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: April 12th 8:35 AM

Going to see this tonight:



New issue of Gideon Falls hit the stands yesterday. I have it with me in my bag, hopefully I'll get a chance to read it today.

Also, picked back up on Dark on Netflix. I had a lot of trouble with this show at first, mainly because the default was overdubs instead of the original German with subtitles. Now that I have that worked out (thanks Charles!) we're back in and it is captivating. I'm still having a bit of trouble keeping track of who is who, but overall the show is so fascinating and absolutely beautiful that I can't wait to have a few hours to just binge some of it.



Playlist from 4/11:

Ghost - Popestar E.P.
Man or Astro Man - Intravenous Television Continuum
Ghost - Infestissumam
Algiers - Underside of Power
Aerosmith - Eponymous
The Ocean - Pelagial

Card for the day:

Breakthrough! Always love seeing this card, especially close to the completion of a project that has been lingering.

2018: March 9th 7:37 AM

Wonderful night last night. After our move, we will live extremely close to both Mike and Chris from DwC, and in celebration of that we implemented a new, Night Before the show Reading Circle. Mike had us all over for a wonderful dinner and then we sat around and traded off the comics we were itching to talk about on tonight's show. This is a first and Mike gets full credit for the idea  - we always bring a bunch of disparate books to the table and that helps lead the discussions astray. Hopefully this will put us all on the same page. We'll be live on the Drinking with Comics facebook page tonight at 9:00 PM PST, so if you're not doing anything, drop by. One of the books we'll be discussing is a last minute edition to the stack and in two days turned into my most eagerly anticipated book so far this year:

From Image Comics.com:

"The lives of a reclusive young man obsessed with a conspiracy in the city's trash, and a washed-up Catholic priest arriving in a small town full of dark secrets become intertwined around the mysterious legend of The Black Barn, an otherworldly building that is alleged to have appeared in both the city and the small town, throughout history, bringing death and madness in its wake. Rural mystery and urban horror collide in this character-driven meditation on obsession, mental illness, and faith." From Image Comics.com



Sounds very "weird fiction" and that's my current wheelhouse, so I'm very much in.


Playlist from yesterday:

Converge - The Dusk in Us
Monolord - Rust
Teenage Wrist - Chrome Neon Jesus
Queens of the Stone Age - Villains
Ludwig van Beethoven - King Stephen Overture OP 117
Joseph Haydn - Violin Concerto #4 in G

Card for the day:

"The Path to Enlightenment is about to become easier." - hanging out in my new neighborhood last night gave both K and I an enormous sense of happiness. There will now be time for so much more, Art, Love, and definitely Enlightenment. Another card tapping me on the shoulder, letting me know I'm on the right path. Accordingly, I can't help but also draw the juxtaposition with Crowley's maxim: "Every Man and Every Woman is a Star." Crowley had his more than fair share of BS, but he was a prophet to some degree, a human who communed with great, cosmic truths (when, to paraphrase a quote by Peter J. Carroll, he wasn't trying for your arse and your wallet) and that, well, that's one of his most important sentiments.