e243. What’s in a Name? (or Several)

Sometimes we come up with an episode idea that we just completely mean to be filler. We have no real agenda and not as much research as normal, but we need to fill a week before a much more complicated show and so we just decide “lets have a discussion topic and see how it…

Call For Comments: Dual Identities as Single Identities

From Mav: So, while taping my other show, Gosh Golly Wow, we had a brief discussion about how while some of the X-men characters have two names, a public and a privater personal (e.g. Kurt Wagner is Nightcrawler, Scott Summers is Cyclops, and Ororo Monroe is Storm) there are others that have only one single…

e231. So, You Should Be Watching A League of Their Own

Way too often, when we talk about “pop culture” in 2022, we focus on superheroes, space cowboys with laser swords, and maybe a couple fantasy epics. And in fact, if you were to look at the top of the streaming charts this month, those are sort of the biggest things on the pop culture horizon…

e222. So, The World’s On Fire… Everything is Fine…

It’s been a while since we spent the show just talking about the state of the world. Mostly because… well, the state of the world kinda sucks right now… and we sort of didn’t want to deal with it. But this is a show about culture and the culture in the world right now, particularly…

e207. The Voice of the Crowd is Close to Madness!

“Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit.” The Latin quote (a letter from Alcuin of York to Charlemagne the Great) we named our show after roughly translates to “and those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the…

e142. Deconstructing the Queen’s Gambit

If anything has characterized pop culture in the year 2020, it’s streaming media. From Hamilton to Tiger King, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the essential elimination of out-of-the-home entertainment, we as a people have been absorbing a great deal of content from our couches through the magic of streaming. This is a world made for…

e124. Marveling Over Marble League!

If you’ve been following the show for the last several months, you know that in our COVID pandemic quarantine imposed death of media, we have turned our constant starvation for content to the internet and become big fans of Jelle’s Marble Runs, a YouTube channel featuring athletic competitions between… well, marbles. What started as a…

Call for Comments: Marveling Over the Marble League

From Hannah: Joy, like the Nintendo Switch, has been in short supply throughout 2020. To put it mildly, it’s been a time. A time where a little comfort can go a long way. Enter this podcast’s greatest discovery of 2020: Jelle’s Marble Runs. And the sports series that easily eclipses the Olympics, the Marble League.…

Call For Comments: Erasing Cultural Activism in 50 Easy Years

From Mav: I ran across an interesting meme on conservative (MAGA) social media the other day. It was a picture of Jimi Hendrix playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the original Woodstock that was being used to complain about athletes kneeling in protest during the national anthem. The text of the meme is what really got…

e96. Mask Theory

In the 21st century, when we think of masks, we think of superheroes. But the idea of superheroes as a concept is only about a century old. Masks have been around forever. They have a long history in theatre, professional wrestling and costume balls. Beyond that they have a cultural tradition that dates back to…