Something very epic just happened in the chess community this week. World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen used a fabled meme opening called the 'Bongcloud Attack' against Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, who returned another Bongcloud, resulting in the two opponents cracking up through the beginning of the game. According to Know Your Meme, 'The Bongcloud Attack is a chess opening named after player Lenny Bongcloud in which the player moves their Pawn at e2 (in front of the King) forward, then moves their king forward a space on their next move, leaving them in a vulnerable position and less likely to win.' In other words, no one in their right mind would use this opening unless they were doing an epic troll. If you're a fan of both chess and memes, this is a legendary moment you won't want to sleep on.
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After nearly a year of social distancing, quarantines, and working from home, navigating virtual methods for professional meetings and classes has been a challenge to say the least. We've seen our fair share of viral virtual meeting mishaps, from bosses stuck as potatoes, to the infamous 'Zoom dick' incident. Well apparently the technical difficulties have yet to be resolved for some. Just today, Texas lawyer Rod Ponton showed up to the virtual 394th district of Texas as a conspicuously worried kitten and couldn't figure out how to exit the Zoom filter. After some hilariously awkward back-and-forth attempts at troubleshooting the situation, Ponton finally accepted his newfound kitten-form and said, 'I'm prepared to go forward with it.' Respect.
Rumors of Antifa being behind the January 6th storming of the capitol began almost as quickly as the Pro-Trump rally turned into an insurrection. Many far right conservatives and MAGA gangs seemed to immediately pass the blame to the anti-fascist group - much as they claimed Antifa was behind the BLM protests. Even though the FBI was quick to debunk the rumors, it seems that many followers of right-leaning mainstream media are still eager to deflect blame and weave more conspiratorial drama.
While some of these believers will continue to swim in their seas of confirmation bias, others are apparently grapping with family members who won't stand for the BS. This viral video, in which a kid puts their mom on blast for her insistence that MAGA did no wrong, is a pretty great example of the latter. While it doesn't seem like they've changed their mom's mind, it's pretty entertaining to see mom struggle to explain something that's completely false. The reactions ain't bad either.
Remember the time Kanye kidnapped Kenny G and had him perform in the middle of a room full of roses as a Valentine's gift to Kim Kardashian? Well, we didn't think it was possible, but he really one-upped himself with his latest stunt. At Kim's extravagant birthday getaway on some private island, Kanye arranged a simulated reunion with her dead dad. Yup. Kim and her sisters were led into a dark room to greet a holographic deepfake of Robert Kardashian doing a (totally human) little dance and delivering a bizarre monologue from heaven about how much he misses the family and what a genius Kanye West is.
Almost immediately after Kim tweeted a video of the hologram, Twitter predictably exploded with jokes and bewilderment. You'd think that by now we'd all be immune to bizarre and outrageous cultural events, but man, this demented year keeps delivering the weirdness at an impressive rate. We've put together some of the best Twitter reactions to the garish birthday gift.
What is going on with these politicians? They're beginning to make the art of parody futile with these recurring shows of madness. Last month, former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin posted a home video in which she calls out Senator Lisa Murkowski for not supporting President Trump's decision to nominate a Supreme Court justice. Sounds simple enough, but the clip itself takes some effort to decipher. The video starts with the words 'Dear Lisa' superimposed over Palin as she says, "Lisa Murkowski, this is my house." She continues to exclaim "this is my house" several more times, as if she was trying out different cadences but forgot to exclude the outtakes. The whole thing was shot and edited like a Godard film—jump cuts in the middle of sentences, sudden closeups in black and white, dutch angles with debris in the middle of the frame—you have to wonder if calling out Murkowski was just Palin's excuse to come out as an avant garde filmmaker. And then there's her performance, which is really something else. Forget Tina Fey—imagine Conner O'Malley playing Sarah Palin. At the end of the video, she points out into the distance and says, "I can see a lot of things from my house...Lisa, I can see 2022 from my house." Was this both a vague threat to challenge Murkowski's senate seat and a reference to the infamous 'I can see Russia from my house' 2008 SNL gag?
The video Palin initially posted to her personal Instagram account was mostly seen by her followers and supporters, and so for the first few weeks it slipped under the radar, but a shorter version was recently shared on Twitter to a much wider audience. We've included the short version of the video, some amusing replies from one Twitter thread, and the original Instagram video posted by Sarah Palin.
If you've been on the internet at all over the last couple weeks, chances are you've seen Nathan Apodaca's viral video in which he is skateboarding (and drinking Ocean Spray cranberry juice) to Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams.' The wholesome TikTok brightened the collective spirit of the internet, and inspired responses from Mick Fleetwood and the CEO of Ocean Spray himself.
Ocean Spray's Tom Hayes didn't stop at making a copycat video to show appreciation for Nathan Apodaca's unintentional viral marketing for his brand. The farmer-owned cooperative decided to pay Apodaca a surprise visit in Idaho, and gifted the TikTok sensation a brand new Nissan truck - and a whole lot of juice.
The gift is a blessing to Apodaca, who has been living in an RV outside his brother's house. Generous fans have donated over $10k to improve his situation. The money was originally going to help him upgrade his car, but it seems like Ocean Spray has helped him cross that off his list. We're happy to see the genius behind 420doggface208 feel some of the love he's given to the rest of the world.
