About

ELO Hell refers to a fictional ranking place in the League of Legends game in which players are doomed to be stuck in because of the amount of newbie / troll players being randomly selected in their teams and making them endlessly fail games. The term is mostly applied to the Solo Queue and Duo Queue modes affecting the lowest ladder of the ranking system, namely low ELO rating in the first seasons of the game and Bronze V to Silver I nowadays, and has been embraced by many players as a way of expressing frustration when they lose games after games, being used in any MOBA-like game featuring a rank system.

League of Legends’ Ranking System

League of Legends is a MOBA-type game that offers different playing modes. One of them is to compete in ranked leagues, offering the possibility to earn ELO points (now called LP points) by winning games in order to be promoted to higher ranks. Through the years and the different gaming seasons that passed, the system evolved greatly, changing from a single ladder to the recent six-tiers system. The lowest tier, where everyone starts off, is Bronze, while Challenger is the highest one. Each tier (except Challenger) contains five divisions, each division is numbered using roman numerals in a descending order from V(5) to I(1), with V being the lowest and I being the highest^[1].

In the Solo Queue and Duo Queue modes, a player may choose to either go alone and let the game do the matchmaking with four other random players who are around the same level as him, or to invite one single person from his friendlist to play with him. Either way, in the end the player has to play with random people in these modes, which adds to the unpredictability of the team one may join.
It must be pointed out that losing games makes players lose points and may demote them of a division or even a rank if they lose too many games in a row.

Origin of the slang

While it’s difficult to pinpoint a fixed date for the first players to use the term to describe a cursed place flooded by bad players in the previous ELO rating system of the game, one of the earliest mentions can be found on Urban Dictionary, submitted on October 12th 2010, about one year after the game’s release, by user RiotPhreak^[2]. It offers the following definition:

A place for the masses of kids who think they way more skilled than they actually are in League of Legends.

Spread

In the League of Legends’ official forums, it is not uncommon to find threads discussing the existence of the ELO Hell and people seeking advice to escape from it.
As early as October 14th, for instance, A thread titled The 9 Layers of ELO Hell.^[3] displayed an attempt, by user Kama Toki, to write some sort of a fanfiction on the theme of the ELO Hell. One early example of a forum post asking what the ELO hell is can be found in the same forums, on October 28th^[4].
A September 2010 article from the Syncaine blog accounts for the very existence of the ELO Hell and its effects on a skilled player^[5].
Because of its growing influence among players, many of them tried to write thorough pieces of advice on how to get out of the ELO Hell by carrying, which is a slang used by players to define someone who succeeds in taking down the enemy team on his own with a few, if not, help from his teamates. Such examples can be found in gaming forums such as clgaming^[6] or even solomid^[7].
A single-topic-blog was also launched and named after the meme as a source of medias, guides and whatnot revolving around the League of Legends universe^[8]

To expand on the Urban Dictionary definition of the ELO Hell, several other websites tried to define it as accurately as possible. Among them is a 2011 article from Nerfplz.com^[9] which states the following:

SO WHAT IS ELOHELL? (Minus the Feeders, Trolls, and Leavers)


Elo Hell is when you’re forced to play at a level where you KNOW you can win and exactly how to beat the other team, but you and your team are not skilled enough or lucky enough to do so, and lose.

Criticism

Another part of gamers condemned the use of the slang as being an easy way of putting the blame unto others when losing a game, that every tier has its draw of bad players and that bad strings of games can happen in every rank. Many articles were made to assert that the ELO Hell doesn’t exist at all, such as on Boostelo.net^[10] or Twerkzerk^[11], arguing that ELO Hell is an overstatement used by people to not look at their own gaming flaws and to not try to improve.
On September 3rd 2013, webcomic Nerfnow^[12] issued a comic illustrating the problem.

External References

^[1]League of Legends wikia – League System

^[2]Urban Dictionary – Elo Hell / 10/12/2010

^[3]League of Legends forums – The 9 Layers of ELO Hell.# / 10/14/210

^[4]League of Legends forums – What is ELO hell?

^[5]Syncaine.net – Welcome to ELO hell

fb6. clgaming forums – How to carry out of the ELO hell

^[7]solomid forums – How to get out of ELO Hell – Are you genuinely talented?

^[8]EloHell.net

^[9]Nerfplz.com – What is ELO Hell? – Definition and Explanation

^[10]League of Legends: Why ELOHELL does not exist?

^[11]The Truth about “ELO Hell” – League of Legends

^[12]Nerfnow.com – Hell is other people

About

I Wish I Was At Home (Playing Videogames) is an expression found in image macros where a person is displaying discomfort of anxiety when put in social situations. It is used in a similar way like Interior Monologue Captions, and is often paired up with That Feel Guy.

Origin

Possibly the earliest known usage of the image can be dated back to December 16th, 2009, when an image of That Feel Guy at the party was uploaded on the site Sad and Useless^[1]. The image had following captions:

I wish I was at home playing videogames
The music is too loud
My feet hurt
I’m hungry

Spread

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Notable Examples

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Search Interest

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External References

About

Hunter Pence Signs are a series of oversized posters featuring humorous insults specifically aimed at San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence. The taunting signs quickly became a trend among the fans of Major League Baseball after a a group of New York Mets fans were seen holding up the signs during their team’s games against San Francisco Giants in August 2014.

