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Estimated from 2 chart positions in 2 markets.
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- 🇳🇿NZ · Books#3310K to 30K
- 🇮🇪IE · Books#181500 to 3K
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5.3K to 17K🎙 Weekly cadence·24 episodes·Last published 6mo ago - Monthly Reach
Unique listeners across all episodes (30 days)
11K to 33K🇳🇿91%🇮🇪9% - Active Followers
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3.1K to 9.9K
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Recent episodes
VINELAND EP 6/7: Voicemails
Dec 18, 2025
1h 34m 59s
VINELAND EP 6: Vineland The Good?
Nov 6, 2025
Unknown duration
VINELAND EP 5: It's The Libidinal Economy, Stupid! (W/Subliminal Jihad)
Oct 23, 2025
Unknown duration
VINELAND EP 4: Keeping it DL (w/Ana Gavrilovska)
Oct 16, 2025
Unknown duration
VINELAND EP 3: Whether Underground (w/Eleanor Stein)
Oct 9, 2025
Unknown duration
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/18/25 |  VINELAND EP 6/7: Voicemails✨ | voicemailsliterary analysis+5 | — | — | Montreal | voicemailProust+7 | — | 1h 34m 59s | |
| 11/6/25 | VINELAND EP 6: Vineland The Good? | We are back. Sorry for the delay--we were just uh...savoring the book's ending, and the richness of the text.John and Asher ride solo...together. Like DL and Takeshi! In our final Vineland read-through, we cover the book's last three chapters, learn more about Brock Vond's sexual proclivities, witness, the birth of Prairie, get the scoop on Zoyd's whole window-smashing-deal, return to Vineland itself for the Traverse-Becker family reunion, learn the fate of all our characters, and meet like 17 more.We also discuss myths of the afterlife, theories of hereditary madness (courtesy Italian phrenologists), giggling, acid versus coke rock, acid versus coke books, the ontology of the Pynchonverse, the (over)abundance agenda, if Sleep is the same band as Electric Wizard, Sylvia Plath, Proust (natch!), something-other-than-pessimism, the symbolism of blue jays, if hope is evil, and the impossibility of tilting the beam.Thanks for listening! We'll be back soon!And remember...SUNSHINE DAYDREAMSUNSHINE DAYDREAMSUNSHINE DAYDREAMSUNSHINE DAYDREAMSUNSHINE DAYDREAMSUNSHINE DAYDREAMSUNSHINE DAYDREAMSUNSHINEDAYDREAMMusic In This Episode:Wendy Watson - "Degrassi Jr. High Theme" (excerpt)Sleep - "Dragonaut" (excerpt)Pop o' Pies - "Sugar Magnolia" (Demo Tape Version) (edited)Other Stuff:"Daddy" by Sylvia Plath"Proverbs for Paranoids" Gravity's Rainbow Guide | — | ||||||
| 10/23/25 | VINELAND EP 5: It's The Libidinal Economy, Stupid! (W/Subliminal Jihad) | THIS WEEK: John and Asher reads through Chapters 10-12 of Vineland, which takes them back in their shared semester at the College of the Surf (John was Asher's RA). We also learn about the scintillating backstory of Frenesi Gates and her love affair with a COP (ew)--the betrayal of all her ostensible values. We also talk Marx, Freud, Lyotard, Thorazine as a bad-trip-killer, cinematic radicalism, the horny monster who lives inside of you and makes you do stuff you shouldn't want to (or even don't want to) do, May '68, the Emerald Triangle, and the Pynchonian figure of the evil dentist.THEN: Asher is joined by Dimitri and Khalid of the Subliminal Jihad podcast to talk about Pynchon's ties (literary and otherwise) to deep state conspiracism, occult machinations, and all things para-political (or as the boys would say it: political). The truth is out there? WRONG AGAIN. The truth is in...here.MUSIC:Kimi-Bogdan Raczynski | — | ||||||
| 10/16/25 | VINELAND EP 4: Keeping it DL (w/Ana Gavrilovska) | This week: John and Asher continue reading through and chatting about Vineland, a journey that takes us from California to Ohio to Japan and back again. We mull the novel's conspicuous "Eastern" influences, deep state machinations pitting the mob against the feds, and spend a lot of time with the curious--and amazing!--character Daryl Louise Chastain.Then: we're joined by writer Ana Gavrilovska to talk about D.L., One Battle After Another, Against the Day....and we finally and definitively answer the question: can Pynchon write women?Follow Ana on Twitter and read her Substack, why dontcha!Music in this Episode:Black Flag - "TV Party"Cold Foamers - "Always" | — | ||||||
