Q&A SHOW (deposit Qs here)
You asked, I eventually probably answered.
You recreants who can still medically enjoy liquor, cocaine, Percaduccios, oxys of any description (I can still enjoy oxys, but when you've IV-banged the hospital-grade avatar of sweet Sister Morphine, an oxy is ... still not bad), lo! even the simple Marihuana leaf – you may herein implant your Questions before you forget them in a blurry whirl of pennies-on-the-dollar bacchanale, and when I answer them, you'll be delighted anew & again.
The Sun is dead, hooroo. Hail ye false (?) Mysterium of schedule-Sun reborne.
Comments (172)
In case there's a pt 2 I wanted to ask: you mentioned on the Wayne Shorter episode that you devoured as much info from jazz critics/experts as possible to try to find out just how it all actually works, only to realize that most of them did not know what they were talking about once you knew enough--what are some books and resources you came across that DO get it right?
Thoughts on Bob Dylan's relation to all your usual themes?
How often do you listen to The Beatles in your more recent past?
Three Melville Questions: I know you’ve mentioned before that Hart Crane’s work is an extended working-out of Melville's poetics—could you expand on this? Could you go more into the relationship between Charles Olson and Melville you said in one episode that Moby Dick reads completely differently after you’ve read Olson. Thoughts on Paul Metcalf's Genoa?
You talked about the sparagmos in the last episode--thoughts on the sparagmos and the orpheus myth in relation to Finnegans wake?
I don't know where else to put this, but I figured that it's relevant if you have more thoughts on the subject. You spoke about Mormonism in the past as the ultimate American religion, as has our boy Cushbomb. And I've realized that a relative's "spiritual revelation" could be seen as a syncretic form of Mormonism with a bunch of occultism and new age spirituality and the myopia of the psychonauts thrown in the mix. I can see a shape myself of how this works, but I wonder if you have thoughts on these American "spiritual movements" and the most American Christianity, if there's connecting tissue. Also want to second the theosophy question, and wish you well.
Ok, I asked about Rathenau, but let me ask something better. Maybe better. Pynchon is my favorite author and he’s what led me to you. I also discovered Roberto Bolano and Djuna Barnes because of you. Other than these folks (and Burroughs), who else is on your top shelf?
Hello Michael, I'm interested in hearing more about aspects of fascism that may be inherent in film as a medium and/or in the development of film language in the early 20th century. Discussions concerning The Frankfurt School, Bowie, and Lynch come to mind as well as your brother's fantastic Kubrick series of podcasts. Thank you for all that you do. -KF
Do you listen to podcasts from outside the chapo/dirtbag ecosystem? Any recommendations that might surprise us?
Is it finally time for that Djuna Barnes episode? My favorite ep of yours is New Gods Funeral part 3 (the one that ends with House of Jade by Wayne Shorter). As someone who loves music but cannot make it, I'm fascinated by the way that music isn't anything like the abstraction that language is, and the way you use that relentless lexical musicality of yours to get between points and illuminate the infinite space (which is always between them) has a way of helping to keep my brain from gnawing on itself - it lets some of the grimness of currently being alive condense down the old retort and away... I think a lot of us would enjoy you picking a favorite piece of music and just having at it. So, an Eric Dolphy ep? Sun Ra? The last Beatles song you listened to?
I believe you've talked about the bit in GR on Dodecatonic, Diatonic and the (Rejected) Locrian Mode. Think it was in the context of you retelling how you got to read some correspondence of Pynchon's. I find that bit very interesting. It would be awesome if you expanded how this metaphor lights up the book. All the best for the holidays!
1. you’ve mentioned wyndham lewis on the show before, would you ever do a show or series covering him (or further discuss your opinions of him anywhere)? 2. also wondering if you have any views on lezek kolakowskis writing on marx ?
Couple unrelated ones: 1. Do you think Ezra Pound was deliberately fucking with the young James Jesus Angleton when the latter solicited a submission to his poetry journal and Pound sent him some half-cocked essay on monetary policy? 2. Do you fuck with W.G. Sebald? 3. I recall you mentioning on a show way back that you had some theosophists in your family tree. What’s your take on that movement and its offspring as it relates to the constellation of esoteric/occulted practices of America’s entrenched power elite? In live in rural upstate New York (Rockefeller country) where there’s a nexus of Anthroposophist (to my understanding theosophy fused with early 20th century German green fascism that was too stupid even for Hitler) that seems to appeal to not only literal Rockefellers, but a whole gamut of wealthy crunchy liberals. They run schools, farms, and own a shit load of the real estate. Superficially, they are all about gnomes and shitty water color paintings, but talk to any of them for a while and stuff about magic potions and aryan reincarnation starts to come up. When you begin to penetrate the concentric circles of power in the Northeast, these guys start popping up all over the place. I wonder if it’s the same out in your part of the Midwest. 4. Would you ever do a deep dive on Stan Brakhage? Feel free to answer some or none. Thanks!
