Meaning What

It's that Meaning What Movie Club time again, folks. This month we're discussing the 1991 cops-and-robbers-who-are-also-surfers blockbuster Point Break . Not without its flaws, this is a surprisingly complex (and surprisingly progressive) thriller that even the acting chops of early-90s Keanu couldn't sink. Want more? Subscribe to our newsletter , or follow us on  Instagram  and  Bluesky . ——— Mea...

Welcome to a special preview episode of our Patreon-only podcast The Subscription Show!  Enjoy and we'll see you again on Thursday for our regularly scheduled programing.  This month we saw our podcast break out internationally. And by "internationally" I mean just in India. And by "our podcast" I mean specifically our episode about Moonlight . You know what, just listen to the episode. You'll see...

This week we're looking at secret agents in cinema. From the genre-defining silliness of Sean Connery's James Bond to the shaky-cam-defining realism of Matt Damon's Jason Borne, we discuss how the films defined politics and masculinity for generations, and how new generations are beginning to redefine the genre in return. If you would like to help make future commentary on Pierce Brosnan's bowties...

This week, we discuss the tenuous relationship between the Western fine art market and the People's Republic of China. We cover the Old Summer Palace bronze heads , why westerners find it easy to love Ai Weiwei , and the Second Opium War because global conflict was the most popular means of art collecting in 19th century Europe. For more on the sacking of the Summer Palace, its bronze heads, and t...

This week we discuss one of the United States' first fine art movements— the Hudson River School —and it's inextricable relationship with Manifest Destiny . We also discuss the legacy of these two ideas in American art, and Mason rants some more about Ansel Adams . A good time is had by all.   And if you want to keep the good time going, consider joining our Patreon . There you'll find bonus conte...

In his special segment Play Up,  Meaning What producer and co-host Christopher Scott McNeill explores unique and innovative storytelling in video games. This month, Chris has a message about his recent experience video games and the future of the segment. Click here to donate to the McNeill's GoFundMe.   We have a Patreon , and are on  Instagram  and  Twitter . Call to action! ——— Play Up is a pro...

Last month we were removed from Apple Podcasts without warning or meaningful explanation. What followed was a short-lived tour through some of the reasons why turning everything into a subscription platform and expecting Big Tech to solve all our problems are two of the stupidest ideas man kind has ever had.   We have a Patreon ! Help us in our mission to break the capitalist cycle gripping our ed...

For the Pride Month edition of the Meaning What Movie Club, we watched Shane Black 's 2005 dark comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang . It's not a perfect film, but it does feature arguably the first favorable depiction of a gay man in an American action movie: Val Kilmer's delightfully blunt LA private eye "Gay" Perry. Look, this movie is a mess but its fun and it'll make you miss Robert Downey Jr. before K...

This episode contains mature content. Last week saw us briefly booted from Apple Podcasts (more on that later), so here is the episode we were going to put out on 6/17 but didn't get to for various reason. On today's episode, join the crew of the ISS Optimism as they embark on their most dangerous mission yet. With their captain incapacitated and their shuttle down behind enemy lines, will these f...

This episode contains explicit content that is meant for neither work nor children. It's Pride Month, round two! This week, Mason and Sean are discussing the history of censorship of LGBTQ+ art from Robert Mapplethorpe (NSFW link) to now, and what that history can tell us about the evolution of American fine art and culture as a whole. We all discuss moral panic, religion in legislation, and decea...

Welcome to Listen Now! , a monthly mini-podcast from it's no sam studios hosted by Meaning What producer and cohost Sean Ang. This week, Sean provides a crash course in K-pop and the ways it reimagines and subverts Western popular music, often creating something entirely new in the process.   Join our Patreon and help us continue making this podcast. https://patreon.com/meaningwhatpod ——— Listen N...

June is LGBTQ Pride Month! This week, Mason and Sean are introducing our month-long discussion of LGBTQIA+ issues in the arts with a conversation about the annual Pride Parades: their history, their contemporary climate, and what it all can illuminate about the process of cultural minority groups moving into (and/or being coopted by) the mainstream. In other news, we have a Patreon! Head over to h...

