New music from Monolord. I've always been a bit on the fence with these guys. Nothing on them, I think they came into my awareness at the same time a bunch of other similar bands did, back around twelve years ago. This track is pretty cool, though. New album, Neverending, is out May 29th on Relapse. Pre-order HERE.
Watch:
I cannot believe that James Gunn has made me care so much about characters I loathe in all previous iterations, and just aesthetically in general. But that's where we are.
I get the kind of chills watching this, I used to get from Marvel's trailers waaaaay back before they sank the ship with Civil War. And while Gunn is the "showrunner" here, no small debt to Director Craig Gillespie, whose I, Tonya and 2011 Fright Night remake both rule (yeah, I like the remake. Deal with it!).
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
sunn O))) - Loser
High On Fire - Cometh the Storm
Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous
The Mountain Goats - Bleed Out
Barry Adamson - Scala! OST
White Hex - Gold Nights
Saigon Blue Rain - Oko
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Live God
Double Life - Indifferent Stars
Mascara - Going Postal
Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
The Replacements - Tim
Spoon - The Want My Soul
Card:
Quick pull before I headed out on my trip:
• 5 of Swords: Defeat
• VI: The Lovers
• XV: The Devil
I drove up to Chicago today. This trip started out as a "holy shit, we made it to 50!" celebration for Mr. Brown and me, and that's still essentially what it is, but it's also become a "Holy shit, Beyondfest is now in Chicago, too!" trip. I'm staying with my sister and her husband through Monday morning, at which time I will drive down to the South side and set up camp at Mr. Brown's until we see Plague Bringer on Saturday. First show in 10 years, and first show for either of us. Can't wait.
In the interim, I'm just soaking in not going to work for seven days (!) and Chicago! This pull tells me two things: I'm lessened without K with me (she didn't want to take this many days off work), and I'm open to squashing pre-conceived notions and receiving new, possibly 'heretical' ideas.
Doves have a greatest hits coming out, and that's great. I'm not really a greatest hits guy (there are a few), but this... what the hell is this track? I mean, recording session at St. Benedict's Abby? This is GLORIOUS!
You can order the best of HERE. Or, my advice, seek out their albums and get to know their music that way.
NCBD:
Light week, which is fine with me.
The past two issues of this book have been incredible, especially when you consider it costs only $2 more than most books from the big 2.
I skipped most of the GIJOE team-focused silent issues from a few months back - I think I only picked up the Beachhead one - but the upcoming Cobra-centric issues are a must! First up - that sexy, leather-clad terrorist herself, Anastasia DeCobray, AKA, the Baroness!
There appears to be a reciprocal relationship between how much I don't like the cover of an issue of this series and how good that issue is. Issue four was a book I nearly passed on, and it ended up being the best single issue of a series I've read so far this year. If that's any indication, this should be a fantastic issue!
Watch:
Here's one of the flicks I'm going to be attempting to get tickets to for Friday's Beyondfest line-up.
I know nothing about this (didn't watch the trailer), but I'm intrigued by the little I've heard.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Steve Moore - VFW OST
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
sunn O))) - Domkirke
sunn O))) & Boris - Altar
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Anthrax - Persistence of Time
sunn O))) - Loser
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• 9 of Disks: Gain
• 7 of Disks: Worry
• XIV: The Sun
The ebb and flow of Earthly assets disappear in the blinding light of understanding.
I was unfamiliar with Nova Twins until I saw Kirill Sokolov's They Will Kill You last Thursday and then again yesterday afternoon. This song is in that movie, and just like Sokolov's film, the track makes an impression.
Watch:
Rewatched Night of the Comet the other night. Here's one of the original tv spots from 1984:
I didn't see this film until somewhere around 2009 or 2010. In fact, I didn't remember ever even hearing of it before then. It's not my favorite of these kind of flicks from the 80s, but it's nostalgic and pretty fun, so while it's not a film I will revisit often, I did add it to the collection just to have it in the library.
Read:
It has begun! Yesterday I read the first section in the 1990 edition of Stephen King's The Gunslinger, which I've had since '91. I LOVE this series, this book and this edition. The paintings by Michael Whelon are, like most of his paintings, phenomenal.
I don't think I've read this particular King novel since before the fifth Dark Tower book, The Wolves of Calla, came out in 2003. Twenty-three years!!! Up until this point, I made it a habit to reread every book in the series as new ones came out, and after 1997's Wizard and the Glass, there was the interminable gap during which time King convalesced after being hit by a van in 1999. I remember those days - scary times, fearing for both King's life and the idea that we might never get more Dark Tower books. After his recovery and eventual return to the series, the final three came fairly quickly, with Wolves in 2003, Song of Susannah hitting shelves in June 2004, and The Dark Tower following hot on its heels in September 2004. So this reread is a big deal for me, something I've wanted to do for years.
