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The ArtiFact Podcast is a long-form show on books, culture, painting, and music hosted by Alex Sheremet, Joel Parrish, and a revolving door of co-hosts and guests. Each subject is covered in depth and at length, with past shows featuring the Epic of Gilgamesh, Charles Johnson's "Oxherding Tale", Leonard Shlain’s "Art & Physics", John Williams's "Stoner", and more. Opinionated, controversial, and prone to making enemies and friends of friends and enemies, ArtiFact delivers new perspectives on the arts by artists of talent.
Episodes
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Universally heralded as an American classic, Martin Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER (Robert DeNiro, Jodie Foster) deserves its reputation for nuance and the subtle ways in which its thematic, cinematic, and psychological elements cohere. Paul Schrader’s script allows for everything from understated racial critique, to a realistic depiction of how entanglements are made and broken, to the role of loneliness and purposelessness in the modern world. This is partly done by way of a dreamscape, which has enough plausible deniability to still feel "real".
In ArtiFact #45, Alex Sheremet is joined by Irish poet Laura Woods and poet, novelist, and film critic Jessica Schneider to offer fresh insight into Martin Scorsese’s seminal film and the psychology of its protagonist, Travis Bickle.
You can also watch this conversation on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8u7n9uTexs
To get the B Side to this conversation, support us on Patreon and get Patron-only content: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
B Side topics: Jessica on Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”; Jessica physically acts out “demon children”; Laura on Gerard Manley Hopkins; guilt and art; Alex “wanders off”; reading John Donne; social services & abortion politics in Ireland; Tanizaki’s “Some Prefer Nettles”; Laura on COVID politics in Ireland; on modern Russian music & the Soviet bard tradition; American meddling in Russia’s elections; translating Russian poetry; & much more
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: https://bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Jessica Schneider’s essay on Taxi Driver: https://www.automachination.com/mindful-loneliness-martin-scorseses-taxi-driver-1976/
Dan Schneider's essay on Taxi Driver and Travis Bickle: http://www.cosmoetica.com/B928-DES721.htm
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:00 – thematic coherence in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver; Travis Bickle’s arbitrary attachments of value; Betty’s rejection quickens Travis Bickle’s psychotic break; the function of The Wizard character; choice vs. determinism
5:58 – racial hang-ups in Taxi Driver; the Alka-Seltzer scene & its "dream thug"; the beating of a dead robber might be Travis Bickle's own fantasy; Paul Schrader's original script called for black actors to play the film’s pimps and johns; Charles Palantine vs. Robert Altman's Hal Philip Walker (Nashville)
11:48 – Travis Bickle's "misguided earnestness"; his romantic impulses are impulsive, yet his critiques tend to be "correct" purely by coincidence; analyzing a scene where some children harass Travis Bickle
19:20 – empathy & character relatability; Dan Schneider's assessment of Travis Bickle’s psychology; the world’s current default state of loneliness
26:00 – Travis Bickle's conservative values; the humor + empathy of Travis feeling repulsed by immorality; the Mike Leigh connection; a Woody Allen + Annie Hall connection; how Travis enters & leaves lucidity; incels & White Knight psychology; even a scumbag pimp like Matthew (Sport) “sees” Travis Bickle’s lack of social adjustment
36:24 – how cognizant is Travis Bickle of his situation?; Travis's family vs. Jodie Foster's family; was there abuse at home?; neglected Martin Scorsese films; Paul Schrader produced a weak script for 'Light Sleeper'; how Taxi Driver predicted Jordan B. Peterson types; Roger Ebert on Martin Scorsese
51:46 – Travis Bickle: “I believe someone should become a person like other people”; underlying profundity vs. crass profundity; confession time: Alex Sheremet just can’t get through Mishima’s “Spring Snow”; Mishima’s "Temple of the Golden Pavilion"; why Murakami (mostly) sucks; Lars von Trier is Ingmar Bergman without the depth
Tags: #cinema #psychology #taxidriver
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
In the last few decades, political correctness has divided Americans and reduced their ability to embark on a real political project. According to Holocaust and Israel/Palestine scholar Norman Finkelstein, Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi are representatives of race-based fraud, downplaying the role of class, culture, and more in order to sell books and corporate workshops.
In ArtiFact #44, Norman Finkelstein and Alex Sheremet discuss the class-based critique formulated in Finkelstein’s latest book, “I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It”, as well as questions of criminal justice and criminal justice reform. The text covers political correctness, academic freedom, class politics, cancel culture, Roe v. Wade and other Supreme Court decisions, W.E.B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass, and more.
