Pop Culture Boner

Because time is a flat circle, every now and then our episodes become relevant again. Recently, Netflix released a documentary, Best of Robbie Williams, to mixed but mostly positive reviews. Anyway, all the way back in 2020, on the third ever episode of Pop Culture Boner - The Podcast Edition, Alex explored how Robbie's career evolved from boy band member to stadium sized solo artist, and how he paved the way for Harry Styles to do the same 20 years later. Basically, it was Robbie's House first. And Harry's inherited it. So come on, let Alex entertain you... Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

Hello friends! Another busy fortnight here at HQ. Once again we’ve decided to take a dive into the archives to bring you some classic Pop Culture Boner content. Anyway, it's November so that means your Spotify Wrapped is already in the oven - nothing else you listen to will count for this years edition. It might also be a good time to mention, Wesley's band Lava Fangs have new music out soon... Anyway, two years ago Alex thought a lot about Spotify Wrapped, and we're still thinking about it. So here it is again! Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture we’re taking a closer look at the Sphere at the Venetian. As Las Vegas’ newest and most expensive concert venue, the Sphere is promising concert-goers that it will be the “future of entertainment”. But now that they’re $2.3billion in the hole, have invented a new camera and booked U2 for a residency, what does that actually mean? Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

Here at Pop Culture Boner we sometimes like to consult the experts. Or at least, someone who is expert adjacent. This week we’re talking to Isobel, an actual lawyer, about Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas’ divorce and custody proceedings. While Isobel is keen to emphasise that she is not actually a family lawyer, she does know more about the Hague Convention than anyone else involved in this podcast, and she has an opinion, so we’re counting her an authority.  (This podcast, and Isobel’s statements on it, do not count as legal advice.)  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

Hello friends! A lot’s been happening here at Pop Culture Boner Headquarters. Ask Alex about it next time you see her at the pub. Under the circumstances, we haven’t been able to put together a fresh episode for you this week. Instead, we’ve decided to take a dive into the archives and share something from the early days of Pop Culture Boner.  I thought we could just have some fun this week and revisit Alex’s feelings about Harry Potter, and how the film franchise ruined modern cinema. Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

In the wake of the arrest of Utah-based ‘mommy blogger’ Ruby Franke and her offsider Jodi Hildebrandt on 6 counts of felony child abuse, we take a look at child stars of the YouTube age. How have social channels like YouTube pushed the format of family vlogging into unsafe territory? Why aren’t child influencers subject to the same labour laws as child actors? What protections are in place to prevent acts of serious harm?  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner, we’re finding joy in talking about horror. Specifically, Talk to Me, the directorial debut of Australian YouTube duo, RackaRacka AKA Michael and Danny Philippou. We take a look at grief, genre and the never-ending joy of watching ratbag teens make bad choices.  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner, we’re looking at the movie event of the year. Barbie. Oppenheimer. Boppenheimer. Barbenheimer. Margot Robbie. Cillian Murphy. Ryan Gosling. Fun, frivolity, atomic bombs. We’re looking at the limits of representation in storytelling. What gets included, what doesn’t and why?  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner we look at the history of book banning and the recent rise in right-wing hate groups using libraries and public schools as battle grounds for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. We also chat to Ngozi Ukazu, whose book Check, Please! is banned in Texas, about what it’s like to be an author on Moms For Liberty’s hit list.  You can find Ngozi on Twitter, Instagram and the grout of the internet. You can pre-order Bunt! here, or  keep an eye out for Barda, available for pre-order soon. Or if you want to annoy a concerned parents group somewhere in rural Texas, you can also purchase Check, Please! right now. If you already own a copy, you should buy another and donate it to your local library. Please note the interview has been edited for clarity, content and timing. Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week’s episode of Pop Culture Boner looks at the OceanGate submersible tragedy through the lens of the online discourse that sprung up around it. Between the wreck of the Titanic, missing billionaires, lax safety regulations, international waters, video game controllers and James Cameron, it was 5 days of unbridled digital chaos. We take a look at the timeline to examine why it held our collective attention for so long, and why exactly James Cameron yearns for the deep.  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner we’re looking at what exactly Mark Wahlberg means when he tells us to “stay prayed up”. We look at Catholic app Hallow, its social media strategy and follow the money trail to find out how they got Marky Mark money. Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

The alternative title for this episode of Pop Culture Boner was “Pay your writers or Jesse Plemons will kill again”, after the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike turned the beloved Friday Night Lights star into a murderer. But we didn’t want people to miss the joke, so it does what it says on the tin! The WGA is on strike, so we’re talking entertainment unions, solidarity and why management is never your friend.  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner we’re revisiting perrenial topic of the podcast, Matthew McConaughey. We finally read his 2020 autobiography, Greenlights. Did we learn something? Did we talk ourselves in circles? Are we catching greenlights? So many questions. So few answers.  Note: This episode does contain a very brief content warning for family and sexual violence. You can skip between 14.50 and 17.13 if you want to dodge it.  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner we look at Bones and All and Fresh, two cannibal horror films that were released months apart and used romance as an angle for their protagonists. If horror reflects what we’re afraid of, what do cannibals mean in 2022? We float some ideas about digital identity, performance and the mortifying ordeal of being known.  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner, we’re looking into Gwyneth Paltrow’s weird couple of weeks on the internet. From bone broth and early 2000s diet culture, straight into ski-field accidents at luxury resorts - we deep dive on why Gwyneth has been all up in our algorithms.  Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

A very hearty “whoop whoop” to all the Juggalos out there. This week on Pop Culture Boner, we’re looking at the Insane Clown Posse and the long arm of the law. How do FBI gang classifications work, why have Juggalos been targeted and why does everyone have such strong feelings on dudes in greasepaint? Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

Why do some wellness practitioners end up as vaccine hesitant and others end up as Neo-Nazi extremists? This week on Pop Culture Boner we’re looking at the conspirituality and the wellness to white supremacy pipeline. Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

It’s our first episode back after our little wellness break and we thought we’d share our hot tips for being your most mindful self this week… Just kidding! But this week’s Pop Culture Boner is looking at the wellness industry and social isolation. Why are there so many wellness grifts out there, and why do so many of them want you to cut off all your friends and family? Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner, we’ve accidentally ended up doing another Kardashian based episode following her controversial wearing of Marilyn Monroe’s iconic Happy Birthday, Mr President dress. We did get a little weird with it though - we’re looking at museums, “odditoriums” and the policies that govern the collection and cataloguing of human remains in public institutions. Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com

This week on Pop Culture Boner, we’re thinking about the recent release of queer Jane Austen adaptation, Fire Island, the Bechdel Test, and why people insist on using a pretty simple litmus test as the basis of all their genuinely terrible film opinions. Visit the website for episode notes and a full transcript: www.popcultureboner.com