J.F. Martel
Co-Host of Weird Studies
J.F. Martel is an author, screenwriter, and film & TV director from Ottawa, Canada. His screen work includes French and English-language documentary series and features focused on culture and the arts. He is the author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, a book about the nature and power of art published by Evolver Editions in 2015, and released in Spanish by Ediciones Atalanta in 2016. J.F.'s writings on art, culture and philosophy have appeared in Reality Sandwich, Metapsychosis, The Finch, Disinfo, and other online magazines.
J.F. Martel has hosted 198 Episodes.
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Christmas Bonus: Hyperstition Addendum
Episode | December 25th, 2018 | 24 mins 1 sec
academic life, ideology, politics
The final segment of our conversation on hyperstition, i.e., fiction that turns real.
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Episode 36: On Hyperstition
Episode | December 19th, 2018 | 1 hr 13 mins
hyperstition, magic, metaphysics, occult
JF and Phil talk hyperstitions, entities born in the realm of fantasy that slowly become denizens of the real.
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Episode 35: Whirl Without End: On M.C. Richards' 'Centering'
Episode | December 5th, 2018 | 1 hr 1 min
art, creative process, individuation, mc richards
Phil and JF discuss the first chapter of "Centering," M.C. Richard's penetrating essay on the artistic process.
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Episode 34: The Weird Realism of Robert Aickman
Episode | November 21st, 2018 | 55 mins 25 secs
dreams, folklore, robert aickman, weird fiction
JF and Phil discuss Robert Aickman's masterwork of weird fiction, "The Hospice," from his 1975 collection "Cold Hand in Mine."
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Episode 33: The Fine Art of Changing the Subject: On Duchamp's 'Fountain'
Episode | November 7th, 2018 | 59 mins 57 secs
aesthetics, duchamp, modern art
JF and Phil discuss the profound effects of Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (the urinal) on the development of the arts since 1917.
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Episode 32: Orbis Tertius: Borges on Magic, Conspiracy and Idealism
Episode | October 31st, 2018 | 1 hr 10 mins
hyperstition, idealism, jorge luis borges, metaphysics
Phil and JF discuss the classic tale, "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
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Episode 31: Scarcely Human at All: On Glenn Gould's 'Prospects of Recording'
Episode | October 24th, 2018 | 1 hr 16 mins
art, music, technology, transhumanism
JF and Phil discuss the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould's prophetic essay, "The Prospects of Recording."
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Episode 30: On Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut'
Episode | October 14th, 2018 | 1 hr 6 mins
dreams, film, kubrick, sexuality
Phil and JF discuss Stanley Kubrick's final masterpiece.
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Episode 29: On Lovecraft
Episode | October 9th, 2018 | 1 hr 15 mins
hp lovecraft, philip k dick, self, weird fiction
Phil and JF try to distill the essence of H. P. Lovecraft's monumental work.
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Episode 28: Weird Music, Part Two
Episode | October 2nd, 2018 | 1 hr 4 mins
morality, music, romanticism
The search for the music of the weird continues with a discussion on Bob Dylan and Franz Liszt.
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Episode 27: Weird Music, Part One
Episode | September 26th, 2018 | 1 hr 18 mins
cinema, ligeti, music, ornette coleman
Phil and JF discuss two powerful pieces of music: Ligeti's Musica Ricercata, second movement, and the opening music to Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, composed by Howard Shore and featuring Ornette Coleman.
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Episode 26: Living in a Glass Age, with Michael Garfield
Episode | September 19th, 2018 | 1 hr 18 mins
glass age, michael garfield, modernity
JF and Phil talk to artist and thinker Michael Garfield about his idea that we are living in the final days of the Age of Glass.
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Episode 25: David Cronenberg's 'Naked Lunch'
Episode | September 12th, 2018 | 1 hr 20 mins
art, crime, david cronenberg, drugs, william s. burroughs
Phil and JF discuss David Cronenberg's 1991 film, "Naked Lunch," an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' hallucinatory classic.
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Episode 24: The Charlatan and the Magus, with Lionel Snell
Episode | August 28th, 2018 | 58 mins 23 secs
lionel snell, magic, ramsey dukes, trickery
Phil and JF discuss magic with occult thinker and practicing magician Lionel Snell, also known as Ramsey Dukes.
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Episode 23: On Presence
Episode | August 15th, 2018 | 1 hr 43 mins
event, presence, virtuality
Phil and JF meet in person to discuss the mysteries of presence and event.
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Episode 22: Divining the World with Joshua Ramey
Episode | August 1st, 2018 | 1 hr 9 mins
joshua ramey
Phil and JF talk with American philosopher Joshua Ramey about his work on chance, contingency, and divination.