The country of New Zealand has crowned an overly-fluffy, drunk, and adorably clumsy species of pigeon its bird of the year. Known as the the kererū or wood pigeon, the bird received the most votes in the country's annual Forest & Bird's annual Bird of the Year competition. While it's as cute as it is tubby, the wood pigeon is also known for scoffing down fermented fruit, which often renders it slightly drunk. And yes, it makes for YouTube gold. The campaign, which also spawned a Twitter account dedicated to the bird's endearing qualities, took advantage of its sheer size, and drunk uncle...
A picture of US President Donald Trump fist-pumping supporters on his way to a 9/11 memorial in Pennsylvania has gone viral. Although a full length video of the President acknowledging supporters doesn't seem out of character for the exuberant 72-year-old, a still of the moment, captured by AP photographer Evan Vucci, is far less flattering. President Donald Trump does double fist pump on way to a 9/11 event in Shanksville. #September11th pic.twitter.com/5ydGQ34LEv — Circa (@Circa) September 11, 2018 On Tuesday, as America observed the 17th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Trump, his wife Melania and security detail were pictured at an airfield apron. The...
Arsenal is a massive football club, but there's one thing even bigger than it: #WengerOut. The hashtag has become something of a global meme since it began as a way for fans to show displeasure towards their long standing manager's, Arsene Wenger, tactics. Hell, it even has a Know Your Meme page, and has been spotted at protests (including those against former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe last year). While Wenger finally left the club before the 2018/19 season began, he was replaced by Spanish manager Unai Emery. But it seems that Arsenal fans just can't find a manager they like. Because memes...
You just can't keep US President Donald Trump out of the meme world for too long. Well, at least him and German chancellor Angela Merkel. On Friday, Merkel's social media team published the image to Instagram, where it received more than 65 000 likes and 4700 comments. From there, it found its way onto Twitter, where users highlighted the indifferent expressions of the world leaders. The scene itself is straight out of a baroque painting. Angela Merkel's office has released this photo taken today at the G7, which tells you a lot about how things went. pic.twitter.com/IXX6K3ayys — David Mack (@davidmackau) June 9,...
This past Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa demonstrated that the State of the Nation Address (SONA) can go on without Jacob Zuma. And South Africa's meme game (like its currency) was stronger than ever. So what were some of the gems that were inspired by this year's address? Sit back and enjoy the five best memes from this year's SONA. SONA 2018 meme #5: Ministers of Unemployment Widely believed to be replaced as the Minister of Twitter Minister of Police in the coming days, Fikile Mbalula took to Twitter Friday to rubbish claims he was afraid of Ramaphosa's potential plans. But instead of opposing...
The internet is an odd and confusing place, and the gaming world's latest meme is solid proof of this. If you haven't yet heard of VRChat, Sonic The Hedgehog's marsupial friend Knuckles, and his insulting Ugandan-accented equivalent, take a seat, because there's a lot to explain. All in all, throw these into a casserole dish, simmer for a few months on the internet, season liberally with shares, likes and overuse, and you have yourself the Ugandan Knuckles meme. VRChat Let's begin with what has become the meme's primary vehicle thus far -- VRChat. It's a free-to-play game that lets users interact in a virtual...
The remnants of Hurricane Ophelia is currently battering the south-western coastline of Ireland, but much of the country doesn't seem to be taking it very seriously. #Ophelia is currently trending worldwide on Twitter at present, and obviously in Ireland. But while that hashtag does include updates on the storm, alerts and citizen reports, it also includes a healthy dosage of memes. The snarky comments emanating from the emerald isle is as humourous as it is worrying, considering that Ex-Ophelia (as the UK Met Office is calling her) is still packing wind gusts in excess of 170km/h. This must be a the strongest...
Today at its headquarters in Cupertino, Apple announced a refreshed product lineup including a number of new iPhones, a new Apple TV and a shiny new Apple Watch, and Twitter users were (sure enough) reporting live from their armchairs. For all the technical specifications and more, you might want to visit our sister site Gearburn. But over here, we took a deeper, introspective look at social media's reaction to Apple's launch event, from start to finish. Sit back, and enjoy the memes, joy and jibes from the bleachers. The buildup... The hype pre-event was palpable, with many readying getting those stacks of dollars. #AppleEvent Tim...
