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Wave of Mutilation (a novella): Part One
September 20, 2011 12:51 PM PDT
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This is an audio excerpt from my upcoming book entitled "Wave of Mutilation." Excerpts will be included at the end of each episode of Diet Soap and on their own in an attempt to promote the October release of the book from Fantastic Planet Press which is an imprint of Eraserhead Press.

Here is some advance praise for "Wave of Mutilation":

"In Wave of Mutilation, you will find echoes and shadings of J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Tim Powers and Walker Percy (which is stepping in some high cotton). Lain shares an obsessive fascination with the interface between technology and psychology, and has a keen eye for sharp juxtapositions (as in the contrast between eroticism and hygiene). But what I admire especially is his grasp of the subtle and pervasive mood of paranoia and melancholy that haunts our digitalized era—an elusive sense of spiritual desolation complicated by the ghostly infestation of forces and presences we can never really understand. An intellect and a questioner of literary forms, Lain is also a husbanding, fathering advocate for the Everyman in us all. The result is curiously human and intimate—down to earth, even as the universe falls apart in our hands." -Kris Saknussemm, author of Zanesville and Enigmatic Pilot

Diet Soap Podcast #119: Anarchism is Not Enough
September 16, 2011 01:06 AM PDT
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The guest this week is professor Jodi Dean. Ms. Dean is the author of Blog Theory, the force behind a lecture entitled the Communist Horizon, and a blogger herself at the blog icite.com. She was nice enough to make the time to discuss her hypothesis that Democracy, Anarchism, and Liberalism are the three impediments we face during a time when Capitalism is in crisis.

I want to thank Brian R, and Thomas J for donating to the podcast in the last week. And let them and Martin F and Chris M know that copies of my surrealist memoir entitled Pick Your Battle: Your Guide to Urban Foraging, Hollywood Movies, Late Capitalism, and the Communist Alternative will be sent out in tomorrow's mail. There are still plenty of copies of the memoir left and anyone who would like a copy and who has yet to get one should consider donating, but the big news in terms of books associated with the podcast is that starting with this episode I'll be reading excerpts from my next book, a book entitled Wave of Mutilation at the end of each episode. In mid October that book will be out from Fantastic Planet Press. That's an imprint of the Bizzarro publisher known as Eraserhead press and available through various online vendors such as Barnes and Noble and Amazon. I hope to make signed copies of that novella available through the podcast as well.

I should point that you can follow me on twitter and facebook, and that my own blog douglaslain.com is now the official blog of the Diet Soap podcast (I'm retiring dietsoapcast.com). You can email me through the blog.

Diet Soap #118: The World on a String Theory
September 09, 2011 11:39 AM PDT
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The guest this week is the author Anthony Peake. Mister Peake is the man behind the book The Daemon and this week we discuss String Theory, the Holographic Universe, Philip K. Dick, and his upcoming book the Out of Body Experience.

I want to thank Martin F and Christopher M for donating to the podcast and let you both know that your copies of my surrealist memoir Pick Your Battle will be out the door soon.

I should also mention that I've got a new book coming out next month. This one is a novella and it's being released from Eraserhead Press, but I hope to make signed copies available through the podcast as well. That book will be released in late October, and you'll also get to hear it on this podcast. I'll be reading excerpts from Wave of Mutilation (a novella about losing unreality) starting either next week or a week after that.

Please follow me on facebook, twitter, google plus, stumbleupon, or a social media network that you make up yourself and sketch out with crayons on the back of a receipt from JC Pennys. Or go to douglaslain.com for updates for the dietsoap podcast and other stuff too.

Diet Soap Podcast #117: The Democracy of the Proletariat?
August 26, 2011 12:23 AM PDT
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The guest this week is the Marxist and academic expert on post-Marxism Geoffrey Boucher. Professor Boucher wrote an essay criticizing Zizek's rejection of direct democracy for the Journal of Zizek Studies, and he was very kind to come to Diet Soap and discuss it.

I want to thank a listener for sending me a handmade pipe (I feel it adds to my pseudointellectual persona) in exchange for a copy of my book Pick Your Battle, and also thank Nicholas J and Sam Q for donating to the podcast. Those copies of my surrealist self-help (that's PIck Your battle Your guide to Urban Foraging, Hollywood Movies, Late Capitalism, and the Communist ALternative) will be arriving in your mailboxes soon.

I also want to tell everyone to find Diet Soap on Facebook, find me under douglain on twitter, to find my blog douglaslain.com, to find the dietsoapcast.com blog (and I promise I'll update it really soon, it's been dead for a month), and if you're wanting to read very odd short stories you can find me on amazon.

The music in this week's episode includes the instrumental track from the Who's "Who Are You," and an acoustic guitar cover of the Spice Girls Wannabe performed by the youtube star Sam Westphalen on the AIMTVSYDNEY channel.

Diet Soap Podcast #116: Creating a New Myth?
August 19, 2011 03:37 PM PDT
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The guest this week is professor and philosopher Ted Friedman and we discuss his essay on Jung and myth for the journal Flow. The essay is entitled Myth, the Numinous, and Cultural Studies and Ted's position is that the Marxist concept of the Myth as described by Roland Barthes in his book Mythologies is not very far from Jung's Myth as he outlined it in books such as "Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in Skies."

There were no donations this week, but I've still got 12 copies of my book "Pick Your Battle" sitting an empty cardboard box and I encourage listeners who enjoy the show to visit douglaslain.com or dietsoap.podomatic.com and donate $6 or more to receive a copy. Diet Soap is now available on Stitcher which is a company that streams podcasts on mobile devices and in cars, so if you're a new listener through Stitcher and you've been enjoying what you're hearing on this show consider getting a copy of the book. According to one review of the book on Amazon the book presents its own kind of myth. Sarah wrote: "this is the crossroads of Lain's experience, where theory, pop culture, and personal life meet." That's what you need, yeah?

I should also tell you to follow me on Twitter, facebook, linkedin, netlog (does anybody understand what that is?), stumbleupon, and google plus. My email is douglain at gmail dot com. You should read my blog at douglain.com, check out the dietsoapcast.com blog, look for the Diet Soap facebook page, and build a shrine made of dial soap and weight watcher's happy meal in your front lawn so that the UFO people know to skip your house during the coming plagues and tribulations.

The music in this episode include a cover of the Rolling Stone's You Can't Always get What You Want by the youtube star monkaholic100, a bluegrass version of PInk Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall from the album Pickin' on Pink Floyd, and the Fortress Theme from the Gameboy cartridge "Kid Icarus: of Myth and Monsters." Also: clips from the movie Zizek! and Professor Paul Fry's iTunes U lecture on Lacan and critical literary theory.

Diet Soap Podcast #115: Our Beautiful Speech Bubbles
August 12, 2011 12:55 AM PDT
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The guest this week is the author and literature professor Timothy Morton. Timothy Morton's books include The Ecological Thought and Ecology Without Nature.

I want to thank Peter K for pledging to the podcast and remind everyone that donations of six dollars or more will send a copy of my surreal memoir Pick Your Battle to you. So, before the book gets made into animated feature for Pixar you can still get a paperback copy by donating to this little podcast. The donate button is on douglaslain.com, dietsoap.podomatic.com, and dietsoapcast.com

You can also follow me on facebook, twitter, google plus, stumbleupon, netlog, podomatic, and on foot. My email is douglain at gmail dot com. And I'm a Capricorn.

Diet Soap Podcast #114: Bageant's Hologram
August 05, 2011 12:24 AM PDT
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The guest this week is the podcaster KMO and we pay tribute to the late Joe Bageant in this episode. KMO is the host of the popular C-Realm podcast, and I was glad to talk to him again as his podcast was one of the inspirations behind Diet Soap. Joe Bageant was the author of Deer Hunting with Jesus and Rainbow Pie. Joe had been kind enough to be a guest on both the C-Realm and Diet Soap before he was struck down by cancer earlier this year. You'll hear clips from episode 149 of the C-realm entitled the Stockholm Syndrome of the Soul, as well as clips from Diet Soap #68 which entitled America's Psychedelic Marxist as KMO and I talk about just what Joe's style of class war meant for us both.

Before we begin I want to thank Nicholas N and Stuart P for donating to the podcast in the last week and let you both know that your copies of my strange memoir about Urban Foraging, Philosophy, and Hollywood movies will be jetting your way next week. And I still have quite a number of copies left for people who would like to donate. You can find the paypal button at dietsoap.podomatic.com, at douglaslain.com, and at dietsoapcast.com. I'm also on Facebook, twitter, google plus, and my email is douglain at gmail if you'd like to reach me.

Diet Soap #113: The US and Pakistan are Allies?
July 29, 2011 11:26 AM PDT
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The guest this week is the freelance journalist Jed Bickman and we discuss the relationship between the US and Pakistan. This conversation was recorded a few days after the July 13th bombings in Mumbai. Those bombings have receded from the headlines, but twenty-four people were killed and more than 120 injured on that Wednesday, and the situation in Pakistan is still of vital significance.

I want to thank Holly T, Thomas S, Richard B, and Babafemi M for donating to the podcast and let you know that, excluding Richard, everyone's copies of Pick Your Battle are jetting your way. Richard already has two copies and says he doesn't need a third. In fact the first person who emails me and mentions Richard's donation will get his copy instead. And I should encourage everyone who is listening who wants to make a donation that the paypal button is at douglaslain.com, dietsoapcast.com, and dietsoap.podomatic.com. Also I'm on twitter, facebook, stumbleupon, google plus, something called netlog even though I have no idea what that is, and I even have a dusty old livejournal account.

Diet Soap Podcast #112: Reaching a Limit
July 22, 2011 01:01 AM PDT
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The guest this week is another regular for Diet Soap, the freelance journalist Margaret Kimberley. Ms. Kimberley's freedom rider column appears every Wednesday on the Black Agenda Report website, and this time we discuss this manufactured debt ceiling crisis and the bipartisan austerity agenda. The Republicans and Democrats can't agree on much, but one thing they can agree on is that Medicare and Social Security should be cut. Margaret Kimberley and I discuss how we need to cut our reliance on the Democrats and think about some third way. Just like in AA it all starts by admitting that you have a problem.

I want to thank Anthony Y and Davinder B for donating to the podcast over the last week, and let you know that your copies of Pick Your Battle, my zany Situationist memoir and self-help guide to Lacan, Hollywood Movies, and Urban foraging is in the mail and jetting your way. Listeners who would like a copy need donate $6 or more to receive a copy.

Also in this episode are show clips from December 2010, clips of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Louisiana Republican David Vitter describing how the debt ceiling limit was going to be a battle in 2011. Harry Reid admitted that the Democrats had chosen not to raise the debt ceiling at the same time that they voted through a spending increase. Glenn Greenwald explained the significance of that decision in April of this year.

Diet Soap Podcast #111: The Beach Beneath the Street
July 15, 2011 12:03 AM PDT
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The guest this week would probably not call himself a philosopher, but he is the man behind the books the Hacker Manifesto, Gamer Theory, and now The Beach Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International. The guest? McKenzie Wark.

I want to thank Tyson C for donating to the podcast this week. There are still 40 copies of my Urban Foraging, Situationist, Commie memoir "Pick Your Battle" and Mister C will be receiving his copy in the mail very soon. Those listeners to the podcasts who haven't yet contributed but who would like to read the book, a six dollar donation is the minimum.

If you'd like to just write to me you can send email to me through my website which is douglaslain.com. Also I'm on twitter, facebook, google plus, linked in, youtube, amazon, stumbleupon, and my usenet group is alt.footfetish.philosophy

The clips you heard in the podcast included the the for the video game Myst, the most ancient song in the world which is entitled Seikilos and which was written about 2000 years ago in ancient greece. You also heard clips from Rick Roderick, an old Columbo episode, and a random youtube clip describing the difference between strategy and tactics.

Diet Soap Podcast #110: The Partially Examined Life
July 08, 2011 01:35 AM PDT
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The guest this week is the Musician and podcaster Mark Linsenmayer. Mark is one of the three voices behind the Partially Examined Life podcast, which is a philosophy podcast that digs in on specific philosophical texts on a regular basis. We discuss what philosophy is and what it is for.

Thanks to Richard L, Paul H, John Y, and John E for donating to the podcast over the last week, and I want to remind everyone that those who donate $6 or more receive my strange philosophical memoir Pick Your Battle as a thank you gift. I should also remind everyone that there is a Facebook Community page for Diet Soap, that the Diet Soap blog is at dietsoapcast.com.

Also a quick shout out to Nigel B who stopped by the Diet Soap compound last week and who watched me drink martinis at the Delta Cafe. He's the man behind the Ancient Gallery.

Diet Soap Podcast #109: Philosophical Anarchism in the USA
June 30, 2011 01:02 AM PDT
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The guest this week is the author and comedian Dennis Perrin. Dennis is a regular guest to the podcast and this week we discuss the philosophy of Anarchism and its role on the American Left.

I want to thank Adam R, Kevin S, Anthony R, and Richard L for donating to the podcast last week and let you know that a signed copy of the book Pick Your Battle is in the mail. I also want to thank Jon Meade for putting me up in Olympia last weekend after a reading at the Last Word bookstore. I met an acquistions librarian at that reading.
I still have just over 50 copies left that I've set aside for people who donate to the podcast, and if you'd like to get a signed copy a $6 donation (in the US) will bring that book your way in dead tree form.

Music and clips this week includes Maxence Cyrin Hong Kong Smell like teen spirits along with a song from Jim Henson's Cube.

Diet Soap Podcast #108: Writing Like It's 1999
June 23, 2011 12:23 AM PDT
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The guest this week is Kristine Kathryn Rusch and we talked about the way publishing is changing and the challenges and opportunities that are presenting themselves to writers in this wondrous digital age. Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a prolific professional writer of all different kinds of novels and a blogger. Her blog post Writing Like It's 1999 was the blog post that motivated me to contact her for this episode.

I want to thank Peadar L, Marvin B, Nigel B, and McKenzie Wark for donating to the podcast and let you know that your copies of my book "Pick Your Battle" are in the mail. McKenzie Wark is the author of The Beach Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International.

Diet Soap #107: The Déjà Experience
June 10, 2011 12:33 AM PDT
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The guest this week is Anthony Peake, the author of several books including Cheating the Ferryman. Peake is a sufferer of migrane headaches, explorer of altered states of consciousness, near death experiences, deja experiences, and proponent of what I'll risk characterizing as a mystical perspective on reality who is, at the same time, grounded and quite open intellectually and philosophically. I look forward to having him back on the show to discuss German idealism and specifically Fichte alongside the lucid dreaming phenomena. This means I'll have to read some Fichte first, and I'll be reading this icon of German idealism at Peake's suggestion. This episode serves as a sort of introduction to the ideas that Anthony Peake and I will work to find the time to chew over in upcoming episodes. Facebook has shown itself to be something more than a timewaster here.

Diet Soap Podcast #106: The Holy Mountain is a Movie
June 03, 2011 01:29 AM PDT
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The guests this week are Michael Richardson and Marty Hollingsworth, the two voices behind the Flickers from the Cave podcast, which is actually not a philosophy podcast about Plato but a podcast mostly about B-grade movies. However, Micahel, Marty and I discuss the Jodorowsky's cult classic "Holy Mountain" which is a film that Jodorowsky later claimed fell outside of the history of cinema and was beyond criticism.

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