Isolation: Day 124 - The Sandman on Audible

Previously, I've had no interest in audible, as I'm not one for audio books. This changes everything. A star-studded audio presentation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman? Count me in.


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I'd been under the impression the final episode of Borrasca was to drop this past Monday, so imagine my surprise when the episode - at a paltry 33 minutes - cut off in an unceremonious manner. Creator Rebecca Kingel had previously said the podcast would wrap with ep 8, so I figured the finale might have been too long for their standard format, making them split the finale into two. I was all set to wait until next Monday when I received word the second part dropped yesterday.

It is amazing.

Easily the scariest fiction I've encountered in any medium for the past several years, the wrap up is filled with revelations and tragedy, and contained a sequence that held me so strongly under its narrative influence that the world around me kind of disappeared for a while. I'm sold on Cole Sprouse as an actor, and very much hope there will be more of this, or at least, another teaming of Klingel and Sprouse.

I really can't recommend this one enough. Earlier, I realized that, along with all the podcast platforms (Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, etc), all the episodes of Borassca are on youtube as well, so I'm posting the first one here as a way to spread the word. I's that good.



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Playlist:

Walter Rizzati - House By the Cemetery OST
Palesketcher - Jesu: Pale Sketches
Mannequin Pussy - Patience
Exhalants - Band (single)
Le Matos - Summer of '84
Barry Adamson - Stranger on the Sofa
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
DAF - Die Kleinen Und Die Bösen

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No Card Today.

Isolation: Day 109

It's been a minute since I last broke out the House of Pain. Not sure what inspired it, exactly, but damn! I miss 90s Hip Hop.

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The sixth episode of the Borrasca podcast dropped Monday. I didn't get a chance to listen until yesterday, and wow! Best episode yet. This one was chilling in its stoicism.




Only two episodes left. I'm all in.

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Playlist:

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery
The Chameleons UK - Strange Times
Lustmord - The Dark Places of the Earth
Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors
Code Orange - Underneath
Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind
Skinny Puppy - Bites
Crystal Castles - (II)

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Card:

Swift and strong. Needed to hear it today.

Isolation: Day 103 Doves - Carousel

A few days ago, Doves released the first track from what will eventually be their looooong awaited fifth album. "Carousel" is the first since 2009. I'm a huge fan of these guys, in particular, 2000's Lost Souls. The song "Rise" from that album has somewhat of a recurring role in the novel I just finished writing, which will be out later this year, and which I still don't have a title for. Serendipitous then, that this new music drops when I'd gone back into something of an extended Doves mood.

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Already primed for another narrative podcast to listen to via The Magnus Archives - which I mentioned here a few weeks ago - my good friend Missi recently turned me on to Qcode's Borrasca. Cole Sprouse stars and produces - you might recognize the name as the actor who plays Jughead on Riverdale. While I've never been able to get into that particular show - despite my curiosity about its second season having what I've read described as a 'Giallo' thread in the plot - I'm extremely impressed by everything about Borrasca. At first it seemed a little too "Young Adult" for me, but that isn't the case at all as I've gotten through the first five weeks of what I'm assuming is the first season that's dropping now, new episodes every Monday.



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NCBD - nice to have this back, eh? I've got some books this week, and one from last week to grab. Here is what's going to be my haul tomorrow:

So nice to get back into this one. There was a moment a few issues back where I thought Gideon Falls might have lost me. No dice. I'm so ready to go deeper into this world:

A new one with art by Jacob Phillips, son and collaborator of one half the dynamic crime fiction duo Brubaker and Phillips. Very much looking forward to this, and I'm hoping for more of that substantial backmatter that makes these books well worthwhile reading month-by-month.

Waiting four months or so since TMNT 104 has been difficult. That issue set up such a rich new world for the brand that I'm even more excited than before with where this title could go. Also, mutant metal bands? Fuck yes!

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Now that Joe Bob Briggs' The Last Drive-In is over for another year, what the hell will I do with my Friday nights? Well, I recently signed up for HBOMax, and despite my annoyance that it does not work with my firestick, K and I decided to make Fridays Turner Classic Movie night, because TCM is one of the properties lumped in with the sub. There are a lot of movies on there, and being that K is a HUGE fan of old Hollywood, this is perfect.

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Playlist:

Perez - Les vacances continuent (single)
Deafheaven - Black Brick (single)
Deafheaven - From the Kettle Onto the Coil (single)
Apparat - Soundtracks: Dämonen
Baroness - Gold and Grey

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Card:

Seems about right, as since I have hit the beta reading phase of the new book, I've already spent an hour or so this morning dusting off something new-ish. Just a short story as a palate cleanser before I dip back into the outline for Shadow Play Book Three!