An Introduction to Memes

Ever heard of memes? Well, if you're one of the oldsters out there reading this, probably not. If you're a youngling, you may recognize what I'm about to talk about. First, let me tell you what memes are. Basically, memes are anything that spreads very quickly through the Internet and becomes well known by Internet users. Memes can be a picture, a video clip, or something else in that nature. You have probably seen more memes than you think! I'm about to talk about memes and how they can influence you (not really, but you get my gist).

...Okay, actually, let's cut the chase and I'll just show you some pictures of popular memes you may have seen. Do not look at the link below the image unless you want to check your answer, because it may have the name of the meme in the address and it is a required citation:

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http://ohinternet.com/File:Trollface_HD.png

This meme is called "Troll Face." Some other names for it are "Coolface" and "Problem?" It first appeared as a drawing made on a popular website for drawing artists called deviantArt. With the growing rate of memes in 2008, the popularity of comics on the Internet went up. People would use memes in a four block comic strip. The meme symbolizes the expression on someone's face when they theraten or bully someone else on the Internet.

http://lulzindustries.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/forever_alone.png

Here is "Forever Alone." He symbolizes the face of someone who feels loneliness and rejection in life. 

http://hardtosayoutloud.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/me-gusta-jpg.png

This is "Me Gusta." For those that do not know, "me gusta" is Spanish for "I like." This face symbolizes the expression you make when you realize you like something that everyone else finds strange or unusual. Here's a poor example: Everyone at school hates the school lunch one day, except for you. You could say, "Me Gusta."

http://www.tutoriales7.com/img/rage_guy.jpg

Everyone say hello to "Rage Guy" also known as "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-" This guy usually appears at the end of a rage comic when someone is furious with the result of something. The long string of letters resembles a bad wor-- ...Yeah, you know what word it is.

If you would like to look at some of the comic strip memes with these meme faces, please visit http://knowyourmeme.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&context=entries&q=rage+comics, but be aware that some may be innapropriate for some viewers. I'll tell you now, there is a LOT of bad language and possibly some sexual references, so be aware and look at your own risk.

But wait! Memes aren't just faces; there are videos and other things too! To check out some meme videos, look below:

NYAN CAT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4

TROLOLOLOLO (this video relates to the "Troll Face")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6FUR_nhGX8

RICK ROLL'D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0

KEYBOARD CAT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J---aiyznGQ

NUMA NUMA

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60og9gwKh1o

To go to the ultimate source of all memes, visit http://www.knowyourmeme.com/ and you will learn EVERYTHING about current memes and old memes. Also, go to this site to search for the reason that the videos and pictures above are memes. It's a very great and reliable source for all your Internet needs.

After studying and seeing many memes, a video by a very talented group came out in late 2011. The creators used over 40 memes in the song; for example, it will have them playing "Numa Numa" on intstruments while jumping around with the meme faces like "Troll Face" and "Me Gusta." It is really creative and you need to check it out if you have seen some of the memes. It is called "Le Internet Medley"

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mghhLqu31cQ

 

 

And so, my question for the week is...

 

What do you think of memes?

Don't Let Summer Waste Away!

This summer, my friends are off to camps, going on vacation, and all other fun activities while I'm stuck at home waiting for our July vacation to start. It kind of surprises me that my friends and their families immediately go on vacation right after school lets out, though. Usually people will take a couple weeks to relax and then head off, like my family. So, I am scavenging daily for activities I can take part of. It's quite a hard task to look for things to do, and I end up repeating the same thing I do the day before.

At the end of the summer, I go back to school and everyone talks about vacations and everything that happened. I then begin to tell them about my vacations, but totally forget what I had done at home before my family's vacation had begun. I completely get paranoid and think, I just wasted a whole summer doing nothing! I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that, but I REALLY felt bad for myself.

This summer, my mom came up with the idea to keep a calendar chart of everything I did every day, such as go bowling, swimming with friends, or going to a lake. That way, at the end of the summer, I can look back at what I did each and every day. Now, I can say, hey, I didn't waste every day typing blog posts or sitting at home watching TV. My goal is to do something exciting every day this summer.

I forgot to fill out Friday's, but click on it to make it larger. Take a look at what mine looks like so far:

Pretty cool, huh? Well, I think you guys should give it a try.

My question for this week is...

What are you doing this summer?

Mario Party 9 - BIG DIFFERENCES!

