleeding yet? Down with oppression! pic.twitter.com/hsOyM6qnBy

— Jessica Marquez (@dontjudgeme3333) January 31, 2014

On February 1st, The Daily Dot^[6] published an article about the Twitter trend, which traced its origin to a prank orchestrated by a group of 4chan users. On the same day, the novelty Twitter account AdolfJoeBiden tweeted the hashtag “#FreeBleeding.”

Lesbian Tom Petty singing She's a good girl, loves Obama Hates Jesus and America too #FreeBleeding

— AdolfJoeBiden™ (@Bidenshairplugs) February 1, 2014

On February 2nd, the satirical news blog Modern Women Digest^[8] published an article calling free bleeding a “disturbing new feminist trend.” According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,^[2] there were over 600 tweets containing the keywords “free bleeding” on February 4th. On February 6th, the Internet news blog UpRoxx^[9] published an article about the 4chan prank.

Search Interest

External References

About

#ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin is a hashtag used on Twitter and Tumblr. The hashtag accompanies a photo of a couple, normally awkward or unappealing, and sometimes NSFW.

Origin

The phrase most likely originated from the 2012 Manio song “This Could Be Us,” as the chorus repeats the phrase “that could be us.”^[5] The hashtag was first used on Twitter by @blackgalaxshe^[2] on January 18th, 2014. It’s been mentioned on Twitter over 1.9 million times as of February 2014.^[3]

Spread

On January 26th the Twitter account @ButWhyYouPlayin^[5] was created, its tweets focus on #ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin. On January 29th, Bossip^[4] collected the best photos paired with the hashtag, and on February 6th, The Daily Dot^[1] published a post titled “#ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin is the greatest hashtag” which included a collection of the akward photos used to accompany the hashtag and highlighted the existence of the trend of NSFW photos accompanying the hashtag.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

Space Dandy is a dandy in space! This dreamy adventurer with a to-die-for pompadour travels across the galaxy in search of aliens no one has ever laid eyes on. Each new species he discovers earns him a hefty reward, but this dandy has to be quick on his feet because it’s first come, first served! Accompanied by his sidekicks, a rundown robot named QT and Meow the cat-looking space alien, Dandy bravely explores unknown worlds inhabited by a variety of aliens. Join the best dressed alien hunter in all of space and time as he embarks on an adventure that ends at the edge of the universe!

The anime is directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and produced by Bones.The anime began airing on Adult Swim’s Toonami programming block in North America on January 4, 2014,one day before its Japanese premiere on Tokyo MX on January 5. The anime has been licensed by Funimation in North America, Madman Entertainment in Australia and by Anime Limited in the United Kingdom. The series’ opening theme is “Viva Namida” (ビバナミダ Biba Namida?) performed by Yasuyuki Okamura and the ending theme is “X-Jigen e Yōkoso” (X次元へようこそ Ekkusu Jigen e Yōkoso?, “Welcome to the Xth Dimension”) performed by Etsuko Yakushimaru. The English version is produced by Funimation in Fort Worth, Texas using its local acting talent pool. The series’ ADR directors include Zach Bolton and Joel McDonald.The series is also simulcasted at the same time as Japan by Animax Asia in South East Asia with both Japanese and English audio.

About

#SochiProblems is a hashtag used to mock the unpleasant conditions experienced by visitors at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Origin

On February 3rd, 2014, Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair tweeted a photograph of brown water taken from the sink faucet at her hotel is Sochi, Russia. In the next four days, the tweet gathered upwards of 3,600 retweets and 1,200 favorites.

Water restored, sorta. On the bright side, I now know what very dangerous face water looks like. #Sochi#unfilteredpic.twitter.com/sQWM0vYtyz

— Stacy St. Clair (@StacyStClair) February 4, 2014

On February 4th, the Twitter account @SochiProblems^[1] was launched, which began tweeting photographs and complaints of various mishaps observed in Sochi, Russia during the 2014 Olympic games. Within the first 72 hours, the Twitter feed gained over 255,000 followers.

You get all inclusive! #SochiProblemspic.twitter.com/HVhSJ7e2jz

— Sochi Problems (@SochiProblems) February 4, 2014

Spread

The same day on February 4th, 2014, senior international correspondent for The Globe and Mail Mark MacKinnon tweeted about his check in experience at his hotel in Sochi. Within 72 hours, the tweet received more than 1,000 retweets and 660 favorites.

