origin:

This charismatic face featured in the manga series Mob Psycho 100 (by ONE) caused a stir on twitter, at first people only used it because it looks out of place and weird. But then some started to realize that the face looks a lot like the ones Dreamworks™ tend to make:

About

Inktober is a yearly 30 Day Challenge in which artists challenge themselves to draw one picture in ink a day through the month of October.

Origin

The challenge was started by comics short-story creator, concept artist, illustrator, and animator Jake Parker in 2009^[1] as a way “to improve his (art) and develop better professional habits.”^[2]

Spread

Parker kept the challenge up every year, and it found some small spread among artists.^[4][5] The first instance of mass traction, however, came in 2013, when Parker posted the instructions to the #Inktober challenge to his Tumblr (shown below).^[3] The post has gained over 4,700 notes as of October 5th, 2016. Both a Tumblr^[10] and subreddit^[12] devoted to Inktober was also launched that year.

The challenge began attracting media attention in 2014, as Telegraph^[6] and Paste.^[7] To Paste, Parker explained that Inktober’s 2013 spike in popularity came when he introduced the hashtag“#Inktober” and cites over 46,000 #Inktober posts in 2013 and 186,000 #Inktober posts in the first eight days of 2014.

Further media attention came in 2015 from The Washington Post,^[8] Business Insider,^[13] and Tech Insider,^[9] the latter of which reported over 1 million Instagram posts using the hashtag.

By 2016, Inktober has grown into a widely celebrated event among the artist community. As of October 5th, 2016, the Inktober Facebook community^[11] has over 77,000 members, the subreddit has over 400 readers and it’s a popular trend among artists on Reddit.^[14]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

My Longest Yeah Boy Ever is a video remix series based on footage of YouTuber llMegaxlxll yelling an extended version of rapper Flavor Flav’s iconic catchphrase “yeah boy.”

Origin

On October 15th, 2015, YouTuber llMegaxlxll uploaded a clip of himself attempting to yell the phrase “yeah boy” for as long as possible within one breath (shown below). Over the next year, the video gained over 2.4 million views and 10,000 comments.

Spread

On March 19th, 2016, Redditor assignpseudonym submitted the video to /r/DeepIntoYouTube,^[1] where it gathered upwards of 1,500 votes (96% upvoted) and 110 comments prior to being archived. That day, YouTuber YourSpecialFriend uploaded a remix of the video which zooms out into outer space as he begins yelling “yeah boy” (shown below, left). Also on March 19th, Redditor OpticalData posted a screenshot of the YouTube page for the original video to /r/me_irl,^[2] where it accumulated more than 1,300 votes (96% upvoted) prior to being archived (shown below, right).

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On May 26th, YouTuber kawaiigaythug ミ uploaded a 10-hour-long loop of the video, which gained over 1.3 million views and 8,300 comments over the next five months (shown below).

On August 13th, YouTuber DeluxeGods posted a trap remix using audio from the original clip (shown below, left). On August 27th, YouTuber 3 Nazis walk into a B.A.R. uploaded a vaporwave remix of the video (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References

About

“That Mexican Thing” is a memorable quote uttered by 2016 Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence during the Vice presidential debate held in early October 2016. Following the debate, many criticized and mocked the statement on Twitter along with the hashtag “#ThatMexicanThing.”

Origin

On October 4th, 2016, the 2016 vice presidential debate was held at the Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. During the debate, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine accused Donald Trump of saying “Mexicans are rapists and criminals” to which Pence retorted “Senator, you whipped out that Mexican thing again” (shown below). Shortly after, the news site Politico posted a clip of the gaffe on Vine.^[4]

Spread

That evening, Twitter users began posting jokes about Pence’s statement along with the hashtag “#ThatMexicanThing”^[5] (shown below).

Meanwhile, BuzzFeed^[2] published an article about the online reaction to the gaffe while Redditor beautanddelusion submitted a post about it to /r/politics.^[3] That night, host Stephen Colbert mocked Pence’s statement during a segment on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (shown below).

On October 5th, the @realDenaldTrump^[11] parody Twitter account posted a tweet sarcastically commending Pence’s response at the debate along with the hashtag #ThatMexicanThing (shown below).