You can also watch this discussion on the automachination YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/csWQhC40DDM
Buy Norman Finkelstein’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Heretical-Thoughts-Identity-Politics-Academic/dp/B0BSJXB7WN/
Norman Finkelstein’s website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com
If you found this video useful, support us on Patreon and get patron-only content: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: https://bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:00 – race, class, and the criminal justice system
1:26 – introducing Norman Finkelstein’s “I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It”; is there a biological basis for race and racism; Finkelstein explains why he rejects the salience of race and IQ; Robert Trivers and Mihalis Yannakakis; Finkelstein’s experience with his African American students
12:56 – Alex Sheremet’s experience with desegregation; ethnicity from Belarus to Brooklyn; how proximity creates understanding; Robin DiAngelo’s bait-and-switch in “White Fragility”
16:34 – “White Fragility is the worst book written on any subject ever”; Norman Finkelstein on structural racism; racial representation vs. culture; Asian representation & the Tiger Mom; Finkelstein on Ketanji Brown Jackson & the Affirmative Action decision; W.E.B. DuBois; cultural disparities are a constant; why the American legal process is grounds for revolution; class forces one into plea bargains
30:16 – racism and the criminal justice system; how class defines the criminal justice experience; Norman Finkelstein’s arrests and legal experiences
37:54 – gender disparities in male/female sentencing for identical crimes; the need for a material/cultural analysis; basketball courts are material and cultural; Norman Finkelstein wasted too much time watching television; early childhood years are fundamental for development; Frederick Douglass
44:54 – Robin DiAngelo’s authoritarian version of antiracism; liberalism & authoritarianism; the silliness of “interrupting racism”; developing a thicker skin; anti-Semitic comments directed at Norman Finkelstein; African American passivity in “White Fragility”; have classical studies been hijacked?
56:42 – Alex Sheremet and Norman Finkelstein make a series of “wild surmises” about Robin DiAngelo’s psychology; the Glenn Loury problem – personal background should make you “know better”; Robin DiAngelo as a “sick Karen”; teasing our future conversation on Ibram X. Kendi
Tags: #politics #justice #iq #normanfinkelstein #woke #race
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
According to Holocaust and Israel/Palestine scholar Norman Finkelstein, Barack Obama’s “neat trick” allowed voters to imbue whatever political values they wished on to a blank slate who seemingly came out of nowhere. This allowed Democrats to turn the 2008 and 2012 elections into a referendum not on the candidate, but the “goodness” and “morality” of the electorate.
Finkelstein’s new book, “I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It: Heretical Thoughts On Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, And Academic Freedom”, tackles, among other topics, Barack Obama’s 2020 memoir, “A Promised Land”, concluding Obama was little more than a cipher enamored by celebrity. In ArtiFact #43, Alex Sheremet and Norman Finkelstein discuss Barack Obama’s presidency, cultural import, and more, kicking off a series of conversations that will span much of Finkelstein’s text.
You can also watch this discussion on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEZCalY_gcg
Buy Norman Finkelstein’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Heretical-Thoughts-Identity-Politics-Academic/dp/B0BSJXB7WN/
Norman Finkelstein’s website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com
Watch Norman Finkelstein discuss Israel with Palestinian refugees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4OP7B9jKao
If you found this video useful, support us on Patreon and get patron-only content: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: https://bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:00 – was Barack Obama’s presidency a net positive?
1:25 – introducing Norman Finkelstein’s “I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It”
3:05 – Norman Finkelstein’s textual analysis; Barack Obama has no real written record; biographer David Garrow calls Obama’s “Dreams From My Father” a work of historical fiction; why Obama’s “A Promised Land” is unmemorable
10:38 – Obama finally had the opportunity to say anything he wanted, but said nothing; the Joe Biden / Obama tension; the Oprahfication of Michelle Obama; Michelle Obama’s humiliation of pre-fame Obama
15:12 – David Garrow is Obama’s definitive biographer; Obama & the Choom Boys; the GQ Marxist; how Obama cultivated white people; Chuck Schumer, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton vs. Obama
34:23 – Obama conspiracy theories & birtherism vs. the reality of an ex nihilo, blank slate Obama; the post-Bush presidency; the Great Recession; how Barack Obama turned the 2008 election into a referendum on the electorate
44:49 – why Norman Finkelstein had few illusions about an Obama presidency; Pod Save America sucks; the biggest critique of “I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It”; Alex and Norman debate Cornel West
01:03:26 – Obama as politician; why Dick Cheney could not shut up; how Barack Obama’s love of celebrity threw David Axelrod under the bus
01:12:11 – Barack Obama repeatedly shields Hillary Clinton from Libya, the “Kenyan dress” scandal, & her RFK assassination comments; Obama in Martha’s Vineyard; the Central Park Five; why Hillary Clinton & Stormy Daniels LOVED Donald Trump; David Garrow’s final judgment on Barack Obama’s person
Tags: #obama #normanfinkelstein #politics #democrats #palestine
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
Wednesday Jul 05, 2023
According to the Left, Right, and Center, democracy is under attack. Donald Trump claimed election fraud in 2020, while both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton hinted at fascism with a Republican administration. In his 2023 book, “The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut”, Benjamin Studebaker argues that neither is the case, as the very popularity of democracy is being used to energize fringe voters in lieu of passing real legislation.
