Weird Studies podcast

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Sisällön tarjoaa Phil Ford and J. F. Martel, Phil Ford, and J. F. Martel. Phil Ford and J. F. Martel, Phil Ford, and J. F. Martel tai sen podcast-alustan kumppani lataa ja toimittaa kaiken podcast-sisällön, mukaan lukien jaksot, grafiikat ja podcast-kuvaukset. Jos uskot jonkun käyttävän tekijänoikeudella suojattua teostasi ilman lupaasi, voit seurata tässä https://fi.player.fm/legal kuvattua prosessia.

Weird Studies explicit

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Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality."

201 jaksoa

#Society #Arts #Philosophy #Phil Ford and J. F. Martel #J F Martel #Phil Ford #Weird

Weird Studies explicit

16 subscribers

updated 11 päivää sitten

Jaa

Sarjan koti•Feed

201 jaksoa

#Society #Arts #Philosophy #Phil Ford and J. F. Martel #J F Martel #Phil Ford #Weird

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Episode 187: The Affirmation of Imagination: On John Crowley's 'Little, Big,' with Erik Davis 1:33:43

11 päivää sitten1:33:43

Toista Myöhemmin

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1:33:43

John Crowley’s Little, Big is, at once, a family saga, a fairy tale, an occult thriller, an idyll, a dystopia, as well as a meditation on myth and history, the real and the fantasy, memory and imagination. Little, Big is also a book that JF and Phil have been planning to discuss for as long as Weird Studies has existed. In this episode, they are joined by writer and scholar Erik Davis to explore the enduring charms and mysteries of one of the greatest—and most underrated—American novels of the late twentieth century. Order Christian Bunyan's Weird Studies poster here . Visit Weirdosphere for more details on Erik Davis's ongoing course, The Three Stigmata of Philip K. Dick . Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES John Crowley, Little, Big Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain Eric Davis, interview with Neil Gaiman and Rachel Pollack David Lynch (dir.), Lost Highway America, “The Last Unicorn” John Cooper Powys, A Glastonbury Romance J. R. R. Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings Patrick Harpur, Daimonic Reality Lord Dunsany, Irish novelist Special Guest: Erik Davis.…

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Episode 186: Meeting at the Center: The Wedge, Part Two 1:28:49

25 päivää sitten1:28:49

1:28:49

In this episode, JF and Phil continue their conversation on the wedge, their figure for the epistemological divide between approaching reality from the heart and exploring it with the mind. As the discussion unfolds, the wedge begins to reveal itself not as a rigid binary but as a spectrum—one that stretches from ultimate thickness to ultimate thinness. Could thinking, then, may be the art of navigating this epistemic gradient, seeking the sweet spot where the self meets the world, each on the other's terms? Visit Weirdosphere for more details on Erik Davis's upcoming course, The Three Stigmata of Philip K. Dick . Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES Weird Studies, Episode 155 on ‘The Unbinding’ Alan Chapman, Advanced Magick for Beginners Quentin Meillassoux, After Finitude The Principle of Sufficient Reason Baruch Spinoza, Ethics Weird Studies, Episode 139 on the power of art Phil Ford, “The View from the Cheap Seats” Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer Jaques Vallee, Passport to Magonia…

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Episode 185: Intuition and Reality: The Wedge, Part One 1:16:38

6 weeks sitten1:16:38

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"The Wedge" is a key concept for Phil and JF. When exploring weird phenomena—from artworks to ghosts, and everything in between—one tends to emphasize one or the other "end" of the event. At the thin end of the Wedge, the focus is on subjective experience: how it felt, what it was like, and its personal significance. At the thick end, the emphasis shifts to what actually happened, independent of how it was experienced. Though their roles sometimes switch, Phil generally thinks from the thin end, while JF approaches things from the thick. In this episode, they begin unpacking the implications of the Wedge for making sense of reality’s stranger aspects. Header image by SavidgeMichael via Wikimedia Commons . _ Join the Weirdosphere , our online learning platform Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, _ Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES Weird Studies, Episode 184 on David Lynch Phil Ford, “The View from the Cheap Seats at the UFO Show” Scene by Scene, 1999 Interview with David Lynch Weird Studies, Episodes 76 on Henri Bergson’s Metaphysics Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution Phil Ford, Dig Johan Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages Lewis Lockwood, Beethoven: The Music and the Life…

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Special Release: Poltergeists, Fairies, Skeptics, and the Managerial Class 33:11

