Inspired by recent reading of Aberration in the Heartland of the Real, the resurgence of 90s fashion on campus, and an ongoing project about weirdness in the Backrooms (2026), I decided to sit down and discuss just what made the X-Files so incredible; why the 90s paranoia is back; how Fisher's concepts of the weird and eerie help us explain all the bizarre sensations around the government and capitalist realism (and maybe imagine something different); and of course touch on all the weird along the way.

The show is fully self-funded. I do no monetization, no slop, no grind culture nonsense. If you’d like to support the show and/or encourage me to continue, the best way to do so is on whatever platform you’re using. Like, subscribe, leave comments, and of course share it with anyone you think may be interested.

This Place is Weird is a weekly video and podcast about marketing and consumer culture, with relevant topics from science, religion, politics, philosophy, economy, and so on. The focus is on peculiar and unexpected views of the quotidian and ordinary, that is to say that I discuss what is weird. This place, if you look at it quite clearly, is extremely weird. That place being the United States, capitalism, Modernity, planet Earth, the global North, et cetera. If you’re watching on YouTube and prefer audio format since there’s minimal editing, the show should be available on every major podcast network. If you’re listening and would rather see me talking and gesturing (and maybe in the future with some more visuals), the show is available on YouTube under my personal account: Alexander Rose (not the musician).

It's election day and abortion rights are on the ballot in Idaho. I touch briefly on the history of structuralism, poststructuralism, and the New Left in response to a conversation with my wife and her friends about "blue jobs" and "pink jobs" which are a dangerous notion for a group of self-ascribed feminists. I'm not doing woke scolding or trivializing the importance of women's rights, but this is a broad caution about the danger of identity politics in reproducing the thing it claims to resist.

The show is fully self-funded. I do no monetization, no slop, no grind culture nonsense. If you’d like to support the show and/or encourage me to continue, the best way to do so is on whatever platform you’re using. Like, subscribe, leave comments, and of course share it with anyone you think may be interested.

This Place is Weird is a weekly video and podcast about marketing and consumer culture, with relevant topics from science, religion, politics, philosophy, economy, and so on. The focus is on peculiar and unexpected views of the quotidian and ordinary, that is to say that I discuss what is weird. This place, if you look at it quite clearly, is extremely weird. That place being the United States, capitalism, Modernity, planet Earth, the global North, et cetera. If you’re watching on YouTube and prefer audio format since there’s minimal editing, the show should be available on every major podcast network. If you’re listening and would rather see me talking and gesturing (and maybe in the future with some more visuals), the show is available on YouTube under my personal account: Alexander Rose (not the musician).

In light of some thoughts about longevity and aging being bizarrely inflected with a lingering sense of aesthetic priority-- not to mention the aesthetic function of our identities, politics, society writ large-- I wanted to talk a little about the extent to which reducing our aesthetic sensibilities and styles of thinking may open the door to substantive action in important arenas. And may make you less depressed, who can say.

The show is fully self-funded. I do no monetization, no slop, no grind culture nonsense. If you’d like to support the show and/or encourage me to continue, the best way to do so is on whatever platform you’re using. Like, subscribe, leave comments, and of course share it with anyone you think may be interested.

This Place is Weird is a weekly video and podcast about marketing and consumer culture, with relevant topics from science, religion, politics, philosophy, economy, and so on. The focus is on peculiar and unexpected views of the quotidian and ordinary, that is to say that I discuss what is weird. This place, if you look at it quite clearly, is extremely weird. That place being the United States, capitalism, Modernity, planet Earth, the global North, et cetera. If you’re watching on YouTube and prefer audio format since there’s minimal editing, the show should be available on every major podcast network. If you’re listening and would rather see me talking and gesturing (and maybe in the future with some more visuals), the show is available on YouTube under my personal account: Alexander Rose (not the musician).

A short episode in which I discuss the notion that gambling is a symptom of a much more serious and much more insidious disease rather than a pathology in its own right. The disease is simple: a failure of stability, politics, and imaginations for the future. This isn't about gambling addiction as a mental health pathology, but about a socio-cultural analysis of why gambling is everywhere.

The show is fully self-funded. I do no monetization, no slop, no grind culture nonsense. If you’d like to support the show and/or encourage me to continue, the best way to do so is on whatever platform you’re using. Like, subscribe, leave comments, and of course share it with anyone you think may be interested.

This Place is Weird is a weekly video and podcast about marketing and consumer culture, with relevant topics from science, religion, politics, philosophy, economy, and so on. The focus is on peculiar and unexpected views of the quotidian and ordinary, that is to say that I discuss what is weird. This place, if you look at it quite clearly, is extremely weird. That place being the United States, capitalism, Modernity, planet Earth, the global North, et cetera. If you’re watching on YouTube and prefer audio format since there’s minimal editing, the show should be available on every major podcast network. If you’re listening and would rather see me talking and gesturing (and maybe in the future with some more visuals), the show is available on YouTube under my personal account: Alexander Rose (not the musician).

Many feel like owning a home is a key part of the American Dream. Why is this? From Thomas Jefferson's yeoman farmer to a functional buyoff of a frustrated middle class, I trace some of the history of this phenomenon. Importantly, it is now a nexus of massive industries and complex webs of incentives and material interests, leaving the homeowner totally responsible for their home while also curtailing the personal liberty they allegedly sought when they bought it. It's weird.

The show is fully self-funded. I do no monetization, no slop, no grind culture nonsense. If you’d like to support the show and/or encourage me to continue, the best way to do so is on whatever platform you’re using. Like, subscribe, leave comments, and of course share it with anyone you think may be interested.

This Place is Weird is a weekly video and podcast about marketing and consumer culture, with relevant topics from science, religion, politics, philosophy, economy, and so on. The focus is on peculiar and unexpected views of the quotidian and ordinary, that is to say that I discuss what is weird. This place, if you look at it quite clearly, is extremely weird. That place being the United States, capitalism, Modernity, planet Earth, the global North, et cetera. If you’re watching on YouTube and prefer audio format since there’s minimal editing, the show should be available on every major podcast network. If you’re listening and would rather see me talking and gesturing (and maybe in the future with some more visuals), the show is available on YouTube under my personal account: Alexander Rose (not the musician).

Inspired in part by Jodi Dean's essay on neofeudalism, I wanted to spend some time discussing the feudal elements of our society, including ownership concentrated into hereditary hands and systems of obligation predicated not on divine right but on debt. Enjoy!

The show is fully self-funded. I do no monetization, no slop, no grind culture nonsense. If you’d like to support the show and/or encourage me to continue, the best way to do so is on whatever platform you’re using. Like, subscribe, leave comments, and of course share it with anyone you think may be interested.

This Place is Weird is a weekly video and podcast about marketing and consumer culture, with relevant topics from science, religion, politics, philosophy, economy, and so on. The focus is on peculiar and unexpected views of the quotidian and ordinary, that is to say that I discuss what is weird. This place, if you look at it quite clearly, is extremely weird. That place being the United States, capitalism, Modernity, planet Earth, the global North, et cetera. If you’re watching on YouTube and prefer audio format since there’s minimal editing, the show should be available on every major podcast network. If you’re listening and would rather see me talking and gesturing (and maybe in the future with some more visuals), the show is available on YouTube under my personal account: Alexander Rose (not the musician).

Today, I have a somewhat ranty episode about the internal versus external politics of consumption. We've been told time and again to vote with our wallets to such a degree that we now sublimate our political frustration more or less completely into consumerism. We shop for brands that allegedly share our values, we rail about issues on platforms, and we do absolutely nothing to exert political will. The result will be that the beatings continue.

The show is fully self-funded. I do no monetization, no slop, no grind culture nonsense. If you’d like to support the show and/or encourage me to continue, the best way to do so is on whatever platform you’re using. Like, subscribe, leave comments, and of course share it with anyone you think may be interested.

This Place is Weird is a weekly video and podcast about marketing and consumer culture, with relevant topics from science, religion, politics, philosophy, economy, and so on. The focus is on peculiar and unexpected views of the quotidian and ordinary, that is to say that I discuss what is weird. This place, if you look at it quite clearly, is extremely weird. That place being the United States, capitalism, Modernity, planet Earth, the global North, et cetera. If you’re watching on YouTube and prefer audio format since there’s minimal editing, the show should be available on every major podcast network. If you’re listening and would rather see me talking and gesturing (and maybe in the future with some more visuals), the show is available on YouTube under my personal account: Alexander Rose (not the musician).

With the realization, at a total removal thanks to Modern systems of distance and security, that today is the autumnal equinox, I had to give a shoutout to one of my favorite questions from students: is there a new religion coming? We discuss the equinox, cyclical living, the difference between material independence from nature and subjective independence from nature, the possibility of a surge in neo-Animism, how that's different from neo-Paganism, why Abrahamic religions aren't addressing these issues (with a brief case study of Evangelical Tyson Foods), whether a river has rights, I forgot the name of the Whanganui River in New Zealand, and so on. Fun stuff. Happy equinox! Do something outside. Eat with friends. Be weird

As always, this show is not monetized. If you're hearing ads, they're not from me and I get nothing for them. If you want to support the show or give me a reason to continue, leave a positive review, share it with someone who might like it, you know-- the stuff.