The crisis of modernity as anomie, uprootedness from place, identity, tradition, and social bonds, and its impact on the human psyche
Parallels between the modern existential crisis and that of Steiner’s era
Traditional religion being replaced by new secular religions (eg. social justice, scientism, secular heresies)
Steiner’s belief that spirituality and science are interconnected
Parapsychology, including studies of near death experiences
Comparisons to Carl Jung and Christian mystics, Emanuel Swedenborg and William James
Anti-vaxxers’ fascination with Steiner’s warnings of genetically re-engineering people’s spirituality
Steiner’s views on spiritual races and the Steiner schools becoming a target of cancel culture, though Steiner was staunchly anti-fascist
The limitations of materialism and rationalism, and Steiner’s influence from Romanticism
Steiner’s philosophical relation to other thinkers, including Julius Evola, Nietzsche, Aleister Crowley, and Martin Buber
How the essence of Steiner’s political philosophy was reconciling the differences between individualism and rootedness, liberal egalitarianism and tradition, and occultism and ethics
How Steiner favored an economic system like distributism, over capitalism or Marxism, and decentralized local autonomy and identities, over nationalism
Robert Stark and Matt Pegas speak with filmmaker, Montgomery Markland, about his film Malibu Road, which he both directed and starred in. Malibu Road is available to watch for free on Tubi, and for purchase on Apple TV and Amazon. While the pandemic delayed Malibu Road’s theatrical release, Montgomery has further plans for multipicture deals.
“Fast living Los Angelenos are targeted by the Central Intelligence Agency during Operation Midnight Climax, part of MKUltra. The experience takes a turn for the deadly during New Year’s Eve 1960 and now a professor, a starlet and the workers at a hotel with a questionable reputation must rediscover reality or be trapped in an endless cycle of sex, drugs and murder in ‘paradise.'”
Montgomery Markland has an idiosyncratic resume. Originally from Dallas, Montgomery was a state and local reporter in Austin, worked in the Texas state legislature on policy, was then a producer, president, and CCO at a number of video game companies, before working in Hollywood. Follow Montgomery on Twitter.
Topics:
Applying videogame design principles to Cinema
The Meisner acting technique
MKUltra connections to university professors and Hollywood (eg. Irvin Keshner)
Timothy Leary’s prediction that video games had the potential to recreate psychedelic trips
The History of the Albatross Hotel in Malibu and connections to Old Hollywood
Cinemaphotographic techniques used to capture the psychedelic aesthetic
Distorting reality in stories as representations of dreams (eg. traumnovelle), and influences from David Lynch
Influence from soap operas, telenovelas, and 90s Cinemax
The set design, recreating the aesthetics of the 60s and 70s
Influences from Jungian archetypes, as well as Ancient Greek, Hindu, and Buddhist mythology (eg. Timothy Leary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead)
Hunter S. Thompson
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo
Malibu Road’s filming locations, including Malibu State Park and Will Rogers State Historic Park
The politicization of entertainment, and why overtly political conservative media fails
Reasons to be optimistic about opportunities in entertainment via niche markets
The Banking crisis, Economic Death Spiral, and narratives of collapse
Various responses to the article
Putting forth an accurate portrayal of California, in contrast with the media hype
A critique of various rightwing narratives about conflict and collapse
Causes of White flight and demographic change in California
Whether race relations will remain affable in California with extreme woke politics
Contrasting different future scenarios for California, including pan-enclavism
How White Californians are uniquely individualistic and rootless, and whether they will develop a stronger identity in the future
Why Whites should take part in multiculturalism to adapt to the end of Americanism
Topics:
Intro to the protagonist Spencer Grunhauer and the plot
Spencer’s philosophy and his manifest
The psychological process of how one becomes more alienated, unstable, and unhinged
Psycho-sexual motives behind politics and moral panics
Social status, elite overproduction, and out of whack life expectations
Making your own way “pill”
Narratives about online grifters
Bullishness on the future of dissident arts
Terror House’s book reading in Brooklyn, NYC
Creating effecting satire
The literary genre of alienated loners
A homage or modern day reboot of Confederacy of Dunces
Comparisons to Robert’s novel Vaporfornia and Matt’s Dragon Day
Examples of gaslighting on the economy, Redefining the definition of recession and declaration of a “Vibecession”
How the economic bullishness and bear rallies in stocks show the degree of disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street
The “Baking” of the Jobs numbers report and inflation data
The beginning of mass Tech layoffs
The super bubble to end all bubbles
Kevin’s article If You Thought the NIMBYs Were Bad – Meet the YIMBYs
Revisiting the pandemic stimulus and how only a fraction of stimulus went directly to the people
Federal Reserve policy, Biden’s “Inflation Reduction” Act,” and vulnerabilities of the dollar
Speculating worst case economic scenarios (deflationary depression, long-term stagflation, real estate crash, and debt crisis)
Geopolitics crisis, supply chains issues, global conflicts and civil unrest
The Fourth Turning theory and Peter Turchin’s method of measuring cycles of crisis
The political implications of the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar a Lago
Kevin’s observations from attending the recent CPAC conference in Texas on the political currents
Revisiting Andy’s earlier work and the genre of the alienated loner
References to incel culture in Muze
Other themes in Muze, including pharmaceuticals, transhumanism, blackmail, and mind control
Writing about depravity from a socially conservative/Catholic perspective
The revival in 00’s conspiracy theories
David Lynch and open ended narratives
Robert’s novel Vaporfornia and its similar themes to Muze
Allegories for degradation
Revisiting Robert’s mocumentary Supply
Matt Pegas’ Dragon Day
The growing dissident literary scene
Andy’s trip to South Africa in 2011
The politics of crisis: acceleration vs. gradual decay
Robert Stark talks to Anatoly Voronin about the war in Ukraine, meta-modernism, and cultural trends. Anatoly Voronin is from Kharkiv, Ukraine, has worked as a fashion photographer and makeup artist, and politically identifies as a meta-modernist and post-liberal Centrist. Check out Anatoly’s Substack blog: Golden Heart Motel, and follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
Topics:
War Diary: Live witness account of 2022 Ukrainian-Russian hostilities
The dissident-sphere’s take on the war and pro-Russia biases
Why Anatoly rejects the narrative of Ukraine being used as a pawn of the West
The end of the post-World War II narrative
Why Radical Centrism and Meta-Modernism are the next levels of consciousness
The Americanization of Europe
Why America is fundamentally a rightwing country
The Black-Red-Gold pill
The politics of beauty and why beauty pageants are radically centrist
The Russian film Bespredel (1989 ) about social hierarchies in the Soviet Prison System
