Today In Pop Culture: Hanging On The Telephone
Published on March 7th, 2016 in: Music, Science and Technology, Today In Pop Culture |
The telephone is 140 years old today, and nobody alive today can remember a world without one. We’ve always been able to reach out and touch someone. Something so remarkable, being able to push a few buttons and talk to another person around the corner or around the world, is something we take for granted.
Today In Pop Culture: The Bermuda Triangle Is Not A Waxing Style
Published on March 4th, 2016 in: Lost & Never Found Again, Science Fiction, Today In Pop Culture |
The USS Cyclops was a Navy ship during the First World War. She set sail from Rio de Janeiro in February of 1918, carrying a load of manganese ore, crucial for the manufacture of munitions. The ship and her crew set sail for Baltimore on March 4.
They never reached their destination.
What happened to the USS Cyclops?
The Bermuda Triangle, that’s what.
Today In Pop Culture: Please Stand For The National Anthem
Published on March 3rd, 2016 in: Americana, Today In Pop Culture, True Patriot Love |
If you’ve ever been to public school or a sporting event, you know that at some point, you’re going to be expected to sing the national anthem. Some of you may fake your way through part of it, just moving your mouths while everyone else carries the weight. That’s fine. Anthems are generally long, slow, and hard to sing, like anything by Adele.
Today In Pop Culture: King Kong Freaks America Out
Published on March 2nd, 2016 in: Movies, Science Fiction, Today In Pop Culture |
It’s fascinating to find out what people are afraid of, specifically what movies frighten them. For example, one person may be scared by Jaws but not scared of Orca, the Killer Whale. You might be frightened by Paranormal Activity, but not by Poltergeist. These objects of fright change from decade to decade, as the zeitgeist shifts and people become more jaded. But who would have thought that, in the 1930s, so many people would have been afraid of a giant ape?
Today in Pop Culture: The Salem Witch Trials Begin
Published on March 1st, 2016 in: Culture Shock, Feminism, Magick, Today In Pop Culture |
The movie, The Witch, has brought the concept of witches back to the forefront of American culture. The film tells the story of a New England family in the 1700s, fighting against nature, boredom, and black magic. It’s based on old folk tales from the time, which are a decent reflection of history. The family in the movie chose to go outside the village gates and live on their own, unprotected by numbers or any kind of militia. It’s no wonder they get into trouble.
A very real trouble descended upon New England on this date in pop culture history. Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba may sound like the headliners for the new and improved Lilith Fair, but they were center stage for a quite different kind of show. Today, in 1692, the Salem Witch Trials began.
Today In Pop Culture: Leap Year And The Time-Space Continuum
Published on February 29th, 2016 in: Science and Technology, Today In Pop Culture |
It is Leap Day, and if you don’t believe that time is a man-made construct that we overlay onto our eternity just to keep work appointments and make sure we don’t get to the movies late, then today should be a real challenge for you, buddy. How is it that we can just arbitrarily decide to add an entire day to our calendar once every four years? If time were real, wouldn’t it prevent us from breaking its own laws with something crazy like Leap Year?
What is this madness?
Today In Pop Culture: The Britannic Takes To The Seas
Published on February 25th, 2016 in: Today In Pop Culture |
Thanks to the movie magic of James Cameron and the pesky Celine Dion song, millions of people know all about the good ship RMS Titanic. How everyone on board was happy, from the rich people in first class to the immigrants in steerage. How Billy Zane went nuts and tried to shoot Leonardo DiCaprio. How the ship hit an iceberg, split in half, and sank like a stone. How even that wasn’t enough to kill Kathy Bates, because not even God can kill Kathy Bates.
Today in Pop Culture: Last Dance With Lawrence Welk
Published on February 25th, 2016 in: Music, Retrovirus, Today In Pop Culture |
Let’s call it synergy. A television show comes along that loves and understands its core audiences so well will inspire a kind of devotion that borders on obsession. We’ve seen it happen with sci-fi shows like Firefly, Star Trek, and The Twilight Zone. Do you think today’s audiences would feel the same kind of adoration and allegiance to a show that regularly featured polka music?
Today In Pop Culture: You Did Nazi This One Coming
Published on February 24th, 2016 in: Culture Shock, Today In Pop Culture |
It’s my belief that most people enjoy a good party. If that’s true, then the converse must also be true. Most people do not enjoy a bad party. The problem starts when you’re in a party that you think is good, but practically the rest of the world believes is horrible. That’s not an overstatement.
Especially if you were a member of the Nazi Party, which was formed on this date in 1920.
Today In Pop Culture: 120 Years Of Tootsie Rolls
Published on February 23rd, 2016 in: Candy, Today In Pop Culture |
What exactly is a Tootsie Roll? It’s chocolate, but why doesn’t it melt unless put under extreme conditions? It isn’t delicate like a caramel, yet it won’t wrench your teeth out of your jaw like a salt water taffy. Could it possibly be alien technology, stretching its wispy tendrils into our candy-loving history?
Nah. That’s silly.