Today In Pop Culture: Attack Of The Clones
Published on February 22nd, 2016 in: Science and Technology, Today In Pop Culture |
We’ve always wondered how the government would react when the invasion came. Would they tell us, so we could have a chance to hide or fight back? Would they simply allow it to happen, letting natural selection take its course? It’s a good question, one conspiracy theorists have pondered for years.
Here’s the funny thing.
It’s already happened.
Today In Pop Culture: The Birth, Fall, And Rise Of The American Turntable
Published on February 19th, 2016 in: Music, Retrovirus, Science and Technology, Today In Pop Culture |
This could be one of the most important days in pop culture history. Maybe, you should sit down and get something to drink. It is that monumental.
On this date in 1878, Thomas Edison, long may his name spoken before the gods, patented the phonograph. The world was never the same. That’s not hyberbole. That is a fact.
Today In Pop Culture: When Cows Fly
Published on February 17th, 2016 in: Science and Technology, Today In Pop Culture |
Sometimes you ask someone to do something and they scoff and say, “I’ll do that when cows fly!” And then you say, “Cows? I thought that was pigs. You’ll do that when pigs fly.” And the person says, “Pigs fly, cows come home. And I’m still not going to do that thing you want me to do, because of your poorly worded adynaton.” Then they take some of the Atomic Fireballs out of the shallow glass dish on your desk, and that’s not cool. You brought that candy from home.
Today In Pop Culture: America Meets Modern Art And Hates It
Published on February 17th, 2016 in: Art, Culture Shock, Museum Exhibitions, Today In Pop Culture |
Art has never been easy to define. America spent a lot of time viewing art under the Classical model. Everything looks as it should. Humans look like humans, dogs look like dogs. It’s an almost prim way of looking at art. It has its place. It’s rational, realistic and relatively normal. Everything is what you expect it to be.
On this date in 1913, all that changed.
Today In Pop Culture: King Tut Takes The World By Sandstorm
Published on February 16th, 2016 in: Movies, Today In Pop Culture |
It seems hard to believe, but there was a time when the name “King Tutankhamun” represented nothing more than a myth to many people, like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or aliens. Yet in 1923, on this day in pop culture, archaeologist Howard Carter opened the sealed doorway into King Tut’s burial chamber for the first time.
Today In Pop Culture: Is YouTube Owned By Cats?
Published on February 15th, 2016 in: Culture Shock, Today In Pop Culture |
It’s hard to imagine a world without YouTube. It’s even harder to comprehend that it hasn’t been around since the inception of the Internet, but the video-sharing site went live only 11 years ago, on this date. Created by three eBay employees, the company is worth somewhere in the vicinity of $40 billion dollars.
That’s a lot of funny cat videos.
Today In Pop Culture: Say Goodbye To Sal Mineo
Published on February 12th, 2016 in: Eulogy, Movies, Today In Pop Culture |
Today marks the date of the murder of Sal Mineo, and if you remember who that guy is, I’m impressed with you. Yeah, you. Congratulations. Mineo remains a mysterious figure of ambiguous sexuality, a man who achieved great fame, lost it, and was on the verge of getting it back when the unthinkable happened.
Today In Pop Culture: The French Girl And The Virgin Mary
Published on February 11th, 2016 in: Today In Pop Culture |
As anyone will tell you, it’s hard to find a virgin these days. It’s not that I’m actively looking for a virgin or anything. These are the kinds of conversations we have around the house over dinner. Who wants some tea? Please pass the potatoes. When’s the last time you acknowledged the presence of a hymen?
Today in Pop Culture: Ziggy Stardust Lands on Earth
Published on February 10th, 2016 in: Culture Shock, Magick, Music, Today In Pop Culture |
There’s always a reason to talk about David Bowie, as far as I’m concerned, but not always within the context of this column. So, when the opportunity arises to write about the man, and remember him within historical parameters and important dates, I’m going to do that. Get used to it.
Get used to it.
Today In Pop Culture: Yo, Joe!
Published on February 9th, 2016 in: Today In Pop Culture |
“Dolls are for girls,” say the unenlightened ones, the people who don’t understand that fun has no gender, the folks who have no grasp of nuance in their playtoys. Not to put to fine a point on it, but it’s jerks who say that, usually men, trying to cover up their tiny penises or homosexual tendencies they can’t let the rest of the hunting club notice, lest they be called out and ostracized.
All this to say that, on this day in pop culture, in the year 1964, the G.I. Joe was invented, and it was not a doll. It was an action figure.