Silent Generation

Ep. 49: McBling

McBling is a mid-2000s aesthetic characterized by tacky displays of wealth, celebrity culture, fake tans, and bleach blonde hair. According to Vogue magazine it emerged in “2003, following the American invasion of Iraq, and ended with the onset of the Great Recession in 2008.” McBling arose organically in popular culture and was only later identified as an aesthetic by the Consumer Aesthetic Research Institute, and this is the first Silent Generation episode to cover an aesthetic identified by their organization. Amongst other things on this week’s episode, the boys discuss how the term McBling first came out of a poll in a “post-Y2K” Facebook group, how Gen Z’s interpretation of McBling favors Von Dutch too heavily, how the mid-2000s reality TV show Bad Girls Club captured the McBling zeitgeist, and how TikTok accounts like Bronzedupbrat are making McBling reach record popularity in 2024.
 
Links:
McBling Pinterest board
The Consumer Aesthetic Research Institute
McBling CARI description
The original McBling Facebook Group
Evan Collins’ McBling “joke” post
Brittney Spears’ half Y2k/ half McBling outfit
The second poll in the McBling Facebook group
What Is McBling and How Is it Different From Y2K? by Abrigail Williams
McBling on Google Trends
The Antisemitic History of Early 2000s Fashion Brand Von Dutch by Sam Miller
Paris Hilton changing her voice to sound more feminine
Paris Hilton’s “stop being poor” meme
Bad Girls Club Tanisha slamming pots and pans in season 2
Bad Girls Club Judi Jai breakfast cereal fight in season 7
The Y2K Attitude Era - A Cultural Middle Finger
How do you stay so authentically 2000s? by Bronzedupbrat
4Chan mannerisms displayed by Boxxy
The McBling Subreddit
Trashy McBling Spotify playlist
NGSUNC by Ayesha Erotica
Do I Look Like a Slut by Avenue D
OlderBrotherCore Tiktok
McMansion Hell
 
Artwork:
Paris Hilton
 
Recorded on 11/17/2024

Ep. 48: Online Dating w/ Breanna [TEASER]

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration 
This week Joseph and Nathan are joined by Breanna, a Silent Generation listener who works as a software engineer for a major online dating company, to discuss online dating. They detail the early history of online dating (such as how the first person to develop a computer based dating service was a working class British woman named Joan Ball) before sharing their experiences with online dating websites and apps such as Match.com, Hinge, Tinder, Okcupid, and The League. Amongst other things they discuss how dating apps replaced ELO algorithms with Gale-Shapley algorithms, how a recent study found that NYC was the worst major US city for dating, and how Chicago attracts “coastal dating app refugees” who seek an easier dating market. 
 
Links:How heterosexual couples met graphThe Mother of All Swipes by Mar HicksWhitney Wolfe, founder of dating app Bumble, has had quite the year. She just can’t discuss parts of it by Todd C. Frankel Hinge’s newest feature claims to use machine learning to find your best match by Ashley CarmanTowards a statistical physics of dating apps by Fabrizio OlmedaThe Uncanny Swipe Drive: The Return of a Racist Mode of Algorithmic Thought on Dating Apps by Greggory NarrNot My Type: Automating Sexual Racism in Online Dating by Apryl Williams and Kendra AlbertRace and Attraction, 2009 – 2014 from Oktrends NYC is the ‘worst’ US city for dating by Asia GraceRiver Page Grindr TweetHot Gays, Body Image, & Comparison by Hellvetika What is the dating culture in Chicago like? Reddit postAsian gay immigrant looking to relocate to Chicago from LA? Reddit post
Artwork:First boot in 17 years, all on 90’s equipment
Recorded on 11/10/2024

