pop culture
Modern popular culture topics in the geek sphere.
Brutally Cute: Kawaii as a Form of Rebellion
If you've spent any substantial time on the internet, you've likely run into the kawaii aesthetic. On the surface, it's all big sparkly eyes and blushed cheeks. For the unfamiliar, the word kawaii means "cute" in Japanese. But it goes so far beyond just being cute. Kawaii is a subculture; one that has roots dating back to the early 70s. Walk into any store in Japan and you're sure to find something that will capture your heart with cuteness! Kawaii culture has expanded outside of Japan as well, with Hello Kitty being one of the most prominent examples of this fact. People dedicate their lives to this aesthetic, dressing in cute clothes or becoming collectors of rare character merchandise. But where did kawaii come from?
By Abigail Stevenson5 years ago in Geeks
3 Hidden Messages You Missed in Harry Potter
No one can deny that Harry Potter commands an unprecedented fanfare with its followers. Walk into any bookstore and you will find a voracious reader hungrily prodding through the stacked copies of Rowling’s finest. The Wizarding World’s charm only gets grander with a cinematic adaptation that further entranced millions. Such a massive fan-following begs the obvious question: what makes Harry Potter so special? When Potterheads were asked the reasons for their undying love for the franchise, a majority of them pointed towards the work’s stellar world-building. And that they feel drawn into an enchanting universe that just seems too real to be not true. As if a sprinkle of Floo-Powder is all that separates them from a whole world of magic.
By Shourya Agarwal5 years ago in Geeks
Never Meet Your Heroes
I knew Anthony Bourdain... Like you knew him, not personally, but the guy he played on T.V. I spent more time with him than anyone I never met. Read his books, watched his shows, then watched them again and again. His voice is as familiar to me as any.
By Chad Mathews5 years ago in Geeks
How The Godfather Changed Organized Crime
Before the filming of The Godfather, mob boss Joseph Colombo met with Al Ruddy of Paramount to review the script on behalf of the Italian American Civil Rights League and removed all references to the word "Mafia." But once the movie was released, it seemed that the Mob's concerns had been superfluous; while the movie did indeed have an impact on the Mafia, it did far more good than harm.
By Chelsea Lynne5 years ago in Geeks
The Day I Met Comedian and Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham and Achmed the Dead Terrorist
On December 31, 2015 I met comedian and ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham, and his puppet, Achmed the Dead Terrorist. The show was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was my fourth time seeing Jeff Dunham live on New Year’s Eve. I went to the show with my mom and sister. The show started at 3pm at The PPG Paints Arena. It was Jeff Dunham’s Perfectly Unbalanced tour, I was so excited for the show. It took an hour to get to the venue. It was snowing outside.
By Jmjulius15 Jay5 years ago in Geeks
How 21 Year Old Nigerian Student Accidently Made 1 Million Dollars
It's always funny when happy accidents happen. When things you didn't plan for end up happening and being for the best. When you start a project thinking nothing would come of it and it ends up being very profitable. Happy accidents are the only kinds of accidents that people hope and wish for.
By Jide Okonjo5 years ago in Geeks
What Happened to the DC Movie Universe?
Back in 2013 the idea of a cinematic universe was pretty much exclusive to marvel. So when the first DC comics movie in the newfound DC Extended Universe (DCEU) pretty much everyone was on board, given comics lend themselves great to universe style narratives and the only other universe had released seven movies two of them making a billion dollars at the box office. The only DC movies in recent memory that were not set to be connected to this universe were Green lantern and Christopher Nolan's Dark knight Trilogy. Given the success of the dark knight trilogy it made sense that DC would separate itself from Marvel by going with the successful dark tone of the Dark knight. However when reviews and audience opinion came in on Man of Steel it already was not looking good. A darker superman is introduced, going against the comic superman, many realizing that this universe was on track to make every movie dark and gritty. After Man of Steel there was a pretty long delay between movies. Unsure of themselves, three years passed before the universe started to actually feel like a universe with multiple releases a year. 2016 saw two releases, ‘Suicde Squad’ and ‘Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice’. Both of these movies are generally considered to be bad by the general audience, with some die hard fans. Which started the splintering of the DC movie universes. ‘Batman V. Superman’ saw an extended cut which was even darker than the original giving it an R rating, extended cuts are not that uncommon for movies and the general narrative stayed the same, so nothing was really affected, but this would continue to grow as an issue later on. ‘Suicide Squad’ started to have rumors of rushed reshoots, enough footage to make a Jared Leto Joker movie with the cut scenes, and the Director David Ayer voicing his frustration with how Warner Brothers not liking his cut of the movie. 2017 Saw ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Justice League’, ‘Wonder Woman’ getting the praise as the best DC movie, which I am not going to argue. Justice League had the same treatment as Suicide Squad, with another layer of problems. As it is probably well known, Zack Snyder Filmed almost Four hours of footage before unfortunately his daughter committed suicide and he immedialy left every project he was on to be with his family. Warner Brothers brought on the only director at the time to make a successful superhero team up movie, Joss Wheaton. The theatrical cut of ‘Justice League’ was almost completely reshot or used different takes from Snyders footage. The theatrical cut failed spectacularly both narratively and financially, almost as soon as it released #releasethesnydercut started.
By Jared Laws5 years ago in Geeks
The Problem With Disability Stereotypes In The Media. Top Story - May 2021.
As little as 3.1% of regular primetime broadcast TV characters have a disability, GLAAD statistics reveal. Although this is a record-high number, it still drastically underrepresents the real numbers (14.1 million people in the UK) of people diagnosed with disabilities. Moreover, while realistic representations of the disabled community are increasing, harmful inaccurate stereotypes are unfortunately still all too common and need addressing.
By Saanvi Seo5 years ago in Geeks
