I’m so excited to announce My Super Sweet Obsession, a new podcast hosted by Scotty Gunderson and I. The podcast focuses on the pop culture that keeps us up at night, from Abby Lee Miller to RHONY to Chad from The Bachelorette. To promote the first episode, I had Scotty and our first guest, his husband/my BFF Jason Zabel, on to talk about obsession (and beach bods).
Subscribe to My Super Sweet Obsession on Soundcloud and iTunes! (And to Writingness on the iTunes Store and on Sound Cloud.)
Did you guys have any initial obsessions that brought you together as a couple?
Scotty: Gummy candy, Anna Nicole, Bad Girls Club, cooking, and cocktails. Plus that we both were guys.
Jason: He answered for the both of us.
How does being married to someone creative affect your creativity and ability to pursue big projects, writing or otherwise?
Scotty: I think that we both understand the creative process, so we make sure to give each other space to create without judgement. But we also know when we need to push each other, offer feedback, and encourage each other to keep going. Jason is one of my favorite writers, so it is really easy for me to be his most passionate cheerleader. Jason helps me the most by helping to edit my work.
Jason: Totally agree with Scotty. It’s amazing to have a sounding board, and someone who can understand conceptual creative conversations, but also just can participate in weird, creative conversations. It’s nice to be understood. Real nice.
Share a little bit about the obsessions you talked about on this podcast.
Scotty: I touched on a lot, but my big obsession was the recent conviction of Abby Lee Miller, who pled guilty to bankruptcy fraud. Abby Lee Miller (which I realized I never say just Abby, it is always her full name) makes amazing TV. At her most basic level, she is an educator and choreographer who wants her students to succeed and win. The way she goes about this is completely insane. She yells, she screams, she threatens, she intimidates … everything an educator should not do. At first, I found it very hilarious, but I eventually had to stop watching this year. I felt that by watching, I was somehow contributing to future emotional problems of all the children on the show. I still think about Abby a lot and feel like you can’t yell and berate children without karma coming to bite you in the ass. Her ass done got bit.
Jason: My celebrity net worth obsession has been brewing for several years. It’s been a fun thing to Google while watching TV. But because of this obsession, I’ve become a pretty decent estimator of celebrity wealth. I’m also obsessed with the Real Housewives of New York City. I think it began because I loved watching their B-roll of New York City, but I ended up sticking with them because it’s amazing to watch a bunch of women behave in a way that makes zero logical sense and is entirely removed from my passive, sweet little world, where drama is pretty much non-existent. Maybe some day I’ll start picking fights with my friends and family. But for now Real Housewives fulfills that need.