Weird Studies

Like Caligula declaring war on Neptune and ordering his troops to charge into the Mediterranean Sea, our technological masters are designing neural networks meant to capture the human soul in all its oceanic complexity. According to the cognitive scientist Abeba Birhane, this is a fool's errand that we undertake at our peril. In her paper "The Impossibility of Automating Ambiguity," she makes the case for the irremediable fluidity, spontaneity, and relationality of people and societies. She argues that ongoing efforts to subsume the human (and the rest of reality) in predictive algorithms is actually narrowing the human experience, as so many of us are excluded from the system while others are compelled to artificially conform to its idea of the human. Far from paving the way to a better world, the tyranny of automation threatens to cut us off from the Real, ensuring an endless perpetuation of the past with all its errors and injustices. Phil and JF discuss Birhane's essay in this episode. Header image from via www.vpnsrus.com (cropped). Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons. Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Abebe Birhane, "The Impossibility of Automating Ambiguity” J. F. Martel, “Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things” Melissa Adler, Cruising the Library: Perversities in the Organization of Knowledge Weird Studies, Episode 75 on 2001: A Space Odyssey Weird Studies, Episode 114 on the Wheel of Fortune William James, American philosopher Midjourney, AI art generator Rhine Research Center, parapsychology lab George Lewis, “Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives” Abebe Birhane, “Descartes was Wrong: A Person is a Person Through Other Persons” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German philosopher J. R. R. Tolkein, “On Fairy-Stories” Martin Buber, I and Thou Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Returning guest Matt Cardin is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose focus on numinous horror places him in the literary lineage as Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood. His new book, What the Daemon Said, collects two decades' worth of meditations on literature, cinema, mysticism, philosophy, and the weird. He joins Phil and JF to talk about a range of topics including dark enlightenment, the idea that fear and trembling are the only sensible reactions to direct exposure to cosmic truth. Header image: detail of cover design for What the Daemon Said, by Dan Sauer Design. Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Matt Cardin's website Matt Cardin, What the Daemon Said: Essays on Horror, Fiction, Film and Philosophy Matt Cardin, Dark Awakenings Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way Morning Pages Journal Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones The Gospel of Thomas Matt Cardin, Dark Awakenings Robert Frost, “The Figure a Poem Makes” John Horgen, Rational Mysticism Weird Studies, Episode 41 with Matt Cardin Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for his Highest Weird Studies ep. 124: Dark Night Radio of the Soul, with Duncan Barford Theodore Roszak, American scholar M. C. Richards, Centering Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols Huston Smith, American religious scholar Martin Buber, I and Thou John Lee Hancock (dir.), The Rookie (2002) Eckart Tolle, German spiritual teacher Richard Wagner, Parsifal Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion Alan Watts, English writer and teacher Richard Rose, After the Absolute: The Inner Teachings of Richard Rose Special Guest: Matt Cardin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 23, 2022, Meredith Michael joined JF and Phil for a live recording at Illuminated Brew Works, a craft brewery in Chicago, Illinois.The occasion was the launch of Weird Studies Black IPA, the fruit of a collaboration with IBW brewmaster Brian Buckman and his team of beer alchemists. The game plan was to talk about potions, but the final conversation ranges over a number of topics including singularity and repetition, time and eternity, alchemy and ritual, Okakura Kakuzō's The Book of Tea, cooking and pickling, and the cultural phenomenon Phil calls "weedhead sh*t." Purchase the Weird Studies Black IPA from Beer on the Wall or visit the Illuminated Brew Works website. Buy volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop SHOW NOTES Okakura Kakuzō, The Book of Tea Oscar Wilde on absinthe Mircea Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History Toni Morrison. Song of Solomon The Suzuki Method Robert Fink, Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music as Cultural Practice David Cronenberg (dir.), Scanners (1981) Lars von Trier (dir.), Dancer in the Dark (2000) Alan Watts, Beat Zen, Square Zen and Zen William Shakespeare, Macbeth Special Guest: Meredith Michael. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For several episodes now, Phil and JF have been circling what St. John of the Cross called the Dark Night of the Soul, that moment in the spiritual journey where all falls a way and an abyss seems to crack open beneath our feet. When it came time to go there in earnest, they could think of no better guide than Duncan Barford, host of the excellent Occult Experiments in the Home podcast. As a master magician, long-time meditator, psychotherapeutic counsellor and writer on spirituality and the occult, Barford is uniquely endowed with the tools, experience, and language to discuss even the most difficult spiritual topics with wisdom and warmth. A Virgil for any Inferno. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack: Volume 1 and Volume 2 Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop SHOW NOTES Occult Experiments in the Home, Duncan Barford's excellent solo podcast Duncan's other website, focusing on his work as a psychotherapeutic counselor Duncan's books on Amazon US Weird Studies, Episode 67 on Hellier Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Judgement Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” Dogen’s Bendowa Tibetan Book of the Dead Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel Spinoza, Ethics Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking Special Guest: Duncan Barford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every off-week, JF and Phil record a bonus episode for Patreon supporters. The conversations on that stream are shorter, less formal, and more improvisitory than those of the flagship show. To give the wider public a glimpse of this hidden dimension of the WS universe, we decided to make this week's "audio extra" available to everyone. As it happens, this episode also contains an important announcement concerning next week's event at Illuminated Brew Works in Chicago: tickets must be purchased via Eventbrite using the link below. No tickets can be sold at the door. Click here to purchase tickets to the Weird Studies beer launch at Illuminated Brew Works in Chicago on May 23. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Star is one of the most iconic of the major trumps of the traditional tarot deck. It is also one of the most ambiguous. A woman is shown emptying two urns of water onto the parched ground. She is flanked by nascent plant life. Shining above her are those nocturnal luminaries whose "eternal silence" so frightened the philosopher Blaise Pascal at the dawn of modernity. Are the stars pointing the way to a brighter future, or are they stars of ill omen, warning us of what lies ahead? And what does that little bird in the background signify? In this episode, Phil and JF try to get to the bottom of the starry heavens, only to find out that starry heavens have no bottom. Click here to purchase tickets to the Weird Studies beer launch at Illuminated Brew Works in Chicago on May 23. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Our Known Friend (Valentin Tomberg), Meditations on the Tarot Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Way of the Tarot Pink Floyd, “Astronomy Domine” Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth Aleister Crowley, The Book of the Law Heimarmene, Greek goddess of fate Weird Studies, Episode 121 on Mandy Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea Samuel Delaney, Dahlgren J R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Juan Eduardo Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols Weird Studies, Episode 103 on the Tower Weird Studies, [Episode 114 on the Wheel of Fortune] Joni Mitchell, “Ladies of the Canyon” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, each of your hosts bullies the other into watching a movie he would normally not touch with a bargepole. Phil has been (unsuccessfully) trying to get JF to watch Vincente Minnelli's 1953 musical comedy The Band Wagon and JF has been (also unsuccessfully) trying to get Phil to watch Panos Cosmatos's 2018 psychedelic horror film Mandy. For this episode, they decided they would compromise and watch both. What started as a goof ended up a fascinating Glass Bead Game from which emerge occulted correspondences between films that, on the surface, could not be more dissimilar. One film is a dream of song and dance, the other a dream of blood and violence. Either way, though, watch out: as Deleuze says, "beware of the dreams of others, because if you are caught in their dream, you are done for." Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack SHOW NOTES Iluminated Brew Works, Chicago JF's new course, [Groundwork for a Philosophy of Magic](www.nuralearning.com) Vincente Minnelli (dir.), The Bandwagon Panos Cosmatos (dir.), Mandy Weird Studies, Episode 73 on Carl Jung Norman Jewison (dir.), Moonstruck David Thompson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 1: The Movement Image) and Cinema 2: The Time Image Henri Bergson, “The Cinematographical Mechanism of Thought and the Mechanistic Illusion”, from Creative Evolution Terry Gilliam (dir.), The Fisher King Claudia Gorbman, Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music Raymond Knapp, The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity Richard Dyer, “Entertainment and Utopia” in Only Entertainment Gilles Deleuze, “What is the Creative Act” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though it is seldom acknowledged in the weirdosphere, there is a difference between weirdness and mystery. Most of the time, the Weird confronts us with a problem, an impersonal epistemic obstacle which we can always believe would go away if we just closed our eyes and whistled past it with our hands in our pockets. Mystery, however, is always personal. It envelops us; it addresses us as persons. Mystery is as present within us as it is out there. It is there when you open your eyes, and even more so when you shut them tight. Maybe it had us in its grip before we were even born. In this episode, JF and Phil make radical mystery the focus of a discussion ranging over everything from unique kinds of tea and spelunking mishaps to antisonic demon pipes and malevolent radiators. Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES For information on JF's new course, Groundwork for a Philosophy of Magic, go to [Nura Learning](www.nuralearning.com). Phil Ford, “Radical Mystery: A Preliminary Account” J.F. Martel, “Reality is analog” John Keel, The Mothman Prophecies Gabriel Marcel, Being and Having Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason Eugene Paul Wigner, “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics” Louis Sass, Madness and Modernism Peter Kingsley, Catafalque Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy Steven Spielberg (dir.), Raiders of the Lost Ark Dogen, “Instructions for the Cook” Alan Watts, The Way of Zen Weird Studies, Episode 56 with Jeremy Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last several centuries, there has been one thing on which science and religion have generally agreed, and that is the fixity of the laws under which the universe came to be. At the moment of the Big Bang or the dawn of the First Day, the underlying principles that govern reality were already set, and they have never changed. But what if the laws of nature were not as chiseled in stone as Western intellectuals on both sides of the magisterial divide have assumed them to be? What if creation was an ongoing process, such that our universe in its beginning might have behaved very differently from how it does at present? This is the central conceit of Stanislaw Lem's story "The New Cosmogony," the capstone of his metafictional collection A Perfect Vacuum, originally published in 1971. In this episode, Meredith Michael joins JF and Phil to discuss the metaphysical implications of the idea that nature is an eternal work-in-progress. Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES For more information JF's new course, Groundwork for a Philosophy of Magic, visit Nura Learning. Stanislaw Lem, “A New Cosmogony” in A Perfect Vacuum Weird Studies, Episode 118 The Unseen and Unnamed Ramsey Dukes, SSOTBME Quentin Meillassoux, After Finitude M. John Harrison, The Course of the Heart Michael Harner, The Way of the Shaman Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene Stanislaw Lem, Solaris Stanislaw Lem, His Master’s Voice David Pruett, Reason and Wonder Andrei Tarkovsky (dir.), Solaris Philip K. Dick, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” Andrew W.K., “No One to Know” Special Guest: Meredith Michael. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Phil and JF are joined by music scholar and Weird Studies assistant Meredith Michael to discuss two strange and unsettling short stories: J.G. Ballard's "The Gioconda of the Twilight Noon" (1964) and Ursula K. Le Guin's "She Unnames Them" (1985). Their plan was to talk about three stories, but they never got to Phil's pick, which will be the focus of episode 119. The reason is that Le Guin and Ballard's stories share surprising resonances that merited close discussion. From opposite perspectives, both tales put words to a region of reality that resists discursive description, a borderland where that which is named reveals its unnamed facet, and that which must remain unseen reveals itself to the inner eye. Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES J. G. Ballard, “The Giaconda of the Twilight Noon,” from The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard Ursula K. Le Guin, "She Unnames Them," from The Real and the Uneal Alfred Hitchcock (dir.), The Birds Jung's concept of the collective unconscious Walter Pater, The Renaissance Ursula K. Le Guin, “She Unnames Them” in The Real and the Unreal Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution M. C .Richards, Centering Weird Studies, Episode 35 on Centering Weird Studies, Episode 81 on The Course of the Heart Weird Studies, Episode 84 on the Empress Linguistically deprived children Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy Samuel Taylor Coleridge's thoughts on on imagination and fancy can be found in Biographia Literaria Special Guest: Meredith Michael. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The topic of games and play has fascinated JF and Phil since the launch of Weird Studies. Way back in 2018, they recorded back-to-back episodes on tabletop roleplaying games and fighting sports, and more recently, they did a two-parter on Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game, a philosophical novel suggesting that all human culture tends toward play. In this episode, your hosts draw on a wealth of texts, memories, and nascent ideas to explore the game concept as such. What is a game? What do games tell us about life? What is the function of play in the formation of reality? Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES Roger Caillois, Man, Play, and Games Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations Bernard Suits, The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia Jobe Bittman, The Book of Antitheses US version, EU version Weird Studies, Episode 6, Dungeons and Dragons Weird Studies, Episode 7, Boxing C. Thi Nguyen, Games: Agency as Art Eduardo Vivieros de Castro, Cannibal Metaphysics BF Skinner, American psychologist Heraclitus, Fragments Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his 1978 bestseller The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins described humans as "survival machines" whose sole purpose is the replication of genes. All of culture needed to be understood as a side-effect, if not an epiphenomenon, of that defining function. Four years after Dawkins' book was published, Warner Brothers released Blade Runner, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's dystopian novel Do Androis Dream of Electric Sheep?. Ridley Scott's film presents us with a different kind of survival machine: the replicant, a technology whose sole function is the replication of human beings. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss the ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic dimensions of one of the greatest and most prophetic science fiction films of all time. Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES Ridley Scott (dir.), Blade Runner Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick, “The Android and the Human” Philip K. Dick, “Man, Android, and Machine” Dennis Villeneuve (dir.), Blade Runner 2049 Weird Studies, Episode 114 on the Wheel of Fortune Scott Bukatman, Blade Runner: BFI Film Classics Alan Nourse, The Bladerunner Weird Studies, Episode 115 on Brian Eno Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism Weird Studies, Episode 5 on “When Nothing is Cool” JF Martel, “Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things” John Carpenter (dir,), The Thing Beyond Yacht Rock podcast Sigmund Freud, “The Uncanny” Weird Studies, Episode 86 on “The Sandman” Orson Welles (dir.), Touch of Evil George Orwell, 1984 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Soft, soothing, and understated as a rule, ambient music may seem the least weird of all musical genres. Not so, say JF and Phil, who devote this episode to Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music for Airports, the 1978 album in whose liner notes the term "ambient music" first appeared. In this conversation, your hosts explore the aesthetic, metaphysical, and political implications of a kind of music designed to interact with the listener -- and the listener's environment -- below the threshold of ordinary, directed awareness. Eno and Peter Schmidt's famous Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards designed to heighten and deepen creativity, lends divinatory support to the endeavor. Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES Brian Eno, Ambient 1: Music for Airports Gabriella Cardazzo, Duncan Ward, and Brian Eno, Imaginary Landscapes Oblique Strategies Deck Theodore Adorno, Introduction to the Sociology of Music Marc Auge, Non-Places Anahid Kassabian, “Ubiquitous Music” Sigmund Freud, “On Transience” Weird Studies, Episode 104 on Sgt. Pepper Joris Karl Huysmans, A Rebours Roger Moseley, Keys to Play Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Season five kicks off with a new installment in the ongoing series on the Tarot's twenty-two major arcana. This time, your hosts overcome the trials that fortune has dealt them -- a hangover in the case of Phil, a sleepless night for JF -- to discuss the Wheel of Fortune. Not surprisingly, the conversation is a mess, albeit a beautiful one that comes full circle in the end, tying up all its loose ends in something like a bow (or a coiled serpent). Topics include the challenges of improvised philosophical discussion, the importance of exposing oneself to difficult ideas, the serpentine nature of immanentist discourse, and the doctrine of the Fall. As usual, the anomymously-authored Meditations on the Tarot gets pride of place, although occult luminaries such as Alejandro Jodorowsky, Aleister Crowley, and Pat Sajak make notable appearances. Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot Pints with Aquinas Jaroslav Hašek, Czech author Lon Milo Duquette, Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot True Detective, tv show Thomas Ligotti, Conspiracy Against the Human Race Henri Bergson, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion Alexander Jodorowsky, The Way of Tarot Jessica Hundley et. al., Tarot. Library of Esoterica Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French priest and scientist Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game Bruno Latour, French philosopher David Bentley Hart interview Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shannon Taggart's book Seance is a landmark in art photography and the history of psychical research. Taggart spent years photographing practitioners of spiritualism in the U.S. and Europe in an effort to capture the mysteries of mediumship, ectoplasm, and spirit photography. In this episode, she joins JF and Phil for a conversation on the often-misunderstood tradition of spiritualism, the investigation of the paranormal, and the real magic of photography. If the technological medium is the message, then perhaps the spiritual medium is the messenger. Support us on Patreon: Find us on Discord Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack **REFERENCES *Shannon Taggart, Séance * Read the introduction to the book here Visual companion page for this episode Shannon and her work are featured in Peter Bebergal's excellent book, Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story of the Technological Quest for the Supernatural Weird Studies, Episode 24 with Lionel Snell Lionel Snell, “The Charlatan and the Magus” George P. Hansen, The Trickster and the Paranormal Diane Arbus, American photographer Warner Herzog (dir.), Cave of Forgotten Dreams Jeffrey Mishlove, Interview with James Tunney on Francis Bacon Eva C, French medium Andrew Jackson Davis, American spiritualist Henry Alcott, American Theosophist For further reading on women, spiritualism, and the art of the invisible: Ann Braude, Radical Spirits Guggenheim, Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future Special Guest: Shannon Taggart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Book of Probes contains a assortment of aphorisms and maxims from the work of the Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan, each one set to evocative imagery by American graphic designer David Carson. McLuhan called the utterances collected in this book "probes," that is, pieces of conceptual gadgetry designed not to disclose facts about the world so much as blaze new pathways leading to the invisible background of our time. In this episode, Phil and JF use an online number generator to discuss a random yet uncannily cohesive selection of of McLuhanian probes. REFERENCES Marshall Mcluhan and David Carson, The Book of Probes Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse Marshall Mcluhan, The Mechanical Bride Aristotle, System of causation G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy Eric A. Havelock, Preface to Plato Weird Studies, Episode 71 on Marshall Mcluhan Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy Christiaan Wouter Custers, A Philosophy of Madness Gilles Deleuze, The Logic of Sense Marshall Mcluhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy Harry Partch, American composer Marc Augé, Non-Places Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Denis Villeneuve (dir.), Arrival Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A wish-fulfilment fantasy for pubescent boys of all ages, or a subtle disquisition on the ethics of a sorcerous world? John Milius' Conan the Barbarian (1982) manages to be both, although one may be easy to overlook. In this episode, JF and Phil leave the heights of Hesse's The Glass Bead Game with a headlong dive to the trash stratum. Their wager: that Conan the Barbarian, a film without a hint of irony, is a spiritual statement that is equal parts empowering and disquieting, and a prime of example of how fantasy is sometimes the straightest way to the heart of reality. REFERENCES John Milus (dir.), Conan the Barbarian (1982) Richard Fleischer (dir.), Conan the Destroyer (1984) Robert E. Howard, American writer, author of the Conan stories Jack Smith, "On the Perfect Filmic Appositeness of Maria Montez" Weird Studies #3: Ecstasy, Sin, and "The White People" H. P. Lovecraft, "Supernatural Horror in Literature" Fritz Leiber, American writer Weird Studies #95: Demon Seed: On Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child Dungeons & Dragons Weird Studies #20: The Trash Stratum (part 1, part 2) Masaki Kobayashi (dir.), Kwaidan Jerry Zucker (dir.), Ghost (1990) Roget's Thesarus of English Words and Phrases Maria Montez, Dominican-American actress Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the current "attention economy," which has resulted in plummeting literacy rates and the almost wanton neglect of various cultural practices, what significance does culture even have? Why seek to preserve something our age has decided doesn't have to exist? Perhaps Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game can be read as an answer to those questions. The order of monastic scholars in the novel exists mainly to remember what others were happy to consign to oblivion. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss Hesse's ideas on the order and its sacred game in terms of how they might help us meet the challenge facing anyone who believes the value of culture can't be expressed in dollars and cents. REFERENCES Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game Pope Benedict XVI, former head of the Catholic church J.S. Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Rosalyn Tureck interpretation and Glenn Gould interpretation Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Chauvet Cave Peter Bebergal Strange Frequencies Andy Goldsworthy, British artist Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

JF and Phil have been talking about doing a show on The Glass Bead Game since Weird Studies' earliest beginnings. It is a science-fiction novel that alights on some of the key ideas that run through the podcast: the dichotomy of work and play, the limits and affordances of institutional life, the obscure boundary where certainty gives way to mystery... Throughout his literary career, Hesse wrote about people trying to square their inner and outer selves, their life in the spirit and their life in the world. The Glass Bead Game brings this central concern to a properly ambiguous and heartbreaking conclusion. But the novel is more than a brilliant work of philosophical or psychological literature. It is also an act of prophecy -- one that seems intended for us now. Header image by Liz West, via Wikimedia Commons. REFERENCES Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game Paul Hindemith, German composer Morris Berman, The Twilight of American Culture Alfred Korzybski, concept of Time Binding Christopher Nolan, Memento William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain David Tracy, The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism Jeremy Johnson, Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness Teilhard de Chardin, French theologian Mathesis Joshua Ramey, The Hermetic Deleuze Weird Studies, Episode 22 with Joshua Ramey Joseph Needham, British historian of Chinese culture James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Modern skeptics pride themselves on being immune to unreason. They present themselves as defenders of rationality, civilization, and good sense against what Freud famously called the "black mud-tide of occultism." But what if skepticism was more implicated in the phenomena it aims to banish than it might appear to be? What if no one could debunk anything without getting some of that black mud on their hands? In this episode, Phil and JF discuss the weird complicity of the skeptic and the believer