For those of you asking, when there's no lobby in your hotel, you go to the owner's bedroom to check in. #Sochi2014

— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) February 4, 2014

On February 5th, another Twitter feed @SochiFails was created with the same premise, highlighting a photograph of a twin-seat toilet first sighted and tweeted by BBC reporter Steve Rosenberg in a bathroom at Sochi’s cross-country skiing and biathlon center in January 20th. In the next 48 hours, @SochiFails accumulated upwards of 16,900 followers.

Seems like they have team bonding figured out #sochi#sochifailspic.twitter.com/wTeEJAIuhE

— Sochi Fails (@SochiFails) February 5, 2014

On February 6th, news anchor David Nelson tweeted that over 26,000 tweets using the hashtag #SochiProblems had been posted in the past 24 hours.

In 24 hours alone, 26,000 tweets have been sent using the hashtag #SochiProblemshttp://t.co/KIlAnDWCaw

— David Nelson (@DavidNelsonNews) February 6, 2014

According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,^[11] there were over 80,000 tweets containing the hashtag #sochiproblems that day (shown below).

News Media Coverage

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the #SochiProblems hashtag, including UpRoxx,^[2] BuzzFeed,^[3] Bloomberg,^[4] The Huffington Post,^[5] Mashable,^[6]CNET,^[7] The Washington Post,^[8]NBC News^[9] and The Guardian.^[10]

Fake Claims

On February 6th, 2014, Gizmodo published an article highlighting several fake FAIL photographs falsely attributed to Sochi, including bizarre bathroom arrangements, a poorly-translated menu and brown water in a sink (shown below). The article exposed many of the images for being taken months to years prior to the Sochi Olympics and from completely different regions around the world.

Search Interest

External References

About

Teen Wolf is an American fantasy drama TV series that follows the story of high school outcast Scott McCall, whose life takes a dramatic turn after he is bitten by a werewolf and becomes one himself. Upon its premiere on MTV in June 2011, the show quickly developed a large online following, particularly on Tumblr.

Premise

High school student Scott (Tyler Posey) is bitten by a werewolf just before the new school year. He tries to figure out how to control his new powers with the help of his best friend Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) and another werewolf in town, Derek (Tyler Hoechlin). He develops a crush and pursues a relationship with new girl Allison (Crystal Reed), who comes from a family of werewolf hunters. Over the course of the three seasons, they find new supernatural abilities among their group and their fellow students, and battle threats from monsters, hunters, and rival werewolf packs.

History

The show was conceived by screenwriter and producer Jeff Davis as a serial adaptation of the 1985 eponymous fantasy comedy film starring Michael J. Fox and premiered right after that year’s MTV Movie Awards^[1] on June 5th, 2011. Its first season consisted of 12 episodes, with its season finale airing on August 15th. Its second season premiered on June 3rd, 2012, and concluded on August 13th after 12 episodes. Its third season consists of 24 episodes broken up into two parts, the first half running from June 3rd to August 19th in 2013 and the second half running from January 6th to March 24th in 2014. At the 2013 New York Comic Con, MTV announced the renewal of the series for another season with 12 new episodes.^[2]

Reception

Teen Wolf earned a 7.7 on IMBD^[10] and a 61 on Metacritic.^[11] Its series premiere had 2.17 million viewers, its second season premiere had 2.11 million viewers, and its third season premiere had 2.36 million viewers.^[12][13][14] It was nominated for eleven Teen Choice Awards between 2011 and 2013, winning two in 2012 for Choice Summer TV Show and Choice Summer TV Star: Male (for Tyler Posey).

Online Presence

As of February 2014 Teen Wolf’s official Twitter account^[3] has over 670,000 followers and its Facebook page^[4] has over 3.4 million likes.

Fandom

There are numerous fan-run Tumblr blogs dedicated to the Teen Wolf fandom, including fyteenwolf^[7], allteenwolf^[8], and teenwolf-cast.^[9] As of February 2014, there are over 7,900 Teen Wolf fanfictions on Fanfic.net^[5] and more than 23,100 fan art submissions on DeviantArt.^[6] The fandom’s most popular ship is Sterek, in which Scott’s best friend Stiles and the other mysterious werewolf Derek are portrayed as a couple.

