Podcasts about aewch

Bailing out Santa, one season at a time, It's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this Xmas Xtravaganza episode, Aewch may have to burn his passport, as he reviews The Christmas That Almost Wasn't!Watch The Christmas That Almost Wasn't Right Here!The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonMaster Ninja 1Santa Claus Conquers the MartiansAvalancheWerewolfThe StarfightersTeenage StranglerSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Friends,This is the fourth episode* in a series called The Spirit-Era and Its Aftermaths in which I look at the way spiritual, technological, and occult flourishings at the turn of the 19th into 20th century are still with us today, and in fact, being echoed by our own time.This time, we're moving closer and closer to our present age, away from the Spirit-Era and into its aftermaths, tracking the ways that paranormal investigations, and paranormal phenomena themselves, changed as they emerged from that era.And I look into all of the with my guest, journalist ⁠BEN MACHELL⁠, author of the compulsively readable and also illuminating book ⁠Chasing the Dark: A 140-Year Investigation of Paranormal Activity⁠.One thing I've noticed again and again in researching and recording this series of episodes is that the so-called esoteric, the miraculous, the paranormal are all common.Whether it's a haunting, someone who is able to accomplish a feat of endurance, or the ways in which the world is simply very strange if we just look at it without taking it for granted: these are not aberrant occurrences. We have all experienced them, or heard about someone who has, or have shared stories about them, or have found some evidence for them or theorized about them.So when we tell stories about the paranormal, we are really just telling stories about the normal world.In Ben's book, he takes a long and thoughtful journey following the life and work of paranormal investigator Tony Cornell, a member of the Society for Psychical Research who appeared on TV, wrote books, and even was featured in a computer magazine for building a device to try to detect paranormal phenomenon. But unlike the performative ghost conjurers of the late 19th century or the fakirs in the early 20th, Tony (1924 - 2010) wasn't trying to create spectacular performance, and wasn't motivated purely by egotistical posturing as a debunker either. Rather he sought to understand what was really happening in people's lives.Through following Tony, Ben depicts a fascinating alternate history of the everyday: people simply living their lives, but then experiencing something they don't understand and can't explain, something that feels out of place to reality itself. Sometimes the unexplainable isn't the phenomena, but a feeling, a need to cry for help.So a picture begins to emerge - the paranormal as the presence of motivators - whether in our own behavior or in furniture and dishes flying through the air that we can't grasp, that we need help with.What a change from where the Spirit-Era started, with the frightening glamour of the table rapping spirits and the ectoplasmic bonds of spiritualist gatherings. And what a difference, also, from the spiritual thinkers who sought to create coherent theories. Here, the theories fell away in the face of spontaneous phenomena for which there were no experts. But if there were an expert, Tony Cornell would be the best of them; and his approach was to live with the uncertain, the unknown.Support the show: ⁠PATREON.COM/CONNERHABIB

It's that Septober season on Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K Watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this Xmas Xtravaganza episode, Aewch wonders what Santa was smoking, as he reviews Santa Claus Conquers the Martians!Watch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Right Here!The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse MY ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonMaster Ninja 1AvalancheWerewolfThe StarfightersTeenage StranglerSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceZombie NightmareSocial Media: @JustAewch Email:aewch64@gmail.com

This is the third episode in a series called The Spirit-Era & Its Aftermaths in which I look at the way spiritual, technological, and occult flourishings at the turn of the 19th into 20th century are still with us today, and in fact, being echoed by our own time.The Spirit-Era is marked by occultists, paranormal investigators, and magicians... But it is also marked by performances of all kinds: stage magic, but also actual magic. Stage magic passing as real magic, real magic posing as trickery. There were the performance of spiritualism, of charismatic theologians, and of feats of incredible endurance. As in our own time, People had difficulty parsing out what was real and what was illusion. And there was no shortage of advice on how to attain magical aptitude and ability, or promises of unlimited health and vitality. Beyond this difficulty distinguishing  truth from fantasy, there was a thrilling draw to the ambiguity, and whatever power might be there, in the spot in between what was and what might be. This negative space, this open area of reality, affected people all over the world, including the middle east.These tensions - between genuine and the spectacular, strengthening and the seducing, are the themes of this installment in the series - on Fakirs & Fakers with DR. RAPHAEL CORMACK, Assistant Professor in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham University, and author of the highly readable, eye-opening, and excellent book Holy Men of the Electromagnetic Age: A Forgotten History of the OccultRaphael's book, and our discussion connects us to two figures who were emblematic of their time:The performer-fakir, Tahra Bey, an Armenian performer who achieved fame in the 1920s as a man of incredible talents; not only to drive sharp objects through his skin, to be buried alive and survive, or to lie down on a bed of nails; but also to beguile huge audiences. Tahra Bey, who fooled the world into thinking he possessed both heritage and secrets from Egypt, and that he could teach anyone to do what he did.The other figure is Dr. Dahesh, Palestinian-born mystic and teacher, founder of the spiritual current known as Daheshism, which still has adherents today. Dr. Dahesh was said to be able to take off his own head, to spring back to life after execution, and to understand the workings of the cosmos. He was also an art collector, for whom a museum in New York is named. He remains a well-known figure in Lebanon where he was both celebrated and persecuted, but eventually moved to Connecticut, where he died in at the age of 74 in 1984.As Raphael says in this episode, “Writing a history of the occult is writing a history of something that doesn't quite fit into the box of history, even on its on terms.”So how do we interpret the performance from the truth? And what does it mean to desire not just the miracle because it astounds us, but the lack of miracles because it allows us to be complacent?I'm so excited to share this episode with you.8 years. 300+ episodes. All free. SUPPORT THIS SHOW: patreon.com/connerhabib