That same day, Redditor blapenstein submitted a post arguing that the “media is trying to spin Pence saying ‘that Mexican thing’” to /r/The_Donald,^[3] urging Trump supporters to circulate a leaked Democratic National Committee email calling to drum up “taco bowl engagement.”^[3] In the coming days, several other news sites published articles about the online reaction to the gaffe, including The New York Times,^[12] The Guardian,^[13] Uproxx,^[6]CNN,^[7] Chicago Tribune,^[8] NY Daily News^[9] and Business Insider.^[10]

Search Interest

External References

It’s like a bertstrip, but with Drake and Josh. I don’t own any of the sources used in these memes.

Windows XP is an obsolete computer operating system released by Microsoft in the company’s Windows family of operating systems released on October 25, 2001. It was extremely popular and was received very well by critics and consumers alike. Its success is partially related to its poorly-received successor, Windows Vista. On April 8, 2014, Microsoft ended support for Windows XP, meaning that it would no longer be receiving security updates, thus rendering it obsolete.

The Windows XP meme consists mainly of Vines (6-second videos posted on the popular video-sharing website/mobile app “Vine”) utilizing the startup, shutdown, and/or critical stop sound(s) used in the operating system in a comedic way within a video. The sounds may be remixed to fit a sound pre-existing in a video, or they could be used to symbolize an event that takes place in the video (for example, the startup sound could be played when something in the video is opened, powered on, awakened, etc, and the critical stop sound could be played when something in the video goes wrong). The Windows XP logo has also been used in both videos and still images.

The vast majority of Windows XP Vines and pictures have been posted by popular Vine, iFunny, and Instagram user, “WindowsXP_Vines,” and it is generally accepted that he (it has been confirmed that he is a male) both created and popularized the meme. The reason as to why the account was created is unknown. The first video on WindowsXP_Vines’ Vine and iFunny accounts (the Instagram account was created approximately a month and-a-half later) was posted on February 3, 2016, and new ones were posted frequently, gradually gaining popularity. The first video posted to the account was simply the startup sound being played multiple times, overlapping, with the logo being the only visual. As there is no clear “joke” to this first video, this suggests that WindowsXP_Vines envisioned his success from the beginning of his account. The account is still releasing original content somewhat regularly and is still growing in number of views, likes, and followers (as of October 5, 2016).

The meme’s popularity has caused many social media users, both popular and unpopular, to make their own Windows XP videos/pictures. The meme and WindowsXP_Vines’ account were further popularized when popular Vine user “the cable turned off cade” made a Vine using the startup sound with WindowsXP_Vines tagged in it on March 22, 2016. The Vine currently (October 5, 2016) has 176.1k likes and over 19 million loops. The meme was also popularized by other popular Vine users such as “Chris Melberger” (who actually made a popular Vine using the shutdown sound on February 23, 2016, before the cable turned off cade’s, but did not popularize the meme or WindowsXP_Vines’ account very much due to the fact that WindowsXP_Vines was not tagged in it) and “Spongebob Ruined.”

It was at one point thought that WindowsXP_Vines had started a second account, “intel_vines,” where similar videos were posted using the jingle for the American multinational technology corporation, “Intel,” instead of Windows XP sounds. This was thought due to three of intel_vines’ posts being reposted by WindowsXP_Vines. However, WindowsXP_Vines has stated that intel_vines is a friend of his (it is unknown as to whether they are friends online or in person) and that he was simply trying to help him/her earn more attention. The account does not have as many posts nor is as popular as WindowsXP_Vines and is currently (October 5, 2016) presumably inactive. It is rumored that intel_vines was previously known as universalstudios_vines, an account mentioned by WindowsXP_Vines on February 8, 2016, which posted videos in the same format as WindowsXP_Vines and intel_vines except with the Universal Studios theme instead of Windows XP sounds or the Intel jingle. The rumor states that the account was renamed “intel_vines” and that the Universal Studios videos were removed on April 13, 2016, the same day that the first Intel Vine was posted.

About

Bikecat is the nickname given to Kuma, a cat from Nagoya, Japan who rose to fame after pictures showing him riding around in the basket of his owner’s bicycle were posted to Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel.

