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This Week in Dulture…
Approx 5 minute read:
👟 The NBA’s sneakerhead retires
⚽ Worst World Cup Ever (already?)
🎵 Baklava: A review
👔 Neck cooling tech
Dulture weekly mix
Lately on my doom scrolling algorithm I’ve been getting these videos where the guy plays a typical midwest emo guitar riff to a scene in a TV show or movie.
Finding Nemo sounds so much better with a midwest emo soundtrack.
So this week’s playlist was inspired by this. At first I was looking at all the midwest emo I used to listen to in high school and eventually just went down a rabbit hole and started adding song after song.
If you’re down with 2000’s emo then you will love this. If you aren’t, then screw you, I’ll see you after school in the parking lot!
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Let’s be honest, this past week Drake took over the internet.
I know I talked about it last week so I’m not going to go into grave detail but Ice Man’s rollout singlehandedly changed the way album rollouts should be done.
Are you vibing with Ice Man?
Not to say you need to drop millions and employ the entire film industry in a city…which is what Drake did - something like 15 videos shot in over the span of like March/April.
Love him or hate him, the live stream was pretty entertaining. And that’s the point - the album rollouts we’re going to pay more attention to moving forward are going to be the ones that entertain us.
If there’s one thing Drake does better than most, it’s entertaining us.
This commercial was funny 👆 - another classic shoe commercial to add to Nike’s archives…even if the new KD shoe looks very questionable. I love the guy, he’s my favourite player but why does the KD19 need to look like a piece of space plastic?
Makes me wonder if PJ Tucker would rock these on court - unfortunately we’ll never know.
Tucker recently announced his retirement after 14 seasons in the NBA across 8 teams, undeniably playing his best basketball on the Houston Rockets. But more so, Tucker was the NBA’s sneakerhead.
Known for playing in a wide range of kicks, Tucker was never one to not rock a pair on the court - everything from a bunch of retro Jordan 3’s, 5,6,7’s to numerous Kobe models.
Or the time he wore Eminem Carhartt 4’s (~$24K)
He also wore Red Octobers a few times to play (~$10Kish)
Also wore the Wahlburger 4’s - only 46 pairs ever released (~$50-80K)
Can’t forget about the AJ1 Off-White Chicago’s ($5K-$10K)…then switched to Aston Martin Kobe 5’s ($2K)
It got to the point where he would wear up to 6 different pairs in a game, either for superstitious reasons or because the shoe would malfunction aka it was such an old shoe that it would just fall apart in game.
As much as I hope we see another NBA sneaker head like PJ Tucker, I don’t think we’ll see someone so deep in the shoe game like PJ was.
WTF is Going On With the World Cup?
We’re like 20 days away from the first match when Mexico takes on South Africa at Estadio Azteca or “Mexico Stadium” as per FIFA’s renaming for the tournament.
It’s been a mad rush to get Mexico’s main stadium ready for match play, to the point where NASA is monitoring the stadium with satellite technology as the ground beneath the stadium is literally sinking as we speak.
You don’t want to watch a game in Toronto - I saw this and I was like nah, I’m good.
Temporary bleachers installed at BMO Stadium in Toronto
And even if I wanted to go, wtf is up with the ticket prices??
FIFA implemented “dynamic” ticket pricing this year aka they keep raising the prices because they’re money-hungry crooks. When you tie in the stupid oil/gas price hikes, Canada in general now a much more expensive country to do anything in, and hotel prices JACKED up (most likely because FIFA bought up a bunch of rooms and then CANCELLED 70% of them),
This is by far the most expensive World Cup to attend EVER.
Then there’s all the injuries to watch out for. There’s numerous high profile names currently under injury watch:
Lamine Yamal injured his hamstring in April but Spain is pushing him to be ready in time for June.
Marc‑André ter Stegen is a huge piece of the puzzle for Germany but uncertain he’ll be ready to be their starting goal keeper.
Alphonso Davies is my guy but the decision is up in the air whether Canada will be putting him on the roster.
Messi & Ronaldo aren’t injured and while Ronaldo is officially on the 26 man squad for Portugal, Argentina hasn’t finalized Messi’s spot, saying it’s up to him and whether he thinks he’s physically fit.
C’mon man…if Ronaldo is playing, Messi is DEFINITELY playing.
Two Weeks with Planet Frog
So I was actually planning on talking about this album a week after it got released when Action Bronson announced its release date - so last week. But not too soon after a bunch of ice blocks were left in a parking lot in Toronto and the rest was history.
You can’t ignore an Action Bronson release though.
Bronson never disappoints lyrically. Where I sorta struggle with him sometimes is the artsyness he likes to dive into. At the same time though, I’m pretty sure if I was listening live, I’d prob dig it nonetheless - so yes, I’m conflicted a bit.
On Bronson’s latest project Planet Frog, he takes you on a his classic observational, lyrical journey, with references to all of Bronson’s favourite things from sports to sex to Cinnabon.
The album has this psychedelic vibe where you know Action just wants to stand on stage and perform like he’s at a cozy poetry night getting art students to snap their fingers.
And at the same time, Planet Frog feels like an episode of Miami Vice - there’s this juxtaposition between picturing Action riding in his lifted SUV solving crime and then showing up to a speak easy sipping white Russians (or whatever).
I liked this album, will definitely be revisiting it over the coming months. Check out Olympic Vince Carter, Mandem, and Iguana to get a true flavour for this album (no pun intended).
How to Stay Cool This Summer
While in Japan last summer, I was introduced to all kinds of cooling methods - from cold wipes (that were prob pretty toxic), to devices that you can wear around your neck, to all kinds of mini fan variations.
Suffice to say I just stuck to a bottle of water and Nike dri-fit or Uniqlo Airism and I was fine.
But for those of you who can’t stand the heat and need more than just traditional means, Sony might have the gadget for you.
The Reon Pocket Pro Plus is a little device that attaches around your neck/upper back and then sits on the lower part of your neck, acting like a cooling plate.
The science behind it is that the device cools down the back of your neck where blood flows, ultimately cooling down one of the areas of your body where you’d feel it most in the heat.
The device is supposed to drop the surface temperature on the base of your neck by 13 degrees celsius, tricking your nervous system into thinking it’s much milder outside, reducing or delaying how much you sweat. Things like commuting, walking in the heat, or even playing a round of golf come to mind on where you’d use one of these.
It also comes paired with an external temperature sensing tag, where it picks up on how hot it’s getting and automates the adjustment of how cold the cooling plate should be on your neck in real time - kinda neat.
I’ve heard mixed reviews on these kinds of devices in the past but so far the Sony Reon has built enough of a track record that people keep coming back for more.
Would I get one? Probably not, but I’m the guy who used to go out for 5km runs at 1PM in the dead of the summer because I loved the heat.