Category Archives: Cities

Robert Stark interviews Lynn Zook

aesthetics, Architecture, Cities, Culture, Gambling, Historic Preservation, History, Las Vegas, Lynn Zook, Mass Transit, Mid-Century Modern, Neon, Skyscrapers

It is no secret that gambling has come a long way since the 1930s. You wouldn’t have found people playing casino games on sites like find fair casinos back in the day. But of course, times change and nothing stays the same.

Online gambling and websites such as www.norgescasino.com/ have completely changed the betting landscape. But what was really going on behind the scenes in some of the iconic Las Vegas casinos back in the day? Lynn Zook runs the website Classic Las Vegas, and Produced an hour-long, first person narrative documentary on the history of Las Vegas entitled “The Story of Classic Las Vegas.” Of course, the story of these classic casinos lives on today through modern gaming sites like vera john slots where the classic games one would expect to see in the various casinos of Vegas are there for all to enjoy.

Topics include:

Lynn’s nostalgia for Vintage Vegas, as a Las Vegas native growing up in the 60’s and early 70’s
Lynn’s new book Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955 about the first ten hotels including El Rancho Vegas, Hotel Last Frontier, Flamingo Hotel, Thunderbird Hotel, Wilbur Clark’s Desert Inn, Sahara Hotel, Sands Hotel, Royal Nevada Hotel, The Riviera, and the Dunes Hotel
Lynn’s next book will cover the years 1956-1973, up to the original MGM Grand
The destruction of the Las Vegas Strip’s original Casinos started in the 90’s with the demolition of the Dunes and The Sands
The Flamingo, Tropicana, and Circus Circus are the last remaining of the historic casinos on the strip, and the most in danger of demolition. The legacy of the classic casinos will live on in online casino phone games that are rapidly replacing the big names of yesteryear.
The recent demolition of the Riviera, how it was the strip’s first highrise, and how it was known for performers such as Liberace
Riviera sign’s going to the Neon Museum including the original marque by Marge Williams and the signage from the 80’s renovation
Steve Wynn requested removal of the New Frontier’s neon marquee
The history of Caesars Palace
The importance of historical preservation, and how Las Vegas lacks any significant historic preservation laws
The Las Vegas Neon Museum, which preserves historic signs
Fremont Street in Downtown Lass Vegas, which still retains much of the original casino’s, which will be the topic of Lynn’s third book
The El Cortez Downtown as the best example of a successful renovation of an old casino
The sense of intimacy in the original casinos
How Las Vegas was America’s first 24 hour city
How changing taste in entertainment shaped Las Vegas’s changing landscape
The mid-century car culture, and how it shaped the Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Monorail
The Decline in Neon and replacement by bland LED signage
How the Paris built in 1999, and the Polo Towers also built in the 90’s, are the best examples of the most recent hotels using neon
The Somerset Shopping Center and The Bonanza Gift Shop
Locally oriented casino’s including Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall and Gold Strike Hotel and Gambling Hall
The McCarran Airport’s Mid Century Space Age Terminal


Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark interviews Charles Marohn from Strong Towns

Architecture, Charles Marohn, Cities, Economics, Environment, Historic Preservation, income inequality, Los Angeles, Mass Transit, Nassim Taleb, New Urbanism, New York, Pilleater, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Strong Towns, Suburbia, Urbanism, Wealth, Zoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to Charles Marohn. Charles is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the State of Minnesota and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Chuck is the Founder and President of Strong Towns. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute.

Topics:

