> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Articles of Interest: Leviathan, Redneck Nightmare Genre, and the Weird and the Eerie - URL: https://it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io/articles-of-interest-leviathan-redneck-nightmare-genre-and-the-weird-and-the-eerie/ - Published: 2026-10-15T18:44:09.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-15T18:50:54.000Z - Author: Alex Steed A few odds and ends of note. I linked [Mariana Colin's essay about *Hellraiser*](https://youtu.be/xZBFxX5Obyk?si=8OMDePxl1XmhaSc4&ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io) a week or so back, and I am stoked that she'll be on an episode of You Are Good later this month. I recommend watching literally every one of her videos, but this [deconstruction of the Palantir Twitter Manifesto](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIMS5FSZoAw&ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io) from a few months back is especially apt. “It’s stupid. They’re stupid.” Speaking of essays about Hellraiser, I enjoyed [this meditation on the Leviathan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVUgO4F2Eoo&ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io). Truthout looks at how some [communities are fighting data centers and winning](https://truthout.org/audio/how-communities-are-fighting-ai-data-centers-and-winning/?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io). This [week's episode of *You Are Good*](https://www.podpage.com/you-are-good/?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io) is about *Jeepers Creepers*. Considering the movie's deeply troubled (or, more aptly, troubling) history, I'd sworn off covering it long ago but when comedian Alaina Bamfield pitched it I reconsidered. When she pitched it, Alaina—who recently released a [standup specia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzigeuasz2I&ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io)l about being a survivor of Larry Nassar called *Untouchable*—wasn't aware of director Victor Salva's child sexual abuse conviction, and so we discussed the movie, yes, but also some of our own experiences with sexual abuse. Despite the dark undercurrent, I really enjoyed this conversation. We are covering Deliverance on *You Are Good* next week and I read a number of essays on the notorious 1972 film, my favorite of which was about [the birth of the "Redneck Nightmare Genre"](https://studythesouth.org/revisiting-deliverance/?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io). [Trump backed down from the live-stream execution](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crx23qlnj27qo?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io), which I called while recording an episode of You Are Good about The Hunger Games (pretty on the nose) a few days back. (By the way, I'd never seen The Hunger Games before. I love The Hunger Games!) I'd said that Trump, a protege of Roy Cohn, is motivated exclusively by the following: 1. Make money regardless of morality 2. Be generally adored by the "right" people. 3. Don’t get into a position where he can get arrested Roy Cohn ass presidency. The pageantry of a public execution threatened rule number 2 not because the "right" people were morally outraged, but because they worried it would show them for what they really are. And of course public executions, [attempted](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ice-officer-shoots-a-man-while-making-an-arrest-in-new-york-officials-say?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io) and completed, in the streets carried out by secret police will continue accordingly. After reading *Capitalist Realism*, I recently finished Mark Fisher's [*The Weird and the Eerie*](https://50wattsbooks.com/products/the-weird-and-the-eerie?srsltid=AU7gw4WZedRXPZxJkGVq93QZ5TpE501Q7UTRU92sBL53gXjFcASFCG1f&ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io). From the publisher: > What exactly are the Weird and the Eerie? Two closely related but distinct modes, and each possesses its own distinct properties. Both have often been associated with Horror, but this genre alone does not fully encapsulate the pull of the outside and the unknown. In several essays, Mark Fisher argues that a proper understanding of the human condition requires examination of transitory concepts such as the weird and the eerie. The book was published in 2016\. Fisher died in early 2017 and never really got to know the Trump or AI era, even though he was well-versed in cyberpunk subcultures. I read it as a means of better understanding the contours of the surreality of our present moment which is saturated in big weirdness and eerie vibes. It’s a bit more dense that *Capitalist Realism*, which is a straight up manifesto, so I will likely read it through again in the next week or so. It has also inspired me to revisit Erik Davis' [*High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies*](https://mitpress.mit.edu/9781907222870/high-weirdness/?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io). Is hookup culture [a myth](https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/for-the-last-fucking-time-hookup-c67?utm%5Fsource=publication-search)? I know that I am a stupid person for looking for anything resembling good faith intellectual rigor on any microblogging platform, and especially [*the evil one*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk%5F%28film%29?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io), but I nearly broke my brain looking through the responses to this post... > i would like to remind everyone who is mad at Shane Gillis that SNL was built on “Jane you ignorant sl\*t” [pic.twitter.com/UXDhXZd6wv](https://t.co/UXDhXZd6wv?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io) > > — Brooke Brandtjen (@BrookeBrandtjen) [October 14, 2026](https://x.com/BrookeBrandtjen/status/2110190645717381421?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io) ... and realizing people don't realize the joke is on Ackroyd's misogynistic character. When confronted by a confident woman who knows what she's talking about, he is reduced to a petulant, one-line temper tantrum. Speaking of broken-brain shit deriving from The Bad Place: > 1\. Humans will not stop creating text, images, and music. We will always do this for joy and self-expression. > > 2\. AI will create most content in the future, and it will displace many humans doing so, just as machines did for physical products. The result will be an abundance of… [https://t.co/YWZK2cVfZg](https://t.co/YWZK2cVfZg?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io) > > — Jason Crawford (@jasoncrawford) [October 14, 2026](https://x.com/jasoncrawford/status/2110458801656823904?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io) Was there a shortage of "high quality text, images, etc." of which I was unaware? Nearly all of the aforementioned disposable products were garbage that nobody asked for. It all ended up in landfills. This can't be serious. But alas, Crawford is author of "The Techno-Humanist Manifesto" and so I suppose it is. Anyway, [cracks in the AI bubble appear to be coming fast and hard](https://www.404media.co/accenture-tells-employees-they-can-now-spend-only-29-on-claude-per-month/?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io). Some of you know that I hosted a podcast with my friend Niko Stratis called [The OC, Again](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2411525?ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io). The show was ostensibly an OC rewatch show, but really it was more broadly about all sorts of other things. It was conversational media criticism, and a look back on popular music and culture from the mid-Aughts. We wrapped the show last week (yay!) and announced that we'll be following it up with Alright Hear This, a show where we set out to better understand history and culture by granularly examining the careers of iconic bands. Our first season will be about The Beastie Boys. Speaking of things I am doing, if you are in Los Angeles I would love for you to [come to my photo opening on October 29th](https://partiful.com/e/OJzKpze7fyFXsjDFy6ZA??ref=it-can-only-get-stranger.ghost.io). Safe Mode Off will feature my photography, and photographs by my friend Gustavo Turner. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f9/84/f984f580-9ef3-40f2-b295-4c6cf3f5af50/content/images/2026/10/Mirror.jpg) ## ##