The PopCulteer
August 17, 2018

It’s time for a random roundup of minor points and cool news from the balliwick of this here blog, pop culture, starting off with a bit of navel-gazing.

Did You Get That Joke I Sent You?

Over a year ago in this space I wrote an installment of The PopCulteer that poked fun at my love of Tiki culture, despite the fact that I don’t drink, don’t each much of the food, and hate the beach. Just this week, somebody left a comment that indicated that they didn’t get the joke, and that they thought the column was “miserable.”

It’s bad enough that they didn’t get the joke. That’s a risk that anybody who makes a joke has to live with, but to label what was intended as a humor piece as “miserable,” well, that sort of stings.

The idea was that I was making fun of myself, and called myself a “Tiki Poser,” which I thought was a pretty funny term in and of itself. That the piece seemingly failed to convey that is on me. Part of the problem is that I tend to write authoritatively on any subject that I cover, no matter how trivial it may be in the grand scheme of things, and as such, if someone like our commentor comes along who does not know me personally, they may take what I wrote way too seriously. The subtlety of my comedic timing and use of the language appears not to be conducive to making people laugh.

I thought the piece was sufficiently ridiculous and silly enough that people would see it as the subtle satire and self-parody that it was intended to be.  Apparently I thought wrong.

On the other hand, it is possible that the guy who left the comment was just a humorless douchebag.

KISS in MEGO!

This morning, buried in the MEGO Museum Newsletter (subscribe here, it’s free!) was the tiny blockbuster news that Wave 2 of the new MEGO figures due at Target in October will include at least one figure of the band, KISS. See the swiped photo of Paul Stanely at right. (They broke the news at MEGO Museum a couple of days ago, which is why you need to check that site regularly–I missed it due to not being online much for my Birthday Week).

This is a bit of a shocker because Figures Toy Company has been producing MEGO-style KISS figures for years, and this has the potential to completely destroy their market, since the Target figures will be ten to fifteen dollars less per figure, at least.

The Figures Toy Company KISS figures (nine series and counting) are still being sold on their website, so it’s safe to assume that they had a non-exclusive license to produce figures based on the toy-friendly sludge metal band. They do seem to be turning their focus toward 12-inch figures with the KISS line, but that’s just returning to the original MEGO roots for KISS. Vintage MEGO KISS figures are highly-sought-after items by fans of the band.

The interesting twist here is that MEGO originally produced the figures at the 12″ size, not in their trademark 8″ size. So the MEGO figures that hit Target will actually be the same size as the original FTC figures, which were the first KISS figures produced in the traditional MEGO size.

This is also a good sign that Wave 2 of the new Target MEGO figures might offer a much more impressive line-up of characters than Wave 1.

Hairy Scary Hangout

Fans of old-school horror movie hosts should be aware of Cleveland’s The Mummy and The Monkey (seen right), who have hosted a couple of cool retro monster movie shows. I first discovered them on the late, lamented Bizarre TV, and now they’re experimenting with producing their show directly on their Facebook page.

Friday night, at 10 PM (EDT) you can visit their page for a new episode that will include the broadcast premiere of the Indie Flick by “Moron Productions” called This Woods Is Cursed.

According to the event description, in the movie “Some friends go camping and some scary stuff happens.” You can also expect skits, fan mail, live chat comments and the usual spooky fun from The Mummy and The Monkey. It’s good, scary fun for folks who like their cheesy horror movies with a side-serving of laughs.

Friday on The AIR

You know, we have a pretty cool independent internet radio station affiliated with PopCult called The AIR. I think I’ve mentioned it before. Friday we have two brand-new shows that you can listen to at the website, or on this nifty little embedded player…

Today at 1 PM it’s a new episode of Radio Free Charleston International, the show where yours truly gets to play whatever he wants. This week it’s all over the map, with a lot of just-released tunes and some great classics. This is free-format radio at it’s almost-extinct finest. Check out the playlist…

RFCI 057

The Aquabats “Play Doh”
3.2 “What You’re Dreaming”
Mog and the Water Tribe “Sleep”
Tokyo Rankers “Glory Days”
The Payolas “Rose”
Lola + The Cosmic Getaway “Tangerine Dream”
Richard Markowitz “The Wild, Wild West theme”
The Shadows “Apache”
The Shadracks “Every Inch of My Mind”
Ringo Starr “Vertical Man”
Exit Eden “A Question of Time”
Weird Al Yankovic “Uncontrollable Urge”
The Lumerians “Space Curse”
Lily Allen “Everything To Feel Something”
Ghost “Pro Memoria”
The Alarm “Cenotaph”
Weller “Standard”
Jeff Potter & The Rhythm Agents “Pushrod”
Andy Samford “Last Day of the Witch”
Joe Satriani “Super Funky Badass”
Spirit “Mr. Skin”
XTC “Making Plans For Nigel”
The English Beat “I Confess”
Steve Howe “Turbulence”
Elvis Costello “Tokyo Storm Warning”

Immediately following those two hours of musical anarchy, at 3 PM Sydney Fileen checks in with a special edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat that finds our presenter in a nostalgic mood, as she revisits the classic New Wave film/album URGH! A Music War.

This is the second time Sydney has paid tribute to URGH!, but this time she does so by playing the entire vinyl album, plus bonus songs from The Dead Kennedys, Splongeness Abounds, The Surf Punks and The Police that were in the film, but didn’t make it to the LP.

Radio Free Charleston International airs Friday at 1 PM and 10 PM, with replays Saturday at 1 PM, Sunday at 1 AM and 3 PM and Tuesday at 10 PM.

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat airs Friday at 3 PM with replays Saturday at 3 , Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM and Thursday at Noon.

Bakery Reminder

Don’t forget that the Bakery Construction Parties happen Saturday and Sunday at 8 AM. Details can be found HERE.

That is it for this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for all our regular features, and if all goes according to plan, next week will see us catch up on The PopCult Bookshelf, with mulitple reviews posted all week long.