The Daily Beast: Whimsical and Annoying Viral Questions Are Taking Over Twitter. “Unpopular opinion time: What trend has taken over Twitter, inspiring enthusiastic fans and even more devoted haters? For the past eight months, the answer has been tweets structured just like the question above. They’re open-ended. They’re designed to elicit quick responses. And they’re absolutely everywhere.” I think they’re cute.
popular culture
Oscars 2019: How to stream online, start time, nominees, predictions and more (CNET)
CNET: Oscars 2019: How to stream online, start time, nominees, predictions and more. “Oscars 2019 is just a week away. We still don’t know who’s going to host, but here’s what we do know about the 91st Oscar ceremony. We know who’s nominated — and that Black Panther is up for best picture and might even have a slight chance. We also know how, when and where to watch the show online. Here’s everything you need to know.”
Music Mayhem Magazine: The Prince Estate Launches New Prince Social Accounts, Giphy Launches Comprehensive Library of Authorized Prince GIF Content
Music Mayhem Magazine: The Prince Estate Launches New Prince Social Accounts, Giphy Launches Comprehensive Library of Authorized Prince GIF Content. “To help celebrate the launch of the Prince social media accounts, The Prince Estate has aligned with GIPHY to create an enormous library of Prince GIF content on the web. The new channel… features over 1,700 of the best Prince GIF moments from every decade of his 40+ year career.”
Library of Congress: American Archive of Public Broadcasting to Preserve 50 Years of Sesame Street for Posterity
Library of Congress: American Archive of Public Broadcasting to Preserve 50 Years of Sesame Street for Posterity . “As Sesame Street begins to mark its 50th anniversary, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB), a collaboration between the Library of Congress and the WGBH Educational Foundation, has announced that Sesame Workshop has donated a collection of digitized episodes from the past 50 years of Sesame Street, to be preserved for posterity. Over the next year, nearly 4,500 episodes from the first 49 seasons of the iconic children’s television program will be incorporated into the AAPB’s extensive archive of public media from across the United States. The Sesame Street collection will be available to view on-site at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and by appointment at WGBH in Boston.”
Mashable: Facebook ends its teen meme hub, LOL, amid a reshuffle of its youth team
Mashable: Facebook ends its teen meme hub, LOL, amid a reshuffle of its youth team. “In January, Facebook was reportedly working on something named LOL, a bid to win over younger users with “a special feed of funny videos and GIF-like clips,” which sat within the main Facebook app. The experimentation, which was done with a small number of users, didn’t last very long: Recode reports the LOL project is dead before it even launched.” This has a very “how do you do, fellow kids” feeling to it.
The Verge: Comedians are coming for one of Instagram’s biggest joke aggregators
The Verge: Comedians are coming for one of Instagram’s biggest joke aggregators. “Comedians have started a campaign to take down Fuckjerry, one of Instagram’s biggest joke aggregators. The Instagram account, run primarily by Elliot Tebele with contribution from others at Jerry Media, posts jokes and memes from around the internet — while profiting off sponsored posts sent to the 14.3 million followers those jokes have attracted.”
UCI News: UCI-led study finds Harry Potter fan fiction challenges cultural stereotypes of autism
Not quite in the wheelhouse, but I love it, I write fanfiction, and I have a close family member who’s an aspie. So, from UCI News: UCI-led study finds Harry Potter fan fiction challenges cultural stereotypes of autism. “Online publishing platforms and digital media can provide opportunities for nonmainstream groups to push back against and offer alternatives to the simplistic stereotypes presented in literature and popular culture. A study led by the University of California, Irvine focused on Harry Potter fan fiction and discovered that autistic people, family members, teachers and advocates cast autistic characters in their stories in diverse ways that challenge typical representations.”
