2019: May 4th - Raimi & Aja's Crawl

I was skeptical at the beginning of this trailer, but Raimi's name soothed that a bit. By the end though, the concept and purported execution look fantastic, plus this looks to be receiving a theatrical release, and when was the last time you were able to see an alligator/crocodile attack flick in a megaplex? That alone seems as though it may be worth the cost of admission.

**

Well, only Joe Bob Briggs could get me to watch a film I'd long ago sworn never to watch. For the first time since the first week of JBB and Shudder's The Last Drive-In, I was able to sit down promptly at 6:00 PM and watch the show from the beginning. The first flick, Wolf Cop, was one I'd seen on the cue in Shudder but always passed over. I was pleased to see it pop up here, under the guidance of Joe Bob. 

The second film was the one I anticipated with no small amount of reservation: Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer. I know it's a classic, and it's artistically solid, but serial killer stuff - especially when offered up so realistically - gets way too deep under my skin. And I'd always imagined that, if I watched this flick, it would fall somewhere in line with Irreversible and Requiem for a Dream, two films I simply wish I had never seen. However, I took the plunge because with Joe Bob's interruptions, I wagered that the presentation would be considerably less immersive, and I was right. Couple this with the fact that I luckily left the room for a beer during the infamous home invasion scene, and I braved Henry with no mental or emotional scars, and was finally able to see Michael Rooker's break-out performance, the only aspect of the film that had ever intrigued me to begin with. That's not to say Henry isn't a well-made film; it is, and so are Irreversible and Requiem. These are just films that delve into areas I feel no need to expose my sometimes fragile little psyche to. And in the spirit of that, I'll skip posting the trailer for Henry here.

**

You may notice Rob Zombie's two most recent albums have suddenly begun popping up on my daily playlists. This is a surprise to me; I've long held White Zombie's final two records as being among the best metal albums ever, however, Rob Zombie's dissolution of that group for a catchy but ultimately dumbed-down version never sat right with me. Yet, I'll admit that, for better or worse, there must be a little hot topic in my soul, because Zombie's solo stuff is something that, every once in a blue moon, I get a taste for. It usually sees me beat the hell out of La Sexorcisto and Astro Creep for a few days, probably throw on House of 1000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects, and then go back to keeping RZ at arm's length. Normally Zombie's solo albums don't really factor in, and if they do, I can burn through what I like about the first three in a stripped-down playlist. And you'll notice that on 4/02 that's how my recent binge began, by snapping the "Essential Playlist" from Apple Music and running through the hits. But then a funny thing happened. I made it through said playlist - skipping the cover of grand funk railroad's egregious 'we're an american band,' a song I hate so much in all forms I can't even stand to capitalize the title when spelling it - and decided I wanted more. So I moved on to the two newest albums, one of which I'd given a shake back when it came out and laughed off as a blatant caricature of an artist's music I already consider a caricature. But you know what? At least for the moment, I'm really enjoying both records. There's a ton 'Zombie-isms' you have to roll with, but overall, they're fun in the most frivolous way. Take the song below; I absolutely love the sample that starts the song and how it morphs into a rhythm. The lyrics and delivery however, need to be taken with a grain of salt, as they're bad. And I'm not sure if the obvious classic Les Claypool delivery Zombie takes on those lyrics is enraging or endearing, but for now I just can't make it past how much I dig the rhythm of the song.

And we see by the video, all of Mr. Zombie's obsessions are, of course, still in place after all these years. Part of me recoils at my occasional dalliances with Zombie's music, but like I said, every now and again, it just scratches some itch that builds up over time.

Tonight might be a good night to finally show Kirsten The Devil's Rejects.

**

Playlist from 4/03:

Metallica - Garage Days Re-Revisited

Rob Zombie - Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor

Rob Zombie - The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration...

Boy Harsher - Country Girl E.P.

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

The Atlas Moth - The Old Believer

Canadian Rifle - A Peaceful Death

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "Enjoying the rewards of your endeavors."

2019: April 20th - Swamp Thing Teaser

This dropped a few days ago, but I haven't had time to post here. There's an article on Bloody Disgusting - I think - that mentions this show is going to be pulling a lot from Alan Moore's seminal run on the book, the one that not only redefined Wrightson and Wein's character, but arguably the comics industry in general. If I hadn't witnessed that insane Doom Patrol sequence I posted a few weeks ago, I'd probably be a lot more skeptical of this. As it stands, that's two shows on the DC Universe app that I want to give a shot. That said, I don't know that I intend on subscribing to a DC streaming app regardless of whether or not they bring up a show with Jesus handing out free passes, so I guess I'll wait and see. Still, kudos to DC on finally getting something going, because I happened to see about ten minutes of that JLA movie on cable in a hotel recently, and all I can say is, no thanks.

