If the minds of Trey Parker and Matt Stone and the mind of John Waters violently humped each other raw, they’d create this human strawberry in a dusty, garage sale wig. This joy to the world is serious about her rhubarb and when she’s caught picking rhubarb that’s overgrowing from a neighbor’s yard into the “alley property,” she turns into a fuck-throwing insult machine.
“You shut your goddamn mouth, why don’t you go in there and lose some weight, you big fatass.”
She’s the perfect troll under the bridge! With Tourette’s!
First, the good news: The “Harlem Shake” viral video meme is likely winding down pretty soon—at least we hope.
And as the excellent video below shows, lots of Harlem residents emphatically disapprove of the way that thousands have mindlessly helped appropriate the name of a community dance into some dopey shit.
If you’re not familiar with the meme, here’s the rundown. Last spring, Brooklyn producer Harry Rodrigues a.k.a. Baauer released “Harlem Shake,” a hugely catchy downtempo party track that very clearly samples a rapper saying that he does said dance. YouTube comedian Filthy Frank used the tune in a very silly costumed dance video that launched literally thousands of similarly silly copycats, full of mostly costumed people (many, notably, in white-collar office settings) flailing their limbs and humping the air.
Popular culture is infamous for borrowing—and sometimes outright stealing—elements from a subculture and transforming them into something completely stripped of its origins. But it is still surprising to see how the current viral video craze called the Harlem Shake has managed to almost completely supplant a vibrant form of African-American dance that was born and bloomed in Harlem.
On the face of it, there’s absolutely zero wrong with limb-flailing and air-humping. But that’s not what the 30-year-old dance known as the Harlem Shake is about. Like most dance crazes cultivated by (and appropriated from) African-American communities, it requires a modicum of skill and, dare we say, pride.
Harlem itself is pretty unequivocal.
After the jump: want to know what the real Harlem Shake looks like? Check out this “shake cypher” video for some real context…
Michael L. Leisner, the 65-year-old resident of Andover, Minnesota who gained Internet infamy when he staged a Cheerios-burning anti-gay protest at the corporate headquarters of the General Mills food company on August 5th, has died it was announced today.
The Star Tribune says that Michael Leisner drove his sons to tennis practice on Saturday afternoon and while waiting in the car for them, he suddenly died. The senior pastor of the Christian Center Michael was a member of didn’t give a cause of death and he didn’t say if his last words were, “Damn you, Count Chocula.” The pastor said that he just died in his car. The pastor also said that Michael was a loving husband and father who just so happened to hate gays and the Honey Nut Bee:
“[The video] doesn’t accurately reflect who he was as an individual. He was a very loving and caring father of his four children, a loving husband and he seemed to get along with other people.”
As a result of his viral video, Leisner was fired last week from his real estate job.