Memeplex

This entry contains some nudity and may be considered inappropriate & not safe for work.

About

In September of 2008, a photo of a man giving two thumbs up in front of a group of underwear-clad girls began appearing on 4chan’s /b/. The photo has been edited in numerous ways, and has been dubbed Approval Guy by Anonymous.

Know Your Meme has made contact with Approval Guy, and he is more than willing to answer any questions directed to approvalguy@gmail.com

Origin – In Approval Guy’s own words.

On March 2nd, 2010, an interesting thread appeared on Reddit from a man claiming to be Approval Guy, including a never-before seen photo taken just moments after the more famous one.
Thread: Hey Reddit, I’m a meme, what should I do about this?

Intrigued, Know Your Meme got in contact with the Reddit user and was able to confirm that man who posted is, in fact, the man in the photograph. However, it should be noted that at this time he wishes to retain his anonymity. The following is Approval Guy’s recount and reaction to the internet meme of which he is the subject.

The Approval Guy Story: Written by Approval Guy Himself

This all started because my friends and I would go out drinking in Milwaukee during college. One weekend, the girls in the picture, whom I met two years prior in my hometown, were throwing a smaller apartment party, and they invited me and my friends. We went and it was not initially an underwear party, we got bored with the party and went out to the bars. At bar close, we received a text from the girls to come back to the party, and we wanted to drink more, so we did. Once we arrived all of the girls were in their underwear, along with one guy who eventually went into the bathroom to vomit. My friends and I were in awe that they didn’t give a shit about being in their underwear. They all seemed very comfortable and were well aware pictures were being taken.

NOTE: They are all over 18, but at this time they were under 21, which is why they could not go out to the bars.

Once we got settled into the party, my friend Joe (Not his real name) started taking pictures and they were ok with it. Then I started to pose and be ridiculous because I did not want to get into my underwear. After this we went home and didn’t think anything of it.

Two months later, my friend Joe (who took the pictures in spring of 2008) saw a thread with Natalia (the girl with her arms up), because /b/ tards apparently drool over her and stalk her on the internet. He thought it would be a good idea to post the pictures from that party. The thread was not archived, but the original Approval Guy picture was saved by a random /b/tard who continued to post it. One month after Joe posted this, threads began about Approval Guy. One of my friends called me up and said they were posting me on the internet (4chan).

NOTE: I never browsed 4chan until I found out people were posting my picture. I never have submitted anything, but I am familiar with the format and internet memes. I currently am living for the LULZ.

At first I was worried. I realized that I was not the one in my underwear, nor am I doing anything wrong. It really isn’t a big deal to me. Just some photoshopped pictures of me can be offensive to some people, but it’s a joke and shouldn’t be taken with a grain of seriousness. I really haven’t created too many pictures because I enjoy seeing what people come up with. I just accepted the Approval Guy tag and decided to go with it.

The original Approval Guy picture was posted on failblog with an old man and I was confused to how far this has gone, because everyone and their mother reads failblog. I received a lot of messages on AIM and Facebook, so I realized everyone was seeing this, but they didn’t really care and thought it was great.

See: The picture on Failblog.

The reason I posted it on Reddit is because I respect the community and I have been a member for nearly 3 years. At first I wanted to be anonymous and not tell them what meme I was, and people were getting upset, so I talked to my friend Ryan (real name) and we decided I should post it for the LULZ and reply to people. I was generally appreciated because it was interesting for Reddit to see a reaction from a somewhat known meme actually posting and acknowledging their existence. I am very self aware and I understand the internet better than most people.

In real life, I have been recognized on numerous occasions. I will tell you the two that are most notable ones. When I lived in Milwaukee I was at a dive bar and two guys came up to me and said, we know you’re Approval Guy, we saw your page on Encyclopedia Dramatica. So I explained the story to them and pointed out my friend Joe who I was with as the guy who took the infamous picture. They seemed pretty excited. The other time was the day after the picture was posted to failblog, I was riding the subway systems in New York (where I currently live) and there was a kid sitting across from me and he kept smiling and looking at me. He then got off the train at the stop before me and yelled APPROVAL GUY and gave me thumbs up, I sat on the train and laughed to myself and I was just amazed that someone recognized me IRL.

