Category Archives: William S. Burroughs

Robert Stark talks to James O’Meara about Mysticism After Modernism

Robert Stark speaks with James O’Meara about his book, Mysticism After Modernism: Crowley, Evola, Neville, Watts, Colin Wilson, & Other Populist Gurus. Mysticism After Modernism is published by Manticore Press, where it is available for purchase. You can also find it at Counter-Currents and on Amazon.

“Our spirituality has gotten too tame today. James J. O’Meara has a solution [in Mysticism After Modernism]
Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award-winning author of Occult America and The Miracle Club

-The intersection of mysticism with politics and culture, and how mysticism is available to any political persuasion
-Countering the Hippie-dippy liberal  stereotype about New Age gurus
-Critiquing the reactionary who passively accepts cycles of decay, and the need to embrace infinite possibilities
-A practical take on magic/mysticism, in regards to enacting real world change
-Aleister Crowley’s definition of magic as transforming the World in accordance with one’s will
-Examples of opinions and attributes of Alan Watts and William Burroughs that come across as anti-liberal
-Greg Johnson’s article, “The Spiritual Materialism of Alan Watts: A Review of Does It Matter?
-Watts’ ties to quasi-fascist Serbian mystic, Dimitrije Mitrinović
New Thought, and an explanation for how Neville Goddard’s Law of Assumption works
-New Thought as a vehicle for political change, by removing all mental constraints
-Why Theosophy is the theology best adapted to hereditarianism (eg. illiberal pluralism)
-William Burroughs’ obsession with rejecting control in a metaphysical sense
The Greek Qabalah, hidden esoteric traditions in Abrahamic faiths
-Colin Wilson’s practical mysticism, focused on expanding consciousness
-Parapsychology and Spiritual Science
-The need for spiritual elitism and Aristocratic Radicalism
-Robert’s novel, Vaporfornia, which has themes relating to New Thought
-James’ book, Passing the Buck: Coleman Francis and Other Cinematic Metaphysicians

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

Robert Stark discusses his novel Vaporfornia

Robert Stark is joined with Matt Pegas and Dan Baltic to discuss his new novel, Vaporfornia. Vaporfornia is a surreal dark comedy, a coming of age story set in California, and is the sequel to Robert’s first novel, Journey to Vapor Island. This show is a simulcast with Matt and Dan’s dissident, counter-culture, literary podcast, New WriteVaporfornia is available for purchase on Lulu publishing. Also check out Matt’s review of Vaporfornia.

Topics:

Contrasting Vaporfornia with Journey to Vapor Island, and how both novels capture the zeitgeists of their respective eras
The niche genre of the satirical moving adventure story
Literary comparisons to a Confederacy of Dunces, William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, Lucky Jim, Voltaire’s Candide, and Gulliver’s Travels
The situational humor and dramatic irony
Vaporfornia as a satire of the themes in Robert’s Substack that delve into California’s social, political, class, and demographic dynamics
Vaporfornia as a travelogue for California
Allegories and symbolism in the book
Saudade, a longing for what could have been or nostalgia for lost futures
Gio Pennacchietti’s video about how Robert’s literary fiction and visual art complement each other
The protagonist’s personal and political journey
The politics of the “Chad Centrist” presidential candidate Roger Blackstone
Whether Robert Stark will run for California Governor or have a Vaporfornia tour some day

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook pageTwitterInstagramStark Truth TV, novel Vaporfornia, and in production documentary The Gospel of Gibson, and subscribe to his Substack.

Robert Stark interviews Kevin Kautzman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to playwright Kevin Kautzman about his play MODERATION, playwright Oscar Wilde, and author William S. Burroughs. Check out Kevin’s podcast Art of Darkness, web series Money Shot Show, and follow him on Twitter.

Topics:

The online premier of the latest iteration of MODERATION, a dark comedy about social media moderators
Kevin’s play Dream of Perfect Sleep
Oscar Wilde: The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name
Oscar Wilde’s political views and philosophy of aestheticism, his prison letter De Profundis, and notable quotes
William S. Burroughs: Liberalism with a Gun
The Beat Generation
The economic and political mechanisms of the arts
The artist’s legacy within the framework of cancel culture
Upcoming podcasts on Stanley Kubrick, Charles Bukowski, and Ernest Hemmingway

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

Robert Stark talks to Rabbit about the Milo Controversy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark, co-host Pilleater, and Youtuber Left of Arbanon, talk to Rabbit about the Milo Controversy. Rabbit blogs at AltLeft.com

Topics:

Milo’s Controversial comments
The media’s reaction, Milo’s resignation from Breitbart, and cancellation of his book deal
The key points are that Milo never advocated anything illegal, and was talking about himself as a teenager
Milo as a Free Speech advocate, and why no subject should be taboo to discuss
How Rabbit has written articles critical of Milo in the past, but this incident makes him more sympathetic to him
The importance of distinguishing between teenagers and real pedophilia
Age of Consent Laws, and societies double standards regarding teen sexuality
Parallels between pedophilia and racism accusation to demonize political adversaries
Salon Removes its articles by Todd Nickerson
Greg Johnson’s article The Coming Pedophile Rape Epidemic in response to Salon
National Review blames Milo’s comments on the Alt-Right
Milo’s mistake in apologizing, and how not apologizing is what made Milo successful in the first place
Pizzagate and the “Pedophile Elite”
Gore Vidal’s defense of Roman Polanski
Beatniks Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs‘s novel Naked Lunch
Japanese Mangas Kaze to Ki no Uta, and Patalliro!, filmmaker Lasse Nielsen, and writer Peter Sotos
How Homosexual Culture was Avant Garde when it was suppressed
Homosexuality in Ancient Greece
Rabbit’s article The Other Mayans about 70’s Mayan Revival Architecture
Retro Ocean City in Wildwood, New Jersey

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Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!