Sterek

Many Teen Wolfshippers think Scott’s best friend Stiles and fellow werewolf Derek should be in a romantic relationship. A Twitter account^[16] for Sterek shippers, @Team_Sterek, has over 8,000 followers as of February 2014, and Sterek has over 5,000 submissions on DeviantArt^[17] In 2012 Sterek won gay entertainment site AfterElton’s Ultimate Slash Madness Tourney for favorite same sex TV ship and in 2013 won E! Online’s Fantasy TV Couple poll.^[15][19]

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Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Jeopardy! is an American game show that first aired in 1964, though its current version premiered in 1984. The game involves three contestants providing the questions to trivia answers.

History

Jeopardy! had first aired in 1964, though the current revival premiered on September 16th, 1984. Alex Trebek has acted as the show’s host since 1984, and is expected to retire after his contract expires in 2016.^[14] The show has aired over 6,000 episodes since the relaunch, and has won 30 Daytime Emmys and received two nominations for People’s Choice Awards.^[15]

Game Play

Jeopardy! is a thirty-minute quiz show that consists of two rounds, first round and the Jeopardy round, and concludes with final Jeopardy. There are three players each game and the game is run by a host who calls on contestants and reads the clues. The first round consists of six categories with five answers each (worth, 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000 dollars, respectively). When a clue is read each contestant who knows the answer tries to buzz in first. If the first buzzer gets it incorrect, another contestant may try. When a clue is answered correctly (and in the form of a question) the player gains its dollar amount, if they guess it incorrectly or buzz in and fail to answer at all, that dollar amount it deducted from their score. The contestant who answers the clue correctly gets to select the next category and question. Hidden throughout the game are “Double Jeopardy!” questions. These can be answered only by the contestant who selects them, and the contestant may wager any amount of money they have. After every question in the first round has been answered, the game moves onto the Jeopardy round, where another six categories with five answers are revealed, though the dollar amounts they’re worth have been doubled. The Jeopardy round is played under a time limit, meaning all the clues might not be played before time runs out. At the end of the Jeopardy round the category for double Jeopardy is revealed. Contestant decide how much of their money they want to wager depending on the category. Once the clue is revealed, the contestants have thirty seconds to write their response. The person with the most money at the end wins, which means a contestant can win the game even if they do not answer Final Jeopardy correctly.

Online History

Jeopardy’s official Twitter account^[1] has over 41,000 followers and its Facebook page^[2] has over 760,000 likes.

Ken Jennings and the Watson Super Computer

In the summer and fall of 2004 Jeopardy! contestant Ken Jennings won 74 games and over 2.5 million dollars, beginning his run on June 2nd, 2004, and ending his winning streak on November 30, 2004.^[3] His streak was made possible by a rule change made in 2003 that stated a winner could continue to return until they were beaten, the previous limit had been five consecutive wins.^[6] Jennings returned to Jeopardy to play in a special three-day game from February 14th to February 16th, 2011, against fellow Jeopardy! champion Brad Rutter and IBM super computer Watson. Watson won the game, while Jennings came in second.^[5] In February 2013 Kennings gave a TED talk on Jeopardy! and Watson.^[4]

Related Memes

Shit Tyrese

Shit Tyrone, Get It Together is a catchphrase expression typically used to indicate that significant improvement needs to be made. The phrase is often accompanied by a screen shot of a Jeopardy! contestant named Tyrone, whose negative balance of -$ 1,500 clearly stood out from the other participants’ positive scores. Tyrone Rogers, appeared on Season 25, Episode #5727^[9] of Jeopardy!, which aired on June 30th, 2009.

The original instance of “Shit Tyrone, Get It Together” image macro was reportedly posted on 4chan, according to various accounts on Tumblr.^[10] The image was reblogged by humor sites Monorail^[11] and Funny Junk^[12] on September 13th, 2009 and later picked up via Stumbleupon.^[13]

Dankey Kang

Dankey Kang refers to a two-pane image that consists of a Jeopardy! question describing Sonic the Hedgehog and a screenshot of a contestant erroneously answering “Dankey Kang,” a misspelling of Nintendo’s iconic gorilla character Donkey Kong. Though it was subsequently debunked as a photoshopped hoax, the image went viral on Twitter anyway, wrongly labeled as an example of FAIL humor.

