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In Gilded Episode 5, Theater Kids is as Theater Kids Does, nunjournal and I talk about: Bella Hadid nootropic beverage and 1980s actresses named Jennifer misinformation, the radical resistance of pronouncing Glossier with an R at the end, being Ebony Dark‘ness Raven Dementia Way, BookTok midwittery and female goonery, high IQ mobile games, AI relationship apps, "the talking stage," Perfect Blue and its eerie connections to the death of Selena Quintanilla as outlined in Surreal Idol by Meg Sipos, Ariana Grande's identity confusion mimicry and stone-cold SpongeBob homewrecking, Chappell Roan's meltdowns and why Dr. Hole would fire her if she were her annoying donut shop employee, why curly-haired redheaded Midwestern girl representation matters, Jeanette McCurdy's Hit Book I'm Overjoyed that my Mother is Deceased, child stardom, being fujoshi weeaboo Batman, malevolent female autism fakery and the pathologizing of women's intellectual interests/idiosyncratic personality traits, gender as performance and the compression of womanhood within the gender binary. We announce our upcoming scary stories episode and ask listeners to send in their scary, weird, or creepy Halloween stories
Sep 15, 2024
Related Recs
We‘ve greatly improved our audio quality and we went a little crazy in the amount of preparation we did for this one… hope you enjoy! ❤️
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Topics covered:
Dr. Hole and Ariana’s favorite and least favorite fucked up films, feat. disturbing classics like The Notebook and The Human Centipede 2; supernatural horror vs. gore; horror as a haven for social outcasts and the fine line between horror fan and gore gooner.
Fruit Chan’s Dumplings and the extremes women are pushed to pursue beauty; Dr. Hole's findings as a budding data scientist on lip fillers/Botox; the Brazilification of America, body dysmorphia, and going into debt for cosmetic procedures.
Porn’s impact on beauty standards; parallels between porn and images of extreme images of violence by way of Sontag; Mondo films as well-meaning educational content, then as propaganda; porn tropes and Lana Del Rey shaping women’s sexual experiences.
Sex as power; Salò as Marxist critique of fascism and consumerism, and as possible admission of Pasolini’s Boy Lover mind a la SmartSchoolBoy9; artistic value vs. gratuitous shock content of exploitation cinema; why every pornsick freak needs to watch A Serbian Film.
Gooner cultural anthropological analysis; the social pressure of women to accept increasingly extreme pornography; is Lana del Rey the ultimate pick-me goonette?
The evolution of Japanese erotica from woodblock prints to the eroguronansensu movement; the impact of Allied occupation and censorship laws on pornography and the birth of Pinku films; a case study on porn’s societal impact on public harassment, and deep-seated child exploitation issues in Japan.
The post-COVID increase of street harassment; the interconnectedness of war, violence, and sexual exploitation of women; and our own radical grey demi asexual identities.
Finally, we read a listener-submitted spooky story about a shadowy visitor as a teaser for our upcoming Halloween event, Gilded Fireside Tales. Please submit your stories here!
Sep 27, 2024
Topics covered: cultural skepticism of ghosts and the supernatural, Ghost Whisperer aka Gilmore Girls for slightly goth bitches, our first horror movies, our shared strange spooky experience at a desert makeout point, Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game, Hat Man and its potential psychological or paranormal implications, Robert the Doll, Gef the Mongoose, the Bell Witch, the Swiss folk tale Sennentuntschi and Dr. Hole’s pitch for a modernized American reimagining thereof, El Cucuy, Kuchisake-Onna (the slit mouthed woman), near-death experience auditory hallucinations, aliens as a cover for nefarious government activities, Elon Musk’s pork skin, the CIA vampire psy-op in the Philippines, Mokele Mbembe, and North Sentinel Island.
We read the following listener-submitted ghost stories, interspersed with discussion: Studio City Haunting, A Haunting in LA, and The Woman in the Walls.
Oct 27, 2024
Topics discussed:
Oreo Coke Zero satanic ritual abuse; a tasting of Oreo Coke Zero as requested by marianoleonczik, friend of Gilded Podcast.
