About

7chan is an imageboard site modeled after the Japanese site Futaba Channel. The site rose to prominence in 2006 as 4chan users fled to 7chan for fewer posting restrictions.

History

7chan.org^[1] was launched on September 25th, 2005, by founders Symbion and Zeneslev. On August 23rd, 2006, a large number of threads featuring nude photographs of under aged girls were posted to 4chan’s /b/ (random) board, resulting in the heavy moderation of the board known as “/b/-day.”^[3] According to Encyclopedia Dramatica,^[3] 4chan founder Christopher Poole posted a warning that any users participating in threads dealing with illegal content or “jailbait” photos would be globally banned:

Participating in a thread dealing with illegal content will get you globally banned for two weeks (thread starter is indefinitely banned). This means merely replying to it removes you from this site for a minimum of two weeks. This includes JB and any other “gray area” threads. Posting any piece of personal information or inciting/participating in an invasion of any sort will also get you, and anybody who replied to the thread globally banned. You have the option to either report or ignore (not reply to) threads that break the rules. Thanks!

Following the announcement, many 4chan users left the site for 7chan to evade the restrictions. The exodus resulted in a rivalry between users on 4chan’s /b/ and 7chan’s /b/.

Features

7chan contains six different board categories containing a total of 50 boards. Users can create new threads by submitting an image with an accompanying message. When a thread is replied to, it is bumped to the top of the board and is deleted if it reaches the end of the 10th page without receiving a reply. Content that is illegal to view in both Luxembourg or the United States is prohibited. The site previously contained a /i/ (invasion) board for users to organize off-site raids, but admins deleted it after the 7chan’s web host demanded its removal. 7chan maintains an active /fur (furry) board which was temporarily deleted in 2007.

Highlights

X is Not Your Personal Army

“X is Not Your Personal Army” is an expression rumored to have originated on 7chan’s now defunct /i/ (invasion) board, which was employed for raids on external sites. The phrase is typically used to scold those who ask Internet users to raid or harass someone based on a personal vendetta.

Epilepsy Forum Invasion

On March 28th, 2008, 7chan users purportedly hacked the Epilepsy Foundation of America’s epilepsy support forum with JavaScript code causing flashing animations aimed to trigger headaches and seizures.^[4][5]

Traffic

As of October 2014, 7chan.org has a global rank of 59,548 and a United States rank of 19,776 on the traffic analytics site Alexa.^[2]

Search Interest

External References

About

What am I doing with my life is a phrase often paired with photos featuring people wearing hopeless or troubled expressions, implying the speaker’s life is going nowhere.

Origin

On February 21st, 2012, redditor facebook_hero posted a GIF of a hopeless looking cat to the r/funny subreddit^[1] titled “What the fuck am I doing with my life …” As of October 2014, the post has gained over 1,000 points.

Spread

On November 5th, 2012, CollegeHumor^[3] posted an image titled “Introducing Depressed Cat” which featured a picture of a cat asking, “What am I doing with my lives?”

On December 12th, WeKnowMemes^[2] published a comic titled “What Am I Doing With My Life.”

Notable Examples

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About

Slittens, a portmanteau of “sloth” and “kittens”, is a single topic blog featuring photographs of kittens with their faces digitally swapped with sloths.

Origin

The Slittens Tumblr^[1] blog was launched on July 6th, 2014 with several photoshopped images of sloth kittens (shown below).

Spread

Notable Examples

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External References

This meme often displays the “Know that feeling bro” guy sitting in front of a computer, representing a country or a culture.

About

Garfi is the name of the cat who gained internet fame after pictures of him was posted to Flickr. Its extremely angry expression has caused his rise to fame, leading him to be compared to Grumpy Cat.

Origin

On December 6th, 2010, Flickr^[2] user lov-ela posted a picture of her angry looking cat, Garfi. As of September 2014, the photo has gained over 30,000 views.

On October 2nd, Bored Panda^[5] published a collection of the photos titled “Meet Garfi, The World’s Angriest Cat,” which identified his owner as Turkish woman Hulya Ozkok.

Spread

On October 7th, 2014, Redditor Dre2k posted a set of images of Garfi to the r/funny^[1] subreddit, titling them “Grumpy cat…move over! There’s a new sheriff in town! Meet Garfi!” Within 48 hours the post gained over 3,000 points.

The same day the pictures were covered by The Daily Mail^[3], and the following day the pictures were covered by several sites including The Huffington Post.^[4]

Notable Examples

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Overview

2014 Red Bull Refund Settlement refers to an online initiative started by Red Bull, the American energy drink company, to grant anyone who had purchased one of their energy drinks a small portion of funds from a class action lawsuit brought against the company.

