Shows
A Meal of ThornsA Meal of Thorns 18 – THE SILMARILLION with Eden KupermintzPodcasts, reviews, interviews, essays, and more at the Ancillary Review of Books.Please consider supporting ARB’s Patreon!Credits:Guest: Eden KupermintzTitle: The Silmarillion by J.R.R. TolkienHost: Jake Casella BrookinsMusic by Giselle Gabrielle GarciaArtwork by Rob PattersonOpening poem by Bhartṛhari, translated by John BroughReferences:anarchySF, heavy blog is heavy, Eden’s work at ARB, the Death // Sentence podcastAlex Pheby’s WaterblackAdrian Tchaikovsky’s House of Open WoundsDarkly Lem’s Transmentation TransienceDeath // Sentence episode on Unknown Language
2025-02-241h 19
anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastBlowing Shit Up With Your Communist Mech in LancerWe talk about the tabletop RPG/War game Lancer and its unusual utopianism
Some topics:
- Those who Walk Away from Omelas and the structure of Dystopia/Utopia
- Reimagining the French Revolution
- The Role of Violence in a Communist Utopia
- Permanent Revolution
2025-02-051h 12anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastGrounding ourselves in Saint of Bright DoorsWe never left, so we are not back. We just like to keep you guessing about episode times. This time we talk about the brilliant Saint of Bright Doors, a decolonial multifaceted dark fantasy novel that's quite a thinker, but also pretty accessible. Give it a read!
Eden recommends playing "Laysara: Summit Kingdom", which kinda fits the theme of this episode.
2024-05-2656 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastEternal Discourse War With Warhammer 40kWe talk about how to critique the Fascist sentiments in Warhammer 40k, without worrying too much about the degrees of intent or satire behind it.
2023-10-041h 27anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastAcknowledging the Complexities of Humanity with AmmoniteWe talk about Ammonite, a somewhat under-the-radar excellent sci-fi book about a virus killing all the men in a far-off planet and exploring indigenous lands as a colonizer anthropologist
Themes explored:
- Anthrophopolitics and diversity within identity
- Biopolitics and virology
- "Going Native" (TM)
- Some Ursula LeGuin themes
Eden's ep of death-sentence about The Dawn of Everything:
https://soundcloud.com/death-sentence-pod/david-wengrow-and-david-graeber-the-dawn-of-everything
2023-05-221h 15anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastCan we fix it? Maybe! Kinda! With IxionWe talk about the sci-fi strategy game Ixion and its somber adventure through space.
Some topics discussed:
- Shameful space
- Space is silence and death
- Gravestone science
- Accelerating the flows
- The eternal recurrence of the same
- Middle management euphemisms
Referenced Some More News video 'Jeff Bezons Learned Nothing in Space':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TQFFH9gj8&ab_channel=SomeMoreNews
2023-02-271h 00anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastThe Potential and Limitations of Clowning on Billionaires on Space SweepersThis is an especially rambly episode of us talking about the excellent kitchen sink space romp movie Spacesweepers.
Topics discussed:
- Billionaires hate humanity
- The limits of Villainry
- What internationalism looks like
- The ethics/politics distinction
2023-01-0757 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastRaging in alliance with The Only Harmless Great ThingWe read Brooke Bolander's short and painful novelette and spoke about:
- Nuclear semiotics
- The uses of violence
- The master's tools
- Being pushed to the corner
2022-09-261h 09anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastOptimist Awakenings with Citizen SleeperCitizen Sleeper is touching and optimistic without being saccharine and might be just what we need in these trying times.
The podcast opens with us venting our feelings and thoughts about another demonstration of incredible violence from Israel against the Palestinian people. Free Palestine!
Then we talk some themes. Here's what you can expect:
Gaming under capitalism
Vicious and virtuous cycles
Refugee experience
Care ethics - A softer world is possible)
Intra-class struggles
Radical embodiment (Yes, Eden talks about the body some more)
2022-08-071h 16
anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastRepo Virtual repossesses CyberpunkWe talk about Corey J White's modern vision of Cyberpunk: Repo Virtual, reimagining the genre and its radical potential.
