You know that part of the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where young Indy insists over and over again that a relic belongs in a museum? Or the part where old Indy insists that an artifact belongs in a museum? Or the way people, including museums, have basically claimed this over and over in…
Category: Culture
e351. Cinematic Trolley Problems: Exploring Moral Grey Areas Through Film
It’s the last episode of the year. Except we did our year end recap like two weeks ago. So what are we to do this week? Well, how about a regular topic? Who says we can’t innovate on this show 351 episodes in? So, on this NOT end-of-year episode, Mav, Katya, Monica, and Wayne delve…
e348. The True Meaning of Gifting: Connection over Consumerism
It’s the holiday season and that means that it’s time to begin the tried and true and for some people massively neurotic holiday tradition: Present Shopping! In this episode, Mav and Hannah Rogers engage in a lively discussion about the anxiety and joy associated with buying gifts, the consumerist nature of the holidays. How do…
CFC: How Do You Holiday Shop?
From Mav: As we reach the Christmas (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc) season and devolve into our annual socially mandated display of affection through conspicuous consumption, we started having this little conversation amongst the cohosts about gift giving. Not for each other… just in general. How do you shop? Are you trying to be as capitalist as…
e342. Creepy Dolls and the Freudian Uncanny
Happy Halloween! As has been our tradition, we wanted to make sure we marked the season with a special episode or two highlighting the concepts of horror. On today’s episode, Mav, Wayne and Monica are joined by friend of the show and Director of University of California at Santa Cruz’s Center for Monster Studies, Michael…
e336. So, Why Pop Culture?
In all the years we’ve been doing this show we’ve worked under a very basic assumption: Everyone involved as a host, guest, or listener presumes that the pseudo academic discussion of popular culture (with drinking and swearing) is an important activity. We certainly feel that way, and chances are if you’re a regular listener you…
Call For Comments: Why do people like conventions?
From Mav: So while I was watching the Democratic National Convention coverage last week — yes, I watch all of the DNC… I also watch all of the RNC… I do it so you don’t have to — Anyway, while I was watching I started thinking about the concept of conventions. Political conventions had a…
e332. The 4th Wall Bounce: The Reflexivity of Media and Culture
So here’s a weird question for you… in a TV show like Batman, do the regular people know the phrase “dynamic duo?” In the movie Amazing Spider-Man Peter Parker uses the theme song from the 1960s Spider-man cartoon as his ringtone… but what song does he think that is? If two TV shows cross over,…
e328. What’s the Deal with Presidential Assassinations?
It’s been a weird week of American politics. And we can’t really keep up. Yeah, we know something big happened this week (the whole shakeup of the democratic nomination) but we recorded this episode last week after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. It oddly feels like old news now. But the thing is, we’re…