The Weekly Artifact

By The Weekly ArtifactSociety & Culture

The Weekly Artifact episodes

August 29 Back from the Dead
In this episode, we discuss "wokeness" and the movie Bugonia.

Endnotes:
13:09 - https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/29/us/florida-ron-desantis-stop-woke-act-part-overturned/

16:18 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFwAnMLBSOw

17:05 - https://www.tiktok.com/@kenklippenstein/video/7668764155263847693

18:11 - https://badfaith.libsyn.com/episode-601-woke-1-vs-the-catharsis-of-winning-w-fd-signifier

Content Warnings: Racism, Spoilers for Bugonia, Suicide

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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Puzzoto

Links to the artifacts:
Hunter, Tera W. "If 'Woke' Dies, Our Nation's Truths Die with It." Hammer and Hope, no. 2, Summer 2023. https://hammerandhope.org/article/florida-history-slavery-ron-desantis-woke
55 min
August 05 The Least Scrupulous People in Society
In this episode, I discuss the state of (sports) media.
Endnotes:07:45 - https://www.bomanijones.com/podcasts/10:00 - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp43H6Vt_yDoUarxNb_fVK9_6bSiA2aHo&si=hwwpWZgqfC6WB34l
19:00 - https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-unprecedented-profiteering-revealed-by-donald-trumps-financial-disclosure
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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Puzzoto
Links to the artifacts:
Phillips, Carron J. "Dan Le Batard Was Right--'Embrace Debate' Has Destroyed Sports Television." Deadspin, 5 July 2023. https://deadspin.com/bomani-jones-game-theory-sports-television-1850606271/
28 min
October 05, 2024 We Can't Anger This Many People All at Once
In this episode, we discuss asexuality and queer life choices, Eddie Murphy and so-called "cancel culture," ego-fueled displays of fake charity, and zodiac signs.

Endnotes:
15:18 - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13634607221085485
25:24 – Chapelle, Dave. Dave Chapelle: What’s in a Name?
Netflix, 2022.
41:50 - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x87yupp
42:53 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEe7_zgZbuI
Content Warnings: Explicit sexual references, references to homophobia, references to transphobia,

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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Puzzoto

Links to the artifacts:
Khoo, Sydney. "Free Toy Included." AZE 1, no. 4, 2018. https://azejournal.com/article/2018/2/1/free-toy-included-sydney-khoo
Zinoman, Jason. "Eddie Murphy Is Bringing Eddie Murphy Back." The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/movies/eddie-murphy.html
59 min
April 01, 2024 Sage Room (S4E2)
In this episode, we discuss incels, Russiagate, the phrase "life isn't fair," and bringing back hobbies.
Endnotes:
12:14 – Jordan Peterson appeared in a disheveled tuxedo on episode
#1769 of The Joe Rogan Experience
15:50 - https://muse.jhu.edu/article/777134/pdf
36:45 – There used to be a popular online account known as “Ken
M” who would frequently troll people with nonsensical but harmless comments
meant to bait someone into taking him seriously. His comments were often revolved
around obvious misunderstandings of science, history, social norms, etc. In
2011, he even began a regular column for College Humor called “The Troll.” He
still posts on the site formerly known as Twitter @horseysurprise https://web.archive.org/web/20210508220213/https://redditblog.com/2015/10/03/ken-m-interview-internet-troll/
38:35 – This episode was recorded at a time when blue check
marks still indicated authenticity on the website formerly known as Twitter
40:45 – A reference to a classic Tweet from Nicki Minaj in
which she claimed that a friend of her Trinidadian cousin took a COVID-19 vaccine
and subsequently became impotent due to swollen testicles, and then his fiancée
called off their impending wedding. The tweet was (obviously) determined to be
false. https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/1437532566945341441?lang=en
47:26 – At the time the US had conflict with Iran, stemming
back to US’s belief that Iran was building up its nuclear weapons capabilities,
and subsequent military conflict in the Persian Gulf. Venezuela was also in the
news over the U.S.’s opposition to Venezuela’s then newly-elected leader, Nicolás
Maduro. Perhaps not coincidentally, there was also a push for the U.S. to find
a way to acquire Venezuela’s rich supply of lithium, used in many batteries. In
2020, for example, Elon Musk tweeted seeming support for a coup in Bolivia,
which similarly has ample supplies of lithium, used in Tesla’s electric
vehicles. https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/after-bolivia-elon-musk-says-capitalists-can-overthrow-any-government-they-want/.
Based on these news items, it is funny that the authors just happen to single
out Iran and Venezuela as troll farms.
49:08 – A reference to the Cleveland Browns signing Deshaun
Watson following allegations of sexual misconduct
49:10 – This was the rule at time of recording. The rule has
subsequently been changed for playoff games as a direct result of that game’s
outcome.
52:30 – A reference to the plot of the 2023 game Hogwarts
Legacy.
54:15 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z3MqJakNbI
Content Warnings: References to racism, misogyny, and mental health issues
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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Puzzuto
Links to the artifacts:
Contrapoints. "Incels." YouTube, 17 Aug. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2briZ6fB0

