My First Autumn in Sixteen Years!!!

Now that I'm home and can partake properly, let's start things off in October with some Type O! This is the first time I'm experiencing Autumn since I moved from Chicago back in May of 2006, so I am EXCITED!!! Also, this is K's first Autumn ever, so it's even more of a thrill seeing the adorable wonderment that overtakes her as she watches the trees change, sits outside as a Thunderstorm rolls in, or sniffs the smell of the Dying Time that hangs in the wonderful Tennessee air.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) Trick 'r Treat

2) Barbarian

3) Hellraiser ('84)

4) Phenomena

5) Sick

6) The Beyond

7) Hellraiser (2022)

8) Werewolf By Night

9) Something in the Dirt

10) Lux Aeterna

11) Grimcutty

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NCBD:

Pretty mellow pull this week, which is good, because I have books stacked up in my box at Rick's Comic City from the past two while I was away in LaLaLand. Here's what's on the menu for today:

I'm pretty behind on my reading, so I won't get to some of these for a while, especially if this catch-up pace at work persists (took my post-travel day off on Tuesday, as I worked until 4:30 PM Monday, then ubered to LAX and didn't land at BNA until around 1:20 AM. Collecting my bag and ubering home to Clarksville put my much-anticipated arrival at around 2:30 AM. So I was TIRED). 

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Playlist:

Sylvaine - Nova

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

The Flamingos - Best of Playlist

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes

Alice in Chains - Dirt

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Northern Boys - Party Time (single)

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right To Children

Stereolab - Pulse of the Early Brain (Switched On Vol. 5)

Cold Cave - Full Cold Moon

Rein - Reincarnated

Zombie - 2020

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Card:

I've been dying to get back to my Bound Tarot deck from Jonathan Grimm, especially since Grimm currently has a Kickstarter going for a full-on Art of the Bound Tarot Hardcover Book! You can check out and support the Kickstarter HERE. 

Today's spread:

So, delicate machinations will require a sacrifice to reveal hidden information? Also, and I almost never read the cards this way, but if you add 12+02+18 you get 32, or the day after 31 Days of Halloween, so perhaps I should set my sights on that as the day to release the free Kindle exclusive, which I originally hoped would land in October. 

Emma Ruth Rundle - Blooms of Oblivion

 

New music from Emma Ruth Rundle, off the fourth-coming album Engine of Hell. Pre-order HERE.

 

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) Nightmare on Elm Street 84*

11) Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

* Followed by The Movies That Made Us: Nightmare on Elm Street; not a Horror flick, but worth noting

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Playlist:

The Ritual Howls - Into the Water

Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers + Queers

Trouble - Snake Eyes (single)

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Ghost - Prequelle 

Dr. John - Remedies

King Woman - Celestial Blues

Steve Morse - VFW OST

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

Type O Negative - October Rust

Specimen - Azoic

The Final Cut - Consumed

The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim

The Wake (US) - Nine Ways

Anthrax - Spreading The Disease

Unto Others - Mana

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Card:

 

Always a welcome image, although I really have no idea how to interpret this at the moment. Things have been slow AF since I returned from Nashville/Chicago. As I write this, it's the first time I've been able to sit down and work on writing. The day job has been difficult, to say the least, and it's draining my creative juices on a pretty much continuous fashion. Ad to that almost a week straight of Beyonfest - NOT complaining - and I just haven't had time to set anything up for success. 

Isolation: Day 205

Musick:

I'd never head of Night Club before when this track from their forthcoming album Die Die Lullaby showed up in my youtube feed. The aesthetic is obviously in my wheel house, so it caught my eye. After watching the video, I can say I dig the visuals but am unconvinced by the music. Still, might not be my thing exactly, but I was intrigued enough to google them, where I found Night Club did the music for a show I have never seen but K has been wanting to show me since we met, Moonbeam City. This put the band in my, "need to know more" category. In the meantime, if you're so inclined, pre-orders for the new album can be had HERE. 

Love the close-up of the zombie hand clap, and the appropriation of the Brady Bunch squares.

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31 Days of Horror:

Saturday night, K and I hit the Beyondfest David Lynch triple feature at the Mission Tiki Drive-in Movie Theatre. Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and Lost Highway, however, we only stayed for the first two, the second of which ended about 12:30 AM and precipitated us returning to our hotel - a freakish experience in COVID times, let me tell you - in time to catch the Hal Holbrook-starring segment "The Crate", from 1982's Creepshow on some cable network's month of Halloween flix. 

1) The Wolf Man

2) From Beyond/Monsterland: Port Fourchon, Louisiana

3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): The Crate

4) Waxwork

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Playlist:

X - Los Angeles

Darkness Brings the Cold - Devil Swank, Vol. 1

Misfits - Collection II

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Styx - Pieces of Eight

The Runaways - Queens of Noise

Kevin Ayers - The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories 

Rupert Lally - Where the Dark Speaks

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Card:

This could be a reference to the weird cycle I find myself in with writing at the moment - a cycle preventing me from doing much of it - or to the film I'm headed out to see tonight at Beyondfest's Mission Tiki Drive-In screening of Benson and Moorhead's Synchronic, which I'm thinking is a continuation of the world they began in Resolution and The Endless, and involved loops, reiterations, and cosmic comeuppance. Maybe it's both.

A Dirge for November

Because although I live in Los Angeles and really have no business calling this 'winter', I wanted to start the dying time off with a dirge.

**

31 Days of Horror Final:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/The Fair Haired Child (Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)
10/28: May
10/29: The Exorcist (Theatrical Cut)
10/30: Nightmare Cinema
10/31: Night of the Living Dead

I tried to watch Bob Clark's Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, as well, but failed. For anyone interested, my favorite zombie films are as follows:

Dawn of the Dead (original)
Night of the Living Dead
Day of the Dead
Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things
Shaun of the Dead
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
To Kako (Evil)

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Playlist from 10/31/19:

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery
Type O Negative - October Rust
Halloween Playlist
Sunn O))) - Pyroclasts
High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
Mayhem - Daemon
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
Joseph Loduca - Evil Dead 2 OST

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Card of the day:

Hmm... money direction, for sure. Maybe I'll hold off two weeks on the small investment I'm primed to make.

Goblin - Tenebrae

What better way to build up to Halloween than some Goblin, from the 2013 Tour E.P.

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/The Fair Haired Child (Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)
10/28: May


**

Playlist from 10/28:

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
Type O Negative - October Rust
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim -
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Dead Milkmen - The King in Yellow
Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave - Phantasm OST
Goblin - 2013 Tour E.P.
Nachtmystium - As Made 7"
Claudio Simonetti - Phenomena OST

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No card today.

Sunn O))) Pyroclasts

The description of this album is one of the more intriguing musical ideas I've seen expressed by any band in recent memory. This is kind of what I wish Tool had to say about Fear Inoculum; a band's Intent with a given piece of music can completely alter the way I look it/listen to it. I used to think Tool thought this deeply about their music. I am no longer sure of that, in regard to Maynard and the boys. Sunn O))), however, continue to express the hell out of me.

Also, recorded by Steve Albini. Always a damn good thing.

You can pre-order Pyroclasts at Southern Lord Records HERE.

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31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party
10/27: AHS 1984 Ep. 6/Arsenic and Old Lace/(The Fair Haired Child Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 9)

**

Playlist from 10/27:

Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Billy Idol - Greatest Hits
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets

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Card of the day:

I needed this, which seems to be a running theme with my Pulls of late. A direct reference to a short I've been picking at for almost a year; I finished it, realized the story had gotten away from what I intended (in a bad way), and have periodically gone back and re-worked it over and over. I nearly finished it last night, and when later mentioned the new direction to K, who expressed bewilderment that I had removed some of her favorite elements. In thinking about it, I realize the story was all but finished last year, my real problem was with the ending, which I should be able to synthesize if I go back and master all of the ingredients along the way.

This is One Awesome F#&king Evil Dead Fan Film!

Praise be to the might Bloody Disgusting for plastering this one on their front page, right where it belongs! Not sure what to even say. Talk about inspiring. Courtlan Gourdan did this in 72 hours for $200? It might be time to finally think seriously about making the Short Film I've had planned for a few years now.

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On Friday, October 18th, I had the members of The Horror Vision Podcast over to record an episode that started out with a planned viewing/reaction to Babak Anvari's Wounds. However, things slipped from my grasp - the battery meter on our Recording Device read a solid three out of four lines for not one but two pairs of batteries, only to die unexpectedly. The delay pushed back the viewing until we missed our spot to have everyone present participate, and realistically we were down my Left Hand Man Anthony, so the night just ran into random horror film conversations. Which was definitely cool in its own right, hence why I took the time to stitch together a mostly coherent episode and put it online. In listening back to it, there's one rough edit where two different conversations unexpectedly bleed into one another, and you can absolutely hear my up-at-four-AM ass lose steam somewhere near the middle of the episode, but overall, pretty solid discussion. Check it out, and we should have another new one up sometime real soon.

The Horror Vision on Apple

The Horror Vision on Spotify

The Horror Vision on Google Play

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2
10/21: Uncanny Annie
10/22: Scream
10/23: Simpsons 666: Treehouse of Horror
10/24: Jennifer's Body
10/25: Belzebuth/The Lighthouse/Halloween
10/26: Murder Party

**

Playlist for 10/26:

Tones on Tail - Everything
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror
Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail)
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Zombi - Shape Shift
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Ghost - Infestissumam
The Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits

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Card of the day:

Interesting. I've been warring with myself for the last twelve hours or so, over an awkward social situation that blasted my night in splinters last night. Well, a series of them really, culminating with an almost telekinetic manifestation of the anxiety I've been carrying with me for a few days. Lots of stress right now, at work and in life. This Pull is a nice indication I should let it go.

A Tale of Two Lions

I finally made it around to really listening to the new Jenny Hval album, The Practice of Love. Wow. The opening track, Lions, put me through a range of reactions, but I came out loving it. I feel like Ms. Hval is involved in a less ostentatious reclaiming of some of the forgotten musical detritus of 80s and 90s Pop, recontextualizing formerly garrish beats and tones in new ways, kind of like what the Hypongogic Pop sound was doing ten years ago, but smoother.

The opening track, which I've posted above, immediately made me think of Tones on Tail, as they're perpetually on my mind this time of year and I haven't listened to them nearly enough yet. Here's a live version of their song Lions; I'm always amazed when I find shit like this on youtube and see it has under one hundred views.



You can order the Jenny Hval from Sacred Bones Records HERE, and if you're unacquainted with Tones on Tail (the first and, in my opinion, best of the bands that three-fourths of Bauhaus created after splitting with Peter Murphy), find the aptly titled Everything double disc. It is fantastic.

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31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5
10/20: Sinister/Sinister 2

Despite what I'd heard over the last few years since its release, K and I followed a viewing of Sinister with the sequel, and I loved it. Definitely not as good as the original, Sinister 2 is still pretty freaking solid. Also, one of my takeaways from the original was how James Ransone's Deputy So-and-So is one of the best-supporting characters in a horror flick in years, so I loved that the sequel stayed with him and what happened to him as a result of the first movie's outcome.

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Playlist from 10/20:

Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Ulver - Teachings in Silence

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Card of the day:

After the creative, relaxing, and enjoyable weekend, K and I tried to take a few moments to be mindful that we have good lives. If that's not wealth, I don't know what is.

Allegaeon

Anthony from The Horror Vision tipped me off to Allegaeon's music last week, and although I'd dabbled with it a bit over the last few days - enough to be absolutely staggered by their musicianship - Wednesday while playing them for a friend was the first time I realized how much these guys remind me of, A) Revocation, and B) Rust in Peace-era Megadeth. So far, I've only listened to this year's Apoptosis, but I definitely intend on working my way back through their discography. The music is insanely technical, while never feeling overly showy or contrived.

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds
10/17: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
10/18: Creepshow Episode 4
10/19: Ed Wood/AHS 1984 Ep. 5

**

Playlist from the last few days:

Ritual Howls - Their Body
Crystal Castles - II
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
Barry Adamson - As Above So Below
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Numenorean - Adore
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST
Nocturnal Projections - Complete Studio Recordings
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
Twin Tribes - Shadows
Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Death Crux - Mutant Flesh
Allegaeon - Apoptosis

**

Card of the day:

Interesting pull, as yesterday's writing session revealed to me the fact that at least one set of characters has a brand new journey to complete before the end of the book. 

Babak Anvari's Adaptation of Nathan Ballingrud's Wounds @Screamfest!!!

Two films. Babak Anvari has made two feature-length films, and after seeing his second, Wounds, earlier this evening at the penultimate night of Screamfest 2019, I am floored by how exquisite a filmmaker he has become in so short a period of time.

I first read Nathan Ballingrud's The Visible Filth back in late 2015. I've read it at least three more times since. It is one of my favorite pieces of prose and was a very large inspiration in my completing my first book of short stories, A Collection of Desires. To say it is a very important work of fiction to me is an understatement. That means I went into viewing Wounds with extremely high expectations. The film met every one of those expectations. It lands on Hulu this Friday. Watch it. Then, go read The Visible Filth, which is now available in a collection of six stories, conveniently titled Wounds. (you can order signed copies from Malaprop's Bookstore in NC HERE or Amazon HERE)

Thanks to Screamfest for bringing this to the big screen, if only fleetingly; in a perfect world it would receive a much wider release. Also thanks to Screamfest, Tuesday night I saw the Soska Sisters' remake of David Cronenberg's 1977 film Rabid. This is another film I'd anticipated for a long time, and it did not disappoint. My quick-take review on Rabid is up as a short episode of The Horror Vision Horror Podcast, available in the usual places:

The Horror Vision on Apple

The Horror Vision on Spotify

The Horror Vision on Google Play

There will be a Wounds review up tomorrow as well.

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass
10/14: Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
10/15: Rabid (2019)
10/16: Wounds

**

Playlist from the last few days:

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out
Talking Heads - Sand in the Vaseline (Disc One)
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Ritual Howls - My Friends Bury Their Souls for the Devil to Find
Ritual Howls - Their Bodies
Flipper - Album - Generic Flipper
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Opeth - In Cauda Venenum

**

No card today, mainly because it's 2:29 AM and I am exhausted beyond reprieve. 

Bauhaus - Antonin Artaud

A little Bauhaus to start our day. LOVE this track, and Burning From the Inside will always hold a special place in my Bauhaus heart because it was the first of their albums I ever heard.

**

AHS 1984 is shaping up to be one fucking fantastic ride! We're not even halfway through the season and I'm left wondering just where the hell this is going. A lot like Roanoke, I feel like the story/setting/characters established in the first part of the season is soon going to shift into a totally different direction.



**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass

**

Playlist from 10/13:

Windhand - Eternal Return

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

White Lung - Eponymous

Zombi - Shape Shift

**

Card of the day:

Another reminder as I struggle to shift things around in my outline for Books Two and Three of Shadow Play: remember the grid!

New Swans Track!

New Swans! From the album Leaving Meaning, out October 25th; support a truly independent artist and pre-order a signed copy of the new album directly from Gira's Young God Records HERE.

Being that Swans founder/brainchild Michael Gira stated upon its release that 2016's The Glowing Man would be the final Swans album from my personal favorite incarnation of what is one of the longest-running, consistently changing bands ever, I am extremely curious to hear where this new album leads.

**

Friday night K and I saw Joker. I was on the fence with this one, but now that I've seen it there's no reason to even review my reservations. Joker is easily going to be in my top ten films of the year. Easily. If you have superhero/comic book franchise fatigue like I do, take it from me: don't let that keep you from seeing this one in the theaters. Nothing remotely 'comic book' about this film. The hype is real - annoying - but real. I'm the trailer below, but my advice is to not even watch that, just go see it. Wow. Phoenix is absolutely amazing. Makes me want to re-watch PTA's The Master, which I'll probably do in early November.

Oh, and I absolutely loved the juxtaposition/influence on Joker from Scorcese's King of Comedy, which I just watched again recently.



**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC
10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)
10/10: Creepshow Episode 3
10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)
10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

**

Playlist from the last few days:

Deftones - Koi No Yokan
1919 - The Complete Collection
Dr. John - Gris Gris
Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
The Nukes - Why Things Burn
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A# (Infinity)
Various - Joker Soundtrack (Playlist)
Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out
Ritual Howls - Their Body
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Turn Pale - Kill the Lights

**

Card of the day:

Direct reference to an under-developed aspect of my outline for Shadow Play Book Two. Duly noted.

1919 - The Scream

Chalk this one up to another group I'd never even heard of from that beloved Post Punk era of the early 80s. Fantastic stuff.

**
The first issue of Batman's Grave, that Warren Ellis/Steve Hitch twelve-month series came out this week, and I'm doing everything I can to not go into The Comic Bug and buy it. My mantra? Wait for the trade. Wait for the trade. Ellis always reads better in trade. Always.

I know, I know. We've seen this shot a million times by a million artists. What's special about this one? The artist is working with Warren Ellis, that's what.

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC
10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)
10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

I didn't have it in me yesterday to watch more than the new episode of Creepshow before I passed out for the night.

**

Playlist for 10/10:

Sam Hain - November Coming Fire
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - In Summer EP
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
Mark Morrison - Return of the Mack (single)
Deftones - White Pony
Doomriders - Black Thunder
Pigface - A New High in Low (Low Disc)
Opeth - Deliverance
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Deth Crux - Pears of Anguish EP
1919 - The Complete Collection
Ain Soph - Rituals
Bauhaus - Burning From the Inside

**

Card of the day:

Very good to see the Four of Wands today, which I'm taking as a direct nod to the fact that if I keep at it, I'll finish the first pass on the outline of Book Two this weekend. There's bound to still be some tweaking needed afterward, but as long as I have all the points on the grid, I'll be able to use it as a map to start actually writing the prose. This is the first time I've ever outlined anything this heavily, but what a difference it has already made.

Playlist to Joe Begos' Bliss

From the soundtrack to Joe Begos' Bliss, a film that I absolutely had a blast with on the big screen at the Egyptian last Saturday night. Producer/Editor/Actor Josh Ethier posted a link to the Spotify playlist, and various tracks from that will probably be popping up here for the next few days because it is loaded with great stuff that really fleshed out the aesthetic of the film and helps re-live it.

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018
10/08: Hell House, LLC

Hell House, LLC was a very nice surprise. I really dug this one; while K liked it but feels most found footage movies feel like re-treads because the original Blair Witch did it already and did it better. I agree to a point, but there's something about the MO of a found footage flick that seems to lend itself to making genuinely scary moments - when handled correctly. Hell House, LLC has a couple of deep, sustained moments of, "What the fuck, ah!" horror, my favorite of which became hard to watch as one of the characters, when faced with inexplicable entities directly in front of their face, chose to pull the covers over their heads and, I guess, hope for it to go away.

I would post the trailer, but it really doesn't do it justice. My advice? If you're interested, turn off all the lights in your home and watch in the dark.

**

Playlist from 10/08:

Type  Negative - Life is Killing Me
Various - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST
Perturbator - New Model
Dr. John - Gris Gris
How to Destroy Angels - Welcome to Oblivion
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
John Carpenter - Lost Theme II
John Carpenter - Prince of Darkness OST

**

Card of the day:

Change is a'coming. Isn't that always the case? I'm reading this more as the thirteen and reference to Thanatos Energy, Death Energy, which is to say transformative energy.

Some Spooky Dr. John for your October 8th

Chalk another awesome recommendation up to Mr. Brown. Of course, I've been aware of Dr. John's music for a pretty damn long time and never really dipped a toe in, but when Brown recommended this to me yesterday as a left-field pick for some Halloween music, I jumped right in and found myself fully submerged in Gris Gris, the Doctor's first Voodoo-infused take on his Night Tripper persona. Really good stuff, and you'll see a lot of where Tom Waits pulled from when he left the drunken piano-schtick behind.

No offense meant to Waits, he'll always be one of my favorites. But the influence is on his sleeve, for sure.

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog
10/07: Halloween 2018

**

Playlist from 10/06:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (digipak)
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
1919 - The Complete Collection
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
White Zombie - Astro-Creep 2000
John Carpenter - Lost Themes II

**

Card of the day:

I always kind of think of the Twos as the spicket through which the Cosmic Perfection of The Crown trickles into Reality. What that means for me today, I'm not sure, but I'm hoping it bodes well for my writing session scheduled for this evening.

Joe Bob Briggs Halloween Hootenanny

Shudder just announced what we all pretty much knew was going to happen. Friday, 10/25 Joe Bob returns!

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW
10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog


**

Playlist from 10/06:

Carpenter Brut - Leather Teeth
Otis Redding - The Very Best of Otis Redding

**

No card today.

Joe Begos Double Feature at Beyondfest!

Let's start the day with something from Chris Connelly's pre-Ministry project Finitribe, from his Edinburgh days. I dug out an old single I have on vinyl yesterday and enjoyed the hell out of it, and was super pleased to see some of their stuff up on Apple Music.

**

Another wonderful evening at Beyondfest last night, where we saw a double feature of Joe Begos' two new films, Bliss and VFW. Both are FANTASTIC! Bliss is on VOD right now and I urge you to support it; VFW is slated to drop sometime around the end of the year; I'm sure I will post about it again then.



We were able to record a quick-take review of both of these, plus Joe Bob Briggs' How Rednecks Saved Hollywood and Stewart Raffill's Tammy and the T-Rex for The Horror Vision - check it out!

The Horror Vision on Apple

The Horror Vision on Spotify

The Horror Vision on Google Play

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1
10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3
10/05: Bliss/VFW

**

Playlist from 10/05:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Digipak)
Testament - Souls of Black
Steve Moore - The Mind's Eye OST


**

No card today - it's late, I've been up for closing in on twenty-four hours, and I have a Tom Atkins triple feature to be at in Hollywood at 11:00 AM tomorrow. And hey, Tom Atkins will be there in person! How's that for a thrill, eh?

Type O Negative, Creepshow, and Tales from the Crypt!

I've been in full October mode, and of course, that means lots of Type O Negative. This song, the final track on their final album before Peter Steele's death, really hit me this morning. Released in 2007, I've always really liked Dead Again, but I never quite warmed up to it as much as Life Is Killing Me, their previous and my favorite of their albums (I just take Bloody Kisses out of the running for that - it's perfect and stands on its own in a timeless continuum of awesome). Last year at this time, however, I felt myself coming around a bit more, and this year, well, I may now consider it the band's best album (again, eschewing BK). The song structures and arrangements are fascinating and far from obvious; listen to the soft countermelody Josh plays on the climax of this track -  I feel like one in a million rock keyboardists would write something like that there.

That said, this increased infatuation with Dead Again is what makes hearing Steele sing "All Hail and Farewell to me..." at the end of the song so emotional - I'm willing to bet the reason Dead Again took me so long to fall completely in love with is I'm a bit of a saver. In other words, living with the knowledge that this was their final album (I had a hunch even before Steele passed), I believe I saved this album to have one last record to fall in love with over the years. Now that this love has come to pass, I'm sad. But only so sad, because none of Type O's record ever get old.

**

The second episode of Shudder's Creepshow aired last night. Fantastic! There's a ton of schlock here, but that's how it's supposed to be. I especially liked "The Finger," with DJ Qualls. Breaking the fourth wall doesn't often work, but it did here. As a complementary flavor, K and I followed Creepshow with the first episode of the first season of HBO's Tales from the Crypt. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I didn't see much of this show back in the late 80s/early 90s when it aired. This episode, The Man Who Was Death, proved relevant in several ways. First, William Sadler is one of the stars of Joe Begos' VFW, which we'll be seeing tomorrow night at Beyondfest, and two, Sadler's out-of-work executioner narrates this episode by continuously breaking the fourth wall. A great double-feature in a weekend that will be filled with double and triple features!


**
31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos
10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

**

Playlist from 10/03:

Type O Negative - Dead Again
Various - Lords of Chaos Soundtrack (Playlist)
Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria
Neon Kross - Darkness Falls
Claudio Simonetti and Fabio Pignatelli - Phenomena OST

**

Card of the day:

Taking this as a nod that spending yesterday after work catching up on sleep instead of working was the correct plan of action. I feel revived, refreshed, and ready to continue outlining Shadow Play Book Two!

New Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Premieres on Youtube 10/04

The new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album will be streaming at 2:00 PM HERE. Physical copies drop Friday, October 8th, and you can pre-order HERE.

**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31
10/02: Lords of Chaos



**

Playlist from 10/02:

Type O Negative - Dead Again
Various - Halloween Playlist
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe
Claudio Simonetti and Fabio Pignatelli - Phenomena OST
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
Perturbator - Dangerous Days

**

Card of the day:

I needed a clarification on this but didn't have time to do a full, three-card spread, so I pulled one more:

So the Seven of Wands refers directly to my wavering attempts at getting back on track with my recently re-energized attempts to put myself back on an active path with Magick. I've had a nearly impossible time getting my breathing back under control - and I was doing so good! I'll have to try and pull another card later to get some idea what I need to do to get myself going again. 

31 Days of Horror Begins!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

That runs through my head pretty much from the time Beyondfest begins at the end of September, all the way through November 1st, and this year it's even more pronounced. Because of the late night at Joe Bob and Tammy and the T-Rex Monday night, I took October 1st off, which in turn gives me a nice head start on 31 Days of Horror. I started with a Rob Zombie double feature: I chose House of 1000 Corpses to kick the entire month off as a tribute to Sid Haig. From there I segued into 31, although that essentially played in the background as I started my writing day. BIG breakthroughs on the second book of Shadow Play, now I just have to work them into my outline, rejigger a few things, and then commence writing.

**

Finally: here's a newly expanded version of that Halloween Playlist I've been listening to for the last year or two.



**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

**

Playlist from 10/01:

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
Opeth - Deliverance
Claudio Simonetti and Fabio Pignatelli - Phenomena OST
Zonal - Zonal (Single)
Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. II: Philosophy of Beyond
Mark Korven - The Witch OST

**

No Card today.