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Rax and author Elyssa Maxx Goodman discuss drag from 17th century kabuki theater to RuPaul's Drag Race and pandemic-born Zoom drag shows, all as told in Elyssa's forthcoming book "Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York"! The book comes out on 9/12 and is a must-read for anyone who loves, duh, glitter and concrete.

Amber and Rax chat about another 90s classic, Rugrats! This weird looking show about babies getting into shenanigans was the first cartoon with truly multigenerational appeal. It first aired in 1991 and we're here to say, it still slaps. Shoutout to listener Rachel Feingersh for the topic suggestion!   Sources: The Oral History Of ‘Nicktoons’, Part III: Exploring The Multigenerational Appeal Of ‘Rugrats’ (Caseen Gaines and Mathew Klickstein, Decider, 2016) Talk About a Baby Boom (Paul Brownfield, LA Times, 1998) When Grownups Let Children Have a Say (Laurie Midflin, NYT, 1997) ‘Rugrats’ Creative Force (Rugrats Writers, LA Times, 1996) You Dumb Babies! (Mimi Swartz, The New Yorker, 1998)

Amber and Rax talk about one of their favorites, Eve Babitz. The LA Woman, the groupie, the muse, the artist, the author and ultimately the star. IYKYK, if you don't, listen. Info for this ep comes from: The “Sex and Rage” of Eve Babitz (Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 2017) Eve Babitz, a Hedonist With a Notebook, is Dead at 78 (Penelope Green, NYT, 2021) How Eve Babitz Saw Herself (Kevin Dettmar, The Atlantic, 2022) and of course Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A. by Lili Anolik, 2019  

Rax and Amber dive into RV history and culture, touching on the development of the National Parks Service and the USPS along the way. We wouldn't even have the Margaritaville RV Resort if not for the Postal Service!

Amber and Rax (btw love how we write these in the 3rd person like we have a fancy producer, it's just us) anyway, Amber and Rax (definitely not us) talked about the Goosebumps books series and it's superstar author R.L. Stine. The series is known for getting boys into reading, and being despised by adults and critics, which is how you knew it was cool. Listener beware, you're in for a scare, not really, just some fun facts and opinions on children's books. Amber got most of the information in today's pod from this book! What’s So Scary About R. L. Stine (Patrick Stones, 1998)   Also some good stuff in these articles and interviews: Proposed Goosebumps Ban is Misguided (Coney Kingrey, Biz Journals, 1997)   Giving 11 Year Olds Nightmares Since 1992 (Katy Waldman, Slate, 2012)   R.L. Stine Explains How He Managed to Publish One Goosebumps Book a Month (Ryan Buxton, Huffington Post, 2014) ‘I Never Wanted To Be Scary’: An Interview With R L Stine (Chris Plante, The Verge, 2015)   R.L. Stine’s Top 13 Writing Tips (Bobby Powers, Writing Cooperative, 2021)

Rax and Amber sort of can't believe they've never talked about Goop before, so here it is! Tune in to learn about some of Goop's most insane recommendations, among other things.

In this ep Amber and Rax talk about the video rental store that killed all other video rental stores, Blockbuster. We look back now with nostalgia at the time when we went to a physical Blockbuster before it was ruined by Netflix, but we forget that they were once the bad guy taking out independent video rental stores. We forget that Netflix was once the new kid on the block taking down big bad Blockbuster and their late fees. So the question is, now that Netflix is the big bad guy, who's going to take them out? Maybe it will be NPC tiktoks streamers? Probably not that, but something new will come and Netflix needs to remember that history repeats itself. Oh, for all you article heads, here are the pieces we referenced: Viral TikTok NPC Streamer Pinkydoll Doesn’t Care What You Think (Samantha Coke, Motherboard, July 17 2023) https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3ny9/viral-tiktok-npc-streamer-pinkydoll-doesnt-care-what-you-think Why Hit Movies AreCalled Blockbusters (Olivia B Waxman, Time Magazine, 2020) https://time.com/5776406/blockbuster-meaning/ Blockbuster: The Rise and Fall of the Movie Rental Store and What Happened to the Brand (Frank Olito and Alex Bitter, Business Insider, April 24 2023) https://www.businessinsider.com/rise-and-fall-of-blockbuster?amp Is Blockbuster Video About To Make A Comeback? (Stuart Heritage, The Guardian Mar 23 2023) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/23/is-blockbuster-video-about-to-make-a-comeback              

We're baaaaaack! Amber and Rax catch up after a much needed break and chat about the most American foods they can think of. First they chat about the food of the gods, ambrosia salad, you might know it as green stuff or even watergate salad. How did we start mixing cool whip with fruit and coconut and why is it so gooood?! We also chat about micorwave cooking for singles, equally American. Rax wrote a piece for slate where she cooked a holiday meal in the microwave and learned the magic of how to adjust the levels. And for you article heads here are the pieces we read for to learn about fluff salad: Claudia McNeilly, Why ambrosia salad is the forgotten holiday dish that deserves our attention, National Post  Jenny McGruther, Fresh Ambrosia Salad, Nourished Kitchen  Mrs. Barringer (no first name), Dixie Cookery or How I Managed My Table For 12 Years Ellen Gutoskey, Jell-O Journalism: Investigating the Origins of Watergate Salad, Mental Floss 

Rax and Sean KB of the Antifada host another episode of Sean and Rax's Movie Corner Or Whatever We Decide To Call It, this time about the History Channel's flagship reality TV program "Alone."