2009 March - AudioShocker

Monthly Archive for March, 2009Page 2 of 5

Nominate Phantom of the Attic Comics for the Spirit of Retail Eisner Award!

Published

on March 24, 2009

. 24 Comments

San Diego Comic-Con International is only a few months away and I have a special request for comic book fans everywhere: nominate Phantom of the Attic Comics in Pittsburgh (Oakland neighborhood) for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.

In the words of the Comic-Con and the Eisner Awards themselves, this award "is given to an individual retailer who has done an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large." That's a perfect description of Phantom of the Attic Comics right there.

[Need a visual aid? To catch a look at Phantom's awesome retail space, check out this Phantom of the Attic Flickr album I made to show off the store's new digs.]

Okay, back to the award. You wanna know why, right? (Unless you shop at Phantom now - then you already know WHY.) Here's the criteria used by the Eisner's to judge the Spirit of Comics Retailer Award:

Support of a wide variety of innovative material.
Knowledge.
Community activity.
Quality of store image.
Adherence to standard ethical business practices.

Phantom fits all those criteria (and then some). Point is, it's a great shop (in business for over 25 years!) run by a great crew that does great things for the comic book community in Pittsburgh.

To nominate Phantom for the award (DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, APRIL 17th 2009!!!), go to the Spirit of Comics Retail nomination form. I've made it easy by providing all the info that you need to complete the nomination (feel free to personalize your version). So let's make this happen - Phantom of the Attic Comics for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award in 2009!!!

NOMINATION INFORMATION

Retailer's Name(s): Jeff Yandora

Store Name: Phantom of the Attic Comics

Store Address: 411 South Craig Street

Store Phone: 412-621-1210

Store City: Pittsburgh

Store State/Prov: Pennsylvania (PA)

Store Postal Code: 15213

1. Support of a wide variety of innovative material:

While Phantom of the Attic Comics has tons of new books every Wednesday and a comprehensive selection of backissues, what truly makes Phantom unique is its embrace of indie comics, local creators, and offbeat mainstream work. Take Street Angel, an indie comic drawn by Pittsburgh artist (and Phantom customer) Jim Rugg. When this book first launched, it was an under-the-radar title with no mainstream hype. Phantom of the Attic Comics championed it, putting it next to the register and recommending it to countless customers. Now Street Angel is an underground success and the inspiration for a high-profile short film. But Phantom's loyalty was never dependent on public visibility or success - the store just wanted to promote the exciting independent work of a local artist. This happens all the time, whether it's the store owner buying ashcans off of an up-and-comer to put onto their shelves or promoting a wide range of unique comics through word of mouth and high-visibility placement.

2. Knowledge:

If you've been to Phantom of the Attic Comics, this question seems like a no-brainer. The staff is extremely knowledgeable on comics modern, classic, and everything in between. Phantom's employees aren't high-turnover teens that stand behind the register and read comics all day. The staff at Phantom is highly interactive with the customer base, knowing the majority of repeat consumers on a first and last name basis. Jeff, the owner, makes the rounds on the store floor constantly, greeting friends, striking up conversations, and answering questions. Wayne, longtime sales and customer service employee, acts as Phantom's ambassador to the creative comics community in Pittsburgh and the store's comics historian. And the list keeps on going - every employee at Phantom has a special niche that they fill for customers, providing extensive knowledge and great customer service.

3. Community activity:

Basically, Phantom of the Attic Comics is a hotspot for the creative comics community in Pittsburgh. In their new expanded space, Phantom supports creator signings and customer appreciation events. Free Comic Book Day at Phantom isn't "buy a comic to get a free comic book day" - it's "welcome to Phantom... this is customer appreciation day." Free comics flow like wine and friends connect for an all-day event. Phantom is also known for supporting the works of many comic creator customers in the Pittsburgh area. And Phantom's latest community activity may be their biggest yet - working with Pittsburgh's new Toonseum cartoon museum to promote comics around the Pittsburgh and its surrounding area.