I have also been asked if I have ever wanted to capitalize on Approval Guy. I have not thought about it until recently, I really don’t want to make money from it, but if it happened I would not complain. I just am fascinated with the current internet culture and how memes are created. Now that I live in New York City, I feel that I will become recognized more, but it doesn’t bother me one bit. I have done alternative stand-up comedy (silly and anti-jokes), and I’m sure I can use this meme as a start in New York, but at the same time, I want to prove to people I have another side and I can be known for something else then being an internet meme. It could be an advantage and it’s a great story. I am also a big fan of the internet and in a couple years I can see myself working a job related to internet/social media/video, and being Approval Guy and having knowledge of the internet is a plus.

…My name is not a big deal, but I would appreciate it if you did not associate it with the site. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Approval Guy

Bold added by the meme entry author for the sake of emphasis for our tl;dr readers

4chan Archives

One of the first archived appearances of the photo occurred on September 7th, 2008 near the end of a thread entitled “Conclusion to Wincest for Breakfast” an incest-themed work of fiction.

• VERY NSFW thread # 84079270

Ten days later, an entire “Approval Guy” thread featuring photshops of the image was posted and archived.

• Also NSFW thread # 85835779

Charts

Searches for Approval Guy began immediately after the photo’s first appearance on 4chan, and has remained relatively constant.

About

The “In G Major” Youtube Poop fad, or Poopism, inovles manipulating the audio of a video using a G-Major harmonizer effect plugin, typically in Audacity or Sony Vegas.

Origin

Chewiki credits Youtube Pooper Gallas as the originator of the fad, when he created his video “Hotel Mario in G Major” on November 24th, 2007. Gallers is also known for originating the “Electronic Sounds” fad, making him an influential Pooper.

However, even though Gallers played an influential part in popularizing the fad, (popularity begets popularty) and was the first to use the phrase “In G Major” in his poops, this style was seen previously in the video “Scaryroll” created by PanicBomber on August 11th, 2007; over three months prior to Gallas’ video.

Videos

About

The “In G Major” Youtube Poop fad, or Poopism, inovles manipulating the audio of a video using a G-Major harmonizer effect plugin, typically in Audacity or Sony Vegas.

Origin

Chewiki credits Youtube Pooper Gallas as the originator of the fad, when he created his video “Hotel Mario in G Major” on November 24th, 2007. Gallers is also known for originating the “Electronic Sounds” fad, making him an influential Pooper.

However, even though Gallers played an influential part in popularizing the fad, (popularity begets popularty) and was the first to use the phrase “In G Major” in his poops, this style was seen previously in the video “Scaryroll” created by PanicBomber on August 11th, 2007; over three months prior to Gallas’ video.

Videos

About

On July 29th, 2004, DeviantArt user burtonearny uploaded a flash animation set to his own original composition, “The Llama Song.”

First on DeviantArt where it has >50 000 views.

• DeviantArt.com

Then on Newgrounds where it has >300 000 views.

• Newgrounds.com

The same video was later uploaded to AlbinoBlackSheep in 2005.

• Albinoblacksheep.com

This wacky and random song quickly took off all over the internet and created a meme.

The lyrics

GIFs

Animated GIFs derived from the song were created and made available through Avatarist, Teen Nick, DeviantArt, and Photobucket (1, 2) to name a few.

Youtube

Copy of the original with >1 000 000 views

A Barack Obama Version with >1 000 000 views

These videos have >100 000 views.

These videos have >10 000 views.

Special thanks to Provie And Rofle Coptere.

About

Broccoli Dog is the nickname given to an image of a dog sitting at a table with a plateful of broccoli, in which he takes an understandable disinterest. Oftentimes, this image may be seen with the phrase “Do Not Want,” but it is simply a popular instance of the larger image macro series which started a few months prior. While Broccoli Dog largely became popular through the iteration, it also gave way to a handful of photoshopped variations and other image macros featuring alternate captions.

Origin

The origin of the photo is currently unknown and largely undocumented. The earliest instance we have been able to backtrace so far is a YTMND created November 6th, 2005 by user AnimalChin. The odd part is that this YTMND only has 781 views and only 2.17 stars.

Spread

The “Do not want” dog is referenced on Fark on January 4th, 2007 in a thread entitled, Who’s the Boss Star posts naked pictures of self on web, Sadly is not Alyssa Milano.

wombatsrus

2007-01-04 03:56:39 PM
 
Posting for the “Do Not Want” dog arriving in 3…2…1…

• On January 29th of 2007, we see a variation of the dog on My[confined]space with a story instead of the short phrase.

