Category Archives: Neon

Robert Stark interviews Lee Scrivner about Casinolabs

October 21, 2025Academia, aesthetics, alienation, American Culture, Architecture, Art, Bret Easton Ellis, California, capitalism, conformity, Conspiracy Theories, Corporations, Culture, Dan Baltic, Disneyland, Dragon Day, Economics, England, Gambling, Gender, Generation X, Historic Preservation, History, Incels, Jean Baudrillard, Las Vegas, Lee Scrivner, Literature, London, Los Angeles, Matthew Pegas, Millennials, Neoliberalism, Neon, Philadelphia, Philosophy, Political Correctness, Politics, Postmodernism, Psychology, social capital, Social Isolation, Suburbia, Surrealism, Vaporfornia, Zoomersrobertstark

Topics:

Robert Stark and Matt Pegas speak with Lee Scriver about his novel Casinolabs, which is a psychological thriller set in Las Vegas. Casinolabs is published by Imperium Press and is also available on Amazon. Also, check out Robert’s review of Casinolabs. Lee is a former adjunct professor at UNLV, is known for his satirical avant-garde arts manifestos, and is the author of Becoming Insomniac. Subscribe to Lee on substack and check out his Youtube channel.

Topics:

-How Lee found artistic success in London including performing at the Tate Britain
-Whether Americans are philistines about culture
-How Lee ended up sharing a dressing room with Yoko Ono in London
-How Lee’s upbringing in Vegas inspired Casinolabs
-Lee’s dad, who dealt with the darker underbelly of Vegas as a crisis counselor
-Why explicitly rightwing art fails
-How literary agents filter out people on identity issues
–The Las Vegas Review Journal’s review that compared Casinolabs to the show Severance
-Contrasting GenX alienation in Casinolabs and Bret Easton Ellis’s work with the millennial/zoomer incel trope in Robert’s novel Vaporfornia and Matt’s novel Dragon Day
-How Casinolabs is fundamentally a critique of atomization, the breakdown of families, and a lack of meaning crisis
-The parallels between the Casinolabs casino design firm deconstructing Vegas history and the protagonist Morton getting his brain fried
-Why Casinolabs only partially veers into magical realism
-The labyrinths in Casinolabs and Vaporfornia as the backrooms
-Philosophical questions about fate vs random coincidences
-Lee’s early job at Caesars Palace
-Finding deeper meaning out of post modernist themed casinos in Vegas
-Minimalist renovations that erase Vegas’s limited cultural inheritance
-The symbolism of the Vegas Sphere as a giant phone screen that is malleable
-Contrasting today’s Vegas with the older stage of capitalism where every man was a king
-Is Vegas dying?
–Woke inspired minimalist renovations
–Vegas and Disneyland as Baudrillard’s simulacrum
-Planned suburbia as the counterpart to the Vegas strip
-Robert and Matt visiting Mount Charleston recently
-How the overstimulation of Vegas drove Lee to asceticism
-Lee’s paganism and thoughts on the pagan professor Wallingford in Matt’s Dragon Day

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and subscribe to his Substack.

Robert Stark interviews John Arcto about UK Politics & Retro Futurism

July 2, 20241960's, 1980's, 1990's, aesthetics, Alternative Right, Architecture, Art, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Blade Runner, BREXIT, censorship, Conservatives, Corporations, Culture, Cyberpunk, demographics, Diversity, Dubai, Economics, Elections, England, ethnopluralism, Europe, Futurism, Georgism, History, Immigration, IQ, John Arcto, Leftism, Liberalism, London, Los Angeles, Multiculturalism, Nationalism, Neoliberalism, Neon, Nietzsche, Nigel Farage, Philosophy, Political Correctness, Politics, Postmodernism, Race Relations, Retro Futurism, Singapore, Skyscrapers, Steampunk, Taxation, Urbanism, Vaporwave, Walt Bismarck, Wealth, Zoningrobertstark

Robert Stark talks to John Arcto, who blogs at The Anglofuturist on substack.

Topics:

-John’s political journey as a former Leftist
-Why John rejects the dissident right and embraces Progressivism Rightism
–What is Anglo Futurism
-The Right’s elite human capital problem and anti-intellectualism
-The need for a counter-elite
–The July 4th election in the UK
-The Tory Party’s embrace of mass immigration and whether the Party can be reformed
–Nigel Farage’s role as a gatekeeper
-How Brexit has been a total failure and turned young Brits woke
-Why John supports some hybrid of immigration restriction, assimilation, and ethnopluralism
-Why John can’t comprehend how Americans get worked up over Hispanic immigration
-How talking about racial demographics is totally taboo in the UK, but cultural concerns are tolerated
-John’s case for Georgism and rightwing YIMBYism
-Why adopting certain leftwing views is good to appeal to elite human capital
–Why Blade Runner is much less dystopian than our current society
-The movie Her which depicts a future LA that is YIMBY but also very White
-British genres of Retro-Futurism, from the Victorian to post-war era
–Vaporwave as rightwing post-modernism
-Why the present is a uniquely bleak era in British history

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and subscribe to his Substack.

