In doing a recent load of mixed cotton laundry, a cat named Gus did the unthinkable.
“He completely forgot to add a color catcher — you know, that thing that prevents the dyes from bleeding into other fabrics,” says Lauren Singleton, who discovered the mixed load Tuesday morning.
No word yet on whether there’s been a color transfer. “We’ll only really know after they come out of the dryer,” says Singleton. “It certainly didn’t help that he mixed himself in there with the clothes.”
Via Ma1974.
It's a slow news day out there, so we're going to spotlight this video of a grown man testing out the water pressure on his newly purchased $28 bidet.
You know what a bidet is, right? That toilet-looking thing that sits next to your toilet in all the European hotels and hostels you frequent? It’s there because it's apparently pretty good at cleaning out your nether regions after defecation—the thing clears your poop!—but I've got to admit that I've never come close to considering its use. Something about a concentrated stream of water bum-rushing your bum doesn't exactly scream "satisfaction."
It does, however, scream.
That's the realization that YouTuber JohnnyNapalm2001 arrived at upon the conclusion of his two-minute "Testing out the Astor Fresh Water Bidet" video. The clip, which finds Johnny sampling all five levels of the bidet's power stream system while his black cat watches on.
Things don't really get moving until level three, which Johnny describes as "kind of painful." Evidently "four's a lot," and "five proved a little too much."
The general consensus: those lower levels clean out the body's dirty parts just fine. Thanks to JohnnyNapalm2001, more than 27,000 won’t have to learn that the hard way.
h/t Gawker // Photo via JohnnyNapalm2001/YouTube
Fans of Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23 are hoping to resolve their trust issues with ABC after the network all but canceled the show.
Devoted watchers have created a Facebook campaign in an attempt to save the quirky comedy from cancellation. The page, created in December in response to rumors of the show's demise, gained momentum after James Van Der Beek tweeted that it had been axed.
"Sad to say ABC has pulled #Apt23 and will not be airing the 8 remaining episodes any time soon. Translation: we’ve basically been cancelled," tweeted Van Der Beek, who plays a parody of himself on the show.
The show stars Krysten Ritter as Chloe, a morally flawed roommate to idealistic June, played by Dreama Walker. It premiered last year to generally favorable reviews.
The page is steadily growing in fans, with about 2,600 likes at last check. Many of the messages are from fans professing their love for the show or delusional postings for other networks to resume production.
"Please don't cancel this show, I love it," wrote Hoot Crawford. Another fan suggested writing to CW or Showtime to complain. "This show needs to be on!" demanded Sarath Chandra Kumar.
The show generated a loyal and vocal fan base but failed to grab respectable ratings after it was moved from its plush post–Modern Family slot. A recent airing collected a measly 1.76 million viewers—landing it in last place in its time slot—making it unlikely it will ever be shown again.
Additionally, social media campaigns have rarely, if ever, saved shows.
We hardly knew ya, B----.
Photo via Save Don't Trust the B in Apt 23/Facebook
With more than 72 hours of footage uploaded every minute, it's physically impossible to keep track of the content on YouTube. But in YouTube Guide, the Daily Dot will curate its five favorite finds for each workday.
1) nqtv, "Around The World (Rémi Gaillard)"
One shirt design by notorious prankster Rémi Gaillard just went global. The journey started in France, but the shirt's message, which metaphorically translates to "it's by doing whatever, that one becomes whoever," travels to almost every continent as everyone joins in dancing to Daft Punk.
2) The Gregory Brothers, "Obama Sings 'Let's Stay Together'"
The Gregory Brothers teamed up with Barack's Dubs to turn President Obama’s serenade to Michelle into an auto-tuned dub with some backup vocals from Joe Biden and the Gregory Brothers themselves.
3) ESPN, "This Is SportsCenter - Henrik Lundqvist"
ESPN hired a new chef for their cafeteria, and while he's world-renowned, nobody can understand the Swedish Chef until New York Rangers Goaltender (and fellow Swede) Henrik Lundqvist stops by.
4) pitchforktv, "Shugo Tokumaru - 'Katachi'"
The latest music video from Japanese pop artist Shugo Tokumaru is made entirely with stop-motion animation of origami and cut-out paper shapes that look like it came straight out of a kaleidoscope.
5) Man VsSubway, "Man vs Subway"
One French commuter hops off the Tube in Paris and manages to run through the city in order to make the train at the following stop, and it's all caught on camera.
Photo via nqtv/YouTube
Here at the Daily Dot, we swap GIF images with each other every morning. Now we’re looping you in. In the Morning GIF, we feature a popular—or just plain cool—GIF we found on Reddit, Canvas, or elsewhere on the Internet.
