Inbetween States: The Magick of A Large Country

 

One of my favorite tracks on Ghost's Impera, an album where I love every track. Is it madness to say this is my second favorite of their records (behind Infestissumam)? I don't care. I love this record.

So, after packing all day last Saturday, and loading all day Sunday, my good friend Keller and made it from LaLaLand to Clarksville, TN in a day and a half! It was awesome. We left immediately after packing (he helped a bit near the end, but I wanted him crisp to drive first-shift, knowing I would be exhausted. My Horror Vision Brother King Butcher and our friends Maddie and Kenta really threw down with us on the move - no easy task when you realize that K's Mom pretty much had, once again, not packed much of anything before day-of). Keller drove from 11:00 PM Sunday, 7/31, until around 7:00 AM the following day. We stopped at a gas station in Flagstaff, AZ, and accidentally hit the skirt of the truck on the concrete bumper guarding the pumps.

Thank god for that bumper.

This is a 20-Foot uHaul truck, and as you might imagine, there's a learning curve. However, everything was ultimately fine because we paid $199 for uHaul's Safemove insurance. SO worth it, and honestly, we were already paying close to $7000 for the truck - it would have been half the price if we trekked over the border into Nevada, however, the monetary benefits would not have outweighed the sanity benefits of picking that truck up down the street from our house. 

So my first driving shift began about 7:40 AM (we hit a McDeath's near the gas station for a breakfast sandwich and COFFEE). I'd come to peace with going back to eating meat the week before - that's something I'll hopefully correct again soon, and while I try to avoid McDeath, you really have little choices on the roads between states, so again, I accepted the circumstances for what they were. That shift lasted fourteen hours - I was on fire! Seriously, I did not want to relinquish the vehicle. It was as though I had tapped into something. I've read and thought a lot about the hypnogogic states long drives induce, but this was something even more powerful. I've always thought there is Magick in this country, in the sheer size and what that does to our consciousness as we traverse it, and I think that's what Keller and I tapped into while driving. 

So shifts:

Keller: 11:00 PM-7:00 AM

Shawn: 7:40 AM-9:00 PM (time shift puts us at local time ~11:00 PM

Keller: 11:30 PM-3:00 PM

..

I-24 kind of divides Clarksville into two textures. Where we stayed last month with my parents was West of the 24, closer to Fort Campbell, and it has a bit more of a hodge-podge feel. Still nice, but it's a lot of strip malls with Vape stores and Payday loans shops. East of the Highway is decidedly crisper. It's mostly new developments, new stores, etc. When K and I rolled into town with my folks at the end of June, we entered the city through the West side and honestly, it knocked our expectations down a few pegs. After getting priced out of the Murfreesboro/Lavergne/Smyrna area by Angeleno homeowners, seeing this side of Clarksville felt a little like a defeat. When our Realtor eventually explained the divide and showed us around the East side, we felt a lot better, hence why we bought the house that we did. However, as the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, so I carried an almost unconscious, background anxiety around with me through the sale, inspections, packing, etc. When Keller and I drove in, Siri had us go a totally different way, using the 31, which is essentially a long, scenic surface street. A bit stressful with a 20-Foot truck, but it totally did the trick. All my low-level disappointment evaporated. I fucking LOVE it here.  K and I sat outside on our back porch last night and watched a lightning storm. 

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Watch:

We haven't had the internet, and we haven't had any time to watch anything, but if all goes well, tonight we'll be digging into some of what we missed. Here's where I'm planning on starting:

 

And, of course:

 

While I've been fairly skeptical about what feels like the nearly impossible feat of adapting Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, I am hearing nothing but good things from people I know. Of course, it remains to be seen how I feel about it - as Sandman is one of my all-time favorite and most influential comics, but my mind is open.

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Read:

Finally going to start reading James Tynion's Something Is Killing the Children, thanks to Gerald at the Comic Bug, who sold me a set of the first five issues with David Mack covers for half-price as a going-away gift. Look at these:

So far, I'm in. Issue One is a FANTASTIC set-up. 