Origin and Spread

Although it is currently unknown when pictures of Bikecat first appeared on Futaba Channel, the earliest mention of him dates back to April 12, 2006 when user Bikecat of allakhazam.com’s Final Fantasy XI Online forum posted a series of links to now deleted photographs of Bikecat that had been posted on Imageshack.^[1] On November 16, 2006 Flickr user “the boy on his bike” posted an image macro depicting Bikecat sitting at what appears to be a console with the caption reading “This is relevant to my interests”.

^[2] On October 4, 2007 Blogspot user Laruru made a post about Bikecat saying that his owner found him as a kitten.^[3] On April 8, 2008 YouTube user RosaRossa uploaded a video about Bikecat entitled とっとこクマゴロー (Tottoko Kumagoro). As of October 6, 2016 the video has over 24,000 views and 24 comments.^[4]

Search Interest

External References

^[1]BIKECAT :: Final Fantasy XI :: ZAM

^[2]Flickr – Buro9

^[3]Blogspot – KUMA, the celebrity with paws

^[4]YouTube – とっとこクマゴロー

About

The Retrowave Text Generator is a web application that allows users to create graphic images with custom texts in bright neon colors reminiscent of ’80s science-fiction film posters and production logos, a style of visual art that has been also referred to as neon-noir. In October 2016, the image generator gained widespread attention with the growing popularity of retrowave aesthetics on the internet, in a similar vein to the Stranger Things-themed title sequence generator Make It Stranger.

Origin

On July 16th, 2016, generator site PhotoFunia announced on its Instagram^[1] that it had introduced a new text effect generator^[2] it dubbed Retro Wave.

Spread

In the coming months, images using the generator appeared on Flickr,^[3] but it did not gain widespread popularity until October 5th, 2016, when images using the generator began spreading very quickly through Twitter, to the point where it was a Twitter moment the following day.^[4] Most users used the generator to post popular memes. Popular examples include J. Cole Went Platinum With No Features, ^[5]Actually, It’s About Ethics in Gaming Journalism, ^[6]Smooth, ^[7] and many more. The spread was covered by The Daily Dot,^[8] The Mary Sue,^[9] The Next Web,^[10] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

“Norf Norf” Rant refers to a video recording of a Christian mother tearfully condemning the lyrics heard in the 2015 rap song “Norf Norf” by Vince Staples, which she criticizes for being offensive after hearing a censored version of the song on a local radio station. The video was widely mocked after circulating online in early October 2016, spawning numerous remix variations.

Background

On September 6th, 2016, YouTuber Twoevils Lesser uploaded a video titled “Norf Norf Rant,” in which a woman laments hearing an offensive rap song on a local radio station while in the company of her young daughter (shown below). In the video, she tearfully recites portions of the song’s lyrics and condemns the messages contained within.

Developments

Online Reaction

Remixes

On October 4th, Redditor StuntingOnAJumbotron submitted the video to the /r/hiphopheads^[1] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 3,700 votes (98% upvoted) and 1,000 comments. In the comment section, Redditor Shaliek LaFlare Jenkins linked his remix of the song, setting portions of her reciting the song’s lyrics to a rap beat (shown below). Shortly after, the remix reached the front page of /r/videos,^[2] garnering more than 7,500 votes (79% upvoted) and 1,100 comments that day.

Hours later, Jenkins posted an extended remix on Facebook,^[3] while the original remix was featured on the /r/bestof subreddit.^[4] Within 48 hours, the extended remix gained over 7,200 views and the /r/bestof post received more than 4,100 votes (84% upvoted). Also on October 4th, YouTuber needlessnoise posted a similar remix (shown below).

YouTuber Reactions

On October 5th, YouTuber Anthony Fantano posted a reaction to the rant video on his channel TheNeedleDrop, in which he expresses skepticism that she heard the song on a local radio station (shown below, left). Meanwhile, The Young Turks YouTube channel released an episode about the online reaction to the rant video (shown below, right).

Vince Staples’ Reaction

Also on October 5th, The Independent^[5] published an interview with Staples, in which he defended the woman in the rant video and criticized those who were attacking her online:

“It’s not right to attack someone over their stance, their opinions, and their religion. I think that’s very immature.”

Additionally, Staples claimed the woman had misunderstood the song’s lyrics, lameting that there were many “issues between black and white relations in this country based on misunderstandings.”

Search Interest

External References

About

Tombili, also known as Chill Cat, was a cat from Istanbul, Turkey who grew famous for posing in a relaxed nature in a picture that inspired image macros and photoshops.