**

My trip to the comic shop did NOT decimate my wallet, and now I've had a morning's worth of new books to read. My favorite this month? The return of Rucka and Lark's Lazarus, but in a quarterly, prestige format, with a shit ton of back matter:

Also, there's two big conflicts - probably wars, actually, coming in two of my favorite titles, and while  I'm pretty excited, I'm also a little afraid of the body count that may follow as a result:

I'm especially concerned about what's coming in TWD. With issue 200 on the horizon, my prediction remains that Rick Grimes will die, probably before the anniversary issue, just because Kirkman likes to defy expectation.

**

Didn't get to watch The Last Drive-In last night, so K and I will be watching Joe Bob this evening. Can't wait! And I've never seen either of the films he played this week.





**

Playlist from 4/18:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Drab Majesty - Careless
Drab Majesty - Ellipses (Pre-release Single)

Playlist from 4/19:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Grand Duchy - Petite Fours
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Odonis Odonis - Reaction EP
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Faith No More - King for a Day
Thought Gang - Modern Music

Card for the day:

I really need to do a deep dive on this card. I'll not waste time with another abbreviated interpretation right now. Needless to say, I suppose I'm supposed to control my emotions, but that just doesn't seem to fit right now.

2019: March 28th: Helms Alee - Spider Jar

This new track from Helms Alee popped up in my youtube feed via Sargent House's channel. Wow. I know nothing of this band, but that changes today. From the forthcoming Noctiluca, out on Sargent House April 26th. Pre-order HERE.

**

Shadow Play Book One: Kim & Jessie is finished. Well, the writing part. I spent a good four hours over the last two days tweaking the layout in Scrivener and Veullum, and it's almost right, but not quite. It looks like I'll be spending all day Friday watching 'how-to' videos for both programs, trying to dial in those last little nuances. Oh yeah, I've also secured my all-important First Reader! Thank You, Missi!

**

If you're anywhere near my age - 43 - you remember a time before the Internet, when television required what we now refer to as Event Viewing. I'm not going to say that was necessarily better, but it's funny that, as we get further and further into the paradigm where we control the viewing experience 100% in most cases, there's still those of us who nostalgically long for an occasional movie or show to call the shots. I wouldn't want everything to revert to that paradigm because, hey, I'm freakin' busy, as I'm sure you are. But it's nice to have an event to look forward to every now and again. Shudder knows this. Joe Bob Briggs knows this. That's why, I am excited as all hell for tomorrow night and the inaugural Joe Bob Briggs The Last Drive In weekly Double Feature! I have no idea what JBB is showing, nor do I care. All that matters is that he is hosting.



**

Playlist from 3/27:

Bonobo - The North Borders
The National - You Had Your Soul With You (Pre-release Single)
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Brand New - Science Fiction
Windhand - Eternal Return
White Lung - Eponymous
Tamaryn - The Waves

Card of the day:

Balance and Harmony. The imagery on this card, perhaps more than any other in the deck, instills in my chest a calm and peaceful feeling. The Star sifts the cosmic waters of the Universe, which in a way, is what artists do. I feel good. I feel on track.

2018: December 30th

It's been a few years since I've put on any of Ween's music. Still one of my all-time favorite bands, their break-up back in 2012 I was heart-broken. A reunion seemed possible down the road, but it hurt regardless because Ween were two friends that had gown up and shared so much making music together, it was exactly like my friends and I - Grez, Mr. Brown, Sonny, Tim - who had done the same. Then, in 2014 Aaron Freeman - AKA Gene Ween - released this song and I was deeply affected by it. I found myself hoping Ween would not reunite; I didn't want him to end up back where he had been. And ever since I've felt a disconnect from Ween.

Then, two days ago a younger guy was listening to Mac Demarco. I'd heard Salad Days before, but something about it grabbed me in that moment. I put the album on my headphones and by the end had an irresistible urge to listen to Pure Guava. After Guava, I dipped right into Painting the Town Brown, and for the first time in probably ten years listened to the entire 25+ minute Poop Ship Destroyer version in sheer, invigorated awe.

I've avoided seeing Ween since they reunited in 2016, despite the fact that they've played near me countless times. I'm not sure I'll go see them live again - not because of a grudge, just because I've seen them live SO many times - but it's nice to reconnect with something I love in a purely organic way.

