AOL is taking the “best of” approach in 2011 to a whole new level this year. While the rest of the Internet (including ourselves) is focusing on “newsworthy” events like Kim Kardashian’s 72 day fake marriage to Kris Dumpfries and the perfect storm that was Rebecca Black, AOL has honed in on celebrating and remembering the loudest 11 days that took place in 2011. Generating their entire list based on readers’ comments, shares and tweets, they have compiled the most sought after news that Americans searched for in the past 365 days.

See the 11 Biggest Days of 2011 right here and then share your thoughts and opinions below. Do you agree with their list? Did they miss anything? Can you believe how much has happening this yera?

"Dear Prof: I'm totes writing you in my undies."

Texting and chatting online has surely affected the way we communicate. If a friend doesn’t respond to a text within 10 minutes of me sending it, I immediately assume he/she has gone Amish. What did people do when there were no cellphones or AOL chat? Communicating must have been exhausting. You mean you had to wait at home to receive a phone call from your boyfriend in hopes your father wouldn’t answer?

Beyond waiting for the phone call, texting and chatting online has surely affected what we say. The term OMG wasn’t created from sending letters through the Pony Express; it was most likely created in the depths of an AOL chat room BSBLuvr who found it exceedingly difficult to express her love for ‘Shape of My Heart’ over and over again. Since then, abbreviating words (AKA ‘chatspeak’) has made communication easier for all of us. But apparently some people can’t seem to understand when this language is approp (in a drunk text to a friend) and it’s inapprop (in an email to a professor).

Yeah, it may seem totes obvi to you, but it seems that many students are taking their AIM lingo to class and their professors aren’t LOLing. In fact, they’re getting pretty pissed. And who wouldn’t when students are starting their emails off with, “Yo, teach”? (For realz.)

OMG. WTF? Didn’t college learn you better than that? Read More »

It has been a week of reminiscing for me. It seemed as though everywhere I looked there was something that reminded me of the happier days of my childhood.

- Reruns of Home Improvement took me back to the days when it was the only show my mom would let me stay up to watch because of my borderline unhealthy crush on JTT.
- My mom sent me some old family photos, including one of me donning a skort. When it was cool.
- And my roommate reminding me of the days when you had to hear that obnoxious dial-up tone just to get some awesome IM chat time on AOL.

Ahhh…the good ol’ days.

Now are the days of so-called “adulthood,” when mom no longer is in charge of selecting and purchasing your wardrobe (the purchasing part I didn’t mind so much…) and you are now responsible for updating your wardrobe with the latest trends every season by yourself.  The internet is now available everywhere (well, mostly) without that obnoxious dial-up tone, so that’s cool, but unless you are lucky enough win one, you have to actually purchase your own computer? What the eff?

And what’s this I hear about books being old news?

And don’t even get me started on the guy front. Who woulda thunk we’d actually be turning to guys for love advice? I mean, what happened to the days of sleepovers and gushing over some stupid note your crush passed you? Now, we are bombarded with where to meet guys, how to meet guys, wah wah wah. Between the dating scene and what alcoholic beverage I should down first, being grown up is exhausting!

Ugh. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m totes missing the days of math homework and skorts.

OMG. How many times have you seen this in your life? There should be a law against moms using IMs. Or any technology for that matter.

I remember when I got America Online for the first time. I was in second grade and acquired the coveted CD Rom disk from my best friend’s dad. We were the first two kids in school who had it. This was before AOL was called AOL, before it offered unlimited use, before cable modems, hell, it was before Buddy Lists existed!

Yes, I realize I’m totally dating myself here.

Anyways, AOL was the coolest thing ever back then and your screenname said a lot about you. Especially to all those random “friends” you made in the AOL chatrooms. You know you joined me in “I Love Nickelodeon 65″; don’t lie.

I changed my screenname more often than I changed my clothes (I was a little tom boyish back then…and changing my SN wasn’t a big deal when I had 2 friends online). First it was SpiceGrl321, then Whateva321, then DiamondBaby. Then I had TenTap for awhile. It was a combination of my favorite pastimes – tennis and tap – as well as an online best friend necklace with my two besties who had TenDan (tennis and dance), and TenAno (tennis and piano). We were so cool.

