Category Archives: Texas

Robert Stark interviews Montgomery Markland about his movie Malibu Road

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.'”

Malibu Road (2021) IMDb 

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

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Roundtable Discussion on the Tech Exodus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark, Dain Fitzgerald, and Adam Mayer discuss the tech exodus out of California. Adam Mayer is a Bay Area based architect and Dain Fitzgerald, also Bay Area based, is a blogger who works on the periphery of tech.

Topics:

Emerging tech hubs and whether we will see a decentralized tech industry
The exodus of legacy companies out of California
San Francisco’s commercial real estate crash
The impact of the exodus on the housing crisis and NIMBY vs. YIMBY debate
The mass closure of small businesses in California and record corporate profits
The implications of remote work on quality of life and privacy issues
Future tech trends in outsourcing and automation, and which  jobs will remain lucrative and secure
The global bifurcation of tech and social media

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook pageTwitterInstagramStark Truth TV, novel Journey to Vapor Island, and in production documentary The Gospel of Gibson.

Robert Stark interviews River Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to River Page about the role of identity politics and class on the left, and the need for political alternatives to the existing left. River Page blogs at Twink Rev and you can follow him on Twitter.

Topics:

River’s religious upbringing, importance of social capital, and
exposure to Marxism

The inaccuracy of liberal stereotypes about the Bible Belt
Why Liberals Hate Poor White Trash
The degree to which social liberalism is a product of plutocratic economics
Marxism on the question of borders and nations
Examples of woke austerity in Eco-capitalism, diversity programs, and high skilled immigration
Kamala Harris and the intersection of elite economic interests with woke identity politics
How the New Left abandoned the working class
Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Platform Capitalism and the False Promise of Self-Liberation
The Woke Resurrection of a Gay Sex Panic

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook pageTwitterInstagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island


Robert Stark interviews Jack from The Perfume Nationalist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Matt Pegan talk to Jack from The Perfume Nationalist podcast. Check out Jack on Twitter.

Topics:

Nationalism as an aesthetic brand, selling perfume and soap opera visions to the right
Re-appropriating “queer culture”
Camille Paglia
Trump as a performance art aesthetic brand despite his standard neoliberal policies
Beauty equality vs. an upward value of aesthetic excellence
The aspirational quality of 80s aesthetics
How 2010s neoliberal minimalism conceals wealth and power while erasing history
The elite charade of fake bohemianism
How to time travel with perfume
Las Vegas as the last frontier of scented opulent public spaces
Jack’s affinity for 80s pop icon Madonna
Jack’s defense of the artistic integrity of Lena Dunham
David Lynch’s success at synthesizing surrealist art, perfume adds, and nighttime soap
Jack’s Perfume recommendations
TFW NO GF

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook pageTwitterInstagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark interviews Josh Alan Friedman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to writer and musician Josh Alan Friedman. He blogs at Black Cracker Online

Topics:

Intro Song: “Thanksgiving at McDonald’s in Times Square” by Josh Alan Friedman
Josh’s book Black Cracker about his experience going to the last segregated Black school in New York
Recovering lost memories from 1962 when Josh was in 1st Grade
The account of Josh being lynched in the book
The location of Glen Cove, Long Island, Black Shanty Towns, and the Gold Coast Era
Reactions to the book
Race relations in New York City in the 70’s, school busing, and the Bernie Goetz incident
Josh’s move to Dallas, Texas where his music career took off
Josh’s interest in Blues music, White adaptation of the Blues in the 60’s, the 80’s Blues Revival in Texas, and decline in interest among Blacks
Josh’s solo guitar act
Openings for bands including Huey Lewis and the News, War, Johnny Winter, and Bad Company
Josh’s book Tales of Times Square about Time Square in the 70’s; Robert Stark’s interview with Robert Brenner about his Gritty Old Time Square Tours
Josh’s observation that Broadway in Downtown LA reminds him of old Time Square
Josh’s interview with Luke Ford
Josh’s experience working for Al Goldstein’s Screw Magazine
Josh’s book I, Goldstein, which is a co-written autobiography about Al Goldstein
Josh’s book When Sex Was Dirty
Rules for Journalist; “never pay for an interview”
Book Publishing; the era of “the gate keeper,” independent publishing houses such as Feral House, and self-publishing today
The effects of the internet on musicians


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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark interviews Thom Young

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater interview writer Thom Young. He is from Texas and sees outlaw country as an influence. You can buy his books at Amazon.

