Late Victorian Holocausts (Bookclub #2)

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EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/mumbling-safdies-99383330

Dylan Weaver (@DJWeaver29, WODFAMCHOCPOD) joins me in a final defense of Mumblecore (I promise I'll drop this subject next month) by discussing the Safdie brothers' first two films, The Pleasure of Being Robbed (2008) and Daddy Longlegs (2009). Also just some broader discussions about Mumblecore.

Follow today's guest on Letterboxd @djweaver29 or Twitter @djweaver29

Music by SHADE08

Josiah is joined by AJ Ditty (@thefuzzymask, The Worst of All Possible Worlds) to discuss The Puffy Chair (2005) and how Mumblecore can actually be pretty good sometimes.

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Check out The Worst of All Possible Worlds
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References

• The Puffy Chair (2005), directed by Jay Duplass
• "'The Puffy Chair' Tells the Story of a Trip to Atlanta (and to Adulthood)," A.O. Scott in New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/movies/04puff.html.
• Jay and Mark Duplass at the Academy, 2015, Oscars YouTube Channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el_O0rFDCkM.
• Jay Duplass breaks down his career, Vanity Fair, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeWiogEnMic.
• "What Makes This Film Great: The Puffy Chair," Aaron Hunter, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgBYD7j-yME. I (Josiah) forgot to say I pulled the point about Josh ripping off the motel but being indignant when he gets ripped off later from this lovely little video essay about the film.
• Matthew Christman reviewing the film on Letterboxd, https://letterboxd.com/worsethan/film/the-puffy-chair.

Music & audio credits

• Yesterday – bloom.
• At the Bottom of Everything - Bright Eyes
• Previous TWOAPW episode where I insulted Mumblecore (Episode 84)

THIS IS A PREVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE, CHECK OUT FRUITLESS ON PATREON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141

EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/98462326

Francis Cooper (@AttnFrancis) joins me to talk about how he ended up at a Jimmy Dore show and the strange political comedy he witnessed. 

Music by SHADE08

Josiah is joined by Finch (@santo_pinzon, Mammonburg) to talk about Society of the Snow (2023) and the discourse around the film in the Spanish-speaking world.

Finch’s essay about the film and Catholic spirituality on Substack: https://jmkazmierczak.substack.com/p/a-voice-cries-out-in-the-wilderness
Follow today's guest on Twitter @santo_pinzon
Check out Finch's Substack here: https://jmkazmierczak.substack.com/
Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
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Find more of Josiah’s work here: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton

Follow Josiah on Twitter & Bluesky @josiahwsutton

References

• Society of the Snow (2023) directed by J. A. Bayona
• Alive (1993), directed by Frank Marshall
• Society of the Snow: The Definitive Account of the World’s Greatest Survival Story by Pablo Vierci
• Bergara defends his comment about Society of the Snow, El Pais, https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/politica/bergara-defendio-su-polemico-tuit-sobre-la-sociedad-de-la-nieve-y-comentario-sobre-la-tragedia-de-los-andes-el-espiritu-del-tuit-lo-mantengo.
• "More Dead Than Alive," Madeleine Kearns, https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/02/more-dead-than-alive.

Music and audio credits

• Yesterday – bloom.
• In My Dreams – bloom.
• TODAY report on the 1972 crash, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzkFyeTB-wE.

This is an unlocked episode from the Fruitless Patreon, originally published 1/12/2024. Enjoy!

James Eric (@cigarette_liker) joins Josiah to talk about Idiocracy (2006). Yes, it's a eugenicist movie. Yes, it is a product of the smug, upper class liberalism of the Bush years, and it was popular during the resurgence of that sentiment during the Trump years. But what does it mean now? And is it funny?

Follow today's guest on Twitter @cigarette_liker and on Bluesky @cigaretteliker

References

• Idiocracy (2006), directed by Mike Judge.
• Office Space (1999), directed by Mike Judge.
• Mike Judge on Info Wars, video from YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khTqmN2Lths.
• Terry Crews, io9 on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHZfcltOFPc.
• "The Jock/Creep Theory of Fascism" John Ganz in Unpopular Front, https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-jockcreep-theory-of-fascism.
• "How Idiocracy Perpetuates Itself," Rod Dreher in the American Conservative, 2014, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/how-idiocracy-perpetuates-itself.
• "I Loathe Every Person...," https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-loathe-every-person-i-see-on-the-street-r-crumb-comic.
• Starship Troopers (1997), directed by Paul Veerhoeven.
• Team America: World Police (2004), directed by Trey Parker.
• Benny's Video (1992), directed by Michael Haneke.

Music by SHADE08 & Hansiii

Josiah is joined by Luke Savage (@LukewSavage, Michael & Us, Jacobin) to reflect on the last fifteen years of U.S. electoral politics in light of the current election year: the failures of the Obama administration, the hyperpolitics of the Trump administration, and the attempted 'return to normalcy' of Biden's first term.

Follow today's guest on Twitter @LukewSavage
Check out Michael & Us here: https://soundcloud.com/michael-and-us
Luke Savage in Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/author/luke-savage
Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
Check out Fruitless on YouTube
Find more of Josiah’s work here: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton

Follow Josiah on Twitter & Bluesky @josiahwsutton

References

• The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History by Luke Savage
• Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality by Ed Broadbent, Jonathan Sas, Frances Abele, and Luke Savage.
• Leave the World Behind (2023), directed by Sam Esmail.
• "Everything is Hyperpolitical," Anton Jäger in The Point, https://thepointmag.com/politics/everything-is-hyperpolitical.
• Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped the World by Will Sommers
• "The Biden Era's Defining Characteristic: Anti-Politics," Luke Savage in Jacobin, https://jacobin.com/2023/09/biden-administration-anti-politics-trump-books-media-coverage. This is the article discussing political book sales and online news engagement during the Trump admin vs. the Biden admin that Luke references.
• The Day One Agenda, The American Prospect, https://prospect.org/day-one-agenda.
• "Why Liberals Pretend They Have No Power," Luke Savage in The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/why-liberals-feign-powerlessness/616644.
• Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation by Alexei Yurchak
• "The Ultimate Election Year: All the Elections Around the World in 2024," Koh Ewe in Time, https://time.com/6550920/world-elections-2024.

