Waiting to X-hale

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Ep. 79: Fright Night Finale! Halloween Kills, Chucky and Ghosts Oct 25, 2021

Show notes

Our hosts close out season four with a Halloween-themed episode that covers a spate of new horror-related releases from Halloween Kills to SyFy's Chucky series. Speaking of horror, Karen took her first cross-country flight since the pandemic started and has tales to tell, while Wynter takes another kind of Trip with a Swedish suspense film of the same name.

The two tease new GBBO related BoCo that will be available to Patreon subscribers during the season break, and our songs of the week bring you two different autumnal vibes.

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Ep. 78: Squid Game and Playing for Survival Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

SPOILER ALERT: Details from the several episodes of Squid Game are discussed in the main segment.

Wynter and Karen join the rest of the world in obsessing over Squid Game, the S. Korean Netflix series about contestants playing children's games to try to win billions of won without getting eliminated...literally. The two also talk about this week's big reveal that W2X is curating the humanities program for the LA Phil's GenX festival in spring 2022. In the spirit of the moment, Karen re-watches the film Waiting to Exhale for the first time since 1995, while Wynter tells us what L.A. Plays Itself has to do with the angle the two are taking for the festival. Nuo-lingo tells us about a new turn to granny aesthetics and old money cosplay, plus two classic songs of the week.

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Ep. 77: ACS Impeachment Sep 27, 2021

Show notes

Who is the "mother SCOBY" of all Karens? Find out on this week's episode, which dives deep into Impeachment, the latest installment of Ryan Murphy's American Crime Story anthology. How does the series ratchet up its scenes of bureaucratic drama as Sarah Paulson and Beanie Feldstein disappear into the roles of Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky? How has the series already shifted our hosts' perspective on their original reactions to the scandal back in the 90s?

Wynter gets bourgie (aka boujee) and hires a private chef after her adventures in Portugal, and Karen introduces us to the Australian dramedy, The Unusual Suspects, featuring Filipina leads in a show that she describes as a cross between The Flight Attendant and Devious Maids, with a touch of Oceans 8. Plus, nuo-lingo and a new song of the week, followed by an indisputable classic.

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Ep. 76: You're Not the Main Character! Sep 13, 2021

Show notes

Inspired by Kathryn VanArendonk's Vulture article about white men in crisis on TV, Wynter and Karen explore the many layers of white male aggrievement in TV, pop culture, and real-life (fr. Rutherford Falls, to White Lotus and Ted Lasso w/ a special shoutout to the new movie Vacation Friends). Wynter discusses the spoils she acquired in the Tom Girardi auction (Erica Jayne, on the RHOBH's ex-husband), as our hosts comb through the other items on offer for both deals and insights into the rich and hoardy. Karen offers a super-cut of her thoughts about Netflix's The Chair after her week-long junket on other outlets. Nuo-lingo serves up another nickname for a controversial "social justice" figure, and we close with two very fun SOTWs from CANADIANS!

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Ep. 75: Geriatric Xers and End-of-Summer Top 10 Aug 30, 2021

Show notes

Film critics and husbands Dave White and Alonso Duralde of the Linoleum Knife Podcast are GUEST HOSTING W2X this week!

While Wynter and Karen are running around taking care of business (at a safe distance and masked, of course) Dave and Alonso have stepped in to discuss "geriatric" millennials, Xers, and whether these terms are even useful. And with the end of summer upon us, they share their Top 10 films, tv shows, and printed words of the last few months. We also get their take on NUO-LINGO and always, some choice SOTW selections for your playlists.

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Ep. 74: BioDocs from Bourdain to Val Aug 16, 2021

Show notes

Karen and Wynter explore two high-profile and controversial documentaries about beloved figures Anthony Bourdain (Roadrunner), and Val Kilmer (Val). What do we get from conjuring their lost voices? And what do we miss in the process? Wynter performs our semi-annual Ryan Murphy check-in, and gets pumped up about ACS: Impeachment on the Lewinsky/Clinton scandal, while looking askance at this season of American Horror Story. Karen spends some quality time with the Peacock platform to tell us all about Dr. Death and Rutherford Falls. Nuo-lingo comes from an old familiar place, and songs of the week both new and old are available for your listening pleasure.

Find all things W2X at w2xpodcast.com

Ep. 73: Woodstock 99 & Music Festivals with Ann Powers Aug 02, 2021

Show notes

One of our generation's greatest pop music critics, Ann Powers (NPR Music), sits down with Karen and Wynter to process the new Woodstock 99 doc, and music festivals in general, while exploring the cultural conditions that stoked this calamity.

This week, both hosts are up to going deep on Mike White's latest HBO limited series, The White Lotus, and as promised, wrap up their take on the Fear Street trilogy by processing the 1666 edition. Plus, a homonymic nuo-lingo and songs of the week by powerful female artists working in *very* different styles.

Find all things W2X at www.w2xpodcast.com

Ep. 72: Ridin' Down Fear Street: 1994 and 1978 Jul 19, 2021

Show notes

Wynter tells Karen to suck it up for a ride down R.L. Stine's Fear Street, especially with the release of the trilogy on Netflix and its deep GenX flex (from 1994 to 1978). SPOILERS ABOUND! Before we get to the scary parts, Karen insists we process this year's Emmy nominations. Which categories does she deem a veritable "Sophie's Choice"?

Meanwhile, Wynter makes some special requests of the team working on the new, Samantha-less SATC reboot. Plus, an update on all the nuo-lingo recently added to Dictionary.com, some of which our regular listeners already know, and a couple of 90s hits in keeping with our Fear Street moods.

Find all things W2X at w2xpodcast.com

Ep. 71: Soft, Yacht, and Spago Rock with Mike Pace and Molly Lambert Jul 05, 2021

Show notes

We go long this week to pore over all the shout horns, crotchy synth chords and late-80s affluence of what Mike Pace famously describes as Spago rock. Molly Lambert explains the Spago-adjacent music she and her brother have dubbed "Glass Bricks rock," and the whole panel gets into what Wolfgang Puck and Spago as fantasy and reality meant to pop culture from the 1980s onward. Wynter and Karen kick off the show by processing the homosocial episode of Dave, and explain why Apple TV's Physical is more than a glossy journey through 1980s aerobics culture.

Nuo-lingo reminds us we're in a pandemic, and we leave you with a song in honor of the recently departed cultural critic, Lauren Berlant.

Ep. 70: Gamechangers: Film & TV Edition Jun 21, 2021

Show notes

Wynter asks us all to think about the films and TV shows that changed the game, from those that captured the style and essence of their era (Clueless), to those that transformed the cultural conversation (Boyz N The Hood, and the early-80s trifecta of Victor/Victoria, Tootsie, and Yentl). Karen celebrates Pride month by getting into the FX docuseries, Pride alongside the series finale of Pose, while Wynter dishes about the cast shake-ups on RHOC.

The two brace themselves as the state of California lifts all Coronavirus restrictions, and coin their own nuo-lingo, #unvaxxinista in the process, even as they explain another one. Plus there is a super soft rock vibe to this week that foreshadows what's in store in the future.

Find all things W2X at w2xpodcast.com

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