Origin

Tombili was a cat who lived in Istanbul, Turkey. She was a neighborhood cat, and due to her obesity, did not move around much, and got along very well with people. According to the Huffington Post,^[4] while many people assumed the cat was male, Tombili was female. The earliest known appearance of the chill cat came on June 6th, 2012, when Buzzfeed^[1] community user okan-art.com uploaded the picture to the site in a post called “Look at This Laid-Back Cat.”

Spread

Tombili inspired a spread of LOLcats images^[2] and a Daily Dot^[3] photoshop contest that helped launched him to internet fame. She also grew popular on 9gag, ^[6] where she topped a post of cats sitting in strange positions that gained over 26,000 points.

Death

In August of 2016, Tombili died after battling illness.^[5] Shortly after, a poster was put up honoring her memory. However, following a Change.org petition for a more proper tribute signed by over 17,000 people, Istanbul had a statue of Tombili created by local artist Seval Şahin placed in the spot where Tombili’s iconic photo was taken.^[3]

The statue was covered by Huffington Post, Daily Dot, The Daily Mail,^[7] Mashable,^[8] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

[NOTICE: This article is currently a work in progress. If you feel like you could help with this please feel free to request an editorship!]

About

Bearposting refers to the mass-posting of Photoshopped images of the Disney childrens’ television series Bear In The Big Blue House. The phenomenon has been met with an immediate backlash from the r/me_irl subreddit and has become referred to as the new villain in The Skeleton War. Consequently, there has been something of a meme war between users posting skeletons and bears

Origin

The earliest currently known image relating to bearposting was posted on r/me_irl on October 5th, 2016, and shows the protagonist edited over the persuadable bouncer

About

Cyberpunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and aesthetic movement centered around advancements in the fields of robots, cybernetics and information technology. Cyberpunk is often associated with various transhumanist themes, including the use of electronic hardware to augment human abilities.

History

Literature

In 1980, Minnesota-based writer Bruce Bethke coined the term “cyberpunk” in his titular short story, which was subsequently published in the November 1983 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories.^[1] The word was subsequently used to define a sub-genre of science fiction popularized by many writers, including William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan and Philip K. Dick. Many have considered Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer as an iconic cyberpunk work of fiction.

Film

In 1982, the film Blade Runner was released as an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which is set in a dystopian future where androids who have fled their human captors are destroyed by bounty hunters known as “Blade Runners.” Other films that have been associated with cyberpunk include The Matrix, 12 Monkeys, The Lawnmower Man, Hackers and Strange Days

Anime and Manga

Cyberpunk themes can be found in a wide variety of anime and manga, including Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Psycho Pass.

Video Games

Many video game series include themes associated with cyberpunk, including Shadowrun, System Shock, Metal Gear and Syndicate. The game Cyberpunk 2077 is in development by the Polish developer CD Projekt RED.

Deus Ex

Deus Ex is a cyberpunk-themed action role playing video game franchise set in the 21st century, where secret societies are fighting for power and control over world, and various types of body augmentation are being practiced.

Fallout

Fallout is a role-playing video game series originally created by Interplay Entertainment and Black Isle Studios in 1997 and currently developed by Bethesda Softworks. The games take place in a retro-futuristic 22nd-23rd century United States where humanity is trying to survive in a world devastated by the effects of full nuclear war.

Online Presence

On April 29th, 2005, Urban Dictionary^[3] user Jessica Williams submitted an entry for “cyberpunk,” defining it as a science fiction sub genre marked by a “stronge sense of helplessness, misery, dystopic ideals and loss of morality and/or humanity.” On May 27th, 2008, the /r/cyberpunk^[4] subreddit was launched for discussions about the subculture. On May 1st, 2013, a page for cyberpunk was created on TV Tropes.^[2]

Fanart

Cyberpunk-themed visual art often features dark, futuristic cities inhabited by people wearing cybernetic devices. On DeviantArt, there are over 69,000 search results for the keyword “cyberpunk” as of October 2016 (shown below).

Related Memes

Transhumanism

Transhumanism is a futurist philosophy and intellectual movement with the purpose of transforming the humanity by developing technologies that greatly enhance the physical and psychological capabilities of humans. Strongly influenced by works of science fiction, the transhumanist vision of a technologically transformed humanity has gained a large and diverse following online.