Fracking keys: How do they work?
Apparently, nobody on the Internet has that delightful Reader's Digest book which explains how everything in your house works and how to fix it when it doesn't. I read it when I was 8 and have ruined many a credit card since successfully breaking into my own apartment when I've forgotten my keys. Some things you just never forget.
For those of you who'd rather get home in the more basic "use key to unlock door" way, Tumblr has you covered. Now you can use a key armed with more than mere mystic faith that the little lock elves will recognize it as a talisman of power and let you in. There are nearly as many explanatory key GIFs as there are door locks in Honda Civics (i.e., five or so) and we've got the most popular.
Gone viral on Gizmodo, this GIF first made the rounds of Tumblr in December, and heavy Tumblrers are already over it, as poignantly expressed on Catering to the Id:
G: ok so I never knew how many fucking people don't know how keys work
G: because if that fucking key gif scrolls down my goddamned dash one more time...
L: ROFL
G: I LEARNED THIS FROM SESAME STREET BITCHES, WHERE WERE YOU?
L: INORITE? HOW DO PEOPLE NOT KNOW ABOUT TUMBLERS?
L: MAYBE IT'S THE IRONY?
G: ON A SITE
G: CALLED
G: TUMBLR
Point taken.
The Bored Ninja has an animated version, for those who prefer bright primary colors. Nice work on the springs, boys.
And Reddit's favorite image site Imgur has an actual key in an actual lock. No foofy CGI for that crowd, thankyouverymuch! The 348,440 views collected over seven months make this the grand old GIF of keydom, the undisputed ruler.
Wait! Not so fast. There's one more Key, and this is clearly the key to Tumblr's K-pop obsessed heart. This one:
A local bunny named Dexter forfeited a game of hide-and-seek this afternoon after leaving his hiding spot early. A spokesperson for the Spokane Hide-and-Seek League said that as soon as Dexter vacated his spot, he immediately forfeited the match.
“It’s a shame,” said sportswriter Tyler Gray. “He had a great spot and the seekers were nowhere near close to finding him. To just give up like that is a real disappointment.”
No word on what made Dexter give up, but indications are that he had just grown tired of waiting to be found.
Via tessyxmb.
Fans are a special breed of people.
They follow, haunt, and defend any cynics of their chosen affection. They're usually found hiding on social media, waiting to latch on to the latest controversy and shower their star with much-needed support—and stamp out the haters.
If you encounter them in the den of Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr, you need to be ready. With that in mind, we created primer and survival guide to five of strangest and strongest fandoms for female pop stars.
Here's what you need to know before encroaching on #RihannaNavy territory or finding yourself in the middle of #Swifties nation.
1) Rihanna // #rihannanavy
Origin: It's unclear where the hashtag exactly started, but it dates back to at least 2009. That’s when the controversial R&B diva dropped “G4L” on her fourth studio album Rated R, in which she croons, "We're an army, better yet a navy." The nautically themed title was reinforced in her 2012 movie Battleship. She was a "weapons general" and said a lot of award-worthy lines like "Chicken!," "Weird, man!" and "Get up princess! Come on!"
Branding: There appears to be no "official" logo, but they sure love to capitalize on that "Keep Calm" meme with a knock-off proclaiming "Keep Calm and join Rihanna Navy."
Influence: 16,000 tweets in the last 30 days, according to Topsy.
Fans' favorite platform: It's a tie between Twitter and Instagram. RiRi is a prolific Instagram user, keeping her 4.4 million followers updated on the stupidest memes and her questionable life choices. There is a well-documented Navy deployment following each of her posts, usually showering her in compliments; but it's the #rihannanavy tag that best exemplifies her fans devotion. It mostly consists of fan pictures, gaudy-looking memes, and fan drawings of their queen.
On Twitter, the fans' tone is much different and more business-like. It's not uncommon for members of the #RihannaNavy to act as a political action committee to siphon award votes for the singer. Some accounts wax adoringly about her: "Rihanna actually fits the definition of a diamond: beautiful, radiant, multifaceted, stronger than steel. #Diamonds," tweeted @RihannaNavy.
Weird fanart: Whatever the hell this is.
Photo via @RihannaNavy/Twitter
2) Katy Perry // #katycats
Branding: They have a logo stylized after Perry's album covers.
Influence: 48,000 tweets purred in the last 30 days.
