One of my favorite songs on an album that is 75% favorite songs. The guitar on this album - and this song in particular - is, in my opinion, the heights calibre hard rock guitar can reach. It sounds so rich and fuzzy, yet retains fantastic definition.
And, of course, great vocal lines, too.
Watch:
Bill Hader's Barry returned a few weeks ago and I only just found out. Over the weekend, K and I caught up and were pretty surprised by the tone of this third season:
One of this show's strengths is the way it balances its inherent darkness with some of the funniest shit I've ever seen. Part of that's the cast - Hader's fantastic, Anthony Carrigan (NoHo Hank) is brilliant pretty much every time he's on the screen, and Stephen Root is always gold. This season, the humor has, thus far, been seriously downplayed and we've been presented with a super dark take on the characters - especially Barry. Again, that comingling of tones has always been the strength of the show. Barry does not shy away from the reality of the concept: a hitman's a pretty dark protagonist.
But it works.
Really not sure where this show is ultimately headed, which is always a good thing.
Read:
I spent a large part of the weekend relaxing and catching up on my comics. Here's what I read:
So nice to finally sit and read this one all the way through, start to finish, in one tight sitting. The Last Ronin totally delivers that old school 80s Frank Miller dystopian aesthetic, while retaining and drawing from the original, B&W Mirage series. Gorgeous art - the design of everything we see in this dystopian world is gorgeous, and visually seems the natural evolution of the original book's Manhattan.
I'd dropped off reading James Tynion IV's The Nice House On The Lake monthly, simply because I lost a lot after its hiatus. sitting down and reading 1-8 in a sitting really took some time, and that just goes to show what a meaty story Tynion's telling here. Very cool story that's essentially a zombie-less update on Romero's Dawn of the Dead (in a way it is! Think about it!)
Playlist:
(Lone) Wolf & Cub - May You See Only Sky
Bexley - Lost in the Moment EP
Cypress Hill - III: Temples of Boom
Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
Calexico - The Black Light
Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST
Mike Doughty - Live at Ken's House
Calexico - Even My Sure Things Fall Through
Card:
A Conservative approach to an infuriating problem will serve me better than, say, a hammer beating. Loud and Clear.
More new Genghis Tron. Very much looking forward to this record when it drops! Pre-order Dream Weapon - out March 26th - from Relapse Records HERE.
READ:
I wanted to plant this HERE. really for myself, so I can find it again easily later. In going through old Orbital Operations emails for inspiration, I found this link to Sean Bonner's website. I am wholly unfamiliar with Mr. Bonner, or at least I was before reading this - but it's interesting that I read this now. There would appear to be a lot of synchronicities with me reading this post at the moment, not the least of which is that I'm about to turn 45. Anyway, since Orbital Operations went on hiatus last year, I've sorely lacked intermittent missives that at least in some regard pertain to the process of writing or creating or just structuring time (hence re-read old OOs), and Mr. Bonner's newsletter looks as though it may help fill that void.
NCBD:
This is obviously a big one. I'm curious if, after the reveal at the end of issue #1, The Last Ronin will remain so highly sought after. My guess is no, but who knows? Also, who cares - the book is bad ass and I'm super excited for the next chapter.
One of my favorite series in years, issue #4 of We Live kind of set the whole series on its ear, and if I'm not mistaken, this is the final issue of the series.
Another final issue. Hopefully, both We Live and Miskatonic will be back with second seasons. If not, it's been a hell of a ride for both in a very short time.
Playlist:
Nothing - The Great Dismal
Dance with the Dead - B-Sides, Vol. 1
Teenage Wrist - Earth is a Black Hole
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
Mr. Bungle - Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny
Primitive Man - Immersion
Ceremony - In the Spirit World Now (Synthetic Remixes)
Card:
Balance and synthesis, two things I'm a skosh hung up on at the moment. I received the proofs of Murder Virus and am a bit underwhelmed at how the art looks in person. Also, I found a fucking typo on the first page! WTF!!! I've gone over this so much, I'm no longer seeing what's in front of my face. Ultimately, all this is easy to fix before the on-sale date of 3/23/21, but it's the point.
Chock this up to unexpected. I finished my movie last night and sat down at my computer, only to stumble into a premiere for the first single from the upcoming first Remix album from Deftones - Black Pony. This is for the 20th Anniversary of their seminal album White Pony, which will always be special to me because it's where I began following the band.
I'm not really one for remix albums, but this version of Knife Party - done by Purity Ring no less, a group I was briefly obsessed with during the later half of the 00s - is pretty fantastic on headphones. I'll definitely be giving the entire Black Pony a spin when it drops.
31 Days of Halloween:
I had my second viewing of Rob Zombie's 2012 film Lords of Salem. The first time I watched this, back when it originally hit VOD, I have to say, I was not impressed. Now, however, I'm not sure how that was possible. This is easily my second favorite Zombie flick after House of 1000 Corpses. It's a slow burn - maybe a crawl really - but it's essentially Zombie doing Argento, and it really works well. Very few of the tropes RZ usually painfully adheres to are present (clowns, midget nazis, white trash, etc.), and everything about the film is breathtaking, especially Brandon Trost's cinematography and his ability to translate the genius of RZ's shots and composition.
1) Tales of Halloween: Sweet Tooth/The Wolf Man (1941)
2) From Beyond/Monsterland: "Port Fourchon, Louisiana"/Tales of Halloween: "The Night Billy Raised Hell" & "Trick"
3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): "The Crate"
4) Waxwork
5) Synchronic/Bad Hair
6) Dolls
7) Lovecraft Country Ep. 8/Tales of Halloween: "The Weak and the Wicked" & "The Grim Grinning Ghost"
8) 976-Evil
9) Repo! The Genetic Opera
10) Firestarter/George A. Romero's Bruiser
11) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 1 & 2/Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
12) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 3, 4, and 5/House of 1000 Corpses
13) Masque of the Red Death/Creepshow (2019) Episode 7/Creepshow (1982)
14) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 6 and 7
15) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 8 and 9/Roseanne (88) season 2 and 3 Halloween Episodes
16) The Mortuary Collection/Roseanne (88) season 4 Halloween Episode
17) Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning
18) Lovecraft Country episode 9/The Haunting/Roseanne (88) season 5 Halloween Episode
19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"
20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch
21) The Omen
22) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait/Masters of Horror: "Sick Girl" (Lucky McKee)
23) Joe Bob's Halloween Hideaway: Haunt/Hack-O-Lantern
24) Eight Legged Freaks/What We Do in the Shadows season 1 episode 1/Night of the Demons
25) 10/31 - "The Old Hag"/Absentia
26) Prince of Darkness/Tales of Halloween (remainder)
27) Joe Bob's Haunted Drive-In - Nine short films
28) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
29) Lords of Salem/The Connors 2020 Halloween episode
NCBD
I totally forgot to post my picks for NCBD this week. Some great stuff, but one above all else I've been chomping at the bit for:
One Turtle left in the not-so-distant future and he carries all of his brothers' (and sister's) weapons, so that we don't know which one it is? Wow. Haven't read it yet, but it's here by my side and I can't wait!
Playlist:
Meg Myers - Sorry
Danzig - Danzig II: Lucifuge
Joy Division - Still
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico
Card:
Fairness and mindfulness can eliminate unnecessary restrictions and problems down the road.
