Mount Diablo
Walnut Creek
Lafayette
Orinda
The Caldecott Tunnel
Oakland
The Bay Bridge
The Downtown Skyline
Alamo Square
Lombard Street
Coit Tower
Fort Mason
The Palace of Fine Arts
Nob Hill
The Fairmont Hotel
North Beach
Fisherman’s Wharf & Ghirardelli Square
The Mission District
The FM-84 Concert at the DNA Lounge
The John C. Portman designed Embarcadero Center
The under construction Transbay Transit Terminal
Union Square
The SF Chronicle Building
The Tenderloin
JEFFERY J. SMITH published The Geonomist, which won a California GreenLight Award, has appeared in both the popular press (e.g.,TruthOut) and academic journals (e.g., USC’s “Planning and Markets”), been interviewed on radio and TV, lobbied officials, testified before the Russian Duma, conducted research (e.g., for Portland’s mass transit agency), and recruited activists and academics to Progress.org. A member of the International Society for Ecological Economics and of Mensa, he lives amidst the beauty of Northern California. Jeffery is currently Chief Editor at Progress.org.
Topics:
Jeffery Smith’s new science fiction novel Perfect Timing about time travel to a future society
How the book conveys the tone of Hitchhiker’s Guide, offers insights like Stranger in a Strange Land, and presents an upbeat alternative to Brave New World
The theme and implementation of a Basic Income in the future society
Why a basic income is necessary and ways to implement it
The artificial notion of the work week and the book The Overworked American
The Post-scarcity economy and how the surplus of wealth is concentrated in the top 1%
The theme of Utopia; Aldous Huxley’s utopian novel Island
The future society of Geotopia, the theme of Ecotopia, and the book by Ernest Callenbach
Ecological based economics; Herman Daly’s Steady State Economics
Geonomics, Georgism, and the land value tax
How a land value tax is different from a property tax and leads to more efficient land use City Density—Friend of Trip Efficiency
The book Better NOT Bigger: How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve your Community
Jeffery Smith’s upcoming book on measuring the indicators of land value
Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to Jack Ravenwood. He is the author of Paradise Theater, a collection of short stories centered around the theme of the post-industrial American small city. He is also the main writer at Mean Street Cinema, a website dedicated to films from New York City in the 70’s and 80’s, as well as the co-founder of little ape press. He blogs at Foreigner Thoughts
Topics:
The setting of the book Paradise Theater in Jack’s home town West Allis, Wisconsin in the 1980’s and early 90’s
The Paradise Theatre movie house which the book was named for and featured on the cover The Fairview Motors Sign which is featured on the back of the book; Mid-Century Road Signage
The cultural, political, and economic themes in the book Allis-Chalmers closing in West Allis and the de-industrialization of the Midwest
Ross Perot’s campaign in 1992 against NAFTA, and Trump campaigning on trade issues
Jack’s Unz Review article Trump, JFK, and the Deep State National Review Writer: Working-Class Communities ‘Deserve To Die
How the best case scenario for the US would be to carve out a niche in high end manufacturing that caters to China’s growing middle class
Jack’s new home Shenzhen, China which is a manufacturing power house, and new mega city built from scratch
Jack’s Mean Street Cinema site, his interest in Vintage New York City, and Robert Stark’s interviews with Thomas Rinaldi about New York Neon and Robert Brenner about his Time Square Tours
Jack’s observations about Hong Kong Neon and how Hong Kong Is Slowly Dimming Its Neon Glow
Jack’s future plan to document Neon in Hong Kong in either a book or blog
The culture of Hong Kong as a bridge between the east and west and it’s “relative autonomy”
Vertical living and how it is the norm for urban China for all classes
High density living isn’t inherently bad but it is necessary to have a high quality of culture to sustain it
Jack Kerouac’s The Town and the City
Conformity in Asian culture; authentic Asian culture vs. SWPL larping
Chinese Philosophy; the Tao Te Ching
The evolution of Western Philosophy; Deconstruction and selective deconstruction Jean Baudrillard and the simulation
Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to Robert Brenner. Robert Brenner is a writer, critic, satirist, futurist, urbanist, and porkatarian. His work has appeared in the Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Salon, the Barnes & Noble Review, Medium, Different Truths, Antiserious, and Theory In Action. He is a graduate of the Writers’ Institute at CUNY.