7 weeks sitten33:11

33:11

Due to scheduling conflicts and a series of unforeseen events, JF and Phil have had to push the release of the next official episode of Weird Studies back by one week. To tide you over, we're unlocking a bonus episode previously available only to our Patreon supporters. It serves as the perfect preface to Episode 184, which will be released on February 26, 2025. Apologies for the delay, and thanks for your patience.…

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Episode 184: On David Lynch 1:41:51

9 weeks sitten1:41:51

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David Lynch passed away on January 15th, 2025, leaving behind a body of work that reshaped the landscape of cinema and television. Few artists have delved as deeply into the strange, the beautiful, and the terrifying as Lynch, and few have had as profound an influence on Weird Studies. His films have long been a touchstone for JF and Phil's discussions on art, philosophy, and the nature of the weird. To honor his memory, they decided to devote an episode to Lynch's work as a whole, with special attention paid to Eraserhead —the nightmarish debut that announced his singular vision to the world. A study in dread, desire, and the uncanny, Eraserhead remains one of the most disturbing and mysterious works of American cinema. In this episode, we explore what makes it so powerful and how it connects to Lynch’s larger artistic project. To enroll in JF's new Weirdosphere course, It's All Real: An Inquiry Into the Reality of the Supernatural , please visit www.weirdosphere.org . The course starts on Thursday, Feb 6, at 8 pm Eastern. A video for the piece For David Lynch is available on Pierre-Yves Martel's YouTube channel . REFERENCES David Lynch, Eraserhead David Lynch: The Art Life Victorian Nelson, The Secret Life of Puppets Norman Mailer, An American Dream Laura Adams, "Existential Aesthetics: An Interview with Norman Mailer” George P. Hansen, The Trickster and the Paranormal Carl Jung, The Red Book Jack Arnold (dir.), The Creature from the Black Lagoon Noel Caroll, The Philosophy of Horror Gilles Deleuze, The Logic of Sense Jack Smith, “The Perfect Filmic Appositeness of Maria Montez” David Foster Wallace, “David Lynch Keeps his Head” in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never do Again Arthur Machen, The White People William Shakespeare, Macbeth…

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Episode 183: On Hermann Hesse's 'Siddhartha' 1:21:17

11 weeks sitten1:21:17

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Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha is one of the great novels of the twentieth century and a prime example of literature that transforms the deeply personal into something universal. For Phil and JF in this episode, the novel serves as the foundation for a discussion on spiritual journeying, the ideal of enlightenment, and the challenge of living in an ensouled universe. Sign up for JF's new Weirdosphere course on the supernatural , starting on February 6th, 2025. Purchase tickets to the Weirdosphere screening of Aaron Poole's Dada on February 1st, 2025. Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES Herman Hesse, Siddhartha Christopher Theofanidis and Melissa Studdard, Siddhartha Gustav Holst, The Planets Richard Wagner, Parsifal G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy Colin Wilson, The Outsider Adam Kirsch, “Herman Hesse’s Arrested Development” Dogen, Genjakoan Chögyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism…

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Episode 182: Providence of Evil: On Robert Eggers' 'Nosferatu' 1:20:20

13 weeks sitten1:20:20

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In this episode, JF and Phil examine the myth of the vampire through the lens of Robert Eggers' latest film, Nosferatu , a reimagining of F. W. Murnau's German Expressionist masterpiece. Topics covered include the nature of vampires, the symbolism of evil, the implicit theology of Eggers' film (compared with that of Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula ), the need for shadow work, as well as the power of real introspection and self-sacrifice. Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES Robert Eggers (dir.), Nosferatu F. W. Murnau (dir.), Nosferatu Mel Brooks (dir.), Dracula: Dead and Loving It Francis Ford Coppola (dir.), Bram Stoker’s Dracula Bram Stoker, Dracula Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde David James Smith, “The Archaeologist Couple who Unearthed a Field Full of Vampires” Robert Eggers, The Witch Richard Strauss, Salome Weird Studies, Episode 156 on “The Secret History” Rudolf Steiner, “Lucifer and Ahriman” Richard Wagner, Ring Cycle…

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Holiday Bonus: Waiting for the Next Sentence 44:43

16 weeks sitten44:43

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With the next flagship show set to drop on January 8, 2025, we thought we'd tide you over with this conversation on the art and craft and writing, originally recorded for Listener's Tier patrons on the Weird Studies Patreon. To join our Patreon community, please visit www.patreon.com/weirdstudies . To purchase tickets to Phil and JF's winter solstice celebration, happening on Weirdosphere on Thursday, December 19, at 8 pm Eastern , please visit www.weirdosphere.org . We wish you a happy and safe holiday season! The journey continues in 2025.…