Background

On July 31st, 2014, Red Bull reached a settlement^[6] of $13 million in a class action lawsuit brought against them by Benjamin Careathers, who alleged the drink’s slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” and other assertions about it improving the drinker’s performance were false, as he had not experienced those effects even after drinking Red Bull for over a decade.

On October 8th, Buzzfeed^[2] published a post titled “If You Bought A Red Bull In The Last 12 Years They Owe You Money -- Here’s The Easy Way To Get It” which explained any Red Bull consumer who had bought the drink between 2012 and October 3rd, 2014, was eligible to sign up to receive $10 (or $15 in Red Bull merchandise) from the settlement. They also included a link to the site^[3] where they could sign up to receive the money, as long as they sign up before May 2nd, 2015.

Notable Developments

Site Crash

Within 24 hours the Buzzfeed article gained over 4.9 million views. The settlement was covered by several other websites the same day including Life Hacker^[4] and USA Today.^[5] On October 9th, TIME^[1] reported that the surge in traffic had caused the settlement site to crash, and went on to explain that because Red Bull had only committed to pay out $13 million to its customers, it was likely that money would be spread so thin between respondents each person’s portion of the money could be only $3. The same day Buzzfeed included an update to their original article which featured alternate ways of contacting Red Bull to sign up for a piece of the settlement:

“- By mail: Class Action Settlement Administrator at Energy Drink Settlement, c/o GCG, P.O. Box 35123, Seattle, WA 98124-5123
- By fax: (844) 553-1373
- By email: energydrinksettlement@gcginc.com”

Search Interest

External References

About

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a musical comedy film which follows a young couple as they encounter a group of eccentric aliens after their car breaks down. The movie gained a large cult following, which often gathers for regular screening which encourage the audience to talk to and interact with the screen at predetermined moments.

History

The Rocky Horror Picture Show^[1] was released on August 31st, 1975. On October 26th, 2010, Glee aired an episode titled “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” which features several numbers from the film.

Premise

After the wedding of their friend, Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) and Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) become engaged. To celebrate, they decide to visit their old college professor who taught the class where they met. On the way their car breaks down, and they decide to go to a neighboring castle to use the phone. Their they meet Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), an evil scientist who is just revealing Rocky (Peter Hinwood), a man he’s created to be his boyfriend. Brad and Janet are troubled by Frank-N-Furter, but through deceit he eventually seduces them both, then Janet seduces Rocky. Eventually Janet, Brad, Rocky, and Frank-N-Furter, as well as Frank-N-Furter’s ex, Columbia (Nell Campbell) perform a burlesque show, before Frank-N-Furter is informed by his servants that their home planet has decided he is out of control and must be killed. They kill him before launching the entire house, once Brad and Janet have escaped, into outer space.

Reception

The film earned a score of 7.4 on IMDB and a rating of 58 on Metacritic.^[4] In 1980 it was entered into the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Hall of Fame and in 2005 it was entered into the National Film Preservation Board’s National Film Registry.

Fandom

As of October 2014, there are over 7,000 pieces of Rocky Horror fan art on Deviant Art.^[2] Fan run Tumblr blogs include fuckyeahrockyhorror^[3] and rockyhorrorpictureshowpics.^[8] As of October 2014, the films Facebook page^[9] has gained over 1.2 million likes.

Related Memes

Antici…..pation

On May 8th, 2009, Twitter user DrFNFurter^[6] created his account naming it after the Rocky Horror character and sending out a series of tweets quoting the film:

“So, come up to the lab, and see what’s on the slab! I see you shiver with antici …”

Fours years later, he tweeted the rest of the word “pation,” playing off the long pause in the middle of the word in the film, as well as the meaning of the word. The stunt was covered by several websites including The Huffington Post^[5] and The Independent.^[7]

Search Interest

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About

Oppressed GamerGater is an image macro featuring a screaming child in front of a blue and teal color wheel background. The overlaid text is orginally intended to mock gamergate community then turned into mocking the viewpoints and stances of the “anti-Gamergate” side of the controversy.

Origin

The advice animal character was born during the GamerGate controversy. On October 9, 2014, Twitter user Spacekatgal^[4] posted image macro series Oppressed GamerGater to criticize the GamerGate community. Including the image series of a child from one of the PowerPoint template^[3]. In counter, on the imageboard site 8chan, users started to create new image macros related to Oppressed GamerGater page on Meme Generator with messages that disagrees with the contra-gamergate community^[1]. Many 8chan users also engaged in a high amount of Baneposting during the meme hijacking. Over 1,000 memes were created in a short time.

