Showing posts with label Bobby Fingers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bobby Fingers. Show all posts

Monday, November 20, 2023

One For the Ages

 
One of the folks I follow on a certain social media app is Vinylchucks. I love this man's posts because, although our tastes don't completely align, he is very well-spoken and reminds me about a lot of music that I tend to forget. 

Case in point - I was always a HUGE fan of U2's War and, to a steadily decreasing degree their subsequent 80s records, but where 1991's Achtung Baby was the death knell for many old-school fans of the band, I thought it was a masterful cocoon from which an entirely new band emerged. Unfortunately, I don't really care for anything else that 'new' band did (subsequent records have their moments for me, but they are sparse, to say the least), but nothing can ever take away what this record and perhaps most specifically this song did for a fifteen-year-old stoner slowly getting into a much wider musical world.




Watch:

If you didn't know it, a new Bobby Fingers video went up last week. As usual, it brings me joy on a level nothing else on the internet could ever hope to match.

As a Patron, I was able to view this three days ahead of the wide release, along with a secondary Patron-only video that shows him making the eyes for this absolute monstrosity!  This is the most talented person online right now, folks, and I'm proud to have contributed funds to the making of this.




Play:

With the very sparse time I have in my life for gaming, I'm still hovering at what I think is the final stage of Torture Star/Puppet Combo's Night At the Gates of Hell. I love this game, and I'm learning that the games Torture Star for the Puppet Combo banner are my favorite. Add to this my immovable position at 80% through the Pilgrimage of the first Blasphemous game, and I don't really have time for anything new on Switch. That's fine because I'd rather wait until the new Horror Metroidvania The Last Faith goes on sale before I buy it anyway. 

But oh yes, I will be buying it.



This definitely looks like they 'skinned' Blasphemous, but I don't care. Talk about some stellar imagery! My cohost on The Horror Vision, Butcher, was one of the original backers of the Kickstarter campaign for this, so he's already playing. Butcher reports the game play is taking some getting used to, as it is closer to Castlevania than Blasphemous, but like me, he's a sucker for this type of game and its nightmarish, Horror imagery.




Playlist:

Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Helmet - Left
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Turquoise Moon - The Sunset City
The Reverend Horton Heat - Whole New Life
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
Deftones - Ohms
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Talk About the Weather
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Slaughter On First Avenue
Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
††† - Good Night, God Bless, I Love U, Delete
André 3000 - New Blue Sun
Rodney Crowell - Triage
Aerosmith - Same Old Song and Dance (single)




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


• Six of Swords - Balancing Relationships
• Five of Pentacles - Earthly Conflict
• Ten of Pentacles - Ending an Earthly Concern

There are a few interpretations today's cards indicate, but chief among them is an ending to the big issue in my life at the moment - moving my parents from Chicago down to Tennessee by us. I have earnest money to drop off this week on their behalf; however, a last-minute delay in closing their house's sale has everyone in the family on edge. While I remain optimistic, this is really messing with my folks, as the purchase of the house they found down here is contingent on the sale of their house (contingent on a final inspection for radon and termites, as well, but let's cross one bridge at a time, eh?). The spread above makes me think I need to trust in my optimism. 

Friday, March 24, 2023

New Swans!!!


New music from Swans! From the forthcoming album The Beggar, out June 23rd on Young God Records. Pre-order HERE.




Watch:

One of the things that saved my sanity over the last few days of my recent two-week stint in LaLaLand was getting stoned at my hotel one night and discovering Bobby Fingers had released his new Diorama video. The subject of Mr. Fingers' machinations this time?

 

There is a level-up in this video that absolutely blew me away, and that's all I'll say. Well, besides confirming that Bobby Fingers is now my favorite anything on the internet. Watching these literally helped quell the total disgust for humanity that arose in me while stationed in LaLaLand this time.
 


Plastic:

I have to confess that I've become one of the many disillusioned Hasbro Pulse fans. The company's entire manner of doing business is just disgusting. Due to this, and because I've cut my nerd-spending in half, there have been quite a few recent releases from their GI JOE Classified and Transformers lines that I want but have ultimately passed on. That said, here are a few I did allow myself to splurge on:


Copperhead is one of my all-time favorite characters, and this redesign is spot-on perfect in my opinion.


