Daredevil: Born Again Trailer

I woke up with this in my head this morning and had to post. Such a gorgeous song! 

From Man Man's 2008 album Rabbit Habits, now a certified classic in my book. Check out Man Man's website HERE.

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Watch:

It feels like a long time since I cared about anything Marvel has done on the large or small screen. I recently tried to pick up Secret Invasion, where I left off before the strike and just found I couldn't care less. This, however, has my blood up: 

I'd previously read the new Marvel Daredevil continuity would eschew any connection to the previous Netflix series, but that does not seem to be the case. Also, holy cow, is that the White Tiger we see? Also, fucking awesome to have Bernthal return as Frank Castle. March 4th I know what I'll be watching!

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Playlist:

Primus - Frizzle Fry

Rollins Band - The End of Silence

Mudhoney - March to Fuzz: Best Of and Rarities

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Carpenter Brut - Blood Machines OST

Drug Church - Hygiene

Aidan Baker & Dead Neanderthals - Cast Down And Hunted

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

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Card:

Today's card is the Queen of Cups:

The emotional aspect of emotion, so this is a card that often needs a qualifying pull. Deals with deep, emotional realms of the personality. Associated with Binah, the Mother. Can indicate finding answers in dreams and/or imagination.

Man Man - Alibi

 

LOVING this new Man Man album, Carrot on Strings, which you can order HERE.

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Watch:

Holy smokes - Arrow Video is releasing The Last Starfighter on Blue Ray!

You can order the Blue Ray HERE. There's also a 4K HERE. I LOVED this flick as a kid. We didn't have cable but one of my Dad's friends did, and he used to record me movies onto blank VHS tapes that I would then watch over and over and over. The Last Starfighter was one of those, along with Predator, The Ghostbusters and Romancing the Stone. Somehow, though, it never made it into my adult collection. Going to remedy that real soon. 

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Playlist:

T. Rex - Electric Warrior

Various - Mulholland Drive OST

Liars - WIXIW

Man or Astro Man? - Live Transmissions from Uranus

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

T. Rex - The Slider

Angelo Badalamenti - Dark Water OST

The Besnard Lakes - ... Are the Dark Horse

Simple Minds - New Gold Dream

Hot Stove Jimmy - Theme For a Major Hit

T. Rex - Eponymous

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Ten of Cups

• V: The Hierophant

• X: Wheel of Fortune

Earthly fruition from a fleeting opportunity. I'll be keeping my eyes out for this one. I still try to take negative events - or, at least events I perceive to have negative connotations - and spin them positive. NOT always easy, but seeing this is a reminder to be on watch for something today.

Man Man - Odyssey

 

I am happy to report the new Man Man album is awesome! This one dropped last week, but I've had a hard time getting around to listening past an initial time. This song, however, made an indelible mark. Can't wait to really dig in this weekend. Order Carrot on Strings HERE.

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NCBD:

I haven't had a chance to post my NCBD picks this week yet. Better late than never. Here's what I picked up:

The best book I'm reading monthly at the moment. This one just transforms in the most interesting, natural, seductive ways issue by issue. Love the character development - especially in this latest issue.

Shockwave and the Combaticons arrive on a Space Bridge from Cybertron? Holy. Crap. There's something going on in between the lines here that makes me think that, just maybe, the Autobots aren't the noble good guys we have always known them to be. Not that they're evil, but what looks like heroism on our world may come from a darker place in their history on the home planet. We'll see. 

I missed the first issue of Dan Watters and Ram V's Creature From the Black Lagoon Lives! when it dropped a few weeks ago, but snatched up a second printing this week because in our house, the Creature Rules! Well, K and I are both big fans of the Universal Monsters in general, but this guy and big Frank are our favorites. With great art and colors by Matthew Roberts and Dave Stewart respectively, I really dug this issue!

And then there's a new book by Zac Thompson that sounded pretty cool. I missed grabbing it, however, Ryan and Walter at Rick's ordered me a copy, so it's a'coming.

From Dark Horse's solicitation:

"A group of climate scientists working in a remote base camp on the Australian outback discover an impossible landform. They venture inside expecting the unexpected, and the titular Unbeing delivers. True to the traditions of cosmic horror, they discover an anomalous environment that defies everything they think they know about the world."

Sounds pretty cool, and Thompson has some killer books.

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Watch:

Ben Bigelow's debut feature Thine Ears Shall Bleed recently got a trailer:

Maybe it has more to do with it's Doom Metal-ish title, but I'm definitely curious about this one. Looks a bit like The Wind and What Josiah Saw. I'm not seeing a hard release date yet, but I'll be keeping my eyes out for it.