Is it inevitable that the us is due sooner than later for a large scale foreign attack or is it more likely we should tear ourselves apart civil war style? Is massive death tolls of Americans out of the question as long as our military continues to hold the entire earth in violent suspension or is that the best recipe to ensure nuclear attacks on Boise?
Also, Coil fans anyone? Just seems fitting here (even though we are THE most annoying fans of all lol.)
When do we get the seance episode?
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Are you now, or have you ever been associated with the C.I.A, F.B.I, Israeli/Saudi/Argentinian governments, or the gay mafia?
which gay mafia are we talking about
Hey Michael, been listening since 2020, and somewhere in your back catalogue you mentioned the slaughtering of the god of magic, and its soul being split into a good and evil part in which the good part is art and the evil part is media. Was wondering where this comes from. Best wishes !
That was on the series I did with TrueAnon, I think the 3rd and last one. And in retrospect, you really gotta give it up for the suicide cocktail of the world's worst cheapest whiskey, generic Xanax, and 2 forms of junk OD that was my daily regimen at the time, because I sound confident as shit launching off at the most oblique possible angles, and if I'd been any more worried about the fact that it was gonna take me half an hour to bring the French Indochina War back to what we were discussing (or that I had, and still have, no fucking idea if there's a universal standard of what constitutes the "First" vs. "Second" Indochina War), that series probably would've ended up as one episode, instead of the 5-hour postwar psychedelic slaughterhouse that accidentally gave me a career
Unrelated to any show content but just curious if you have any tales of mystical, supernatural or otherwise unexplainable phenomena you’ve experienced? Imagine with some of your health experiences the mind wanders into a more surreal place. So, whether you think its tricks of the mind or not, I’d still be curious to hear!
Also please have Paul on the show more
Not really a question, but I get a thrill out of your imitation skills, be it of dialects, accents or people, so would love more of that in any shape or form.
Something thats stuck with me from your Paganism & Logic of Metaphor series, particularly episode 3, was how you couched it by expressing your concern with getting it exactly right (which, by my estimation, you got it as damn close as you can get). I’ve long held a similar neuroticism toward the precision required by language, and how challenging it is to conjure up the right words (especially when spoken) to convey exactly what you mean. How do you personally grapple with the ever nebulous and protean tool of language? And how does it change when recorded, whether written or spoken? Any mental metaphors or frameworks that help guide your writing process? In the words of the dear ol’ bloke David - “..cause you can never really tell when somebody wants something you want too..”
Hi Michael, to what degree do you think kafka's work and the kafkaesque meme was pushed by the cia during the cold War against communism? Not sure if you'll read all the comments but your show means a lot. I lost my partner two years ago and some of the insights into the nature of memory and memory of events ( it was sudden, traumatic) and the nature of language are really profound. You average these one or two an episode, which sounds low but you could read through an authors entire work just to get one. Keep going and really looking forward to your music stuff.
Ohh I just thought of a fun one: if you had to choose a Pynchon themed tattoo, what would you do?
Admittedly too broke to be a subscriber right now but what was your favorite psychedelic back in the day?
How do you integrate eccentrics (or better, ecstatics) like Saint Hildegard into your assessment on Catholicism? The red of blood and all verdant greening are complementary.
Hey are you a fan of Jason Molina? What’s your perspective on the erasure of Covid/long covid?
Also have you read the book A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James? it’s a fictionalized account of Bob Marley’s assassination attempt (very reminiscent of Libra) that then dives into the crack wars in nyc and all the connections in between
For someone who got into your show for the parapolitics, history, and philosophy but does not know shit about shit when it comes to music other than that some things have nice beats and you can dance to them or some rock songs have really sick guitar riffs. Is there a way or resource that you would recommend for staring to understand music and what the hell you're talking about when you go off about it, or is my philistinism here just more proof that I am not ensouled and will disappear like an animal when I die while others get to see Heaven?
