¶ Intro
>> Jordan: Hi, I'm Jordan. >> Kit: And I'm Kit. >> Jordan: Welcome to Starry Time, where stars plus lines >> Kit: equal stories. >> Jordan: In this week's episode, we'll be getting silly and exploring the pop culture of our constellation this month, Corona Borealis. >> Kit: In this episode, we share our favorite and least favorite occurrences of this month's constellation in pop culture, broadly defined. >> Jordan: Loosely defined.
>> Kit: And then we take over the brand to wish upon a star for what we wish existed.
¶ Favorites and Honorable Mentions
>> Jordan: All right, Kit. So we decided to focus in on the Borealis part of Corona Borealis for this exercise, can you get us started with your favorite instance of Borealis in pop culture? >> Kit: Yeah. So there was actually a lot to choose from when we looked at Borealis including a number of things not on the Wikipedia disambiguation page. So somebody is sleeping on
that on Wikipedia. Um, and I had a favorite picked out, but then as I was browsing the web, I came across Borealis Vintners And not only is the name great, the website really, really understood the assignment. When you go to the first, uh, page, uh, the first thing that you see is don't forget to look up, there's pictures of the northern lights. Um, we've got sort of a space slash night sky related iconography throughout the entire
website. Uh, it looks great. It is a, um, a wine company based up in the Pacific Northwest, I think Oregon or Washington. And, yeah, I was like, they just really understood the assignment and, um, better than, like, anything else I found. So that was my favorite. >> Jordan: I'm on their website now. Love their wine labels here. Absolutely. It seems like the northern lights is their total inspiration. >> Kit: So, uh, what was your favorite? Where did you go with this one?
>> Jordan: Kit, I also chose another small business, a little bit further north of Borealis Vintners. My favorite is actually something that, uh, in all my years, I had not come up with this pun, so I was very appreciative of it. It was the Aroma Borealis herb shop, which is sells all natural body care, aromatherapy, herbal skin care products, herbal teas, all of which have been inspired by plants of the boreal forest and the people who live there. So this is based in Whitehorse, Yukon.
>> Kit: Aroma Borealis, yeah, I like that. That's very good. That's very good. >> Jordan: Had you thought of it before? >> Kit: No, never. I wish I had. >> Jordan: I wish I had. As soon as I read it, I was immediately jealous. And it's been around since 1998. >> Kit: Do you have any honorable mentions that you want to shout out in your favorites before we move to least favorites? >> Jordan: Yeah, I had a couple honorable mentions for
my favorites. The second was Borealis the Freezing Fog. Did you read this entry? >> Kit: No. >> Jordan: Borealis the Freezing Fog is an ice dragon from the Elden Ring video game, which I found on the villain Wikipedia. >> Kit: Oh. >> Jordan: Um, I watched a YouTube video of how to beat Borealis the Freezing Fog, and it would have been my top choice over Aroma Borealis if it looked cool, but pretty derpy this dragon. It says it's a minor antagonist, um, which, you
know, makes sense. What were your honorable mentions for favorite of Borealis? >> Kit: I had a couple. One of them was Borealis Philanthropy. Uh, they are, and I quote from their website, "a social justice philanthropic intermediary working to resource grassroots movements for transformative change."
They are funding things like, um, Emerging LGBTQ Leaders of Color Fund, a Black Led Movement Fund, Fund for Trans Generations, a Immigration Litigation Fund, um, lots of just sort of social justice related, um, initiatives that they sort of, it sounds like they sort of serve as an intermediary between community organizing and community groups and for funders or, you know,
people that have money. Um, so, yeah, so I was like that, it doesn't really make sense, Borealis, you know, I'm like, I don't really know what, why we're using the Borealis brand, but I like what you're doing. >> Jordan: Did you have any other runners up? >> Kit: Yeah, I had Borealis Records, which >> Jordan: Did not see this one. >> Kit: a Canadian record label. And their mission is basically, like, only sign Canadian musicians. >> Jordan: Cool. All right.
>> Kit: It's like folk, that kind of thing. I did not recognize immediately any of the, um, people listed on their wiki, but I was like, you know, Borealis you're up north in Canada. Okay, I liked it.
¶ Least Favorites
>> Jordan: All right, Kit, so we've gone over our favorites and our honorable mentions. Should we now get to our least favorite appearances of Borealis in pop culture? >> Kit: Oh, yeah. So. Wow. I have to go first because I feel very- some kind of way, um, the name of this organization is Borealis Exploration, which sounds like a just, uh, you know, chef's kiss supervillain corporation name.
>> Jordan: Just you wait till my least favorite, which is seemingly, literally a villain corporation, but keep going. Yes. >> Kit: So on this company's wiki, they started in Canada, and they are now currently not allowed to do any trade in Canada. >> Jordan: That's a good sign. >> Kit: Yeah, that's probably that seems like a red flag to me. They're an oil and gas quote unquote exploration service. Their
logo makes me uncomfortable. It looks like a dolphin holding a pickaxe. >> Jordan: What? >> Kit: I just... >> Jordan: It sounds phenomenal. Oh, wait, no, now I need to see this. >> Kit: I'll make sure to post it onto the socials. Their website looks like something from 1995, and there's, like, it's, like, not a developed website. There's just, like, a report on it. And you're like, what is this report about? I just put a link into the chat so you can see.
