Category Archives: Pop-Culture

Why is the Awful Stuff Winning?

Posted on October 17, 2020 by cPaul

I’ve recently read a chapter from “Reality Lost: Markets of Attention, Misinformation and Manipulation”, by Mads Vestergaard and Vincent F. Hendricks (2018) in which they explore the phenomenon of constant (and dissonant) disinformation on the population’s shared reality. Can democracy … Continue reading →

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America Needs a New Chant!

Posted on September 23, 2020 by cPaul

America Needs a New Chant to Replace “We’re #1,” But “We’re #28 and Dropping Fast” Won’t Cut It! I enjoy the articles posted over at The Smirking Chimp and have been a fan since the Bush 43 Administration. (Jeff Tiedrich’s … Continue reading →

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Why Is Bob Ross Still So Popular?

Posted on July 28, 2020 by cPaul

“Every day’s a good day when you paint.”  —Bob Ross (1942–1995) Staring at the empty canvas on the easel in front of me, I couldn’t understand how this—nothing—might somehow transform into even a rough approximation of the Bob Ross painting we were … Continue reading →

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The Thompson Company Competitive Advertisements Collection of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History

Posted on June 16, 2020 by cPaul

The Ad*Access Project, funded by the Duke Endowment “Library 2000” Fund, presents images and information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Ad*Access concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, … Continue reading →

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Cult of Personality

Posted on May 30, 2020 by cPaul

Donald Trump unmasked: Culture-war nihilism is his last line of defense Pushing back against mask-wearing is nonsensical — but Trumpian politics have never been driven by logic Heather Digby Parton | Salon I don’t think there’s ever been a U.S. … Continue reading →

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QAnon conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic are a public health threat

Posted on May 12, 2020 by cPaul

Marc-André Argentino | Concordia University via theconversation.com A researcher at Concordia University looks into online movements like QAnon, using a combination of data science and digital ethnography to research how extremist movements use technology to create propaganda, recruit members to … Continue reading →

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The New Rules of Music Snobbery

Posted on February 13, 2020 by cPaul

Hulu’s High Fidelity reboot captures the end of elitist condescension and the rise of fervent eclecticism. Twenty-five years after Nick Hornby’s novel High Fidelity psychoanalyzed fussy record-store clerks, and 20 years after the movie adaptation made John Cusack their avatar, the once-inescapable and now-obscure archetype … Continue reading →

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Culture Industry

Posted on February 6, 2020 by cPaul

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_industry https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267209041_The_Culture_Industry_by_Adorno_Horkheimer_Left-wing_elitist_nonsense

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The Institute of Official Cheer

Posted on December 29, 2019 by cPaul

It’s been forever since I last perused the pages, nay, plumbed the profundity of James Lileks website, The Institute of Official Cheer. Check it out: http://lileks.com/

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Die Cast Toy Car Restorations

Posted on February 28, 2019 by cPaul

My current guilty pleasure. Enjoying the enthusiasm and skill it takes to restore 50 year old Dinky, Hotwheels, and other toy vehicles. I’m pretty sure I lost this bus at Carillon Beach in the 60’s. Trauma!

Posted in Make, Pop-Culture | Leave a comment

Klatuu!

Posted on February 1, 2019 by cPaul

Great article about the band and album released in 1976 that make people believe the Beatles had rebanded!

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Seasonal Hallmark Movie overload…

Posted on December 4, 2018 by cPaul

Why not run romantic holiday movies all year round? Why only Valentine’s, Christmas, Thanksgiving, (and now Hanukkah), etc? Ideas include such possible storylines as star-crossed former high school couple renegotiate love 15 years later as union leader and big business … Continue reading →

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Culture Industry Explained Simply

Posted on November 12, 2017 by cPaul

From Cultural Reader – Article Summaries and Reviews in Cultural Studies Simply explained, culture industry is a term used by social thinkers Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer to describe how popular culture in the capitalist society functions like an industry in producing standardized products … Continue reading →

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Darth Trump

Posted on December 20, 2015 by cPaul
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