Also, apologies for piling on more topic ideas for shows, but an in-depth episode on Walter Benjamin or Marshall McLuhan would be awesome. Always enjoy your thoughts when their names come up. Do you have any thoughts in particular as to how they’ve changed your perception as an artist in a positive way? I’ve always felt that the writings of Benjamin and (to a slightly lesser extent) McLuhan have helped with understanding an artistic medium on a visceral sensory level, in a way that helps you work yourself inside of it and operate at its resonant frequency
Hey Mike, hope yr well. I’ve been fascinated with yr Gnostic episodes and was wondering if you had any thoughts about Plotinus and Neoplatonism is contrast with the Gnostic view of the cosmos and reality for that matter. And thanks again for all you do with this show, it has helped me immeasurably over the years.
Do you have any recommended reading for a deeper understanding of eikonography and mythology?
What are some movies from the past few decades that you enjoy? You mentioned growing up near where Jesse James lived I'm curious if you've read the Ron Hansen novel about his assassination, or the incredible film adaptation.
He’s mentioned The Master as being one of his favorites
Can you finish the Walter seance series please and thank you
lol I'd second this, but I kind of like having it hanging out there as something I'm looking forward to. I completely trust that someday that satisfying bit of magic will appear in my future podcast feed.
this/these question(s) is/are better than the previous one(s) i asked: you're a very funny person - do you consider yourself to be a comedian? or is comedy natural to the podcast form, and you're just good at podcasting and, therefore, funny? your sense of humor must also be in your novels and your music, but - is your music sadder than your books? is your fiction more comic than your talk show? vice versa and all that: is your music more talkative than your podcast? is your fiction more harmonious than your music? what do you notice yourself bringing to the one form rather than the other? some people barely do half a thing! i'm curious what you notice about doing several
this would require such a big answer that I probably can't fit it in the show, but I'm thinking about it
I remember you saying at some point there weren’t any good English translations of Dante, what are the existing translations missing?
Who are some of your favorite painters/visual artists?
Thoughts on Gore Vidal?
He calls me a faaag again and I'll sok'im in tha mouuth.
What is the farthest you've ever been from home?
thoughts on expressive culture as opposed to art
Greetings, Michael. You’ve mentioned Hart Crane a lot, specifically his logic of metaphor. You’ve also read Pynchon and GR in light of Waldo Frank’s claim as regards to Crane as a poet of the New Jerusalem tradition. What’s your thoughts on The Bridge? And what other poems of Crane’s do you hold as worthwhile?
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Contact me on this link to talk more if you allow
I hope you become my friend, just like you became my friend, my younger brother, whose name is Amjad.
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What's your favourite Franz Kafka story?
"Give it up!" always makes me laugh... it's really short
Why don't you want to be my friend? My brother has told me a lot about you. You are a wonderful person and a friend full of humanity. His birthday was a while ago and I couldn't meet him because there is bombing, destruction and death close to me in Gaza.
@amjad iyad is my brother young Ur friends 📌🚨🚨I live in a tent because of the war in Gaza. The freezing cold affects my child, my wife, and my daughter,
1) favorite Bob Dylan album? 2) what do you think of Philip K Dicks VALIS trilogy? 3) have any fun Christmas traditions?
Speaking of Irish Catholicism/Pop Culture, have you watched Say Nothing on FX?
Your episode about Jazz was great. Do you listen to Hip Hop?
He has talked about how he got into Ka’s music a few weeks before he died (on twitter)
Any sci-fi books as guilty pleasure? The Culture Series perhaps
The Process? Jimmy Butler? Why are the Sixers happening to me?
Well, if you're speaking as a Sixers fan, your overlords have committed the cardinal sin of collecting theoretical "upside" by being dogshit for years, assuming that they could flip the Not Dogshit Anymore switch at will, and that "upside" would include things like "Is physically capable of staying on the court." Also Paul George is a herb and no team with Kelly Oubre will ever win a chip
Did young msj play in any shitty punk/hardcore/metal bands? if so please reveal your most embarrassing song titles and VFW hall anecdotes etc
Punk for sure, but always on the weirder edges of it – some bands more garage-y, some on the art-/post-punk line, some verging on power pop, one GREAT band (which I can say because I didn't write the songs) that was almost prog-punk and was fronted by the best pure singer-songwriter I've ever known, but he broke the band up before we could record. And then plenty of country-punk or whatever you'd call it, NOT like Against Me bullshit (I have been at Against Me shows against my will and I have never forgiven anyone involved), but like speed-era Dylan-, rockier Townes Van Zandt-type stuff. NEVER metal. A lot of big-band jazz, academically, and electric free jazz in my own time. A LOT lot lot of classical snare drum. I haven't played drums in a while, but they're my first and longest-running instrument, and at one point I was pretty goddamn accomplished as an orchestral or marching snare drummer. Till the pain got so bad that I couldn't afford to aggravate it any worse, I would get behind the kit with headphones, put on something like THE BEDLAM IN GOLIATH or Mahavishnu or Return to Forever (or Fugazi, or Radiohead), and rip for about an hour every day. I personally don't believe this now, because even people who know me haven't heard me gig in a long time, but plenty of them would tell you that I was far better on drums than guitar. What else ... I was in a couple Elephant 6-type poppy psych bands, with actual ties to Elephant 6 – two of the people in those bands lived with Neutral Milk Hotel for a while, and one of them is still in Athens, GA. It's a whole ’nother story, but if you're big into NMH or Jeff Mangum, I personally know why Jeff Mangum disappeared after AEROPLANE, and I can offer proof. (Robert Schneider, the guy from Apples in Stereo who also produced AEROPLANE, Olivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal, all them bands, is one of the sweetest people I ever met in music.) You know the "My prayer is to linger with you" song from the TWIN PEAKS RETURN episode about the nuclear bomb, when the mutant locust-frog is crawling into child Sarah Palmer's mouth? That's a song by The Platters, and I have opened for The Platters. It was The Platters, The Drifters ("This Magic Moment," "Under the Boardwalk"), and the Spinners ("The Rubberband Man," "Working My Way Back to You"). I'm so goddamn old I've seen Fugazi. I saw Explosions in the Sky (first time they toured) opening for ... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead in what must've been early 2002. I saw fuckin' Syl Johnson do "Is It Because I'm Black?" with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I'm OLD. I been every goddamn place in this country.
Well, it’s a question traveling across continents. First, I love you all. Second, if you had a superpower to travel through time, which time period would you want to be in? And if you had a superpower to change something on this planet, what would it be? This is a general question for everyone: In your opinion, how did our small city, Gaza, change the world after October 7th? I wish you all a Merry Christmas filled with happiness and love, and may the new year bring you joy and success. ❤
What kinda books you been reading as of late? Looking for some recommendations
Woah kinda late to the game, but I have a GR question: what is Their purpose with Slothrop's control anyway? I recall a very weird scene at the end of the Zone part where two homexual agents are talking about how Slothrop was sent out there to wipe out the Blacks. But how? I know one cannot expect plain answers from a Pynchon novel, but I would love to hear what do you think about it.
Merry Orphic Mystery Day, Michael. Here is my wish list - Close reading of The Wasteland, 2025 style - The Truman Doctrine and the Greek Regime of the Colonels - Therapy culture, i.e. how psychoanalysis mutated into the BetterHelpification of interpersonal relationships - Would die to hear your riff on something really trashy. What would happen if you watched an episode of Love Island? Would the sun devour us all?
I don't have answers to these as such, but I will think about them. Harry Truman is a great person to imagine being killed with a battering ram
-Mircea Eliade’s myth of the eternal return -Africa doesn’t have many accessible news/hist sources so u know the empires do their worst there. I think the continent is overlooked would like to hear ur cool socio/cosmic/meta-analysis - the opium dealing wasp families that controlled the world supply for the last 20 years…What they up to nowadays? And who tf are these ppl
Sometimes I imagine the life of an average person now compared to 50 years ago compared to 100 years ago. At least to me there seems to be a subtle but all-encompassing steady change in the way one lived their life or, idk, how they thought their life. If anything, what do you think this is? Or, I guess, what do you think is the biggest change to human life that occurred during the development of modernity? I have a feeling it is something like mediation, or like an impartiality that people are forced to take on regarding their own life. Sometimes you seem to skirt around the edge of this topic in random episodes, but I would love to hear more focused thoughts on it.
1. An ep with Ghost Boy please!!! 2. Have always been curious about your process of preparing for episodes like JFK, Iran Contra, etc. A peak behind the curtain would be interesting. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Could you share how Indian/Pakistani music, religion, and philosophy influence your worldview, if they do?
Could you please compare the ideologies of Charles Baudelaire and Ezra Pound? Both are ‘modernists’ with sympathy towards fascism. Obviously pound is the more influential and better poet. Walter Benjamin saw Baudelaire in the Arcades - the precursors to fascism. Is there an equivalent place we could see Pound?
[Liz voice] 🤌🤌Percaduccios MJ real question: who is the next Steph? Is it now-Himmy? Who should I be aware of in the quasi-unlikely event I start following 🏀 for Fellas again? Love you, Jesusly, man. Thank you for your service
Implied: I intend to become a WNBA watcher but we’ll see
Would love to hear you talk about the western genre, just any thoughts really, and/or David Berman (Silver Jews+Purple Mountains guy).
I second this question!
Realise a stack of questions here, all worthwhile. To tie in with Catholic/Christian episode, anything to comment on Rene Girard? The inverted scapegoat (Jesus) seems to be something he hangs to for Christianity's exceptionalism. I've come to view the Abrahamic religions to be a spiritual shadow cast from the development of grain states('civilisation', in turn apocolyptic) and so just a religion of the state and how certain tax brackets are metered out. I think Hinduism has served the same role in India, especially in terms of class formation. In terms of question I'm not sure, just hope it ties in with something you've spoken about recently. Thanks
Hey MJ Sorry my question is not about music or poetry or anything deep, but this is a personal beef. Can you comment on the political media class and their corporate owners. For example liberals know the obvious propaganda of Fox News etc, but I’ve had real arguments with a couple people I know about MSNBC style propaganda and I can’t get through to them. I’d love a show about it actually or some commentary. Thanks ✌️
Fresh off the presses, if I may riff on this, +1 for CNN publishing “Trump has a chill and normcore notion about expansion of US borders, illegally”
Think I may have asked this before and missed the cut but... Do you have any advice for someone who wants to get back into writing after 15+ years of solidly writing only technical engineering documents for 40++ hours a week. I think it's broken my brain because everything I write now is terse and dry as fuck.
To feed off an earlier question from Bane regarding Driblette's script vs. director comments: What is it that observes both the map and its interpretation? Can this observing presence ever truly be separate from the territory it perceives?
Thoughts on René Girard?
I remember you didn't like magical realism and or Gabriel Garcia márquez; please expand on this?
Been wanting to hear more on this too, plus thoughts on Pablo Neruda, Julio Cortázar and José Donoso i.e. Spanish language writers besides Bolaño and Borges
Can you please talk about jazz or do a jazz episode? I loved your framing of the development of jazz that you extemporaneously threw out in one episode, would love to hear more about that.
this would be one of the main reasons to do a music podcast
How did you first discover Giles Deleuze? He seems to have had a significant influence on your thinking. I am also curious how you came upon Ezra Pound’s work.
As a follow up can Deleuze’s Plane of Immanence be interpreted as a kind of philosophical non-dualism?
Between you and Paul, who wins at Smash Bros? (N64 - CRT tv. The international standard) Also, on a more serious note, did you and Paul talk about / vibe with the stuff you talk about now when you were younger? I ask because I was lucky to have exactly 1 friend I could talk to about how fucked up the world was when I was like 12-14. I’m wondering how influential you two were on each other. Also, if either of those questions is too personal don’t feel obligated to answer.
Views on satre/existentialism in general?
je ne m'y intéresse
Do women have penis envy, or do men have pussy envy? No waffling.
What current bands are you following? Side note, I think you’d love Hellfire by black midi and the new Geordie Greep album.
What's your view on dance/electronic music and it's various offshoots?
I love your music. I would be interested to hear what are some of the main influences for you on architecte of flesh density? There is a consistency to that album that is rare.
Do you enjoy sports? I’ve always enjoyed your brother’s NBA insights and figured you may have a similar appreciation. I personally find myself looking to sports more and more as our culture continues to melt into a homogeneous square.
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Please do an ep with ghost boy!
Other than 'the dialectic', what other word/terminology is fucking annoying as fuck?
Also, At the Drive-In or The Mars Volta?
Relationship of command or deloused at the comatorium? (I don't know the other albums either side)
You once mentioned Proust as pretty much the only "navel-gazing" art you can enjoy because he makes externalities out of the navel-gazing. Do you feel similarly for Malcolm Lowry's compulsive self-obsession, which is arguably transmuted in Under the Volcano to the Consul's sad drunk resigned madness, which mirrors the Spanish Civil War and the world's slide into fascism? Do you think Pynchon read and was influenced by Lowry? I noticed recently that in Chapter 10 of the Volcano there is a typographical finger to signify a sign pointing to Parian, an outpost of Nazism in the Americas, while in GR Tchitcherine's recognition of the Rocket-Cartel that represents the full metabolization of Nazism by America is set off by a near-identical typographical finger. There's the Lowry-Burroughs-Pynchon shared affinity for Mexico City that also seems interesting. Merry christmas, much love, yada yada yada <3
As an English teacher who teaches Honors Seniors, I’ve based a lot of what I taught on your podcast. Along with stuff like Homer, Dante, certain philosophers, Joyce, etc, we finished last year with reading The Crying of Lot 49 which I used a lot of your interpretations to teach. So first off I just want to thank you for that. But also, I’m wondering if you think that teaching things in a certain way is an effective way to, I don’t want to use the word “radicalize,” but I guess to open up the eyes of the “youth”? And if so, what do you think teachers can do to bring light to issues such as elite power structures, rising fascism, and left wing politics while trying to at least stay relatively safe from parent complaints?
