From Mav: Well, today is the day that I don't think I ever believed would happen. There's a Sandman TV series premiering on Netflix. It's not that I'm surprised that there COULD be a Sandman TV series or even that someone would want there to be a Sandman TV series. Quite the contrary, it seems like a perfectly obvious and natural thing to do... TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO! It just surprises me that there's a Sandman show on Netflix today. As I write this, I've not yet watched a single episode... and of course I will. But just conceptually, the idea of doing a Sandman show seems both super late and at the same time, maybe super timely. I think this is because Sandman is by design, timeless (or endless?). What...
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e52. PCA/ACA 2019 Preview: Game Studies
If you’ve been listening to the show for a while, then you’ve no doubt heard us mention the PCA/ACA conference that all four of us are attending in a few weeks. It’s a place where academics get together and share their work on popular culture. In fact, it’s a while lot like this show and…
e51. So What Is Subculture Anyway?
We’ve been talking a lot about subcultures on our last couple of episodes. And the terms comes up a lot on the internet — usually negatively — to refer to everything from hipsters and punks and goths and geeks to Republicans and Democrats to Christians and Muslims to … uh… MAGA hat wearers. Often if…
e50. Are You What You Wear?
Somewhere along the line, when they were making the show The Big Bang Theory, someone said “hey, this guy is a geek. Put him in comic book T-shirts, and everyone will know.” And then wardrobe was done with Sheldon. Next they decided to dress Penny and they said “Umm, she’s a hot actress. Make sure…
Call For Comments: Hipsters and Bikers and Goths, Oh My!
From Mav: A couple weeks, I saw a fun article floating around social media about a man who complained when he saw his own photo being used for an article about an MIT study that about why “all hipsters look alike” because of how insulting it was to say that… only to later find out…
e49. Cinema vs. Streaming
Recently Steven Spielberg allegedly implored the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make it harder for films distributed primarily through streaming platforms to win Oscars. Or maybe he didn’t. The details are actually kind of fuzzy. But moreover, we’re not sure it really matters whether he did or not. The very idea of…
Call for Comments: Streaming and the Death of Cinema?
From Mav: Back on our Oscars show, we talked a little bit about the movie Roma and what it would mean for the film industry if they allowed it to win best picture (they didn’t). Last week rumors surfaced that Steven Spielberg is petitioning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to change the…
e47. Milkshake Ducks & Problematic Artists
It seems like it happens every day lately. Your favorite writer, comedian, singer, actor, sports star, politician or whatever suddenly hits the news because it turns out he’s a racist, rapist, sexist, homophobe, murderer or otherwise deplorable person. Particularly in the #MeToo era, we’re seeing this more and more with the likes of Bill Cosby,…