Origin

On August 1st, 2014, the San Francisco Giants played the first match in a four-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field in Queens, New York. During the game, two fans were seen on TV holding signs which mocked Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, claiming he is the type of person who would commit the New York faux pas of putting ketchup on a hot dog and eating pizza with a fork. Later that day, the @MLBGIFs^[1] Twitter feed posted an animated GIF of the hecklers, garnering upwards of 940 favorites and 860 retweets in the first week (shown below).

Spread

On August 3rd, the @MLBFanCave^[6] Twitter feed posted several photos of other Mets fans holding signs mocking Pence (shown below). In the next four days, the tweet gained over 960 retweets and 880 favorites.

The same day, Twitter user @armigloo^[7] posted several tweets poking fun at Pence accompanied by the hashtag #hunterpencesigns (shown below). According to the Twitter analytics site Topsy,^[8] the hashtag was tweeted over 7,000 times over the next 72 hours.

On August 5th, the Milwaukee Brewers Twitter^[5] feed posted a picture of several Brewers fans holding signs mocking Pence during the team’s game against the San Francisco Giants (shown below).

Hunter Pence Response

On August 6th, Pence posted two photographs of himself with #HunterPenceSigns captions mocking his ability to parallel park and his habit of returning library books early (shown below, left, middle).^[2][3] In addition, his girlfriend Alexis Cozombolidis tweeted a photograph of herself with Pence captioned with a #HunterPenceSigns joke (shown below, right).^[4]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

The Ghastly Gibus and the Ghostly Gibus are two hats in the game Team Fortress 2 known to be one of the only hats that can be earned and worn by free-to-play users, along with the Pyrovision Goggles. It is a very common hat as a lot of F2P users play Team Fortress 2, and want to show off their only hat. Any player wearing the gibus is usually considered a noob by non-F2P users. Some players who wear this hat are trolls, simply to make other people think that they are noobs. Many “Gibus stereotypes” exist, such as Gibus wearing Pyros are not likely to know or use the airblast, Gibus wearing Heavies tend to use the Natascha and the Brass Beast, while not using them very well.

Origin

Ghastly Gibus

The Ghastly Gibus was released in the Haunted Hallowe’en Special event in 2009. The hat could originally be earned by visiting a hidden page on the TF2 website. After the Ghastly Gibus was given out to 10,319 players, it can no longer be earned from visiting the page. Instead, it can be earned through the achievement Ghastly Gibus Grab, which requires the player to dominate another player wearing the Gibus. The Ghastly Gibus resembles Zepheniah Mann’s hat.

In 2011, when Team Fortress 2 became Free-to-Play, many new F2P players where seen wearing this hat, as they can not trade or find other hats. This quickly became a “sign” to players that that player is new to the game, and easy to kill.

Ghostly Gibus

In 2012, during the Spectral Halloween Special, the Gibus got a new version, called the Ghostly Gibus, which would then be earned from the achievement instead of the Ghastly version. The Ghostly version is a bit taller and less dusty, and it also has a ghost doll hanging from the top of the hat, which jiggles around as the player moves. Players who previously had the Gibus could now choose which style they want. Many newer players started wearing this version. Both hats are often paired with the Pyrovision Goggles.

Spread

TF2 fans have since created hundreds of images often using other memes of people wearing the gibus, to make fun of F2P players. The memes usually include F2Ps being proud of their only hat, and thinking it is actually a good hat.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

About

Jezebel is a feminist news site run by Gawker Media which covers a variety of celebrity-related news and gossips, as well as issue topics pertaining to women’s rights movement and gender relations.

History

Jezebel was launched in 2007.^[5] The site was parodied on an episode of 30 Rock titled “TGS Hates Women” which aired on February 24th, 2011. On May 22nd, 2014, it was announced^[13] that Jessica Coen would be stepping down as the site’s editor in chief. On June 24th, it was announced^[14] Emma Carmichael will take over for Coen.

Features

The site covers a variety of issues, often coming at them through a feminist lens. Posts are often short, covering news events and celebrity gossip, though sometimes the site features long form opinion essays, often taken, with permission, from other sites.

Controversies

Lena Dunham Photos

On January 16th, 2014, Jezebel published a post titled “We’re Offering $10,000 for Untouched Images of Lena Dunham in Vogue.” The article explained that they wanted to see Dunham’s untouched versions of the photos of her Vogue used for their February cover, explaining:

“Lena Dunham is a woman who trumpets body positivity, who’s unabashedly feminist, who has said that her naked body is “a realistic expression of what it’s like to be alive” and “if you are not into me, that’s your problem.” Her body is real. She is real. And for as lovely as the Vogue pictures are, they’re probably not terribly real."

The following day Jezebel^[9] published the untouched photos, creating GIFs to flash between the touched up and untouched images.