Linvill, Darren and Patrick Warren. "That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It." Rolling Stone, 25 Nov. 2019, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russia-troll-2020-election-interference-twitter-916482/
1 hr
October 28, 2022 The Beastly Artifact: Halloween Special 2022 (S4E1)
In this episode we discuss body horror, "The Black Phone," Justin checking himself into a safe room, and Alex...uh...do you have an unsaferoom this year?
Content Warnings: Violence, child abuse, mental health issues
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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Pozzuto
Links to the Artifacts:
Hill, Joe, "The Black Phone," 20th Century Ghosts, Oct. 2005, https://havenner.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/5/7/20575006/theblackphone.pdf
Zayd, Yhara, "The Catharsis of Body Horror," YouTube, 25 July 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VosvAUS8Ww
53 min
April 24, 2022 Our Victory Lap (S3E4)
In this episode, we discuss gamergate and why not everything is culture wars.
Endnotes:
2:51 – “politically incorrect” is actually a 4chan discussion board, not a subreddit
12:47 – Here are links to the three Grayson articles 1) https://archive.ph/WtK25 2) https://archive.ph/NeJis 3) https://archive.ph/tUlkm
14:15 – This article has some brief context for Cheong’s move from self-proclaimed “turbo-feminist” to far right commentator https://www.dailydot.com/debug/ian-miles-cheong-malaysia/
31:15 – A Reference to Aaron Rodger’s November 5th 2021 comments on the Pat McAfee Show
31:42 – A Reference to Jordan Peterson’s January 25th2022 appearance on Joe Rogan Podcast
Content Warnings: Homicide, misogyny, racism, sexual content
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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Pozzuto
Link to the artifact:
Innuendo Studios. "Why Are You So Angry? Part 4: An Autopsy on Gamergate" YouTube, 16 July 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6TrKkkVEhs
36 min
February 05, 2022 Female Frequency (S3E3)
In this episode, we discuss the manosphere's hatred of feminist criticism, the utility of debate, made-up swear words, and daylight savings time.
Endnotes:
5:22 - https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/1021/Laura%20Mulvey,%20Visual%20Pleasure.pdf
7:22 – Should say “re-using the male gaze”
11:02 - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amy-cooper-christian-cooper-speaks-out-that-act-was-unmistakably-racist/
11:30 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUWBoYwAgaE (note, this is not the original post)
12:42 – The channel creators at Feminist Frequency manually turned off their comments. The more recent change is that YouTube got rid of the ability to see dislikes for all videos on the site. You can still hit the dislike button and the creator can see how many dislikes they have, but users can no longer see dislikes on videos they did not upload.
15:05 – This Contrapoints video is, unfortunately, no longer visible
19:05 – I could not find the famous study the gamergate followers point to, but here is a link to the American Psychological Associations report https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2020/03/violent-video-games-behavior.
24:15 - https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/astroworld-satan-demonic-conspiracy-theory-1254878/
28:09 - https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/22/14690718/milo-yiannopoulos-pedophilia-cpac-book-deal-resignation-timeline
30:38 - https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/08/the-peterson-family-meat-cleanse/567613/
32:19 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bixgOtkLao The exact example Zizek uses here is the U.S. army’s “politically correct” euphemism for torture as “enhanced interrogation.”
33:09 – Shohat, Ella and Robert Stam. “Critical Ethnic Studies, Identity Politics, and the Right-Left Convergence,” in Critical Ethnic Studies: A Reader, ed. Nada Elia et. al, Duke University Press, 2016, pp. 416-434. https://www.dukeupress.edu/critical-ethnic-studies
38:30 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLqXkYrdmjY The clip in question is from 3:50-4:28.
38:19 – It was https://www.newsweek.com/milo-yiannopoulos-reports-having-covid-shares-pic-ivermectin-this-not-fun-1624019
42:25 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x69Y61ThyV0
44:28 - https://theoutline.com/post/7023/what-is-a-douchenozzle-swear-nerds
56:17 - https://www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/daylight-savings-time-state-legislation.aspx
57:06 - https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexisnedd/reasons-you-might-be-a-douche-canoe
57:54 - https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kyle-rittenhouse-claims-supports-black-lives-matter-tucker-carlson-int-rcna6311
Content Warnings: misogyny, racism, sexual misconduct.
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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Pozzuto
Links to the artifacts:
Feminist Frequency. "Body Language & The Male Gaze - Tropes vs Women in Video Games," YouTube, 31 March 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPOla9SEdXQ
Domise, Andray. "The Jordan Peterson–Slavoj Žižek Debate Was Good for Something," Macleans, 1 May 2019. https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/the-jordan-peterson-slavoj-zizek-was-good-for-something/
1 hr
November 29, 2021 All I Do is Fart (S3E2)
In this episode, we discuss "peopling," the app-ification of the criminal justice system, "cancel culture" as the rebirth of "frivolous lawsuits," and calling people stupid.
Endnotes:
14:02 – As of April 2, 2019, Google shut down their Google+ social network. It launch June 28, 2011.
16:08 - https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5geay/dick-for-two-the-porn-ted-cruzs-account-liked-on-twitter-finds-huge-new-audience
20:06 - https://www.thecut.com/2021/06/courtney-stodden-chrissy-teigen-told-me-to-kill-myself.html(Note, that this is also what the “I have ADHD” line at the 43:14 mark references)
21:45 – Promise seems to at least still be raising money as of February of 2021, but it is unclear whether it has actually launched and/or been used and very little has been written about it since 2018 https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/promise/investor_financials
27:23 – Many people were upset with Jay-Z for nominally lending support to Kaepernick but also making deals with the NFL and defending his decision to work with the league as a business partner by suggesting that the Kaepernick situation was old news and that he could effectively make change from inside the system without articulating exactly what sort of change he could make by simply having his Roc Nation clients perform at NFL games. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/jay-z-helps-nfl-banish-colin-kaepernick/596146/
28:05 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM7lw0Ovzq0
30:19 - https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/
33:40 - https://www.flashforwardpod.com/2021/07/06/could-mind-control-end-crime/
44:30 - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/dig-cancel-culture-w-moira-weigel-nikhil-pal-singh/id791564318?i=1000520986272
47:18 - http://defamer.gawker.com/remember-when-38-year-old-jerry-seinfeld-dated-a-17-yea-1714153938
49:48 - http://www.espn.com/espnradio/podcast/archive/_/id/12563086
Content Warnings: mental health issues, homicide, sexual misconduct.
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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Pozzuto
Links to the Artifacts:
Armstrong, Andrea. "A Letter to Jay-Z: Don’t Keep This Promise," The Appeal, 10 Apr. 2018, https://theappeal.org/a-letter-to-jay-z-dont-keep-this-promise-93bee11e20bd/
Perry, Sarah. "The Essence of Peopling," Ribbon Farm, 8 Apr. 2015, ribbonfarm.com/2015/04/08/the-essence-of-peopling/
1 hr
October 31, 2021The Beastly Artifact: Halloween Special 2021 (S3E1)
In this episode, we discuss clipping.'s albums There Existed an Addiction to Blood and Visions of Bodies Being Burned, spam mail from an mysterious sender, and the writings of the creepiest member of Alex's new writing group.
Endnotes:
2:23 – Diggs has featured in multiple segments of Sesame Street and teamed up with them for multiple commericials for a company that is not paying us and that I won’t give free advertising to. Here is one example of his work on Sesame Street https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=punrsuK62fM