This dog whined and whined until I gave him some broccoli and now look, do you see him eating it? Do you see this dog eating broccoli? Does’t look like it to me. Stupid dog.”

• Variations of the “Do Not Want” dog image macro from February of 2007 can be found on the Something Awful forums in a thread titled Image Thread 2000.

• In April of 2007, the “Do Not Want” dog is referenced in MentalFloss.

Origin

“Multi-Track Drifting” is a conceptual meme that originated from Densha de D, a parody doujinshi (fan comic) of Japanese street racing series Initial D that replaces automobiles with trains.

A signature of the Initial D series (if not street racing itself) is drifting: an action where the rear of the car swings outward in a turn resulting in a high-speed, controlled skid.

Multi-Track Drifting was accomplished in rail parody Densha de D by the protagonist heading into a double-tracked curve with his train in such a way that the rear wheel bogey jumps the tracks and replaces itself on the adjacent track; making the train appear to be drifting like a car would.

A model railroader at Japan’s Comiket manga convention reenacts the scene:
This video has been removed from Youtube. Instead, here’s a lesser known lego version.

On y.t.m.n.d.

The first instance of multi-track drifting found on YTMND ocurred on September 28th, 2004 when xdata666 created MULTI TRACK DRIFTING !!!

Five additional multi-track drifting YMTNDs were made in 2005. For a list of all six, with up to date views and ratings see the YTMND search results.

On 4chan

Multi-Track Drifting gained more notability through 4chan after a fan translation of Densha de D was released online.

One of the earliest archived instances of Multi-Track Drifting referenced on 4chan is in thread 16972676 entitled Lawls for Kids (NSFW) posted December 8th, 2006. Given the context, it would seem that the meme had been established on 4chan earlier. Considering that there was niche interest on YTMND the same year that 4chan was established, it is possible that references to Multi-Track Drifting have been on 4chan from the start.

Elsewhere

Additional info found on Lurkmore Wiki

Listed on TVTropes to define the operation of a vehicle in a way that defies design, limits, and physics.

Google Insights Analysis

The concept of train drifting born from Densha de D has considerably more Google search queries than the manga itself.

Observations

In terms of scale, Multi-Track drifting is obscure when compared to many other more well-known internet memes.

The meme itself does little more than serve as a reference to a joke sourced directly from a parody, and little recontextualization or mutation has ever occurred.

For more well-known source materials, these two factors would make it appear to be a basic a basic direct reference rather than a meme. But because the popularity of the joke has exceeded the popularity of the manga from which it is sourced, the idea of multi-track drifting has spread due to exposure to memetic instances online rather than the source material.

About

I Drink Your Milkshake is a catchphrase originating from There Will Be Blood directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, a film adaption of the 1927 Upton Sinclair novel, Oil! The film was released in New York and Los Angeles on December 26, 2007, receiving significant critical praise and numerous award nominations and victories. It tells the story of a silver-miner-turned-oil-man on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California’s oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the film, the phrase was intentionally used as a metaphor: sucking milkshake from someone else to demonstrate not only oil drainage from prized land, but the harsh nature of how cruelty often trumps meekness.

In its original context, the scene is meant to evoke contempt for the character of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) and pity for his adopted son H.W. (Russel Harvard).

However, there were many who found the scene wrought with sheer absurdity, finding a literal interpretation of the milkshake analogy to be hilarious, even exploitable.

Origin

Before “There Will Be Blood” expanded its release and rising buzz, on January 18, 2008, KevinKoonz uploaded a music video on YouTube, titled There Will Be Milkshakes, a montage of scenes from the original There Will Be Blood trailer, clipped together to the song Milkshake by Kelis.

Nearly a month later, on February 02, 2008, YouTube user ShawnRay9 uploaded a music video of the same title and song. This time, the video was much longer and focused on the infamous Milkshake scene. The audio had been disabled. ShawnRay9 had later on moved to a new account, LeafyBugProductions, and reposted the video. This time it was titled I Drink Your Milkshake!!!

By early February, the scene was popping up all over YouTube, and people were quoting and impersonating: “I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! I drink it up!” Other users started making their own Milkshake music videos, and the Milkshake scene gained popularity. As it gained more popularity, the music video trend slowly died out, leaving the memetic scene as it is.

