Fruitless

This is the audio for a video essay on YouTube. If you choose to listen here, you will only get half the experience. For the full experience, check out Fruitless on YouTube.

The video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_HQIbyJuuA
The Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIZWDsDrQ0XvDQFWzE6s2gg

THIS IS A PREVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE, CHECK OUT FRUITLESS ON PATREON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141

EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103466040

Josh Boerman (@boshj, The Worst of All Possible Worlds) joins me on a last minute "emergency" episode about the Palestinian solidarity protests at Columbia, CUNY, UCLA, and elsewhere. We recorded this on the evening of May 1. Some things may have changed since events on campuses are moving fast.

Music by SHADE08

THIS IS A PREVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE, CHECK OUT FRUITLESS ON PATREON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141

EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/veggies-derechos-103210759

Chris Barker and Josiah talk about "environmental history." We talk a bit about Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, the ecology of the Midwest, and how vegetables are a technology. This is a pretty casual episode, mostly just to introduce a few themes to the show going forward.

Music by SHADE08

THIS IS A PREVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE, CHECK OUT FRUITLESS ON PATREON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/posts/people-who-eat-1-103024783

EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101162953 

This is a part of a new monthly series on Fruitless called the Music Exchange (MX), featuring Josh Christianson. Every month, Josh and I will pick out an album that's meaningful to us and we try to compare, contrast, and enjoy both.

This week we are discussing People Who Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World by AJJ and Magrudergrind by Magrudergrind. These two albums have never been discussed in the same podcast. Probably for good reason. But we're boldly going where no podcast will go.

Music by SHADE08

Tyler Stone (@TylerStoneArt) joins Josiah to discuss his work as a freelance paleoartist. Paleoart (scientific illustration of prehistoric life) is a field with an interesting relationship between art and hard sciences. They discuss this relationship and the nitty gritty of the business side of paleoart, before delving into the challenges of being a science communicator in a field that attracts conspiracy theories, and how AI image generation is impacting the field.

• Follow Tyler on Twitter @TylerStoneArt // TikTok @TylerStoneArt // Instagram @TylerStoneArt
• Find more of Tyler's work: https://tylerstoneart.wordpress.com
• Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
• Check out Fruitless on YouTube
• Find more of Josiah’s work: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton
• Follow Josiah on Twitter @josiahwsutton

Media referenced

• Tyler's animation of the evolution of whales, "From Feet to Flippers: The Evolution of Whales," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKbC7QSjWfE
• Old episode of Very Legal, Very Cool, "sh*tty creationism," where we discussed the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter, https://share.transistor.fm/s/96070284
• A short video by Tom Scott about the Crystal Palace dinosaurs Tyler discusses briefly, "The Scientifically Inaccurate Dinosaurs That Must Stay That Way," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWItLyDzMyE. I'm including this in case you'd like a visual of them.
• Episode of QAnon Anonymous that I (Josiah) reference briefly, "The Tartarian Empire," https://soundcloud.com/qanonanonymous/episode-273-the-tartarian-empire
• The Paleoartist's Handbook: Recreating Prehistoric Animals in Art by Mark P. Witton
• One Million Years B.C. (1966) directed by Don Chaffey
• Jurassic Park (1993), directed by Steven Spielberg
• Jurassic World (2015), directed by Colin Trevorrow
• Prehistoric Planet, Apple TV+, produced by Jon Favreau & Mike Gunton.

Music & audio credits

• Yesterday – bloom.
• Crumble – Dinosaur Jr. (The only reason I put this song in the end is because of the artist's name. That's the dumb joke there. Nothing deeper or more thoughtful.)

Wesley Klingele (@MannnMiami) joins Josiah to discuss his new short film, Somnium, and the artistic themes he finds compelling. They talk about dreams, coming of age in your 20s, how religion and spirituality intersects with film, slow cinema vs. montage, and Wes' connection to the Pacific Northwest. 

Special thanks to Phil Cozzi for providing the microphone I used in today's episode and going forward.