Arthur Chu

Arthur Chu is a Jeopardy! contestant who has received criticism from fans for his methods of play. Chu won over $100,000 over the course of four wins in the first week of February 2014.^[7] While traditionally Jeopardy! contestants select clues by going down a row, Chu jumps around, searching for the Daily Double. He searches for the Daily Double even in categories he isn’t comfortable with, just to prevent the other contestants the opportunity to find them. Chu stands by his tactics, explaining,

“I admit I was upset when I first saw some of the things people were saying about me. But eventually, my wife just started shoving it in my face, retweeting all these racist tweets with responses that shamed the tweeters. And that made me start getting into it….I decided I’d take Richard Sherman’s angle and play up that image. If they’re going to paint me as a Jeopardy thug, then fine, I’ll own it. I’ll bring the swagger.”

^[8]

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Ethan Couch’s Affluenza Defense refers to a legal argument put forth by the attorneys of Ethan Couch, a North Texas teenager who fatally injured four pedestrians while driving a pickup truck under the influence of alcohol, which placed the blame for the defendant’s reckless actions on his wealthy upbringing and ultimately allowed him to escape a jail time sentence in January 2014.

Background

On December 10th, 2013, Judge Jean Boyd sentenced 15-year-old Ethan Couch to 10 years probation for killing four people and injuring 11 others while driving his father’s Ford F-350 with a blood alcohol content of .24%, along with traces of the prescription tranquilizer Valium. Couch’s legal defense then hired psychologist G. Dick Miller, who testified that the boy was unable to understand the consequences of his behavior due to his wealthy upbringing, a condition which he referred to as “affluenza.” According to WFAA News,^[1] the defense cited an incident in which Couch’s parents failed to discipline him after he was ticketed by police who found him with an unconscious and undressed 14-year-old girl in a parked pickup truck.

Notable Developments

Following the trial, Eric Boyles, who lost his wife and daughter in Couch’s crash, criticized the verdict for being influenced by the Couch family’s wealth.

“Had he not had money to have the defense there, to also have the experts testify, and also offer to pay for the treatment, I think the results would have been different.”

On December 11th, CNN broadcast an interview with Boyles (shown below), which was subsequently submitted to the /r/videos^[2] subreddit where it received over 4,300 up votes and 1,500 comments in the first month.

On December 13th, 2013, The Daily Dot^[5] reported that 4chan users launched a raid against Couch following his probation sentence, sending pizzas to his house and calling his phone number repeatedly.

On December 16th, The Daily Mail^[4] reported that Couch’s parents had been accused of more than 20 crimes and traffic violations. Fred Couch (shown below, left) had been cited for speeding, theft and assault, while Tonya Couch (shown below, right) had paid a $500 fine for driving another motorist off the road.

On December 20th, Business Insider^[3] reported that Judge Jean Boyd had sentenced a black teen to 10 years imprisonment after killing a man in March 2012. On February 5th, 2014, Judge Boyd delivered the terms for Couch’s 10-year probation and rejected the prosecutions request to give Couch jail time on two intoxication assault counts.^[7] According to NBC,^[8] Boyd ordered that Couch be sent “to a rehabilitation facility paid for by his parents, but didn’t require a minimum amount of time to be spent there.”

OpJustice

On February 6th, a 4chan thread was created for OpJustice, an operation which urged 4chan users to sign a Change.org^[6] petition to remove Judge Boyd from the bench, discredit psychologist G. Dick Miller and disseminate an image macro of Boyd across social media platforms (shown below, right). On February 7th, The Daily Dot^[9] published an article about the new operation, noting that the petition had received over 25,000 signatures.

Search Interest

External References

((Work in progress))

About

IRIS, also known as ZDK-12 is a supposed learning artificial intelligence built by a team of students from ASU. IRIS is known for posting cute replies to questions it receives

Origin

On February 5, 2014, the tumblr blog zdk12 was set up. The first post claimed that IRIS was a “semi-conscious intelligent robot”.

Spread

Within the first two days, IRIS received 7000 followers on their blog. Several tumblr users are fond of its responses to questions and its odd affinity for Gibson Guitars.

External Links

^[1]xdk12

^[2]xdl12 – first post

^[3]tumblr – tagged: xdk12

^[4]tumblr – tagged: IRIS

About

Space Dandy (スペース☆ダンディ Supēsu Dandi) is an anime series created by Studio Bones, and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, also known for his work on the series Cowboy Bebop. After the series first aired, it gained a significant online fandom, due part to the fact that the show’s world premiere occurred on the Toonami programming block.