4. Quality of store image:

Phantom of the Attic Comics is highly regarded as a comics retailer by the creative community, fans, and the shopping public of Pittsburgh. The shop was voted Best Comic Bookstore for 2008 in the Pittsburgh City Paper's Best of 2008 readers' poll... and that was before their upgrade to an innovative retail space that quadrupled their size. All the racks, shelves, and displays in Phantom have been custom-built, utilizing unique visual design never seen in any other comic shop before. Even the backissues received specially designed drawers built to support the size and weight of two longboxes. Phantom's allows the store to spotlight a wide range of books, from indie to manga to superhero to hardcovers to digests to collectibles to discount offerings. Most importantly, Phantom's unique design is stocked with care and thoughtfulness. Seasonal displays feature products to interest both new and returning customers, while new comics are always well organized and easy to identify.

5. Additional Comments:

Personally, all I can say is that Phantom has been a huge part of my life for the past eight and a half years. Because of the opportunity provided by the store, I've delved further into the medium of comics than ever before. I've made friends at the shop. I've debated and discussed comics for hours when I just meant to swing by the shop to pick up a single issue. And I can say honestly - without any exaggeration - that Phantom of the Attic Comics is the single best comic shop I've ever been too. I'm serious. I've been across the United States buying comics from Phoenix to San Francisco to Chicago to Nashville to Philadelphia to New York City. I've even bought comics off newsstand racks in Italy. And I always go back to Phantom of the Attic Comics in Pittsburgh because I know it's the best.

More: Check Out Phantom of the Attic's New Retail Space

And more: Podcast #52 - Live from Phantom of the Attic Comics

Culturology 024 - Elitists versus Idiots

Published

pete

on March 23, 2009

in Culturology

. 9 Comments

"Seriously Pete, don't you ever have anything nice to say?"

I'm not sure what exactly compels me to respond to Neal's renewed accusations (see the comment line of Culturology 23)--it's certainly not out of respect for his ideas, so I would suppose that, basically, I've got nothing more pressing to write about this week, and generally don't like it when there are casually negative things floating around about me. This, of course, stems from last week's discussion of Watchmen, and Neal's charge (in paraphrase) that I was being elitist and not appropriately considering the movie's audience. Now, I am unapologetic about my elitism; frankly, I think I've earned it, insofar as I never claim to be an elitist, as such, but don't argue about it, necessarily, when such accusations are applied. I reckon that its in the nature of all human cultures that there will be elitists, and if not intellectual elitists, then certainly there are humans that excel at what they do. Intellectual elitists, who I think, more or less, are what Neal was griping about when he was griping about my culturological approach, then, are no different from anyone else that is good at what they do. The problem is that America, for several decades now, has been breeding a generally anti-intellectual culture which a) encourages people to be idiots and b) recommends that they resent it when other people are more educated than they are.

But I'm not going to let this post get out of control; I have no intention of just soap-boxing here like some righteous nerd. Again, though, I think that I do have plenty of nice things to say, and I have said them (my commentaries on both Coraline and Push, for instance, were quite positive). Which still isn't quite the point...

Neal's argument that I failed in my criticism to consider Watchmen's wider audience before panning it (I didn't pan it, Neal accused me of panning it) is a perfect example of how fundamental American anti-intellectualism leaks into the thought processes of (we presume) a (relatively) educated commenter such as Neal:

1) Consider the appeal to an "everyperson" audience for the movie: my criticism was unnecessarily negative (and, indeed, blinded by its negativity) because I failed to be aware of the fact that I was watching it from the vantage of a comics-fan, thereby failing to consider how "normal" "movie-goers" would feel (I use "feel" here over "think" since we can't be certain that this everyperson "thinks" at all, insofar as it is my thinking which problematizes my "feelings" about the movie). First of all, I said at the top of my post that I had no intention of writing a review. It's not my job, as a culturologist, to let "people" know if the movie is good or not. I'm here to provide a well-considered interpretation of any given cultural artifact. If a given artifact sucks, but doesn't completely suck, I'm under no obligation to say "but it didn't completely suck" unless that incompleteness is culturologically interesting. To extend that and then accuse my criticism of being incomplete due to its lack of "nice things to say" misses the point entirely.

