Explaining a bunch of random American things

So I finally caved and bought a nebula subscription, and in his explanation of a Frank Zappa Uncle Sam funko, he's actually able to play EXTENDED MUSICAL EXCERPTS from various points in Zappa's career. As someone who watches a lot of musical analysis content on youtube, and had become fully accustomed to creators having to skate around playing examples of the music being discussed (seemingly a very essential part of music analysis) it was so refreshing to see a video where the creator didn't have to make sure the clip was being talked over, or was under 2 seconds, or was recreated in a copyright safe midi arrangement etc.

Fun fact: the reason Darth Vader and Captain America are both done as bobbleheads rather than standard pops is because Star Wars and Marvel are among the few franchises that they can't get standard toy licenses for. Hasbro has had exclusive toy rights to those brands for decades now, and have kept a tight stranglehold on them ever since. But bobbleheads operate under a different licensing category, so Funko can get the license for Marvel and Star Wars bobbleheads without having to go through Hasbro.

lol you filling up the wine rack with Funko Pops is one of the most J.J. things to do ever

Halloween is one of the strongest vestiges of American culture IMO. Almost all modern Halloween culture in Europe has just been imported from America.

Gotta love how so much of the American Cultural canon is also the Canadian canon as well but most Canadians will deny it like crazy, except JJ.

I’ve gotta be honest it’s kinda nice seeing someone from another country stick up for American culture and treat it with interest and some amount of respect. Thanks JJ!

As an American I can say that J.J. is pretty educated on American culture.. probably moreso than some Americans 😅 love his videos!

Canadian artifacts are definitely part of Americana. Even if you define Americana as strictly United States culture, Canada, our neighbor to the north, and Mexico, our neighbor to the south, both loom large in the US culture and consciousness.

Here in Argentina, we tried to emulate the American beaver fur trade in the mid to late 1940's by importing and introducing the Canadian beaver into the lands of Tierra del Fuego. Unfortunately, due to the climate being so different here, beaver pelts were not really sought-after, which didn't encourage trappers to go after them. In addition, a lack of of the beaver's natural predators made their population truly spiral out of control, causing tremendous damage to the local ecosystem. Despite numerous government attempts to cull their numbers, the beaver is still considered a plague in southern Argentina to this very day.

I love how Blockbuster botched the chance to buy Netflix and thus signed their own death warrant.

What's notable and probably not incidental in the creation of the Beholder, was the clear influence of HP Lovecraft's literature. The Beholder's type in the game is Aberration, which comprises of monsters one would often find in Lovecraft's stories, all sort of related to the great unknown, the monsters deep below the ground, and high above in the cosmos. The Beholder, however, was notable in that its personality was defined by its unique xenophobia of any and every creature around it (including other Beholders). They were known for living reclusive lifestyles, plotting against and fearing their neighbours. They didn't reproduce, so instead new Beholders came into the world through the nightmares of their parents. They were the most Lovecraftian monster out there, and their personality was the same as that of HP Lovecraft himself.

Fun fact: Steamboat Willie passes out of copyright in about 5 months, as Disney has finally given up on perpetual copyright extensions.

As a person from Atlanta, if JJ ever goes to The World of Coke he's going to have a religious experience. I always call it a "pop culture and pop art museum."

I don’t know how JJ is so good at turning a trip to the store into award winning videos.

I always assumed that the sterile, homogenized look of Funko Pops was a result of being some massive corporate brand. So despite how much I don't like the things I can at least appreciate that they put a bit of a dent in a quasi-oligopolistic market sector.

When JJ explains something, he explains every single detail. I love it.

Weekly reminder that regardless of topic or even if I agree with his take, JJ doesn’t make bloated multi-hour long video essays about how aging shows for children are about late capitalism.

The beholder was the main inspiration for the Cacodemon in the Doom games. As an aside, the design of the Cacodemon itself is however based on Astral Dreadnought, which is also from Dungeons and Dragons.

Fun fact about Blockbuster: there is only one store left in the world: in Bend, Oregon. I’ve been there and it was an amazing experience!

Video idea: The American Cultural Bread Canon Bread is often one of the cornerstones of the food culture of a people group. While there is bread from around the world in NA, there are definitely a few uniquely American breads like corn-bread, the American biscuit, super-soft sliced bread, and banana bread.