The Fast Road to Hell (Ep. 188 - The Nutcracker)

August 23, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Woody Shticks

My guest this week has been under a lot of pressure in his life. Raised in an oppressive religious community, he had to deal with ex-gay scammers, a parent who was abusing other kids, and more guilt than any person should ever have to deal with. On top of that, he had a highly active libido that came out in... unusual ways, culminating in the invention of a truly unique form of erotic folk art -- and a career path requiring a lot of vulnerability and very little clothing.

BTW, I hope you'll join us for the next Sewers of Paris live chat. It's on Saturday August 25th at 2pm pacific featuring guest Londyn Bradshaw. You can find a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed -- that's @sewersofparis. And head over to SewersOfParis.com to see clips of the stuff we talk about on each episode.

Also! If you're in Seattle, come check out the live comedy show that host along with some fantastically funny drag queens. It's called Queens of Adventure, and features queens on an epic Dungeons & Dragons quest. Tickets are now on sale for our August 30 show. And we're also appearing on a panel at PAX West on September 1st at 9:30pm in the Hippogriff Theater -- I hope we'll see you there! Get details and tickets at QueensOfAdventure.com.

This Week's Recommendation: Kimmy Schmidt

Thanks again to Woody for joining me. Head over to instagram to check him out. Thoroughly. He mentioned having gone to a pray-away-the-gay scammer, and being told he was too gay to be a successful actor. Hearing about that reminded me of an episode from season 1 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt -- episode 10, in which Titus hires an acting coach in order to book an acting job as a mad scientist/romantic lead.

Every episode of Kimmy Schmidt is extremely weird and extremely gay, this one in particular. Not only does it have the whole learn-to-act-straight storyline, there's also an extended running joke about a homoerotic 1930s musical called Daddy's Boy. It's one of my favorite episodes of the entire run of the series.

What makes it extra-ridiculous is the depiction of the pressure applied to actors like Titus -- he needs to be believably straight so audiences will accept his character marrying a cyclops woman at what is essentially a haunted house dinner theater. That is obviously dumb, but not THAT much dumber than the pressures applied to actors in real life to remain closeted, to police their every movement and word, and to base their careers on the constant aspiration to arbitrary signifiers of heterosexuality.

Titus the character manages to successfully feign straightness by the end of the episode. But Tituss Burgess, the real-life actor, is successful for the exact opposite reason: He's loudly queer, whether on 30 Rock or on Kimmy Schmidt or singing Poor Unfortunate Souls -- look up that video on YouTube -- or on various talk show appearances. He's found fame not by straightening himself out but by leaning into flamboyance.

All Monsters Are People (Ep. 187 - Attack of the Killer Tomatoes)

August 16, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Michael Varrati

What would it look like if you celebrated Halloween and Christmas at the same time? My guest this week is Michael Varrati, host of the podcast Dead for Filth, and screenwriter of such films as Grindsploitation 4, From Hell She Rises, and Seven Dorms of Death. But he's also the writer of the Hallmark film Broadcasting Christmas, starring Melissa Joan Hart, as well as A Christmas Reunion and A Christmas in Vermont. Michael's genre-hopping might seem a little weird, but he's not alone in straddling horror and rom-com. The two have more in common than you might expect.

BTW, I hope you'll join us for the next Sewers of Paris live chat. It's on Saturday August 25th at 2pm pacific. You can find a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed -- that's @sewersofparis. And head over to SewersOfParis.com to see clips of the stuff we talk about on each episode.

Also! If you're looking for more queer podcasts, check out the show I host with some fantastically funny drag queens called Queens of Adventure. We play an ongoing and very queer game of Dungeons & Dragons and we just announced some more live shows. Subscribe, sign up for the mailing list, and get tickets at QueensOfAdventure.com.

This Week's Recommendation: Gremlins

Thanks again to Michael for joining me. Since we recorded our chat a few days ago, I've been thinking a lot about the overlap of horror and Christmas -- how they're both such foundational genres, going back over 120 years. The first horror film was probably Le Manoir du Diable, made in 1896; that was followed two years later by the first Christmas movie, entitled simply Santa Claus.

And so the seeds were planted for the film that is my recommendation for this week: 1984's Gremlins. Not only is it a difficult cultural artifact to describe, it's sometimes difficult to convince people that it actually exists because it sounds like a parody -- which, in fact, it is.

A mysterious adorable creature is accidentally unleashed in a small suburb right before Christmas. At first everyone is enchanted by the cute furry monster, but then things get out of control as it multiples, and its various duplicates become increasingly wicked in response to the wickedness of the human around them.

It is really hard to classify this movie, so let's not even try. It's a completely deadpan delivery of both horror and holiday tropes -- it's not unheard of for naughty characters to get coal in their stocking, but in Gremlins they're launched to their death on sabotaged stairmasters.

I can't think of a better blend of the two genres, and I wonder if it's in part down to camp. Both scary movies and Christmas films thrive in trope and excess. It's only natural that they'd get along as well as they do.

Stuff We Talked About

Bonus Episode! Gay by May or Your Money Back (Ep. 186 - Gaby Dunn)

August 15, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Bad With Money's Gaby Dunn

What happens when you allow yourself to become a character in the stories that you tell about the world around you? My guest on this episode is the fantastic Gaby Dunn -- actress, journalist, writer, comedian, activist, blogger. Her podcast and forthcoming book are both entitled Bad with Money, and chronicle Gaby's attempts to help others manage their finances as she learns to manage her own. Gaby's background is in journalism, where the first rule is to remain neutral and never inject yourself into the story. But she felt drained by the pressure to hide behind her reporting, and discovered that getting personal and revealing was a gateway to more fulfilling work, and a more fulfilling life.

Huge thanks to everyone who makes bonus episodes like these possible with a pledge of a dollar or more a month on Patreon. There's rewards for folks who back the show -- just click "Support the Show on Patreon." Or you can support The Sewers of Paris for free by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice -- that really helps people find the show.

This Week's Recommendation: His Girl Friday

For my recommendation this week, take a look at the movie His Girl Friday, staring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russel. It's one of my very favorite films, following a will-they-won't-they pair of reporters who struggle with their feelings for each other and their dedication to covering the news. His Girl Friday comes from the era of fast-talking black and white screwball comedies, and it veers from farce to romance to an indictment of mass media that's still relevant -- in fact, perhaps even more relevant -- to this day.

We talked a lot on this episode of the podcast about journalism, and the long-standing rule that reporters must keep their writing as impersonal as possible. And at first, that might seem like a good rule of thumb, since you'd think that the whole point of news is to receive an objective reporting of the facts. But there's a problem with that: first, as we discussed, that exacts a pretty heavy toll of journalists. And second, it's impossible for news to ever be truly objective

Although his Girl Friday is definitely a Hollywood depiction of journalism, it has a brilliant appreciation for the fact that there are actual human beings behind the words you read, whether they're printed on a page or today glowing on a screen. It shows how newsworthy events intersect with the personal lives of those covering them, and how impossible it can be to maintain a firewall of objectivity -- since the very act of relaying information is always going to include a point of view.

Stuff we Talked About

Demons Were Always At Hand (Ep. 185 - Beetlejuice)

August 9, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Anthony Hudson

Is it possible to be a responsible adult without giving up the imaginary worlds you enjoyed as a child? My guest this week is Anthony Hudson, also known as Portland's premier drag clown Carla Rossi. Growing up, he'd slip into fantasy worlds to escape the reality of the dreary little town where he lived. But his reliance on escapes as a kid meant that he was unprepared for life as a grown up -- until he figured out how to invite real life into his fantasies.

Huge thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of a dollar or more a month on Patreon. There's rewards for folks who back the show -- just click "Support the Show on Patreon." Or you can support The Sewers of Paris for free by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice -- that really helps people find the show. Thanks to Trey Johnso8 who writes, "Relatable ... Listening helps me remember how much I love the topics discussed and sometimes gives me ideas for new things to try."

BTW, I hope you'll join us for the next Sewers of Paris livestream. It's this Saturday, August 11th, at 2pm pacific, with special guest Isabella Price -- an expert in horror films. We'll be talking about our favorite queer monsters, gay vampires, and everything spooky. There's a link to the livestream at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.