Topics discussed:
- Data creep
- Radical potential of games
- Firearms in smart cities
- Cyberpunk's questionable beginnings
- Opting in / Opting out
- Identity politics and data dystopia
Referenced pieces:
- Video discussing (among other things) how youtube manufactures identities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41B5YonixBs&ab_channel=F.DSignifier
- Watched over...
2022-05-091h 03
anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastSpire, racialization and resistanceWe discussed the role-playing game Spire, with its different ways of representing oppression and the struggle against it.
- Epistemic vice and epistemic resistance
- Construction of knowledge and infrastructure space
- Adevnturism and the challenge of struggling in a hopeless fight
- Good weird and bad weird
Links:
Eden's podcast appearance about magical realism and much more:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/inner-experience-62792132?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copy_to_clipboard&utm_campaign=postshare
Eden's essay on the topic:
...
2022-02-211h 10
The Cast That Ends CreationThe Cast That Ends Creation Episode 123 - Jimmy and Eden of Heavy Blog Is HeavyIn episode 123 of The Cast That Ends Creation, I interview Jimmy Rowe and Eden Kupermintz of Heavy Blog Is Heavy!
https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/
https://www.facebook.com/heavyblog/
https://www.instagram.com/heavyblogisheavy/
https://www.youtube.com/user/HeavyBlogOfficial
https://www.athousandarms.com/collections/heavyblogisheavy
https://instar1.bandcamp.com/
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https://www.youtube.com/thecastthatendscreation
https://www.facebook.com/thecastthatendscreationpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/thecastthatendscreation
https://www.twitch.tv/thecastthatendscreation
https://ww...
2022-01-251h 02anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastThe Materialist Fantasy of MordewMordew is a down-to-earth, complex fantasy world, and a promising beginning to a promised trilogy. We talk about:
- Realist fantasy
- Materialist morality
- Knowledge and Protagony
- Mark Fisher's Red Plenty
See much more anarchist science fiction at anarchysf.com
External links:
Protagony, by Innuendo Studios:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R943_eAvnWw&t=75s&ab_channel=InnuendoStudios
2022-01-161h 08anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastWoah, the MatrixWe dive deep into "The Matrix (1999)" and a little bit into the sequels. No Resurrections here as this was recorded before it came out.
Topics discussed:
- What is the Matrix?
- Snooty philosophers vs. the Matrix
- Abolishing everything
- The Messiah Complex
- Do we want to escape to the Desert of the Real?
- Fighting together
Editing took a while, so references to current events are referring to about a month ago, including the sad discussion of Charles Mills' death.
2022-01-051h 01anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastKurt Vonnegut Wrote Some Pretty Good BooksWe talk about a medley of Kurt Vonnegut books, how they play around with cynicism and sentimentalism, how they're anarchist and humble and absurdist.
Near the end Eden mentions this paper by David Graeber and David Wengrow:
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/62756/1/__lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_Graeber%2C%20D_Farewell%20to%20childhood_Graeber_Farewell%20to%20childhood_2015.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1tVc7d35wbjGhGmH-L2VnhDqUHEMaSiMH0ubzQEaUhZlJcxSX-f4_H80w
2021-08-2954 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastDishonored, not ResentfulWe talk about the video game franchise Dishonored. Topics discussed:
- The means of magical production
- Sociological storytelling
- Resentiment
- Hypocritical opiate (of the masses)
- What good is an individual?
- What to do after a revolution
2021-06-3059 min
Radio LabMusic as a means to tackle climate challengesDespite warnings in the mass media and a global increase in the awareness of the climate emergency, as well as widespread images of melting ice, rising waters and deforestation, we are still firmly stuck in the status quo when it comes to the environment. All of which begs a question: what can be done to bring about change and to successfully communicate the gravity of the imminent disaster? And what if music, through its narrative power and ability to inspire, could provide the answer? Music is capable of creating new narratives (look no further than Eden Kupermintz, who argues that...
