nostalgia jukebox

The Nostalgia Jukebox Effect

Nostalgia for pre-Ground Zero pop culture is a subject that comes up a lot on this blog. Pining for the awesome 80s and rad 90s is such a defining feature of Generation Y that this cohort is almost solely responsible for the glut of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles retro action…
January 18, 202416 Comments
Who Killed Rock and Roll

Who Killed Rock and Roll?

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson may have been rather tame and boring in hindsight. But in retrospect, it turns out that he did make at least one true observation. Rock and roll is in fact dead. And it died right around the time he was singing about its demise. If you've…
January 17, 20244 Comments
Millennial in Hall of Mirrors

Millennial Hall of Mirrors

Talk to Millennials long enough, and they'll turn the topic of conversation to their preferred pop culture brands. Discussing these corporate IPs with them for any length of time will give you the definite impression that this generation doesn't just consume these entertainment products, they project themselves into them. To…
January 15, 20249 Comments
Japan Childlessness Crisis

Japan’s Childlessness Crisis

The Land of the Rising Sun may have no tomorrow if a solution to the economically advanced but spiritually demoralized nation's fertility woes isn't found. Japan's childlessness crisis has gained international notoriety over the past several years. But the crisis goes beyond the much-discussed "herbivore" phenomenon of young men withdrawing…
January 10, 202427 Comments
Depressed Millennial

Millennials: Depressed and Disordered

Men, what does it mean to be happy? According to Mammon and Moloch, it means making as much money and sleeping with as many high-value women as possible. But in the Christian tradition, happiness comes from living in harmony with God, neighbor, nature, and yourself. By that standard, Millennials might…
January 8, 20248 Comments
Pizza Hut Classic 1

Generation Y’s Real Café 80s

Most people reading this will be familiar with the 50s retro diner, in concept if not by firsthand experience. This style of restaurant gained popularity in the 1980s as Baby Boomers neared middle age. Savvy restaurateurs figured out that appealing to that generation's nostalgia for the 1950s culture they dismantled…
December 29, 20236 Comments
Digital Infrastructure Crisis

The Competency Crisis

Admit it. You've noticed. Once-straightforward routines are now frustrating ordeals. What used to be quick errands now stretch into weeks-long hassles. Formerly simple interactions have become convoluted, too often ineffective, exercises in hoop-jumping. Just yesterday, you could take it for granted that the software your job depends on would work…
December 7, 20239 Comments
Death Cult Mouse

Defeating the Death Cult

Hot off the press! Or on the electron superhighway, as it were. Mere hours ago, I joined pop culture commentator and rosary warrior John F. Trent, lately of Bounding Into Comics, on his new show The Trent Report. John is on a mission to save Western culture from the Death…
December 6, 20234 Comments
Scorpion Frog Morality

Parasitic Morality

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you're probably aware of what I call the Witch Test. Social media these days is rife with concern trolls who shill for Death Cult shibboleths while using Christian doctrines as handy clubs to browbeat Christians. Sometimes they claim to be Christian…
November 29, 20237 Comments
Best Evenings

Blockbuster Bellwether

  Glance around online, and you see more and more people discussing the besetting vices of Generation Y. Oh, a lot of them are swallowing the revisionist psyop that's dialed back the start of the Millennial generation to 1979 or earlier, so they use the term "Millennial." But when you're…
November 24, 202327 Comments