Jim Williams - Possessor

I can feel a viewing of Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor on the horizon. I've become quite entranced by the score, which I'd always enjoyed in the context of the film but hadn't completely warmed to as a stand-alone listen. That ended yesterday, when I played the album - and this track in particular - over several times. 

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NCBD:

It's New Comic Book Day! Here are my picks:

The final issue. I still haven't been able to physically acquire issue three, although Mike Shin has a copy for me at Amazing Fantasy in Frankfort. Since I never subbed Syzmon Kurdanski's Blood Commandment at Rick's, it's a toss-up whether or not I actually bring issue four home today. If not, I'll call Mike. 

Not going to lie; I cannot wait to read this issue just based on the cover alone. Something about the image of Lorna Dane in her father's armor just feels like, yeah, something I've always wanted but never put into words or even coherent thought.

James Tynion IV and Josh Hixon's The Deviant continues to spiral deeper into a psycho-social mystery that, although we already know who (or what) the killer is, carries a 

I still can't believe we're three issues from the end. Damn. Looking around online, I've yet to see any concrete information as far as whether the new Jason Aaron series will continue the continuity built up over 150 glorious issues of this series or if it will just restart everything. Hoping for the former, afraid for the latter. 

The cover says it all. I never thought I'd see Optimus Prime wearing Megatron's Canon arm, but then, between everything we've seen in the pages of Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers and Joshua Williamson's Cobra Commander, I guess I should now just be prepared for a lot of surprises when it comes to these two long-time properties.

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Watch:

I showed K Destroy All Neighbors yesterday. She loved it. So did I; totally holds up upon second viewing.

 

The vocoder hostage negotiation scene is one of the funniest things I've seen in recent years. Directed by Josh Forbes and written by Charles A. Pieper, along with Jared Logan and Mike Benner, this one really arrived at the right time for me. Horror-comedy is a favorite when it's done right, and this does it exactly right. There are so many '90s Oddball vibes in here. Then, of course, factor in Gabriel Bartalos, and you have a straight-up win all around. The prosthetics on Alex Winter are INSANE, and he does an outstanding job acting through them. In fact, there's a fantastic article in the latest Fangoria about this that really peeled back the curtain on some of the production (though not too much to eclipse the overall film). 

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Playlist:

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: A Dialogue with the Stars

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full

Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image

Tears for the Dying - Memories

Justin Hamline - The House with Dead Leaves

Psychetect - Extremism

Morphine - The Night

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Card:

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

• 0: The Fool

• Eight of Cups

• XIII: Death

A journey starts and almost immediately fails and ends. Rapid prototyping? I have to think about this one for a bit, as depending on how I choose to interpret it, this may be advice on opting out of a project I was planning on releasing soon. I don't feel like said project 'failed,' although I did think it would be done by now. That said, I took a huge jump forward with it, then relaxed because, honestly, I have really lost the thread with Writing since December. I just didn't get very much done in January while I was in L.A., and it's only yesterday that I began actively carving out a workspace for it. 

New Music From Beth Gibbons!!!

 

Holy smokes - new music from Beth Gibbons! Interesting synchronicity, as I cracked out Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs for the first time in a while. Gibbons' voice is legendary, and I'm into pretty much anything she does, so the fact that this new solo album, Lives Outgrown, drops on May 17th on Domino Records is very good news indeed. Pre-order HERE.

Man, this sounds a lot like something that could have fit into Portishead's Third. Love that!!!

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Watch:

I want to watch this trailer for Late Night With the Devil SO F*&KING BAD. Not going to do it, though.

Opening in theatres on March 22nd, this is one that, if my local Regal doesn't get it, I will travel for. I've really grown to love David Dastmalchian - his performance in The Last Voyage of the Demeter blew me away, as I did not even realize it was him until well after the movie ended - and I've just generally become a fan of everything he does. His comic Count Crowley - about a TV Horror Host - makes me incredibly happy (what I've read of it, that is), and his brief appearance in Rob Savage's The Boogeyman ranked as possibly the best performance in a movie full of them. Couple all that with the little bit I know about Late Night with the Devil's concept (not much), and I'm practically frothing at the mouth for this one. No reason then, to let possible oversaturation of the trailer ruin anything for me.

 

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Read:

I am happy to report I was totally blown away by the first issue of Simon Spurrier, Aaron Campbell and Jordie Bellaire's new Hellblazer series, John Constantine Hellblazer: Dead in America.

Full disclosure: I haven't read the previous two volumes of Spurrier's Hellblazer. In fact, I haven't really read any new John Constantine material since, well, long before the original Vertigo series ended. I've picked up a few number ones since the title was brought back under the "Sandman Universe" umbrella - the new sub-heading for DC's Black Label that basically indicates, "Former Vertigo Glory Days Title," because I definitely think Constantine - while I LOVE the character - is really only done a disservice by an ongoing title. So I'm reading Dead in America based on that idea, that I haven't checked in on a solely JC-focused title in years and am about due for a fix. This proved perfect because it incorporates Dream of the Endless in a story setup that takes us all the way back to John's encounter with the previous iteration of Dream in the very first Sandman storyline. Very cool way to bring things back around and give it a nostalgic twist that felt more story-driven than story-derivative. 

This looks to be a four-issue series, and I'll be sticking around for the duration, so you'll definitely hear more about this one. 

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Playlist:

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

Various Artists - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

Alice Donut - Dry Humping the Cash Cow

Witchfinder - Forgotten Mansion

Beth Gibbons - Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No. 3 Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs

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Card:

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

• King of Wands

• Ace of Swords

•XVIII - The Moon

The King (or Prince in Thoth) of Wands is the Airy aspect of Fire - Drive and motivation. The Ace of Swords (what my mind keeps seeing as the Ace of Spades this morning) is a Breakthrough. Enlightenment. seeing Clearly or the intellect as a bridge to the unconscious mind. The Moon is something occulted, i.e. what am I not seeing. All of this is commentary on the last 12 hours and money situations, not bad, just seeing things clearly (which I don't always do in regards to the cheddar).

Amigo the Devil - Once Upon a Time at Texaco (Pt. 1)

 

New music from Amigo the Devil's forthcoming album Yours Until the War is Over, out February 23rd on Liars Club Records. Pre-order HERE. 

Interestingly enough, there is no "Pt. 2" on the album. Hahaha. Leave 'em in suspense, eh? Brilliant.

 

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NCBD:

Short week, which is great when you consider that I haven't yet read everything from my four-week pull I picked up last week.

Really digging this Bloodrik series by Andrew Krahnke. Sad to see it go after only three issues. I know issue one sold out and had a second print run. Hopefully, that bodes well for a continuation (or anything from Mr. Krahnke) down the road.

Good lord - I feel as though it's been months since the first issue of Count Crowley: Mediocre Monster Hunter hit the stands. And in all that time, I still haven't completed my run of the second Crowley series or acquired the first. Series Writer/Creator David Dastmalchian is a heck of a busy guy, what's my excuse? (I guess my excuse is I'm a pretty busy guy, too).

New, three-issue crime comic from Ram V and Laurence Campbell. Crime Noir that might have a SciFi bent to it. I'm not really sure, but then again, I love going in blind. 

Great thing about picking up four weeks of comics last week, is it shortens the wait between issues! I just read X-Men 30 and loved it, so here we go again. Now with more Nimrod!

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Watch:

Rose Glass's Saint Maud was one of the movies that suffered the most from the jilted release schedule COVID caused, and although I did eventually get to see it - well after what should have been its theatrical release - the entire time I sat in front of my television I just kept thinking how much better the film would have been served by a big-screen viewing. 

I get the same "Cinematic" vibes from this trailer for Glass's new film, the upcoming Love Lies Bleeding. I know they released a new trailer this morning, however, I'm not watching that. I only really saw this one because it played before something I saw in the theatre recently. Good news is it really only solidified my goal of seeing this in the theatre:

The vibe I get from everything I know about Love Lies Bleeding so far reminds me a bit of the Cohen Brothers' Blood Simple. I'm not entirely sure why I say that, but there's a grime here that harkens back to that fabled debut. Whether that's entirely shy of the mark or not, I'm really looking forward to this one, which hits theatres on March 8th.

 

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Playlist:

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

Melvins - Working the Ditch (single)

Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatment

Turnstile - Glow On

Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling

Pixies - Trompe le Monde

Pixies - Indie Cindy

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

Yerusalem - The Sublime

Assembly Line People Program - Eponymous EP

Justin Hamline - A Veil for the Three Sisters (Un velo per tre sorelle) (single)

QOTSA - In Times New Roman

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Card:

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

• Eight of Cups

• Queen of Wands

• Three of Pentacles

In the Crowley/Harris Thoth Deck, the Eight of Cups is "Indolence," and can carry with it a connotation of low or lacking energy/vitality. This is a "Change," and reading these cards here as such, the transition to the Queen of Wands - The Watery Aspect of Fire, I draw on the "tame thyself" interpretation I'd long ago written in the Grimoire. Finally, Three of Pentacles suggests balance. Taken together, all of this suggests something of a crossroads. One of the things I'd hoped my month-long work trip would catalyze is a total change to my at-home protocols. I need to get over having to drive out to a coffee shop after work to write. I can easily use some of the built-in downtime of my WFH scenario to make incremental progress on any number of projects.

Butthole Surfers Week Day 4

From 1987's Locust Abortion Technician. This album has always struck me as kind of the halfway point between the total madness of the earliest Surfers' albums and what would come later. Not to say there's anything 'sane' about LAT; on the contrary, I just feel like the production was ticked up a notch on this one. Case in point: "Human Cannonball," where the kick drum actually shakes your walls (when you listen as loud as I do), the bass guitar could almost be from a Buzzcocks or Magazine record, and Gibby's voice isn't just clear, he's got a whole host of new FX to fuck with.

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NCBD:

Thankfully, this week, I only have 2 books in my Pull, one of which is Amazing Fantasy in Chicago. I say luckily, because I'll be picking up four weeks of comics from Rick's after work today. My wallet is already weeping. Here are today's titles:

I dug Duke issue one, despite the fact that I don't really care at all about Conrad S. Hauser. This is our window into the GIJOE aspect of Robert Kirkman's Energon Universe, though, and I'm excited to get this going. (I really can't wait to read last week's Cobra Commander #1- saw what I think is a spoiler image and it's NUTS!)

The Penultimate issue of Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows' The Ribbon Queen. I probably won't be picking up my books from AF until March (unless I ask Mike to ship them, a service they do offer). Can't wait to read this one start to finish.

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Watch:

This looks goddamn terrifying:

 

I watched this trailer once and, within moments, knew I would now be praying this one hits my local Regal on February 23rd. There's not a lot of films that can actually scare an adult in 2024 - the real world is already scary enough - but this? This looks like it will do the trick. Something about dolls. Maybe it's a residual trauma from seeing the Poltergeist clown as a kid, or maybe it's the Uncanny Valley thing. Certainly all the Thomas Ligotti didn't help.

This is a debut feature from Writer/Director Robert Morgan (he shares the writing credit for Stopmotion with Robin King). Morgan previously directed "D is for Deloused," one of the films in ABCs of Death 2. You can read an old interview with him about that short HERE. 

I'm really looking forward to this one. 

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Playlist:

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

Stephen Sanchez - Angel Face

The Bronx - (II)

R0BBER - La Cosa Nostra EP

Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician

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New Music From Arab Strap!!!

 

I'm writing this part of today's post on Tuesday the 23rd. I've been listening to Arab Strap for about the last two hours, so how weird is it that when I clicked over to youtube to find a song to post, I see that a new Arab Strap track dropped two hours ago, and a new album is out Februrary 9th! Holy smokes - Awesome! 

You can go HERE to Pre-order I'm totally fine with it 👍 Don't give a fuck anymore 👍 - yes, the emogis are part of the actual title! Check out this cover!!!

Love it! Man, it feels so good to have Malcolm and Aiden back. 

 

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NCBD:

The final of my "away pulls." Can't wait to get back home and pick the last few week's of comics up. 

So according to Image Comics' website, issue 16 is the Newburn series finale. That's a bummer, but at the same time, the storyline is twisting these characters' lives into such a knot, I'd mentioned recently that I couldn't possibly see how this book could last that much longer. Kudos to the creators for sticking to their guns and telling the story they set out to tell. 

We all knew he'd be back, but since Mags destroyed his backup, I'm pretty curious what version this resurrected one will take.

Another series ending soon. Tenement has been a fantastic ride, with the last two issues really pushing the storyline of the overall Bone Orchard Mythos forward. Can't wait to see what's next, but until then, I'm pretty sure these last few issues will be increasingly bizarre and horrific in the fashion only Lemire and Sorrentino can manage.

And yet another BOMBSHELL ending - the news that this title ends with the upcoming issue 150 hit comic news outlets recently. TMNT began again under the IDW banner back in 2012; I picked up the first issue and have enjoyed every single one since. The other end of that big news is that Jason Aaron is taking over the upcoming new title - still under IDW - but what I'm unclear about is if that book will begin a brand new continuity, or continue this one. I hope for the former but also pine a bit for the latter; it would be nice to drop a book from the pull and let this series just sit immortalized in time as the perfect gem it is.

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Watch:

Last night I finally got the chance to see Yorgos Lanthimos' new film, Poor Things. Even better, I got to see it with two good friends at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre. I've posted the trailer here previously, so here's a gorgeous poster:

The only other film by Mr. Lanthimos I've seen is Killing of a Sacred Deer, however, that is one of the best "What the absolute F*ck" viewings I've had in the last ten years, so it instantly endeared the creator to me, while also kind of made me a touch afraid of his work. There is something so all-consuming about Deer, that I've kept The Lobster and The Favorite at bay for years. 

That changes now.

I put a spoiler-free review up on Letterbxd HERE, but in a nutshell Poor Things is beautiful, odd, perverse, tender, vulgar and a touch transgressive, all coming together to make an utterly unique experience.

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Playlist:

Tar - Clincher

Tar - Holding Fast Hitting Long (Live)

The Bronx - V

The Bronx - (II)

The Bronx - (III)

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet

Arab Strap - The Red Thread

Arab Strap - Philophobia

The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen

Jay Reatard - Singles 06-07

Carpenter Brute - Leather Terror

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Card:

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

• Six of Swords

• Eight of Cups

• XVII: The Star

New Dandy Warhols!!!

New Dandy Warhols, from the forthcoming album Rockmaker, out March 15th. Pre-order HERE.

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NCBD:

Jesus. My box is going to be full when I return to Clarksville and pick up my books from Rick's Comic City. Here's what is being added to it this week:

Ash! Evil Ash! 1990s and the far-future. This one has it all, true believers!

Still one of my favorite books to read each month. 

The Deviant is such a gnarly book. Really happy this is going longer than what I originally thought was a three-issue series. 

What's the Furthest Place From Here goes on hiatus after the next issue, so I'm a bit bummed. That said, I can't wait to see how the current arc ends and where that puts us in Boss and Rosenberg's world.

The High Evolutionary returns! I'm not sure how exactly this ties in with the "Fall of the House of X;" doesn't matter because, again, the High Evolutionary.

Cobra Commander. 'Nuff said. I find it interesting that the main characters of this short, lead-in series are apparently Destro, Zarana, CC himself and Mercer. Man, Kirkman's Energon Universe is really going out of its way to do something different with this long-running property. 

Man, could we get a High Evolutionary/Cobra Commander crossover at some point in the future? Probably not, but it's nice to dream.

Additionally for today, the final issue of Enfield Gang Massacre will be in my Chicago Pull at Amazing Fantasy, and I'll probably grab these other two from the Comic Bug while I'm in the South Bay next weekend:

I had incorrectly assumed issue five of Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips' The Enfield Gang Massacre was the final chapter. Nice to see I was wrong and we get one more. Can't wait to get this from Amazing Fantasy and finally read the series start to finish.

I'm still not putting ARAH on my pull list, but for the time being, I'm enjoying seeing where this series and these characters have been since I last checked in on them circa 1991.

I thought I'd give this new Hellblazer series a chance. 

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Watch:

 

In. Totally in.

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Playlist:

T. Rex - The Slider

Fugazi - Red Medicine

Fugazi - 13 Songs

Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar

Danzig With Myself - Rockmaker (pre-release singles)

Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls and Marches

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Card:

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

• Three of Swords 

• Four of Swords 

• Four of Pentacles

I continue to be fascinated by the frequency with which I draw Swords in this deck. I feel like these, coupled with the Four of Pentacles may point to my not using my intellect in regards to Earthly matters. Money? Possibly. 

David Bowie - Where Are We Now?

 

Eight years gone. I picked this song as it was Bowie's first song back after the eight-year hiatus that followed 2005's Reality. I vividly remember seeing the video pop up somewhere online at work that morning, and when I watched it, I felt such an amazing melancholy. It was almost as if Bowie had channeled all the uncertainty that had begun to bubble up in our society, and looking back on it now, I'm fairly certain he already knew he was sick. That makes Where Are We Now? something of a prequel to Black Star's Lazarus, the song I'm pretty sure everyone associates the most with his passing just three short years after this one's release.

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NCBD:

I'm not at home to pick up my Pull at Rick's Comic City, however, here's what will be waiting for me:

Issue three of Syzmon Kurdranski's Blood Commandment. More people need to read this one. Beautiful and, although so far fairly straightforward, this book owns its tropes. This one's actually not on my Pull yet (I don't think), so I'll probably grab a copy at the Comic Bug next time I'm in the South Bay.

I loved the first issue of Andrew Krahnke's Bloodrik so very much, and have been dying to get my hands on this second issue. I might actually drop into the Bug and pick up a copy along with Blood Commandment.

Last week's first issue of The Fall of the House of X was pretty good, so here's to hoping its counterpart will also swing big and connect. I like that this is essentially a sequel to Hickman's "Dominion Future" arc from House and Powers and am curious to see how these two books work together to bring us into whatever the "Post Krakoa" era will be, even if I'm not necessarily planning to stick around for it.

Daniel Warren Johnson. 'Nuff said.

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Watch:

My good friend and Horror Vision co-conspirator John sent me this trailer last night. 

 

Despite my recently cultivated disgust with trailers, I watched this one. I figured Quentin Depieux's films are so f*#king out there, a teaser probably couldn't give anything away. 

I'm new to Dupieux's films. In fact, I've only seen Deerskin so far. However, I love that film in ways I can barely explain (although John, Missi, Anthony, and I try on THIS episode of The Horror Vision Presents: Elements of Horror) and am looking forward to burning through the rest of his filmography. 

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Playlist:

Marilyn Manson - We Are Chaos

NIN - With Teeth

Danzig - 777: I Luciferi

Ganser - Odd Talk

Finom - Ghost (single)

FACS - Still Life in Decay

Colter Wall - Sleeping On Blacktop

Moving Histories Podcast - Episode 1: Ridley Scott's Napoleon

The Damage Manual - Eponymous

Turnstile - Glow On

Rein - Reincarnated

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Card:

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

• Seven of Swords

• Four of Swords

* XII - Hanged Man

Jumping the Turnstile for January Giallo!

 

It's been a couple years since I checked in on Turnstile. About two and a half years, according to a quick metadata search on my posts here. At the time, a friend was photographing their L.A. shows regularly, and I hadn't really ventured past their 2016 album Nonstop Feeling, and I guess I kind of unfairly judged them on that record. Then, a few weeks ago while hanging out with my good friend Jacob, he mentioned their most recent album - from 2021, so just about when I was listening - GLOW ON was a recent favorite of his listening rotation. I made a note and only got around to actually listening a few days ago. All I can say is, I'm floored. Turnstile is so much more than I thought they were. Honestly, I'm not sure why I would have made such a dismissive assumption, but Jacob, thank you for setting me straight. This is one that is sure to be a mainstay while I'm walking the streets of L.A. for the next three weeks. 

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NCBD:

My Pull at Rick's Comic City was somewhat light this week. This is good, as I'll be in L.A. for the next three NCBDs. 

The new X books kick off this week with Fall of the House of X. I have the utmost faith in Gerry Duggan as a writer, but I was still not sure how I felt about the X-Books. This was a pretty solid first issue into whatever this "End of the Krakoan Era" will be. 

Issue one of Christopher Yost and Val Rodrigues' Unnatural Order was a book Chris introduced me to on last month's episode of A Most Horrible Library. Totally blew me away, and the second issue only strengthened that response. I am totally on board for wherever this one goes. 

 

Brubaker & Phillips' new graphic novel Where the Body Was hit last week and I picked up my copy yesterday.  As usual, I knew absolutely nothing about this one going in, and it proved to be fantastic.

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Watch:

Cinematic Void is doing January Giallo all across the U.S. this year, with screenings in L.A., NY, Chicago, Nashville and Salem, MA! Knowing I would be back in L.A for January, I snagged tickets for some friends and me to see a fantastic Michele Soavi double feature: 1978's Stage Fright and a film I've still not seen, 1994's Cemetery Man.

 

And the Chicago announcement, screenings at the historic Music Box:

 

SO happy that January Giallo is now a "thing" in multiple states. Long live The Void!!!

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Playlist:

Fugazi - Red Medicine

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime

Fugazi - End Hits

Spore - Eponymous

Turnstile - GLOW ON

Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun

Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil

Boy Harsher - Careful

Boy Harsher - Country Girl Uncut

U2 - War

The Cure - The Head on the Door

Various - The Crow OST

The Juan Maclean - Happy House Matthew Dear Vs Audion Remix

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The Caretaker - Malign Forces of the Occult

 

Something prompted me to go looking for an old album by The Caretaker that I had back around the time I moved to L.A., circa 2006. I quickly found all but the most recent of Caretaker's albums are not on streaming platforms, but instead reside for a very modest cost on his Bandcamp Page. This is his second album and also the second in his Haunted Ballroom Trilogy.

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NCBD:

Pretty sizeable Pull this week. Let's get into it:

Issue three! I feel like there was a HUGE gap since number two, but maybe that's just further indication of how much I'm digging Dynamite Comics' Army of Darkness Forever book. 

I'm not super hip to starting off the new GIJOE Energon Universe book with a standalone book about Conrad Hauser, but we'll see. 

The final issue of Benjamin Percy's current Ghost Rider endeavor and likely the final issue of my participating in what comes next in March. This hasn't been a bad series by any means, but it definitely wavered a lot, so I'm happy to prune some titles for the new year and concentrate on the books that really move me.

After the misstep I perceived issue 17 of Immortal X-Men to be, this has a lot to make up for. Final issue before the new titles kick in. 

Jesus Christ, everything is ending, huh? Remember when comics' numbering trudged on year after year? Not saying one way is better than the other. I can't find anything online that indicates if this is the final volume of Tynion's Nightmare Country epic, so I guess I'll just have to wait and read it to see. 

Only two issues left for Ennis and Burrows' The Ribbon Queen; did I think it was longer or only hope so? This is one that probably won't end up in my hands until March when the whole series is finished, so I'll patiently wait and try to read nothing about it.

Another book rounding the final lap, I realized today that there are only three issues of Lemire and Sorrentino's Tenement left after this one, so that coupled with the "Revelations" printed on the cover tells me things are about to get really weird, which some might think wouldn't be possible with as strange as this book and its overarching "Bone Orchard Mythos" series have been to date. Anyone who stuck it out with this team's Gideon Falls knows just how out there they're version of Horror can get.

That's quite a few books! Certainly the most for me in a while. Watch out for the new episode of Drinking with Comics: NCBD & A Beer, which should post later this evening, after I've brought all this home and had a chance to read and digest. 

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Read:

A few months back while I was in Los Angeles, my good friend and A Most Horrible Library cohost Chris Saunders gifted me a copy of Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation. This is the first in Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, and after blowing through this in two days, I went out to the local Books-A-Million and picked up books 2 and 3. 

I previously saw Alex Garland's cinematic adaptation of Annihilation back when it hit the big screen in 2018. Loved it - a film that inspired days of conversation with K. I purchased the Blu-Ray when it was released later that year, but have yet to rewatch, an oversight I am now glad of. With five years and some change between that viewing and my picking up the novel, I was able to go in with zero baggage and I absolutely loved the book. There is an interiority to the first-person narration that creates an elaborate headspace in the reader, one unlike anything I've read in some time, if ever. Vandermeer's prose is the right balance between clinical and verbose, and in the meeting of these two methods we come to know the narrator - referred to by herself simply as the Biologist - in a manner that makes the scenes of isolated terror at her surroundings manifest almost in a sensory way. I felt her running through the reeds, trying to escape 'the creature,' and the feeling was marvelous.

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Playlist:

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

The Caretaker - Stairway to the Stars

Ray Noble and his Orchestra - Midnight, the Stars and You (single)

Stereolab - Refried Ectoplasm, Switched On, Vol. 2

Earthless - Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Belbury Poly - From An Ancient Star

Ghost - Impera

Various - Matthew Dear hosts Satan's Discotheque

Mike Patton - The Solitude of Prime Numbers OST

Bag Raiders - Shooting Stars (Kris Menace Remix)

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Card:

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

• Queen of Disks

• XII: The Hanged Man

• I: The Magician

That exertion of Will over emotional matters apparently was not as effective as it could be. Sacrifice and a touch of something more... for lack of a better way to say it, Magick, will resolve the issue. 

I have no idea what this is pointing me toward, event, action or assessment, but that Queen is pretty persistent. 

Even it Out of Darkness

 

From this year's Radical Romantics, an album I almost forgot about. After rediscovering it earlier in the month, this one has become a daily listen for me. Fantastic and unlike anyone else out there. As for the video... fucking bizarre and uncomfortable don't even begin to describe this. Like a Helsinki Gummo remake outtake. 

You can pick up Radical Romantics directly from Fever Ray over on Bandcamp.

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NCBD:

Here are my picks for this week's NCBD:

This second 'season' of Chip Zdarsky and Jacob Phillips' Newburn is ratcheting up so much tension I kind of thought we were further ahead in the arc than we actually are. Two more issues after this one, and the cover tells you upfront we're in for more cold sweats. Good - I wouldn't have it any other way with this one!!!

The finale for the second series of American Myhtology's Night of the Living Dead spin-off. Not a lot to say about this one other than I'll be curious to see how it ends and I still wish the book had an artist that fit the film's tone better. 

I loved issue one of The Deviant and have been anxiously awaiting this second issue. 

"The Road to 150" banner at the top says it all. Major shake-ups coming for this series. 

Now that we know who's been impersonating Cyclops in the Captain Krakoa armor, well, my interest in this series has waned. Good thing this is the final issue. 

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Watch:

Bleeker Street dropped a trailer for Andrew Cumming's upcoming debut feature Out of Darkness. Here's a trailer I watched about a quarter of with the sound off:

 

I'd wager this was picked up with hopes it might appeal to Dan Trachtenburg's Prey. Doesn't matter - I'm just happy it did get picked up. Period pieces, even when this controlled, are never a safe bet, especially for a first-time filmmaker.

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Playlist:

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist

Negative Blast - Planet Echo

Oranssi Pazuzu - Live at Roadburn 2017

Mortuary Drape - Black Mirror

Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

Perturbator - Dangerous (single)

Final Light - Eponymous

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Card:

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

• King of Swords

• Queen of Swords

• XIX: The Sun

Major themes/influences/ideas today. Cut through the shit, get to the heart of the matter. Allow passion to be the motivating force that guides these energies, which will emerge raw and unformed.