Spending some time in the café at Barnes and Noble, attempting to get back on track with the Project of a Novelish Nature.
I’m sitting next to a wire rack filled to the brim with SparkNotes, a study aid similar to the hallowed CliffsNotes. It’s odd to think that when I first encountered SparkNotes back in 2000 or 2001, it was merely one small section on the website formerly known as TheSpark.com. The Spark, among other things, featured such scholarly pursuits as the “The Fat Project” and “The Stinky Feet Project” (both of which can still be found at OKCupid, a sort of successor site to The Spark.)
That’s right: the line of study guides students now use instead of reading assigned books for school was co-founded by a guy who once went two weeks with his feet wrapped in plastic bags to see if he could get athlete’s foot, and then documented the experience for the Internet.
I wonder if Cliff Hillegass could top that?
Leave a Comment