If you'd like to support Nathan follow him on TikTok and Instagram, and perhaps consider purchasing some of his merch. Your vibes will thank you.
We all inherently know that sweet, sweet Keanu Reeves belongs in the annals of history, but his recent appearance in a Ukrainian history textbook was decidedly unintentional - and is receiving a lot of attention on Twitter. According to the BBC, Twitter user @jigsawdeaad was perusing the textbook and spotted Sad Keanu in a famous photo of New York iron workers taking a break from building a skyscraper.
Though most people on Twitter shared the photo in the spirit of humor and because, well, Keanu, some people were not so pleased with the error. On Facebook, some people expressed their disappointment that publications are relying on quick Google searches to fill the educational tomes. While the publishing company claims the error came from one of their designers, the book's author, Ihor Schupak, came out to express that he'd been well aware of the blunder.
"When the designer who worked with me on the book's illustrations showed me that photo with Keanu Reeves, I didn't notice that small detail at first," he wrote on Facebook after the photoshopped photo was noticed and widely reported in Ukraine. "But when I understood the meme, I decided to keep it."
Whether or not that story is true, the whole thing is incredibly entertaining. And just more proof that Keanu Reeves is immortal.
Long distance relationships are hard. There's the lack of physical intimacy, dealing with different time-zones, and for many people, the constant worry of a wandering eye. When it all gets to be too much, you either choose to end it via phone, or in person, if you're exceptionally mature. Neither of these options seemed suitable to one very creative woman named Cheyenne. Cheyenne decided to use Cameo to break up with her long distance boo, Brayden - and chose Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray to deliver the difficult news.
This is the first Cameo breakup we've ever seen, and the tweet that brought it to our attentionhas gone completely viral - so we're willing to bet this is novel to a lot of people. Even the responses are pure gold, low-effort "When It's Over" reference included.
Rainbow lover and mutual oral-sex lover Tekashi 6ix9inetestified last week about his involvement with the Nine Trey Bloods gang last week, and allegedly gave up information on members as high profile as Cardi B. and Jim Jones. The rapper's quickness to snitch on members has led to an explosion of memes mocking his ratting, and many of them are insanely funny. In the age of the internet, snitches don't just have to worry about getting stitches. They've got to worry about getting meme'd. And we love it.
Disneyland went straight Worldstarhiphop on Saturday when a wild brawl broke out between feuding family members. The fight, which occurred at the bustling Toon Town area of the park, lasted a whopping five minutes and involved an impressive cast of characters. Passerbys were shocked to see men and women being struck down until Disney security, who took eons to respond, arrived to cool the situation down.
Twitter user @KassieMe made a viral flow chart of the parties involved, and updated the internet with the action (very little) that had been taken in the wake of the brawl. Many people are admonishing the police and the Disneyland park for their apparent inability to take action in this matter, especially considering there were innocent children involved. You can view the insane video, and the best reactions, below.
Our new favorite social media challenge has officially reached viral status thanks to some seriously dexterous celebrities. The Bottle Cap Challenge was started by Taekwondo champion Farabi Davletchin on June 25th. He uploaded a video of himself kicking a loose bottle cap off of a bottle, and challenged Jason Statham, Connor McGregor, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan to do the same. Statham finally accepted after John Mayer posted his own video and challenge.
In terms of style, you can see below that Statham is a clear winner - though we're seriously appreciating the rapport between the bald action star and his frequent collaborator, director Guy Ritchie. The filmmaker deserves some serious props for his incredible confidence. We've put together the most popular instances of this social media phenomenon, and we're keeping our eyes peeled for more celebrities that just want to show off. Fingers crossed that Jackie Chan comes through!
There's a very special place where Slipknot fans and Spongebob Squarepants fans can both rejoice, and it's within this video of Corey Taylor performing the show's theme song for a crowd in London. This magical moment may have occurred a few years ago, but the feels really never get old.
The inevitability of death is something that all humans share - regardless of politics or religion. Another would be the fact that most of us want to be remembered positively. Obituaries are one way in which those who have passed can be semi-immortalized, and are generally reserved to vague pleasantries and celebrations. Every now and then, however, there is an exception. The shockingly shade-filled obituary of Kathleen Dehmlow falls into this category.
Twitter user @RandBallsStu was first to notice the scathing, five-paragraph obituary. The obit starts off innocently enough, detailing her birth, marriage, and the birth of her first two children. That's when things get weird. Apparently, Dehmlow became pregnant by her brother-in-law and moved to Califonia - leaving her children Jay and Gina to be raised by her parents. The account becomes more bitter from there, leaving us to assume that Jay and Gina might have had something to do with the publication.
@RandBallsStu's tweet quickly went viral, with other Twitter users expressing their shock - and glee - at the hate-filled death notice.
Class trips can be a terrifying journey. 20+ kids, thrown into the wilds, begging to be wrangled and wreaking havoc. This clueless Dad learned this lesson the hard way after volunteering to chaperone his kid's field trip. While the journey sounds harrowing, it's a happy ending. All teachers deserve this much respect!
