Meaning What

For this month's Meaning What Movie Club, Mason and Sean discuss one of the greatest films ever made.

Meaning What is now on Substack! Subscribe for deep dives from Mason (and sometimes even Sean!) into topics from the podcast and from the wider world of art and culture, delivered every Thursday directly to your inbox.

You can also follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. And you should.

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang

A new year has dawned, and with it a fresh batch of hopes and horrors. This week, Mason and Sean discuss what the creative landscape looks like for 2025. Things may be bleak now, but hope rises with every Taylor Swift re-release.

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang

In the Meaning What Movie Club, we are all inanimate objects.

Subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Instagram and Bluesky.

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang

Edited, scored, and mixed by Mason Hershenow

This week, Mason and Sean discuss the many ways that social media has become intertwined with art and culture, and why that is a bad thing for everyone involved.

Other topics include: Mason's hatred of TikTok, how old we both are, Sean dating people who love Arby's roast beef sandwiches, and who the most masculine group of people in the world is.

This episode is especially not appropriate for children, and not suggested for Mason's mom.

Subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Instagram and Bluesky.

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang

Edited, scored, and mixed by Mason Hershenow

This episode contains frank discussion of the sexual assault of a minor, both that which is implied in the film and that which was allegedly committed by the film's director Roman Polanski.

The Meaning What Movie Club returns with a real doozy of an episode! Mason and Sean discuss the 1974 American film noir masterpiece Chinatown, its parallels to the sins of its director, and how it is the perfect practice in Barthes' conception of the death of the author.

We also discuss Jack Nicholson's surprising hotness, Faye Dunaway's surprising eyebrows, Mason's hatred of reality television, and what makes Ethel Cain's debut album so damn good.

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang

Edited, scored, and mixed by Mason Hershenow

No new episode this week because of audio problems. Next episode drops December 5th.

This week, Mason and Sean discuss Roland Barthes' influential 1967 essay "The Death of the Author"—how it is misunderstood by the chronically online and how it is a useful and important in understanding the art that we consume.

We also discuss abandoning your heroes, parasocial relationships, songwriting and what it can tell us about the differences between Taylor Swift and Mitski, and remind you that—statistically—someone you love has purchased an album by Nickelback.

Subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Instagram and Bluesky.

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang

Edited, scored, and mixed by Mason Hershenow

On today's episode, Mason and Sean talk about how the very same companies driving the "A.I." "revolution" are unravelling all aspects of life and culture. As you probably already guessed, we don't think it's a good thing. But, maybe there are legitimate uses? Maybe!?

We also discuss autocorrect, photographers on Threads, how Microsoft wants to buy Three Mile Island, and the fact that we need a fact checker/producer.

Subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Instagram and Bluesky.

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang

Edited, scored, and mixed by Mason Hershenow

On today's episode, Mason and Sean continue the conversation about artificial "intelligence" by turning the eyes on the art world and all the ways that procedurally-generated slop is beginning to pollute modern culture.

We also discuss the difference between vocaloids and vtubers, our feelings about Woody Allen's movies, and why your five year old will never measure up to Felix González-Torrez.

And make sure to stick around during the commercial break for extra content!

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang and Lincoln Hershenow

Edited, scored, and mixed by Mason Hershenow

Today we are rightsizing the org with a returning guest: self-described lapsed-physicist John Matter. John joins us to discuss the rise of machine learning and artificial "intelegence", and why it's not much more than fancy math. We also discuss corpo speak, end-user agreements, and some fun trivia about the Enron Corpus.

You can find more of John (including his excellent cats) on Instagram.

Subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Instagram and Bluesky.

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Meaning What is a product of it's no sam studios

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang

Edited, scored, and mixed by Mason Hershenow