7:52 – Songs for “Story,” “Story 2,” “Story 4,” “Story 5” and “Story 7” so far exist. There is not yet a “Story 3” or “Story 6.”

8:49 – “La Mala Ordina” does do this

9:38 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn6S9NTpPvk

10:29 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2MCATB75C8

14:33 – Going Off Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmUCnT-35fcand Needle Drop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtPlfmhPnNg(plus Fantano reviewed the second album as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XxT334Qbuc)
Content Warnings: Violence, sexual references
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Artwork by jasartstudios
Music by Nicholas Pozzuto
Links to the Artifacts:
clipping. There Existed an Addiction to Blood. Sub Pop Records, 2019, https://open.spotify.com/album/0xeEJgJP2Mkyr3dMKbCQP3?si=Tnf1U15uTTmDEPjYHJRpSA
clipping. Visions of Bodies Being Burned. Sub Pop Records, 2020, https://open.spotify.com/album/0b1q9se93BEqBl3kiltn33?si=eZT9f-6qSHSPopFjwjoWuw
1 hr
October 03, 2021 Season Two Finale (Movie Special)
In this season finale we discuss The Big Short, Parasite, My Cousin Vinny, The Lighthouse, and Tenet. Spoilers.
Stay tuned for Season Three!
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Music by Nicholas Pozzuto.
Artwork by jasartstudios.
54 min

About The Weekly Artifact

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Hello, and welcome to The Weekly Artifact. I’m Justin and I make this podcast with my co-host, Alex. We’re two former creative writing majors searching for meaning in a sea of content. Every other…

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The Weekly Artifact

The Weekly Artifact episodes

About The Weekly Artifact