For the past several months, I haven’t been as active on the website as I should have been. I was trying to avoid intermixing politics with this very venue, and I shouldn’t have done so.
After all, Overlooked Pop Culture does contain subject matter that is in fact political in nature.
I also wasn’t motivated enough to keep going. That held true until last week. Now I have a reason to get started again. I apologize for being away for so long.
Sometimes, current events are needed to wake me back up.
In the coming days, more activity will occur on the site, and the podcast will resume next week. Thank you for your patience and sorry for leaving everyone hanging.
In the meantime, here’s a video elaborating the situation:
Kevin Owens raises the WWE Universal Championship high. Image based on screencap from Dailly DDT.
Last night on WWE Monday Night Raw, Kevin Owens became the Universal Champion with the help of Triple H. The move shocked the audience in a pleasant way. Future rivalries are set up while Owens can have a moment of glory.
Let’s hope it lasts longer than a mere moment.
After all, Jim Cornette himself had issues with Owens when he wrestled as Kevin Steen in Ring of Honor and said at one point that he would be limited to small audiences for the rest of his life. In this case, it’s a good thing he was wrong. This Reddit thread shines some light on that conflict.
The cool part is that Kevin Owens is not your typical muscle bound Fabio type.
In today’s changing world, stereotypes become especially suspect. The muscle-bound types aren’t the only ones who are athletic. The husky ones can go as well.
For all the athleticism in the world, having a functional brain can help when it comes to taking advantage of opportunities.
The point being? Owens is a douchebag, but he’s an amazing douchebag. He plays the part so well, especially when he screamed, “YYyyyyyyeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” after winning the title last night.
Funny can make money in the right circumstances.
So let’s hope that Owens holds onto that championship for a while and he defends it, making it legit. After all, having a title changing hands multiple times like a hot potato is a good way to torpedo any possible prestige.
He does what he wants! Original image courtesy of Sportskeeda.
Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report
Summer Slam happened last night, and this year didn’t disappoint. A new champion was crowned, Cena was out-Cenaed, and Brock Lesnar has shown the world that he does what he wants.
The Universal Championship has potential, though the belt may need a different design.
It makes me wonder if Smackdown will have a Galactic Championship, with both champions vying for the number one contender spot for the WWE Heavyweight Championship.
As long as championship matches are the main event from here on out, things will continue to improve for the Standford based company. Pushing them to the middle of the card and onto the backburner only cheapens them and makes them meaningless.
Speaking of championships, let’s also hope that AJ Styles builds momentum to a championship run of some sort.
Contrary to appearances, the Phenomenal One is older than John Cena, and has more miles on him. Slow building of him towards a championship run will cost the WWE a huge opportunity at ratings. Styles doesn’t have as much time as others, so they may want to speed things up while he’s capable of performing like he’s still in his prime.
Speaking of which, let’s not have another Styles/Cena matchup; this horse doesn’t need to be beaten anymore.
The women’s division needs to get their act together. Wellness violations are not a good way of building said division. Also, if Eva Marie does have a legitimate reason why she shouldn’t have been suspended, then appropriate documentation should be shown to the audience demonstrating that she had a valid prescription in the first place.
Speaking of which, since Brock Lesnar is a part time performer, the Wellness Policy doesn’t apply to him, which presents an interesting opportunity.
I wasn’t able to watch the full main event due to other obligations, but I did read about the results. A TKO ruling seems to be building momentum for The Beast Incarnate. Could this mean another build as a monster heel until next year’s WrestleMania?
Could that momentum entail a rematch against Goldberg himself as teased by this 2K17 promo?
Since Lesnar devastated Orton and then Shane McMahon, could it be possible that he’ll continue to reign down destruction on the WWE Universe until Goldberg is called upon to take him down at the Show of Shows?
Who knows, but speculation is fun at this point, especially if it turns out that a second WrestleMania match occurs to make up for the previous one.
For those who weren’t satisfied with what was written, I also did a solo podcast episode going into a bit more detail (if you don’t want to listen below, right click here and select save as).
On a lighter note, I found Faith number one at Hastings, which is going out of business (all locations). Suffice it to say that she isn’t your typical square jawed type of superhero.
That’s all for this week. Check back with us on Monday for more exciting content.
Faith is not your typical superhero, and Valiant seems to trying to speak to a newer generation.
Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report
As many in Missouri and Texas may know by now, Hastings is going out of business. In Warrensburg, Missouri, it was one of those stores that brought a variety of entertainment related products and services to markets that would otherwise not have them.
Suffice it to say that with Netflix, Red Box, e-commerce, and the changing of the video game market, it would be inevitable that this would occur.
The good news is that bargains can be found while everything is being liquidated. One of them was a comic book from Valiant Entertainment, Faith. The main character, Faith Herbert, is Zephyr, a superhero with psionic abilities.
She can fly, create protective fields, and move entire objects with those fields (including people).
Unlike Big Bertha from Marvel Comics, she is currently not a character meant for comic relief nor does she have to throw up just to use her abilities. She also works for a media outlet, but one targeted towards a new generation.
Faith works as a writer for Zipline, a Buzzfeed knock-off.
The first issue definitely speaks to a newer generation as there is mention of role-playing games (using pencil, paper, and dice), the conflict of interest on selling out to a media site (just to keep everyone else employed), and of course dating (still a normal part of many peoples’ lives).
I won’t spoil everything for the readers here, but I will say that the comic book series is definitely different. Though they have a special issue with a political candidate not everyone will agree with, it’s not the usual square jawed ripped to the max hero with a dull story line.
I’ll definitely keep an eye out for different comics. Have a niche comic you want me to check out? You may let me know in the comments section.
I have no doubt he either killed himself or has a new FBI ID…ROT in Hell asshole. –Jack Blood
I want to start by apologizing to everyone. I know it’s been a long time since I published anything here. The podcast is still going, but due to the election year, I haven’t put out a new episode in a while. Ironically, it’s with the subject matter at hand that jolted me back to life so to speak.
Last week, I saw the posts spreading on Facebook regarding the death of Victor Thorn, including from some popular fan pages. One of the primary links is from the American Free Press, a controversial alternative media site.
He died of a self inflicted gun shot wound.
Due to the fact that 2016 is a Presidential Election year and that Hillary Clinton is running for President, speculation was naturally going to occur. Thorn had written books and articles critical of the Democratic nominee, so this comes as no surprise.
I want to preface this next part by saying that I have no intention of speaking ill of the dead. Other than a minor rant on the YouTube channel, I haven’t publicly talked about it. I understand that there are family and friends who are grieving, and death is not known for being pleasant.
To Scott Makufka’s immediate family, you have my sincere condolences. The rest of this article is not aimed at any of you, for this is something that none of you were involved in. What I am about to say is not something I’m going to enjoy.
The truth must be told
Like with Steve Jobs of Apple, Thorn is already being given that mythic status, but reality must prevail. Before anybody places him on a pedestal, there’s some things you need to know.
Things like the fact that he is no martyr, let alone a hero.
In the beginning of my foray into the alternative media, I actually interviewed both him and Lisa Guliani on WING TV, an online television show that predates the existence of online streaming sites such as YouTube. Granted, the videos used RealMedia for encoding, but it was fairly cutting edge for the time.
Thorn and Guliani would have been what others referred to as conspiracy theorists. They questioned the official narrative of 9/11 and also viewed the state of politics in the early 2000’s with suspicion. That aspect of both of them was not the most controversial part of this duo.
They even did a satirical episode where they pulled Masonic symbols out of Art Bell’s ass. Keep that in mind for later.
One of the major figures they also criticized was Alex Jones of Infowars.com. They stopped doing so for a while until they went to Oklahoma City to talk about the Oklahoma City Bombing with others who questioned the government’s official narrative.
I actually spoke to Guliani, Thorn’s co-host, over the telephone on a regular basis. They both bragged about the results on Whalen’s show; threats were called in, a former associate of Jones cut off a micro-broadcasting station, and more.
Had I been more experienced back then, the fact that they were excited about those things would have raised a red flag.
They eventually made the claim that since GCN was renting satellite time from ABC, they were an affiliate of ABC’s. That’s like referring to me as an affiliate of Charter Communications because they happen to by my ISP at this time. In other words, confirmation bias is what caused them to look for anything proving that GCN, the very network that broadcasts The Alex Jones Show, was nothing more than a corporate sellout.
That was before I had a better understanding of the broadcasting world.
Enter Revere Radio Network. This was a network that both had initially supported until Sonny Crack, one of the show hosts who had an understanding of the broadcasting media world, called out Guliani for her inaccuracy (albeit in a not so diplomatic manner).
He would go on to create an adult themed satire aimed at her.
So what did two alternative media personalities based out of State College, Pennsylvania do about said satire recorded by a host who was based out of Tampa Bay, Florida?
More importantly, if two people claim that they are anti-establishment, what is the best course of action if they wanted to torpedo their own credibility?