And we've just announced two more Queens of Adventure live shows, featuring drag queens playing a fantastically funny Dungeons & Dragons adventure for a live audience. The first is on August 30th at Kremwerk in Seattle, where we'll be part of a double-feature alongside the podcast d20 Dames. The second show is on September 1st at PAX West, also in Seattle. Tickets and details are now available at QueensOfAdventure.com -- where you can also subscribe to the Queens of Adventure podcast, join the discord, and follow the show on Twitter.

This Week's Recommendation: Interview with the Vampire

Thanks again to Anthony for joining me. Ever since I started this podcast, I've noted that queer people have a particular fondness for monsters. Maybe we identify with their feelings of frustration at the world, maybe it's their strength we admire, maybe it's their defiance -- whatever the case, scary creatures seem to hold a special place in many of our hearts.

So for my recommendation this week, take a look at one of my favorite horrifying films about a gay couple just trying to make it in the world: Interview with the Vampire. It's a movie that ages surprisingly well -- unlike the unfortunate followup, Queen of the Damned, about which the less said, the better.

Tom Cruise doesn't so much play Lestat as inhabit him, evoking a pained cynical effortlessness that simultaneously acknowledges his beauty and also his misery at the price that beauty exacts -- a look that will be familiar to anyone who's caught a glimpse of an Instagay in the wild.

Brad Pitt is the despondent human he seduces and persuades to join him, isolating him from the world except to eat it. When the relationship starts to sour, Lestat does what so many desperate spouses before him have: he obtains a child, played by Kirsten Dunst with so much sinister maturity you forget she was only 11 when the film was made.

Vampire films are among the oldest film genre -- we're nearing the 100 year anniversary of the making of Nosferatu -- and at this point it's nearly impossible to tell a vampire story that hasn't been told before. But Interview is stunningly inventive in multiple ways, my favorite of which is the barely-veiled lust between the male leads.

Whether the characters are staring at each other with passion or contempt, it's always with rolling boil of baroque desire. Overwrought, campy, and ridiculous, every moment they're on screen looks like the cover of a romance novel. And thanks to the unreasonably lavish production, it works. You buy them as a couple. A terrible murderous self-destructive tragic couple, sure -- but then again, they don't call them monsters for nothing.

Stuff We Talked About

A Bondage Analysis of Tolkien (Ep. 184 - Lord of the Rings)

August 2, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Nayland Blake

Where do you see yourself 200 years in the future? My guest this week is artist Nayland Blake, for whom sci-fi and fantasy were an opportunity to create the future that he was sure he'd never have. Growing up in New York in the 1960s and 70s, it seemed like imaginary worlds were his only opportunity to inhabit a world where he could be openly gay. But then he moved to San Francisco, and lo and behold, it appeared that the future had finally arrived.

Huge thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of a dollar or more a month on Patreon. There's rewards for folks who back the show -- click "Support the Show on Patreon" to join the folks who make the show possible and sign up for backer rewards. Or you can support The Sewers of Paris for free by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice -- that really helps people find the show.

BTW, I hope you'll join us for the next Sewers of Paris live chat. It's on Saturday August 11th at 2pm Pacific. There's a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.

And if you're looking for more queer podcasts, check out the show I host with some fantastically funny drag queens Queens of Adventure. We play an ongoing and very queer Dungeons & Dragons adventure full of action and suspense and shady banter. We've got some announcements about live shows coming up soon -- subscribe to the podcast and get on the mailing list at QueensOfAdventure.com.

This Week's Recommendation: Rejoined

Thanks again to Nayland for joining me. You can find links to the stuff we talked about and video clips at SewersOfParis.com. For this week's recommendation, let's stay with the sci-fi/fantasy theme and take a look at the show Deep Space Nine -- specifically the episode Rejoined.

I made an entire video about this episode as part of my Culture Cruise series on YouTube -- you can find that at SewersOfParis.com as well. But to sum it up: there was a rise in exploitative lesbian kiss episodes in the mid-90s, with various sitcoms and hourlong dramas throwing women at each other to make out for a few seconds for the sake of ratings. Invariably, the characters involved in the lesbian kiss would "get over" their feelings and move on and never do anything gay again. But at the time, even a few brief moments of queerness felt absolutely glorious.

