Low Culture Boil

In this ep Amber talks to Rax about her sobriety and her new collection of essays Sloppy Or: Doing It All Wrong PREORDER IT NOW! Like before you finish this sentence. They catch up as usual, get resentful about resentments and there is a special guest at the very end, because she woke up from her nap early. Look out for Amber's next gripe zone about her daughter hogging the mic.

Gay Florida novelist Kristen Arnett joins Rax and Amber to talk about retirement communities in the Sunshine State, of which there are 8 in Kristen's immediate vicinity alone! What are the environmental and social impacts of importing seniors by the thousands to live on island time in Florida? Also, what the hell is "NYPD Pizza"?

In this ep Amber and Rax talk about the 2017 animated film The Boss Baby. But before that they talk about baby botox, how music is a drug and everything that has ever happened to them. PS: I'm sorry it took me (Amber) forever to edit this one.

In this whirlwind ep Rax and Amber talk to Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya about construction, revenge and boos baby. They also eventually get to talk about Kayla's piece for Autostraddle "We Went to Every Dyke Bar in NYC in One Day" that she wrote with Drew Burnett Gregory and which we highly recommend! If you listen to the whole ep you will get to hear about all the lesbian bars they visited and the Shyamalan-like twist at the end, they were the lesbian bars all along, no it's not that, but it kinda is. Also, if you listen to the end, you will hear the insistent babbles of Amber's baby. Remember, bars are about the people you are in them with and feminism is about pissing wherever you want.

Josh Gondelman (comedian, friend of the pod, and official Boston correspondent) joins us once again to talk about Boston's finest, Ben Affleck. Why is he so grim and does it have anything to do with that incredible phoenix tattoo?

Don't call it a comeback, actually you totally can, that's what it is. Amber and Rax are back to talk about the most important cultural event happening right now, that's right, we're talking about Red Lobster filing for bankruptcy. We just had to come back from hiatus to look into this because something about the headlines smelled...shrimpy. Of course before we get to that we spend about half the podcast catching up, and after we spend a third of the podcast griping, so you get like a quarter or something (we don't do math) of Red Lobster content. Which is all you really need because it's a story as old as time. But if you want to read more about it we (Rax) read these articles, Amber read Rax's outline: The forgotten racial history of Red Lobster - Nathaniel Meyersohn for CNN Red Lobster, an American Seafood Institution, Files for Bankruptcy - Ali Watkins for NYT Red Lobster and Waffles - Jordan Lebeau, NYT The Fishy Death of Red Lobster - Emily Stewart, Business Insider If Red Lobster dies, part of me will, too - John Semley, Toronto Star

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Rax and author Elyssa Maxx Goodman discuss drag from 17th century kabuki theater to RuPaul's Drag Race and pandemic-born Zoom drag shows, all as told in Elyssa's forthcoming book "Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York"! The book comes out on 9/12 and is a must-read for anyone who loves, duh, glitter and concrete.

Amber and Rax chat about another 90s classic, Rugrats! This weird looking show about babies getting into shenanigans was the first cartoon with truly multigenerational appeal. It first aired in 1991 and we're here to say, it still slaps. Shoutout to listener Rachel Feingersh for the topic suggestion! Sources: The Oral History Of 'Nicktoons', Part III: Exploring The Multigenerational Appeal Of 'Rugrats' (Caseen Gaines and Mathew Klickstein, Decider, 2016) Talk About a Baby Boom (Paul Brownfield, LA Times, 1998) When Grownups Let Children Have a Say (Laurie Midflin, NYT, 1997) 'Rugrats' Creative Force (Rugrats Writers, LA Times, 1996) You Dumb Babies! (Mimi Swartz, The New Yorker, 1998)

Amber and Rax talk about one of their favorites, Eve Babitz. The LA Woman, the groupie, the muse, the artist, the author and ultimately the star. IYKYK, if you don't, listen. Info for this ep comes from: The "Sex and Rage" of Eve Babitz (Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 2017) Eve Babitz, a Hedonist With a Notebook, is Dead at 78 (Penelope Green, NYT, 2021) How Eve Babitz Saw Herself (Kevin Dettmar, The Atlantic, 2022) and of course Hollywood's Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A. by Lili Anolik, 2019

Rax and Amber dive into RV history and culture, touching on the development of the National Parks Service and the USPS along the way. We wouldn't even have the Margaritaville RV Resort if not for the Postal Service!