in the light of George P. Hansen's masterpiece of meta-parapsychology, The Trickster and the Paranormal. REFERENCES George P. Hansen, The Trickster and the Paranormal James Randi, stage magician and paranormal debunker Michael Shermer, American science writer CSICOP, Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, Publisher of the Skeptical Inquirer Rune Soup, Interview with George P. Hansen Weird Studies, Episode 24 with Lionel Snell Weird Studies, Episode 89 on Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure Wouter Hanegraaff, Dutch professor of esoteric philosophy Shannon Taggart, Seance Society for Psychical Research Weird Studies, Episode 44 on William James’s Psychical Research G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy Robert Anton Wilson, American author Aleister Crowley, Magic Without Tears Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joy Williams' third novel, Breaking and Entering, is the story of lovers who break into strangers' homes and live their lives for a time before moving on. First published in 1988, it is a book impossible to describe, a work of singular vision and sensibilty that is as infectious in its weird effect as it is unforgettable for the quality of its prose. In this episode, the novelist, spiritual thinker, and acclaimed podcaster Conner Habib joins JF and Phil to explore how the novel's enchantments rest on the uniqueness of Williams' style, which is to say, her bold embrace of ways of seeing that are hers alone. Williams is an artist who refuses to work from within some predetermined philosophical or political idiom. As Habib tells your hosts, she goes her own way, and even the gods must follow. Discover Against Everyone with Conner Habib on Patreon Support Weird Studies on Patreon: Buy the soundtrack Find us on Discord Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Photo by Wolfgang Moroder via Wikimedia Commons REFERENCES Conner Habib, "Joy Williams: The Best Fiction Writer Alive" Joy Williams, Breaking and Entering Joy Williams, The Quick and the Dead The Paris Review, Interview with Joy Williams Heraclitus, Fragments Joy Williams, “Breakfast” in Taking Care Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho The Phantom Stranger, DC Comics character James Joyce, Ulysses Eugene Ionesco, Rhinoceros Deleuze and Guatarri, What is Philosophy? Quentin Meillassoux, French philosopher David Mamet, On Directing Film David Mamet, True and False Nicholas Winding Refn (dir.), The Neon Demon Joy Williams, “Congress” Joy Williams, “Hawk” Stephen Sexton, If All the World and Love Were Young Scott Burnham, Mozart’s Grace Special Guest: Conner Habib. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Weird Studies turns meta, reflecting on the peculiar medium that is podcasting, and how it has shaped the Weird Studies project itself. JF and Phil provide a glimpse into what it feels like to create the show from the inside, where each recording session is like a journey into an unknown Zone. The conversation also occasions sojourns into the flow state, or experience of pure durée, its implications for our conception of free will, and surprising parallels between modern materialists’ adherence to nihilism and ancient religious ascetic practices. Ultimately, JF and Phil explore the archetypal image of the wanderer as representative of Weird Studies’s existence so far, and of the kind of impact and legacy this project can have. N.B. Weird Studies will be on a haitus for the month of September, and will return on September 29. In the meantime: Support us on Patreon: Find us on Discord Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack References Robert Sapolsky, Interview with Pau Guinart Bruno Latour, French philosopher Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene Peter Sloterdijk, You Must Change Your Life Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith Nina Simone, “Feeling Good” Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus Richard Wagner, Siegfried Lewis Carol, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland John David Ebert, American cultural critic Patrick Harpur Daimonic Reality Marshall McLuhan, The Global Village Phil Ford, “What was Blogging?” Weird Studies, Episode 71 on Marshall McLuhan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Twin Peaks mythos has been with Weird Studies from the very beginning, and it is only fitting that it should have a return. In this episode, Phil and JF are joined by Tamler Sommers, co-host of the podcast Very Bad Wizards to discuss Fire Walk with Me, the prequel film to the original Twin Peaks series. Paradoxically, David Lynch’s work both necessitates and resists interpretation, and the pull of detailed interpretation is unusually strong in this episode. The three discuss how Fire Walk with Me, and the series as a whole, depicts two separate worlds that sometimes begin to intermingle, disrupting the perceived stability of time and space. Often this happens in moments of extreme fear or love. Through their love for Laura Palmer and for the film under consideration, JF, Phil, and Tamler enact their own interpretation, entering a rift where the world of Twin Peaks and the “real” world seem to merge, demonstrating how Twin Peaks just won’t leave this world alone, and can become a way for disenchanted moderns once again to live inside of myth. Support us on Patreon: Find us on Discord Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack References David Lynch, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness, Netflix documentary David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature Antonin Artaud, The Theater and Its Double Mark Frost, The Secret History of Twin Peaks Mark Frost, Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier Jason Louv, occultist Duncan Barford, Occult Experiments in the Home podcast Weird Studies, Episode 67 on “Hellier” Weird Studies, Episode 78 on “The Mothman Prophesies” Sound mass, musical technique Michael Hanake (dir.), Caché Courtenay Stallings, Laura’s Ghost Special Guest: Tamler Sommers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is said that for several days after the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in the spring of 1967, you could have driven from one U.S. coast to the other without ever going out of range of a local radio broadcast of the album. Sgt. Pepper was, in a sense, the first global musical event -- comparable to other sixties game-changers such as the Kennedy assassination and the moon landing. What's more, this event is as every bit as strange as the latter two; it is only custom and habit that blind us to the profound weirdness of Sgt. Pepper. In this episode, Phil and JF reimagine the Beatles' masterpiece as an egregore, a magical operation that changes future and past alike, and a spiritual machine for "turning us on" to the invisible background against which we strut and fret our hours on the stage. Support us on Patreon: Find us on Discord Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack REFERENCES Weird Studies, Episode 31 on Glenn Gould’s ‘Prospects of Recording’ Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art Brian Eno, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) Weird Studies, Episode 33 On Duchamp’s Fountain Emmanuel Carrère, La Moustache Rob Reiner, This is Spinal Tap Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 2 James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze, What is Philosophy? Arthur Machen, “A Fragment of Life” David Lynch, Lost Highway Zhuangzi (Butterfly dream) Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Continuing their series on the tarot, Phil and JF discuss the card nobody wants to see in a reading – The Tower. Featuring lightning bolts, plumes of ominous smoke, and figures plummeting from the windows, the Tower’s meaning at first glance seems clear: “pride comes before a fall,” as the old adage goes. But as JF and Phil delve into the details, they note not only the card’s connection to the Biblical tower of Babel and the fall of man, but also its relevance to the present era’s systems of control and communication breakdown. This discussion leads them to search for an antidote to the Tower's message of destruction. References Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Way of the Tarot Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer Gilles Deleuze, “Postscript on the Societies of Control” Wilco, “Radio Cure” Richard Dyer, Heavenly Bodies George Cukor (dir.), A Star is Born Performativity, sociological concept Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle Jaques Ellul, The Technological Society Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"What was he doing, the great god Pan, down in the reeds by the river?" With this question, the Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning opens her famous poem "A Musical Instrument," which explores nature's troubling embrace of savagery and beauty. It seems that Pan always raises questions: What is he doing? What does he want? Where will he appear next? Linked to instinct, compulsion, and the spontaneous event, Pan is without a doubt the least predictable of the Greek Gods. Small wonder that he alone in the Greek pantheon sports human and animal parts. In this episode, Phil and JF are joined by Gyrus, author of the