I'm glad I waited to start this (although for investment purposes, I wish I had that first-printing #1). Tynion's 3-issue The Closet just wrapped this past week, and it cinched him as one of my favorite current writers in comics, so I have a nice big run of SIKTC ahead of me to look forward to.

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Playlist:

Orville Peck - Bronco

Ghost - Impera

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

Zombi - 2020

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Adia Victoria - A Southern Gothic

Calexico - The Black Light

Fleet Foxes - Shore

Ella Fitzgerald - Best of, Vol. II

The Bangles - Different Light

Anthrax - Worship Music

Cults - Static

ZZ Top - Eliminator

Billy Idol - The Roadside EP

Deafheaven - Ten Years Gone

The Contours & Dennis Edwards - Motown Rarities 1965-1968

SOD - Speak English or Die

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

The first pull here was done on Wednesday, August 3rd 2022. The second night in the new house. K didn't arrive until the following night, so this was Keller and I hanging out after a second hard day of unloading. I had procured some Mushrooms from a friend back in LaLaLand and saved them for this trip, so when we knocked off for the evening, we opened fresh beers and ate about 2 grams each.

First, yes. I shuffled.

The fact that I laid down 13, 12 and 11 is crazy to me. I read this as the sacrifices I endured (saving $, dealing with all the difficulties of moving your life across country) to perform a massive life-changing ritual (the drive), rewards me. And I'm feeling that reward. Everyone loves this house: Keller couldn't get over it, Kirsten loves it, her Mom loves it, and Sweetie loves it. Oh, and I love it. 

XL/RZ

 

Anthrax's fan-chosen live album XL dropped yesterday, and while you can tell Joey is struggling a bit on some of the songs, overall this is a blast. Love these guys, can't wait to see them at the Paladium at the end of the month, my outro show from LaLaLand. What a great way to exit, eh?

 

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Watch:

I have to tell you, all the way until I hit play on the new trailer for Rob Zombie's The Munsters remake, I assumed I would hate what I saw. You know what though? This looks visually fantastic and fun as hell:

 

I also appreciate the fact that it's a love story? I mean, part of why I assumed I would not give a lick about this film is I had a really hard time imagining what RZ would do with this property - he hits the same note with his stuff so often that I just couldn't imagine a departure. That's not a complaint - despite regular complaints and disappointments, I generally like most of what he's done cinematically.

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Playlist:

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Perturbator, Johannes Persson and Final Light - Final Light

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Baroness - Gold and Grey

John Cale - Black Acetate

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Anthrax - XL

Telekinetic Yeti - Primordial

Bexley - Eponymous

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Struggle? Oh yeah. Getting some people to start packing is like trying to get a liar to tell the truth. Still, the card reminds me not to give up, and that even when I feel totally immobilized, there will be a new card tomorrow (unless this one resurfaces. That would make me cry).

The Bullet Screamed At Me From Somewhere

 

I have Alice in Chains on my mind. Mr. Brown often clues me in on the Pitchfork Sunday Review, where every Sunday a writer looks back on an iconic album. Yesterday was Dirt - one of the most important of my "forever albums," and it made me dive back in head-first. 

I've never been much of a Pitchfork guy, but when they hit it, they really leave a mark on me. This was one of those times. 

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NCBD:

Back home (for now) in LA, so I'll be heading to the Bug to pick up this week's books, which are plentiful:

Some big events kicking off in TMNT and the X-Books, which have the second annual Hellfire Gala followed immediately by Judgment Night (which I'm still not sold on). Also, I'm not necessarily going to jump on this new Mandolorian series, but I definitely want to check out the #1.