History

Space Dandy originated as a tv anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, of Cowboy Bebop fame, and produced by Studio Bones. The show chronicled the adventures of Space Dandy, a bounty hunter who searches for undiscovered alien species on his personal space ship, the Aloha Oe, along with his robot assistant QT and an alien nicknamed ‘Meow’, who they bring along after mistaking him for a new species. The series first premiered in English on Adult Swim’s Toonami block, on January 4, 2014, before premiering in Japan the day after. Due to the show airing in America before in Japan, it garnered attention from both anime fans and casual viewers alike. A manga series based on the show also began airing in Square Enix’s Young Gangan magazine on December 20, 2013. A Free-To-Play mobile game for iOS and Android based of the Galaga series is also being developed by Bandai Namco games for release in early 2014.

Online Relevance

Space Dandy has garnered a significant online following. The show has a significant presence on sites such as Tumblr^[1], Reddit^[2], 4chan’s /a/ (Anime and Manga) board^[3], My Anime List^[4] and DeviantART^[5]. There are numerous sites holding information of the series, such as the Space Dandy^[6], TV Tropes^[7] and Anime News Network^[8].

Search Interest

External References

About

Pentatonix is a five member a cappella group on YouTube known for its covers of popular songs. The group is comprised of Scott Hoying, Kristie Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, Avi Kaplan, and Kevin Olusola. Since joining YouTube, the group has gained over four million subscribers and 300 million views.

Origin

(researching)

On September 10, 2011, the Pentatonix YouTube channel, PTXofficial^[1], was created. Nine days later, the group’s performance on the third season of The Sing-Off^[2] was broadcast on NBC. They performed five different covers of well-known songs, including “Victory” as their final song after winning:

The group earned a recording contract with Sony, and have since released two albums.

Notable Works

References

About

Cowboy Bebop is an anime series directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and produced by Sunrise. Since the series first aired in 1998, the show garnered widespread critical acclaim, and is often heralded as one of the best anime of all time. It is due to this that the show has garnered a significant online following.

History

Cowboy Bebop first originated as a 26-episode tv anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and produced by Sunrise, which aired from October 24,1998 to April 24, 1999, after an aborted first run from April 3 to June 26 of the same year. The show chronicled the adventures of the crew of the spaceship Bebop, consisting of ex-hitman Spike Spiegel, former ISSP officer Jet Black, amnesiac con artist Faye Valentine, preteen computer hacker Edward and Welsh Corgi Ein. Throughout the series, each of the crew members are forced to deal with unresolved issues from their pasts, with the show regularly showing flashbacks to illustrate the history of the said characters. After the success of the show, two manga series based on it started circulation, airing from May to October 1998 and April 1999 to April 2000. Two video games based on the series were also created, being released in Japan on the Playstation and Playstation. An animated film based off the series was also created in conjunction with Studio BONES, which aired in Japan in 2001 and in America in 2003.

Live-Action Movie

On July 22, 2008, Sci-Fi website If posted an article on it’s website about a rumour of a live action adaptation of the Cowboy Bebop series, to be developed by 20th Century Fox. This rumour was later confirmed, along with the announcement that Spike Spiegel would be played by Keanu Reeves^[1]. After the announcement, many fans of the series were quick to show their displeasement at the announcement, criticising the decision. On October 20, 2013, Reeves later went on to state in a Reddit AMA that it would be unlikely for him to star in the movie by that point^[2]. The movie, however, went on to linger in development hell.

Reception

Cowboy Bebop has become one of the most critically acclaimed and most popular anime of all time, winning a number of awards both in Japan and in America. The series has been praised for it’s soundtrack and voice acting, and is one of the few anime considered to be superior in English rather than in the original Japanese. The series is also heralded as one of the main reasons for the surge in popularity of anime in the west, after it became the first anime title to be shown as part of the launch of Adult Swim on September 2, 2001.

