Wow If True

Isabel saw the Minions movie. Amanda became obsessed with Minion linguistics. Stephen King testified in court. Jennette McCurdy talked about trauma. The internet thought she talked about Ariana Grande. 26 of Isabels closest friends rented an island. Maybe the real minions were the friends we made along the way.  This episodes was edited by David Newtown (get well soon Allison!!!). It was also post...

This week, one of our hosts is finally, officially a lawyer! And the other knows too much about the pink sauce scandal. What's the pink sauce, you might ask? That's a great question. We'd also love to know what's in it. Also, Big Publishing™ is trying to sue the Internet Archive, and our Actual Lawyer™ tells us why we should care. Finally, we are entranced by the epic highs and lows of the Upper E...

Are the brands okay? Is anyone ever okay? Is RadioShack, specifically, okay? Is Elon pulling out (of Twitter, we mean, get your head out of the gutter)? Who are the Gentleminions? Did Hank Green steal a lemur? And most importantly: what did Amanda eat at VidCon? Links Uhhh, a lot more happened in the Ongoing Musk Saga after we recorded this, but here's Amanda on Musk + memes + the law: https://tec...

Amanda McLoughlin (CEO of Multitude Productions) says that everything she knows about running a business, she learned in fandom... because believe it or not, the same skills that help you organize a fic exchange also help you run an independent podcasting collective! This one's for you, fanfic enthusiasts and former britpickers.   Links Amanda McLoughlin: https://twitter.com/shessomickey Multitude...

In this episode: Not going to sugarcoat it, this is a Morbius centric experience. We also discuss taco bell quarterly (a literary magazine unaffiliated with taco bell), disney adults, and Glossier's CEO stepping down, but who cares about that: it's morbin' time. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Wikipedian of the Year and Actual Real Doctor Emily Temple-Wood returns to the pod! We talk about the worst thing on the internet this week -- the Winnie the Pooh slasher film -- then answer your burning medical questions: how did they do surgery on a grape? Did people really eat tide pods? How does ibuprofen work? What went wrong when Bella Swan gave birth? Get ready, it's morbin' time.  Timestam...

In this episode, we embrace the goth lifestyle and go back to basics. That is to say, we read Dracula. Daily. Along with 25,000+ people. It's a long story, okay. Also My Chemical Romance is back and half the hosts are excited about this, and it's not the half you'd think. Sometimes the internet is just a vehicle to embrace your inner emo kid, and sometimes it's a vehicle to lose a lot of money in...

Sorry for talking about Elon Musk again, but in our defense, he should stop doing things like "having a secret baby with Grimes" and "spending $44B on Twitter." That's right, Elon "Tesla stock at $420" Musk is likely buying Twitter, and meanwhile, you could briefly 420blazeit on Tumblr. On the bright side, at least the Destiel/political event nexus is still active?   Links A timeline of the Elon s...

Elon Musk is buying Twitter (or not?). Club Penguin is relevant again (or not?). Most importantly, audio editor extraordinaire/author/archivist Allison Mills joins us to talk about Birkin bags, appropriated blockchain-based Birkin bags, and appropriated-appropriated Birkin bags. Also, Isabel gets cancelled.  Libro.fm:  https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=25361&awinaffid=1001477&ued=htt...

In this episode, half the hosts have contracted the [REDACTED], but we won't tell you which half unless you listen. But more importantly, half the hosts have never consumed canned soup, and we also won't tell you which half unless you listen. Also, Tumblr's actually good prank, Khloe Kardashian's pantry vs. Ashley Tisdale's bookcase, and Young Sheldon? It's content. Affiliate Links  Libro.fm: http...

In this episode, we talk about dating, good names for wizards, and bad names for babies. AKA, Grimes is dating Chelsea Manning and had a second secret baby with Elon Musk, so sorry if you found out this way. Can we offer you a podcast episode in this trying time? Or maybe five Brandon Sanderson books?     Affiliate Links  Libro.fm: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=25361&awinaffid=100147...

We are a shining beacon of 2009 fandom in these trying times. Chill vibes only on the pod as very online playwright Alexa Derman stops by to tell us about "Big Fanfic Piece," a digital play in which her friends performed her 2009 fanfiction.net profile, which she deleted after being featured in a list of "worst Twilight fanfics." Also, we have to talk about HPMOR. And then we tell you Iz's twelve...

In this episode: there’s nothing wrong with web3 and it is going just great, because we’ve entered a parallel dimension where crypto doesn’t exist but women do. That’s a lie: we’re here to talk about the biggest financial seizure in history, cryptoland, and also, Razzlekhan. And we’re joined by special guest Molly White, creator of “web3 is going just great,” a site that chronicles the many stumbl...

