Shows
Weird StudiesAnimal Songs, with Meredith MichaelIn this episode, Phil and JF are joined by Meredith Michael—musicologist, podcaster, and Weird Studies production assistant—for a conversation about animal songs. The phrase is intentionally slippery. Are we talking about songs about animals, or songs by animals? Both, as it turns out. Beginning with three very different human compositions—The Beatles’ “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey,” Hovhaness’s And God Created the Great Whales, and Björk’s “Human Behavior”—the hosts discuss the roles animals play in human music, mythology, and mind. Along the way, they touch on Pink Floyd, the Beatles' trip...2025-07-231h 22
Weird StudiesThe Affirmation of Imagination: On John Crowley's 'Little, Big,' with Erik Davis
John Crowley’s Little, Big is, at once, a family saga, a fairy tale, an occult thriller, an idyll, a dystopia, as well as a meditation on myth and history, the real and the fantasy, memory and imagination. Little, Big is also a book that JF and Phil have been planning to discuss for as long as Weird Studies has existed. In this episode, they are joined by writer and scholar Erik Davis to explore the enduring charms and mysteries of one of the greatest—and most underrated—American novels of the late twentieth century.
Order Christian Bunyan...2025-03-261h 33
Weird StudiesIntuition and Reality: The Wedge, Part One
"The Wedge" is a key concept for Phil and JF. When exploring weird phenomena—from artworks to ghosts, and everything in between—one tends to emphasize one or the other "end" of the event. At the thin end of the Wedge, the focus is on subjective experience: how it felt, what it was like, and its personal significance. At the thick end, the emphasis shifts to what actually happened, independent of how it was experienced. Though their roles sometimes switch, Phil generally thinks from the thin end, while JF approaches things from the thick. In this episode, they begin unpa...2025-02-261h 16
Weird StudiesProvidence of Evil: On Robert Eggers' 'Nosferatu'
In this episode, JF and Phil examine the myth of the vampire through the lens of Robert Eggers' latest film, Nosferatu, a reimagining of F. W. Murnau's German Expressionist masterpiece. Topics covered include the nature of vampires, the symbolism of evil, the implicit theology of Eggers' film (compared with that of Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula), the need for shadow work, as well as the power of real introspection and self-sacrifice.
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Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2, on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page.
Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia.2025-01-081h 20
Weird StudiesEdge of Reality: On John Carpenter's 'In the Mouth of Madness'
Earlier this month, Phil and JF recorded a live episode at Indiana University Cinema in Bloomington following a screening of John Carpenter's film In the Mouth of Madness. Carpenter’s cult classic obliterates the boundary between reality and fiction, madness and revelation—an ideal subject for a Weird Studies conversation. In this episode, recorded before a live audience, the hosts explore the film’s Lovecraftian themes, the porous nature of storytelling, and how art can function as a conduit to unsettling truths.
Special thanks to Dr. Alicia Kozma and the IU Cinema team for hosting and recording the ev...2024-10-231h 12
Weird StudiesArt is Another Word for Truth: On Orson Welles's 'F for Fake'
Orson Welles made F for Fake in the early seventies, while still bobbing in the wake of a Pauline Kael essay accusing him of being cinema's greatest fraud. Ostensibly a documentary on the famous art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving (a talented faker in his own right), the film blurs the line between fact and fiction in an effort to explore art's weird entanglement with illusion, magic, and ultimately, the search for truth. This is a film unlike any other, and it is arguably Welles's most important contribution to the evolution and theory of film...2024-05-291h 25
Weird StudiesTatters of the King: On Robert Chambers' 'The King in Yellow'
"Let the red dawn surmise / What we shall do, / When the blue starlight dies / And all is through." This short poem, an epigraph to "The Yellow Sign," arguably the most memorable tale in Robert W. Chambers' 1895 collection The King in Yellow, encapsulates in four brief lines the affect that drives cosmic horror: the fearful sense of imminent annihilation. In the four stories JF and Phil discuss in this episode, this affect, which would inspire a thousand works of fiction in the twentieth century, emerges fully formed, dripping with the xanthous milk of Decadence. What’s more, it is here gi...2024-03-201h 26
Weird StudiesLong Live the New Flesh: On David Cronenberg's 'Videodrome'
"Death to Videodrome! Long live the New Flesh!"
It was perhaps inevitable that the modern Weird, driven as it is to swallow all things, would sooner or later veer into the realm of political sloganeering without losing any of its unknowable essence. David Cronenberg's 1983 film Videodrome is more than a masterwork of body horror: it is a study in technopolitics, a meditation on the complex weave of imagination and perception, and a prophecy of the now on-going coalescence of flesh and technology into a strange new alloy. In this episode, recorded live after a screening of the...2023-11-081h 14
Political GabfestCan Israel Survive As A Democracy?This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legislative win limiting judicial powers while hundreds of thousands of Israelis protest; Harvard University and other elite colleges’ reconsideration of legacy admissions; and the revise-or-bust status of Hunter Biden’s plea deal. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “How Israel’s Supreme Court Might React to the Challenge to Its Power”Maayan Lubell for Reuters: “Israel’s Netanyahu down in polls over judicial reform”John Dickerson fo...2023-07-2758 min
Slate Crime and JusticePolitical Gabfest: Can Israel Survive As A Democracy?This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legislative win limiting judicial powers while hundreds of thousands of Israelis protest; Harvard University and other elite colleges’ reconsideration of legacy admissions; and the revise-or-bust status of Hunter Biden’s plea deal. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “How Israel’s Supreme Court Might React to the Challenge to Its Power”Maayan Lubell for Reuters: “Israel’s Netanyahu down in polls over judicial reform”John Dickerson fo...2023-07-2758 min
Weird StudiesSong Swap: On Judee Sill's 'The Kiss' and Wilco's 'Jesus, Etc.'