| 10/9/25 |  VINELAND EP 3: Whether Underground (w/Eleanor Stein) | And we're back! With VINELAND, chapters 6-8.John and Asher discuss inter-generational negation, luddites, the computerized future, communitarian happenings, Esalen, transpersonal psychology, holotropic breathwork, and '70s solipsism.THEN: We speak with former member of the Students for Democratic Society and the Weatherman Eleanor Stein about '60s radicalism and their intersection with the hippier counterculture, left politics tactics, and the moral crises of then and now.MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE:"God's Children (End)" - The Kinks | — | ||||||
| 10/2/25 | VINELAND EP 2: What Was The Hippie? (w/Jesse Jarnow) | We begin our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland in earnest, covering Chapters 1-5.John and Asher discuss the amateurishness of opening a novel with a character waking up, the perils of transfenestration, the ersatzness of Hawaiian holidays, and whether Billy Barf and the Vomitones are a heavy metal band or a hardcore band. Was there D-beat before the band Discharge? We'll never know...Also! We welcome author, broadcaster and podcaster Jesse Jarnow to talk about the legacy of the '60s hippie counterculture and help situate Pynchon's novel, culturally. Jesse is the author of arguably the chronicle of the hippie underground, Heads (among other wonderful volumes), host of The Frow Show on the mighty WFMU in Jersey, also the co-host of The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast. Follow Jesse on Bluesky, why dontcha?Here's John's article (that Asher helped edit) in Rolling Stone, about the history of LSD manufacture, that comes up in this episode.Music in this Episode:The Last Poets - "When the Revolution Comes" (1970)The Watts Prophets - "Public Enemy Number One" (1996)Jane Birkin - "Ex-fan des sixties" (1978) | — | ||||||
| 9/25/25 | VINELAND EP 1: Snitches Get Stitches (w/ Noah Kulwin) | We missed "Pynchon Summer." But just barely! Cut us some slack, eh?In any event, we are back with our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland (1990). Is it a triumphant return following the interminable 17 interregnum since Gravity's Rainbow? Or a total piece of junk! As usual, the truth is...what we say it is.This intro episode sets up the book, its themes, and background. Then we chat with returning guest Noah Kulwin about the role of the snitch or government informant in American politics and culture. Make sure to check out Noah and Brendan James' essential pod-chronicle of American Empire, Blowback, which just launched its sixth season.OK we are glad to be back! New episodes every week or so!MUSIC in this Episode:The Exploited - "Police Informer" (1987)The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - "California Über Alles" (1992) | — | ||||||
| 3/11/24 | Mailbag Time (Listener Qs, A'd) | We open the ol' mailbag, which is really more of google voicemail inbox, to answer some listener Q&As. At long last! We accidentally deleted one and apologize. So if you're the person who called in to ask about the "keying waves" sequence, where Slothrop is talking to his dad...well....we are truly sorry. It was a good question! Stay tuned. We are starting prep on our next season on Proust. We are currently arguing about whether to do just <i>Swann's Way</i>, or all of <i>In Search Of Lost Time</i>, which is like 9 billion words. Maybe we can do <i>Swann's Way</i> first, and then do other books? And then come back to Proust? If you have thoughts, we'd appreciate it, as we like to put our listeners first...after ourselves, and all our stupid, self-indulgent tendencies, and whims. It may be a few months off, in any event. If you're not doing so yet, follow us on Twitter, which will never be known as "X." | — | ||||||
| 2/20/24 | APPENDIX - Is GRAVITY'S RAINBOW an autobiography? (W/ Albert Rolls) | In this extra, bonus "appendix" episode, Asher lays out his theory of Gravity's Rainbow, as a coded biography of its author, Thomas Pynchon. Also: we're joined by author and researcher Albert Rolls to talk about his book, Thomas Pynchon: Demon in the Text, which is itself a not-quite-a-biography of Pynchon. | — | ||||||