Fans' favorite platform: Given her penchant for outlandish costumes, Tumblr's image-heavy platform makes for an ideal homebase for Katy Cats. There's countless single-serving Tumblrs devoted to the pop star, exhibiting everything from fan-knitted dresses baring her face, her #gym, #casual workout gear, and of course, GIFs of Perry either performing or doing some sort of head nod/possible secret message to fans.
Then there's this GIF of Justin Bieber hugging Perry that, judging by its 33,000 notes, made tweens explode everywhere. All in all, it's a pretty tame fanbase, filled with optimism and positivity that we're all fireworks.
Weird fanart: Not even rage faces are immune from Katy fever.
Photo via Topsy
3) Demi Lovato // #lovatics
Branding: "I am Lovatic" appears to be their universal chant.
Influence: 76,000 tweets in the last 30 days.
Fans' favorite platform: A tie between Twitter and Tumblr. It's best to step-off from taunting a #lovatic or they will fight you with positivity. Lovato, who has angled herself as the tween-version of Oprah, leads the charge by using her 11-million-strong Twitter account as a rallying call for love and support. A tweet from Lovato proclaiming her love for the fandom (written in October 2011) earned 19,000 retweets and still is actively shared by fans everywhere.
Lovato is an anti-bullying spokeswoman and Tumblr is where her messages are energetically shared. Mixed-media fan art of Lovato is adorned with uplifting phrases like "Unbroken," and GIFs of her stint on Fox's The X Factor are routinely shared. In October, #lovatics created a social media-heavy campaign to pray for Lovato's sick aunt.
Weird fanart: This Hunger Games homage.
Photo via Topsy
4) Lady Gaga // #littlemonsters
Branding: There's no universal style guide for Little Monsters but the the "t" in the latter word tends to be drawn as a cross. Also, paws-up is mandatory when professing your membership.
Influence: 10,000 tweets in the past 30 days; but Lady Gaga does have her own specially branded social network.
Fans' favorite platform: It's hard not see the influence Mother Monster has on her fans on Tumblr. The blogging site is filled with masterly drawn fanart that balances between the brilliant and the bizarre. Little Monsters also fans visually exhibit their affection by posting "unboxing," pictures of concert tickets, and photos emulating Gaga's fashion.
Weird fanart: This pencil sketch.
Photo via Francisco Monster/Tumblr
5) Taylor Swift // #swifties
Origin: Created by the fans themselves, the nickname plays off the country heartbreaker’s last name. There is still debate how its correctly spelled: Swifty or Swiftie, with the consensus torn. "Swifty is grammatically correct, I think" a user cautiously offered on Swift's official message board.
Branding: The group doesn't have a universal logo, but variations of the word are often drawn in cursive. It appears carefree... just like Taylor; she's just so laid back and not crazy.
Influence: 159,000 tweets in the past 30 days.
Fans' favorite platform: As I've learned, if you tweet anything disparaging about Swift, they will come and find you on Twitter. They're the most organized camp with splinter-groups divided by armies, countries, and ex-boyfriends, devoted to spreading gossip and stamping out naysayers, acting as a propaganda arm for the pop star. A large amount of tweets tagged #swifties are looking for "follow backs" to increase their Swiftdom.
Weird fanart: Swiftie propaganda at its finest.
Photo via nightowldiary/Tumblr
Photo of Taylor Swift via avrilllllla/Flickr; Katy Perry via suran2007/Flickr; Demi Lovato: Fockr/Flickr; Lady Gaga via Tj Sengel/Flickr; Rihanna via avrilllllla/Flickr
In the future, a picture might be worth a thousand words—spoken by Dwayne Johnson.
New Line Cinema has bought the movie rights of an illustration that became a meme. The future film, tentatively titled Teddy Bear, will star the wrestler-cum-actor known to most as the Rock. But there is no writer attached to the project yet, and the plot is a furry, fluffy question mark.
The picture, drawn by fantasy artist Alex Panagopoulos, features a little girl asleep in bed while a small bear holding a small wooden sword and shield protects her from a monster. It has since evolved into a meme, the caption reading, "Teddy Bears: Protecting innocent children from monsters under the bed since 1902."
This is just one of the several projects Hollywood has culled from the Internet. In October, CBS announced it had picked up the rights to a single-serve Tumblr called "Hollywood Assistants." A day later, NBC said it would transform another Tumblr, Emma Koenig's "F*ck! I'm in My Twenties," into a half-hour comedy. Even Reddit threads are fair game: In 2011, a comment turned into a movie deal for a film called Rome Sweet Rome, still in development.