Stay Brown!

Links to The Horror Vision's 2018 Year in Horror:

Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Play

I watched a couple flicks last night.



First Marvel movie I've seen since Civil War, which, along with batman vs. superman, kinda broke my interest in big two comic book adaptations. I would have been fine skipping this one, too, except I have to say, the trailer for Endgame has me, and I figured I should see the flick that leads into it.

I didn't hate this, but I will say I absolutely hated the overbearing score by Alan Silvestri.

All along, I've been far more interested in where Marvel is ultimately going with the big picture for their cinematic universe, and Endgame looks like it will shut the door on the Avengers, at least for a time.



Fucking insane. That's all I can say. Must have been an influence on Panos Cosmatos.



I watched this one more because I was in a Joe Bob mood than for the movie itself. That Last Drive-In special is still up on shudder, under series I think, and each film and its adjacent commentaries are listed as episodes in the 'season.' Did I call Blue Sunshine insane? I was wrong. This IS insanity. Like Porky's fucked Ghoulies and had a horny, satanic baby that grew up and went to college with the revenge of the nerds cast.

Playlist from 12/29:

Shannon - Let the Music Play (Single)
Ministry - Animositisomina
Corrosion of Conformity - No Cross No Crown
Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Card of the day:

Not, I think, the beginning of a journey, but the end of one.

2018: December 22nd

It's hard for me to choose a favorite Prince song, and it's equally as hard for me to even choose a favorite Prince song off any given Prince album. Sign O' The Times Definitely ranks among my favorite of the man's work, partially because it is so of its time that when I listen to it the very cells in my body and brain move back to how they operated, circa 1987. I can see the ugly orange carpet we had in the living room, the weird 70s plaid sofa and loveseat; I can hear my dog Frisky barking over the sound of B96 low on the radio in my sister's bedroom. I can picture the chill of sneaking out of bed late on a cold Friday night in March to watch Friday Night Videos (we never had cable), and the strain of the title track from the album coming from the Magnavox tv. And for some reason, even though I didn't know or hear The Ballad of Dorothy Parker until later in life, listening to it now instantly evokes these sense-memories, in such a strong way that, if I close my eyes, I am right back there. Time Travel - I've sometimes wondered if it's just our sense of sight that prevents us from this feat, as though the things we build our world from specifically operate/exist within certain visual spectrum parameters, to prevent the layman from actually traveling into the past. Were this so, are there secret places where this is not the case? And who, if anyone, holds the keys to those places?

This weird psychonaut talk may be the result of watching most of the Joe Bob Briggs Christmas Phantasm Marathon last night on Shudder. The series gets pretty trippy as it goes on, so maybe it affected me in ways I did not anticipate...



The newest episode of The Horror Vision went up late last night. This past Thursday night Ray, Anthony, Chris, and myself were fortunate enough to have three of the main minds from Skeleton Crew on to discuss their new feature Secret Santa. Adam Marcus, Debra Sullivan, and Bryan Sexton steer the boat for a nice, meaty discussion on their movie, the horrors of holiday family dinners, independent filmmaking, the state of horror, plus, a lot of in-depth facets of the movie business as seen through a creator's eyes. Here's a trailer for Secret Santa, which I've seen twice now and which gets better every time. Links to our episode on all the usual platforms follow:



The Horror Vision: Secret Santa Interview Apple Podcasts
The Horror Vision: Secret Santa Interview Spotify
The Horror Vision: Secret Santa Interview Google Play
The Horror Vision: Secret Santa Interview 

Playlist from 12/21:

Ministry - The Last Sucker
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Card of the day:

Calm exterior, tempest inside. This is me at the moment. Nothing bad happening, just unable to find the time to work on everything I want to work on, let alone finish the goddamn book!

However, patience is virtue, and I sometimes feel as though I might have inexhaustible reserves of this precious commodity.

2018: November 22nd

One of the best songs of the 90s, hands down. I unexpectedly realized I still had one more 33 1/3 that Brown lent me to finish before my trek home to Chicago in two weeks, so last night I started Gina Arnold's entry into the 33 1/3 series, a kind of contextualization of Liz Phair's seminal indie rock album, Exile in Guyville. More the story of the fictitious Guyville (not so fictitious) and the gender politics of the early 90s indie rock scene than the story of the album, and that's good. So far this is a fascinating read. Also, digging back into the era that surrounds this record made me reconnect with Never Said and Guyville in general, a song I've loved and an album I dig for a long time now, but one that hasn't received any recent rotation space in my audio life.

