That's a Thing?!

That's a Thing?!

By Karen Unland and Elizabeth SpencerArtsKids & Family
Download on the App Store

That's a Thing?! episodes

  • Don't play me like that

    Here are some of the things we mentioned:

    • We got to try out at home VR thanks to Laser City
    • Flash games were part of the browser game genre
    • Here’s a snapshot from Elizabeth’s earliest gaming days
    • Super Mario World
    • Lunar Magic, a Super Mario World level editor
    • Find out what stuff Karen likes on Tumblr
    • Idle/Clicker/Tycoon games
    • The sunk cost fallacy
    • Loot boxes & the controversy around them 
    • The work of Jim Stephanie Sterling
      • On loot boxes
      • On “live service” and subscriptions
    • The NFT controversy
    • Picrew
    • Cuphead
    • Team Fortress 2
    • Speed Dating for Ghosts is available on Steam and Switch
    • Find dubious ads for apps here 
    • And now, a list of every app we mentioned in this episode!
      • Plants Vs Zombies
      • Temple Run 2
      • Minecraft
      • Clash of Clans
      • Raid: Shadow Legends
      • Candy Crush
      • Fishdom
      • Homescapes & Gardenscapes
      • Terrarium
      • Clusterduck
      • Doodle Jump 2
      • Just Mowing
      • Monster Girl Maker
      • Streaks
      • NYT Crosswords
      • Fruit Ninja

    Many thanks to our sponsors: 

    • NAIT’s Career Essentials podcast
    • Pod Power shout-out for YourForest, courtesy of Edmonton Community Foundation

    That's a Thing?! is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network — Locally grown. Community supported.


    You can subscribe to us in all the places, and most of them let you rate and review, too, which would be lovely.


    Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or tweet at us: @thatsathingyeg.


    Do you want a That’s a Thing?! button? Send us your address by Twitter DM or email and we will send you one. 


    Many thanks to Transistor for hosting our show. Our theme music is Ragtime Dance by Scott Joplin, from Free Music Archive.

    1 hr
  • We love you (but not like that)

    Here are the things we mentioned in the episode:

    • Triple H: The counterculture-to-corporate pipeline
    • Some influencers use their power for good — e.g. Linda Hoang
    • Karen doesn’t fangirl about podcasts, but she does recommend them on CBC Radio Active on the first Monday of the month, or on Fridays in The Pulse
    • Parasocial interaction
    • BreadTube
    • Kat Blaque, Princess Weekes, and Tee Noir  — left-wing YouTubers of colour, among many
    • Dream, Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit, Tubbo — gaming YouTubers who’ve exploded in popularity
    • Callback to our episode on PewDiePie, jacksepticeye, and Markiplier
    • CallMeCarson (and cancelled)
    • ARGs, and the Wiki for Wilbur Soot’s game
    • Callback to our Among Us episode
    • Corpse has amassed a massive, active fanbase
    • Corpse’s Spotify page
    • The polls exploit in the YouTube Algorithm
    • Raid: Shadow Legends and the controversy around it
    • Whang! is entertaining, not scrupulous 
    • Everything goes back to Harold Innis
    • CALM
    • Callback (way back) to our Tide Pods episode

    Many thanks to our sponsors: 

    • NAIT’s Career Essentials podcast
    • Searching for Izena 

    That's a Thing?! is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network — Locally grown. Community supported.


    You can subscribe to us in all the places, and most of them let you rate and review, too, which would be lovely.


    Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or tweet at us: @thatsathingyeg.


    Do you want a That’s a Thing?! button? Send us your address by Twitter DM or email and we will send you one. 

     

    Join our commune here!


    Many thanks to Transistor for hosting our show. Our theme music is Ragtime Dance by Scott Joplin, from Free Music Archive.

    1 hr 31 min
  • Mysteries of the modern age

    Here are some of the things we mentioned in the episode:

    • We talked about music last time, but then drivers license by Olivia Rodrigo happened
    • Bizaardvark 
    • High School Musical: The Musical - The Series 
    • “Real life” drama among Disney kids
    • drivers license “fan” videos on TikTok
    • Pogs
    • Poggers
    • The Pogchamp meme
    • Unlike lots of Internet slang, pogchamp is not AAVE (African American Vernacular English)
    • What about “It’s free real estate” guy?
    • Remember Ken Bone?
    • How about cranberry juice skateboarder guy?
    • Dream 
    • Minecraft speed running 
    • Mod team declares cheating
    • Dream tweets about being blamed for fans’ misbehaviour  
    • Parasocial relationships

    Many thanks to our sponsors: 

    • BGCBigs
    • Searching for Izena

    That's a Thing?! is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network — Locally grown. Community supported.

    You can subscribe to us in all the places, and most of them let you rate and review, too, which would be lovely.


    Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or tweet at us: @thatsathingyeg.


    Do you want a That’s a Thing?! button? Send us your address by Twitter DM or email and we will send you one. 


