Alexander Billet

One of the greatest theoretical minds of the European socialist movement and the author of numerous classic works, Rosa Luxemburg, was murdered on this day in 1919.

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Every Song’s a War Song: Spotify and the Military Music Industrial Complex - Historical Materialism In the 1890s, the idea of a “record industry” was a novel concept. The phonograph had only been invented in 1877, its close cousin the gramophone patented and made available for purchase little more t...

Long(ish) essay for the website of the @histmat.bsky.social journal: Spotify’s fuckery, how the culture industry is implicated in the war machine, and “the specter of music that could be free.” Pretty proud of this one.

How to Charge Your Phone in a Disaster A small journal during a big fire.

One year ago. Today’s headlines report many Angelenos (particularly on the east side) still unable to return home or rebuild. The land is too toxic, soaked with lead and asbestos. Another instance where longing for “everything to return to normal” feels like being mocked by our own psyches.

An Arrival at Pituffik The mimic visits Greenland.

I see Greenland is back in the news...

Quarter-Millennium Tension A coup. Socialism of the spectacle. Trip-hop. A journal for the same old new year.

New post. Trying to bring together the events in Venezuela, the current shape of the spectacle, one of my favorite albums from the 1990s, how little has changed since its release, and the torpor of history. I’d say enjoy but that'd be ghoulish.

Delcy Rodríguez strikes conciliatory tone with US after Trump warning Venezuela’s interim leader offers to work with US after Trump threatened she could pay ‘very big price’

Socialism of the spectacle...

Leone's birthday today.

And here it is...

Back from break. What did I miss?

Let's fucking gooooooo...

Haven't been on socials lately for many reasons: travel, applying to PhD programs, exciting personal news, the holidays… and, honestly, the need for a much-earned break.

I'll more consistent in the coming year. In the meantime, here’s James Ensor’s The Bad Doctors (1892).

The cover of Why Sound Matters against a gray background

"Krukowski zooms in on everyday life to such a minute degree that we can almost separate the various shapes and sounds that make it up." @ubupamplemousse.bsky.social on Damon Krukowski’s “Why Sound Matters.” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/sound-epistemology/

Sound Epistemology | Los Angeles Review of Books Alexander Billet listens to Damon Krukowski’s “Why Sound Matters.”

My review of Damon Krukowski's excellent book Why Sound Matters is up at @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social.

Why Do They Come Here? The political imaginary of the (almost) (un)dead.

Last night I gave a short presentation at DSA-LA Hollywood Labor's showing of Dawn of the Dead. Some remarks on zombies, late capitalism, early capitalism, and, of course, malls.

Revealed: Pentagon orders states’ national guards to form ‘quick reaction forces’ for ‘crowd control’ Pentagon memo details plan to train over 20,000 national guard members across the US to carry out Trump’s order on subduing civil unrest

Two, three, many Kent States...

Shameless plug for my presentation at the upcoming @histmat.bsky.social conference in London. Talking art, (post?)modernism, and a useful methodology for radicals.

Forces of Nature No closure in the age of disaster nationalism.

They’ve arrested a suspect for starting the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history, and I’m not sure it’s anything other than completely futile. (Also includes a bit of a preview for an upcoming piece on the wildfires in Salvage.)

My own personal memory of Jane Goodall: she spoke at the commencement for the graduating class ahead of me at university. My class got Billy Joel, who, as he duly reminded us, didn’t graduate high school. If I had an academic inferiority complex well before, this didn’t help. RIP

This poem by Assata Shakur has been getting shared round a lot since her passing a few days ago. For good reason. It's quite lovely. #RIP

New Maps Zohran Mamdani, between “sewer socialism” and the right to the city.

With Eric Adams out of the race, I'm resharing the piece I wrote about Mamdani and the forces that must be organized for “socialist governance” to be successful. Paywall removed, but if you want to subscribe and chuck me a few monthly dollars, I won’t argue.

Who's Afraid of Kneecap? — Locust Review Anyone with enough sense can see how stupid the hue and cry over Kneecap is. But then, we live in a particularly myopic age, aggressively forgetful and wantonly incurious. One prone to performative pe...

What I wrote about Kneecap for Locust Review as the charges against Mo Chara -- now dismissed, just this morning -- were brought.

#Kneecap #Tiocfaidhárlá #rap

Fucking yes.

“It is only for those without hope that hope is given.”
― Walter Benjamin, who committed suicide 85 years ago today.

#WalterBenjamin #criticaltheory

History is What Hurts Fredric Jameson is dead. From now on, all vibes are bad.

It's been a year since Fredric Jameson died. This is what I wrote after hearing the news. I'd say it's held up well.

#CriticalTheory #literaturesky

No matter how bad things get in my life, at least I won't be traveling to the UK until well AFTER the Oasis reunion.

YouTube video by WednesdayVEVO Wednesday - Bitter Everyday (Official Video)

Dropped today. Fantastic album.

Opinion | Why the Kirk Assassination Is a Warning to the Left

Most days, the mud that rests between Ross Douthat's ears would be the subject of gleeful derision. Not today, given the circumstances. Much as he may "disagree with the vice president's framing," he's clearly giving credence to it.

Same…