Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel
  • 4.8 (525)
  • ARTS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
Weird Studies

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."

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    Holiday Bonus: Waiting for the Next Sentence

    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.

    45 min

  2. DEC 4

    On 'The X Files,' with Meredith Michael

    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.

    1h 18m

  3. NOV 20

    The Player: On the Magician Card in the Tarot

    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

    1h 22m

  4. NOV 6

    The Final Frontier, with Lionel Snell

    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].

    1h 18m

  5. OCT 23

    Edge of Reality: On John Carpenter's 'In the Mouth of Madness'

    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

    1h 12m

  6. OCT 9

    Riddles in the Dark: On Fairy Tales, Interpretation, and 'Rapunzel'

    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

    1h 27m

  7. SEP 25

    On Charles Burns' 'Black Hole' and the Medium of Comics

    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

    1h 21m

  8. AUG 21

    Mid-Break Bonus: The Quiet Earth

    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.

    1h 2m
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4.8
out of 5
525 Ratings

About

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."

Information

  • Creator
    Phil Ford and J. F. Martel
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2024
  • Episodes
    194
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Phil Ford and J.F. Martel
  • Show Website
    Weird Studies

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