The episode Rejoined focuses on a character who, for complicated sci-fi reasons, experiences a sort of re-incarnation every time they die. Every time they're brought back to life, they're forbidden from resuming past relationships -- again, for complicated sci-fi reasons. But that requirement is put to the test when the character Dax meets another of her species, a former lover from several lifetimes ago. They thought they were over each other. Turns out, they're not.

The episode does everything it can to be an allegory about the social stigma around homosexuality without ACTUALLY saying anything about homosexuality. The characters are shunned when they resume their relationship, they face death, they are told they'll lose everything if they follow their hearts. But in the context of the episode, those consequences are all tied to their society's rules about interacting with former lovers. Nobody ever mentions the fact that they're two women.

At the time that episode of DS9 aired, there had never been a same-sex relationship on Trek, or a main character who even hinted at being queer. For all we know, those could have been the only two lesbians in the entire universe.

These days of course we've been given a same-sex couple on Star Trek Discovery, which is nice -- but a bit late, considering Star Trek is a franchise founded by a captain whose ship was basically powered by his heterosexual libido. I'm glad that the show's finally admitting that there are queer people in space, and that they're boldly catching up to where everyone has already been.

Stuff We Talked About

Times Square Red, Times Square Blue

By Samuel R. Delany

Buy on Amazon

Dhalgren

By Samuel R. Delany

Buy on Amazon

Examining Your Desire (Ep. 183 - Ragtime)

July 31, 2018 Matthew Baume

Bonus Episode Guest: Zack Ford

Zack Ford never planned to become the LGBTQ Editor at ThinkProgress.org. He was going to be a music teacher, and writing about current events was just a hobby. But after he came out in college and began living a more authentic life, he realized that he was holding himself to some expectations that he simply didn't want to meet. And that his happiness depended on a radical shift in his assumptions about work, pleasure, social justice, and sex.

Huge thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of a dollar or more a month on Patreon. There's rewards for folks who back the show -- click "Support the Show on Patreon" to check them out. Or you can support The Sewers of Paris for free by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice -- that really helps people find the show.

BTW, I hope you'll join us for the next Sewers of Paris live chat. It's on Saturday August 11th at 2pm pacific.

This Week's Recommendation: Urinetown

Thanks again to Zack for joining me. Do check out Ragtime, it's a fantastic and too-often overlooked show. And if you like musicals with something to say, you might also enjoy one of my favorites -- the title is Urinetown, and that does not even begin to prepare you for just how unsettling an experience it can be.

The show is set in a sort of fabled speculative future, where water is so scarce you need to pay in order to use the bathroom. From this bleak dystopia emerges a folk hero named Bobby Strong, whose father was seized by authorities for his refusal to pay for urinating. Bobby, determined to usher in a more just world, falls in love with Hope Cladwell, the daughter of the wealthy madman who controls the town's water.

Together, they believe that there's a better way, a more just system by which all people can live together.

They are wrong, and everything goes very badly.

While the show is a goofy comedy full of in-jokes about overdone musical theater tropes, it's also a very dark comedy about how the best of intentions don't always lead to the best of results. A few weeks ago I recommended Assassins as a musical that leaves you feeling a sort of cold weary dread about humanity. Urinetown is, for its part, often just as alarming... but at least in this show, we're laughing about it.

Stuff We Talked About

Behind Closed Doors (Ep. 182 - Steel Magnolias)

July 26, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Nick Kochanov

My guest this week is Nick Kochanov, host of the podcasts Squirrel Friends Cocktail Hour and The No Good, Very Bad Gay. Growing up, he dreamt of having his own version of the salon from Steel Magnolias. He envisioned himself hanging out with his own versions of Dolly Parton and Sally Field and Julia Roberts. But it took years for him to realize that there was a problem with his vision -- that the man he was envisioning hanging out with them wasn't really authentically him.

Huge thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of a dollar or more a month on Patreon. There's rewards for folks who back the show -- click "Support the Show on Patreon" to check those out. Or you can support The Sewers of Paris for free by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice -- that really helps people find the show.

BTW, I hope you'll join us for the next Sewers of Paris live chat. I want to hear about the books, movies, music, and games that you and your fellow Sewers listeners are obsessed with. The livestream is on Sunday July 29th at 2pm pacific -- there's a link on the Sewers of Paris twitter feed, and you can click a reminder button to get a notification when we go live.

