All posts by PopCultureGangster

Comics

My Favorite Comics

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Finally! The answer to the burning question you’ve all been asking… "which comics are the Pop Culture Gangster’s favorite!??!  I must know!"

Well, at long last you can sleep well tonight my friends.  For lack of time to do a better post, let me share with you what I think are the best and funniest comic strips out there today:

Brewster Rockit – I only recently discovered this strip and it has quickly become a favorite. It is pun-filled and provides a fantastic parody of sci-fi and futureristic movies, TV shows and comic strips like Flash Gordon.

Pearls Before Swine – The king of the puns on the comic page.  Dark and spiteful that I think is kind of  reminiscient of Seinfield’s callous humor.

Get Fuzzy – I suppose most people would call this "Garfield gone bad" but its far better than that.

Zits – I’m not that far removed from being a teenager (or so I like to tell myself), but I think this strip does a great job of showing the world from the point of view of a teenager and a teen’s parents (official site is here, but they have limited strips to view)

I also want to say that I’m thrilled that Classic Bloom County comics are now available online.  Bloom County is my all-time favorite comic strip, bar none, and reliving these strips as I read them each day during or after lunch is great.

Current Affairs

Observations

A few things that I’ve seen in the news lately that I wanted to call attention to:

Here in tranquil New England, there’s apparently a problem with t-shirts illustrating Sesame Street characters as gangsters.  What’s really funny about this is that someone came to this blog based on a search for these shirts.  Is nothing sacred?

Dan Brown joked that his book couldn’t undermine the entire Catholic Church.  He may have underestimated the power of the DaVinci code and the marketing juggernaut its become.

You know we’re officially living in the age of electronics when an online game where reality is re-created ends up creating a game that becomes so popular it ends up becoming tangible reality.  Welcome to the Matrix?  Or are we out of it? Even Neo would be confused by this.

In a much more basic down-to-earth story, USA Today tells the tale of how "premium beers" are declining and how some companies are trying to counter it with new marketing.  I use the quotation marks around premium beer not because I’m quoting the article, but because I think the funniest part of this article is that they think that Budweiser and MGD are premium beers.  Funny, or horrifying – one of the two.

Speaking of beer, I hope I get an update on this in a few months, but apparently Budweiser is going to be sold at the soccer World Cup in Germany, and the Krauts aren’t none too happy.  I can’t blame them!  I hope they all drink Riesling instead.

I’m not sure what to say about this, other than I think that "My Bling Bling" is the funniest name for anything I’ve ever heard.  Do you think that Barbie and Bratz are gonna rumble or what?  My money is on Barbie, since I think she’s a mean bitch deep down inside and is really pissed off over having no room for a stomach or intestinal tract in her body for 50 years.

Apple hooked up with Nike to introduce a neat bit of technology that targets those who use their iPods while exercising.  In a counter move of sorts, Bill Gates finally gets fed up not controlling 100% of an electronics market and is gonna do his own thing with MTV using Windows Media Player.   Let’s hope they stabilize WMP and make it a bit – no, A LOT – more intuitive to use before they take over the world.

Who says innovation is dead?  Here’s a company who wants to trademark the smell of pizza.  Umm… In Lithuania.

Another example of how technology has affected not only marketing but everyday life.  I think it is ironic that a show called "24" that has everything happening in real-time ends up being the TV show that is watched time-delayed most often.

Last but not least…  HEY! Nas declared hip-hop dead.  Has he been reading my blog?

Weblogs

Yes, I Continue To Suck

Really, I swear I’ll start writing again more often.  In the meantime, I just threw up a new logo on the front page here… courtesy of my friends at Rinck Advertising.  It will be subject to change in the coming weeks since they are working on some other ideas, but I wanted to get something officious-looking up.

Plus this was a nice easy cheater post….

One thing that I will say before I let you go: am I alone in thinking that the new TV ads for Red Roof Inn are HORRENDEOUS?!?!  I had a fairly neutral view of Red Roof Inns before, but now I would turn down a free trip around the world if I had to stay in their hotels.  The production quality is frightening, the writing abysmal, and the room looks… it looks… well… it looks like the type of room where you either a) bring a cheap hooker or b) commit suicide. 

