That's a Lot of Cups, Princess

Tarot, paywalling everything Agitator, and current things

Today’s spread

Today’s Tarot spread is the most positive draw I’ve had in a minute. Ten and Nine of Cups side by side is a power couple of granted wishes and achieved success. The quantity and arrangement of the cups on each of these cards symbolize mostly the same things—harmony, contentment, fulfillment—it’s all about the hard work finally paying off. The stacked cups filling up and spilling over. I most often see Cups cards as representing people, since we ourselves are vessels of ideas, emotions, and the Spirit. The type of fulfillment this spread is conveying seems to be of a spiritual and emotional nature, an internal success of some sort, especially since it culminates in the dynamically passionate Princess of Wands. It’s about sliding into flow with the muse to conquer projects, overcoming personal hangups, and deepening emotional connections with the people who matter most. Think Lil Jon pulling up to the function with his giant golden goblet. Doesn’t matter what’s going on outside; right here, in this house, it’s time to vibe. In a word, this card combo is saying, “Yea-uhh!”

Agitator

Most recently on the show, we had Alex Kazemi on to talk about his new book, New Millennium Boyz. Ten years in the making, NMB is a dark, funny look at turn-of-the-century young men and the emergence of hyper celebrity worship and the lust for internet fame.

In this conversation, we learn about Alex’s process for writing the book, the amount of research that went into every reference, and the book’s reception by early readers. We also discuss our own pasts and their similarities to the characters in the book, occultism, selling your books, beefing in the lit world, and ultimately how to make yourself into the writer and person you want to be.

Alex is an extremely cool guy who fit right in with the vibe of the show. 10/10 conversation.

Order NMB here from Permuted Press

Or here from Amazon

Check out Alex's earlier book, Pop Magick, here

And on the next episode dropping Thursday, we chopped it up with our longtime homie, underground lit legend Brian Allen Carr about sales jobs, injuries you don’t bounce back from, ghosts in laser lights, his upcoming novel Bad Foundations, and a whole lot more. Between the three of us, there’s not a second of dead air in this episode. This will be the first episode of us taking the show exclusively to Patreon, for those who sign up in the $5/month tier. Why? Because there’s a lot of value in this show for one, and part two, it shrinks our creative focus down to one outlet that already fucks with our shit and takes interest in the things we discuss/people we talk to on the show. That kinda shit you can actually gauge the level of engagement on. The thousands of people listening for free? I mean, I never knew you to begin with. Buy a fucking book or sign up. No more free gold.

The thought behind this decision falls in line with a lot of the village vs scene talk in this latest Skunk Ledger piece.

Sign up for Agitator Z here.

Watching

I’m a big fan of Sean Baker. Tangerine and The Florida Project (one of which was shot on an iPhone and both of which star mostly unknown people off the streets) are both 10/10 in my book. I finally got around to seeing Red Rocket and how come nobody told me that was filmed literally where I live? Seeing the same streets and industrial background in this film that I see every time I step outside was wild.

Season one of The Bear is pretty much people screaming at each other and close-ups of food. I fucks with it, though.

Listening

God Is Wearing Black drops September 11. Pre-order here.

Til next time, be easy. Preciate y’all.