Occasionally, JF and Phil do a song swap. Each host chooses a song he loves and shares it with the other, and then they record an episode on it. This time, JF chose to discuss "Jesus, Etc." from Wilco's 2001 album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and Phil picked Judee Sill's ethereal "The Kiss," from Heart Food (1973). It was in the zone of Time, in all its strangeness, that the two songs began to resonate with one another. Sill's song is a fated grasping at the eternal that is present even when it eludes us, and "Jesus, Etc." is a leap across...2023-06-211h 19
Weird StudiesMythos of the Moment: On 'Twin Peaks,' Season 3
David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks has been a touchstone of Weird Studies since the podcast's inception. Back in 2018, Phil and JF recorded Episode 1: Garmonbozia while still reeling from the series' third season, which aired on Showtime the year before. Now, in preparation for their upcoming course on Twin Peaks, they watched the third season again and recorded this episode. Their conversation touched on the virtues of late style in the arts, the divergence of knowing and understanding, the fate of Agent Dale Cooper, and the dream logic of the _Twin Peaks _universe.
Last change to...2023-06-071h 17
WICB SportsSports Talk 4/30/23The spring semester's penultimate episode is hosted by Matt Sosler and features interviews with Ithaca Baseball's Collin Feeney and Ithaca Tennis' David Lubell. 2023-05-0130 min
Pro Politics with Zac McCraryMichael Barone, Patron Saint of Political JunkiesSend us a textMichael Barone, senior political analyst at the Washington examiner, is one of the most important political writers and thinkers of his time. He helped found the Almanac of American Politics in the early 70s and was the lead author for decades. He worked in politics himself, before transitioning to a role as a journalist, author, and pundit - always being an incisive and influential analyst of American politics at each stop along the way. In this conversation, we talk his roots in post-war Detroit, his time working for Democratic candidates and as a...2021-12-0757 min
TODAY is a Good Day PodcastS03E01: Dr. Andrew Lubell - Building a Strong Relationship with Your PediatricianBefore graduating from the NICU, you choose a pediatrician to care for your baby after leaving the hospital. If you are a new parent, this can be an overwhelming task making sure you are asking the right questions and finding the right fit for your family especially after a NICU stay. Today’s guest is here to talk with us about how to find a pediatrician and, most importantly, how to build a strong relationship with your pediatrician. Dr. Andrew Lubell has been in practice as an owner and clinician at Lockman & Lubell Pediatric As...2021-12-0617 min
Civil Society Futures And Innovation PodcastBuilding Welcoming Cities - ‘Civil Society Innovation and Urban Inclusion’ #10For the Centre’s 2020 Report on ‘Civil Society Innovation and Urban Inclusion’, we’re speaking with inspirational innovators from civil society organisations (CSOs) around the world to hear the stories of their advocacy and programming work to make cities more inclusive.
In this episode, Aleem Ali, Chief Executive Officer of Welcoming Australia and David Lubell, Founding Director of Welcoming International, tells us how they are working closely with local governments across Australia to build a network of Welcoming Cities inclusive of migrants, refugees, First Nations people and whole communities, and also supporting the ambitions and learning of their global movement of membe...2020-11-1253 min
The Skeptics Guide to Emergency MedicineSGEM Xtra: I’m in a FIX State of MindDate: September 18th, 2019
I had the honour of presenting at FIX19 conference in New York City. Thank you to Dr. Dara Kass and the organizing committee for giving me the opportunity to present at this amazing conference.
FIX stands for FeminEM Idea Exchange and is part of FeminEM. While attending FIX19, I had the opportunity to interview a couple of fantastic women. One of them was Dara Kass. She is an Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center. Dara has been on the SGEM before (FIX You Up and FeminEM-Stronger Together).
Barb Lubell, Jen Gunter and Ken Milne
I also...2019-09-1808 min
Congressional Dish173: War & Prairie ChickensThe law that funded the government for 2018 is 2,232 pages and Jen has finished reading a quarter of it. In this episode, learn about the most interesting provisions she found in the Department of Defense and environmental sections of the quickly passed funding law. Please Support Congressional Dish to contribute using credit card, debit card, PayPal, or Bitcoin to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Mail Contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North #4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Thank you for supporting truly independent media! The 2018 Government Funding Law Read the latest Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD171: CD168: CD167: CD145: CD131: Additional Reading Report: by...2018-05-142h 05
Evolve#TrendingJewish 9: Welcoming the StrangerDavid Lubell discusses what brought him to Ecuador, how we’ve unwittingly taught our children to fear immigrants, and why he’s dedicated his professional life to making America more welcoming to immigrants.
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This podcast is produced by Reconstructing Judaism. Visit us at ReconstructingJudaism.org.Special Guest: David Lubell.Support EvolveLinks:Welcoming America — Welcoming America leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by making everyone feel like they belong. We believe that all people, including immigrants, are valued contributors who are vital to the...2018-01-0538 min
UNSW Kaldor CentreWelcoming refugees: how to create inclusive communitiesHow can we foster support for refugee inclusion and create welcoming environments in which refugees - and whole communities - can thrive?
David Lubell is leading a movement of inclusive communities across America, through his groundbreaking work at the award winning NGO, Welcoming America.
In a presentation at the Kaldor Centre on the 14 March 2016, David shared his in-depth experience and expertise in immigrant and refugee integration, and discussed ways to increase local support for immigrants and refugees. His experience shows how inclusive communities can become more prosperous through making people feel like they belong.
David also discussed a new initiative...2016-03-1656 min