Music

Someone Get Me Some Yellow “DO NOT CROSS” Tape

I recently finally made the upgrade to digital cable, and I’m loving the improved sound and picture quality, as well as the on-demand entertainment.  One of the neatest things is found deep within the "Free Zone" of the On-Demand menu, where there’s an entire selection of concerts to be enjoyed free of charge. 

Tonight I put on a show by The Who at Royal Albert Hall in London back in 2000.  It is a good performance (I’m still watching it) and so far all the songs have been good selections and performed well.  The show is billed as "The Who and Friends" so they have a few guest singers and guitarists come on to do their thing with The Who, which is usually pretty cool.

Except that Bryan Adams was just on.  And they had him sing "Behind Blue Eyes."  They launched into the song – one of the Who’s most popular, loved by both the die-hard fans and the more mainstream set – and there was nearly no reaction from the crowd as they realized that this B-list washed-up 80’s rocker was going to attempt to sing one of the most heartfelt and difficult rock ballads you could choose to sing.

A few other artists have attempted this song, with similar discouraging results, most notably and painfully when that knucklehead Fred Durst tried to prove to everyone he could sing by covering it on their 2003 album Results May Vary.  Results may vary, huh?  Well, I think they just suck…

Anyway, this got me thinking that there needs to be the holy protected list of rock songs that must not be covered by other artists.  They can be played live occasionally as a tribute to a band’s influences, and if they are completely reinterpreted, then I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt (but then we get Madonna’s "American Pie" – be afraid).  But if you’re gonna just re-sing the song, just shorten the album, OK?  Here’s my first nominations for the holy creed of song forbidden to cover:

  • "Behind Blue Eyes" – The Who
  • "Bohemian Rhapsody" – Queen
  • "Dream On" – Aerosmith
  • "Welcome to the Jungle" – Guns n’ Roses
  • "Stairway To Heaven" and "Black Dog" – Led Zeppelin
  • "Let It Be" – The Beatles
  • "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Candle In the Wind" – Elton John
  • "Piano Man" – Billy Joel

Feel free to add your own songs that you feel should be left well enough alone.

Current Affairs

A Few Thoughts to Get Us Caught Up

I haven’t been around much to do much blogging, but as I have a fairly quiet couple of weeks coming up, I’m hoping that I can make up for lost time.   To begin with, I wanted to a share a few interesting links I came across recently.

Google launched Google Trends, which is simply fun rather than useful for most people.  My favorite is that the first example they give is "Red Sox, Yankees."

For my birthday a few weeks ago I was given a mesquite flavored cologne, which drew a good laugh out of everyone.  Little did we know that the perfume manufacturers of the world were dreaming up Play-Doh brand fragrance.

As a marketer, sometimes you hear about marketing efforts that make you wish you were a part of them.  The other times, you’re glad you’re not, like this debacle for Mission Impossible 3.

Speaking of marketing, Wal-Mart continues its quest to dominate all aspects of our culture, including the smiley face.

Clearly marketing is the true one power in our world today, and musicans are starting to realize it, as they whore themselves out.  Good for them!  Its still better than listening to Britney hawk Pepsi with crappy music.

Barbecue means beer, right?  Of course.  So why not be straight forward about it?

Last but not least: if you need further proof that the world is shrinking and that we are living in a global economy, here it is.

Web/Tech

The Most Gratuitous Web Page Ever

If you need proof that shopping is truly considered a hobby… a pastime… perhaps even a sport… in America, check out this guide on "How To Have A Successful Day of Shopping."  Mapping out your plan at the mall.  Literally mapping it out.  That’s what they reccoemend.

If you find yourself actually doing any of the stuff on here, or heaven forbid, ALL the steps outlined in this fine guide, then please, get yourself some help.

Film

I Wish I Could… Come Up With A Better Title

Just because I like to write about pop culture, doesn’t mean that I’m on top of everything that is going on right as it is happening.  I recently finally saw Brokeback Mountain.  After all the hype and hub-bub over this flick, I had pretty high expectations, and I have to say I was slightly disappointed. 

It was neither shocking enough to be noteworthy or emotionally gripping enough to move me.  I’m can’t understand why people were crying and sobbing over the movie.  Its not so much that you can’t sense the emotional bond between Jack and Ennis, its that it comes too late in the film.  They start off their romantic entanglement after one relatively short conversation where Ennis admits that’s the most he’s ever spoken.  Then one cold night they kiss and have sex.  Am I to understand that gay relationships and/or love spawns out of being cold, lonely and the only other option is the sheep?

While on the topic of that initial "love scene" can I just say that I was slightly disturbed by the aggressiveness of it?  Apparently foreplay for Jack and Ennis was beating the crap out of each other.  That’s far kinkier than the anal probing that follows (I know Jack may love Ennis, but you know he much have been wishing for some KY).

Before this goes into an even darker place, let me get back to the emotional part of the movie: there’s very little dialog and very little in the first half of the film that made me feel that Jack actually loved Ennis and/or vice-versa.  Because of that, when they can’t be together at the end, I wasn’t deeply moved.  The moment where I really questioned whether Jack loved Ennis or just liked the sex was after they can’t be together since Ennis’ children are around, so Jack drives to Mexico to pick up a little Mexican boy-ass.  Yeah, since I know that the first thing I do when I can’t be with someone I love is to go pick up a prostitute in another country.  That’s love right there, you betcha.

Further frustrating the situation was the lack of social context: since it is set in the timeless outdoors and cowboys have always dressed the way that Jack and Ennis do in the film, right up to today, there’s no sense of the chronological setting of the film. The time and place overlays through the film help to tell you the year the movie is set in, but after a while you forget that they can’t just pack their bags and go somewhere to get married as they could now.

Perhaps the film’s lack of wider context makes it tough for us to not only understand that they can’t run off to Massachusetts and get married, but I think your own personal perspective will affect the viewing of this film.  One of my best friends is gay and I live in the liberal northeast.  I see these two and wonder why they  don’t deal with the fact that they are gay and get together.  Others may view it differently – they look at it and feel saddened or angry for a variety of reasons.  How you view the film – cynically with that thought or with it  being a love story – probably affects your overall opinion of the film.

However, in the end, the most lasting impression on pop culture will probably be the line "I wish I knew how to quit you."  It has definitely entered the popular lexicon, since a quick Google search for the term turns up plenty of search results and some other blog entries and this great article on how it has already reached the tipping point.

Web/Tech

Slaves to the Cell

As influential as the Internet has been in the last decade, I think you could make a good argument that cell phone technology has had a bigger impact – both good and bad – on society in the last 20 years than any other new technology.  It has changed the way we communicate, interact, and socialize.  There’s no need to make solid plans when going out and meeting friends – just use the cell!  Cell phones in theaters, in restaurants, on public transportation….

The results of a new world-wide survey of cell phone users was reported here in FastCompany magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle.   The amazing, but not really shocking if you think about it, results include:

  • Percentage of Americans who said a cell phone reflects as much about someone as a car does (70% of Chinese agreed): 31%
  • 63% of Americans wouldn’t lend their cell phone to someone else (90% of Japanese agreed).
  • 81% of 15- to 20-year-olds sleep with their phone on.
Current Affairs

This Week In Pop Culture

I usually come across some interesting articles during the course of the week and thought I would share some of them with you:

Nostalgia speeds up with a 90’s "retro" club (NOW I feel old)

Google goes all DaVinci on us

I’m sure the people who invented broadband Internet are happy this is what it enabled

Drive-Ins are apparently making a comeback but they don’t even mention the whole making out part.  WTF? (Everybody start singing "Night Moves" by Bob Seger!)

The omnipresent iPod – is it just me, or is it starting to feel a little like their own 1984 commercial?  I’m waiting for another manufacturer to pick that up and make fun of it.  I still want one tho.

Great. New words and meanings to learn.  Another way for us to have no idea what the kids are talking about.

Wal-ocaust? What are some people thinking?

Here’s an article that uses the phrase "If you’re throwing (a melted synthetic material) on top of a burn, basically you have a bad burn with a bunch of plastic melting into your skin."  So no more Nike shirts for the Marines!

My favorite part of this article on "Hip Hop Literature" is when it is referred to as "possible literature."  You gotta admire honesty like that.  But I agree with the last sentiment – getting kids to read can’t be all bad.

Sweet ride.  I’ll have to get one the next time I rent a car on a business trip!

A cuddly yet fast animal vs. the world’s slowest game with bad clothes? They are both stupid names, but I’d rather drive a car called rabbit than golf. 

Last but not least…  the only good thing about this is that maybe this will mask the smell of nachos and baked frozen pizza in the theaters.