Pop Rocket Ep. 205 The Pop Rocket Holiday Playlist Spectacular

Explicit content warning

12/22/18 • 55 min

Happy Holidays, everyone! Wynter and Karen are joined by special guest panelists Tre’Vell Anderson (Director of Culture and Entertainment at Out Magazine) and 'Who Shot Ya?'s' Alonso Duralde to create the ultimate holiday playlist. Each panelist created a top ten list of their favorite holiday songs, out of which they’d select twenty for inclusion in the official Pop Rocket Holiday Playlist. Well, that was the plan, anyway. In practice, when faced with making the tough choices, they flopped. Whose version of "Sleigh Ride" should be on the playlist: Andy Williams’s, Ella Fitzgerald’s or TLC’s? Spoiler alert: They couldn’t decide.

Plus, the panelists describe their holiday family traditions, and if you’ve ever been curious what the most popular Philippine Christmas song is, resident scholar Karen Tongson reveals the answer.

From Ella Fitzgerald to Donny Hathaway, from the Morehouse Glee Club to Quad City DJs, the variety of musical stylings in this episode will get your feet tappin'.

All Abouts

For the last All Abouts of the year, each panelist picked one thing in 2018, that they could watch, listen to, read, or consume, OVER & OVER again.

Alonso is all about the Amber Ruffin segment on Late Night With Seth Meyers - 'Amber Says Why'

Karen is still all about the series finale of The Americans.

Tre’Vell is awed by EVERYTHING about Cardi B, but especially her recent appearance with James Corden in Carpool Karaoke.

Wynter can’t stop watching Mission Impossible: Fallout.

That's My Jam

For this week’s jams, each panelist picked a song that best summed up the year that was 2018.

Karen: Sound of Music Soundtrack - So Long, Farewell Tre’vell: Fantasia - Lose to Win Alonso: Lizzo - Good as Hell Wynter: Drake - Nice for What

Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback, or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108

You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.

If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.

Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.

Plus, the panelists describe their holiday family traditions, and if you’ve ever been curious what the most popular Philippine Christmas song is, resident scholar Karen Tongson reveals the answer.

From Ella Fitzgerald to Donny Hathaway, from the Morehouse Glee Club to Quad City DJs, the variety of musical stylings in this episode will get your feet tappin'.

All Abouts

For the last All Abouts of the year, each panelist picked one thing in 2018, that they could watch, listen to, read, or consume, OVER & OVER again.

Alonso is all about the Amber Ruffin segment on Late Night With Seth Meyers - 'Amber Says Why'

Karen is still all about the series finale of The Americans.

Tre’Vell is awed by EVERYTHING about Cardi B, but especially her recent appearance with James Corden in Carpool Karaoke.

Wynter can’t stop watching Mission Impossible: Fallout.

That's My Jam

For this week’s jams, each panelist picked a song that best summed up the year that was 2018.

Karen: Sound of Music Soundtrack - So Long, Farewell Tre’vell: Fantasia - Lose to Win Alonso: Lizzo - Good as Hell Wynter: Drake - Nice for What

You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.

If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.

Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.

Previous Episode

Pop Rocket Ep. 204 From Dafoe’s Van Gogh to Hayek’s Frida: A Look at Hollywood’s Attempt to Make Art about Artists

How right, but mostly how wrong, does Hollywood get it when it comes to capturing artists in film? Margaret Wappler asks these very questions of her esteemed panel. And this, the panel is comprised of LA Times staff writer Carolina Miranda, who covers visual arts, culture and architecture, media scholar and TV critic Sarah Kessler--filling in for her under-the-weather wife Karen Tongson--and Cal Arts professor and visual artist David P Earle, who is better known to Pop Rocket listeners as father to Silas and husband to our very own Margaret Wappler.

From Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner to Antonio Banderas's Golden Globe-nominated performance in Genius: Picasso, the crew highlights all the tired tropes Hollywood can’t resist when depicting artists. They’ll tell you about the films that get it right, and the films that get it deliciously wrong. Plus, why are all the portrayals of Andy Warhol on the big screen so...different? Was the real Andy Warhol more like Crispin Glover in The Doors or David Bowie in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat? Does Salma Hayek really do Frida justice? And which actress nails the stereotype of the insufferable, pretentious artist on the head? Join us as we try to suss out: is art about art art, or t-shirt at the giftshop bullshit?

All Abouts

Sarah is all about Valerie Solanas's SCUM Manifesto with forward by Michelle Tea.

Carolina is all about narco-novelas, in particular Netflix's Narcos: Mexico starring Diego Luna.

David is all about his algorithmically generated list of top songs of 2018 from Spotify.

Margaret is all about the 18th century period piece The Favourite, a feminist reimagining of Queen Anne's court starring Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, and Olivia Colman.

That's My Jam

Sarah - Laura Branigan - Gloria

David - Saba - LOGOUT

Carolina - The Bucketheads - The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)

Margaret- Katzù Oso - Crazy4luvinU

With Margaret Wappler, David Earle, Carolina Miranda, and Sarah Rebecca Kessler.

Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108

You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.

If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.

Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.

Next Episode

Pop Rocket Ep. 206 Pop Culture Resolutions for 2019

Guy Branum is back for our first episode of 2019! Sadly, Margaret couldn’t join us because #health and Wynter was busy being a jet setter.

This week, the panelists share their pop culture resolutions for 2019, and own up to resolution fails from the past year.

Writer and comedian Tara Jepsen joins us in studio and Guy is awed by the combined power of her and Karen’s “lesbian efficiency.”

If you're curious about what Guy has been up to these past couple months, he catches us up. Spoiler alert (though not really): He consumed a lot of theater. In particular, he saw Matthew Lopez’s seven-hour, two-night play The Inheritance, and had LOTS of opinions about it.

From “learn more commercial jingles” to “master a new recipe a month,” the panel reveals an ambitious list of resolutions they may or may not be able to stick with for an entire year.

All Abouts

Karen is all about Bird Box the new Netflix thriller starring Sandra Bullocks.

Tara is all about hating a bootleg recording of a recent standup set by disgraced comedian Louis C.K..

Guy is all about The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez, which is loosely based on Howard's End.

Call to Action Inspired by one panelist’s resolution to learn more commercial jingles, we are asking Rocketeers to call in and sing their favorite jingles on the Pop Rocket voicemail. We want to hear those jingles that will forever be lodged in your brain.

That's My Jam

Guy: Janet Jackson -Together Again

Tara: Hey Jellie - Going Back

Karen: Labi Siffre - Watch Me

With Guy Branum, Karen Tongson, and Tara Jepsen.

You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.

If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.

Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.