I've always talked about nostalgia and how I can't relate to it as much as "90's kids" could, but the Mario Party series continues to grow in popularity from the first installment of Mario Party in 1998 to the present with the most recent Mario Party, Mario Party 9. It was released this year in the United States on March 11. It has always been a classic video game, where players choose their favorite character and travel across a board collecting coins to buy stars and become the "superstar" by collecting the most stars. This Monopoly-styled game is very fun. The game can change in numerous ways, such as buying and using items on yourself or other players, winning minigames for coins, using the dice to land on a desired spot, etc.

Here is a picture of the front cover of Mario Party 9, which I got on Monday this week:

http://www.nintendo-universe.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Mario-Party-9.jpg

 You may be thinking, how has this series lasted through nine games and still remain popular? Well, for many reasons! Each game has an addition of new minigames, items, maps, characters, and many more to make it even more exciting than before. But, this all takes a big turn in Mario Party 9. Mario Party 9 probably brought the most changes from one game to the next. First off, in the others, players traveled seperately, but now everyone travels together in a vehicle. This doesn't allow much strategy for some other players; for example, if you want to turn left when the player whose turn it is (the captain) wants to go right, you are goin' right. Second, in the other games in the series, you could set a limit to how many turns everyone takes. Now, you go from start to finish, meaning games could range from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Third, usually after everyone takes a turn, a minigame is played. Now, a minigame is only played if you land on the specific space on the board that starts a minigame. And fourth, the creators this time tried to incorporate "boss battles" into the game. You can't lose them, and it is basically a minigame. You have to understand that this game was designed for younger kids, and inside, I am. They have used many ideas from other Mario games to make it more interesting.

Don't run off thinking I hate this game, because I don't. I just enjoyed the original style Mario Party games, where players try to get coins to get stars and have a set amount of turns each. This is obviously not my favorite Mario Party game, but there are some good things about it. One thing is the exciting music. With the growing rate of techno music, Mario Party 9 has also used some techno-dubsteppy music to suit minigames. Just listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWuVx4gNjzk

While this is very upbeat and catchy, I actually enjoy a specific song from Mario Party 7. It is the theme of the board, Pagoda Peak. It is a Chinese-style board, with gongs, mountains, pagodas, and a koopa master. This is the theme of the board:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozv-8Doyx6s

I recommend purchasing this game if you enjoy Mario games, especially the Mario Party series. Hopefully, you will enjoy it as much as I do. Also, try buying one of the older Mario Party games to have a different experience! Have fun!

My question for the week is...

What do you think of the differences?



Postcrossing

Imagine going to your mailbox everyday and expecting more than just junk mail. You could be receiving plenty of exotic stamps and postcards from around the world. This is an introduction to what is known as Postcrossing. Postcrossing is a fun hobby for people of all ages who love to hear of different cultures and look at postcards from others' countries.

This online project known as Postcrossing came out in 2005 and was founded by Paulo Magalhães. The idea of the project is to send a postcard from your country to another area of the world. When that person receives a postcard, you will then receive one from another area of the world. You can choose to have the option of sending and receiving from your country as well. Be aware that just because you send to one country doesn't mean your next postcard you receive will be from that specific country.

Let me show you Postcrossing:

If you create an account, this is the first page you will see when you are registered. Let me explain everything that is on it. First, when we take a look at "Your mailbox," we see how many postcards I have sent (113), how many I have received (105), and how many postcards I have currently on the road to their selected countries (11/11). It also shows an estimate of how far your postcards have traveled and how far others' postcards have traveled to come to you.

You also get to write a bit about yourself on your profile as well as what postcards you prefer. Also, when you send or receive a card, you can upload a picture of the postcard for others to "favorite" and comment, kind of like FaceBook. When you register, you also need to give your address to your mailbox, which may make some people wary of strangers. No need to worry, because postcrossing only shares your address with people who are supposed to send you a postcard, so your address is kept safe from creepers and pedophiles.

This website is very simple to use. You click on "send a postcard" to obviously send a postcard. It will generate an address of someone who is expecting a postcard (since they already sent one to someone else). You write down their address on a postcard. Along with their address, the website generates a postcard ID. This tells what country the postcard came from. It also tells what number postcard is being sent from that country via postcrossing. For example, if you were given the ID, US-74972, then that means the postcard came from the United States of America and this is the 74,972 postcard from that country that was sent using postcrossing. This is one of the most important parts of the postcard, as it allows the other person to register it and tell postcrossing that you are expecting another postcard. Write a message to the person you are sending to after reading their profile to find out more about them. Then, apply the correct postage amount in order to send to that country. Currently in the US, it costs $1.05 to send a postcard internationally. With the poor economy, the price could rise so check with your post office for the current price to send a postcard. The Postcrossing website is absolutely free to use; however, you will have to pay for postage stamps and postcards in order to send a postcard to a country.  When the person on the other line registers it, be sure to look in your mailbox in the next upcoming days for a postcard!