2) Neal's implied concern for the "everyperson" is itself a brand of elitism. He, and the thousands of other (we presume) (relatively) educated Americans like him have absorbed enough American pop culture to believe that there's something to this idea that smarty-pants people like myself are just bored assholes with too much time on our hands. Which is not to say that I'm not, to some extent, an easily-bored asshole, but rather that the "audience" for most culturological investigations is going to be primarily made up of people who are similarly easily-bored. The fact that we might hate on things that less easily bored people might like in our boredom does not disqualify our opinions, it merely points out a difference in demographics. There certainly are "critics" who consider themselves to be writing for a "mainstream" audience (once I get around to those X-MEN and philosophy things, I'm sure this portion of the conversation will be extended), but I would argue that either a) their goals are different from mine, in so far as they are evangelical about their elitism, whereas I am preaching to the already-converted or b) they are failures as critics, and are simply producing more populist swill, rather than anything of critical merit.

3) Since Neal's concern for the "everyperson" is itself an elitist action, he's actually worse than I am, since he's condescending to the people who he is apparently trying to protect. He is out amongst the sheep, shouting and smacking their asses with a stick, trying to get them to move to the next pasture, whereas I merely place a block of salt in the next field, knowing that they will flock thither upon thirst for salt (that is, I'm leading by example, he's an idiot). Though, we must also consider the notion that Neal considers himself to be an "everyman." Does this complicated my accusations? It may, but I think I would have an easier time demonstrating his elitism than he would have demonstrating his "normalcy." But, is it ever possible for an elitist to genuinely concern for the intellectually inferior?

Yes. And it's that answer of "yes" that keeps most culturology worth doing. It comes back to what I was saying at the top of this post: intellectual elitism is no different from the multitude of other elitisms and specialties that abound in all cultures, it just so happens that smart people have been vilified in the current cultural epoch. But I freely admit that my intellectual specialization has common at the cost of lack of expertise in other areas. We are all members of our cultures, even our personal identities are more the result of other people than ourselves; this is what allows us to specialize in the first place. In becoming a critic, I understand, and count on the fact that other people will become readers, creators, or whatever else. We all have our roles to fill. Mine is to be a culturologist, and apparently, Neal's role is to be an idiot.

War Machine Original Armor Hyper Combo Wallpaper!

Published

nick marino

on March 23, 2009

in Video Games

. 0 Comments

War Machine Wallpaper - Original Armor

DOWNLOAD WALLPAPER :: 1280 X 1024 :: 1440 X 900 :: 1600 X 1200

Whoa boy! A few firsts going on this week with the Hyper Combo Wallpaper. Rest assured that we're still bringing you your favorite characters from the Marvel vs. Capcom series. That's just what we do. But we're kicking it up a notch this time with three different sizes of wallpaper!!!

We're also bringing you the first of a three-part War Machine wallpaper series. AND this is the first time we're using non-Capcom art for the wallpaper! This week's shot is from the cover of Iron Man #283, by penciler (and War Machine co-creator) Kevin Hopgood, inker Bob Wiacek, and (maybe?) colors by Mike Rockwitz (he did the interiors, so maybe he did the cover too).

Granted, well-read Iron Man fans will know that this week's image is a bit of a cheat. This armor was never worn by James "Rhodey" Rhodes himself... it was only worn by Tony Stark. By the time Rhodey slapped on the suit in Iron Man #284, it was redesigned and modified with a few more toys. But Tony is in both Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, so this DOES count.

Thanks to Marvel Avalon for the image (I've been getting my hi-res scans from them for years). Be back here next Monday for another Hyper Combo Wallpaper!

More: War Machine, Captain America, and Gray Hulk Hyper Combo Wallpaper!

And more: Classic issues of War Machine reviewed... in webcomics form!!!

Beatcast #18 - Wallcrawler by Nik Furious

Published

nick marino

on March 22, 2009

in Beatcast and Podcast Episodes

. 0 Comments

Wallcrawler by Nik Furious [ 0:30 ] Play Now | Download

Wallcrawler, an original instrumental rock song by Nik Furious. This title is so obvious... I mean, we're talking "Friendly Neighborhood" obvious!!! Also, this song will be back, with vocals (and a mildly interesting story), in three weeks. [And here it is.]

EDIT: Sorry! This full track has been removed. But never fear! Soon you'll be able to download it on NickMarino.net. In the meantime, you can stream it here.

What Went Wrong with Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li?

