This Week Year in Dulture…

Approx 4 minute read:

🏀 The James’ in the NBA

🍱 Creators serving lunch

🎮️ The museum of museums

🛩️ Half man half amazing

🥊 The business move of the year

Like Father…Kinda Like Son?

When Bronny started showing up in Overtime’s videos the world already knew, it was only a matter of time until he was in the NBA. Coupled with Lebron telling the world he wanted to play with his son a few years back, one had to think this was only a matter of time. Well, we finally had that reality thrust upon us in most neptistic way possible when Bronny was drafted by the Lakers back in June.  

Now don’t get me wrong, when my daughter and I play Final Fight and beat the game together, I feel like a proud father, so I get how wanting to play in the NBA with your kid would be special. And yes, I just compared passing an arcade game to playing in the NBA - *shrug*

C’mon, we all knew Bronny wasn’t ready for the NBA.

That said, Lebron gets what Lebron wants when it comes to the teams he plays for. And so the Lakers made potentially the most lucrative draft pick in team history, while also being the dumbest for the team itself.

Lebron and Bronny made history on October 23rd when the duo checked in together for a Lakers game and I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty cool to see. But after that moment, all I could think about was, when is this guy being demoted to the G-League? And then dare I say it…Europe?…wait no, European basketball would eat him alive.

Meanwhile Bryce James just committed to Arizona State on Wednesday while Lebron said earlier this week he could play another 5-7 years at a high level in the NBA, if he wanted to. We all know Bryce is the real hooper out of the James sons so something tells me Lebron isn’t retiring for at least a couple more years.  

@bleacherreport

“It won’t be because I can’t play this game at a high level” 😤 (via @Jovan Buha) #NBA #basketball #lebron #lebronjames #lakers

MrBeast, Logan Paul, and KSI have Lunch

My younger self would’ve totally bought these things over Lunchables the second they came out but now that I’m older and understand how marketing works, it takes a lot more to dupe me into buying unhealthy, content creator created products.

I’ll stick to my late night cravings of Goldfish crackers.

In September, the content creator trio of MrBeast, Logan Paul, and KSI, launched a competitive alternative to Lunchables called, Lunchly. It was marketed as a healthier alternative to Lunchables, even though they ALSO offered processed meats and cheeses - theirs was just not as unhealthy as Lunchable’s ingredients.

So how’s it been going for them so far? While it’s assumed they’ve made millions of dollars given their national distribution across the US and UK, it hasn’t been without problems as the FDA has received numerous complaints about the product and this video went viral back in October:

This all said, there’s some serious star power backing the brand and so it will no doubt make everyone involved a lot of money. However, it’s uncertain if this is truly Prime or just another MrBeast Burger.

The Nintendo Museum

In the fall we were reminded that Nintendo existed long before the original Nintendo came out - since 1889 to be exact, when they first started making card games. It was only in 1972 that they ventured into electronics/video games and made a peripheral for the Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first home video game console.

Bet you didn’t think you’d get a history lesson in this issue did ya?

The museum itself has been touted as a giant blast from the past for Nintendo and video game fans alike. From revisiting the early days of the NES or Family Computer(Famicom for short - Japan’s name for it), to the history of the classic characters, worlds, and the company itself, the Nintendo Museum is situated where the company originally started just outside of Kyoto.

If you’ve been to Japan then you’re already familiar with all the Pokemon Center stores, the Nintendo Stores, Capcom Stores, amongst the countless access to gaming stores in general, but it feels like having an actual official museum for Nintendo is now the official beacon of video games worldwide.

When I win the lottery just to purchase a ticket, I’ll be back in July to give my own personal perspective of this place, and when pretty much every issue of Dulture will be from Asia this summer.

VC Jersey Retirement

I know, I get it, this is such a niche topic. I can hear you now, “i’M nOt EvEn FrOm ToRoNtO”. I know, I get it. But in November Toronto honoured a legend so we’re doing this one more time.

Frankly, if you’re a fan of basketball, you most likely enjoyed watching Vince Carter play anyways. He wasn’t called “The Human Highlight Reel” for nothing.

If you’re a Raptors fan specifically, you never reeeeeally knew if this night was going to happen for real. Vince always wanted to come back to Toronto but there was a good chunk of the city who didn’t necessarily believe him. I think if he made this shot things might’ve turned out a bit different:

In the end I’m glad we honoured VC the way he deserved it, hanging his #15 in the rafters forever. He kickstarted a whole generation of Canadian hoopers that we now see in the NBA. He gave us our first American TV broadcast so the world had to could watch a Raptors game. And his name was Air Canada.

Such a magical moment for VC and for Toronto.

2024’s Smartest Business Move

Y’know, leading up to the fight between Jake and Tyson, part of me was like, is Tyson just going to snap and really hurt Jake Paul for real? But then part of me was like, this is just going to be the same old Jake Paul boxing match where he “fights” and makes a boat load of money.

And of course the latter was true. But I ain’t mad at it at all. In fact, I think this is one of the most brilliant business moves of the year by anyone. I used to get so annoyed watching Jake Paul fights…not that I paid for them or anything HAHA! But on the surface how could you not get frustrated with fights that were obviously tilted in favour of Jake.

However, I am a new man and I see the light.

You can’t hate on someone who essentially has created a million dollar money printing machine, where he just keeps redoing the same formula over and over and cashing in 10’s of millions of dollars. I mean, if Netflix is going to pay for these fights so the whole world can watch, you know the business moves were done right.

And if Mike Tyson can make $20M to show up, then you can’t hate that either.  

And yes, Netflix’s lagging stream was annoying and the fight was a bust because Jake didn’t want to hurt Tyson. I get it. Bigger picture though, it was pure genius.