Miley twerking?! MeFiNK needs a regular pop-culture schooling.
September 23, 2013 3:34 AM Subscribe
MeFite, No Kids here. Where do I dedicate 15 minutes a day on the internets toward study of what's fresh, even if it's stupid?
So an NPR reference to the whole Miley thing sent me to YouTube to get the skinny. I need to keep up with this stuff or risk being completely out of touch. It makes a difference in so many social situations!
I'm not often around young people--though when I am this kind of knowledge helps me seem a bit more in touch and accessible (and it's the conversation starters that open me up to more of the true knowledge). What's the stuff tweens thru twenties all know about the moment it happens?
Me, FWIW:
No TV, but I can and do stream.
Live in a very small community, far from any metro area.
No People magazine or US Weekly, no interest in a subscription.
Regular NPR listener.
Facebook, yes. Twitter, no.
iPhone user. Podcast listener.
I was one of the last people to know what a Snooky was--and a Kardashian. This is serious.
So an NPR reference to the whole Miley thing sent me to YouTube to get the skinny. I need to keep up with this stuff or risk being completely out of touch. It makes a difference in so many social situations!
I'm not often around young people--though when I am this kind of knowledge helps me seem a bit more in touch and accessible (and it's the conversation starters that open me up to more of the true knowledge). What's the stuff tweens thru twenties all know about the moment it happens?
Me, FWIW:
No TV, but I can and do stream.
Live in a very small community, far from any metro area.
No People magazine or US Weekly, no interest in a subscription.
Regular NPR listener.
Facebook, yes. Twitter, no.
iPhone user. Podcast listener.
I was one of the last people to know what a Snooky was--and a Kardashian. This is serious.
wimp.com has all the funnies the kidz are into and talk about.
posted by kinetic at 3:42 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by kinetic at 3:42 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
New York Magazine is pretty cool for this, I think.
posted by oceanjesse at 3:47 AM on September 23, 2013
posted by oceanjesse at 3:47 AM on September 23, 2013
Yeah, you want tumblr. Tumblr's funny though in how it works - individual tumblrs act like blogs from the outside, but if you have a tumblr account yourself, tumblr.com becomes your "dashboard" where the content of all the other tumblrs you "follow" show up like an rss feed (sort of). You might try poking around the spotlight selections, specifically the entertainment tab, to get some ideas of who you could either follow, or simply bookmark and read like a regular blog.
Also - Oh No They Didn't! (although a case can be made that ONTD! is aging up and its many myriad factions - and home on the increasingly creaky livejournal - is making it weak as a pop culture loudspeaker.)
And, I get most of my pop culture through osmosis by scrolling through Tom & Lorenzo. You can tell yourself you're there for the high end fashion, if that makes you feel better (and sometimes it's actually amazing.)
posted by Mizu at 3:50 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also - Oh No They Didn't! (although a case can be made that ONTD! is aging up and its many myriad factions - and home on the increasingly creaky livejournal - is making it weak as a pop culture loudspeaker.)
And, I get most of my pop culture through osmosis by scrolling through Tom & Lorenzo. You can tell yourself you're there for the high end fashion, if that makes you feel better (and sometimes it's actually amazing.)
posted by Mizu at 3:50 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not just pop culture but Need 2 Know sends out an email every day breaking down things you need to know I find it helpful for not feeling totally out of it.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 4:09 AM on September 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 4:09 AM on September 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
If you have half an hour per week to watch TV, The Soup (on Hulu) is great for keeping up on all reality TV related scandals (without having to actually watch the shows). Buzzfeed is all the rage lately. Reddit is pretty good for this stuff too.
posted by melissasaurus at 4:20 AM on September 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by melissasaurus at 4:20 AM on September 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
You might need to take a deeper dive at first, but simply skimming the Huffington Post headlines in my RSS feed is enough to get an overview of this stuff, and they update frequently enough that if there is a National Twerking Emergency I can go there for the latest information.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:49 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Room 641-A at 4:49 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Buzzfeed. It's pitched directly at 28-year-old white women who are obsessed with generally crappy TV, music and movies from the 1990s, but they'll keep you current on stuff like Miley twerking. So, so much Miley twerking. And Fresh Prince nostalgia. (Why the hell do I read that site?)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:04 AM on September 23, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:04 AM on September 23, 2013 [4 favorites]
popurls - it will keep you abreast of what's hot in the streets.
posted by cinemafiend at 5:26 AM on September 23, 2013
posted by cinemafiend at 5:26 AM on September 23, 2013
http://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/
"Have you ever seen a whole bunch of news stories/reddit posts/videos or anything else about some topic and you had no idea what everyone was going on about? Did you feel out of the loop? This subreddit is dedicated to helping you get up to speed with the recent trends and news."posted by Jacqueline at 5:31 AM on September 23, 2013
I love the Reddit Edit! a little time on each column twice a day (because the content changes so quickly) will, over time, give you a weak but indicative pulse of the internets & the world.
posted by idlethink at 5:35 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by idlethink at 5:35 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Any good aggregator will do - gawker, the soup, popurls and my favorite for celeb gossip only: dlisted.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 5:41 AM on September 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 5:41 AM on September 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
Buzzfeed for every day definitely. I just go for the Celebrity and maybe Music subsites to get straight to the pop culture.
