Shmoop
25 Feb 2009 / PEI posted something on Twitter about helping my son with The Great Gatsby and got what you might call a spam reply from this girl, who said “have u tried http://shmoop.com for The Great Gatsby?”
Evidently Shmoop, which I’d never heard of, has people hanging out on Twitter waiting for someone to mention a book, at which point they send back a “have u tried …” reply.
Lest you think that’s a totally ineffective thing to do, I actually did click over to the Shmoop entry on The Great Gatsby, which starts off like this:
The Great Gatsby is a delightful concoction of MTV Cribs, VH1’s The Fabulous Life Of…, and HBO’s Sopranos. Shake over ice, add a twist of jazz, a spritz of adultery, and the little pink umbrella that completes this long island iced tea and you’ve got yourself a 5 o’clock beverage that, given the 1920’s setting, you wouldn’t be allowed to drink.
So it’s a little bit more hip than Cliffs Notes. I haven’t seen enough of it yet to know if I really like it, but I like it . . .
mike
26 Feb 2009 @ 5:11 am
shmoop sounds like you—this would be a great startup for you
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Brady
26 Feb 2009 @ 8:44 am
Hi Paul,
Glad that you’re finding Shmoop so helpful for your son’s Gatsby homework. He can give us a whirl for poetry and US history, as well! (We’re adding more subjects soon)
Drop me a line (my name @ shmoop) and I’ll send a Shmoop t-shirt down for your son, as a small thanks for helping us spread the word.
Fire away with comments, rants, raves, & requests on our Feedback or Contact Us pages. We’re just getting started!
Cheers,
Brady & the Shmoop team
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PE
26 Feb 2009 @ 9:27 am
Thanks Mike but I wouldn’t be able to provide the snappy pop culture references. I’ve never watched VH1 or The Sopranos. I’ve seen MTV Cribs a couple times when my son had it on but I was thinking that a more entertaining show would be MTV Cribs: 10 Years After, where they go back after the homeowners have returned to obscurity and try to figure out what the hell happened to all that stuff.
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mike
27 Feb 2009 @ 7:27 am
I love it—great humor
I read your blog often—great stuff
GL told me about you—I enjoy your enlightened reviews.
Actually I always hated Cliffs notes–but our culture today seems to crave short cuts
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