Outrun

Outrun is a 1980s-themed retrofuturistic visual art and music style associated with the electronic genres electro, synthwave, futuresynth, new retrowave and vaporwave. The style is named after the iconic 1986 arcade racing game Out Run.

Steampunk

Steampunk is a retro-futuristic science fiction sub-genre and aesthetic movement that depicts an alternate universe of the Victorian era or the American Wild West where steam power is the dominant source of energy. Steampunk is often associated with being optimistic and playful, albeit unrealistic. Steampunk often incorporates the Victorian period clothing with various engineering inventions and enhancements made of wood and brass, and has a preference for industrialism.

Search Interest

External References

About

Sad Ted Cruz refers to a series of jokes made after former 2016 Republican Presidential Primary candidate Ted Cruz was filmed phone-banking in Texas, apparently on behalf of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who had famously belittled Cruz throughout the primary.

Origin

Cruz fought a contentious campaign against Trump in the primary. Trump had famously dubbed Cruz “Lyin’ Ted,” insulted his wife, and insinuated his father had a role in the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy. Despite this, and Cruz famously refusing to endorse Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Cruz eventually endorsed Trump in a Facebook post^[2] on September 23rd, 2016. On October 5th, 2016, Ted Cruz phone-banked on behalf of Republican candidates in Texas. The Dallas Morning News^[1] caught footage of Cruz leaving a voicemail to a voter while sitting in front of posters for Donald Trump.

Spread

The video began spreading on Twitter the following day as users joked that Cruz appears to be asking voters to vote for Trump, though in the footage, Cruz makes no mention of Trump. While the original video appears to have been deleted, a tweet by @LiamDonovan,^[3] which refers to the footage as “The final humiliation,” indicates it was first shared by Dallas Morning News photojournalist G.J. McCarthy, who would later share the video again with a Dallas Morning News watermark.^[4]

Shortly after, Twitter users pounced on the footage and captioned it or doctored it with various sad memes, including Mad World, ^[5]Hello Darkness, My Old Friend, ^[6]Record Scratch, Freeze Frame, ^[7] etc.

The spread of Cruz-related jokes was covered by many media outlets, including Huffington Post,^[8] Washington Post,^[9] Daily Dot,^[10] and Business Insider.^[11] It was a Twitter Moment^[12] that day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Gregg T., also known as Gregg Turkin, is a New Yorker who grew to internet fame following his participation in a series of 2016 advertisements for the New York City MTA’s “If you see something, say something” campaign.

Origin

On March 21st, 2016, The New York Daily News^[1] reported that the MTA was rolling out a new series of ads as part of their long running “If you see something, say something” campaign that encourages New Yorkers to report suspicious activity in order to keep the city safe. The new ads would feature testimonials from New Yorkers who have reported suspicious activity in an effort to put a human face on the campaign. One of those people was lawyer Gregg Turkin, who reported when he saw a suspicious group of cars while riding the Long Island Railroad.

Spread

While it’s unclear when or what exactly made Gregg a New York City celebrity, Gothamist^[2] theorized that the ubiquity of his face had filled a void in New Yorker’s lives that once belonged to famed plastic surgeon Dr. Zizmor, whose subway ads had been featured in New York City subways for 25 years. One of the earlier known tweets about Gregg came from @MattyFray^[3] on June 2nd, 2016, claiming Gregg looked exactly like a “snitch.”

On July 16th, 2016, a novelty twitter account devoted to tweeting in the supposed voice of Gregg T. appeared on Twitter.^[6] Gregg began gaining further notoriety following a snapchat post by Mike Giannone that was shared on Twitter by @RyGia7^[4] on August 12th, 2016. It featured Turkin sleeping on a train in front of his ad (shown below). The picture appeared on Reddit^[11] in a post by hugosanchez and gained over 2,300 points, as of October 7th, 2016. The tweet was covered by Mashable.^[5]

Gregg began appearing in several threads on the /r/nyc subreddit,^[7][8] to the point where an Out of The Loop^[9] thread appeared on /r/asknyc on September 22nd, 2016. Within a week, Gregg T.’s spread as a meme was covered by news outlets, most notably by Vox^[10] and Gothamist. Turkin has a Facebook fan page with 484 followers^[12] and a site devoted to him that sells merchandise.^[13]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Hurricane Matthew is a strong tropical cyclone that formed off the African coast and rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane in late September 2016. In the following week, the hurricane impacted several island countries in the Caribbean as it progressed northwards. It is expected to make its landfall on the coast of the southeastern United States on October 7th.