In ArtiFact #42, Alex Sheremet and Benjamin Studebaker tackle “the unsolvable problem”, wage stagnation, the causes of austerity, and how political parties continue to get away with minimal promises against the backdrop of maximal drama.
You can also watch this discussion on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OobuZB1BLX4
Support us on Patreon and get the patron-only B Side to this conversation: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
B Side topics: Aristotle’s “Vulgar Craftsman”; how the lack of writing hurts podcasters & other speakers; the peak message board era; the current Ph.D. landscape; how Raul Hilberg’s Holocaust research stymied his career; how the 2008 crisis shaped Benjamin Studebaker’s political awakening; the (illegal) Libya intervention & death of Gaddafi; comparing the 2008 and post-2020 austerity regimes; Trump vs. Hillary voter naivete; more on conspiracy theories; why Benjamin Studebaker is skeptical of affirmative action; Alex’s high school experiences in the hood; is meritocracy possible; how Benjamin Studebaker turned Alex on to Kwame Brown; black girl magic vs. black boy magic; Clarence Thomas is insulted so hard that Alex fears losing his YouTube channel; political theory in the academy; the dream-eating democracy; if the Left secures its goals, wouldn’t citizens drop out of politics altogether; assessing the 2024 presidential race; is Cornel West a serious candidate
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: https://bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Buy Benjamin Studebaker’s “The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way Is Shut”: https://www.amazon.com/Chronic-Crisis-American-Democracy-Shut-ebook/dp/B0BVZ7V4T6/
Benjamin Studebaker’s essays: https://benjaminstudebaker.com/
Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:00 – introduction to Benjamin Studebaker & his book, “The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy”
04:03 – Studebaker: all time for thinking is created by other people not having time for thinking
05:17 – the unsolvable problem; how capital mobility erodes politics & freedom; FDR as the first neoliberal; the role of World War I, trade, & the Great Depression; the Bretton Woods conference; capitalism in “communist” nations
20:35 – the world is growing more competitive; 1972’s “The Limits to Growth” & the 2020s as a turning point; the role of education; rump vs. fallen professionals
33:35 – the plight of academics & disposable faculty; higher education as extraction; a widening gulf between working and “professional” classes; the role of the autodidact in conspiracy theories
46:00 – how the French riots turned into a race riot; conspiracy theories among the educated, “anti-conspiracy” class; why COVID is ignored; Donald Trump’s strategy in 2020; political messaging
58:30 – are wages really stagnating; common talking points & right-wing subreddits; the proper framing for discussing wages; the effects of COVID on wages; inflation
01:11:40 – Benjamin Studebaker’s reading of freedom; Isaiah Berlin & positive / negative freedom; how students get tricked into a limited debate; freedom vs. state / market interventions
01:25:41 – why Benjamin Studebaker does not buy typical critiques of democracy; long-term anemic equilibrium in democracy; new realities for the political Left, Right, & Center; how traditions are divided
01:48:12 – progressives are both critical of, yet amenable to, markets; Left/Right and the critique of desire; how media ecosystems undermine class traitors; Benjamin Studebaker on exogenous shocks which might change the system
Tags: #politics #trump #podcast
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
Art YouTube ranges from academic to street, high-brow to low-brow, natural, performative, good and bad. In ArtiFact #41, writers Alex Sheremet, Ezekiel Yu, and Dan Schneider tackle some of the more popular art YouTube channels, dissecting their arguments, assumptions, and presentation. Our questions include: how does YouTube incentivize poor artistic judgment and packaging? Does overly performative criticism damage the field? What is the difference between criticism and sociological critique? Is “honesty” really the most important quality in a critic? Is worrying about the commodification of the arts self-defeating? Plus: comments on Banksy, Kurt Cobain, Andy Warhol, Marxist theory, & more.
