March 15, 2020
Today on the show, Rob and I discuss a book that tackles ecosystemic problems in a holistic, innovative, and sober way. Climate is highly recommended to anyone out there suffering from feelings of hopelessness or despair with regard to the environment.
In this episode, we cover: the problem with lowering carbon emissions, techno-optimism, climate catastrophism, battling despair, Gaia theory, regenerative agriculture, and the solution to the "overpopulation" problem.
February 23, 2020
In this episode, Rob and I discuss John Zerzan's Twilight of the Machines. The description on Powell's reads:
"The mentor of the green anarchist and neo-primitive movements is back with his first book in six years, confronting civilization, mass society, and modernity and technoculture—both the history of its developing crisis and the possibilities for its human and humane solutions.
As John Zerzan writes, 'These dire times may yet reveal invigorating new vistas of thought and action. When everything is at stake, all must be confronted and superseded. At this moment, there is the distinct possibility of doing just that.'"
Rob and I discuss the history of civilization as put forth in the book, primal anarchism, static language vs. language of becoming, symbolism, depression, immediacy, and whether or not art is inherently bad. We also discuss how to apply the ideas presented in this book. How do we begin to tear off the Band-Aid that is our modern lives?
February 9, 2020
The second part of our conversation gets much more "Jes Grew" than the first. While we talk about the novel (including a recap of the Egyptian mythology), we delve deep into the Jes Grew vs. Atonist divide, and what our modern art could learn from dropping a "good vs. bad" aesthetic to focus more on whether or not the work of art feels alive or inert. We also talk about whether or not Warren J. Harding was our first black president.
February 2, 2020
In the first part of our discussion about Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, we talk about the plot of the novel, Jes Grew, the Harlem Renaissance, the concept of The Talking Android, Charles S. Wright, and the problem with creating art from the perspective of misery.
January 27, 2020
This week I'm talking to the WLT book review and online editor Rob Vollmar about Pentti Linkola's Can Life Prevail? A celebrity in his native Finland, Linkola is a traditional fisherman and essayist known for his radical environmentalism. We look at the deep questions of his most important work, which asks some...uncomfortable questions. Is this a work of genocidal ecofascism, and is there anything that can be pulled from it?
December 17, 2018
I look forward to conversations with Jeff, because I know he's not afraid to go to deep, interesting places when we talk about art, inspiration, and craft. In this one, we talk about Alan Clark's Elephant, art that acts as a creation/destruction machine, the importance of ritual, a theater piece designed to contact the dead, and viruses at war with each other.
Destroy All Monsters is out now from FSG Originals.
December 2, 2018
Scott comes on the show to talk about an idea we've been chatting a lot about in private...the idea that sitcoms might be one of the best artistic mediums.
Get Scott's books here
November 27, 2018
Today on the show me and Kazepis talk La Croix, Kanye West, social media, David Lynch, precognition, and supernatural stuff. It's the great weirdo vs. atheist debate! Sort of. It's a lot of fun.
PS: I got the date for Gobekli Tepe waayyyyy off. I blame beer. It's estimated at 11,000 years old, not 17,000.
Check out KSP here
November 20, 2018
William Perk comes on to talk about being addicted to heroin, visiting Thailand, creating a Christian troll character that haunted Portland for years, driving a car for a living, fighting with a customer, and his new book, Killing Poppy.
