mandag 5. mars 2012

Casually pepper spray everything cop - by Harald Smedal Stamsoe


Sociology 167
Harald Smedal Stamsoe
Assignment on memes
Casually pepper spray anything cop
On November 18th, 2011, a group of students were arranging a protest on the campus of UC Davis as part of the larger nationwide Occupy protests. The police tried to break up the protests. The students, sitting down with their arms linked together, refused to leave. One of the police officers, Lieutenant John Pike, started to pepper spray the students in an effort to break up the protest.. Unfortunately for Lt Pike, this was 2011, meaning that everyone and their brother had easy access to recording equipment. The footage of the police officer pepper spraying the seemingly peaceful protesters quickly found its way to both the internet and traditional media. Much of the public was outraged by this apparent police brutality. The most famous picture of Lt Pike pepper spraying students was uploaded to the social news site Reddit on November 19th. On November 20th two edited versions of the picture appeared on Reddit. In the first one, Lt Pike was replaced by a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio strutting happily along the students. The second picture depicted Lt Pike pepper spraying the signatories of the Declaration of Independence. This quickly caught on, and images of Lt Pike peppery spraying anything and everything showed up online. Searching through forums and social media sites, on can find pictures of Lt Pike pepper spraying the Tiananmen Square protester, the self-immolating Buddhist monk, Jesus, New York City construction workers and native Americans just to mention a few. These pictures quickly spread throughout the Internet, spurred on by extensive news coverage of the incident and widespread sharing and reposting on various social websites. The popularity of this meme is arguably due to the seemingly casual way the police officer pepper sprays the students, as if it was a daily routine.








On November 21st, Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly of Fox News discussed the event on air. As was to be expected, Fox’s people immediately defended the police officer, citing the fact that pepper spray is “a food product, essentially”. This statement by Megyn Kelly spawned a meme of Kelly’s face superimposed over a statement downplaying the seriousness of various things like war, torture and rape.


 



Sources:

Leeroy Jenkins - by Lars Blakstvedt


Leeroy Jenkins meme
by Lars Christensen Blakstvedt

Leeroy Jenkins is a video from the MMORPG World of Warcraft(WoW), where a character named Leeroy Jenkins is away form his keyboard(AFK) because he is warming up a plate of chicken. He then comes back, and without warning runs into a group of enemies while screaming his characters name and ruins his allies carefully laid plans.


I think some of the reasons this video became so popular is that WoW was and still is a very popular online game, and that people find it amusing how a game can bring out emotions in the people involved. There was an explosion of new videos of people reacting emotionally from  events in WoW after the Leeroy Jenkins video became popular. So I guess its more entertaining to hear or see human reactions from factors in a online game than a video from the game itself.

Examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PmyYZqoGIw (guy freaks out after account is deleted) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GJ7eueZ1wY (red shirt guy)


The character Leeroy Jenkins is played by Ben Schulz, who’s become well known in the World of Warcraft community.
There has been questions if the Leeroy Jenkins video is staged, Ben Schulz answered following: I like people to decide for themselves, it is more fun that way”.

The video was first uploaded to Warcraft Movies on May 11, 2005 by the guild PalsForLife. The guild posted the video and asked for constructive criticism on their tactics. The first YouTube video was uploaded on November 19, 2005. The most viewed youtube video has now over       29 000 000 views. The name Leeroy Jenkins has even been used in a Jeopardy question.     

Kim Jong-Un looking at things - by Ida Maria Saxebøl


Kim Jong-Un Looking at Things

The Kim Jong-Un looking at things-meme actually started out with a number of pictures showing his father, Kim Jong-Il looking at different things. The photos of the late North Korean leader show him inspecting a number of different facilities, published by the government of North Korea to give the impression of a dedicated leader. The photos were soon published on a Tumblr-blog called ”Kim Jong-ll Looking at Things.”

  looking at a cafeteria                   looking at potatoes
Kim Jong-Il looking at cafeteria.                             Kim Jong-Il looking at potatoes.

After being posted on Reddit in early December 2010, the blog was soon discover by several well-known online medias and the meme had its peak in December 2010.




Google Insights for Search
Gadgets powered by Google


After the death of Kim Jong-Il, his son Kim Jong-Un took over as the leader of North Korea, and soon after, the state-run Korean Central News Agency started publishing pictures of the new leader also looking at things. This lead to the blog www.kimjongunlookingatthings.tumblr.com, which is updated as soon as North Korea posts a new photo of the “brilliant comrade and great successor” looking at something new.

        looking at a big cheese              looking at bath water
Kim Jong-Un looking at a big cheese.        Kim Jong-Un looking at bath water.

              looking at a guitar
Kim Jong-Un looking at gym floor.                        Kim Jong-Un looking at guitar.

This meme peaked in December 2011, but has kept on being somewhat popular the first few months of 2012.





Ida Maria Saxebøl

The cinnamon challenge - by Espen Winger Karlsen


The cinnamon challenge
By: Espen Winger Karlsen
The cinnamon challenge has been around for decades but in the resent years it has also become a meme. The rules are simple. Eat a spoonful of cinnamon in less than a minute whit out drinking water.  Thousands of people have posted their attempts of beating this challenge on video-communities like You Tube.
It sounds easy to do, but completing it is very difficult. The cinnamon dries up the contestant’s mouths making it very hard to swallow.  This results in him coughing up a small cloud of cinnamon.  The earliest video of the cinnamon challenge was posted on You Tube April 2nd, 2006. It shows how a young guy attempts to eat a spoonful of cinnamon. As he eats the spoon he has a unique reaction to the cinnamon.
There seem to be two factors that compel people to beat the cinnamon challenge. First of all, it sounds much easier than it is. This makes some people try it to see if they can beat all the people who have attempted before them.
The second compelling factor is their funny reaction. Everyone make faces when they try swallowing it. This gives people a lot of attention on You Tube. There are lots of videos with over a million views each of people eating cinnamon.
 A few different of those reactions can be seen here:

Some people actually beats the challenge aswell:

                                                                                   cinnamon challenge  

The cinnamon challenge phenomenon reached its peak in Google trends   in early 2012 after the Chicago tribune posted an article on dangers with cinnamon. The article can be seen here. This article seems to have fuelled the phenomena making it even more popular than before.



Sources:


søndag 4. mars 2012

Paula Deen Riding Things - by Mari Jørstad


Assignment #2
Mari Jørstad
“PAULA DEEN RIDING THINGS”

On February 28th 2011 a photographer took a picture of Paula Deen while she was barebacking Robert Irving, a Food Network host, at a South Beach Wine and Food festival.

The first “Paula Deen Riding Things” meme was posted 28th February 2011; the same day the original picture was posted online. It became popular rather fast, and according to Google insights most pictures of “Paula Deen Riding Things” were posted in March 2011. After this the interest dropped for some time, but became a little popular again in December 2011. Google insights also show that this meme was only popular in the United States. http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=paula%20deen%20riding%20things&cmpt=q

Paula Deen is a celebrity chef, and a well-known TV-personality. She is known for cooking Southern food with a high content of fat, salt and sugar. On the first picture of “Paula Deen Riding Things” that was posted, she is riding a package of butter; “Paula Deen Riding Butter”. After this photo was posted there was soon new memes appearing were Deen is riding on different things and people.


“Hugh Jackman Can Ride Anything” meme came in December 2010 http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hugh-jackman-can-ride-anything, after he was zip-lining at the Oprah show. Other memes that have emerged from this is “Frank Iero Riding on Things”, and “Brendon Urie Riding Shit”. Both of these came in April and May in the year of 2011, but have not become as popular as “Paula Deen Riding Things”. Paula Deen also has other memes http://memebase.com/category/paula-deen-yall/.

