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
All content for SPS is the property of Platypus and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
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
Ep 74: The Left in the 21st Century & Interview with Doug Lain
SPS
2 hours 32 minutes 18 seconds
7 months ago
Ep 74: The Left in the 21st Century & Interview with Doug Lain
We're back with a long episode in two parts.
In the first half, Pam, Natalie, and Ed reflect upon the closing plenary of the 2025 Platypus International Convention, "Is there a Left in the 21st Century?" which featured Andrew Hartman (author of Marx in America), Branko Marcetic (Democratic Socialists of America & Jacobin author), Chris Cutrone (Platypus), and Alex Higgins (Prometheus Journal).
In the second half, Tamas and Andony sit down with Doug Lain to discuss his experience of the 80s and 90s counter-cultural Left, and possible parallels with our current moment.
-----
Is there a Left in the 21st Century? (4/5/2025) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE0zr2hs8i4
SPS Intro to the Platypus International Convention
https://soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/2025-convention
Platypus Summer 2025 Reading Group: Pre-Marxian Socialism
https://platypus1917.org/2025/05/22/summer-2025-readings-pre-marxian-socialism/
The Legacy of the 1980s (3/31/22) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG4uFkcNhHE
Why Does Society Have Politics? (4/5/25) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a_-4JRdi6c
The Left in the 1980s (2013) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhtI3AfGjcY
-----
Original soundtracks by Tamas Vilaghy
Editing work by Michael Woodson
To learn more about Platypus, go to www.platypus1917.org
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
