We Dream As We Live Alone

 

It's definitely sacrilege to some, but I much prefer the versions of Gang of Four's classic selection of tunes that appear on 2005's Return The Gift LP to the original versions. I have read that members of Gang of Four were never happy with the early recordings, and I, for one, agree. Entertainment! sounds flat AF compared to these updated recordings, and "I Love a Man in Uniform" - easily my favorite song by the band - well, there's just no comparison at all. Same here. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) The Killing of a Sacred Deer

2) The Houses October Built (2011)/Texas Chainsaw Massacre (50th-anniversary theatrical screening)

3) Loop Track

4) It's What's Inside/LONGLEGS

5) The Babysitter/Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

6) The Hitcher/Lost Highway

7) GDT's Cabinet of Curiosities: Graveyard Rats

8) V/H/S Beyond

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Watch:

Unrelated to Halloween (perhaps), K and I went with my Father to see Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux last night. Three stars and a heart on Letterbxd (review HERE); this doesn't deserve the scorn it's getting. That said, I LOVE the first Joker film, and feel giving this one three stars is enough of a statement as to my disappointment. It's not horrible, I don't even know if it's bad, but it's nowhere near what the original was. Also, this just doesn't need to exist. We were at a free screening of the first film in December 2019 at the Aero in L.A. This was part of Beyondfest's year-round programming, and Director Todd Phillips came out after the film for a discussion and a Q&A. It was at this event that Phillips told the crowd that while WB had been trying to entice him to make a sequel, he wasn't going to. 

I bring this up because I'm pretty sure everyone involved, Phillips himself, set out to make sure there would not be a third. Again, it's not a bad film, but the prize here is, of course, Joaquin Phoenix and the movie makes no bones about not having much to say aside from presenting a platform for him to blow our minds with his performance. Also, Lady Gaga is fantastic. Hell, everyone is fantastic. It just didn't need to happen.

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Playlist:

Various - Lost Highway OST

The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja (pre-release single)

Walter Rizzatti - The House By The Cemetery OST

Tones on Tail - Everything!

Fields of the Nephilim - Dawn Razor

Gang of Four - Return the Gift

The Trapezoid & Six Ex - Cannibal Children of the West (single)

Underworld - RiverRun Project

Various - My Halloween Spotify Playlist

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Card:

Today's card is the Seven of Wands - Valour

The Seven that, in my mind at least, lines up perfectly with its associated place on the Tree of Life, the Seventh Sephiroth, Netzach.

Netzach is Victory, and while valour is a different word, the two are linked. The general definition of Valour is "Great Courage in the face of danger, especially in battle," and what is life if not a battle? That might not have been true for the first twenty-five or so years of my life, but it's definitely become increasingly true over the subsequent twenty-three. 

So the Seven of Wands is courage to use the Will in the face of battle. Whether that's the battle to change your life on a micro or macro level or perhaps just to get out of bed in the morning, it suggests you can do it. You WILL do it.

Trick 'R Treat Reincarnated

Another track from Rein, because I've been listening to the record a lot and really dig this song. Rein's official site is HERE and the Bandcamp is HERE.

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Watch:

Dario Argento's Dark Glasses last night at the Aero in Santa Monica was great, and we had the distinct pleasure of James Branscome introducing the flick for Beyondfest 2022. Nice to put a face to the voice of one of my favorite podcasts, James co-hosts Cinematic Void along with Nick Vance, and if you're a Horror or Exploitation buff, you need this one in your life.

As for the film, Dark Glasses is by no means a top-tier flick from the iconic Italian Director, but it's a return to his Giallo obsession and as much, a lot of fun. Don't necessarily expect things to make a lot of sense, but if you're an Argento fan, you probably already know that. The water snakes scene was laugh-out-loud riotous, and probably my favorite moment.

Tonight's movie is 2007's Trick 'R Treat, with Director Michael Dougherty in attendance for a Q&A.

If you haven't seen Trick 'R Treat, you have done yourself quite the disservice.

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Playlist:

Front 242 - Geography 

Dio - The Last in Line 

Tiamat - Clouds

Slipknot - The End, So Far

The Misfits - Static Age

Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance

Rein - Reincarnated
 

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Card:

A reminder to reach beyond the attainable and try for something more.

Mark Lanegan and Chelsea Wolfe - Flatlands

 

I had to get one more Lanegan track in, because I don't think I'd ever realized he had a collaborattion with Chelsea Wolfe before.  

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NCBD:

Here's my haul for another NCBD:

Again with the fantastic cover for Moon Knight. 

I might have missed picking up issue #3 of Newburn, so I'll have to remedy that as well.

James Tynion IV's The Nice House On The Lake returns after a small hiatus. This one has a lot that feels like it's being lost to me reading it as it drops, but I may make 

Hands down, the best cover of any X-Book since Powers/House. This is currently the only of the X-titles that I'm reading that still feels like Hickman's run, and this cover proves that 100%. 

