PopCult: January 2003 Archive Page

"The Geezer loves film noir. These dark, taut, black and white films give the lie to the illusion that the forties and fifties were upbeat, positive decades. I like that." The Geezer --The Geezer Speaks WeblogGeezerSpeaks.com)

An amusing personal website... and by a Geezer, too.

Your name is Masakati, which means "White Queen" in the language of the Scorpion People. You were named this before you were hatched, when the serpent witches foretold to your mother Essekunit, the Tangeri Queen, that her child would be as great a ruler as had been not seen in this Age: that you would be Queen not only of the Tangeri but of all the Scorpion People, and take back the lands stolen by the Empire.

--The Wheel, Masakati Episode 1: The White QueenInterfable.net)

The beginning of a collaborative fantasy story. At the end of the chapter, readers vote on what happens next. Set in an interesting world that borrows mythology from the Zodicac. I rather enjoyed the multi-chapter story I read a few weeks ago... this is a new story.

"It has been confirmed that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, two of the richest teens in America, have decided to attend University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, WI beginning in the Fall of the 2003-2004 academic year." --Olsen Twins Set to Attend University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, WICNN?)

Why the awkward passive that conceals who "confirmed" this claim? Why is this article in the "World" section of what appears to be the CNN website? Thanks, Sarah, for pointing it out!

"The chocolate-making capabilities of Wonka's heavily fortified compound have long been a source of speculation. Wonka, defying international calls for full disclosure, has maintained his silence regarding his factory's suspected capacity to manufacture confections of mass deliciousness....'Without full inspections, there's no earthly way of knowing which direction Wonka's going. Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing. And he's certainly not showing any signs that he is slowing. Are the fires of Hell a-glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing? Who can provide the world with the answer to these pressing questions?'

"'The candy man can,' Rumsfeld added grimly.'"

[An Oompaloompa writes: "Just wanted to let you know that the Wonka article in The Onion was a wonderful pick-me-up this morning. Since I work for the corporation that produces the Wonka brand, it probably tickled me even more than some others."] --UN Orders Wonka to Submit to Chocolate Factory InspectionsThe Onion)

"Hear me now: Jim Henson was Kermit. Steve Whitmire is a Henson impersonator. Admittedly, a damn talented one -- his Ernie, in particular, nearly captures the affability and innocence of the original -- but the equal of Henson? Step back from the brink, Dennis." --I Appreciate The Muppets on a Much Deeper Level Than YouThe Onion)

"My first cartoon short, Steamboat Willie, was a direct parody of Keaton's movie Steamboat Bill, Jr. On the very first page of the script, it says, 'Orchestra starts playing opening verses of Steamboat Bill.' I remember what Eldred's lawyer Lawrence Lessig said when he read that: 'Try doing a cartoon take-off of one of Disney, Inc.'s latest films with an opening that copies the music.'" Jesse Walker --Mickey Mouse Clubbed: Disney's Cartoon Rodent Speaks out...Reason)

"To be the subject of a Hirschfeld drawing endowed one with a special cachet. To find the word 'Nina,' the name of his daughter, hidden several times in the lines of his caricatures, was a weekend pastime for millions of readers. Next to his signature he put the number of 'Ninas' in his drawings, creating a sort of pleasurable Sunday game for his admirers." --Al Hirshfeld, 99, Dies; He Drew BroadwayNYTimes)

"Walt Disney understood the value of the public domain, and used it precisely as other great artists had done. He updated an out-of-copyright character to create Mickey Mouse, for example, and launched an empire. The company he founded later used writer Victor Hugo's work, which was also no longer owned by anyone, to create a cartoon based on the Hunchback of Notre Dame saga. The Disney animators had every right to build new works on old ones -- and the public also got the benefit. Try the same thing with Mickey Mouse and you'll be hauled into court faster than you can say 'Goofy.' The court's 7-2 ruling betrayed some judicial discomfort, observing that Congress has the power to do 'arguably unwise'' things. Get ready for more unwise acts, in that case." Dan Gilmor --Copyright Ruling is a Ripoff of ConsumersSiliconValley.com)

"The public water system is somewhat unpleasant to think about. Basically, the stuff you flush down the toilet gets sent through a filtering system. That system 'treats' the sewage until what remains is sufficiently pure to send back to you as drinking water.

As content intermediaries, publishers perform an analogous function. Individual software writers, authors, and musicians produce something close to raw sewage. The computer programs, books, and music that people buy are closer to drinkable water." Arnold Kling

--Content is CrapTCS)

A rather icky image, but no Internet personality is known for subtlety. The title is a reference to Bill Gate's 1996 essay "Content is King."

