Ask the Rust About The Last of Us

 

You know, I never really gave Nothing's 2020 album, The Great Dismal, the chance it deserved. I wouldn't say I didn't like it, but before recently, I'd never bonded with this one like I did some of their others. That's changed, and this song resonates as a perfect album closer. Very MBV, but not, if you know what I mean. Here's Nothing's Bandcamp HERE or their site (which is really well-made) HERE.

 

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Watch:

F*ck. Not sure I'm ready to go back to this world...

 

Well, we have until April. Gonna have to look at A LOT of cat pictures to prep.

 

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Read:

Now that issue three of Rafael Grampa's Batman: The Gargoyle of Gotham is out, I sat down over the weekend and read all three. Holy smokes. This is seriously one of the best Batman series I've read, and even though I don't read all that many Bat-Books, I've read my share of the classics. I think this will sit amongst them. One of the reasons for that? The villains.

I've talked on Drinking with Comics about how I feel Bruce's standard rogues gallery is one of the major issues keeping from reading Bat-books. I rejoiced at Morrison's run when Prof. Pig and the Black Glove were introduced. Anything to get the same stupid, overdone bad guys out of the spotlight. I mean, yeah, I like a good Joker story here and there, and I loved Max's Penguin, but it's how you approach it. For the purposes of a Batman comic that's going to hold my interest, I need something new. And Mr. Grampa has certainly done that. Cry is fantastic (if that is actually their name), and whoever this is that showed up at the end of issue three blew me away. Let's not forget the weird, hallucinogenic psychic chick. There's just so much NEW going on here, and I absolutely reveled in it while reading. Can't recommend this one enough; I just hope it doesn't take the better part of another year to get issue four. If it does, it's worth it, but man - it would be tough just waiting a month or two.

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Playlist:

Windhand - Split E.P.

Windhand - Eternal Return

Sleep - Dopesmoker

Nothing - The Great Dismal

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Laylow - .Raw

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction (pre-release singles)

Hangman's Chair - A Loner

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Card:

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

• Page (Princess) of Swords

• XVI - The Tower

• II - High Priestess

The Earth of Air, the Earthly realms of intellect. In other words, you can be as smart as you like, and it won't mean spit if you're not street smart. The Tower tells me I'm not as smart as I think, and High Priestess suggests nurturing, so I'm reading this as a direct rebuttal to the nearly crippling self-doubt and imposter syndrome that's been hammering on the inside of my skull for the last few days. I'm not as smart as I think - meaning I've misread everything and should chuck all that baggage in the bin. 

The Gate Dismal

I'm pretty late checking out Nothing's latest release, which came out last year on Relapse Records. The Great Dismal was included in my Golden Ticket haul from Relapse, and I'm still working through that. A Fabricated Life begins the record, and I won't lie - its slow, soft, dreary sound hasn't been where my head is at. That said, listening to the record on headphones for the first time this morning, I'm able to grasp the nuance and vibe of the song, and it has stirred something within me. Something that harkens back to the first Nothing release, Downward Years to Come, which I discovered back in 2013. I love this band, and haven't spent nearly enough time with them these past two records, so I'll start correcting that today.

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Watch:

 

I stumbled across this short film - really more of a Proof of Concept trailer for a movie I can only hope gets made. Very cool use of CGI, ingenious locations, and what looks like the set-up for an intriguing take on Cosmic Horror. Directed by Matt Sears and written by Ryan Grundy, Mr. Sears' youtube channel appears packed with interesting content. Sub HERE.

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Playlist:

Cinderella - Long Cold Winter

Ghost - Opus Eponymous

Metallica - Kill 'Em All

The Plimsouls - Everywhere at Once

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Emilie Autumn  - Opheliac 

Keiichi Okabe - NieR: Automata OST

 

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Card:

 

Spot on today, as I've definitely been preoccupied with a sort of drifting that has displaced a lot of my creative intent. I'm sure it's just a phase, but it makes me contemplate ideas like, "What if I lose all motivation to write?" which is ridiculous, but, you know, this is the way the mind works.