Rehash

Can AI have taste? Such is the question trend forecaster Emily Segal, progenitor of “normcore,” set out to ask in a recent Substack post. In her comprehension breakdown of the concept, Segal asserts that to possess the intangible essence of good taste, one must be discerning, idiosyncratic, and be able to recognize patterns. Good taste, for Segal, is not a numbers game. It cannot simply be aggregated. But how do we account for bad taste? Such is the question Hannah and Maia set out to ask. They’re joined by the hosts of the Polyester podcast, Ione Gamble and Gina Tonic, whose recent collection of essays, The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste, may just have all the answers. What if Maia loves Showgirls? What if Ione likes My Chemical Romance? If bad taste is low culture, how do we explain Rick Owens? If good taste is high culture, how do we explain everyone owning the same chrome coffee table? Find out about this and more in this extra special bonus episode, available in full on Patreon. 
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Imagine a world where you can bet on anything. Celebrity breakups? Bet. Oil prices changing with the winds? Bet on it. Foreign leaders deposed seemingly out of nowhere? Bet on that too. Ballistic missile strikes? Go for it. In this Patreon bonus episode, Hannah and Maia cover Polymarket and Kalshi - not quite prediction markets, not quite gambling websites, where users are encouraged to “bet on their beliefs”. If there was ever a sign of the times, it would be this. As gambling addiction skyrockets among younger and younger demographics, and governments scramble to regulate, Polymarket and Kalshi are doubling down via influencer marketing campaigns and college campus merch. They also justify their existence with a troubling philosophy: that money speaks to truth. But with only a tiny number of accounts collecting the majority of the profits, and certain users betting correctly on once-impossible odds, one has to wonder whether “truth” was ever the objective. Tangents include: a review of Backrooms. 
FULL episode available on Patreon:
⁠https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast⁠

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/REHASH for a great deal: https://www.quince.com

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Shakespeare, Picasso, Tom Sandoval… what do these luminaries have in common? Well, reader. They were cheaters. Adultery has been a flash point on the internet for some time now - from Ned Fulmer, to Couch Guy, to that couple at the Coldplay concert, people seem to hold particular venom for those who get caught cheating. So it’s hard to believe that only a couple decades ago, there was a dating site dedicated to the act of cheating. In this finale episode, Hannah and Maia revisit the phenomenon that was Ashley Madison, a service developed in Toronto where those looking for infidelity could find a parent in crime with the click of a button. But after a massive data breach, broken marriages, and even deaths - Ashley Madison fell quickly from “grace.” In the years since Ashley Madison’s users were doxxed and shamed, even since Hester Prynne was brandished with a scarlet “A,” one has to wonder why this age-old act has not received more nuance as society has progressed. What is cheating, what even is romantic love, and have we given both of these things a little too much power? Tangents include: Toronto girl summer, Drake as the groundhog from Groundhog Day, sage advice from the oracle Esther Perel. 
Support us on Patreon and get juicy bonus content:
⁠https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast⁠
Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:
⁠https://linktr.ee/ianmillsmusic

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/REHASH for a great deal: https://www.quince.com

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Sex has become so ubiquitous online that now men pay NOT to see it. One of the internet’s recent perplexities is one such case: The Bop House, a hype house inhabited a bunch of barely legal looking, jeggings-swaddled Only Fans models with two first names. Who inhabit empty mansions and who also, most importantly, do not show hole. Its founder is Sophie Rain, a “totemic figure” among horny online men, one of the highest aid Only Fans models working today, and a self-proclaimed virgin who is “wiping away the stigma of sex work” by taking sex out of the equation altogether. Most confounding, the Bop House girls suck their thumbs, shake their butts, and wear onesies for an audience not only of men, but also swaths of young girls. Broadcasting from Polyester Studios in London, Hannah and Maia question their own instincts to dislike the women of the Bop House. Why is there such a high incidence of “baby mode” among younger Gen Z? Is this another instance of Olivia Rodrigo babydoll dress gate? And can one really infantilize oneself? Tangents include: Hannah and Maia’s ancestral tour of Ireland and the UK and Kamryn Renae, Miss Pacific Crest Trail. 
Support us on Patreon and get juicy bonus content:
⁠https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast⁠
Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:
⁠https://linktr.ee/ianmillsmusic

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/REHASH for a great deal: https://www.quince.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Every year around June a debate emerges on Twitter that provokes the entire internet into a collective groan: Should kink be allowed at pride? Those who want to ban kink from the events seem well intentioned enough. But as young queer folks denounce the presence of leather, whips, and bondage at this so-called family friendly event by asking “why gay men feel comfortable being naked around children,” one can’t help but smell whiffs of Anita Bryant. In this episode, Hannah and Maia unpack both sides of the debate, and ask what, or better yet who, pride is for. Is it an act of protest? Commemoration? Or showing all the work you’ve done to the mommy and daddy that is heterosexual society? Are the people complaining on Twitter boots on the ground? Or rather, are they leather boots on the ground? Boots down. Tangent includes: America’s next top model documentary and Tyra banks as sadist. 
Support us on Patreon and get juicy bonus content:
⁠https://www.patreon.com/rehashpodcast⁠
Intro and outro song by our talented friend Ian Mills:
⁠https://linktr.ee/ianmillsmusic

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Quince and use my code quince.com/REHASH for a great deal: https://www.quince.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands