Wow If True

What do celebrities owe us? What do your local podcasters owe you? Does anyone ever owe anyone anything? We discuss whether celebrity endorsements are a positive or negative development, and also whether men deserve candles. Thank you to ~research assistant~ Brae Parenteau for their help on this episode! Sources Chappell Roan’s feature in Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-fea...

This episode has it all: and by, it all, we mean that Amanda spends about a full twenty minutes talking about her celebrity crush. And yet, through the power of podcasting, we manage to dive into the history of Stanley Cups and Owalas and how water bottles became fashion statements. We even interviewed Dr. Jess Rauchberg, a professor at Seton Hall studying digital culture, about water bottle cultu...

So what's a friend, anyway? Well, if you're making an AI startup, a friend is a mic who is always listening :) Iz and Amanda discover the power of friendship and also the power of buying the url friend.com and also the power of reading The Power Broker, Robert Caro's 1162 page epic. Find Us Online  Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue Patreon: ht...

Pepe: the frog, the myth, the legend. We go all-in on a deep dive on what Pepe has meant as a cultural symbol – from frog, to neo-nazi, to grassroots rebel, and somehow, to a crypto symbol. Sometimes a frog simply contains multitudes. Feels good man. Find Us Online  Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue W...

None of this episode is legal advice. We're joined by IP attorney Sam Doesntwantrealnameincluded, and we discuss the legality of stealing Scarlett Johannson's voice for your AI, or if she can sue you for one billion dollars (trick question: its always legal to sue in America!). Also, listener questions about copyrighting the internet, answered with varying degrees of legal fidelity. Find Us Online...

So what is the point of any technology? That's right. To more accurately simulate anime girls. We talk about the relationship between LLMs (large language models), anime girls, and pornography. Also, Iz forces her boyfriend to run jailbroken LLMs to test out ERP (erotic roleplay) prompts.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do...

We're back from our break, more powerful than ever, and maybe even strong enough to talk about anonymous social media and whether it's good or bad (or, perhaps, it's not that simple). Amanda writes a book report, Iz grades a book report, we both reminisce about being anonymous teenagers on the internet. Also: oh, hey YikYak, we thought you were dead.   Sources: Instagram is toxic for teen girls (W...

  Wow If True is your one-stop internet culture shop, explaining how what’s happening online shapes the real world. And we’re the internet experts and real-life besties to unravel it: tech culture journalist Amanda Silberling and science fiction author slash attorney Isabel J. Kim, Esq. More importantly, we’re the only podcast that will mention Neopets and horizontal mergers in the same episode. N...

In this episode: Iz finally puts her law degree to good use and explains the complaint that the Department of Justice filed against Ticketmaster and Live Nation regarding their many, many antitrust oopsies (This is not the technical term). Also, PBJ metaphors, DND podcast liveshow discussion, and EBITDA, but only conceptually.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy...

In this episode: We discuss "mouth biohacking" and all the fun things (rationalism, experimental mouth technologies and silicon valley, Amanda's beautiful mouth) that go along with it.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In this episode: Our luxury fashion correspondent (and half of our editing team), Allison Mills, is back to talk with us about Erewhon. Why are are talking about a grocery store chain from California? Because they sell 32 dollar ice and routinely go viral on social media (mostly because of the 18 dollar smoothies). Also, Morgan Sung joins us as our west coast correspondent, we learn what a macrobi...

Isabel got a seven figure book deal and got the book optioned, but she continues to threaten to kill people on our podcast (especially the kid in the Omelas hole). No, this is not a bit. Iz is god's favorite princess, and Amanda can run a mile without stopping. Links Isabel's book deal announcement!  The story about killing the kid in the Omelas hole Most importantly... NEW MERCH! Get your very ow...

The history of handwashing? It's way wilder than you think. Isabel is once again out of the country and/or concussed, which means Amanda is joined by her friends Caro and Andrea to talk about everyone's favorite 19th century handwashing accelerationist, Ignac Semmelweis. What does this have to do with the internet? Well, if you're going to go outside and touch grass (preferably while listening to...

The most successful internet creator of all time is a guy named Jimmy who locks people in grocery stores for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Like him or not, MrBeast is such a fascinating figure in pop culture that we have become MrBeast anthropologists. Beastly scholars. Why do people like MrBeast so much? How does MrBeast (and the prizewinners in his videos) fit into the narrative of the Ameri...

In this episode, we discuss the only thing congress can agree upon: yeeting Tiktok into the sun and away from the hands of America's youth. Also, the Iditarod and how to properly gut a moose, crypto perfume (question for the audience: what do YOU think crypto smells like?), and the mandatory Kate Middleton AI photograph discussion. Never say we're not on trend.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19...

The sequel to Organizer Memes. It's throwback....Wednesday, and Organizer Memes is here talking with Amanda about memes and political organizing, three years later. Time is a flat circle. Joe Biden is running for president again (but this time, with meme merch). Speaking of meme merch, we've got a new portable hole mug. WOTC please no suing.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Cal...

In this episode: Isabel explains why she is glad she didn't win a Hugo this year (hint: there's niche community drama), Amanda gets philosophical about the Taylor Swift deepfake debacle and pisses off tech CEOs again, and all of us collectively ooh and aah at the miracle of brumation. Did we mention we have merch ? And a Patreon ?    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California P...

In this episode, we talk about hole. The ocean (and the world cruise floating on it) is a big hole. The Stanley cup is a small hole. The tunnels under the Chabad in Brooklyn? That's a medium size hole, baby. And this podcast? Well, it's a hole for your ears. Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Too bad, you've already fallen in. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy...

Happy new year, which means happy public domain day! We talk about Steamboat Willie, our favorite (and least favorite) internet moments of 2023, how to eat crabs, etc. We play two (2) whole games, like Wow if Two Truths and a Lie and the now-annual public domain game! The Isabel book club! We sliced the meme!  More about Steamboat Willie: https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/02/steamboat-willie-mickey-m...

In this episode: Iz is back, and the internet explodes. The worldwide cruise begins, publishing has another crisis, and the goat is eaten by birds. Some days nothing happens. Other days, everything happens. Welcome back to the two host experience. Now in apple cinnamon flavor. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-...

In this episode: Isabel has a concussion and a cold at the same time, so Amanda does the podcast alone and has an existential crisis. While confronting her vulnerability and loneliness without her other podcasting half, Amanda tells you about Henry Kissinger death memes, weird fanfic theories, OpenAI drama, and crabs. Links Mark Yarm on Henry Kissinger memes: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifesty...

In this episode: we arrive at the conclusion that the internet is nothing if not AI and [redacted]. We are extremely sorry. We also regret to inform you that Omegle is dead, and Tumblr... Tumblr is not dead, but it's not necessarily thriving! Also, we have thoughts and opinions about Minnesota, an entity we normally have zero thoughts and opinions about. RIP Omegle: https://www.404media.co/omegle-...

In this episode: Isabel has taken over, and now we are a narrative podcast about ghosts. Yes, halloween was yesterday. No, this is not a bit. Yes, this is a fully produced demo of a narrative podcast about a city on the mouth of hell and also, necromancy. Back to regular programming next episode! The voice of Emory is Andromeda, the voice of Isaac is Isabel, the voice of Annette is Bryan/Ultralord...

In this episode: we are experiencing the full spectrum of human experience -- homestuck, dystopian corporate therapy, and baseball. Also, Iz explains the state of wizard fiction pre-Hugo Awards, and Amanda talks about why the internet isn't fun anymore. But you know what IS fun? Podcasts. Specifically ours. Also the Philadelphia Phillies. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Califor...

In this episode, we learn about men who don't use plates and girls who do special math. Amanda went to Vidcon and met a really famous dog, and also some famous people. Iz read a 94 page contract (aka, the results of the WGA strike). Look mom, we're finally content creators. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-inf...