With more puppet eloping than one would expect, it's the Xmas Xtravaganza on Whatcha Been Watchin', the TV and movie review show on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch gets lucky (Knock on wood), as he reviews Rankin/Bass Production's “Pinocchio's Christmas”.Watch Pinocchio's Christmas Right Here!Social Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

This is the second episode in a series called THE SPIRIT-ERA & ITS AFTERMATHS in which I look at the way spiritual, technological, and occult flourishings at the turn of the 19th into 20th century are still with us today.In the second installment in the series, I talk with ALLAN JOHNSON Professor of English Literature at University of Surrey, meditation coach, and author of the excellent book, The Sacred Life of Modernist Literature: Immanence, Occultism, and the Making of the Modern WorldIn that book, Allan states: “The occult has always walked the perilous line between desiring a textual form while resisting the possibility that this form can ever be completely achieved.”One of my big frustrations with spiritual influencers is that most of them don't seem to have a good grasp of art, but particularly literature. They do something like this: they read literature that has magical CONTENT and create metaphors and analogies that - all-too conveniently - mirror the lessons of their own esoteric view. And they generally reach for the usual suspects: Tolkien, Le Guin, Coehlo, etc.But the location of esoteric strength in literature is less in the content and much more in its FORMS and STYLES. These forms were brought to us most prominently in modernist fiction - in James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, and more. But also by poets like TS Elliot, Ezra Pound, and WB Yeats.In the works of modernist writers, the reader's involvement is demanded to complete the text. These are writers who initiate us as we read their works.This conversation with Allan offered the chance to explore ideas I'd been longing to talk about for years, I'm so excited to share them with you here.SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREONBuy Allan's book

The only podcast without a cover charge, it's Whatcha Been Playin', the video game review show on The AewchCast. On this episode, we get the cringe out of the system, as Aewch reviews Rumble Roses XX.Social Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

This is first episode in a series called The Spirit-Era and Its Aftermaths. Across the next few installments of AEWCH, I'll be investigating the way the spiritual, technological, and occult flourishing at the turn of the 19th/20th century is affecting our lives to this day. The Spirit-Era was a time marked by spirits, of course. But also miracles, hucksters, paranormal investigators, and genuine spiritual teachers. There were seances and fakirs, performances of incredible feats in private and on stages both which were thought to be revelations of different worlds, or worlds that could be possible.The intelligentsia of the time might go to see spirits materialize in dark rooms. They might write novels inspired by meeting  notorious occult figures. Or maybe they would decide to form societies to investigate the afterlife. Many of the Spirt-Era's most famous artists and writers found themselves inspired by and even joining occult orders. New occult organizations and forms - some with anarchist aspirations, others connecting to labor rights movements, still others taking fascist turns, - were rising and falling.Like in our own era, new technologies emerged and others became popularized. The telephone became more available, and so, later, did the car  and motion picture with sound. But also there was the fortune cookie, bringing a sort of precogniostic levity to the everyday. These innovations marked changing experiences of time and space across the planet.Plagues, wars, sinking ships. It seemed like there was never a moment of rest. I'm sure you can relate.Two themes ran through the Spirit-Era: the shifting relationship of the spiritual and material, and the deep understanding that everything was changing, so anything might be possible.In these episodes, we won't just be trying to learn from history to avoid repeating it, but rather to deeply consider the Spirit-Era and conjure its best aspects.Because within the spectacle, there were many revelations to be had. Some of them we take for granted in our everyday lives, and forget they were handed to us by people who took the great risk or the absurd plunge into the era's spiritual possibility.We'll look at the ways paranormal investigations pushed on science, how esotericism informed advancing literature and performance. We'll even investigate whole world views with their own coherence, that developed at the time, and see why we can learn so much from  them.And we'll look at why so many of these boundary-pushing advances are stigmatized today. One reason I'll mention now: The Spirit-Era is difficult for us because it isn't part of the past, but something beyond us. A future where we allow ourselves to think in ways that dissolve the material realm as we know it, and try to understand the forces - whether social, dialectical, economic, or spiritual - fully anew.The Spirit-Era reflects the past and the future through smoke and mirrors. Yes, the tools of illusionists and frauds. But amongst the trickery, the truth of light and surface is there. In the aftermaths of the Spirit-Era, we continue to use its insights and gestures to figure out what we think is real, what is solid, and where illumination comes from.Welcome to this series.On the first episode, I talk with ALICE VERNON, author of Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting, and Why We Keep Looking. The book is vast in scope, and considers the many emotional resonances we have with paranormal investigation, ghost-hunting, and why it is important to us. We start in the 1st century, and go all the way to AI in this wide-ranging conversation about the topic. But the Spirit-Era here is unavoidable. People grieving, hustling, debunking, and believing all surround the seance tables, inviting new presences, new technologies, and new methods of investigation.I'm so happy to present this series and episode.SUPPORT THE SHOW VIA PATREONBuy Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting, and Why We Keep Looking by Alice Vernon

