Pop Junction

Pose (2018 - )

Mental health struggles abound! Darkness is spreading, to quote Chappelle’s Show. Luckily, Caitlin is able to get a last minute therapy sesh in which she’s finally delivered her Good Will Hunting breakthrough fantasy (“Will, it’s not your fault”). But what we’re actually here for is POSE, the groundbreaking FX series about NYC ballroom culture. That soundtrack is B-A-N-A-N-A-S, Angel and Papi are relationship goals, and they make a night of 80s coke-fueled mania look good. We also make forays into the Bobbi & Whitney of it all and our favorite of Aunt Viv’s sisters on the Fresh Prince. (Also, never question the timeline of Fresh Prince, for that way lies madness).

POSE soundtrack on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5zrcRVNZtWVO1ScTVrbtlU

RL Stine‘s Fear Street Series (1989 - )

In which Mia & Caitlin revisit the super formative YA horror series and discover that RL Stine’s writing--and the way he saw women--was pure trash. But the books were so beautifully formulaic that we were able to devour three at a time at age ten. Conversation quickly veers into how we miss our adolescent imagination and its ability to conjure drawn-out, detailed crush fantasies. Shout-out to B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, but mostly B. Dalton.

Love & Basketball (2000)

Caitlin’s brother is turning 40, and we are feeling our impending midlife crisis something fierce. Also: a look back at beloved romance and bisexual dilemma, Love & Basketball. Quincy McCall was Capital “P” levels of Petty and Monica Wright was hot but only serving doses of Feminism 2.0. Also, was Quincy in good hands with Allstate Dad? Not with all that toxic masculinity he wasn’t.

Boy Band Holiday Songs

Christmas is for everyone, especially in the dumpster fire year that was 2020.  But plans can be challenging in The Time of the Rona.  Will Mia’s brain allow her to free-pee into a diaper on the long car ride to her parents’ in Atlanta?  Either way, she’ll have plenty of boy band holiday jams to keep her company.  Oh, and Alvin and the Chipmunks definitely qualify as a boyband.  And Simon is the JC Chasez.  

Check out the Pop Junction Holiday Jams playlist here: https://spoti.fi/37wmrad

Ghostwriter (1992 - 1995)

If you want to know what it looked like growing up in Brooklyn in the early 90s, look no further than Ghostwriter.  (Minus the incredibly slow penmanship).  In what's probably our most punchy ep to date, Mia & Caitlin discuss if this early 90s Blue's Clues for pre-teens holds up, how the Gaby actress swap was a travesty and a crime against Brooklyn, and how Mia is still triggered by the Slime Monster.

Jonathan Brandis

A joyful celebration of the work of late actor Jonathan Brandis, the religious experience that was getting the latest teen magazine issue at the deli, and how Tiger Beat, Bop, & Big Bopper provided an intravenous hit of boy heartthrob centerfolds.  And the debut of our new segment, My Dog is an Asshole.

Sister Act 2 (1993)

We make a pivot (PIV-AAAT) inspired by an iconic election meme, and we talk Sister Act 2. Join us for an unexpectedly deep conversation about Black motherhood onscreen and why Rita Louise Watson is #gayorigins--and how even at age eleven Caitlin loved a jiggly back on a dude.

The meme in question: https://twitter.com/i/status/1325291413517463553

Dawson‘s Creek Season 3 (1999-2000)

You can tell Mia's going through some shit if she's curled in the fetal position with her #1 comfort watch: Dawson's Creek Season 3. Cue Paula Cole. Cue Dawson being the worst. And cue Caitlin reliving the physical fights--and almost fights--she got into at the ripe old age of 11. We even bleep out names to protect the innocent.

Teen Witch (1989)

The 1989 Halloween classic Teen Witch may be the cinematic embodiment of the adolescent female gaze. Or maybe just what happened when Lisa Frank threw up on some celluloid.

Janet Jackson‘s Velvet Rope Tour (1998)

Have you accepted Janet Jackson into your life as your lord and savior?  We did in 1998. The first installment of Pop Junction, the pod where two Xennial besties BS about the pop culture that shaped us—and give y’all a taste of what it was like growing up in South Brooklyn in the 80s & 90s.