• You can watch Wes' short experimental film, Cortex, here on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/838056217. DM him directly for a screener of Somnium or wait until it's publicly available. 
• Follow Wes on Twitter @MannnMiami // Letterboxd @CantinaBand // Instagram @WesleyKlingele
• Check out more of Wes' work: https://linktr.ee/wesalee
• Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
• Check out Fruitless on YouTube
• Find more of Josiah’s work: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton
• Follow Josiah on Twitter @josiahwsutton

Music & audio credits

• Yesterday – bloom.
• Rejoice - Pedro the Lion

This is the fourth installment of the Fruitless Bookclub, a show-within-a-show, featuring Chris Barker and Jake the Lawyer, where we read all those nonfiction books we've been meaning to read. Today's episode is about Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia by Steven Stoll. We talk peasants. We talk agrarians. We talk about peasants and agrarians getting destroyed by industry. We take a closer look at rural class dynamics and the history of the Appalachians. This is probably the longest episode of Fruitless yet. Sorry.

Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
Check out Fruitless on YouTube
Find more of Josiah’s work here: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton

Follow Josiah on Twitter @josiahwsutton

Other references

• Eric Waggoner, "I'm From West Virginia and I've Got Something to Say About the Chemical Spill," https://www.huffpost.com/entry/west-virginia-chemical-spill_b_4598140.
• Here's a massive google doc with my notes for the episode if you want more, https://docs.google.com/document/d/17JJPM3aChJqhLIQ7rJ0HTtIRjFIFJ5Ric9OcZHEBxv0.
• Squatters' rights battle in Florida, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/28/squatter-rights-laws-florida-bill/73128455007.
• Black Reconstruction in America, by W. E. B. Du Bois
• The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein
• Gasland (2010), directed by Josh Fox

Music & Audio credits

• Yesterday – bloom.
• Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford

Alien aka Stewie Griffin DJ joins Josiah to discuss Synecdoche, New York and whether or not life is worth living. Happy Good Friday!

Follow today's guest on Bluesky @stewiegriffindj.bsky.social
Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
Check out Fruitless on YouTube
Find more of Josiah’s work here: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton

Follow Josiah on Twitter & Bluesky @josiahwsutton(.bsky.social)

References

• Synecdoche, New York (2008), directed by Charlie Kaufman.
• 'Waiting for God in the Dark Night of the Soul: On Peter Rollins' Atheism for Lent,' Jeremy John in Sojourners, https://sojo.net/articles/lenten-reflections/waiting-god-dark-night-soul-peter-rollins-atheism-lent.
• MovieGuide review, https://www.movieguide.org/reviews/movies/synecdoche-new-york.html
• "Taste of Cherry: Stay Near the Tree," A. S. Hamrah, https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7026-taste-of-cherry-stay-near-the-tree.
• The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life by Jeff Greenberg and Sheldon Solomon

Music & Audio credits

• Synecdoche, New York (2008)
• Yesterday – bloom.
• Piano Three - John Brion
• Priests and Paramedics - Pedro the Lion
• In My Dreams – bloom.
• Free At Last - PUP

THIS IS A PREVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE, CHECK OUT FRUITLESS ON PATREON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141

EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101162953

Josiah catches up with his brother, Caleb aka The Bog Hog. We talk about what we've been watching and listening to, and get a little into the history of punk, post-punk, folk punk, surf rock, and emo. We also spoil Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Train to Busan, and then have a conversation about blood donation.

Music by SHADE08, Taking Back Sunday, American Football, The Afghan Whigs, Sunny Day Real Estate, Sleater-Kinney.

THIS IS A PREVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE, CHECK OUT FRUITLESS ON PATREON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141

EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101034575

Chris Barker returns to talk to Josiah about the war in Ukraine, reflect on the episode they did about the conflict in 2022, see what ways their views have changed in the following two years, and discuss the other global conflicts that have been impacted by the war in Ukraine. 

Music by SHADE08