Hiram Garcia, a former assistant of Johnson's, discovered the picture and showed it to Beau Flynn, now on board to produce the film. They had collaborated on the 2012 family adventure Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, which might give fans a clue as to Teddy Bear's genre.
Fans are already hypothesizing about the movie's appearance. The box office success of Ted, a raunchy teddy bear buddy comedy produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, no doubt influenced New Line's purchase.
Considering the names attached and Johnson's affection for children's movies, Teddy Bear will likely stay PG. But whether the film will be live-action or CGI remains up for debate.
"Judging by their past work, we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the movie ends up being those ones filmed entirely in front of green screen with settings superficially rendered in CGI," writes Geekosystem. "So any hopes of it harking back to those days when family movies were sometimes dark, creepy, and still entertaining are certainly out the window."
Photo via David Shankbone/Flickr
Over the years, the review section of Amazon—muchlikeYelp's—has evolved beyond serving as a public forum for customers to recount their past experiences with a particular product.
Whereas before, this space was used as a guide to assist or alert potential buyers about a given item, it has now become a source of great hilarity. It has transformed into a place where Internet users can display their wit and comedic chops.
There are multiple reasons why an Amazon product would attract hilarious, trolling reviews. Sometimes the item brings it upon itself, whether it be because of a company's poor marketing or because of the absurdity of its price. At other moments, a well-known figure—let's hypothetically say a presidential candidate—makes a stupid comment in front of millions that thrusts said product into the forefront.
Whatever the case may be, Amazon-trolling product reviews are hilarious. For your viewing pleasure, we've compiled 10 of the best ones.
via Amazon
We're still not entirely sure how or why this magical kitchen utensil drew the attention of the reviewers, but we're sure glad they took notice. (Click to embiggen.)
2) Blue Raspberry Rock Candy Crystals
via Amazon
When your product uncannily resembles the blue crystal meth cooked up by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in the hit AMC series Breaking Bad, you best believe that people are going to notice.
Some, like drug dealer Tuco Salamanca, will attest to its purity.
Not everyone's a fan, however. A so-called Heisenberg is less than pleased that Dryden & Palmer, the company behind the candy, are cutting into his turf. Best watch out, guys. Heisenberg is known to kill those who threaten his livelihood.
3) Binders
via Amazon
One of the lowest points in Mitt Romney's presidential campaign came after he uttered the term "binders full of women." For those who missed the debates, the GOP candidate used the now-ubiquitous phrase to refer to how he selected female cabinet members while he was governor of Massachusetts. The gaffe may have cost Romney a few votes, but it also spawned a hilarious series of pro-feminist binder reviews.
4) Bic "Cristal for Her" Ball Pen
via Amazon
Speaking of justifiably angry reviewers, this poorly thought-out product—someone in marketing was surely fired for this—drew ire and dripping sarcasm in full force.
5) Playmobil Security Check Point
via Amazon
Fact: One of the worst experiences any human can have is to be stuck in line for hours at an airport security checkpoint. It's like one notch below waterboarding.
For whatever reason, toymaker Playmobil thought it would be a great idea to make a toy depicting everyone's least favorite travel activity. Thankfully, the reviewers put these guys in their place.
6) Maisto Metal Drone Toy Replica
via Amazon
Hot Wheels aren't cool. You know what's cool? A miniature toy version that glorifies a military machine responsible for the deaths of many across the Middle East.
7) AudioQuest Diamond HDMI Cable
via Amazon
Sometimes you just have to have the best resolution. How else will you be able to enjoy the 1080p crispness of the Jack and Jill Blu-Ray? To have the highest quality, you need to spend top-dollar, like this-HDMI-cable-cost-more-than-my-TV-did top dollar.
8) Sharp Provolone Piccante Cheese (Whole Wheel)
via Amazon
Much like the banana peeler on this list, we're not entirely sure why the snarky and clever reviewers chose to litter this product's page with hilarious comments.Then again,the notion of buying a whole 60-pound wheel of cheese via Amazon is pretty ridiculous itself.
9) Uranium Ore
via Amazon
Sure, it's extremely disconcerting that you can purchase radioactive uranium from the same place you get the novelty item "Liquid Ass." But then again, if this admittedly terrifying product weren't available on the giant online retailer, we'd be deprived of these amazing (and nerdy) product reviews.
via Amazon
Of course we were going to end our list with the epic Three Wolf Moon shirt. Even if this bad boy, which had its first laugh-inducing review on November 2008, isn't the first to originate the comical and satirical format, it's one of the most popular. As of this writing, it has garnered more than 2,000 reviews, the bulk of them exalting the almost magical and mythical powers of the shirt.
