Magic Camp

Ben and Paul have returned from a lackluster performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics breakdancing competition with something new for the campers. This week, we're trying out a new concept where we read snippets from the preferred written content medium of our time: The Email Newsletter. Highlights include a Petersonian meditation on Marcus Aurelius, slightly sexy poem snippets, and some bare knuckle badass writing from Paul's copywriting arch nemesis.

Bowie. Warhol. Chalamet. Need we say more? Paul and Ben reunite to discuss Dune Pt. 2, the fall of an iconic trad arts publication, and how to create a sun dial from a deconstructed milk carton.

It's Super Bowl Sunday, campers. And you know what that means—Ben and Paul participate in the futile but entertaining pastime of ranking and coronating the ineffable—pop songs, painters, and quarterbacks. So grab an Impossible chicken wing or three and crank the Tracy Chapman, because it's football night in America.

After a hiatus, Paul and Ben return to admit which member of the doomed Roy family they are, the horrors of AI art (have you ever wondered what's going on *outside* the frame of your favorite paintings?), and the glory of Nikola Jokic, Denver's favorite bear who learned ballet.

That's right: It's Fashion Week, campers. Not sure what to wear besides your favorite Punisher tee and under armor shorts that go past your knees? Don't sweat it.

Ben and Paul offer a few tips to stay drippy on your local coffee shop cat walk this week, unpack a sexy new prestige TV program about copywriters called "Mad Men", and establish the ground rules for cafe culture in our "new normal" WFH world.

Thanks to Trevor Welch for the groovy, enigmatic tunes. Check him out at trevor.money.

Shhh! This is a library, not a dance hall!

But seriously, libraries are actually a pretty cool place to hang out, no cap.

This week, Ben guides us through the arduous but healthy process of Shelf Maturation. We also talk about our old friend Cezanne, our new friend from the U.P. Joe Pera, and Nathan Fielder, our Canadian friend.

Thanks to Trevor Welch for the tunes, as always. Check him out at trevor.money.

Summer is here, campers! Paul returns from walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain with keen insights, a backpack full of good vibes, and one of st. James's finger bones. Ben asks incisive cultural questions like "Do they have trucks there?", and tells us how to spot an American Fascist, a la Umberto Eco. Hint: it's all in the color palette.

We gave Trevor Welch the week off, so special thanks to Canadian boy

band B4-4 for their song "Get Down," a certified summer slapper.

Ben and Paul unpack an underwhelming experience at the world's largest Chuck E. Cheese, otherwise known as Meow Wolf, share their respective calisthenics routines, and consider a problematic usage of the word "balm," among other creepy descriptions of art. Remember, we already know what art is: it's pictures of horses.

Thanks again to Trevor Welch for providing the tunes for our second season of Magic Camp. You can find Trev's music at trevor.money.

Happy New Year, campers. This week, Paul and Ben take a closer look (with John Berger's help)at the raw and revelatory paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Then Paul summons the spirit of the great Sufi poet Rumi to take us once again into the mystic.

Links to follow along as we look at SAMO's work:

https://arthur.io/art/jean-michel-basquiat

"Boy and Dog in a Johnny Pump"

https://arthur.io/art/jean-michel-basquiat/boy-and-dog-in-a-johnnypump

"Hollywood Africans"

https://whitney.org/collection/works/453

Thanks again to Trevor Welch for his tunes. Find him at trevor.money and @trevorwelch on Twitter.

Magic Camp resumes after Paul's Omicron sabbatical to discuss the Dadaists, the radical jesters of the early 20th European art scene. Paul test Ben's knowledge of notable thinkers while Ben lavishes praise on Paul's recent essay, linked here: https://therumpus.net/2021/12/picasso-shares-his-screen/.

Thanks to our friend Trevor Welch for lending some of his music. Follow @trevorwelch on twitter and find more of his music at the links below:

trevor.money

ladyboyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/onsen