the SHIRKS: March 2012

Chocolate Rain was posted on YouTube on April 22, 2007 and grew immensely popular in July of that year. Many actually attribute the song’s popularity to online group Anonymous, which spread the video around as a joke. After enough traffic it was posted on YouTube’s front page garnering further attention to the song and the singer, Tay Zonday. I think it became so popular simply because Anonymous has enough followers that would generate enough traffic for people to want to see the video. The meme is about a singer who has an extremely deep voice and unique mannerisms, including mentioning he moves away from the microphone to breathe in air. It has become one of YouTube’s most popular videos, having over 77 million views to date. It was ranked as the hottest viral video of 2007 summer by CTV and the winner in the music category of YouTube awards in 2007. It is still one of the most popularly known memes on the internet today where Dr. Pepper made a music video with Tay Zonday. Google Insights shows that the most attention was in the summer of 2007 with levels going down quickly after, with a short spike in early 2008. Other memes have not necessarily emerged from this but there have been many parodies made from this video. Getting famous enough to be on comedy shows South Park and Tosh.O.

Ian Fang

Chuck Norris Facts

Chuck Norris facts are satirical statements about the famous actor and martial artist, Chuck Norris himself. They are usually extremely outrageous and absurd claims about the abilities and talents of Chuck Norris over everyone else on Earth. These facts exhibit the quintessential essence of a “badass.”

For those of you who don’t know who Chuck Norris is, he is an American that established celebrity status through his “tough guy” image during his role on his televised series Walker, Texas Ranger. He also founded his own martial arts school, Chun Kuk Do.

Chuck Norris Facts began as an internet phenomenon in 2005, describing myriads of various impossible or ridiculous. The inspiration for these facts can be attributed to Conan O’Brien’s Chuck Norris jokes on his show Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Even in Time March 2006 issue, they called Chuck Norris an “online cult hero.” In terms of continuing popularity, the fact that in 2011, a commercial for World of Warcraft featured Chuck Norris and included its own “Chuck Norris facts” in the dialogue speaks for itself.

Some examples are below:

Han Chang

Kim Jong Un looking at things

“Kim Jong Un looking at things” refers to an online collection of official photographs of Kim Jong Un visiting various facilities for regular inspection. “Kim Jong Un looking at things” is a continuation of a similar collection of photographs of Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, which was popularized through the Tumblr blog “Kim Jong Il looking at things”.

The Tumblr blog “Kim Jong Il looking at things” was launched on October 6^th, 2010, with a collection of photos taken and published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s propaganda agency that promotes Kim Jong Il’s public image and ideology.

On Dec 2^nd, 2010, a thread posted on Reddit gathered wide online attention, which led to the spread of the thread throughout the online communities. Soon, the photos spread through news sites including MSNBC and The Washington Post, and internet humor blogs, such as The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and CurrentTV.

Within hours after Kim Jong Il’s death was reported on Dec 18^th, 2011, a new Tumblr blog “Kim Jong-Un looking at Things” was created featuring photos of Kim Jong Il’s son engaging in similar inspections in various facilities.

The primary reason for the popularity of the Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un looking at things seems to be the humor created from the appearances of random inappropriate items in juxtaposition with the dictators who are portraying their seriousness in the country’s tasks. For example, Kim Jong Il or Kim Jong Un would be inspecting a facility with a group of followers who look fearful of their dictator, but the leader would be staring at a corn or a radish, creating sarcasm and humor for foreigners.

The “Kim Jong Un looking at things” photos gave birth to a whole collection of new memes, which mostly make fun of Kim Jong Un’s fat appearance. These memes portray hungry Kim Jong Un staring at random objects, wanting to eat them. While there are a variety of formats for these memes, the “Kim Jong Un cake” meme is one with an accepted structure. In the upper line, Kim Jong Un asks his followers about the “cake” as he points to a random object. His followers then respond that it is not a cake. This form of Kim Jong Un asking a question is a mockery of how he usually goes around the facilities asking questions about the products.

Young Min (Jeff) Kang

Paula Deen Riding Things

Why/How did it become relevant on the internet?

