Episode 44: Pollen the Size of Cotton Balls

PROMPTS: Teal, Pizza, 236

This week, Lauren and Neal wander down wildly different (but equally satisfying) paths—one lined with sumptuous portraits and queer-coded brushstrokes, the other dripping with melted cheese, pizza lore, and ’80s teen movie mayhem. It’s an episode about beauty, indulgence, and the long, strange history of how we present people and pizza.

Lauren goes long on John Singer Sargent, the prolific portraitist whose mastery of fabric, personality, and sensuality made him the toast of the Gilded Age—and also got him chased out of Paris for painting a strap just a little too far off a woman’s shoulder. From the iconic Portrait of Madame X to the hotly debated Dr. Pozzi at Home, Lauren makes the case for Sargent as one of the most talented—and possibly most closeted—painters of his generation. Expect velvet, scandal, blush-toned skin, and a long detour through art historian beef.

Then Neal sets the table for a smorgasbord of pizza in film, from the absurd (Loverboy) to the iconic (Do the Right Thing) to the TV (Breaking Bad’s flying pie). With a heavy slice of Patrick Dempsey, a dash of Spider-Man, and a drizzle of grease-dripping nostalgia, Neal breaks down the evolution of pizza on screen—including the moment it first appeared, when it was called “pizza pie,” and why 85% of film pizza looks inedible. Anchovies optional.

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