Amber and Rax (btw love how we write these in the 3rd person like we have a fancy producer, it's just us) anyway, Amber and Rax (definitely not us) talked about the Goosebumps books series and it's superstar author R.L. Stine. The series is known for getting boys into reading, and being despised by adults and critics, which is how you knew it was cool. Listener beware, you're in for a scare, not really, just some fun facts and opinions on children's books. Amber got most of the information in today's pod from this book! What's So Scary About R. L. Stine (Patrick Stones, 1998) Also some good stuff in these articles and interviews: Proposed Goosebumps Ban is Misguided (Coney Kingrey, Biz Journals, 1997) Giving 11 Year Olds Nightmares Since 1992 (Katy Waldman, Slate, 2012) R.L. Stine Explains How He Managed to Publish One Goosebumps Book a Month (Ryan Buxton, Huffington Post, 2014) 'I Never Wanted To Be Scary': An Interview With R L Stine (Chris Plante, The Verge, 2015) R.L. Stine's Top 13 Writing Tips (Bobby Powers, Writing Cooperative, 2021)

Rax and Amber sort of can't believe they've never talked about Goop before, so here it is! Tune in to learn about some of Goop's most insane recommendations, among other things.

In this ep Amber and Rax talk about the video rental store that killed all other video rental stores, Blockbuster. We look back now with nostalgia at the time when we went to a physical Blockbuster before it was ruined by Netflix, but we forget that they were once the bad guy taking out independent video rental stores. We forget that Netflix was once the new kid on the block taking down big bad Blockbuster and their late fees. So the question is, now that Netflix is the big bad guy, who's going to take them out? Maybe it will be NPC tiktoks streamers? Probably not that, but something new will come and Netflix needs to remember that history repeats itself. Oh, for all you article heads, here are the pieces we referenced: Viral TikTok NPC Streamer Pinkydoll Doesn't Care What You Think (Samantha Coke, Motherboard, July 17 2023) https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3ny9/viral-tiktok-npc-streamer-pinkydoll-doesnt-care-what-you-think Why Hit Movies AreCalled Blockbusters (Olivia B Waxman, Time Magazine, 2020) https://time.com/5776406/blockbuster-meaning/ Blockbuster: The Rise and Fall of the Movie Rental Store and What Happened to the Brand (Frank Olito and Alex Bitter, Business Insider, April 24 2023) https://www.businessinsider.com/rise-and-fall-of-blockbuster?amp Is Blockbuster Video About To Make A Comeback? (Stuart Heritage, The Guardian Mar 23 2023) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/23/is-blockbuster-video-about-to-make-a-comeback

We're baaaaaack! Amber and Rax catch up after a much needed break and chat about the most American foods they can think of. First they chat about the food of the gods, ambrosia salad, you might know it as green stuff or even watergate salad. How did we start mixing cool whip with fruit and coconut and why is it so gooood?! We also chat about micorwave cooking for singles, equally American. Rax wrote a piece for slate where she cooked a holiday meal in the microwave and learned the magic of how to adjust the levels. And for you article heads here are the pieces we read for to learn about fluff salad: Claudia McNeilly, Why ambrosia salad is the forgotten holiday dish that deserves our attention, National Post Jenny McGruther, Fresh Ambrosia Salad, Nourished Kitchen Mrs. Barringer (no first name), Dixie Cookery or How I Managed My Table For 12 Years Ellen Gutoskey, Jell-O Journalism: Investigating the Origins of Watergate Salad, Mental Floss

Rax and Sean KB of the Antifada host another episode of Sean and Rax's Movie Corner Or Whatever We Decide To Call It, this time about the History Channel's flagship reality TV program "Alone."

In today's installment of Sean And Rax's Movie Corner Or Whatever We Decide To Call It, Rax talks to the Antifada's Sean KB about every media goober's favorite prestige dramedy, Succession! Plus, an announcement!

Amber made Rax watch one of the worst movies of all time, Mac and Me and she was not happy about it. So Amber told her the story of how this product placement ET rip off was made. Brought to you by the same producer as Karate Kid! It was supposed to be for the children, it ended up being for nobody but Paul Rudd.

Rax and Amber dive into the insane history of America's favorite blonde with the help of M. Lord's Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll. If you've ever wondered whether there's a real psychopathic reason that Barbie doesn't have nipples, tune in!

Amber & Rax did a special video episode to talk about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards. They both agree there should be more slaps and less beige carpet at The Oscars. They also talk about the history of the awards ceremony and how it was made to keep Hollywood talent from unionizing. Check out the youtube video here!