Here’s another meme (like Over 9000) that started with a Dragonball Z character - Cell is one of the main villains in Dragonball Z (specifically 'Imperfect Cell').
Someone on 4chan’s /b/ board used the very basic paint program, MS Paint, to alter Cell’s face into what is now known as Shoop da Whoop. Cell's face has been blacked out and big eyes and red lips have been painted in amateurishly. A picture of ‘Shoop’ is usually accompanied by a phrase like 'IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZER’
But Shoop da Whoop has a dark side – apparently, the Shoop da Whoop character was intended as a parody of early comics and thetre shows that featured black people in a stereotypical way, with bright red lips and very dark faces. (Like the 'Blackface' theatre characters seen on the American stage in the 1830's.) Even the ‘Shoop da Whoop’ wording and the phrases ‘IMMA CHARGIN MAH LAZER’ or ‘FIRIN’ MAH LAZER’ are meant to imply a typical African-American Southern drawl. The 'Imperfect' Cell character and another Dragon Ball Z character called Mr. Popo both caused some controversy for their resemblance to 'Blackface characters.
Pictures of the Shoop character generally appear in succession. Shoop usually starts by charging his laser, then shooting it out his mouth, then swallowing it.
Since the meme's introduction, numerous spinoff images have also been created, featuring various characters painted with the Shoop face. Check out many YouTube videos featuring Shoop.
Here's a YouTube video, featuring the 'Firing my laser' phenomenon.
Chris Crocker is a 21-year-old Internet celebrity most famous for his ‘Leave Britney Alone’ rant.
Crocker has a YouTube video channel where he posts videos which are really "monologues about life" and often deal with what it’s like being an openly gay and effeminate teen in a "small-minded town" in the Bible Belt.
He lives with his grandparents who home-school him after he was bullied too much at school. His grandmother occasionally appears in his videos.
His videos have received over 153 million views on YouTube alone. Although he has produced dozens of videos, Crocker gained the most fame from his viral video tearfully defending Britney Spears.
The video received international media attention, hundreds of parodies, criticism and even death threats.
His strange, over-the-top rant is bizarrely captivating. Mascara runs down his cheeks, and he looks totally distraught as he yells “You’re lucky she even performed for you” He also lashes out at gossip columnists such as Perez Hilton, and reality TV star Simon Cowell, who criticized Britney Spears' onstage music performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas.
Fame!
The video received worldwide attention and earned Crocker interviews on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The Today Show, Maury, The Howard Stern Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM morning show. YouTube named it one of the top videos of 2007 and Wired magazine named it their top video of 2007.
Nearly 2000 people have posted video responses and parodies, including ones by Perez Hilton, Jimmy Kimmel, National Lampoon Inc., Rove McManus, Joe Cartoon and Charles Firth.
Actor Seth Green made a parody to promote his she Robot Chicken. He calls for people to "leave Chris Crocker alone!"Other parodies include one of a George W. Bush impersonator begging people "to leave General Petraeus alone" (a reference to the Iraq War).
This new Weezer video for the band's latest single 'Pork and Beans' features a number of YouTube in-jokes. Check out the video and see how many you can spot.
If you're not familiar with Chris Crocker of 'Leave Britney Alone' fame, Mentos and Diet Coke or Afro Ninja - stay tuned, I'll get to them.
But of course - like most great ideas - this one has been done before. The Barenaked Ladies also made a music video featuring internet memes and celebs. But their video just isn't as good, so it didn't have the same appeal. Check it out:
When Ghyslain Raza was just 15, he became world famous – but he probably could have lived without all the attention.
In 2002, Ghyslain took a video of himself clowning around, swinging a golf ball retriever around as if it were a weapon (presumably, a lightsaber). The video tape was forgotten about, until someone stumbled upon it and thought it would be funny to post the video online.
Initially, the video was shared on the Kazaa network (a peer-to-peer file sharing network). The original was then edited to include text, sound effects music and even a lightsaber effect on the golf ball retriever.
Gaming and Star Wars sites began posting the newly edited video, so that it spread quickly. Other people made their own remixes and edits until the Star Wars Kid was relatively famous. Here’s a selection of some of the best star wars videos.