This conversation can also be watched on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RHNRHLHa8yg
Support us on Patreon and get the patron-only B Side to this conversation: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
B Side topics: Ezekiel Yu’s development as a writer; yes, every writer writes from experience; the before/after when figuring out how to write; Alex’s video essay on Robin DiAngelo; in praise of Laura Woods; artistic competition; why Milk74 is an interesting YouTuber; PhilosophyTube sucks; Vladimir Vysotsky’s worst songs focused on street culture; Zeke’s religious transitions; truth vs. privacy in personal memoir; how having less time allows you to do more; art as therapy is good if there is a worthwhile art-object that comes out of it; Alex and Zeke discuss their guilty pleasures; Kwame Brown & natural conservatism; Andrew Tate, JustPearlyThings, & others with failed relationships give relationship/marriage advice; why Red Pill men are effeminate; tackling a bad video essay on Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver”
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: https://bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Dan Schneider’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@cosmoetica
Dan Schneider’s Cosmoetica: https://www.automachination.com/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:00 – the pitfalls of “art” YouTube; voices & affectations; how good art channels become bad; content vs. personality; Zeke mispronounces ‘automachination’
13:07 – Steve Shives is wrong about “honesty” in a critic; subjective preferences in the arts vs. objective evaluation; sociology vs. criticism; taking oneself out of one’s criticism; a critic’s honesty is the minimum standard for criticism; how Steve Shives switches between critical and emotional language; why Dan Schneider, on rare occasions, goes for bimbos; is this an exhortation to “not try”?
52:58 – The Canvas YouTube channel; performative discussions of art; Alex describes the culture shock of getting into college; how authority, museums, etc. dissuade artistic critique; the arts do not require mystique; dissecting The Canvas’s Aesthetics vs. Cognition distinction; art vs. artistic context; the passing off of negative qualities as positive traits; Noble Savage myths of art; separating art & self; how time levels, resets artistic baselines;
01:36:38 – The Canvas on Banksy, Andy Warhol, Marxist theory, & Kurt Cobain; too many sources can compromise opinion; the commodification of art; the art audience; Alex: commodification is a side-show next to the actual production of, & work ethic in, art; so-called “artistic problems” and “artistic concerns” are self-made, rather than genuine issues; why artists & non-artists often justifying not creating art
Tags: #art, #podcast, #artist, #kurtcobain, #banksy
Monday Apr 17, 2023
Monday Apr 17, 2023
In 1972, four scientists – Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, William W. Behrens III – published a book called The Limits To Growth, about planetary limits based on a new computer model called World3. It was attacked by journalists, scientists, and economists who claimed it was making faulty predictions based on untested hypotheses, and was often rejected in highly emotional terms by a society that wanted to believe in infinite growth. These attacks accelerated in the 1990s, since models of food and resource scarcity failed, while the 1990s, themselves, were a highly idealistic decade.
By 2023, however, it is obvious that the book’s core premises – that planetary limits exist, that they will be hit and create fresh limits, and this will likely cause a contraction in the standard of living – are beginning to be vindicated. Yes, the suggested limits to copper, fossil fuels, and food turned out to be far too pessimistic, but modern research suggests that the world is more or less going according to the basic scenarios of the World3 model.
In ArtiFact #40, Alex Sheremet is joined by radical climate activist Arnold Schroder of the Fight Like An Animal podcast to discuss “The Limits to Growth” as well as follow-up texts and papers.
You can also watch this conversation on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/dh46XiXwwLE
Arnold Schroder’s website: https://www.againsttheinternet.com/
Arnold Schroder’s Twitter page: https://twitter.com/arnold_schroder
To get the B Side to this conversation, support us on our Patreon page for patron-only content: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
B Side topics: Arnold Schroder’s experiences in New Orleans as a teenager; why Alex thinks New Orleans is a symbol of America’s future; Portland in the time of Elliott Smith vs. today; issues of gentrification; why seemingly minor variables play major roles in an artist’s art; Alex’s neighborhood & why some people are targets of crime but not others; political equality vs. cultural elitism; political, psychological, and emotional stakes have heightened in the last few decades; the roles of Arnold / Alex might play in building ideological bridges; what IQ fetishists get wrong; & more
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: https://bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
Read Alex’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
1:56 – introduction; the response to “The Limits to Growth” over time; from research to the empirical environment; how psychology mediates activism & complacency
