Hot Pocket
Stagione 1
fast & furious fashion
bad art, good drama
astrology economics 101
showboating and motorboating
you've met gala, but have you met us?
carter lunch brain
r/AmITheA**hole for not liking marvel?
lonely fans
di Saad Mahmood, Shehryar Hussain
Some dimes spend a dime to wear what other dimes make for a dime. It's a deep dive into the horrible world of fast fashion. Workers are being exploited, the world is burning, and all our data is sold to the highest bidder. It's all rainbows and sunshine. Zara's business model gives us an insight into how retail data and surveillance infrastructures keep the ship afloat. Shein's labor and supply chain control shows how the fast fashion industry gets around problems with monopolization. Put the two together, because they all do this nonsense.
Dudes rock. We go over the notorious "Bad Art Friend" story that's been making the rounds. It's got everything you'd want: kidney donations, plagiarism lawsuits, white savior complex, and unequal friendships. Everyone's the bad guy in this story. Next up: the Asian woman voted most likely to "Bag on Asian Men" does some serious self reflecting. Thanks to Korean dramas, she learns that her own people are hot. That Harvard education is really coming in clutch. A whole lot of "You probably shouldn't admit this in public" today.
Moon compatibility with the Milky Way Bar bodes well for your BMI, Aries. Today's a great day for your shoulders and posture, Sagittarius. We here at Hot Pocket are firm believers of not only getting your bread, but also predicting it. We're heading to the 1920's for today's history lesson: when Wall Street hired astrologers for investment advice. It ends with the Great Depression, whoops. Next, the boys unpack the word "soulmate". When we're talking destiny and love, it's easy to get swept up in a bad case of confirmation bias. Sometimes we only seek out answers that tell us we're right and just. And rich kids claiming they -- and I quote-- "Grinded all my life"? You're on notice. Libra rising and my foot rising up your cheeks, dummy.
Saad and Shehr gush about lions (Shehr literally means lion ain't that neat) before recounting a modern Romeo and Juliet story. A 1964 NASA experiment on dolphins, the English language, and LSD leads a dolphin to the love of his life. Folks, life ain't always rainbows and sunshine. Then we shift to MODERN modern day and go to town on our government. The boys go over the legal justification for expelling Haitian migrants, explain what people get wrong about voting, and reflect on politicians becoming celebrities. Tldr; politics for many people is like whether they prefer Nike or Adidas. Just dumb brand obsession. Got to see a dolphin wiener. Lookin' like a half melted watermelon-flavored popsicle. AND THAT'S NOT EVEN THE WORST THING IN MY GOOGLE SEARCH HISTORY.
We've returned from our break in New York, only to come to a horrible realization: We never really introduced ourselves. Your humble co-hosts are both some flavor of Pakistani-Muslim-American. How do our backgrounds affect us as people and as content creators? And that leads us to examine the relationship between culture and religion in general. It's common for us to attribute good morals to a religious upbringing but maybe faith isn't the only reason we embrace certain values. Finally, we talk about the goals of this podcast. Political comedy is arguably overdone, but we're specifically looking to make complicated ideas easy to understand, and what better way to teach than through really stupid jokes? Don't make fun of the crappy photoshop for the episode art or else we'll put you in a sweatshop for whenever we start making merchandise.
Donda. We start with some bangers from Japan before reviewing Kanye and Drake's recent drops. Donda. Shehr's a self-admitted OVO stan, but Saad doesn't get the hype. Donda. These two artists are household names, but how much of the hype is just them riding brand power versus actual music talent? Donda. Step aside COVID-19, we're fighting a new disease: CLB (see title). Donda. "I'd take a conversation with Jay Z over a million dollars, maybe I'm built different". Donda. Yeah you built like a McDonald's ice cream machine. Donda. Most financial advice from social media is either really bad or so obvious that it shouldn't be content. Donda. Some folks talk a lot only to say very little. The COVID Donda Variant. Aight this bit has run its course.
Shehr's real excited for the new Spiderman. But Saad will take a slow week as an excuse to bash on Marvel. As a market force? Leaves no room for good films. The politics? Man what Wakanda propaganda is this? And the dialogue? Well, it sucks, but I've probably hit 30 grammar mistakes in this paragraph alone. In just 13 years they put out 24 movies, and I'm not even getting into the TV shows. Even if you think they're just dumb fun, the number of movies eating up theater/advertising space is a problem. Fear not, we simmer down for the return of our Dirty Laundry segment. This time, we hit the "Am I the Asshole" subreddit. Oh it's juicy. One wife's affair 'causes problems for father and daughter years later. And one German history enthusiast picks up some, uh, problematic goodies. It ain't bratwurst or sauerkraut. Starts with N and rhymes with paparazzi.
Silicon Valley and Silicon Implants. I'm a regular ol' Dr. Seuss. OnlyFans is dumping sex workers for (even more) celebrities and credit cards. We talk money moves and cold business: Adult content is very profitable, but was this a viable long-term strategy? We then shift to the workers, and connect their struggle to other women-led labor movements. It's often said that being a mother is a thankless job, but what about women working in the healthcare, hospitality, domestic sectors? Finally: Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Youtube, and OnlyFans. What do they all have in common? Innovating.....new ways to undercut labor laws. If you're not looking at OnlyFans as part of Silicon Valley's predatory employment model, you're missing the bigger picture. But don't worry, you'll be radicalized soon enough. UPDATE: The day we post, OnlyFans decides to suspend their ban on sexually explicit content. Clearly their intel knew we were 'boutta drop the people's elbow on them. Good thing we broadened the conversation to exploitation and profitability in general, you'll still learn something. I'll be damned if I'm working overtime on a podcast.
Where to begin? We trace Afghanistan's history from the Soviet era, to the Islamic Emirate and most importantly, the American invasion. If we're to make sense of what happened on August 15t, 2021, we need to to follow the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and understand the Taliban as a political force. From there we tackle the question's everyone's asking: What's America's role now? Can the people who brought a country to ruin also save it? Can imperialism ever be justified? It's a heavy, thorough, but informative episode, giving more to think about than canned talking points. Also Saad wanted to name this episode "one night afghanistand" but democracy prevailed.
Saad's back just in time for the hallmark 10th episode. Annnnnnnd we're arguing about something we saw in a comic book store: Where does art end, and where does civility begin? The conversation focuses on depiction of religious figures, but it broadens out as the boys take opposing views. Shehr's personal belief is that some things are off-limits: artists should hear and respect the wishes of different groups. Saad makes a broad-based appeal: the cost of free expression is allowing for things that are unsavory. Podcasting takes work, communication and patience. Marriages are easy, those fights aren't posted online. Music courtesy of: https://www.bensound.com/