Weird Studies

Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality."


SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring the anomalous, the luminous, and the numinous. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions.

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Arts
Society & Culture
Philosophy
126
Episode 113: Framing the Invisible, with Shanno...
Phil and JF talk spiritualism and photography to American artist and paranormal researcher Shannon Taggart.
81 min
127
Episode 112: Readings from the 'Book of Probes'...
JF and Phil discuss Marshall McLuhan and David Carson's enigmatic 'Book of Probes.'
89 min
128
Episode 111: What Is Best in Life: On "Conan th...
Phil and JF explore the ethics and metaphysics of sword and sorcery through the lends of John Milius' 1982 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones.
81 min
129
Episode 110: Monks of the Cultural Apocalypse: ...
JF and Phil resume their discussion on Hermann Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game," this time with a focus on what the novel reveals about the value of culture in our times.
73 min
130
Episode 109: Infinite Play: On 'The Glass Bead ...
Phil and JF discuss Hesse's final novel, a quiet masterwork of science fiction about a game that encompasses all of reality.
80 min
131
Episode 108: On Skepticism and the Paranormal
JF and Phil discuss modern skepticism in light of George P. Hansen's "The Trickster and the Paranormal."
80 min
132
Episode 107: On Joy Williams' 'Breaking and Ent...
Writer, podcaster, and spiritual thinker Conner Habib joins Phil and JF to discuss Williams' novel and the primacy of style in literature.
86 min
133
Episode 106: The Wanderer: On Weird Studies
JF and Phil discuss consciousness, free will, and podcasting in context of the artwork that is Weird Studies.
86 min
134
Episode 105: Fire Walk with Tamler Sommers
Phil and JF are joined by philosophy professor Tamler Sommers to discuss the film "Fire Walk with Me."
92 min
135
Episode 104: We'd Love to Turn You On: 'Sgt. Pe...
JF and Phil mine the weird in the Beatles' iconic 1967 album.
82 min
136
Episode 103: On the Tower, the Sixteenth Card o...
Phil and JF continue their series on the major arcana of the tarot with a discussion on The Tower.
76 min
137
Episode 102: On Pan, with Gyrus
Writer and independent scholar Gyrus joins JF and Phil to talk about Pan, the Greek god of fear and desire.
78 min
138
Episode 101: Our Fear of the Dark: On Tanizaki'...
Phil and JF discuss Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's meditation on the aesthetics of darkness.
61 min
139
Episode 100: The Price of Beauty is Horror: On ...
JF and Phil discuss the themes and ideas in the films of one of the great American directors.
83 min
140
Episode 99: Curing the Human Condition: On 'Wil...
Phil and JF work through the differences between spirituality and religion in the context of the documentary series about Bhagwan Rajneesh.
90 min
141
Episode 98: Taboo: Time and Belief in Exotica
JF and Phil discuss the ethics and metaphysics of the obscure musical genre known as exotica.
80 min
142
Episode 97: Art in the Age of Artifice
Phil and JF discuss the ideas in JF's 2015 book, 'Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice.'
85 min
143
Episode 96: Beautiful Beast: On Jean Cocteau's ...
JF and Phil discuss Jean Cocteau's masterful film, "Beauty and the Beast."
80 min
144
Episode 95: Demon Seed: On Doris Lessing's 'The...
Phil and JF discuss Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing's unsettling story of a woman who gives birth to a monster.
85 min
145
Episode 94: All is Mysterious: On the Moon Card...
JF and Phil continue their series on the tarot with a discussion of the eighteenth major arcanum.
74 min
146
Episode 93: Living and Dying in a Secular Age: ...
Phil and JF discuss Charles Taylor's monumental work of philosophy, "A Secular Age."
87 min
147
Episode 92: Glitch in the Matrix: A Conversatio...
JF and Phil are joined by American filmmaker Rodney Ascher to discuss film, music, mood, and his new documentary about people who believe we are in living in a computer simulation.
87 min
148
Episode 91: On Susanna Clarke's 'Piranesi'
JF and Phil explore the mysterious world of Susanna Clarke's incredible new novel.
84 min
149
Episode 90: 'The Owl in Daylight': On Philip K....
Phil and JF discuss the novel that would have been Philip K. Dick's magnum opus ... if he had written it.
70 min
150
Episode 89: On Ishmael Reed's 'Mumbo Jumbo,' or...
JF and Phil discuss Ishmael Reed's masterpiece of conspiracy fiction.
79 min