9:12 – why “2020” kept coming up as a pivot point in 1972, 2004; how hitting planetary limits diverts capital to externalities as opposed to human welfare; why Arnold Schroder thinks public mobilization won’t happen even with poor public outcomes; how charts (as opposed to fundamentals) model potential futures; Gaya Herrington’s January 2020 model of how well “The Limits to Growth” tracked
25:23 – which model might best suit empirical reality; the factors behind civilizational collapse; COVID denialism on the Left & Right; total collapse will likely not happen
32:30 – the “stable world” model & conscious choice; why civilizational collapse tends to happen all at once; stagnation, inertia; are Democrats more blameworthy than Republicans for climate inaction; Arnold Schroder on abusive relationships within politics; how polarization worsens problems of collectivization, social cohesion
45:14 – models vs predictions; why readers should appreciate the simple, material rationales in “Limits to Growth”; it’s important to identify moments of stagnation; although specific limits change, the concept of planetary limits does not; systems theory & the environment: Jeffrey West’s “Scale”; the importance of logarithmic charts
58:04 – consumerism & the nervous system; how forced de-growth in one’s everyday life creates space & time; Nietzsche on religious war; the parameters of human nature; radical responsibility
1:11:08 – the world is getting more & more competitive, but over what?; China & population fetishism, population control; Elon Musk vs. Genghis Khan; how environmental issues became coded Left
1:19:44 – assessing the final numbers: 2, 3, or 4 degrees of warming?; the effects of individual milestones; feedback loops & uncertainties; why the survival of the human species is not the actual concern; how “survival” is used as a cudgel to minimize climate concerns
1:28:24 – Degrowth vs. Radical Abundance; understanding the arrow of progress vs. periods of stagnation
Tags: #climatechange, #politics, #podcast
Wednesday Mar 08, 2023
Wednesday Mar 08, 2023
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote a large number of books defying systematization, creating a reputation for difficulty that is not altogether fair. For instance, “The Gay Science” (1882) captures the bulk of Nietzsche’s philosophy through great writing highlighting its own anti-obscurantism, which makes it the perfect book for introducing readers to his work. In ArtiFact #39, Alex Sheremet and Irish poet Laura Woods tackle Friedrich Nietzsche’s literary and intellectual accomplishments by carefully assessing the book’s introductory poems and 383 aphorisms, by way of Walter Kaufmann's classic translation. They dissect Nietzsche’s views of women, art, politics, war, questions of personal experience, and more, finishing their conversation in a patron-only discussion on the book’s remainder. Other subjects include: Brett Weinstein and Aella (OnlyFans), Steven Pinker’s misunderstandings of Nietzsche, how Friedrich Nietzsche can be used for left-wing politics, a men’s rebellion on Reddit, and more.
You can also watch this conversation on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV8xtLySAx4
For access to the B Side conversation, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
Watch our analysis of Steven Pinker’s rejection of Nietzsche in “Enlightenment Now”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4uAyN00BdM
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3wLpqEV
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3dSQXxJ
Amazon Music: https://amzn.to/2SVJIxB
Podbean: https://bit.ly/3yzLuUo
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/3AK942L
Thumbnail photo: Joel Parrish: https://poeticimport.com
Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
1:11 – introducing Friedrich Nietzsche’s “The Gay Science”; why this is a book one returns to; how Nietzsche combines logical and rhetorical argument; common criticisms of the text; why non-systematization works for Nietzsche; the desire for objective values; how Steven Pinker uses Nietzsche without crediting him; calling Nietzsche a “great stylist” is often a pejorative; why “great style” so often encourages great, re-purposed ideas; Nietzsche’s self-conception as an artist
20:51 – Nietzsche’s poetic writing in the “Preface to the Second Edition” of The Gay Science; the claim that certain books, ideas require experience to understand; rebuffing the pop cultural understanding of Nietzsche; “convalescent art”, Alex’s & Laura’s experience with such; Nietzsche glosses over differing responses to sickness; Jordan Peterson vs. Friedrich Nietzsche; linking subjectivity and objectivity; an art for artists
48:00 – truth, illusion, art, reality; dissecting Friedrich Nietzsche’s poems in “The Gay Science”; the Walt Whitman connection; the meaning of Gay Science as a title; how Nietzsche makes fun of artistic clichés in his poems; how notions of “art and truth” developed over millennia; Dan Schneider’s view of art is almost more Nietzschean than Nietzsche’s
01:04:54 – tackling the aphorisms of Book 1 of The Gay Science; Aphorism 1- explaining what Friedrich Nietzsche means by “good”, “bad”, and “evil”; the see-saw structure of the aphorisms; Nietzsche failed to distinguish war from wars of stagnation; why hasn’t China unleashed more carnage on to the world; Donald Trump vs. Middle America; how stagnation leads to a conflict of attrition; Nietzsche’s endearing response to the Paris Commune; psychology of sickness; levity/laughter as a corrective for life and art
