Beyond Chicago!!!

I am LOVING this new sunn O))) record! Something about the big, thick sonic slabs that these guys' music on vinyl produces as it leaks like scorched engine oil from my speakers and spreads out over everything around it! I had to leave my record player behind for a few days to drive up to Chicago, but that's not killing the absolute joy this release has left me with.

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Watch:

What a F*cking Weekend!

Beyondfest's Beyond Chicago turned out to be a blast from start to finish! Here's what I saw and what I thought:

Friday, 4/03:

I knew nothing about Writer Derek Kolstad's Normal going in other than Bob Odenkirk was in it. I can vouch for the trailer above - it does not ruin any of the surprises. Still better to avoid trailers, but I post them here for posterity anyway, so if you need a little bit of a whetting, this should do it. Especially when I confirm that this flick is every bit as action-packed, clever and funny as it looks. I'm a moderate fan of both Kolstad's John Wick flicks and his other Odenkirk-collaborations Nobody, but this? This I fucking LOVE! 

Saturday, 4/04:  

Not sure I am qualified to make this statement, because I'm definitely not the most versed person in the history of Martial Arts flicks, but still, I feel okay speculating that Kenji Tanigaki's The Furious might have the most ambitious fight choreography ever filmed. This flick is a FIREBALL; The Furious sets up quick and then takes off and never gives the audience a breath. No exhales, just a straight line of amazingly choreographed (and oddly mostly non-lethal) violence for most of the movie's runtime. 

Absolutely GLORIOUS!!!

Sunday, 4/05: 

A double feature of David Kittredge's new documentary, Boorman and the Devil, and the film it discusses, the oft-maligned Exorcist II: The Heretic. 

I'd never seen The Heretic before. I'd always heard it was "awful," but honestly, that wouldn't stop me. Really, this one has always kind of been in short supply, and also, as one of the few films that actually scares me, I just never thought The Exorcist needed a sequel. Combine that with my vitriol for part 3, and I've spent my life avoiding this one. But how, oh how dear reader, could I pass up seeing this on Easter Sunday? 

Seeing Kittredge's documentary gave me so much context for finally seeing The Exorcist II; not just how Sir John Boorman ended up directing it, or why the studio went in such a unique direction with the sequel to one of the most successful films ever up to that point, but also, Boorman's often ignored place in "New Hollywood" and how this film fit into that era. 

Excellent documentary that I would recommend to everyone, regardless of how you feel about the sequel. And I can say that because I did not love The Heretic. Again, Kittredge's film gave me the context to appreciate a lot about Boorman's film, but my major hang-up was Richard Burton, and he was a major hang-up. I won't be disrespectful, but I can tell you that, as much as I loathe George C. Scott's performance in part 3, I dislike Burton's more. 

Didn't think that would be possible.

As a whole, however, I'll take The Heretic any day over Legion. Any day. With The Exorcist II, John Boorman created a truly unique film, and I respect the hell out of his vision, even if the end result doesn't turn out to be super palatable. 

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Read:

I finished Stephen King's original The Gunslinger in just three days. An unbelievably wonderful experience, re-reading this for the first time in over twenty years, opening the exact copy I acquired circa 1990, the large grain of the paper it's printed on in and of itself a beautiful, evocative memory.

Before moving on to The Drawing of the Three, I realized that I have had Bev Vincent's The Road to the Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus on my shelf since it was published in the early 00s, and I've never read it!

So, after finishing The Gunslinger, I opened Vincent's book for the first time with the idea that after every one of King's installments in the Dark Tower series, I would read the corresponding chapter in Vincent's book.

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Playlist:

Bakermat - The Ringmaster

Mascara - Going Postal

Blut Aus Nord - 777 Cosmosophy

Jozef Van Wissem - Praise Shall Sound From Shore to Sea

Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves

Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart

Idles - Crawler

Dire Straits - Money For Nothing

Boston - Eponymous

Dead Maus - Random Album Title

Firewater - Gett Off the Cross... We Need The Wood For The Fire

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Cop Shoot Cop - Release

Corrosion of Conformity - Good God/Baad Man

Flying Lotus - Yasuke

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• 8 of Discs - Prudence

• XVIII: The Moon

• 2 of Disks - Change

Lots of Earthly concerns and the neurosis they conceal. Diligence, balance and a keen eye so as not to be caught unaware by my own shortcomings. Already sussed this out a few days back, so I'll take this spread as confirmation.

New Music from Monolord

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.

 

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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!).

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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

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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.

Bring it on!!!

Doves Vs. Yeti

 

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. 

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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!

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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.

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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

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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. 

Cleopatra's Comet

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. 

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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.

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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.  

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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

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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. 

In a Pynch, They Will Kill You

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!

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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.

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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

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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). 

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!

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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!

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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.

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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

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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!

50

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.

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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.
 

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