Pepe the Frog creator Matt Furie has long been fighting the appropriation of his character by the US far right, and he just won a minor battle, Motherboard reports. A children's book that touted Islamophobic and anti-immigration views has been pulled from Amazon after Furie sued him for copyright infringement, and the profits (US$1521) will be donated to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim-American advocacy group. The book, written by former Texan assistant principal Eric Hauser, told the story of two friends -- Pepe and Pede -- who fought to keep evil alligator Alkah out of their home, Wishington Farm. Alkah -- just...
It's Monday. But instead of throwing that alarm clock out of the window and cowering beneath the covers, why not take some time to bitch about how short the weekend was? And where better to do just that than Twitter. Feeling the bone-chilling embrace of the new work week, South African Twitter is today talking about the little things that annoy them to no end. #101ThingsIFindAnnoying began trending countrywide late morning, thanks to an initial tweet by Twitter user Sheldon Cameron. #101ThingsIFindAnnoying Stores advertising things and when you get there dololo stock. pic.twitter.com/eYTDW39ngC — Sheldon Cameron (@Sheldon_Cameron) July 24, 2017 Soon enough, the rest of...
Citizens of South Africa are no strangers to creating their own memes -- from cheeky hashtags to images that ire Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, they know how to start a trend. But despite the amount of original content, there is one thing South Africans do not have control over: the GIFs they use. Sure, GIFs are still a big part of South African Twitter, but they aren't locally made and often make use of American content. Hlaudi - "I don't want to respond to the wind." 😂😂💩#CountryDutypic.twitter.com/3CLTMqKstx — SnoopyBez (@SnoopyBez) July 18, 2017 There are few reasons why South Africa may still rely on internationally...
YouTuber Jake Paul has fallen under the scrutiny of his local community, who say he has made their street in West Hollywood a living hell. Local news outlet KTLA aired a piece on the social media star's antics, corroborating neighbours' claims that Paul is a nuisance to the public. In the clip, journalist Chris Wolfe describes how Paul has set furniture alight in an empty pool, attracts dozens of fans to his street daily, and obstructs traffic for the thrill of it. "It used to be a really nice, quiet street," a neighbour said. "Now we're just this, like, war zone. We're...
It's difficult to imagine a world of communication without the wonder of GIFs, but that's how people had to live just 30 years ago. Today, 15 June, is the 30th birthday of the GIF and we thought it an apt time to pool together some of the most iconic looped images in celebration. It's party time. Dancing Banana Dancing banana came from web classic Peanut Butter Jelly Time and we owe so much of "random xD" culture to it. A blessing and a curse, but today we love you, banana. Perfectly looped rap battle This beautiful GIF feels like its been around since the world's existence, but somehow...
It's been one whole year without Harambe, internet. Sunday marked 365 days since the silverback gorilla was shot at the Cincinnati Zoo after a four-year-old fell into its enclosure. The incident has become an iconic moment in pop culture, drawing criticism from both sides of the argument. While some blame the child's parents, others believe it was right to shoot the gorilla. A swathe of others believed that the Zoo should bear the brunt of the legal charges. But the internet doesn't forget, especially when Harambe is the topic of conversation. One Year Ago Today: We lost a great one. RIP Harambe pic.twitter.com/loTqPM2VGO — Gentleman's...
It's not often Twitter users see more than 1000 retweets for a single tweet, let alone 3.5-million, but that's what internet famous nugget-loving teenager Carter Wilkerson achieved this week. Ousting previous record holder Ellen DeGeneres for posting the most retweeted tweet of all time, Wilkerson has single-handedly turned the humble chicken nugget into a meme. HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS pic.twitter.com/4SrfHmEMo3 — Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) April 6, 2017 In total, his tweet now boasts over 3.5-million retweets, compared that 2014 Oscar selfie with 3.4-million retweets. While he's still nowhere near that 18-million retweet milestone Wendy's set for "a year of free...
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