New Music from The Veils!!!

Not gonna lie, I'm missing the weird Veils I fell in love with on Total Depravity. These last few releases have been so... heavy. And yet... damn. These guys have so much emotional gravitas in each song... it's always breathtaking. The comparisons to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are unavoidable, but also, those comparisons most definitely sell The Veils short. 

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Watch:

I don't know very much about Resident Evil, so I am uninvested. I saw a handful of the previous cinematic adaptations and liked them as popcorn Action/Horror flicks. This is Zach Cregger's take, and, although the trailer starts with a deja vu moment to Barbarian, it has me. 

I appreciate that those invested in the games and their lore might not appreciate his self-professed 'different' take on the material. I'm just hoping for a good flick. I was originally bummed that he made two outstanding original films and then got quickly co-opted to do a pre-existing IP. This trailer is making me feel better about that.

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Read:

I took a brief detour from my Dark Tower reread to burn through an advance copy of Jessica Lacy's (i.e., the author formerly known as Ivy Tholen) newest novel, Fatally Yours, this week. This is the new version of Mother Dear, and I can say, while Jessica didn't change much, she definitely tightened this one, and I cruised through in just a couple of days, laughing and wincing all the way.

The thing I find so interesting about what Jessica does is, she takes 'chick lit' or 'chick flicks' and subverts the genre by splicing in Slasher DNA. And, as Stephen Graham Jones famously said about Tastes Like Candy, she doesn't go light on the gore."

There are images in Jessica's books that stand a head above anything I've seen in a Slasher flick in 20 years. Sure, there's also a lot of wedding stuff and fashion stuff in Fatally Yours that I either had to shrug off or look up (I kind of wish I could wear Louboutin combat boots), but that's also part of the fun. 

I'll recommend this one to anyone who loves a great slasher, or anyone who loves a great laugh, or anyone who wants to see what Father of the Bride* would look like if it were remade by Damien Leone.

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* I've never seen Father of the Bride, but I'd definitely watch a remake of it if helmed by Mr. Leone. Just saying. 

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas OST

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth

Flying Lotus - Yasuke

Dreamkid - Daggers

Electric Youth and Pilot Priest - Come True OST

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

Beach House - Bloom

The Soft Moon - Exister

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Card:

I felt a pull to my Thoth again, but remember, you can grab Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot HERE.

• I: The Magus

• 7 of Disks: Debauch

• 6 of Disks: Success

This new idea might seem like it falters, but stick with it and something will come of it. Words of encouragement as I continue a fairly productive stint of days working on Shadow Play Book 2. 

New Blackbraid!!!

New Blackbraid EP is out today! You can order a copy right here on their Bandcamp for Bandcamp Friday! 

Blackbraid III has become one of my all-time favorite records, and hearing this EP, I can tell that my fervor is only going to continue to mount with each subsequent release.

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Watch:

After falling in love with James Gunn's Peacemaker series recently, I've actually started a "Shawn Was Wrong" segment on Drinking with Comics. DC finally has its head out of its arse. Need more proof? 

 

I cannot believe they've made Green Lantern something I am interested in! Now that's f**king magick, baby!

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Watch:

Beyondfest Chicago announced the lineup and hopefully, about ten hours after this posts, I'll have tickets for a handful of screenings. 

None of the films I have my eye on are ones I know nothing about. Always the best way to see any movie. 

That said, the film Normal has one familiar variable: Bob Odenkirk. Here's a trailer:

I've been a fan of Odenkirk's since Mr. Brown made me a lifelong disciple of Mr. Show back in the 90s. It's been a joy to see his film career evolve the way it has. 

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Playlist:

Tool - Undertow

Foxy Shazam - Dark Blue Night

sunn O))) - Eponymous (pre-release singles)

Matte Black - I'm Waving, Not Drowning

Blackbraid - III

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

Blackbraid - Nocturnal Womb (pre-release single)

Jucifer - Lambs EP

Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came

Melvins - Houdini Live '05

Barry Adamson - Scala! OST

Fever Ray - The Lake/Wrong Flower EP

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Card:

Back on the Thoth (But you can still order Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot HERE.)

• Ace of Wands

• Ace of Disks

• I: The Magus

Notice how the numbers read 911? Weird, right? 

The two Aces are breakthroughs, so watch for gains and new creative ground (my Will tends to center on creation). The Magus is the flex that makes it happen. Magick.

So we're at this crossroads again, eh? 

Steely Dan - Schlitz Jingle

 Thanks to my good friend Seth for sending this my way, catchiest thing I've heard in some time.

