Populist Culture Archive

Other stuff that goes on.

• Tony Soprano Is Dead

  When I first started this post on St. Patrick’s Day, it was titled, The Irrelevance of the Pope (and the Catholic Faith). I started the post as a result of the (unsurprising) news that the Pope would continue to decry the teaching of safe sex, which is effective, including in AIDS-ravaged Africa, and continue to [...]

• Top 5 Movies of the Past 5 Years

  These are movies that I would want to watch again, and possibly — which is the only downside to relying solely on Netflix for movie consumption — I would want to own. In other words, these are movies after watching on Netflix, I would consider purchasing, probably for cheap on Amazon.1 In yet another rewording [...]

• Ledger

  The reason Heath Ledger’s death has resonated so widely, aside from all of the exploitative tabloid coverage, is that it is the first unexpected death of an actor of my generation. Actually, not just an actor, but any famous person really. Kurt Cobain was not my generation. Either was Chris Farley. JFK Jr, Princess Di; [...]

• Internet People

  Dan Meth (talented Syracuse alumnus) sent me along his latest cartoon, a roast of the internet celebrities (all of them)… “Real internet people use Tumblr.”

• Sopranos End In Rare And True Fashion

  In the end, the Sopranos stayed true to form. The life of a mob boss is stressful. You always have to look-up to see who enters a room, even a diner, and wonder if there is an FBI agent a table away, or a hit sanctioned on you from New York, with a man returning [...]

• This Is The End (of The Sopranos)

  As The Doors’ The End eerily played during the most recent episode of the Sopranos, the “penultimate episode,” as it has been reported, the thought of Tony being killed as the series comes to a close seemed all the more likely. But if Tony Soprano does die, will it happen in the first ten minutes, [...]

• Declarative Statement

  I’ll tell you, you get one hundred people (from all backgrounds) to list their all-time ten best movies, based solely on their own opinions, with no effect from awards or critics or reviews, and I’m sure both The Big Lebowski and Dumb and Dumber would make the list, probably more than once. Anyone disagree?

• Live Natty

  The very talented Dan Meth, a former Daily Orange cartoonist from my days at Syracuse, emailed me his latest animation, a rip on the icons of today’s pop culture. I blogged a few of my thoughts on pop culture as part of a series called “Populist Culture.“

• Populist Culture: Winter Olympics

  I do love the idea of the Olympics; however, when they finally do come around every four years, and especially when the events are aired nearly a day after they occur, my interest seems to decline. And why is it that every time you turn on NBC to watch the Olympics, there is only figure [...]

• Populist Culture: Led Zeppelin

  Stairway to Heaven is not Led Zeppelin’s best song, no matter what the deejays on the classic rock radio stations tell you. In fact, it is not even the best song on the album. The best song on the untitled album, also known as “Zoso” or “Four,” is either Misty Mountain Hop or Going to [...]

• Populist Culture: Samuel L. Jackson

  The first of possibly many posts on pop culture. Samuel L. Jackson has only had major roles in two good movies: Pulp Fiction and Die Hard: With A Vengeance. That’s right, I said it: Samuel L. Jackson is not a great actor, despite what people tell you. He is good, but not great, and he [...]

• Populist Culture

  I have been thinking. I have, for the most part, discussed politics and politics alone on this blog, with the semi-rare occasional blog post on sports. But it is not as if I don’t have seemingly-endless opinions on popular culture, as well. And I do not wish to convey an image of myself that suggests [...]