Topics:
-Young’s background in Texas, the culture, and the environment.
-Young’s books: Westworld, Noir, Patsy, GrindhouseDead Flowers, Champ
-Outlaw Country, Jim Goad, Louis L’amour, Feral House, Nine Banded-Books
-The influence of Texas within Young’s writing
-Dark themes in Young’s work, alienation
-Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, Hubert Selby Jr.
-Young’s work in Poetry Quarterly and other magazines
-Purple Onion
-The cover art on Young’s books
-Thom’s brother Jeb, who designs many of his covers and runs Tumbleweed TexStyles
-The Brutalist Marina City Towers on the cover of Dead Flower,  Film Noire, and Mid Century Road Signage
-Young’s Instagram and his she poems
-Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot compared to Dead Flowers
-Grindhouse films
-David Lynch Films
-Typewriters, The Astrohaus Freewrite
-Jonathan Bowden, KMFDM, Wyndham Lewis, …single word titles.
-Anthony Burgess, Conspiracy Theorist Jim Marrs
-Traveling, Road Trips, San Juan Mountains, Colorado
-Interest in History,  the Old West, Civil War, WWII novel Voices of the Pacific
-How Young had a new sense of creativity after his Stroke when he was 13
-Young’s upcoming project Instapoet


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Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




 

Robert Stark interviews Charles Lincoln about True Stories

CEL-TS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark interviews Charles Lincoln about True Stories which is a 1986 American film that spans the genres of musical, art, and comedy, directed by and starring David Byrne of the band Talking Heads. It co-stars John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Spalding Gray. Byrne has described the film as, “A project with songs based on true stories from tabloid newspapers. It’s like 60 Minutes on acid.” Robert Lindsay also joins in on the conversation

Topics include:

The setting of the film, a small fictional town on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas that is undergoing change
How the town in the film is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Texan independence
Charles Lincoln’s personal connection to Dallas
How the film shows both the old America and the New and how that is symbolic of America in the 1980’s
The depiction of diversity in the film
The Conspiracy Theorist Preacher in the film
The depiction of crass materialism and how the culture of the 80’s was more upfront than today’s  hybrid of materialism and social justice
The marginalization of highbrow culture(ex. scene in the film depicting a janitor singing opera
Emile Durkheim’s theory on anomie,  which is the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and the community
The music in the film by the Talking Heads
Ronald Reagan and how Charles Lincoln opposes Reagan from a traditionalist standpoint and Robert Lindsay from an Alternative Left standpoint
How Reagan’s credit policy encouraged suburban sprawl, which is depicted in the film

 


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Robert Stark interviews John Médaille

John-Médaille

Robert Stark and co-host Charles Lincoln interview John Médaille. John is a retired businessman who teaches in the Theology and Business departments at the University of Dallas, and is a senior scholar with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War, a former city councilman, and the author of two books, “The Vocation of Business: Social Justice in the Marketplace” (2007) and “Toward a Truly Free Market: A Distributist Perspective.”

Topics include:

The culture and economy of Texas
How a Free Market is defined by a high degree of competition and participation
How capitalism is not a truly free market because it leads to consolidation
How conservatism became redefined as corporate global capitalism instead of local control and tradition
The need to end corporate subsidies and regulations favoring large corporations
Wal-Mart and the hidden inefficiency of our distribution system
Monopolies in the media and communications
Anti-Trust Laws
Banking and the need to end to big to fail banks in favor of localized banking
Georgism and the theory on land speculation
Why John favors a wealth tax over an income tax
How the breaking up of large estates led to the economic success of Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea
How those examples differ from Communist land confiscation in Zimbabwe and the Soviet Union
The Emilia-Romagna Cooperatives in Northern Italy
Free Trade deals and how they destroyed small businesses and manufacturing
Healthcare reform: licensing, guilds, and insurance


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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Artwork

Robert Stark interviews Charles Lincoln on Tort Law

Photo on 6-11-14 at 5_37 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topics include:

How Charles defeated  the Insurance companies in Texas when he was a lawyer

How Insurance companies made Tort claims profitable for themselves through their advertising campaign

How Insurance companies lobbied for Tort Reform once they received a monopoly on Tort

How the advent of technology increased the need for Tort

How insurance started as a self protection strategy

How Tort is neither the absolute purity of criminal law or the absolute freedom of contract law

How  Tort Law enforces standards known as social obligations

How Tort is entirely compatible with economic freedom while upholding some of the ethical concerns that have driven people towards socialism

How Texas has historically had liberal Tort Laws but recently passed Tort Reform

The Conservative myth that pro Corporate policies have improved Texas’s economy

How Tort Reform is pro Corporate and lacks a social responsibility

How advocates of Tort Reform advocate Caps on damages and oppose damages based on emotional harm

How Tort Reform is class warfare and makes it nearly impossible for the poor to sue corporations

How Tort Law can protect Freedom of Speech and political dissidents

Whether Tort could be used to dismantle corrupt corporations

How Tort is needed since one cannot depend on the Government for protection

 

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