[TW: mention of sexual assault 5:05-5:20] In this episode: Is this a poetry workshop? No! It’s the gamer girl spectacular, featuring gamer girl Eric Silver. Just kidding, Eric isn’t a gamer girl, Eric’s the Head of Creative at Multitude Productions and Dungeon Master of Join the Party. We’re here talking about real gamer girl things, like mergers and acquisitions — specifically Microsoft and Activ...

In this episode: Iz breaks Amanda with the identity of blorbo, we discuss the circular nature of social media fame and going viral for nothing (hello Hype House yes this is a drag), and the current Tower of Babel situation Tumblr is undergoing. Also, we talk about rebranding, both conceptually and as a very real thing we’re doing. Show Notes Blorbo links? https://twitter.com/tumblr/status/14809817...

​​Wow If True is your one-stop internet culture shop, hosted by meme sommeliers and real-life besties: tech journalist Amanda Silberling and terminally-online law guy Isabel J. Kim. We dig into what, where, and how something's going viral, and why what’s happening online matters in real life. New episodes every other Wednesday. Find Us Online  Twitter:  https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod Instagram: ...

This week, we’re rolling back the calendar to talk about the viral highlights (and lowlights) of 2021. Just kidding, we’re talking about Timothée Chalamet being Amanda’s real life nemesis, the magnetic, unexplainable appeal of Pete Davidson, and also the upsetting juxtaposition between tragedy and comedy that defined viral events in 2021. Also, Isabel threatens to murder three different people.  ...

Mysticism meets data science in this week’s episode, where we unwrap Spotify Wrapped and talk way more about auras than we needed to. Also, if the algorithm suggested this episode to you — great news for recursion fans, we talk about the algorithm. And last, weird news for money fans, Mr. Beast is throwing lots of it away, cause that’s what the content machine craves — not you though, YOU want to...

32: Corporate Cringe Facebook rebranded, which is extremely cringe and not based. Also, venture capitalists are subsidizing the lives of creators now, and we can’t decide whether that’s cringe or if we’re jealous that no one is giving us millions of dollars for this S-tier podcast. Also also, Isabel makes Amanda go into the Wendy’s Discord, the definition of corporate cringe. Somehow, Amanda’s chi...

31: Cult Survivor TikTok (ft. Elizabeth Hunter) Sometimes, the algorithm is… good? For people with very specific experiences — like surviving a cult — social media can be a place of connection and healing. Elizabeth Hunter went viral on TikTok for talking about her experiences growing up in a fundamentalist cult, and now, she’s the named plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Department of Education —...

Another episode, another deep dive into pointless internet drama. This time, we’re talking about Realms of Ruin, the ill-fated NFT-based publishing project created by six bestselling young adult authors that people hated so much, it got shut down in hours. Plus, Isabel somehow finds a way to mention Supernatural and Homestuck, and Amanda shares her most controversial opinions.  Show Notes If you a...

The internet broke this week — literally, like Facebook went down for six hours. But also figuratively, because Writer Twitter blew up with takes about a New York Times article about a lawsuit between two writers that none of us had previously heard of. Isabel indulges us by using her J.D. to dive into the legal proceedings in the landmark case Dawn v. Sonya (that’s not the actual name), and we le...

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss is the non-cheugy evil twin of the very cheugy Live, Laugh, Love, so of course, here you go: here’s a full episode unpacking the trifecta of white feminism. We talk about Isabel being a corporate lawyer who says fuck at work, the origin of the term girlboss, and debate whether or not Elizabeth Holmes is a Girlboss. Also, we have a discord now! So if you’re not a Patreo...

We happen to have a good ol’ buddy who /competed in the Olympics/, so of course, we had to have her on the show so that we could ask her about the supposed “anti-sex” Olympic beds. Meet Regina Salmons, a real life Olympic Rower who competed for Team USA in the Women’s 8 race! She’s 6’1”, not 6’0”, and she’s here to talk with us about the best Olympics memes from Olympics TikTok (where, of course,...

Isabel is on vacation, so we invited Eric Silver (Multitude, Join the Party) back on the show to fill in! We talk about matzo ball soup, updates in our internet fame quests, Tony Hawk’s blood skateboards, the Mets, internet Yom Kippur, and Mamoswine.    Show Notes Amanda talked about OnlyFans on a podcast about… finance!? https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/25/onlyfans-policy-change-is-a-tale-as-old-as...