I don't know anything about Range Vipers, and this is obviously a rather "Sci-Fi" figure - an approach I do not normally appreciate in the series, but as a straight-up horrific-looking action figure, this thing is rad AF. Look at that brain!!!


This last one I actually have not yet ordered but am on the fence. One of the issues I (and a lot of other collectors) have with Pulse is their insane price markup. I've had Scrap Iron in my cart on their site for a few weeks now and, although this guy was one of my favorites of the original series' earliest figure designs AND a figure I never had as a child, this figure's pull is strong. I loved the character in Larry Hama's comics - that scene where he blows up the station wagon with the Soft Master, Billy and Mr. Coffee-in-my-Brandy has always stayed with me. That said, when you're at checkout and see a final cost of $57 for one figure, well, that's just INSANE, regardless of whether or not it comes with a 'vehicle' like old Iron's anti-tank drone. Magic eightball says I'll probably end up ordering this, but it irks me nonetheless. 




Playlist:

The Veils - Total Depravity
King Woman - Celestial Blues
King Woman - King Woman on Audiotree Live EP
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Lard - Pure Chewing Satisfaction
Godflesh - Pure Live
The Police - Regatta de Blanc
Silent - Modern Hate
Savages - Silence Yourself
Neverly Boys - Dark Side of Everything




Card:

From Missi's Raven Tarot:


I turn 47 today, and in light of this event, I wanted to pull a card from Missi's Raven Tarot as a sort of "Card for the year." Makes sense I would see The High Priestess, as I feel like she has been lurking in quite a few of my dailies of late. 

From the Grimoire:

"Can denote change and/or fluctuation. Matter or situation shaped by gracious or pure influences. The Priestess taps into the power of Life and the Universe."

All of which is to say - or at least in my interpretation - I will have a year where I continue to shape my future. Sounds boring, but as anyone who has changed their life for the better multiple times and is generally unafraid to do so at the drop of a hat, it's not easy. Nor is continually affecting my own creative force, honing these lumbering documents of a novel that is hard A.F. to write, but ultimately rewarding A.F. when it begins to come together.

Here's to the voyage to 48!!!

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Call Me, Bobby Fingers

 

I've never been the biggest Blondie fan, but I've also largely remained to everything but the singles. They've long been one of those bands I keep meaning to dig into the back catalogue, and just never remember. Well, between the OST for Paul Schrader's 1980 masterpiece American Gigolo, which I just watched for the first time a few months back and became enraptured with, and now the Showtime series of the same name, I've been inundated with "Call Me" off and on for weeks, and I have to say, it is a fantastic song. I always liked this one, but now I'm seeing something deeper. So, motivated by that, I've begun digging. So far though, nothing matches this one.




Watch:

Yes! Bobby Fingers has a new diorama video up!

 

Oh man, this guy is my hero. I haven''t watched this yet, but the subject matter for this, his second diarama video, is so in-line with his first, and both seem culled from the 80s pop culture detritus that I favor for fun-making. 
 


Read:

I finally began Barry Adamson's Autobiography, Up Above the City, Down Below the Stars this past weekend. Adamson earned a perpetual place in my heart with his albums Moss Side Tory, Soul Murder, and of course, As Above So Below. This was all after his work on the Lost Highway OST in 1997 put him and his album Oedipus Schmodipus brought him to the awareness of, well, of anyone paying attention to the kinds of music that Trent Reznor included on that Soundtrack.


As Above is still my all-time favorite by him, but I've followed Mr. Adamson's career ever since. I grabbed a copy of his first short film The Therapist back in 2011, and had the total joy of seeing him perform live, solo, at L.A.'s The Hotel Cafe in... I'm not even sure when. 




Beer:

Now that I'm officially into my first real winter in sixteen years -  I know the season doesn't officially start until December 21st, however, it's cold - my appetite for darker, thicker beers has returned full force. My palate would usually shift for a week here or there while in L.A., as nights did get down to the 40s on a regular basis, however, Tennessee is decidedly closer to what I grew up with. Already seeing the 30s and we're loving it. 

