Interview with Wafflestomp

5 years ago

Hello, dear users of MDKApp! I want to introduce my new rubric named “Person of the day”, where I take interviews from different users. The first respondent will be @Wafflestomp!

- N: Hello, Wafflestomp! What’s your name, how old r u and where are u from?

- W: Hello, @Pepeka and other users! Name’s Jeremy Twister, or "wafflestomp" as mdk knows me. I'm 35 years old. Born and raised in Tucson Arizona, in the USA.

- N: Jeez!! I can say without doubts, that u r oldest MDK-user I know! I understand that que about “studying” is inappropriate, so what u do?))

- W: Well, other than making memes, my job in life is a professional balloon artist, and entertainer. As far as studying goes, I went to a school called ITT technical Institute before it went bankrupt and closed down. I went there for graphics design and animations. Dropped out after one of the instructors proved to be a petty fuckwad that didn't like being upstaged by a student. But I retained what I learned and I use that knowledge in doing commission artwork. I'm just waiting for a request from someone other than close friends.

- N: So it means, that u r satisfied of what you do, right? Like Twain said: “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day”. Or u just have no choice?

- W: Oh, I love my job! Mark Twain got it right, I don't see my job as a chore, and it pays the bills! I have several other opportunities too, but all of them stem from being artistic, and being my own boss. It gives me the freedom to do what I want, when I want, and where I want. Best job in the world for me.

- N: Sounds great! So, to make it clear: you come to any event and make a show with balloons, right? Or u also make decorum with balloons for weddings and etc.?

- W: Events of every kind. I do both entertaining and decorating. Weddings, birthdays, business events, bachelor and bachelorette parties, grand openings, what ever is needed. I've been doing this for over 12 years now.

- N: Goddamn it! I’m really choked! A few que about MDK and memes and we’ll get back to personals. How did u know about MDK?

- W: I was actually invited from reddit actually. After posting my usual content, someone commented that they wanted me to check out MDK, and gave me a link. I downloaded the app, and checked it out. Of course, starting off, the memes were either obscure, or wholesome, but within the past couple of months there's been some real idiots posting some shitty cringe. I'm sure you are more than aware of two names that have decided to try and use MDK as a way to pull traffic over to their Instagram accounts.

- N: So u have an experience of creating memes. Now I see, why your content is much better than others! But for how long you create memes?

- W: I've been making memes since around 2010, and a bit before then actually. Its just natural for me. Life happens around you and depending on how you see it, you can make it funny. My aim is to use memes as an anti depressant. Make people happy, make them laugh. And yes, there are way more than just two. But the ones that decided to attack things I actually care about (that I can understand without a translator app) just trigger a response from me, I'm sure there are others that post the same kind of content, but they don't show up in the american servers. Or they use Russian text.

- N: Damn! So you are real “memeian old”😂😆 (I know mb it doesn’t sound on English, but on Russian we have special term for those, who are familiar to memes for a long time). I appreciate your position. And that’s why you’re ranked #1 in weekly rating and not someone else. Do you like content that is posted, or u have seen major part of them on IG? What do you think about “original content”?

- W: I make most of the content I post. I don't like "borrowing or stealing" memes from ig or Reddit. It just feels weird. I have been keeping up with what's relevant, relatable, and for the most part, funny. And yeah, the leader board in MDK shows this multiple times, (not trying to brag, but number one for the past three or four weeks in a row, not too shabby.) My view on original content is I love it. It shows actual creativity and humor. Using memes from other platforms is just lazy. Especially if its not yours to begin with.

- N: Do you think, that making memes - is difficult? Do you understand Russian memes?

- W: The only difficulty of making a meme, is actually finding a good situational picture for the right context. Sometimes, inspiration just hits me and a meme is just born like that. Other times, I would have just experienced a crazy situation, but can't find the right kind of material for it. It really depends.

Now as for russian memes and american memes, the only difficulty I can see between the two is the language barrier. My Russian is far below elementary, I mostly have to rely on translation apps. And those are just barely able to help me understand what they say. They don't look any harder to make than any other kind of meme, in my honest opinion. What a meme is - is today's way to help portray one's own experiences with the world, or their sense of humor, world views, beliefs, anything really.

- N: Do you find that Russian community uses not only ready templates for memes, but also uses photoshop or any other program to create templates by themselves? I mean that “decorum” (let’s call it so) of American memes (what I’ve seen) is too way simple.

- W: Ah! My bad. Lol. Yeah, I see the effort put into russian memes. They do a good job. If I can't find something that's fitting for mine, I open up my own photo editing software, and make my own. Personally. Sometimes it may look like a ready to use template, but those are ones that I am proud of making. So I guess I put in as much effort into mine, as many in the Russian community puts into theirs.

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To be continued...

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