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? 

Isolation: Day 16 - The Return of Joe Bob Briggs!

Man, this could not come at a better time! I cannot wait for weekly event viewing with Mr. Briggs.

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I've been on a reading tear. I finished my re-read of Inferno, the mini series that ran through all the X-books in 1989. I even through in the What If...? Issue that contemplated what would have happened had the X-Folks lost to S'ym and Madelyne Pryor. Mr. Sinister remains my favorite X-Villain, however, it's unfortunate that Mr. Claremont never had the opportunity to fully explore his backstory. I know subsequent X-writers did, however, I don't know that I'd ever be interested in reading beyond Claremont's X-Men again. Louise Simonson works well writing X-Factor inside Claremont's domain, and I don't want to belittle what she did, but really, she began as Claremont's editor on the books, so it makes sense that when he had to hand the reins of one book over to someone, it would be her. And Ms. Simonson's contributions are fantastic. I even like a bit of what Fabian Nicezia added closer to the end of Claremont's tenure, but most of what other creators did at that time grew organically out of the seeds Claremont had laid. Who knows? Maybe I'll find the one of those Sinister-related trades on sale for Kindle at some point and take a chance. I know they took him back to the Victorian era - an immediate 'Pro' for me, however, the subsequent convolution of all things X after Claremont and the editorial insistence on 'Status Quo' just makes me want to pretend the characters were part of a finite series. (Although Morrison's stands on its own as a three-volume masterpiece, and I suspect that may be just about up for re-read as well).

Possibly my favorite splash in the entire series

Next up was the complete Alien/Predator/Prometheus Fire and Stone saga, which was pretty awesome. 

One of my favorite elements of this was when the construct Elden - similar model to Bishop or David from the films - is injected with the Engineer's Life Accelerant "Black Goo" and begins an evolutionary journey that sees him become something almost as monstrous and distressing as the Xenomorphs themselves. Check this out:

More wonderful Nightmare fuel from the Alien Universe!

Next, the first installment of Warren Ellis' 2016 serial novel Normal, which I've had since its release and which I've just realized, is now only available as the collected novel. So, apparently in order to continue, I'll just have to pick that up, which is no problem, as it's readily available on Kindle:

Although I won't be doing the rest of Normal just yet, as reading the first part awakened in me a rabid desire to re-read Charles Stross' Atrocity Archives, which I believe I first read back in... 2007 or 2008, and which has perpetually been on my mind since setting up a Feedly account a few months ago and following Stross' blog (HERE).

If you're unfamiliar with Stross, his Laundry Files books follow an employee in the IT department of a company that deals with Necromantic Arts and Lovecraftian Elder Gods the way Silicon Valley companies deal with Technology. It's fascinating, and I'd been meaning to re-enter Stross world for sometime. I'm only a few pages into this re-read, but I may do more of the series afterward.

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Playlist:

The Birthday Party - Mutiny/The Bad Seed EP
Fenn - Epoch
Balthazar - Fever
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Tinderbox
Tennis System - Lovesick
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Various Artists - The Void OST
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1
NIN - Ghosts V: Together
Rammstein - Eponymous

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No Card.