Fear John Cale!

This past Monday morning, a text from a good friend put John Cale's 1974 album Fear back on my radar, and I have to say, I'm not sure how I've gone so long since last listening to this. This ended up setting up a whole "70s NY" day on the stereo. I needed it!

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NCBD:

Big Pull. Let's go:

Dreadnok War Part 2! Already! I either didn't realize or forgot this book was going bi-weekly for the duration of this event. An event which, might I add, is off to a really good start. As Mike Shin and I talked about on a recent Drinking with Comics, Issue 13 was easily the best issue of the Energon Universe's G.I.JOE title to date. Hope they keep it up!

This one started strong but really suffered during the middle, so I'm hoping the story will come back around again at the end. I love the art, but it limits how the story is unfurled. There is a lot of "You're telling me everything, but I want you to SHOW ME!"

I find the unrelenting pace of Larazus: Fallen almost intimidating at this point! Hahaha. Seriously, I'm spending November reading the three Criminal Deluxe Editions, but I may make Lazarus my re-read project in December or January. Can't wait to catch up!

The first issue of this was fantastic, so I'm excited to see where it goes. I believe I read this won't be an issue-to-issue series, but rather it will jump around and chronicle High Strangeness across the 20th-century American landscape.

The Laphams have me hooked on their small-town, Southwestern Crime story. 

One of the VIP titles of 2025, Michael Walsh, James Tynion and friends have crafted one helluva bloody good time with Exquisite Corpses. 

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Watch:

Not much in the way of movie news lately, or at least nothing I care about. Here's a trailer for Edward G. Ulmer's 1945 Noir Detour.

I discovered this one last year for Noirvember and just had my second viewing the other night. A nice, tight little Noir with all the elements you've come to expect from the genre. Ulmer's not reinventing the wheel here, but that's not really what Noir is about. If we want that, we fast forward to Neo Noirs. Or how about, Sci Fi Neo Noirs?

I cracked Ridley Scott's Blade Runner out after watching Chinatown this past weekend. It just seemed like the perfect follow-up to Polanski's film. This film still feels fresh and beautiful. Only one problem, and I'm looking at Warner Bros home releasing as the guilty party. Ever heard of DVD rot? I have the Blade Runner Ultimate Edition 5 Disc collection, and when I went to fire up the disc with the US and UK Theatrical cuts, the Anti-Piracy statement came up, and then literally nothing else.

Okay, fine. I moved on to the version I usually watch, the Final Cut. I made it to Roy's arrival at JF Sebastian's place and the disc stopped. 

AHHHH!!! I looked this up online and found that there are apparently a lot of issues with DVD Rot Warner Bros. discs produced from 2006-2008. The Ultimate Edition came out in 2007, so this puts what was once a fairly expensive set squarely in the affected timeline.

Fucking Warner Bros! I LOVE the packaging on this one, so this hurts. Thinking I'm going to suss out any issues with the remaining discs, then try and find a Blu-ray copy and just transfer those discs into this package. That said, if the Blu-rays were also manufactured in 2007, well, am I just setting myself up for future failure? Why does this shit have to be so difficult!

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Playlist:

John Cale - Fear

Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

Roxy Music - Eponymous

Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets

David Bowie - Hunky Dory

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Iggy Pop - The Idiot

Television - Marquee Moon

The Rolling Stones - Some Girls

Teenage Jesus and the Jerks - Live 1977-1979

Mastodon - Crack the Skye

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

The Cramps - Stay Sick

Failure - Fantastic Planet

Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure

Ministry - HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES

Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Massive Attack - Mezzanine

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Card:

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

• Nine of Swords

• II: High Priestess

• Queen of Pentacles

Conflicting Wills can be assuaged with nurturing. Those who oppose you do not have to be your enemy.

So nice when these are so blatantly on the nose.

2019: July 25th Zombieland: Double Tap Trailer

I almost didn't post this. For one, I usually do not post entries this late in the afternoon (it's 5:30 PM as I edit this). Second, I don't love this trailer, and I absolutely adore the first Zombieland. I'm hoping this long-overdue sequel is better than it looks; Harrelson is about as close as I come to a big-name actor who can do no wrong with me, so I really want to like this. We'll see.

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So Rutger Hauer passed away yesterday. I can't say I know a lot of his films, however, like so many other men my age, Blade Runner is near and dear to me, and a lot of that is Hauer. I know everyone is posting this scene as a memorial, but my upkeep on this site is primarily for myself, as a sort of diary or historical record, and I'd regret it if I didn't follow suit with "Tears in Rain" speech:



And let's chase that with a favorite musical reference to the film:



I've not been in a Blade Runner mood of late, but I have a Hobo With a Shotgun viewing coming real soon.

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I've watched SO much Friday the 13th lately, and while I found The Final Chapter (IV) a chore, Five went down pretty smoothly. Not Sierra Nevada smooth, but, say, Coors Light. Which is to say not very, but at least I got through it in one sitting. Part Six though, I remember watching Friday the 13th Six: Jason Lives a couple years ago with a friend and both of us realizing, A) if we'd ever seen it before the details were completely lost to the fog of time, and B) it's a marginally self-aware comedy. Which means, thus far, it's my favorite of these first six Friday flicks. I'll be continuing with the viewings soon - this is all research for something I'm going to write, and, a bit of a self-dare, as I've never watched the Fridays in chronological order before.

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Playlist from 7/24:

Sausage - Riddles are Abound Tonight
Ghost - Prequelle
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Telekinetic Yeti
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Sleep - The Sciences

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Card of the day was

Interesting, in that I just referenced the King of Swords yesterday in Ciazarn. Modeling a character after that Court Card's attributes.

Blade Runner 2049

Denis Villeneuve is easily one of the only 'newer' directors who are on my "Must See Their New Film Right Now" list,* so it's his name in the director column that almost trumps the Blade Runner franchise.

Almost. However, I looooove me some Blade Runner and based on this trailer they're a perfect match. I know, I know, you can't base much on a trailer - especially one this length, but I have fan inertia with both franchise and director so allow me the indulgence. Please. And seriously, just based on the imagery contained in these first, guarded glimpses I'm pretty sure this is going to hit the same sweet spot as the first. I mean, yes this is basically another "Harrison Ford passing the mantle to someone else, a la last year's The Force Awakens, but that worked out pretty good and I have a hunch this will work out better, even if I do sense a bit of a ham on his face as he emerges, gun-first, from the shadows. Still, move him out and bring the new guy up front, 'cuz what a new guy. What can I say?  I'm quite the fan of Ryan Gosling - his acting and his music (haven't seen Lost River yet so can't comment on his directing), so even in spite of j. leto's presence (which, as Chester Whelk's pointed out to me recently, may indeed be tolerable due to the most likely unintentional irony of him playing a replicunt) I can't wait for this one.




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* Nicolas Winding Refn and Fede Alvarez being the others on the list.