The first Christmas in our new house! Amidst predictions of a blizzard hitting Chicago this past Thursday, my parents left the South Side a day early to beat the snow. Imagine their consternation when Thursday night Tennessee received a good inch-and-a-half of White Christmas! I love this; this is a bonafide dream come true for Kirsten, and it fills me with joy to see her reaction to something I began taking for granted a long time ago (she's renewed it though...)
Anyway, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. And hey, maybe after Home Alone, throw on that new Joe Begos Christmas flick, Christmas Bloody Christmas!
Excited to see that, apparently, Zeal and Ardor are now on Sub Pop Records. With this kind of state-side distribution, it should no longer cost an arm and leg in shipping to order their records! Perhaps it was to celebrate that contract, the band just released a two-song single!
What a great day to wake up to! Last few days, no lie, my stress level has had me hovering at the "punch a hole in the window" stage. But I woke up a little while ago feeling fairly refreshed, and now I'm putting the finishing touches on this post, drinking coffee and listening to the new ††† EP, PERMANENT.RADIANT that dropped, counting the hours until I can hit play on Joe Begos' new flick, Christmas Bloody Christmas, now probably my most anticipated film of the year. I'd wanted to drive to Chicago to see it, but after spending $500 at the dentist over the last week, there's just no feasible way to swing that. My hope, though, is that, like Terrifier 2, it makes enough $$$ at the box office this week to see a bigger roll-out next week. If that happens, it's bound to end up here.
If you need help figuring if Christmas Bloody Christmas is playing by you, here's the link Begos put on his IG - it literally lists every theatre the film is playing. So crazy that, with all the smaller cities its rolling out to, it didn't come to Clarksville. Our Regal, which is pretty good and had Terrifier 2 for almost a month, had the new Martin McDonough and the George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead 3D, but instead of lining CBC up, they still have Prey for the Devil? WTF?
Life is good. If you're having a tough time at any point today, stop and think about the people and the stuff you love. It will HELP!
Watch:
New Brandon Cronenberg film? Sign me up.
I cannot overstate how unbelievably happy I am that we only had to wait about three years for the third film from Brandon Cronenberg. Possessor is still one of my all-time favorites, and with this cast and premise - what little of it may or may not be clear from this trailer - Infinity Pool looks likely to rank pretty high with me as well.
Out January 27.
Neon is just a fabulous company, isn't it?
Playlist:
Fvnerals - Let the Earth be Silent (pre-release singles)
Fvnerals - The Light
Final Light - Eponymous
Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell
Federale - No Justice
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
The Mysterines - Reeling
H6LLB6ND6R - Side A
Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct
Metallica - Kill 'em All
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
Ask and ye shall receive your answer: I usually don't specify when I pull, but today I focused on my recent re-engagement with Shadow Play Book 2. The writing comes and goes, mostly rewarding while I'm doing it, then frustrating after. But I keep wondering if this is actually going to work. Well, apparently, if I am strong enough to persevere, I will get my outcome.
I think I'm going to need a heaping dose of sonic autopsy from Electric Wizard to wake my ass up today. K and I went and got our Boosters yesterday, and in line with all the other iterations of this, it knocked me on my ass, so I didn't sleep all that well, and I'm struggling to get through work today.
Any band that names a song (or part of a song) after Weird Tales are gods in my book.
Watch:
That which I have been waiting for has finally arrived:
Since Heavenisanincubator turned me on to Joe Begos' ultra-violent SciFi mind-fuck Almost Human many years ago, I've been a fan. I corralled a bunch of friends to go see Begos' follow-up Mind's Eye at Beyondfest in 2015 and repeated that in 2019 for the Bliss/VFW double-header. Knowing Christmas Bloody Christmas would land this year, it reigned as my #1 "Gotta get tickets" film for this year's Beyondfest, but Murphy's Law dictated that the viewing occurred on the same night I'd bought tickets to see Zeal and Ardor. I don't regret the choice, however, it's been ribbing me ever since. Now that the trailer is here, I'm even more excited to see Begos' latest film. He just delivers the kind of violent trash (I mean that as a compliment, of course) that puts me back to the world of my childhood, and his visual and musical aesthetic aligns very much with my own.
With the line "in theatres everywhere" attached to the film and the fact that I just saw Damien Leone's Terrifier 2 at the Regal in town, I'm hoping CBC lands here, too. If not, I've been plotting where I might have to drive to see it. Because oh yes, I will drive to see this.
Read:
Here's another NCBD addendum. On a lark, I picked up the first issue of Specs, published by BOOM studios, created by David M. Booher and Chris Shehan.
Very solid first issue. Obviously, the cover gives off They Live vibes, but that's not really the case. The set-up is the two main characters get a hold of wish-granting Specs that turn their life upside down and by the looks of it, there will be fallout. I dug this issue enough that I'll definitely be coming back for more.
Playlist:
Opeth - Watershed
Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
The Neverly Boys - The Dark Side of Everything
Card:
From the Grimoire: "Let things develop before making another move." Loud and clear.