Notable Examples

Blank Template

Search Interest

[not yet available]

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About

Pumpkin Carving Art is the craft of carving images or patterns onto pumpkins. Traditionally known as jack-o-lanterns, photographs of intricately carved pumpkins are shared online every year around the beginning of autumn in celebration of Halloween

Origin

Pumpkin carving evolved from carving potatoes and turnips in Ireland.^[2] The tradition was picked up in America in the early 1800s, coinciding with the American adoption of Halloween. On October 15th, 1999, EHow^[11] published a pumpkin carving guide titled “How to Carve a Pumpkin With Paper” in one of the earliest online mentions of pumpkin carvings.

Spread

One of the earliest videos uploaded online featuring pumpkin carving is a short film titled “The Life and Death of a Pumpkin.” The video features a dramatic narrative around the carving of a jack-o-lantern and was uploaded by YouTuber BlameSociety^[3] on July 19th, 2006. As of October 2014, the video has gained over 2.5 million views.

On October 1st, 2008, Extreme Pumpkin Carving^[4] published a gallery of pumpking carving art.

On October 12th, 2009, redditor krisdafish created the subreddit r/Pumpkins,^[1] which features photos of pumpkin carving art, as of October 2014, the subreddit has gained over 1,000 readers.

On October 10th, 2010, Amusing Planet^[5] published a collection of pictures of pumpkins carved by New York sculpture Ray Villafane. The realistic carvings were also covered by CBS News^[6] and The Daily Mail.^[7] His pumpkin carving were also covered by many sites in 2011, including The Daily Beast^[8] and The Telegraph.^[9]

On October 16th, 2013, Pleated Jeans^[10] published a list titled “The Art of Pumpkin Carving.”

Notable Examples

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External References

About

Poor Kids of Tehran is an Instagram account which highlights the poverty of young people living in Tehran, Iran, which was created in reaction to the Instagram account Rich Kids of Tehran.

Origin

On October 5th, 2014, the Instagram account Poor Kids of Tehran^[1] was created. Its first uploaded picture features a picture of a broken down refrigerator. In less than two weeks the account gained over 4,000 followers.

Precursor

On September 13th, 2014, the Instagram account Rich Kids of Tehran,^[6] inspired by Rich Kids of Instagram was created.^[7] In less than a month the account gained over 90,000 followers. As of October 10th, the Instagram account has been set to private,^[8] explaining:

""This page has currently been shut down to the the high amount of false publicity."

Spread

On October 7th, Poor Kids of Tehran launched an official Facebook page,^[4] in less than a week the page gained over 1,000 likes.On October 7th, BBC News^[2] published an article on both Instagram accounts. The account was covered by Elite Daily^[3] on October 9th.

Notable Examples

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External References

About

The Worst Cat is a single topic Tumblr blog which features photos and GIFs of a baby hippo which is being presented as “the worst cat.”

Origin

On September 4th, 2014, the Tumblr blog The Worst Cat^[1] was created. The first post is a detailed outline of the worst cat, which explains:

“Welcome to the Worst Cats. Some people like all breeds of cat. But I think some breeds are just gross.
THINGSPEOPLEARESAYINGABOUT The Worst Cats:
“Oh man I don’t like looking at deformed animals” – coworker
“I don[‘t think that’s a cat, Sara. HOw did you find out about this cat” – cat expert
“It looks like a combination between a cat, a dog and a pig. Is that what they look like when they’re newborn?” – friend
“That’s disgusting. Are you trolling me?” – computer expert
“That is a hippo” – someone who knows nothing about cats"

The blog features photos and GIFs of baby hippos, “the worst cat.”

Spread

On October 2nd, io9^[2] published a post about the blog titled “This Is the Greatest Cat-Related Tumblr You Have Ever Read.” The same day Catster^[3] published an article titled “Mmm, Moist: We Love This Tumblr Called ‘The Worst Cat’.”

Notable Examples

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About

Super Saiyan Remixes are videos and animated GIFs that are edited to appear as if the subject is turning into a Super Saiyan, a transcendent state of being assumed by the warring members of the Saiyan race in the Dragon Ball manga franchise.

Origin

On August 12th, 2008, YTMND user Herald77 submitted a page titled Michael Phelps is going Super Saiyan, which featured an animated GIF of olympic swimmer Michael Phelps turning into a Super Saiyan while celebrating at a competition (shown below).

Spread

On July 14th, 2009, YouTuber alreson uploaded a video of American radio host Alex Jones turning into a Super Saiyan (shown below). In the next five years, the video gained over 740,000 views and 2,300 comments.

On February 23rd, 2011, YouTuber CalicoJackCash uploaded a video titled “Real Life Vegeta Super Saiyan Transformation,” garnering more than three million views and 3,200 comments in four years (shown below).

On May 27th, 2013, the /r/SuperSaiyanGifs^[1] subreddit was launched, which gained over 9,100 subscribers in the next year. On February 10th, 2014, Redditor bfinleyui posted a GIF of an Iowa Cheerleader turning into a Super Saiyan to the /r/CollegeBasketball^[3] subreddit, accumulating upwards of 1,000 votes (90% upvoted) prior to being archived (shown below).

Notable Examples

Super Saiyans Are Real

“Super Saiyans are Real!” is a YouTube video of a teenager named Jalen discussing the possibility of becoming a Super Saiyan. On February 21st, 2012, YouTuber TheSheepKnowThings uploaded an edited version of the video in which Jalen appears to become a Super Saiyan (shown below).

Miguel Herrera’s Goal Reaction

On May 27th, 2013, Redditor chluaid submitted an edited GIF of Mexico’s national footbal team manager Miguel Herrera turning into a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z while celebrating a goal made during a match between America and Cruz Azul in 2013 to the /r/gifs^[2] subreddit, where it gathered more than 1,100 points and 50 comments prior to being archived.

Search Interest

External References

Donald Norcross Meme

About

Twin Peaks is an American TV drama series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch that follows an investigation of the murder of the high school homecoming queen Laura Palmer in the fictional town with the same name in the state of Washington. Often cited as one of the top-rated shows of the 1990s and a milestone in David Lynch’s screenwriting career, Twin Peaks has continued to remain highly relevant in pop culture through the emergence of a cult fan base online and occasional tributes in other TV shows, films, video games and song lyrics.

Premise

Set in the strange, fictional town of Twin Peaks, Washington, the series follows the murder investigation of Laura Palmer (played bySheryl Lee), the town’s homecoming queen, headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan), who manages to uncover a series of paranormal secrets about the victim’s friends and family members, and eventually, all the citizens of Twin Peaks at large.

History

The pilot episode of Twin Peaks premiered on April 8th, 1990. During its original run on ABC for two 15-episode seasons between 1990 and 1991, the series enjoyed critical acclaims both nationally and internationally; however, due to the declining viewership, the series was ultimately cancelled following the airing of the second season finale on June 10th, 1991. On October 6th, 2014, it was announced^[3] that the show will air a third season on Showtime sometime in 2016.

Reception

The show earned a rating of 9 on IMBD^[1] and a score of 96 on Metacritic.^[2] The show won three Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series (Drama) and Best TV Show (Drama). It was also nominated for 18 Primetime Emmys.

Fandom

On April 15th, 2010, the subreddit r/twinpeaks^[8] was created by redditor demote, as of October 2014, the subreddit has gained over 7,000 readers. As of October 2014, DeviantArt^[4] has over 5,000 pieces of fan art tagged Twin Peaks. Fan run Tumblr blogs dedicated to the show include twinpeaksgifs^[6] and twinpeaks.^[7] As of October 2014, the show’s Facebook page^[5] has gained over 750,000 likes.

Related Memes

Twin Peaks Harlem Shake

On February 13th, 2013, Official Comedy’s YouTube channel^[10] uploaded a video titled “Harlem Shake: Twin Peaks Edition feat. Kyle MacLachlan” which featured many Twin Peaks references in a video performing the Harlem Shake. As of September 2014, the video has gained over 190,000 views. The video was covered by several websites such as The Mary Sue^[9] and io9.^[11]

Search Interest

External References

Work in progress – event developing

Overview

The Snappening refers to a supposed ongoing mass leak of approximately 200,000 nude Snapchat photos and videos. Since around half of Snapchat users are thought to be under the age of 17, it is suspected that the leak may contain child pornography. It is currently unclear whether or not it is a hoax.

Background

A third-party Snapchat client app had been collecting data sent through it for several years, eventually storing up over 13GB of media that Snapchat users had thought were deleted.^[1]

The term “Snappening” was coined by the userbase of 4chan in reference to The Fappening, a similar event in which the nude photos of hundreds of celebrities were leaked by a hacker.

