So, I was out at the bar with some coworkers last week, and a guy started talking about “The New Facebook.”

“There’s a ‘new’ Facebook?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Is it bad that I want to go home right now just to try it out?”

“Definitely,” I responded. “Stay here and get drunk. New Facebook will be waiting when the bar closes.”

Facebook has had quite the impact on American pop culture. I mean, really? This guy wanted to leave the bar to try it!? Whenever there’s even a minimal change in the layout and operation of the social network, it causes an uproar.

Remember when mini-feed first popped up? Immediately, groups sprouted all over the internet:
“Down with Mini-Feed!”
“Boycott F/B if They Don’t Get Rid of Mini-Feed Immediately!”
“Facebook Makes Stalking Easier with Mini-Feed!”

You get the point. Of course, now we’re all used to the program, and many of us keep updated via mini-feed every day: “Hey, I saw on Mini-Feed that you got a new job, congratulations!”

So, even though I’m hesitant to add too many applications (I don’t like that we have to check a box giving the ‘application’ full access to the info in our profiles), and even though I’m fully content keeping tabs on my friends the “old way,” I decided to check out the hullabaloo that is The New Facebook. Read More »

One of my esteemed colleagues wrote a great piece on texting etiquette. I recently wrote a biting piece about Papa Joe. This piece is about etiquette, too. After reading my Papa Joe piece (hopefully they read it in its entirety), a commentator, named ‘Haha,’ quipped, “you’re just a jealous peon,” to which I replied (in two posts) “nope, Haha, sure ain’t . . . I’m glad [the Simpsons are] rich. That’s great for them. But their father is a tool. Oh, one other thing . . . I LOVE the word peon. It’s great fun, conjures up great images . . . thanks!”

First, I do love the word peon. It’s nasty. It’s blunt. It’s cutting. People don’t use the word peon a lot, so I liked the reminder that the word peon exists. Reminds me of my old father (he’s a judge). He calls people peons and ninnies all the time – those words are funny, and I always chuckle when he coughs them up. BUT I digress (you’re probably getting used to that).

Now some of my fellow bloggers might wonder why I waste my time responding to remarks, whether good or bad, and why I’m even bothering to write this piece. Well, first off, I wish to thank Haha for inspiring me to do so. Because I’ve spent a lot of time (yes, it’s true) thinking about internet etiquette, how people are quick to insult (yes, I’m just as guilty, stirrin’ up crap, criticizing Mr. Simpson, etc.), name-calling, and even verbally terrorizing others on web posts. Read More »

Until sorta recently, I was never one for matching my bra to my undies, let alone buy super sexy lingerie. I felt like it was all a waste of money; if someone was interested in taking me home and ripping my clothes off, they wouldn’t lose interest just because my bra was nude and my underwear was pink with black polka-dots, right?

After spotting a set of pretty lacy lingerie on sale, I decided to take it for a test run. That is when I realized what I had been missing all along; lingerie made me feel sexier and more confident. It wasn’t about showing it off, but rather about me knowing it was there. Letting someone else enjoy it was just a little bonus.

I started going a little lingerie-crazy. I bought all sorts of sets: lacy, silky, cami’s, bras, thongs, bikinis. I built myself quite a collection. Never mind the fact that I have had no one to share it with lately, I just kept buying. And, truth be told, I have grown a bit bored with all of it. I may have a lot – and it all may be pretty – but there is only so much variety out there right now and it all seems rather cliché, overdone and commercialized.

Not anymore. In an era where you can personalize everything from your latte to your footwear, it was only natural that someone brought that along to our most intimate of apparel. The dream-team over at evloveintimates.com has made your lingerie as personal as the occasion you are wearing it for.

You pick the color, the fabric and the cut (even the piping and a little extra appliqué!). They do all the work, and in three weeks your sexy new under-thingies arrive, just in time for you to work ‘em. Rar. Go get em, Tiger.

Our generation has been called a lot of things. Lazy. Fame obsessed. Narcissistic. Unmotivated. Oversexed. Why haven’t you Twenty-Something’s moved out of your parents’ house yet? The general consensus seems to be. Why are your parents still giving your money? Stop watching reality TV and and get a real job!

Instead of pushing against the unfocused, immature stereotype so much of the older generation is trying to box us into, “Quarterlife” a new MySpace web show (soon to be a real NBC show) plays right into their frustrated hands.

Produced by “the creative minds behind My So-Called Life”, “Quarterlife” follows 6 white kids in their twenties, most of whom consider themselves some type of artsy bohemian. In weekly, 10-minute installations, the characters on “Quarterlife” walk around plugged into their iPods and deal with, you know, issues. Sexual tension, boredom, sexual frustration, confusion, sexual discontent…everyone’s so like, conflicted. So like, unsure. Happiness is fleeting, and nothing makes like, any sense at all. Read More »

Is your freshman year a little bumpier than expected? College making you feel more like an outsider than part of a community? Think you’re the only one with these problems?

Well, Seventeen magazine and MySpace want to ease your worries (and make a profit from our current reality TV craze) by giving the world a “web based reality program” called Freshman 15.

“The magazine and MySpace will follow 15 girls in print and online through the demanding first year of college”, each one from a different and “diverse” background.

According to one source, every girl will have her own MySpace profile that will be frequently updated with clips, pictures and blogs—which makes me think the whole thing will be a lot more manufactured than the producers are letting on.

And having cameras follow you around sort of defeats the purpose of being completely real, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t these girls be focusing on school and not on whether or not they got a comment on MySpace?

How much you want to bet these girls pull a Lauren Conrad and drop out as soon as the show hits the air?

Either way, Freshman 15 will debut in the October issue of Seventeen magazine and run through May 2008. Read More »