Worse than one of those sign flipping guys, It's Whatcha Been Playin' the video game review show on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch is his own wacky waving arm flailing inflatable tube guy, as he reviews Promise Mascot Agency.Social Media: @JustAewchEmail: Aewch64@gmail.com

Available in gummy form, it's Whatcha Been Playin', the video game review show on the Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch wades through the social muck for an honest look, as he reviews High on Life.Social Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Friends,When I was on my book tour for Hawk Mountain, I did an event with Andrea Lawlor where we spoke, at length, about horror. In the Q&A, someone raised a hand and asked:WHAT IS HORROR?Andrea and I both laughed. We found ourselves at a loss.Horror :Once you consider it, it's not clear.There's the assumption that horror is scary. Sometimes that's true. But obviously what's scary for you might not be scary for me, and vice versa, so that can't define the genre. We say horror has certain elements, but there are different kinds of horror to define its contours, whether it's body horror, slasher horror, cosmic horror...We might turn to the familiar face of horror - the monster - to see what they reveal to us. But while vampires, werewolves, zombies express, through their differing powers and weakness, different theories about horror, they can't give us a picture of what it is really. They're contained by it.Horror: Always on, always available, always around us. So… what is it?I asked my friends PHIL FORD and J.F. MARTEL - the cohosts of the WEIRD STUDIES PODCAST - onto the show to walk into the dark - or is it the blinding, malevolent light? - with me, and with you, to see what we would find there.Weird Studies is, in my experience of it, anyway, a horror podcast. In fact, my last conversation with Phil and J.F. was on Weird Studies and about horror: on Weird Studies 144, we looked into Clive Barker's Hellraiser and the book it's based on, The Hellbound Heart.But it's not a horror podcast because it's always focused on horror; many episodes are about topics and artworks that seem less than horrific (their series on each card in the major arcana of the tarot, for instance, or their episode on Herman Hesse's novel about enlightenment, Siddhartha). But there is a quality on each episode - a quality which we discuss in this conversation - of the threat of art, philosophy, image and sound. The way they invade our lives. Rearrange our organs Destroy the world we knew. In other words, we might think of horror as a position in time, something approaching or orbiting. Or as something creates shadows by blocking the light, or by creating a void where an object once was. You can hear me going in many directions again. Conversation with Phil and J.F. inspires that in me - being pulled in many directions at once. That's another way of thinking of horror: horror as blob; as spreading epidemic, as destroying giant, vaster than the safety of our shelters.This is what I love about talking with Phil and JF and about Weird Studies, and also why I often think of their podcast as the only true sibling to mine. In conversation with them, everything a springboard for everything. A web of connections. Or maybe better said, a transforming activity, everything metamorphosing into everything else through membranous, visceral, and expansive moves.Please support this show on patreon.PATREON.COM/CONNERHABIBYou can also find an almost complete list of the books, movies, etc we mention on this episode there.

