Saturday, March 20, 2010

Weekly Poll Result 9 - All On The Same Page

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/weeklypoll9

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Law is an effective and important way to control the security of a country but some times in the cyber law, things might get out of control sometimes. So in last week’s poll question, we wanted to know the readers’ opinion on whether do they feel some of the Internet Meme out there are violating certain people’s privacy. The result is not surprising as all of the respondents agreed that some Internet Memes are violating some people’s privacy.

In the some of the past posts that we have written, there are a few Internet Memes that violates people’s privacy. One of them is Internet users take pictures of “victims” and post it on the Internet without their consent. Even though these “victims” may eventually get the benefit from it such as becoming famous or getting a job opportunity, it is still violating their privacy.

Can you imagine that one day, your friend takes an ugly picture of you and post it on the Internet? And even though you might become famous in some way because of that but would you feel embarrassed especially when you see some other Internet users posting negative comments about the picture? If you do take note of the posts that we have posted, you will probably notice that the “Little Fatty” Internet Meme is an example of this violating privacy issue.

So based on the explanation above, we can see that why all of the respondents are on the same page as they agree that some of the Internet Meme out there are violating some people’s privacy just like the “Little Fatty” Internet Meme. In our opinion, maybe this issue is way too big for the officials or the “victim” to handle. Do you think this issue is not something serious, therefore should be ignored? Or you think that this should not be happening? If so, how do you think people can stop this? Share your opinion with us by dropping a comment in this post.


Advin

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Don't Give Me That Look

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/dontgivemethatlook

We all love cute animals as an Internet Meme. The cuter it is, the more exposure it will get. The word cute is quite over-rating for this Internet Meme that was founded in year 2007. Known as the "Dramatic Look", it features a prairie dog from a Japanese television show named, "Hello! Morning". The prairie dog was carried out to meet the audience and host of the show and it was immediately "awe-ed" by the viewers. As the camera kept rolling and had a close-up shot of the animal, it gave a very serious look to the camera. The TV show was aired on Japan's local channel and that was how the Prairie Dog Dramatic Look came about.


magnum9er, How the Dramatic Prairie Dog was Born, [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sochd9Xqlos


There is nothing too outstanding or great about it. But that "look" from the prairie dog caught the attention of one of the viewers. It started with just a simple editing by cutting out the Japanese girls and host and leaves only the prairie dog so-called dramatic look. That particular part of the prairie dog's look slowly burst into fame as more and more people edited the 5 second clip. Today, the original prairie dog clip has over 19 million views making it one of the most viewed video of all time.

It was also featured in some websites like I am bored, BoingBoing, and Comedy Central Insider. Some people even remade the clip into a longer version of clip, a funny static image with caption on it, a animated GIF version, and even using other animals with the same "look".

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File:Drama prairie dog.gif, Encyclopedia Dramatica, [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.
URL: http://encyclopediadramatica.com/File:Drama_prairie_dog.gif


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File: PrairieDogMurder.gif, Encyclopedia Dramatica, [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.
URL: http://encyclopediadramatica.com/File:PrairieDogMurder.gif



tupax07, DRAMATIC CHIPMUNK TRILLER/Michale Jackson ed., [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsAiS9vNid0




Arkle546, Dramatic Cat (plus orchestral score), [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVQukw8DkaY&feature=player_embedded

What is quite unbelievable is the kind of status it gained from such a small feature in a Japanese TV show. The prairie dog even got a slot in one of the Super Bowl commercial. Super Bowl is like the World Cup except it is American Football. It is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) and all the great American Football teams battle it out to win the Vince Lmbardi Trophy. So, this event is not quite but very big in America. The Super Bowl commercial is one of the anticipated parts of the whole event.


2010SuperAds, Dramatic Chimpmunk Carmax Super Bowl 44 Commercial Drama Cockatu, [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8LT5hrI1sk&feature=player_embedded

Therefore, the prairie dog actually made a very good name for itself through a 5 second feature in a TV show. Do you think it was a camera trick or was it pure expression from the animal? Let us know what you think.


