Tag: Culture Dumps

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Episode 32: 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall

This is our first political Dump, though one can aruge all politics is a crock of shit! To honor the upcoming Gub-Recall of 2021, the Culture Dumps team looks back to the media circus surrounding the 2003 recall. This whole mess started when a bunch of assholes at Enron tried to line their pockets with an energy crisis and ended with Arnold Schwarzeneggar as the actual, for real, not joking governor of California. Along the way you had porn stars, Gary Coleman and some random guy named Michael Jackson (not the celebrity) all jumping on the political bandwagon. With the influence of Hollywood’s “all press is good press” mentality , this perfect political dump could have only happened in California.

Ryan is joined by guest Adam Papagan, who is putting his name in the hat of 2021 California Gubernatorial candidates. Let’s face it, we all love to say “Gubernatorial.” Vote Papagan!

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Special Interview: David Yontef

This week we have a bonus episode! Ryan sits down with David Yontef, the host of Behind the Velvet Rope Podcast and all around pop culture guru . They discuss everything from the roots of reality tv, the differences between all of the Real Housewives, the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Caitlyn Jenner running for governor. This episode is juicy and fully loaded.

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Episode 31: What What in the Butt (Featuring co-creator Mike Stasny)

Samwell’s music video “What What (In the Butt)” was one of Youtube’s first viral video sensations. The original 2007 post currently has over 72 millions views. The video appeared on Tosh. O and was parodied by South Park. The hilarious homoerotic hit helped usher in a new style of pop culture driven primarily by internet fandom.

Mike Stasny is an artist living in Atlanta who co-wrote and helped produce “What What (In the Butt).” Culture Dumps host Parks Miller interviews Stasny about the unexpected path he took to viral success. We discuss the glory days of Youtube and how the evolution of going viral. This dump got way deep!

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Episode 30: Chris Gaines

This week on Culture Dumps we examine the most bizarre passion project in the history of music. In 1999 Garth Brooks could not have been more famous. As the most successful country singer seemingly of all time, when he debuted his dark, tortured alter-ego Chris Gaines it is more than fair to say people were confused. What started as the most elaborate publicity stunt for a film ever soon became the biggest joke in country music. 

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Episode 29: 2 Live Crew

2 Live Crew is one of the notorious rap groups in Hip Hop history. They added a new level of hypersexual lyrics that was as offensive as it was popular. Their platinum selling album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, led to a series of court cases that saw the party friendly band as champions of the 1st Amendment. These trials also coincided with the infamous PRMC clashes of the early 90s, leading to the now infamous Parental Advisory Explicit Content sticker. 2 Live Crew was also criticized for having heavily misogynistic lyrics and violent attitudes towards women. Mastermind Luther Campbell (Uncle Luke) is a figure still referenced in hip hop today. Let’s get Freaky!

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Episode 28: Beanie Babies part 3

We have reached the end of the plush road. We conclude our Beanie Baby coverage with tales of bankruptcy, break ups, arrests, and the bursting of the one of the biggest speculative bubbles of all time. All good things must come to an end, and in this case dumb things do too. This one gets dark folks so prepare yourselves and enjoy the finale of the saga of Beanie Babies.

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Episode 27: Beanie Babies Part 2

We are officially deep in the depths of this Beanie Baby Dump. We document the huge surge in popularity of Beanie Babies. The “retirement” of certain beanies created a scarcity in the market that drove collectors into a frenzy as the prices surged. Beanie Babies were no longer simply a kids toy, but a completely risk free 100% guaranteed way to earn tons of money! Kinda sounds like NFTs. As more households received The Internet, websites like Ebay began to flourish, which only added to the Beanie Bonanza. Since this is Culture Dumps; we tell you all about the weird shit that founder Ty Warner was up to during this madness. Let’s just say he is not nearly as cuddly as the toys he creates.

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Episode 26: Beanie Babies Part 1

Here it is folks, the first installment of our coverage of one of the biggest Culture Dumps in history. Ty Beanie Babies. What became the biggest toy crazy of the 1990’s, the first internet shopping craze, and ultimately a long term investment with no pay off started in the mind of one man, Ty Warner. Unlike beanie babies, this episode is not understuffed!

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Episode 24: Four Loko

Alcohol has been around for thousands of years, it is rare to to see a new variation of the devil’s juice. In 2010  a new monster was released into the world and drinking would never be the same. Fourloko is one of the scariest beverages ever created and we have the proof. We also sit down around the fire for some good ole’ fashioned scary stories. 

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Episode 23: The New Monkees

The Monkees are a pop culture anomaly, a multi-platinum selling band created by television producers. While The Monkees hold a special place in American music history, their rebooted counterpart, The New Monkees do not. The New Monkees are all but forgotten and with good reason. We don’t need reboots of everything and this proves it. 

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