01:28:32 – aphorism 20; science vs. scientism; foundational thinking in the modern world; on the issue of sex nerds; Bret Weinstein gets accused of trying to recruit unicorns into his marriage; Weinstein’s comments on Aella
01:42:50 – aphorism 16: Over the Footbridge: lyrical, structural; its emotional import for The Gay Science; aphorism 54- on the process of writing; aphorism 56 & “ending aphorisms” in Nietzsche
01:58:03 – Nietzsche on women; hidden progressivism in Nietzsche; rejecting the cult of rationality; experiences have pre-rational effects; why it’s impossible to get out of the body; the “concept” of women; aphorism 66: feminine, masculine, exaggerated weakness; what women, men can “afford” to do; how liberals argue from conservative assumptions; mixed messages to men about opening up, showing emotions; Reddit’s AskMen subreddit in open rebellion; “smile more, girl!” vs. “cry more, men!”; the desire of both men and women to “change” their partners based on a mental image;
02:17:49 – aphorism 67; Friedrich Nietzsche’s abusive language vs. progressive content of views; arbitrary metrics in dating apps; aphorism 68; aphorism 71- “on female chastity”;
Tags: #books #philosophy #podcast #nietzsche #booktube
Thursday Feb 23, 2023
Thursday Feb 23, 2023
Although Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 caught many analysts off-guard, Ukrainian-born scholar Ivan Katchanovski (University of Ottawa) predicted the growth of tensions well before the Maidan. In some respects, the Ukraine War as well as Vladimir Putin and Putinism had their roots in the early 1990s. On the one hand, the West made contradictory promises to Ukraine about its security while demanding they give up nuclear arms, and on the other, Zbigniew Brzezinski’s fears (The Grand Chessboard, 1997) of America’s “mismanagement” of its Russia policies were slowly realized. At the same time, Russia’s poverty and instability in the 1990s gave rise to ultra-nationalism and other forms of right-wing discourse which would eventually go mainstream.
In ArtiFact #38, Alex Sheremet is joined by Ivan Katchanovski to discuss some lesser-known details of Russian and Ukrainian history in light of the Ukraine War.
Follow Ivan Katchanovski on Twitter: https://twitter.com/I_Katchanovski
If you found this video useful, support us on our Patreon page and get patron-only content: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
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Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
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Timestamps:
0:00 – Ivan Katchanovski’s theory of the Maidan Massacre as a right-wing false flag attack
1:32 – Ivan Katchanovski as a Ukrainian dissident in the Soviet Union & a Ukrainian dissident today; Alex Sheremet’s Chernobyl mutations
5:20 – Ivan Katchanovski on the pitfalls of Russia-Ukraine discourse; his upbringing in Ukraine under the USSR; why studying international relations was impossible in the Soviet Union; studying alongside the future presidents of Georgia and Ukraine; family expulsions from Poland; attending anti-Soviet demonstrations; why writing a thesis in Ukrainian was acceptable but its content rejected; censorship today
24:16 – Alex: censorship in the West is (mostly) outsourced to liberal institutions rather than government censorship; on the nature of the left/right divide & student demonstrations in the USSR; how Soviet politics bleed into Ukrainian & American politics; why Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is more like the Crimean War of 1853-56 as opposed to Hitler’s invasion of Poland; neither Russia nor America want a truly strong, independent Ukraine, but a client state; fractures in pro/anti-Soviet referendums in early 90s Ukraine; why some post-Soviet states remained free of conflict & others not
51:32 – Eduard Limonov’s 1992 prognostication of civil war coming to Ukraine; to what extent are his comments on Ukraine the thinking of Russian intellectuals in the 1990s; right-wing and left-wing repression in the 1990s; Boris Yeltsin’s & Vladimir Putin’s relationship with right-wing post-Soviet thought
01:07:50 – the historical & linguistic fault-lines between Russia, Ukraine; Bolshevism & anti-Bolshevism the roots of ultranationalism and Nazism within Ukraine; the lack of hostility between Russians & Ukrainians after 1950s; Ukraine’s present-day illiberalism on language policy; Lenin’s policy of Ukrainianization; class-based policies vs. cultural policy
01:26:42 – the Donbass: its history & present; how the Donbass thought of itself through history; why Donbass was unhappy after voting for a unified Ukraine; Donbass as “Europe’s final frontier”; Donbass independence streak means Russia might have to deal with Donbass secessionist movements; how oligarchs took over East Ukraine; how Maidan changed oligarch structure
01:40:49 – assessing the 1990s for Russia & Ukraine’ Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “The Grand Chessboard” & Heartland Theory; how America’s behavior towards 1990s Russia helped create Putin & Putinism; how Putin combined multiple ideologies; the West has blocked peace deals in the Ukraine War; why did the US offer a Marshall Plan for Europe but not for Russia; the Customs Union vs. European Union Association Agreement
02:13:36 – was the Maidan Massacre a false flag; right-wing groups were not politically popular, but provided the muscle for Maidan; what changes if the Maidan Massacre was a false flag?; Ivan Katchanovski on the role of right-wing militias; Ukraine as containment strategy; assessing whether Maidan was a “Western-backed coup”, totally independent, or something in the middle?