Robert Stark talks to Matt Pegas about The Black Album

May 13, 20241980's, aesthetics, alienation, Alt Center, Art, Bronze Age Pervert, Buddhism, Carl Jung, conformity, Crime, Culture, Curtis Yarvin, David Lynch, Despair, Donald Trump, Dragon Day, education, Ellliot Rodger, Extroversion, Gnosticism, H.P. Lovecraft, Hipsters, Homosexuality, Incels, Introversion, James Nullick, Jeffrey Dahmer, Jordan Peterson, Journey to Vapor Island, Las Vegas, Literature, Los Angeles, Malls, Marianne Williamson, Matthew Pegas, meditation, Mental illness, Michel Houellebecq, Music, Neoliberalism, Neon, Nihilism, Occultism, Personality Types, Philosophy, Pilleater, Politics, Psychology, Radical Center, Religion, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Robert Lindsay, Rudolf Steiner, Serial Killers, Sexuality, spirituality, Spree Shootings, Tarot, The Perfume Nationalist, Traditionalism, Utopia, Vaporfornia, Vaporwaverobertstark

Robert Stark talks to Matt Pegas about his book, The Black Album. The Black Album is a collection of essays and short stories, both fiction and non-fiction. The book deals with themes, including alienation, masculinity, incels, serial killers, spirituality, alchemy, philosophy and aesthetics.

Topics:
-the inspiration for the title from Joan Didion’s The White Album and the music trope of color-coded albums
-Mass shootings as a metaphysical attack against reality
-The context of Matt writing himself into fictional stories
-Adapting to writing with time limitations
-Matt’s struggles with serial killer OCD and POCD in adolescence
-the gnostic component to psychology and mental illness
-Jefferey Dahmer and the trope that the weird loner is the most dangerous
-the archetype of the Emo
-coping with malaise and dissatisfaction with life
-transcript of a disturbing correspondence involving an online follower
-Matt’s essay, Renaissance of The Ritual
-Foundational thinking over Traditionalism
-A painting of a failed alchemist and why alchemy is legit
-Matt’s experiences with Tarot, transcendental meditation, and esotericism
-Matt’s Essay, David Lynch, Bronze Age Pervert, and the possibility of inner freedom
-Matt’s thought experiment of a based Marianne Williamson or BAPist version of Steiner schools
-Matt’s essay, The Politics of Aesthetics Revisited
-The esoteric significance of Las Vegas
–Revisiting Alt-Centrism
-How Robert and Matt manifested Dime Square in 2018

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and subscribe to his Substack.

A Rainy Weekend in Vegas

November 21, 2023aesthetics, Architecture, California, Culture, Lake Arrowhead, Las Vegas, Mid-Century Modern, Mojave Desert, Nature, Neon, Photography, Travel, Urbanism, Wildernessrobertstark

Photos were taken over labor day weekend, during a tropical rain storm, in Las Vegas. Album include the Rio hotel and casino, the El Cortez, the Fremont Street Experience, Fremont East, the Gateway Arch, Bonanza Gift Shop, Gold Coast Casino, Paris, Bellagio including the conservatory/botanical garden, Flamingo, Caesars Palace, The Mirage, The Venetian, Whiskey Pete’s and Buffalo Bill’s in Primm Nevada, Peggy Sue’s 50s Diner in Yermo, and bonus photos of Heaps Peak Arboretum near Lake Arrowhead.

Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and subscribe to his Substack.

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Big Bear & Lake Arrowhead Photo Album (Summer 2023)

August 2, 2023Architecture, Big Bear Lake, California, Lake Arrowhead, Mojave Desert, Nature, Neon, Photography, Travel, Wildernessrobertstark

Photos were taken over July 4th weekend in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. Album includes, Big Bear Village, Bear Mountain Ski area, Garstin/China Island and Stanfield Marsh at Big Bear Lake, Baldwin Summit Vista view to Mojave Desert, Snow Valley Mountain resort in Running Springs, and Lake Arrowhead.

Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and subscribe to his Substack.