Background

On September 22nd, 2016, the formation of a tropical storm was first detected after a tropical wave originating from the west coast of Africa rippled westward across the Atlantic Ocean.^[1] Throughout the rest of September, the storm gradually grew into a tropical cyclone as it steered northwest and entered the Caribbean sea, causing casualties and severe property damages in Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and The Bahamas. By September 29th, the cyclone had been officially designated as a hurricane.

As Hurricane Matthew began approaching the southern coast of the United States, President Obama declared a federal state of emergency^[2] in the states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. As of October 7th, the storm has claimed at least 850 lives, mostly in Haiti.

Developments

Evacuations

Governors Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Pat McRory of North Carolina, Rick Scott of Florida, and Nathan Deal of Georgia all either ordered or recommended evacuations from the parts of their state that were susceptible to the hurricane. In his speech urging evacuation, Rick Scott stated the hurricane “will kill you.”

The Weather Channel^[3] also urged Floridians considering staying in Florida through the storm despite the urges of its Governor to evacuate.

Skull Photo

On October 4th, Stu Ostro of Wired tweeted^[7] a picture of the hurricane on radar as it made landfall in Haiti. The radar made the hurricane look like a skull. The skull photo made national news, and was reported on by CNN.^[8]

Shep Smith Coverage

Many outlets reported on Sandy with utmost seriousness. Some were graver than others; Shep Smith of Fox News reported that the Hurricane would kill “everyone you know, and your children too” (shown below).^[5]

Right-Wing Conspiracy Theorists

On October 6th, Matt Drudge of Drudge report tweeted^[4] a theory that the government had been lying to the public about Hurricane Matthew in order to make an exaggerated point about climate change. Rush Limbaugh gave similar sentiments on his show on October 5th.^[10]

Online Reaction

The storm remained a Twitter moment^[9] during its duration, as thousands of social media users tweeted pictures and videos of the effects of the storm. Wellington, Florida resident and rapper Vanilla Ice caused concern about his welfare when he stopped live-tweeting through the storm and went to bed.^[6]

Search Interest

External References

About

Backpage is a classified advertisement website in which users can create listings to trade various products and services, bearing many similarities to the site Craigslist. In early October 2016, Backpage controlling shareholders Michael Lacey, along with CEO Carl Ferrer, were charged with conspiracy to commit pimping due to listings created on the site.

History

In 2004, the company New Times Media (now known as Village Voice Media) launched backpage as a free classified service following the success of the site Craigslist. The site subsequently became the second largest online classified site in the United States. In 2010, Craigslist closed the categories for adult services in the United States, leading to a influx in adult-oriented posting on Backpage.

Features

The site contains classified listings in a variety of categories in local areas across the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Latin America, Africa, Asia, Pacific and Middle East. Categories where listings can be searched and created include real estate, jobs, automotive, musician, community and buy/sell/trade. Additionally, the site contains an “adult” category, which often contain sexual innuendo along with sexually explicit images. The site prohibits illegal services and prostitution in the Terms of Service, which users must agree to prior to submitting a listing.

Controversies

Sex Trafficking

In September 2014, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an amicus curiae brief, which reported that Backpage efforts to curtail underage sex trafficking on the site were inadequate. Additionally, the organization claimed that the site “encourages dissemination of child sex trafficking content on its website.”^[1] Advocates of the site have claimed that Backpage’s reporting of potential sex trafficking cases of trafficking to authorities was helping law enforcement find and convict criminals. In additional, NGO legal experts and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have argued in favor of back page’s First Amendment rights.

Arrests

On October 6th, 2016, the Backpage headquarters in Dallas, Texas was raided by authorities and CEO Carl Ferrar was arrested on felony charges of pimping a minor, pimping and conspiracy to commit pimping. Additionally, warrants were issued for the site’s controlling shareholders Michael Lacey and James Larking, who were charged with conspiracy to commit pimping.

