High Low Brow
Amanda Scriver and River Gilbert
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We’re carving out space in the airwaves for deep dives and thoughtful convos about our beloved pop culture that is often overlooked, laughed at, trashed, and brushed aside. Join us (and some of our internet pals!) for hot, juicy, maybe controversh opinions and a few rounds of games inspired by the stuff you watched when you were home sick with an anxiety-induced stomachache in your formative years.
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Top 10 High Low Brow Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best High Low Brow episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to High Low Brow for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite High Low Brow episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
05/14/23 • 65 min
It's hard to believe we're already on our third episode of season three! In this episode of the podcast, we delve into the fascinating intersection of AI and the music industry. Our guest for the day is Pablo the Don, a culture critic and TikTok influencer known for their insightful commentary on the latest music and pop culture trends. We have been a massive fan of Pablo since they popped up on our FYP a while back and knew they would be the perfect guest for this episode.
Pablo helps us explore how AI is changing the music industry, from how music is produced and distributed to how listeners consume it. They share their thoughts on the benefits and drawbacks of using AI in music creation and whether or not it could ever fully replace human creativity.
We also discuss the impact of AI on the business side of the music industry and how it's helping to personalize the music experience for listeners. As someone constantly immersed in music and pop culture, Pablo brings a unique perspective to the discussion.
Whether you're a music fan or simply curious about the latest technological advancements, this episode will offer an entertaining and thought-provoking conversation about the role of AI in the music industry. So join us as we explore this fascinating topic with Pablo the Don!
Don't forget to tune in on Sunday, May 28th, for our next mini-episode.
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Show Notes and References!
- When you realize your favorite new song was written and performed by ... AI - NPR
- Universal Music Group calls AI music a ‘fraud,’ wants it banned from streaming platforms. Experts say it’s not that easy - CNN
- An A.I. Hit of Fake ‘Drake’ and ‘The Weeknd’ Rattles the Music World - The New York Times
- How Will AI Impact The Future of Music? - Complex
- Is AI Music a Genuine Threat To Real Artists? - VICE
- Spotify Has an AI Music Problem—but Bots Love It - WIRED
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10/29/23 • 81 min
Join us as we discuss our recent visit to the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and offer insights on two nail-biting thrillers - 'Suitable Flesh' and 'It's a Wonderful Knife.' But that's just the tip of the iceberg. We're also putting a spotlight on seasonal depression, and Ama's sharing her journey reading Britney Spears new memoir, The Woman In Me.
We are chuffed to welcome our guest this week, Lisa Whittington Hill, publisher of This Magazine and author of the new book, 'Girls, Interrupted: How Pop Culture Is Failing Women,' into today's chat! Together, we venture into the jarring world of media treatment meted out to celebrities like Britney Spears, Amber Heard, and Paris Hilton. Lisa's expert insights on how pop culture has been failing women is an eye-opening discussion. Brace yourselves as we dive further into controversial documentaries, celebrity scandals, and gender bias in pop culture.
Don't forget to leave us a rating on the episode and we'll see you again in 2 weeks!
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Introducing... High Low Brow
High Low Brow
05/20/21 • 1 min
This is High Low Brow, the podcast with high brow takes about low brow culture, a power hour of dissociation for the Extremely Online.
Join us - Ama Scriver and Danita Steinberg, your trusty co-hosts - and some of our friends for thoughtful analysis of all things pop culture and the Internet, from social and political moments to memes and the best notes app apologies.
Subscribe now so you don’t miss our mini-episode, dropping May 23. From there, we'll show up in your feed bi-weekly.
We are ready to - in the words of Satan herself, Vicki Gunvalson - WHOOP IT UP!
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What The Hell Is Up With Parasocial Relationships - Healthy or Weird with Journalist Sadaf Ahsan
High Low Brow
04/17/22 • 82 min
We're back for our fourth full-length episode of S2! For this week's episode, we get into one of the hottest trends of 2021: parasocial relationships. No matter where you go on the Internet, it's all everyone is talking about. From the social and entertainment-kind, intense-personal, and borderline-pathological.
Between us and our special guest for the week, Toronto-based arts and culture writer and editor Sadaf Ahsan, Ameema, and Ama analyze everything to do with parasocial relationships and even make a case for why some might even be healthy! So many people, from influencers to celebs, broadcast all the mundane aspects of their lives. From their new outfits to the latest restaurants they've tried and even the packages they open, practically nothing is off-limits. So we explore:
- What exactly is a parasocial relationship?
- The power dynamics in fandom culture
- How we grew up in fandoms ourselves and participated in fan culture
- Why do fans have such high expectations of the people they are in relationships with
- Whose boundaries and mental health matter here?