The Paula Deen Riding Things Meme became popular in early 2011. On February, 27, 2011 at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, Paula Deen rode on top of chef Robert Irvine like a horse and soon became an exploitable image on Tumblr. The Tumblr page (pauladeenridingthings.com) featuring different pictures of Paula Deen riding things were started by two bored college students named Nick and Robbie. The very first meme put up by Nick and Robbie was Paula Deen riding butter since she always used so much of it in her cooking. The idea of Paula Deen riding things became so popular that Nick and Robbie allows anyone to send them pictures of Paula Deen riding something and they post it up on their Tumblr. I believe the idea of Paula Deen riding things became popular because it is the same as “Hugh Jackman can Ride Anything” in 2010, when he was rode a zip-line onto the stage of the Oprah Winfrey Show and crashed into the stage light, which began his meme of him riding anything.

The details/ description of the meme

The basic idea of “Paula Deen Riding Things” is people insert Paula Deen into any picture they can think that makes it look like she is riding that certain object, person, animal, etc. People photoshop the image of Paula Deen riding Robert Irvine into other images such as riding on the shoulders of various celebrities, random objects such as bullets, or even animals such as birds and dolphins. People even began to insert her into videos and gifs, thus making it more interesting and funny.

According to Google Insights, during the time span of February 27 – March 5, 2011, the Google Search volume of this topic was at 100, which indicates that this idea reached maximum popularity during that time span. The amount of searches during that time span of this meme was enormous during that week. Since that time span, the popularity of this meme dropped but soon went up again in April.

Other memes that have emerged from this

One other meme that emerged from “Paula Deen Riding Things” is “This is Paula Deen Ya’ll,” which has a mustache photoshopped on her stating random sentences that dealt with butter. However, this meme didn’t reach the popularity that “Paula Deen Riding Things” reached.

Clip of Paula Deen Riding Robert Irvine that started it all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQMqqc6GtM&NR=1

First gif posted by Nick and Robbie

Some other funny pictures

Dahlim Kim

(Full On) Double Rainbow

“(Full On) Double Rainbow” is an internet meme that became widely popular in 2010 via YouTube. On January 8, 2010, Paul Vasquez filmed what he saw as a “double rainbow all the way across the sky” during his visit to Yosemite National Park. As he was filming, he gradually becomes more and more emotional until he finally sobs hysterically as he expresses how beautiful the sight is.

(Caption) Original video of (Full On) Double Rainbow posted by Paul Vasquez

This video became a hit in mid-2010 and went viral largely due to mass sharing among people on the interwebz (i.e. sharing on social media sites and forums). Additionally, Jimmy Kimmel tweeted this video, which also helped the video to reach a big audience. The reason why this video may have been entertaining to such a large audience is Paul’s ridiculous reaction to the double rainbow. The audience found it hilarious to see Paul, a seemingly masculine ex cage fighter with a fairly large stature, cry simply in response to seeing a rainbow.

(Caption) Paul Vasquez, “Double Rainbow Guy”

According to “Google Insights,” interest in the video surged in mid-2010 and ever since there was a slow rate of decline afterwards. There was a slight spike in late August and in December, but the interest generally declined until it reached a plateau starting in mid-2011 to the present. Currently, the original video has over 32 million views, two years after the date of the upload.

(Caption) Google Insights shows the popularity of the Double Rainbow video from the date of the first upload to the present time

Other memes have emerged from this video, such as the “Double Rainbow Song,” a catchy auto-tuned version of the video that was created by The Gregory Brothers and shared widely via YouTube. CollegeHumor also made a parody on the Double Rainbow video called “Double Rainbow Guy in Everyday Life”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX0D4oZwCsA

(Caption) “Double Rainbow Song” created by The Gregory Brothers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAZH0DGHJ3c

(Caption) “Double Rainbow Guy in Everyday Life” from CollegeHumor

The creation of the popular “Bed Intruder Song” video along with a wave of many other auto-tuned videos was influenced by the auto-tuning concept of the Double Rainbow song created by the Gregory brothers. Many of these auto-tune videos were released very shortly after the release of the “Double Rainbow Song.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw

(Caption) The original news interview was auto-tuned into another catchy song and also became a hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMM0R19IisI

(Caption) Auto-tune “Charlie bit me”

Gloria Liou

The Nyan Cat

The Nyan Cat meme became popular from a Youtube video that paired a pop-tart cat flying through the sky with a Japanese pop song. Since its introduction in April 2011, it has reached 66,374,614 views as of March 4, 2012. The video went viral in its first month with around 7.2 million viewers total. It's popularity is most likely due to the ridiculous nature of the video. People enjoy sharing cute, pointless videos with friends. The idea of a flying cat with a pop tart body that leaves a trail of rainbows is comical. The ease with which people can manipulate the video to create spin offs is also another reason why it became so popular.

