It's OK to Like Everything (Ep. 14 - My So Called Life)

June 25, 2015 Matthew Baume

There's a certain pleasure in changing your skin, being a chameleon and reinventing who you are. My guest this week is J.P., whose only constant is that he's constantly changing. I met Jay years ago, when he was something of an internet celebrity for, among other things, running elections for a Russian blogging company and posting frequent pictures of his cats. These days he's doing his best to keep a low profile, though you might be able to spot him at the Applebee's in Queen Anne. Then again, you might not -- J's changed his persona so many times his own friends might have trouble recognizing him.

We talked about so many different things in this episode! Let's start with poor Ricky on My So-Called Life:

And then there's Ab Fab, from around the same time:

And Queer as Folk. Sure is a lot of '90s going on here.

Musically, J.P. listened to Skinny Puppy:

And Infected Mushroom:

And, improbably, Kenny Chesney:

Music:
Parisian Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Key Change is Everything (Ep. 13 - Little Shop of Horrors)

June 18, 2015 Matthew Baume

We've all felt it -- that call to adventure, to become something great, to escape monotony, go out into the world, and find out who we really are. For some, that call originates in our work, for others with family. And for my guest this week, it came while riding a wheat truck on a tiny farm in eastern Washington.

From an early age, Brad Cerenzia knew he wasn't destined to be farm boy the rest of his life. His inspiration came from theater, musicals, drama. Creating a colorful world on the stage, while the world around him remained featureless and bleak. It was clear that he needed a ticket off of the farm, but for a long time it was unclear what form that ticket would take. It was hard to picture how his adventure would start, since life on the farm was so stable and monotone.

What he needed was a key change, and when it finally happened, he didn't realize that it was to be the first of many.

Here are some highlights from Little Shop of Horrors, the show that helped Brad dream of escaping the farm. Note how the singers are able to walk through the rain without getting wet. Magic!

And of course, our favorite number from The Drowsy Chaperone:

Here are a few highlights from Disenchanted!, the show Brad helped finance:

And of course, the TV version of Tales of the City. But do read the book.

And here's Brad in his various theatrical endeavors:

Music:
Parisian Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

I am Nerdy and Kinky (Ep. 12 - Cosplay and Bondage)

June 11, 2015 Matthew Baume

RuPaul says we're born naked and the rest is drag, but drag doesn't have to be a dress and high heels. Drag can be re-creating a costume from a comic book, or go-go dancing in a jockstrap, or letting someone turn you into something not entirely human.

You might know this week's guest as artist and performer Tyler Rush; or Pup Amp, as he's known in the fetish community. As grown-up identities go, Tyler and Amp are both a long way from the quiet Catholic school kid who hid from constant teasing by playing videogames in his basement. When it was time to move to a new school, he decided to re-invent himself, and found a nerdy tribe where he not only belonged, but could become a star by dressing up as someone else.

Costumes don't have to be a way to hide -- sometimes, they're extensions of who we are, a way to amplify our assets and flaunt our hidden talents. Rather than masking his true identity, Tyler found that costumes could draw him out of his shell. But when he started dressing up for anime conventions, he probably didn't expect that within a few years, he'd be undressing at conventions of a somewhat different nature.

In this episode, we talked a bit about Death Note, which started out as a printed manga, but became an anime series:

And then we also marveled at the phenomenon that is filk -- science fiction folk music. I could not be more delighted that such a thing exists.

Another topic of conversation: Batman bondage. Here's one of my favorite of such clips, from the episode featuring Liberace. Because of course.

How many bondage fantasies were formed by this image, which we briefly address in this episode?

Oh and of course check out Amp's new show with the delightful Bolt:

And here's a clip from Final Fantasy X2, the game that's all about using different outfits to do battle:

It's been my distinct pleasure to photograph Amp on many occasions. Here's a few of my favorite shots.

Bolt & Amp

Ruff ruff!

Mortal Kombat's Scorpion

Finish him!

Arroooooo

What Time is it?

It's Dangerous to go Alone

It's not a Secret to Everybody Anymore

Music:
Parisian Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

A Werecreature Who Makes out with Dudes (Ep. 11 - Frasier and Frankenstein)

June 4, 2015 Matthew Baume

Is there any super power you could have that is not also monstrous? Clark Kent has super strength, Buffy came back from the dead, and Spiderman can shoot webbing from his wrists. But these are powers that monsters have -- a guy who can beat up anyone on Earth? A woman who drives stakes through hearts? A man who does whatever a spider can? It's great that they use their abilities for good, but these powers are as scary as they are super.

There's a line in Bride of Frankenstein in which one mad scientist toasts, "to a new world of gods and monsters!" They can be hard to tell apart, gods and monsters. Neither fits in among humans, no matter how hard they try. And both wield power that might sometimes extend beyond their control. If you're a God or a monster -- you can look in the mirror and know that you're different, but there might be no telling which side of that divide you're on. And if you can't tell, how can anyone else?

My guest this week is Chicago comedian Cody Melcher. If Cody was a superhero, his powers would likely involve fancy bowties, obscure trivia, and an invincible debate team. As a kid, he was a delicate nerd, obsessed with classic literature while some of his classmates could barely read. He was an unathletic child who shunned the out-of-doors, and whose diversions of choice involved rhetoric and fastidiousness.

But as he became an adult, he grew taller.

We talked about a ton of great stuff in this episode, including Cody's favorite books: The Great Gatsby, Frankenstein, and Moby Dick. We also talked about Louie Anderson.