More Kelis Mashups

Other Musical Derivatives

Reenactment Derivatives

YTMND

• I Drink Your Milkshake
• Picard hates MILKSHAKES
• Sean Connery Loves MILKSHAKES
• Don’t Fuck with Gene’s Milkshake
• There Will Be REMIX
• There Will Be FRIDAY’S
• There Will Be M.I.A.
• I’ve abandoned my MILKSHAKE
• Daniel and Eli break it down

Google Insights

The popularity of the “I drink your milkshake” meme peaked sharply following the film’s general release in theaters, benefiting from buzz directly related to the film. It’s safe to say that an understanding of the film is necessary in order to understand the unintentional humor present in the scene, and that interest in the meme was dependent on the timeliness of the film.

About

Noelisme is a controversial social movement within the French-speaking web responsible for a range of activities ranging from vigilante justice to cyber-bullying; it is sometimes seen as a French internet “gang”. Its members, the “Noelistes”, use a common vernacular with peculiar meanings having roots in many inside jokes between users.

Noeliste can be viewed as a French equivalent of Anonymous or even the Chinese renrou sousuo yinqing or “human flesh search engine” in the sense that they have raided websites and blogs, targeting juvenile users that they called “kikoolol”, “kikoo” or “pyj”.

More detailed information on the Noeliste lexicon and inside jokes (in French) can be found here and here.

Origins

The Noeliste movement began on a well-known French video game site called jeuxvideo.com in 2006. The site has a unique, yet old-fashioned forum system that has been reused by some other French gaming websites. There are forums and sub-forums classified by themes and by age; specifically those between ages of 15-35.

On the Bla-Bla 15-18 ans forum (teenagers from 15 to 18 years old), a user named Triplepatte (translated) started using one of the site’s many smilies. => ; a face with a Christmas hat in each of his posts.

As with any community, inside jokes and wordplay were common, and soon the use of this specific smiley grew popular among some users.

It had a precise use. Placed at the end of a sentence, the Santa-hat smiley transforms the sentences’ meaning into irony, due to what many perceived as an ironic pairing of a malicious grin with a festive hat.

Soon afterward a French variant of Leetspeak was developed based upon the use of the Santa-hat Smiley.

Many users attracted by this new concept created a movement moving around the timeless use of the smiley. The group soon became known as the Noelisme because of the name for the code used for the smiley => :noel: from Noël, another term for Christmas.
The main features of that brand new group was (and still is) to worship Chuck Norris as a God and to have forums war between them and the ones who used the “Happy” smiley: which were called Hapistes (translated)

For roughly two years, use of the :noel: tag remained an inside joke between users.

Going Out of the Dark

In February of 2008, an underground French rapper called Moha Morsay posted a video of one of his songs to Dailymotion:

The lyrics contain a lot of profanity and bravado, with a title that roughly says “We don’t give a fuck”.

The Noelistes decided to raid this video, commenting on the doubtful “quality” of the video and song. They left strange messages, all signed with the :noel: code.
There were so many :noel: replies that Morsay made a video in response, called Message à “Internet” (Message to the Internet):

In the video, Morsay makes the mistake of calling out his haters, essentially “feeding the trolls.” As a result, the comment section quickly filled with replies from Noelistes who also created video responses on both Dailymotion and Youtube.

The most notable response created came from a user called “Doctor Léon” who became something of spearhead for Noelistes.

There was also a Corsican version, by a user called Vinceneil:

This “Internet war” between the “Noelistes” (especially “Doctor Leon” who left his anonymous status by posting his video response) and so-called gangsta Morsay was parodied in many videos:

Morsay Roll

Cisla ft. 15-18 ft. Edith Piaf – Allez venay Morsay (special remix)

Aftermath

Following this virtual “war”, French internet media portrayed Noelistes in a negative light, accusing them of racism and cyberbullying. Because the Noelistes were quickly gaining attention from a mainstream media that did not fully understand them, many articles (translated) began to appear that raised questions about whether Noelisme was a sect, a religion, or a fascist group.

A Noeliste “political party” blog was created, which serves as a satire contributing to the inside jokes:
http://partinoeliste.blogspace.fr/1/

Noelification of the French Web

Jumping on the increasing popularity, some Noelistes created “Noël” parodies of famous websites, such as:
- Noelshack version of Imageshack
- Noelfic a fanfiction site.
- Noelbook parody of Facebook
- Noelpedia parody of Wikipedia
- Noelswf a parody of Pown it

Not restricted to the French Web

In February of 2009, one member of the Noelisme hacked the front page of the US army website (translated).
This action has been covered by some other websites as well.

Complementary resources

• http://www.come4news.com/nouvelle-secte-internet-le-noelisme-528043
• http://mew-mew-power.forumactif.fr/la-salle-de-discussion-f5/le-noelisme-by-smf-t486.htm
• http://ahokay.magix.net/website/
• http://www.abstrait-concret.com/2009/08/04/les-noelistes-incarnation-numerique-dun-pan-ladolescence-francaise/

About

Paffendorf is a DJ/dance collective based in Cologne, Germany and famous throughout Europe and Japan. Paffendorf’s 2005 single Under My Skin was particularly well received in Japan, which led to a series of MAD dance videos based on a sped up version of the song. On Nico Nico Douga, the series is sometimes referred to as “at-suut-suut-su-ine-ine” (アッーウッウッイネイネ), which is a phonetic interpretation of the scratch segment used in the song.

The original song

Origin

The earliest known rendition of the meme featured Momoko Kuzuryua—a popular anime character from Sumomomo Momomo—bobbing her head to the sped up arrangement of Under My Skin; it was first uploaded on a now-defunct Geocities webpage and later on YouTube in April 2007:

The sped up version

Because the video is simple in form, easily imitated, and made use of a very popular song, the video inspired other users to create their own versions of it. In form, it is very similar to Caramelldansen and Caipirinha.

The Dance

Variations and Derivatives

Another notable version feat. “Lucky Star” characters

Vocaloid:

Kingdom Hearts:

Feat. Roxas from Kingdom Hearts:

Super Smash Bros:

Y So Serious:

Hetalia: Axis Power

Ken Amada in RPG game Persona 3:

South Park version:

Disclaimer: This entry contains material that may be unsuitable for children.

About

Purple Drank is an illegal recreational drink popular in the Southern rap/hip hop scene, a barbiturate cocktail primarily consisting of prescription-strength cough syrup. The purple-ish hue of “Purple Drank” comes from the color dyes used to make the cough syrup.

Origin

Houston-based producer DJ Screw first popularized the concoction, which is widely attributed as a source of inspiration for the “Chopped and Screwed” style of hip hop music. It first gained popularity in the Houston rap scene and later spread to other Southern states.

Popularity & Spread

In June 2000, Three 6 Mafia’s single “Sippin’ on Some Syrup,” featuring UGK brought the term “Purple Drank” to a nationwide audience.

Three 6 Mafia’s single “Rainbow Colors” featuring Lil’ Flip pertains to the consumption of Purple Drank. The addition of a Jolly Rancher candy to a cup of Purple Drank creates a spectrum of colors, hence the name. “Rainbow Colors” can also refer to a mix of different narcotic cough syrups containing anti-histamines, expectorants, and such. Various other cough syrups or combination therein also have nicknames such as “yellow syrup” and “pink syrup”. Many legal cough syrups for over-the-counter purchase in some states sometimes suffice as alternative ingredients to Purple Drank but alter the color.

As popularity of the beverage expanded to an international audience it also spread to the internet. Some miscellaneous message boards still hold discussions on Purple Drank including recipes and means to obtain the ingredients required. Some communities also perpetuate the absurdity and in comedic fashion criticize those who continue to get high off Purple Drank or ridicule the notion of the concoction itself.

Implications

DJ Screw passed away on November 16, 2000. The autopsy records listed an overdose of codeine and alcohol as the cause of death. The DEA began conducting drug busts in relation to the spread of Purple Drank in the following years mostly from within the Southern US.

Insight

The jump in July 2010 is directly related and cited to the arrest of Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell in relation to a series of Purple Drank related drug busts and possession of codeine cough syrup without a prescription.

Chopped and Screwed

Purple Drank is a major influence on a brand of Southern hip hop called Chopped and Screwed. The narcotic effects of Purple Drank slow down brain activity so to compliment the consumption is a style of music with an extremely low beat per minute count.

P2P music sharing hubs like Napster helped distribute this brand of music to a wider audience in the late 1990s. Today there are also many YouTube videos that cater or have been intentionally slowed down or altered to either appeal to people who consume or simulate the effects of Purple Drank.

T-Pain & Ludacris Spoof:

Tay Zonday’s Chocolate Rain version:

Peanut Butter Jelly Time Dance version:

Mariah Carey version:

Lil Wayne & Kanye West:

Leprechaun Remix:

Slap Chop version:

TI – What You Know: