Category Archives: 1970’s

Liminal Anglo (John Arcto): From Dissident Exhaustion to Cultural Reconstruction

Robert Stark and UK based blogger, John Arcto (formerly Anglo-Futurist) articulate a post-dissident, culturally oriented stance that has moved beyond conventional right-wing politics. Subscribe to his new Substack.

Topics:

–The reasons behind Why John deleted his old Substack, “Anglofuturist”
–How John’s views have evolved over the past few years, including his shift away from politics toward culture and philosophy
-Why John believes “Blue America” is actually worse about cancel culture than Britain
-How John’s earlier cancellation by the Left, led him to become performatively extreme, despite not being rightwing
-Robert’s contrasting political trajectory
-How the alt-right mirrored the left as a Brahmin-Dalit alliance against the Vaishya (mainstream) right
-John’s falling out with Walt Bismarck and Walt’s focus on status
-Robert’s book Journey to Vapor Island  as “authentically Robert Stark”—offensive on every level (Taxi Driver meets Clueless, devolving into Naked Lunch or David Lynch)
-How John’s moral signaling against Robert’s fetish postings was performative
-The problem with feminism: that women are power bottoms
-How immigration policy in the UK was worse under the Tories because their backers were the wealthy and boomers
-The need for a Danish Social Democrat-style approach that combines social democracy with immigration restriction
-How American online-right “slop” about civil war in the UK is often driven by Zionism
-The UK’s gradual decline and the shared sense of political malaise on both left and right
-How the 2010s were analogous to the 1960s and the 2020s to the 1970s
-How “anti-woke” has become a meaningless conservative wedge issue
John’s review of Backrooms contrasted with Robert’s mall-world article, and broader theme of liminal spaces
-Why John has turned to Christianity, partly for cultural reasons, describing himself as a monist critical rationalist (metaphysically realist but morally anti-realist and universalist)
John’s review of Plotinus’s The Enneads and why he prefers the term “Plotinusism” instead of Neoplatonism
-Robert’s critique of Christians who combine blank-slatism with eternal damnation, and his preference for an HBD-inspired theosophy
-Why John rejects theurgy as occult magic
Why John is a non-dualist about consciousness and identifies as a cosmopsychist
-John’s advocacy for sovereign polyarchic, pan-Westernism and its similarities to ethnopluralism and the Holy Roman Empire
-Why John is hostile to the concept of natural rights, viewing them as fundamentally authoritarian
-Why moral and social issues are better handled at the local level and adjusted for diversity
-Robert’s experience living in England in 2002
-Robert’s observation that, unlike New York City, movies and pictures fail to capture London’s unique vibe
-The Cool Britannia era, the 2000s show Skins, and why Tony Blair was “the dodgiest guy ever”
-Why there is nothing more liberating than accepting that it is too late regarding White demographic decline
-The total failure of Trump and right-wing politics overall
-How both America and the UK were never truly cohesive nations
-How Anglos made a Faustian bargain to become a global culture while losing their own distinct identity
-Americans’ and Europeans’ lack of a deep understanding akin to Rome and Greece
-Why the ideal healthcare model would resemble Australia’s: public funding with private doctors
-How America’s class system is uniquely nasty because it pretends to be purely meritocratic
-Why John does not believe in equality of opportunity and instead prefers security for all classes
-How blank-slatism is used to justify income inequality
-How England has greater genetic differences by class, which makes nationalism difficult
-How America’s WASP elite were absolute traitors, worse than the British aristocracy
-“Cher Horowitz is an American aristocrat”
-Why John hates dominant alpha men
-How both the right and the left end up screwing over autistic men
-How John pronounces the term “massage” and why he thinks Robert’s love of ASMR head massage content is homoerotic

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

Robert Stark talks to Brandon Adamson about his Mid-Century Modern inspired NFTs

Robert Stark talks to Brandon Adamson about his Mid-Century Modern inspired NFTs (Mid-Century Modern Inspired NFT Collection “Mod Commodities” Launches Exclusively on Proton ($XPR)). Brandon Adamson is a Phoenix-based artist and poet, and the former co-host of the Stark Truth (2015-2017). Check out Brandon’s NFT collection, “Mod Commodities,” at ArtworkDealer, his culture blog Rabbit’s Foot, and follow him on Twitter.

Topics:

Brandon’s initial interest in penny stocks and bitcoin, and the crypto boom and bust cycles
Brandon’s artistic background, interest in mid-century modern to 70s aesthetics, modern art, and malls
Why Brandon shifted from painting to creating NFTs
The process of creating and minting NFTs
Why Brandon uses the blockchain, Proton
Virtual real estate in the metaverse and Decentraland
Brandon’s response to skeptics and his advice to focus on the project and not fret about the booms and busts
Brandon’s bullishness on long-term economic opportunities for artists to be at the forefront with VR
The importance of having a theme and why Brandon thinks Robert should create NFTs for his art and book, Vaporfornia
Political burnout and the rise in alternative cultural scenes

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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 artist Gio Pennacchietti

Robert Stark and Matt Pegas talk to Gio Pennacchietti about aesthetic, cultural, and social trends. Gio Pennacchietti is a social impressionist painter and writer from the “first post-national country” (Canada), Gonzo Philosopher, and failed academic. Check out his YouTube channel GiantArt Productions, Instagram, writings at Substack and WordPress, and Twitter.

Topics:

Gio’s review of Robert Stark’s Art: The Fauvist Vaporwave Interiors
20th Century aesthetic genres, retrofuturism, post-modernism, late 20th century pop art, trends in nostalgia, and the psychology of hauntology
Political symbolism in aesthetics: 2010s minimalism, Neoliberal Kitsch, Sanford Biggers’ statue in Rockefeller Plaza, the de-evolution of Trump’s aesthetics, and the lack of a cohesive aesthetic trend for the future
Robert’s article on Pan-Enclavism and how it relates to Canada as a post-national nation
A critique of the Intellectual Dark Web
The need for a new bohemian/creative movement comparable to the Vienna Secession
Gio’s interest in the after prison Youtubers
Gio’s artistic background, influences, and art as a spiritual endeavor

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, novel Journey to Vapor Island, and in production documentary The Gospel of Gibson, and subscribe to his Substack.

Robert Stark interviews BLAUERGEIST! about Aesthetics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Matt Pegan talk to Portland based blogger BLAUERGEIST! about architecture, interior design, art, and cinema. Check out BLAUERGEIST! on Twitter, his podcast Ellroy Boys, and new web magazine Apocalypse Confidential.

Topics:

The #BathistGang: love of 80s bathroom aesthetics
20th Century interior design genres
80s malls, Robert and Matt’s LA N O S T A L G I A  Mall series, the Breezewood meme, The Canal Walk Mall in Cape Town, and value of Interior Urbanism
Retrofuturism, trends in nostalgia, and Theme Park Urbanism
Eco Brutalism and the Interior Garden Aesthetic
Artists Patrick Nagel, Jim Buckels, and Daniel Merriam, and various sci-fi illustrators
Political symbolism in aesthetics
Aesthetics in cinema: directors Dario Argento and Peter Greenaway, and 80s films Year of the Dragon and Scarface
Horror films 3615 code Père Noël, Child’s Play, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Jacob’s Ladder, Hellraiser: Inferno, Southbound, and Silent Hill: Revelation
The work of David Lynch and the Lynchian Aesthetic
Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm

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

Robert Stark & Richard Wolstencroft discuss the Film High-Rise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Melbourne based director Richard Wolstencroft discuss the film High-Rise (film), a 2015 film by British director Ben Wheatley, based on the novel by J. G. Ballard.

Topics:

The Bush Fires in Australia, climate change narrative, and other factors
Deep ecology and right wing environmentalism
The Science Fiction of J. G. Ballard including the timely The Drowned World , and how Richard would like to adapt his work into a film
The 70s Retro-Futuristic aesthetic
Brutalist architecture in High-Rise, and the genre in Clockwork Orange and Richard’s upcoming film The Debt Collector
Ironies of the film’s dystopian nature and how it compares to other dystopian films such as Joker
A self-contained city, an Arcology with all amenities within the same structure
Class conflict in a society where all classes live within the same structure
Metaphor for the breakdown of civilization
The unsustainable of the neoliberal system
How technology exacerbates inequality
Archetypes of the characters, including filmmaker Richard Wilder, an apocalyptic anarchic figure
The theme of attempting dialogue with gate keepers and elites who refuse to listen
The architect, a Nietzschean figure, an aesthetic and technological visionary in contrast with our managerial elites
Conspiracy theories vs. the view of elites as a managerial class who extract resources with no vision for the future

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to Adam Mayer about San Francisco Architecture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas talk to architect Adam Mayer about San Francisco’s architectural history and current trends. Check out his Twitter, Instagram, and Architectural Portfolio.

