Fantastic film with extremely strong performances by both Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner. JT Mollner created what will possibly rank as the best thriller of the year with this one.
Playlist:
Zeal & Ardor - GREIF
Uniform - American Standard
Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07
T. Rex - Eponymous
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
Pepper Adams - Encounter!
Amigo the Devil - Born Against
Deftones - White Pony
Wings - Band on the Run
Card:
Using my mini Thoth deck for today's Pull.
• Prince of Disks
• II: The Empress
• Two of Swords: Peace
Thoughtful invention manifests during downtime. Pay close attention to fleeting ideas, as they could become the backbone of strong new ideas/projects. Really good advice for any creative person and something I used to be a lot better at. I think it's time to drill back down on keeping daily notes. K gifted me a couple of moleskins for Christmas last year, one for the book and one for daily notes. I've been using that all year but have kind of slacked off in the last month or so. Great ideas sometimes come from random jottings.
Still riding near the top of my favorite albums of 2024 list is Amigo the Devil's Yours Until the War is Over, and what's that? This unstoppable force of storytelling goes and drops another new song at a live show last week. Mr. Brown sent that footage to me, and I'd planned to make it today's musical post; however, this 'Tour Bus Edition" popped up in my feed yesterday, and the choice was clear.
Head over to Liars Club Records to order the album OR the nifty new "My Body is a Dive Bar" T-shirt. I scooped that one up the moment I saw it.
NCBD :
Oh man, a fantastic-looking pull today. Let's not waste any time:
To say I have been waiting for Dan Watters' Destro book is an understatement of the highest order. I cannot wait to see where this takes us in the formation of Cobra, and what kind of relationship develops between the silver-visaged Scottish Laird and our dear, sweet Commander.
As I mentioned previously, I've really been enjoying hanging out with John Constantine again. I'm not sure if Dead in America is coming to its inevitable conclusion, but League of Comic Book Geeks has the series ending at issue 9, which is a weird number of issues for a series. Is it possible this may play out like Tynion's Nightmare Country and come back in a few months? We will see.
Okay, this second issue of Last Ronin II is starting to remind me of Jason Mrowski's older brother in his IROC. You know the type - he offers you a ride, then keeps pulling up just out of reach so you can't actually get into the car? Yeah. How many times have I posted this issue on a Wednesday?
And we come to the end of The One Hand, which really is only half the end of the story, because the final issue of The Six Fingers drops July 24th. I've really enjoyed this Neo Noir by Ram V and the aforementioned Dan Watters, and I'm hoping the books did well enough to warrant more stories set inside Neo Novena's seedy walls.
I caught up on this one over the weekend and am still really digging it. I love the commitment the modern TMNT universe takes to exploring new characters and not just using and reusing the old mainstays. Case in point: Shredder has been out of the picture since issue... what? 100? That's several years they've let Oroku Karai lead the foot and develop into a really cool character that stands on her own. Sure, she doesn't have the gnarly army her Grandfather Oroku Saki had, but like so many of the characters, her look as evolved and is still super sleek. The introduction of a secret sect of the Foot that has survived until now could have been exhausting, but this series is playing it smart and I am intrigued to see where this will go.
Watch:
This just made me incredibly happy:
Way jealous of the "Ceiling of Toys." Talk about living in a surreal environment.
Playlist:
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun
Amigo the Devil - Born Against
Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over
Man Man - Carrot on Stings
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Card:
One card from Missi's Raven Deck for today:
From the Grimoire: "Literally, "What comes next." To me in this moment, this denotes finalizing something I've been flighty on and moving onto the next project.
One of the shorter tracks on Amigo the Devil's latest record Yours Until the War is Over, however, I wanted to post "Agnes" because, in listening to it a few times in a row last night, I realized I'd kind of glossed over this track on previous listens. The arranging here is subtle but fantastic.
You can head over to the official Amigo the Devil website HERE to order the album.
Watch:
We released a new episode of Drinking with Comics a few days ago. In this episode, Shinabargar and I discuss one of our favorite Batman stories of all time: Grant Morrison and Klaus Janson's Gothic.
Also, on the new episode of The Horror Vision that dropped today, we deep-dive into Lars Von Triers' The House That Jack Built. As has become our standard, the YouTube version of the show has a full array of visual accompaniments if you want to "hear" it there.
Here's a spoiler: I hated this film. Despite that, I found some really cool ideas in it to discuss.
New music from Amigo the Devil's forthcoming album Yours Until the War is Over, out February 23rd on Liars Club Records. Pre-order HERE.
Interestingly enough, there is no "Pt. 2" on the album. Hahaha. Leave 'em in suspense, eh? Brilliant.
NCBD:
Short week, which is great when you consider that I haven't yet read everything from my four-week pull I picked up last week.
Really digging this Bloodrik series by Andrew Krahnke. Sad to see it go after only three issues. I know issue one sold out and had a second print run. Hopefully, that bodes well for a continuation (or anything from Mr. Krahnke) down the road.
Good lord - I feel as though it's been months since the first issue of Count Crowley: Mediocre Monster Hunter hit the stands. And in all that time, I still haven't completed my run of the second Crowley series or acquired the first. Series Writer/Creator David Dastmalchian is a heck of a busy guy, what's my excuse? (I guess my excuse is I'm a pretty busy guy, too).
New, three-issue crime comic from Ram V and Laurence Campbell. Crime Noir that might have a SciFi bent to it. I'm not really sure, but then again, I love going in blind.
Great thing about picking up four weeks of comics last week, is it shortens the wait between issues! I just read X-Men 30 and loved it, so here we go again. Now with more Nimrod!
