Results tagged “pop culture” from The official blog of Vat19.com

Oh, sweet geez, they're celebrity trading cards.

PopCardz are pretty much the same thing as baseball cards, except lamer. The front features a photo of one of the "world's hottest stars", like Hayden Panettiere, Ashley Tisdale, or Dylan Sprouse. (If you don't know who these people are, ask the nearest preteen.) On the back are fun facts, like the star's favorite quote or deepest, darkest secret. Special "memorabilia" cards include a piece of clothing actually worn by the star. It's almost like you ripped it right off the celeb yourself!

The one redeeming quality about PopCardz is that, through some sort of point-and-token system, you can make a donation to charity. So, that's nice.

When I was young, I was sure that I would name my future daughters Denim and Lace. Fifteen years later, I shudder at the thought of doing that to my children. Your child's name is not only a huge part of his or her identity; It also says a heck of a lot about you as the parent. If today I actually had daughters named Denim and Lace, people would probably think I'm: A) an extremely young mother (like, the age I was when I seriously considered these names); B) white trash; or C) a D-list fashion designer with a penchant for classic 80s styles. I am none of these, which is why I will never name my children Denim or Lace.

Whether you like it or not, names, just like looks, are part of what people use to make an initial judgment of not just your kids, but you too. If you already have children, or if you plan to have children and already have a list of names, take a look at my little breakdown here and see if I've got you parents pegged.

If you name your son Daniel, James, John, Joseph, or Michael
Or your daughter Elizabeth, Emily, Anna, Sarah, or Catherine
Then you are boring. I'm only sort of kidding. After all, my brother's name is Michael, and while I love my parents, they are not the most exciting pair. They are dependable, no-nonsense people who, like you, are a bit introverted and aren't big on taking risks. Classic names like Michael are the least risky of them all. They are solid names that will always stand the test of time. Everyone knows how to say them and spell them, and they aren't good fodder for schoolyard taunts.

If you name your son Ethan, Landon, Braden, Caden, or Aiden (or anything else that ends in the "-aden" sound)
Or your daughter Ava, Emma, Peyton, Olivia, or Ella
Then you are a bit of a conformist, in that you like to stay up to speed on the current styles and trends. You tend to be more outgoing, charismatic, and open to change than your friends who named their kids John and Anna. Your child's furniture is most likely from Pottery Barn and he or she is always adorned in the latest styles from Baby Gap.

If you name your son Atticus, Banjo, Hudson, Quintin, or Zeno
Or your daughter Ambrosia, London, Poppy, Xanthe, or Zula
Then you don't give a crap about the trends. You expect your children to be just like you - utterly confident in who they are and unafraid to be themselves. You most likely work in a creative field, or at least have a creative hobby, and you are every inch the non-conformist. Whether you have a son or daughter, he or she has long hair that's never in pigtails or braids.

The 2009 Miss America Pageant is just two days away. What? You didn't even know that? Well, neither did most people. This is probably partly due to no one caring and also because it is no longer aired on a major network. In case you want to set your TiVo, this year's pageant will air Saturday, January 24 at 8:00 PM EST on TLC.

When I say "Miss America Pageant", you say what? I'm going to take a guess what words or quick thoughts come to mind when someone mentions this pageant or the Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, or Miss Universe pageants. Heck, any beauty pageant for that matter!

Thought #1: Tanking ratings.
There's a reason (or two or ten) why the Miss America Pageant is on a cable network on a Saturday night. Enough said.

Thought #2: Fake.
The interview round is stupid. Actually, so is the swimsuit round, the evening wear round, and the talent round. They are asked about situations that a beauty queen cannot even solve. The responses are always fake and do not qualify as valuable answers with substance. It reminds me of trying to BS your way through an essay question in school. You have no idea what you're talking about, but you hope that if you ramble on long enough you'll get by.

Thought #3: Useless.
What is the actual purpose of beauty pageants? Sure, the contestants are involved in charity work, but why the need for a competition, sashes, crowns, swimsuits, evening gowns, dance routines, and talent shows? Doesn't applying to college and for scholarships take care of encouraging young people to get involved in a cause, whether they genuinely want to or not? Maybe I'm missing the underlying value in these pageants, but probably not. With all the reality trash that is on TV, it could be much worse and much more useless. Mama's Boys, I'm looking at you.

Ever think about how important your eyebrows are? They may seem like the most useless thing on your face, but in fact, eyebrows can be one of your most defining characteristics. Each of the following celebrities is (or was) well-known for their distinctive eyebrows. Can you guess the celebrity just by looking at their eyebrows? Find the answers after the jump. No peeking!!!

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #1:

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #2:

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #3:

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #4:

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #5:

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #6:

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #7:

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #8:

Celebrity Eyebrow Set #9:

Continue reading to see the answers.

Commercials. Ugh! We try so hard to avoid them. But sometimes, you just can't. Some get so drilled into your brain, you can't think of a product without singing its jingle or blurting out its catch phrase. Or sometimes you start using the phrase as part of everyday life with no association with the product, "I'm loving it" (No? Maybe it's just me). Even if you're not buying the product, they've got you hooked on something.

See if you can name the product that goes with the following slogans. If you get stumped, click on the video below it to reveal the answer and to watch the awesomely dated commercial.

1. "You've got the right one, baby. Uh-Huh!"

2. "Roll that beautiful bean footage."


Okay, that one might have been a little easy. But I just had to pay tribute to the cute/creepy talking dog.

3. "Where's the beef?"

Double feature!

4. "Don't leave home without it."

Bonus: It's got a nice Halloween feel to it!

5. "Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't."

My favorite is the guy in the principle's office.

6. "Have it your way."

Umm, check out the lady's face when the painter tells her she'll get used to it.

The list could go on. Got a good one? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Choosing a tattoo is a serious decision. However, should you ever regret your tattoo and want it removed or altered, you're in luck and you'll be in the company of many celebrities. Let's take a look at some celebrities who regretted their tattoos and did something about it.

Nick Lachey


Back in the boy band era of the late 1990s, 98 Degrees was quite popular. Apparently, Nick was so proud of his band that he got its name tattooed on his arm surrounded by a sun. How clever. Eventually, Nick realized his tattoo was lame and the band wasn't cool anymore, so he had that cutesy tattoo colored in. A solid sun isn't less stupid than an outline of a sun, but whatever.

Angelina Jolie


Haven't people learned by now not to get a tattoo of your significant other's name? After Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob split, Angelina had her "Billy Bob" tattoo removed. Now, in its place are the coordinates of the birthplaces of her children. I think the coordinates thing is kind of cool and at least once someone is your kid they are always your kid, unlike a husband or wife.

Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee had each other's names tattooed on their ring fingers when they got married. After one of the times the couple split, Pamela had her "Tommy" tattoo altered into "Mommy". This isn't too awful of an alteration seeing how Tommy is the father of her boys. Now if only she could get rid of that hepatitis C, too.

Pharrell Williams

Pharrell Williams has lots of tattoos, but now he wants to clean up some of them. He's not going with the standard laser tattoo removal. Instead, he will have a new procedure where skin is grown from samples of his own skin and then sewn over the tattoos. It is similar to a skin graft, only skin isn't taken from anywhere, it is grown in a lab. This sounds pretty interesting, and hopefully he doesn't use that new skin as a blank canvas for new tattoos.

I imagine in about 10 years there will be plenty of women in their thirties who want their butterfly tramp stamps removed and guys who want their barbed wire tattoos removed. That's what you get for getting a trendy tattoo!

If you haven't had enough tattoo talk for the day, check out an older post about what the location of your tattoo says about you.

What makes it OK for some cartoon characters to be naked and not others? How come some animals don't have to wear pants but others do?

Clearly, cartoons aren't held to the same dressing standards as humans. That's fine, but I am curious about how a decision is made about which articles of clothing a character will and will not wear.

Both Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck have a significant piece of an outfit missing. Mickey Mouse wears shorts and gloves. He doesn't wear a shirt, but he's a guy so it's no big deal. However, Donald Duck wears a shirt and hat, but he doesn't wear any pants. Are mouse "parts" more vulgar than a duck's or something? It can't be based on sex because Daisy Duck also only wears a shirt and Minne Mouse wears a dress. Is it because duck butts are kind of cute and the animators wanted to show them off?

It can't be based on what type of animal the character is because Goofy is some sort of dog, and he wears a complete outfit, including a vest and hat. You can look to the Winnie the Pooh characters for more examples. Winnie the Pooh wears a little baby tee and Piglet wears a striped bodysuit, but Rabbit, Tigger, and Eeyore are naked.

Whether to be a naked cartoon or not isn't based on age either. Kanga (the mama kangaroo) doesn't wear any clothes. Roo (the little boy kangaroo) wears a shirt. You wouldn't want to cover up a kangaroo's pouch, but why give the little boy a shirt and not the adult mom? How backwards!