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Playlist:

The Gutter Twins - Adorata

Wham! - Everything She Wants (single)

George Michael - Faith

The Veils - Total Depravity

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads

Zombi - Digitalis

Author & Punisher - Women & Children

Yeruselem - The Sublime

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Card:

Sevens are Netzach, and thus related to Strength. Which I feel like I've been pretty keen on exhibiting of late. Also, in Thoth, I tend to see this card as an indication that one idea will stand out among others, and prove itself useful if followed. Which helps with the current state of my writing, which is a big mess of peaks and valleys at the moment. Too many ideas, is kind of what I was thinking an hour or so before I pulled this one, so I'll take the advice.

2019: June 20th New Drab Majesty!

Still catching up on all the stuff that dropped while I was radio silent, finishing Shadow Play Book One: Kim & Jessie. If you come here often, you'll probably get sick of hearing the name of my new book, but I'm excited and relieved like you would not believe. The first book of Shadow Play - conceived as a non-traditional trilogy with ample room for spin-offs - took me seven years to complete. Sure, there was about eight months off at two separate intervals during that time, but during that time, I was kind of working on it, too. Letting something you've written sit in a proverbial 'drawer' for the better part of a year and then going back to it, doesn't necessarily mean you're not working on it. Is "Indirect Writing" a phrase? You know, letting the story stew in its own juices?

Anyway...

Drab Majesty's new record Modern Mirror is out July 12, just over three weeks from now, and I am very excited to get my copy of the vinyl in the mail. You can still pre-order this one from the wonderful Dais Records HERE.

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Yesterday was NCBD, and it proved a fantastic leveler for me. I wrote earlier in the month about a sudden existential crisis pertaining to collecting monthly comics - part of it's space, part of it's longevity, part of it's douchey first-world anxiety - anyway you call it, the accumulation of such a large collection has begun to wear on me in a way I never would have anticipated (and I've downsized majorly on several occasions in my life). But to look at my pull list yesterday and know that I was leaving several titles behind and several others were close to finishing made me feel pretty good.

Garth Ennis' A Walk Through Hell is coming to a close next month, The Empty Man ended with this week's issue 8, and Black Science closes its doors in July. With the elimination of all the mini series, or the series on this list, as well as those most likely not coming back (*ahem* Southern Bastards, I'm looking at you), well, I'm edging my way out of collecting.

That's HUGE.

I'm probably going to end TMNT in seven months at issue 100, switching to digital trades instead, and I may do the same for Seven to Eternity as well. That doesn't leave much. Of course, I'll still buy anything Warren Ellis does, but I'll probably just wait for the trades, like I've been doing with The Wildstorm (still need to read that third volume!). The goal is to have the only periodical-format books I buy be The Walking Dead, Stray Bullets, Criminal, and Gunning for Hits, the last two because they have such a wealth of extra material in their monthly format, the first two because they're grandfathered in and I love them. Even Gideon Falls may fall off, as with this week's issue the story opens up considerably wider and I feel like it might be losing me. I'm getting a Lost vibe, and as much as I enjoyed watching that series as it aired, it's something I never need or want to be reminded of again.

We'll see.

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Playlist from 6/19:

Blur - Eponymous
Blur - The Best Of
Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino
Arab Strap - The Red Thread
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Blur - 13
Zen Guerilla - Positronic Raygun
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

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Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "A positive result dependent on the actions of the Querent." I'm taking this and yesterday's Breakthrough as directly referencing the completion of the book. Next, I have a small 'marketing' plan I intend to follow through on, so hoping the good tidings will flow directly into that.

2019: January 18th

New Finn Andrews! Pre-order The Veil's frontman's debut solo album HERE.



I've been doing pretty good not spending money, but this will most likely be a must.

Playlist from 1/17:

Tool - Aenima
Belong - October Language
Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
Baroness - Purple
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A# (infinity)
Lung - All the King's Horses
Carpenter Brute - Leather Teeth

Card of the day:

A controlled burn for creative victory.

2018: October 6th

Woke up with this one in my head this morning. As I've probably said a million times here, Life is Killing Me is my favorite Type O album, so I love every song. There are, however, certain foundation stones of the album for me - I Don't Wanna Be Me, How Could She?, Iydkmigthtky (Gimme That), and Anesthesia. The mortar in between those stones, so to speak, but all of them exceptional if commonly unsung.

31 Days of Horror continued last night with yet another Cronenberg film that I had, incredibly, not seen before. Loved it as an outré filmmakers working inside the studio formula and doing very much his own, unconventional thing with it.

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly

Playlist from Friday, October 5th:

Drab Majesty - Careless
Windhand - Eternal Return
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Rolling Blackout CF - Hope Downs
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic

Card of the day:

Always good to see a Seven. While one step out from the harmony of the Six, I feel as though this is an exact analogy for where I am in the final pass at constructing my book. See those six perfectly matched and balanced Wands beneath the Seventh? I'm adding the final pieces gleaned from the breakthrough of many months away from it, respectful not to damage what's already there.