Published

nick marino

on March 20, 2009

in Movies

. 21 Comments

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li... WTF? OHHHHHHHHH BOY!!! I'm proud to say I just saw this movie last night... IN THE DOLLAR THEATER. That's right, less than three weeks in national release and this movie is already in the dollar theater.

Since i saw it on a Thursday, that means it went to the dollar theater last Friday... only TWO WEEKS after its debut. WOW. That's special.

And here's the icing on the cake: guess what's officially out of the dollar theater as of today? That's right, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li... WTF? AGAIN! It had a one week tenure at the discount movie theater before it was booted for not bringing in enough customers willing to pay $1 to see it. Only $1!!! Is this some sort of United States record, like "World's Shortest National Release"?

Hopefully this movie will clean up at the 2009 RAZZIE awards. How hilarious was Chris Klein? he had me cracking up the whole time. Brilliant performance.

And what asshole decided that Kristen Kreuk should be cast as Chun-Li over Moon Bloodgood? The only thing i can think is that Bloodgood had no experience in martial arts (is that true?) and no desire to learn. She certainly looked the part and had a boss attitude.

Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li comic book The problems with this film emanate from the story. Justin Marks and his producers weren't loyal to the preexisting tale of Chun-Li and Street Fighter. I'm not saying it should have been an exact translation - it just should have been close. Would it have been cheesy? A bit. But this was some sort of alternate universe where Chun-Li longed to be a concert pianist. WTF?

Craving some decent Chun-Li storytelling? Check out UDON's Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li comic series out now. Now that's a sweet Chun-Li story! (FYI - SF Legends: Chun-Li #2 just came out this Wednesday!!!)

More: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li - TXT Message Review

And more: Video of a Girl Fight in the Ladies Room Makes the Chun-Li Movie Look Weird

The Top 9 Social Networks (How to Choose the Right One for You)

Published

nick marino

on March 20, 2009

in The Top 9

. 14 Comments

Here's how this post is going to work: instead of rambling on about how to choose the right social network for you and then failing to deliver an actual answer (much like this editorial from CNN last week), I will GIVE IT TO YOU STRAIGHT. You'll see the name of the social network followed by a single word that best sums it up. Easy, right? Okay, then let's do this.

Honorable mention goes to deviantART, which is actually one of the better social networks out there because it allows you to express yourself through your work. But jeers to deviantART for being so obsessed with "membership benefits." GET REAL! This is the Internet. People want shit for free.

Non-honorable mentions go to Google's orkut and Yahoo!'s Kickstart. Your networks suck, guys. Stick to making search engines instead. Wait... actually, Yahoo!, you should probably just give up on that too.

9. Yuwie. You should join this social network if you are: stupid. Yuwie popped on the scene real big in 2007, promising to give its members a piece of the site's advertising revenue. In actuality, all it did was waste precious time that countless suckers could have spent changing their status updates on Facebook. Total revenue earned? $0.00!!!

8. Ning. You should join this social network if you are: obtuse. While the idea behind the Ning network - join Ning and start your OWN social networking site - is sound, the actual network is a confusing and bizarre place. Due to its mission statement, the user base is severely fragmented. While the concept promotes unique expression, the reality is that Ning lacks a coherent purpose.

7. Friendster. You should join this social network if you are: obsolete. For all intents and purposes, Friendster is dead. This was the precursor to MySpace and the first international social networking hit. But those glory days are long gone. Now, Friendster is like an apocalyptic Mad Max website where profiles have been recklessly abandoned for over half a decade while spammers openly roam the network bandwidth. You can join this network or you can go purchase a VHS player. Your choice. Same results.

6. LinkedIn. You should join this social network if you are: snobby. Do I really care about your professional achievements? NO! I want to post pictures of me and my friends getting drunk. I want to read stupid, time-wasting status updates about people I haven't seen for at least 10 years. LinkedIn denies me both of these guilty pleasures and instead asks me to share my work history. PUH-LEASE, LinkedIn!!! Why so serious?

5. Bebo. You should join this social network if you are: lame. Really, there's no other way to say it. Including myself, an admitted social networking addict, there are only four people I know on Bebo. And they're ALL lame (sorry, guys!). The network is even worse than hi5 (see #4 on this list), and that's saying something. Bebo is going nowhere fast. REALLY fast.