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Playlist:

Ghost - Impera

Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 1

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

Karma to Burn - V

Black Sabbath - Never Say Die

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Billy Idol - The Roadside EP

Faith No More - Sol Invictus

The Jesus Lizard - Liar

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

This gives me a teensy bit of an idea of how things are going to be as I prep for leaving LaLaLand. So far, no, things have not necessarily been the way I expected, but nothing has been a straight-up rug, so that's good. The idea in life is always to go in with loose expectations (if any at all), lest you succumb to disappointment despite a triumph.

Hinton Hollow Headphase

 

Flew home from Chicago yesterday after a post-house buying week where I tried like hell to relax. I mostly succeeded, thanks to all my dear friends who were more than happy to drive to my folks' place in the woods of Palos Park and sit on the patio for hours on end.

I'm using Boards of Canada's Dayvan Cowboy today because Boards are on of my two most commonly used airplane soundtracks - the other is Burial - and in spite of the fact that I usually use either the In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country EP or Geogaddi as flight-long loops in my earbuds, yesterday I went with 2005's Campfire Headphase because I know it the least. And I realized at once that I know it better than I realize. Dayvan is Probably my favorite track. The guitar on this album is incredible, and I always mistakenly think is performed by Bibio, whose style is extremely similar. Either way, this record is fantastic, as are all the BOC outputs, and it helped make my flight smooth and a partial extension of my relaxation (as much as one can relax on a plane).

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Read:

Well, I blew through most of Donnie Goodman's The Razorblades In My Head on the trip, read a shit ton of comics I bought at Rick's Comic City in Clarksville (soon to be my new shop, I'm happy to say. Great store, SUPER awesome, friendly people), and took a trepidatious cue from Warren Ellis' most recent newsletter and picked up Will Carver's Hinton Hollow Death Trip on Kindle for $0.99. 

I read it in three days.

I suspect this will be the best book I read in 2022. It is dark and disturbing, but not in the ways I initially feared. But it's also one of the most human books I've read in some time, and it ended up making me want to be a better person. Not that I don't always want to be a better person, because this is literally a goal I think about on daily basis. However, it's something I think about after I've made stupid comments like, "Fuck that guy for not using a turn signal, if I were going to be a serial killer, those are the people I'd kill," and the like. And really, while there's nothing wrong with venting, c'mon. Also, and this has been hovering on my consciousness for decades, ever since I first tried it in 2001, but I think I'm going to stop eating meat for a while. I'm not going to go completely 'full-hilt' on Vegetarianism, however, meat bothers me. It always has, or at least since my early twenties. Morrissey's right - meat most certainly is murder, and it's one of the most fucked up elements of our modern culture I can think of. But I am programmed, from the youngest of ages. This is not my parents' fault, it's just what happens with systemic issues that people are born into generations after being installed. Sure, earlier versions of humans might not have had a choice - or really, maybe they did. It's not like plants didn't grow while early humans were spearing bores on the planes - but once we had agricultural systems in place for producing substitutes, well, why didn't we switch?

It doesn't matter. There's no way I'm going to say, "I'm never going to have a hamburger again," because I fucking love hamburgers, and in fact, am thinking about eating one right now. But I won't. While we were in Tennessee, something entirely different prompted me to declare I'm giving up "plated meat" dishes, which I only occasionally eat anyway. But we're heading to the store today for a post-trip restock, and we're thinking about picking up some of the Impossible stuff, to try and use it in some recipes K makes where the dish isn't dependent on the meat's flavor or texture. I'm hoping it works, as it's not only the principle issues of eating meat that is prompting me but goddamn if I didn't eat more red meat in the last three weeks than I have in probably a year, and I'm feeling it.

Also, yes, Carver's book had a little something to do with it. The man identifies himself on his Twitter profile as "Drinker. Non-preachy Vegan" and I'd agree with that. But his ideals come through in Hinton Hollow Death Trip, and they affected me for sure. In a good way.

I'll keep you posted. 