How Charles’s background in urban planning exposed him to the problems of sprawl development
Charles’s books Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume 1 & Volume II
The fiscal unsustainability of sprawl development
Charles’ point that the key factor in urbanism is Incremental Development
Charles’s point that cities must be viewed as ecosystems
The “build it they will come” fallacy, and how traditionally massive infrastructure projects were designed to serve existing population centers(ex.Roman Aqueducts)
How pre-automobile cities tend to be the most viable
Nassim Taleb’s Antifragile theory, and how it relates to urbanism
The Density Question, Charles point that density should neither be fetishized nor seen as inherently bad, but must take into account incremental development
How cities such as New York and San Francisco have value independent of their economies, while places like the Silicon Valley would become unviable if their industries collapsed
Zoning laws and land use regulations
The movement to Retrofit Suburbia, how it’s a step in the right direction, but has it’s limitations
How cities will contract in the future, with people living in both cities and towns, but that it’s the space in between that’s unviable
Micro Apartments
Political divides, and how when it comes to planning issues on a local level, people tend to be more pragmatic than dogmatic
The Public vs. Private sector role in infrastructure, and how Charles’s point that things that are high risk should be in the private sector, and low risk in the public sector(ex. Wall Street baillouts)
The role of the government in historic preservation and protecting the environment
Housing and affordable family formation


Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark talks about his trip to LA

1980's, aesthetics, Alternative Left, American Culture, Architecture, Art Deco, Beverly Hills, California, Charles Lincoln, Cities, Class, Culture, demographics, Diversity, Futurism, gentrification, Hipsters, Historic Preservation, History, Hollywood, Homosexuality, Immigration, income inequality, John C. Portman Jr, Los Angeles, Malls, Mass Transit, materialism, Mid-Century Modern, Middle Class, Neon, Photography, Pilleater, Rabbit, Retro Futurism, Skyscrapers, Suburbia, SWPL, Travel, Urbanism, Vaporwave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark joined with co-host Pilleater, Rabbit, and Charles Edward Lincoln, talk about his recent trip to his hometown LA

Topics include:

The Hollywood imagery and outsider stereotypes of LA
The history of LA
How LA’s urban core is spread out over a large geographic area from Santa Monica on the Coast to Downtown LA
Robert’s disclaimer that the photos capture the best of LA, but that most of the spaces in between are unappealing due to the cities sprawl
LA’s transit system
South Central LA
West Hollywood, and Rabbit’s experience living there
Downtown LA, the gentrification of the historic core, the grittiness and vintage signage of Broadway, and the Serial Killers Who Haunted The Cecil Hotel
Downtown LA’s architecture including John Portman’s Bonaventure Hotel, and the the 80’s Art Deco revival Home Savings Building where Charles Lincoln worked
Beverly Hills, the 80’s futurist Rodeo Collection, the “Vaporwave” Roman Fountain , and the the 70 futurist/late modernist Roxbury Plaza
Century City, which originally had a 60’s futurist aesthetic, was the the film location of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and the Century City Mall
1980’s Malls including the Beverly Center(Original image), Westside Pavilion, which reminds Pilleater of the game Myst, and the renovation of those malls which ruined their aesthetic
Historic preservation trends starting with demolition of the Art Deco Richfield Tower in Downtown LA, to the lack of preservation for 80’s architecture today
New architecture inspired by past styles including the new Streamline Moderne Under construction Beverly Hilton tower, 70’s futurist inspired renderings for skyscrapers, and Rabbit’s observation that many apartments are being retrofited in mid-century modern styles
Santa Monica, the waterfront, architecture including the Art Deco Clock Tower, and Santa Monica NIMBY Restriction on heights
The Interactive Cafe, which is one of the last surviving independent businesses in downtown Santa Monica, and Pilleater’s point that it has a Cyberpunk aesthetic
The high cost of housing in LA, even in unappealing areas
The San Fernando Valley, which was traditionally home to LA’s middle class
Demographic trends, the destruction of the white middle class, gentrification of the urban core, and new suburban ghettos in the desert
Rabbit’s point about SWPLs he met in LA who look down on the suburban middle class
The Alt Left dilemma between identifying with SWPL Culture, and urbanist aesthetics, and supporting white middle class identitarianism, which often lacks strong aesthetic visions

Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




View Full Photo Album
Continue reading Robert Stark talks about his trip to LA →

Robert Stark interviews Anatoly Karlin about his American Decade, Futurism, & Political Trends

aesthetics, Akira, Alternative Left, Alternative Right, American Culture, Anatoly Karlin, Architecture, Basic Income, Berkeley, Bernie Sanders, Brutalism, California, capitalism, censorship, Chicago, Cities, Colin Liddell, Conservatives, Culture, demographics, Diversity, Donald Trump, Drugs, Economics, Elections, Environment, Eugenics, Europe, Feminism, Free Trade, Freedom of Speech, Futurism, Gambling, Gender, Global Warming, Globalization, Homosexuality, Human Bio Diversity, Immigration, income inequality, Las Vegas, Leftism, Liberalism, Los Angeles, Mass Transit, Millennials, Nationalism, New York, Oligarchy, Pilleater, Political Correctness, Politics, Rabbit, Rachel Haywire, Radical Center, Richard Spencer, Robert Lindsay, Ron Unz, Russia, San Francisco, Science, Scott Jackisch, Skyscrapers, Transhumanism, Travel, Urbanism, Vladimir Putin, Wealth, Zoltan Istvan

san-francisco-karlin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to Anatoly Karlin. He blogs at The Unz Review

Topics include:

Anatoly’s article at the Unz Review about his American Decade
Why Anatoly is leaving the United States and going back to Russia
How the United States is becoming more like Europe
T.R. Reid’s book The United States of Europe, where he argued that the EU was emerging as a superpower rivaling the US, but has latter been disproved
How during the Bush era Americans perceived Europeans as “Cheese Eating Surrender Moneys,” but latter Sarkozy became the architect of the war in Libya, and arming Syrian rebels
Another element of America’s Europeanization is the decline in social conservatism, the surge in support for gay marriage, and drug legalization
Anatoly’s political views, which are fairly socially liberal(except for rejecting political correctness, and radical feminism),  economically centrist, and closest to Rabbit’s AltLeft
U.S. Millennials More Likely to Support Censoring Offensive Speech, especially among university students who are the future elites
The decline in American fertility rates toward European levels
How American politics now resembles Europe in the sense that there are five distinct blocs: Clinton democrats, Sanders socialists, Rubio/Bush etablishment conservatives, Cruz Bible-bashers, and Trump nationalists.
Anatoly’s pre election prediction article US Elections 2016: Let’s MAGA, Not War, and Trump’s support in the rust belt
Trump’s economic policies as a hybrid of supply side economics, and economic nationalism, and the similarities to Putin’s economic policies in Russia
The GINI index of income inequality
The pros and cons of economic automation, and the basic income
Transhumanism, Zoltan Istvan, and his book The Transhumanist Wager
The Bay Area where Anatoly spent most of his time in the US, and how it’s pretty much ideal, but also the most expensive macro-region of the US
California is also home to Ron Unz, Steve Sailer, as well as the “Alt Left” movement(the tiny group of thinkers combining leftist economics with HBD, sane views on gender relations, and a penchant for futurism )
The futurist scene in the Bay Area including Scott Jackisch’s Bay Area Futurists meetup, Health Extensions Salons, Mike Johnson’s Qualia Research Institute, Effective Altruism, and the “techno” faction of NRx
Mass Transit, Bay Area Rapid Transit, how older cities tend to have more integrated transit systems, and why conservatives oppose mass transit
Global Warming, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius who discovered climate change, debunking climate change deniers, and whether it will benefit arctic regions such as Russia
Observations on other American cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Washington DC, and Pittsburgh
Anatoly’s experience ridding across the nation on Amtrak
Architecture: Skyscrapers, Brutalism, architect John Portman’s 70’s Neofuturism, and Rabbit’s ideal city based on the film Logan’s run
America’s great wilderness and National Park System


Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark interviews Pilleater about Music & Manga

1980's, 80's music, 90's music, aesthetics, Akira, Alex von Goldstein, Alternative Left, Anime, Architecture, Art, Asia, Asian Aryanism, Asian Culture, Cinema, Cities, counterculture, Culture, Erotica, Film, Futurism, Gender, Homosexuality, Italo Disco, Japan, Japanese Culture, Multiculturalism, Music, Neon, Patalliro!, Pepe the Frog, Peter Sotos, Pilleater, Pornography, Race Relations, Retro Futurism, Science Fiction, Synthwave, Vaporwave, William Gibson

akira-neon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Alex von Goldstein talk to Pilleater. Pilleater is a college student, internet artist, musician, and blogs at Mineo Maya Fanclub. You can find his music at pizzadogstudios, pso119, and kingtrode.

