OMFG: It's my knowledge community.

SPOTTED: People all over the US setting their DVRs to record at 9 pm on the CW. At my house, Monday nights are reserved for the never disappointing fashion, drama, and scandal combination that is Gossip Girl. The show's vast knowledge community is made up of girls and guys from middle school age to adults all coming together to watch the rumors and gossip wreak well-dressed havoc across the Upper East Side. While you don’t have to have very much going on upstairs to get the premise of the show, this community’s most dedicated members have more fun than the passive watchers, as we speculate and theorize about the show the way the Survivor fans in Jenkins’ chapter did.

The question on every fan's mind since season one has been who is gossip girl? Together, the knowledge community has tried to figure out who it is. I participate in this knowledge community with my friends and roommates. This season, we almost had it: the show introduced a new character with such stalking skills that she couldn't be anyone but gossip girl. We still don't know and probably (sadly) will never find out. Still, every episode, someone yells out "IS THAT GOSSIP GIRL?!"

Jenkins mentions that members of knowledge communities share an "emotional investment" (27), and that's definitely true here. For example, main characters Chuck and Blair have an off-and-on romance that pretty much directs the way my week will go after 10 pm Monday. (This week's episode made my month). I've seen the duo pull tears out of even the biggest Bass-haters. The other various love-hate relationships that fuel the show get this knowledge community all riled up: hate Serena, hate Jenny, like to hate Vanessa, like Serena, still hate Jenny. The cycle repeats itself every season, but it never gets old: the gossip gets juicier every time.

With so much drama in every episode, the knowledge community has to be there for one another- it's really hard to keep track of who Serena slept with and why Blair is mad at Nate (again). Every season gets more and more complicated, and it gets harder to remember who characters are when they reappear from previous episodes. The community helps each other stay afloat.

This knowledge community also bonds over the show's fashion. Each week promises an hour of trendy, sophisticated, and just plain amazing style. Websites like Seenon.com offer sales on the very same designs the characters wear in the show. These hundred-to-thousand dollar frocks and handbags put fans one step closer to being the characters that they obsess over, like the harry potter fans Alissa talks about. Since my pockets are not nearly deep enough for said luxuries (yet), I'll stick to the nail polish and DVDs.

Like Jenna mentions, collective intelligence keeps a knowledge community alive, even if the knowledge doesn't have a direct relationship with the show. For example, I read the Gossip Girl books when I was younger, and even though the plot of the show now never happened in the novels, I'll tell my friends about a weird difference between the book and show. One of my friends saw the crew filming the show in New York last year, and even though it didn't reveal anything about the coming episodes, I could have cried.

This knowledge community is definitely huge, and I think it works because of the mischievous personalities of all of the characters. Everyone is up to something, and it's fun to try to figure out what it is. Plus, it is a show that lets you indulge in gossip, ridiculous wealth, and an impossible cycle of lust-turned-love-turned-blackmail-turned-love-turned...

xoxo,

gossip girl

Lights, camera, FASHION

From the days of Coco Chanel to today’s red-carpet-walking celebrities, style has always been a staple in popular culture. I personally enjoy pretty much everything from shoes and bags to headbands and sunglasses. It’s fun to buy things that make you excited and happy, and even more enjoyable to dress up.

Fashion can be inspiring and uplifting. It can make you look forward to things that you might normally not be thrilled about; going to that distant relatives wedding can be less painful if you’re wearing something you’re absolutely obsessed with (and can’t believe you got on sale). Thus, wearing something you like makes you feel good, almost empowered. When you have something like a job interview or event to attend, the better you look, the better you feel. And the better you feel, the better you’ll do.

People who get their pride and confidence from what they look like are materialistic and shallow. It’s is on the inside that counts. These people always waste a ton of money on things.

Not necessarily. Fashion can be a hobby- something you do that makes you happy. Just because you don’t do it outside and it doesn’t involve tackling or rackets doesn’t mean it doesn’t count.

Clothes and material things should be what you use to describe who you are; instead, they are helpful tools in expressing yourself. Moreover, magazines like InStyle cater to both the wealthy and budgeted, showcasing designer shoes and handbags but offering tips on how to find trendy items for less or how to make the most out of what’s in your closet.

So you should just drown yourself in a bunch of magazines to decide what you should wear? Sounds lame.

Magazines, websites, and TV shows revolving around fashion trends and well-dressed socialites are easy to find and even easier to get addicted to. The Rachel Zoe Show, for example, follows the celebrity stylist fast-paced and super stylish life as she dresses A-list celebs for award shows and galas. Shows like this inspire people to express themselves through fashion. Give one a chance and you'll see.

Okay, so lets say I watch one of these shows and get hooked. That leads me to my next point: fashion-obsessed people are unoriginal. They follow the same trends and, while they’re trying to show their individualism through their style, end up all wearing the same thing they all saw in last month’s magazines. They look like a bunch of over-dressed posers.

Actually, fashion makes the world a better looking place. What is more aesthetically pleasing: a city full of disheveled slobs, or a society of people that look dignified and like they have at least a little pride?

Yeah, but then again, how many people do you see in person and on TV wearing zebra-print jumpsuits and ten pounds of cakey makeup that think they look great? Fashion is a deathtrap-it can go wrong in more ways than it can go right.

That’s fair. But there are tons of resources for people that like fashion, you just have to know where to look. Like, if you want to come up with cute ideas for what to wear to work, check somewhere like shopbop.com or the catalog of a department store like Bloomingdale’s or Nordstrom, not last week’s episode of Jersey Shore.

Alright, I guess it won't hurt to takesome pride in what I look. I’m not putting on any makeup, though.

Give it some time. You'll get there, and you'll like it.

Whatever. Pass the remote, Project Runway is about to start.

...Oh man...watch with me here!