marvellous North: The Rise and Fall of the Polar Cosmos, to capture a deity who, though he has made more than one appearance on Weird Studies, remains decidedly elusive. Support us on Patreon: Find us on Discord Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Gyrus, "Sketches of the Goat God in Albion" Gyrus, North James Hillman, Pan and the Nightmare Pharmakon, philosophical term Stanley Diamond, In Search of the Primitive Philippe Borgeaud, The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece Hellier, television docuseries Weird Studies, Episode 98 on exotica Pink Floyd, Piper at the Gates of Dawn Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows Clayton Eshelman, Juniper Fuse Plutarch “On the Silence of the Oracles” Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger D.H. Lawrence, “Pan in America” Jim Brandon, The Rebirth of Pan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In modern physics as in Western theology, darkness and shadows have a purely negative existence. They are merely the absence of light. In mythology and art, however, light and darkness are enjoy a kind of Manichaean equality. Each exists in its own right and lays claim to one half of the Real. In this episode, JF and Phil delve into the luxuriant gloom of the Japanese novelist Jun'ichirō Tanazaki's classic meditation on the half-forgotten virtues of the dark. Get your Weird Studies MERCH! https://www.redbubble.com/people/Weird-Studies/shop?asc=u Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies Find us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies REFERENCES Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows Chiaroscuro, Renaissance art style John Carpenter (dir.), Escape from L.A. Weird Studies, Episode 13 on Heraclitus Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction Yasujiro Ozu (dir.), Late Spring Wabi Sabi, Japanese idea John Carpenter (dir.), Escape from NY Jonathan Crary, 24/7: Late Capitalism and the End of Sleep Eric Voegelin, German-American philosopher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Central to the tradition of cosmic horror is the suggestion that the ultimate truth about our universe is at once knowable and unthinkable, such that one learns it only at the cost of one's sanity and soul. John Carpenter is one of a handful of horror directors to have successfully ported this idea from literature to cinema. This episode is an attempt to unearth some of the eldritch symbols buried in a selection of Carpenter's apocalyptic works, including Escape from New York, The Thing, They Live,_ In the Mouth of Madness_, and the little known Cigarette Burns. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies Find us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies REFERENCES John Carpenter films discussed: The Thing Cigarette Burns In the Mouth of Madness Prince of Darkness Halloween They Live Escape from New York Escape from L.A. Big Trouble in Little China Other References: Pascal Laugier (dir.), Martyrs Srdjan Spasojevic (dir.), A Serbian Film Weird Studies, Episode 90 on The Owl in Daylight Roger Corman, American director Northrup Frye, Words with Power J. R. R. Tolkien, forward to The Fellowship of the Ring Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatarri, “Percept, Affect, and Concept” in What is Philosophy Weird Studies, Episode 72 on the Castrati Weird Studies, Episode 46, Thomas Ligotti’s Angel Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” China Mieville, British author Karlheinz Stockhausen, comments on 9/11 H. P. Lovecraft, Nyarlothotep H. P. Lovecraft, “The Haunter of the Dark” Nick Land, Fanged Noumena Zack Snyder, American director Haeccaity and Quiddity, philosophical concepts Samuel Delaney, Dahlgren Weird Studies, Episode 98 on Exotica Quentin Meillasoux, After Finitude Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this never-before-released episode recorded in 2019, Phil and JF travel to rural Oregon through the Netflix docu-series, Wild Wild Country. The series, which details the establishment of a spiritual community founded by Bhagwan Rajneesh (later called Osho) and its religious and political conflicts with its Christian neighbors, provides a starting point for a wide-ranging conversation on the nature of spirituality and religion. What emerges are surprising ties between the “spiritual, not religious” attitude and class, cultural commodification, and the culture of control that pervades modern society. But they also uncover the true “wild” card at the heart of existence that spiritual movements like that of Rajneesh can never fully control, no matter how hard they try. REFERENCES Chapman and Maclain Way (dirs), Wild Wild Country Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste Carl Wilson, Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste Peter Sloterdijk, German cultural theorist Weird Studies, Episode 47, Machines of Loving Grace Slavoj Žižek, On Western appropriation of Eastern religions William Burroughs, American writer Gilles Deleuze, “Postscript on the Societies of Control” Bhagwan Rajneesh/Osho, Speech on friendship Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith James Carse, The Finite and Infinite Games Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exotica is a kind of music that was popular in the 1950s, when it was simply known as "mood music." Though somewhat obscure today, the sound of exotica remains immediately recognizable to contemporary ears. Its use of "tribal" beats, ethereal voices, flutes and gongs evoke a world that is no more at home in the modern West than it is anywhere else on earth. With its shameless stereotyping of non-Western cultures and its aestheticization of the other, exotica rightly deserves the criticism it has drawn over the years. But as we shall see in this episode, if you stop there, you just might miss the thing that makes exotica so difficult to expunge from Western culture, and also what makes it a prime example of how the "trash stratum" sometimes becomes the site of strange visions that transcend culture altogether. REFERENCES Phil Ford, “Taboo: Time and Belief in Exotica” Future Fossils, Episode 157 Weird Studies, Episode 21: The Trash Stratum Weird Studies, Episode 79: Love, Death and the Dream Life Jack Smith, “The Perfect Filmic Appositeness Maria Montez” Yma Sumac, Peruvian singer Les Baxter, "The Oasis of Dakhla" Steely Dan, "I Heard the News" Stravinsky, Rite of Spring Les Baxter, “Hong Kong Cable Car” Jacques Riviere, review of The Rite of Spring Nenao Sakaki, Japanese poet Lew Welch, American Beat poet JF Martel, “Stay with Mystery: Hiroshima Mon Amour, Melancholia, and the truth of extinction” Jeffrey Kripal, Mutants and Mystics Captain Beefheart, “Orange Claw Hammer” Martin Buber, I and Thou Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The question of art has been of central concern for JF and Phil since Weird Studies began in 2018. What is art? What can it do that other things can't do? How is it connected to religion, psyche, and our current historical moment? Is the endless torrent of advertisements, entertainment, memes, and porn in which seem hopelessly immersed a manifestation of art or of something else entirely? In this exploration of the main ideas in JF's book Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, your hosts focus on these burning questions in hopes that the answers might shed light on our collective predicament and the paths that lead out of it. Photo by Petar Milošević via Wikimedia Commons REFERENCES JF's upcoming course on the nature and power of art, starting May 10th, 2021 JF Martel, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice Weird Studies, Episode 84 on the Empress card Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Werner Herzog, Cave of Forgotten Dreams Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey Adam Savage, Special effects designer Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus Kabbalistic emanationist cosmology Henry Corbin’s concept of the “imaginal” William Shakespeare, The Tempest Tibetan book of the Dead James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Hillman, The Thought of the Heart and The Soul of the World Phil Ford, “Battlefield medicine” Jaques Ellul, idea of “technique” Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jean Cocteau's visionary rendition of Madame de Beaumont's fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast," itself the retelling of a story that may be several millennia old, is the topic of this Weird Studies episode, which proposes a journey down lunar paths to the crossroads where love and death intersect. Drawing on Surrealism, myth, and the occult, Cocteau's 1946 film transcends the limitations of media to become a living poem, a thing that is also a place, a place that is also a mind. This conversation touches on the genius of the child, the mysteries of Eros, the monstrosity of consciousness, and the sorcery of cinema. Photo by Ivan Jevtic on Unsplash Click here to register for JF's upcoming course on art. REFERENCES Jean Cocteau (dir.), La Belle et la Bête Jaques Maritain, Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry Sergei Diaghilev, Russian impresario Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (dir.), Beauty and the Beast David Thomson, Have You Seen? Bram