Not My Scene

We may not have gone to clown school but we tried our best to study up on the clown phenomenon sweeping the nation. The 2026 version is looking less like the creepy clown hysteria of 2016 and more like avant-garde performances in East L.A. (don't worry, both are discussed). Featured in this episode are interviews with 2 performers: Miles Calderon aka Mr. Cardboard (clown!) and Janoah Bailin (...

This week we are joined by Christina Schmidt (1/2 of Movies That Raised Us) to revisit peak Tumblr era and the surrounding subculture(s). We're talking Sky Ferreira! We're talking chokers and flannels! We're talking Hamilton fanfiction drama!  Tip: check out the video version of this podcast on Spotify or YouTube to see visuals including our old blogs and the creation of the Tumblr...

We're back for the much-anticipated part 2 of Kaia's weekend-long LARP adventure. Day 2 had our favorite NPC being chased off a battlefield, questioned by a squire, and in her first named role! Will she stand her ground when faced with the op (the lady knight from day 1)? Listen to find out! Email us: notmyscenepod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and TikTok !

Lights, Camera, (Live) Action (Roleplay)! Have you ever wondered about the people playing with foam weapons in your neighborhood park? Wonder no longer, because Kaia  ventured far into the woods of Washington State for a weekend-long, immersive LARP event, and has emerged with a surprise tale for Den in two-parts. This scene has it all: thrilling (scary) combat, political intrigue, Broadway-level...

We took a trip back to the 2010's - when forums reigned supreme - for a delightfully cringey retrospective on Brony culture. Bronies AKA adult (typically male) fans of My Little Pony were a remarkably strong fandom, selling out convention centers and supporting cottage industries like suggestive MLP body pillows. What's left of Brony culture in the 2020s? The answer may scare you. Source...

Grab your dauber and pour yourself a crispy rootbeer float because it's BINGO time, baby! Yarden filled in her bleached brows, marched herself to an ATM, and faced down security guards to bring us an exclusive peek into the most sceneless of all scenes: a Veterans of Foreign Wars Bingo Hall. And yet... aren't the most sceneless scenes in some ways the sceniest scenes of all? Other topics...

Time limits, greyscale, and Brick not working to curb your phone addiction? Maybe you just need to toss it altogether! That's what anti-tech activist and writer August Lamm did. She dialed in to NMS via dumb phone to tell us about her experience as an artist in NYC without a smartphone or computer. Consider us inspired!! Other discussion includes the cuntiest dumb phone options, what we'...

Not My Scene will be back for a new episode on March 31st, but in the meantime we’re excited to share this episode of STAN that we were on! STAN is hosted by Allegra Ponti and explores obsessive celebrity worship, parasocial relationships and digital intimacy. On this episode, we go all in on Gossip Girl. We get into how media catalyses the loss of childhood innocence, unrealistic expectations of...

In honor of awards season we are tapping in to the cinephile community. Filmmaker and host of the podcast Behind the Slate Aaron Strand (@behindtheslatepod) joins us for an insightful conversation (19:20) about the importance of IRL film community, Letterboxd culture, gatekeeping, KPop Demon Hunters, and what the heck the Criterion Collection is all about. Plus, we give our two cents on Olympic fi...

The girls are joined by fan fiction expert Annamarie who gives us a history lesson on the origins of the art form (spoiler alert - always been gay!) and catches us up on where it is now (kinky and somehow even gayer?). We also discuss fan fiction's impact on mainstream media ( Twilight , 50 Shades of Grey, The Love Hypothesis ) and Kaia and Yarden read some of their extremely embarrassing fan...

We're doing our "big day" here at NMS and watching the birdwatchers! Joined by birding friend Allison, we discuss the birder archetypes, our adventures in the field, and the hit YouTube documentary Listers . Who knew birding could be so cutthroat (finch)!  Email us: notmyscenepod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and TikTok !

On this week's episode we're sharpening our cheekbones, locking into our 'hunter eyes,' and mogging so hard that we promise you'll be able to sense our physical ascension even through an audio medium. We went deep on incel manosphere forums to get the scoop on looksmaxxing so that you can spot the warning signs when your tween boy cousins start referencing 'bonesmashi...

