The A.V. Club - Why Do I Own This?

Music: Why Do I Own This?:Autographed Sting Brand New Day CD

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Why Do I Own This? is a column exploring the weirder pop-culture flotsam and jetsam that washes up in the lives of A.V. Club writers, the impulses that drive us to acquire such things, and the motives for clinging to them long after their ephemeral eras pass. What is it? I have never listened to Sting’s Brand New Day. I don’t know what the single was from it—“Desert Rose,” maybe? I’m honestly not trying to be cooler-than-thou, but I lost interest in Sting somewhere in the late ’80s, and the only thing he appears on ...

Music: Why Do I Own This?:Lou Pearlman 20th Century Republican Leader Certificate

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Why Do I Own This? is a column exploring the weirder pop-culture flotsam and jetsam that washes up in the lives of A.V. Club writers, the impulses that drive us to acquire such things, and the motives for clinging to them long after their ephemeral eras pass. What is it? A certificate officially deeming mountainous, disgraced boy-band Svengali/confidence man Louis J. Pearlman—he of the Jabba The Hutt physique and Fagin-like sense of personal ethics—“a distinguished 20th Century Republican Leader.” (Presumably of well-muscled, underage boys, in a conga line leading to his bed.) It’s signed by ...

Games: Why Do I Own This?:A custom-made Catan board

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Why Do I Own This? is a column exploring the weirder pop-culture flotsam and jetsam that washes up in the lives of A.V. Club writers, the impulses that drive us to acquire such things, and the motives for clinging to them long after their ephemeral eras pass. What is it? It’s a custom-made, die-cut game board specifically designed for use with the fiendishly strategic Cities & Knights expansion of the Settlers Of Catan board game. How did I get it? When I lived in Chicago, most of my friends and I were addicted to Cities & Knights Of Catan, an ...

Film: Why Do I Own This?:Box of Robin Hood, Prince Of Thieves tie-in breakfast cereal

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Why Do I Own This? is a new column exploring the weirder pop-culture flotsam and jetsam that washes up in the lives of A.V. Club writers, the impulses that drive us to acquire such things, and the motives for clinging to them long after their ephemeral eras pass. What is it? It’s a box of cereal marketed as a promotional item for the 1991 Kevin Costner vehicle Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. It has an unconvincing drawing of Costner as Robin Hood on the front of the box, and it would appear to have cost the Ralston-Purina company ...

Books: Why Do I Own This?:huge box of Destroyer novels

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Why do I own this? is a new column exploring the weirder pop-culture flotsam and jetsam that washes up in the lives of A.V. Club writers, the impulses that drive us to acquire such things, and the motives for clinging to them long after their ephemeral eras pass. What is it? A large cardboard box filled with approximately 60 different entries from the Destroyer series of “men’s adventure” novels created by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. How did I get it? Many, many years ago, around my sophomore year of high school, I became obsessed with the Destroyer ...