John Paul Brammer wades into the candy culture wars (which are adjacent to the chicken sandwich culture wars and seem to provoke no less depth of feeling, if not many true casualties) on his Substack.

No one really asked for the M&Ms to be more relatable or for Velma to call out toxic masculinity. These are decisions massive corporations made because we are living in an era where personal morality is almost entirely defined by consumption habits, because consumption habits make up a good chunk of our daily lives.

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A comment on a Stereogum piece about the new wave of American shoegaze: I know I keep riding this schtick, but we really are out of band names, folks. “Ganx Crap take inspiration from the post-slo-blorpgaze of Body Wash and LilMissPiggy.geccs, without completely cresting the wave set in motion by fellow Milwaukee veterans Total Garf Nuggets and T(w)asty Past(e).” Although hilarious, it almost sounds too exaggerated to be a decent parody.

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I used to have a well-worn VHS cassette of Sonic Youth’s tour video, 1991: The Year Punk Broke. It featured a just-experiencing-stardom phase of Nirvana, but that wasn’t the reason I watched it over and over. I was more interested in the Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. performances that were recorded at these giant European music festivals. Until Lollapalooza sprang forth from the mind of Perry Farrell, we didn’t have bands like Sonic Youth playing huge outdoor venues in North America.¹

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Jack Mitchell brings to us The Odyssey of Star Wars, an epic poem in blank verse.

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Disney+ is releasing the uncut version of The Muppet Christmas Carol. The song “When Love Is Gone” (AKA, the breakup song) was originally on the VHS version of the movie that I remember from when I was younger. I always miss hearing it in the later versions from which it was cut. The song was written by Paul Williams, who also wrote “Rainbow Connection,” which may explain why I like it so much.

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⚠️ Warning: Spoiler alert for Amazon’s Rings of Power series.

I just finished watching the first season of the Amazon series Rings of Power, and I can honestly say that I didn’t realize it was going to turn into a mystery. “Who is Sauron,” was the question that seemed to drive most discussions about the show, like “who shot J.R.” did back in the early days of Dallas. James Hibberd interviews Charlie Vickers, who plays Halbrand, the self-proclaimed king of the Southlands. Vickers didn’t know going in that he was playing Sauron, but he had some hints.

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Alan Moore wrote some noteworthy comics and graphic novels. Those titles include Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke — which was huge when I was growing up. However, he has now given up writing comic books, and now looks with disdain (and maybe a certain amount of fear) at what they’ve done to society.

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I’ll start by showing my cards here and admitting that I can’t wait to see Andor, the latest of the Star Wars shows to premiere on Disney+. The only reason I haven’t already dipped back into the Star Wars universe is that my imagination is currently in Middle Earth, where the harfoots are undertaking a perilous journey and Sauron and his juicy, sunscreen-hoarding orcs are on the move. If I weren’t so deep into the story that Rings of Power is weaving, I would have settled down in front of the big screen with the lights off and watched for that familiar Star Wars logo that has brought joy to me since I was a kid. I’ve been waiting for a while for Andor to come out and I have greater expectations for this show than any of the previous Star Wars episodic TV shows (although I ended up enjoying them all).

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In Your Favorite Pop Culture Has Just Gone “Woke.” Now What? by Jason Morehead, the author examines some perceived changes brought to Middle Earth mythology by the new Amazon Prime series Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. If you’ve come across any of the common objections to the show, this is a really helpful piece to read. I mention this in large part because Morehead has a good grasp of the material being examined and brings an informed view to the debate. In discussions over nerdery and pop culture, familiarity with the source material and thus, understanding of authorial intent, generally wins the day.

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⚠️ Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Book Of Boba Fett. 

Matt Poppe typically reviews the new Star Wars and Marvel shows for Christ and Pop Culture. He’s now onto The Book of Boba Fett, though not reviewing every episode, as he has done with previous shows. So far, he hasn’t been impressed.

And that’s because any guy who comes into town and thinks he’ll get it right where everyone else got it wrong tends to either fail miserably or become a weird, psycho cult leader. Whatever the outcome, this isn’t the type of person onto whom I want to project my hopes and cares as I’m munching down Little Caesars on the couch with the rest of the Poppe fam. 

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Apple TV+ series Foundation, as well as some graphic depictions of violence, both real and fictional.

My wife and I started watching the new Apple TV+ sci-fi series Foundation last weekend. The trailer for the show promised exciting visuals and an intriguing plot. The review from the site Common Sense Media was mostly very positive. The write-up on the show focused quite a bit on the show's diverse cast and little on the violence. The quick summary on the site encapsulates their review well:

"Cerebral sci-fi drama has diversity, some violence." Representation is important, but I'm ashamed that we've become so saturated in violence that we consider the level this show contains barely worth mentioning.

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