Queer Up with Lily & Melody

Once again, a guest joins the girls and this time it's none other than the Sloth Mom herself: Casey Explosion! Together, we treated ourselves to one of the most watchable films in history: the classic horror comedy Tremors. It's a story about how two husbands decide to leave their podunk town for the big city, but then big worms happen. It's a nigh-perfect movie, and we take every opportunity to talk about how adorable our two obviously-gay protagonists are. Let them kiss, you cowards!

Check out Casey's work:

• https://www.youtube.com/@CaseyExplosion
• https://www.twitch.tv/caseyexplosion
• https://store.steampowered.com/curator/28340174-Casey-Explosion/

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Buy Melody's poetry collection: https://melodyhaze.itch.io/human-heart-explosion

References:

• Tremors | Anatomy of a Franchise #5 by In Praise of Shadows

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The good times are over! This week, the girls treat themselves to a masterful and bleak bit of sci-fi horror all about the existential dread of being a woman. Scarlett Johansson gives her best performance in this piece of accidental trans cinema, and we're here to dig into every beautiful, haunting second of it. It's sad, it's great, you'll love it.

CW: Discussions of sexual assault, child death, animal death, dysphoria, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, body horror, kidnapping, murder

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Buy Melody's poetry collection: https://melodyhaze.itch.io/human-heart-explosion

References:

"Under the Skin’s Transgender Allegory" by Willow Catelyn Maclay

"Social Realism and Feminism in Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin (2013)" by Louis Salum

"Under his skin Q&A" by The Economist

"Not Like Other Girls" by A.L. Goldfuss

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We're extremely happy to be joined by bestselling author Ali Williams, who helps us get to grips with the 1953 musical Calamity Jane. Sort-of-but-not-really based on the actual historical icon of the same name, Calamity Jane is a messy and often yikes-inducing romantic farce that we have wildly differing opinions on. One thing we definitely agree on, though, and that is that it has all the elements to make an excellent lesbian rom-com western

Check out Ali's books: https://www.aliwilliams.org/

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Buy Melody's poetry collection: https://melodyhaze.itch.io/human-heart-explosion

References:

• "Calamity: The Many Lives of Calamity Jane" by Karen R. Jones

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You've probably never heard of Girls Just Want to Have Fun: The Movie, but you should have. This mostly-forgotten cult classic is a truly delightful whirlwind of dancing, teenage drama, and many surprising career beginnings. In this episode, we gush over breakdancing nuns, supportive single fathers, and - most unbelievably - a genuinely heartwarming heterosexual romance! But we're still going to make it gay, don't you worry!

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Buy Melody's poetry collection: https://melodyhaze.itch.io/human-heart-explosion

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We celebrate two years of Queer Up by once again dipping our toes into the "all mermaids are gay and trans" well. This time, we take a look at Ron Howard's Splash, a film that is both better than it should be, but also not all that great. It is, however, trans as hell. Obviously.

Thank you all so much for sticking around for our second year, and please continue to listen, share, and contact us. We love and adore you all.

CW: Discussions of misogyny, transphobia, forced outing

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Buy Melody's poetry collection: https://melodyhaze.itch.io/human-heart-explosion

References:

• Tom Hanks Wants The New 'Splash' To Have A Gay Twist

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time around, we're very excited to be joined by Hamish Steele, creator of the comics Deadendia and Go-man!, as well as the Netflix animated series Dead End: Paranormal Park. Hamish has brought us the cult classic comedy horror musical Little Shop of Horrors (1986), a film that's practically oozing with queer and trans vibes. We discuss how the film manages to be both goofy and sincere, Rick Moranis' inherent t-boy swag, and how a mean green mother' from outer space can represent both capitalism and toxic masculinity.

CW: Discussions of domestic abuse, transphobia, sadism, misogyny, death, murder, racism, AIDS

Check out Hamish's stuff: https://hamishsteele.co.uk/

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Buy Melody's poetry collection: https://melodyhaze.itch.io/human-heart-explosion

References:

• No One Makes It Out Alive by Casey Plett and Morgan M Page
• The Guy Sure Looks Like Plant Food To Me by Santana Knox

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we do a fit check for our napalm era, as Holly Amareta joins us to discuss the barely-subtextual queerness of KPop Demon Hunters. Is KPop Demon Hunters a trans allegory? Is Jinu transfem or transmasc? Are all trans people demons? And which HUNTR/X members are Lily, Melody, and Holly respectively? It's our longest episode yet, and this is what it sounds like.

CW: Discussions of transphobia, gender dysphoria, forced outing, conversion therapy, intolerant parental figures, depression, misogyny

Find Holly on Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/onmehols/) and Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/onmehols.bsky.social)

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Buy Melody's poetry collection: https://melodyhaze.itch.io/human-heart-explosion

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time for our only-slightly-delayed Queer in Review! As we did last year, we run down some of the queer media we enjoyed and discovered in 2025.

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Theatre:

• "4000 Days" by Peter Quilter, directed by Charly Sommers
• "No Apologies" by Emma Frankland

Films:

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
• Claire of the Moon (1992)
• The People's Joker (2022)

Books:

• "This Is How You Lose The Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
• "It's Not Unusual by A History of Lesbian and Gay Britain in the Twentieth Centure" by Alkarim Jivani
• "The Sisters of Dorley" series by Alyson Greaves
• "Good Trans News" by Jen Ives
• "Mercedes/Jennifer" by Nicole Lewitt

Games:

• "Highway Blossoms" by Studio Élan
• "A Nightmare's Trip" by Cafe Empty
• "Dungeons and Lesbians" by Noeybodys
• "Old Skies" by Wadjet Eye
• "Proximate" by Cain Maddox

Manga:

• "Love Thy Neighbour" by Willow
• "Show Me Your Bust" by Team Gaji
• "Herb Shop Unnie" by Pobae
• "With a Letter of Resignation in my Pocket" by Yuni
• "Asumi-chan is Interested in Lesbian Brothels" by Itsuki Kuro

Music:

• Blondshell - If You Ask For A Picture
• Jeangu Macrooy - Young, Awkward, and Lonely
• Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out
• Die Spitz - Something to Consume
• Babe Haven - Nuisance
• Morbid Cunt - Life is Pain
• Ezra Furman - Goodbye Small Head
• CMAT - Euro-country
• Underscores - Wallsocket
• Aleksiah - Punch Drunk Love
• Garbage - Self Titled

You can listen to the complete Queer in Review playlist here:

• Tidal
• Youtube

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back! Kinda! To celebrate that we're once again able to record, we had a quick talk about some episodes we decided not to make, and why.

CW: Discussions of transphobia, homophobia, ableism, racism

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Donate to Melody's bottom surgery fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-robin-get-gender-reassignment-surgery

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The heavens over Berlin is beautiful, but they could definitely stand to contain more gays. This time, we discuss Wim Wenders' classic Wings of Desire (as well as its sequel and American remake), why its themes still resonate today, and why it's kinda weird that it's so very straight. It's set in Berlin, for crying out loud!

CW: Discussions of suicide, depression, child death, fascism, substance abuse, homophobia

Music by Goshdarn Rabbit: https://goshdarnrabbit.bandcamp.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.