SBI Detected

SBI BTFO by Brazilian Vidya Curator

Controversy erupted on X over the weekend when professional Woke Cult purity assurance coven Sweet Baby Inc. issued a fatwa against a scrappy Brazilian vidya curator. The curator, Sweet Baby Inc Detected, describes itself simply as "A tracker for games involved with Sweet Baby Inc." The About page from SBI's…
Howdy Doody Reboot

No Howdy Doody Reboot

A recent post on the Pop Cult occasioned a salient and topical discussion in the comments. Author JD Cowan writes: That’s just it, isn’t it. Nothing is made for younger generations anymore. The average age of Cartoon Network viewers is 29. Disney World is filled with single wine aunts and…
Nintendo vs Sony

The Riddle of the Pop Cult

Author JD Cowan wrote a post yesterday that shed new light on elements of Cultural Ground Zero and the Pop Cult and showed how they're interrelated. So it was of course fitting that he prominently featured this now-ubiquitous image by retro artist Rachid Lotf. We've been plumbing the riddle of…
Sandman Cancelled

Sandman Canceled by China

Yet another controversy plaguing the scandal-wracked World Science Fiction Society refuses to die as credible allegations of censorship, and a subsequent cover up, swirl in the wake of 2023's World Con in Chengdu. The home of oldpub's once-prestigious Hugo Awards, World Con made its Chinese debut last year in a…
Suburban Hip-Hop

Of Hip-Hop and Corporate Pop

Yesterday, over at the Z Blog, the Z Man took up the thread of this blog's posts on the death of rock music and Cultural Ground Zero. Approaching these related phenomena from an alternate angle, he gleaned some new insights. Not discussed is the culture of the managerial class. The…
Black Pill

The Black Pilling of the Masses

Every once in a while, I like to lower the velvet rope and give regular readers a sample of my premium material. Today's post previously appeared as a Patreon and SubscribeStar exclusive. If you like it, please consider subscribing. My cherished neopatrons and I were discussing how corporate studios' refusal…
Gen Y More Millennial

More Millennial Than Millennials

This blog's ongoing project to beat the boundaries of forgotten generations has drawn a surprising amount of interest. Especially posts dealing with Gen Y and Millennials. You would think these observations self-evident, but Madison Avenue has consigned these cohorts to the memory hole since they're not longer profitable to ad…
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…
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…
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…