Ten Thousand Posts

You Are The Main Character (Part 1)

This week, Hussein and Phoebe talk about "The Main Character",  and how the current social media economy encourages its users to actively seek out being the central character of an ongoing, tedious dramedy with no discernible plot, character arcs or clear narrative. We read Kyle Chayka's "We All Have Main Character Energy Now" to look at how being the "Main Character" has gone from an involuntary social experience which always ends with you logging off forever, to a desirable state of being, complete with its own aesthetic, brand deals and short-term celebrity.

We also talk about Andrew Lilico, reading through a post that is so bizarre and incoherent that Hussein's brain breaks live on air. It still needs to be glued back!

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Ten Thousand Posts is a show about how everything is posting. It's hosted by Hussein (@Hkesvani), Phoebe (@PRHRoy) and produced by Drew (@Drewtopia_). Find us on Twitter at @10kpostspod. 

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We are also on Patreon! For fortnightly bonus content, including bonus series content, subscribe for as little as $5 a month: www.patreon.com/10kpostspodcast. 

How To Park Cars And Alienate People ft. Roisin Kiberd

This week, we're joined by Roisin Kiberd, journalist and author of 'The Disconnect: A Personal Journey Through the Internet', a collection of essays that examines the dominance of big tech, how platforms have taken over the internet, and how that influences our collective feelings of powerlessness and alienation. Also, a long, deserved consideration of which flavour of Monster energy is the best. 
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We talk about some of the themes of the book - from the managerialism of "content creation", how the fetishisation of youth in tech has led us to an internet that primarily serves middle-aged, cringey fathers, and how financialisation means that even 'owning' parts of yourself is near impossible online.  We also talk about the viral 'parallel parking' post, in which thousands of people got mad at someone because they parked their car in a busy, congested city. Why is it that the most mundane tweets invite the most anger? The answer might be that we've gone past 'main characters' and onto 'main villains'.
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You can purchase Roisin's book from Serpent's Tail publishers here: https://serpentstail.com/work/the-disconnect/

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Ten Thousand Posts is a show about how everything is posting. It's hosted by Hussein (@Hkesvani), Phoebe (@PRHRoy) and produced by Drew (@Drewtopia_). You can follow us at twitter.com/10kpostspod.

You can subscribe for bonus content every fortnight at: www.patreon.com/10kpostspodcast. 

The Talented Mr McAfee ft. Julian Feeld

This week, we're joined by Julian Feeld (@julianfeeld), co-host of the popular QanonAnonymous podcast, to talk about the legacy of John McAfee, the guy who made his fortune on glitchy anti-virus software and, rather than becoming one kind of bizarre tech guy, decided to become another. In doing so, he was on the run after being accused of murdering a guy over a minor dispute, and evading US authorities after being involved in a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme. During his time on the run, McAfee posted *a lot*. From thinly veiled messages about QAnon, to long diatribes about sucking his own dick and whether you could have consensual sex with a whale, he left this world as a Poster - truly, the death we all deserve. 
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We also explain to Julian who "Lord Sugar" is, after, unexpectedly, he posted the perfect Tweet, and in so doing, shone a much needed light on the inner violence of old British guys, and the curious habit of keeping a list of guys you'd like to punch stored neatly in your front pocket.
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Ten Thousand Posts is the show about about everything is posting. It's hosted by Hussein (@HKesvani), Phoebe (@PRHRoy) and produced by Drew (@Drewtopia_). For bonus content, subscribe to us on Patreon for as little as $5 a month: www.patreon.com/10kpostspodcast. 

 

The Chairmen ft. Alana Hope Levinson

On this week's episode, we're joined by Alana Hope Levinson (@alanalevinson), a writer and media consultant, who was previously the Deputy Editor of MEL magazine.  We talk about the infamous "British Lad Hit With Chair" video, discussing, frame by frame, how it is a contemporary work of unappreciated art, and something that, at a time of oral histories, obsessions with backstories and milkshake ducking, couldn't exist today.

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[PREVIEW] It's Simple: We Invent "The Facebook"

In this week's *bonus* episode, we return to the 10kposts Picturehouse to gourge on tasteless popcorn, drink heavily watered down Monster energy, and watch the 2010 David Fincher/Aaron Sorkin movie "The Social Network". 
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We talk about what the film got right about the underlying ideologies of social media platforms, how they were originally designed to be voluntary surveillance machines, and why the film chooses gloss over all of this so it can focus on rich white guys being mean to each other. Plus, we discuss the one-liners that plague the Winklevoss twins' instagram page, how Justin Timberlake is the only character in the film who actually does understand what's going on, and the weirdness of two Armie Hammers on screen. 
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You can listen to the entire episode by subscribing to our Patreon! Get it at www.patreon.com/10kpostspodcast.

