A meandering essayistic mix of music, film and literature, field recordings, and humour, all with one goal in mind: to provide a short audio day trip for nihilists wherein they slow down and enjoy the world.
All music clips and recordings are (hopefully) either out of copyright or used under fair usage.
To get in touch: daytripsfornihilists@gmail.com or neil-fitzgerald.com. (https://neil-fitzgerald.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
In this new episode, we join the dots between, inter alia, boredom, The Shining, Vilhelm Hammershoi's painting (Dust Motes Dancing in Sunbeams (about:blank), 1901) and émigré poet and critic, Joseph Brodsky.
Notes and links:
Music: 'Nuages' (Django Rheinhardt avec le Quintette Hot Club de France)
"Midnight, the Stars and You", Ray Noble and His Orchestra
'Maison De Mes Rêves', Django Rheinhardt
Ella Fitzgerald: 'I'm Beginning To See The Light'
T. Humes, 'Loves Farewell' performed by Luciana Elizondo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw0BU02lTww&list=RDqw0BU02lTww&start_radio=1)
Mulatu Astatke - Tezeta (Nostalgia)
Beethoven String Quartet No. 16 op. 135, slow movement, Busch Quartet
Hauser & Wirth Unconscious Gestures (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOOiqAsbVBU)
BBC4 Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammersho (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhQmS8KJeUo)i
'In Praise of Boredom', Joseph Brodsky (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/600f79408afa7f5549ab0339/t/655411046ee7510a9cca2827/1700008196131/In+Praise+of+Boredom_Brodsky.pdf)
All clips used either under fair usage or because they're out of copyright.
All other nonsense is my own. Neil Fitzgerald 2026.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
3 Dec 2025
On Fire Salamanders
Day Trips for Nihilists returns with an earth-shattering, light-hearted new format. But who out there will heed this? Still, the goal remains the same: finding meaning in a meaningless world. Our other mantra is: slow down, enjoy the world!
This week's meaningful encounter is with some 'alien-eyed' fire salamanders.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
25 Sept 2025
On an Increasingly Faint Memory of your School Days
Running order:
Clunt, Appernack
Grange Hill theme tune
Clip from the film Dead Poet's Society
Bagpuss opening theme and narration
'When I Heard The Learn'd Astronomer', Walt Whitman, excerpt from Breaking Bad
'The School Boy', William Blake
'Friends, Romans, Countryman...' speech by Mark Anthony from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (Marlon Brando)
'Dives and Lazarus', Vaughan Williams
'I vow to thee, my country'
Intros from Indie Britpop and a Leicestershire hiphop legend whom only God can judge - 'Going for Gold' by Shed Seven, 'Return of the Mack' by Mark Morrison, 'On and On' by The Longpigs, 'Town' by Northern Uproar
'I like me, my wife likes me' - Del Griffith (John Candy), Planes, Trains and Automobiles
'Power To Believe (instrumental)', Planes, Trains & Automobiles soundtrack
Various sounds and field recordings freesound.org
All original music by Neil Fitzgerald. All samples used under Fair Usage.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
18 Jul 2025
On Melancholy
Running order of the 'culturescape':
A Young Blackbird Dies in My Hands, Appernack
Hamlet soliloquy 'I have of late but wherefore I know not...' from the film Withnail & I (1989, Richard E Grant as Withnail)
Dido's Lament - 'When I Am Laid in Earth' from Dido & Aeneas, Henry Purcell - Kirsten Flagstad
Philip Larkin reading his poem Home Is So Sad
Chopin's Prelude 13, Op.28 played by Alfred Cortot
'The Optimism of Melancholia | Slavoj Žižek | Big Think' (excerpt)
Fading Lights Are Fading, Set Fire To Flames
Clip from Melancholia - 'Justine and Claire' (2011, Lars von Trier)
Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde prelude
Various field recordings from freesound.org
For more info about the curator: neil-fitzgerald.com (https://neil-fitzgerald.com/)
If you have an idea for a theme, or want your music or field recording used in a future episode: daytripsfornihilists@gmail.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
15 Jul 2025
On the River as God or Gods
Running order of the 'culturescape':
Prelude from Das Rhinegold by Richard Wagner (Rudolfe Kempe, Bayreuth performance)
opening of TS Eliot's 'The Dry Salvages' from Four Quartets
Charley Patton, High Water Everywhere Part 1
Hermann Broch, The Death of Virgil excerpt
Robert Petway, Catfish Blues
Pike, Ted Hughes (read by the poet)
Má Vlast, 2. Vltava, ou La Moldau, Smetana (Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Talich, 1954)
Various field recordings of rivers large and small from freesound.org
For more info about the curator: neil-fitzgerald.com (https://neil-fitzgerald.com/)
If you have an idea for a theme, or want your music or field recording used in a future episode: daytripsfornihilists@gmail.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
14 Jul 2024
On Nonsense and Silliness, or why Wittgenstein was right
Wittgenstein was right! Being silly is necessary for human happiness.
NB. This episode contains contextualised use of the 'n' word in a sound clip from a gangster rapper* (see bold and asterisked below)
Photo of Wittgenstein (see below)
A Life in Pieces (BBC), Peter Cook, Ludovic Kennedy, Ep. 1 Partridge in a Pear Tree (1990)
Take The Money And Run (1969), Woody Allen
Annie Hall (1977), Woody Allen
Tim Dog, Phone Conversation with Reporter (1991)*
Play Better Golf with Peter Aliss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTOGP7V2ezE&ab_channel=kiuvideo (?)
Photo of a serious-looking Wittgenstein:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
7 Jul 2024
On Bill Callahan and Authenticity
Some reflections on the authenticity that runs like a rich seam of truth in Bill Callahan's songs. How does he do it?
'When It Shows' - an old attempt at song-writing by yours truly
'Say Valley Maker' (live) - from Rough Travel for a Rare Thing (2010) by Bill Callahan
'Jim Cain' - from Sometimes I wish We Were An Eagle (2009) by Bill Callahan
'Cowboy' - from Gold Record (2020) by Bill Callahan
With huge thanks to Bill Callahan and Drag City Records for permission to use clips from the songs for this audio essay. :)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
30 Jun 2024
On Kathleen Ferrier's Vocal Timbre
A meandering exploration of how Kathleen Ferrier's voice is so unbearably moving.
'My Bonnie Lad (trad. Northumbrian folk song)
Ca' the Yowes' (trad. Scottish folk song)
'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gerkommen' - Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 4, 3rd movement (Ruhevoll) - Gustav Mahler
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
23 Jun 2024
On Emptiness
A generally uplifting audio essay on emptiness and its consolations...ideal for day-tripping nihilists, naturally.
Tracklist:
Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band — Anchin Kfu Ayinkash
GF Haas - Concerto Grosso No. 2 for ensemble and orchestra
TS Eliiot reading an excerpt from 'Burnt Norton' from his Four Quartets
Vilhelm Hammershoi, 'Interior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor' (https://www.artsy.net/artwork/vilhelm-hammershoi-interior-in-strandgade-sunlight-on-the-floor-1)
Excerpt from GF Haas - Traum in des Sommers Nacht for orchestra
Franz Kafka quote
John Fahey - Yes Jesus Loves Me
Excerpt from GF Haas - Traum in des Sommers Nacht for orchestra
Django Reinhardt - Manoir De Mes Rêves
Virginia Woolf, excerpt from 'Time Passes', To The Lighthouse (1927)
Philip Larkin reading his poem 'Home is so sad'
Beethoven performed by the Busch Quartet - String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127: II. Adagio ma non troppo e molto cantabile
Hamlet soliloquy - I have of late but wherefore I know not... from Withnail & I (1987)
Macbeth - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow soliloquy - Orson Welles (1948)
GF Haas - String Quartet No. 2 (1998)
Hailu Mergia & Dahlak Band — Anchin Kfu Ayinkash
All the above used under fair usage rights.
Get in touch to nit-pick and/or berate my inadequacies: daytripsfornihilists@gmail.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Podcast Authority Score: 11 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
23
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
Contact Day Trips for Nihilists
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Day Trips for Nihilists?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