- Finally, Sadaf names our official podcast fandom
- Finally, all three of us play a game where Sadaf and Ameema try to guess the names of certain fandoms. Shout out to our listeners in the Navy ;)
If you liked what you heard, maybe think about rating us! You can also find all our social links by visiting our Lnk.Bio page. Heck, if you want - leave us a voicemail. We love to answer questions from our listeners or take suggestions about what you'd like us to cover. Maybe we'll even feature it in a future show! Hell, if you even want to support us (we're a small team and a lot of work goes into what you hear today) then we would love it if you send us a few bucks via our Ko-Fi! All the money helps us with production costs and creating the podcast you hear today.
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Further Reading on this Topic!
- YouTubers Are Not Your Friends - The Verge
- Too close for comfort: the pitfalls of parasocial relationships - The Guardian
- Meet the stans who DM their faves about their day - Mashable
- When Grown-Ups Have Imaginary Friends - The New York Times
- Bo Burnham’s Inside begs for our parasocial awareness - Polygon
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Support the show (https://ko-fi.com/highlowbrowpod)
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Cracking Open the TV Industry: Strikes, Social Media, and Fair Pay with podcaster/TV writer Kyah Green
High Low Brow
12/10/23 • 74 min
We're wrapping up our third season of High Low Brow, and what a ride it's been! We've had quite a diverse array of topics and guests and we take the first little bit to reflect on the wild and chaotic energy that fuels us, a few of our favourite moments, and what we're excited to bring into season four.
For this finale episode, we're diving into the chaos of the SAG/AFTRA strike, and how it has shaken up TV production and shone a light on the unfair pay structures. Joining us is the brilliant Kyah Green (they/them), a screenwriter, comedian, and co-host of The Fandom Show from Toronto.
In the episode, we ponder social media's chokehold on creativity and its impact on publishing. We also ask questions like whether the streaming model has led to an overconsumption issue leading us to view film and TV as content rather than art.
So, join us for our finale of the year! It's gonna be bigger, bolder, and packed with more insights than a treasure chest in a Hollywood blockbuster.
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05/15/22 • 76 min
Not only has another two weeks gone by (so quick!) but we're happy to be celebrating our 1 year anniversary of podcasting! 🥳 For our sixth episode of the season (and our mid-way point of season two), we're happy to bring on two guests we've been looking forward to all season: Natalie Franklin of everyone's favourite Instagram parody account, Nori's Black Book. But if we were getting into who is behind the curtain of these parody accounts and making a living from living and having a blast living the life of these "celebs", we had to ask the one and only Jordan Ross Meyers behind the Twitter handles of Donn Gunvalson and Lee Radziwill and co-host of the Pretty Corrupt podcast.
To take us through all the twists and turns and social media wizardry of being a parody account, both Natalie and Jordan walk Ameema and Ama through the good, bad, and ugly of parody life. Throughout the episode we also discuss:
- What research and time go into maintaining their accounts?
- How often do people confuse their accounts with real individuals?
- Are there any risks involved when portraying celebs or have they had any celebrity encounters?
- Do they have to step back to realize how powerful their voice can be sometimes - why or why not?
- Then during our very first segment, Ama took a minute to interview Jill Krajewski, a freelance journalist based out of Toronto, who started the Kids in the Hall No Context Twitter account during the pandemic. The account just recently hit 12k followers, and Jill talks to us about how the show has found a new audience via the No Context account, how KITH is super queer and why accounts like these matter!
- Then Jordan and Natalie give us their tales of legal woes, celebrity encounters, and what boundaries they've had to make while maintaining these accounts.
- We then wrap the episode up to where Ama, Ameema, Natalie, and Jordan play a game discussing what parody accounts they would have loved to make.
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Further Reading on this Topic!
Nori’s Black Book creator opens up about Kim Kardashian sliding into her DMs and getting blocked by KUWTK stars - Metro
The parody accounts that make Twitter bearable in the era of Trump - Mashable
Why Twitter parody accounts should stay anonymous - The New Yorker
Spoofs, lies, and re-tweets: is it safe to make parodies online? - BBC
Parody accounts cause laughs but have a shady side - Desert News
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03/20/22 • 89 min
In the second full-length episode of season two, Ama & Ameema invite the iconic writer/director of LGBTQ+ reality shows such as Hot Haus and Slag Wars, our favourite sex-positive daddy (and soon to be yours!) Topher Cusumano.
The three of us chat with Topher about why queer reality TV sucks so much and why mainstream media struggles with queer representation. We also dive deep into what it means to produce queer media and talk about what pleasure and desire look like. Because heh, who doesn't read a little erotica on their days off. So cozy up, and get ready to laugh because this episode is a journey from start to finish!
Throughout the next hour, you'll hear the following:
- Topher tells us why it's harmful to pigeonhole marginalized creators
- OK, but why is queer reality TV so bad?
- What exactly goes into creating a reality TV show and how hard is it to make GOOD queer reality TV?
- Representation is a nuanced topic, so what exactly does it look like?
