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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

This week we discuss one of the United States' first fine art movements—the Hudson River School—and it's inextricable relationship with Manifest …

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 …

Last month we were removed from Apple Podcasts without warning or meaningful explanation. What followed was a short-lived tour through some of the …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

This week Mason, Sean, and Chris discuss the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. They happened last Sunday and none of us actually watched the broadcast, but Sean really wanted to talk about them and they're "music's biggest …

Welcome to Listen Now!, a monthly mini-podcast from it's no sam studios hosted by Meaning What producer and cohost Sean Ang.

Sean is joined by Alan Dill to discuss the life and legacy of the late, groundbreaking trans …

This week Mason, Chris, and Sean consider the work of posthumously-celebrated photographer Francesca Woodman and discuss our culture’s toxic habits …

This week, Mason and Sean speak to chalk artist and muralist Naomi Haverland about her practice, the influences of social media on her projects, and how public art has changed over the past year.

See more of Naomi's art …

Welcome back to the Meaning What Movie Club! This month's film is Barry Jenkins' 2016 Academy Award winning film Moonlight. Mason, Sean, and Chris …

On today’s episode we discuss the rise and fall of disco, its relationship to race and sexuality in America, and what its reemergence in pop music …

Welcome to Listen Now!, a monthly mini-podcast from it's no sam studios hosted by Meaning What producer and cohost Sean Ang.

As you know, February is …

This week Mason, Sean, and Chris discuss the legendary photography collective Magnum, the effects that recent reporting on sexual misconduct …

On today’s episode, Mason and Sean talk to violinist, educator, and arranger Zak Grafilo about his group The Alexander String Quartet, the unique …

Welcome to the first episode of the Meaning What Movie Club! This year Mason, Sean, and Chris will be ending each month by discussing a movie of …

Mason, Sean, and Chris celebrate our nation's new leaders with a discussion about presidential inaugurations and the people chosen to perform at …

This week Sean and Mason are joined by the band Post Sixty Five to talk about their latest single "Middle Child", as well as how personal …

Welcome to season two! Sean and I begin the new year with a discussion about abstract art, the roles we play as viewers and consumers, and how …

Today’s episode is our last for 2020, and with a new year approaching we thought we’d try something different. Join us for a discussion of the 1997 film The Devil’s Advocate and all the things it was trying so …

On today’s episode—our final interview of 2020—Mason talks to fine art photographer JP Ryan about pursuing photography at a state school, making art …

This week, we talk to writer and journalist Christopher Scott McNeill about growing up and teaching Literature in the American South, working in the independent coffee scene in Sacramento, and how those experiences — …

On today’s episode, we talk to drag performer A La Mode about how she got her start in drag, how the popularity of a certain show has changed the …

This week, Sean and I talk to visual artist Megan Moriarty about what grad school does to an art practice, what starting your career alongside a …

On today’s episode, we talk to photographer Alana Rios about how the California landscape has shaped her art practice, the history and politics of …

This week, we talk to visual artist Daniel Alejandro Trejo about how his hometown and identity shape his art, reconsidering what graduate school …

On this week’s episode, we speak to vocalist and educator Lee Hoffman about her very personal journey in discovering her medium and what her medium has helped her discover about herself. Along the way we also discuss …

In one of the first episodes ever recorded for this show, Mason Hershenow talks to artist and model Diana Oliphant about the institutions that rule …

On today’s episode, the tables are turned as our co-host Sean Ang interviews your host Mason Hershenow — a classically-trained photographer  — about his own art practice, his thoughts on art education, and the …

This week your hosts Mason Hershenow and Sean Ang speak to vocalist Angela Yam about her experience discovering her medium in college, the state of …

Welcome to our first episode! As an introduction, this week your host Mason Hershenow will be talking to co-host Sean Ang about Sean's experiences as a classical musician and how COVID has made them reconsider their …