Meaning What

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 To the Moon and its roots in the 16-bit era of Chris's childhood.

We have a Patreon and Apple Podcast subscription in the works! Lots of new and exclusive content on the way, so stay tuned and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

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Play Up is a product of it's no sam studios

Created, written, and hosted by Christopher Scott McNeill

Produced Christopher S. McNeill, with help from Mason Hershenow and Sean Ang

Edited by Christopher S. McNeill

Mixed by Mason Hershenow

Theme music: "CopyLoop" by Mason Hershenow.

Sound effects provided by Freesound. Game clips, commercial segments, and third-party commentary used in accordance with fair use.

For a full list of sources, email Chris at [email protected]

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 along the way.

The California Society video about Arnold Genthe.

*This episode has been corrected, because Mason got some names mixed up! Lewis Caroll was the author who photographed children, not CS Lewis. Meanwhile, Edward S. Curtis photographed American Indians, not TV personality Edward Sullivan. The audio should be fixed when you listen, but sometimes Libsyn and certain pod-catchers don't cooperate.

We have a subscription program and Patreon in the works! Lots of bonus material in the works, so stay tuned, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.

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

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang and Christopher Scott McNeill

Edited by David Cox and Mason Hershenow

Mixed by Mason Hershenow

Our theme music is "January: Brief" by Mason Hershenow

Advertising provided by Voxnest

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 film, so get ready for a lighthearted episode! Don't worry though; next week we'll be back to normal.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter.

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

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang and Christopher Scott McNeill

Edited and mixed by Mason Hershenow

Our theme music is "January: Brief" by Mason Hershenow

Advertising provided by Voxnest

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 with. This is a big episode full of hot takes that took Mason an extra long time to edit into something coherent, so please enjoy and tell your friends and family and associates with advertising money.

*Content warning: On this episode, we discuss sexual assault in the context of the film Promising Young Woman.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter.

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

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang and Christopher Scott McNeill

Edited and mixed by Mason Hershenow

Our theme music is "January: Brief" by Mason Hershenow

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 discusses the work of Serpentwithfeet and his important role in challenging thematic and sonic conventions in R&B and pop music, as well as his influence as an openly queer voice in a stubbornly conservative industry

Songs featured:

cherubim

four ethers

A Comma

Amir

Fellowship

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter.

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Listen Now! is a product of it's no sam studios

Created and hosted by Sean Ang.

Produced by Mason Hershenow, Sean Ang, and Chris McNeill.

Edited and mixed by Mason Hershenow.

Theme music by Mason Hershenow.

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 promising future opportunities for kissing our friends, the minefield that is internet advertising, and hypothetical ways to defraud for-profit insurance companies through the power of podcasting.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter.

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

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang and Christopher Scott McNeill

Edited and mixed by Mason Hershenow

Our theme music is "January: Brief" by Mason Hershenow

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 plastic Jesus figurine apparently submerged in the artist's own urine. It's a piece that is as controversial as it is misunderstood, and which highlights an important thing that many American adults forget: you have a right to free speech, not freedom from being offended.

We also discuss exciting merchandising ideas!

Finally, here's an article about the history of halitosis as a marketing tool and the controversial regulation which bans certain kinds of "extreme" porn in the UK. I promise it's all important, just listen to the episode.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter.

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

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang and Christopher Scott McNeill

Edited by Christopher Scott McNeill.

Mix and additional editing by Mason Hershenow

Our theme music is "January: Brief" by Mason Hershenow

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 so magical that they sometimes disappear! And, perhaps most importantly, they answer the question which has vexed so many since the beginning of digital art: how do we create monetary value for art objects that are easily duplicated and distributed?

This week we discuss the rise of the NFT in digital art, why the tech world seems to love NFTs so much, and why—once again—a utopian ideal might not reflect the real world.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter.

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

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang and Christopher Scott McNeill

Edited by Christopher Scott McNeill.

Mix and additional editing by Mason Hershenow

Our theme music is "January: Brief" by Mason Hershenow

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 Studios and Josef Fares collaboration Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and its use of dual-stick controls to connect the player to the games' characters in ways that arguably could not be achieved with words or visuals alone.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter.

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Play Up is a product of it's no sam studios

Created, written, and hosted by Christopher Scott McNeill

Produced Christopher S. McNeill, with help from Mason Hershenow and Sean Ang

Edited by Christopher S. McNeill

Mixed by Mason Hershenow

Theme music: "CopyLoop" by Mason Hershenow.

Sound effects provided by Freesound. Game clips, commercial segments, and third-party commentary used in accordance with fair use.

For a full list of sources, email us at [email protected]

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 subversive undertones, Amirpour's black-and-white-rockabilly-goth-romp is often heralded as a feminist indie jewel. A lot has changed in the past 7 years though; is this film still as progressive as it once seemed?

Listen and find out. Why are you still reading this?

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter.

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

Created by Mason Hershenow

Produced by Sean Ang and Christopher Scott McNeill

This episode edited by Christopher Scott McNeill

Mix and additional editing by Mason Hershenow

Our theme music is "January: Brief" by Mason Hershenow