If you're teaching them the right way, their parents won't be a problem for long comrade.
Have you listened to Car Bomb? Do you speak any other languages?
Any thoughts on the Luddites and the power loom’s effect on industrialization? Love your stuff, man.
Do you have any thoughts worth sharing on Henry A. Wallace and the 1944 DNC maneuvering to ensure Truman not Wallace would get the VP nomination/be the next president? Particularly as it relates to a successful rerun of the “Business Plot,” a nonviolent trial run of icing Kennedy, and all the subsequent ratfucking efforts to ensure no one with any opposition to capital accumulation and the CIA had a shot at the presidency since.
Do you still write novels? Has Death/Corner replaced that form of expression for you? How did you come to the "iPod broadCast" format, what do you consider your best episodes, what are your favorite episodes of other podcasts, TrueAnon, Chapo, Cumtown, etc.? Sorry to ask 5 questions instead of one, all the best to you always, Dominic Camella
You always mention you are From the KC area, could you talk about KCs history ? Or possible more of your experience with in KC and your time with in the Catholic school experience? Such an interesting area with tons of little quirks, would love to hear you talk more about it!
What is your thoughts/take on all the paranormal/supernatural aspects in Lynch's work? Specifically the jumping man in TP, Robert Blake in LH, The old couple in MD and just paranormal/supernatural accounts irl?
Do you have any thoughts on Death Grips? They reference David Lynch, Kubrick, and the Manson massacre throughout their discography and those are all things I associate with your podcast. I wonder if you find their music at all interesting or worth talking about.
Subliminal Jihad had an ep on them 👍🏼
Not a question, but Michael Judge, please slide into Jesse Hawken's DMs and go on Junk Filter. The people need an unalloyed dudes rock moment between the two of you.
Do you think that there will be a point where screenplays are read as literature in the same way that play scripts are? What is it about the two forms that makes the latter seemingly less literary and more a blueprint, at least in popular perception? On a somewhat related note, what do you make of Randolph Driblette's comments in Lot49 about script vs. director?
First part: no, though there might be something of a "serious theater" resurgence as movies fully break their connection to the rest of life on Earth and become a series of commercials for personalities, computer software, and Lockheed-Martin
Speaking on the death of the sun, any thoughts on Cyclonopedia? During my D&G phase in grad school it was the big thing to wax on. Appreciate you in the most sinister of all places, Missouri.
Any thoughts on Justus Liebig as intellectual great grandfather of both Jamf and Rathenau? And how that connects to the post wwii bombs as fertilizer scheme?
Also do you have any thoughts on how fragile global industrial supply chains are?
You’ve spoken about “rationalism” and “empiricism”, as paradigms of early modern philosophy in a derogatory sense, recently. As an apologist for rationalism — that is, the unforgiving rationale of the unconscious drives — I only took slight offense. That being said: what do you think about the revolution in German “critical philosophy”: Kant, Jena Romanticism, German Idealism, the young Hegelians? In Hegel’s sense, there is a sublation of these two (emp and rat) which carries out a form of revaluation of values which I believe only really occurs elsewhere in the form of literature — in England for example. I’m particularly interested in the origins of Romanticism right now. Schlegel in working it over a gives a very permeable definition, a valorization of the new novel, a revival of the values of medieval romance and new religion of love to replace orthodox christianity. I’m thinking about the ways that we might see the democratization of romance, proselytization of chivalric courtship, as an alternative form of penitence for a people in the early throes of narcissistic consumer society. In this regard, Schlegel is a mighty pioneer of seduction. To return to the sublation of rationalism and empiricism, do you think that the former broken dyad is a historically contingent badge of honor for the “renaissance man”, the already-fetishized science of the enlightenment? This would imply that the stereoscopic color-vision of the Goethian alchemist is the alternative, the “scientific” correlate to Schegel’s poet-narcissist in this period.
The AMDG ep hit some crazy parts of my brain that are wrapped up in 16 years of Catholic education. Would love some thoughts on the more hardcore parts of the church, the Opus Deis of the world, and their more recent activities. Also the intro to the Chabad Tunnel ep remains one of the highlights of my year. Love from the Queen City.