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NCBD:

An interesting haul awaits me later today. Let's see what I'm bringing home for NCBD:

The first issue of Michael Walsh's Frankenstein brought great joy to our house! K loved it, I loved it, and we're both rarin' for more.

Saga issue 69 gets the most appropriate and Saga-like celebration of the number I could have hoped for. I still love this book, despite the cooling of the fervor that settled in with all the hiatuses. 

Ryan Stegman's art on Donny Cates' Venom run a few years ago drew me into that title, and now he's writing a book with Jason "Trees" Howard on art? Definitely picking up this first issue, at the very least. Also, this will be my first Dstlry book. Here's the solicitation, cribbed from League of Comic Geeks:

"Bryce Hunter is a devoutly religious man whose faith is shattered when he catches his wife being...Intimate with an Elder from his church. This harrowing event sends Bryce spiraling into the hands of a demonic entity named Uvydus, Instead of rejecting possession, Bryce ACCEPTS Uvydus. Bryce wants to learn to be “bad” and Uvydus wants to be “less than completely evil.” But before Bryce can use this new partnership to finally live a little, the world's greatest Exorcist sees Bryce as his greatest challenge. But that's not even the worst of it as a murderous group of demons breaks free from Hell and threatens to re-shape earth into a kingdom over which they rule!"

The penultimate issue. Let's see that boom stick, sir!

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Watch:

Another Autumn is upon us, so that means a new V/H/S flick is just around the corner.

 I dug last year's, but these are still usually a mixed bag for me. Still, taking the idea of "Beyond" to this series might make for some very cool ideas. 

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Playlist:

Eldovar - A Story of Darkness and Light

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

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Card:

Today's card for study is I: The Magus.

Skill and/or Wisdom. Magick. Take initiative.

You know, when I set out to 'study' these cards more, I had grand designs to really dig deep. I certainly have enough stores of knowledge on them assembled. That hasn't actually happened, though. I really haven't been doing anything different than I normally do, drawing a card for the day and writing out its interpretation/possibilities. I want to change that, but there's just not enough damn time at the moment. 

Looking at Crowley's The Book of Thoth, I'm reminded that he refers to this card as "The Juggler." 

A Question of Hawkeyes

 

Hawkeye put this on my radar, and I could literally listen to it all day. Depeche Mode has always been one of those bands that confound me in a way. I've loved pretty much all of their singles since I was a kid and first heard People Are People, but whenever I try to get into an entire album, they always fall flat for me and I just go back to the singles. Because of this, I am completely unfamiliar with large swathes of their discography, and A Question of Lust falls into that category. 

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Watch:

Speaking of Hawkeye, I finally caught up by binging all six episodes in 24 hours. I absolutely loved this one. 

I am SO excited for the street-level aspect of the MCU that we're seeing here and which, I believe, will now continue in the Spider-Man series. Plus, I WANT A NEW SERIES WITH CHARLIE COX'S DAREDEVIL!

Ahem. Apologies, but that's been building for quite some time. As excited as I was for the third season of the Netflix Daredevil show to do Bullseye, I never bothered watching it because the series had been canceled by the time it arrived. Now, I can go back and rewatch seasons one and two, then go right into three.

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NCBD:

A decidedly light NCBD, and I'm going to try to keep it that way.

I tried reading that Ram V Swamp Thing series that began at the beginning of the year, but I just couldn't hang with it. This, however, is Jeff Lemire and Doug Mahnke in prestige, Black Label format. Can't be missed. 

The fifth and final issue of the recent Kang The Conqueror series ended a bit ambiguously, but I guess that's what happens when your narrative twists in and out of time like Kang's does. Either way, there were moments of absolute, 70s Marvel brilliance in it (issue 4 especially), and I'm a card-carrying Kang fan, so there's no way I'm missing whatever this is.

Another new Stray Dogs comic! This is only a two-issue reexamination of the events of the first series from different angles (how do I know that? Listen to Chris Sanders, Adam Marcus and I interview the writer Tony Fleecs HERE), but any Stray Dogs is great Stray Dogs, so I'm in. Oh yeah, and here's another variant cover I'll never score.

While we're on the topic of comics, I realized I left off two HUGE entries to my favorite comics of 2021 list, so I've added them as addendums on the original post. 

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Playlist:

Fleet Foxes - A Very Lonely Solstice

Fleet Foxes - Eponymous

John Coltrane - Blue Trane

The Hacker - Rêves Mecaniques

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Eldovar - A Story of Light and Darkness

Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk

Pilot Priest and Electric Youth - Come True OST

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Card:

A vital engagement with a project, new or old, head-on.

Perfectly describes my Tuesday, let's see if I can't carry that into today.