· July, 2011

Stories about Humor from July, 2011

Plank Vietnam

  31 July 2011

A Tumblr account was created encouraging Vietnam netizens to post their planking pictures.

Zambia: Current Events Through Political Satire

  30 July 2011

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’

  29 July 2011

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...

Jamaica: Public Outbursts from Diasporan Women

  27 July 2011

“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?

  26 July 2011

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?

  25 July 2011

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.

Portugal: “Junk” National Debt Rating Provokes Online Demonstrations

  21 July 2011

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.

Barbados: Murdoch Madness

  20 July 2011

“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...

Trinidad & Tobago: Accomplishments or Spin?

  6 July 2011

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.”

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

  4 July 2011

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...