Culturally Determined

Bob Wright reflects on the legacy of the Bloggingheads.tv, the pioneering website he co-founded in 2005. Aryeh and Bob discuss how the site and the technology that powered it anticipated modern trends in online media. They also consider whether Twitter still has any use for journalists, the pros and cons of Substack, and whether Culturally Determined should pivot back to video. 

Recorded October 28, 2025

LINKS

Robert Wright's Nonzero podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/robert-wrights-nonzero/id505824847

The Nonzero Newsletter

https://www.nonzero.org/

Max Read on his Substack stats

https://maxread.substack.com/p/four-years-of-read-max-on-substack

Andrew Thompson on the economics of Substack and money vs. attention

https://components.news/the-desire-distribution/

MeaningOfLife.tv

https://meaningoflife.tv/

Follow Bob on Twitter: https://x.com/robertwrighter

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

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Leigh talks about her new novel, a modern gothic with a satirical edge about an unemployed Millennial journalist who becomes the manager of a hype house for Gen Z content creators — one of whom goes missing. Aryeh and Leigh also discuss whether the internet is bad now.

Recorded September 3, 2025

LINKS

Leigh's new novel, "If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You"

https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Seeing-This-Its-Meant/dp/0593983645

Profile of TikTok star William White

https://www.inverse.com/input/culture/will-white-tiktok-fandom-gen-x-middle-age-women-drama/amp

Jia Tolentino's review of Elizabeth Gilbert's new book

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/01/all-the-way-to-the-river-love-loss-and-liberation-elizabeth-gilbert-book-review

Leigh's Substack, "Attention Economy"

https://leighstein.substack.com/

Follow Leigh on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leighstein/

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

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Gina Tron discusses "Suspect," her recent memoir about her childhood growing up as an outsider in a small Vermont town and the bad teenage joke that led everyone to think she was planning to be a school shooter.

Recorded Feb 20, 2025

Follow Culturally Determined (still) on Twitter @CulturallyDet

LINKS

Gina's book,"Suspect"

https://www.ginatron.net/suspect/

Gina's website

https://www.ginatron.net

Follow Gina on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ginatron.bsky.social

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

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Aryeh and Phoebe discuss Bluesky, the newly popular Twitter alternative—and how Phoebe's mild critique of the site went mega-viral. Aryeh explains why he finally, finally quit Twitter. Is Bluesky for anti-Trump social media "refugees," or a retirement home for posting addicts? And are people on there actually nice?

Recorded December 20, 2024

Follow Culturally Determined (still) on Twitter @CulturallyDet

LINKS

Phoebe's piece, "The problem with Bluesky: It won’t broaden our horizons"

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-problem-with-bluesky-it-wont-broaden-our-horizons/

Aryeh and Phoebe's May 2023 episode about Twitter

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/twitter-taught-us-it-was-okay-to-be-weird-with-phoebe/id981282353?i=1000611578059

Montreal man dies after leaving hospital following six-hour wait

https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article612894.html

Phoebe's piece, "Does this book read as too parochial—or too ‘Zionist’? The pitfalls of Writing While Jewish"

https://thecjn.ca/opinion/zibby-vs-philip/

Waikiki Wanda says Bluesky is hospice for posters

https://bsky.app/profile/wanda.bsky.social/post/3lcmbzupslk2v

Phoebe's Substack

https://phoebemaltzbovy.substack.com/

Feminine Chaos podcast

https://femchaospod.substack.com/

Bonjour Chai podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonjour-chai/id1555600279

Follow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social

Follow Phoebe on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/phoebebovy.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aryeh talks with writer Hannah Gold about her reported essay in Harper's on the literary festival celebrating Philip Roth's 90th birthday, which was held in Newark, New Jersey last year.

Recorded December 5, 2023

Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDet

LINKS

Hannah's piece, "Your Mind’s in the Hands of Everything: Letting Go of Philip Roth"

https://harpers.org/archive/2023/12/philip-roth-newark-your-minds-in-the-hands-of-everything/

Aryeh's interview with Laura Marsh on Blake Bailey's Roth biography

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culturally-determined/id981282353?i=1000519264087

Follow @togglecoat

Follow @aryehcw.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aryeh talks to Kiki Freedman, the co-founder and CEO of Hey Jane, the leading virtual reproductive and sexual health care clinic.

