TV Links is dead. May it rest in peace. TV Links was a Web site with links that opened up episodes of popular shows, both old and new. Hours upon hours of childhood classics and newer sitcoms loved but missed because of schoolwork and late night jobs. On Oct. 18, the Web site owner, simply known as “Sin,” was arrested, and the URL is no more. With the ever growing trend of media going more and more digital, TV Links was a portal to the past with its archives filled with students’ childhood memories of Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons. As saddened as this writer was to hear the Web site was no more, it was great to see that in the weeks leading up to Halloween, Cartoon Network played old episodes of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps, a staple to most University students’ childhoods – don’t deny it. Goosebumps was a definite staple to my childhood. I would go through about a book a week. The month it was announced there would be a Goosebumps television series, I was ecstatic. But alas, the series was short-lived. Since some of the books were two part episodes, a majority of the books never made it to the small screen in its three seasons on air. While the production is cheesy, and the story lines won’t get too much of a scare or suspense out the grown-up crowd, the nostalgia of the show and the series of books is what flows through the mind and veins. With this being said, here are five Goosebumps books that could be changed around to fit the University lifestyle and would be more up-to-date for older fans. 1) “Why I’m Afraid of Bees” – Allison Kensrue was the valedictorian of her 200+ graduating class in high school, but halfway through her first semester in college, she begins to feel that grand scholarship slipping through her hands. Allison is slowly feeling those A’s slipping and slipping. 2) “Say Cheese and Die!” – Jenna Mangum thought it was innocent enough. That it wouldn’t hurt anyone. It was only a camera. But with great power, comes great responsibility. Once those pictures made their way to that infamous Web site, everyone tagged in the photos woke up Sunday afternoon to a social life that had one foot in the grave. One by one, her friends started getting socially hurt and humiliated less than 24 hours after the pictures were developed for all the University to see. 3) “You Can’t Scare Me!” – Jonathan Lacey thought he could stand up to the test. He thought he could overcome the fears everyone told him about when he rushed the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. After standing in a vat of spaghetti and days and days of elephant walks, the pressure is starting to get to Jonathan. As he stands atop the fraternity house roof naked and blind folded, the fear may be starting to get to him. 4) “Night of the Living Dummy” – Carey Embree has had a long week, and it’s Friday night – she is ready to go out on the town. Slowly the alcohol sets in, and the flirting does too. Through a series of events, dumb text messages and an eventual verbal fight with the bouncer that almost led to her arrest, Carey wakes up in a strange bed. She doesn’t know how she got there or how to escape. 5) “One Day at Horrorland” – Jim Enders wanted to excel as an engineer, but after 12 hours a day, six days a week in Patrick F. Taylor Hall – formally known as CEBA – the rooms are becoming sick amusement rides that include figures and symbols not of this world. The teachers keep talking a foreign language that drifts in and out of what is understandable. What happens when Jim is trapped there for five years of his life? Will he survive the ride?
—-Contact Adam Pfleider at [email protected]