Planking - by Thao Elizabeth Nguyen


Assignment # 2 – “PLANKING”
By: Thao Thi Phuong Elizabeth Nguyen

“Planking” is a game/activity where you lie on your stomach with your face down on strange, crowded, famous or unusual places. After finding a perfect place to do the “planking”, pictures are taken, and spread around through social networks. This action was meant to be mimicking of a wooden plank. The popularity of this game expanded at the beginning of 2011. I supposed this game has expanded a lot through the social networks the last couple of years, just because the concept seems ridiculous and funny at the same time. It both brings humor to the person doing the “planking”, at the people watching these pictures. With today’s technology, camera is not rare, and “planking” would be a free activity, ANYWHERE.  Location selection and the planking environment is everything.



It is also not sure who invented or started this activity, comedian Tom Green claim he invented this concept already in 1994. Gary Clarkson & Christian Langdon claimed they invented it (by the name: Lying down Game) in 2000. Then the Australian they invented it in 2011, through the name: Planking. But there must be some agreement to the writer on planking-pics.com – “Playing dead has been done by animals for 1000s of years as survival instinct, so they win”.
These pictures could be shared and downloaded through sites like: Ratemyplankings.com, or bestplanking.com, but the best and most effective social network that has been used is: Facebook.
            
David “Wolfman” William who’s a famous Australian rugby player, scored in March, 2011 by planking over the goal line. This score created a huge media coverage, which also made this concept reach out and influence a lot more individuals.
            

The popularity of this game seems to be shrinking, considered from this year, 2012, but there are other variations of this game. Examples: Mimicking an owl, or forming like a teapot.  But after all, the popularity of this game went far and big, that it even reached to Hollywood stars.






Google Insight - 2011

Gingers do have souls! - by Ingvild Firman Fjellså


By Ingvild Firman Fjellså

“GINGERS DO HAVE SOULS!”

In 2005 on the 9th of November, South Park aired an episode called “Ginger Kids” were they mocked red haired people. In this episode the character Cartman claims that read haired people, or gingers, are infected by a virus which is called “Gingervitus” and has no souls. Full episode: http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s09e11-ginger-kids

As a result of this 18-year Micheal, calling him self “CopperCab”, posted a video on YouTube on January 14th in 2010. In his video, called “GINGERS DO HAVE SOULS!”, he highly emotional expresses his anger and frustration of being bullied for being a ginger. He blames South Park for the ongoing discrimination of gingers and he wants them to put a stop to it. http://www.youtube.com/watchfeature=player_embedded&v=EY39fkmqKBM

During the first month on the Internet the video was viewed over 3 million times (Know your meme 2010). By march 2012 the video got nearly 27 million hits on YouTube. According to YouTube's own statistics the video is most popular in north America, Australia and north Europe, by people in the ages between 13 and 24 (YouTube 2012).

“CopperCap”s video got a big amount of responses in short time. This in form of remixes of the original movie, parodies, response videos, pictures, memes and gadgets to buy. 
Obama “Gingers do not have souls: http://troll.me/gingers-do-not-have-souls/
Coppecap “I got 99 problems but soul ain't one”:
http://www.damnlol.com/gingers-do-have-souls-9526.html
CopperCap video remix:http://www.youtube.com/watchv=4ZIRLvVnXmg&feature=related
T-shirt “Gingers do have souls”:
http://www.zazzle.comgingers_do_have_souls_tshirt-235191692416658754

CopperCap himself keeps on posting follow up videos where he expresses his rage against uncivilized and discriminating behavior on and of the Internet. 


Sources:
*YouTube(2012) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EY39fkmqKBM
*Know your meme(2010): http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gingers-do-have-souls
*South Park Digital Studios (2011):
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s09e11-ginger-kids

Chocolate rain - by Thea Andre Engelsen


«CHOCOLATE RAIN”
By: Thea Andrea Engelsen
“Chocolate rain” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA  is a song and music video by Tay Zonday. He was a grad student from Minneapolis, Minnesota when he uploaded the music video on YouTube on April 22th, 2007. It quickly became a popular internet meme in July 2007 as the song started to catch the attention of the group Anonymous. By July 26th “chocolate rain” was featured on YouTube’s front page, giving the video tons of viewers. The internet page 4chan also showcased the music video all over the page, with jokes and a remix song in Zonday’s honor.


