At the height of the summer of '09, we at SparkNotes find ourselves thinking back to the summer of '69. Or, more accurately, we find ourselves thinking back to the Bryan Adams song of that name. (How old do you think we are, anyway?)
That tune came out in 1984—only 15 years removed from the dog days Bry-Ad was singing about. When he wrote it, the feel-good vibes of the Summer of Love were fresh on everyone's mind, and cell phones, DVR, and Facebook weren't even twinkles in Mark Zuckerberg's eye. Hard to imagine those Dark Ages, right? Let us help you out with a little translation:
There are plenty of awesome movies based on true stories: the classics "Rudy" and "Into the Wild" come readily to mind, and there are many, many more. But even in the money machine creative paradise known as Hollywood, not every real-life scenario can be successfully turned into cinema gold. So when we heard that plans were in the works to make a movie about Facebook, we were a little skeptical.
Sure, this movie's being written by drama king Aaron Sorkin (the pen behind "The West Wing" and "A Few Good Men"). And sure, the producers are looking to tap box office studs like Michael Cera ("Year One," "Nick and Nora's Playlist," "Arrested Development") and Shia LaBeouf ("Indiana Jones," "Transformers," "Holes") for the lead role of Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook creator, for those out of the know). But seriously, how good can a movie about an online social network be?
Everything needs a makeover at some point, from Susan Boyle’s eyebrows to internet shorthand. Friendster bows to Facebook. Twitter is hot, then not, then hot, then not. Even chatting and texting could use a refresh. LOL! BRB! We know abbreviations are meant to save time, but aren’t they feeling a bit stale? Maybe it‘s time for the old chat lingo to get a bit of a makeover. Here's how we suggest overhauling old phrases:
PHRASE OLD MEANING NEW MEANING
TTYL Talk to You Later Tila Tequila Yells Loudly
TMI Too Much Information That’s Mucho Interesting
It's never easy telling someone he/she has hit a mid-life crisis. Lucky for us, Sparkler hgjt55 is armed with plenty of evidence and a great sense of humor. Enjoy! —SparkNotes Editors
You're sitting at your computer scrolling contentedly through the daily feed on Facebook. After spending a good hour doing nothing but gaping at your peers' status updates, you decide to check up on your old friend MySpace.
As your fingers lazily dance across the keyboard, punching in all the appropriate letters, it occurs to you that MySpace was one of the first to kickstart the social networking craze. It's like when your parents helped you ride your first bicycle, but now you can ride with no training wheels, so who needs their help anymore?
If you’re are cool (meaning, a fan of SparkNotes on f-book), you may have noticed we invited you to run some urban myths by us. And if you're uber-cool, you did just that. (And if you're already cool but need to be cooler, don't worry! Just follow this link and do what your heart says is right.)
And now, let's take a look at these Sparkler-submitted urban myths and judge their veracity.
MYTH #1: Wait twenty minutes after eating to swim or you will get cramps and DROWN!!
The Wall Street Journal is weighing in on the latest interwebz trend: life tracking sites. These sites, which include heavy hitters like Twitter and underdogs like Monthlyinfo (guys beware), allow people to record and share the tiniest, most insignificant details of their lives. But according to the WSJ, these sites don't exist merely to bore the pants off our friends and casual acquaintances.
You know that friend of yours who uses her Facebook status box to deliver up-to-the-minute bulletins on the painful disintegration of all of her personal relationships? What about the person who clogs up your newsfeed with unhinged emotional tirades addressed to no one in particular?
You can always “Hide” these people so you don’t have to waste precious seconds of every day hearing about how Shelley’s ex-bf Todd is “a TOTAL LIAR!.! WTF?!? Yll be srry1!” or what kind of lichen Chris would be, but a lot of us are looking for a more satisfying solution. This is where Lamebook comes in.
A few weeks ago, my little brother achieved a major milestone in his young life and became a College Graduate. (Note to all younger siblings: Yes, you will always be known as the “little” brother/sister, even when you are a fully-grown adult with a college degree. Even when you're a doctor with a mortgage, your older sibling will still remember your 18-month-old self sitting in a high chair, screaming like the dickens, and coated head to toe with pureed peas.)
Like many of you—whether you’re a career-minded new grad or a high school student just looking for some summer cash—my little brother has been looking for a job. And also like many of you, my little brother kinda forgot that most potential employers—from restaurants to summer camps—would be background-checking him. On The Internet. A fact which is not a big deal... unless, like my brother, your Facebook profile picture is this:
In this age of emailing and texting, letters and postcards are beginning to seem like an old-fashioned relic of the past. The U.S. Postal Service is trying to stay relevant by doing stuff like releasing stamps featuring The Simpsons—which might have been cool and hip in 1997.
Since the postal service is always a few steps behind pop culture trends, we here at SparkNotes would like to nominate more relevant stamp ideas. (Yes, we know that you can make and print your own stamp designs, but that's not the point. We're trying to save the Postal Service). Here's a rundown of our best ideas:
Idiots of Reality TV Stamps – In each book, you get 20 different stamps. 15 of these will be pictures of Spencer Pratt. Four of the stamps will be close-up photos of his ridiculous facial hair. And the last stamp will feature anyone on a VH1 show.
School's our (or nearly so). It's the time of fleeting romance, delicious laziness, SparkLife posts, monotonous part-time work (that you'll be talking about for years to come, we promise), and—best of all—road trips. And while these trips might be amazing or a family vacation, they're definitely going to be remote. So how are you going to stay up to date with what's going on among your online friends, your favorite gossip sites, and those crazy LOLcats? We're not going to lie to you: if you don't have an iPhone, it's going to be tricky. But people managed it before the Internet, and you can manage it now.