Episodes
Episode 284: Reel Choices
David and Tamler choose an episode topic that will define the identity and meaning of the Very Bad Wizards podcast going forward â our top 3 existentialist movies. Plus, youâre gonna be shocked to hear this, you might want to sit down, but there has been...
Episode 283: When Elephants Podcast
David and Tamler talk about Caitrin Keiperâs wonderful sprawling essay on elephant life and society and the many philosophical questions surrounding these extraordinary creatures. What kind of mental states can we attribute to them? Do they have a kind o...
Episode 282: Fearful Symmetry (Borges' "Death and the Compass")
A Rabbi is found dead in a hotel room, stabbed in the chest. The room is filled with Kabbalah texts and a single page in an typewriter that reads âThe first letter of the name has been written.â The celebrated detective and âreasoning machineâ Erik Lönnr...
Episode 281: Choose Your Fighter
We dig into the biggest rivalry in Tamlerâs profession, analytic vs. continental philosophy. Are analytic philosophers truly the rigorous, precise, clear thinkers they take themselves to be? And is continental philosophy really just a bunch pretentious c...
Episode 280: Mad Masque (with Phil Ford and J.F. Martel)
Phil Ford and J.F. Martel from the great "Weird Studies" podcast join us for a whirling discussion of Edgar Allan Poeâs mesmerizing tale of decadence and disease âThe Masque of the Red Death." We also talk about weird fiction more generally, why itâs so ...
Episode 279: The Greenhouses We Burned Along the Way (Lee Chang-dong's "Burning" Pt. 2)
David and Tamler conclude their discussion of Lee Chang-dongâs "Burning" â we talk about the hunger dance at twilight, Benâs greenhouse burning habit, Shin Hae-miâs mysterious disappearance, Lee Jong-suâs clumsy and doomed quest to find out what really h...
Episode 278: Schrödinger's Everything (Lee Chang-dong's "Burning" Pt. 1)
David and Tamler fall under the spell of Lee Chang-dongâs 2018 masterpiece Burning , a movie where nothing is what it seems, or maybe it is. An alienated young man meets what seems like his dream girl from his small town, but sheâs about to leave for Afr...
Episode 277: The Merits of Buggery (Nagel's "Sexual Perversion")
David and Tamler play the old hits â Thomas Nagel and sex robots. In the main segment we talk about Nagelâs essay âSexual Perversionâ, a surprising essay on many fronts (Sartre, erotic fiction, conceptual analysis, much more). Whatâs the nature of sexual...
Episode 276: Attention Please
David and Tamler are back for the new year and one of our resolutions was to do more episodes on William James. Today we talk about his account of âAttentionâ from his 1890 volume The Principles of Psychology â another remarkably prescient chapter that ...