But Ghyslain Raza wasn’t enjoying the attention. He was teased so badly at school, that he dropped out and finished the semester at a children's psychiatric ward.
Now his parents are suing the families of the four classmates who digitized and published the video. Ghyslain's parents say their son was so humiliated that he may be marked for life by the experience.
But not everyone was tormenting the poor kid: an internet petition to get Raza a cameo role in Star Wars Episode III received more than 140,000 "signatures." (However, although George Lucas sympathised with the young man's plight, he was not include in the movie.) And almost $5000 USD was raised to buy Ghyslain an iPod.
Dragonball Z is an animated Japanese TV show (an anime), which has been dubbed into many languages and has become popular in many countries around the world. The English translation of the show can be somewhat clumsy and comical.
The ‘Over 9000’ meme originally came from an episode of the Dragonball Z in which Vegeta (one of the show’s ‘bad guys’) is asked "Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?" and Vegeta responds "It's over 9000!". This rather nonsensical statement gained internet fame when the clip was ‘remixed’ and placed on YouTube by a fan.
‘Over 9000’ has become a phrase used to describe impressive power or skill or something that’s really awesome (or 'made of win'). For example – “That game is over 9000” or “My level of awesomeness is over 9000!”
And of course, many YouTube Videos have sprung up featuring the catchphrase in different ways including a Southpark and Myst parody. Interestingly, in the original Japanese version, Vegeta actually says "Over 8000" but the American dubbers chose 9000 because it worked better with the lip movement of the characters on screen.
A similar clip from Dragonball Z features the character Piccolo saying "The balls are inert".
Hypnotic, catchy and memorizing are just some of the words used to describe ‘Chocolate Rain’, a song written and performed by 25 year old Tay Zonday.
Tay posted this song he wrote on YouTube in April 2007 – the song became very popular, and has been watched over 15 million times.
‘Chocolate Rain’ is perhaps so famous because of Tay Zonday’s surprisingly deep voice, or his strange mannerisms while singing. But like many other Internet Phenomenon, Chocolate Rain more than likely initially gained momentum because it spread as a joke on 4chan.org.
‘Chocolate Rain’ is the subject of numerous parodies, tributes, remixes and covers on the Internet. Major musical artists, such as singer John Mayer and Green Day drummer Tré Cool have spoofed the song, along with many others.
Tay got together with the guys from Dr Pepper to make a remix version of his song – ‘Cherry Chocolate Rain’ to promote Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper. T-A-Y to the Z almost looks at home in the music video featuring bright lights and scantily clad girls. The video also guest stars rapper Mista Johnson.
The Romanian pop band O-Zone can thank one man for much of their success in the USA. Gary Brolsma made an amateur video of himself singing along to the O-Zone song "Dragostea din tei". This video became known as the Numa Numa video or the Numa Numa dance. This name came from the song's chorus "nu mă, nu mă iei," meaning, roughly, "you won't take, won't take me."
The video of Gary lip-synching to the song was released on the Newgrounds site in 2004 - since then it's been seen more than 13 million times and copied to hundreds of websites and blogs!
Other Numa Numa fans have made their own dance video. Check out the cool LEGO version here.
Fame! Gary's video was shown on many US TV channels, including ABC's Good Morning America to NBC's The Tonight Show and VH1's Best Week Ever.
Ever wonder how a couple of dancing badgers became such a hit or why captioned cats suddenly started appearing in your inbox? Ever heard of something being 'Over 9000' or 'Made of Win' and wondered what it meant?
This blog explores memes and other internet phenomena that have taken the web by storm. Check out the Starwars Kid, LOLcats, Dramatic Chipmunk and Peanut Butter Jelly Time to name but a few.
Let me know what you would like to see next on this site...
On the request list so far: Shoop da Whoop, Bert is Evil, 300, Obi wan force push, goatse (been avoiding that one) Mr T ate my balls...
Here’s another meme (like Over 9000) that started with a Dragonball Z character - Cell is one of the main villains in Dragonball Z (specifically 'Imperfect Cell').
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