Ep. 47: Pokémon

Pokémon is the highest grossest media franchise of all time, but has it declined in quality? On this week’s episode Joseph and Nathan use Pokemon as a case study to talk about gamer culture, nostalgia, and fandoms more broadly. After breaking down the history of Pokémon into three booms and one bust, the boys detail what they like about the franchise (Ken Sugimori’s artwork, HM moves, and their favorite Pokémon) and the things they dislike about it (competitive Pokémon play, shiny hunting, and legendary Pokémon). Amongst other things they discuss how Poliwhirl almost became the main mascot for the Pokémon franchise, how Pokémon became uncool in the mid-2000s, how the designs of Pokémon became rounder and cuter over time, and how a terabyte of information stolen from Game Freak’s servers (dubbed “the teraleak”) recently leaked to the public.
Links: Pokémon – from bugs to blockbuster by Simon ParkinPoliwhirl: The Mascot You Never KnewPokémon Trainer Norm MacDonald“Pokémon” on Google TrendsPokémon Go - Vaporeon stampede Central Park, NYCTarget Pokémon card scalper stampede videoKen Sugimori’s artwork for the original 151 PokémonOh Wow, The Best Pokémon Card Art All Comes From The Same Person by John WalkerHow Pokémon's Art Style & Design Has 'Evolved'Generic Pokémon Design by Generation What Would Gen 8 Pokémon Look Like in Gen 1? (Part 2)The Evolution of Pokémon DesignPokemon Gold & Silver beta PokémonGorochu’s back spriteProject Bauer/ Pokemon Movie 24Palworld vs. Pokémon Comparison: Just How Similar Are the Designs? by Joshua YehlPokemon Sword and Shield Controversy and 'Dexit', Explained by Casey DeFreitas & Matt KimTaechichu’s YoutubeRegi NoisesVictreebel Scream 
Artwork:Charizard Pokémon Carddass artwork by Ken Sugimori 
Recorded on 11/3/2024

Ep. 46: Copenhagen [TEASER]

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration 
Why did Joseph go to Copenhagen last week? Did he bike around a lot? How many hot dogs did he eat? How was Malmo, Sweden? These are some of the important questions Nathan asked Joseph on this week’s episode. 
Artwork:Street photo Copenhagen ... Summer and sun by Ivan NaurholmAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Recorded on 10/27/2024

Ep. 45: Hyperpop w/ E

Hyperpop is a music genre that is noted for its hyperfeminine, artificial, and childlike sound. The term “hyperpop” came into popular use after Spotify staff created a hyperpop playlist in 2019. The music the term described emerged much earlier however, with the earliest examples coming out of the renowned UK record label PC Music starting in 2013. This week Nathan is joined by his friend E to delineate the three main subgenres of hyperpop: future pop, internet pop and digicore. They discuss music by Danny L Harle, A. G. Cook, Hannah Diamond, QT, SOPHIE, Charli XCX, 100 Gecs, Alice Gas, Food House, and others. Amongst other things they discuss how how they first came to find PC Music, how digicore is NEET music, and how both Hannah Diamond and Dis Magazine used “superreal” aesthetics. 
Links:Nathan and E’s Hyperpop Spotify PlaylistGFOTY vs. LITTLE MIX - The InterviewPC Music’s GFOTY criticised after calling Toumani & Sidiki Diabaté “Bombay Bicycle Club blacked up”Why did GFOTY leave PC Music? Reddit postTHE 3 PILLARS OF HYPERPOP Reddit postTwo Bloods Called by I’m so Popularhttps://studio.hannahdiamond.com/MEAT’s AW12 I LUV U campaignMEAT’s AW13 Believe campaignUr Not a Baller by Serious ThugsAlis Pelleschi’s InstagramHey QT - The Story of a Popstar Who Never ExistedBaby Bubbles by QTHood By Air AW 2014 runway showVroom vroom vineHyperpop: How Charli XCX Created a New Genre100 Gecs opening for Deftones video404 Error, Genre Not Found: The Life Cycle of Internet Scenes by Sophie Walker Alice Gas, Alice Glass, 100 gecs Drama Explained Reddit post Dis Magazine/ PC Music collaborations
Artwork:Artwork for Pink and Blue by Hannah Diamond
Recorded on 10/27/2024

