M83 - DSVII - Feelings

M83's new album Digital Shades Vol. II dropped today. It's gorgeous, and coincidentally makes a perfect soundtrack to my re-read of Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera's Black Science. I'm eleven issues in and th Telepathic Millipede death cult is one of the awesomest/creepiest lifeforms I've seen in a SciFi/Fantasy story like this. Check that - there are no SciFit/Fantasy stories like this. Pure, unraveling, multi-dimensional madness, and I'm loving it, especially with this lush, analog soundtrack. I fell out with M83 after HUWD, and I still want a non-instrumental record from them again, but in the meantime, DSVII is fantastic.

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Larry Fessenden's modern take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is fantastic, and if you're in Hollywood and get a chance to see that - or any of the other goodies playing there - you should definitely drop in at Arena Cinelounge. Fantastic venue for short run/obscure flicks. I posted the trailer for Depraved yesterday, so today, here's a super cool behind the scenes shot I found online, along with a LINK to a cool article by Fessenden on why he makes movies.

For my money, Mr. Fessenden is the closest thing to a John Carpenter-level talent who isn't wearing his JC influence on his sleeve (not always a bad thing, the point here is LF is as original in his approach now as JC was to his back in the day), toiling away in partial obscurity, making original, solid flicks that are as interesting to the philosophical mind as they are to the eye. Support this man's work!

My full, short review of Depraved is up on Letterbxd HERE.

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Playlist from 9/19:

Tomahawk - Eponymous
Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe

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Card of the day:

Wow, talk about the cards talking directly, clearly, right to me! Two days of the 4 of Disks, Power while I recharge my mental and physical batteries, directly followed by the 3 of Disks, Work, telling me to get my ass back in gear and get to work. Time to wrap Black Science for the day and head out to write!

Larry Fessenden's Depraved

A friend and I are going to check out Larry Fessenden's new film Depraved in Hollywood tonight, and I am excited! I've been waiting for some time for this, a modern re-telling of Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein tale. The trailer looks fantastic, and the theatre the film is playing at is one of my favorite little nooks and crannies in a city where everything is overblown and overexposed. A fun time will be had by all, of that I am certain.

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New Fangoria arrived two days ago and I've barely had a chance to scratch the surface.

Great cover.

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Playlist from 9/18:

Sausage - Riddle Are Abound Tonight
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
Sepultura - Roots
Malcolm Middleton - Sleight of Heart
Lustmord - The Word as Power
Perturbator - Dangerous Days

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Card of the day:

I love seeing the same card multiple days in a row, especially when I can interpret the pull as a nod that what I've been doing is the right thing to be doing. Burnt out and not in the best physical shape, I took another day off from writing after work yesterday and had a big ol' nap. It was glorious! This restorative, Powering Up period has worked wonders - I feel considerably better today than I did yesterday, so tomorrow it's going to be rest in the morning, and then back at it.

Actually, I did a little bit of work yesterday: finally dug out an old manuscript I intend to canabalize for an upcoming short story. It was fun revisiting old material, especially looking at it with fresh eyes, seeing what I can use and what will be changed or tossed. This new one's been on my mind for over a year, so I can't wait to tear into it!

2019: Ritual Howls - Mother of the Dead

What an awesome mail week! First, yesterday I received Rendered Armor, the new LP from Ritual Howls. Out on Felte Records now, this is a damned fine piece of music; when I pre-ordered the vinyl a few months back, I sunk in the extra couple bucks to receive the hardbound book. A retrospective of the Ritual Howl's existence thus far, the history is told in gorgeous B&W photography and set against a backdrop of all the band's lyrics. Holding the finished product in my hand I can tell you it is very cool. Love these guys so very much.

Second, on Wednesday, I received Shout Factory's Larry Fessenden Collection. I've wanted this for years, finally pulled the trigger on it. Four features - No Telling, Habit, Wendigo, and The Last Winter, as well as the short White Trash. No Telling was the one I'd missed - although I haven't seen Wendigo since the early 2000s, so it will be mostly like seeing it again for the first time - and after watching it last night I absolutely loved it. Maybe my favorite of Mr. Fessenden's (although I'll probably say that about all of them. No Telling is known overseas as The Frankenstein Complex, a title that's a bit too on the nose in my opinion, but me thinks this film serves as a harbinger for Fessenden's much-anticipated new film Depraved, about "...a disillusioned field surgeon who makes a man out of body parts and brings him to life in a Brooklyn loft."

Definite companion pieces.


The package is loaded with extras, many of which Fessenden introduces, and I intend on watching everything and in order of release! Can't wait.

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Playlist from 3/29:

Faith No More - King for a Day
Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors
Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor

No card today.