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Chanel Lee grew up in New York City and read everything she could get her hands on as a child, from daily newspapers to her father's medical books. She studied literature at the University of Virginia and planned to go to law school until she joined the college newspaper and decided to become a writer instead. After graduating from Syracuse University with a master's degree in magazine journalism, she went on to write for several publications, including Entertainment Weekly, the Village Voice and The Source. At HowStuffWorks.com, she edits articles covering a wide range of topics, from history to health to automobiles. When she's not doing that, she's still reading everything she can get her hands on. You can find Chanel on Twitter at @FanStuff and on Facebook at the official FanStuff page.
Most Recent: Chanel Lee Postings
Did you know that the original version of “The Office” premiered 10 years ago today? Me neither, but EW.com has a charming retrospective on the beloved British series today — penned by none other than the show’s star and co-creator, Ricky Gervais.
I’ve made no bones about my adoration of the HBO series “Game of Thrones” here on the blog. I know I’m not the only one; after all, the series has averaged 2.5 million viewers since it premiered back in April. That said, my nascent obsession has created a little problem for a re-emerging bookworm like me: As I wrote on Twitter a few weeks ago, I’ve been torn between watching the television series completely unspoiled and devouring the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series wholesale. The flood of book spoilers isn’t really helping.
It’s almost on cue: Mere days before the “Harry Potter” series takes its final bow in theaters comes news of Muggle Quidditch flying high at a Texas high school.
Supreme Court Declares California Video Game Law Unconstitutional
by Chanel Lee | June 27, 2011
On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a California law that would’ve banned the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. In a 7-2 decision, the Court decided that not only are video games protected under the First Amendment, they also should be treated the same way as other forms of speech: “Like protected books, plays and movies, [video games] communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features distinctive to the medium. And the basic freedoms of speech … do not vary with a new and different communication medium.”
It’s official: Nerds are hot. Again. After many, many fits and starts, geek has finally become chic. Again. I don’t know how this happened, but there really is no denying that nerds are like, totally cool now. How do we know this? Well, just like the popular kids of old, they’ve started kicking people out of the club — and the first ones to go are the so-called hot chicks.
If you watch “Game of Thrones,” then there’s a pretty good chance that your jaw’s still on the floor after the last episode’s extremely shocking twist.
One of my favorite aspects of the AMC runaway hit “The Walking Dead” is the way it lovingly showcases its Atlanta setting. I got a serious kick out of seeing the city — street signs and all — so prominently displayed throughout the show’s first season and I just about fell off my couch when I learned that one of last season’s climactic moments was filmed mere minutes from my apartment. So you know I was giddy when I read an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution highlighting the return of “The Walking Dead” to my neighborhood.
Young adult fiction is really popular these days, with teens and adults alike. I’ve seen so many grown-ups reading the “Twilight” series that it’s easy to forget that the saga was written for high schoolers. The same goes for the “Hunger Games” trilogy and the “Harry Potter” series. However, a recent Wall Street Journal article reminded me of something else these three wildly popular book series share — something that some would prefer stay hidden.
A red-band trailer is a movie preview, typically available on the Internet, that’s intended only for mature audiences. Theaters generally won’t show them, but the only difference between the run-of-the-mill trailers we all see in the theater and the ones we giggle over online are the red screens that replace the green ones that general audiences see at the start of most trailers. Well, that … and the inclusion of many of the elements that likely gave that film its “R” rating in the first place.
When I heard that a trailer for the American version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” had leaked, I couldn’t get online fast enough. I found Stieg Larsson’s book trilogy a little late, but I knocked out the first installment during a ridiculously long flight delay at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport last year. It did drag a bit in spots — I’m sure this is the only bestselling novel in history to open with a flower and a treatise on Swedish libel law — but once it got going, it really got going.
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Golden Fields of Canola
- The Park That Never Sleeps: Central Park
- Draw a Pretty Picture With Your Bike and Your Phone
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Blow Your Mind: Nebula in a Box
- Blow Your Mind: Three Minutes Till Impact
- Touching the Void: Psychedelics and Death
Stuff You Should Know
- Stuff You Should Know at SXSW
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Listener Mail: What’s the world’s largest engine?
- Listener Mail: What makes a “classic car” classic?
- Was Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” Super Bowl commercial a little too political?
How-to Stuff
- How to Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor
- How to Travel the World in 4 Days
- How to Smell Like Someone at HowStuffWorks
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 68: Astrology: What’s PopStuff’s Sign?
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 67: Collecting: PopStuff’s Cabinet of Curiosities
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 66: Tracy and Holly’s Running Playlists
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
- Good News from the Oldest Mayan Calendar
- One Year Later: Colony Collapse Disorder
- Who Killed Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics
