For EOD today, we thought we'd introduce you to the wonder that is Everything As Fuck, Ian Karmel's weekly column in our sister paper, the Portland Mercury. Today, Karmel explains popular culture things to you.

That's it for this week, and remember: EOD=End of Day. We're done. Go home. Don't be too mad that Portland got a Kanye pop-up and Seattle didn't. We got a Trump statue instead, I guess.


It seems as though thereā€™s never been a better time for popular culture. The supply of movies, bands, and TV shows is vast and the quality is frequently top-notch (and when itā€™s bad, itā€™s either ā€œgood badā€ or completely disposable). There are so many ways to be entertained and I feel like Iā€™m familiar with exactly fucking none of them. Iā€™m not complainingā€”itā€™s just that thereā€™s too much good stuff. Itā€™s like drowning in chocolate milk. It feels like every conversation these days is like:


ā€œHave you seen X?ā€


ā€œOh no, I need to see that. But have you seen Y?ā€


ā€œOh no, I need to see that. But have you seen Z?ā€


Itā€™s not only exhausting, dear reader, but exhausting as well. I canā€™t do it. I canā€™t keep up. So instead, Iā€™m just going to (IN THE WORDS THAT FOLLOW) take my best guess at just whatā€™s going on in some of these popular phenomenons. Iā€™m going to focus on TV shows this time. Keep in mind, Iā€™ve never seen any of theseā€”and Iā€™m just going completely off things Iā€™ve overheard, as well as just some wild guesses with no basis in anything.


STRANGER THINGS

Four or maybe five kids get themselves involved in a mystery. Itā€™s got a pretty good soundtrack, probably, with like... maybe Rush? It feels like maybe Rush is involved, or probably actually, like, a composer who made movie themes in the ā€™80s. But like, creepy themes. ā€™Cus the show is creepy, I think. Thereā€™s a ghost or a demon or a witch or an alien, and probably one person is like, ā€œNo way, that isnā€™t real!ā€ but the kids are all like ā€œItā€™s totally real!ā€ and then that creepy ā€™80s composer music comes in, and... whoa, itā€™s real. Thereā€™s gotta be at least one scene where all the kids are riding bikes somewhere. I saw a GIF going around of a code involving Christmas lights, and it seems like that might be related, tooā€”but I donā€™t know. Work was super busy that week.



MR. ROBOT

Oh, I donā€™t fucking know. Banks, right? Like... the banks are bad, and Christian Slater is either in on it, or heā€™s angry about it. Thereā€™s that tiny dude with the weird eyes who always wears a hoodie. Heā€™s a hacker and I think he hacks the banks and theyā€™re out to get him. Is he Mr. Robot? If I had to guess, Iā€™d say heā€™s Mr. Robot. Or is it like Gossip Girl, where weā€™re not supposed to know who Mr. Robot is? I feel like a lot of things happen in this show where someone who likes IPAs too much would say ā€œtotal mindfuck.ā€



GAME OF THRONES

Honestly, Iā€™ve seen most of this show and I still have no idea whatā€™s going on. Everyone is a dirty white person with scraggle hair. Itā€™s like I canā€™t even look at my phone for 70 percent of the episode without getting lost.