Topics include:

The intro song, pissedoffindianman by Pilleater , which features clips of Jared Taylor
Jared Taylor’s Shadows of the Rising Sun: A Critical View of the Japanese Miracle(1983)
How Pilleater was exposed to electronic music at a young age, and became a Chiptune musician at age 16 as DJ Qudo
Latter on Pilleater got into Noise music, such as Whitehouse, and Digital hardcore bands, such as Atari Teenage Riot, and KMFDM, who are controversial due to the Columbine Shooters
Oneohtrix Point Never, who was the forerunner to Vaporwave
Japanese Pornography similar to what you might see at websites such as teeni, and Pilleater’s point that it has a nationalist communal nature
The Ganguro culture in Japan, where girls tan their skin and bleach their hair, and is common in porn
Pilleater’s favorite music genre Eurobeat from the 90’s, it’s popularity in Japan, his favorite artist Bratt Sinclaire, Sinclaire’s song Running in the 90’s, and it’s origins from Italo disco from the 80’s
Generic Euro Dance(ex. Aqua and Dj Sammy)
The Italo disco song Shadilay, which came out in the 80’s by a band P.E.P.E with a frog on it’s album cover, and it’s esoteric Lyrics
Examples of Italo Disco include the global sensation Baltimora’s Tarzan Boy, and Pilleaters favorites, BRIAN ICE – Talking to the night, Eddy Huntington – Up And Down, and Lama – Love on the rocks
The New Retro Wave Genre of music that emerged in the mid 2000’s, inspired by 80’s New Wave and Italo Disco(ex. FM Attack, Lifelike – So Electric, Electric Youth, College, Kavinsky)
The French House band Daft Punk and their use of anime
Chicago house music
Vaporwave, and it’s nostalgia for William Gibson’s Neuromancer’s Japan
William Gibson’s Idoru
The anime film Akira(1988), set in a post apocalyptic Japan, and how it’s influenced Vaporwave, Cyberpunk, and New Retro Wave
The manga Patalliro!, about a ten year old cross dressing king, it’s colorful Art Nouveau aesthetic, it’s influence from
H. P. Lovecraft, and it’s taboo themes
Asian Aryianism and whites living vicariously through Japanese culture
Themes of Asian Aryanism in The Legend of Zelda, which combines Japanese and Medieval European Aesthetics
Asian Aryan themes in Vaporwave with Roman busts and Japanese aesthetics
The minimalist Japanese vs. Chinese aesthetics
How each music genre has it’s own unique aesthetic
The Seapunk electronic genre, which uses Sega Genesis imagery(ex.UNICORN KID)
Dark wave, which is apocalyptic electronic music from Germany(ex. Project Pitchfork, and Dunkerwerk)
Betsy & Chris, the white Hawaiian folk music duo, who sang in fluent Japanese
Stereolab, which reminds Pilleater of Rabbit’s AltLeft
Why Alex thinks Michael Jackson is an Alt Left Icon
Sam Hyde and Tim & Eric on Adult Swim
Pilleater’s upcoming book, “Almond Eyes, Baby Face,” a collection of short stories on Asian Aryanism

Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark interviews Paul Bingham about Wyndham Lewis, Ernst Jünger, & Italian Futurism

aesthetics, Aleister Crowley, Alex von Goldstein, Architecture, Aristocratic Individualism, Art, Art Deco, Carl Jung, Cities, Cuisine, Culture, Drugs, Ernst Jünger, Fascism, Filippo Marinetti, Futurism, Italian Futurism, Italy, Paul Bingham, Science, Science Fiction, technology, Transhumanism, War, Wyndham Lewis

wyndham-lewis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Alex von Goldstein talk to Paul Bingham. This show is a continuation of our discussion about Aleister Crowley and Aristocratic Individualism

Topics include:

How Wyndham Lewis, Ernst Jünger, Aleister Crowley, and the Italian Futurist, were individuals who existed outside the liberal reactionary/traditionalist paradigm, and viewed the world in a realist way unbiased by ideology
The cult of Positivism
Italian Futurism, how it was marginalized due to it’s ties to Mussolini, but made a major impact on the arts
How Ayn Rand was influenced by Italian Futurism
Robert Stark’s talk with Rabbit about Italian Futurism
Wynham Lewis’s Vorticist movement, his magazine Blast, and his Rebel Art Centre
The philosophy of the Vortex, which views everything as energy constantly in motion
The rivalry between Italian Futurist Filippo Marinetti and Wyndham Lewis, and how Lewis critiqued Italian Futurism for putting to much emphasis on technology
Wynham Lewis’s The Art of Being Ruled, which made the case that the artist was the best to rule, and that capitalism and liberal democracy suppressed genuine cultural elites
How the book addresses Transsexualism, and anthropological findings on the Third Sex
Kerry Bolton’s essay on Wyndham Lewis
Lewis’s relationship with fascism, how he published the book Hitler (1931), which presented Adolf Hitler as a “man of peace,” but latter wrote an attack on anti-semitism: The Jews, are they human?( 1939)
The influence of war and violence on Italian Futurism
The Manifesto of Futurism
The Futurist Cookbook
Futurism is about testing what works, and rejecting traditions that don’t work
The futurist believed that every generation should create their own city, and futurist Antonio Sant’Elia’s Plan for Città Nuova (“New City”)
Paul worked on a book that was never published, “The Motor City and the Zombie Apocalypse,” about how the motor city is incompatible with human nature
The effects of global technological materialism on culture, and how technology needs the right people and culture to work
Jean Baudrillard point that the Italians have the best symbiosis between culture and technological progress
The Transhumanist concept of Cybernetics, which is rewiring the brain, and how the futurist used poetry as a precursor to cybernetics
Paul’s point that futurist movements such as cyberpunk, and Neoreaction are more focused on Live action role-playing, but are not serious about pushing the limits
The intellectual and transcendental value of LSD and DMT, Ernst Jünger’s experimentation with acid, but they are only effective if the right people use them
Paul’s point that the only real futurist are underground, and experimenting in third world countries
Aristocratic individualism, and Paul’s opinion that Ernst Jünger is the best example, and Jünger’s concept of the Anarch
Ernst Jünger’s science fiction novel The Glass Bees
Ernst Jünger’s “The Worker”


Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark interviews Bay Area Guy about the SF Bay Area and the FIRE Economy

aesthetics, Alex von Goldstein, American Culture, Banking, Bay Area Guy, Bay Area Renters Federation, Bernie Sanders, capitalism, Cities, Corporations, Culture, Distributism, Economics, Environment, FIRE Economy, Hillary Clinton, Killing the Host, Lafayette CA, Michael Hudson, Neoliberalism, Oligarchy, Radical Center, San Francisco, Scott Smith, Sonja Trauss, Suburbia, Taxation, Third Way Economics, Tobin Tax, Urbanism, Usury, Wall Street, Wealth

killing-the-host

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark, Rabbit & Alex von Goldstein talk to Bay Area-based blogger Bay Area Guy of  Occident Invicta

Topics include:

Bay Area Guy’s article The Bay Area and the FIRE Economy, which reviews Robert Stark’s interview with Laura Foote Clark of Grow SF
How as a renter in the Bay Area this issue personally effects Bay Area Guy
The role that Banks and the FIRE sector play in driving up the cost of real estate
Bay Area Guy’s point that he does not want the Bay Area to become like SoCal: an environmental eyesore characterized by track housing and strip malls
However Bay Area Guy does endorse Laura’s proposal of having Silicon Valley become more urbanized
The role that mass immigration plays in the housing crisis on top of the FIRE economy
Bay Area Renters Federation’s Sonja Trauss: Advocating for Housing Development in San Francisco
San Francisco Bay Area Renters’ Federation‘s lawsuit against the city of Lafayette over a development
The argument that white NIMBY’s oppose development because of diversity, and Bay Area Guy’s article, “Diversity” is Simply Code for “Non-white”
Bay Area Guy’s review of Killing the Host by Michael Hudson
The FIRE economy, which is an economy based on Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate sectors
Michael Hudson’s proposal to tax unearned income(ex. Tobin tax)
The goal of a fair tax policy should not just be to redistribute wealth, but also to punish predatory behavior, and incentivize productive behavior
How Michael Hudson invokes the arguments of Classical Liberals such as Adam Smith, and John Stewart Mills, who distinguished between earned and unearned income
Unearned income is any wealth not generated by production or labor
Debt and living paycheck to paycheck is the road to serfdom
How the majority of people’s income goes towards unearned income(ex. rent, insurance, mortgages)
How lower wages are bad for the economy, because consumers have less money to spend
Wikileaks: Hillary Clinton Calls Bernie Sanders Supporters Basement Dwellers, and that she viewed Wall Street as best to manage the economy
The Calvinist mentality in American culture, that your worth is based on your wealth
What makes Hudson’s book so brilliant is he points out that the ultra rich make their money through unproductive or predatory ways
Examples of countries that have moved away from the FIRE economy include Germany and Japan, who have a high end manufacturing base
In contrast the FIRE economies of the United States and the United Kingdom became dominant using protectionist and mercantilist measures, but liberalized their economies later on
Why Universal Healthcare and Public investment in infrastructure benefit the economy
Michael Hudson debunks supply side economics by pointing out the rich spend most of their extra income on products they already own, or lend their money out at interest
How the concept of a free market has been twisted from freedom from the rentier economy, into letting the financial sector do what ever they want
Michael Hudson’s point that the primary function of banking is not to fund business or stimulate the economy, but to bid up assets already in place, and attach debt to rents


Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark interviews Scott Jackisch

aesthetics, Architecture, Basic Income, California, capitalism, Cities, Consumerism, Dystopia, Economics, Environment, Futurism, Human Bio Diversity, income inequality, Philosophy, Political Correctness, Politics, Psychology, Rabbit, Realpolitik, Retro Futurism, Robert Heinlein, San Francisco, Science, Science Fiction, Scott Jackisch, Skyscrapers, Social Isolation, Social Justice Warriors, Socialism, Sociopaths, Transhumanism, Urbanism, Utopia, War, Wealth, Zoning

Oakland Futurist

 

 

 

 

Scott Jackisch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Rabbit interview Scott Jackisch. Scott is an IT consultant located in Oakland, CA. He blogs at The Oakland Futurist and runs the East Bay Futurists meetup.

Topics include:

Scott’s interest in futurism and science fiction writers including Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and William Gibson
Scott’s futurist meetup and how there is a strong interest in futurism in the San Francisco Bay Area
How in the modern era people are isolated, and how meetups can fill in that void, and create new communities
How the meetup itself is not political, but rather an open discussion on futurism
The different political factions within futurism including liberals, libertarians, and Neoreactionaries
Scott’s critique of Neoreaction, how his main disagreement is over their rejections of progress, but can sympathize with their reaction to extreme political correctness
Rabbit’s point that he got interested in Neoreaction because the idea of people being able to form their own societies appealed to him, but was turned off by the extreme traditional views
Scott’s political views, and how he is basically a Centrist and Pragmatist
Why Scott accepts Realpolitik, which is a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations
Transhumanism
Scott’s series The Robot Lord Scenario, which he plans on turning into a novel
Trends in warfare,  how the invention of the gun leveled the playing field, but that automative weapons will enforce inequality
Daniel Suarez’s novel Kill Decision
Economic automation and it’s implications
Economics, whether capitalism is necessary for innovation, and how a functional economic needs both capitalism and socialism
The Bay Area’s housing crisis, NIMBYism, and where to build new housing
Vertical Living and urban agriculture
Retro Futurism, dystopian and utopian visions of the future
How science fiction writers can provide narratives for engineers to build their visions(ex. Elon Musk and the Culture series)
The role of sociopaths in society, and how power generally gets concentrated by sociopaths
From a realpolitiks perspective how do you take power away from people in power that are causing harm?
Scott’s message for people to listen to each other instead of demonizing the other side


Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Artwork




Robert Stark interviews Laura Foote Clark of Grow SF

aesthetics, Architecture, California, Cities, Economics, Environment, Grow SF, Historic Preservation, income inequality, Krishan Madan, Laura Foote Clark, Mass Transit, Millennials, New Urbanism, Rabbit, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Skyscrapers, Suburbia, Urbanism, Zoning

laura-foote-clark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark joined with Rabbit and Krishan Madan interview Laura Foote Clark. Laura is the president of GrowSF, which advocates for affordable and market rate housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Topics include:

The Bay Area’s lack of affordable housing
How the housing crisis particularly effects millennials
How integrated public transit provides better access to affordable housing
The severity of the housing crisis, and how a massive increase in housing is needed just to sustain current demands
The miss conception that there is no space to grow in San Francisco, and the twitter series wasteOfUrbanSpace
Mega Developments in the Bay Area, and Laura’s point that focusing on specific projects can distract from the overall housing shortage
Where to build new housing
SF grants density bonuses to affordable housing developments
Micro Apartments
What Silicon Valley Would Look Like if Tech Companies Built Themselves Cities
Laura’s point that if the Silicon Valley became a more urban environment it would ease the demand for housing in San Francisco
The role that suburbs play in the Bay Area’s housing shortage
How the lack of new housing in cities encourages suburban sprawl
The trend in preference for urban over suburban living among millennials
How Environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club are divided on the housing issue
Bay Area’s Greenbelt Alliance and New Urbanism
California Proposition 13
Proposition C: San Francisco Affordable Housing
Rent Control
Why Laura would like to see a unified zoning plan for the Bay Area
Whether there is a limit on how many people the Bay Area can accommodate
How the housing issue is the main political divide in the Bay Area
Krishan’s point that tax cuts effect the rich, welfare the poor, but housing can be the political issue of the middle class
The importance of getting involved in local politics


Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Artwork




Robert Stark interviews Ray Sawhill about Journalism

aesthetics, Alex von Goldstein, Architecture, Art, censorship, Cinema, Cities, Culture, Film, Internet, journalism, Millennials, Music, New York, Political Correctness, Ray Sawhill, Santa Barbara, Social Media, Travel

Ray Sawhill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Alex von Goldestein talk to Ray Sawhill. Ray is a retired journalist who lives in Santa Barbara, CA. He blogs at Uncouth Reflections as Paleo Retiree

Topics include:

Ray’s career as an Arts, Culture, and Film journalist at Newsweek
How Ray stumbled into journalism, and how that was not his original passion in life
How artist and writers often get into journalism to make a living
The era of the journalist as the gatekeeper
Censorship in journalism
How the internet is changing journalism
The effects of the internet on cultural innovation
How the internet both enables creative types and non conformist to get their views across, while enforcing conformity for the rest
The impacts of the internet and social media on millennials
The internet and the concept of infinite knowledge
Ray started online blogging at 2Blowhards, because he wanted a platform for people with interesting cultural views who did not embrace the political correctness of the culture scene
Arts & Letters Daily
Ray writings for Salon.com, how he interviewed Roger Scruton, and Thomas Sowell, and how Salon was much more open minded back than
The concept of good taste, and Ray’s observation that the wealthy and cultural elite form their taste in consensus
Ray’s point about people who travel is that they don’t come home and say why doesn’t their home town resemble the places they visit
Ray’s involvement the Punk Rock scene in New York in the 70’s and 80’s
How the Avant Garde was a product of technological limitations
The yippie movement in the 60’s as a precursor to the Alt Right troll culture
How the left counter-culture got absorbed into the establishment and the Alt Right is the new counter-culture
How the culture has stagnated and people are looking to the past for inspiration
Ray and his wife Polly Frost co-produced a webseries THE FOLD
Vaporwave & MACINTOSH PLUS
Sam Hyde’s new World Peace show on Adult Swim
How the 1970’s are considered to be the peak of American Cinema
Films including, Taxi Driver, Dirty Harry, and Falling Down
How art should transcend politics


Click Here to download!
Check out Robert Stark’s Artwork