- In our first segment, Ama sits down with Kiara from Canada's Drag Race season one to discuss what it's like to appear on a reality TV and how the fandom can be (answer: not great, bob!)
- Then we wrap it all up by playing a game of #HeatOrTrash with Topher, where he ranks some of the top queer reality television shows in the last decade from god-tier to homophobic.
If you liked what you heard, maybe think about rating us! You can also find all our social links by visiting our Lnk.Bio page. Heck, if you want - leave us a voicemail. We love to answer questions from our listeners or take suggestions about what you'd like us to cover. Maybe we'll even feature it in a future show! Hell, if you even want to support us (we're a small team and a lot of work goes into what you hear today) then we would love it if you send us a few bucks via our Ko-Fi! All the money helps us with production costs and creating the podcast you hear today.
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Further Reading on this Topic!
Queer representation in media: the good, the bad, and the ugly - Heckin' Unicorn
Queer Baiting: What is it and Why is it harmful for the LGBTQ+ Community - HYPEBAE
Why Can’t Every Reality Show Be Season 8 of Are You the One? - VOGUE
'Top Chef' Gave Queer Women a Platform Before It Was Cool - Shondaland
Is Slag Wars TV's most inclusive reality show yet? - iD
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Witch, Please! — The Finale
High Low Brow
10/31/21 • 35 min
Happy Halloween to our ghouls & gals!
To end the first season, Ama & Danita chat all things spooky, from Kyle Richards in Halloween Kills to their very own childhood ghost stories. Plus, horror movie recos and a tangent about television psychic & expert grifter Sylvia Browne.
If you enjoyed listening over the past several months, maybe think about rating us! You can also find all our social links by visiting our Lnk.Bio page.
Stay tuned for Season 2, coming in 2022!
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07/04/21 • 52 min
Off the top, Ama & Danita dish about which music icons are giving off okay boomer energy this week, preferred ice types, and breaking news about The View.
Then, after the steady rise and swift downfall of the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen, what's next for Food Media? Ama is joined by Bettina Makalintal, food + culture writer for Vice, to explore the nuances of cultural appropriation, foodie fandoms, TikTok recipes, and most importantly, who Bettina would choose for her team on Top Chef's Restaurant Wars.
If you liked what you heard, maybe think about rating us! You can also find all our social links by visiting our Lnk.Bio page.
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Further Reading
- Pellet Ice Is Extremely Overrated
- The food world is imploding over structural racism. The problems are much bigger than Bon Appétit.
- What Really Happened at ‘Reply All’?
- The Untold Truth Of David Chang
- Guy Fieri's Restaurant Employee Relief Fund Has Raised Almost $25 Million for Struggling Workers
- How Supreme-Style Merch Drops Took Over Corporate America
- So you're white and own an Asian restaurant: Let's talk
- Alicia Kennedy - a food writer from San Juan, PR with an amazing newsletter
- Alyse Whitney, managing editor of Cravings
- Illyana Maisonet, a food writer who focuses on Puerto Rican cuisine
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Want to support us? Then send us a few bucks on Ko-Fi! All the money helps us with production costs and creating the podcast you hear today.
01/16/24 • 44 min
Our latest bonus episode dives headfirst into the riotous lives of Stephen, Jimmy, Brace, and the gang as we dissect episodes five and six with a dash of humor and a pinch of reality. Chuckle along as we dissect the relationship status of Jimmy and new girlfriend Kelly (it's apparently just mid) and explore the complex and often untold stories of male escorts, revealing how media and different generations have shaped our perspectives on this ancient profession.
During this episode, we get to see our favorite Gigolo (and yours), Vin Armani, take on a salsa competition with his new client, and we are exposed to the spiritual labyrinth that is Brace's life. These unique and contrasting outlooks paint the perfect picture of just how dynamic these companions can be, and why their work is so important. Plus, we talk more about how we're convinced the women in the show are industry plants and how much we have come to love Brace's quirky rants.
Join us as we pull back the curtain on the sometimes chaotic, often hilarious, and always intriguing realm of 'Gigolos'. We'll share a laugh over Nick's digestive woes and fear of butt-related activities and muse over whether we, too, should get colonics as a form of self-care. So, tune in, laugh, and perhaps watch S1 of Gigolos alongside us (currently streaming on Paramount Plus).
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FAQ
How many episodes does High Low Brow have?
High Low Brow currently has 72 episodes available.
What topics does High Low Brow cover?
The podcast is about Pop Culture, Society & Culture, Comedy, Podcasts and Tv & Film.
What is the most popular episode on High Low Brow?
The episode title 'Let's Talk About AI in the Music Industry with TikTok Culture Critic Pablo, the Don' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on High Low Brow?
The average episode length on High Low Brow is 50 minutes.
How often are episodes of High Low Brow released?
Episodes of High Low Brow are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of High Low Brow?
The first episode of High Low Brow was released on May 20, 2021.
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