| 1/23/24 | BONUS - Weissman's Tarot (W/ Answers In Tarot) | This week: before we head into the final stretch of Gravity's Rainbow, we stop to talk tarot and esotericism with Answers In Tarot, also known as L.A. Lubuschagne. He offers us some insights into the cultural context for the Tarot's reemergence in the '60s/'70s counterculture, unpacks Slothrop's identification with "The Fool," and offers a thorough reading of Weissman's Tarot, as laid down in the book (pp. 747-749 in the Viking edition). What will the cards reveal? Listen to find out. We'll be back next week with our final read-through episode, when everything goes: KABLOOIE! Weissman's Tarot lay-out (via PynchonWiki) CONTACT ANSWERS IN TAROT: Email: La.Labuschagne.Creative@gmail.com YouTube: @lalabuschagne Discord: la.labuschagne Reddit: u/LA_Labuschagne | — | ||||||
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| 1/9/24 | EP 11 - Shine On, You Crazy Sentient Lightbulb (W/ The Computerized Ghost of Harold Bloom) | Covering Part 4: Chapters 1-6. We enter the fourth--and final!--part of the novel. We discuss the formation of the "Counterforce," Slothrop's dispersal, and a fan-favorite episode about a sentient lightbulb that goes nuts. In this episode, we embrace the threat of sentient technology by speaking with an A.I. generated spectre of the late literary critic Harold Bloom. We chat with "Harold" about the novel, Byron the Bulb, gnosticism, and the prospects of us all being killed by computers. Other topics include: Keying waves, Mandrakes, some characteristics of Imipolex-G, dualistic ontologies, the CIA, gnosis (in a gnostic way), Robin Wood, psychosis, believing two (or 45) things at once, whips, chains, and leather, bundle of cognition. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com | — | ||||||
| 12/12/23 | EP 8: Better Living Through Chemistry (W/Hamilton Morris) | Covering Part 3: Chapters 6-12. Slothrop is reborn as "Rocketman," steals some hash, and meets Mickey Rooney, The John E. Badass appears, and does battle using a hot new drug named Oneirine Thiophosphate (or is it Theo-phosphate???). This episode: we talk with documentarian and chemist Hamilton Morris about the novel's use of drugs, and chemistry, both technically and metaphorically. Is Oneirine real? Could it be?! Other topics include: The BoDeans, William S. Burroughs, Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, alternate histories and uchronies, the feeling of an elf sitting on your chest, S&M sex (again), chemophobia, plasticity, and the weak, pitiable nature of the covalent bond. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. Read "(Unfinished) Review of PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story" attributed to one "Tyrone Slothrop." E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com | — | ||||||
| 12/5/23 | EP 7: The Genocidal Gaze (W/Elizabeth Baer) | Covering Part 3: Chapters 1-5. Our read-through of Gravity's Rainbow continues as we enter THE ZONE. The War--at least in Europe--is over. But the novel is merely beginning, in some ways. Slothrop meets a witch, a Herero revolutionary, and stumbles upon an abandoned rocket factory factory building rockets. Try not to zone out, eh? We are joined by Elizabeth Baer, author of The Genocidal Gaze, to get some context for German colonialism in southern Africa, and the history of the Herero people. How did Germany's colonial programming shape their 20th century genocidal ambitions? Other topics include: German runology, cyborgs, magic, IG Farben and chemical cartels, imperialism, hot air balloons, pie fights, the double-integer and how it looks like two people snuggling, Brenschluss, gnostic third-eyes, Kryptosam. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com....OR call our hotline and leave a message: 609-353-6873. | — | ||||||