The Concept of the Left Wing of the Alt Right; The Alt Left
Greg Johnson’s essay on SWPL Identity and Rabbit’s Alt Left Manifesto Millennial Woes’ talk with Rabbit and Greg Johnson about the Alt Left
The 60’s Left Counter-Culture as a fusion of Tolkien and Marcuse, and the need to reclaim the positive attributes of the left, such as ecology, historic preservation, and anti-consumerism
The Alt Left dilemma identifying with SWPL Culture, and urban aesthetics, while supporting forms of identitarianism that often lack strong aesthetic visions
The lack of cultural sophistication among conservatives, and the left’s monopoly on cultural institutions
Suburbia as a by product of the middle class being cleansed out of cities, and the need to sustain a strong urban middle class
Affordable family formation
The Basic income, how it should be implemented, and who it should favor
Putting caps on high incomes with the exception of artist and inventors
The Nietzschean concept of the artist as the ruler
The conservative outlook that judges people on their material wealth over their aesthetic taste, and creative potential
Overpopulation, and how the ideal is to have immigration reduction with a stable or slowly rising birthrate
Greg’s experience living in San Francisco and Berkeley, San Francisco as a SWPL Utopia, and the aesthetic and ecological attributes of the region
The Transamerica Pyramid and Embarcadero Center in San Francisco
Rabbit’s interest in Mid-Century Space Age aesthetics, and his observations going to Mid-Century Modern home tours Frank Lloyd Wright Art Deco, which was a heroic vision of the future with respect for tradition; Art Deco in New York and San Francisco Film noir, and the Blade Runner
David Lynch’s Archeo-Futurist aesthetic in Dune, and ruin porn
The tradition of right wing modernism; Italian Futurism which captured the vitality, optimism, and new possibilities created by technology
The concept of degenerate art, distinguishing between modernism and postmodernism
Defining what is degenerate; Robert and Pilleater’s show on Avant Garde Film
Robert Stark, co-host Pilleater, and Rabbit talk to Constantin von Hoffmeister. He is an advocate of National Futurism and blogs at Oge Noct
Topics:
Constantin’s National Futurist Manifesto
How Futusim captures the Faustian Promethean nature of Western Man
Taking a materialistic over spiritual outlook toward identity
The Italian Futurist who wanted to re-create the glory of Rome in a futurist setting
The Dada movement, and Constantin’s flirtation with the concept of National Dadaism
The concept of Eurosiberia and Imperium Europa
National Bolshevism, Eurasianism, and Aleksandr Dugin
The European Migrant Crisis, and why Constantin is pessimistic about his home country Germany’s future
Why Constantin views Islamization as Europe’s primary threat, but America as a rival
How the election of Trump has improved Constantin’s view toward America
Constantin’s support for Israel and Secular Arab Nationalism as a bulwark against Radical Islam
The Cultural effects of Communism on East Germany and Eastern Europe
The Faustian Imperial Nature of Brutalist Architecture Le Corbusier’s Plan To Overhaul Paris
Using Le Corbusier’s ideas to redevelop decaying suburbs into garden cities
The glitzy Neo-Brutalist Architecture of John C. Portman Jr, and his inspiration from the Champs-Élysées
London’s Architecture, Ernő Goldfinger’s Brutalist towers, Centre Point, and the BT Tower
The Bauhaus White City in Tel Aviv, Israel Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Mid-century modern
The Palace of the Soviets proposal in Moscow
The Russian Futurist movement 1970s Soviet futurism New Arbat and Cyberpunk in Moscow
Constantin’s experience in India, and Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh, India
Constantin’s Poetry