It's the Meaning What Movie Club! As AAPI Heritage Month draws to a close, Mason and Sean are visited by our good friend Hicham Benhallam (in his first solo appearance) to discuss the award-winning 2020 Korean-American film Minari . Go buy a bucket of Cherry Coke and watch this film like a gosh dang American.   We have a subscription program and Patreon in the works! Lots of bonus material headed...

This week, Mason and Sean are joined by abstract painter Kathleen Larsen to discuss how personal experiences and the events of the past year or so brought about a new direction for her art practice. We also discuss the shifting landscape of art Instagram, peace and conflict studies, and navigating abstract art in mediums you're not particularly familiar with. Follow Kathleen on Instagram ! And thi...

Mason and Sean return for part two of AAPI Heritage Month with an episode examining the outsized influence of Japanese art and Asian culture in general on modern and contemporary Western fine art. We discuss Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows , Urban Outfitters , and whatever this ignorant garbage is. We only ever so briefly touch on the cancer that was and is Pablo Picasso , but focus is...

Play Up is a monthly segment where Meaning What producer and co-host Christopher Scott McNeill explores unique and innovative storytelling in video games. This month, Chris talks about Canadian game designer Kan Gao's  To the Moon  and its roots in the 16-bit era of Chris's childhood.   We have a Patreon and Apple Podcast subscription in the works! Lots of new and exclusive content on the way, so...

May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States, and Sean and Mason are kicking it off with a conversation about San Francisco's Chinatown. It's an ugly history, but there's no shortage of lessons along the way. The California Society video about Arnold Genthe. *This episode has been corrected, because Mason got some names mixed up! Lewis Caroll was the author who photographe...

Welcome back to the Meaning What Movie Club! This month, Mason and Sean are joined by special guest Robert Hershenow to talk about the important, influential, geniusly stupid film Blazing Saddles . We all loved this film, so get ready for a lighthearted episode! Don't worry though; next week we'll be back to normal.   Follow us on  Instagram , Twitter , and sign up for the  newsletter . ——— Meanin...

Sean watched all but one of this year's nominees for Best Picture, so this week we're discussing the Academy Awards and all the things that they come with. This is a big episode full of hot takes that took Mason an extra long time to edit into something coherent, so please enjoy and tell your friends and family and associates with advertising money. *Content warning: On this episode, we discuss se...

Welcome to Listen Now! , a monthly mini-podcast from it's no sam studios hosted by Meaning What producer and cohost Sean Ang. This week, Sean discusses the work of Serpentwithfeet and his important role in challenging thematic and sonic conventions in R&B and pop music, as well as his influence as an openly queer voice in a stubbornly conservative industry Songs featured: cherubim four ethers A Co...

We are joined once again by our good friends Kim McMasters and Hicham Benhallam from the band Post Sixty Five . We discuss their latest release " Crowdsurfing " and how the pandemic helped shape it.  We also discuss promising future opportunities for kissing our friends, the minefield that is internet advertising, and hypothetical ways to defraud for-profit insurance companies through the power of...

Immersion (Piss Christ) is a 1987 photograph by Andres Serrano that helped Senator Jessie Helms realize his career-long dream of gutting the National Endowment for the Arts. It's a 60x40-inch Cibachrome print of a plastic Jesus figurine apparently submerged in the artist's own urine. It's a piece that is as controversial as it is misunderstood, and which highlights an important thing that many Ame...

Non-Fungible Tokens! You've probably heard about them, leading fine art auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's now sell them, and famed South African emerald mine heir/Tony Stark-wannabe Elon Musk loves them . They're so magical that they sometimes disappear ! And, perhaps most importantly, they answer the question which has vexed so many since the beginning of digital art: how do we create monet...

New segment alert! Play Up is a monthly segment where Meaning What producer and co-host Christopher Scott McNeill explores unique and innovative storytelling in video games. This month, Chris reflects on the Starbreeze Studios and Josef Fares collaboration Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons  and its use of dual-stick controls to connect the player to the games' characters in ways that arguably could not...

Meaning What Movie Club: March Edition! This month, we discuss Ana Lily Amirpour's 2014 Iranian-American Vampire Western A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night . Celebrated upon its release for its unique visuals and subversive undertones, Amirpour's black-and-white-rockabilly-goth-romp is often heralded as a feminist indie jewel. A lot has changed in the past 7 years though; is this film still as progr...