Joe Bob Briggs returns to Shudder tonight with Dinners of Death! I have to work early tomorrow, so I don't know how much I'll see tonight, but hopefully this will remain on Shudder in perpetuity, much like The Last Drive In has since back in the spring.



Last night I watched three-quarters of the Shudder original Dead Wax. LOVE this. Written and directed by Graham Reznick, whose name anyone familiar with Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix will recognize as most often helming audio departments on films. Great debut that's essentially a movie chopped into 10-18 minute episodes, Dead Wax is about a legendary record that does strange things to reality when played and the people who have sought it through the years. Think John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns, but the world of rare record collecting instead of film collecting and you'll be in the ballpark.




Playlist from 11/21:

David Bowie - Low
Frankie Valli - Can't Take My Eyes Off of You (single)
Deaf Heaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Bell Witch - Longing
Testament - Demonic
Boy Harsher - Face the Fire (pre-release single)
Boy Harsher - Lesser Man
Chasms - On the Legs of Love Purified

Card of the day:

This is a direct response something outside of writing, so I'll take the advisement in silence.

2018: July 15th

To celebrate the Steelbook/Angela Figure exclusive Scream Factory announced last week. I won't be ponying up for it, at least not with the figure (no room for it), but it's pretty damn awesome.

Haven't been on here in a few days. Pulled a trip to Fingerprints in Long Beach on Friday during the day after K and I declared it a mental health day. Traded in a bunch of old CDs that didn't make the cut and used the credit to buy a couple gems on vinyl we'd been wanting.

Did a DwC Friday night and had the delightful Karen Kunawicz from the Manilla Times as our guest. Already editing it, so hopefully I'll have it up mid-week. As always, live feed is on our FB Page in perpetuity.

Spent most of Saturday, from about midnight to 8 PM watching the amazing Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder's The Last Drive In. A 24 hour horror movie marathon, this was basically a 27 hour horror movie party and I loved every second of it I caught (had to sleep for a few hours Friday night/Saturday morning). I'd never encountered Joe Bob Briggs before, and now that I've had a taste I can only hope this isn't, as he says, the last one of these he'll be doing. The entire event is up on Shudder as a season with each movie an episode. Each film has a considerably longer-than-usual runtime, as Mr. Briggs cuts in every so often to offer facts about each film, aside, stories, insights. This is the real draw, and I can only hope I can see him do this again, whether by having more, or through finding ways to watch the old Up All Night events.

Films played:

Tourist Trap
Sleepaway Camp
David Cronenberg's Rabid
The Prowler
Sorority Babes in the Slime Ball Bowl-O-Rama
Daughters of Darkness
Blood Feast
Basket Case
Herbert West: Re-Animator
Demons
The Legend of Boggy Creek
Hellraiser
Pieces

Great stuff, eh?

Playlist from the last few days has been sporadic at best with all the movies, so I'll refrain from posting it for now and pick back up tomorrow.

Card of the day:

Duality and completion.

2018: Happy Friday 13th! New Deafheaven Streaming via Anti-

Well, it's 12:27 AM. I've officially called out from work tomorrow. Mental Health day. AND the new Deafheaven just dropped! and their awesome label Anti- is streaming Ordinary Corrupt Human Love in it's entirety. I'm a little pissed that the vinyl copy I pre-orderd the day the album was announced has not shipped yet (or King's Road Merch/Anti- hasn't updated the order status on their website), but I've got it digitally and now I've got all night and all day to listen to it!



There's a Drinking w/ Comics live streaming on our Facebook page tonight at 9:00 PM Pacific Time. Check it out - we've got Karen Kunawicz as a guest. She's the entertainment columnist for the Manilla times and a good friend of Mike's so I'm psyched to talk geek shop with her.

And a BIG Also, Joe Bob Briggs is hosting a 24 hour horror marathon on Shudder starting at 6:00 PM Pacific (that's 9:00 PM Eastern Standard) and other than listening to Deafheaven and doing my show, I'll be watching that.

Comics I will (Try) to talk about tomorrow:

Earlier this evening I watched a flick on Shudder I'd not heard of before. Described as a modern Giallo, Cold Hell defied ALL of my expectations and proved to be a fabulous film. A Giallo that is not content to just hail the flags of the genre, Cold Hell is a story of violence, but more over it is a story of the human heart. That might sound a bit heavy handed, but it's not. Absolutely, positively recommended:



Followed that up with this classic:



Card of the day:

Balance. Kind of feel like that's what I'm doing now, by not going to work tomorrow. Sometimes you have to do that; call it a mental health day.