Now, you may notice that I have sent more than I have received. The reason for this is because another person must register my postcard with the postcard ID in order for the website to know that I have sent one. Then, another person will receive my address and send me a postcard as well and the cycle repeats. I currently have 11 postcards that I am sending to someone else. I can only send a maximum of 11 postcards at once. Your maximum limit is determined by how many you have sent. Once you get up to 100 sent postcards, your traveling limit increases by one for every 50 you send i.e. x/11 traveling, I sent 100. x/12 traveling, I sent 150 and so on. You can click on your "traveling postcards" tab to see how long they have been traveling.

I have collected (so far) 105 postcards, which is not nearly a lot compared to others. Postcrossers have been on this website for years and they have received over 5,000! Wow! If only I had that many! You should definetly use this website if you are one who loves to collect, then you should try this out today!

My question for this week is...

What do you think of Postcrossing?

Here are some of my postcards I have received and the countries they came from:

Austria 

 Czech Republic

Portugal

 Germany

Taiwan

End-of-the-Year Hassle!

So, I've probably talked about the end of the year many times than you've probably thought. But, right before the school year ends, I have something that is new to me this year. Finals, finals, and even more finals. Let me introduce you to my current schedule:

English from 8:45 to 10:11

History from 10:11 to 10:54

Science from 10:54 to 11:37

Lunch from 11:37 to 12:07

Math from 12:07 to 1:13

Spanish from 1:13 to 2:02

Gym from 2:02 to 2:50

...and go home.

Now, on Wednesday, I had a Spanish final in which I got one point off on for not knowing how to conjugate the verb, "saber" which means "to know." Oh, well. I was the highest in the class, so that counts for something. Immediately following that Spanish final, I had cooking class instead of gym that day and had a mini quiz in that class. I do not know what I got on that quiz, but it was extremely easy; it had questions like, "What does T. and tsp. stand for?" After that, I went to Science to take my next final, and this was the part of the day that I was most scared about. I got my grade back the next day and I got a B+. Not bad, but considering it was only out of 43 points AND I'm in the highest science class in my grade, I think it was good. After the test, my friend reminded me we had a retake on our math test in our next class. We had a long-term substitute who was not the best at teaching, but had to be our math teacher. We took a test during her time with us. Everyone except me and a few others failed the test. She allowed us to retake it and she averaged the two grades. I didn't take it the second time. Our original teacher came back and let us take it AGAIN and she took the better of the two. This totals to be THREE times that we retook this test. The third one I decided to take since it couldn't harm my grade and I improved my score by 1.5 points. I winged this math test since I forgot that we were going to retake it Wednesday. Luckily, math is my best subject.

Next came Thursday. Thursday consisted of a surprise vocabulary final in English class. It wasn't graded, but we got to see how well we did. I got 107/110. After that, I had my history final on everything we learned that year. It was graded, but only counted if it improved your overall grade. I don't know what I got, but I know it improved my grade. Next, I have yet again another science test, but it was a benchmark. A benchmark is an exam we take to show how much we know to our teachers for next year. It didn't count as a grade, but they showed us our grade after we took it. I got 26/30 and missed questions on the areas that we were never taught, so that is good. And later, I went to math and had my mid-term, which is basically the final, but for math. You see, my math class does half of our algebra book in one year, and then the other half the next year. The math class above us does the whole book in one year. My math class is the second-highest math class and the math class that learns the whole book in a year is the highest class. However, almost everyone in that class is failing, so I'm glad I'm in the second-highest. It's perfect for me. Anyway, I got one point off on my mid-term. Wow, four tests in a row.

So as you may be able to tell, it was very hectic for me. Two days in a row were constant tests. But thankfully, everyone got a chance to relax on Friday while my jazz band and choir got to go to our four elementary schools in our district and perform. Believe me, I was DEAD TIRED at the end of Friday; try playing and singing the same music four times in one day! We also played (not our instruments) at the park and ate lunch while we were at it. When we returned to our middle school, it was about ten minutes until the day ended, so I ran to my locker to get my stuff for math class, but on the way down, I peeked into the room and saw everyone dancing! I realized they were practicing for the talent show that our class is in! We're all doing the Cupid Shuffle at our school's talent show for fun. I was also welcomed with the rest of the teacher's candy! It was a great day overall!

Here's a video of the dance we're doing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24_zoqu4_Q

Now all I have are one and a half days of school left and then SUMMER BREAK!!!!!!!

My question for the week is...

What was your first experience with finals in school?