The deeply unsettling film Cure (1997) dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa; a brief history of hypnosis and mesmerism and its impacts on society today.
Direct-to-Amazon trough slop House of Spoils (2024, ft. Steven Seagal apparently, dir. by Who Cares) as a subpar horror-themed The Bear ripoff; anthropomorphized wet cardboard queens Ariana DeBose and Camilla Cabello.
The Monroe Institute’s the Gateway Tapes, binaural beats and consciousness, lucid dreaming and nightmare experiences (ft. big cats and Chuck E. Cheese tunnels), helicopter parenting and its consequences, exotic pet ownership, the post-COVID dog ownership landscape.
Pickup artists, male manipulators, and The Art of Seduction by vacuous balding moid Robert Greene; why Jordan Peterson proves that incels need healthy father figures; the manosphere.
Media’s influence on dating expectations, social media, body image, and societal standards of attractiveness; modern dating culture and the pressure on women to appear self-confident; overcompensation in self-presentation and insecurities; bimbo feminism and Y2K nostalgia.
Manipulation tactics in salesmanship and everyday life and their parallels to the stages of demonic possession.
Triggers: 30 Sales Tools by Joseph Sugarman; identity formation in marketing; makeup's role in self-perception and identity; the psychological impact of altering appearance through makeup; evolution of fandoms and online spaces and today’s dire lack of community.
The Substance (2024), dir. Coralie Fargeat; body horror as representation of the female experience; mainstream discussions on women's experiences in film; declining movie theater etiquette; Dr. Hole’s brilliant movie theater bathroom break innovation ideas.
The Diddy allegations; Suge Knight's recent interview with Chris Cuomo; Jeffrey Epstein and abusive networks; industry-wide issues of normalized abusive behavior; the Franklin scandal and Satanic Panic as cover for abuse; Blink Twice (2024), dir. Zoe Kravitz and its commentary on power dynamics; why certain personality types are drawn to positions of power.
We close out this cheerful episode with a short Gilded Tale read by Dr. Hole and a guided hypnosis for inner peace read by Ariana.
Oct 11, 2024
Top Recs from @taterhole
My dad teases me about how when I was a little kid, my favorite thing to do when I was on the landline phone with somebody—be it a relative or one of my best friends—was to breathlessly describe the things that were in my bedroom so that they could have a mental picture of everything I loved and chose to surround myself with, and where I sat at that moment in time. Perfectly Imperfect reminds me of that so thanks for always listening and for sharing with me too 💌
Feb 23, 2025
Schedule sent my resignation email for the morning, effective immediately ✅💅
Feb 27, 2025
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I’ve been thinking about how much of social media is centered around curating our self-image. When selfies first became popular, they were dismissed as vain and vapid—a critique often rooted in misogyny—but now, the way we craft our online selves feels more like creating monuments.
We try to signal our individuality, hoping to be seen and understood, but ironically, I think this widens the gap between how others perceive us and who we really are. Instead of fostering connection, it can invite projection and misinterpretation—preconceived notions, prefab labels, and stereotypes. Worse, individuality has become branded and commodified, reducing our identities to products for others to consume.
On most platforms, validation often comes from how well you can curate and present your image—selfies, aesthetic branding, and lifestyle content tend to dominate. High engagement is tied to visibility, not necessarily depth or substance. But I think spaces like PI.FYI show that there’s another way: where connection is built on shared ideas, tastes, and interests rather than surface-level content. It’s refreshing to be part of a community that values thoughts over optics.
By sharing so few images of myself, I’ve found that it gives others room to focus on my ideas and voice. When I do share an image, it feels intentional—something that contributes to the story I want to tell rather than defining it. Sharing less allows me to express who I am beyond appearance.
For women, especially, sharing less can be a radical act in a world where the default is to objectify ourselves. It resists the pressure to center appearance, focusing instead on what truly matters: our thoughts, voices, and authenticity. I’ve posted a handful of pictures of myself in 2,500 posts because I care more about showing who I am than how I look.
In trying to be seen, are we making it harder for others to truly know us? It’s a question worth considering.
Dec 27, 2024