Weird Studies

Episode 128: Demon Workshop: On Victoria Nelson's 'Neighbor George'

Episode  |  July 19th, 2022  |  1 hr 27 mins

gothic, grotesque, literature, metaphysics, monsters, psychology

Phil and JF discuss Victoria Nelson's novel of psychological horror.

Episode 127: Leaving the Mechanical Dollhouse: On Abeba Birhane's "The Impossibility of Automating Ambiguity"

Episode  |  July 6th, 2022  |  1 hr 16 mins

artificial intelligence, ethics, metaphysics, politics, science fiction, technology

JF and Phil discuss Abeba Birhane's essay on the ethical, psychological, and political cost of universal automation.

Episode 125: Strange Brews: Weird Studies Live at Illuminated Brew Works

Episode  |  June 8th, 2022  |  1 hr 36 mins

alchemy, beer, metaphysics, occult, tea, witchcraft

Phil, Meredith, and JF discuss ritual and potion-making in a live recording hosted by Illuminated Brew Works in Chicago.

Episode 123: Off-Week Patreon Bonus: On Modern Miracles

Episode  |  May 18th, 2022  |  39 mins 53 secs

metaphysics, miracles, science, spirals, technology

A free Patreon episode exploring more of the affordances of a spiral universe.

Episode 122: Spirals and Crooked Lines: On the Star Card in the Tarot

Episode  |  May 11th, 2022  |  1 hr 20 mins

fate, metaphysics, occult, tarot

Episode 121: Dream Theater: On 'Mandy' and 'The Band Wagon'

Episode  |  April 27th, 2022  |  1 hr 3 mins

cinema, dance, dreams, horror, metaphysics

Phil and JF discuss the film musical comedy "The Band Wagon" and the psychedelic horror film "Mandy" and discover that these films actually have a lot in common.

Episode 119: Behind the Cosmic Curtain: On Stanislaw Lem's 'The New Cosmogony,' with Meredith Michael

Episode  |  March 30th, 2022  |  1 hr 7 mins

gnosticism, literature, meredith michael, metaphysics, science, science fiction

Meredith, Phil, and JF dig into Stanislaw Lem's short story, "The New Cosmogony."

Episode 118: The Unseen and the Unnamed, with Meredith Michael

Episode  |  March 16th, 2022  |  1 hr 16 mins

fantasy, guest episode, literature, meredith michael, metaphysics, short stories

Meredith Michael joins JF and Phil to discuss short fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin and J.G. Ballard.

Episode 117: Time is a Child at Play: On the Mystery of Games

Episode  |  March 2nd, 2022  |  1 hr 8 mins

ethics, games, metaphysics, play

Phil and JF discuss the mystery of games and the play function in culture and cosmos.

Episode 97: Art in the Age of Artifice

Episode  |  April 28th, 2021  |  1 hr 25 mins

aesthetics, criticism, metaphysics, religion

Phil and JF discuss the ideas in JF's 2015 book, 'Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice.'