Crowdsurfing Naked In The Pub After The Burnley Equaliser ft. Tom Victor

This week, Hussein Interviews Tom Victor (@tomvictor), author of ‘What Would Jurgen Klopp Do?’ as well as several good posts. We talk about what "Football Twitter" is exactly, how and why they clog up Twitter's trending pages every Saturday, and, in the absence of Football, operate similarly to other online fandoms - both in promoting their favourite teams, and harassing people.  If you've ever been called a Nonce by an account with the crest of a low-ranked Premier League team or an obscure footballer you don't recognise, this episode might clarify some things.

We also talk about Jamila Jamil being cast as a Marvel Villain, basically celebrating this show's successful lathing of Joker Jamil - but how will her new role, and subsequent enrolment onto Marvel's fitness bootcamp, go down with the Body Positivity fandom she's cultivated?
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Ten Thousand Posts is a show about how everything is posting. It's hosted by Hussein (@Hkesvani), Phoebe (@PrhRoy) and produced by Drew (@Drewtopia_)
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We are on Patreon! Subscribe for bonus content at www.patreon.com/10kpostspodcast. 

This Is Not My Beautiful Bug!

This week we have a classic 10k where we talk about some fun posts. We start off with Richard Dawkins being unable to understand Kafka's The Metamorphosis and then go onto Jeanette Winterson getting so mad at the publishing industry and its proximity to home decor that she burnt her own books.

Finally, we talk about two tweets that, though seemingly different, embody the same logic. How does a tweet thread about a female journalist travelling cross-country to get rejected by a guy embody the same poster's pathway as a guy who tortures his wife with his alarm clock? When you're performing for a vague set of participant observers, it turns out, quite a lot!

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[PREVIEW] The Tragedie Of Dominick Cummings (Part 2) ft James Allen-Robertson

This week's bonus is with James Allen-Robertson, a researcher on radical technology and cultures. He talks to us about the origins of Online Rationalism, early forums culture, and why so many of the rationalists now seem to only agree on one thing (mandatory phrenology in schools). How has this movement shaped the social web, and how exactly did it lead to a peripheral figure with a blog to become the UK Government's most senior advisor?

You can get the entire episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/tragedie-of-part-52249353

The Tragedie of Dominick Cummings [Part 1] ft. Nish Kumar

In Part 1 of our series on Dominic Cummings, the self-fashioned Svengali and largest government poster's brain, we're joined by friend of the pod(s) and the Home Counties' favourite stand-up comedian, Nish Kumar (@MrNishKumar). 

We discuss the extraordinary moment when this podcast was proven correct - that *everything* is posting - when Dominic Cummings, apparently the government's smartest advisor, openly misinterpreted a very basic meme in Parliament to describe why it was totally ok that thousands of people died due to government corruption and incompetence at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.  

We also talk about a rare *wholesome* meme, in which beloved Friends actor Matt Le Blanc transformed from an Italian man to an Irish dad, and how he has became the patron saint of Italian Wakanda. 

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This is PART 1 of our series on Dominic Cummings. You can listen to PART 2, with James Allen-Robertson on Patreon: www.patreon.com/10kpostspodcast.

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Ten Thousand Posts is a show about how everything is posting. It's hosted by Hussein (@HKesvani), Phoebe (@PRHRoy) and produced by Drew (@Drewtopia_). Follow us on Twitter at @10kpostspod. 

You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Brains ft. Sarah Jaffe

This week, we're joined by labor journalist Sarah Jaffe (@sarahljaffe) to talk about her book Why Work Won't Love You Back, which is out with Hurst Publishers. We talk about how the 2008 financial crisis permanently changed the structure of work, normalising instability and precariousness and creating foundational struggle myths to justify paying people below minimum wage. We also talk about how these confrontations have played out online, in forms ranging from self-fashioned girlboss culture, to low-paid gig economy workers beginning to unionise and demand the very basic levels of dignity. 

You can buy Sarah's book here, and read the article we reference here. 

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Ten Thousand Posts is a show about how everything is posting. It's hosted by Hussein (@HKesvani), Phoebe (@PRHRoy) and produced by Drew (@Drewtopia_). For bonus content, subscribe to our patreon for as little as $5 a month: www.patreon.com/10kpostspodcast .