e200. Secret Origins Starring VoxPopcast: Special Anniversary Edition

It’s unbelievable, but somehow we’ve been doing this for 200 episodes! It’s time to celebrate. One today’s episode we look back on nearly four years of podcasting AND we discuss the secret origins of every host of the show and how we got into pop culture academia. PLUS, a two bonus secret origins of how…

e198. STEM vs Humanities: the Clatter in the Classroom

If you’ve been or known any kid who has gone to an American school in the last 50 years or so you’ve probably heard the advice to “get into STEM” because that’s where the future is. It’s an odd bit of advice really, because essentially all it means is “Hey kids! Pay attention in school…

Call for Comments: Humanities vs. STEM — Dawn of Nerdom

From Katya: There’s a generic assumption in academic circles that the humanities are embattled — for funding, for prestige, for influence within the university, etc. — against the BBEG of STEM. STEM is stealing our students. STEM is stealing our funding. STEM is gnawing our legs off (for science!) As you might guess, I don’t…

e196. The 2022 Box Office Draft!

It’s that time of year again. Every year the hosts of Voxpopcast play a fantasy box office game! Even though it’s only the second week of the year, we are going to review every movie expected to come out in 2022. Then each host will draft 15 movies and compete to see who can have…

e195. 34 Great Things You Missed in 2021!

2021 is over! It’s hard to believe that because in a lot of ways it still feels like it’s 2020. But somehow, a whole year went by nonetheless. And, since the year is done, it’s time that we do what every podcast does… a year in review! But, if you’ve been listening the last couple…

e192. How to Win Christmas & Influence People

Christmas traditions are huge part of popular culture. In fact, they’re such a huge part of popular culture that — despite the so-called war on Christmas — they pretty much infuse the western winter holidays regardless of your religion or beliefs. It’s the “holiday” season. But, no matter how secular we try to make things,…

e191. Pop Culture Casserole

As we transition from the fall holidays through the winter ones we’ve noticed that there was a bunch of pop culture things have just fallen through the cracks. Like, really a WHOLE lot of them. And what do you do when you have a bunch of odds and ends left over from Thanksgiving that don’t…

CFC: Cards, Baking, Music, Shelf Elves & Other Holiday Traditions

From Katya: Sometimes I think being a scholar of culture boils down to constantly recognizing that, actually, it absolutely is that deep. Pretty much all the time. We were talking about seasonal cultural practices that we found interesting. Mav brought up sending Christmas cards as a tradition that made him feel like he was celebrating…

e187. 4x4ward: Overlanding and the Great Outdoors

When you study “pop culture” people automatically think of the MOST popular media that is available of the day. For us living in 2021, that’s largely superhero movies. Of course, if you listen to this show, you know we also frequently talk about music, TV shows, books and video games. But popular culture is much…

e185. The Wicked, the Witches and the Witch-ish

Halloween season continues and so it’s time for another special episode. One of the most enduring pop culture figure is probably the witch. Witches appear through the ages in media. From the Weird Sisters of MacBeth to the good and bad witches of Oz to to Arthur Miller’s the Crucible, to Samantha of Bewitched to…