Even the highest-grossing movie of all time isn't sin-free.
CinemaSins started to point out many of the things that are with popular fmoviess last month, but they hadn't touched a movie released before 2012 until now.
This time they're taking on the juggernaut (and one of the more polarizing movies of today) known as Avatar, the 2009 movie from director James Cameron that's been described as a "splendid visual feast" and "utter shit."
Avatar won three Academy Awards and received a rating of 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but it has often been criticized for its overabundance of special effects and an unoriginal plot, which has been compared to animated children's films like Pocahontas and Ferngully.
In just four minutes, the CinemaSins guys manage to pinpoint where Avatar rips off Aliens, Jurassic Park, Turok the Dinosaur Hunter, and the Battle of Endor, and somehow used the "Prometheus school of running away from large toppling objects" years before it came out in theaters.
"Typical James Cameron: preaches peace with one hand, while masturbating to all the explosions and violence with the others," they note.
Along with other potential movie rip-offs, they list some faulty logic from the Na'vi and the military, a 20-minute healing scene where a Na'vi died anyway, continuity errors, and the belief that at the end of the day we really just wanted a fight between a dog and a robot, among others.
Ultimately, every movie must atone for its sins, and after revealing the final total, CinemaSins dishes out its sentence: Boot Camp with Papa Dragon, which they deemed the porn name of Avatar's main villain, Colonel Miles Quaritch.
How about nixing the Avatar sequels instead?
Photo via CinemaSins/YouTube
Remember that girl who loved cats so much she cried at the thought? Or what about that small-town Ohio politician named Phil Davison, the one who turned a campaign stump talk into a locker room pump-up speech? Those people were crazy with a capital K, and they're not close to being alone in their nuttiness.
All of YouTube is pretty much littered with homemade videos of people freaking out, causing a scene, or otherwise running amuck. Think mascots fighting; that guy who destroyed his Xbox with a Guitar Hero guitar; the baseball manager who can't ever seem to chill out.
Now, thanks to a Volkswagen commercial set to appear during the Super Bowl, there's a place where all these crazy YouTube characters can come together and be celebrated for the out-of-this-world wonders that they are.
That place is in a field, evidently, a magical one, one where Jimmy Cliff (!) is draped in outlandish clothing and singing a reggae rendition of The Partridge Family's theme song.
It's really about as strange as you'd imagine it to be.
The Super Bowl commercial cavalcade kicks off in 10 days. Have you picked up your bag of Doritos yet?
Photo via HartmannCara/YouTube
With more than 72 hours of footage uploaded every minute, it's physically impossible to keep track of the content on YouTube. But in YouTube Guide, the Daily Dot will curate its five favorite finds for each workday.
1) Dartanion London, "Fabio Teaches You How to be Fabio"
The end of a four-year journey to meet Fabio is nearly at an end for Dartanion. When his first attempt to meet his idol fails, he finally gets Fabio one-on-one, and learns the punful tricks of the trade of how to be Fabio.
2) UCBComedy, "Facebook Focus Group: Where Facebook Gets Its Ideas"
If you've ever wondered just why Facebook made those changes you never asked for, it wasn't because of a failed vote to keep the power with the people, but rather a poorly-picked focus group where everyone loves more ads, the "invite-all" option, and having their personal information sold.
3) Internet Explorer, "Child of the 90s"
The Internet browser that comes with every PC is gearing towards Generation Y and BuzzFeed readers with its latest ad, while reminiscing about the simplicities of life that came with the '90s (even though its target audience is likely watching in another browser).
4) Lindsey Stirling and The Piano Guys, "Mission Impossible"
Lindsey Stirling teams up with the Piano Guys as she and cellist Steven Sharp Nelson try to sneak up on Jon Schmidt (as an eye-patched, piano-wielding villain). And because it's a nod to the movie/TV franchise, of course someone gets lowered on a wire to make the grab.
5) The ShoKo Show, "8 signs your cat is actually a dog"
We're unable to verify whether or not your cat is actually plotting to kill you, but it might be easier to determine if you have a pooch in a kitten's body. Be sure to check out for panting, an ability to fetch and a love for going out on walks.
Photo via Dartanion London/YouTube
Two months ago, Star Trek reboot guru J.J. Abrams denied rumors that he might be the next Star Wars director. But now industry reports reveal Abrams is taking over the light saber after all for Episode VII, the first Star Wars sequel since 1983.
The news comes just three months after the bombshell of Disney buying the beloved Star Wars franchise, with plans to produce three more films as early as 2015. That news sparked plenty of "Disney princess Leia" jokes, and more.