2021-06-2357 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastOval - Is Reciprocity in Our Nature?We had a great time talking about Oval, by Elvia Wilk. It's a complicated little story about being an artist in Berlin and watching as the world around you burns, or turns.
Discussions:
- Leftism's "call to action"
- Reciprocity vs. Transactions
- The Relationship Between Hi-Tech and Art
- How Tech Falls Apart
- Human Nature and Economics
References:
"Hauntology" is discussed in Derrida's "Spectres of Marx"
We mention a video by the great youtube channel space commune, about art...
2021-03-251h 11anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastElysium, design fiction and fake scarcityWe talk about a cool little action movie that didn't do well in theatres but has its own little place in our hearts with its scathing critiques of bad environmentalism, bad identity politics, and bad cyberpunk.
Paper on design fiction (though it doesn't use the term):
https://www.hellofosta.com/writing/the-future-mundane
2021-02-161h 11anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastAn Unkindness of Ghosts and the Love of Saying NoWe talk about the Rivers Solomon's thought provoking and gut punching "An Unkindness of Ghosts". But we promise there are no spooks! Some rough discussion topics though (Body manipulation, sexual assault and rape).
Topics discussed:
- The pneumatics of power
- The revolutionary potential of food
- Afropessimism
- Racialization
- Midwives
- Gendered Racism
External reading referenced:
- Article about Afropessimism:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/the-argument-of-afropessimism
- More critical view on Afropessimism:
https://www...
2021-01-021h 16anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastAniara also Carries Ruin WithinWe talk about the incredible film adaptation to the early 20th century epic poem Aniara. Pretty depressing stuff, but we refuse to be doomers.
Discussion topics:
- Why are the people who cause calamity in charge of fixing it?
- Why do we obey?
- Why do we work?
- How do temporary hierarchies become permanent?
- Opium for the masses
- The complicity of scientists
Lindsey Ellis video essay on three act structure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Q...
2020-12-091h 10anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastAnnihilation, Discussions of Bodies Being MorphedWe talk about Jeff Vandermeer's New-Weird book - Annihilation, a book about climate horror and accepting uncomfortable changes.
Issues discussed:
- The horror of climate change
- Unintelligible politics
- The failure of facts and logic
- Doing better than Lovecraftian racism
- Becoming other
- Permeable boundaries
2020-11-211h 00anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastMoon, Exploitation and OpportunityWe talk about the excellent solitary space adventure that is Moon (2009). Topics discussed:
- How exploitation is marketed to white men
- Foucault's "Care of the self"
- How space capitalism is an especially risky form of exploitation
- How space can be an opportunity to organize
- The race between capitalist exploitation and worker organization
- Capitalism's obvious failures
Links:
Innuendo Studio's discussion of the right's obsession with cucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQjVbk6JSck&ab_channel=InnuendoStudios
...
2020-10-1855 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastToo Like the Lightning, and EnlightenmentWe talk about Ada Palmer's "Too Like the Lightning", how it portrays the enlightenment, gender, politics, all the goodness.
It's a challenging read, but it delivers on its promises
Themes discussed:
- How the social contract makes a new person
- What was the Enlightenment?
- Confusing gender roles
- Fabricating consent
- Ideology
2020-09-261h 06anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastShadowrun; Acceleration and MosaicsWe talk about the pen and paper role playing game Shadowrun, focusing on the themes it allows its players and storytellers to explore. Shadowrun is a troperific mix of sci-fi and fantasy that takes everything that's wrong about the world and blows it up at the same time.
Subjects discussed:
- Accelerationism and the Frankfurt school's influence on it
- Reclaiming Cybernetics
- Meaning in postmodern works
- Mosaicism
- Exceptionalism
- Radical infrastructure space
2020-09-0553 min
DEATH // SENTENCESEASON PREMIERE: Jeff VanderMeer - Dead AstronautsDEATH // SENTENCE returns after a brief hiatus. Between COVID and life changes for our hosts, Gareth has had to step away for the foreseeable future, leaving Langdon to figure out how to run, edit, and host a podcast all on his lonesome. Will Gareth return someday? We will see; the door is certainly open. New cohost Eden Kupermintz, editor-in-chief of Heavy Blog Is Heavy as well as a noted bibliophile, philosophy degree haver and ardent leftist, makes his debut. We talk about Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer and circumnavigation leftist thought. FEATURED MUSIC: Bedsore - "Cauliflower Growth", Sumac - "The...