The background music originates from a song titled "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!" The word "nya" in Japanese means cat and is the equivalent of "meow" in English. The song was then remixed to loop the "nya" by a user called "Momo Momo" and uploaded to Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese video site, on January 31, 2011. This song then became the music you hear in Youtube user "saraj00n"'s video. The GIF that is used in the video was made by Christopher Torres and uploaded to his website LOL-Comics on April 2, 2011. The two together thus produced the viral video of Nyan Cat that we know now.

There has been quite a lot of interest in Nyan Cat all over the world. From Google Insight data, we can see that among the top three countries with the highest search volume for Nyan Cat is Chile, Norway, and Hungary. This illustrates that the meme has reached a number of different types of people, and the popularity is widespread throughout cultures. The fact that the background music is universally understandable because it sounds like the sound cats make, the video is able to transcend language and cultural barriers.

There have been several spin offs of Nyan Cat. Other users have exchanged the pop-tart cat with other characters, such as Pikachu and Hello Kitty. Its popularity has also brought along a lot of annoyance and videos such as "Nyan Cat Killed Petere Griffin!" illustrate people's frustration with the meme, but also the fact that they can't get away from it. There have been several other similar spin offs where people combine movie/show clips with the Nyan Cat video. Websites have been launched, such as nyan.catand slowbro.org, that feature the video looped. There have been games developed, which can all be found at Nyan-Cat.com. On top of all these, there are even more spin-offs of the Nyan Cat.

Vineet Pandey

All Your Base Are Belong To Us

All your base are belong to us (AYBABTU, AYB) began to become famous in 1998/99 in the Rage Games Forum because of the poorly translated opening dialogue of the video game Zero Wing (1989). It was popularized because of the modified images in the meme taken from the virtual world to reality, using the phrase AYB labeling many signs instead. It became viral in 2001 after Wired wrote an article about the meme.

The meme begins with a conversation between a few characters (CATS, Captain, Engineer, Operator). The mistranslated phrase "AYB" is stated by CATS, instead of actually saying "All your bases have been taken over." Following this, the meme enters reality where signs are mislabeled with AYB phrase.

There have been other memes that were inspired by AYB. Some noteworthy mentions are: "All your snakes are belong to us," All your base" music video, and "All your base are belong to ORLY?"

Here is a video link to the meme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItugh-fFgg&feature=player_embedded), and a GIF one ( http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/000/999/AllYourBaseAnimated.gif).

Esther Rah

"Gingers Do Have Souls"

· The catchphrase, “Gingers Do Have Souls” became popular after this you-tube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY39fkmqKBM), was posted. This video was posted by you-tube user, Coppercab, on Jan. 14, 2010, in response to a Southpark episode called “Ginger Kids” that aired on Nov 9th, 2005 that was about gingers (people with red hair) not having souls (http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103645/gingivitis)

· This video became popular in the first month of its release with 3.1 million views and over 600 video responses in the first month of it being upload (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gingers-do-have-souls)

· I think this video became popular because of the sheer comicalness of Coppercab’s outrage over being called a “ginger”. His gestures and facial emotions make it hard for the viewer to empathize with or take Coppercab seriously.

The details/description of Coppercab

· At the time of the release of his “Gingers Do Have Souls” video, Coppercab was 18 years old.

· As of March 2, 2012, the video has 26,771,770 views. It was first uploaded about 2 years ago on Jan 14, 2012 (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gingers-do-have-souls).

· "The same clip has been featured as a spotlight video in 23 regional categories and has over 210,000 comments" (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gingers-do-have-souls).

· It became so popular that Coppercab was able to profit off of ad revenue from this video and a parody of it was made in South Park to promote its 14th season
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USxQIHifzs0&feature=related).

Memes that have emerged from “Gingers Have Souls”

Videos or images relevant to “Gingers Have Souls.”

· Coppercab’s video responses to the comments about his original video, specifically to the user ISHATONYOU: (1)http://www.youtube.com/user/CopperCab?feature=watch#p/u/36/otphq5MuVqA(2)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLg_Fl1dRGo

· ISHATONYOU's parody of Coppercab as a South Park figure:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNSJdqiAfPs&feature=player_embedded

· Autotune remix:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbuYb6lLHX8

· Leave Gingerboy alone (response to Coppercab): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjVGEr-6MSI&feature=player_embedded

· Gingers Do Have Souls Parody:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1MBUeZZlcs&feature=player_embedded

· An image of the Southpark promotional commercial after Coppercab released his video:

Taylor Shirk

Planking

1. When did this begin to become popular/famous on the Internet and why? Provide a context and offer an analysis of why you think this became so popular (if no obvious reason presents itself).

The origin of planking is highly debated, but fad became popular in early 2011. One originator says he invented the plank as early as 1994. Other originators say they invented planking in 2000. It is also debatable in what location planking originated. While planking became highly popular in 2011, there was an incident of doctors and nurses, “on duty,” planking or as others call it, “The lying down” game in 2007. This may have been the first press coverage of the craze. Doctors in England played this game, but others claim the craze became popular in Australia, when Nate Shaw was arrested for planking on an unoccupied police car. The Planking Australia Facebook page grew exponentially immediately, from 8,000 fans to 100,000. It now has over 175,000 fans.

Facebook page URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Planking-Australia/147452668649160?sk=photos

Nonetheless, it is believed to originate, not become popular, though, in England, when Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon entertained each other with this unusual activity. While inspiration may have been drawn from the Radiohead song, Just, I did not see the correlation after watching the video, or at least, it was a stretch.

2. The details/description of the "meme," person, event, etc.

The art of planking is accomplished by lying facedown with arms at your side and legs straight. It is legitimately lying down in random places, but it is not planking unless it is captured with a camera. Planking can be completed by any individual of any age and even by other species.

Examples of planking:

4. Include other memes that may have emerged from this or have been influenced by this.

There have been many fads that have emerged from planking.

Cinnamon Challenge

· How popular did it become and over what time span? (include "Google Insights" interest).

· Hmm - Include other memes that may have emerged from this or have been influenced by this.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cinnamon-challenge

· When did this begin to become popular/famous on the Internet and why? Provide a context and offer an analysis of why you think this became so popular (if no obvious reason presents itself).

This meme started in 2001, which was hosted by Michael Buffington and played by Erik Goodlad. The result was documented and posted as a blog article on Buffington’s blog. The story was picked up by Jason Kottke on December 22nd, 2001. The phenomenon saw its largest resurgent yet in late 2011 when Anna Diaz recorded a video of herself attempting the challenge, which was re-uploaded via YouTube on December 14th, 2011. The video received over 3.9 million views in the first two months of upload and was covered by numerous Internet culture blogs and imitated by other YouTubers in the following weeks.

I think this meme became so popular because it’s stupid, yet entertaining. It’s very easy to imitate and try out.

· The details/description of the "meme," person, event, etc.

The Cinnamon Challenge is a dare game that involves attempting to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon without vomiting or inhaling the power.

· Include videos or images when relevant to illustrate your description - please try to avoid posting images or video that may be offensive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNQEcTGkAgM&feature=player_embedded

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Discussions and Q&A threads regarding the subject have been commonly seen on Yahoo Answers^[3][4][5] and the Wikipedia article on “Cinnamon”[6] contains a subsection on the phenomenon. There are several Facebook fan pages, including the promotional page for CinnamonChallenge.com^[8] which has over 5,500 “likes”.[7] The Urban Dictionary[9]has a definition entry for the Cinnamon Challenge created on May 21st, 2008.

the SHIRKS

Monday, March 19, 2012

Glad You Came - The Wanted

Monday, March 5, 2012

"Memes," fads, and celebrities . . . Oh my!

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