Online Relevance

The Cowboy Bebop series has garnered a significant online following since it first aired, with a significant presence on sites such as Tumblr^[3], Reddit^[4], 4chan’s /a/ (Anime and Manga) board^[5], Fanpop^[6], My Anime List^[7], FanFiction.net^[8] and DeviantART^[9][10]. There are numerous sites holding information of the series, such as the Cowboy Bebop wiki^[11], TV Tropes^[12] and Anime News Network^[13]. The Cowboy Bebop Facebook page also has over 100,000 likes^[14].

Related Sub-memes

Cowboy Bebop Opening Parodies/Tank!

Cowboy Bebop Opening Parodies referes to a series of Anime OP/ED Parody MADs based around the opening of the Cowboy Bebop anime. The parodies, usually featuring visual from other popular series, grew in popularity after parodies were posted to video sharing websites such as YouTube and Nico Nico Douga.

Cowboy Bebop Ending Title Card Parodies

Cowboy Bebop Ending Title Card Parodies refers to a series of parodies revolving around the phrases featured at the end of each episode on the ending title card (Most notably ’You’re Gonna Carry That Weight’ and ‘See You, Space Cowboy’). The phrases have spawned many parodies and mentions among fans, causing them to become popular.

Search Interest

External References

About

For The Last Time is a YTMND fad revolving around a menacing figure standing outside of a window at night. The scene is often accompanied with ominous music, usually the track “The Darkness That Lurks In Our Mind” from Silent Hill 2.^[1]

Origin

The original image of a red-eyed Baboon staring into a dark kitchen is said to have originated in one of 4Chan’sLegendary Creepy Threads, although it is not clear which Imageboard it was posted under. The image was allegedly inspired by a recurring nightmare that a person had as a child.^[2]

On October 3rd, 2006, YTMND user Kacen uploaded a site called |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||3||||||||||||||||||||||||||| featuring the image in question with music from the Silent Hill series. The YTMND went on to gather over 900 votes (with a site average of 4.09/5.00), over 140 favorites, over 300 comments, over 69,000 views, and a $38.54 sponsorship from another user.^[3]

Spread

Following the creation of the website, user extremejon created another site in the same style, placing a photoshopped version of Happy Cat in the window.^[4] In addition, extremejon uploaded a site including the You Forgot Poland fad called “You have forgotten for the last time!” giving the fad an official name.^[5] Following the creation of these sites, the fad took off with dozens of variants.^[6]

Search Interest

External References

Prepare Your Anus Meme created by Dylan T.

About

Special Feeling (Japanese: 特別な気分, Tokubetsu na kibun), also referred to as “Special Mood”, refers to a series of illustrations parodying a Japanese couple being interviewed during a snowstorm in Tokyo. It’s also referred to by the phrase “Being in the snow with my lover like this immerses me in a special feeling. I like it.” (恋人といる時の雪って特別な気分に浸れて僕は好きです), which was said by the man during the interview.

Origin

On February 8th, 2014, Japan was hit by one of the heaviest snowfalls since January 1994. Tokyo received 8.7 inches of snow, with Matsumoto getting buried with the heaviest amount at over 19 inches. Following the storm, Japanese TV stations repeatedly aired emergency news programs on the heavy snowfall in the Kantou and Touhoku regions.

Amongst all the disruptions and traffic paralysis, Japanese Twitter users found themselves being amused by a TV interview in front of Shibuya station, Tokyo, in which a young man embarrassed his girlfriend. The man told the interviewer that he enjoys being together with a loved one during a snow storm. The tweet by user @HOMOMANKO,^[1] which showed a picture of the interview, managed to gain over 36,000 retweets and 15,000 favorites within the first few days. @HOMOMANKO also added an insulting comment to the interview in his tweet, in which he calls the man a “(F**king) Four-Eyes,” parodying Levi from the Japanese manga/anime Attack on Titan, who uses a similar insult in the anime.

黙れクソメガネ pic.twitter.com/KXJ1kP8zNF

— そらまる兵長(´へωへ`*) (@HOMOMANKO) February 8, 2014

Translation:

“Being in the snow with my lover like this immerses me in a special feeling. I like it.”

SHUT UP, F**KING FOUR-EYES.

However, a different tweet made on January 14th, 2013,^[2] shows this screenshot was taken in another news report about a snow storm a year prior to the one striking Japan at that time, making the screenshot unrelated to the snowfall in February 2014.