2020-08-052h 01anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastRandom Acts of Senseless Violence - The center cannot holdWe talk about Jack Womack's "Random acts of senseless violence" - a "minute into the future" dystopia told from the perspective of a 12 year old girl. It's gritty and depressing, just our speed.
Topics include:
- How this is a horror story for the Bourgeois
- The atomization of daily life
- Hobbesian themes
- Derrida and the duality between center and periphery
- The merits of a political book with no obvious villain
- The violence/mundanity barrier
2020-07-2651 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastSplendor, Misery, Time and ResistanceWe talk about a Sci-fi album by the band Clipping - Splendor and Misery. The album is a prime example of Afro-Futurism, dealing with such topics as time, space, bodies, space travel, slavery, and much more that we couldn't cover.
The discussed album:
https://clppng.bandcamp.com/album/splendor-misery
Topics discussed:
- Queer time and its relevance to race theory
- Space, resistance and the body
- Belonging
- Alternate futures in space
- Anger as a political emotion
- Anarchy...
2020-05-2755 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastThe Telling, Colonialism and the CenterWe discuss one of science fiction's titans: Ursula K. Le Guin, in one of her slightly less read books: The Telling, offering a radical perspective on religion, colonialism and reason. Some themes:
- Center-based vs. non-center-based epistemology
- Decolonialism
- Non-ideal anthropology
- Multiple views on religion
- Ways of life as resistance
Audio on my (Yanai's) side is a bit rough due to a recording issue, sorry about that!
For more information on Decolonialism I would, from my limited experience, recommend Serene Khader's "Decolonizing...
2020-05-1455 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastFrostpunk and Snowpiercer, Leviathan and red plentyListen people, we're mad about capitalism. We discuss the game Frostpunk and the movie Snow Piercer, two critiques of capitalism in frozen worlds.
Themes discussed:
- Hobbes' Leviathan
- Mark Fisher's "Abandon hope, summer is coming"
http://k-punk.org/abandon-hope-summer-is-coming/
- The revolt of nature
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectic_of_Enlightenment
- Inherent conflict
- Religion and society
- What do we work for?
2020-04-221h 06anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastFlow My Tears the Policeman Said, Sex, Drugs and KnowledgeWe discuss Philip K. Dick's "Flow My Tears the Policeman Said".
Some themes discussed:
- Kant's metaphysics in Philip K. Dick's writing
- Power's will to knowledge
- Radical embodiment
- The danger and potential of drugs
- The transparency of police
- Self identity as a source of stability
2020-04-1055 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastAkira, Violence and FriendshipWe discuss 1988 Anime masterpiece "Akira"
Some themes discussed:
- Deleuze and Foucault's ideas of societies of discipline and societies of control
- Hannah Arendt's approach to violence, and violence in leftist ideology
- The rise and fall of capitalist Japan
- Science as Pandora's box
- Radical friendship
Catherine M. Valente's Radiance:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N03G440/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Hannah Arendt Reflections on Violence:
http://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~alexroni...
2020-03-0853 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastThe Girl in The Road, Infrastructure and StandpointsWe Discuss Monica Byrne's "The Girl in The Road"
Themes Discussed:
- Franz Fanon's phenomenology and race theory
- The Infrastructure Space
- Standpoint theory
- Byrne's unusual approach to writing an audience-insert character
- Embodied writing
Links:
Fanon's "Black Skins, White Masks":
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003OYIKUG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Extrastatecraft (on infrastructure space):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K9MK1R6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Stanford Encyclopedia...
2020-02-2751 minanarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcastDisco Elysium, Ghosts and AngelsFor our podcast premiere we discussed the ZA/UM movement's game: Disco Elysium.