Search Interest

External References

Overview

The Yahoo Male Purge Lawsuit is an ongoing lawsuit filed by Scott Ard, a prominent local media executive fired from Yahoo, against Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer on the basis of organizing a mass removal of male employees.

Background

In January of 2015, Ard was reportedly fired after working for Yahoo for 3½ years for the official reason of his performance not being satisfactory. The Mercury News was first to report this story and explained:

“Liberman stated that she was terminating (Ard) because she had not received a requested breakdown of (his) duties. (Ard) had already provided that very information as requested, however, and reminded Liberman that he had done so,” the lawsuit said. “Liberman’s excuse for terminating (Ard) was a pretext.” Right after the call, Ard requested a copy of his performance review and said he wanted to appeal his firing, the suit said. “Both requests were denied and (Ard) was ordered to turn in his laptop and depart the premises immediately.”^[1]

Scott Ard filed a lawsuit in the San Jose District Court this week alleging “Mayer encouraged and fostered the use of [an employee performance-rating system] to accommodate management’s subjective biases and personal opinions, to the detriment of Yahoo’s male employees.”^[3] Ard further argues he had received overall positive performance reviews and stock awards before Mayer introduced a quarterly performance review (QPR) system that ranked him as unsatisfactory.^[4] Yahoo spokeswoman Carolyn Clark commented that the performance review process was “developed to allow employees at all levels of the company to receive meaningful, regular, and actionable feedback from others” and that the “lawsuit has no merit.”^[5] The lawsuit points out women accounted for less than 20 percent of the top managers and “Within a year and a half those top managers were more than 80 percent female.”^[6] The lawsuit further alleges Kathy Savitt, Yahoo’s former chief marketing, “intentionally hired and promoted women because of their gender, while terminating, demoting or laying off male employees because of their gender.”^[6] The Mercury News’ story was reposted by user lorddimwit in the r/news subreddit on Reddit and gained over 6k upvotes in 10 hours.^[2]

External References

About

Wigilia w Radomiu (“Christmas Eve in Radom”) is a 2012 YouTube video, depicting a scene from a public Christmas Eve celebration in the Polish city of Radom. The video shows a crowd of people making their way to a table full of complimentary food and drink, and quickly emptying it by grabbing everything for themselves. The video quickly became viral on the Polish internet; one particularly memorable individual visible in the video became known as Chytra baba z Radomia (“Cunning lady from Radom”).

Origin

The original video was uploaded to YouTube around December 15th, 2012 by the user radomkropkaws, an owner of the website radom.ws devoted to Radom^[1].

It was filmed during the 2012 installment of “Gwiazdka na deptaku” (“Christmas Eve on the walkway”), a yearly public Christmas Eve celebration organized by the authorities of Radom. The video depicts a crowd of people who, faced with several tables’ worth of complimentary food and drink, begin grabbing as much as possible for themselves and empty the tables completely within 30 seconds.

One person in particular caught the viewers’ attention – an elderly woman (at 0:10 in the below video) who repeatedly leans across the table to grab all the available bottles of drink (specifically, a citrus drink named “Zbyszko 3 Cytryny”). This woman later became known as the Chytra baba z Radomia (“Cunning lady from Radom”).

(Note: This is a reupload of the original video, which has been deleted.)

Spread

Very soon, the video went viral on the Polish internet. Numerous photoshopped images soon emerged depicting the “cunning lady” in her iconic, arm-stretched pose in various situations. Other images made allusions to lemons (a reference to the citrus drink.)^[2]

An user of the auction portal Allegro put up a bottle of Zbyszko 3 Cytryny for auction, jokingly claiming that the drink was stolen from the Radom Christmas table, and that it was in fact a gift from the “cunning lady” herself. Starting at a bid price of 1 zloty, the auction soon reached a shocking price of a billion zlotys^[3].

In late December, a game called “Wigilia w Radomiu” by Avantis Game Studio was released on Google Play; in this simple arcade game, the player must slap away the “cunning lady”’s arms before she steals all the bottles of drink^[4][5].

Around January 15th, 2015 the Radom brewery Pivovaria began selling a new brand of beer, named “Chytra Baba z Radomia – American Pale Ale”^[6].

Reactions

On December 19th, the original YouTube uploader removed the video^[10], stating that he felt it was causing too many negative comments about his home city and that the hubbub around it was entirely unwarranted. He pointed out that there was nothing particularly scandalous about the behavior depicted in the video, seeing as there were no cups provided at the event, giving the participants no choice but to take the drinks with themselves^[1].

