Category: Pop Culture/Media

Analysis, criticism, studies on American propaganda (otherwise euphematically called “popular culture”)

  • Stories From 2525: Eating At Simm’s Burgers

    Stories From 2525: Eating At Simm’s Burgers
    By Chongchen Saelee

    Promptly at 3:34pm each workday, I take my 30 minute break for lunch. I take a brisk stroll through the empty metropolitan streets just a couple of blocks away from The Cube, where I work. The streets are empty because most citizens are locked in their cages at home piloting their drones. And those personal drones scatter throughout the city like giant pests. I’m headed for Simm’s Burgers for lunch. Thank god Simm’s doesn’t allow drones.

    Simm’s is an old-fashion food vendor. Back in the day, they called their type of service “fast food”. I don’t know why, the automation food preparation system behind the kitchen viewing glass seems to move quite slow. On average, I receive my meal in an agonizing 30 seconds or longer. It irks me to have to come up with some kind of conversation in those 30 seconds to spare with the zit-faced kid at the front counter. (more…)

  • A Contract With God Trilogy (1978-1995) By Will Eisner Review

    A Contract With God Trilogy
    Published from 1978 to 1995
    Books by Will Eisner

    Review by Chongchen Saelee

    Man, first off, what a depressing overall story. Will Eisner’s epic story revolves around the tenants of a neighborhood on Dropsie Avenue, somewhere in New York area. It starts out with the day to day living and MISERY of early inhabitants in early 1900s. Everyone seems to be miserable or suffering because of an economic depression.

    The first book, “A Contract With God”, focuses on tenants and their lifestyles. Needless to say, most if not all end in very depressing ways. (more…)

  • Neuromancer (1984) By William Gibson Review

    Neuromancer
    Author: William Gibson
    Published in 1984

    Review By Chongchen Saelee

    “Neuromancer” is the chosen template for modern sci-fi stories since it’s publication. It seems every modern sci-fi story from The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, etc, all borrow heavily from Neuromancer. If not the exact storyline, they borrow the speculative Asian culture imagery. But masquerading around as a futuristic caper story, Neuromancer is actually more like a crime noir story, since main plot device involves protagonist Henry Dorsett Case’s lost love Linda Lee. It bookends the whole story, although executed kinda sloppily.

    Overall plot revolves around “cowboy” or what we call these days “hacker” Henry Dorsett Case, a 24-year-old thin druggy white guy. He lives a dangerous lifestyle in a dangerous futuristic world that resembles modern Tokyo. Case makes a living hacking into computer systems and otherwise cyber espionage. He spends that money on drugs and prostitutes. Of course future drugs don’t just come in the form of chemical substances, for those with man-machine interface built into their heads, they can get high off of “microsoft” which is essentially programs that scramble their brains temporarily. Mind-blowing, right? (more…)

  • Celebrating 33 Years of Madness!!!

    I’m an old man… or am I? Let’s dance!!!

  • Homeade Tuna Sandwich Vs. Subway Tuna Sandwich Costs

    By Chongchen Saelee

    Homeade Tuna Salad Sandwich

    Ingredients purchased from Walmart

    Subway Tuna Sandwich footlong as of 9/24/2016 is $6.95

    Cheese Bread 4 rolls $3.00
    Each roll is approx 6 inches x 2 equiv of footlong = $1.50

    Helmann’s mayonnaise 15 oz jar $2.98

    Great Value mild cheddar slices $2.22

    Mushrooms $1.38

    Celery heart $2.18

    Great Value Light Chunk Tuna 4-pack, 5 oz each, $2.96

    Cucumber $0.58

    Tomato x 3 = $1.88
    So one tomato = approx $0.63

    Red Onion $0.81

    So approx 20 oz of tuna including all ingredients looks to serve about 5 six-inch equiv sandwiches.

    Sub-total $17.49

    $17.49 / 5 = $3.49 per six inch

    $3.49 * 2 = $7 footlong WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY

    Time wasted grocery shopping and prepping about 1 to 2 hours.

    Subway sandwich is only 5 minute drive and would include olives, spinach, vinegrette, pickled peppers, provolone and american cheese, 5 herb toasted bun, and can be made in less than 15 minutes

    However, making it yourself allows you to add as much tuna per sandwich as want. In this case, I put almost same amount that would go into a Subway footlong into a 6-inch cheese bread roll. So maybe there’s more value in that.

    Then again, as for time management, now I have enough pre-made tuna salad I can eat for next few days without having to drive to Subway. It evens out time and money.

  • How To Maximize Your Fiverr Revenue

    How To Maximize Your Fiverr Revenue (As a Seller)
    By Chongchen Saelee

    1. Book as many Gigs as you can in advance. But make sure you have sufficient time to deliver quality work in a reasonable amount of time. So you have to set the delivery times on your Packages and any custom orders accordingly.

    2. Level Up. You need to Level Up so you can charge more for each Gig. Fiverr takes a good 20% from whatever revenue you bring in, so you’ll need to have ability to charge more if you want certain amount of income. And the only way to charge more is to level up. That means delivering the best quality product you can, delivering on time, and being respectful and courteous like a professional.

    3. Keep repeat customers coming back. Your returning customers may pay you more or tip you and you should always welcome their patronage. So treat them right.

    4. Know when to pick your fights. For the most part, you should be able to tell which buyers are spam, trolls or scammers. Fiverr usually detects spam quickly and removes those users. But in the case some buyer makes it through undetected, you need to know when to keep interacting with that person (or bot) and when to let the negotiations fall through. You don’t want to put all that work in only to have the buyer not pay you in the end and the best way is to detect scammy behavior beforehand. As some true Fiverr professionals have suggested, you can let some potentially bad Gigs drop because better ones will come later (and hopefully pay more).

    5. Respond to Buyer Requests. You get about 10 responses to Buyer Requests every day. So make sure you use them all. You have to know how to use all Fiverr resources to your advantage.

  • Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice Early Review! Warning: Spoilers!!!

    Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
    Early Review

    Warning! Contains spoilers!

    By Chongchen Saelee

    Don’t get me wrong, I went into Batman V Superman blindly with low expectations and I think it was super. I thought “Man of Steel” was satisfactory, but it wasn’t anything that was epic or memorable, other than the fact it was the biggest and most interesting interpretation of the Superman lore to date. Given time, even these darker more realistic phases will pass, and descendants of comic book movie fans will see it as a sign of the times. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a thrilling piece of entertainment for now. (more…)

  • Official Batman V Superman Trailer 2 Released!!!

    Wow. Just wow. Superhero movies should never be ashamed of source material. Otherwise, why would people keep reading them?

  • Neuromancer: Case and Molly character designs

    Neuromancer Case and Molly character designs
    Neuromancer Case and Molly character designs

    When you’re reading a novel without visual proof of what the character looks like, you have to get some reference point. Anyway, here’s my interpretation of the characters Case and Molly from William Gibson’s Neuromancer.

  • Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses Master Class in Milwaukee Wisconsin Oct 3 2015!!!

    I attended Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses Master Class (third tour) at Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Oct. 3, 2015! It was EPIC. You really need to experience music live. Nothing beats a live performance. The theatre was PACKED. Mostly middle-aged men over age of 30, strangely. But obviously, who else would be able to pay for those tickets?

    Anyway, it was amazing.