02:50:52 – why Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illegal; hypothetical circumstances under which Russia’s invasion would be legal or ethical; John Mearsheimer & getting beyond the Monroe Doctrine; how the Russia-Ukraine war will determine the fate of America & Russia
Tags: #russiaukrainewar, #russia, #ukraine
Tuesday Feb 14, 2023
Tuesday Feb 14, 2023
Junichiro Tanizaki (1886 – 1965) was a Japanese novelist born to a Tokyo merchant family. His work combined some of the best elements of modernism while tapping both Japanese and Western aesthetics. In ArtiFact #37, Alex Sheremet and Ruslan Gallopyn discuss Tanizaki’s “Some Prefer Nettles” (1929), a novel depicting a dysfunctional open marriage and impending divorce which nonetheless might be averted. The book’s dry humor, poetic descriptions, modern (especially by today’s standards) psychology, and deft use of understatement allows Junichiro Tanizaki to develop some of his richest characters.
You can also watch this discussion on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/3KJ6vvM4Llg
If you found this video useful, support us on our Patreon page and get the patron-only B Side to this conversation: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
B Side topics: Alex turns on his foot massager; Alex, undercover cop?; planning future conversations; analyzing Ingmar Bergman’s “From The Life of Marionettes”; why the roof-jumping scene is among the film’s best; contrasting with Bergman’s “Scenes from a Marriage”; is Bergman critiquing faux psychology with the “latent homosexuality” diagnosis; two Russian speakers discuss Alex’s Russian bard music playlist; Vladimir Vysotsky’s theatrical performances; Ada Yakusheva; Russian music vs. Russian lyrics; Soviet upbringings: Cheburashka, Russian animation, Russia’s version of Winnie Poo; implicit competitiveness within Russian music; a Russian goes to banya, gets too drunk, ends up on a plane to his address in the wrong city; how Russian got its monopoly on kitsch; preparing for Alex’s Russia-Ukraine conversation next week; Xi Jinping, Crimea, Vladimir Putin & political legitimacy in the developed vs. developing worlds; why the Donbass is such an interesting place, well before Russia’s invasion
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Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
Read Alex’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:00 – introduction to Junichiro Tanizaki’s novel & aesthetics; In Praise of Shadows; Patreon show
5:31 – “Some Prefer Nettles” & modern politics; Tanizaki’s cleverness in the opening chapter; Kaname’s indecision, the book’s understated use of humor; invoking “the old man” as a concept vs. a slowly-unfolding, ‘real’ character; Tanizaki’s tapping of ‘pure’ aesthetics in the service of deeper characterization; East/West, conservative/progressive
22:07 – Tanizaki’s use of self-indulgence; Kanane is incurious; the (false) characterization
of Misako; Kaname’s use of psychological leverage against Misako; Tanizaki apportions guilt differently from how the characters apportion guilt; Kaname’s passive-aggressive qualities work well with Japanese stylization, use of understatement; the different functions of passivity
35:40 – the Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto axes; how Tanizaki always presents counter-arguments to his own arguments; “Some Prefer Nettles” & the tension between subjectivity, objectivity within the narration; how “the old man” goes from being indirectly characterized, to speaking for himself; Tanizaki’s use of music; the Herman Hesse / Steppenwolf connection; Kaname’s confusion of women with art, art with women; Hiroshi as a character; re-assessing Misako
57:30 – introducing Takanatsu; the use of seemingly throwaway details (like the purchase of a dog) for rich effect; Misako’s domesticity
01:11:00 – the phenomenal middle section in “Some Prefer Nettles”; Kaname’s “set of principles” for divorce; objectivity in humor;
01:25:15 – Kaname’s visits to Louise, a Eurasian prostitute; what this says of his psychology; the interplay of East/West disturbs Kaname; ennui, boredom, & the creation of synthetic enigmas;
01:36:50 – the book’s mysterious ending; “the old man’s” principles about marriage, love; how Kaname’s lack of “troubles” hurt him; how seemingly regressive comments on men/women have a progressive edge; O-hisa reveals her own complexities near the end, encouraging Kaname (possibly) to change his incoherent views of women; Tanizaki’s great choice of turning Kaname’s father-in-law into a man of wisdom, yet also a man no one should aspire to be; Kaname realizes he would miss Misako’s domesticity; the John Ashbery connection
Tags: #japaneseculture, #books, #japanese, #podcast, #artifact, #automachination, #asian
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Although ekphrastic poetry (‘poetry about art’) has been around for a long time, the majority of ekphrastic writing does little more than recapitulate and describe a painting. In ArtiFact #36, Alex Sheremet is joined by Jessica Schneider to discuss her recent book of ekphrastic poetry, “Ekphrasm”, and how her approach is different. From the use of recurring characters, to combining observations on photography with those on painting, to characterizing her various poetic narrators, to the use of psychological tricks, there is more to ekphrasis than meets the eye.
