On today's show:
Everybody Is A Star
(Starts at 7:45)
“Jawline” is a new Hulu documentary about the emerging industry of social media influencers. Director Liza Mandelup follows 16-year-old Austyn Tester on his journey to become a successful live-streamer. Tester is trying to escape a broken home in rural Tennessee by spreading a message of positivity to legions of fans. Mandelup ends up revealing an ecosystem of social media addicts — a young manager with his cadre of Instagram stars, and fangirls who are willing to spend top dollar to meet their virtual crushes in-person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoVA0-w6VtA
The Emerging Power Of TikTok
(Starts at :45)
John talks with writer Brittany Spanos about her story for Rolling Stone that looks at the growing influence of the digital platform TikTok, which she says is "the first buzzy app to make me feel really, truly old, which sucks for more reasons than the growing realizations that come with aging: TikTok is simply unavoidable now. If you’re on Twitter, you probably see the app’s Vine-like videos retweeted on your timeline at least once a day. On Instagram, your friends have most likely posted some of their favorites TikToks to their stories. The app is currently serving as a sort of meme incubator, producing videos and in-jokes that become internet lingua franca in a matter of days, can turn songs into overnight hits, and make celebrities out of pre-teens (as long as you’re not, like me, too old to know what’s going on and to whom all pre-teens look the same)."
Peter Dinklage And His 'Dinner With Hervé'
(Starts at 18:40)
For more than 14 years, filmmaker Sacha Gervasi and actor Peter Dinklage tried to get a film made about Hervé Villechaize, the French actor who played Tattoo on the TV show, "Fantasy Island." "My Dinner With Hervé" finally debuted on HBO last Fall and now it has an Emmy nomination for Outstanding TV Movie. Gervasi and Dinklage spoke with John Horn to talk about the story they tell and why they were compelled to tell it.