Memes.org article about the book Be More Chill (via Dr. Hyatt)
Ned Vizzini did, and the squip - a tiny ingestible supercomputer that gives you social advice on the spot (”Be jaded and profane” or “Keep looking her in the face”) - became the centerpiece of his novel for teenagers, “Be More Chill” (Miramax, 2004). To market the book, Mr. Vizzini, 23, asked a friend who is a Web designer, Adam Collett, to help him build a tongue-in-cheek Web site promoting squips as if they were real.
Also, Steve Shaviro’s review of So Yesterday
The narrator of So Yesterday, 17-year-old Hunter, is (as his name implies) a coolhunter, also known as a Trendsetter: one of those people who discovers the newest trends, recognizing them before anyone else, and thereby helping to market them to the masses, to make them “cool.” The object of his affection, Jen, is an Innovator: one of the people who actually invents the trends (in fashion, clothing, etc.) that are then picked up by the Trendsetters and marketed. Hunter works freelance for “a certain athletic shoe company named after a certain Greek god,” advising them on what’s cool and what’s not. (The narrator promises that there will be “no product placement in these pages,” which is why he resorts to such cute euphemisms).
Here’s a recent Wired article about the neuroscience of cool hunting
And of course, if the topic is cool hunting, I have to mention 0ne of all time favorite books, the Savage Girl by Alex Shakar.