"Pooh would no doubt scratch his fluff-stuffed head in disbelief at what's going on. Shirley and her daughter, Pati, are embroiled in an epic legal battle with the Walt Disney Co. over the merchandising rights to the world's most beloved bear. Shirley's former husband, Stephen Slesinger, acquired the merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh in 1930 from his creator, A.A. Milne. After Slesinger died, Shirley granted the rights to Walt Disney himself." --The Curse of PoohFortune [annoying pop-up])

"The commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of August 16, 1977 seemed more than anything a media mirage churned up by Graceland smoke machines. A Graceland spokesman had recently discussed the problem facing the operation: if Elvis Presley was indeed immortal, his fans were not. Many of Elvis's original fans were dying off; if the enormously successful marketing of Elvis Presley over the last twenty-five years were to continue, they would have to be replaced by people who were not even born when Elvis Presley died." Greil Marcus

--Elvis AgainThreepenny Review)

It's not often that you read an article about the decline of a pop culture phenomenon, unless it's simply a passing reference like, "Whatever happened to Garbage Pail Kids?" At the beginning of a literature course, I enjoy telling my students that the movies and recording stars that seem to be the center of their world right now -- and that may seem much more interesting than the "old" works we well be studying in class -- will soon be as dated as the pop culture icons that were canonical among youth when I was an undergrad. During the 80s, the "cool" kids watched Miami Vice and lyp synched to Falco's "Rock Me, Amadeus." And when I'm in a nursing home, they will try to placate me by piping in Muzak versions of Michael Jackson and Madonna songs. The horror! The horror!

"Music, a social and artistic activity of the first importance, inevitably makes its way, often quite a substantial way, into literature of all kinds. Monographs have been, or could be, written on music in Jane Austen's novels, or Thomas Hardy's, or J. B. Priestley's, or on music in Galsworthy's FORSYTE CHRONICLES, to name a few instances at random. It may, then, be of some interest to recall (and I do not believe it has been done previously at length) some of the musical associations of the vast bulk of British crime fiction." Philip L. Sowcroft via Waterboro Public Library --Music in English Detective FictionMusicweb)

Naturally, the article starts with Arthur Conan Doyle, due to Sherlock Holmes's love of the violin and the opera.

"A recently leaked trailer for The Return of the King has Tolkien fans outraged over the apparent addition of a new character - Jar-Jaromir. The scene depicted in the trailer shows Jar-Jaromir shouting, 'Gondora gonna fallsa'; he then trips over a corpse and knocks down a couple of Uruk-hai." Brian Biggs --Fans Outraged at New Character in The Return of the KingBBspot [satire])

The comedy bits added for Gimli's scenes in The Two Towers do seem to have been a bit much, though I have to admit I laughed (or at least chuckled) when I first saw them. But if Lucas had done Tolkien, the satirical article linked above might not be too far-fetched. "Gondora gonna fallsa"? You could have come up with better spoof dialogue than that, Mr. Biggs. Still, the fake quote from a fan trying to rationalize the connection between Middle Earth and Star Wars is hilarious.

"2002 Year-End Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year's major events and hottest trends based on more than 55 billion searches conducted over the past year by Google users from around the world."

Top 5 gaining Google queries from 2002:

1. spiderman
2. shakira
3. winter olympics
4. world cup
5. avril lavigne

Top 5 declining Google queries from 2002:

1. nostradamus
2. napster
3. world trade center
4. anthrax
5. osama bin laden

--2002 Year-End ZeitgeistGoogle)

This listing indicates that the world is moving beyond the events of 9.11.2001. I had toyed with the idea of making Morrowind my next comptuer game purchase... the fact that it's 9th on the "gaining" list makes me more confident it will be a good use of my limited free time. The singers on this list mean nothing to me, though I've used Eminem (7th gaining) in class when my students complained that the rhymed verse of Moliere's 1660's play Tartuffe was unrealistic. Thanks for the link, Rosemary.

"Apparently Jennifer Lopez is coming out with a new 'fragrance' (which is what they call perfume these days, I guess) called Glow by J-Lo. Here's some others that will follow on its heels.

• Mince by Prince
• This Is How You Should Smell by Martha Stewart
• Texas Tea by G.W.B.
• Free For The Taking by Winona
• Affair by Cher
• I Am Led To Understand That This Has An Agreeable Odor But, Lacking A Nose, I Cannot Vouch For It Myself by Michael Jackson
• Stink by N*Sync
• Attack of the Colognes by Lucas
• Drool by Jewel
• I Hereby Command You To Purchase This by Oprah
• Republic of Sudan by Alan Greenspan
• Stench by Judi Dench"

Matthew Baldwin

--Non ScentsDefective Yeti)

BTW, I get a lot of links from Jorn Barger's Robot Wisdom.

"There may well be people who abandon Neuromancer on the grounds that it's riddled with sentence-fragments, but, in a sense, the sentence-fragments are there to scare off readers who aren't ready for that, and to encourage those who want to see the envelope of language pushed even further, the pedal taken even closer to the metal? I do know how to write formal standard English without making a great many mistakes." --William Gibson's WeblogWilliamGibsonBooks.com)

In his novel Neuromancer, Gibson coined the term "cyberspace". Now Mr. Gibson has a weblog. Welcome to the blogosphere!

"Clonaid, linked with a group that believes life on Earth was originally cloned by aliens, said two women had given birth to babies it had cloned. It at first said it would present DNA evidence but has delayed doing so." --A Name for Clone Babies: 'Hoax' Wired)

More news from the department of "duh": the "cloned baby" reports are probably hoaxes. I'm amazed at the amount of press this "scientific" announcment has received, and how little skepticism I've seen in the mainstream media.