At the time, they told me that based on advice from local law enforcement, they contacted the Cyber Crimes Division of the FBI. Robb Revere, the head of the network in question, would receive a friendly call from a special agent.
Fortunately for Revere, since it was a civil matter as opposed to a criminal matter, he wouldn’t have to worry about the FBI knocking on his door.
I was inexperienced and I certainly found that piece of satire to be in poor taste. Still, as the months went on, the worm would begin to turn
Revere himself interviewed him, and eventually wound up realizing that I was no enemy of his. My thoughts at the time was that if he really cared about the news and the truth, he would pursue it. He did.
He decided to put me through a test as well and offered me a spot on his radio network. My initial plan was to torture them and even have the two co-hosts from WING TV on as guests, but both saw this as an act of betrayal.
The magic of Internet drama.
To top it off, I was informed that some things were going to go down in the future and that I wouldn’t be privy to them because of what I did. They would continue attacking and criticizing other alternative media personalities, thus creating more of a divide.
The two individuals were so polarizing that they eventually had a falling out with one another, resulting in Guliani leaving the show. Not long after that, WING TV would transform into a glorified online bookstore.
According to Bill Makufka, Scott Makufka was a complicated individual; Victor Thorn wasn’t just a pseudonym, but a separate identity.
He would tailor the conversation for each individual that he talked to, a description of a trait that sounds all too familiar, but that’s a story for another day.
What you need to know is that he along with his then-cohort did more criticizing than original content creation. They did some original work, such as protesting at Ground Zero on 9/11 a couple of times and Thorn/Makufka would put already existing material into an original format (9/11 On Trial), but they also built long list of people in their so called “Hall of Shame.”
When people are focused on more than ideas, there’s a problem. This holds true regardless of point of view. One can’t claim to be against “The Man” when they go to “The Man” to solve a perceived problem in the first place, especially when it’s a civil matter.
Scott “Victor Thorn” Makufka is no martyr, no hero, no deity. He was human, and in the past he along with a former co-host made a few mistakes (some more egregious than others) and ironically generated negativity, the very thing Makufka disdained.
So please don’t put him on top of a pedestal or argue that Hillary Clinton had anything to do with his death.
I recently subscribed to the WWE Network, and thus far, it seems to be worth $10 a month. I was able to watch most of Payback last night, which brings me to today’s topic.
The Eater of Worlds in the WWE.
Let’s talk storylines.
Pro wrestling is the most unique form of theater as it requires athleticism along with the ability to improvise in front of an immense crowd. The Shield didn’t reunite, but there’s a good reason.
It would have been too obvious.
One of the overlooked elements in WWE today is none other than Bray Wyatt. He has had a history of being subtle. As a so called “master manipulator,” he’s able to misdirect the audience into thinking he’s headed in one direction while it turns out not to be the case.
For instance, before his match with Ryback, viewers would find out why The Big Guy was challenged; he was simply in Wyatt’s way. Wyatt’s way of what?
If one read the shirt he was wearing during the match while remembering the entrance, things may begin to make sense.
The overall message of the shirt went along the lines of, “Follow the light….. find your way home.” While The Shield didn’t reunite last night, a couple of individuals did before the event.
Eric Rowen and Luke Harper.
There are plenty of members in the main WWE roster, and Ryback was getting more attention as of late. Could that have been interfereing with Wyatt’s attempt to reunite his clan? Furthermore, could he have been using the match in question to get the attention of Rowen and Harper?
Bear in mind that Wyatt has been playing the subtle game since the beginning of this year. When Dolph Ziggler performed The Famouser on him, he no-sold it. Then came the vignettes. Then came the coffin….. except it happened over several weeks.
So let’s speculate for a moment. Since a reunification of the Wyatt Family is being presented as something that isn’t as obvious, then when would be a good time for it to take place?
There was a slow build of three months to Wrestlemania 31 against The Undertaker. Going by that time frame, would it be safe to say that at least three months from now, it may take place (assuming it does at all)?
After all, Summerslam would be the perfect venue to rebuild a faction that could act as competition against the more monopolisic Authority. What are your thoughts?
“They tried adding 400 fake accounts to my personal page and are currently adding a flood of fake accounts to WTF Magazine.” Fyk said.
Here’s a list of some Facebook accounts that were banned from the WTF fanpage.
This isn’t the first time he’s dealt with this group. Business Insider has details on a group dedicated to hijacking fan pages for fun and profit.
