“I decided that the shareholders should help keep me accountable. And so I put up a vote asking the shareholders if they wanted control over my romantic life.”
Imagine delegating your decisions to a group of people online, some of whom are total strangers.
Imagine sharing the most intimate parts of your life in order to get their approval. Imagine answering your personal problems in the same way a bank asks its shareholders to vote on corporate outcomes.
This is the life chosen by Mike Merrill.
Since 2008 - when he created 100,000 shares of himself and sold them at $1 each through his website, KMikeyM - he has asked his ‘investors’ for advice on his choice of romantic partner, diet and body art. This is not for a TV show. It’s not for a book deal. It’s for real.
In this conversation with Olly, Mike traces back his unconventional lifestyle to the DIY art scene in Portland,Oregon; his brush with corporate share-prices whilst seated at the front desk of a trucking company; and the anti-corporate activism with which he spices up his dates…
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Olly and Ollie posing with the deconstructed version of The Modern Mann cover-art.
Meanwhile, Ollie Peart has decamped to Camberwell for this month’s Zeitgeist, in an attempt to approximate the trend for ‘immersive’ exhibitions.
With a budget totalling £50.
Armed with an Oculus headset, a projector and a hacksaw, can Ollie convince Olly of the merits of experiential art?
And are interactive super-exhibits the future for museums and galleries?
Warning: includes the return of Captain Spronk.
If you have a trend you’d like to challenge Ollie to investigate in a future epsiode, fill in the Feedback form.
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Elsewhere, we revisit a classic edition of the Foxhole, in which Alix Fox advises a horny student on his three-times-per-night escapades. From the comfort of a Vauxhall Corsa.
If you have a question of sex you’d like Alix to answer, fill in the Feedback form. You can remain anonymous if you wish.
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Our record of the month comes from ethereal groovster Eliza Rose, and her ace new track, ‘Better Love’ 👇
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… And we’ll see you again on May 10th!