So how's the Internet taking the news that the creator of Lost and Fringe and the director of Star Trek is cornering the market on epic science fiction? Popculturebrain said it best:
Photo via popculturebrain/Tumblr
"He has UNLIMITED POWER over the sci fi world," echoed Tumblr user sonx15:
Photo via sonx15/Tumblr
Photo via ed-pool/Tumblr
While we're at it, let's just get the lens flarejokes out of the way now:
Photo via plasticfangs/Tumblr
Photo via tokyo_sexwhale/Twitter
Even the celebs are doing it:
Screengrab via woodelijah/Twitter
And the movie posters are already being redone:
Photomanip by cochisemfc/Deviantart
But don't worry: "When the lens flare jokes get exhausted, we’re gonna switch over to Jar Jar Abrams," notes Tumblr user 24thoughtspersecond.
And there's plenty of Lost jokes to be had as well:
Photo via cecysblog/Tumblr
Musical Lost jokes get their turn; and remember that time Cracked.com made a Lost Wars parody?
Perhaps"Darth Vader will adopt a pet smoke monster." And perhaps J.J. Abrams will inevitably agree to direct all the things.
Still not everyone is dubious. "I want a Star Wars/Star Trek crossover to happen now," wrote one eager Tumblr user.
But the most likely result of Abrams' turn behind the camera is all too clear, as writer Annabel Oakes points out:
"Now your aunt is NEVER going to stop confusing Star Wars and Star Trek."
Photo via marsrioting/Tumblr
Here at the Daily Dot, we swap GIF images with each other every morning. Now we’re looping you in. In the Morning GIF, we feature a popular—or just plain cool—GIF we found on Reddit, Canvas, or elsewhere on the Internet.
Welcome to Canuckistan. Here's your double-double, here's your Cowichan sweater, here's your two-four of Canadian slowly turning into beer slushies in the back of the car, and here is your curling broom. You know what to do.
In curling-mad Canada, it's easy to pass as a native. All you need are a coffee from Tim Horton's (double cream, double sugar, what the heck, health care is free eh!); a heavy, water-and-snow-repellent traditional sweater; a loyalty to domestic beers that transcends mere standards of taste; and an active, almost overwhelming interest in the sport of curling.
It's like giant shuffleboard, but on ice, because Canada.
Originally from the ChristmasGIF site, this animated scene from Stephen Smith of Neasden Control Centre sums up the intermittent thrills and constant chills of this most Canadian of all fads.
Rock on.
Musician Jonathan Coultonstarted a massive Twitterstorm last week after he found out that Fox’s hit show Glee was set to perform a version of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s "Baby Got Back" that sounded suspiciously similar to Coulton’s very distinctive original arrangement.
Glee often performs new arrangements of the songs they use. But Coulton was never contacted by anyone from the show and didn't even know that they had used his version of "Baby Got Back" until the songs for the episode "Sadie Hawkins Dance" were released online last week (and put up for sale on iTunes in the U.S. and Sweden) and he saw the Glee Wiki entry for the episode.
He took to Twitter to vent his frustration.
"Hey look, @GLEEonFOX ripped off my cover of Baby Got Back … Never even contacted me. Classy," Coulton tweeted, which led many to stand with Coulton and lash out against Glee and FOX.
After Coulton listened to the song, he suspected that Glee may have even used his audio, citing a duck quack he placed in his cover. Fans have since put together a side-by-side comparison, and the two versions are very similar.
It only got uglier after Alex Anders, a music producer for Glee, appeared to comment on the situation.
"Some people can't see opportunity when it smacks them in the face," Anders said in a now-deleted tweet, which Coulton didn't take lightly.
via thestaticinhersmile/Tumblr
Anders later clarified that his comment had "absolutely nothing to do with what many of you assumed."
Coulton has yet to hear anything from FOX, although he is approaching the situation with caution.
"We'll know more this coming week when the episode it's supposed to be from actually airs, or if/when FOX actually has a comment about this," he wrote in an update on his website on Jan. 20.
Divisi: "Yeah!"
But Coulton is hardly the first artist whose original take on a song may have been ripped off by the popular show. Glee has received complaints that they've ripped off original arrangements of covers as early as May 2011.
Pop Culture Brain's Alex Rabinowitz was the first to point out on May 19, 2011, that Glee had used University of Oregon a cappella group Divisi's version of Usher’s "Yeah!" (which they performed in 2005) in the show's season 2 finale. He spoke to sources with ties to Divisi and reported that Glee had actually reached out to Divisi, but the deal fell through at the last minute, and the show used the song anyway.