    Many thanks to Transistor for hosting our show. Our theme music is Ragtime Dance by Scott Joplin, from Free Music Archive.

    50 min
  • TikTok bops and the transformation of pop

    Here are links to the things we mentioned:

    • It’s been a long time since we talked about pop music
    • RIP CJYR, radio station of Karen’s youth
    • Also RIP Video Hits and Good Rockin’ Tonite
    • Billboard Hot 100
    • Hit Parade on one-hit wonders
    • One Hit Wonderland by Todd in the Shadows
    • Mothica
    • Mothica’s duck kettle 
    • Laxed [SIREN BEAT] by Jawsh 685
    • Jason Derulo’s Savage Love, which made Todd in the Shadows’s worst hit songs of 2020
    • Eyes Blue Like The Atlantic
    • Eyes Blue Like The Atlantic, Pt. 2
    • The Powfu hit with the beabadobee hook 
    • Lil Nas X, who is not a one-hit wonder, loves Fenty, and designs fashion
    • Megan Thee Stallion #bodychallenge
    • The Karens episode, where we talked about internet shorthand 
    • Example of TikTok outfit transitions 
    • List of TikTok music trends
    • If the world was ending, you’d come over, right? No.
    • Hayloft on TikTok
    • Space Girl by Frances Forever
    • Our feelings on TikTok are more nuanced than before

    Many thanks to our sponsors: 

    • Edmonton Community Foundation and The Well-Endowed Podcast
    • Edmonton Heritage Council and the call for E-CAMP contributors (deadline to apply is Jan. 8, 2021)

    That's a Thing?! is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network — Locally grown. Community supported.


    You can subscribe to us in all the places, and most of them let you rate and review, too, which would be lovely.


    Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or tweet at us: @thatsathingyeg.


    Do you want a That’s a Thing?! button? Send us your address by Twitter DM or email and we will send you one. 


    Many thanks to Transistor for hosting our show. Our theme music is Ragtime Dance by Scott Joplin, from Free Music Archive.

    57 min
  • New life for Clone High, fake life for VTubers

    Here are links to the things we mentioned:

    • Clone High on YouTube’s Retro Rerun (it’s a cartoon, but not for little kids)
    • JFK compilation
    • Nothing bad ever happens to the Kennedys 
    • Episode 9: Raisin the Stakes: A Rock Opera in 3 Acts
    • Vincent Van Gogh TikToks
    • Definitions:  Bitmoji and Memoji
    • VTuber, or Virtual YouTuber
    • Hatsune Miku
    • Kizuna AI
    • Barbie has a vlog
    • Shout-out to Podcast Brunch Club
    • Remember Max Headroom
    • Seraphine from League of Legends
    • Seraphine’s marketing campaign

    Many thanks to our sponsors: 

    • Edmonton Community Foundation and The Well-Endowed Podcast
    • The Shared Mic

    That's a Thing?! is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network — Locally grown. Community supported.


    You can subscribe to us in all the places, and most of them let you rate and review, too, which would be lovely.


    Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or tweet at us: @thatsathingyeg.


    Do you want a That’s a Thing?! button? Send us your address by Twitter DM or email and we will send you one. 


    Many thanks to Transistor for hosting our show. Our theme music is Ragtime Dance by Scott Joplin, from Free Music Archive.

    50 min
  • Who's the impostor here?

    Here are links to the things we mentioned:

    • Defining creepypasta
    • The costumes we saw will be on Karen’s Instagram
    • Jeff the Killer
    • Zalgo
    • What’s a screamer?
    • What’s an Eboy?
    • Laughing Jack
    • Callback to when Elizabeth said stealing was OK
    • Elizabeth’s Drawtober project
    • Slender Man
    • Slender Man’s copyright
    • Channel Zero
    • LOCAL58TV
    • Among Us
    • An Among Us joke that Karen got thanks to this episode 
    • Corpse Husband on YouTube and Instagram
    • @britl plays Among Us
    • On The Media segment
    • MrBeast
    • Among Us gameplay clip, fan art, and cosplay
    • AOC’s Among Us stream highlights
    • Call of Duty: Conscientious Objector from The Debutantes 
    • Taproot Edmonton Presents: Igniting Innovation 

    Our theme music is Ragtime Dance by Scott Joplin, and our special spooky outro music is Among Us by Myuu. Check out the full song here.


    Many thanks to our sponsors: 

    • Unbelts
    • Alberta Forest Products Association 

    That's a Thing?! is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network — Locally grown. Community supported.


    You can subscribe to us in all the places, and most of them let you rate and review, too, which would be lovely.


    Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] or tweet at us: @thatsathingyeg.


    Do you want a That’s a Thing?! button? Send us your address by Twitter DM or email and we will send you one. 


    Many thanks to Transistor for hosting our show


    49 min

About That's a Thing?!

From the publisher's feed

A sometimes belated, already outdated guide to your teens, tweens and everything under 20. In each episode, Elizabeth, a teenager, explains a thing to Karen, her mother. And Karen tells Elizabeth how…