Morphine

 

From 2000's The Night, Morphine's final album. Excellent track to close out their discography and career, even if their end came way too early. I'm realizing tonight that this past July 3rd marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mark Sandman's death. Twenty-five years... 

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Watch:

Seeing that Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's new film The Soul Eater hit VOD yesterday made me extremely excited. I didn't even know they had a new film on the way. 

There is no way I'm posting a trailer here; this film is NOT what you think it's going to be, and I can only imagine the trailer will give something away. Regardless, if you're a fan of Bustillo and Maury's work (Inside, The Deep House, Livid, Among the Living), I think you'll agree The Soul Eater is a worthy addition to their body of work. If you're unfamiliar, give it a shot. These guys make really great Horror films, and Simon Roca's cinematography is fantastic to boot!

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Playlist:

Nirvana - Dive (single)

NIN - Year Zero

Crippled Black Phoenix - The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over

Drug Church - Prude

Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9

Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit Vol. 1

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Morphine - The Night

Prince - Sign O' the Times

The Bangles - Angels Don't Fall in Love (B-side to Walk Like an Egyptian single)

Smashing Pumpkins - Drown (single)

Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

ten Athlone - Street Trash (single)

Dreamkid - Daggers

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Card:

Today's card for study is XVII: The Star:

Yeah, I know I usually kind of poke fun at Crowley's writings on these cards, but this is one I actually really like his entry for. Nuith - the Lady of the Stars. Allow me to quote directly from The Book of Thoth:

"The Universe is here resolved into its ultimate elements... Behind the figure of the goddess is the celestial globe. Most prominent among its features is the seven-pointed star of Venus, as if declaring the principal characteristic of her nature to be Love. From the golden cup she pours ethereal water, which is also milk and oil and blood, upon her own head, indicating the eternal renewal of the categories, the inexhaustible possibilities of existence."

This is everything. I've come to realize that while the Thoth Trumps build toward the climax of Crowley's Magickal worldview, to me, The Star is the essence of life. Maybe not of reality, but of life as we know it as humans. Perpetual renewal. The image shows Nuith, the cosmic mother, essentially bailing the waters of life over herself. She is literally awash in the essence of life. This is a coded representation of humanity - we're supposed to renew. To bail. Instead, we situate and stagnate. This card is a reminder to live Life. 

From the Girmoire: "Create unto and within yourself a Universe, shaped of your strengths and built upon your accomplishments as a foundation."

Morphine

 

Taking a cue from Heaven is an Incubator and posting some Morphine. Love this band, love this track. It's been a minute since I pulled any of their albums out, and doing so now makes me realize that in the four years or so now that I've been using Apple Music, I've not taken advantage of it insofar as finally filling in the gaps I have with this band, one of the most unique and listenable bands from a decade where both those attributes seemed abundant. Not every band with a unique sound from that era has aged well; maybe it will pass, but there's a lot of music I considered unique then that feels dated because of it now. Not Morphine. It's a tired metaphor, but Mark Sandman, Dana Colley, Jerome Deupree and Billy Conway's music truly is like a fine wine - it only gets better with age.

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Watch:

Chalk this one up as another upcoming Horror flick I almost missed:

Amazon dropped the trailer for their upcoming University Horror flick Master last week, and it looks creepy A.F. This one lands next week on the 18th, in theatres and on Prime. 

And as long as we're talking about upcoming Horror movies, This is the best f*&king news I've heard in quite some time.

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NCBD:

Frank Castle in the Hand? Well, that's an original take. I'm cursing myself already for giving this one a shot, but I'm super curious so I'll at the very least be grabbing this first issue.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it here at some point recently or not, but when I heard Beta Ray Bill was in Thor 22, I had to pick it up. And seeing as how that issue is the third in the current God of Hammers storyline, I went back and tried to grab issues 19 and 20 as well, only they were long gone. Apparently, Mjölnir is now a sentient character - that's him/her/they on the cover of issue 21's second printing, which I'll be picking up tomorrow, along with the finale of the storyline, issue 23.

That's a long way to go for what seems to be a brief appearance by BRB, but the story's pretty good, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out. 

Advance word has it that the penultimate issue of X Deaths of Wolverine is bloody and nasty and crazy. We'll see.

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Playlist:

The Police - Synchronicity

The Fixx - Walkabout

Helmet - Aftertaste

Blanck Mass - Animated Violence Mild

Boris - Pink

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Nachtmystium - Addicts: Black Meddle, Part II

Various - Joe Begos' Bliss Spotify Playlist

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Card:

Another three-card pull.

Past = 5 of Wands: Strife. I have been extremely uneasy in my own skin, and part of that has been a reticence to commit to a short-term writing project. Lots of ideas, but I flit from one to another without any commitment.

Present = 0: The Fool. Fresh starts. In this case, over and over again. Usually The Fool is a welcome sight, an inclination that a new adventure or project is about to begin. Here, I believe it's akin to spinning my wheels.

Future = 8 of Cups: Indolence. The warning: What one and two have done so far is keep me in a kind of holding pattern that intermittently results in non-activity, or, in the classic definition of this card at face value, inactivity. I need to break this. So how about a final, clarifying card?

Again, my inclination is to take this literally - well, okay, as literal as "The Universe" can be, and read this as what comes next. In other words, the next project I work on, I stick to. I'm off tomorrow for a visit to the lung doctor, and other than hitting the Bug for NCBD, the plan is to write. I'm pretty sure I know what the winning project will be, but I guess you never know.