Also: who are some contemporary jazz musicians you like, if any? For jazz purposes I’ll broadly define contemporary as anyone releasing albums after the 90s. Curious if you’re familiar with Ambrose Akinmusire, Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer
Steve Coleman has done some fascinating shit – there's an album called GENESIS AND THE OPENING OF THE WAY, his band plus a string section he arranged – and the others, yes, I do know, but I struggle to think of anyone current that I love or respect as much as Chick Corea or Wayne Shorter or Cecil Taylor. Other than newer work by older people, the best ew stuff I know is Scandinavian, a lot of it is on the label Rune Grammofon, and I would recommend SUPERSILENT 6 in particular. Also if you don't know the guitarist Jimmy Herring, get his album LIFEBOAT, and that will set you up for the fucking tremendous LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO, where Herring and his band The Invisible Whip join up with John McLaughlin and HIS band the 4th Dimension & scream through new arrangements of Mahavishnu Orchestra compositions
Thoughts on Dostoyevsky?
Aside from Dylan Thomas and David Jones(btw thanks for making me aware of him), are there any other Welsh writers you like? Also do you know any Welsh? Side note: I was thrilled to see a tiny bit of Welsh language in Gravity’s Rainbow around the Gwenhidwy sections
Are you familiar with the bards at all? Taliesin should be a household name as much as Homer or Shakespeare (who stole his flow).
What kind of fluff do you like to read? Golden age of sci-fi , serial mysteries , Fabio based romance novels ....what is your mental junk food?
With regard to poetry, as an art form, for the layman — how do you “start”? Like if it’s something you’re interested in learning about or “getting into” as an adult who never learned much about it previously. Recommendations for who or what to begin with, how to get the most out of it as an art form, etc?
The most practical advice is to just read it and not worry about "how much" you're getting, which is basically my advice for every book. If you end up caring about it, you'll find what's in there, and if you don't, microscopic examination probably won't make you care; all that stuff is only useful if you love something already
Re: The Anathemata, as someone who spent a lot of time w/ Jones, has always been something that sat odd w/ me that despite the recognition of survivals of other religious practices in the tridentine rite, Jones posits the anamnesis of Christ, fractio panis, etc. in the mass as sort of the totalising instance of the dying-rising God which is above history reaching both forward and backward into what he calls fore-time, saving all those "whose works follow them" (i.e. all anthropoids who by dint of being able to make, and thus make any kind of sacrament are made human). Have never been able to find a great argument in The Anathemata (which for the most part hangs together very neatly) why Christ sh/d be the extratemporal instance and armature of the sacred while all other gods like Osiris, Attis, Adonis, even Arthur are consigned to mere history. W/d you have anything on that in further eps maybe? Also w/r/t the tumulus altar comparison, I'm fairly sure in one of the footnotes Jones digs out an old prescription from somewhere in canon law that every altar sh/d contain the physical relic of the dead.
Lmao. Good bit
Is there a particular reason you’re in Missouri? And if would you choose another Midwest state to live in, which?
I’m saving up my production and other questions for the much anticipated music cast.
Can you talk about the special link between Belgium Congo uranium mining and The Manhattan Project? The cultural decay/fallout in Belgium manifesting in the depraved chaos of the 80s/90s. Love the show and wishing you the best.
It's mentioned in the book White Malice. I could see if there are any foot notes/ citations for you to follow
oboy oboy oboy 1) Thoughts on Vineland? Having read GR, Lot49, IV, and Vineland, I think it’s actually quite the stellar read and gets a lot more hate than it deserves. 2) Thoughts on Delillo’s Underworld? 3) Thoughts on DFW’s Infinite Jest. The whole world has been screaming at me to read it and I want to know what I’m getting into. 4) Favorite romantic/heart throb/falling in love song and why? 5) Favorite rapper?
In the last ep you briefly touched on Arthuriana in relation to western Christianity, killing Christ and resurrecting him as a pagan war god, etc. Would you ever do a full episode on that? It seems pretty important to understanding the last ~1500 years of history (crusades, colonialism, Southern “chivalry”, global hegemony of the West, and so on). I recently went back and listened to your paganism series and had just started reading a book on the topic a couple days before so it seemed serendipitous. Merry Christmas and Joy to the World!
You can always bang oxy, though. What do you think of Davenport’s fiction? Or just a further exploration of his stuff in general.
If you were on death row, what would your final meal be?
Percs, cigarettes, several types of soda
I also think your analysis of Joseph Smith and the mormons=free masons=occult shit would be quite interesting. Especially considering the mormons seemingly disproportional representation in agencies like the FBI ***what are them toeheads hiding in dem mountains?
And, bizarrely, the Boy Scouts. Almost uniformly Mormon national leadership.
Leon Skum. AI. Satellites. Transhumanist agenda and ties to “occult”
How can I contact your brother about buying beats for my poetry project?
