logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2025
2h 4m

Episode 306: What to Expect When You're ...

Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro
About this episode

David and Tamler welcome Barry Lam back to the show. In the first segment we violate one of our own rules by talking about his new book "Fewer Rules, Better People", a full frontal attack on David’s strict Kantian worldview. Then we dive DEEP into David Lynch’s first movie, "Eraserhead," and eventually arrive at a few coherent interpretations of Lynch’s “most spiritual film."

Barry Lam [ucr.edu]

Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion by Barry Lam [amazon.com affiliate link]

Eraserhead [wikipedia.org]

David Lynch BAFTA interview (Origin of "Eraserhead is my most spiritual film" quote) [youtube.com]

Up next
Aug 12
Episode 314: The In-Betweeny Place
David and Tamler go long on McDonagh’s 2008 masterpiece "In Bruges." We talk about the terrific performances and all the weighty themes - sin, guilt, redemption, honor, language, and very inappropriate jokes. Plus philosophers talk about “sex within the discipline” and Tamler can ... Show More
1h 58m
Jul 29
Episode 313: The Spontaneous Eruption of Now
David and Tamler try to wrap their heads around the metaphysics of past and future via the Borges essay(s) “A New Refutation of Time.” What does it mean to be a time skeptic or a time realist for that matter? If you’re a Berkeleyan idealist and Humean skeptic about the self, do y ... Show More
1h 15m
Jul 15
Episode 312: MechaSkeptic
David and Tamler return to David Hume’s somewhat slippery brand of skepticism, this time focusing Chapter 12 of his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Plus speaking of things to be skeptical about, we dive into a recent paper called “Your Brain on ChatGPT” – does neuroscienc ... Show More
1h 16m
Recommended Episodes
May 2024
THINGS HIDDEN 193: The Christ Haunted Town of Twin Peaks
David Gornoski and Surit Dasgupta explore David Lynch's TV series Twin Peaks through a Gospel-oriented anthropological lens. Among the topics covered are Lynch's cyclical narratives, the truth behind whodunnit mysteries, how the haunting of Laura Palmer translates into the real w ... Show More
58m 23s
Feb 2025
David Lynch, le maître de l'étrange qui a révolutionné le cinéma
Il y a dix-huit ans jour pour jour sortait ce qui allait être le dernier film de David Lynch, Inland Empire. Cette plongée expérimentale de trois heures dans les entrailles d’Hollywood réunit tous les ingrédients du cinéma « lynchien » : une ambiance étrange et dérangeante, des i ... Show More
24m 29s
Jan 2025
Eraserhead (1977)
You’ve got your good things and I’ve got mine in this episode on David Lynch’s Eraserhead. 
1h 19m
Jun 6
Baby, you were [possibly not] born this way w/ David Dudrick
David Dudrick joins the pod to discuss Nietzsche, Foucault, Catholicism and cultural theory. Read David's essay on Foucault https://www.compactmag.com/article/why-foucault-couldnt-kill-sexuality/Read Stephen's article on Nietzsche https://www.newsweek.com/our-culture-war-two-side ... Show More
47m 36s
Jun 2023
Do our lives tell a story? | Sophie Fiennes, David Hare, Janne Teller
Can you understand a novel - or a life - before you know how it ends?Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesFrom Beethoven's 5th to Batman, Harry Potter to Hamlet, we want and expect satisfying endings that tie up loose ends and provide ... Show More
49m 32s
Dec 2024
Your Brain Doesn’t Work the Way You Think
David Eagleman upends myths and describes the vast possibilities of a brainscape that even neuroscientists are only beginning to understand. Steve Levitt interviews him in this special episode of People I (Mostly) Admire. SOURCES:David Eagleman, professor of cognitive neuroscienc ... Show More
47m 53s
Feb 2025
523. Why We Dream, Learn, and Adapt Faster Than Any Other Species | Dr. David Eagleman
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with neuroscientist, bestselling author, and PBS presenter Dr. David Eagleman. They discuss brain plasticity, how perception works, whether free will exists (and if it’s superordinate), how willingness to engage with higher entropy indicates sophi ... Show More
1h 30m
Oct 2024
#557 - David Cronenberg on The Shrouds
On today’s NYFF62 edition of our podcast, director David Cronenberg discusses The Shrouds with NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim at its U.S. Premiere. In David Cronenberg’s sly and thought-provoking latest, techno-entrepreneur Karsh (Vincent Cassel) has developed a new software t ... Show More
21m 43s
Aug 2024
63: The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, Part I Teaser
Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness Abby and Dan get into the first part of Slavoj Zizek’s The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (2006, directed by Sophie Fiennes). They consider one of the f ... Show More
6m 17s
Feb 2023
The Lost Art of Inspiration - David Lynch on Creativity
Renowned Director and Creative, David Lynch, on Inspiring Ideas, Film, and Creativity “Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful a ... Show More
7m 36s