Hijackers send a flood of fake likes to a fan page so they can report content that is posted. “Jack Evans along with Austin Harrig, Anthony Machia (Ortiz), Ken Ballou, George Portillo, Dexter Hyman and others have attacked us without cause for years.” Fyk said.
Pages that reach 100,000 likes are a prime target for the group lead by Evans.
Note how the same name appears twice.
In some cases, duplicate accounts are created. They can be used to evade banning while continually harassing the intended target.
The group is known as “The Community,” and their profile claims to be against cyber bullying. The group’s description is only a ruse.
The hijacking of pages began as a way of pulling pranks and was only for fun before things got serious.
Now it can be done for fun and profit.
Below are a couple of screenshots showing the impact of fake likes.
“The idea is to add the fake accounts and use those to report everything. This kills the reach on the page.” Fyk said.Note the spike in organic likes on his personal page.
“I managed to get 99% off my personal page but that was a small page and 400 likes in 2 hours is noticeable.” Fyk said.
The lack of legal precedent has left little recourse, though Anthony Ortiz appears to admit some wrong doing in his interview with Alyson Shontell, especially when it comes to defamation.
The only current recourse is to continually ban fake accounts. We’ll keep everyone here updated as new information becomes available.
Social Media has its ups and downs. One moment, a group or a page is popular. The next day, it’s gone.
Such was the case with WTF Magazine, an online fun publication. For four years, Jason Fyk built an audience of 2.1 million on Facebook. He invested approximately $100,000 USD in advertising.
In terms of content, Fyk explained, “There are always people that do not like things we post. No one likes everything. However if you judge our content off the number of banned pictures as compared to the number we post we stay well within the guidelines of Facebook terms of service.”
In the four years of operation, 20 pictures and five links were banned. In the previous three months, only this link was banned. As for other content, Fyk told me, “Anything to do with [the] Muslim religion gets us being reported into the ground. People get fanatical and its a shame that a few people have a say over that of the masses.”
In response to accusations of dismembered people being posted, he told me that it simply wasn’t true. “You need to realize we have a group of haters that are already at it trying to sabotage our page. They do what is called Social Engineering. What that is, is saying stuff like that, which people don’t know is true or false.” Fyk said.
Page admins have strict instructions to not post racial slurs, child pornography, or attacks on religion.
“We do make fun of the fanatical groups which makes fun of feminists sometimes but I’d also make fun of fat people and I am one.” Fyk said.
First, the user in question says they’re in the photo. Then they see they don’t find it funny.
A picture of two turtles of all things was reported. While the user initially messaged the page to remove it because they were in it, the admin asked where in the image they were at. Their story changed.
They then said they simply didn’t find it funny and that one of their grandchildren’s friends shared the image.
“There is no reason two turtles are a problem for facebook. Yet it was reported by some overly sensitive individual. But again, it’s not dismembered bodies, torture, self mutilation or anything even close.” Fyk said.
The website’s primary source of revenue is advertising, which is affected by web traffic. Thanks to the fan page, they were able to support a number of families, two of which who have members who are special needs.
“One is an adult who is mildly retarded. The other is a downs syndrome child.” Fyk said.
Since the page was deleted, the publication has been set back four years. Despite this, Fyk plans to support those families until they recover.
In order to rebuild, they are no longer relying on advertising alone. “I can’t announce everything but I am bringing in the CEO of another major publication to help out.” Fyk said.
If the original page is republished, they will emphasize the website instead of solely relying on Facebook. “Our fans won’t like it as much but they will have to come to the site to see the crazier stuff.” Fyk said.
There are also plans of moving beyond Facebook and expanding to other social media sites. This includes building a social media network as well. Regarding additional frustrations, Fyk told me that, “Facebook would not give us a verified brand check mark though we were an established tax paying business.”
Their new fan page may be found here. For those interested in checking out their website, it may be found here.
His scientific background will help round out the podcast.
The podcast has had hosts come and go over the last several months. With each new episode, it became clear that more perspectives were needed.
Fortunately, it seems the right people come along at the right time. We’re proud to announce that Curtis Warren will be joining the team.
Science has been an important factor throughout his life, and this background will help the show tremendously.
He also likes video games and has recently resumed playing Magic the Gathering after a lengthy hiatus. He’s excited about the opportunity to bring his unique perspective to the podcast and had this to say:
I would like to share my compassion and passion for Nature, for gaming, and for Education. I’m a huge advocate for making use of the natural world and caring for others and I think that Gaming, Science, and Art are ways we can accomplish that and make the world a better place.
He makes his debut on tonight’s live recording session.
