Call For Comments: Black Friday and the Conspicuous Consumption Shopping Event

From Mav: I love shopping. It’s fun. First of all, spending money is fun… at least if you have it. Because having a bunch of new stuff is fun. But also, I actually love the thrill of going and looking at stuff, deciding you like it and even searching for a good deal. It’s like…

e251. Eating the Rich! (on film)

A curious set of movies have been racking up nominations on the film circuit this awards season. Glass Onion, the Menu, and Triangle of Sadness. Each of these films has a peculiar thing in common… they’re basically about eating the rich… ok if not eating them than at least killing rich people… largely just because…

e250. We Always Figured We Would Do a Show on Quiet Quitting (Eventually)

Do you remember “quiet quitting”? We can’t really blame you if you don’t. But the news media was all in an uproar about it… wow… like five months ago! They were talking about it like it was the fall of civilization. It was the worst thing in the world. It was… well, it apparently amounted…

e244. An A.I. Took Your Art, Daddy!

If you listen to our show, chances are you’re on the Internet. If you’re on the Internet, then chances are in the last couple weeks you’ve seen a proliferation of people posting A.I. generated selfies in crazy art styles. Then, you’ve perhaps also seen the explosion of controversy over people arguing about whether or not…

e242. A Specifically Very Positive Thanksgiving Ep

If you’ve been watching the news lately you might have noticed that things have been… kind of gloomy. Trump is running for president again. Twitter is imploding. The pandemic is still here. BUT… it’s Thanksgiving! At least it is here in America. Thanksgiving’s origins tell of friendship and togetherness between natives and colonizers. OK, it’s…

e219. Why We Still Love the Jurassic Park Franchise

Somehow, in 2022, there’s a Jurassic Park movie at the top of the box office. Some twenty-nine years after the first film and 32 years after the release of the first novel, this series is still going strong. There are cartoons, video games, Lego sets and other toys. Even though Jurassic World Dominion is theoretically…

CFC: We CAN do an episode about Jurassic Park; does that mean we SHOULD?

From Hannah: It’s been almost thirty years since we first were welcomed to Jurassic Park on the silver screen. And this weekend, the sixth movie in the franchise (which, uh, many of might say never should have had one sequel much less this many) Jurassic World: Dominion will premiere on North American screens. I’ve been…

Call for Comments: “Get in loser, we’re going shopping”

From Monica: This week on VoxPop, we’re feeling nostalgic for the ultimate palace of capitalism— the mall. Because even if you don’t like shopping, the sheer quantity of things geographically centered meant that you probably bought clothes, or read comics, or listened to CDs, or saw a movie, or had a haircut, or took a…

Call for Comments: What is Luxury Fashion, Really?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw4zlvTlaI0 From Monica: What do Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Moet, Hennessy, Fendi, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Loewe, Celine, Bulgari, Tiffany and Co., and Sephora all have in common? They’re all owned by LVMH, the world’s largest corporate conglomerate specializing in luxury goods. What about Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent? They’re all…

e141. Ghosts, Spirits, Scrooge and a Merry Marxist Christmas

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is likely the most famous Christmas story ever written. First published 177 years ago, it has been produced as stage plays, adapted into dozens of films and spoofed and parodied countless times on television shows, in comics, and other media. Whether from Disney, The Muppets, Scrooged, the original or somewhere…