In a new format for Tasteland, hosts Daisy and Francis spoke to three expert guests about the state and future of men's media.

We set out to discuss a notion posed by our first guest, John McDermott — that we need The Cut for men.

Over three guest conversations, woven together here, we cover the business, output, and social implications of that position.

John McDermott is a Los Angeles-based journalist covering arts, entertainment, business, and media, with bylines in The New York Times, WIRED, Esquire, the Chicago Tribune, and more. He was an early staff writer at MEL Magazine and previously covered the digital media industry at Digiday.

Alana Hope Levinson is a features editor at WIRED and a writer and editor with deep roots in digital culture, gender, and longform journalism. She previously served as deputy editor at MEL Magazine, overseeing features and special projects, and spent five years running her own editorial consultancy before joining WIRED in late 2025.

Chris Gayomali is a writer and editor currently serving as editor of SSENSE. He was previously articles editor at GQ — and before that, site editor of GQ.com — where he edited features and longform work. He also writes HEAVIES, a newsletter about health, wellness, and modern ways of feeling good. Finally, Chris is the host of a new podcast about steroids and the "Enhanced Games," SUPERHUMAN.

Find a full, linked syllabus of all articles mentioned in this episode here.

00:00 We're Exploring the Future of Men's Media

03:09 The Need for Quality Men's Content

06:07 Woke and Men's Media

09:08 First-Person Narratives in Men's Magazine Writing

11:54 Masculinities in Modern Media

15:07 Social Media's Influence on Men

17:57 Male Representation in Publishing

20:50 The Intersection of Gender and Media Economics

23:57 Opportunities and Challenges Facing Men's Media

39:44 Consumption Patterns in Men's Media

42:30 How Media is Shaping Masculinity

45:49 Economic Anxiety and Male Identity

52:42 The Crisis of Male Identity and Radicalization

57:40 The Need for a New Narrative in Men's Media

01:01:20The Future of Media Consumption and Male Identity

No guest this week. Daisy and Francis discuss the concept of 'The Great Slowdown' as a response to media overload and the desire for deeper engagement with content, the idea of 'vibes gambling' in media, and Dirt's recent contest for essays on health and wealth.

00:00 Transitioning to a New Format

03:11 The Great Slowdown: A Response to Media Overload

05:58 Vibes Gambling: The New Media Economy

09:02 Creating Meaningful Engagement in Media

11:59 Exploring Wealth and Health Through Personal Narratives

15:50 The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

21:59 The Future of Digital Interaction and Content Creation

Raihan Anwar is a marketing leader for web3 products and communities at scale. He was a co-founder of FWB and also has his own fragrance business in addition to being a coffee connoisseur – all things we love talking about on this pod.

Twitter

Desire Paths

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00:00 Navigating Travel Chaos

02:25 Enter Raihan: The Intersection of Culture and Business

06:01 Exploring Fragrance and Identity

08:53 The Art of Taste and Experience

12:11 Podcasting Landscape and Market Dynamics

15:34 The New Media Landscape

17:16 Web 0.5 and Early Internet Ventures

19:22 Coining Terms and Cultural Commentary

25:37 The State of Web3 and Cryptocurrency

30:03 Guy Hobbies and Their Cultural Significance

31:45 Stripe Press and Innovative Publishing

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Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by

Elliot Aronow is the host/producer of minor genius, a culture imprint that publishes zines, hosts parties, and occasionally produces very handsome neckties. Inside that there's also a very discreet private studio where he works as an editor/co-conspirator with visible weirdos to ship finished artifacts.

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Elliot Aronow

Instagram

LinkedIn

minor genius

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Timestamps

00:00 A year as a degenerate gambler

04:00 What is minor genius?

08:25 The tension between punk and preppy

18:46 Reading in public

22:25 Scene vs audience

24:49 Jiu jitsu midlife journey

27:25 A scene memoir

33:08 Never going to be a Beastie Boy

37:42 Artifacts of the 2020s

41:18 What sucks about menswear?

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Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers

Jesse Hirsch is editor of Offrange. He has spent years working as a journalist focused on food and agriculture, most recently as managing editor at The Counter. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle, Bon Appétit, Eater, and other outlets.

Offrange is a digital publication covering American agriculture, food production, and natural resources. We publish three original stories each week, a monthly podcast, and a weekly newsletter.

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Jesse Hirsch 

Offrange

Twitter/X

Instagram

LinkedIn

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Timestamps

00:00 Laptop at the cinema

04:15 Sod and cranberry bog

07:15 Offrange and its mission

15:35 Knowing when to rebrand

19:57 The best meal of 2026

21:45 Covering agriculture vs food

27:27 The farming and agriculture audience

33:40 Diversification of writers and contributors

35:45 The evolution of agricultural journalism

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Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers

No guest this week on Tasteland, so Daisy and Francis discuss books they haven't read, iPods, a sad monkey, and the state of modern media startups.

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Daisy

Francis

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Timestamps

00:00 Monitoring the situation

02:35 The barbell of modern media

09:11 The 4 revenue streams of a media startup

13:33 Sober in New Orleans

18:26 Health is wealth

24:45 A bit vague

26:59 Texting less, going out more

28:54 25 years of iPod brain

32:46 Punch, the monkey

38:25 Stolen taste

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Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers

This week we're joined by Pritanka Desai, the COO at Tribute Labs & Partner at ADIN.

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Priyanka Desai

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

The Physical Renaissance: AI Makes You Look Up

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Timestamps

00:00 Hammy Mad Men

04:38 Doomslop moving markets

12:06 The world's transition period in now

17:00 Information overload affecting perception of reality

23:24 Prediction market's role in society

30:27 True crime and information gaps

38:30 AI powered venture capital

45:05 The physical renaissance

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Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers

Today on Tasteland we're speaking to James Webster, the co-owner of Recluse Books, an indie bookstore in Dallas-Fort Worth.

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Recluse Books

Website

Instagram

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Timestamps

00:00 Doing Italian things

03:53 Recluse best sellers

07:28 Logistics of picking and stocking 6,000 books

11:40 Bookstore culture of Fort Worth

15:05 Receiving feedback on book recommendations

17:11 Current reads

24:15 Running bookstore events

29:47 Bookstore location and community impact

36:04 Making books approachable

41:57 Reading hard books because they're hard

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Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers

Charly Wilder is writer, award-winning journalist and executive editor at Roads & Kingdoms.

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Charly Wilder

Instagram

Twitter/X

LinkedIn

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Timestamps

00:00 Respect the Quad God

05:45 Maintaining a unique travel journalism perspective

10:51 Looking at the world through many lenses

17:10 The deepest culinary tours on Earth

23:50 The Roads and Kingdoms audience

28:57 Curating contributors

34:16 Joining the Roads and Kingdoms team

37:36 Maintaining and updating city guides

45:03 Thinking about food as a storyteller

48:14 The qualities of a great travel and food writer

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Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers

Sam Levy is the former COO of Hinge and co-founder of Rodeo, a new app designed to wrangle the details of your social life and keep you organized.

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Sam Levy

LinkedIn

Instagram

TikTok

Rodeo

Website

App Store

TikTok

Instagram

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References

Patient Capital Will Eat the World

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Timestamps

00:00 Somebody that I used to know

03:35 Patient capital will eat the world

09:27 Infrastructure for your social life

14:15 Managing the user experience

19:44 The expectation of apps as a memory layer

23:56 Types of Rodeo users

27:47 Using TikTok as a research group

35:32 Choosing the name Rodeo

37:13 The evolution of the idea

42:14 A business plan that maintains integrity

48:06 Get offline

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Our intro song, Night Life, is written by Nakisso Peralta and performed by Chillers