Super Pop!: Pop Culture Top Ten Lists to Help You Win at Trivia, Survive in the Wild, and Make It Through the Holidays

by Daniel Harmon

Overview

Super Pop! offers a maximum-pleasure, minimum-effort way to become smarter, happier, and more likely to survive your next family function (or a shark attack). This hilarious and wide-ranging guide sorts nearly 500 different bestsellers, blockbusters, and underappreciated gems into quirky top ten lists, like "Outwit Death: Essential Lessons in Survival," and "Achieve Mindfulness: Movies That Will Show You the Way (With Wise Elders Now Included)." So whether you're looking for some motivational workout music, need help planning a July 4th double feature, or just want to pick up some knowledge without straining your brain, this book has you covered. With new insights on old classics and fresh ideas for jaded eyes, Super Pop! makes sense of pop culture — and then puts pop culture back to work!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541582071
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	13 - 14 Years

About the Author

Daniel Harmon is a former staff writer for Brokelyn.com, an occasional essayist on the topic of Tommy Wiseau's film The Room, and the author of the book Super Pop! Pop Culture Top Ten Lists to Help You Win at Trivia, Survive in the Wild, and Make It Through the Holidays.

Table of Contents

Introduction 10

Part I Be More Interesting

Live Like an Aristocrat: The Best Places to Mingle with the Elite 16

Dive into the Underworld: Essential Tours of Gang Wars, the Drug Trade, and Otherwise Felonious Living 22

Drink the Kool-Aid: Touchstones for Quirky, Like-Minded People 28

Discover New Worlds: Explorers Who Can Take You into the Unknown 34

Find Your Calling: All-Consuming Hobbies for Your Consideration 40

Outwit Death: Essential Lessons in Survival 45

Put On a Poetic Air: Sources of Weird and Wonderful Word Combinations 50

Adopt a More Outlandish Childhood: Because Some Kids Have All the (Bad) Luck 56

Ten Essential Catchphrases for Use at Dinner Parties 62

Part II Get Smart(ER)

Get Up to Speed: Essential Podcasts for Aspiring Know-It-Alls 66

Think Outside the Box: Preparation for Every Eventuality (And Several Alternate Universes) 73

Get to the Heart of the Matter: Pithy Explanations of Really Complex Things 79

Watch the World Unfold: History Lessons That Will Keep You on the Edge of Your Seat 85

Catch a Predator (And More): Procedurals to Aid in Nearly Every Endeavor 91

Stand on the Shoulders of Giants: Geniuses Willing to Talk to Non-Geniuses 97

Cheat on Your Homework: Essential Literary Adaptations-For Both Information and Inspiration 103

Gain Emotional Intelligence: Because Sometimes IQ Just Isn't Enough 110

The Smartest Inanimate Objects in the History of Pop Culture 116

Part III Stop Doing It Wrong

Drop the Facade: Songs Guaranteed to Melt Your Frozen Heart 120

Stop Talking Bad: Models of Soulful, Incisive, Hard-Hitting Dialogue 124

Gain Some Perspective: Read a Book and Try On Another Human Being 130

Be More Responsible: Essential Reminders That if You Don't Do It, No One Will 136

Eat Better: Where to Find Your Culinary Inspiration 142

Get Motivated: Songs Guaranteed to Get You Pumped 148

Stop Being Such a Philistine: Easy Access Points to the World of High Art 153

Stop Being Such a Snob: Lowbrow Entertainment That Puts the High-Minded Stuff to Shame 160

How to Fix Pop Culture 166

Part IV Find Happiness

Achieve Mindfulness: Movies That Will Show You the Way (With Wise Elders Now Included!) 170

