The Carousel Podcast

On episode 46 of The Carousel podcast, I’m joined by filmmaker Matthew David Wilder. He wrote Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog (2016) and wrote and directed Your Name Here (2008) with Bill Pullman and Regarding the Case of Joan of Arc (AKA American Martyr) (2020) which reimagines Joan of Arc as an alt-right American terrorist. EXCLUSIVE LINK TO FULL REGARDING THE CASE OF JOAN OF ARC FILMWe talk about David’s path from trailer park to Yale, our experiences living in New York and LA, and of course the culture wars through the lens writing and art. The Carousel is a reader-supported publication. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

Cancelled fine artist Arthur Kwon Lee has one of the best "coming out as based” stories I’ve ever heard. At the top of the art game in New York, represented by all the right people and having followed art world cursus honorum perfectly, he sits at a table with a diverse group of artists and a typical gatekeeper harridan in charge of shilling their work to her silver spoon rolodex of wealthy friends. She proposes that he partner with a black artist for a BLM meets Stop Asian Hate crossover classic, certain to sell among her elite client list. He initially resists, stating that his art has nothing to do with his Korean identity; it’s more focused on traditional notions of beauty, strength, and power. He call himself “roof Korean numero uno,” a reference to my all time favorite aesthetic subculture.“No trust me, it’ll be perfect!” she says, “everyone will love it!”Here, Arthur has a decision to make. Do you prostitute yourself for success, or does honor still have any value in this world? He chooses the road less traveled in glorious fashion, but I won’t spoil it. Listen to him tell the tale on this, episode 45 of The Carousel podcast.Buy Arthur’s artView Arthur’s work on InstagramArthur on Twitter This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

Ezra Ballinger, protagonist of The Cowboy Church, would appreciate me keepin’ this short. So I will.J.L. Mackey is an author, poaster, and all around DisLit staple. He’s hilarious, to-the-point, and embodies the criteria for a new, based kind of Southern Gothic, something we attempt to define on the pod.His cinematic latest novella The Cowboy Church tracks Ballinger, a simple bar owner beset by chronic and crushing arthritis, as he faces off against a private equity type mogul. I’d highly recommend the read. Like most DisLit standouts (Automaton by The Writings of T.R. Hudson and Nutcrankr by Baltic State come to mind), The Cowboy Church isn’t a political work. It’s based only in that it seeks its own beauty, meaning, and truth outside the pollution of ideology.J.L. Mackey on Twitter Buy The Cowboy ChurchThe Carousel is a reader-supported publication. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

In our biggest episode to date, the infamous Raw Egg Nationalist drops by to discuss the hilarious ads in Man’s World Number 10.REN leads the battle against food globohomogenization, offering a reliable stream of redpills about the patented bugs and tumors that provide globalists with higher margins on their food supply investments. His magazine Man’s World has been heralded as a new, based Vice filling the gaping hole where real journalism for men used to be. He published my piece on Ketamine in an earlier issue.He’s less heralded for his work on the ads in the magazine, some of which are satirical and hilarious, while others are real advertisements for based brands. I’m compiling a compendium of this great ad work because I love it so much. Seize the means of propaganda!Raw Egg on TwitterMan’s World ArchiveLink to REN’s books for purchase This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

Today we have Inez Stepman, a thinker I discovered recently and am incredibly impressed by. Her gender analysis is rooted in Red Pill theory—she admittedly came up reading Chateau Heartiste—and she’s the first woman I’ve ever heard bring up the concept of hypergamy.She joins Peachy Keenan and Aimee Therese on the Mount Rushmore of Female Dissident Right (FDR), although I’m not sure she would agree with this characterization. She’s got a JD from UVA and now works for the Independent Women’s Forum, a right-leaning think tank which recently filed an amicus brief arguing against the U.S. Women’s Soccer absurd pay discrimination lawsuit.Stepman can cover an immense amount of ground very quickly. Our convo covers Biden’s recent pro-ESG veto, Lochner v. New York’s impact on feminism, John Calhoun’s Beautiful Ones experiment, and how school choice can serve as a patronage system for the contemporary right. Inez on TwitterHer podcast High NoonThe Carousel is a reader-supported publication. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

Two important legal stories (besides the Trump indictment) came to the fore this week, and no one better to explain them than bodybuilder, Twitter anon, and high-powered attorney Ash. First, the political prosecution of of Douglas Mackey (AKA Ricky Vaughn) reached its third day of deliberations, with the jury receiving an Allen Charge—intense pressure from the judge to reach a verdict—on Wednesday. Mackey is on trial for sharing a joke meme encouraging Hillary Clinton supporters to “vote by text” during 2016 election. Despite many Dems making the exact same joke, encouraging Trump supporters to vote by text, Mackey faces prosecution in federal court while no Democrats face the same.****UPDATE: Just moments ago, the news broke that Mackey has been found guilty.Second, text of the RESTRICT Act (Senate Bill 686) has been released to widespread accusations of government overreach. It gives the state unprecedented power to control online speech via prosecution of private citizens—which is why Ash and others describe it as Gen Z’s Patriot Act. The bill, backed by both parties, ostensibly seeks to gird national security against the looming TikTok threat. In practice, however, the bill will provide a regime now known for political prosecutions with carte blanche to pursue more rebel speakers like Mackey.Here’s a viral thread from Grill Time clearly and simply explaining the provisions of SB 686, and why they amount to obvious overreach.Follow Ash on TwitterSupport the cause, now more than ever This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome filmmaker Daniel Algarin to The Carousel. A working Hollywood creative director/editor, Algarin came up under David Fincher at Rock, Paper, Scissors, and has found great success cutting trailers for major film releases. But, unlike your typical Hollywood hack, Algarin actually has something to say. His viral YouTube hit Dread Pirate Roberts depicts Silk Road-founder Ross Ulbricht in his own words in the moments before his arrest. It’s the perfect short. Incisive, cinematic, perfectly-crafted, thematically-complex—a successful attempt to bring filmic quality to the small screen.If you haven’t watched it yet, I can’t think of a better way to spend four minutes of your time: Check out Algarin’s Substack Thoughtcrime for more of his work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

Last Things takes a spin on The Carousel for episode 39.Fantastic video essayist, podcaster, and conversationalist, Last Things analyzes our broken culture via popular movies and TV. His beliefs that "horror is fundamentally right wing" and that "the left can't see, the right can't speak," have become insightful memes. We cover much, but our conversation focuses on one key theme: how critical art, in the form of works like The Boys and Black Mirror, is captured and converted into propaganda by the very regime it seeks to critique. Deleuze labels a variation of this process "Deterritorialization" and "Reterritorialization"—how anything genuine is hollowed out and sold back to us with nothing more than the mask of what it used to represent.Last Things on TwitterLast Things on YouTube This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

YouTuber Scott Mannion hops on the Carousel for Episode 38. Mannion specializes in Anglo Saxon symbology and meaning—his video essays and Substacks combine historical analysis with beautiful prose to unearth the roots that ground individuals in their cultures, and cultures in their lands. He digs deep into the littlest elements of being, the origins of materials of the Barbour jacket for example, to reveal the essence of our ancestries. His organization Greenwood encourages members to rediscover metaphysical hierarchies and become reacquainted with deep connections they probably never knew they had.We talk about the Queen’s burial ceremony, the U.S. Constitution, Daseins, and the role of the based brand maker in the modern world.Scott on YouTubeScott on Twitter This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe

Meet Yuri Bezmenov, an ambitious new anon Substacking up a storm. His namesake, a KGB defector from the 1980s, recently re-rose to prominence via this eerily prescient video about the process of demoralization. The current Yuri is a native New Yorker, the son of Chinese immigrants, which gives him a unique perspective on ideological subversion. His beat covers the signs and symbols of subversion in places like Austin, New York, and Karenland FUPAZ (his word for the network of American cities run by zombie Progressives). We talk about Red Guards, struggle sessions, urban male-female dynamics, and of course how to subvert the subversion that’s become the norm.Yuri Bezmenov on TwitterThe Carousel is a reader-supported publication. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecarousel.substack.com/subscribe