Mr. Trabulsy in his well-known grocery store, Sy's Supermarket

I really enjoyed writing about Mr. Trabulsy, former owner of an iconic grocery store in the historically-black neighborhood of Parramore in downtown Orlando. Lebanese-American and only 5-foot-four, this man packed a lot of punch in his 25 years running Sy’s Supermarket, which remains in the same place today, juxtaposed just one block from the swanky new Amway Arena.

courtesy of imdb.com

Have you too been wondering why The Social Network, out this Friday, is being allowed to continue on its upward climb of overhype without being stopped by the slimy tentacles of a lawsuit? Thought so. Well with some leftover knowledge from my take-no-prisoners Mass Comm Law class from undergrad and this article from CNN Money, I have the answer.

Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old mascot and CEO of Facebook, is famous.

By willingly thrusting himself into the public eye by inventing the website that changed all our lives and amassing a net worth of $6.9 billion, he has, more or less, given up his right to a reasonable amount of privacy and an accurate portrayal of himself in a major motion picture.

Sucks, doesn’t it?

Facebook’s spokespeople and Mark himself are saying left and right that the film largely fabricated some of its material. The CNN Money article brings more to this periwinkle-blue table: The Social Network isn’t the first jab at Mark’s rise to infamy and fortune. A book was published called The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook — A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, which simply sounds like the original title of the movie before it was shortened to make it tweetable. Some scenes from the book – which the author admits to exaggerating or flat-out making up – were carried over into the movie. The ambiguity just keeps growing like speculation over Justin Bieber’s gender.

Hence the film’s mantra: they’re not touting truth(who needs that?), but rather “storytelling.”

And if Mark did sue Columbia Pictures, who produced the movie, that would only give the movie more publicity. And it’s been said many times amidst a PR nightmare: any publicity is good publicity. And Facebook has lodged itself so deep under our skin that practically nothing could dig it out.

Guess what happened next. (courtesy of thefashionspot.com)

In 1957, the equivalent of this question would have been “Raise your hand if you’ve ever been driven to the top of a hill at the end of a date to ‘see the view.’” Yes, it is a strategy being used more and more frequently by boys our age to coax a girl into being alone with him. But in this era of social media ubiquity and Facebook having become like the third arm we don’t know how we ever lived without, are we expected to accept this as part of the new dating norm?

If you’d like to be taken on dates more than once per semester (or season if you’re not in school) and insist on getting to know that super-shy adorable boy who’s inconveniently friends with your ex bf, then, sadly, yes.

What do you think, ladies?

Gentlemen, if you must, at least read these guidelines. Meanwhile, I’ll be picketing in front of Facebook’s California headquarters, advocating for the simpler, more romantic days of telegrams and phone calls.

The do’s and don’ts of asking someone out online

Place finger here.

Just as I was beginning to feel like a Foursquare guru and earned myself a worthless mayor badge, Zuckerberg and his other Facebook friends had to go and unveil a competitor: Facebook Places. While this will make things easier for those of us who previously used both Facebook and Foursquare on a regular basis, as they’ll have only  one stop to make, I can’t help but worry that someone will soon be lurking outside my bedroom window with a sickle, whispering that he knew exactly where I was from my latest Facebook Place check-in.

A Field Guide to Using Facebook Places

Esp. if you're applying for jobs, you'll feel just like me (and the pig) if you accidentally send that e-mail before you mean to.

Mashable: HOW TO: Undo “Send” in Gmail

I was before aware of the 5-second window I have after sending an e-mail to someone to quickly click “Undo.” But heaven is smiling down upon us Gmail users: a 30-second window exists. Read Mashable’s article to find out how.

This little girl in Manhattan has no idea I took this. Creepy, huh?

I have so many passwords to keep track of in my online life that I have a document on my computer that stores them all. I probably shouldn’t have revealed that, but I did for the sake of this post. My Facebook account has definitely been hacked into, and since then, I’ve changed its password to something so long and obnoxious that anyone standing behind me while waiting to see my vaca photos ask, “Seriously?” Psh, well, just wait until your account gets hacked.

How to create a ‘super password’

Like my best friend’s quaint apartment, my closet is my second home besides my bedroom. I probably spend an equal amount of time in there as in the rest of my apartment, poring over my collection of clothes that I’ve acquired (and pillaged and diminished and cursed at) over the years. But not all my original ideas for outfits originate in this 6′x5′ space or within my own head. I am often inspired by outfits I see in fashion magazines and clothing catalogs, as I’m sure many are. The next step after seeing an outfit that catches your attention and you think “I might actually be able to pull this off,” is to tear out that page and physically put it in your closet. That way the next time you’re agonizing over what to wear on Thursday, when you honestly have nothing left in your bursting closet to wear, consult your ideas, and get to work recreating them.

Each week Henry Alford of the NY Times gives a quick-and-dirty rundown of things to talk about for the upcoming weekend – a compilation of the week’s events in pop culture, politics, science…every genre that anyone remotely cares about. Well many don’t have time to read all 10, so I’ve kindly narrowed it down to the best for you, so you’ll undoubtedly be the most interesting person in the room.