Even a Shamwow thinks this movie is too wet, it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this final Halloweenie episode, Aewch would prefer the jacuzzi scene, as he reviews Revenge of the Creature.Watch Revenge of the Creature…on your copy of the DVD! *Cough* righthere! *Cough*The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse MY ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonMaster Ninja 1AvalancheWerewolfThe StarfightersTeenage StranglerSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceZombie NightmareSocial Media:@JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Friends,Is there any ghost lore in your town or where you grew up?Have you ever seen a ghost?What are ghosts, anyway?Three questions, three different ways to approach (or be approached by ghosts).Ghosts are at the heart of our folktales, our fears, and our fiction. And belief in them is almost universal. Unlike aliens, UFOs, cryptids, and other strange entities, belief in ghosts cuts across all demographics and borders. We're afraid of ghosts and fascinated by them.As you probably know from listening to this show, or if you've read my novel Hawk Mountain, horror is deeply important to me: in forming my imagination, my way of thinking, and even my lens on spirituality. To that end, this is one of two podcasts on the topic. This time, I just wanted to be personal, to have fun, to explore the pleasure of horror and the many springboards it gives us for conversation. To that end, I invited the hosts of my favorite movie podcast (maybe favorite podcast ever) THE IMPORTANT CINEMA CLUB onto the show, JUSTIN DECLOUX and WILL SLOAN.This marks the second crossover between our shows, as I appeared on episode 422 of The Important Cinema Club to talk about working with director Joe Gage.We ask the three questions up top, and explore three completely different representations of ghosts in movies:A Chinese Ghost Story (1987 dir. Tony Ching Siu-Tung)The Eclipse (2009, dir. Conor McPherson)I Am A Ghost (2012, dir. H.P. Mendoza)We summarize each movie, and then go in... tons of directions. I loved recording this episode, and I hope you do too. Next time, onto the more theoretical-serious kind of fun.Aside from The Important Cinema Club, Justin and Will have many projects.Justin is the author Radioactive Dreams: The Cinema of Albert Pyun, and has a Blu-Ray distribution company, Gold Ninja Video. He's also the director of films including Impossible Horror , which Will is in, and Teddy Bomb. Will's new book is Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA, and he has a great substack here.An episode that ties into this one, and that has more of my ghost stories in it than this one is AEWCH 138 with Edward Parnell, talking about ghosts embedded in the landscape. And I mention a great book towards the end, Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture.SUPPORT THIS SHOW: PATREON.COM/CONNERHABIB

This is absolutely fascinating, it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on the Aewchcast.  On this Halloweenie episode, Aewch wonders if they offer werewolf training, as he reviews Werewolf.Watch Werewolf Right Here!The CTT UERL Top 10!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonMaster Ninja 1AvalancheThe StarfightersTeenage StranglerSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceZombie NightmareSquirmSocial Media:@JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

On the second of two back to back episodes on christianity in the world today, I talk with my sister, LAURA SCAPPATICCI, host of the podcast THAT GOOD MAY BECOME. We ask each other three questions about how christianity came into our lives, even though we were raised with no religion... and how that christianity is sometimes at odds with our communities and even, absurdly enough, at odds with the way christianity is itself of perceived today.This is a very personal episode, and I'm so happy to share it with you.Laura was last on the show on AEWCH 225 when she interviewed me about Rudolf Steiner as part of my series on esoteric christianity.SUPPORT THE SHOW VIA PATREON. Thank you!

A Metaphysician doesn't believe you can podcast when you're dead. It's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The AewchCast. On this Halloweenie episode, it's like playing an even more boring version of Clue, as Aewch reviews The Dead Talk Back. Plus, the company that makes Budweiser wants to sell you a freezer in The Selling Wizard.Watch The Dead Talk Back Right Here! The CTT UERL Top 10!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonMaster Ninja 1AvalancheThe StarfightersTeenage StranglerSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceZombie NightmareSquirmSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

On the first of two back to back episodes on christianity in the world today, I talk with writer LAMORNA ASH whose latest book, Don't Forget We're Here Forever: A New Generation's Search for Religion chronicles her conversations with christian  converts and the newly faithful in the still-secular UK. In the process of writing the book, Lamorna has her own reevaluations of christianity and her own beliefs as a queer person. Of these conversations, Lamorna writes, “They taught me how to believe the belief of others.” It's a beautiful sentiment and means that Lamorna is untangling the many ways to believe and understand.But it raises questions, too.How to believe others's beliefs if they are threatening? If they are aimed against you? And what about when those beliefs are aligned with powerful political forces… can they be said to even be beliefs then, and not just coerced behavior?Please support the show via patreon: Patreon.com/connerhabib

The only burger joint out of brains, it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this first Halloweenie episode, it's a basic zombie movie, but Tia Carrera had to start somewhere, as Aewch reviews Zombie Nightmare.Watch Zombie Nightmare Right Here!The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonMaster Ninja 1AvalancheThe StarfightersTeenage StranglerSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Million Eyes of SumuruSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Always wear a helmet in the wasteland, it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on the Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch is more of a Fallout guy himself, as he reviews Warrior of the Lost World.Watch Warrior of the Lost World Right Here!The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonMaster Ninja 1AvalancheThe StarfightersTeenage StranglerSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Million Eyes of SumuruSocial Media:@JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

I'm so excited to welcome philosopher and author Federico Campagna back to the show! Together, we find the magic in defeat and the strength that it offers, using his new book, Otherworlds: Mediterranean Lessons on Escaping History as a springboard for our wide-ranging and empowering discussion.Federico gives many potent examples of the hidden strength in defeat. Whether it's through Egyptian gods or the writer Joseph Roth, esotericists or people who felt the mythic effects of being defeated by Alexander the Great. We witness again and again options that become available for seeing and creating new worlds only when - as Federico writes of the people in the book:“Instead of clinging to the values of a vanishing world, or embracing the new rising power, they dared to migrate to the grand zero of the imagination where ideas and values can be extracted anew from the infinite virtuality of the possible.”May this episode bring you strength and magic, even in the most unexpected of places and conditions!SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: patreon.com/connerhabib

