Wow If True

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. New episode every other Wednesday.

108: We ask a bunch of men if they read 02/19/2025

108: We ask a bunch of men if they read Everyone cites a statistic about how men don't read, but no one knows where that statistic comes from -- so, we did our own very sound scientific study and talked to some men we know about reading. Saunas are involved. Wow if True except every time you ask a man if they read the room gets one degree hotter because we are in a sauna. Thanks to Eric Silver, Sam Rizer, David Newtown, and an amorphous disembodied chorus of Isabel's high school friends ("myst cult") in a sauna for participating. Sources: The viral panic around men's reading habits, fact-checked: https://www.vox.com/culture/392971/men-reading-fiction-statistics-fact-checked Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/35351620

107: Reading men, men reading 01/29/2025

107: Reading men, men reading We’re out here talking about romantasy and lawsuits related to romantasy. No, not the omegaverse one. OK, a little bit the omegaverse one. Also, asking the age of question: do men read. (Also, a note for the sharp-eared listeners, we don't talk about public domain day despite promising it - next ep!) Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/35057665

106: Naked Knife Fight 01/15/2025

106: Naked Knife Fight We travel back in time to the day after Thanksgiving, a calmer and more peaceful era. Just kidding, we're here talking about the naked knife fight, a reference everyone will only understand in 2026. Amanda reads 98% of Isabel's book, Isabel opines on the neccessity of conventions for publishing, and we talk way too long about pottery and hot ass. Also: fish hats, now trending in orca populations near you. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/34862230

105: Happy New Year (it’s not optional) 01/01/2025

105: Happy New Year (it’s not optional) It's 2025, and we're flipping it turnways by bringing on the people who shape this podcast into something listenable. AKA, Amanda's in Florida and Isabel's talking with Allison and David about: Walmart Birkins, the ethics of smells (and of going viral for the smellthics), whether Tenet was a good movie, and the correct number of times to read the Odyssey. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/34675875

104: Luigi 12/18/2024

104: Luigi We discuss the internet's reaction to the United Healthcare CEO shooting and the suspect, Luigi Mangione, from a perspective sorely missing from the national conversation: two people who also went to Penn. Finally, something we have true expertise in. Also: how attractiveness relates to public opinion, online sentiment toward Luigi, and you know, the whole murder thing. Links NYT thinks Luigi is too hot: Lit Hub on Luigi's Goodreads: Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/34496065

103: 4B 12/04/2024

103: 4B In this episode: somehow, no one makes a 4Beez nuts joke. Also, we talk about the Korean 4B feminist movement strangely gaining steam on American TikTok after the election, and how the right is mad that women are shaving their heads, but no one is actually shaving their heads. Also, bald correspondent Joe joins us in the studio -- we literally mean a studio this time, we were in a studio weirdly... wow if true... Links: Volante Design: (use code WOW for 10% off!) Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/34275565

102: Glow in the Dark 11/20/2024

102: Glow in the Dark Iz and Amanda talk about: glow in the dark condoms, America's most evil liberal, the double bongcloud, Isabel's book career and the fact that she needs to become a TikTok star, and bringing the portal to Philadelphia, ft. cameo by Iz's boyfriend, at the most appropriate time. Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/34026402

101: Wow if True 101 11/06/2024

101: Wow if True 101 Time for Wow if True 101, a brief look back at the history of Wow if True. By brief, we mean an hour. Iz and Amanda talk about the trajectory of Wow if True and also, their lives. This one's MAD parasocial. Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/33813722

100: The Pokémon Leaks 10/23/2024

100: The Pokémon Leaks We made it to a hundred episodes! Unfortunately, all celebration must be postponed because Isabel needs to read Amanda far too much Pokémon mythology. That's right, we're talking about the big Pokémon data leak and the resulting Typhlosion memes. By this we mean Pokémon fucking. We're talking about Pokémon fucking. Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/33582822

99: Leave Chappell Alone 10/09/2024

99: Leave Chappell Alone 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: Harvard study on celebrities’ political impact: Taylor Swift + Vote.org stats: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/12/us/politics/taylor-swift-voter-registration.html Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/33389467

98: The Water Bottle Industrial Complex 09/25/2024

98: The Water Bottle Industrial Complex 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 culture. Amanda's celebrity crush DOES somehow relate to water bottles, but not in the way you think. Links Jess Rauchberg: https://x.com/JessRauchberg Soda craze in Utah: Utah & the Stanley trend: Is this even eco-friendly: Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/33196212

97: Dueling Friends 09/11/2024

97: Dueling Friends 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: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/32997092

96: Pepe the Frog 08/28/2024

96: Pepe the Frog 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: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/32773587

95: Can you copyright an egg? 08/14/2024

95: Can you copyright an egg? 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 Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/32568532

94: Anime Girl LLMs 07/31/2024

94: Anime Girl LLMs 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. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/32343387

93: Anonymity 07/17/2024

93: Anonymity 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 (WSJ): Yik Yak background (TechCrunch): Yik Yak Hack (Motherboard): Sidechat buys Yik Yak (TechCrunch): Sidechat (NYT): Formspring (NYT): Fizz (TechCrunch): EFF on Anonymity: Age verification laws (TechCrunch): Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/32165147

Welcome to Wow If True! 07/16/2024

Welcome to Wow If True! 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. New episode every other Wednesday. Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Patreon: Website: Email: [email protected] About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of , an independent podcast collective and production studio. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/32166092

92: DOJ vs Ticketmaster 06/05/2024

92: DOJ vs Ticketmaster 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. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/31609487

91: Mouth Biohacking 05/22/2024

91: Mouth Biohacking 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. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/31415432

90: Erewhonpilled Smoothiemaxxer 05/08/2024

90: Erewhonpilled Smoothiemaxxer 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 macrobiotic diet is, and everyone now really wants a smoothie. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/31188772

89: Isabel got a book deal! 04/24/2024

89: Isabel got a book deal! 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 Most importantly... Get your very own shirt/mug that says "I listened to Wow If True before Isabel J. Kim got a seven figure book deal." This merch is very funny and good. Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue Website: Email: About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our music is by Sam Rizer, our cover art is by Eric Silver, and our production is by Allison Mills and David Newtown. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/30962798

88: How we learned about handwashing 04/10/2024

88: How we learned about handwashing 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 this podcast), you're going to need to wash your hands when you come back inside. TW: medical gore, death, dissection, infection, drugs Find Us Online Twitter: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue Website: Email: About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our music is by Sam Rizer, our cover art is by Eric Silver, and our production is by Allison Mills and David Newtown. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/30754418

87: Do you think MrBeast is happy? 03/27/2024

87: Do you think MrBeast is happy? 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 American Dream, and how will that be exaggerated now that he has his own TV show? Is he even happy? And more urgently, is his chocolate any good? Links Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue Website: Email: About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our music is by Sam Rizer, our cover art is by Eric Silver, and our production is by Allison Mills and David Newtown. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/30559768

85: Wow if Two 03/14/2024

85: Wow if Two 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. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/30367928

84: Marianne Williamson Beef (ft. Organizer Memes) 02/28/2024

84: Marianne Williamson Beef (ft. Organizer Memes) 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. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/30146303

83: Communism or incompetence 01/31/2024

83: Communism or incompetence 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 ? And a ? /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/29727078

82: Craving Hole 01/17/2024

82: Craving Hole 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. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/29522073

81: Everybody is using panels 01/03/2024

81: Everybody is using panels 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! More about Steamboat Willie: Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue Website: Email: About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our music is by Sam Rizer, our cover art is by Eric Silver, and our production is by Allison Mills and David Newtown. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/29318798

80: Free Floss 12/20/2023

80: Free Floss 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. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/29161933

79: Crab rave for Henry Kissinger 12/06/2023

79: Crab rave for Henry Kissinger 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: OpenAI and bad HP fanfic collide: Crab rave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDU_Txk06tM Find Us Online Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue Website: Email: About Us Wow If True was created by and . Our music is by Sam Rizer, our cover art is by Eric Silver, and our production is by Allison Mills and David Newtown. /episode/index/show/wowiftrue/id/28949583

Wow If True

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