As of February 2012 the video has over 77 million views. It is ranked as the hottest viral video of summer 2007 by CTV, and was the winner in the music category in 2007 YouTube awards. “Chocolate rain’s” highest peak was in August 2007 after his appearance on Best week ever and Jimmy Kimmel, and this has resulted in major media attention.
The video features Zonday singing “chocolate rain «into a microphone while during weird/funny face expressions. I think the reason for why it became so popular is because you wouldn’t guess that Zonday would have such an unusual deep and great voice because of his very young and nerdy looks. He has later claimed that the song was meant to be about institutional racism.
  His baritone voice has often been compared to Paul Robeson, Barry White and Brad Roberts of the “crash test dummies”. Now he also does commercial voice and spokesperson work for a growing portfolio of clients such as Dr.Pepper, Intel, TurboTax and Comedy central, while he also has continued to make video has he has posted on his website : http://tayzonday.ning.com/
“Chocolate rain” has been parodied and remixed several times, and there has been made several memes and t-shirts. This eventually led Zonday himself to appear on a number of television shows and being parodied on South Park.
 











Sources:

Chuck Norris facts - by Lars Berg


Chuck Norris does not submit homework, homework submits Chuck Norris.
Tracking the history and popularity of Chuck Norris facts.
By Lars Berg

Chuck Norris facts is a internet phenomena consisting of a humorous fact claim concerning the toughness, virility, strength, coolness, power or anything else that would describe the actor Chuck Norris as a sort of super-being. The facts also often include the powerful effects Chuck Norris’s trademark roundhouse kick has on its surroundings.
The concept of internet phenomena of Chuck Norris facts is believed to have originated with a series of exaggerated running jokes made by Conan O’Brien in his talk show in May 2004 mainly centering around Norris’s character in the TV-series Walker, Texas Ranger. In March 2005 it became popular in the forums of www.somethingawful.com to make similar exaggerated fun-facts about the actor Vin Diesel based upon his character in the movie “The Pacifier”, a man named Ian Spector decided to create his own website dedicated to compiling all of these fictive facts. The website became a big hit, but people quickly became bored with the Vin Diesel facts and the creator of the site decided to encourage visitors to vote for who should become the next “victim” for a new round of similar jokes. Even though Chuck Norris was not even a candidate Ian Spector announced him as the winner and stating that “he won by a landslide”. This was probably much due to the popularity of the Texas, Walker Ranger jokes made on the Conan O’Brien show (www.knowyourmeme.com/memes/chuck-norris-facts ).  The buildup of the Chuck Norris facts are very similar to the style of jokes made in the Saturday Night Live sketches called “Bill Brasky” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris_facts).
The reason for why the popularity of the Chuck Norris facts became so popular is probably because many have an existing relationship and consistent idea of who Chuck Norris actually is and the role he played in his popular TV-series, Walker, Texas Ranger. The feeling you get from watching that show is in a way very fitting to the way the “facts” about Chuck Norris have evolved. The show is about a quiet, laidback law-officer who constantly finds himself in difficult and seemingly impossible situations, which he always resolves and gets out off alive. This becomes quite comic after 8 seasons of pretty much the same plot over and over again and functions as a good foundation for the countless jokes about how tough Chuck Norris really is. Some of its popularity might also be due to that the Chuck Norris facts are easily transferable to other characters and people. For example if a group of friends wants to ironically make fun of someone they know who maybe tries too hard to come off as tough and strong they can look up Chuck Norris facts and simply change the names.   

According to Google Insight Chuck Norris facts were on the height of its popularity overall around February 2006. The countries where the search for “Chuck Norris Facts” were the most popular was The United States, followed by Estonia, Slovenia and Norway.
The most prominent spinoffs off the concept of Chuck Norris facts are the facts about the Indian actor Rajinikanth, that follow the same setup as the Chuck Norris facts and of the many “facts” that circulate about Rajinikanth many of them are preexisting Chuck Norris facts only with the names changed. According to Wikipedia there has also been created a fairly popular Tumblr page where similar facts about the Doctor Who character Rory Williams are posted (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/chuck_norris_facts ).