Stoker, Dracula Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter Philip Glass, La Belle et la Bête (opera) Game of Thrones, Television series Weird Studies, Episode 84 on the Empress Card Weird Studies, Episode 94 on the Moon Card Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doris Lessing's uncategorizable oeuvre reached strange new heights in 1988 with the publication of her short novel The Fifth Child. The story couldn't be simpler. In the England of the 1970s, a couple determined to live out a dream that many of their generation have rejected -- the big family in the old house with the pretty garden -- conceive a child that may or may not be human. From that moment on, the boy, their fifth, becomes the alien force that will tear their dream to pieces. Profoundly ambiguous and unsettling, The Fifth Child is a weird novel that raises questions about parenthood, family, and the impenetrable depths of nature. Header Image: The Changeling by Henry Fuseli (1780) Additional music: "Fast Bossa Nova: Falling Stars" by Dee Yan-Key REFERENCES Doris Lessing, The Fifth Child Doris Lessing, Shikasta M. R. James, weird fiction author Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire Weird Studies, Episode 67 on “Hellier” Victoria Nelson, The Secret Life of Puppets David Icke, conspiracy theorist Deros, underground beings from the fiction of Richard Sharpe Shaver Hieronymus Bosch, Dutch Renaissance painter Weird Studies, Episode 86 on “The Sandman” Slavoj Žižek, The Puppet and the Dwarf Louis Sass, “The Land of Unreality: On the Phenomenology of the Schizophrenic Break” Louis Sass, Madness and Modernism Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life Richard Thorpe (dir.), The Wizard of Oz Frank L. Baum, The Wizard of Oz Weird Studies, bonus episode on Adventure Time James Hillman, The Soul’s Code Doris Lessing, Ben in the World Roman Polanski (dir.), Rosemary’s Baby Richard Donner (dir.), The Omen Donald Cammell (dir.), Demon Seed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Here is a weird, deceptive life." Thus does Aleister Crowley describe the meaning of one of the most sinister and spectral cards in the tarot. In this episode, Phil and JF continue their ongoing series on the twenty-two major trumps with a deep dive into the hopelessly enigmatic world of Arcanum XVIII: The Moon. After a brief chat about Voltron and professional wrestling, your hosts start on the lunar path beset by traps and illusions, in hopes that their half-blind perambulation will lead to startling insights. Image by Damien Deltenre via Wikimedia Commons. References Roland Barthes, Mythologies Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot Colin Wilson, The Occult Eliphas Levi,_ French esotericist Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo Weird Studies, [Episode 86 on The Sandman](weirdstudies.com/86) Plato, Republic Antoine Faivre, scholar of esoteric studies Wouter Hanegraaff, historian of philosophy Alastair Crowley, Book of Thoth Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution Carl Jung, Mysterium Coniunctionis Peter Kingsley, historian of philosophy St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Weird Studies, Episode 93 on Charles Taylor Algis Uždavinys, Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In A Secular Age, the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor tries to come to grips with the seismic development that transformed the world after the Renaissance, namely the secularization of the society and soul of Western humanity. What does it mean to live in an age where religion, once the very matrix of social existence, is relegated to the realm of private and personal choice? What defines secularity? Are modern people really as "irrelegious" as we make them out to be? In this episode, JF and Phil squarely train their sights on a question that continues to haunt them, with Taylor as their Virgil in what amounts to a descent into the ordinary inferno of modern unknowing. Header Image by Pahudson, via Wikimedia Commons REFERENCES Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page Charles Taylor, A Secular Age Charles Taylor, The Malaise of Modernity Weird Studies, ep 71: The Medium is the Message Penn & Teller, Bullshit René Descartes, Meditations Theodore Roszak, The Making of a Counter-Culture Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Jacques Ellul, The New Demons David Foster Wallace's essay on David Letterman Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With his latest film, a meditation on what it means to believe we live in a computer simulation, Rodney Ascher has once again placed himself among the most innovative and visionary filmmakers working in the documentary form today. While the "Simulation Hypothesis" has been a hot topic ever since The Matrix came out in 1997, it is Ascher's ability to suspend judgement, training his camera on the experience of believers rather than the value of their beliefs, that makes A Glitch in the Matrix such a unique and significant exploration, a strange work of "phantom phenomenology." Weird Studies listeners will recall that Phil and JF devoted an episode to Ascher's films -- most notably Room 237 and The Nightmare -- back in the early days of the podcast. In this episode, Rodney Ascher joins them to discuss his cinematic vision, his take on the weird, and his thoughts on what is real and why it matters. REFERENCES [Rodney Ascher](www.rodneyascher.com), American filmmaker -- [A Glitch in the Matrix](www.aglitchinthematrixfilm.com) Jay Weidner's theories on Kubrick Buddhist idea of the the Arising and Passing Away [Dungeons & Dragons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons%26_Dragons), tabletop roleplaying game James Machin, _Weird Fiction in Britain 1880-1939 Magic Eye pictures Parmenides, Greek philosopher Wachowskis, The Matrix Alan Moore, "Superman: For the Man Who Has Everything" Conway's Game of Life Joshua Clover, The Matrix (BFI Film Classics) Jonathan Snipes, American composer Clipping, experimental hip hop band "Shining" romantic comedy recut Michael Curtiz (dir.), Casblanca John Boorman (dir.), [Point Blank](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062138/?ref=fn_al_tt_2)_ Louis Sass, Madness and Modernism: Insanity in the Light of Modern Art, Literature, and Thought Special Guest: Rodney Ascher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Phil and JF explore the vast palatial halls of Susanna Clarke's novel Piranesi. Set in an otherworld consisting of endless galleries filled with enigmatic statues, Piranesi is the story of a man who lives alone -- or nearly alone -- in a dream labyrinth. As usual, our discussion leads to unexpected places every bit as strange as Clarke's setting, from Borge's infinite library and Lovecraft's alien cities to Renaissance Europe, where the art of memory was synonymous with wisdom and magic. SHOW NOTES Susanna Clarke, Piranesi Joshua Clover, 1989: Dylan Didn't Have This to Sing About , The Matrix (BFI Modern Classics John Crowley, Little, Big Christopher Priest, The Prestige (+Christopher Nolan's screen adaptation) Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell JF Martel, "The Real as Sacrament" (forthcoming?) Frances Yates, The Art of Memory Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture Plato, Phaedrus Henri Bergson, Matter and Memory Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel" Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carceri d'invenzione Maurits Cornelis Escher, Duch artist H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space Gyrus, North: The Rise and Fall of the Polar Cosmos Emerald Tablet, foundational Hermetic text Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything Weird Studies ep. 42 - On Pauline Oliveros, with Kerry O'Brien Giovanni colleague? Allen Ginsberg, "America" Rodney Ascher, A Glitch in the Matrix Walter J. Ong, American philosopher Weird Studies ep. 71: The Medium is the Message Thomas Ligotti, "The Night School" Thomas Aquinas, Christian philosopher and theologian Erasmus, Christian philosopher Marsilio Ficino, Christian philosopher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Weird Studies has so far devoted just one show to Philip K. Dick, and that was way back in April 2018, with episode 10, "Adrift in the Multiverse." Last fall, as another foray into Dickland began to feel urgent, Phil and JF talked about which of his books they should tackle. The answer that seemed obvious was VALIS, the semi/pseudo-autobiographical masterpiece that constitutes PKD's most explicit attempt to make sense of the theophanic experiences that altererd his life in 1974. But then Phil suggested The Owl in Daylight, a novel on which PKD worked feverishly in the last years of his life but left unwritten. And sure enough, reviewing and analyzing a book that doesn't exist proved to be the best way of getting to the heart of Dick's incomparable oeuvre. SHOW NOTES Gwen Lee, What if Our World is Their Heaven? The Final Conversations of Philip K. Dick The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick, volume 6 Philip K. Dick, The Exegesis Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot Secondary qualities, philosophical concept Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings Burt Bacharach, American musician Philip K. Dick, "The Preserving