The same day The Washington Post^[10] published an article titled “Jezebel falls into feminist self-parody in Lena Dunham Photoshop ‘controversy’.” The article explains their position on Jezebel’s offer, saying:

“Of course, putting Dunham’s before-and-after pictures on proud display doesn’t really further that cause, either. Anyone clicking into a post about pre-Photoshop Dunham is doing it for one of two reasons, as Jezebel knows well: to stoke righteous indignation over the evils of the fashion/media industry, or to voyeuristically -- even maliciously -- ogle Dunham’s imperfections.”

On February 20th, 2014, Grantland^[11] posted an interview with Dunham, during which she criticizes Jezebel,^[7] explaining:

“Instead of going like, ‘Hey, we kinda f***ed up, these pictures aren’t that retouched Lena, enjoy the Vogue spread that you’ve been excited about since you were eight years old,’ they were like, ‘She’s not retouched, but she could’ve been.’ It was this weird almost political maneuvering that I just had a lot of trouble respecting.”

Sarah Palin Spoof

On July 31st, 2014, Jezebel^[12] published a post titled “Palin Interviewee Calls the President ‘Hitler’.” The article alleged Palin had interviewed a man named George Seymour who had called the president “nigger Hitler.” Jezebel cited the National Report as their source. The same day Mediate^[12] published a post titled “Jezebel Falls for Fake Sarah Palin ‘N*gger Hitler’ Interview Story,” which pointed out the National Report’s account was fake. Jezebel added an update to the bottom of their article which reads:

“UPDATE: The site that reported on the interview is actually a parody site. Once again, my confirmation bias has led me astray. Consider me fooled, and chastened.

Social Media Presence

As of August 2014, Jezebel’s Twitter account^[2] has gained over 200,000 followers and its Facebook page^[3] has gained over 520,000 likes.

Traffic

As of August 2014, Jezebel is ranked as the 519th most popular^[4] site in the United States. Over 60% of the site’s traffic comes from the United States, with over 5% coming from Canada and over 3% coming from the United Kingdom.

Search Interest

External Links

About

“Retard” is a slang term for someone who is born with mental retardation, also known as intellectual disability or mental handicap, a condition marked by impaired cognition and functional skill. The term’s use as an insult is considered an example of the “euphemism treadmill,” ^[3] a linguistic process which results in any labels used for the condition eventually turning into a pejorative. Some have argued the term is politically incorrect and ableist, resulting in many online debates over whether it is appropriate to use.

Origin

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary,^[1] the term “retard” originally comes from the French word “retarder,” meaning to restrain or “make slow.” As early as 1970, “retard” became a slang term for “retarded person” in American English.

Spread

On June 29th, 2003, an entry for “retard” was submitted to Urban Dictionary,^[2] defining it was “a person born with a mental condition.” On December 14th, 2007, YouTuber Cate Rose uploaded an animation of a two-legged horse running with the 2006 reggaeton song Chacarron Macarron by El Chombo playing in the background (shown below). In the first seven years, the video gained over 56 million views and 56,000 comments.

On October 13th, 2009, CollegeHumor uploaded a video in which a physician performs a variety of tests on a patient to determine if he is “retarded.” In the next five years, the video garnered more than 10.4 million views and 20,300 comments.

Retarded Policeman

On September 19th, 2007, the MediocreFilms YouTube channel launched the “Retarded Policeman” web series, which stars an actor with down syndrome performing the role of an incompetent policeman (shown below). Over the next five years, a total of 34 episodes were released in the series.

Full Retard

Full Retard is a memorable quote uttered by the character Kirk Lazarus (played by Robert Downey Jr.) from the 2008 film Tropic Thunder. The expression is normally used as a reply to illogical or inaccurate statements.

Retard Girl

Retard Girl is an Advice Animal image macro series featuring a photograph of a young girl with down syndrome. The captions typically contain references to the “I Can Count to Potato” expression.

Debate

During the 2009 Special Olympics Global Youth Activation Summit, the campaign “Spread the Word to End the Word” was launched to encourage people to refrain from using the word “retard,” claiming it is offensive and hurtful to those suffering from intellectual disabilities. On February 14th, 2010, The Washington Post^[10] published an opinion piece against banning the word, arguing that new insults would arise to take its place. On May 20th, 2011, the campaign released a public service announcement, which compares the word “retard” to various ethnic slurs (shown below).

On August 16th, 2013, the Smosh YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “Retarded Cats: The Movie,” in which a company makes videos with disabled cats but is sabotaged by an employee who finds the word “retarded” offensive (shown below).

On August 26th, Redditor Domer2012 submitted a post arguing that he did not think “ending the R-word” was a worthwhile goal. Domer2012 subsequently edited the post claiming that two users managed to sway his opinion. Prior to being archived, the post accumulated upwards of 1,000 votes (91% upvoted) in the /r/changemyview^[9] subreddit.

On April 19th, 2014, Redditor Broodd submitted a clip from the animated television show Rick & Morty, in which Rick defends his use of using the word “retarded” in a literal sense (shown below). In three months, the video gained over 3,000 votes (87% upvoted) and 420 comments on the /r/videos^[6] subreddit.

