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
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”
Robert Stark, joined with Rabbit, and Alex von Goldstein talk about his recent trip to the SF Bay Area
Topics include:
Robert’s departing point Santa Barbara, which is a nice laid back coastal town, but under the cultural influence of LA Robert Stark’s podcast with Bay Area Guy about his last trip to SF
Robert met up with Bay Area Guy and Anatoly Karlin in Berkeley
How like Robert, Alex, and Rabbit, Bay Area Guy and Anatoly Karlin exist on the periphery of the Alt-Right(ex.The Radical Center, Alt Left)
The Cultural Leftist legacy of Berkeley, and how Anatoly Karlin spoke at Richard Spencer’s event at UC Berkeley
How places that are politically correct often produce interesting dissident thinkers
How Berkeley is on a scale similar to European cities(ex. small, compact, dense and walkable)
How transplants often adopt the stereotypes of cities
Demographic trends in the Bay Area, how the traditional white middle class is being pushed out, but also working class Blacks and Hispanics are being priced out through gentrification
Asian culture and immigration in the Bay Area, and Asian Majority Cities, including Daly City, where Robert stayed
The seedy Tenderloin District, urban grittiness, and how it reminded Robert of the film Taxi Driver
The film Dirty Harry
The BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) System, which has a 70’s futurist aesthetic, and has had issue with crime
The film Fruitvale Station about a Police incident on BART in Oakland
The 70’s futurist Embarcadero Center, designed by architect John Portman, and the importance of having urban oasis’s
How the Silicon Valley is a bland suburban region, which demonstrates that technology has limitation without culture and aesthetics The Shortage Of Women In Silicon Valley
How the area where the tech elite lives has wilderness preserves, in contrast with their support for mass immigration How the Bay Area has done a better job at Wilderness Conservation than Southern California
Robert’s observation’s about where to build in the Bay Area in response to his interview with Laura Foote Clark of Grow SF
How San Francisco has it’s own unique Aesthetic, and is the most scenic American City
How San Francisco is on a high level aesthetically, but the dominant culture is consumerism mixed in with some cultural leftist views
Robert stayed in Walnut Creek, which is a mid-century car oriented suburb in the process of being retrofited into a walkablle New Urbanist community
Walnut Creek aslo has BART access, and owns more open space per capita than any other community in California 80’s Vaporwave Architecture in Walnut Creek, how historic preservation has neglected 80’s Kitsch, and the occultist origins of Kek in California 80’s culture
Nearby Lafayette, which is an idyllic semi rural town, with quick BART access to the city(the best of both worlds for those who can afford it) The San Francisco Bay Area Renters’ Federation lawsuit against Lafayette, and the debate regarding development and diversity
Whether the Bay Area should be it’s own separate country, state, or broken up into a bunch of small independent city states
Robert Stark, Rabbit, and Alex von Goldstein talk to writer and social critic, James Howard Kunstler
Topics include:
The history of suburbia
James’ theory of history that things happen because they seem like a good idea at the time
How our auto oriented petroleum based society is unsustainable
How bad urban planing has negative psychological and cultural implications
The role of zoning laws, and how zoning can both encourage and prevent suburban sprawl
The future of suburbia, how some will be retrofitted into walkalble communities, while others will be abandoned
The New Urbanist Movement
Mass immigration and overpopulation
Why James does not view skyscrapers and hyper density as viable alternatives to suburbia
Robert’s point that tall structures can have aesthetic value, and how James acknowledges that the early wave of skyscrapers(ex. Singer Building, Woolworth Building, Manhattan Municipal Building) were beautiful structures but historical flukes
How European cities provide the ideal model for urbanism
Examples of sustainable American cities include Portland, Oregon, Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia
Mass Transit, and why James favors investing in existing rail infrastrusture over new high speed rail
The Streetcar suburb, and how they provide a model for New Urbanism
James’ point that even with alternative energy and technological innovation, we still have to downsize and localize our society and economy
How peak oil will lead to economic and political decentralization
How Peak Oil will make Globalization unsustainable
The future of China and the Arab Gulf States
Pre-War Japan as the best example of an advanced civilization without industrialization
The scarcity of water in the future, and how the inland water system will regain it’s value Historic Preservation, how the movement was started in the 1960’s in response to the demolition of Pennsylvania Station in NYC, and the debate about what should be preserved
Rabbit makes the case for mid century modern
Capital scarcities in the future, and how mass development is dependent upon the financial system
James’ four book series set in a post economic collapse America, the World Made by Hand
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
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
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