In highschool – when my BFFs became BFNs (best friends for never) – I switched it up to something a little more mature that I knew I could hold onto for awhile. Because, you know, BeanieBaby1000 would be a little embarassing for anyone over the age of 12. Read More »

[Welcome to my Weekly Love List, a list on all things I love. Because if I love them, well, obviously you may (and should) love them too. As the Backstreet Boys song says (and yes I am actually quoting them) "My Love is All I Have To Give." So with that throwback, here are this week's list-worthy things…]

If there is one thing I love, it’s nostalgia. There is nothing better than sitting around with your friends looking at photos of those awful bangs, horrible stirrup leggings and puff painted sweatshirts and reminiching about the days of yore.  So for this week’s LOVE List I thought I would delve back into those scrapbooks and bring you my top 5 childhood LOVES. It’s hard to narrow down to five so let us know what you loved back then too!

1. Platform Jump Shoes. This must-have trend (from Vagabonds to Rebels to Sketchers) were the  gym shoe in my middle school. Obviously worn with your Paris Blues or your ribbed light purple Hard Tails. I thought I was too cool for school in my black and white “gym shoes” (which is ironic since they  were unacceptable for gym class).

2. Beanie Babies. I have a TRUNK of these bad boys sitting in basement because TY had me convinced that my discontinued Garcia Bear would be worth thousands by now. Too bad they are selling on ebay for $5.00. Not only does my lunch costs more than that, it’s less than their original $6.00 price tag. But at the time, Beanie babies were like a hot pair of Manolos on major sale: sold out in stores everywhere,  causing fights by pushy mothers nationwide. For a good two years, there was not a holiday or birthday that went by that someone did not give me a Beanie Baby. Read More »

I’ve written about my various issues with Facebook before, but the improper use of the Facebook status now tops my list of things that drive me crazy.I don’t believe in Facebook statuses (stati?). I find 93% of them unnecessary and the other 7% contradictory. What am I supposed to think when someone’s Facebook status says they’re doing work ALL night, their away message says they’re wasted, and their Gmail status says they love the new Beyonce song? Where do I even try to start a conversation? Should I meet them in the library at 4 a.m with a tray of shots and the lyrics to “If I Were a Boy”?

But that’s not even my biggest concern with the Facebook Status. My issue is the “IS.” Over a year ago Facebook removed the obligatory “IS” from the status. But every day (Ok, 3 times a day) I sign on and people are not only still using the “IS,” but they are using it incorrectly: Read More »

Madonna’s secret recordings (no, they are not sex tapes!).

Forget the girl with her heart on her sleeve; wear your uterus on your undies?

Some men are really, really desperate.

Katie Perry eats it on national TV.

Now everyone can look like Heidi Klum. Well, sorta.

Joe the Plumber and Joe Six Pack chat it up.

The greatest college pranks…ever.

Columbia gets erotic.

Travis Barker is out of the hospital!

The most delicious iPhone.

Professor trading cards? It’s real!

Got a burning question, a helpful comment, topics or other things you’d like to us to cover? Think you know the perfect way for CC to take over the WWW? Are you heading to school in NYC and interested in interning for the coolest office ever? (Besides the world’s slowest elevator, our office is the chillest place you’ll ever intern)

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The time has come for someone to stand up and scream at the top of their lungs, “America, stop being disgusting and sexualizing 15-year-old girls!!” and I’m not afraid to be that someone. Because the media can longer be counted on to have a brain, because adult celebrity bloggers see it fit to go after girls who can’t even drive yet, and because we as a nation are still. fixated. with. high. school, the cloud of obsession seems to have blinded everyone to the fact that there is something inherently wrong with stalking little girls.

Because these ARE little girls we’re talking about. Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Taylor Momsen. When we’re not urging them to slather on the eyeliner and hike up their skirts, we’re glamorizing their world, turning high school into a multi-million dollar soap opera where everyone is scheming or talking like 30 Somethings or having sex with anything that purses it’s lips. For those of us who remember high school without the Hollywood Glasses, you’ll recall that no matter where you went, it was decidedly unglamorous. It was boring, sometimes lonely, a lot awkward, and stuffed to the brim with tests, feeble attempts to fit in, and college application essays.

Ask any mother today who isn’t on crack if she’d be happy with her 15-year-old having sex, and she’d blurt the word no faster than you could think it. When Ms. Cyrus’s cellphone is hacked into and her frighteningly-too-old half naked poses are stuffed onto the world wide web, we’re “horrified”. But when she walks around with a full face of makeup, hair extensions, high heels, and revealing clothing, she’s just being a “teen star”. The Lolita posing is too overtly sexual; while the “Disney Vamp” is just subtle enough to keep us from feeling guilty. Read More »