Playlist:
Windhand - Epoymous
Witchfinder - Hazy Rites
MadLove - White With Foam
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
sunn O))) - Pyroclasts
Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks
Daydream Twins - Solstice For Embodiment
The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Crystal Castles - II
Jozef Can Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil
Dead Man's Bones - Eponymous
sunn O))) - Metta, Benevolence BBC6 Live: On the Invitatin of Mary Anne Hobbs
Slow Crush - Thirst
Nova Twins - Supernova
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Card:
I'm tired, so I'm setting aside Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot (which you can buy HERE) and pulling a single card from the Thoth deck.
Turning the intangible into a consumable form. I guess that's pretty much what I do as a writer, and I've had four good days of writing in a row. Also though, I've been on a mission to write down my dreams for the last two weeks, so there's another example.
I am waaay behind on posting new music. First up: Drug Church dropped a new single last week, and here's hoping a new record isn't far behind. I finally get to see these guys in May and I cannot wait!
Watch:
Last night, K and I hit the Regal for the premiere of They Will Kill You. Here's a trailer:
How was it? This is the movie to beat this year. I will be very surprised if anything can match this (and what a great year it is that I've already said that twice since January 1st, and it's not even the end of March yet!).
This is kind of Kill Bill meets Ready or Not meets Rosemary's Baby. That's not exactly right, but it'll give you an idea what you're in for. If you're interested in elaboration, there's a widget in the upper right-hand corner of this page with the latest episode of The Horror Vision, where we give you our spoiler-free, right out of the theatre review.
Playlist:
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Mountain Realm - Shadowlorn
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Rebirth Brass Band - Why You Worried 'bout Me? (single)
Rebirth Brass Band - Move Your Body
James Brown - Funky People Vol. 3
Faith No More - Angel Dust
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Atticus Derrickson - Black Phone 2 OST
Carpenter Brut - Blood Machines OST
Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Fever Ray - Eponymous
The Mystery Lights - Purgatory
Dead Man's Bones - Eponymous
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
Note: This isn't a proper spread, but a display of Court Cards.
Let's take a look at the Court Cards for a moment, because I feel like talking about Tarot - or more accurately perhaps, I feel like thinking about it and then writing down some of those thoughts.
Knights and Queens - Male and Female energy, respectively. Knights correlate to Will, creation, and cunning. A force of Will that can overcome or be used instead of Violence. "The only reason to master violence is to abolish it." Queens correlate to pleasure, passion and emotion. Knights are Wands, Queens are cups. There's also the sexual metaphor here, as Wands being penetrative and Cups receptive.
Princes and Princesses, or Kings and Princesses if you're most non-Thoth. The Prince or King is brute force, lacking the cunning to abolish violence, hence the correlation to Swords or Intellect. This is why I'm doing this today - I always hit a blind spot with the Prince/Sword connection because of the Intellect thing. Princesses correlate to Malkuth, the Earthly realm, logistics. I handle Princesses in my day job, and that's not exactly a faulty way to say it, because when you coordinate logistics for other people, they often behave like Princesses (Divas).
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Was in the mood for some old school, mid-career Slayer, and this is what I landed on. From their 1990 album Seasons in the Abyss, the last good Slayer album, in my opinion. But what an album it is!
NCBD:
Here are all the titles in my box this NCBD, 3/25/26:
I'll admit that, thus far, Quintesson War feels a little underwhelming; however, that may just be a product of a slow start and the 30-day spacers between issues. We've certainly had hordes of Sharkticons, Quintesson Baliffs (they should refer to these as "Bulls") and some pretty massive battles, so I'm not sure what I'm whining about. This is issue 4 of 6, so we'll see how I feel when this is all said and done and I can re-read in a burst. Regardless, it's still pretty awesome in general, even if it doesn't live up to my expectations.
Still the biggest surprise of the year - I'm actually reading and enjoying a Spawn book. That's 100% because it's a Liam Sharp project, and it's brutal and beautiful and crazy.
Prohibition-era, Outer Dark/Weird Fiction Gumshoe Detective serial? I'm here for it. Loved the first issue as a set-up, so let's see where Condon and Phillips take us!
Speaking of Weird Fiction, Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana continues to build up a whole lot of strange infrastructure with excellent characters, a fantastic setting, and plenty of mystery! I love a good "slipping into another world hidden alongside our own" kind of story, and this is that through ang through. I think. That's another thing - I'm not sure I can pin down what exactly is happening in this book, and that only adds to the intrigue! Keep 'em coming, Mr. Lemire!!!
The facsimile edition of one of the 80s GIJOE: ARAH books I never caught in the wild! This bridges a series gap in my collection, without beating my wallet to death. Win-win!
The first issue of Death Fight Forever was fucking CRAZY! We talk about it on Drinking with Comics HERE. I'm pretty psyched for issue 2! Let's see more of that coke-snorting snake man!
Watch:
For my 50th birthday yesterday, K and I went and saw Project Hail Mary. As I mentioned last week, I just finished reading the book, and as an introduction to Andy Weir's writing, this was a blast. How'd the movie hold up as an adaptation?
Well, this might be K's favorite movie of all time now, she says. A really solid adaptation script by Drew Goddard, who really distills things into a cinematic format from a book that really hinges on prose, so no easy feat this one. Something special for sure. Overall, the story works better as a novel, but the film is solid, and I'd encourage anyone interested to see it on the big screen. There's some "Wow" factor, and the heightened presentation really makes the emotions go big.
Playlist:
James Brown - Hell
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Jackie Wilson - Radio Station (Apple Music)
Low Cut Connie - Private Lives
Drug Church - Prude
Gwar - Scumdogs of the Universe
Mr. Bungle - Eponymous
The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Card:
Sticking with one card from the Thoth for today's Pull:
• Knight of Wands - Bringing light and new vision into the world. Translation: Stop celebrating and get back to writing!
I thought I'd post a song and a card for the next year of my life, or perhaps to sum up the half-century that's served as prelude to the remainder of my time on this plane.
For the song, I chose Mr. Bungle's "Dead Goon." Not just because it's probably my favorite non-Volante Bungle track, but because it was referenced in my dream last night, when a long-deceased friend handed me a 16 oz. can of Dead Good Ale, the label for which was decorated with art reminiscent of Dan Sweetman's art from A Cotton Candy Autopsy, the source of the album art for Bungle's first album.
For a card, I used my old-school Thoth deck and drew the 6 of Cups:
I'm not going to attempt to contextualize this now, just logging it here for contemplation over the next 365 days.
I've been on a Low Cut Connie binge all weekend and it's definitely helped elevate my mood. I'm turning 50 tomorrow, and, although that doesn't bother me the way it might a lot of people, it still kind of staggers the view I take of myself. On one hand, I'm still here and do not expect to be going anywhere for quite a long time. On the other hand, in ten years I'll be 60, and ten years after that - should I be lucky enough to live that long - 70. You see where this is going, right? I'm getting long in the tooth, and while that's definitely better than the alternative, well, it's fucking weird and a little scary if you don't find a way to keep it from your mind. And what better way to keep it from the mind than with some awesome, soulful Rock n' Roll!
Watch:
I had my third-ever viewing of Kevin Tenney's 1985 debut film, Witchboard, last night. Here's one of the original 1986 TV spots for the film, which, back in the day, made me think this movie was hardcore intense (I was 10).
I never did see this back in the 80s. Or the 90s. It was sometime in the early 2000s that I picked up the Witchboard DVD secondhand, tried to watch it, and found it incredibly disappointing (that was nearly 25 years of anticipation based on what 10-year-old Shawn thought the film would be - hard for anything to live up to that). Then, a couple of years ago, Joe Bob did this one as part of his Walpurgisnacht episode, and I gave it another shot.
Still not much.
Last night, though, I really tried to look at this as Kevin Tenney's first film - followed soon after by Night of the Demons, which I love - and it kind of gave me a different perspective. I still don't think Witchboard is a very good film, but it's definitely a product of its time and entertaining enough if you have the right context (and alcohol - don't forget the alcohol).
This is all run-up for an upcoming episode of The Horror Vision, where we'll compare the original film with the 2025 remake. I've heard it's completely different, which can only be a good thing.
Read:
It's going to be some time before I get around to it, but I found a nearly perfect copy of the original, 1989 hardcover release for Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show a few weeks ago, and it arrived in the mail over the weekend.
I read this when I was in early High School, and it was another of those books that completely changed the way I looked at fiction writing. The idea that the main character discovers the secret tapestry beneath the everyday world by working in the Dead Letters Office of the Post Office always felt like such an interesting and unique angle to take as a way into such a vast and epic story. This should serve as a perfect digestif after I finish my rereading of the Dark Tower/Talisman series late this year.
Playlist:
Low Cut Connie - Art Dealers
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Low Cut Connie - Dirty Pictures (Part 1)
Low Cut Connie - Livin in the USA (pre-release singles)
Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts
Various - Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series)
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Album
High on Fire - Surrounded By Thieves
High on Fire - Death Is This Communion
Stephen O'Malley - Spheres Collapser
sunn O))) - Eponymous (pre-release singles)
sunn O))) - Pyroclasts
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Queen of Swords
• Five of Cups
• I: The Magician
Emotional aspect of the Intellect, which can be a bit of an oxymoron, right? The conflict inherent in the emotional realm of thinking people - and we're not all thinking people in 2026, are we? - is exactly what gets in the way of things. In other words, emotions are important for ruling your heart and interfere with your brain. What the hell does any of this tell me today?
Keep my mouth shut at work. That's all. Sounds easy, or maybe it doesn't, right? That's the emotional end of things. Everyone has someone they want to tell to go to hell, but just don't do it. Or maybe you will, but I won't. Or shouldn't. Maybe.
