Stories about Humor from July, 2011
Plank Vietnam
A Tumblr account was created encouraging Vietnam netizens to post their planking pictures.
Zambia: Current Events Through Political Satire
Kalaki's corner is a political satire on current events in Zambia in the form of a weekly story: “Spectator Kalaki, aka Roy Clarke, came to international attention in January 2004 when he wrote a story about a foolish elephant. This story was read by the then president of Zambia, Levi...
Colombia: ‘Padding Journalism’
In the wake of the death of singer Joe Arroyo, Colombian news channel NTN24 featured reactions with actresses, models, and former beauty queens in English on its website. The video featuring model and presenter Carolina Cruz was heavily mocked on blogs and social media. Journalist Carolina Ruiz questions [es] the...
Colombia: Dancing Police Welcome Soccer Players
In Medellin, Colombia, police officers welcomed England's U-20 soccer players at the airport with a dance, making a good impression on visitors but raising concerns on security for some locals.
Jamaica: Public Outbursts from Diasporan Women
“How can we not say to ourselves – was any enterprise ever so doomed to failure? Was anything ever so sad?”: An eye-opening post from Under the Saltine Flag about the underlying issues that could possibly have sparked public tirades by two Jamaican women.
Jamaica: OCD Ghosts?
Could it be that “the world of the supernatural [is] ordered not by the rules of metaphysics, but the rules of mathematics”? Under the Saltire Flag considers the possibility by examining a common thread in Caribbean folklore.
Argentina: What Irritates Argentinians?
Argentinians and Twitter: a means to express what irritates them. On July 22, the hashtag #irritante (#irritating) became a local trending topic with protests and irritations about politics, traffic, neighbors and even family and social networks.
Eastern Europe: Dairy Farming in Fashion
Matthew Rojansky at Scraps of Moscow follows the lead of “The Cynical Dairy Farmer's Guide to the New Middle East” by constructing a dairy farmers guide to the Former Soviet Union.
Portugal: “Junk” National Debt Rating Provokes Online Demonstrations
The “junk” rating given to Portugal’s ability to pay its public debts by independent American financial analysis corporation Moody's, has provoked numerous demonstrations of exacerbated nationalism on the social networks. It has also brought to the blogosphere further analysis on the economic crisis and the country's bailout.
Puerto Rico: Perform & Get Paid
All jokes aside, Gil the Jenius wonders why not pay according to performance when it comes to lawmakers?
Barbados: Murdoch Madness
“Who say recession not hitting dem big multi-millionaire/billionaire fellas an dem ain't tightening dem belt like de small man? Even a media mogul like Murdoch cut back and now he wife doubling as bodyguard. See that is how the rich duz stay rich, ‘im have the woman multitasking”: Diaspora blogger...
Russia: President Medvedev's Gadgets Evaluated in a YouTube Video
YouTube user tebedam publishes a video [ru/en] entitled as “Medvedev is NOT corrupted,” that provides market prices for the gadgets president Medvedev had been spotted with on various photos, including Leica S2 camera (Price 22,995 US dollars), other top shelf Swiss watches, and a spacious Moscow flat. According to the...
Russia: Women ‘Rip For Putin’ As Election Campaign War Begins
Russian 2012 presidential candidate Vladimir Putin is quickly catching up with his supposed rival Dmitry Medvedev in engaging guerrilla marketing techniques and new media to boost his campaign.
Russia: Popular Curse Temporarily Becomes a Worldwide Twitter Trend
#хуи [ru], Russian swearword for penis (plural), for a few hours became a global trend. Lenta.ru notes [ru] that the sudden appearance of this hashtag marks the launch of Cyrillic hashtag functionality.
Trinidad & Tobago: Smooth Operator
B.C. Pires thinks that “the People’s Partnership appears to be living in interesting times.”
China: Dealing with heat wave
Ministry of Tofu has collected a series of photos showing how ordinary Chinese people deal with heat wave.
Bulgaria: A Day Without PM Boyko Borisov
July 5, 2011, presented an interesting challenge to the traditional Bulgarian media: would they follow a Facebook appeal for "A Day Without Boyko Borisov" - or would they continue to report on the activities of Bulgaria's Prime Minister?
Trinidad & Tobago: Accomplishments or Spin?
Plain Talk takes issue with an article citing the accomplishments of the government, calling it “Merlin-esque” and adding: “It should have begun ‘Abra Cadabra’ and ended ‘Tah Dahhhh!!!!’ with a flourish and an elaborate bow.”
Serbia: Demanding Apology From Comedian Chelsea Handler
Nearly 44,000 Serbs have joined the Facebook group 'Boycott of Chelsea Handler until she apologizes to the Serbian people,' demanding an apology from the popular American female comedian for the offensive remarks she made about the Serbian nation during a television show.
Russia: Vladivostok Bloggers Choose the City’s Flag
As the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit of 2012 approaches, local authorities of the Russian maritime city of Vladivostok are busy with preparations, but creative netizens have pointed out that the city does not have an official flag for the event. Here are some of the creative suggestions put forward to remedy this.
Brazil: Inappropriate Use of a Newspaper's Logo
Lino Bocchini, from the blog Desculpe a Nossa Falha wonders [pt] if the Brazilian MTV and its owner, Editora Abril, will also be sued by the newspaper Folha de São Paulo due to the use of Folha's logo within the same satirical context of the now censored fAlha de São...