By the time the episode aired on May 24, OregonLive.com reported that Divisi would receive the credit they deserved.
"Evynne and Divisi are getting credit for the arrangement. [The Glee producers] seem genuinely interested in doing the right thing," Peter Hollens, who is married to Divisi founder Evynne Hollens, told OregonLive.com.
Greg Laswell: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
Greg Laswell has had his music featured on various television shows over the years, but he only found out that his version of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," a stripped-down piano ballad that is virtually unrecognizable from the original by Cyndi Lauper, was used in the Glee episode "I Kissed a Girl," which aired in November 2011.
"Hmm. You know I never even thought of completely ripping off someone's COVER of a song, and I love stealing! Nice job @GLEEonFOX," he tweeted to his followers.
About a week later, Laswell spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and had yet to be given credit by FOX for his cover.
"Of the Glee version, I think they have enough talent over there that they shouldn't need to go rummaging through other artists' work," Laswell said at the time. "Public acknowledgment of their note-for-note rendition would have gone a long way."
DJ Earworm: "Fly"/"I Believe I Can Fly"
A couple months later, mashup artist DJ Earworm (real name Jordan Roseman) had a similar complaint. His mashup of "Fly" and "I Believe I Can Fly" had previously been performed on The Sing-Off, but it also appeared in the Glee episode "On My Way" on Feb. 21, 2012 without his prior knowledge.
DJ Earworm took to Twitter to complain, but that's as far as he took it.
"I never reached out to Glee beyond the tweet, so I didn't hear from them nor did I expect to," DJ Earworm told the Daily Dot in an email.
I never really considered legal action, and I'm pretty sure I would have had a tough time with it. And especially as a mashup artist, I'm so often on the other end of the question of infringement, so I don't really want to be the one to cast stones!
Coulton, on the other hand, mulled over the possibility of taking legal action and told fans that his lawyers are researching copyright issues—mainly whether Glee actually used the audio from his song in their cover.
Coulton purchased a statutory license in order to distribute his version of "Baby Got Back," and his songs are shared under a non-commercial Creative Commons license, which means that people are allowed to record their own covers of his song as long as they don't try to sell or make a profit off it.
Since "Baby Got Back" is a cover, he can't copyright Sir Mix-a-Lot's original composition, and so the copyright ultimately lies with Sir Mix-a-Lot and his label.
Parker Higgins, an activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation—a U.S.-based nonprofit digital rights group—explained that even though Coulton created an original arrangement, he does not own the copyright to it.
"You don't retain copyright on things like the style in which you sing or the instrumentation or things that are unique to the recording," Higgins told the Daily Dot. He also said that lyric changes—at one point, Coulton sings, "Jonny C” instead of the original “Mix-a-Lot,” a detail Glee apparently also copied—aren't covered under Coulton's copyright.
Normally, if you want to use an artist's audio in a song, a process known as sampling, you would have to get permission from the artist and negotiate a license and a fee. If Coulton can prove that Glee sampled his version of "Baby Got Back" and didn't obtain the license, that could turn out to be problematic for FOX.
Otherwise, while the ethics of stealing Coulton’s arrangement are debatable, Glee would likely be in the legal clear with "Baby Got Back."
"I think the reason that people are so upset about Jonathan Coulton and these other artists is that you expect that if you're going to be using someone else's work like that—even if you're not legally required to—you ought to give attribution and give credit where it's due," Higgins said.
"Sadie Hawkins Dance" has since aired, and the audio version of "Baby Got Back" that circulated online last week was the one ultimately used on Glee.
After the show aired, Coulton appeared to be quite angry about it and promised an update to his situation.
Greg Laswell reached out to Coulton on Twitter late Thursday, and although Coulton is still remaining cautious, he and Laswell are still not happy about the rip-offs.
Paul Potts, a software engineer who runs the blog Geek Like Me, Too, decided to isolate and compare the audio waveforms on Coulton's and Glee's versions of "Baby Got Back" in order to get a closer look at just how similar the two songs are, even after examining the "quack" Coulton used instead of an expletive.
He is convinced that Glee used Coulton's audio, although he is uncertain how his investigation would hold up in court.
"Together with some investigation that other Coulton fans have done, ranging from putting the tracks side-by-side for comparison, to pointing out how the vocals could have been canceled in the original, to noting other glitches in the editing, it's compelling," Potts wrote.
Compelling enough for Fox to apologize?