| 11/21/23 | EP 6: Im(i)polex, Gee (W/Alex Ross Perry) | Slow Learners continues! This episode covers the entire second section of Gravity's Rainbow, in which Tyrone Slothrop emerges as our clear hero, or the closest thing to it. We speak with filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, The Color Wheel, Queen of Earth) about his debut feature, Impolex, and about his relationship with Pynchon's writing, literary adaptation, and The Simpsons Movie. Stay tuned for a juicy detail about the mysterious life of everyone's favorite author! Other topics include: John le Carré, Graham Greene, hash-laced hollandaise, octopus programming, zoot suit fashions, Teletypes, the Shell Oil multinational corporation, bad dreams, plastics. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com | — | ||||||
| 11/14/23 | EP 5: Use Your Allusion (W/Prof. David Cowart) | We wrap the first part of Gravity's Rainbow (chapters 18-21), which sees Pointsman getting lucky, Slothrop shipped off to the Riviera, and Roger and Jessica checking out a cheeky Christmas panto. In this episode, we're joined by David Cowart, author of Thomas Pynchon and the Dark Passages of History and Thomas Pynchon: The Art of Allusion, to talk about the history of the postmodern novel, and how Gravity's Rainbow defines the form. Other topics include: Chaucer, Joyce, Christmas Parties, if the British put a moratorium on German art during WWII, meta-narratives, Jerry Garcia, Weimar Germany, Marxists, the cult of the rocket, poster pasting, probability, the mechanical model of the human mind, Newtonian reality vs. Heisenbergian reality, entropy. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com And/or... Leave us a voicemail by calling (609) 353-6873. | — | ||||||
| 11/7/23 | EP 4: Systems, Scandals, and Literary Hoaxes (w/Alex Shephard) | We continue our journey "Beyond the Zero," covering Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1, Chapters 14-17. And: Alex Shephard (The New Republic) joins us to talk about literary hoaxes, Pynchonian mysteries, how Gravity's Rainbow scandalized the hoity-toity world of arts and letters. Other topics include: S&M, prosthetic vaginas, church ceremonies, "The Book," by Pavlov, Thomas Pynchon's jump-shot. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com | — | ||||||
| 10/31/23 | EP 3: Military Mind Control (W/Stephen Kinzer) | We get further into the weeds, covering Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1, Chapters 10-13. We're joined by Stephen Kinzer, author of the Sidney Gottlieb biography Poisoner In Chief to talk about the history of military mind-control, and Project MKUltra. Other topics discussed: toilets, jive accessories, having sex with a snake, racism, genocide, LSD. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com | — | ||||||
| 10/24/23 | EP 2: A Screaming Comes Across The Sky (W/Dr. Jordan Bimm) | The season begins in earnest with this recap and discussion of Gravity's Rainbow, Part 1: Chapters 1-9. We chat with Dr. Jordan Bimm, a historian of science and technology, about the history of the V-2 rocket, the Space Race, and the mystical/material dimensions of interstellar travel, Britain's most famous witch. Other topics include: bananas, '50s monster movies, penis-as-dowsing-rod, low humour, Ulysses, etc., etc. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com | — | ||||||
| 10/17/23 |  EP 1: Who is Thomas Pynchon, And Why Are We Talking About His Book? | Hallo Leute! In this, intro episode of Slow Learners, hosts Asher Dark and John Semley lay out their ambition plan, or "plot": to read through Thomas Pynchon's massive 1973 Gravity's Rainbow, discuss it, and talk with experts about its themes and ideas, big and small, smart and stupid. Topics this episode include: Prof. Irwin Corey, literary awards, Alice Tully Hall, preterition (and its meritorious price), being feted, Homer Simpson, Boeing, scrambled eggs, Oyster Bay High School, "The Boys," the character of Robert as played by Brad Garrett on the long-running CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, They-Systems vs. We-Systems, hating books, etc., etc. Read Proverbs For Paranoids, John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow. E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com | — | ||||||
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Chart Positions
3 placements across 2 markets.
Chart Positions
3 placements across 2 markets.