2018: August 21st

Really diving into all the back catalogue material I'd missed from Chris Connelly lately. Some of these I'll be ordering on vinyl, like 2011's Artificial Madness. The album runs a gamut of industrial-influenced tunes to more melodic but still fuzzy numbers like this one. Such a gorgeous track.

About 200 pages into the Silence of the Lambs. It's been solid from the start, however some of the chapter stops are so forced in order to adhere to a 'page-turner' profile I've rolled an eye or two. Still, better short than over for this kind of book and the momentum it establishes early on. I can't wait to watch the movie again after I finish; it's been years, as despite my love of horror, the serial killer genre, especially when executed this well, is one that burrows too deep under my skin for me to partake of often.

NCBD tomorrow! Super excited for the return of Days of Hate and the second issue of Die! Die! Die! My recent re-read of Nameless stoked the flames of my Chris Burnham love, so this arrives just in time.

Playlist from 8/20:

Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing
Vaguess - Guilt Ring
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer
Algiers - Eponymous
Chris Connelly - Artificial Madness
Shostakovich - Symphonies Nos. 5 And 9
Glenn Gould - Goldberg Variations

Card of the day:

Focus on Earthly, pragmatic considerations. Contemplation and fortification, exactly what I'm working on at the moment in terms of my writing. I'll have a big one in a month or two, and I am excited.

2018: June 23rd 12:44 PM

New NIN dropped yesterday. I haven't listened to anything on it other than that God Break Down The Door song, which I quite liked for all its Bowie-ness. Figured I'd post it hear - I'll probably get to it later today, but I'd be curious to see comments about what anyone reading this who listens to it thinks. Trent remains an interest of mine, even if his lyrical persona and the subsequent 'Reznorisms" sometimes - sometimes - leads me to sigh.



BIG week at the Comic shop this week. NCBD is always a joy, but this week I had new Deadly Class, new TMNT, second issue of Garth Ennis's A Walk Through Hell (which was freakin' awesome!), the new Black Science, finally got the second issue of sold out Tinsel Town by David Lucarelli, Calexit #3, and new Gideon Falls and Days of Hate, probably my two favorite books right now (besides TWD, Deadly Class and Stray Bullets, which rule without me having to say so). Both Gideon Falls and Days of Hate are really starting to ratchet up, so it kills me a bit to see Days is on hiatus until August, but what's two months in the grand scheme? Also, a little love should be extended for IDW's TMNT - it is such a fantastic on-going redesign of a property I've loved since it helped kick off the 80s B&W Explosion. Issue 83 was a fantastic tale, juggling multiple storylines and character arcs in as deft a fashion as ever (this book has just gotten better and better at doing that). The Pantheon is a great addition to the cast, especially as it's super clear they are VERY influenced by Neil Gaiman's The Endless, from the Sandman books.

As I believe I mentioned earlier this month, I went in on a monthly Shudder sub and, although I haven't explored it fully yet, it's really a great subscription. Last time I brought this up I believe I mentioned Interior. I'll add Follow Me to the list now, another superb thriller that I thought unfolded beautifully from one of the best 'inciting incidents' I've seen in a while. Girlfriend gives her boyfriend a handgun for Christmas, asks him to put it in his mouth and pull the trigger if he trusts her.

And I'll just leave you with that... and yeah, it's a Christmas movie. In a sense.

Note: I used the Spanish Movie Poster here, because I like this one the best, but the film is not a Spanish-language film. Just in case anyone reading has an aversion to subs. I do not, but I know some people do.
Playlist from 6/22:

Radiohead - Kid A
Servotron - Meet Your Mechanical Masters

Slim day on the music. Crazy work day and a humungous nap afterward.

Card for today:

From the Grimoire (which I suspect by its tone was cribbed from Crowley): "The first step from the perfection of one divides it into two.

2018: February 9th 4:53 AM

In my head upon waking. Waking, such absolute misery to crawl from my bed this cold, (relatively) California morning...

Not nearly enough sleep. My after-work nap yesterday set my sleep back and I didn't knock out until almost midnight. Just about 4.5 hours later I've hit all the snoozes I can and crawl from bed, feed the cats and put on an extra strong pot of coffee, put fingertips to these keys to make these words. How oh how am I going to manage to work 8 or 9 hours, drive 45-60 to Hollywood, come home around 10 and NOT be brain dead?

The new comic from Ales Kot, Danijel Zezelj, and Jordie Bellaire is Days of Hate; I picked issue #1 up on a whim and it's fantastic. And really, sadly relevant. Also, they have a super accurate visual depiction of DTLA on page 3 - looks like Bellaire was standing where I was two weeks ago coming out of the Converge concert at the Regent.

New edition of Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying went up yesterday, you can read it HERE.

Yesterday's playlist:

Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Mono and The Ocean - Transcendental EP
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
The Politics of Punk (Disc 6)
Joy Division - Closer
The Afghan Whigs - In Spades
Sade - iTunes Essentials
Lustmord - The Dark Places of the Earth


Card of the day:

From my Grimoire:

"Add one to nine and perfect elemental alignment occurs (perfect in nature - the other end of the balanced path from The Crown). One big word: Culmination."

So what does that mean as a daily draw? You kidding? With my brain like this I can't even begin to wrap my head around it.