Topics:

Robert’s meetup and architectural tour with Adam in Downtown SF
Ghirardelli Square and the Cannery
SF Neon TOURS
Beaux-Arts Palace Hotel
Art Deco highrises Sir Francis Drake Hotel, Shell Building, and Pac Bell Tower
Mid Century Modern Joseph Eichler highrises, the Fairmont Hotel, and the Hilton
William Pereira’s Transamerica Pyramid and Louis Kahn’s use of concrete inspired by ancient monuments
Underappreciated 80’s post modernism, Art Deco revival, Marriott Juke Box, and Crocker Galleria
Philip Johnson’s 101 California Street and Union Square Neiman Marcus
The John Portman designed Embarcadero Center, it’s attributes of a self contained city and urban oasis, and the JW Marriott
Portman’s uniqueness in being both an architect and real estate developer
Jonathan Segal’s project ‘Architect as Developer’
SOMA highrise boom, Central SoMa Rezone, 5M development, and, Caltrain redevelopment 
New Transbay Transit Center
SOMA skyscrapers 181 Fremont, Salesforce Tower, and Rem Koolhaas’ Tower
The end of the high-rise boom cycle
The Missing Middle Housing
Addressing the housing crisis while respecting historic preservation and aesthetics
Current trends in architecture and marriage between modernism and post modernism(meta modernism)

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to Brandon Adamson about Birthday Boy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to Brandon Adamson about his EP Birthday Boy. Available on  iTunes.

Topics:

Intro: Throw Your Love
Birthday Boy 22nd Anniversary Edition re-released on Captain Crook Records
Inspiration from an isolated lifestyle and lack of personal relationships
Writing songs about characters on TV shows such as Melrose Place
Brandon’s obsession with the E! Channel in the 90s
Musical influences from 70s light rock to 90s Indie
Infamous rejection letters from major record labels
Aspiring to be an indie version of a Seventeen Magazine popstar
Squandered opportunities and big breaks
How for years Brandon was embarrassed by old recordings but eventually came to embrace them

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark interviews Sven Kirsten about Tiki Culture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to Sven Kirsten about Tiki Culture. Sven Kirsten is a Director of Photography, urban archaeologist and self-admitted “visual junkie.” Sven has spent over 20 years researching and documenting the world of  Tiki and Polynesian Pop. Sven’s four books on Tiki include The Book of Tiki, Tiki Pop, Tiki Modern and The Art of Tiki.

Topics:

Sven’s background as a cinematographer and his work on music videos for Madonna, Bill Joel, and The Cramps(IMDB Filmography)
The West’s fascination with Tiki, originating in Polynesia, from the explorer James Cook to the artist Paul Gauguin
Tiki’s popularity in Southern California in the Film Industry and in 50’s design
The Current Tiki revival
Sven’s favorite bar Tiki Ti
History of Trader Vic’s, the venue at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, and Sven’s upcoming book
The handcrafted wood carvings of Tiki venues
Tiki Neon and the building as a sign
The difference between Tiki and Hawaiiana
Devolution of Tiki style to the “Fantasy Island”/Fern bar style in the 70’s
Historic preservation losses and victories
The Tonga Room in San Francisco, it’s preservation, and the Tiki lounge as an urban oasis
The Tiki Room and defunct Tahitian Terrace at Disneyland
Exhibition at the Musee de Quai Branley in Paris
Sven’s upcoming book “Aztec Hotel” about Art Deco Mayan and Aztec revival

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to David Cole about LA Malls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas talk with David Cole about the history, culture, and aesthetics of LA ‘s Malls. David Cole writes for Takimag and is the author of Republican Party Animal.

Topics:

David and Robert’s background growing up on the Westside of LA
The Open Air Century City Shopping Center, the original 60’s retro futuristic aesthetics, and the film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
The recent $1-billion makeover of the Mall and plans to make Century City more urban and pedestrian friendly
The “Westfield Aesthetic”
The old underground 70’s retro futuristic ABC Entertainment Center
The first major indoor mall Fox Hills in Culver City
The Westside Pavilion, Jon Jerde’s 80’s Post Modernist aesthetics(original featured in Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’), and plans to turn it into office space
The 80’s Rodeo Collection, an archeo-futuristic urban oasis model for self contained cities, and the film Body Double
The Beverly Center, the amusement park “Kiddyland” before the mall , the original 80’s aesthetics with futuristic external escalators, and latter renovations
The lack of interest in preserving 80’s architecture
Young people’s interest in 80’s aesthetics and the magical dream like memories from early childhood(Hypnagogia)
The 70’s retro high-rise Mr. C Hotel(formerly the Renaissance) near Beverly Hills
The Third Street Promenade, the first major outdoor mall
The rise of outdoor malls such as Rick Caruso’s The Grove and Americana at Brand and how those are now becoming dated
Future trends, the under construction high-rise shopping complex, the Oceanwide Plaza in Downtown LA
The Jon Jerde designed neon lit Universal CityWalk
David’s joke about the City Walk’s old Rain Forest Cafe and the Museum of Tolerance’s Tunnel of Hate
Westwood Village as the center of Westside nightlife and it’s decline in the late 80’s

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island