References:
1. Dramatic Chipmunk/Drama Prairie Dog, Know Your Meme, [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dramatic-chipmunk-drama-prairie-dog

2. Matt, "Dramatic Look" Prairie Dog: Evolution of a Web Meme, [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.
URL: http://mattmedia.net/2007/07/05/dramatic-look-prairie-dog-evolution-of-a-web-meme/

3. James, Dramatic Prairie Dog meme reaches Super Bowl commercial status, Japan Probe, [Online] Retrieved on 17th March 2010.


Vivienne

Monday, March 15, 2010

The Gentleman

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/thegentleman

Internet Meme usually comes in the form of pictures and videos and it attracts thousands and perhaps even millions of viewers. We rarely see Internet Meme in different form. However, there are probably one or two Internet Meme animation out there and in this post, we are going to introduce an Internet Meme animation. What is it about? Well, this Internet Meme is called "Amazing Horse" and it is a song in animation. Based on the research that we have done, the song is about how women rights have improved as the use of horses for transport has declined. Can you understand it? It you do not, we do not blame you as we had a hard time trying to see the connection.

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Shanna, The Amazing Horse Song!: Snapvine [Online] Retrieved on 14th March 2010.
URL: http://www.snapvine.com/bp/DsSDaM8UEd6g7QAwSFxx0g

Amazing Horse otherwise known as Get On My Horse is a viral flash animation of a gentleman on a horse along with a woman singing and dancing with a catchy but odd lyric. You will probably understand this after viewing the video below as well as the lyric. This viral flash animation became an Internet phenomenon after it was uploaded on weebls-stuff.com in September 2009.


krunk0r, Amazing Horse - Weebl's Stuff [HD], [Online] Retrieved on 15th March 2010.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RjMSWhGWak


Lyric:
Look at my horse
My horse is amazing
Give it a lick,
"Ooo, it tastes just like raisins!"

Have a stroke of its mane
It turns into a plane,
And then it turns back again
When you tug on its winkie!

"Ooo, that's dirty!"
Do you think so?
Well, I better not show you
Where is the lemonade is made!
Sweet lemonade
mmmm, sweet lemonade
Sweet lemonade
Yeah, sweet lemonade

Get on my horse,
I'll take you around the universe
And all the other places too!

I think you'll find
that the universe, pretty much
covers everything!

Shut up woman, get on my horse!
ainudil, Captain Blubber, Chris Menning & Brad Kim, Amazing Horse, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 14th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/amazing-horse


Strangely enough, this animation provided inspiration and a stepping stone to others to create their own version which includes remixes as well. Just like how people will make parodies of Internet Meme, there are some who turned this song into an acoustic version of their own and you can view one of them by clicking here.

Apart from that, some or most of the Internet users out there like to use the last line of the song - "Shut up woman, get on my horse!" while communicating. It does sound rude when you say it but when you think from the funny side of it and try saying like how those actors or actresses always say it in sitcoms, then you would probably find it funny.

This Internet Meme received many positive feedbacks from the Internet users till there are some even draw them on their body parts. And when a video on Youtube become popular, you will usually see other users busy uploading the same video non-stop and this Internet Meme is no different either. Among the many videos out there, the highest viewed video is "Amazing Horse - Weebl's Stuff [HD]" by krunk0r which has over 3 million viewers!

From our perspective, we find this Internet Meme to be rather interesting especially when you are watching the video for the first few times and the song has a catchy rhythm too. You might even like how the gentleman sings as the song goes on. But if you continue to watch like we did, you will most probably find it annoying mainly because the song keeps on repeating itself. Despite that, the animation is pretty though. And by the way, we do not see the connection of how this is related to women rights and it is more like promoting lemonade juice.

So, what do you think about this Internet Meme? Do you like the song? Do you like the animation? Or do you hate them? Share your opinion with us as we would like to hear from you.


References:
1. ainudil, Captain Blubber, Chris Menning & Brad Kim, Amazing Horse, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 14th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/amazing-horse

2. Amazing Horse - Weebl's Stuff [Online] Retrieved on 14th March 2010.
URL: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/Amazing+Horse/


Jason

Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Criminal Act on Toby

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/savetoby

Can you imagine there are immoral people in the cyber world as in trying to get the public compassion by using an animal to earn money? Maybe not but it happened and the worse thing is that it became an Internet Meme called “Save Toby”. This Internet Meme began five years ago in 2005, when a guy named James Mceahly found an injured rabbit outside of his home. We wonder how did the rabbit got there.

Anyway, James brought the rabbit home and names it Toby. He took care of it and nursed Toby till he is fully recovered. Some of you maybe wondering, how is this called immoral? Well, continue reading before forming any conclusion.

Toby
Savetoby.com | Only YOU have the power to Save Toby! [Online] Retrieved on 11th March 2010.
URL: http://www.savetoby.com/#


While the rabbit is getting back to hundred percent in terms of his health, James setup a website and calls it “Save Toby | Only YOU have the power to Save Toby” at savetoby.com. He then tell the readers how he took care of Toby and how much he had spent on the rabbit. So, he wants to claim back the money spent from the readers that visited the website. How? James said that if at the end of the day, he do not receive US$50 000 of donation to the website, he will kill Toby and have him as a meal for himself! At this point, some of you may feel like killing James instead.

Pathetically, that message caught the attention of some readers as well as their sympathy towards Toby. They started to get nervous and ask their acquaintances to donate the money to save Toby. However, the website only received up to US$28 000 of donation at the end of the day but according to James, he is satisfied with the figure and Toby’s life was spared.

Slowly, more and more people started to follow James’s act and ask for donation on their own website such as Save Bernd and Save Fluffy. Having said all of this, Urban legend website snopes.com indicates that the website is a hoax. Some claimed that the amount gained in the website was just an imitation.

Despite people saying it is a hoax, we think that James’s act towards Toby is highly unnecessary and somewhat unforgivable because he is trying to toy with Toby’s life to gain money and can even think of such act. So, do you agree with what we said about James’s act or do you think James has done nothing wrong at all? Share your thoughts with us by commenting on this post.


References:
1. 10 Craziest Internet Meme [Online] Retrieved on 11th March 2010.
URL: http://www.oddee.com/item_63440.aspx

2. snopes.com: Save Toby [Online] Retrieved on 13th March 2010.
URL: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/savetoby.asp

3. Save Toby, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 13th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/save-toby



Advin

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Yo dawg!

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/yodawg

We all know this guy from the hit MTV show, Pimp My Ride. He goes by the name Xzibit and he is the low-rise pants, big "bling", hip hop rapper host that everyone would love to have appear in front of their door step. Pimp My Ride is a reality program that helps makeover or rather "pimp" up a trashy-looking car into a one-of-a-kind vehicle. If you actually watched the show, you would know that he would criticize the car before ringing the doorbell to the person's house.

Why is Xzibit, the rapper, has to do with this week's post? That is because he is one of this week's Internet Meme.

Xzibit and together with a whole crew of automates from L.A.'s West Coast Customs, will come up with the most out-of-this-world design and gadgets in the car. A pool table, a fishtank, a bar, and a built-in Jacuzzi are just some of the few gadgets that may be installed inside the new "pimp" car. The whole West Coast Custom crew always come up with some really crazy but brilliant ideas to pimp up an old junk car.

What many people may not notice is that Xzibit have his own language and style of speaking. His famous phrase is "Yo dawg" or "Sup dawg". In simple English, it means "Hello" and "How are you?". But one of the most famous catch phrase and the only reason why we are writing this post is something like this,

"Yo dawg, we heard you liked ___ so we put a ___ in your ___ so you can ___ while you ___."

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Xzibit Yo Dawg, Know Your Meme [Image Online] Retrieved on 13th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/i/177/original/800px-Sup_dawg.jpg


For example, in a proper sentence, "Yo dawg, we heard you liked bikes so we put a bike on your bike so you can ride while you ride."

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Jennifer Van Groove, Social Media Breaks: 5 Internet MemeS to Make You LOL, Mashable [Online] Retrieved on 13th March 2010.
URL: http://mashable.com/2009/03/04/funny-memes/


The sentence vary in many ways. Most of the time, the sentence does not make much sense but because of that and also his rapper style, it caught the attention of many. It spreads like a virus when people started to talk like that online and using images from the web and putting the catch phrase on it.

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Jennifer Van Groove, Social Media Breaks: 5 Internet MemeS to Make You LOL, Mashable [Online] Retrieved on 13th March 2010.
URL: http://mashable.com/2009/03/04/funny-memes/


Even the man himself was shock by such phenomenon. He even tweeted on his Twitter account about it. He posted on Twitter several times. The first time his Tweet sounded angry and it describes his belittle of the whole frenzy.

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Print screen from : http://twitter.com/mrxtothaz/status/1260527355

But in his second he redraw his bitterness and said, "I'm not mad @ you". Even Xzibit himself needed time to adjust to such phenomenon and was surprise with the kind of response.

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Print screen from : http://twitter.com/mrxtothaz/status/1265979909

This phenomenon started in 2007 and till today, there are still people trying to keep this phenomenon alive by displaying more images with the same catch phrase. There are tons of those images online and there is even a website solely for the "Yo dawg" phenomenon (http://yoyodawgdawg.com/). Half of it doesn't even make sense but what do you personally think of this phenomenon? Do you think Xzibit was over-reacting on Twitter? Leave us a comment to tell us what you think.


References:
1. Xzibit Yo Dawg, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 13th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg

2. MTV's Pimp My Ride - The Complete First Season (2004), Amazon.com [Online] Retrieved on 13th March 2010.

3. Jennifer Van Groove, Social Media Breaks: 5 Internet MemeS to Make You LOL, Mashable [Online] Retrieved on 13th March 2010.
URL: http://mashable.com/2009/03/04/funny-memes/



Vivienne

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Weekly Poll Result 8 - Entertainment Gained

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/weeklypoll8

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When a person views news, blog posts, videos or any other similar content on the Internet, they usually gain something from it regardless whether it is purely just for entertainment or interests or nothing. And that is what we are trying to find out from this poll as we asked what you can possibly get by viewing Internet Meme last week. The results have been collected and analyzed. We can say that there are no major shocks in the results.

"Entertainment" came out on top as fifty eight percent of the respondents voted for it. From this, we can say that most of the Internet users out there feel that they gain entertainment by viewing Internet Meme. The reason being that is they are interested in it and as mentioned in the previous posts, it can provide everyone with laughter and as a result, making everyone happy.

Even some of the lamest Internet Meme can be funny to some extent because there are people who can see the funny side of things even though the Internet Meme might not be funny to others, generally. Viewing Internet Meme can sometimes also be considered as a way of killing boredom as some people like to search for random stuff on the Internet.

Next is "Humor" where it obtained thirty four percent of the respondents' votes. Internet users who often view Internet Meme could well end up as jokers as they could be learning and gaining the humor and tricks of Internet Meme. They then might even starts to practice what they have gained from it by playing a prank to one of their acquaintances.

Apart from that, these users who viewed Internet Meme and gained the humor and tricks can use them when they communicate with their friends or family to make the conversation atmosphere to be more lively, assuming if the mood is rather flat and boring. And indirectly, they are spreading the existence of the particular Internet Meme.

The remaining eight percent of the respondents voted for "Knowledge". This reflects that the Internet users view Internet Meme to read and study it without any evil intentions. And what we meant here by study is not like students going to school or college to study about Geography or Marketing but rather just taking note of it like a side knowledge. Users could react "Mmm, interesting..." when they view Internet Meme. They might even bookmark the particular web page but not writing it down like taking lecture notes.

Lastly, none of the respondents felt they gained nothing by viewing Internet Meme. In other words, users feel that they are able to gain something by viewing Internet Meme regardless of whether it is significant or not. So, do you agree with the results? Do you think that viewing Internet Meme gives you nothing? Share your thoughts with us as we would like to hear from you.


Jason

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Something Different

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/something-different

In the world of Internet Meme, there are not many that are prominent as well as memorable for Internet users. Some that stands out are of course like the Lolcats but this time, we are going to look at something slightly different but still catch peoples’ attention. “Little Fatty” is an Internet Meme that was “born” eight years ago in 2002. What is Little Fatty? It is actually a boy named Qian Zhijun from China and he was only sixteen years old when this Internet Meme became popular.

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Chris Menning & Brad Kim, Little Fatty, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 5th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/little-fatty

And surprisingly, the mastermind behind Qian’s rise is one of his teachers because this teacher was the one who posted up one of Qian’s funny looking face expression picture on the Internet and it became famous. At the start of it, most of the Asians know this person and start to edit his pictures on different characters and movie poster by using Photoshop because of his funny looking expression. As a result of this, he gained the name “Little Fatty” or as Xiao Ping throughout China.

