One thing I think about a lot: people often talk about how corny/cheesy songs like "We Are The World" are, but it's clear that we need more songs like that! People buy into it! Honestly think a not-insignificant number of issues we have today is due to the lack of Feed the Children type songs.

Wake Up Dead Man is about this very thing

I'm marking it here because I'm gonna reply to this post with 25 disco songs that never get the love they deserve (always surprised when these threads pop up and even the most well versed music nerds drop the same common 12 or so songs. This genre is so rich and varied!)

I can't believe these people are gonna argue with THE POPE

Surprisingly great Family Guy sign gag worthy of classic Simpsons

4) puts succinctly what I have been trying to articulate for so long: after delving deep into disco for the last 6 years or so, its over-aggressive response, within its details, was fairly one-to-one about how MAGA responded just a few years ago.

(Dire Straits ripped off the baseline of their hit song from a Isley Brothers banger)

I like that Invincible allows its villains to monologue as ridiculous and as over-the-top as needed, without having to engage in snarky, meta-commentary quips about them. It *sometimes* does but mostly in post-fight dialogue. A lot of those villain speeches work well as episode metaphors as well.

Am I understanding this right? The writing staff of WGA union is striking against the WGA union?

Just the mere concept of hosting a mega perfect pool party but having to make sure no one can actually *jump into the pool" is freaking genius, absolutely tickling me to death

The reason is because women, LGBTQ, and POCs were doing the "scolding" and they did NOT like that.

The Simpsons is so much more fun again these days (honestly!) mainly because they finally figured out a formula that works - just have a random main character go on a weird adventure with one of the show's millions of other characters instead of yet another "Marge hates Homer for X" type stories

I had no idea that The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly was a bumbling "enemies to friends" comedy

In the 80s and 90s, bullies were portrayed as macho himbo jock types; in the 00s and 10s they were portrayed ass aggressive, gatekeeper incel fanboys. Now there's no need to assign any subcultural trope to bullies; it's clear that they are really, in the end, just assholes.

Apropos of everything awful about this, I'm reminded of the main antagonist in Gattaca, a capitalist eugenist who quipped "I haven't a violent bone in my body" Anyway it's revealed he's the murderer

Hard to say definitively as of yet, but I think Law and Order classic FINALLY got back on the right track. Straight-forward but twisty murder narratives; grittier, down-to-earth characters in what feels like normal circumstances; that varnish of hope within a tactile-feel of a real New York.

I think it was a combo of 3 things: 1) terms (privilege, praxis, gender-coded language, etc.) meant to function in rigors academic discussion got muddled in tumblr-era excitement 2) reveals of gender/sexual identities/definitions created an energy that seemed to force everyone to learn it all

I keep thinking about episode of South Park where the parents were paying actors to pretend to be deadbeat versions of their kids from the future to inspire them to work harder - Stan finds out and tries to trick Randy into admitting the truth but Randy is so committed to keeping the fiction alive -

Watching Mission: Impossible Final Reckoning, and it's not beating the allegations that these last two MI films are just extended Doctor Who episodes, with Ethan being a time lord. The finale of the second film takes place in rock quarry for goodness sake

Using /sarcasm, /s, /joke, or /j to indicate your post is being sarcastic was always awkward but understandable to clarify intonation in a post where text connotation can get lost; the use of (complimentary) or (derogatory), however, seems to "fit" better as a tone indicator

While a little clunky here and there, Gumball is still the best animated show out there. The rare animated show to make poverty and financial struggle a core theme of its premise. It uses metaphor and allusions so brilliantly its honestly astonishing. The Score is almost as good as The Words!

Not for nothing else, this is a great "final line of a dramatically tense scene in a movie," like this is a line a writer would write in the movie version of all this nonsense, and this dude just said it

“What makes Donald Trump so unbearable isn’t merely that he’s cruel. […] What makes him intolerable is how empty he is, how profoundly excavated, how untouched by the basic elements that make someone human.” jojofromjerz.substack.com/p/what-endur...

Anti-DEI brainworms exists in the same way anti-disco existed. It wasn't just because these people are racist/sexist/anti-LGBTQ, it's because they realized that marginalized people are VERY GOOD at what they do! It's bottom-line jealousy.

Love that Fantastic Four stole the Mass Effect FTL-engine designs wholesale

FYI: Nathan Rabin needs your love and appreciation right now. He was in a very significant car crash earlier this week and is in the hospital recovering. (His family was also in the car, they’re fine, but he got the brunt of the injuries.) Now’s a good time to support him: www.nathanrabin.com

I'm watching this episode right now and y'all the best part is that he specifically acts and talks like a reporter from Batman, it's amazing

I always wanted to pitch a reality TV show where 12 contestants compete to cook weird meals with limited ingredients for professional chefs who are various degrees of high

I have to say, after watching the new Hazbin Hotel episodes, and then watching the new Joe Cappa show Haha You Clowns, I think, beyond anything else, they're just fundamentally two different understandings of how storytelling works

But why is it blue text on black paper?

Thinking the Democrats are solely focused on healthcare despite every other awful thing happening right now only because a healthcare insurance CEO was shot and killed. That's it.

Absolutely love Candi Stanton's cover of Listen to the Music by the Doobie Brothers, one of the sickest baselines I've ever heard youtu.be/lfq6OTZdXHg?...

I really enjoyed Sinners but my biggest criticism is how the (genuinely cool) music montage scene gave little to no credence to soul, funk, Motown, and disco artists, which also owe their development to blues. One fancy-dressed rocker as an ode to Rick James types is fine but too simplistic imo.

Absolutely love a TV series based on a movie based on a play gets the tagline "Believe in original stories"

#PortfolioDay I'm a writer & recently completed a WIA mentorship in production management as well! I'm part-time in Paramount's Page Program, so I'm open for freelance work and full-time assistant opportunities to transition out of the program! www.aniseoverton.com www.linkedin.com/in/anise-ove...

The first Star Wars film and Saturday Night Fever both came out in the same year

I had to stop what I was doing and grab my iPad to record this clip from #StuGO, I was trying so hard the whole time not to laugh.

Had some time this week (finally!) and I went to check out StuGo, thinking I'd watch an episode or two. Binging the whole thing now. It's pretty incredible, but it's also clear why Disney seemed to have so much trouble marketing it. It's *unhinged*.

So I know that the new season of The Proud Family rankled a lot of folks with the "kick Penny out the house as punishment but it's actually abuse" storyline (admittedly much deserved) but this 3rd season is actually really good?

This is one of those songs that they instantly knew would be a hit. MSF backed arrangements. Norman Harris at guitar. Thom Bell and Phil Hurtt as producers. A sound that somehow fits a chill/relaxed vibe AND could cook in the club scene. And it was a B-side!* www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojCi...

Mickey 17... wasn't good.

why didn’t American Eagle not just immediately shoot another campaign with a non-white model using the same “great jeans” ad copy then start rolling it out as a diversity campaign with a new model of varying backgrounds/limb differences/etc. every few days turning it into “we all have great jeans” ?

But if you hear of any good jobs while I'm hooting and hollering on Batman: The Ride, email [email protected]. And for a full archive of quality pop-culture writing from the past 17 years, visit erikmadams.com.

This was the VERY point that the American Pie movie was trying to make

The recent-ish Chip Whistler Big City Greens episode did a "don't do evil like your nemesis or you will become like them!" plotline and it's actually kinda sickening to yet again see this plotline in this day and age, especially with the genuine evil happening all around us today.

The sea shanties thing seemed like it hit its peak through TikTok's video multi-reply feature (like that great fake hostage video series of videos) and it's weird we don't see that kind of thing anymore

Finally getting around to Squid Game S3 and (vague spoilers) at the very least I like that the ultimate cruel antagonist is someone you just don't see coming