>> Jordan: I'm clicking it right now. Borealis press release. This is 2019, it says, uh, okay. >> Kit: And up in the corner, we have our Borealis Exploration limited logo. >> Jordan: Wow. Yeah. Now that I'm seeing this dolphin, what is going on here? I'd say it's closer to a beluga then perhaps a dolphin, you know, similar family. But, um, why it is holding this this miners axe? Um, well, it's because belugas love digging for oil. >> Kit: Right.
>> Jordan: That is the, the what, the symbology we're supposed to be taking away here? >> Kit: I don't know. Um, yeah, and, like, the website, as you can see, there's, like, nowhere to link, like, there's nothing to click. >> Jordan: That's it. >> Kit: That's it. And then you, like, go to the root of it, and there's nothing there. You're like, what is this website? Yeah, just. I don't know. And so I was like, this is my least favorite because it seems so
shady. And. And, wow. There's just. Yeah, there's a lot here. So that's what I went for, for my least favorite. And how about you? Where did you go for your least favorite? >> Jordan: Kit, well, I searched Borealis all over the web, and I thought I'd come up with the ultimate evil corporation with
the Borealis name. Um, but now that I'm investigating this website, this beluga is, we're going to have to have a villain con here face off to figure out which of these two corporations using the Borealis name is perhaps more evil. The Borealis that I was going to nominate is Borealis VC, which is a venture capitalist, already one of my least favorite terms, healthcare entrepreneurial company. And they are located too close to home, I would say. I don't need to disclose the
name, the proper noun, of this town. Let's just say that I have walked past Borealis venture capital many times without acknowledging it. Quote, "we are life cycle investors with syndicate partners to ensure that our companies have as many resources available as possible." >> Kit: It's just like, you read that sentence and you're like, I know what all of these words mean, but I do not know what this sentence means. >> Jordan: It sounds like evil corporation. >> Kit: It does.
>> Jordan: And then working with your "syndicate partners to ensure that," yeah, this gave me some real villain con vibes. >> Kit: Wow. >> Jordan: Wow. Two great options out there. >> Kit: Yeah, definitely. I also came across a Borealis website for a business. Just, bor- borealis dot com. And it's literally just a website with an email address on it for, it's like some company and you go to their website and it's like contact this person at borealis dot com.
And it's actually the Borealis holding. So the place that was Borealis exploration has become Borealis holding. And the Borealis holding website is literally just like, email this person for more information. I can't. >> Jordan: Alright, Kit, so those were our favorites and our least favorites. If you've done some deep dives out there on Borealis let us know on our socials if you have any other choices.
>> Kit: We're at Starry Time Pod on Mastodon on the Universeodon server, and the same handle on Twitter as well as occasionally on Tumblr. >> Jordan: Kit, we've had a wide range of good and bad here in the Borealis brand. Now
¶ Wished For
it's our chance to wish upon a star and take over this brand. So what did you wish for if you were in charge of Borealis in the pop culture? >> Kit: So before I came across the Borealis Vintners, I had sort of wanted to create a sister brand to your vinery in Australia, Corona Australis. And I wanted it to be Corona Borealis but they make mead and they were going to have Corona Borealis Maenad's Mead was going to be their like flagship. >> Jordan: Love it.
>> Kit: Yeah. But then I was like, well, I already have a, uh, Vintners. Like somebody's already got it. So I had to share that because I felt really proud of it. But then I decided that I think what I'd like to see is the Corona beer brand come out with an Australis and a Borealis beer. Um, of course they need to be space themed. They need to be contrasting maybe like one's a lager and one brown ale. Seems, um, like there's something there that, uh, that would be
interesting. So that's what I came up with if I was going to use the Australis Borealis Corona space, that's, I think a, uh, natural fit since the vinery's, uh, already been done. >> Jordan: Corona, I'm sure you're owned by Anheuser Busch or something of that nature, but get at us, we can design you some good brand opportunities. >> Kit: How about you? What did you wish for for the Corona Borealis brand?
>> Jordan: Well, Kit, it was hard because like you, what I actually want to have exist already does exist, but not quite in the way that I wished it would. So I was thinking about long named music festivals like Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo and Coachella. And I thought, if you say it really quickly, Corona Borealis could be another really great name for a music
festival. My idea for Corona Borealis is that it's a music festival that takes place around winter solstice that happens in a giant sphere like virtual space where they show you all the best parts of winter, the snowstorms, the blizzards, the northern lights, while you are nice and warm and indoors and don't have to be subject to the cold. It's kind of like, what if we had a big music festival that was during wintertime, as opposed to all the ones that we see, of course, during summertime, which
are outdoors. That was my great idea. And then I went on to Wikipedia and saw that the Borealis festival already exists in Norway currently. >> Kit: This also makes me want to have a, uh, Corona Borealis like, rave in, like, a giant ice, you know how they have those, like, ice hotels, but, like, an ice dance hall of some kind, like, up again, like you said, in the Arctic circle, big
ice palace. And they do, like. Like, I love your idea of, like, they put the northern lights on the ceiling if they're not happening. >> Jordan: Well, Kit, one of our wishes has already come true, and hopefully it's only a matter of time before the other one comes true as well. >> Kit: This has been Kit >> Jordan: And Jordan. >> Kit: Sisters, lovers of stars and stories. >> Jordan: And we'll see you next time, >> Kit: On Starry Time.