The president of Radom, Andrzej Kosztowniak, reportedly issued a statement where he condemned the video for “depicting a negative and highly unfair image” of the city and its citizens^[8].

The viral spread of the video and the resulting memes were ultimately controversial. Many viewers held up the video as a prime symbol of human greed and selfishness^[7][8]. Others, however, claimed that it depicted shameful behavior characteristic for the city itself (using phrases such as “Radom isn’t a city, it’s a state of mind.”)^[9] The meme wasn’t very well-loved among the inhabitants of Radom, who felt that it was making their city into a laughingstock^[8]; some were reportedly furious at the “cunning lady” for the embarrassment. Journalists of the magazine Newsweek made an attempt to find the “lady”, and while they did not succeed, the citizens of Radom they interviewed were overall dismayed and embarrassed by the meme’s spread^[9].

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

^[1]naTemat.pl – Film z Wigilii w Radomiu znika z YouTube. “Nie spodziewałem się tylu negatywnych opinii” / 2012-12-20

^[2]naTemat.pl – Chytra baba zdobywa Facebooka. 25 najlepszych memów prosto z Radomia! / 2012-12-19

^[3]naTemat.pl – Butelka napoju “Chytrej baby” z Radomia warta na Allegro miliard złotych! Ktoś za to naprawdę zapłaci? / 2012-12-20

^[4]CoJaMysle? – Najlepsza gra świąteczna to… Wigilia w Radomiu / 2012-12-28

^[5]Google Play – Wigilia w Radomiu

^[6]ocen-piwo.pl – Chytra Baba z Radomia / 2015-04-07

^[7]echodnia.eu – Film “Wigilia w Radomiu” hitem Internetu / 2012-12-19

^[8]echodnia.eu – Wigilia w Radomiu – filmik z imprezy hitem Internetu. Jest się czym przejmować? / 2012-12-21

^[9]Newsweek.pl – Rozszarpać chytrą babę / 2013-01-13

^[10]Radom na fotografii (under the heading “19 grudnia 2012, środa”) / 2012-12-19

Overview

The Trump Tapes refers to an audio recording of Donald Trump having a vulgar conversation about seducing and groping women with the host of Access Hollywood Billy Bush that was caught on hot microphone in 2005 and later published by The Washington Post in early October 2016 Upon the release of of the recording, the Republican presidential candidate immediately came under criticism from the news media and social media alike, due to the lewd and sexist nature of his comments.

Background

On September 16th, 2005, Donald Trump made a series of vulgar remarks about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women while sharing a bus ride with Billy Bush, the host of Access Hollywood, to the set of The Days of Our Lives to tape his cameo appearance on the popular daytime soap opera. On October 7th, 2016, more than a decade after the conversation took place and two days before the second United States presidential debate, The Washington Post published a three-minute recording of the conversation that had been apparently captured by a hot microphone.

Notable Developments

[researching]

Search Interest

External References

W.I.P.

About

Tidus’ Laugh/Tidus Laugh Remixes are songs that are composed with a forced laugh uttered by main protagonist Tidus in Final Fantasy X. Online, the scene is (in)famous within and outside the Final Fantasy fandom, and is primarily utilized as a tool of ironic humor, and is considered an example of poor English.

Origin

The laugh originates from the 2001 PS2 video game Final Fantasy X. When character Yuna asks to hear his laugh, Tidus performs the forced fit of laughter, with Yuna joining in on the laugh later on. As Final Fantasy X was the first in the series to feature full voice acting, the scene appears in both the Japanese and English releases.

Spread

Almost as soon as the release of Final Fantasy X the laughing scene has often been ridiculed, questioned about, and misunderstood about the true meaning behind the moment online. Throughout the years, the scene remained fairly exclusive within the Final Fantasy community, with only few edits appearing around in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s.

A resurgence of popularity regarding the Tidus laugh began around 2015, with various successful remixes of Tidus’ laugh appearing in YTPMV’s.

Following the slow resurgence of Tidus’ laugh, on March 23, 2016, James Arnold Tyler, the English voice actor of Tidus, explains how the laugh came to be.The video currently has over 100,000 views.