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Playlist:

Alice in Chains - Jar Of Flies

The Jesus Lizard - Down

Soundgarden - Superunknown

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In

Ween - Chocolate & Cheese

Pigface - Notes From the Underground

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk Edition)

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magick

Alice in Chains - Dirt

The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps

Bandsplain Podcast - Remembering Steve Albini

Sinéad O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Knight of Swords - The Firey aspect of Air or the Will as applied to Intellect. 

• Nine of Pentacles - Climax; Accomplishment of Earthly concerns, i.e., materializing the idea into a tangible form, i.e., finishing the books.

• Ace of Swords - Breakthrough in operations. Rethinking how I do things.

Time to think a bit harder about those projects that are near completion. This will lead to accomplishment and a breakthrough that may alter the way I approach my creativity.

Man Man - Alibi

 

From Carrot on Strings, out on June 7th. Pre-order from Man Man's Bandcamp HERE. 

LOVE having these guys back.

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Play:

When I first heard of Puppet Combo back somewhere around 2017 (I think), it was in reference to a game called The Glass Staircase that seemed to have major Suspiria vibes. I did not own a game console of any kind, and I hadn't played a video game since the original Nintendo system (other than some DDR at arcades and a DDR enthusiast friend's house). I dug Puppet Combo's aesthetic so much I bought the game from their website for the computer, and struggled through attempting to play it with the direction arrows on my Mac.

Needless to say, I didn't get far.

Thus, a few years ago when I saw PC's name pop up with the announcement that their games were going to begin porting over to consoles, I bought a Switch solely to play them. First up - Nun Massacre, a game that I've mentioned here before scares the living shit out of me when I play.

Since then, there have been a handful of releases, and I've loved them all. Now, finally, The Glass Staircase is coming to Switch. I know what I'll be doing on May 24th (actually, I'll be driving to Chicago, but I'll probably stay up late the night before to download the game). 

Also available for other consoles as well; read the full article that put me in such a good mood this morning over on Bloody Disgusting HERE.

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Read:

Over on The Horror Vision, we recently resurrected Sticks n' Stones, our Folk Horror show that Ray and I started in 2022 with two episodes and then kind of let slip away. A lot happened in 2022, and I'd wanted to bring the show back for a while. Finally, our cohost Anthony (AKA Butcher) brought this up recently, and we recorded a new episode. In prepping for that, I began not only rewatching many of the films in Severin Film's BRILLIANT box set, All the Haunts Be Ours. I also began reading the anthology book that came with the set, All The Haunts Be Ours - edited by documentary filmmaker Kier-La Janisse. 

This turns out to be perfect reading for our first morning in Laurel, MS, as the Air BnB K and I are staying in is referred to as "The Hobbit House." While I haven't really been a fan of Tolkien's work since I was a child, the vibe fits with my reading and this current "Folk" state of mind. Also, I went back and pulled out an old issue of the Weird Walk Zine I've spoken about here previously.

This is a favorite for getting me into the "Folkloric" state of mind; the essay on John Constable's paintings by Justin Hopper, complete with Bauhaus song name chapter stops, really helps. 

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Playlist:

The Raveonettes - Return of the Grievous Angel (pre-release single)

The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust

The Raveonettes - Pretty In Black

Amy Winehouse - Frank

Run the Jewels - RTJ4

Searching For The Sons of Sam Podcast

The Damned - Night of the Living Damned

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

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Card:

Another single card today, this time from my travel Thoth deck that Missi gifted me years ago:

This feels about right, not only because our accommodations are so wonderful (Link to the Hobbit House HERE), but because Laurel has so many trees! The oxygen here is off the charts; what more could beings who live off the stuff ask for? Not much, because we feel wonderful because of it. Let the luxurious reinvigoration begin!

New Music From Man Man and Alien Romulus Gets a Teaser!!!

 

New music from Man Man! From the forthcoming album Carrots on Strings, out June 7th on Subpop. Pre-order HERE.

Man, after Ryan Ketner showed up in Josh Forbes' Destroy All Neighbors two months ago, I've been lamenting not having more than one Man Man record in nearly ten years - 2020's Dream Hunting in the Valley In-Between was the first record since 2013's On Oni Pond, which just feels like a lifetime ago. Anyway, here we are - a new record and an insane new song that sounds, at times, like something from Six Demon Bag. I'd love to see whatever the band looks like live again - last time was for 2011's Life Fantastic and they were awesome! Shit, I'll even put aside my crippling dislike of "John Travolta" for them.

 

I think...

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Yes!!!!

The Blood! The Screams! The ambiguity - this is everything I want in both a teaser and a new Alien movie directed by Fede Fucking Alvarez! 