Anyway, while I still always have cans of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on hand, I've really been peppering in more Porters and Stouts on an almost daily basis. This is somewhat propelled by my neighbor Vincent, who I've befriended and who loves dark beer. He's brought me quite a few Crowlers from his (and now our) favorite Clarksville brewery Tennessee Valley Brewing, and to return the favor, while in Chicago recently, I picked up a sixer of something for him.


Three Floyds is one of those entities that 100% deserves all the hype and mania they fostered during the 00s. Every beer I've had by them has been insanely consistent in quality, and their aesthetic - kind of a Doom Metal/SciFi/ComicBook thing fits the beer perfectly. There's always an air of blue-collar debauchery that undercuts what, in my mind, are very high-brow concepts, and I love that. 




Playlist:

Metallica - Lux Æturna (pre-release single)
Blondie - Autoamerican
Various - American Gigolo OST (1980)
Zola Jesus - Arkhon
Mastodon - Hushed and Grim
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Digipak)
H6LLB6ND6R - Side A




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


A slightly more ambitious pull today. The card that started this fell separate from the deck during shuffle, so I started there. An accomplishment of Will can make a Dream come true. A breakthrough with my Art will come via collaboration. Again, spot on! I've really become shocked that Grimm's Bound Tarot has essentially replaced the Thoth as my go-to deck. That seemed impossible; I'm not one to own a lot of decks. Sure, there are scores of amazing ones, but I have never owned a deck just because of how it looks - I've always struggled with reading and thus, felt it an imperative to limit the number I have to the ones that I use and bond with. That's been exactly Thoth and, later, Missi's Raven Deck of Major Arcana, which by definition, serves a different purpose altogether. Broader. But Grimm's deck has really become something I reach for multiple times a day, and I feel my readings and intuitions stoking again (I lost a lot after my Tarot debacle in 2015, which is described somewhere in these pages).

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

No Devotion For Mr. Gibson

 

A little old-school Chicago Industrial to kick things off today.




Watch:

This is my favorite thing I think I've ever encountered on the internet. No BS. A HUGE thank You to Seth:


I literally just want to watch this over and over and have Bobby Fingers tell me everything is going to be okay. Seeing this, and sending it over to my former bandmate Joe.Baxter, I can't help but feel like when we finally try and finish recording all that unfinished Christian Fisting material, we should dust off the old "Mel Gibson's a Cunt" song we had, written in the wake of that 2006 arrest that is being modeled here. 




NCBD:

It's Wednesday, and that means new comics are on the shelves! Here's what I'm picking up at Rick's Comic City!



Street-level Spidey on a Goblin hovercraft? interesting. Love this cover. 


The penultimate issue of Deadly Class!


I definitely liked the twist Marvel's Judgment Day took at the end of the second issue. Hoping this continues to expand that, instead of focusing on what we already know has happened. I get that in the onset of this series beginning, we only really got a 'thin slice' of the siege on Krakoa and holocaust on Arrako, but showing us all the nooks and crannies of those battles is getting a touch old. Issue 2 moved things forward, but then Death to the Mutants moved it back again. 


This book is fantastic but truly independent, so there have been a lot of scheduling delays. I'm hoping it actually lands today.


LOVING this new Shaolin Cowboy series. Geof Darrow is an amazing artist, and he's really cooked up an "Anything Goes" world with this one. I pulled out my copies of the previous series and realized the titular character died at the end of it. This means Darrow has been - as he should be - doing whatever the hell he wants time-wise with this odd, post-apocalyptic mash-up series. I need to pick up the collected first series of this and read them all straight through. Not that you have to, because, like I said, I love that Darrow appears t be jumping around.


I'm not 100% sold on this big, TMNT 'Event,' but I'll hang for a while. 




Playlist:

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Playlist: Small Cat, Big Yard
Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Playlist: You, The Knight, and the Music
Leaving Time - Eponymous EP
Revolting Cocks - Big Sexy Land
Pailhead - Trait
Melvins - Stoner Witch
Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind
David Bowie - Station to Station




Card:

Pulling out the Raven Deck for today's reading:



Some isolation will do me good today. Hopefully finishing something I've been working on.