Through the exploration of various cultures and archaeological mysteries throughout the world, authors J David Osborne and Kris Saknussemm attempt to get to the heart of our lost moment, and provide some potential paths out. LOST XPLORERS is a psychogeographical exploration of culture, art, language, and strange history.
Episodes
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Kris recounts the story of a giant lizard in a tub. We are so focused on the nouning of everything, but people are verbs. We want to understand people as dynamic oscillations between modes. We also cover using cons for good, sexual intimacy, chicken guts in the street, revisionist history, and we round out with a thought exercise: what if you could see five minutes into the future? Would you have a future at all?
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
On this episode, Kris and I talk about the recent story out of LA County, in which schoolkids may be encouraged to pray to Aztec gods. As fans of syncretism and blood sacrifice, Kris and I wrestle with the idea that there may be too much happening too fast. We also talk about the modern trend of couching personal grievances in broad social justice frameworks, giant mollusks, and physical confrontations. I recount a recent performance piece I witnessed that completely blew my mind and restored my faith in art.
Show notes:
California parents request judge block public schools from asking students to pray to Aztec gods
Tibetan Book of the Dead’s Karmic Mirror
Steps to an Ecology of Mind by Gregory Bateson
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
What does it mean to control the narrative? Is there a narrative to control at all? What are good and bad optics? How about the difference between surface and substance? Pride and hate?
We ask a very important question: are you the hero of your life?
Can empowerment erode agency?
And finally, David tells a story of a time when his life might have been saved by a bad case of diarrhea.
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
We talk about Freak Power and Hunter S. Thompson in order to explore the difference between the counterculture of the 1960s/70s and the current culture of activism/wokeness/progressivism? Did cancellation exist in the 60s? What’s the difference between ideas and beliefs. David and Kris discuss their lines in the sand when it comes to free speech and offense: is there anything that goes too far? It seems like when I was growing up (David) it was the right who were the censors. Now it comes from both sides depending on the issue.
Show Notes:
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Are fictionalized depictions of child sacrifice release valves for the actual act, or symbolic representations that take the place of the act itself? We discuss the tension between the mythology of children as a swarm of demons and children as innocents to be protected, and come to a surprising conclusion to our conversation of child sacrifice. David also follows “The Path of the Spider” as a mind exercise during the episode.
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
What about the Gabby Petito story is capturing the American consciousness so powerfully? What symbolic truths are revealed? Kris and I look at it through the symbolic lens of “women in trouble” and the darkening of the ubiquitous documentation of our lives on social media.
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
We explore the idea that American pop culture can be seen as ritual magical child sacrifice. If we live as perpetual children, does that create a necessity to vampirism the energy and spirit of the young?
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
On this episode, Kris and I attempt to tease out the general malaise we’ve been feeling culturally as of late. We begin by discussing 9/11, taking it as an opportunity to talk about the shift we’ve made ideologically in the past 20 years. Why don’t we consider ourselves “left” anymore? We go into 9/11 conspiracies and how our thoughts have evolved. Whatever happened to intellectual humility? What is the mythopoetic story of 9/11?
Note: Rage Against the Machine’s self-titled album came out in 1992, not 1998.
Ubud Writers and Readers Festival
Donald Trump interview on 9/11
“The Architects of Fear” episode of The Outer Limits
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
How do you break out of stale patterns of thought? We dive deeper into the dark heart of American Mayhem, exploring the sinister alchemy of Charles Manson moving to Los Angeles. Are there living demons of regional America? Did the Sharon Tate murders have a symbolic, occult effect on the country?
“I’ve Got a Crush on You” by Charlie Watts
Sinister Forces by Peter Levenda
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
“White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane
“The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel
“Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Kris took a road trip to see Patti Smith perform at the Henry Miller library. We have a discussion about both the importance of a set of rules, and the imperative to break them. Is cancel culture on its last legs? What is "doomer optimism"? At the end of the day, if we're ever going to move past some of this stuff, we have to get tired of ourselves.
The Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
The Air-Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller