The PopCulteer
February 2, 2024

We have random short items and the playlist for today’s new episode of MIRRORBALL this week, so let’s dive in…

Self-horn-tootery

To the right you see the cover of the latest issue of Non Sport Update, a magazine for which I have been writing for over a quarter-century now.  I’m sharing it here because this is the big 2024 preview issue, and yours truly is the author of that piece.

It’s not a fun assignment, but I only have to do it once every five years or so. It’ll fill you in on what to expect from almost every non-sport trading card company for the next year.

It’s actually a must-have issue for collectors of non-sport trading cards, and aside from my article, there are several other cool articles, along with five promo cards, which you can see below.

This issue of Non Sport Update should be available now, where ever magazines are still sold.

The essay that wasn’t

It’s time for a little “inside baseball” about how PopCult is made.

Last week, I had a long essay planned for this space (in case you’re new here, The PopCulteer is the Friday “column” that runs within this blog as a bit of a tribute to the late James Dent (AKA “The Gazetteer”) and also as a bit of a writing prompt to force me to produce more content for the blog…or at least it was back in 2009 when I started doing this. Now I have fresh content every day.

Anyway, last week I had a long essay ready to be proofread and revised, and it was all about the changing face of cable television and streaming, as manifested by the blockbuster deal that will see WWE move their flagship show, Monday Night RAW, from the USA Network, to Netflix, in January of 2025.

I was working on that when the news broke about an even bigger blockbuster WWE story–the lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE alleging sexual abuse and trafficking.

There was no way I could write about WWE without mentioning that…and that was a developing story that, one week later, is still pretty freaking disgusting. I spiked the essay rather than do anything that could be seen as promotion for WWE.

It’s a lurid and disturbing story.  McMahon is gone from WWE. It took less than 30 hours for sponsors to threaten to drop out of their Royal Rumble event and for him to tender his resignation as a result.  The founder of WWE is gone for good, and deservedly so.

I’m not going to go into details here, but if the texts presented as evidence are real–and no sane lawyer would introduce them into evidence if they aren’t–then McMahon’s behavior displays a mind-boggling intersection of mysogony, racism, kink and power madness. I’m talking Trump-level sleaze here.

And having said that, I’m not going any further this week. I love writing about pop culture for all my readers, but I really don’t want to spend any more time on a story where the basic research makes me want to take a shower.

If you’re not up on what happened, and want to learn more, check out this Timeline created by Brandon Thurston and Wrestlenomics.

We Had To Stop Here

As detailed in a photo essay Wednesday (with more to come), Mel and I ran to Louisville for GI Joe Winterfest last weekend.

Well, on the way back we made a little detour so we could hit up the Buc-ee’s in Richmond, Kentucky.  Here are four photos.

A Mongolian Cluster Buc-ee’s.

 

The above is a close-up of this. We passed on the die-cast truck, in favor of the die-cast Willy’s Gasser with a flame job (not pictured).

Valentine’s Day merch, since we didn’t make it down for Halloween or Christmas last year.

It’s…..MAGNETS!

Fresh Disco on The AIR

We have a hot new episode of MIRRORBALL to tell you about that’s debuting Friday afternoon on The AIR.  The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear our shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch brings you a hot and danceable sampling of some great club hits from the classic era of Disco Music. There’s no theme this week, but every track is making its MIRRORBALL debut!

Check out the playlist…

MIRRORBALL 090

Zack Ferguson “Skate Board Dancin”
Bionic Boogie “Risky Changes”
Dee D. Jackson “Automatic Lover”
Love and Kisses “Accidental Lover”
Montreal Sound “Music”
T Connection “On Fire”
Sentimental Trumpet “Disco Doble”
Michele “Disco Dance”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM and a mini-marathon Saturday nights at 9 PM.

At 3 PM we bring you a classic episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, where Sydney Fileen salutes the New Wave cinematic classic, URGH! A Music War.

That’s what’s new on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features every day.