Where's Scoob and the gang when you need them? It's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on the Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch doesn't solve the crime, but somehow solves the movie first, as he reviews Teenage Strangler. Plus, the short that drove more people to elope, Is This Love?Watch Teenage Strangler Right Here!The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs Megalon Master Ninja 1AvalancheThe StarFightersSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Million Eyes of SumuruLords of the DeepSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Friends: We need ideas which are not just radical or "revolutionary." We need ideas, feelings, and actions that work on many levels; that are systemic; that have multiple potentials for realization, and have enough points of articulation that they can touch on their own fabric and maneuver to witness themselves. And what better place to start then the ground beneath your feet: where you live?After all, you see the place you live every day. It's entered you as a daily language of patterns. It's become a set of expectations for your feet as you move through the morning. It lives in your lungs and gives your eyes nourishment. And I'm sure it also frustrates you sometimes, makes you feel blocked and angry. You might feel threatened there or bored. But I hope you also find joy, surprise, and feel held by where you live, greeted by each of its days.When my friend and collaborator - the artist, organizer, and journalist UNA MULLALLY - released her new 10-part podcast series SAVING THE CITY , I found in it a perfect representation of that transformative ideal we need.I also knew that Una and I had different ideas of what we wanted from cities. I like cars, I have trouble with a lot of bigger cities that Una loves. I even like an area of Dublin that Una has... let's say, different feelings about. But this is exactly right for transformation of a place- discussing with your neighbors what you want, what your concerns are, but most importantly what would bring you joy, piece of mind, excitement, potential, opportunity in the cityThis is a long episode, and like a city, it encourages a sort of wandering. Stop along the way any time you want, think about how it will apply to where you live whether it's a city or somewhere else. I'm so excited to share this episode with you. THIS SHOW DEPENDS ON LISTENER SUPPORT. PLEASE PLEDGE TO SUPPORT THIS SHOW TODAY ON PATREON

Talk about here, fishy fishy, It's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch completely forgets who is on the heist crew, as he reviews Killer Fish.Watch Killer Fish….on your own copy of the DVD.The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs Megalon Master Ninja 1AvalancheThe StarFightersSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Million Eyes of SumuruLords of the DeepSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Pass the shuriken on the left hand side, it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K Watchalong podcast on The AewchCast. In this episode, Aewch needs a skinnier stunt double as he reviews Master Ninja 1.Watch Master Ninja 1 Right Here!The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonAvalancheThe StarfightersSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Million Eyes of SumuruLords of the DeepThe Crawling EyeSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Friends, When I started Against Everyone With Conner Habib, there were a few guests I wanted to have on more than just about anyone.Happy to say, now, on episode 300, one of those central figures to my imagination has arrived for the conversation.GRANT MORRISON doesn't need much introduction. He's* a rebel artist, spiritual visionary, comic book writer, magician, novelist, and nonfiction writer. The first time I ever heard of Grant Morrison was here, over twenty years ago. in a talk he gave. And then I met him shortly after (I tell you the story in the intro to the episode). His work, and just his being, has been a guidepost for me since I encountered his work.PLEASE DO SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREONGRANT'S WEBSITE***A note on Grant's pronouns: I talked with him after the episode about his preferred pronouns, and he said that the "they/them" pronouns were often used by other people when identifying him, but that he found himself using he/him just as much because both gender expressions seemed to limit what he felt his identity was.

Get born to be mild, because it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The AewchCast. On this episode, Aewch tosses around more smack than Maxwell's silver hammer as he reviews The Hellcats.Watch The Hellcats Right Here!The CTT UERL Top Ten!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonAvalancheThe StarfightersSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Million Eyes of SumuruLords of the DeepThe Crawling EyeSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