But then once a week take a look through The Shirk Report from Twisted Shifter.
posted by shelleycat at 5:45 AM on September 23, 2013
But then once a week take a look through The Shirk Report from Twisted Shifter.
posted by shelleycat at 5:45 AM on September 23, 2013
Next Draft is a nice little daily digest of world news and pop culture. Get the app or the daily email. I found this via Our Dear Leader's post called Emails I Actually Look Forward To.
posted by heatherann at 5:50 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by heatherann at 5:50 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Know Your Meme is pretty good for keeping up with various internet culture-related things that all the kids are talking about.
posted by Gev at 5:58 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Gev at 5:58 AM on September 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
It was already suggested, but I will do it again. For pop culture presented in a way that an internet geek with no TV or pop music tastes can generally follow....Reddit.com.
You will find that this image-heavy site will fill you with all the video game information, popular music, movie and TV info you need while numbing your mind with meme pages that will probably leave you glad that you prefer metafilter! Warning...everyone there seems to live on a high school or early college level of mentality and will definitely throw out endless references to stuff that is truly unneeded to be known, but it will give you an idea what the typical boob-loving, alcohol consuming, modern-day 20 year old slacker is thinking about. Bonus if you like cat pictures.
posted by BearClaw6 at 7:17 AM on September 23, 2013
You will find that this image-heavy site will fill you with all the video game information, popular music, movie and TV info you need while numbing your mind with meme pages that will probably leave you glad that you prefer metafilter! Warning...everyone there seems to live on a high school or early college level of mentality and will definitely throw out endless references to stuff that is truly unneeded to be known, but it will give you an idea what the typical boob-loving, alcohol consuming, modern-day 20 year old slacker is thinking about. Bonus if you like cat pictures.
posted by BearClaw6 at 7:17 AM on September 23, 2013
Well... If you're not too Gawker-averse, reading Jezebel and Gawker will keep you up on what people are talking about. That will also help you sort the wheat from the chaff (if there's any wheat there), whereas Reddit and Tumblr are full of really transient stuff in addition to the things "everyone is talking about" and sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.
posted by c'mon sea legs at 7:24 AM on September 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by c'mon sea legs at 7:24 AM on September 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
No People magazine or US Weekly, no interest in a subscription.
Does your local public library have a subscription?
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 8:36 AM on September 23, 2013
Does your local public library have a subscription?
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 8:36 AM on September 23, 2013
Multicellular Exothermic: "No People magazine or US Weekly, no interest in a subscription.
Does your local public library have a subscription?"
Many have digital subscriptions too. My local one has US Weekly.
posted by aerotive at 8:45 AM on September 23, 2013
Does your local public library have a subscription?"
Many have digital subscriptions too. My local one has US Weekly.
posted by aerotive at 8:45 AM on September 23, 2013
Another vote for DListed. Michael K is trashy as hell and I love it. I get my fix of trivial bullshit there and nowhere else.
posted by futureisunwritten at 11:48 AM on September 23, 2013
posted by futureisunwritten at 11:48 AM on September 23, 2013
The hubs used to read What Would Tyler Durden Do? Mostly for the boobies pix. From their about page:
WHAT WOULD TYLER DURDEN DO is a daily gossip blog covering the big news stories of the day in entertainment, celebrity, and media culture. Not really covering, so much as ridiculing. Because people who willingly inject neurotoxins into their face to look four days younger deserve a virtual flogging.posted by mon-ma-tron at 2:52 PM on September 23, 2013
I use /r/funny for this. I don't remember where I found it, but I have a JavaScript bookmarklet that loads all of the image links inline (so you don't have to click on each one indifidualy.) Every couple of days I go through the first dozen or so pages and pretty much everything turns up in some form or another.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:05 PM on September 23, 2013
posted by zengargoyle at 5:05 PM on September 23, 2013
Thirding tumblr for sure. Lately I've noticed that I hear about breaking news there before I hear it from any other source (twitter, facebook, news, friends/family calling). Also, the memes that become popular on facebook were usually on tumblr the week before.
posted by Nickel at 8:29 PM on September 23, 2013
posted by Nickel at 8:29 PM on September 23, 2013
« Older Just had my allergy breakout (Hives) and my face... | Minecraft culture on Halloween question Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 3:40 AM on September 23, 2013 [2 favorites]