PIN HEADS RISE!!! We got an EXCLUSIVE interview with Mo Davis of Den of Pin, the largest collection of pre-digital pinball machines on earth!!! PLUS our own experiences at Den of Pin, an interview with a regular, and our 2026 predictions!! Email us: notmyscenepod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and TikTok !

It's finally time... to reveal the dark underbelly of renaissance festivals!!! We discuss the glorious origins of the festival and its descent into a capitalist hellscape built on the labor of unpaid volunteers and rife with sexual harassment. Fortunately, there are lots of heroic community members working to build local festivals and change the toxic culture. Among them is our anonymous inte...

Hear ye hear ye! Calling all barbarian bombshells, swashbuckling sailors, and washing well wenches for we have a tale to tell! Are renaissance festivals magical sanctuaries for the fairies and witches of the world or simply an excuse to get drunk on mead and make lewd jokes? Both? We're discussing our personal experiences as well as an interview with a professional ren faire performer! Discus...

Get your cards ready for swiping and your pins ready for entering because this week we're maxxxxxing out our spend limits to bring you the juiciest secrets and craziest point-fueled adventures from the world of credit card churners. When it comes to reward optimization, churners know no bounds. Are we telling you to throw caution to the wind and open as many credit cards as you can? No! Are w...

Madison haunts the pod!!! We are famously scaredy cats so we had to get a true horrorfile on to tell us about her experiences frequenting haunts such as Halloween Horror Nights, Knotts Scary Farm, and the Eastern State Penitentiary. We attempt to understand the psyche of a brave girl and answer the question "why are you built different?" Discussion includes social anxiety in haunted hous...

Listen closely. Not for very much longer. Our Rocky Horror episode is here! A play and movie with an outsized cultural impact, this cult classic has built a community in every sense of the word. We got in on the madness to understand the inside (dirty) jokes in the counter script, the ins and outs of audience participation, and the queer representation (and misrepresentation) in the political clim...

Come with us on a long, winding, harrowing journey through the commodification of women on the fields and courts of rec league sports. Topics discussed include Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde apologies from teammates, rec leagues as venues for romantic partners, and the woman who turned her apartment into the Titanic (mass grave site). Email us: notmyscenepod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and TikTok !

Ladies, should you dump your man for an AI boyfriend? We took a long, strange journey through the online community of r/MyBoyfriendIsAI to get the tea on this hot new scene! Are they being judged too harshly? Listen to find out! #ClankerRights Email us: notmyscenepod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and TikTok !

What is bobcheese you might ask? Well in a nutshell, it's thinking "bob" and "cheese" are funny, but really it's so much more than that. This week we're revisiting a more wholesome era of memes (I can has cheezburger?) and bring it all the way up to the present to discuss what elements of our society could be deemed "bobcheese" (Tim Robinson), or in con...

No seriously, are we?? This week we're diving into the twisted and depraved world of local women-only dating groups to discuss the West Elm Caleb-ification of it all. Highlights include a recap of the The Woman Who Fell In Love With Her Psychologist and an interview with one of the Guys himself! Email us: notmyscenepod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and TikTok !

It seems like every week there is a new theory online about how to keep your face looking smooth, glassy, and wrinkle-free. From "skin flooding" to the "caveman method" we've seen it all, but what actually works? Skincare angel Lili Stenn has descended on the pod to give us her tried and true routine. We also discuss anti-aging politics and the procedures that take it a st...

Joined by bff of the pod Hana, we discuss social media accounts dedicated to celebrities! Long before PopCrave, PopBase, and PopTingz were around to tell you that Sabrina Carpenter "stunned" in new photo, we had One Direction fans dedicating hours to posting edits, photos, and updates to our Tumblr feeds. The ancient craft of stanning is alive and well today and we were lucky to get inte...

The consumerism final boss has arrived in the form of a stuffed animal keychain based (very loosely) on Norse mythology. Wtf is a Labubu and why are they everywhere??? We get into it: the blind box psychology, Labubu BBLs, the recession indicator of it all, and a description of OUR dream collectable doll. Email us: notmyscenepod@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and TikTok !