JonTron’s PlayStation Tweet

On August 3rd, 2014, YouTuber Jon Jafari posted a tweet calling the PlayStation Now service “the most painfully retarded thing” (shown below).^[4]

In response, Twitter user Ben Huber asked Jafari to refrain from using the word, claiming it was “pretty rude.” After Jafari replied by calling Huber “retarded,” Huber posted the conversation on his Tumblr^[5] blog (shown below).

On the following day, Jafari addressed the criticism he had received in a post on the microblogging site TwitLonger,^[7] in which he refused to apologize for using the word and urged those who were offended to focus on more pressing matters in the world.

“I don’t usually respond to this kind of criticism, but this has gotten so out of hand and always happens when I make some sort of ‘controversial’ statement on twitter. To you people who get offended at every turn: Why don’t you try focusing your civil unrest at something that dearly needs it, like the fact that today the Israeli air force struck a school with a missile killing 10 people, most of which were children. I suppose you’re all ok with that, as long as the missile didn’t call the school ‘retarded’ first, right? My job as a comedian is to make people laugh and feel better about their lives. So no, in the midst of so many other pressing matters in the world, I will not apologize for calling a PS4 retarded. I encourage you to look at yourselves and think about what really matters.”

Also on August 4th, Redditor Blackberry_Rosemary posted a screenshot of the Twitter exchange along with Jafari’s response to the /r/TumblrInAction^[8] subreddit, where it received upwards of 3,700 votes (92% upvoted) in 72 hours.

Search Interest

External References

About

Funny Sheet Music Annotations refers to notations on sheet music that go beyond traditional directions regarding the speed or volume at which a musician should play and are often humorously coarse or direct.

Origin

One of the first examples of humorous notations on sheet music published online was posted on ClassicalConvert^[5] on January 25th, 2008. The piece, titled “Faerie’s Aire and Death Waltz” is so covered in notations it seems comical.

Spread

On March 8th, 2012, Redditor FlipprNL posted an image of a piece of sheet music, titling the post “I’ve been playing bass a long time, & this is the best musical instruction I’ve ever seen” to the /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers^[8] subreddit. As of August 2014, the post has gained over 500 points.

On June 19th, 2012, College Humor^[7] posted an image of a piece of sheet music titled “Interspecies Orgy in Sheet Music.”

On March 20th, 2012, Tumblr user thecatcherintheryebread^[2] posted an image of a piece of sheet music which reads:

“Play without bitching about the key.”

As of August 2014, the image has gained over 150,000 notes.

On February 22nd, 2013, Tumblr use thecubantimelord^[3] posted a picture of sheet music calling for the musician to “tongue this D lightly.” As of August 2014, the post has gained over 3,000 notes. On March 6th, 2013, College Humor^[1] published the image.

On July 6th, 2013, Redditor Born_From_Sugar posted an image titled “This is at the end of my Pomp and Circumstance sheet music… Seems about right.” to the r/funny^[6] subreddit. As of August 2014, the image has gained over 2,000 points.

On November 5th, 2013, Tumblr user cootco19^[4]posted an image of a piece of sheet music which reads:

“Stand, turn around, bend over, and play oboe between leg.”

As of August 2014, the image has gained over 1,000 notes.

Search Interest

External Links

About

Aziz Ansari is American actor and comedian known for his portrayal of the character Tom Haverford on the NBC show Parks and Recreation.

Career

Ansari started off performing improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. In 2005, Ansari collaborated with comedians Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer to form the comedy group “Shutterbugs” in which they played the roles of child talent agents (shown below, left). The Illusionists (shown below, right)

Online History

VHX

Reddit AMA

Reputation

In 2005, Rolling Stone placed Ansari in their annual “Hot List” in the “Hot Standup” category. In 2006, he won HBO’s Jury Award for “Best Standup” at the Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado.

Personal Life

Aziz Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina on February 23rd, 1983.

Search Interest

External References

About

Your/You’re is a common grammar mistake often done intentional or unintentional on internet forums or commentaries.

WIP

Overview

Grand Canyon Squirrel Kicker refers to an unidentified man who was seen kicking a squirrel off a cliff into the Grand Canyon in a YouTube video uploaded in August 2014. The video quickly sparked outrage online and prompted PETA to offer a $15,000 reward for tips leading to the identification of the kicker.

Background

On August 2nd, 2014, Jon Hildebrand^[6] of Virginia posted a video to YouTube which showed two men at the Grand Canyon, one of whom kicked a squirrel over the edge. The video was quickly taken down. Hildebrand explained his state of mind when taking the video to the Associated Press, saying:

""I was in such utter shock. I thought, ‘Do people do this at the Grand Canyon?’ "

Hildebrand also explained at least one of the men was speaking French.

The video was quickly taken down and put up again by AP News^[7] also on August 2nd, within a week the video has gained over 250,000 views.

Notable Developments

Park’s Response

On August 4th, 2014, the Grand Canyon National Park officially stated they were looking into the incident, with Kirby-Lynn Shedlowski,^[2] a parks spokeswomen explaining:

“It is under investigation. We are working with YouTube to see if we can get any additional information.”

The investigation was covered by many news sites including Jezebel^[8], Daily Mail^[9] and Fox News.^[10]

PETA Reward

On August 8th, 2014, The Independent^[4] published an article titled “Squirrel kick video: £10,000 reward offered to track down French men who kicked squirrel into Grand Canyon.” The article explained animal rights group PETA was offering a reward of $16,870 to whoever can aid the police in finding the two men in the squirrel video. The reward was a result of branches of PETA in France, the United States and the United Kingdom pooling their resources. The article went on to explain that if the men are caught, they could be forced to pay up to a $5,000 fine or spend up to six months in jail.

Search Interest

External Links

About

jacksepticeye is an Irish born let’s player who is known for his enthusiastic and humble nature. He’s predominately known for his GTA V and Skate 3 playthroughs and his Reading Your Comments series, but his various game plays have garnered many views either way.

Online History

During his days on YouTube Jack started out almost unnoticeable at first, but due to a shout out from the most subscribed YouTuber. He gained a massive amount of subscribers and it has only grown more and more since. He started making noise in the Let’s Play community when he uploaded his popular GTA V and Happy Wheels videos. Making his views reach nearly a million each! Along with Jack rising to be a big name he regularly talks with fans in the comment section right after the videos upload. Not only that but his humbleness has been always been admirable, especially in his Omegle videos where he never acts like he’s some big deal. Currently Jack does collab videos and hasn’t changed his formula since.

Catchphrases

Top of the morning to ya laddies!

Wouldn’t be an Irish gamer without having an Irish saying. Accompanied with a high five at the beginning of the video. This phrase has been a huge staple in Jack’s videos. Being said in every video currently.

LIKE A BOSS!

“X that like button in the X. Like a boss!, and, high fives all around(simulates high fives), and I will see all you dudes. (screeching)In the next video!” A big saying from Jack that is met with the outro saying said above, but it stands out as a catchphrase by itself and is the name of the people in his fanbase. The phrase no doubt originating from the Lonely Island song with the same name.

Sticky bomb!

Pronounced(S-ticky bamb!). It’s a phrase uttered by Jack in his GTA videos where he, big surprise, throws a sticky bomb at something.

Cleverbot/Evie

In this series Jack tries his patience with the infamous Cleverbot/Evie conversation simulator. As expected the videos are all about him getting surprised, annoyed, angered, etc. At the simulator for saying confusing and idiotic things.

His Accent

As you may or may not know. Jack has a mildly thick Irish accent, which gets him mixed results as Irish accents aren’t viewed very highly.
Surprisingly enough this is not why it’s so debated. Due to his first video of him sounding a lot more American, save for the little Irish pronunciations. People wonder if Jack’s accent is actually fake. Jack has stated that it’s his actual speaking voice, but of course. The debate still rages on despite Jack already confirming which is true.

Reception

Jack has earned 700,000+ subscribers, and 34,000+ followers on Twitter. He always tries to find ways to meet fans, and this has earned him a positive reputation among his fans.

About

Ice Bucket Challenge refers to a challenge in which someone pours a bucket of ice water over their head and challenges someone else to perform the challenge in the same style as sellotape selfie and neknominate. If a tagged person does not complete the challenge they must donate to charity, normally one dedicated to ALS.

Origin

On June 22nd, 2014, Jeremy McGrath, a motocross competitor^[10] posted an Instagram^[11] video of himself pouring ice water over his head, in which he challenged fellow athletes Rickie Fowler and Jimmie Johnson, as well as rapper Vanilla Ice to complete the challenge or pay $100 to charity. As of August 2014, the video has gained over 2,000 likes.

Spread

On July 14th, 2014, Matt Lauer completed the Ice Bucket Challenge on The Today Show tagging Martha Stewart to complete it next.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

On July 25th, the Facebook group^[1] Quinn for the Win, a charity for ALS founded by Pat Quinn, a sufferer of the disease, posted the rules for a challenge called the Ice Bucket Challenge explaining:

“You take the challenge [dumping a bucket of ice water over your head] then nominate others to do the same within 24 hours!! If they fail the challenge they must donate $100 to www.quinn4thewin.com !

Pat then challenged fellow ASL sufferer Pete Frates^[2] to complete the Ice Bucket Challenge. Frates position as a former Boston College baseball player encouraged the Boston community to join in. On July 31st, 2014, Frates^[3] posted a video on his Facebook page nominating 11 people, including The Howard Stern Show. As of August 2014, the video has gained over 500 likes.

On July 30th, The Rachel Maddow Show accepted the challenge and uploaded it to their YouTube channel^[5]. Within a week, the video has gained over 40,000 views.

