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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2814 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 6, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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You know what? The halftime show was a lot of fun. Bad Bunny did a great job and as far as I can tell the message was definitely much more one of unity than one of criticism, contrary to the Trumpist worries. His only lines in English? God Bless America (although with the slightly subversive implication that America = 'the Americas' more broadly). The dancing was great (Indian - Hispanic unity there, white America really doesn't get/value dancing atm), the visuals were very varied and fun to look at, although I personally can understand a decent amount of Spanish I think there was probably enough going on that non-speakers would probably still enjoy?

My girlfriend watches the halftime show every year – not the Super Bowl, she just likes the halftime shows. I was half-watching it, and while reggaeton (or anything reggaeton-adjacent) is not really my cup of tea, I did feel like it's more appropriate for this context than Kendrick Lamar, purely for being more overtly "party" music composed with dancing in mind. Bad Bunny, with whose music I was erstwhile unfamiliar, is an undeniably talented performer.

Favourite take so far is from Ryan Long:

If I was running for president of a Latin country my platform would be to bring the people a second drum beat

Legitimately: why is that every Spanish-speaking country is so obsessed with the reggaeton drum pattern? I went to Cuba for a week and it was inescapable. My brother went to Spain several years ago and came back saying the same thing, that Spanish people like music with exactly one rhythmic pattern. I went to a rave during Covid and there was a DJ playing techno, but all of the Mexicans in attendance simply refused to dance until another DJ took over and began playing reggaeton.

And the weirdest thing is that every other non-Anglophone culture is starting to follow their example. In the last three months I've been to a wedding for a Turkish couple and a Syrian birthday: the soundtracks were Turkish reggaeton and Arabic reggaeton, respectively. What is it about those four notes that inspires such a hypnotic cross-cultural fixation?

Don't forget Norwegian Reggaeton!

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