Good News 107: The Internet Cinderella Story

Obviously if you've been watching any sort of news since 2000, better known as the digital era, you know that our tiny little world has been going through some big changes due to the web. An entire Pandora's box has opened and spilled into our society, changing the dynamic by which our community has evolved. Of course there are some bad things that come with the mass exchange of data, but there are also some really awesome things that take place.

This brings me to Justin Halpern. At first glance he appears to be your average 29 year old guy living with his parents, however look closer and you'll see that he has a New York Times bestselling book, and has a television show starring William Shatner due out Fall 2010 on CBS. How did all of this happen to such a young guy?

Twitter.

And no people, I kid you not! I remember when I first started following Justin on his twitter page sh*tmydadsays and he had a mere 5oo something followers. As described on his twitter page,

"I'm 29. I live with my 74-year-old dad. He is awesome. I just write down sh*t that he says."

Having a background in screenwriting, he meant for his account to simply be a tool to record all the outrageously funny things his retired dad has said to him over the years without having to worry about them getting lost or deleted. According to Halpern all of the quotes from his dad are essentially verbatim, only changing or omitting words so that they would fit the 140 character limit that Twitter has. As of today sh*tmydadsays has 1,524,276 followers which, mind you, is nothing to sneeze at.

He started his account August 3, 2009 and by mid August he had about 100,000 followers. Two months later came a book deal from Harper Collins, then by November a deal from Warner Bros. for a television show. If that's not what you consider a modern day fairy tale then please, point me in the direction of something more amazing than this!

Looking at Justin Halpern's story you can't help but feel that anything can happen via the internet if you've got the right amount of luck and talent.

Be sure to check out his twitter account here, but be warned there's a good amount of hilarious profanity. Also don't forget to look for his book at your local bookstore, and his TV show on CBS in the fall, both of which are under the title Sh*t My Dad Says.

Now for some gems of wisdom from Justin's dad:

Pick your furniture like you pick a wife: It should make you feel comfortable and look nice, but not so nice that if someone walks past it they want to steal it.
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The worst thing you can be is a liar....Okay, fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but then number two is liar. Nazi one, liar two.

Have a great day!