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Episode 181: On 'The X Files,' with Meredith Michael 1:17:33

18 weeks sitten1:17:33

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Chris Carter's The X-Files is weird on its face: a dramatic series that, from the start, presented itself as more than drama, an exploration of the reality of the paranormal using the tools of fiction, a fantasy posing as reality (or is it the other way around?). Strangely prescient, undeniably zany, and truly "hyperstitious," the series is likely to strike contemporary viewers as equal parts naive and prophetic. In this episode, music scholar and Weird Studies assistant Meredith Michael joins Phil and JF for a deep dive into the archival sublime of the filing cabinet marked "X." To purchase tickets to JF and Phil's December 19th solstice event on Weirdosphere , with live music by Pierre-Yves Martel, to to weirdosphere.org . Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES Cut-up technique Phil Ford, “The View from the Cheap Seats at the UFO Show” Richard Dawkins, Unweaving the Rainbow Special Guest: Meredith Michael.…

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Episode 180: The Player: On the Magician Card in the Tarot 1:21:57

20 weeks sitten1:21:57

1:21:57

The Magician card likely graces more front covers of books on the tarot than any of the other major arcana. In many ways, it symbolizes the tarot itself, or the individual who has mastered the art of manipulating the cards to divine their meanings. Yet, the Magician is a profoundly ambiguous figure. From one perspective, he is the Magus, piercing through the illusions of ceaseless becoming to glimpse the hidden depths of reality. From another, he is all surface without depth, a carnival huckster ready to empty your coin purse while you’re transfixed by his crystal ball. In this episode, JF and Phil continue their on-again, off-again journey through the major trumps with a discussion of the card that—deservedly or not—proudly calls itself Number One. Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot Weird Studies, Episode 24 on “The Charlatan and the Magus” Weird Studies, Episode 109 and Episode 110 on The Glass Bead Game Weird Studies, Episode 179 with Lionel Snell Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Geneology of Morals Louis Sass, Modernism and Madness Gilles Deleuze, Pure Immanence Richard Wagner, Parsifal William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light Participation mystique Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth Leigh Mccloskey, Tarot Re-visioned…

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Episode 179: The Final Frontier, with Lionel Snell 1:17:44

22 weeks sitten1:17:44

1:17:44

One of the great rewards of "weirding" the world is learning that boredom may be a kind of ethical transgression—the world is simply too strange to allow for it, and if you're bored, you're at least partly to blame. Few have put this notion to the test as rigorously as Lionel Snell, whose work as a magician celebrates the wonders of everyday events, from a walk in the park to a moment of car trouble. Unlike the pursuit of the extraordinary that often defines occult practice, Snell's approach reminds us of the magic in the mundane. In this episode, Snell, also known as Ramsey Dukes, shares the insights he's gained over his decades-long career as one of the leading figures in contemporary magical theory and practice. For an exclusive Vimeo link to Aaron Poole's film Dada mentioned in the intro, go to Instagram and send @aaronsghost the direct message "movie link please". REFERENCES Ramsey Dukes, Thundersqueak Weird Studies, Episode 141 on “SSOTBME Weird Studies, Episode 24 with Lionel Snell John Crowley, Little, Big Arthur Machen, “A Fragment of Life” David Foster Wallace, The Pale King Max Picard, The Flight from God Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising Henry Bergson, Matter and Memory Russell’s Paradox Special Guest: Lionel Snell [Ramsey Dukes].…

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Episode 178: Edge of Reality: On John Carpenter's 'In the Mouth of Madness' 1:12:29

24 weeks sitten1:12:29

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Earlier this month, Phil and JF recorded a live episode at Indiana University Cinema in Bloomington following a screening of John Carpenter's film In the Mouth of Madness . Carpenter’s cult classic obliterates the boundary between reality and fiction, madness and revelation—an ideal subject for a Weird Studies conversation. In this episode, recorded before a live audience, the hosts explore the film’s Lovecraftian themes, the porous nature of storytelling, and how art can function as a conduit to unsettling truths. Special thanks to Dr. Alicia Kozma and the IU Cinema team for hosting and recording the event. Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES John Carpenter, In the Mouth of Madness John Carpenter, Prince of Darkness* John Carpenter, The Thing Joshua Clover, BFI Film Classics: The Matrix Philip K. Dick, Time Out of Joint David Cronenberg, Videodrome Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)" Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer Nick Land, English philosopher H. P. Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu" Jonathan Carroll, The Land of Laughs…

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Episode 177: Riddles in the Dark: On Fairy Tales, Interpretation, and 'Rapunzel' 1:27:13