On August 6th, ESPN^[6] posted a collection of ice bucket challenge videos posted by Boston and college athletes.
On August 7th, Elle^[2] published an article titled “This Is Why the Ice Bucket Challenge Is Actually a Big Deal” which explained the challenge and featured a video of Elle staff members completing the challenge before challenging:

“Esquire.com, HarpersBazaar.com, ELLE cover girls Kristen Wiig and Anna Kendrick, man-hunk Ryan Gosling, Vin Diesel, and Rob Kardashian”

The challenge was covered the same day by many sites including Yahoo^[7], Boston^[8] and Business Insider.^[9]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External Links

Overview

American Apparel Advertisements are a series of advertising campaigns designed by and printed for the Los Angeles-based clothing manufacturer, distributor and retailer American Apparel. Due to the often suggestive nature of the company’s brand advertising strategy, numerous instances of its promotional images have roused criticisms for being sexist and objectifying to women.

Background

American Apparel was founded in 1989 by Canadian entrepreneur Dov Charney. In the early 2000s, company became known for their provocative advertisements featuring scantily clad young female models. In 2005, the company received the “Marketing Excellence Award” at the LA Fashion Awards ceremony.

Notable Developments

Woody Allen Billboards

In 2007, two American Apparel billboards featuring Woody Allen dressed as a Rabbi from the 1977 comedy film Annie Hall were unveiled in New York and Los Angeles (shown below). Allen subsequently sued the company for $10 million and stated that he found American Apparel ads “sleazy” and “infantile” in a December 2008 deposition.

Legalize LA and Legalize Gay

In early 2008, American Apparel underwrote the “Legalize LA” campaign to promote amnesty for illegal immigrants in California (shown below, left). In November that year, the company launched the spin-off campaign “Legalize Gay” in protest to the passing of Proposition 8 in California, which banned all same-sex marriages in the state (shown below, right).

Flexfleece Ad

In 2009, American Apparel ran an advertisement for their “flexfleece” hoody in Vice Magazine, which contained a series of photographs featuring a 23-year-old woman wearing the hoody in various states of undress (shown below).

The British advertising watchdog Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) subsequently banned the campaign for using what they claimed appeared to be a woman who was under 16 years of age.^[1]

Pubic Hair Mannequins

In January 2014, an American Apparel store in New York City put up window displays featuring mannequins with prominent pubic hair bulging from their underwear (shown below).

On January 16th, the NYC news blog Gothamist^[4] published an article about the displays, which included a statement from American Apparel marketing director Ryan Holiday who explained the reasoning behind the pubic hair.

“The display was created for that store specifically. American Apparel is a company that celebrates natural beauty, and the Lower East Side Valentine’s Day window continues that celebration. We created it to invite passerby’s to explore the idea of what is “sexy” and consider their comfort with the natural female form. This is the same idea behind our advertisements which avoid many of the photoshopped and airbrushed standards of the fashion industry. So far we have received positive feedback from those that have commented and we’re looking forward to hearing more points of view."

Challenger Disaster Photo

On July 3rd, 2014, the American Apparel Tumblr blog reblogged a photo of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. After the post was criticized for being insensitive to the tragedy, it was swiftly deleted.

The company subsequently tweeted^[2] an apology for the photo, claiming it was re-blogged by an employee unaware of the event. The tweet has since been removed.

“We deeply apologize for today’s Tumblr post of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The image was re-blogged in error by one of our international social media employees who was born after the tragedy and was unaware of the event. We sincerely regret the insensitivity of that selection and the post has been deleted.”

School Days

In the summer of 2014, American Apparel launched the “School Days” ad campaign, which featured photographs of young women posed in a variety of school settings. A particular set of photographs for a mini skirt drew criticism for being “sexist” and “fueling Lolita fantasies” (shown below). On August 8th, The daily Beast published an op-ed piece by senior editor Tim Teeman, who defended the company against the “Lolita” criticisms.

Parodies

On June 18th, 2009, YouTuber UCBComedy uploaded a parody video in which a photographer (played by actor Nate Dern) takes sexually explicit photographs of American Apparel models (shown below, left). On March 15th, 2010, Funny or Die published a parody video in which a photographer shoots a transgender model for a new product line titled “Trans Am” (shown below, right).

On March 10th, 2014, YouTuber Ben C uploaded a recording of a computer screen navigating a page on the American Apparel website, during which the mouse cursor is used to change a model’s clothing color and pose to the beat of the 1989 eurodance song “Pump Up the Jam” by Technotronic (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

(Work in progress)

Overview

The 2014 Ebola Outbreak is an epidemic of the Ebola virus disease that began in Guinea, Africa in March 2014. After spreading to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a “Public health emergency of international concern.”

About the Disease

When contracted by humans, the Ebola virus induces a disease that can cause fever, sore throat, muscle pains, headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased functioning of the liver and kidneys, bleeding problems. Between 50% and 90% of those infected with the virus are killed by the disease. The virus transmits through contact with blood or other bodily fluids from infected animals, including humans monkeys and fruit bats. Treatment for those infected includes re-hydration and administering intravenous fluids. A cure for the disease has yet to be discovered.