I have the highest of hopes that Fede has been allowed to bring to Alien what he brought to Evil Dead - an unflinching, brutal approach. Alien doesn't, by nature, allow the creator to shy away from a certain level of brutality, but come on, let's make this as horrific as possible! Let's merge the nightmarish approach of Alien Resurrections - which does indeed suffer from a lot of craft issues but overall has some of the most terrifying ideas and images of all the films - and the non-stop attack of Aliens. If anyone can do it, Mr. Alvarez can. 

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Playlist:

Yawning Balch - Volume One

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Bite

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Are You Normal?

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - brainbloodvolume

Chris Brokaw - Puritan

Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over

Man Man - Life Fantastic

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

• Page of Swords - Stop. Breathe. Assess. Applies to both my life at this very moment and my character's.

• Queen of Wands - Unceasing female energy. Know when you're fighting just for the love of fighting. Definitely Lisa's (my character)

• VII: The Chariot - Emerging Victorious from a trying time. Again, this applies to both me and Lisa. 

K has a low Vitamin D deficiency, and that means I have been tasked by her doctor with giving her inter-muscular Vitamin D injections once a week for the next four weeks, starting today. Have I mentioned how absolutely terrified of needles I am? 

In terms of Lisa, she will emerge victorious, but only at the cost of a major compromise. Once again, I read this as an acknowledgment that I'm on the right track.

New Music from Man Man!

From Man Man's forthcoming Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, the band's first album since 2013's On Oni Pond. You can pre-order the new record from Sub Pop HERE.

As much as I love Man Man, they had completely fallen off my radar until, maybe two or three months ago, I went through a little jag with 2011's Life Fantastic. Then, a few days ago, Mr. Brown messaged me about the new record, and now I find myself quite anxious for May 1st and the first new record by the group in seven years.

What I did find while digging around in Apple Music, was that Man Man released an EP in 2019, two songs, both of which are fantastic, but one I adore. Here's that song, too:



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Having been in something of a funk the last week or so, I left work a skosh early yesterday with the desire to do nothing more than recharge by watching a couple flicks. I went with Benson and Moorehead's Resolution and The Endless, the second of which I'd watched before, October 2018, and not really liked. The links for my micro reviews on Letterbxd are linked to each title, suffice it to say, I loved Resolution, and it is now my opinion in order to fully appreciate the themes and situations of The Endless, you have to watch them one after the other. Not necessarily in one sitting, but it helps. Both are exceptional films - I'm really kind of staggered by the elegance of The Endless and its metaphors, and now I can't wait for the two creators' next film, Synchronic, which seems as though it should have already been released, and which I'm pretty sure will deal with Flower, the hallucinogenic plant people smoke in both films.

Normally, I'd post trailers, but I think any pre-knowledge will ultimately take away from both films, so I figured I'd use the awesome poster art and be done with it. Resolution is currently streaming on Prime, and The Endless is on Netflix.


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Playlist:

Man Man - Cloud Nein (pre-release single)
Man Man - Beached (Single)
Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool
Neon Kross - Darkness Falls
Thundercat - Dragonball Durag (pre-release single)
Parliament - Mothership Connection

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Card:

Lots of red, with authoritarian overtones. Mars. Pretty sure this is a sign to pull myself up out of my funk and get back to work.

Man Man - Head On (Hold On To Your Heart)

There are a lot of reasons to love the newest Man Man record On Oni Pond (13 of them in fact). This is probably my favorite of those reasons. Honus Honus has really developed a heartfelt mode of expression that really hits home with me and it's made the difference between Man Man being a cool, weird band I like to being something that moves me deeply and occupies a very consistent place in my heart.

Thank you Man Man!

NEW MAN MAN!!!

Another case of something I watched for everyday for so long and then, the moment I stopped watching it arrived. I like all Man Man's records but 2011's Life Fantastic, to me, was really a level up. It still receives regular play in my car and now we have On Oni Pond due Sept. 10th on ANTI. If Head ON is any indication, this will be another game changer for the band.

New Man Man in 2013!!!

Yes!!! Apparently the band is trying for a summer release after recording the record in three weeks and beginning mixes now. There's a great interview with Honus in Paste here. They've been trying songs out live so I set to scouring the old tubeU but haven't found anything yet. However, despite The Life Fantastic not leaving my CD player or iPod from about the time it was released in April 2011 to Autumn of the same year I somehow had never seen this video for Piranhas Club before now. Careful - this made me smile up and down for quite some time after first watching it (like the song doesn't do that enough. Great video). It's not going to play here, just follow the link - Anti seems overly protective of this but hey, that's cool.