26 weeks sitten1:27:13

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Fairy tales are among the most familiar cultural objects, so familiar that we let our kids play with them unsupervised. At the same time, they are also the most mysterious of artifacts, their heimlich giving way to unheimlich as soon as we give them a closer look and ask ourselves what they are really about. Indeed, these imaginal nomads, which seem to evade all cultural and historical capture, existing in various forms in every time and place, can become so strange as to make us wonder if they are cultural at all, and not some unexplained force of nature — the dreaming of the world. In this episode, JF and Phil use "Rapunzel" as a case study to explore the weirdness of fairy tales, illustrating how they demand interpretation without ever allowing themselves to be explained. Sign up for the upcoming course "Writing at the Wellspring" October 22-December 1 with Dr. Matt Cardin on Weirdosphere.org Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! SHOW NOTES Walter Benjamin, "The Storyteller" in Illuminations (Hannah Arendt, ed.; Harryn Zohn, trans.). Novalis, Philosophical Writings. (Margaret Mahony Stoljar, trans.). Cristina Campo, The Unforgivable and Other Writings (Alex Andriesse, trans.) William Irwin Thompson, Imaginary Landscape Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment Marie-Louise von Franz, , Swiss Jungian psychologist Sesame Street, “Rapunzel Rescue” Disney’s Tangled The Annotated Brothers Grimm Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index Marina Warner, Once Upon a Time W. A. Mozart, The Magic Flute Dante Alighieri, Il Convito Panspermia hypothesis Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature John Mitchell, Confessions of a Radical Traditionalist Clint Eastwood (dir.) The Unforgiven…

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Episode 176: On Charles Burns' 'Black Hole' and the Medium of Comics 1:21:13

28 weeks sitten1:21:13

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Comics, like cinema, is an eminently modern medium. And as with cinema, looking closely at it can swiftly acquaint us with the profound weirdness of modernity. Do that in the context of a discussion on Charles Burns' comic masterpiece Black Hole , and you're guaranteed a memorable Weird Studies episode. Black Hole was serialized over ten years beginning in 1995, and first released as a single volume by Pantheon Books in 2005. Like all masterpieces, it shines both inside and out: it tells a captivating story, a "weirding" of the teenage romance genre, while also revealing something of the inner workings of comics as such. In this episode, Phil and JF explore the singular wonders of a medium that, thanks to artists like Burns, has rightfully ascended from the trash stratum to the coveted empyrean of artistic respectability—without losing its edge. BIG NEWS: • If you're planning to be in Bloomington, Indiana on October 9th, 2024, click here to purchase tickets to IU Cinema's screening of John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness , featuring a live Weird Studies recording with JF and Phil. • Go to Weirdosphere to sign up for Matt Cardin's upcoming course, MC101: Writing at the Wellspring , starting on 22 October 2024. • Visit https://www.shannontaggart.com/events and follow the links to learn more about Shannon's (online) Fall Symposium at the Last Tuesday Society. Featured speakers include Steven Intermill & Toni Rotonda, Shannon Taggart, JF Martel, Charles and Penelope Emmons, Doug Skinner, Michael W. Homer, Maria Molteni, and Emily Hauver. Support us on Patreon . Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2 , on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia . Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau ! REFERENCES Charles Burns, Black Hole Clement Greenberg’s concept of “medium specificity” Terry Gilliam (dir.), The Fisher King Seth , comic artist Chris Ware, Building Stories “Graphic Novel Forms Today” in Critical Inquiry Raymond Knapp, The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity Vilhelm Hammershoi , Danish painter Ramsey Dukes, Words Made Flesh G. Spencer-Brown, Laws of Form Dave Hickey, “Formalism” Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art Chrysippus , Stoic philosopher Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics…

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Mid-Break Bonus: The Quiet Earth 1:01:58

33 weeks sitten1:01:58

1:01:58

Every off-week, listeners who have chosen to support Weird Studies by joining our Patreon at the Listener's Tier get to enjoy a bonus episode. These episodes are different from the flagship show. Less formal and entirely improvised, they offer Phil and JF a different way of exploring the weird in art, philosophy and culture. To tide our listenership over until the next new episode drops on September 25th, 2024, here is a recent example of a Weird Studies audio extra, recorded as your hosts were finishing up their first Weirdosphere course, "The Beauty and the Horror." The conversation ended up centering on cultural works we experienced in childhood, and that are all the more magical for being only vaguely remembered. To enroll in JF's upcoming Weirdosphere course, "Whirl Without End: Fairy Tales and the Weird," please visit www.weirdosphere.org .…

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