Low Culture Boil

It's the third edition of LCB's monthly Dumpster Dive, wherein the crew sounds off about their favorite trash picks of the moment. For May we find ourselves praising fascist-killing cargo pants, dated sex advice, more Real Housewives, Zoomer video games, and a special Amber's Animal Facts featuring a lucrative human fingernail scheme!

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If you count the amusement parks, Mall of America is the largest shopping mall in the western hemisphere. Despite a negative reception upon its opening in 1992, the massive complex continues to thrive. Team LCB asks: Is MOA a public space? How do we remedy the scourge of mall security? And how has this consumption colossus survived the "Mallpocalypse"?

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Before the food courts, myriad stalls full of tchotchkes, and labyrinthine department stores, there was...well, much the same thing. The mall is an American invention via an Austrian architect, and it never really progressed past its initial phase of development. Join the LCB crew as they go into its history, its role as the third place, and why Courtney can't handle the onslaught of mall AC.

We're speaking of Casseroles, that is! Yes, the LCB team takes on the One-Dish Wonder, its connection to Thomas Jefferson, its flourishing in the postwar years, and whether it's, well, any good. From tuna to matzoh, the great confluence of Pyrex, canned goods, and an American can-do attitude has brought us this contentious, congealed creature.

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Grab your transgressive Halloween mask, boil a pot of penis pasta, and don your finest nipple rings for team LCB's dive into the world of Spencer Gifts. Learn about its New Jersey origins, dubious claims about product quality, and the myriad ethnic groups this establishment has managed to offend, all while hosting generations of loafing teens.

An hour is hardly sufficient time to sing the praises of the Bloomin Onion itself, but it is long enough for the LCB gals to explore its home: Outback Steakhouse. The crew reviews the decidedly not-Australian-but-Australian-themed fare, its fickle architectural styles, and theorizes as to why America fell into Oz obsession for a brief period in the 1980s.

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The road from Tamagotchi to Animal Crossing is a long, but somewhere along the way we found ourselves in Flash players (RIP) caring for virtual creatures known as Neopets. Join the gals on a trip down memory lane and get the inside scoop on the game's sick features, rad capitalist propaganda, and far out Scientologist infiltration of the company's upper echelon!

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Ramadan is no doubt a holy month for the Muslim world, but to Arabic speakers it means one thing: Solid TV. Summer Nazif, an Egyptian-Algerian living in Paris, joins team LCB to talk the most important time for Arab television and school the girls on the operatic soaps, inventive comedies, and riddle-themed game shows that are the talk of millions of households every year.

Follow Summer on Twitter @SummerNazif

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