Also! If you're looking for more queer podcasts, check out the show I host with some fantastically funny drag queens Queens of Adventure. We play an ongoing and very queer Dungeons & Dragons adventure full of action and suspense and shady banter. We've got some big announcements coming soon -- head over to QueensOfAdventure.com to subscribe to the podcast, and to get on the mailing list to find out when you can see the queens performing live.

This Week's Recommendation: Brene Brown

Thanks again to Nick for joining me. We talked a bit this week about having permission to express yourself honestly and to pursue the things you want. For my recommendation this week, look up the TED talk by a researcher and storyteller named Brene Brown. I don't normally like TED talks, especially the ones that offer vague and only semi-actionably inspiration.

But this 20-minute talk is chock full of promising ideas for you to mull over and process and incorporate into your life. Brenee Brown spent years interviewing people about why they experience feelings of shame, self-worth, and connection. And then she reached a point where she herself was overcome by her findings, baffled by the patten that emerged: that people who make themselves vulnerable have a closer connection to feelings of shame and fear and struggle for worthiness, but also a closer connection to joy, creativity, and belonging. That led to what she describes as a yearlong personal street fight with vulnerability that she ultimately lost, and in the process, won her life back.

There are, like I said, a lot of ideas in this talk, from the root of shame to offering love when it may not be returned to finding inner courage. I come away with different thoughts every time I watch. And wherever you are on your own journey, it's a good point of calibration to ask yourself what you're doing, what you're avoiding, and what stands between you and what makes you happy.

Stuff we Talked About

We Just Kept Secrets (Ep. 181 - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)

July 19, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: J. Ronald M. York

I want to let you know that this week's episode addresses some upsetting topics. It wasn't until his parents died that J. Ronald M. York learned about accusations of childhood sexual abuse in his family. Letters in a box in his father's garage finally revealed the terrible secrets that his family had kept from him his entire adult life. And in turn, that started his process for dealing with the secrets of his own abuse that he'd been carrying for years.

These are hard things to talk about -- but they're important to acknowledge and address. If you need to talk to someone about sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE, or connect with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network at RAINN.org.

This Week's Recommendation: Cameron Esposito's "Rape Jokes"

Thanks again to Ronald for joining me and for speaking so openly about something so difficult. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to talk about experiences like his, to say nothing of the pain of carrying those experiences as a secret. But I hope that hearing about what he's been through is helpful for other people carrying similar burdens.

And for another take on surviving sexual assault, take a look at Cameron Esposito's new stand-up comedy special, entitled simply "Rape Jokes." It's a title that doesn't mince words about what to expect: a challenging and also, importantly, hilarious exploration about sexual assault.

Cameron is herself a survivor, and her perspective is absolutely vital. It's an experience like nothing I've ever seen, swerving simultaneously through jokes and pain and laughter and anger and compassion. The entire special is available to watch online at cameronesposito.com, and there's a "Donate" button in the upper left to benefit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Go, watch, give.

For something with so blunt a title, "Rape Jokes" is an amazing feat of comic finesse, or generosity, and compassion.

Stuff we Talked About

I Finally Felt Like I Made It (Ep. 180 - Andrew Lloyd Weber)

July 12, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Jonathan D. Lovitz

What role does confidence play in reaching your goals -- is confidence as important as skill, or more, or less? My guest this week is Jonathan Lovitz, senior vice president at the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Before he stepped into that role, Jonathan enjoyed a successful acting career on stage an screen. But then he found his enthusiasm turning to LGBTQ advocacy, and now speaks out to improve economic opportunity for queer people. An funnily enough, in both roles, a lot of success comes down to the confidence people allow themselves to have in themselves.

Also! If you're looking for more queer podcasts, check out the show I host with some fantastically funny drag queens Queens of Adventure. We play an ongoing and very queer Dungeons & Dragons adventure full of action and suspense and shady banter. Season 1 just launched -- head over to QueensOfAdventure.com to subscribe.

This Week's Recommendation: Assassins

He mentioned wanting to play the role of the Balladeer in the show Assassins, so for my recommendation this week, you might want to check out a performance from the revival at the 2004 Tony Awards, available with an easy YouTube search.