Painters covered include Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Hilma af Klint, and others.
Buy Jessica Schneider’s “Ekphrasm”: https://www.amazon.com/Ekphrasm-French-Painters-Paintings-Natures-ebook/dp/B0B53ZB2TV
Jessica Schneider’s first poetry collection, “Wordshapes”: https://www.amazon.com/WordShapes-Selected-1999-2009-Jessica-Schneider-ebook/dp/B07HRDL58B/
To get the patron-only B Side to this conversation, support us on our Patreon page and get patron-only content: https://www.patreon.com/automachination
B Side topics: Enneagram Type 5 & over-preparation; the role of enjambment, punctuation in poetry; does YouTube have an unfilled niche for great short poetry; Alex makes plans for capturing footage of the old brothel he grew up next door to; how footage of the 1945 Victory Day parade in Russia suddenly veers into greatness for 30 seconds; Bruce Ario as the most commercial and viral of poets; Jessica’s earrings interfere with the show; “you’re only as good as your last poem” as a psychological motivator; Alex’s first draft of his Lunar New Year (2023) poem; exclusivity in the arts; Alex and Joel Parrish traveling to Minneapolis for footage related to Bruce Ario; on Malik Bendjelloul’s “Searching for Sugar Man”, a biopic on Sixto Rodriguez; Sixto Rodriguez’s excellence as a singer-songwriter; the emotional dilemmas of great artists; why animals can serve as a great example for human beings; Americans take the wrong lesson from Office Space; why every Twitter personality, no matter their politics or beliefs, sounds exactly the same; Russia Russia Russia; what gets lost in translation; Jim Morrison, The Doors, The Beatles and commercialism; Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Nassim Taleb snipes at Lex Fridman; do we need 6 months to read & digest The Brothers Karamazov; pitfalls of highly commercial marijuana legalization
Subscribe to the ArtiFact podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3xw2M4D
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Jessica Schneider’s interview on ekphrasis with Ethan Pinch of @AnthropomorphicHorse – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbjuQX_r_ho
Vivian Maier footage used in video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDewAU-rgIM
Read more from the automachination universe: https://automachination.com
Read Alex Sheremet’s (archived) essays: https://alexsheremet.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/automachination
Timestamps:
0:18 – an icebreaker: Jessica Schneider’s disrespectful emails in preparation for our show
3:18 – how Jessica’s approach to ekphrasis is different; Jessica’s initial frustration with her poem on Mariupol & how it was improved
9:22 – Jessica Schneider’s poem “Manet’s Mirror”, after Edouard Manet’s famous “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”; how the introduction of Landon at the end of the poem takes it out of the painting’s own diegetic universe; the Wallace Stevens / Sunday Morning connection; why memorizing poetry is excellent for poets
21:40 – Jessica Schneider’s poem “What Monet Said”, after Claude Monet’s “Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son”; Leonard Shlain’s “Art And Physics”
29:35 – the drawing of Paul Cezanne’s son; Jessica Schneider’s “A Young Paul Asleep”; how details totally outside of Cezanne’s drawing make their way into the poem
36:37 – Jessica Schneider’s poem on Mariupol; how Cezanne’s paintings of a forest serve as a ‘spiritual’ backdrop to a seemingly unrelated poem
42:28 – poem on Paul Cezanne’s father reading a newspaper; there has always been a lack of family support for artists; “reading” Cezanne’s painting vs. writing the poem
50:54 – Camille Pissaro’s Voisins; extracting (unexpected) value from a title
56:27 – Jessica’s poem after Vivian Maier’s photography; on the nature of “selfie” / self-portrait poetry; Alex gets in touch with his feminine side
01:05:34 – a poem after Hilma af Klint’s “swan” series; how a series can change individual artistic objects; speculation on Hilma af Klint’s desire to publicly release her work only after a substantial amount of time passed after her death
01:14:08 – discussing the patron-only show & a final, autobiographical poem from Jessica Schneider; a non-ekphrastic poem that nonetheless taps into some concepts of ekphrasis
Tags: #poetry, #painting, #photography, #artpodcast, #cezanne, #monet