Music

• Yesterday – bloom.
• In My Dreams – bloom.

THIS IS A PREVIEW. IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE, CHECK OUT FRUITLESS ON PATREON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141

EPISODE ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/96745407

Alien (aka Stewie Griffin DJ) returns to discuss two Aughts-era films about sex: Kissing on the Mouth (2005) and Shortbus (2006). They talk about Joe Swanberg's dick and ask the really hard question: Is Shortbus a Mumblecore movie?

Music by SHADE08

After some positive reception, I've decided to release this Patreon episode from 12/18/2023 to the free feed as a resource. Enjoy!

Keanu Heydari returns to teach Josiah the strange history of Christian Zionism and the story of how the United States became obsessed with Israel.

Follow today’s guest on Twitter, and remember to check out his podcast and his website.

Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
Check out Fruitless on YouTube
Find more of Josiah’s work here: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton

Follow Josiah on Twitter & Bluesky @josiahwsutton

Resources

• Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism by Stephen Spector
• Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism by Victoria Clark
• God's Country: Christian Zionism in America by Samuel Goldman
• The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America by Frances Fitzgerald

Music by SHADE08

Josiah is joined by Jesse Goodman (@platofan402, Post-Cultural Amnesiac) to discuss 2023. Beginning with a focus on 2023 in personal media consumption, the conversation evolves into a broader discuss of the anecdotal "vibe shift," the sense of living in a hyperpolitical age, and the difficulty of talking about film or art while genocide and war unfolds in the background.

Correction: I (Josiah) briefly discuss the strange Osama Bin Laden going viral on TikTok situation and suggest that we will eventually find out who is behind that. We already have. It was Yashar Ali who platformed it.

Follow today's guest on Twitter @platofan402
Check out Jesse's Substack, Post-Cultural Amnesiac, here: https://jessedgoodman.substack.com.
Some of Jesse's poetry can be found in issues 17 and 24 of Wild Roof: https://wildroofjournal.com.
An essay by Jesse in Litro US: https://www.litromagazine.com/usa/2023/06/baltimore-by-the-mid-morning-light.
Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
Check out Fruitless on YouTube
Find more of Josiah’s work here: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton

Follow Josiah on Twitter & Bluesky @josiahwsutton

References

• Poor Things (2023), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
• "Everyone Is Beautiful and No One Is Horny," R.S. Benedict in Blood Knife, https://bloodknife.com/everyone-beautiful-no-one-horny.
• "The Strange Undeath of Middlebrow," Phil Christman in The Hedgehog Review, https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/who-do-we-think-we-are/articles/the-strange-undeath-of-middlebrow. An edited version of this essay appears in his collection, How to Be Normal.
• "Everything is Hyperpolitical," Anton Jäger in The Point, https://thepointmag.com/politics/everything-is-hyperpolitical.
• If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution by Vincent Bevins
• "An Issue of Concern," John Ganz in Unpopular Front, https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/an-issue-of-concern.
• "Eyeless in Gaza," Death Is Just Around the Corner, https://www.patreon.com/posts/199-eyeless-in-90901189.
• Tweet Josiah paraphrased: https://twitter.com/LukewSavage/status/1270048044881502209.
• "Salvador Allende's Brief Experiment in Radical Democracy in Chile 50 Years Ago Today," Interview with Marian Schlotterbeck in Jacobin, https://jacobin.com/2020/09/salvador-allende-chile-coup-pinochet.

Music

• Yesterday – bloom.
• In My Dreams – bloom.

It's the Fruitless Christmas special. Chris Barker and Alien (aka Stewie Griffin DJ) join Josiah to discuss Children of Men (2006), the incredible craft behind the film, and the politics of hope and futurity.

Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
Check out Fruitless on YouTube
Find more of Josiah’s work here: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton

Follow Josiah on Twitter & Bluesky @josiahwsutton

References

• Children of Men (2006), directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
• Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher
• The Possibility of Hope, an archival documentary about Children of Men on the Arrow Blu-Ray release.
• There Is No Future, video appreciation about Children of Men by Philip Kemp on the Arrow Blu-Ray release.
• "Count-Down to Dystopia," Armond White https://www.nypress.com/news/count-down-to-dystopia-DGNP1020080109301099976.
• O-Bi O-Ba, The End of Civilization (1985). I (Josiah) kind of mischaracterized the ending of this movie. It's a lot more ambiguous than that, and I kind of projected a hopeful ending on a dreamy, weird final scene. Watch it for yourself and decide what the ending means: http://exmilitai.re/film.html.
• "Why Children of Men haunts the present," Gavin Jacobson, https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2020/07/children-of-men-alfonso-cuaron-2006-apocalypse-coronavirus.
• No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive by Lee Edelman
• Out of the Red Closet, https://files.libcom.org/files/out-of-the-red-closet-kasama-pamphlet_0_0.pdf.

Music & Audio credits

• Children of Men (2006)
• Interviews with James Lovelock, Slavoj Zizek, and Naomi Klein from The Possibility of Hope, an archival documentary about Children of Men on the Arrow Blu-Ray release.
• O Come, O Come Emmanuel, played by Kaleb Brasee, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLnlhpXV5IM.
• Yesterday – bloom.
• In My Dreams – bloom.