4. hi5. You should join this social network if you are: Hispanic. At least, that's what social networking experts would have you think. Honestly, I think hi5 is just boring. But apparently hi5 is popular among users that speak Spanish as a first language... popular, that is, according to hi5. They say the network will catch on in the United States soon. But unless they make some serious upgrades, I don't think it's going anywhere but straight to the bottom of this list.

3. MySpace. You should join this social network if you are: trashy. I'm sorry to say it, but you are officially in your twilight years, MySpace. Just like Friendster before you, you are a fallen giant. It's sad really - it was far too easy to corrupt your system with irritating spam and gaudy page designs. The only people actively using MySpace nowadays are either painfully behind the curve or fully at peace with their own trashy existence.

2. Twitter. You should join this social network if you are: trendy. It's called "micro-blogging." Don't feel bad if you don't get it - Twitter didn't get it for the first three years of its own existence. Since 2006, Twitter has been crashing and pissing off its abnormally loyal members on a regular basis. Only within the past couple months has Twitter fully embraced its social network celebrity status. Now it's poised to overtake Facebook if the (new) social networking giant ever falls.

1. Facebook. You should join this social network if you are: human. Founded in 2004, this social network was originally open only to select American university students. Slowly, it opened up to all students and became an international network. Then it opened its doors to everyone on Earth... who, surprisingly, all joined. Now, after having conquered the entire human race, Facebook seeks to network with all manner of living organisms on Earth before it steadily begins its network expansion out into the vast reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy.

More: The AudioShocker Is Trashy, Trendy, and Human!!!

Why the Top 9? Because 10 is too many and 9 is better. 3 X 3 = Awesome. Now that’s what I call math.

BREAKING NEWS: Stephen Colbert Has Twatted

Published

nick marino

on March 19, 2009

in TV

. 0 Comments

Stephen Colbert & Twitter, courtesy of Meredith Vieira and The Today Show.

Profile in Comics Reading: Jeremy Canceko

Published

nick marino

on March 19, 2009

in Comics

. 1 Comment

I'm gonna try something new today: a comic book reader bio, spotlighting reading tastes and habits. If you like it, let me know and we can make this a regular thing.

First up is my former classmate and fellow cartoonist, Jeremy Canceko (by "fellow cartoonist" I mean "cartoonist that is WAY better than I am"!!! HA!). Jer is a professional graphic designer (by "professional" I mean he gets paid to design stuff) and he's chosen to pimp Shelfworthy.com, an exclusive startup that helps people share their refined tastes in books, movies, and games (by "exclusive" I mean it's invite only).

Here's what I asked Jer:

What comics have you been reading lately? Are you a store every Wednesday guy or just whenever?

And here's what he had to say:

I consider myself a Wednesday guy for the most part. I have subscriptions and try to go at least once a month to pick 'em up.

In general, I've been cutting back on a bunch of titles that I used to read to just focus on particular writers. I read a lot of titles from Brian K. Vaughan, Brian Bendis, Mark Millar, and Robert Kirkman. And then I've been keeping up with some Ed Brubaker, Geoff Johns, and Grant Morrison runs. That pretty much covers most of my Marvel and DC stuff, though there are some other gems in there, such as Captain Britain, Patsy Walker, and Ambush Bug, that I dig.

I'm also a Buffy fan, so I keep up with Season 8 and Angel. I try and read as much indie stuff as possible. I'm a huge AdHouse Books and Oni Press fan. I do read a lot of anthologies like Flight, SPX, and Mome when I have the time.

Now I'm just rambling, haha. But I guess I should just list a few more things: A Top 10 [Editor's note: somebody tell this guy we do Top 9's around here… not 10's!!! – Nick] list of comics I do not miss no matter what (fanboys love lists, don't they ;)

(In no particular order…)

1. Ultimate Spider-Man
2. Scott Pilgrim (The most recent volume is great. It got me inspired to go back and read all the other volumes again!)
3. Invincible
4. The Umbrella Academy (This was a title that I was really looking forward to before it came out and it totally exceeded my expectations.)
5. Fables + Jack of Fables
6. Buffy Season 8
7. Wonderful World of Oz (Marvel's refreshing adaptation. I love Skottie Young's art. I'm a big cartoony art kinda guy, haha!)
8. Green Lantern
9. Ex Machina
10. Runaways (Though it's been a while, original creators BKV and Adrian Alphona are sorely missed.)

Hmm, that's all I got off the top of my head!

P.S. Not sure if you keep up with animated shows, but The Spectacular Spider-Man is definitely one of the best comic book cartoons out there. Greg Weisman (of Gargoyles fame) is one of main showrunners and that's some quality storytelling right there. I also really liked the Wonder Woman animated DVD that came out recently.

Do you have a Profile in Comics Reading you want to share with the world? Shoot me a line at nick@audioshocker.com and I'll let you know what I think!

MIMS Moves When, If, and How He Wants Too

Published

neal

on March 18, 2009

in Music Videos

. 3 Comments

I am obviously a few weeks late on MIMS' new track Move. I've been holding out on this one, and for good reason: I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Well, after a few weeks of reflection, I think I am ready to give it a full AudioShocker rundown.

The Track: Let me be clear here. I fucking love the backbeat. Producers have been killing it on percussion recently. I could do without the baby voice as it reminds me a lot of Beyonce's Diva, but it isn't nearly as annoying here. At the end of the track, it drops out and then there is that "bop bop bop beat it up like a drummer" thing. Classic! It is a real nice touch.

Let's talk punchlines and lyrics. Ever since This Is Why I'm Hot, MIMS street cred has been under scrutiny. I mean, he is about as hard as Will.I.Am or Flo Rida. So when MIMS brings lines like:

When I roll up on you niggas like a ska-ter
Move if you wanna when you see that red la-ser
No matter how you move bet that infrared will chase ya
Then I keep it movin, homey see you la-ter

I have to close my eyes and pretend that he is someone else - someone who I perceive as being a more thuggish ruggish dude. Afterall, MIMS has more in common with hipster-hop than he does Suge Knight. But here is the real test: do I keep listening to it? Yes. It is a fun track. I'd pump this in my car now that the weather is breaking.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not address the whole "MIMS is jockin' Gillie Da Kid's flo" thing. I see where everyone is coming from, and MIMS does look pretty guilty. However, unlike Gillie, he amps it up and keeps the flo dynamic. I do not care for Gillie's seeming monotone. And another thing. It's not like Gillie invented the fast/slow flow. Busta Rhymes and plenty of other artists have employed it in the past.

The Video: Talk about simple. There is very little art to this video. I feel like it is a cross between something The Cool Kids would do and the moving dolly part of Will Smith's Summertime. Basically, we have MIMS sidescrolling through some street scenes with some random dancers on a short loop. It is an interesting take on the standard performance video, but it doesn't do anything for me.

The 3 second loop thing is kind of pointless. Maybe if there were some scratching on the track it would have made sense? And the twisting thing? Also stupid. For a lead single/video I expected something more kinetic - especially considering the title.

The Bottom Line: It's hot - feel free to turn up the volume (in your car).

Culturology 023.5 - Philosophical Pop

Published

nick marino

on March 17, 2009

in Culturology

. 5 Comments

X-Men and Philosophy No, I didn't mean to say "Philosophical Poop," though that would go great with a piping hot side of "Cult Urology." I meant pop. Why? This: The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series.

Now I'm not saying that these books are good - I just heard of them for the first time today, so don't take my word. But, if there is such a thing as a Culturology demographic, I think these would appeal to that sensibility.

For example, take X-Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-Verse:

Focusing on identity and personal conflict as much as action and adventure, this bestselling series is full of complex characters and storylines that are deeply influenced by important philosophical questions. Through philosophical greats like Aristotle, Sartre, Camus, Levinas, and others, X-Men and Philosophy shows how this remarkable series speaks not only to generations of pop culture audiences, but to the very heart of the human condition.

Terminator and Philosophy I'm not gonna lie to you - I don't know shit about philosophy. That's Pete's bag. So here's the mission statement of these books in the words of their publisher, Wiley:

This series aims to change that, showing that philosophy is relevant to your life - and not just for answering the big questions like "To be or not to be?" but for answering the little questions, "To watch or not to watch South Park?"

Not too far from the goal of Culturology, right? If you're still not sold, chew on this:

Thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn't make you a "complete idiot." In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching.

The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series also comes in Watchmen, Terminator, Batman, House, and other delicious flavors.