Ben Arzate reviews Robert Stark’s novel Journey to Vapor Island for Culture Vultures.
Ben Arzate lives in Des Moines, Iowa. His poetry and fiction have appeared in various places in print and online. He is also a contributor to Adventures in SciFi Publishing and blogs at dripdropdripdropdripdrop.
“Robert Stark’s debut novel is a strange and hilarious work of Internet Age satire.”
Robert Stark and co-host Francis Nally talk to Vaporwave artist Spear 槍. He is a musician and DJ who attends Pennsylvania State University. Check out his music on Facebook, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp.
Topics:
Intro: 名誉
The Vaporwave genre
Slowed down compressed 80’s music
Lo-Fi Trip Hot
The revival of cassettes and VHS
Adult Swim
Vaporwave as a surreal idealized consumerism
Mallsoft
The visual art for the videos
The Vapor Room show
Saudade; a Portuguese term to describe the longing for and memories of good times
Hypnagogia; the state between being awake and being asleep where you can’t distinguish between what is real and what is not
Vaporwave Literature(Robert Stark’s Journey to Vapor Island)
Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island
Robert Stark and co-host Paul Bingham talk to James LaFond. James is an author, blogger, and self defense expert based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Check out his work on his website, blog, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, Patreon, and the thecrackpotpodcast.
Topics:
James’s writings about life in Baltimore
The city’s descent into chaos
Personal experiences with crime and violence
Police corruption and the Police’s ineffectiveness in dealing with crime
The 2015 Freddie Gray Riots
Making a living as a writer
James’s fantasy and science fiction novels
James’s book The Jericho Bone
Robert E. Howard and Louis L’Amour
Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings and his novel Journey to Vapor Island
James O’Meara reviews Robert Stark’s novel Journey to Vapor Island; Magical Miserablism: Robert Stark’s Myths of the Near Future.
“Robert Stark has achieved something remarkable here. He’s taken the basic elements of a common kind of alt-Right narrative — basically, the youth who, because of his intelligence and sensitivity, becomes a murderous outcast from a degenerate society — and managed to avoid these miserablist results by infusing them with his own private, even idiosyncratic, obsessions.
Precisely by their personal nature, they communicate a brilliant energy to the narrative, lifting it out of the realm of a necessarily pessimistic Present Year realism and into a kind of magic realism whose conclusion — here is the key to the achievement — never feels tacked on like a Hollywood ending but rather seems a satisfyingly integral part of the work.”
Topics:
Hank(David Duchovny) is an established author, kind of like every independent man’s dream, though he could easily get taken advantage of by every woman he sleeps with, starting with Mia(Madeline Zima)
How Hank never seems to learn anything, if anything in later seasons he becomes less intelligent…he even admits it…he is a “writer, non-practicing”
Hank is very well connected, demonstrating implicitly that his lifestyle can’t be forever or for everyone
There is something surreal about this show in that no man, not even the powerful get hit on this much by women
Hank ironically suffers from writers block but interestingly, always “writes about what he knows”
Hank’s nihilistic novel being turned into a cheesy romantic comedy
Mia stealing Hank’s novel based on his encounter with her which is latter turned into a film
Madeline Zima in the new Twin Peaks
Similarities between Hank and major sex positive male feminist who have been accused of sexual harassment
The ridiculous sex scenarios Hank gets into
How by the end of the first season it’s interesting how his unmarried “wife” still prefers him which logically doesn’t make much sense but does make sense when you think of his “I don’t give a damn” characteristics
Hank’s agent “Charlie Runkel” who is probably closer to what Hank would be like if he were a real life character
How on some level Hank is genuinely self-loathing
The relationship between Hank and his daughter
Charlie’s boss Sue Collini(Kathleen Turner) who is intimidating even for a cougar and has a very attractive histrionic personality
Sue Collini isn’t the romantic type, she only wants sex from her clients; “Sue Collini always get’s the weenie”
Mia having a preference for older men behind her father’s back while sending every possible signal that she was doing so anyway
How the show has almost every possible sexual fetish in it mentioned
How the show is based on repetition rather than an overall plot
How a lot of Far-Right people watch this show despite that they would all call it degenerate
How the show relates to the ongoing Hollywood sex scandals; the line “You’re no Brett Ratner”
Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!
Robert Stark is joined with Francis Nally and Brandon Adamson to discuss his new novel Journey to Vapor Island.
Topics:
Brandon’s review of Journey to Vapor Island(Contains Spoilers)
The cover art by Mark Velard
How listeners to the show will instantly recognize favorite topics when they make cameo appearances in the book or manifest themselves as part of the underlying themes
Internet memes in the book(ex. the men in the frog masks)
The fusion of genres including Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, and Dark Comedy
A disclaimer that this book is not for anyone that is squeamish about sex or easily shocked or offended
Brandon’s observation that the sexual scenes in the book are more akin to the “random battles” in old school Super Nintendo RPGs like Final Fantasy IV
The theme of how central sex is to people’s motivations, and the overall perception of status in society
The main character Noam Metzenbaum who is a socially inept yet intelligent student with illusions of grandeur
The Chads and the theme of the nerd getting revenge against bullies and the popular cliques
Noam’s crush Natalie Bloom and his lifelong obsession with her
The Retro-Futuristic surreal fantasy world in the book; an adult Never Ending Story
The Roger Blackstone character who could represent a Trump-like figure, but could just as easily be a Ross Perot or even Willy Wonka
The outrageous comic elements in the book
The theme of the commercialization of tragedies and the celebrity status of mass murderers
How the book is timely with the ongoing Hollywood sex scandals
The theme of living in ones fantasies and how that shapes the book’s narrative
Click Here to download!
Robert Stark talks to director Richard Wolstencroft about his new film The Second Coming Volume II. Volume I is free to view on Vimeo.
Topics:
Intro: Johnny Tyler – God’s Gonna Turn Us To Dust
The film’s inspiration from the poem The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats and the film’s segments based on passages from the poem
“A low budget epic”
The film’s influences including Kenneth Anger, Andy Warhol, Lars Von Trier’s Dogma, Godard’s My Life To Live, and Terrence Malick
The film’s aesthetic
The film’s theme of man trying to usher in the Apocalypse
The conflict between the black magicians and the white magicians
Aleister Crowley and Occultism
“Charles Manson put a curse on Western Civilization”
Cameos by Jim Goad, Boyd Rice, and Adam Parfrey
Music by David Thrussell and old Country Western Music
Filming locales including Thailand, Australia, LA, Switzerland, Barcelona, and London
Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!
Robert Stark talks to Lynn Zook about her new book Gambling on a Dream Volume 2:. This second volume of a two-part multimedia book tells the fascinating story of the Las Vegas Strip hotels built during the turbulent years of cultural and societal change, 1956-1973. Nowadays, alongside traditional casinos, people can go online to sites such as togel singapore for easier access to their gambling/lottery needs. In the digital age in which we live today, online gambling has really taken over the world. This is indicated by the number of people using parhaat nettikasinot (the best online casinos) for entertainment or as preparation for a real casino setting. Competition is still fierce though. Online casinos have to offer bonuses and other initiatives to tempt gamers in. Want to learn How to receive the first deposit bonus? If so, doing some research on casino review websites is strongly recommended. Back to the book though, Lynn Zook also runs the website Classic Las Vegas, and has produced an hour-long, first person narrative documentary on the history of Las Vegas entitled “The Story of Classic Las Vegas. Check out Robert Stark’s first interview with Lynn Zook on Gambling on a Dream Volume 1.
Topics:
Lynn’s first book Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955
Lynn’s interest and personal connection to Vintage Las Vegas
Caesars Palace
The Hacienda
The Stardust
The Aladdin
The original MGM Grand which is now Bally’s
The International which is now the Westin
The English Tudor themed Tally Ho which was built by the creator of Yahtzee
How the Tropicana and Circus Circus are the last two remaining from this era
The Sin City Era
The Rat Pack and Frank Sinatra
The showrooms and variety show performers
The role of the Mob
Historic Preservation and the Neon Museum
Lynn’s upcoming book on Fremont Street and Downtown
Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!
Robert Stark and co-host Joshua Zeidner talk to blogger Luke Ford about the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Topics:
LAT: More than 30 women come forward to accuse director James Toback of sexual harassment
The rape allegations and criminal investigations against Harvey Weinstein
The insular nature of Hollywood
Luke’s involvement in Hollywood as a background player
Luke’s book The Producers: Profiles in Frustration
Harvey Weinstein’s buying off of journalist
Luke’s exposé on a scandal involving the Hollywood Gay Mafia and David Geffen
Corey Feldman’s allegations against Hollywood
The predatory urge behind sexual power
Luke’s observation that the Porn Industry is a lot more honest and open than Hollywood
Luke’s estimate that most actors and actresses trade sexual favors for roles
Ilana Mercer’s article Harvey Sweinstein and Hollywood’s Hos
Tablet Mag: Harvey Weinstein, Philip Roth, and Jewish Perverts
Harvey Weinstein’s personality type
Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!
Robert Stark and co-host Joshua Zeidner talk to Dain Fitzgerald. Dain works in the Silicon Valley, is based in Oakland, blogs at Dry Hyphen Olympics, and writes for The American Spectator and Secular Right. He is also on Twitter.
Topics:
How Robert met Dain at a Bay Area futurist meetup
Growing up in Sacramento, CA
Life in the Bay Area
The Bay Area’s economic situation and housing crisis
Dain’s political views, how he is fairly centrist economically, and opposed to SJW culture
The Grey Tribe
The Culture War; the humanities vs. the sciences
The political climate of the Silicon Valley
The firing of James Damore from Google
Neurodiversity
Dain’s article Asian-American Leaders Are Scarce in Silicon Valley. And?
Dain’s article Meet the New Boss about how well behaved Millennials are
Futurism and science based politics
The Harvey Weinstein Scandal(note: the show was recorded before the recent SNL)
Click Here to download!
This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!