Background

The Ebola virus disease was first identified in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976. On March 25th, 2014, the WHO announced they had received reports of an Ebola virus outbreak occurring in Guinea with a total of 86 suspected cases (59 deaths). On March 31st, a team of five sent by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control was dispatched to Guinea to assist the Guinea Ministry of Health with handling the outbreak. Within one month, 242 cases had been reported with 142 deaths. On May 23rd, the virus reached the Guinea capital city Conakry.

Notable Developments

International Spread

Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria

Conspiracy Theories

h4.

Online Reaction

On Reddit

AMAs,

Search Interest

External References

About

TOASTY, originated from Mortal Kombat, a brutal fighting game which it’s arcade release is October 8th, 1992, by Midway Games. The person who recites Toasty is Dan Forden, who created the music for the Mortal Kombat games.

Origin

The game where he did say Toasty was in the 2nd installment of Mortal Kombat. This easter egg appears when the player does a vicious uppercut. Due to its popularity, he can still be found in future Mortal Kombat games.

Spread

Certain Youtube Poops also feature the musician.

Search Interest

Max from Blue Tax refers to the Oddly made CGI commercial from Blue Tax in which the poorly made CGI character Max tells people to “Stop Stressing Right Now!” if they owe the IRS more than $10,000.

Max was introduced as an Advert to attempt people to join into Blue Tax but the results weren’t perfect as many got scared of Max.
Just 2 years later, Reactions came and users made Parodies of what Blue Tax thought would be a perfect commercial.

Annoying Character Response

On October 12, 2011 Max was nominated for Most Irritating Animated Character which is part of the Worst Ad in America vote by Consumerist. When “Max” found this out, he replied :

Max was placed in third next to the Aflac Pigeon and the Orkin Termite while the Carfax Fox came in as the Most Irritating Animated Character.

Despite the critism and the scariness Max has shared to many, Max is still the sole mascot of Blue Tax.

About

Barneyfag is a form of trolling that is frequently used by /co/ to bash and retaliate against My Little Pony content posted on /co/ after the creation of /mlp/. It is a form of trolling that has been very frequent on all /co/ mlp thread posted after the creation of /mlp/. It is even used by other boards that dislike the my little pony fanbase. Many people on the /co/ board express an incredible hatred of the my little pony fanbase.

Since all forms of My Little Pony discussion are banned outside of its own board, posting outside of /mlp/ has given rise to the barneyfag trolls. The term Barneyfag was created to mock the my little pony fanbase. It is usually followed by statements that barneyfags are pedophiles, need to go, or with death threats. Many people on /co/ use it as a counter culture to get bronies off the board. Sometimes accompanying their post with an image.

Usage

The use of Barneyfan rose because Barney is associated with young children. /co/ uses this to mock the idea of the brony sub-culture, reducing it to nothing more than pedophilia. The usage of Barneyfag has extended to incorporate “false fandom quirks” treating it as an actual, seperate, hated fandom. Many /co/ poster that do this pretend that barneyfags go to their own conventions, have their own art and watch their own show. It is also difficult for posters on the board to ignore this derogatory trolling culture and it is found in pretty much every single misplaced mlp thread outside of its restricted board. It is unlikely when the term was first used, but it is believed to have occurred shortly after the creation of /mlp/ back in 2012.

Jeremy Crispo

A few years ago a user by the name of Juniorfan90 aka Jeremy Crispo posted a video where he responded to a user about the TV show Barney the Dinosaur. Jeremy appears to have a mental disorder and a lisp, possible autism. The video got nearly universal hate, due to the strange nature of a 25 year old talking seriously about Barney. Users calling him a manchild or crazy. It is possible that the connection to the /co/ form of trolling of the brony fanbase is connected to this video, but it is yet to be found.

About

We Will Rebuild refers to a series of images of minor objects which have either fallen over or been knocked slightly out of place, sarcastically captioned with the slogan “we will rebuild” in reference to a typically insignificant natural disaster. It is similar to, and is often used interchangeably with, Never Forget; however, its perceived melodramatic tone means that it is almost always used ironically, while “Never Forget” is often used in a serious manner.

Origin

The earliest known instance of the meme in its current form was posted^[1] to FunnyJunk on August 23rd, 2011, the same day that the incident which it was referencing – the 2011 Virginia earthquake^[2]– occurred. The image macro (shown below) featured a picture of a plastic table and chair set with one chair tipped over, thus mocking the lackluster destructive power of the earthquake.

Spread

On July 20th, 2013, Redditor benj39 submitted a post titled “We will rebuild.”^[3] to the /r/funny subreddit. The image was taken from a New Zealand news channel story about the 2013 Seddon earthquake^[4] which caused four injuries and no deaths.

The news channel’s comical decision to display fallen bottles as an example of the “damage” done by the earthquake was well received by the subreddit, and the post amassed 2,473 points (95% upvoted) and 111 comments prior to being archived.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

The face of the people who sank all their money into the FX (Japanese: FXで有り金全部溶かす人の顔) refers to a series of parody illustrations inspired by a facial expression of desperation which appeared on Japanese TV anime for a yonkoma manga Ai Mai Mi^[1] written by Choborau Nyopomi. Since 2013, this facial expression is a sort of icon representing net trading on the Japanese web.