Themes discussed:
- Mourning and Walter Benjamin's angel of history
- Radical friendship
- The Cartesian experiment and the cop within your head
- An anarchist love letter to communism
- Hauntology
Links:
Derrida's "Specters of Marx": https://books.google.com/books/about/Specters_of_Marx.html?id=sEENbAP5FZsC
Dark Crystal: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6905542/
Relevant essay by Mark Fisher: https://frieze.com...
2020-02-041h 01
re:publica 18 - Alle SessionsThe Solution for Loneliness - The Abandonment of Our Next FrontiersEden Kupermintz
If we were forced to define Western civilization, we would have to address its hunger for the novel. It seems as if our culture is obsessed with pushing forward, with discovering new ways and places in which to be. This is, often, viewed as a positive thing; the texts which exist in favor of entrepreneurship and pioneering are plenty. However, in our rush for the new, we don’t often delay on the prices those who come to occupy these next frontiers will pay. One of the prices that seem more and more actual is the price of lo...
2018-05-0325 min
re:publica 18 - Science & TechnologyThe Solution for Loneliness - The Abandonment of Our Next FrontiersEden Kupermintz
If we were forced to define Western civilization, we would have to address its hunger for the novel. It seems as if our culture is obsessed with pushing forward, with discovering new ways and places in which to be. This is, often, viewed as a positive thing; the texts which exist in favor of entrepreneurship and pioneering are plenty. However, in our rush for the new, we don’t often delay on the prices those who come to occupy these next frontiers will pay. One of the prices that seem more and more actual is the price of lo...
2018-05-0325 min
re:publica 17 - sub:marineThe Ocean of Dreams: Science Fiction, History and Space Exploration (en)Eden Kupermintz
Humans have always been pioneers. Discovering, exploring and conquering new places and frontiers is an inherent part of the story we tell about ourselves. This narrative has fueled both personal aspirations and multi-national ones, often enlisting thousands of work-hours and billions of dollars in budget. No matter how far human society has come, we still like to think of ourselves as liminal pioneers, obsessed with the search for the next (and, perhaps, final) frontier. All of this in the search of the ultimate unknown, the unknown which contains all other unknowns: space.
Space exploration is, by definition, the u...
2017-05-1023 min
re:publica 17 - All SessionsThe Ocean of Dreams: Science Fiction, History and Space Exploration (en)Humans have always been pioneers. Discovering, exploring and conquering new places and frontiers is an inherent part of the story we tell about ourselves. This narrative has fueled both personal aspirations and multi-national ones, often enlisting thousands of work-hours and billions of dollars in budget. Now, as we stand on the brink of exploring space (the elusive "final frontier") what can our past teach us about our future? How can history and science fiction work together to illustrate possible, believable and useful futures within the field of space exploration with the models of the pioneers who came before us as...
2017-05-1023 min
re:publica 17 - Science FictionCurating Science Fiction Art (en)Uri Aviv, Martina Lüdicke, Boris Moshkovits, Eden Kupermintz
This panel discussion will examine currrent artistic and curatorial practice and explore new ways of looking at art and science fiction. The discussions will range from purist sci-fi classics to contemporary interpretations that blur the lines between the disciplines. How is the digital revolution changing our perception of science fiction in other words how much science fiction are we already living and what role do artists and curators play in translating new ideas to a wider audience.
Uri Aviv: curator of Utopia "Designing Tomorrow", Tel Aviv 2016
Eden Kupermintz: Contributor to Utopia, Tel...
2017-05-081h 04re:publica 17 - All SessionsCurating Science Fiction Art (en)This science:fiction panel discussion will assemble curators, who (recently) organised exhibition projects within the broad spectrum of science fiction highlighting motives from literature, art and music inspiring technological visions and development.
Uri AvivMartina LüdickeBoris MoshkovitsEden KupermintzThis panel discussion will examine currrent artistic and curatorial practice and explore new ways of looking at art and science fiction. The discussions will range from purist sci-fi classics to contemporary interpretations that blur the lines between the disciplines. How is the digital revolution changing our perception of science fiction in other words how much science fiction are we already living a...
2017-05-081h 04