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Watch:

Bloody Disgusting had a pretty big Upcoming Horror Movies for July trailer dump last week. Here's one that caught my eye:

 

I'm not 100% on this one, as there are a few things in the trailer that give me concern, chief among them being that, although as a lifelong Lovecraft fan, I'm a sucker for anything with his name attached. This also means I am literally a sucker because adding HPL is an easy way to market a bad movie. Still, the goat-head silhouette effect seen near the end of the trailer makes me hopeful (despite also being a sucker for goats in Horror).

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Playlist:

No way to list it all. Here are some of the staples, along with some new stuff:

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

RHCP - Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

Sleep - Volume One

Karma to Burn - V

Billy Idol - The Roadside E.P.

CCR - Bayou Country

Sleep - The Sciences

Orville Peck - Bronco

Witchcraft - Legend 

The Sword - Age of Winters

Mars Red Sky - Eponymous

Baroness - Gold & Grey

The Company Band - Eponymous

Ween - a couple recent live shows, all curated by Mr. Brown. It appears the boys are digging deep into their back catalogue that included "Cornbread Red" and a couple from Craters of the Sac.

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Card:

The first thing I did upon returning home was pull out Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot for a reading:

A call to relax and enjoy, but also a warning about intoxication and the indulgences it can bring. This feels prescient, simply because my plans for today are "Pack and Drink."

On the Run Across the Country

 I took K and my folks to see Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill's adaptation of Joe Hill's short story The Black Phone yesterday. This film 100% holds up to the magnificent impression it made on me at last year's Beyondfest; one of my favorite scenes (in a film with a lot of "Favorite Scenes") is the one that utilizes Pink Floyd's classic "On The Run," from their perfect 1973 MASTERPIECE Dark Side of the Moon. 

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Watch:

Here's a new Horror flick that drops on VOD this week from Dark Star Pictures and Bloody Disgusting films:

Wow! There are some pretty gross bits in here; loving that Body Horror has seeped into the overall Horror genre DNA.  

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Read:

Since switching from a Kindle to an iPad, I'm having trouble reading digital prose. I would love Kindles if they weren't total garbage machines made to be discarded when the new ones come out - you can accuse a lot of tech of that, however, I've had several Kindles over the last few years, and most of them don't last more than a year or two tops. The iPad was an investment I made primarily for artistic reasons, and I still have my one functioning Kindle, however, I'm already traveling with my Macbook, Nintendo Switch (for the plane, mainly; made the hours disappear), iPhone, and now iPad, so I didn't want to add yet another device to my already burdensome backpack. Anyway, I'm sorely missing reading, so while I was tooling around on Twitter last night and landed on author Donnie Goodman's book The Razorblades In My Head, I Eat Its Seeds, I ordered it. 

What a great cover! And while you can't necessarily judge a book by its cover, I've been following Goodman's account for a little while and he's made an impression as a kindred soul, so of course, I'm going to read the man's book! I report back when I receive it and begin!

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Playlist:

Powerman 5000 - The Noble Rot

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

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Card:

Had to get in an actual Spread, as opposed to the daily, one-card pulls I normally do.

"Never mind what you would normally do."

Things are going to change quickly, and navigating those changes will require an abundance of love and support to get through. Not sure if that's a good reading or a "things are going to get tough" one. Obviously, I'm reading this as reference to the fact that we bought a house 2000+ miles away from where we live now. I will be going 'Remote' with my job, and there's a chance that, after a last-minute management change in the upper echelons of our company, that might put me on a chopping block. My ace is NO ONE can do what I do as fast as I can. I'll be stepping down from Management - which should improve my stress levels, as well as my opinion of the human race - and focusing on the International Logistics end of my job, already more than a full-time position on any given day. So I think I'm safe. But it's going to be a mountain to climb just to pack and move. So an abundance of love and support is exactly what we'll need. 

RIP Massimo Morante

The Founder/Guitarist from iconic Horror Soundtrack Prog group Goblin passed away at 70. Goblin has many amazing tracks and albums, this may be the greatest.

Also, along with guitars, Morante played the bouzouki. How about that? If you're like me, you might find yourself suddenly wondering if that's the instrumental layers in some of their music you could never quite place before.

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Watch:

I know there's not a lot of Goblin's music in the intro scene to Dario Argento's Suspiria, however, it feels like there's more than there is, right? I believe that's because Goblin crafted such a fantastic score - and I'm under the (possibly mistaken) assumption that they wrote the music without having viewed the final cut of the film - in such a way that it mixes perfectly with the nightmare logic of Argento's cinematic aspirations.

I love the way the music hard stops when they cut from what Susie sees to the medium close-up of her walking. The direction, editing and score suggest she's not seeing what is actually there, which, if you think about it, fits the film perfectly from start to finish. Or rather, she's seeing what is there but what no one else can see. She's entering a Nightmare. Massimo Morante ladies and gentlemen. Rest in Peace, sir.

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Playlist:

Orville Peck - Pony

Roy Orbison - Mystery Girl

Gordon Lightfoot - Greatest Hits

The Soft Moon - Him (pre-release single)

Hank Williams III - Straight to Hell

The Essential Dolly Parton

Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison

Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color

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Card:

Open to new influence, awareness and new life. Not sure any of that really does me any good at the moment. Both K and I are having MASSIVE doubts about our plans for TN. There are a ton of reasons, but a lot of it boils down to it may not be exactly what we thought, we're priced out of the area we wanted and our second choice isn't nearly the same, and even though we've seen some houses we love and almost jumped on, there's the idea that, find the perfect home, move in, and if you have nothing around it to make you happy, in six months it's a prison and that will make you resent it and maybe your partner. And fine, so don't move, but the thing is, I really don't know where the hell we're going to live if we don't move here. Stay in LaLaLand paying insane rent? There's really nowhere else we've thought of, so we would have to take some serious time. In my head, there's also the idea that, if this shit with my lungs goes south, I want to be able to get her into a house that's hers before I check out. That's probably paranoia, but that doesn't mean it isn't clouding the situation. 

The Mars Volta - Blacklight Shine

 

Holy cow - NEW MARS VOLTA! This news still caught me by surprise, despite the fact that Mr. Brown sent me a message yesterday about a show at Chicago's Aragon Brawlroom in early October. I'm hoping this heralds a new album on the horizon, which it almost certainly does because even though this official video for "Blacklight Shine" is over 11 minutes long, well over half of that is the percussive section that accompanies the images of dancers; the actual single on streaming services isn't even three minutes in duration, and thus, just about the shortest Mars Volta song that's not a 'lead-in' track EVER. Oh yeah, how cool is it that Omar directed the video?

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NCBD:

Since I'm traveling, a lot of these will be waiting for me in my pull box back home. Some of them, however, are books I haven't yet added to my official list, and instead have been scooping up off the shelf with reserve the last few months. Those, I'll be stopping at a local shop to pick up. I'll probably go with Rick's Comic City.

I'm still reeling from how awesome issue three of this new iteration of The Amazing Spider-Man was; hoping number four continues on the same path. There's really something classic about seeing Spidey duke it out with a bunch of street-level hoods, even the goofy ones like the Rabbit or whatever the chick with white rabbit ears calls herself. 

Three issues of Deadly Class remain after this one. I'll admit, because of all the time jumps in "A Fond Farewell," I began to lose my compass as to where we were a few issues back, but I'm assuming this comes from not seeing the big picture to the final arc yet, and also, reading it monthly.

The final issue of Homesick Pilots, and another one I kind of got lost in a few issues back. I'm planning a series re-read as soon as I get home. This book has been nuts in the best possible way, and there is nothing else out there that even remotely resembles it. I mean, Grunge-era haunted house ghost mech suits employed by the military to fight other ghost mech things? It even sounds nuts. I'll miss this one, but I'm always glad to hold a completed story in hand and relish its completion. Better to leave 'em wanting more than to overstay your welcome.