All bikini but no A-go-go, it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The AewchCast. On this episode, what Aewch wouldn't give to work for a cabal of sexy evil women, as he reviews The Million Eyes of Sumuru.Watch The Million Eyes of Sumuru Right Here!The CTT Ultimate Episode Ranking Top 10!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonAvalancheThe StarfightersSwamp DiamondsPrince of SpaceSquirmLords of the DeepThe Crawling EyeThe Day Time EndedSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Don't Touch that Connors, it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong Podcast on The AewchCast. On this episode, Aewch goes red, white, and blonde, as he reviews Swamp Diamonds. Plus, the short that gave the A/V club hope, What to Do on a Date.Watch Swamp Diamonds Right Here!The CTT Top Ten!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonAvalancheThe StarfightersPrince of SpaceSquirmLords of the DeepThe Crawling EyeThe Day Time EndedTeenage CavemanSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Put on your best polyester skisuit, it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch swears he can tell the difference between real snow and styrofoam boulders as he reviews Avalanche.Watch Avalanche…on your copy of the DVD.The CTT Ultimate Episode Ranking Top Ten List!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonThe StarfightersPrince of SpaceSquirmLords of the DeepThe Crawling EyeThe Day Time EndedTeenage CavemanRacket GirlsSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Get out the gauze and don't big league anyone, it's Whatcha Been Watchin', the TV and movie (And Pro Wrestling, Apparently) review show on the AewchCast. On this episode, Aewch reviews one of the darkest pieces of media he owns, (Yes, even darker than Jackass 3!) as he reviews the 2007 IWA-MS King of the Deathmatch Tournament. You absolutely should not, but if you wanna watch the event, click Right Here!Social Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Follow the Rule and listen to Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch dares to enter the forbidden zone, as he reviews Teenage Caveman. Plus, TWO shorts, the nightmare of safety known as Aquatic Wizards, and the scourge to animals Catching Trouble.Watch Teenage Caveman Right Here!The CTT Ultimate Episode Ranking List!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonThe StarfightersPrince of SpaceSquirmLords of the DeepThe Crawling EyeThe Day Time EndedRacket GirlsSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Friends,After writing my previous episode, AEWCH 298, where I laid out my thoughts on how to reflect on A.I. to get to beyond the basic, boring conversation, I read ADAM BECKER's excellent book, More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity .I immediately invited him on the show, and I wish I would've read it before. Even though there is plenty of overlap, Adam's vantage point offer a full vision of tech culture, and reveals just how deeply anti-science is is. That impact comes from the fact that Adam is great writer but also an astrophysicist, and author of the excellent popular book on quantum physics, What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics.We talk about how we got here in science and technology, why technology has been conflated with science, how conspiracy and science intersect, and what physics has to do with all of this.Of course the conclusion is that A.I. is not super smart, not supported by smart people, that the fantasies of tech billionaires are bonkers, and that the singularity is not near because it's not even a thing.SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: patreon.com/connerhabib

Get your hands on some spiritual Gak, because it's Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch borrows a mini-sub(Don't worry, there's plenty left), as he reviews Lords of the Deep.Watch Lords of the Deep…on your copy of the DVD.The CTT Ultimate Episode Ranking List!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonThe StarfightersPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Crawling EyeThe Day Time EndedRacket GirlsSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

It's so hard to not do a wrestling line, but I will resist. This is Whatcha Been Playin', the video game review show on The AewchCast. On this episode, Tony C has some hot takes, as Aewch reviews WWE 2K25.Social Media:@JustAewch

I'm…getting a…vision…A Podcast called Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch does a deep dive into some Best Brains history, as he reviews the first episode of MST3K (Sans KTMA), The Crawling Eye. Watch The Crawling Eye Right Here!The CTT Ultimate Episode Ranking List!I Accuse My ParentsGodzilla vs MegalonThe StarfightersPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Day Time EndedRacket GirlsSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Friends,One reason I started this show eight years ago was to have big talk instead of small talk, to get us past surface conversations and into thinking more deeply. I hate small talk is because it's so algorithmic or pre-programmed. It's limited by its connection to the past and expectations. I don't want to have conversations that could be produced by just anyone in any context with predictable results.I wanted something more living, surprising, vitalizing; conversations that nourished pushing my thoughts and feelings and actions forward. So the mission of this show has always been, in a way, to address to algorithm.The conversations on AI in the public sphere have been so dead and dead-ended even when they're well-meaning. My big problem is not that people aren't saying brilliant things about A.I. -- I'm not sure I'm up for that task either -- just that everyone is saying the same stupid things over and over. There are phony debates held with unearned urgency, wild projections based on investment fantasies, and anxieties produced by deliberate mystifying hype.On this episode, I go over 11 thoughts I have on AI to get to where we need to go for a better base level conversation. My hope is this clears out some debris and helps us to start thinking about in new directions.In other words, this is more about the discussion about AI than AI itself - . I don't have a “side” on AI - but I want to talk beyond some of the most repeated pointsI hope this offers a fruitful new starting place.SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: patreon.com/connerhabib

Get your monster goofin' going, because this is Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong Podcast on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch embodies the spirit of bad movies as he reviews Godzilla vs. Megalon.Watch Godzilla vs Megalon Right Here!The CTT Ultimate Episode Ranking List!I Accuse My ParentsThe StarfightersPrince of SpaceSquirmThe Day Time EndedRacket GirlsSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Is that a Weird green Mayan pyramid in your pocket, or are you happy to see me? Because this is Circulating the Tapes, the MST3K watchalong podcast on The Aewchcast. On this episode, Aewch tries to keep up, but falls off the edge of the universe, as he reviews The Day Time Ended.Watch The Day Time Ended….on your own copy of the dvd.The CTT Ultimate Episode Ranking List!I Accuse My ParentsThe StarfightersPrince of SpaceSquirmRacket GirlsSocial Media: @JustAewchEmail: aewch64@gmail.com

Friends,Welcome to this massive double-length episode on religion in our time with Diana Young-Peak.You may not know Diana, or if you do, it may be from exactly 200 (!) episodes ago on AEWCH 97: DIANA YOUNG-PEAK or THE GREATEST STRIPPER OCCULT PRIESTESS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF. That episode was recorded BEFORE I had a podcast - back in 2011, when I was part of her small esoteric church, the Church of the Living Christ Order of Melchizedek. That episode is at the end of this one - it gives all the context and background. If you want to listen to it first, you can jump ahead to about 2 hours in.But you can also listen to our latest conversation first. It's both a spiritual assessment of where we are in the world now, and also an assessment of the growing presence of religion and spirituality in people's lives. Two growing presences that are destined to meet: the presence of mutual aid community building, and the presence of RELIGION. I've never, in my lifetime, seen more interest in spirituality and its most accessible & durable pathway, religion, as I do now. And I've also never seen this many people coming together in new groups of belonging, with the aim of making safe and loving community and making the word a better place,In my understanding, this is a convergent evolution that is destined for intersection. In eight years doing the podcast, I've noticed time and time again that activists, organizers, anarchists, leftists, and more want to talk about their religious and spiritual thoughts. And I've also gotten the sense that we have crossed into a territory where it is newly allowed.My observation on this is that it's because new people have been allowed into organizing spaces and communities, and it's not just leftist atheists or white christians. Religious and national plurality has given rise to new assemblages and new belongings that call for new spiritual ways of seeing.In some ways this is nothing new: spiritual movements, particularly small spiritual movements, are mutual aid movements. They provide space for conversations about how to consider reality, the self, the other, and the all. That necessitates action, and coherence. Feminist movements have roots in 19th and 20th Century spiritualism and magic. There were anti-slavery magic movements. The White Rose, inspired by anthroposophy, resisted the Nazis. But more than that, there's the many many groups living right next door to you and me and everyone holding small meetings. organizing for the sake of a sense of a greater good and full connection to the real.Diana's group - passed to her from her mentor and founder of the group, Grace Hooper Pettipher - is one of these groups. Meeting together, when I was an active participant, in a small hotel room in San Francisco (now they mostly meet online), there was community building, connection, growth, and attenuation to freedom. I don't attend these days, for the most part, but I have great respect for what Diana and the group do with the religious impulse. And I hope this new conversation will inspire you to think towards or even begin your own path with community-based religion and spiritual practice.I hope you enjoy this double-length episode.***SUPPORT THE SHOW: patreon.com/connerhabib

Lory Widmer Hess is the author of When Fragments Make a Whole, as well as a caregiver and spiritual direction facilitator in Switzerland. Her book chronicles her healing journey with the gospels - through various illness, medical procedures, and emotional and soul challenges - from an esoteric viewpoint.Support AEWCH on patreon: patreon.com/connerhabibLory's website: https://enterenchanted.com/Lory's book: When Fragments Become A Whole

Friends,Against Everyone with Conner Habib is eight years old today! Not many media projects last for eight years or make it up to nearly 300 episodes at this point.  To celebrate, I talk here about conversation; what it means to all of us. After all, if I asked you if conversation had changed your life, you'd probably say yes. A conversation that set you down a career path, or a new place to move to. An argument that went haywire and ended your relationship. A flirtation that led to the great love of your life.But we forget, too, that other people's conversations change our lives. What does it mean to do a podcast, and how has the landscaping of podcasts degraded, fallen apart, as well as grown, in the past eight years? What have I noticed?As a bonus, I've attached my very first episode at the end. It's clumsy, personal, filled with insecurity and uncertainty. Please support the show - all eight years and 295 (free!) episodes of it - on patreon.Patreon.com/connerhabib

Episode DescriptionI'm joined by author, teacher, and theorist, Douglas Rushkoff. He's one of the most important intellectuals of our time, some people call him a futurist, but he's always a step ahead of the future. The is the part 2 of the conversation we had on Doug's podcast, TEAM HUMAN called "LIVE UP TO YOUR FOOL POTENTIAL". But of course, it also stands on its own and you don't have to listen to them in order.This show is supported through listeners. No ads! Please do support it via Patreon: patreon.com/connerhabibConner's Website: connerhabib.comConner's Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/againsteveryonewithconnerhabibAnd please also consider supporting Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanDouglas's website.

I talk with co-hosts of the Light in Every Thing podcast, Rev. Jonah Evans & Rev. Patrick Kennedy about meeting the world not as a "problem" to be solved, but as a realm already overcome by spiritual love.

From the archives - I talk with Italian philosopher and author FEDERICO CAMPAGNA about the urgent task of our time... which is nothing less than the recreation of reality itself!

I talk with writer, author, and esoteric health practitioner ARE THORESEN.The language of inevitability is upon us, and it is a cruel language, one that allows no discussion of freedom or our ability to direct things. The future - a terrible future - is filled with AI, the effects of climate crisis, fascisms, and wars. And our present - a terrible present - is only going to get worse.In other words, we're given a unified picture of where we're going and what's happening and how to feel about all of it.Of course, the language of inevitability can only show us relatively little. A narrow look at presumed (or manipulated) outcomes.The future is as wide open as ever.Difference and mutability is closer to the truth: whatever happens will happen differently, to different places, and to each and every one of us.Why? Because material laws and spiritual laws flourish differently in each person's life. We all have our own levels and areas of understanding, aptitude, capacity, and education. We all express differing variations on one theme, but that theme is the cosmos.This is the starting point for my conversation with occultist, veterinarian, and author, ARE THORSEN. Are has been on the show many times, most recently on AEWCH 243, when we talked about illness, health, and the end of materialism. Also on AEWCH 205 on Ragnarok, and AEWCH 116 on demonology & nothingness. His most recent books, The Four Doors and Fading and Merging are available via Amazon. Other recent books (which you can order via independent bookstore through the links here) include Meeting Michael: Further Communications from Spirit Worlds and Travels on the Northern Path of Initiation: Vidar and Baldur, the Three Elemental Realms and the Inner and Outer Etheric Worlds.On this episode, we discuss the technique of connecting with the spiritual world, and more specifically why meditation isn't enough... we need to walk into the spiritual world. And how?

My guest this episode is writer, scholar, teacher, and astrologer, RONNIE PONTIAC. I've been impressed and informed by Ronnie's esoteric work for awhile now, and finally, we got to have our first conversation. And it's a profound one...We talk about the need for a spiritual path in our moment, and how the alternative is... well, quite grim. We talk about how spirituality can lead us into a path of hatred and personal gain. We talk about my suspicion about astrology, how I think it works, how I think it does't work, why so much of it is wrong (and why Ronnie is so often right!). And there's so much more on this episode (Including my extended intro on the esoteric aim of being a Friend To Humanity.)Ronnie was a key figure at the Philosophical Research Society founded in 1934 by Manly Palmer Hall. The PRS is still around, and promotes, teaches, and offers research opportunities into the esoteric & philosophical of all societies; with the values of freedom, community, objective study, and inclusiveness at its core. He's the author most recently of American Metaphysical Religion: Esoteric and Mystical Traditions of the New World. His forthcoming book, which can preorder now, is The Rosicrucian Counterculture: The Origins and Influence of the Invisible Society.

I talk with spiritual teacher and author Lisa Romero about the challenges that are facing us today and an unlikely key to progressing through them: the esoteric mysteries of Ireland.

This is the is the sixth and final episode in a series of episodes on How To Live in 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop,  create, and resist. In other words, tools that don't merely deaden us in the frantic pursuit of survival, but that assist us in nourishing ourselves, each other, and the world, all together.This time, the theme is READand my guest is ALEXANDER CHEE.At the end of this episode, the exercise is a little different. First we do a reading for you, the listener, in the world and its anxieties and challeneges. We consider what they are, how to approach them, and how not to approach them. Then, Alex and I do a reading for what you could be reading... We draw a tarot card and let it give book recommendations.Alex the author of three books, most recently his essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel, and also two novels, Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night.

This is the fifith in a series of episodes on How To Live in 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop,  create, and resist.In other words, tools that don't merely deaden us in the frantic pursuit of survival, but that assist us in nourishing ourselves, each other, and the world, all together.The theme isPEACEKEEPand my guest isCHEYNEY RYAN.Cheyney works withThe Oxford Consortium for Human Rights. He's a a researcher; professor; founder of the Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict at Oxford; and author, most recently, of the excellent book,Pacifism as War Abolitionism and also ofThe Chickenhawk Syndrome: War, Sacrifice, and Personal Responsibility, as well as many articles on peace activism, pacifism, Marxism, and nonviolent action (you can find links to plenty of the here).PEACEKEEP was a word I had to invent for the show because we have such an undeveloped language of peace. While the lexicon of war is extensive, the act of creating true peace in the world doesn't exist in an active word. That is in part because thewar system - as Cheyney calls the autonomous, seemingly inexorable network of war activities, sites, motivations, and contracts - has instead on the articulation of its own anatomy. It's entranced us into detailing its every contour so that we become more and more convinced of its reality and density.

This is the third in a series of episodes on HOW TO LIVE IN 2025, focusing on the thoughts, feelings, and actions we need to thrive, develop, create, and resist. At the end of each of these episodes, I'll offer an exercise - a thought exercise, spiritual exercise, or practical exercise - that brings an experiential dimension to what I and the shows guests talk about. This episode's theme is DIEand my guest is bestselling author and host of the Ask A Mortician YouTube channel, CAITLIN DOUGHTY.