This is undoubtedly the summer of pop culture reference songs. Following in the footsteps of “#Selfie” and “Bo$$” comes “Swipe,” a song about Tinder that comes to us from the five-piece Brooklyn-based “eccentric chamber pop” band Miracles of Modern Science.

“Swipe,” which features vocals by Kristin Slipp, is quite catching with a nice video that plays well into what the band is doing; taking a somewhat ardent approach to the super popular dating app.

It may not be a classic, but it’s so 2014.

David Dean

David Dean is the founder of Serial Optimist and writer of things that hopefully make you smile. Find him all over MTV, Thought Catalog, HelloGiggles and "Google."

Mr. Manager is making the switch to Mr. Musician.

On Tuesday night, “Arrested Development” and “Juno” actor Michael Cera quietly released the 18-track true that. This isn’t his first venture into music — he played with indie group Mister Heavenly a few years back — but it marks his first solo effort.

And he released it on his bandcamp in an I’ll-just-leave-this-here kind of way, with no promotion of any kind. Very Cera-esque, as is the album itself.

Only two songs on the lo-fi project are longer than three minutes (by a few seconds) with a handful coming in under a minute. It’s experimental, playful, lax and fun — exactly what you would expect a Michael Cera album to sound like. A standout is a beautiful cover of Blaze Foley’s “Clay Pigeons.”

No matter what the critics have to say, Jonah Hill was quick to show his support for his pal on Twitter:

David Dean

David Dean is the founder of Serial Optimist and writer of things that hopefully make you smile. Find him all over MTV, Thought Catalog, HelloGiggles and "Google."

A biopic about the the late Brittany Murphy is coming to Lifetime.

“The Brittany Murphy Story” will premiere September 6, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This will be the first full-length movie about the actress, who died almost five years ago at age 32.

Amanda Fuller, whom you might recognize from “Last Man Standing” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” will portray Murphy along with Sherilyn Fenn of “Twin Peaks” and “Ray Donovan,” playing Murphy’s mom, Sharon Murphy, according to THR.

The movie will focus on Brittany Murphy’s younger years, and her mother’s effort to turn her daughter into a star in the 1980s and ’90s. It will also include her death, and the aftermath that followed when her mother dealt with claims that her daughter’s death was not accidental.

A spokesperson for Sharon Murphy said she was not consulted for the movie and has not cooperated with the production in any way.

Brittany Murphy appeared in cult classics like “Clueless,” “Girl, Interrupted” and “8 Mile,” among many other roles. She died December 20, 2009; with her husband Simon Monjack passing away five months later. The coroner ruled that both had died from pneumonia and other causes.

David Dean

David Dean is the founder of Serial Optimist and writer of things that hopefully make you smile. Find him all over MTV, Thought Catalog, HelloGiggles and "Google."

It might not be the Taylor Swift/Lorde duo that you’re hoping for, but this Instagram of the two taking a cooking class in Rhode Island is darling enough to hold us over.

by @taylorswift

“Thank you to Chef Jeanie at Ella’s Fine Food and Drink for giving us the best and only cooking lesson we’ve ever had! @lordemusic,” Taylor’s caption read.

This is hardly the first time the two pop stars have given a serious case of FOMO. They were practically inseperable at this year’s Grammys, and took it to the next level in February with a truly epic girls-only weekend

David Dean

David Dean is the founder of Serial Optimist and writer of things that hopefully make you smile. Find him all over MTV, Thought Catalog, HelloGiggles and "Google."

Oh no. I have quite literally the sh*ttiest news for lifelong “Dawson’s Creek” fans (I know you’re out there! Hi! I’m a total Pacey. You?).

Last summer, 442,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled into the creek used for the show, which is actually called Hewletts Creek, located in Wilmington, North Carolina. A lighting strike hit one of the main sewage pumps, taking out both the station and its alarm system — and for seven hours raw sewage spilled into the creek faster than Joey-induced tears from Dawson’s beautiful brown eyes.

It seems that nobody reported on the creek’s TV connection at the time, because they were too busy holding their noses. But today, Salon.com has a great piece by local writer David Gessner (originally titled “Up Sh*t Creek”) about living in this town that we all imagined living in at one point:

“When sewage spills into a marsh, you get an immediate increase in the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus,” [research professor Mike] Mallin said when I went by his office. That allows microbes to live longer, he explained — the kind that can cause illness and even death from eating contaminated shellfish. “But within a day or so of the Hewletts Creek spill, the levels really decreased,” he said. [...]

As resilient as marshes are, Mallin’s team did discover something disturbing. “The problem comes when the fecal bacteria sink to the bottom, in the dark with plenty of nitrogen and phosphorus to feed on,” he said. “While ...

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