This Week in Dulture…
Approx 5 minute read:
👾 The new Mars Blackmon
💰 Capitalism vs The World Cup
🎵 Fly around the world for free
🎴 Another reminder of how old you are
Dulture weekly mix
As I’m sitting here watching clips of the Knicks championship parade Dipset popped into my head.
I remember driving in my parent’s car blasting Dipset everywhere I went. Toronto had a slight sound in the 90s and then obviously we know what happened in the mid 2000s, but otherwise NYC filled the gaps.
So why not a playlist of a bunch of Dipset bangers this week?
Go drive your parents car and play this louder than anyone can honk.
Did you have a good week? I bet you did if you’re a Knicks fan!
I wanted the Knicks to win so badly, and not because I’m a diehard Knicks fan. Rather, because there’s so many characters and storylines that we’d see play out with a Knick championship.
Exhibit A…
lololol
I’ve actually been expecting something from the ongoing banter between Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson, so to see OG high AF on Good Morning America was a hilarious surprise.
“They are the PF flyers”
Then there’s the Fat Joe and Mike Brown storyline where if the Knicks won, Brown was supposed to give Joey Crack his shoes.
Then you have all the celebs who became real people over the past month.
Good for lil Timmy
And then there’s Adam Sandler who continues to play pick up ball in random NYC courts…
But the biggest storyline IMHO from the Knicks championship has gotta be Mars Blackmon calling Michael Jordan to tell him what happened.
Dawg, the 90’s kid in me was so happy to see this little Jordan Brand vignette with Spike Lee. It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from or seen Mars Blackmon but given the world is currently in 90’s nostalgia mode, wouldn’t it just make sense to revive this all over again?
Technically we’re seeing Nike begin to revert back to their old school style marketing. We’ve seen this with the latest World Cup ads featuring essentially the sports brand’s entire roster of athletes + Travis Scott, Lisa, and Kim K.
So…I actually think Nike’s turning Drake into Mars Blackmon 2.0.
The same way Spike Lee’s Mars Blackmon character was this little energetic amoeba for Michael Jordan, Drake’s character in the ads for Kevin Durant’s latest shoe plays on so many ironic tropes, with sprinkles of the old Mars Blackmon hyping MJ up vibe. From over-praising KD, to the excessive complimenting of the shoe, to just being an obnoxious fanboy to the stoic, no-nonsense KD, these ads pull from the creative nostalgia Nike was known for in the 90’s.
Earlier this week Nike released the second ad with Kevin Durant and Drake, this time for the Field Purple KD19’s. I still think this is one of Durant’s uglier shoes but the ads for them are 🔥 .
You gotta just watch it 👈 this is MJ and Spike Lee all over again and it’s HILARIOUS.
This is How You Ruin the World Cup
One week in and I’d say there’s been at least one game per day that has entertained so far in the world’s biggest soccer tournament.
As long as you can get past hYdRaTiOn BrEaKs.
Just as I type this the entire stadium is booing the stoppage for a hydration break.
Last year when the US hosted the Club World Cup (the tourney where actual teams play each other, not countries) FIFA became worried over exceptionally high temperatures and implemented mandated stoppages for hydration and cooling.
Come to think of it, I remember it being pretty damn hot in June last year - games saw temps of 100oF and beyond. So FIFA said, eff that, we’re doing mandatory breaks twice a match for the World Cup - regardless if the game is taking place in a billion dollar, temperature controlled closed stadium.
But didn’t the US host the World Cup before?
Yessir! And apparently the heat was just as bad if not worse:
So either FIFA has come a long way trying to manage player wellness OR there’s another story at hand here.
While we haven’t seen any games where it’s been mad hot, I’m sure that’s still potential. BUT, here’s the thing: although hydration breaks are FIFA mandated, it’s up to the television broadcaster for what happens during these breaks.
Issues with hydration breaks
Momentum is just destroyed → at the time of writing 8 out of 16 games had goals scored right before the break.
There’s been an average of 4x more momentum shifts during the 1st half break than the 2nd half break.
Netherlands captain, Virgil Van Dijk, said the other day the breaks aren’t good for momentum but (more importantly) also aren’t good for TV viewers.
A lot of people think these breaks are just so that TV networks can run commercials…duh.
I’m not against players drinking water when it’s hot but even England legend John Terry said players can just grab water during mini stoppages of play throughout the game LIKE USUAL.
I just don’t get why they need to go to a commercial break for these stoppages. Don’t y’all got enough money from the ads you run before, during halftime, and after the game already??
Mark my words: a team is going to come back and win because of one of these hydration breaks and then the internet is really gonna explode.
Flying Around The World For FREE
Google Earth has gotta be lowkey one of the more fun pieces of tech Google has ever released.
In a click of a button you can go from scrolling the Great Wall of China to checking out the blue turf in Albertsons Stadium at Boise State.
I gotta think everyone who competes in the Geoguessr Championships was obsessed with tinkering with Google Earth at some point in their life. And yes, I’m talking about a legit championship where you have to guess where you are based on Google streetview - points scored to the person who guesses closer to the landmark.
Geoguessr Championships don’t play around yo!
While streetview is fun for a minute, what if you could fly around Google maps??
Google just released a flight simulator for Google Earth where you can literally fly around the world. The simulator itself is a b*tch to use but kinda cool at the same time.
I had some fun.
This was a little more anti-climatic than I expected
Almost flew into the mountain - kinda cool though
This looks like it’s straight out of GTA 5…but worse
For cities you’ve flown over, it kinda takes you back to that experience
While you can literally fly anywhere in the globe, the flight mechanics of the simulator are jacked up. The controls are mad sensitive so you’ll no doubt find yourself spinning in circles and doing loops over and over with no way of fixing it.
That said, if you need to kill 5 minutes check it out here and then go to Explore Earth on the top right and then click Tools and Flight Simulator will be the last option in that drop down.
A Reminder of How Old You Are
Take this in: the kids who went to see the first Toy Story film in theatres will now be taking their kids to see Toy Story 5 this weekend.
The original audience not only grew up, they were the generation that was the last to know a world where it was just toys, and then a world where it was toys and screens. And then this communicator thing called the internet.
Toy Story 5 leans on the premise of today’s kids becoming disconnected from toys in favour of screens. In a world where nostalgia continues to hit us more than Mr. Dream in Punch-out!!, the one gap that remains to this day is the feeling of living in an analog world.
And I don’t think we ever get that back. No amount of dumb phones, digi-cams, and baggy clothes will ever reproduce the feeling of never worrying about whether you have your phone on you or not.
In some respect I’m like, how tf has there only been 5 movies in 30 years? But given what the Toy Story franchise has meant to the concept of “play”, I’m glad we haven’t diluted it like we have with every other f*cking franchise. See: Fast & Furious.
We should never let go of wanting to “play”.
Before this turns into an essay about becoming an adult while holding on to childlike wonder, I’ll simply end it with one more thing to take in:
Tim Allen and Tom Hanks are still our Woody and Buzz, 30 years later. That’s longer than the average marriage, longer than most people stay at any job, and longer than most friendships last.
We don’t have that world anymore but at least we have Woody and Buzz.
(Toy Story 5 will no doubt be crushing box offices today)