Continue reading Big Bear & Lake Arrowhead Photo Album (Summer 2023) →

Eastern Sierras Photo Album (Mammoth, June Lake, & Whitney Portal)

September 21, 2022Architecture, Bishop CA, California, June Lake, Mammoth Lakes, Mid-Century Modern, Mount Whitney, Nature, Neon, Photography, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Travel, Wildernessrobertstark

Album includes the town of Bishop in Owens Valley, June Lake, Minaret Vista, Mammoth Mountain, Horseshoe Lake, McLeod Lake, Lake George, Ski Lodge Urbanism at The Village at Mammoth, Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery, and Whitney Portal, the gateway to Mount Whitney. Photos taken on Labor Day Weekend 2022.

Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and subscribe to his Substack.

Continue reading Eastern Sierras Photo Album (Mammoth, June Lake, & Whitney Portal) →

Karlsruhe Germany Photo Album

June 16, 2022Architecture, Art Nouveau, Brutalism, Europe, Germany, Karlsruhe, Nature, Neon, Photography, Travel, Urbanismrobertstark

Photo album of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Photos taken on trip to Europe in May of 2018 (Part I: Robert Stark talks about his Trip to Europe, Part II: Robert Stark talks about his Trip to Europe). Album includes photos of Karlsruhe City Center, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Hotel Burghof, Karlsruhe Schloss (Palace), Schlossgarten, and forest on the outskirts of the City.

Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and subscribe to his Substack.

Continue reading Karlsruhe Germany Photo Album →

San Diego Backcountry Photo Album

May 25, 2022Architecture, California, Mid-Century Modern, Nature, Neon, Photography, San Diego, Travel, Wildernessrobertstark

Album of Eastern San Diego County, includes Borrego Springs, The Slot in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Julian townsite, Lake Henshaw, Pauma Valley, and Palomar Mountain.

Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and subscribe to his Substack.

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Robert Stark discusses his novel Vaporfornia

February 21, 2022 Mark Velard, 1980's, aesthetics, Alicia Silverstone, alienation, Alt Center, Andrew Yang, Architecture, Art, Beverly Hills, Black Mirror, Calexit, California, capitalism, Class, Conservatives, Culture, Dan Baltic, David Lynch, demographics, Despair, Donald Trump, dreams, Economics, Environment, Eugenics, Futurism, Gio Pennacchietti, Greg Johnson, Hollywood, humor, Immigration, Incels, income inequality, Internet, IQ, James O'Meara, journalism, Journey to Vapor Island, Liberalism, Literature, Los Angeles, Malls, Matthew Pegas, Media, Michel Houellebecq, Middle Class, Millennials, Morality, Mount Diablo, Mulholland Drive, Multiculturalism, neo-tribalism, Neoliberalism, Neon, Personality Types, Philosophy, Political Correctness, Politics, Psychology, Race Relations, Radical Center, Reno, Retro Futurism, Reviews, Sam Hyde, San Francisco, Science Fiction, Sexuality, social capital, Social Darwinism, Social Isolation, Social Media, social status, Spree Shootings, Surrealism, SWPL, The Black Pill, Travel, Utopia, Vaporfornia, Vaporwave, Virtual Reality, Walnut Creek CA, William S. Burroughs, Yosemiterobertstark

Robert Stark is joined with Matt Pegas and Dan Baltic to discuss his new novel, Vaporfornia. Vaporfornia is a surreal dark comedy, a coming of age story set in California, and is the sequel to Robert’s first novel, Journey to Vapor Island. This show is a simulcast with Matt and Dan’s dissident, counter-culture, literary podcast, New Write. Vaporfornia is available for purchase on Lulu publishing. Also check out Matt’s review of Vaporfornia.

Topics:

Contrasting Vaporfornia with Journey to Vapor Island, and how both novels capture the zeitgeists of their respective eras
The niche genre of the satirical moving adventure story
Literary comparisons to a Confederacy of Dunces, William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, Lucky Jim, Voltaire’s Candide, and Gulliver’s Travels
The situational humor and dramatic irony
Vaporfornia as a satire of the themes in Robert’s Substack that delve into California’s social, political, class, and demographic dynamics
Vaporfornia as a travelogue for California
Allegories and symbolism in the book
Saudade, a longing for what could have been or nostalgia for lost futures
Gio Pennacchietti’s video about how Robert’s literary fiction and visual art complement each other
The protagonist’s personal and political journey
The politics of the “Chad Centrist” presidential candidate Roger Blackstone
Whether Robert Stark will run for California Governor or have a Vaporfornia tour some day