Sleep with the Fishes: The Ten Best Places to Find Your Spirit Animal 177

Eat, Pray, Love, Spelunk: Tag Along on a Life-Changing Vacation 182

Go Where Everybody Knows Your Name: The Best Places to Hang Out for an Hour 188

Lose Yourself in a Good Story: Essential Potboilers 194

Rest Assured: Movies Where People Get Exactly What They Deserve 201

Find Your Happy Place: Magical, Fictional Worlds 208

Laugh So Hard You Soil Yourself: Reliable Sources of Undeniable Joy 214

Happiness, as Defined by Ten Random Celebrities 220

Part V Survive the Holidays

New Year's Day: The Inspiration You Need to Keep Your Resolutions 224

Valentine's Day: Hallmark-Proof Love Stories 231

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Speeches Worth Heeding 238

Independence Day: The Best Sources of AmericAttitude 244

Mother's Day: Celebrating Some Underappreciated Acts of Pop-Cultural Procreation 250

Thanksgiving: Ad Hoc Families That Will Do in a Pinch 256

Christmas: Ten Wildly Different Interpretations of the Meaning of Christmas 262

New Year's Eve: Parties That Will Get You Pumped for Parties 268

Ten Proposed Holiday Amendments 274

Appendix: Top Ten Resources for People Who Still Want More 278

Index 280

About the Author 288

Editorial Reviews

"This book of annotated lists reads like an effective study guide for your next trivia night. Compilations such as 'Survival Lessons from Ten Works of Literature and Film' and 'Life as an Aristocrat' manage to find the commonalities between Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Downton Abbey. However, the book's humorous trivial content is actually far more substantial than first impressions would imply. Using familiar categories of pop culture, such as music, television, movies, and the Internet, Harmon manages to touch on both high-brow and broad cultural ideas, classical art, watershed historical events, and literature. The content encompasses a wide range of genres, eras, and topics, and the hundreds of jumping-off points for exploring facts beyond the lists have great potential to inspire the curiosity of readers. This is a go-to resource for teens looking to bone up on pop culture, sound interesting at a party, or craft the perfect playlist for a workout."—Booklist

From the Publisher

10/01/2013
Gr 7 Up—Highbrow mixes easily with lowbrow in this lively compilation of film, book, TV show, and video-game references. The "Cheat on Your Homework" list includes unlikely matched movies, Anna Karenina and Clueless. Ben Franklin, Richard Feynman, and Tina Fey make an appearance on the "Stand on the Shoulders of Giants" list. Scattered black-and-white cartoon illustrations don't support or detract from the text. Occasional themed spreads offer amusing dialogue bubbles, such as "Ten Essential Catchphrases for Use at Dinner Parties" (quoting the likes of Homer Simpson and Bugs Bunny), and "The Smartest Inanimate Objects in the History of Pop Culture," such as garden gnomes and couches. An extensive index might prove helpful in preparing for trivia meets, but the joy here is in wandering through these browsable lists. Fun and witty, historical and current, this volume will find an appreciative audience.—Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

For anyone who has ever felt the slightest bit deficient in their pop-culture expertise, here is the ultimate guide, guaranteed to fill any void. Harmon has put together a quirky, fun, wide-ranging guide to nearly 500 different books, films, podcasts, songs, television episodes, video games and more, sorting them into kooky top 10 lists. "Stop Being Such a Philistine: Easy Access Points to the World of High Art" includes Exit through the Gift Shop, a Banksy documentary directed by the subject; Amadeus (the movie); Barry Lyndon; a 2009 ad campaign for Levi's; and Beyoncé's "Countdown" video, among others. "Eat, Pray, Love, Spelunk: Tag Along on a Life-Changing Vacation" recommends the VICE Guide to Travel, a Web-based collection of video guides to such vacation getaways as Doha and Karachi; The Darjeeling Limited; David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997); and The Amazing Race Australia. Each entry receives a paragraph or two of annotation. It is particularly entertaining to see what seemingly completely disparate things wind up on the same list. Evil Dead and The Sound of Music? Field of Dreams and Persepolis? The bizarre choices will prompt many double takes and lots of laughter. A weird, witty, endlessly entertaining compendium for the budding pop-culture aficionado. (Nonfiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews