Phil Ford
Co-Host of Weird Studies
Phil is an associate professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is the author of the book Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture (a cultural history of hipness from the 1930s through the 1960s), the long-running blog Dial 'M' for Musicology, and various essays that have appeared in Representations, Journal of Musicology, Musical Quarterly, and elsewhere. With co-host J. F. Martel he is working on a book titled Weirding, to be published by Strange Attractor Press.
Phil is a pianist, rabid Wagnerite, crap Buddhist, degenerate fight fan, and avid consulter of the I Ching. He wishes that just for once he had an enthusiasm that he didn't have to apologize for or explain to his academic peers.
Phil Ford has hosted 199 Episodes.
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Episode 185: Intuition and Reality: The Wedge, Part One
Episode | February 26th, 2025 | 1 hr 16 mins
epistemology, intuition, metaphysics, methodology, style, the wedge
JF and Phil discuss the role of intuition in knowing the world in this first of two shows on the metaphysics of the Weird.
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Special Release: Poltergeists, Fairies, Skeptics, and the Managerial Class
Episode | February 19th, 2025 | 33 mins 11 secs
miracles, paranormal, supernatural
Unscheduled hiatus this week—enjoy this unlocked bonus episode, a perfect lead-in to next week’s release.
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Episode 184: On David Lynch
Episode | February 5th, 2025 | 1 hr 41 mins
art, cinema, horror, lynchian, supernatural
Phil and JF discuss the work of David Lynch, focusing especially on his first film, "Eraserhead.'
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Episode 183: On Hermann Hesse's 'Siddhartha'
Episode | January 22nd, 2025 | 1 hr 21 mins
buddhism, enlightenment, literature, religion, transcendence
JF and Phil discuss Hesse's literary exploration of the spiritual journey.
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Episode 182: Providence of Evil: On Robert Eggers' 'Nosferatu'
Episode | January 8th, 2025 | 1 hr 20 mins
cinema, evil, horror, occult, paranormal, religion
Phil and JF discuss Rogert Eggers' reimagining of F. W. Murnau's classic vampire film.
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Holiday Bonus: Waiting for the Next Sentence
Episode | December 18th, 2024 | 44 mins 43 secs
mid-hiatus bonus, special episode, writing
In this conversation originally recorded for members of the Weird Studies Patreon, JF and Phil discuss certain challenges of the writer's craft.
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Episode 181: On 'The X Files,' with Meredith Michael
Episode | December 4th, 2024 | 1 hr 17 mins
cinema, conspiracy, epistemology, guest episode, meredith michael, paranormal, television
Meredith Michael joins JF and Phil to discuss the classic television series.
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Episode 180: The Player: On the Magician Card in the Tarot
Episode | November 20th, 2024 | 1 hr 21 mins
divination, magic, metaphysics, scholarship, tarot, trickster
Phil and JF resume their journey through the major trumps of the tarot with a discussion of the Magician card.
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Episode 179: The Final Frontier, with Lionel Snell
Episode | November 6th, 2024 | 1 hr 17 mins
guest episode, lionel snell, metaphysics, occult, psychology
Lionel Snell joins Phil and JF to discuss magic, metaphysics, and the enchantments of boredom.
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Episode 178: Edge of Reality: On John Carpenter's 'In the Mouth of Madness'
Episode | October 23rd, 2024 | 1 hr 12 mins
art, cinema, horror, hyperstition, metaphysics
A live recording of JF and Phil's conversation following a screening of John Carpenter's cult classic.
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Episode 177: Riddles in the Dark: On Fairy Tales, Interpretation, and 'Rapunzel'
Episode | October 9th, 2024 | 1 hr 27 mins
art, fairy tales, mythology, storytelling
Phil and JF discuss the weirdness of fairy tales as objects infinitely interpretable, yet resolutely unexplainable.
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Episode 176: On Charles Burns' 'Black Hole' and the Medium of Comics
Episode | September 25th, 2024 | 1 hr 21 mins
art, body horror, comics, formalism, grotesque
JF and Phil discuss Charles Burns' masterful graphic novel "Black Hole."
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Mid-Break Bonus: The Quiet Earth
Episode | August 21st, 2024 | 1 hr 1 min
art, bonus episodes, cinema, clowns, literature, speculative fiction
A rollicking ride of a bonus episode, previously exclusive to our Patreon supporters.
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Episode 175: Don't Look Now: Live at Lily Dale
Episode | August 7th, 2024 | 1 hr 58 mins
death, ghost stories, grief, literature, live recordings, paranormal, time
At Shannon Taggart's annual Symposium on the Science of Things Spiritual in Lily Dale, New York, Phil and JF record a live episode on Daphne du Maurier's experiment in unreality, "Don't Look Now."
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Episode 174: Magick and Enlightenment, with Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford
Episode | July 24th, 2024 | 1 hr 29 mins
enlightenment, magic, metaphysics, occult, religion
Magical practitioners Duncan Barford and Alan Chapman join JF and Phil to talk about magic, truth, and the Holy Guardian Angel.
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Episode 173: By Heart: On Memory, Poetry, and Form
Episode | July 10th, 2024 | 1 hr 18 mins
aesthetics, formalism, literature, memory, poetry
JF and Phil try to recite classic poems by heart in this discussion on the magic of memory.