Waiting to X-hale

Karen and Wynter explore what it means to be excellent to each other in a world as dire and apocalyptic as our own, as they get into the #girldad energy of Bill and Ted Face the Music (spoilers in the discussion!), and the entire Bill & Ted trilogy. Wynter tells us about a Brit comedy called I Hate Suzie that she happens to love. Karen is super bummed out and despairs out loud about the rise of fa...

A bonafide rock star turned author, Kathy Valentine (yes, THE Kathy Valentine from The Go-Go's, and author of the new memoir All I Ever Wanted )  joins Karen and Wynter to talk about ALL OF IT--from her time on the scene in Austin and Hollywood  in the late-70s and early 80s, to The Go-Go's imperial years, and her new life as an author. Wynter tells us about the Fast Times at Ridgemont High table...

Our dear friend and the smartest mouth in town, Katherine Spiers ( Smart Mouth podcast, Table Cakes Productions) joins us to mull over some of the new food TV being cooked up during the pandemic, from Selena + Chef , to Amy Schumer Learns to Cook . We also get into the ins and outs of what's happening more broadly in the food scene, from moldy jam-gate at SQIRL, to the perpetual Bon Appetit fallou...

Media scholar & author Dr. Brandy Monk-Payton (Fordham University) joins Karen & Wynter to talk about the preponderance of domestic psychodramas like T he Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Sleeping with the Enemy in the early 1990s. Together they explore what they say about cardigan femininity, race, and the terror of misaligned hand towels. The three also process Megan and Cardi's WAP, the Kamala Ha...

Karen and Wynter kick off a brand new season joined by June Diane Raphael, co-founder of the Jane Club, and star of Grace and Frankie , Long Shot and The High Note. June Diane drops in to BLOW OUR MINDS with her read on Clueless, a movie she used to think was good, but realizes might actually be bad. Meanwhile, Wynter's crush on Dr. Fauci has led to crafting (?!?), and Karen is moved to tears by t...

In this summer bonus episode, Karen shares her spring interview with Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls in preparation for her  NPR article on the duo.    Special thanks to NPR Music (especially Ann Powers and Marissa Lorusso), as well as the Indigo Girls and their team (especially Carla Parisi and Russell Carter) for making this all happen! 

In this summer bonus episode, Karen shares her spring interview with Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls in preparation for her NPR article on the duo. Special thanks to NPR Music (especially Ann Powers and Marissa Loruss o), as well as the Indigo Girls and their team (especially Carla Parisi and Russell Carter) for making this all happen! Stay tuned for KT's interview with Emily, coming up next.

Wynter and Karen welcome guest Karina Longworth of You Must Remember This for their season 2 finale! Karina tells us all about Polly Platt, the subject of this season's YMRT. Polly was an Oscar-nominated production designer, screenwriter, producer, and executive who put her stamp on some of the greatest and most loved films of the 1970s and 80s – including Paper Moon, Bad News Bears, Terms of Ende...

Wynter and Karen reunite with their former podmates Guy Branum and Margaret Wappler in this supersized episode fundraising for G.L.I.T.S and SummaEverything! The fierce foursome indulge in a deep catch-up about everything from the demise of the "girl boss," to 90 Day Fiance and Top Chef All Stars (Margaret even cameos at a boozy brunch in one of the episodes), all while processing the pop culture...

Wynter returns this week, as we welcome special guests Renee Bever (artist, co-host of Attack of the Queerwolf ), and Tavia Nyong'o (author, Professor of American Studies at Yale). The panel catches up about how they've been participating in the national uprisings, while reflecting on some of the media moments, both head-scratching, and inspiring over the last week, from the Dems draped in kente c...

We stand with the Black Lives Matter movement in advocating for racial justice, and against police violence. Wynter and her family have also suffered a personal tragedy, so this episode is in somber observance of this, as well as our current national events. Queer scholars & activists, Homay King and Jeanne Vaccaro join Karen to offer reports and resources for social justice actions, including way...

Wynter is off for the week, so one of Karen's oldest BFF's, the poet, writer and performer Raquel Gutierrez joins her from Tucson, AZ to talk about everything from making pizzas with coral mushrooms to Netflix's Lovebirds. Raquel, aka "Raquefella" also reveals Karen's AIM name from back in the day, while bringing us her thoughts on why we are so obsessed with pop culture about billionaires, a la S...