UPDATE: On his blog, Coulton writes that Fox has contacted him, saying "they’re within their legal rights to do this, and that I should be happy for the exposure (even though they do not credit me, and have not even publicly acknowledged that it’s my version – so you know, it’s kind of SECRET exposure)."'
He still believes that the show used some or all of his audio, and promised to update his fans on that investigation.
Photo via GleeOnFox/YouTube
Following in the footsteps of Kim Kierkegaardashian and Justin Buber, Ke$hek is the latest pop-culture/philosophy mashup to entertain (and possibly befuddle) Internet audiences.
Ke$hek is a Tumblr account that combines the words of eccentric Slovenian philosopher and critic Slavoj Žižek with GIFs from Ke$ha videos. Or, even more terrifyingly, Ke$ha quotes with Žižek GIFs.
Žižek may be a bearded intellectual who publishes books with titles like God in Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse, but he’s no stranger to the A-list. For the last couple of years, he’s been plagued with rumours that he’s secretly friends with Lady Gaga—a hoax which spread far enough that the New York Post and Salon.com were taken in. The idea of the grim-faced, Marxist Žižek hanging out with party-girl starlets is strangely irresistable, as evidenced by the L.A. Times writing what could most accurately be described as Slavoj Žižek/Lady Gaga fan fiction.
As for Ke$hek, its GIFs run the gamut from biting …
… to political …
… to surreal:
While Žižek’s reactions to the Lady Gaga rumours have been less than enthusiastic, it seems safe to say that Ke$ha, as a professional self-parody artist, would see the funny side. Especially since in some cases, it’s difficult to see where Ke$ha ends and Žižek begins:
Photo via Ke$hek/Tumblr
When pop starlet Justin Bieber posted a pic of his bare bottom to the popular photo sharing network Instagram on Monday, the Internet had a field day. The photo accumulated 100,000 likes before it was removed.
But a local pug named Barley, who has spent little time online this week while recovering from the flu, just discovered the photo in his Tumblr feed.
“Quite frankly, he’s horrified,” says Jenny Goldman, a source close to the situation. “Who would post their naked butt like that? It’s uncouth.”
Via cr250guy.
Modern Family star Julie Bowen hasn't had it easy on Twitter this week.
After losing a bet to Jimmy Kimmel, she was forced to turn over her Twitter account to the comedian and talk-show host for a day. The results were hilarious, and seemingly mortifying for Bowen.
Though she managed to pop her head through the parapet a couple of times, the tweets were almost all Kimmel for an entire day. Needless to say, Justin Bieber fans were not entirely happy with Bowen over a comment they thought she made about their idol.
This was much better than Kimmel's previous high-profile Twitter prank with Tracy Morgan at the 2012 Emmys.
Photo by Rubenstein/Flickr
In Spotify Essentials, the Daily Dot curates custom playlists created by some of our favorite artists, staff writers, and Web community leaders.
In this installment, Michael Muller, cofounder of the Austin-based instrumental outfit Balmorhea, shares a personal and poignant collection of piano compositions. The band’s critically acclaimed new album, Stranger, is available now on Western Vinyl.
I am interested in the pairing and subsequent magnetism of physical and emotional sensations. Music has the bizarre ability to transcend these two realms and cause a great overlap. Within this folded-over region we may often experience some strand of elation. It's this sensation that is the coal behind music's vigor and grandeur. When we hear a certain song a distinct memory of place, emotion, relationship or even specific smell may be conjured.
Exploring and uncovering these connections is something I fail to do often. Amidst the frenetic pace of this age, it's rare we slow our scanning eyes or typing fingers long enough to truly engage in a single collective movement.
The following is a collection of modern composers that predominately use the piano as their chosen tool of speech. This music implores the listener to pause, to pay attention to the negative space. Each piece, I think, fits quite squarely in accompaniment to the milieu of the winter season. The musicians range geographically from the United States and Europe and are seemingly woven into a similar fabric of sonic aesthetics.
I hope this collection allows you quietude in your day or night.
Family International, previously known as Children of God and Family of Love, has always branded itself as the “cool” cult in order to recruit young people attracted to counterculture.
They wear hip outfits, produce music videos and encourage their members to explore their bodies and enjoy sex–even going as far as promoting a form of evangelical prostitution known as "Flirty Fishing."
Below is a music video produced by Family International in the 1980′s titled “Kathy Don’t Go.” It’s a jaunty tune about a young woman named Kathy who narrowly avoids being implanted with a ’666′ microchip at the supermarket. We promise you’ll be humming it all day.
Christianity, Promiscuity and Pedophilia Inside ‘The Family’ Cult
