Bojangles

Now I’m sure if you’re hip enough to understand the jokes passed around on The Big Bang Theory, you’re no stranger to Internet memes, either. Yes, all those cats.

I’ve brought up memes before, for general use, but just in the past week a new strain captivated all my attention.

It’s finally happened. The Internet has found “Bazinga.”

But I’ll channel my inner prolonging-Ted Mosby a second: before I can explain “Beezinga” and “Bojangles,” I have to explain the “Parody comic.”

Parody comics are fan-made works, intentionally messy and contrived MS-Paint productions that scrutinize the dialogue between their subjects. In this case, Sheldon, Sheldon and Penny, Raj and Penny, or, to bring this full-circle, Sheldon Cooper’s famous and favorite tag-line, “Bazinga!”

Fans and Stans discovered quickly they could reinvent “Bazinga,” just as the screenwriters coined the term on their own. The best fun comes from finding wacky B-syllables and creating ridiculous combinations for these new demonstrations. They go hand-in-hand with the nature of memes; i.e., furiously lacking in spelling and punctuation, on purpose.
In Comic Sans, no less!

The parodies originally stemmed from common fan criticisms of the show, but the actual comics quickly went viral for their chuckle-worthy pixel-prints and watered-down copies of the original humor. The silly fun gained notable ground on all manner of social media websites, from Facebook to Twitter to Tumblr. “Know Your Meme,” a website dedicated to meme-research, said,

“…Parodies of the term “Bazinga” did not begin appearing on 4chan until December 25th, in a thread on the TV (Television and Film) board. After the first poster asked why people did not enjoy The Big Bang Theory, the first four responses consisted of nonsense words “bazoopie,” “bazonkers,” “cowabazunga” and “bazopple.” “

These threads aren’t exactly naysayer “bazingas,” but they contribute, perhaps, insight into the world of the nerd, “shamed.”

The Mystery's History

I stayed busy over the weekend, researching articles, trying to find the best gossip and news for the end-of-season holiday interim. But then, I heard a story.
One of my good friends, who shall remain nameless, found out she was Google-searched prior to a recent date!

She insisted her unobtrusive date meant nothing by the search and, most interestingly of all, based off the advice of a certain award-winning sitcom.

Sound familiar? That’d be because the plot came from the season 7-slammer, Mystery vs. History, of How I Met Your Mother.

Sure, the Internet makes background-checks more familiar and routine. I’ve faced interviews with stacks of Facebook photos and old high school essays myself, but dates? However well meaning the gentleman in question, it raises the dilemma: should you Google-search your next date, or significant other?
More importantly, should you tell them about it?

Let’s take a closer look at the episode.

Ted insists he doesn’t need to Google-search his upcoming date with Janet McIntyre for topic ideas, in spite of his pushy friends, should he accidentally happen upon her deepest and darkest. He, understandably, wants to get to know her for her personality, not her personal history.

But did the resource-lack keep him from holding an interesting conversation? Probably as much as using the net does, later, when he gives in to temptation and discovers Janet accomplished much in her short career life. Knowing he broke their deal based on his demeanor, Janet stops seeing Ted and continues waiting for the person who won’t see her for her progress.
Dammit, Janet.

Ted’s own plan failed, though for a lackluster reason compared to discovering she was an ex-con or something like. Lesson learned for the architect and, perhaps, my friend’s prospect: if you lack a conversation topic, just watch a program or see a movie! Or question why you want to see said date in the first place.

Reading some blog articles wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

One Does Not Simply Ignore the Big Bang Theory

With as large a fan-base as The Big Bang Theory…and for as many Fans Talk articles I’ve written…you might have gathered the freedoms of speech, thought, internet, and ms paint, led to a good bit of joke-juggling and ‘fandom’ creativity. I only mean memes, of course.
Internet memes are witty nuances, phrases and comments, paired up with pictures that collectively say the “unsaid.” What everyone else has thought and is thinking. There isn’t a “what” to memes, especially…more like a when. No one knows why memes stick the way they do, but timing is everything.

As were every one of the Big Bang Theory memes floating around my social networks this morning. Fans produce them to be witty; a mark they sometimes hit and sometimes…not so much.

Memes commonly strike comparisons. “What I think,” versus “what others think.” This particular meme doesn’t sit idle with BBT. Why, when one things about THE Big Bang Theory, they’re probably picturing the actual theorem, not the small city-apartment of four scientists.
Or, the picture of an out-of-character Kaley Cuoco and Jim Parsons side-by-side, Kaley donning nerd-esque glasses and Jim looking especially punk. They focused on an alternate-universe character-swap (AU).

Sometimes they delve on one character’s traits and plug them into other pictures or roles. I’m looking at a picture of Sheldon right now, his head photoshopped in the place of the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World. The caption? “I don’t always crack jokes…but when I do, bazinga.”
Raj’s social anxiety didn’t go unnoticed, or unscathed. This meme double-whammy pictures Koothrappali looking into the distance with a confused expression. The tagline here reads, “Meets Justin Bieber, can’t talk to him,” implying that…well…

I could only afford to scrape the meager tip of a very large iceberg with this subject. Best leave you with a mental image you can’t burn away so easily: a motivational poster displaying Batwoman-Howard, Wonderwoman-Sheldon, Supergirl-Leonard, and a very enthusiastic Catwoman-Raj. The motivation itself borrows the (horrifying to some) quote: “I don’t know about you, but I feel empowered!”