Guy Branum joins us for an impromptu reunion to talk more about Ryan Murphy's Hollywood on Netflix. Last week, guy texted Karen about the show, which we covered in our supersized Ep. 35. 6 hours later, we got together with Guy to dish even more on all the golden age of cinema hawniness!  Want to see the video and get all the other BoCo? Join our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/waitingtoxhale  

Wynter and Karen are not alone! Special sexxy guests, Guinevere Turner and Alonso Duralde join them in the W2X Zoom Room for a deep hang, and some scandalous conversation about Ryan Murphy's Hollywood , a new limited series rife with queer pool parties and other gratuitous forms of wish-fulfillment. Find out how Alonso and Guinevere are both being annoyingly productive during their quar, while you...

Karen & Wynter dive into the fray to discuss Mindy Kaling's latest sitcom, Never Have I Ever on Netflix. They engage multiple perspectives on the show, from controversies around its caste bias, to its role in diversifying contemporary teen representation. This has also been a busy week for our two hosts. Which one is going in for a free drive-thru Covid-19 test? And who survived a harrowing trip t...

Wynter & Karen talk through the twists and turns of the 90s-set racial melodrama, Little Fires Everywhere . Both continued to explore online extravaganzas this week, including Sondheim's 90th Birthday Concert, and the Melrose Place cast reunion. Karen also accidentally watched, and enjoyed, the HBO original film Bad Education starring Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney. Wynter shares a Nuo-Lingo you...

With the 1983 classic, Valley Girls back on streaming services, Wynter and Karen revisit the film alongside other San Fernando Valley gems like Karate Kid, Earth Girls are Easy, La Bamba and of course, Boogie Nights. Wynter chimes in on Babyface vs. Teddy Riley, while Karen plunges into the catacombs with the Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary production that streamed for free on YouTube for 48...

Karen and Wynter greet you from the new nation of Cascadia, or OrCaWash, or whatever you prefer to call the western pact states. Wynter gives us the "state of Twitter" in these times, including her own viral tweet about Sarah Sanders. This week the two also get into all sorts of pop culture they've been consuming, from Karen's first true "binge" of the quarantine (Netflix's Unorthdox ), to the new...

It's their third week of quarantine, so Karen is talking to Steak-umm on Twitter, and Wynter thinks Ellen sux. In lieu of music festival season launching this April, the two offer their own virtual W2X music festival for you this week. Sure there's no Coachella and Stagecoach, but what really strikes at Karen's heart is the postponement of PopCon 2020, the annual gathering of musicians, music writ...

W2X Movie Night - Tuesday, April 7 at 6pm PST  Pacific - check our social media accounts for details! Wynter and Karen each enter week 3 of their respective quarantines, so their habits (pop cultural and otherwise) have taken some unpredictable turns. Find out what they've been watching, listening to and doing that indicates they've gone over the edge. Speaking of which, the culture at large has r...

Karen & Wynter are in week two of their quarantines in Echo Park & Encino, following "shelter in place" directives from Gov. Newsom in California. This prompted them to wonder which fictional characters from the 70s, 80s or 90s would they actually want to shelter in place with for various practical, and sometimes other reasons. They catch up on what their days have been like, to what entertainment...

Wynter and Karen record remotely from their separate quarantine pods in Encino and Echo Park and give you an update on what they've been doing during their respective quarantines. Spoiler alert: they sure as hell ain't writing King Lear. Mostly they're just wrangling their Boomer parents--and their own deep anxieties. Amidst all of it, GenX has also managed to wedge its way into the Covid-19 conve...

Like everyone else in the world, Wynter and Karen are preparing for a possible Coronavirus quarantine. What social distancing and stockpiling techniques have they been practicing to avoid "the 'roni?" With the world as eerie and uncanny as it is in the age of late capitalism, both are feeling a little like they're actually living in disaster films like Contagion, Outbreak, Cloverfield, Idiocracy a...

Karen and Wynter fixed their audio problems just in time to record in the wake of Super Tuesday 2020. They get into the nitty-gritty generational breakdown between candidates and their supporters while assessing the media (hell)scape of electoral politics in general. Wynter tells us what Kim Kardashian has to do with all of it at the end of the segment (!!!)  In light of all this political drama,...

Have you ever bought something "as seen on TV" and not available in stores? Wynter and Karen stroll down memory lane about the most irritating and captivating infomercials from the 80s, 90s and today, while sharing their reviews of products that either they or their parents actually bought. It's the end of an era for the Real Housewives of Orange County with Tamara and Vicky's departures, and Wynt...