Then in early 2003, this particular “virus” as we would call it reached the Western Country and majority of them were attracted by Qian’s funny expression and started to pay attention to him. “Little Fatty” became so well known till the Times Online calling him “One of the most famous faces in China.”. On the other hand, the Reuters proclaimed “Little Fatty Rules Chinese Web” and other publications praise Qian the same way.

Because of his popularity, he got the chance to host a cooking show for China FoodTV. Qian then went one even further as he took on a role in the movie; Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon which also features Maggie Q and Andy Lau. We are pretty sure that most of you would have heard of this movie before, right? He also used his gained fame to become a spokesperson for awareness of Chinese obesity.

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Chris Menning & Brad Kim, Little Fatty, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 5th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/little-fatty

To think one became famous just through expression is just somewhat baffling. But of course, Qian would not have gained the fame if he does not have any talent in communicating and acting and we guess he owes his teacher a huge massive gratitude for this, don’t you think? And from our point of view, we do think some of the pictures shown above are funny especially with his face replacing Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Carribean poster and Mona Lisa in the painting.

What do you think of this “Little Fatty” Internet Meme and Qian as a person? Did you watch the Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon movie? Share with us your opinion about Qian and maybe his acting in the movie, if you know anything about it.


References:
1. Chris Menning & Brad Kim, Little Fatty, Know Your Meme [Online] Retrieved on 5th March 2010.
URL: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/little-fatty

2. Hong Kong Cinemagic - Three Kingdoms - Resurrection of the Dragon [Online] Retrieved on 6th March 2010.
URL: http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/movie.asp?id=9536&showmovfullcast=1


Advin

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Weekly Poll Result 7 - Yes or No?

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/weeklypoll7

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This week's poll finds out from our voters whether they have ever used an Internet Meme. From the previous weekly poll result, as a common reason of the existence of Internet Meme, majority view Internet Meme to have a laugh but have they ever used it for their own purpose instead of just viewing it? Surprisingly, yes. Majority of the votes said that they have not used an Internet Meme.

This result shows that many people used Internet Meme for their own personal experience only. They do not share the meme with their friends. Funnily enough, Internet Meme come about because people spread the meme around to their friends and other Internet users. However, this week's result differs.

Taking the tie is "I think so". With 40% of the votes, the voters have utterly no idea whether they have used an Internet Meme before or rather, they have forgotten. This shows that, although there are tons of Internet Memes out there and people are continuing spreading it through the internet, there are people who do not know what the term Internet Meme is.

These people may know for a fact what is LOLCats or Dancing Baby but they do not know that these so-called "phenomenon" is categorized as Internet Meme. It is hard to blame them because people who spread a meme do not tell that it is called an Internet Meme but rather the main purpose is to just spread the meme.

Only a mere 20% of people used Internet Meme. Partly, the voters may be inexperience with the term Internet Meme, therefore, such result is shown. Just like all the memes mention, all Internet Memes are spread through e-mails, social networking sites, chat rooms and so on. It is spread vastly until it becomes known to everyone. And once it is widely known, that Internet Meme can we safely called as a phenomenon.

So Everything Meme readers, have you or have you not used an Internet Meme before?


Vivienne

Friday, March 5, 2010

It's Quiz Time!

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/firstquiz

Quiz 1
Projected Games Ltd - Games [Online] Retrieved on 4th March 2010.
URL: http://www.projectedgames.com/games/gameInfo.php?game=quiz&country=GB

Quiz? Yes, quiz! Shocked? Well, don't be. In this post, we have prepared a quiz about Internet Meme for the first time where you users can test your knowledge about Internet Meme by answering the fifteen questions. Not all the of the questions are from this blog. In other words, only some of the questions that we came out are from we have written or mentioned in this blog such as the prominent Lolcats. While the other questions are related to other Internet Meme that we have not discuss in this blog like the ORLY Internet Meme.

Now, you maybe wondering, "Since I do not know much about Internet Meme and only some of the questions are related to what has been written in here, how am I going to answer the questions?". Do not worry. Quizzes are meant for entertainment and even if you do not know all of it, you can still take it to have fun and we are sure that you will gain something from it at the end. So, why not give it a try by clicking the link provided below:


Internet Meme Quiz on Quibblo


Hope you will have a great time with the quiz and do share your opinion with us.


Jason