Origin

This facial expression is struck by Ponoka-senpai, a high school girl representing the dark side of this manga, in the 9th episode of the 1st TV anime season aired on March 1st, 2013. She appeared with this face after Mai insisted that she wants to watch that face on online live streaming programs by people trading FX. Mi explains that the senpai looks like she couldn’t distinguish between Japanese hiragana characters “Nu” (ぬ) and “Ne” (ね).

Background: FX Trading on the Japanese Web

In Japan, retail foreign exchange trading^[2] is usually called as FX, an abbreviated name of Foreign eXchange. Some of hardcore FX traders are streaming their home trading on Nico Nico Live, a live-streaming service by Nico Nico Douga (NND), and this kind of live-streaming programs is called FX live (FX実況, FX Jikkyo).

Meanwhile, there is an atmosphere of despising those people who earn a living by online trading without a job among Japanese people, and thus, traders failures that sometimes lost all their money by FX are popular subject for mockery. Among affi-blogs, weblogs summarising online topics for the purpose of earning advertising revenue via Google Adsense or Amazon Associate Program, cries of despair by FX traders which are posted to 2channel‘s threads or streamed on FX lives in real time are one of the popular topics to satisfy people’s heart of schadenfreude.^[3]

Therefore, Mai’s seemingly ridiculous remark is a caricature of this vulgar desire widespread among the Japanese internet users.

Spread

By a large impact of Ponoka-senpai’s glassy look, the 9th episode in the 1st season is the most popular episode in the anime. Shortly after the airing, her impressive facial expression became to a subject for parody among Japanese amatuer illustrators due to its ease of mimicking. More than 300 of illustrations tagged under the name “The face of the people who sank all their money into the FX” had been posted to pixiv^[4] and Nico Nico Seiga^[5] in its first year. And dozens of parody videos are posted to NND as well.^[6]

Besides, the presence of Ponoka-senapi’s face isn’t limited among fans and anime Otakus, nowadays it’s widely known as the iconic look of miserable loser in FX trading.

Official Merchandise & Collaborating Campaign

Against a large backdrop of the online presence, Ponoka-senpai’s glassy look is utilized in the official merchandising for the manga. By the official, her facial expression is named as “That Ponoka-senpai’s Face”, and T-Shirt, Sleep Shade and Wallet printing that face have been released since the middle of 2013.

On August 7th, 2014, DMM FX, a Japanese online FX trading service which has the world 2nd largest trading volume, launched a promoting campaign featuring Ai Mai Mi.^[7] And Ponoka-sempai’s “Let’s Begin FX!” T-shirt was provided as a special item for new customers during this campaign.

Notable Examples

Videos

Niconico FXで有り金全部溶かして人生完敗したぽのか先輩ＵＣNiconico FXで有り金全部溶かす霊夢さんの顔
Left: Slow Loris’ Victory Pose with UC | Right: Touhou Project (Miku Miku Dance Edition)
Niconico FXで有り金全部溶かした希さんの顔Niconico 【モバマス】ちひろの夢
Left: Love Live! | Right: THE IDOLM@STER

Illustrations

Blank Template

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos/illustrations listed in this section.

Overview

The Alice Springs Reptile Centre Killings were a number of animal that died at hands of a kid the 1st of October in 2008 at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre.

Backgorund

At 1 of October 2008, a 7-year old boy sneaked into the Alice Springs Reptile Centre at night, avoided the security system, jumped over a fence in the zoo and was filmed, without him noticing, by a security camera. ^[1]

Next day, the employees noticed the great loss of animals, and they thinked the reptiles could sneak up and accidentally be eaten by Terry, a saltwater crocodile.

But, when they checked the security cameras, they found a 30-minute massacre in which the expresionless boy killed a large number of animals, such as a turtle, Bearded Dragons, a female goanna and Thorny Devils. Some of them were bashed with a rock to death, or hurled at Terry’s enclosure to be eaten alive. The turle was trhown over a Wall and died. ^[2]

The boy was then caught by the police, but he “clammed up” and refused to anwser.

The species lost were difficult to replace. The child couldn’t be charged due not being older than 10 years old, but the parents were sued. ^[3]

Notable Developments

The event was reported by many websites, such as ABC^[1] or the South Florida Sun-Sentinel ^[4]. Many comments on these websites talking about murdering the kid by feeding him to Terry were posted. One list on lisztblog.com was posted with the name “20 Notorious Animal Deaths & Events” ^[5] which included the event as number 13.

Search Interest

Searchs for “Alice Springs Reptile Center” arose quickly on October 2008 due to the murders.

External References

^[1]ABC– Centre wants security boost after reptiles killed

^[2]CBC– Boy, 7, goes on animal killing spree in Australian zoo

^[3]BBC– Boy fed zoo reptiles to crocodile

^[4]South Florida Sun-Sentinel – Australian boy breaks into Outback zoo, bashes lizards, feeds animals to giant crocodile

^[5]Listzblog – 20 Notorious Animal Deaths and Events