Episode 113: Framing the Invisible, with Shannon Taggart
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 effor...
22 Dec 20211h 21min
Episode 112: Readings from the 'Book of Probes': The Mysticism of Marshall McLuhan
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 Car...
8 Dec 20211h 29min
Episode 111: What Is Best in Life: On "Conan the Barbarian"
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 ...
24 Nov 20211h 22min
Episode 110: Monks of the Cultural Apocalypse: 'The Glass Bead Game,' Part Two
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 p...
10 Nov 20211h 13min
Episode 109: Infinite Play: On 'The Glass Bead Game,' by Hermann Hesse
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 t...
27 Okt 20211h 20min
Episode 108: On Skepticism and the Paranormal
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 o...
13 Okt 20211h 20min
Episode 107: On Joy Williams' 'Breaking and Entering,' with Conner Habib
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 impossi...
29 Sep 20211h 27min
Episode 106: The Wanderer: On Weird Studies
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 feel...
1 Sep 20211h 27min