Notable Developments

Snapsave, a third-party app, was identified as the most likely source of the leakings. SnapSaved.com (no longer functional) was suggested as another possible source.^[2]

Snapchat promptly issued a statement condemning unauthorized third-party apps and people who had chosen to use them.^[3]

Search Interest

External References

About

Baccano! Opening Parodies refer to a series of parody videos for the opening theme movie in the anime adaptation of Japanese light novel series Baccano! (Japanese: バッカーノ!)^[1] written by Ryōgo Narita who is also the author of Durarara!!. The parody videos has been occasionally posted to the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND) since 2007.

Origin

The TV anime series for Baccano! aired 13th episodes from July to November 2007 at a Japanese satellite broadcasting station WOWOW. The opening movie was made as a homage to the opening title of a 2000 film Snatch^[2] because the author is known as a fan of Guy Ritchie^[3] and Baccano! is much inspired by his ensemble-cast dramas.

Left: Baccano! Opening Movie | Right Snatch Opening Title

Spread

The anime didn’t get so much attention compared to other anime titles in that year because it wasn’t aired on regular TV channels. However, its American film-flavored opening credit movie has been sometimes set to a subject for mimicking among amateur animators, and there are many hand-drawn animated parodies on online video hub sites. The amount of those parody videos posted to NND is over 100^[4] and many of them are reprinted to YouTube.^[5]

Various Examples

Niconico 【APヘタリア】HETTALIA！【手書き完成版】Niconico 【GINTTAMA!】ギンッターマ！【BACCANO!】
Left: Hetalia | Right: Gintama
Niconico 【手書き００】００×バッカーノ！(完成)Niconico 【手描きタイバニ】TAIBAANI!【バッカーノ！OPパロ】
Left: Gundam 00 | Right: Tiger & Bunny
Niconico 【手書き】 POTTERNO！（バッカーノ！OPパロ） 【ハリポタ】Niconico 【進撃手描き】進撃の巨人×BACCANO!【完成】
Left: Harry Potter | Right: Attack on Titan

Search Interest

[Not Available]

External References

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

Edit 1: Fixed a typo that was far 2small4u to read. The article is constructed nicely but additional information must be added.

About

Skeleton War refers to a joke blog regarding Skeletons. It is often associated on websites regarding topics related to Halloween.

Origin

In October 2014, a page on Tumblr was made by user theskeletonwar called “The Skeleton War” with a fictional story, funny images of skeletons, and funny Q&As. Since then, the page has gained much popularity on Tumblr along with other sites.

Background

On it’s main page, there is a fictional story dubbed The Skeleton War, in which the story tells of skeletons from all eras do battle for literally no reason for all of eternity in the deepest pits of hell. If your tombstone does not have “Rest in Peace” carved in it, your skeleton is drafted into the skeleton war. Within the story includes a chant about Mr Skeletal, a Skull Trumpet based You Have Been Visited character.

About

“I am a shadow… The true self…” is a phrase often used to refer to a character’s doppelganger of sorts, especially when the aforementioned doppelganger has the upper hand against the original.

Origin

The phrase originates from the game Shin Megami Tensei Persona 4 ^[1]. It is said by most of the main bosses in the game, which are known as shadows^[2], repressed emotions of the main characters that are manifested into their identical doppelganger. When a person denies the existence of their shadow, it becomes berserk, turn into a twisted representation of the character’s repressed emotions, and ultimately utters the phrase before attempting to murder the person it came out of.

Spread

W.I.P. (help wanted!)

Notable Examples

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External References

About

Je Suis Un Ananas, French for “I am a pineapple,” is a quote originally uttered by a talking pineapple character in the 1980s French-Canadian children’s TV show Téléfrancais! Due to the absurd premise of an “anthropomorphized”: pineapple, the phrase has gained traction on Tumblr, where it is often coupled with still images of the tropical fruit character from the show.

Origin

On July 19th, 2007, YouTuber JustinDMcElroy^[1] uploaded the first episode of Téléfrancais! which features a talking pineapple which says “Je Suis Ananas.” As of October 2014, the video has gained over 480,000 views.

Spread

On April 30th, 2008, Urban Dictionary^[2] user Gallant0 submitted an entry for Je suis un ananas which defined it as:

“French for: I am a pineapple.”

On November 24th, 2011, the Facebook^[3] page Je Suis Ananas was created. On October 30th, 2012, the Tumblr blog i-am-l-ananas^[4] was created, the blog features pictures and fan art featuring the pineapple from Téléfrancais!

On March 13th, 2014, Reddit user yomaster19 posted a GIF featuring the talking pineapple titled “Je suis un ananas! Who remembers?”

Notable Example

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External References