Ep. 44: Net Art w/ Kevin Heckart

Kevin Heckart is a Kansas City based artist who created the artwork behind seapunk’s original aesthetic. This special episode coincides with both the one year anniversary of Silent Generation and the relaunch of the seapunk clothing line Mainframe, which features many of Heckart’s designs. The first half of episode is an interview with Heckart that serves as a spiritual threequel to Silent Generation’s prior two seapunk episodes while the later half is a broader conversation about net art and net artists such as Brad Troemel, Hito Steyerl, Laturbo Avendon, and Lorna Mills. Amongst other things they discuss how Heckart has gone viral on Tiktok for hacking animatronic fish and furby toys, how Nathan and Brad Troemel did the same undergrad program, how Hito Steyerl incorporated real life biographies into Factory of the Sun, and how Skibbidy Toilet shows how thoroughly post-internet aesthetics have permeated popular culture. 
 
Links:
mainframehq.net
Mainframe’s Instagram
Kevin Heckart’s Instagram
Kevin Heckart’s Tiktok 
I hacked a singing fish. - Kevin Heckart
“and yet a trace of the true self exists in the false self” meme
HIS BRAIN? NO. HIS HEART Brad Troemel meme
The Post-internet Culture Report by Brad Troemel
Untitled, 2016 by Laura Owens
Trojan Horses: Activist Art and Power by Lucy R. Lippard
Color(ed) Theory Series by Amanda Williams 
Rhizome’s Net Art Anthology
My Boyfriend Came Back from the War by Olia Lialina 
Madison Beer #NoFilter by Dis Magazine
I was Raised on the Internet exhibition at the MCA
Transdimensional Serpent by Jon Rafman
The Jogging Tumblr blog
Army of Ants by Brad Troemel
Giant Arthropods Eating Doritos early meme
Liquidity Inc. by Hito Steyerl screenshot
Factory of the Sun by Hito Steyerl
takeSomeCrime Youtube channel 
In Defense of the Poor Image by Hito Steyerl
In Defense of the Poor Image-esque Instagram post
GIFS by Lorna Mills
Repetition Mindset: Artists as Snowflakes by Brad Troemel
Artwork:
Provided by Kevin Heckart
Recorded on 10/16/2024

Ep. 43: Megalopolis [TEASER]

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration 
 
For this week’s episode Joseph and Nathan watched Francis Coppola’s latest (and likely final) film, Megalopolis. The film draws parallels between Ancient Rome and modern day New York City and has been met with widespread confusion. The boys discuss the film in the first half of the episode, detailing the performance of several actors (notably Aubrey Plaza’s role as the brilliantly named Wow Platinum) and the film's various references to Ancient Rome. In the second half of the episode the boys discuss megalopolises more broadly, including ones in real life (the Northeast Megalopolis, the European Megalopolis, Japan's Taiheiyo Belt, and China’s various megalopolises) and fictional examples (the megalopolis depicted in the 1927 film Metropolis, Mega-City One in Judge Dredd, and Coruscant in Star Wars). 
 
Links:
Martin Scorsese Had a Cinema Epiphany ‘Too Late’ 
Megalopolis Plot meme
Megalopolis Movie Clip - Cesar is Mine (Wow Platinum elevator scene)
Nymphet Alumni’s Ep. 90: The Baby Name Game with Sophie Kim
Francis Ford Coppola Didn’t Want ‘Megalopolis’ To Be “Some Woke Hollywood Production,” Casting “Canceled” Actors from Deadline
Tell Your Children by Alex Berensen 
Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States by Jean Gottman
What if the cities of Jersey City, Elizabeth, Union, Newark, Hoboken, and others became one larger city like NYC? Reddit post 
Why is there no major city here? (Boroughitis) by Urban Jersey Guy
The location of Gotham city
Cars.destroyed.our.cities Hartford, Connecticut post
Blue Java Banana Review by Weird Explorer
 
Artwork:
From Megalopolis' Interactive Scene Explained: What Happens In It
 
Recorded on 10/6/2024

Ep.42: Chautauqua

What is Chautauqua? Chautauqua began in 1874 in Chautauqua, New York as a Summer camp that trained laymen to be Sunday school teachers. President Ulyses S Grant visited the assembly shortly after its founding in 1875, which gave Chautauqua widespread attention and engendered a national movement; the original Chautauqua (now known in the modern day as the Chautauqua Institution) gave rise to hundreds of “daughter” Chautauquas. They offered week long or month long retreats to religiously minded vacationers who wanted to enjoy nature but also wanted to stay productive by watching edifying sermons, lectures, historical impersonations, and concerts. 
 
On this week’s episode the boys discuss how the popular Chautauqua speech Acres of Diamonds resembles the 21st century self help book The Secret, how Chautauqua acts differed from vaudeville acts, and how a specific type of historical impersonation popular in circuit Chautauquas became synonymous with Chautauqua in the modern day. This is the third and final installment of a three part series that explores interconnected topics that deal with American culture and the outdoors. 
 
Links:
The Chautauqua Institution
Chautauqua: An American Narrative (2011)
The History of the Chautauqua Movement
Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell
Bohumir Kryl
The height of assassins versus that of their targets Reddit post
 
Artwork:
Participants of a Circuit Chautauqua at Gurdon (Clark County); circa 1919.
Recorded on 9/22/2024

Ep. 41: American Summer Camps

In a more anecdotal direction, this week’s episode is on American Summer camps. The boys detail how camping was first developed in 1861 by Frederick Gunn before discussing their own experiences as campers and counselors at American Summer camps. Amongst other things they discuss how modern Summer camps have felt the need to hyperspecialize and give parents an ROI, how Summer camp aesthetics are 1970’s by default, how Summer camps were depicted as WASPy in Addams Family Values, and how Summer camps were depicted as somewhat utopian in the 1964 Soviet film Welcome, or No Trespassing. This is the second installment of a three part series that explores interconnected topics that deal with American culture and the outdoors. 
 
Links:
The Not So Happy Campers by Mimi Swartz
About our Founder - The Frederick Gunn School
Summer Camp Capitalism
The History of American Jewish Summer Camps
I can tell from her tweets that she had to go live with grandma for a lil bit meme
Wednesday’s revolt from The Addams Family Values
Long accused of Indigenous misappropriation, Boy Scouts ask if it’s time to change
Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964)  
 
Artwork:
Photograph by Andy Sweet
 
Recorded on 9/15/2023

Ep. 40: The Scouting Movement [TEASER]

Full episode available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SilentGeneration 
Scouting is a grassroots, child-led movement that began in the early 1900’s after children discovered Robert Baden-Powell’s written accounts of his time working as a scout for the British Army. After learning of children’s interest in his work, Baden-Powell conducted an experimental scout camp at Brownsea Island in 1907 and subsequently published his seminal work Scouting for Boys in 1908. Dozens and hundreds of official scouting organizations followed, most of which still exist today. 
 
On this week’s episode the boys detail the history of various figures and organizations in the scouting movement. Amongst other things they discuss how arbitrary it was that the scouting movement was inspired by scouting, how scout badges and scouting uniforms create an archive of people’s childhoods, how Cub Scouts truthfully don’t create their own pinewood derby cars, and how the TTI industry and wilderness therapy are “dark scouting.” This is the first installment of a three part series that explores interconnected topics that deal with American culture and the outdoors. 
 
Links:
Scouting for Boys by Robert Baden-Powell
The Zoomer Question by Isaac Wilkes 
Remembering the Wandervogel by John Savage & Johnny Ryan
David Hahn, The ‘Radioactive Boy Scout’ Who Tried To Build A Nuclear Reactor In His Backyard
Joseph as a Cub Scout
Nanook of the North (1922)
Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of The Boy Scouts of America (2023)
 
Artwork:
Scouts with canoe - National Parks Gallery
Creative Commons CC0 License
 
Recorded on 9/9/2024