I say "might" because it is an upsetting song in an upsetting show. Standing on stage, we see presidential assassins from throughout history, holding tight to their guns and singing about how they're all entitled to dreams. They're alarming, sinister, urgent dreams. All that death and disillusionment exacts a heavy toll on an audience.

There's also a lot of relevance to extract from the show, much of it in the eye of the beholder. To me, the show is about the dark side of ambition, a cautionary tale about confidence. Yes, of course, by all means believe in yourself. The funny thing about beliefs, of course, is that they are often wrong.

But that wrongness is a double-edged sword. As crushing as it can be that confidence can be misplaced, so too can self-deprecation. If one were to search inside Assassins for any sign of optimism -- and it would be a lengthy, difficult search yielding just scraps of evidence -- the silver lining might be that our own inner assassins, the ones who steadfastly believe in our own failure, might be the one who's misguided.

Stuff We Talked About

Gunshots in the Night (Ep. 179 - Kingdom Hearts)

July 7, 2018 Matthew Baume

Bonus Episode Guest: KaiKai Bee Michaels

How do kids learn to be people when the adults in their lives aren't teaching them? Kai's parents weren't always there to give her the guidance she needed, and so she was forced to fend for herself. That meant learning basic life skills on her own, but also how to function around other people -- and how to take care of herself during a period of homelessness, moving across the country, and starting fresh with a day job in education and a nighttime gig in drag shows.

By the way, Kai is one of the San Francisco performers in our upcoming lives show, Queens of Adventure, where drag performers play a game of Dungeons & Dragons for a live audience! Kai plays a high elf Wizard with a magic owl. You can see her onstage along with Erika Klash, Pollo Del Mar, Kitty Powers, and Rock M. Sakura in two brand new adventures on July 13 and 14 at Oasis in San Francisco. Tickets are available now at QueensOfAdventure.com.

This Week's Recommendation: Justin Saint Cosplay

Thanks again to Kai for joining me -- look for KaiKai Bee Michaels on Twitter and Instagram to follow her cosplay and performances. And if you're in San Francisco, you can see her in Queens of Adventure, our live show featuring drag queens playing a D&D adventure, on July 13 and 14! Tickets are now on sale at QueensOfAdvenuture.com.

We talked a bit about cosplay on this episode -- that's the craft of making costumes based on your favorite game or comic or cartoon characters. And for my recommendation this week, I suggest you go follow one of my favorite cosplayers in the world: the delightful Justin Saint (who you can also hear on Sewers of Paris episode 161.)

Justin's cosplay is nothing short of stunning. You might've seen a Maleficent look that's particularly beautiful, but there's also a Stevonnie from Steven Universe that is sheer perfection. Linda Belcher, Ariel, Korra, Padme, the looks are all exquisite, and you can find them by searching Instagram for gaymerqueen, that's gaymer with a Y.

Part of the loveliness of cosplay is when you share someone's enthusiasm for a character or a show. But I think I actually like it more when I DON'T recognize whoever they're cosplaying as. It's a signal that, hey, there's something out there that's so good people are willing to transform themselves to embody it. It's the strongest possible recommendation to check out something new and exciting. And it means that the next time you see that cosplayer, there's a chance you'll be able to geek out together over the new favorite they helped you find.

Stuff We Talked About

About The Sewers of Paris

The Sewers of Paris is a podcast about how queer lives are shaped by our favorite books, movies, music, and shows. Each week, guests open up about their secret struggles, hidden passions, and surprising triumphs by plucking a piece of entertainment from their past and answering the question: What’s the entertainment that changed your life?

About Defining Marriage

Each week on Defining Marriage, hosts Matt Baume and James Morris chat about what's happening with marriage equality, featuring frequent digressions into pop culture, silly banter, and the jokes and quibbles that have kept them together as a couple for over a decade.

The first eighteen episodes of the podcast contain the complete audiobook version of the book Defining Marriage, which traces the decades-long evolution of marriage through the personal stories of those who lived through it, featuring personal insights from the lives of Evan Wolfson, Dan Savage, Ken Mehlman, Dustin Lance Black, and many more.

About Matt's So-Cast Pod

Revisit the iconic '90s drama My So-Called Life, one episode at a time. Every week, host Matt Baume & his guests delve into the teen angst, the grown-up turmoil, and the endless flannel of the 90s -- and examine the show's impact on television and our lives.