I LOVE this album so far. This is the first music from Genital Shame I've heard, but it instantly left an indelible mark. Basically a one-woman show, the band is the brainchild of Erin Dawson. Really blown away by this. There's a moment in the third single released so far, "Górecki Peace," that completely transforms the track into something I've never heard before. The metal returns, but it's altered, and the song plays out its final approximate four minutes in a way that now feels inverted. It's brilliant arranging, and overall indicative of a project that's using Black Metal as a launching pad. Always my favorite 'flavor' of Black Metal.
I am very much looking forward to the full album dropping on October 30th. You can pre-order the new album, Wellness Plan, from the Genital Shame's Bandcamp HERE.
31 Days of Halloween:
I have a new thing this year where I'm going to be super selective about the non-films I log, and when I do, I'm going to simply log them for the day I finish them.
K and I began Mike Flanagan's Carrie last Friday with three episodes, did three more Sunday night, and then finished up Monday night with the final two. Holy cow.
First, I am not really a fan of Depalma's film. I just don't think it's as great as people remember it. I saw it later in life and, while nostalgia skews my opinion of plenty films, that is not the case with this one.
I don't know that Mike Flanagan's Carrie qualifies as "Horror" - at least not yet - but it's moving in that direction. He apparently wants three seasons to tell the story he's set out to, and I'm hoping that happens. What we do have here are the horrors of the modern world, and it's often pretty hard to watch. Bullying, narcissism, obsession... the social media paradigm in all its horrid glory.
I'll say the writing here is exquisite - I honestly think Carrie is the best Flanagan series yet. I'm not sure it's my favorite of his, but it's the best.
The architecture that brings things to a head in the "arbitration" episode is so well woven. Everything matters, everything pays off, everything brings the characters exactly where they need to be in this intricate narrative machine.
Helping sell all this is the acting, which is all top notch. Summer H. Howell nails Carrie White as such an interesting cross-section of personality traits. Shy and awkward, but with a simmering strength that comes out long before the TK does. And Samantha Sloyan! A Flanagan regular who never disappoints, her performance evolves in such a maddeningly believable and stoic manner that you almost feel like you're watching her socials. Also, I have to mention Siena Agudong as Sue Snell, as Sue is my favorite character in the Carrie mythos thanks to the through line in Carrie 2: The Rage and how Amy Irving develops that character across two films separated by over twenty years. Agudong brings her to an entirely new level, and once again, her story continues beyond the first installment.
Also, allow me to say this: I think there's a much larger tie-in to Flanagan's eventual Dark Tower adaptation here than just one little easter egg sign. No, I think subsequent seasons of this show may prove to be the beginning of the road to the Dark Tower. Of that, I will say no more at this time.
1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead
2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)
3) The Warriors
4) Big Trouble in Little China
5) Dreamscape
6) Infirmary
7) Beware Boiúna
8) Milk & Serial
9) Pumpkinhead
10) Deathgasm (The Last Drive-In Presentation)
11) Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings
12) Carrie (Mike Flanagan) / John Carpenter's The Thing (theatrical viewing)
13) The Roost / Return of the Living Dead III
I also watched Brian Yuzna's Return of the Living Dead III for the first time.
I don't know why, but I always assumed this would be awful. Not the case! I actually really enjoyed this, and it felt pretty consistent in tone with the first two flicks in the series. I mean, nothing will ever be Return of the Living Dead, but hot damn if this wasn't along similar enough lines that it felt related. Also, I have such a fixation on any story that takes place in underground tunnels, as a large part of this does.
NCBD:
This week's comics waiting for me at Rick's!
ARAH and the Skybound book are really showing me how much I love Beachhead's character. Always one of my favorite Joe figures as a kid, he's visually the closest thing the Joes have to a Cobra visage on their team, but he's also a certified bad ass!
If this entire issue is a, "... meanwhile, back on Cybertron" issue just to stoke the flames of our curiosity of what's coming out of Megatron's cocoon next issue, well, I guess they should have withheld the cover solicitation for #38. Either way, this book still kicks ass.
Playlist:
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
Ritual Howls - Into the Water
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Samhain - Final Descent
Godflesh - Decay
Genital Shame - Wellness Plan (pre-release singles)
Dreamkid - All Thriller, No Filler (single)
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Three of Swords
• Page of Cups
• II: High Priestess
There's a big shift in tone coming up in my work, and I need to embrace it, not recoil from it. That change will be a battery that may carry me through the rest of the book.
That's certainly empowering, but it's a bit scary, too. I need to be sure I recognize this when it happens, as there's an aspect of the the Three cards that pertains to change and an association with the Three of Swords in particular that warns of sorrow. Nothing causes sorrow faster than resisting necessary change.
