A Decade of Pop Culture or Popular Trash?

I admit, I’m a big fat nerd.  I have a not-so-secret love of studying popular culture trends whether they’re related to entertainment & leisure, health & diet, or geographic trends.  I greedily file tidbits of useless crapola into folders in my brain.  All the while, I just KNOW that one day, the information has to be useful for something?  I’m pretty sure it’s the language teacher in me who gets hot and bothered by patterns.  Ahhh, but I digress.  Here are a few of the pop culture hits that made the decade of 2010 kooky and absurd, but ultimately fascinating.  PEOPLE, ADD MORE TO THE LIST. I’m just dying to know what you all enjoyed yourselves or better yet, found ridiculous!

MASH-UPS: Stirring the pot is what I like to call it.  Mixing old with new presents us with fresh or hilarious combinations. Classic British lit mingles with monster mania, GINORMOUS emerges on to the scene, and let us not forget celebrity couples- TomKat, Robsten, Brangelina, and Bennifer.

THONGS: So you’re wearing a hot little number and you have no desire to show the world your panty line. Did I just say panty? (I hate that word.)  Problem is, the illustrious thong craze made its way to the high school crowd; a group which lacks any type of discretion whatsoever. This means that low rise jeans + thongs = 3 inches of thong overhang.  I had a hell of a time teaching direct objects to the 15 year old boys.  All they could see was a literal butt-load of  lace and silk shoved in their faces every single day.  FINALLY, someone over at Victoria’s Secret invented low-rise thongs, but not before thousands of teens everywhere showed off their under garments.

ALL THAT IS LATIN:  Spicy salsa rhythms,  peppers galore, delicious food, and being a brunette all came in style.  This was fabulous in my opinion. At least until the mid-drift shirts arrived.  And the people who wear them never should- including my 350 pound male neighbor who sports one while he mows the lawn.

3D FILMS:  There’s nothing like an ax flying at your head or gargantuan bugs crawling all over your line of vision for entertainment.  They’re admittedly cool, but the price hike is a real downer.

JEGGINGS:  Even Conan O’Brien endorses the jean & legging combination, but the Kardashians made them famous.  Thank you, Kim, for bringing us skin-tight pants that you can barely pull on.  It’s a good thing thongs are no longer in style.

BLOGS, FACEBOOK, TWITTER:  Social media-o-rama means the world is your oyster.  And your world is literally at anyone’s disposal.  Hooray! Now we can obsess about  identity theft and hacking weirdos.

REHAB:   We have Lindsey Lohan to thank for this one.  Thanks to her, people seem to think going to rehab immediately erases their F ‘ed up shenanigans. But who doesn’t love a good underdog story?

LOSING WEIGHT:  Between Super Size Me and the U.S. federal government issuing statements likened to: “Americans, you’re the fattest bunch of lazy *$#%^on the planet.”,  fad diets have reached an all time high.  Not sure it worked for me.   *shoves brownie in mouth*

XBOX 360:  Kids and adults alike spend enough time gaming to illicit carpal tunnel and bleeding retina.  Hey, at least they got to beat the shit out of someone, even if it was fake.

INFLATABLE YARD ART:  I kind of hate it. It’s tacky and cheesy, but this is also why it’s kind of awesome.  And frankly, they remind me of the Stay-Puff Marshmellow man from Ghost Busters, which happens to be the best ghost thriller EVER.  Truth be told, I’ve envisioned myself in camo, running from bush to bush with a pellet gun poised to take down every last bloated neon elf and demonic-looking bunny I can find.

FOOD NETWORK:  Cheeky cake art contests, master mind chefs, and public cook-offs made the Food Network a sensation this decade. A newly awakened love for dining, cooking, and experimenting has boiled over in kitchens across the country. Or maybe everyone has a crush on Bobby Flay and the super hot Giada.

DESIGNER DRUGS:  Drugs are always in style. I suppose the only question is which ones are hot and who’s doing all the buying this time.  A resurgence of cocaine and meth are the proud contenders from this decade, putting puking celebutantes on T.V. and breeding meth farms in some desperate guy’s basement.

VAMPIRES:  The blood-suckers seem to make a comeback in every decade.  This time they’re impossibly gorgeous and they sparkle.  What ever happened to scary, gruesome, coffin dwellers?

PAPARAZZI: No one said it better than Lady Gaga. “I’m your biggest fan. I’ll follow you until you love me.” Heidi & Spencer Pratt took that mantra to the extreme.  I’m pretty sure no one loved them in the beginning…or the end of their fame.

REALITY TV EXPLOSION:  I don’t think I could have lived without G’s to Gents, Joe Millionaire, or Dating in the Dark.  Such quality television is the bread and butter of any network these days. Just wondering what this says about the viewers? Hmm…