This New Years' episode of SPS comes in two parts. In the first, co-hosts Pam N. and Itsï R. take up the Epstein files. What is this about? What does it have to do with the Left? And what does it have to do with political reality? We discuss. In the second part, Itsï and Pam sit down with Marco T. to talk about the new Paul Thomas Anderson film, One Battle after Another (2025). We treat the film as a work of art -- try to understand the world of the film and its nutty vision of paranoid cabals. We get into how it measures up to the rest of Anderson's work and what it reveals about the imagination of the last 15 years. And we comment on the reviews from Jacobin, the World Socialist Website, and the National Review.
That's a wrap for the SPS team in 2025! Thanks to our listeners for the great feedback and suggestions -- keep them coming. As always, if you like the podcast, share it, and leave us a review! It goes a long way to help us get the word out. SPS is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Soundcloud. If you want to send us a message, find us at shitplatypussays@gmail.com and on IG: @shitplatypussays.
Episode Links:
- Chris Cutrone on Venezuela (Sublation Media, December 2025)
https://youtu.be/EYdgYDMqG7Y?si=LIYIAOPAYVJxCSpF
- Spartacists on Venezuela (Workers Vanguard No. 1188, December 2025)
https://iclfi.org/pubs/wv/1188/venezuela
Published after our recording so we didn't get a chance to discuss it, but take a read!
- Jacobin review of One Battle after Another
https://jacobin.com/2025/09/one-battle-after-another-review
- WSWS review of One Battle after Another
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/04/xvwh-o04.html
- Armond White's review of One Battle after Another for the National Review
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/09/there-will-be-bloodlust-in-one-battle-after-another/
- Sunit Singh's review of The Baader-Meinhof Complex (2008) (Platypus Review 12, May 2009)
https://platypus1917.org/2009/05/15/film-review-the-baader-meinhof-complex/
- SPS on Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
https://soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep19
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This New Years' episode of SPS comes in two parts. In the first, co-hosts Pam N. and Itsï R. take up the Epstein files. What is this about? What does it have to do with the Left? And what does it have to do with political reality? We discuss. In the second part, Itsï and Pam sit down with Marco T. to talk about the new Paul Thomas Anderson film, One Battle after Another (2025). We treat the film as a work of art -- try to understand the world of the film and its nutty vision of paranoid cabals. We get into how it measures up to the rest of Anderson's work and what it reveals about the imagination of the last 15 years. And we comment on the reviews from Jacobin, the World Socialist Website, and the National Review.
That's a wrap for the SPS team in 2025! Thanks to our listeners for the great feedback and suggestions -- keep them coming. As always, if you like the podcast, share it, and leave us a review! It goes a long way to help us get the word out. SPS is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Soundcloud. If you want to send us a message, find us at shitplatypussays@gmail.com and on IG: @shitplatypussays.
Episode Links:
- Chris Cutrone on Venezuela (Sublation Media, December 2025)
https://youtu.be/EYdgYDMqG7Y?si=LIYIAOPAYVJxCSpF
- Spartacists on Venezuela (Workers Vanguard No. 1188, December 2025)
https://iclfi.org/pubs/wv/1188/venezuela
Published after our recording so we didn't get a chance to discuss it, but take a read!
- Jacobin review of One Battle after Another
https://jacobin.com/2025/09/one-battle-after-another-review
- WSWS review of One Battle after Another
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/04/xvwh-o04.html
- Armond White's review of One Battle after Another for the National Review
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/09/there-will-be-bloodlust-in-one-battle-after-another/
- Sunit Singh's review of The Baader-Meinhof Complex (2008) (Platypus Review 12, May 2009)
https://platypus1917.org/2009/05/15/film-review-the-baader-meinhof-complex/
- SPS on Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
https://soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep19
This special holiday episode of SPS comes in three parts: (1) In order to make sense of the present, Platypus is hosting an international series of panels "Left Perspectives on the Israel-Palestine Conflict". In the first segment, member Gabe G. and Pamela N. reflect on the first panel of the series, which took place at the University of Chicago. They take up disagreements as well as the assumed agreement and the response from the audience. (2) In the second segment you'll hear soundbites and brief interviews from pro-Palestine rallies recorded by our members in Philadelphia and Auckland, New Zealand. (3) The third part is a deep dive into the Platypus archives. The current conflict has prompted Rebekkah and Lisa to speak with our member Ian M. about past engagements from our archives. They talked about the founding moment of Platypus as well as past panel initiatives on the politics of solidarity and decolonization.
References from the Segment Reflecting on the Israel-Palestine Panel
- Teach-in Pamela N.: History and Helplessness (UChicago, 09 November 2023)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9BX4HGK1m8&t=148s&ab_channel=PlatypusAffiliatedSociety
- Left Perspectives On The Israel Palestine Conflict (Platypus UChicago, 29 November 29 2023)
https://youtu.be/Nw0Rc_3Hn88?si=OX1c-WYyfWvSIb7S
- Left Perspectives On The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Platypus Oregon State University, November 29, 2023)
https://youtu.be/lDnRfYh5tLs?si=qtf2XnPfjLs5jsG
- Imperialism! What is it, and why should we be against it? (Platypus Melbourne, 02 December 2023)
https://www.youtube.com/live/rLSj2IZOgpg?si=S4QMnYg_NpH5mgeF
- Linke Perspektiven auf den Nahostkonflikt (Platypus Germany, 03 December 2023)
https://youtu.be/OGkf83h52MY?si=BHi0Dz_WKWl2_lGX
- Left Perspectives On The Israel Palestine Conflict (Platypus London, 14 December 2023)
https://archive.org/details/left-perspectives-on-the-israel-palestine-conflict-platypus-london
- The Politics of War and Peace (Platypus Northwestern University, 17 November 2023)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACIzgf-mEi8&ab_channel=PlatypusAffiliatedSociety
References from the Archive Segment:
- 2006: Moishe Postone, “History and helplessness: Mass mobilization and contemporary forms of anticapitalism”
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/readings/postonemoishe_historyhelplessness.pdf
- 2008: Ian Morrison, “Ba’athism and the history of the Left in Iraq: Violence and politics”
https://platypus1917.org/2008/03/01/baathism-and-the-history-of-the-left-in-iraq-violence-and-politics/
- 2010: Against the status quo: An Interview with Iranian trade unionist Homayoun Pourzad
https://platypus1917.org/2010/01/08/against-the-status-quo-an-interview-with-iranian-trade-unionist-homayoun-pourzad/
- 2021: Panel "The Politics of Solidarity: Israel, Palestine, and the Left" w/ Yoav Gal Tamir (Da'am Workers' Party), Arash Azizi (Left Party of Iran {People's Fedaian), Marco (Angry Workers of the World), Moshé Machover (founder - Israeli Socialist Organisation and its publication Matzpen) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORoCuGAPheQ&t=12s
- 2010: Which Way Forward for Palestinian Liberation? (w/ Richard Rubin, Joel Kovel, Hussein Ibish)
https://platypus1917.org/2010/04/08/which-way-forward-for-palestinian-liberation-platypus-review/
- 2023: Panel "Decolonisation and the Left" w/ Ralph Leonard, James Heartfield, Andrew Sanchez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfScpu06K_o
- 2010: Initiative Sozialistisches Forum, “Communism and Israel”
https://platypus1917.org/2010/10/08/communism-and-israel/
- 2023: Teach-in Pamela N.: History and Helplessness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9BX4HGK1m8&t=148s&ab_channel=PlatypusAffiliatedSociety
- 2023: Teach-in Lucy P.: The Anti War Movement, Platypus And The Death Of The Millennial Left
https://archive.org/details/antiwarmovementteach-in
Platypus European Conference, 25 - 27 Jan. 2024 in Berlin
https://100yearsafterlenin.com/
SPS
This New Years' episode of SPS comes in two parts. In the first, co-hosts Pam N. and Itsï R. take up the Epstein files. What is this about? What does it have to do with the Left? And what does it have to do with political reality? We discuss. In the second part, Itsï and Pam sit down with Marco T. to talk about the new Paul Thomas Anderson film, One Battle after Another (2025). We treat the film as a work of art -- try to understand the world of the film and its nutty vision of paranoid cabals. We get into how it measures up to the rest of Anderson's work and what it reveals about the imagination of the last 15 years. And we comment on the reviews from Jacobin, the World Socialist Website, and the National Review.
That's a wrap for the SPS team in 2025! Thanks to our listeners for the great feedback and suggestions -- keep them coming. As always, if you like the podcast, share it, and leave us a review! It goes a long way to help us get the word out. SPS is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Soundcloud. If you want to send us a message, find us at shitplatypussays@gmail.com and on IG: @shitplatypussays.
Episode Links:
- Chris Cutrone on Venezuela (Sublation Media, December 2025)
https://youtu.be/EYdgYDMqG7Y?si=LIYIAOPAYVJxCSpF
- Spartacists on Venezuela (Workers Vanguard No. 1188, December 2025)
https://iclfi.org/pubs/wv/1188/venezuela
Published after our recording so we didn't get a chance to discuss it, but take a read!
- Jacobin review of One Battle after Another
https://jacobin.com/2025/09/one-battle-after-another-review
- WSWS review of One Battle after Another
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/04/xvwh-o04.html
- Armond White's review of One Battle after Another for the National Review
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/09/there-will-be-bloodlust-in-one-battle-after-another/
- Sunit Singh's review of The Baader-Meinhof Complex (2008) (Platypus Review 12, May 2009)
https://platypus1917.org/2009/05/15/film-review-the-baader-meinhof-complex/
- SPS on Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
https://soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep19