The first issue of I Hate This Place was great. Let's see where we're going, because all signs point to cattle mutilation - which is disgusting and terrible, but a part of alien mythology that always fascinated me for all its oddness. I mean, why cattle? Regardless, I'm digging the way this one seems to be mixing that Alien lore with haunted houses and a classic slasher set-up. Kind of a kitchen sink aesthetic, which can be tricky, but so far here, has me intrigued.

Do I even have to talk about how I wait for every issue of Kieron Gillen's Immortal X-Men with bated breath? I thought not. On my pull, but I'm picking it up anyway, cuz there's no way I want to wait. 

I feel like the art in this Moon Knight book is getting a bit cartoony, which is something I usually don't go for in comics (there are exceptions and East of West springs immediately to mind), but so far, I love what MacKay is doing with the characters, so I'm hanging on.

A new limited series continuing one of my favorite one-off storylines from back in the early 90s? 

If you don't know or remember, back in late 90/early 91, for three issues the world thought Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben were dead, and in their wake, Spidey, Grey Hulk, Logan and Danny Ketch as Ghost Rider took over to avenge their deaths. I haven't re-read this one in a long time, and it was clearly a gambit to boost sales on "The World's Greatest Comics Magazine" and garner ever more exposure for four of the most popular characters of that era (Punisher would fit that bill too, but he doesn't show up until the last page of the final issue in a kind of meta-commentary on the situation by writer Walt Simonson). 

Anyway, Marvel's doing a lot of these 'in-continuity' throwback series lately: iconic writers of the 80s and 90s go back and flesh out these classic eras. I've dug Symbiote Spider-Man by Peter David and the X-Men Legends that Walt and his wife Louise wrote for their OG X-Factor team, so of course, I'm giving this a try.

I hadn't been reading this current New Mutants until last issue, when "The Labors of Magik" storyline began. Look, reading the X-books in the 80s, I was... twelve when the original "Inferno" came out. It is still, to this day, the best X-Men Event or Crossover ever. Also, as a pre-pubescent male, The Goblin Queen and Ilyana Rasputin gave me something to live for in some ways, if you know what I mean and I think you do. So all of that is imprinted on me pretty deep. Thus, anything that references back to that storyline is immediately on my radar. They've toyed with this stuff before - wasn't Maddy or Magik or both Queen of Hell before? Or wasn't there another Inferno, before Hickman's new masterpiece that had nothing to do with Limbo or Magik at all? I believe so, but I ignored them. And if the first issue of "Labors of Magik" hadn't been as good as it was, I would have bowed out right away. But it was good, and I'm here again for part two.

Man, I remember when great indie books like Newburn were all I read. Now, they're kinda the minority in my monthly spending habit. Doesn't change the fact that Newburn is awesome, though.

HORROR. That is all. 

Being that this is the final issue of X-Men, volume five for Duggan and Larraz? I hope not, but being that A) this is the last issue before the now annual Hellfire Gala, B) this is the final issue before Judgment Day, and C) no writer/artist are listed in Comics CLZ for issues 13 and 14's solicitation, I'm inclined to think maybe. I hope not, as I've LOVED this run. Either way, last issue dropped a BOMB, so let's get to picking up the pieces.

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Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

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Card:

There's no surprise to me that I pulled this one again today. Got the news that my boss's boss is leaving the company, and that puts my keeping my job once I move in question. 

I should clarify: I'd previously worked out that I'd be stepping down as Assistant Manager and taking a pay cut to focus on the international logistics side of my job, which exponentially increases every year and leaves me little time to actually 'manage' anyway. 

Receiving this news shook me a bit, but it really hit K hard. Which I totally get. But receiving this "Temper Emotion with Reason" message two days in row indicates that we shouldn't make the assumption that I won't be able to keep the job. We also shouldn't assume I will. We have to approach the entire situation reasonably, which I definitely had flashes of yesterday. We looked at a lot of houses yesterday, several with our Real Estate Agent Josh (who is awesome), and several more just using Josh's portal. Zillow and Google Maps to triangulate areas where we saw things we wanted to look at. During those drives, we saw a lot of industry here with positions open. When K dug around online after we got home, there's a lot of stuff out there - whether local or 'remote' - that I more than qualify for. And I won't lie - I got a huge ego boost from totally crushing my officiating speech/duties at my Sister's wedding on Saturday. So I know I could find something good. Maybe better. The downside to losing the position I have now - or rather the new version of it I would have upon moving - is that, despite the fact that it's challenging, once I drop the management side of things - which is KILLING me at the moment - my job will be very cush in that I will have a large workload that will keep me on my toes, but it's a workload I am familiar with and enjoy. 

We'll see. 

Deftones - Simple Man

I'm traveling, so any posts here will probably be abbreviated and sporadic. I'm not really a Skynard fan, however, after hearing the Deftones cover this one on their B-Sides collection that came out a few years ago, I realized I very much dig this song.

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Watch:

I don't know anything about Luke Boyce's upcoming flick Revealer, which debuts on Shudder this coming Friday, however, here's the trailer:

Being that I'm traveling and have had a lot of my time spoken for over the last week, I missed last Friday's penultimate episode of Joe Bob Briggs' The Last Drive-In, where the trailer for Revealer played between movies. The following day, however, I saw this tweet and subsequently looked into the film:

Tonight is surreal. I fell in love with horror watching @therealjoebob’s MonsterVision. Last yr on Father’s Day my wife gifted me this Cameo & a YEAR later, on his Fathers Day ep, the trailer for my debut feature played. 😭😵‍💫 @Shudder @kinky_horror #TheLastDriveIn @RevealerMovie pic.twitter.com/nYIwPaze7H

— Luke Boyce (@lukeslens) June 18, 2022

This entire thing just makes me so happy, for Luke Boyce, for the movie, and for us, because this flick looks awesome! 80s Chicago? Mandy color-palette? I'm in.

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Read:

I finally began reading The Song of Salome by Tom Johnstone, published by the always wonderful Omnium Gatherum. 

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Playlist:

Black Sabbath - Eponymous pretty much on repeat, all day, every day. When I have a chance to listen to music, that is.

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Card:

Bridging emotion (Cups) and reason (Air, Princes).

I feel like there's a lot of that right now, as we set up shop in Tennessee looking for houses, my parents in tow. I love my parents but haven't lived with them in over twenty years, or near them, aside from when I come home to visit every year, and I'm finding they are... a little bit of a challenge. Prince of Cups is one of the cards that represents me pretty well, as I'm pretty good at mitigating emotion with reason. Let's hope I can 

Julee Cruise - Into The Night

 

Here Julee Cruise's haunting vocals and Angelo Badalamenti's equally compelling music provided the soundtrack to one of my favorite scenes from Twin Peaks, Season One: The hike to find Jacques Renault's cabin! 

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Watch:

To once again refer back to that Netflix trailer dump from last week; GDT and Panos Cosmatos working together as part of a GDT anthology series?

 

Sold! Also helming episodes are Jennifer Kent, David Prior, Guillermo Navarro, Keith Thomas, Catherine Hardwicke (on a thus-far untitled episode that has H.P. Lovecraft credited as a writer), Vincenzo Natali, and Ana Lily Amirpour!

 

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Playlist:

Julee Cruise - The Art of Being A Girl

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks...

Def Leppard - Hysteria

Angelo Badalamenti - Dark Space Low (Hour-long version HERE)

Yard Act - The Overload

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Card:

The watery, or emotional aspect of our Earthly drives/desires/needs. This is a presumption since I won't be house hunting in Tennessee for about another week, but I think this is a good reminder that we have to temper our emotional drive to get the hell out of California with the pragmatic realities of actually doing this smartly and successfully.

Also, the Queen of Disks always reminds me to survey my 'Kingdom' and appreciate where I am and how I got there, especially the people in my life who have helped. If you're one of them - and you very well might be if you're reading this and I know you - thank you. You've helped bring me to this point in my life.