The concept of Retro Futurism as how the past envisioned the future
How in the 20th Century society was undergoing rapid change and technological progress
How people today are either pessimistic about the future, or view the present as the future(The Current Year)
Whether Retro Futurism is pure fantasy, an alternative universe, or a blueprint for the future
The Future portrayed in film from utopia to dystopia
The 1927 film Metropolis, which was the first major future film, and inspired by Italian Futurism
How Art Deco was the first major futurist movement in Architecture, and perfectly combines Futurism and Tradition
How NeonLighting has symbolized the future from the Art Deco era to the 80’s Cyberbunk aesthetic
The Synthwave/New Retro Wave Genre in music that emerged in the mid 2000’s, inspired by 80’s New Wave(ex. FM Attack, Robots with Rayguns, Electric Youth, College, Kavinsky)
How 80’s music was much more future oriented than today’s music Greg Johnson reviews New Order’s Music
The Euro-centric and deconstructionist elements to Electronic Music
Rabbit’s involvement in the early 90’s rave scene, and how it started out as futuristic but fizzled out into trashy pop culture
The revival of the 60’s Brit pop sound in the 90’s
How culture has become stagnant and people are looking to the past for inspiration Vaporwave, which is an aesthetic that emerged online, inspired by 80’s and early 90’s illustrations, video games, and elevator music
The Vaporwave Documentary
Donald Trump as an 80’s Retro-Futurist Vaporwave Icon Cyberpunk, how it was inspired by 80’s Films such as Blade Runner, as well as Science Fiction writer Issac Asimov, it’s popularity with the Dark Enlightenment and Silicon Valley Techno-libertarians. Steampunk, which a Futurist movement inspired by Victorian Aesthetics, Old Train Stations, and Science Fiction writers such as HG Wells and Jules Verne
Islamic Retro Futurism
The Mid Century Space age aesthetic
Soviet Retro Futurism
Las Vegas, the Retro-Futurist theme to the city, and hypothetical casino designs(Steampunk, Art Deco, Midcentury Space Age, Cyberpunk, Vaporwave)
Architect John C. Portman Jr. who built futuristic hotels with massive atrium in the 70’s and 80’s
The 80’s mall aesthetic, and how 80’s malls were a lot more futuristic and innovative than the ones being built today
Alex’s point that there is a transcendent element to the mall experience
How Retro-Futurism provides inspiration for architecture and urbanism
How Retro-Futurism offer a Third Alternative to the past and present course
How right wing publications tend to be mostly political, while left wing ones will focus on culture and insert politics
Whether Retro-Futurism is an aesthetic for a New Political Movement(ex.Radical Centrism)
Robert Stark and co-host Rabbit talk to Adam Hengels.
Adam is SVP and Director of Development of PAD, a real estate development start-up that builds communities for young professionals. PAD’s developments will feature micro-apartments and other product innovations.
From Mega-Projects to Micro-Apartments, Adam has brought his development expertise to several high profile projects such as the $5B Barclays Center Arena and Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, New York . Adam earned his Masters in Real Estate Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has a BS and MS in Structural Engineering.
Adam is passionate about urbanism, and is known as a pioneer in the Market Urbanism movement. His mission is to improve the urban experience, and overcoming obstacles that prevent aspiring city dwellers from living where they want. He considers the conventional apartment layout to be stale. Product innovations such as micro-apartments are a key part of the next wave in urbanism.
Topics include:
Why Adam advocates for the liberalization of zoning laws
The debate between absolute private property rights vs. the argument that regulations are necessary to prevent landowners from harming their communities
Zoning laws that contribute to suburban sprawl(ex. parking requirements, limits on density in suburbs, and government subsidies of roads and highways) Retrofitting Suburbia
How demographic and economic changes are leading to the decline of suburbia
How to attract middle class families back to cities by improving education and increasing housing supply
New Urbanism
How zoning laws can prevent bad developments, but can also lead to increases in costs of living
Whether zoning laws are necessary to preserve the aesthetic and historic character of cities
How original mixed use communities declined due to zoning regulation and the rise of the automobile
Robert Stark’s point that even though he supports historic preservation and wilderness conservation, he acknowledges that many zoning laws have negative affects on cities and encourage sprawl
How the Lack of New Housing On The Westside of LA Is Causing Gentrification Of East And South LA
Height limit restrictions in cities
Minimum lot size requirements, and how they stifle creativity in urbanism
Whether highrises can provide housing for the middle class, and Adam’s point that new highrises are expensive but over time they decline in cost and eases the overall demand for housing
Whether mass transit can function in a free market, and how New York City’s Subway System started out as private, and Tokyo’s Subway System is semi private Transit-oriented development
Adam’s development of micro apartments and how they can address the housing crisis for young people How zoning laws make it difficult to create micro apartments
The role that Zoning and Urban planning plays in income inequality
