Isolation: Day 8 - More New Me and That Man!

At this point, I'm not listening to any more of Me and That Man's new record until I have the full album in my hands (pre-order HERE), but I'm posting it here so I can go back to it, and so you, dear reader, can strike out into the territory I'm eschewing simply because I am such a fan of full album immersion.

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The best thing to come out of social media that I've seen since the Pandemic began? Right here:



Love these guys.

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Finished Black Stars Above this morning. Five Issues of creepy, nuanced cosmic horror. Here's one of my favorite images, from issue four:

This very much reminds me of Alan Moore and JH Williams III's Promethea. Jenna Cha's art, Brad Simpson's colors, and Lonnie Nadler's story work in such perfect synthesis. They have to, it's the only way to tell such a macro/micro story that delves into infinite cosmic territory. This page illustrates the beautiful way the creative team delivers the ineffable.

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Mindful Habitation:

As so many others are, Southern California is on Shelter-in-place. Weird, but really only in perception and big picture theory. Day-to-day won't be that different for many of us. I'm bummed to know this will halt a lot of businesses, the smaller ones especially. Many of those smaller ones are really using this to innovate and think outside the box. The Comic Bug remains purveyors of media via mail, delivery, or scheduled appointment (HERE for details). King Harbor Brewery is doing same-day local Growler delivery (HERE). These are examples local to me, however, I'm getting reports of this from friends all over the place, so if there's a business you love, reach out and see if they are working with similar innovations.

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Event Viewing:

Episode Four of Alex Garland's Devs landed last night, and it was quite the ride. The opening floored me with it's image/sound juxtaposition. Geoff Barrow and The Insects' score is overall fantastic, but in this particular scene, it was unearthly, layered, textured sounds arranged in a way that made the images bloom from the screen.

And Nick Offerman? Killing it.

Playlist:

Exhalants - Eponymous
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
Slayer - Live Undead/Haunting the Chapel
The Bronx - The Bronx (I)
Seefeel - Fracture/Tied (Single)
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Metatron Omega - Evangelikon
Myrkur - Folkesange

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Card:

An agent of enlightenment. Reproductive force - not necessarily biologically speaking. I'm leaning more toward an interpretation that reinforces people are finally learning what needs to be done and doing it (even a certain douche celebrity decided to comply and close his shitty restaurant). Also, the gray skeins in the background speak to the illusory world losing its leverage as knowledge dawns. That's the Devil - the Morningstar, enlightener extraordinaire.

Isolation: Day 6 - Beach Slang's Tommy in the 80s

Holy cow am I in love with this song. From Beach Slang's 2020 record The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City, released this past January on Bridge9 Records. Buy HERE. Many thanks to my friend Jeffrey for kicking this one my way, as the entire record is awesome.

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Black Stars Above #5 comes out today. Or does it? At this point, I'm not sure if either the Comic Bug or Atomic Basement are open, or whether Diamond is distributing at all. So many things are locked down; what do you do? Well, if you're a fucking asshole, you go to Texas or Florida for Spring Break. If you're an even bigger, more famous asshole, you refuse to close your shitty hillbilly restaurant. And if you're the biggest asshole? You blame everyone else for the mess you might not have created, but that you sure as fuck helped spread. I am happy to announce I am now 100% A-political, and consider Capitalism as much a failed experiment as Communism. What's left? Well, if you're Mother Earth, you start trimming the virus choking the life out of you with a pandemic. Sad but true folks; nothing could be better for the planet as a whole than to have a couple billion people removed.

Anyway, here's to hoping no one you or I love gets removed, and come this afternoon, we can all go get some new comics. Unlikely, but I'll take it.

This book is so damn good!

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Playlist:

Porridge Radio - Every Bad
Antemasque - Eponymous
The Black Angels - Eponymous EP
The Black Angels - Passover
Deafheaven - Roads to Judah
Various Artists - The Void OST
Beach Slang - The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City
Metatron Omega - Evangelikon
Zonal - Instrumental Playlist

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Here's today's card:

Yesterday's:

Monday's:

We're looking at a clear progression from Monday to today. Oppression kinda speaks for itself at this point, especially with Shelter-in-Place orders being handed out left and right. There's the Strength this is requiring/going to require to get through, and then there's the Queen, who indicates compassion for others, a mothering nature. We need that right now, and I'm happy that, for as many examples of complete human bullshit, there is an almost equal number of stories of compassion, civic-mindedness, and generosity. However, the Queen of Cups also opens the door for that gentle, compassionate nature to collapse in on itself, turning weakness and resentment. I'm not sure I've seen a three-day spread mirror the three days better.

Take care of people, and what's more - and I can't believe I'm saying this - if the order is to stay put and minimize your contact with others, fucking do it. These orders are not from the president - remember, he doesn't think the WHO's numbers are accurate - it's from the organizations and departments in the government that, despite Captain Hairdo's crippling of them over the last three years, are trying to deal with the strain this is going to put on Hospitals. Also, and fuck the human race for me even having to say this, regarding the fine folks working in groceries, hardware stores, wherever you're going for supplies, don't treat them poorly. They're heroes in this moment, and trust me, you would not want to be doing their job.