Machine" Jorge Borges, "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" The Good Place, American television series Philip K. Dick, Valis Weird Studies, Episode 78 on John Keel's 'Mothman Prophesies' Richard Wagner, Parsifal Weird Studies, Episode 73 on Carl Jung Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ishmael Reed's 1972 novel Mumbo Jumbo is a conspiracy thriller, a postmodern experiment, a revolutionary tract, a celebration, and a magical working. It is a novel that, over and above prophetically describing the world we live in, creates a whole new world and invites us to move in. For Phil and JF, Mumbo Jumbo exemplifies art's creative power to generate new possibilities for life. It is also the perfect occasion for pinpointing the difference between the kind of magical thinking that fuels virulent conspiricism, and the more profound magical thinking which alone can save us from it. **Image: **Albrecht Dürer, Two Pairs of Hands with Book REFERENCES Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo Harold Bloom, The Western Canon For more on Colin Wilson's concept of lunar religion, see The Occult Weird Studies, episode 36: "On Hyperstition" William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch Carl Van Vechten, American writer Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, Illuminatus! MC5, "Kick Out the Jams" Karl Pfeiffer (dir.), Hellier, webseries Jasun Horsley, 16 Maps of Hell Ramsey Dukes (Lionel Snell), SSOTBME Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot Fats Waller, American jazz musician Owen Barfield, Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry Weird Studies, episode 57 - "Box of Gods: On Raiders of the Lost Ark" Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Weird Studies will launch its fourth season on January 6th, 2021. But to celebtrate the end of very strange year, we thought we'd release a conversation which until now was available only to our top-tier Patreon backers. Therein we discuss the philosophical underpinnings of "Puhoy," memorable episode of the brilliant animated series Adventure Time. This was JF's introduction to a show that Phil has often recommended for its novel treatment of complex ideas and downright weirdness. Watch "Puhoy" on YouTube: Part 1 Part 2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before Coraline, before American Gods, in the early days of the Sandman series, Neil Gaiman collaborated with Dave McKean on some truly groundbreaking graphic novels: Violent Cases (1987), Signal to Noise (1989), and the work discussed in this Weird Studies episode. The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch (1994) is the story of a boy whose initiation into the dark realities of life, death, and family plays out in the shadow of the (in)famous Punch & Judy puppet show. Unlike some of Gaiman's more overtly marvellous offerings, Mr Punch is a subtle fantasy whose weirdness hides in the gaps and folds of lost time. It is in Dave McKean's brilliant art that the magic shines through, letting us know that the narrative is only part of a vaster, hidden thing. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss the themes, ideas, and mysteries of an unparalleled piece of comics art. REFERENCES Watch Aaron Poole's 9-minute short film "Oracle" Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, _The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch "That's the Way to Do It! A History of Punch and Judy", Victoria Albert Museum _ Ronald Briggs, Father Christmas Clement Greenberg, American art critic Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics J. F. Martel, Patreon Post on The Untimely Weird Studies, Episodes 20 and 21 on the Trash Stratum Weird Studies, Episode 72 on the Castrati Samuel Pepys, English administrator and diarist Nick Lowe, The Beast in Me Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It would be wrong to describe Arthur Machen's Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy in Literature (1902) as a work of nonfiction, since the book features a narrative frame that is as moody and irreal as the best tales penned by this luminary of weird fiction. But if the eccentric recluse at the centre Hieroglyphics is a fictional philosopher, he is one who, in Phil and JF's opinion, rivals most aesthetic thinkers in the history of philosophy. The significance of this text lies in its willingness to disclose a function of art that few before Machen had dared to touch, namely its capacity to generate ecstasy by confronting us with the mystery that beats the heart of existence. In this episode, your hosts discuss a work which, in their opinion, comes as close to scripture as the nonexistent field of Weird Studies is likely to get. REFERENCES Arthur Machen, Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy in Literature Thomas Ligotti, Songs of a Dead Dreamer Weird Studies, Episode 3 on the White People J.F. Martel, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice Weird Studies, Episode 63 on Colin Wilson’s 'The Occult' William Shakespeare, Hamlet Indra’s Net, philosophical concept James Machin, Weird Fiction in Britain, 1880 – 1939 Weird Studies, Episode 5 on Lisa Ruddick's 'When Nothing is Cool' Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism Rudolph Otto, German theologian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The German polymath E. T. A. Hoffmann is one of the founding figures of what we now call weird literature. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss one of his most memorable tales, "Der Sandmann." Originally published in 1816, it is the story of a young German student whose fate is sealed by a terrifying encounter with the eponymous figure during his youth. The story packs several tropes that would later become staples of the weird: the protean monster, the double, the automaton... Your hosts discuss how Hoffmann uses these tropes without letting any of them coalesce into a stable thing in the reader's mind, thereby effecting a slowbuild of ambiguity upon ambiguity that culminates in a true paroxysm of dread. The argument is made that Freud does essentially the same thing in his famous essay "The Uncanny," wherein Hoffmann's story plays an important role. REFERENCES E. T. A. Hoffmann, The Sandman Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto Edgar Allan Poe, American writer Sunn o))), American metal band La Monte Young,, American composer Stuart Davis, Aliens and Artists Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny Neil Gaiman, Mr. Punch Jaques Offenbach, Tales of Hoffmann Frank Zappa, American musician Ernst Jentsch,, German psychiatrist E. T. A. Hoffmann, The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr Weird Studies, episodes 73 and 74 on Carl Jung Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since its release in 1973, Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man has exerted a profound influence on the development of horror cinema, a rich vein of folk music, and the modern pagan revival more generally. Anthony Shaffer's ingenious screenplay gives us a thrilling yarn that is also a meditation on the nature of religious belief and practice. Just in time for Halloween, Phil and JF discuss the philosophical ideas that undergird this folk horror classic, focusing on the perennial role of sacrifice in religious thought. REFERENCES Robin Hardy (director), The Wicker Man Stanley Kubrick (director), The Shining Terence Fisher (director), The Devil Rides Out Piers Haggard (director), Blood on Satan’s Claw John Boorman (director), Deliverance Rob Young, Electric Eden Gerald Gardner, English wiccan Margaret Murray, English anthropologist Cecil Sharp, English ethnomusicologist Phil Ford, "Taboo: Time and Belief in Exotica" Friedrich Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This second instalment in our series on the major trumps of the traditional tarot deck features the Empress. As Aleister Crowley writes in The Book of Thoth, this card is probably the most difficult to decipher, since it is inherently "omniform," changing shapes continuously. In a sense, the Empress is variation itself. Her card becomes the occasion for a conversation about the less knowable side of reality, the one that tradition associates with the Yin, nature, potential, and -- controversially -- the feminine. This in turn leads to a discussion of white versus black magic, and how the two may not always be as diametrically opposed as we might believe. REFERENCES P.D. Ouspensky, The Symbolism of the Tarot Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism Weird Studies episode 82 on the I Ching Patrick Harper, The Secret Tradition of the Soul Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth Simon Magus, religious figure Henri Gamache, The Mystery of the Long Lost 8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses Solomon grimoires Lionel Snell/Ramsay Dukes, English magician Weird Studies episode 3 on Arthur Machen's "The White People" Joséphin Péladan, French magician Susanna Clarke Piranesi Shawshank Redemption, film Franz Liszt, musician Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Lynch's Lost Highway was released in 1997, five years after Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me elicited a fusillade of boos and hisses at Cannes. The Twin Peaks prequel's poor reception allegedly sent its American auteur spiralling into something of an existential crisis, and Lost Highway has often been interpreted as a response to -- or result of -- that crisis. Certainly, the film is among Lynch's darkest, boldest, and most enigmatic. But of course, we do the film an injustice by reducing it to the psychological state of its director. Indeed, one of the contentions of this episode is that all artistic interpretation constitutes a kind of injustice. But as you will hear, that doesn't stop Phil and JF from interpreting the hell out of the film. Just or unjust, fair or unfair, interpretation may well be necessary in aesthetic matters. It may be the means by which we grow through the experience of art, the way by which art makes us something new, strange, and other. Perhaps the trick is to remember that no mode of interpretation is, to borrow Freud's phrase, the one and only via regia, but that every one is just another highway at night... REFERENCES David Lynch (dir.), Lost Highway Alfred Hitchcock (dir.), Vertigo Arnold Schoenberg, Three Keyboard Pieces, op. 11 James Joyce, Finnegan’s Wake Weird Studies, Episode 81 on The Course of the Heart Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian philosopher Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire Cabinet of Dr. Caligari David Foster Wallace, "David Lynch Keeps his Head" in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never do Again Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story Patreon audio extra on Penderecki's "Threnody" Trent Reznor, American musician David Bowie, "Deranged" Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt, "Oblique Strategies" Tim Powers, Last Call Manuel DeLanda, Mexican-American philosopher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Book of Changes, or I Ching, is more than an ancient text. It's a metaphysical guide, a fun game, and -- to your hosts at least -- a lifelong, steadfast friend. The I Ching has come up more than once on the show, and now is the time for JF and Phil to face it head on, discussing the role it has played in their lives while delving into some of its mysteries. REFERENCES I Ching, Wilhelm-Baynes translation I Ching, Stephen Karcher translation Game of Thrones, HBO series George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire George R. R. Martin, “Sandkings” in: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories H. P. Lovecraft, American writer Graham Harman, Weird Realism: Lovecraft and Philosophy Aleister Crowley, “777” Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Cannibal Metaphysics Joel Biroco, Calling Crane in the Shade (website) Philip K. Dick, American novelist Lionel Snell, a.k.a. Ramsey Dukes, British occultist Richard Rutt, _Zhouyi: A New Translation with Commentary _ Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast Redmond and Hon, Teaching the I Ching Weird Studies, episode 72, On the castrati Weird Studies, episode 77, On the fool tarot card Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot The Usual Suspects (movie) Colin Wilson, The Occult Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The British writer M. John Harrison is responsible for some of the most significant incursions of the Weird into the literary imagination of the last several decades. His 1992 novel The Course of the Heart is a masterful exercise in erasing whatever boundary you care to mention, from the one between reality and mind to the one between love and horror. Recounting the lives of three friends as they play out the fateful aftermath of a magical operation that went horribly wrong, Harrison's novel gives Phil and JF the chance to talk contemporary literature, metaphysics, Gnosticism, zones (see episodes 13 & 14), myth, transcendence, history, and arachnology. Together, they weave a fragile web of ideas centered on that imperceptible something that forever trembles at the edge of our perception, beckoning us to step into its world, and out of ours. REFERENCES M. John Harrison, The Course of the Heart M. John Harrison, "The Great God Pan" Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan Philip K. Dick, Ubik Philip K. Dick, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Weird Studies, Episode 14 on Stalker Jonathan Carrol, American novelist Robert Aickman, British writer Magic Realism, literary genre Phil Ford, “An Essay on Fortuna, parts 1 and 2,” Weird Studies Patreon John Crowley, Ægypt Jorge Borges," The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" Strange Horizons, Interview with M. John Harrison M. John Harrison on worldbuilding Thomas Ligotti, American horror writer Weird Studies subreddit Albert Camus, French philosopher David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous Spiders’ nervous systems Valentinus, gnostic theologian Simon Magus, religious figure Wiccan goddess and god Bruno Schulz, The Street of Crocodiles Weird Studies, Episode 37 with Stuart Davis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your hosts' exploration of mysticism and vision in pop music continues with two powerful pieces of popular music: Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" from the 2001 album Amnesiac, and Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf's "Ballad of the Sad Young Men," from the 1959 Broadway musical The Nervous Set. Synchronicity rears its head as the dialogue reveals how these two gems, selected by JF and Phil with no expectation that they might form a set, begin to glow when placed side by side, amplifying and focussing each other's eldritch light. This episode touches on Neoplatonic myths of spiritual ascent, African-American spirituals, Plato's realm of Forms, Gnosticism, dream visitations by the dearly departed, the travails of the Beat generation, the objectivity of hope, the implosion of America, and that particularly modern condition of the soul which Phil calls the "Philosopher's Blues." REFERENCES Radiohead, "Pyramid Song" Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf, "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" Edgar Allan Poe, "The Pit and the Pendulum" Charles Mingus, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Plato, Phaedrus Plato, Republic Plato's Unwritten Doctrines The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast, episode 69: "Plutarch's Myths of Cosmic Ascent" William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience Pierre Hadot, French philosopher Algis Uzdavynis, Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth: From Ancient Egypt to Neoplatonism Charles Taylor, Canadian philosopher Phil Ford, "The Philosopher’s Blues" (Weird Studies Patreon exclusive) Peter Sloterdijk, German philosopher Ferdinand de Saussure, French linguist JF Martel, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice JF Martel, "Stay With Mystery: Hiroshima Mon Amour, Melancholia, and the Truth of Extinction" in Canadian Notes & Queries, issue 106: Winter 2020, edited by Sharon English and Patricia Robertson Ray Brassier, Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction Jay Landesman and Theodore J. Flicker, The Nervous Set, musical Phil Ford, Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture Jay Landesman, American publisher and writer Marshall McLuhan, "The Psychopathology of 'Time & Life'" Marshall McLuhan, The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man William Butler Yeats, "Sailing to Byzantium" Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men Mike Duncan (Twitter) Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation Karl Marx, Capital: Volume I Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Weird Studies, an improvised analysis of two pop songs -- Nina Simone's version of James Shelton's "Lilac Wine" and Ghostface Killah's visionary "Underwater" -- becomes the occasion for a deep dive to the weird wellspring of artistic creation. In trying to understand these songs and why they love them so much, your hosts touch on themes such as necromancy, decadence, liebestod, visionary experience, the Muslim image of paradise, the necessity of rifts, Norman Mailer's concept of "dream life," and the magical operation that is sampling. Header image: Boris Kasimov, Wikimedia Commons REFERENCES James Shelton, "Lilac Wine" Nina Simone, "Lilac Wine" from the album WIld is the Wind (1966) Ghostface Killah, "Underwater, from the album Fishscale (2006) MF Doom, "Orange Blossoms," from the album Special Herbs, Volume 4, 5 & 6 Richard Strauss, [Salome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome(opera))_ Weird Studies, episode 25: David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch C. G. Jung's practice of active imagination JF Martel, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice Thomas Mann, Death in Venice Paul Horn, Visions Alexander Mackendrick (dir.), The Sweet Smell of Success Les Baxter, American composer Les Baxter, "Papagayo" Debussy, [Nocturnes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnes(Debussy))_ Rebecca Leydon, music scholar Weird Studies episodes 73 and 74, on C. G. Jung's aesthetic vision Alexander Courage, Theme from Star Trek ("Where No Man Has Gone Before") Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene Norman Mailer, “Superman Comes to the Supermarket" James Joyce, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices