Nostalgia Trap

We simply did not cover enough topics in our first "2023 Year in Review" episode, so this week Justin is back to talk about some of the big trends looming on the horizon of 2024: another grim yet insanely consequential U.S. presidential election, rising anti-immigrant sentiment on both left and right, the ominous march of genocidal war in Gaza, and the accelerating violent race for resources to light up our dumb little devices.

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Clay Routledge is a teacher, writer, and researcher in the field of existential psychology. His latest book, Past Forward: How Nostalgia Can Help You Live a More Meaningful Life explores a topic near and dear to our hearts: nostalgia and its power to shape the future. In this conversation, we talk about our own obsessions with specific pop cultural objects from our respective youths (video games, music, movies), and reflect on how nostalgic memories shape our individual and collective identities.

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It's time to take a nostalgic look back at the past year, as we survey some of the big trends from 2023 that will inevitably fuck up our collective 2024. This year we end up talking a lot about tech's grip on our political and cultural imagination: labor strikes in Hollywood and the auto industry, the impact of AI, and the giant lie of green capitalism glimpsed in the debacle of electric vehicles. Will 2024 be the year the tech spell breaks?

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Following last week's episode all about Elliott Smith, this week Justin and I continue our discussion of sad boys and bad dads with a conversation all about Stand By Me, the 1986 Stephen King/Rob Reiner nostalgia-fest about four boys journeying into the postwar American hinterlands to find a dead body (spoiler: the body is a metaphor). In this conversation, we explore how this movie's sentimental, disturbing vision of mid-century American adolescence fits into a longer historical discourse of masculinity, trauma, and healing.

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This week Justin and I talk about the genius singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, who produced a stunning body of music in the late 90s before dying, tragically and cryptically, in 2003 at the age of 34. Smith's life and art intersects with the world of punk and grunge that emerged from the Pacific Northwest in the 80s and 90s, from the "boy culture" of Gus Van Sant films to the anti-rape politics of riot grrrl era feminism. In this conversation, we try to situate Smith within that wider history and offer some thoughts on his brief but prolific career.

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Anthony Galluzzo's new book Against the Vortex: Zardoz and Degrowth Utopias in the Seventies and Today offers a delightfully adventurous set of takes on some of this podcast's running obsessions: the collapse of the 1960s left, revolutionary violence, cult cinema, weird sex rituals, 1970s communes and "intentional communities," population bombs, nuclear futures and, perhaps most of all, the religious belief in infinite technological progress that animates both the right and left. Fully automated luxury communism, anyone? In this conversation, Galluzzo shares how Zardoz's bizarre story of a bikini-clad Sean Connery's prison break from a dystopian society recovers the lost "degrowth" movements of the 1970s and brings us a radically different vision of our collective future.

'Tis the season for William S. Burroughs' Thanksgiving Prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLSveRGmpIE

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Justin Rogers-Cooper joins us for a conversation all about the life, work, and legacy of George Carlin, a key American cultural figure whose standup comedy transmitted radical ideas in the form of hilarious, often profane, "jokes." What are "jokes" anyway? In this episode we find the traps in Carlin's perspectives and reflect on the larger concept of standup comedy, particularly in the context of a Trumpian political reality that seems closer to Carlin's dark, apocalyptic comedic vision than ever before.

Check out the rest of our series deconstructing the radical old dudes of the 20th century:

A People's History of Howard Zinn

Manufacturing Noam Chomsky

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This week we've got a brand new Housing Trap conversation with guest host Andrew Schustek talking with Charlie Dulik, whose latest piece in The Baffler explores the controversy and mythology surrounding the "mom and pop landlord" in 21st century American life. Is collecting rent from tenants just another hustle for working class people? Or is "landlord" a distinct category of capitalist exploitation?

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This week Justin and I try to wrap our minds and hearts around what's happening in Gaza. We offer some historical context, share some incredible Chomsky quotes (of course), and attempt to map out the future possibilities for the region. As always, though, it's hard to separate political analysis from the "fog of war" and the deep emotional stakes of watching an ongoing genocide funded by the United States government. We do our best to offer some directions for hope in an unfolding nightmare.

Full episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-370-91362380

We are "back in action" and "ready to roll" and also just "ready" to continue our discussion of Mr. Show with Bob and David, a comedy television thing from the Before Times. On this episode, Peter, Geoff and David cover the opening episodes of Season 3: "Heaven's Chimney" and "Peanut Butter, Eggs, and Dice." There's a lot of fun and challenging stuff here, as the show gets more confident in attacking its cultural targets, from right wing Christian cultists to self-congratulating liberal douchebags. Of course, there's also plenty to cringe about, from Bob's truly unbelievable depiction of a mentally challenged person to David Cross' tired redneck minstrel character "Ronnie Dobbs." Let's have us a champagne jam!

Full episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/mr-trap-ep-6-now-90044447