I appreciated the tips you gave on writing in a previous Q&A. Would love to hear any thoughts/tips you have on the present hellscape of a publishing industry. Also, are there any particular writers/smaller publishing houses that are still putting out fiction worth reading? The whole “torchbearer to Pynchon/Delillo/etc” shit gets thrown around as a marketing gimmick to just about every non-genreslop writer, and it doesn’t seem like there are many true standouts.
The simple answer to the second part is "not any young ones," and most of the presses I could name are, for whatever reason, in England and doing poetry. Any of the names you'd find under the rubric of "British Poetry Revival," if they're still alive, are still doing something worth taking seriously – start with Iain Sinclair, John Wilkinson, Brian Catling, and J.H. Prynne, and they'll connect you to everything else
Not much of a Q, but I wanted to counter your idea of what Ketamine does, because you mentioned it some eps ago. It's not like dissociating in the psychopatgological sense at all. More like when in Bloodborne you gain more insight bit by bit until you can't go back to not see yourself and everyone as a hairless ape that's manically working on it's own extinction. So I'm not sure if this is any better. Ok, here's a Q: any media/films you like to take your mind off our impending doom that are easy on the accessibility scale? For us feeble minded idiots with the shredded attention span
I want to add a related question::: where is all of this ketamine coming from, and where has it gone? Seems like it had a massive ad surge recently that has mostly gone away. What gives?
When will we finally get the Rathenau ep?
I know in your episodes that deal with modernism and experimental writing you’ve scoffed at Oulipo, but I wonder if you’ve read any of the leading lights of the movement — perec calvino etc. — because I think there’s a lot to like there, especially in the major works like “life: a user’s manual” and “invisible cities”. I always thought of the group less as a totalizing cult relying on some kind of false absolute approach and more as a loose collection of souls who have in common the understanding that imposed limitation can help produce counterintuitively expansive work. I just think that there are a few really beautiful books that come from the movement — many of them remind me of Borges in their playfulness and comfort with artifice — and that they’re very worth reading and thinking about. “Life: a users manual” especially was a major revelation for me in graduate school about the possibilities of the novel (the writing itself is also gorgeous).
Why are the common wisdoms and typical explanations for the unfolding of history not accepted by some people? Why -are- they accepted by most? Is there some common element in the personality or experience of people drawn to the parapolitical?
Whats your favourite Black Sabbath track and why is it Fluff and/or Solitude?
Do you like The Beach Boys?
I'd like to hear something about this on your music podcast and around the idea of siblings singing together in music.
Would love to hear your thoughts on contemporary visual art. If there’s any hope, artists you believe in, and any advice that may come to mind for early-career artists who want to make work that isn’t shit. Love from Glasgow
To whatever degree you feel comfortable/is our business can you tell us about your major ailments? My friend recommended me your show years ago and was like "this guy is like terminally ill or something and his show is really interesting". So I was under the impression that "Death is just around the corner" meant you were expecting to die any day which doesn't really seem like the case. Can you clear up our confusion?
Also I hope you're not too sick to leave the house. You seem like really good company
Classical music recommendations?
Michael, you once mentioned you had some thoughts on Dylan’s motorcycle crash and might eventually return to it...would love to hear your range of theories on what really went down and why.
Also…is Scorsese pilled? THE IRISHMAN is full of winks, allusions, and tidbits, was wondering if maybe you could touch on that. Merry Christmas Eve, dude!
When you get to the Moby Dick/Melville episodes, are you planning on discussing animal intelligence and paradoxes of infinity/totality when it comes to Ahab’s obsession over whales? And how the White Whale himself plots against the crew of the Pequod?
How do you conceive of forgiveness? Is it important to you? Is your understanding of it informed by any religious tradition?
Patreon subscribers (me) can have a little salami (oc30), as a treat! Are you gonna do that music podcast also? I thought I saw you say something about that. I want that and will listen to it intently. Also I hope you have as good a Holiday as is possible in this current iteration of the hellscape.
muéstranos el manuscrito
Just started reading 2666, what are some themes in it that represent what you try to emphasize on your podcast ? I know you’ve mentioned the book on past episodes so I was curious about your thoughts.
With the coming PUBLIC alliance (we all know they’re working together for a long time) of Palantir, anduril, openAI, spaceX, etc….. is this the new IG farben? And how soon can I expect to be running from an automated murder drone for staying out past global curfew?
had this exact thought on seeing the consortium announcement, specifically the IG analogy, i'd also be curious to hear michael's perspective (although the move is so blatant i suppose one hardly needs much exegesis)
What do you think Lynch ment when he said Eraserhead is his "most spiritual film"?
“No”