Quite Useless

A podcast about art and its role in our lives. Artist and armchair aesthetic philosopher Greg Beam probes various topics in the arts, asking how art both reflects and shapes our perceptions of the world.

Need To Know 09/22/2023

Need To Know Not knowing can be painful... but knowledge may come at a hefty price. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/28117676

Platonic Irony | The Republic, Part IV 02/05/2021

Platonic Irony | The Republic, Part IV What if everything you thought you knew about Plato's "Republic"... was wrong? /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/17814626

Another Name for Chaos | The Republic, Part III 11/10/2020

Another Name for Chaos | The Republic, Part III An exploration of the art of philosophy, starring Plato, Simone de Beauvoir, Zhuang Zhou, Soren Kierkegaard, Diogenes of Sinope, Audre Lorde, and more! /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/16749392

American Myths 08/31/2020

American Myths Joseph Campbell was a proponent of the power of myth in framing human life. But in America in the 21st Century, what myths do we have to live by? /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/15816044

Madmen | The Republic, Part II 11/26/2019

Madmen | The Republic, Part II Antonin Artaud was a self-described 'madman' and persistent failure in the theatre... He was also one of the great artistic geniuses of the 20th Century. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/12169073

Raising the Curtain, Lifting the Veil | The Republic, Part I 09/23/2019

Raising the Curtain, Lifting the Veil | The Republic, Part I Bertolt Brecht was the force behind some of the most popular and influential theater of the 20th Century. But he didn't make plays to entertain. He made them to wake people up to the insanity around them. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/11362283

Angels & Demons 03/10/2019

Angels & Demons What lies at the intersection of art and commerce? Is it possible for these two categories of human endeavor to get along, or are they like cats and dogs, fated to engage in an endless struggle for dominance? (Okay, not really like cats and dogs, but you get the idea...) /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/8946212

The Use of the Useless 02/09/2019

The Use of the Useless For the first episode of season two, I examine what the experience of creating and contemplating art does for us at the deepest level. A dip into the philosophy of art with some help from Tao master Zhuangzi, Thomas Merton, Simon Armitage, Duke Ellington, and Haruki Marukami. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/8583107

PREVIEW - The Use of the Useless 02/05/2019

PREVIEW - The Use of the Useless Season 2 of Quite Useless is on its way! Here's a sneak peek at the first episode, in which I take a few steps in the direction of a general theory of art (and arts education), with reference to Zhuangzi, Thomas Merton, Simon Armitage, Duke Ellington, and Haruki Murakami. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/8524010

Choices | In the Waiting Room | Appetite for Distraction 03/27/2018

Choices | In the Waiting Room | Appetite for Distraction The Hero's Journey, as described by Joseph Campbell, is one of the most influential ideas in modern storytelling. Every Hero's Journey starts with a call to adventure. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/6413868

Boundaries 02/26/2018

Boundaries Why should the idea of a person having sex with a dead chicken bother us? And what insight can films like Deliverance, Indecent Proposal, and Nightcrawler give us into the thornier terrain of contemporary moral philosophy? /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/6302168

Boundaries Preview 02/19/2018

Boundaries Preview After a bit of a delay, Episode 6: Boundaries, will be landing soon. In this episode, we wade into some of the murkiest terrain in modern moral philosophy, seen through the lens of movies. Forget your grandparents' moral dilemmas -- we're talking about moral discomfort and dumbfounding. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/6277003

Frames 12/18/2017

Frames Screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann couldn't figure out how to tell the story he was trying to tell... until he figured out how to frame it. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/6057874

The Rambo Effect | Heroes Part II 11/15/2017

The Rambo Effect | Heroes Part II First Blood, the first installment in the iconic Rambo franchise, was released 35 years ago this fall. In this episode, I take a look at how the franchise has both reflected and influenced American culture--and question both the ethical and epistemic implications of the films' success. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/5949147

What Dies Hardest | Heroes Part I 11/15/2017

What Dies Hardest | Heroes Part I Eric Poulin, host of the political podcast The People's Soapbox, takes a look at the classic 1988 action movie Die Hard, asking what its development and continued popularity tell us American cultural--both then and now. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/5949001

Interpretations 10/25/2017

Interpretations What do Anton Chekhov, Dr. Seuss, and Bruce Springsteen have in common (aside from similar haircuts)? Their work has been misunderstood and misconstrued--whether they knew it or not. Episode two kicks off a four-episode mini-arc about the ethics and ironies of interpretation and adaptation. Fair warning: after hearing this episode, you might never view The Seagull, Antonin Scalia, or Green Eggs and Ham the same again. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/5875010

Long Arcs 10/04/2017

Long Arcs For our first episode, we zoom out to look at the long arcs of artistic expression. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/5807817

Long Arcs Bonus Material 10/04/2017

Long Arcs Bonus Material An extended cut of my interview with Melissa Warak. Professor Warak shares a lot of cool information and insight about the history of art and music, along with descriptions contemporary sound artists who are up to some wild projects. We also gesture at some topics I'll be taking up later in the season. /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/5807872

Episode Two Preview 08/02/2017

Episode Two Preview When it comes to art, everything is a matter of interpretation--and misinterpretations come with the territory. But it's a question of taste and temperament how these misinterpretations are dealt with... /episode/index/show/quiteuseless/id/5601489

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