Even within the same type of animal, there are differences. Chip 'N Dale are totally naked, whereas Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are totally covered with long sleeve boy-dresses. Are Chip 'N Dale naked because their names can also refer to male strippers? There is a Chip 'N Dale movie where they are dressed in tuxedos like Chippendales. I haven't seen this movie, but maybe, just maybe, they are wearing clothing for once just so they can take it off. Oh Disney, you just might be the pervert people think you are.

There's tons of videos on YouTube about hidden messages in animated Disney movies, but here's a very short one that includes some of the most commonly talked about instances. If you prefer a video with actual movie clips and like "E-pro" by Beck, watch this one.

Having grown up in rural southern Illinois, and having seen every season of the incredibly disgusting yet ultimately hilarious show, Trailer Park Boys, I consider myself to be something of an expert on trailer park style. It's only in recent years, though, that trailer parks have started to become almost cool, in a sketchy sort of way.

Hipsters all over the country have embraced things like PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) and pink flamingos as if to say, "I'm so cool that I've gone all the way around the "cool spectrum" and come out on the other end." In terms of pretentiousness, they're somewhere just above hard-core Mac fanboys and just below people who pronounce "vase" by saying "vahhz".

It recently came to my attention that these hipsters have created a "Trailer Park Lounge" in New York.

Unfortunately, they completely missed the mark. As you can see above, the place is basically a warehouse of tiki bar cast-offs and retro kitsch. With the possible exception of the toilet planter, it really doesn't look much like a trailer park. For that reason, I've decided to put together a true guide to trailer park style, designed for those who strive for a bit of tacky without actually packing up and moving to the park.

Rule #1: That which is inside should be placed outside, and that which is outside should enter the home. To achieve an authentic trailer park look, you must apply this rule to at least one item from the inside and one item from the outside. The most common, of course, would be a couch on the lawn or the patio furniture inside the home. Refer to the pictures below for examples:

I've been a fan of Neil Diamond for a long time. When I was a kid, I'd drive around with my Dad singing along to Neil Diamond songs, so I became a fan at a young age and have stayed a fan. So thanks Dad, for making me a fan of Neil, Bread, and The Beatles!

It's probably not very common for a twenty-something in 2008 to be a genuine fan of Neil Diamond. Most people my age probably only know what Neil Diamond looks like because of the movie Saving Silverman or from Will Ferrell's imitations on Saturday Night Live.

If you've spent even a small amount of time in a karaoke bar, you have probably heard someone totally slaughter one of his most popular songs, "Sweet Caroline". If you attend Red Sox home games or watched Fever Pitch, then you've heard the song in it's original glory.

You might not like his sequin shirt style, but that just reinforces how awesome he is. He can wear a shirt with 50,000 sequins on it and still get respect.

Regardless of the outrageous shirts, you have to admit that he has a great voice. He has a way of making a common word sound amazing, such as when he sings "good" for the second time in the verse "Good times never seemed so good" from the song "Sweet Caroline". Some of my other more upbeat favorites are "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show".

It's really easy to find Neil Diamond music, but it's not as easy to find other Neil Diamond merchandise. I'm disappointed in the selection. You can get practically any product imaginable with the face of some crappy boy band member's face on it, but where's all the Neil stuff?

Besides the usual stuff like posters, t-shirts, and buttons, here's some Neil Diamond merchandise that I found.

Microphone signed by Neil Diamond.

Charm bracelet with pics of Neil throughout the years.

Somewhere out in Hollywood, far beyond the first 3-5 lines of the credits for most movies, you'll find thousands of successful working actors who don't have to worry about getting mobbed at the grocery store. We've compiled a list of a few that you'll probably recognize by sight or role, but not by name (and if you can, you're a greater movie fan than us).

William Fichtner - Mr. Fichtner played an FBI Agent in the hit show Prison Break, and the character Darren in the recent movie Blade of Glory, but before those roles, he appeared in a number of popular TV shows and movies. Prior to those roles, his resume also included The Longest Yard, indie hit The Chumscrubber, Black Hawk Down, The Perfect Storm, Armageddon, Quiz Show, and even Baywatch.



JT Walsh - Even if you don't recognize JT Walsh by sight, he probably seems very familiar to you. Although he died in 1998, his credit include roles in Pleasantville, Sling Blade, Executive Decision, Nixon, The X-Files, Miracle on 34th Street, Needful Things, and Hoffa.