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.
-
Episode 145: Waiting for the Miracle: On Vanessa Onwuemezi's "Dark Neighbourhood"
Episode | April 26th, 2023 | 1 hr 29 mins
death, literature, poetry, politics, science fiction, ufos
JF and Phil discuss the title story from Vanessa Onwuemezi's debut collection of short fiction from Fitzcarraldo Press.
-
Episode 144: On Clive Barker's 'Hellraiser' and 'The Hellbound Heart,' with Conner Habib
Episode | April 12th, 2023 | 1 hr 42 mins
cinema, clive barker, conner habib, guest episode, horror, literature
Conner Habib joins Phil and JF to discuss Clive Barker's classic horror film, and the novella it was based on.
-
Episode 143: On UFOs
Episode | March 29th, 2023 | 1 hr 29 mins
metaphysics, paranormal, psychology, ufos
JF and Phil discuss the UFO phenomenon in light of ongoing government disclosures.
-
Episode 142: The Music of the Spheres: On Jóhann Jóhannsson's "Last and First Men"
Episode | March 15th, 2023 | 1 hr 21 mins
brutalism, cinema, extinction, music, science fiction
Phil and JF discuss the Icelandic's composer posthumous science fiction film.
-
Episode 141: Actual Magic: On Ramsey Dukes' SSOTBME
Episode | February 28th, 2023 | 1 hr 24 mins
magic, metaphysics, ramsey dukes, science
JF and Phil discuss Dukes' seminal essay on modern magic.
-
Episode 140: That Ain't Plot: On Hayao Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away,' with Meredith Michael
Episode | February 15th, 2023 | 1 hr 20 mins
animation, cinema, fiction, guest episode, meredith michael, narrativity
Meredith joins Phil and JF to discuss the 2001 Studio Ghibli masterpiece.
-
Episode 139: Sex, Money, and Power are YOURS with our SECRET Art-Power Formula!
Episode | February 1st, 2023 | 1 hr 33 mins
aesthetics, art, ethics, formalism, politics
You must change your life.
-
Episode 138: Yours and Yours Alone: On the Death Card in the Tarot
Episode | January 18th, 2023 | 1 hr 15 mins
death, impermanence, symbolism, tarot
Phil and JF continue their occasional series of episodes on the major arcana of the tarot with a discussion on arcanum XIII, Death.
-
The Weird Studies Christmas Special
Episode | December 25th, 2022 | 37 mins 54 secs
Phil and JF discuss why seeing twinkling lights in the dark is so Christmassy
-
Episode 137: Brute Force: on Sunn O)))'s 'Life Metal'
Episode | December 14th, 2022 | 1 hr 14 mins
avant garde, brutalism, impermanence, music
JF and Phil discuss Sunn O)))'s eighth album, released in 2019
-
Episode 136: The Things That Were And Shall Be Again: On 'Evil Dead II'
Episode | November 30th, 2022 | 1 hr 7 mins
animism, baroque, cinema, comedy, horror, puppets
Phil and JF discuss Sam Raimi's "splatstick" classic, Evil Dead II.
-
Episode 135: On 'The Secret Life of Puppets,' with Victoria Nelson
Episode | November 16th, 2022 | 1 hr 3 mins
art, guest episodes, hermeneutics, imagination, platonism, religion
Independent scholar and novelist Victoria Nelson joins JF and Phil to discuss her masterpiece of weird studies, The Secret Life of Puppets.
-
Episode 134: On Federico Campagna's 'Technic and Magic'
Episode | November 1st, 2022 | 1 hr 32 mins
epistemology, magic, metaphysics, politics
Phil and JF discuss Campagna's proposal of a new reality system rooted in the idea of "magic."
-
Episode 133: On Weirding, and the Virtues of Unknowing Everything
Episode | October 19th, 2022 | 1 hr 11 mins
book project, courses, epistemology, global weirding, methodology
JF and Phil discuss making things weird as a survival strategy for the Weird Age.
-
Episode 132: Art Is an Alien Technology: Live at the Supernormal Festival
Episode | October 5th, 2022 | 1 hr 21 mins
archeology, art, cinema, live recordings, werner herzog
Phil and JF discuss Werner Herzog's "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" at the 2022 Supernormal Festival in England.
-
Off-Week Bonus: On Worlds and Stories, with a Special Announcement
Episode | September 27th, 2022 | 57 mins 16 secs
bonus episodes, literature, storytelling, worldbuilding
After announcing a new online course they will be teaching together, JF and Phil talk storytelling and worldbuilding.