Spread

Many viewers of the tweet felt consent in @HOMOMANKO’s insulting comment to the man due to the people who were forced to struggle with the heavy snow, likewise to singles who hold an intensely jealousy against couples. This caused the the screenshot to go viral on Twitter immediately, in spite of it being never related to a snow storm at that time. It also evoked people’s imagination to the couple’s illicit relationship that only the girl is wearing a ring on her wedding finger and she covers her face throughout the interview.

Following its large presence on the web, the screencap caused a large amount of image parodies to be created of the couple among Japanese amateur illustrators. Dozens of twitter posts containing parody illustrations were quickly posted and collected in Togetter^[3] or Naver Matome^[4] posts. In addition, more than 800 illustrations parodying the couple had been uploaded to Japanese illustrators communties pixiv^[5] and Nico Nico Seiga.^[6] Many of these image were also reblogged onto Tumblr.^[7] In these illustration-sharing services, the common tag used on the parodies is “Special Feeling” (特別な気分), which refers to the emphasised text in the subtitles of the interview.

This online phenomena got its own article on Nico Nico Pedia^[10] and pixiv Encyclopedia^[11] and was also reported by several Japanese online gossip news media.^[12][13]

On the English-speaking web, this fad on the Japanese Twitter was immediately covered by threads in 4chan’s /u/^[14] (Yuri) and /a/^[15] (anime & manga) boards and a news article by Crunchyroll published on February 9th, 2014.^[16]

Notable Examples

Reflecting the popular trend in Japanese fan fiction with shipping in the years prior to the event, many illustrations in the series feature Yaoi^[8] or Yuri^[9] couples.

Left: Touhou Project | Right: Kantai Collection

Left: Neon Genesis Evangelion | Right: Kill la Kill

Left: The Avengers | Right: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Search Interest

External References

About

Ashley Wagner’s Angry Face is an emerging photoshop meme based on a photograph of U.S. Olympic figure skater Ashley Wagner wearing an outraged expression after being handed a disappointing score for her short program routine performance at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Origin

On February 8th, 2014, American figure skater Ashley Wagner made her Olympics debut in the short program for team figure skating event. Wagner’s performance was praised by the U.S. commentators as promising, and the 22-year-old skater herself seemed optimistic as she came off the ice, especially in following Japanese figure skater Mao Asada’s tumble during her routine.

But upon seeing a score of 63.10, which put in the fourth place, Wagner was seen on camera shaking her head in disbelief before muttering “that’s bullshit.”^[3] Nonetheless, Wagner’s score advanced the U.S. team to the medal round.

Spread

Throughout the day, GIFs of Wagner’s disappointed reaction to her score began circulating on Twitter^[4], Tumblr^[3] and Reddit^[2], where she was promptly declared the next Mckayla Maroney, an American gymnast whose visible frown in disappointment of having missed the gold medal became the subject of a photoshop meme during the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

According to Topsy’s social analytics data, the figure skater’s name was mentioned on Twitter more than 10,000 times on February 8th, in comparison to just a few dozens of mentions per day in the week leading up to the event. On February 9th, the single topic blog Ashley is Not Impressed^[2] was launched on Tumblr.

News Media Coverage

Soon, Ashley Wagner’s reaction GIF was subsequently picked up by Deadspin, The Wire, The Daily Dot, Mashable The Wire and BuzzFeed, among others, with many declaring it the first meme of The Sochi Olympics.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American fantasy dramedy television series that follows Buffy Summer, a vampire slayer, and her friends as they fight evil while attending high school and eventually college. It ran from 1997 to 2001 on the now defunct station the WB before moving to UPN for its final two seasons.

Premise

Buffy Summers, the world’s only living vampire slayer, transfers to Sunnydale High in the middle of her sophomore year after accidentally burning down her old school gym fighting vampires. There she meets up with her watcher, Giles, and her two best friends Xander and Willow. The four band together to fight supernatural creatures and evil forces through high school graduation and continue once they enter college.

History

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was created by Joss Whedon as a story of a “chosen one,” a girl who would be responsible for fighting the world’s supernatural evil. The show premiered on the WB on March 10th, 1997, and ran there for five seasons. It premiered on its new station, UPN, on October 2nd, 2001, where it ran for two seasons. The series concluded at the end of its seventh season on May 20th, 2003. After its third season one of its main characters, Angel, got his on self-named spin off, which ran for five season concluding on May 19, 2004.

After the conclusion of the TV series Dark Horse comics continued the story in the form of comics. Season eight published its first issue on March 14th, 2007.^[10]

Reception

Buffy the Vampire Slayer earned a 8.2 on IMBD^[1] and a 80 on Metacritic.^[2] It was nominated for one Golden Globe in 2001 for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Drama (Sarah Michelle Gellar). It was also nominated for 14 Primetime Emmys ,winning two in 1998.

Online Presence

As of February 2014 Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Facebook page has over 1.6 million likes.^[3]

Fandom

There are numerous fan-run Tumblr blogs dedicated to the Buffy fandom, including buffyconfessions^[7], fuckyeahbuffythevampireslayer^[8], and btvs-reaction-gifs.^[9] As of February 2014, there are over 32,000Buffy fanfictions on Fanfic.net and more than 18,000 fan art submissions on DeviantArt.^[6]

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Related Memes

Buffy Kills Edward

On June 19th, 2009 YouTuber rebelliouspixels^[4] uploaded a video titled “Buffy vs Edward: Twilight Remixed -- [original version].” The video takes clips from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the vampire fantasy film Twilight and cuts them together so it seems like Buffy slays the main vampire in Twilight, Edward. As of February 2014 the video has over 3.5 million views.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

The Day We Fight Back is an upcoming online protest against the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Internet surveillance programs scheduled to take place on February 11th, 2014. Participants will be placing banner images on websites to encourage viewers to contact their representatives about the importance of Internet privacy and to urge United States lawmakers to pass the USA Freedom Act to restrict telephone data collection.

Background

On January 10th, 2014, TheDayWeFightBack^[4] website was launched, which provides instructions on how to participate in the Internet-wide protest on February 11th. The event was organized by former Democratic congressman and executive director of the Internet activism organization Demand Progress David Segal.

The event was organized by former U.S. congressman and executive director of the Internet activist group Demand Progress David Segal and formally announced on January 10th, 2014, coinciding with the one year anniversary of Internet activist Aaron Swartz. That day, the official website for The Day We Fight Back^[4] was launched with detailed instructions on how to participate in the Internet-wide protest, as well as a promotional video featuring footage of Swartz speaking about the dangers of government surveillance (shown below).

Notable Developments

Mobilization

Immediately following the announcement, the /r/thedaywefightback^[3] subreddit was launched as a discussion forum for the upcoming protest, while Segal and a group of other activists, including Cory Doctorow, Brian Knappenberger, Peter Eckersley and Sina Khanifar, participated in an “ask me anything” thread on the /r/IAmA^[6] subreddit to promote the event. Within one month, the AMA post garnered upwards of 14,300 up votes and 1,100 comments. Throughout that week of January, a number of other well-known Internet tech companies joined the call to action, including Reddit, Mozilla, Free Press, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and BoingBoing.

News Media Coverage

On January 14th, the IBI Times^[5] published an article about the event, noting that several large Internet companies had pledged to participate in the protests. On February 6th, The Guardian^[7] reported that the protest had been backed by a diverse group of organizations outside of Internet activism, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the conservative organization FreedomWorks.

Search Interest

External References

Background

On February 9th, 2014, a one and a half year-old giraffe named Marius was euthanized, cut into pieces, and fed to a lion in front of a crowd of onlookers at the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark.^[1] The fact that this process was conducted as a spectacle to a crowd that included children, as well as questions over whether the death of the giraffe was necessary in the first place, caused widespread controversy.

Scientists at the zoo explained the giraffe was being euthanized because it did not have the high quality genes that would make him ideal for breeding. Though other zoos offered to house the giraffe those at the Copenhagen Zoo said a transfer wouldn’t be an option because it would lead to inbreeding.

Notable Developments

The Petition Site

On February 8th, 2014, Maria Evans started a petition titled “Save Marius the giraffe from the bolt gun NOW” on The Petition Site.^[2] She set a goal of 28,000 signatures and gained just over 27,000. After Marius death she added a statement saying:

“Thank you to everyone who signed the petition to save Marius the giraffe. Sadly, the Copenhagen Zoo went ahead with its plans and, on Sunday, February 9, Marius was killed. He was publicly dissected in front of visitors to the zoo and then his remains fed to the lions.

You can still take action by signing this petition calling for the Copenhagen Zoo to remove Bengt Holst from his position as scientific director."

Notable Developments

External References