Watch:
Rose Glass's Saint Maud was one of the movies that suffered the most from the jilted release schedule COVID caused, and although I did eventually get to see it - well after what should have been its theatrical release - the entire time I sat in front of my television I just kept thinking how much better the film would have been served by a big-screen viewing.
I get the same "Cinematic" vibes from this trailer for Glass's new film, the upcoming Love Lies Bleeding. I know they released a new trailer this morning, however, I'm not watching that. I only really saw this one because it played before something I saw in the theatre recently. Good news is it really only solidified my goal of seeing this in the theatre:
The vibe I get from everything I know about Love Lies Bleeding so far reminds me a bit of the Cohen Brothers' Blood Simple. I'm not entirely sure why I say that, but there's a grime here that harkens back to that fabled debut. Whether that's entirely shy of the mark or not, I'm really looking forward to this one, which hits theatres on March 8th.
Playlist:
Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
Melvins - Working the Ditch (single)
Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatment
Turnstile - Glow On
Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling
Pixies - Trompe le Monde
Pixies - Indie Cindy
Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon
Witchfinder - Hazy Rites
Yerusalem - The Sublime
Assembly Line People Program - Eponymous EP
Justin Hamline - A Veil for the Three Sisters (Un velo per tre sorelle) (single)
QOTSA - In Times New Roman
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Eight of Cups
• Queen of Wands
• Three of Pentacles
In the Crowley/Harris Thoth Deck, the Eight of Cups is "Indolence," and can carry with it a connotation of low or lacking energy/vitality. This is a "Change," and reading these cards here as such, the transition to the Queen of Wands - The Watery Aspect of Fire, I draw on the "tame thyself" interpretation I'd long ago written in the Grimoire. Finally, Three of Pentacles suggests balance. Taken together, all of this suggests something of a crossroads. One of the things I'd hoped my month-long work trip would catalyze is a total change to my at-home protocols. I need to get over having to drive out to a coffee shop after work to write. I can easily use some of the built-in downtime of my WFH scenario to make incremental progress on any number of projects.
Mr. Brown has been telling me to check out Amigo the Devil for months, and while I know I downloaded and listened to part of his most recent album Born Against at some point, I must have been distracted. I say this because he reminded me again this past Friday, and the text just happened to arrive at a moment when I was looking for something new to listen to.
One time through Born Against was not enough.
This one is spectacular. A little Firewater at times, a little Waits, a touch of Zappa even. Really unique and enthralling. Also, laugh out loud funny at times.
Born Against is out on Liars Club Records and can be purchased HERE.
NCBD:
With the contagious period of my plague time over, I'll be heading back to Rick's Comic City to pick up this week's books for NCBD (and wearing a mask just to be extra careful around the employees):
Judgement Day has been pretty good so far, minus that Eve of Judgement title. I find that, after trying multiple times, I just don't like the Eternals as characters. That said, the end of last week's Judgement Day #2 took a very interesting turn, so as long as I don't flip through this and find it Eternal-centric, I'll be picking it up.
I still need to track down issue 1 of Daniel Warren Johnson's Do A Powerbomb, but even after jumping in on issue 2, I'm sold. Interdimensional Monster Wrestling, or something? Awesome, but more the fact that last issue made me cry. This guy is a fucking TREASURE. Makes me reconsider reading his Jurassic League, over at DC...
Well, this final chapter of Banner of War took a few extra weeks to come out, eh? Pretty sure this is my jumping-off point on Thor, but still interested in where Cates might take Hulk after this.
As long as this book stays focused on Madeleine and Illyana, I'm in.
Have you heard The Horror Vision's dissection of the first eleven issues of this wonderful series? No? Here you GO.
I'm really digging this Clea Strange series quite a bit. I think it's kind of scratching an old urge that last year's Defenders series rekindled - reading a kind of out-of-the-way Marvel mini-series. There's a certain joy to be found in skulking around the less bombastic, tentpole corners of the Marvel Universe, and this series is doing a great job of doing what a lot of the big name characters' titles did back in the 80s, before Cap and the Avengers were household names.
I had almost forgotten about this book and the fact that this issue should debut the new team!
Playlist:
Jonathan Grim Art Playlist: John Music
Every day (Is Halloween) Newsletter Playlist: The Immortal 90s
Every day (Is Halloween) Newsletter Playlist: Liminal
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments
Perturbator - Nocturne City EP
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Led Zeppelin - IV
Sharon Jones and the Dap Tones - Give the People What They Want
Underworld - Best of 1992-2002
True Widow - Circumambulation
Pseudo Echo - Autumnal Park
Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous
Stevie Wonder - Greatest Hits Vol. 2
Card:
I broke out The Raven Deck again. Haven't used it since I packed it, wanted to get its voice back in my head. I've had a couple of frustrating days with office set up stuff, so I definitely had that in mind when I drew:
So this reads pretty clear, but doesn't exactly answer my question. Pretty spot on, as The Hermit is exactly me at this point, having given up the world I knew and focused on a considerably more personal one. That took Strength, but the end result is a Life Change, in this case of massive degree. But we know all this already. So, I figured I'd draw with another deck to clarify:
The Chariot can be seen as a call-to-arms. Marshal the forces because there's conflict coming. In this case, I think I may be taking some luxuries that have come out of this new World too far, and that has weakened my methods, and my place.
All super sound. I'm trying to throw money at problems, and meanwhile, not taking basic steps that cost nothing, but will help solidify the ground I'm standing on. Wealth is not the Chariot. It can be a part of it, but it can also be false armor.
