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 Carson. McLuhan called the utterances collected in this book "probes," that is, pieces of conceptual gadgetry designed not to disclose facts about the world so much as blaze new pathways leading to the invisible background of our time. In this episode, Phil and JF use an online number generator to discuss a random yet uncannily cohesive selection of of McLuhanian probes.

REFERENCES

Marshall Mcluhan and David Carson, The Book of Probes 

Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse 

Marshall Mcluhan, The Mechanical Bride 

Aristotle, System of causation 

G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy 

Eric A. Havelock, Preface to Plato 

Weird Studies, Episode 71 on Marshall Mcluhan 

Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy 

Christiaan Wouter Custers, A Philosophy of Madness 

Gilles Deleuze, The Logic of Sense 

Marshall Mcluhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy 

Harry Partch, American composer 

Marc Augé, Non-Places 

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis 

Denis Villeneuve (dir.), Arrival 

Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus 

Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit 

Episode 112: Readings from the 'Book of Probes': The Mysticism of Marshall McLuhan

Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality."

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Orson Welles made F for Fake in the early seventies, while still bobbing in the wake of a Pauline Kael essay accusing him of being cinema's greatest fraud. Ostensibly a documentary on the famous art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving (a talented faker in his own right), the film blurs the line between fact and fiction in an effort to explore art's weird entanglement with illusion, magic, and ultimately, the search for truth. This is a film unlike any other, and it is arguably Welles's most important contribution to the evolution and theory of film aesthetics.

Join the Weirdosphere online learning community by enrolling in Phil and J.F.'s inaugural course, [THE BEAUTY AND THE HORROR](www.weirdosphere.org), starting June 20th. 

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RERERENCES

Orson Welles, F for Fake 

Gilles Deleuze Cinema 2 

Elmyr de Hory, art forger 

Clifford Irving, American writer 

Howard Hughes, American aerospace engineer 

David Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Film 

David Thomson, Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles 

Pauline Kael, Raising Kane 

“War of the Worlds” radio drama 

The Farm Podcast, “Horror Hosts, Films & Other Strange Realities w/ David Metcalfe, Conspirinormal & Recluse” 

Orson Welles - Interview with Michael Parkinson (BBC 1974) 

Geoffrey Cornelius, Cornelius 

Victoria Nelson, Secret Life of Puppets 

Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking 

Sokal affair, hoax 

Werner Herzog, “Minnesota Declaration” 

Episode 170: Art is Another Word for Truth: On Orson Welles's 'F for Fake'

The ongoing crackdown on protests at many American universities prompts a discussion on the politics, ethics, and metaphysics of free expression. 

Support us on Patreon.

Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2, on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page.

Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia.

Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop

Find us on Discord

Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau!

REFERENCES 

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own 

Federico Campagna, Technic and Magic 

George Orwell, The Prevention of Literature 

George Orwell, Inside the Whale 

New York Times, “At Indiana University, Protests Only Add to a Full Year of Conflicts 

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty 

Indiana Daily Student, “Provost Addresses Controversy” 

Official government page for the Proposed Bill to address Online Harms in Canada. 

Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals 

GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy 

Daryl Davis, American musician and activist 

DavidFoster Wallace, Just Asking 

Episode 169: On Free Expression

There are artists who express the vision of a place, person, or thing so vividly and originally that it sets the bar for all future imaginings. With his four Mad Max films, this is what George Miller did with the image of the Wasteland. No one has been able to capture the stark, raw energy and chaotic beauty of a post-apocalyptic desert quite like Miller. His portrayal not only defines the aesthetic of a cinematic world but also prompts us to think about the meaning of civilization, technology, humanity, and how they intertwine. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss how  Mad Max challenges our perception of civilization, and our conception of the human.

Support us on Patreon.

Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2, on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page.

Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia.

Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop

Find us on Discord

Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau!

REFERENCES

George Miller (dir.), Mad Max 

George Miller (dir.), Mad Max: The Road Warrior 

George Miller (dir.), Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdrome 

George Miller (dir.), Mad Max: Fury Road 

Jaroslav Hašek, The Good Soldier Švejk 

Stanley Kubrick (dir.), A Clockwork Orange 

Sam Raimi (dir), The Quick and the Dead 

Joe Bob Briggs, movie critic 

Phil Ford, “The Wanderer” 

Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze, Nomadology 

Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot 

Episode 168: Visions of the Wasteland: On George Miller's 'Mad Max' Films

Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) was a British painter, poet, and occultist, long identified as a pioneer of the Surrealist movement in the UK. While her work is increasingly recognized for its mystical themes and innovative use of automatic techniques, deeply influenced by her esoteric studies, it also inspired extensive research on its broader cultural and spiritual contexts. Amy Hale, an anthropologist, folklorist, and author, has dedicated much of her career to exploring Cornwall, the fabled region of southwest England that became Colquhoun’s spiritual home. Hale’s book, Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern-Loved Gully, published by Strange Attractor Press, offers a profound biographical study of Colquhoun, examining the historical and spiritual forces that influenced her work. In this episode, she joins JF and Phil to discuss Colquhoun, Cornwall, and the transformative power of research and writing.

REFERENCES

Amy Hale, Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern-Loved Gully 

Agnes Callard, I Teach the Humanities, and I Still Don’t Know What Their Value Is 

Steven Feld, Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra 

Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus 

Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking  Special Guest: Amy Hale.

Episode 167: The Hand of Ithell, with Amy Hale

In culture and the arts, labeling something you don't like (or don't understand) "pretentious" is the easy way out. It's a conversation killer, implying that any dialogue is pointless, and those who disagree are merely duped by what you've cleverly discerned as a charade. It's akin to cynically revealing that a magic show is all smoke and mirrors—as if creative vision doesn't necessitate a leap of faith. In this episode, Phil and JF explore the nuances of pretentiousness, distinguishing between its fruitful and hollow forms. They argue that the real gamble, and inherent value, of daring to pretend lies in recognizing that imagination is an active contributor to, rather than a detractor from, reality.

Pierre-Yves Martel's EPHEMERA project

It isn't too late to join JF's upcoming course on the films of Stanley Kubrick, which goes until the end of April, 2024.

Support us on Patreon.

Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2, on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page.

Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia.

Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop

Find us on Discord

Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau!

REFERENCES

Brian Eno, A Year with Swollen Appendices 

Dan Fox, Pretentiousness: Why it Matters 

Ramsay Dukes, How to See Fairies 

Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens 

Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition 

Weird Studies, Episode 49 on Nietzsche’s idea of “untimely” 

Sokal Affair, scholarly hoax 

Weird Studies, Episode 75 on ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ 

Stanley Kubrick, “Notes on Film” 

Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Uses and Abuses of History 

Vladimir Nabokov, Think, Write, Speak 

Mary Shelley, “Introduction to Frankenstein” 

Matt Cardin, A Course in Demonic Creativity 

Playboy interview with Stanley Kubrick 

Episode 112: Readings from the 'Book of Probes': The Mysticism of Marshall McLuhan

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