Recorded July 16, 2024

Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDet

LINKS

Hey Jane website

https://heyjane.com/

KFF on the Comstock Act and abortion

https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/the-comstock-act-implications-for-abortion-care-nationwide/

Follow @kgfreedman

Follow @HeyJaneHealth

Follow @AryehCW

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel discusses his recent Harper's cover story, "The Life and Death of Hollywood," which focuses on the economics of entertainment as private equity and streaming have changed the industry.

Recorded May 24, 2024

Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDet

LINKS

Daniel's piece, "The Life and Death of Hollywood"

https://harpers.org/archive/2024/05/the-life-and-death-of-hollywood-daniel-bessner/

Max Read on the piece

https://maxread.substack.com/p/one-weird-trick-for-fixing-hollywood-6f0

Sean Clements's podcast, "Subtitles On"

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/subtitles-on-with-sean-clements/id1694805292

Daniel's podcast, "American Prestige"

https://www.americanprestigepod.com/

Follow @dbessner

Follow @AryehCW

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aryeh talks to Jon Kimball, co-host of the podcast Election Profits Makers, about political prediction markets, Trump's VP options, the beauty of city skylines, the sorry state of the social media site formerly known as Twitter, whether Gen Xers have the worst politics, and more!

Recorded April 26, 2024.

Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDet

LINKS

Election Profits Makers podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/election-profit-makers/id1136826256

Aryeh's 2021 interview with David Rees

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/riding-the-waves-of-prediction-markets-with-david-rees/id981282353?i=1000545531373

Sarah Miller on Gen X

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/style/gen-x-generation-discourse.html

Aryeh's interview with Sarah

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hating-gen-x-while-being-gen-x-with-sarah-miller/id981282353?i=1000628237579

Follow @jonkimball

Follow @AryehCW

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Kerry Howley talks about her book "Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State," named one of the 10 Best Books of 2023 by the New York Times.

Recorded November 14, 2023.

Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDet

LINKS

Kerry's book, "Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State"

https://www.amazon.com/Bottoms-Up-Devil-Laughs-Journey/dp/0525655492/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Kerry's 2017 profile of Reality Winner

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/12/who-is-reality-winner.html

The titular Monster Energy video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bntfUA6TmLs

Jorie Graham's poem, "Overheard in the Herd"

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/148785/overheard-in-the-herd

Kerry's piece, "Ginni and Clarence: A Love Story"

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/clarence-thomas-ginni-thomas-marriage-love-story.html

Follow @KerryHowley

Follow @AryehCW

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B.D. McClay — essayist, critic, and scholar of Taylor Swift Studies — helps Aryeh understand the biggest cultural phenomenon of the year. 

Recorded November 5, 2023

Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDet

LINKS

B.D.'s Substack

https://notebook.substack.com/

B.D.'s essay on illness, "The Bad Patient​"

https://www.thedriftmag.com/the-bad-patient/

B.D. on "1989 (Taylor's Version)"

https://notebook.substack.com/p/1989-revisited

Aryeh's interview with Kaitlyn Tiffany about her One Direction book

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-fangirls-remade-the-internet-with-kaitlyn-tiffany/id981282353?i=1000570796480

On the Q of the Gaylor community

https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/oyqehq/music_fan_blogging_big_reputation_how_one_taylor/?share_id=f2GVW57klA4suITkuxi6Z

Kobe Bryant on Taylor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUa_RegHjg

Ted Gioia's open letter to Taylor

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/an-open-letter-to-taylor-swift

The Taylor fan who went to jail for refusing to serve in the IDF

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/taylor-swift-fan-account-twitter-creator-israeli-military-prison

Clare Coffey on Taylor and Bruce Springsteen

https://notebook.substack.com/p/miss-americana-and-the-heartbreak

Steven Hyden on Taylor

https://uproxx.com/indie/ask-a-music-critic-when-will-taylor-swift-popularity-fade/

Boswell the dog on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/life_of_boswell/

Follow @bdmcclay

Follow @AryehCW

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.