New Music from Corrosion of Conformity!!!

 

New album Good God/Baad Man, out April 3rd. You can pre-order from Nuclear Blast Records HERE. Sounds good up real loud. Would you expect anything else from COC? Nope.

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Watch:

If you want to hit the theatre this weekend and have a ton of fun, my recommendation is right here:

I knew nothing about this film going in - I don't even think I'd heard of it before a week or two ago. Written by David Koepp - whose name I knew I recognized but did not realize from how many movies (Jurassic Park, Stir of Echoes, Presence, Premium Rush) and directed by Jonny Campbell, Cold Storage is a BLAST! Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell, Liam Neeson, Sosie Bacon - we've got a stacked cast, a great setup and an execution that evokes a bit of a comparison to such films as Slither, Street Trash, and Return of the Living Dead. This is kind of the pop version of a splattery outbreak flick, and it just works. 

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Read:

I finally got around to reading Savage Sword of Conan issue 11, the now-fabled issue helmed entirely by Liam Sharp. All I can say - asbsolute masterpiece!

That's a piece of full-page art from the issue, which Mr. Sharp posted on his Substack newsletter The Brave and the Bold - which you can subscribe to HERE. 

This book is just extraordinary, and I do not mean just the art. The storyline is pure Hyperborean Weird Fiction - Conan is injured and enters a liminal realm within which nothing is as it seems. Wolfmen, a beautifully dangerous sorceress, and scheming rulers all vie for his assistance. As usual, the Cimmerian is his own man, even in the face of insanely unfavorable odds. 

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Playlist:

Daydream Twins - Solstice For Embodiment

John Cale - Fear

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

Mr. Bungle - California

Tomahawk - Eponymous

Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me

Lamp of Murmur - The Dreaming Prince in Ectasy

Burzum - Filosofem

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Ulver - Neverland

Blut Aus Nord - Thematic Emanation of Archetypal Multiplicity

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

David Lee Roth - Crazy from the Heat EP

David Lee Roth - A Little Ain't Enough

Corrosion of Conformity - Gimme Some Moore (pre-release single)

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Card:

Continuing my newly reinvigorated workings with the Thoth deck:

Note to self: the green light works much better with Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Prince of Wands

• XX: The Aeon

• Ten of Wands: Oppression

The "Airy" aspect of Fire, or MOTIVATION. The Will to change the work, the paradigm, the Aeon and not succumb to the Oppression of the familiar. 

While there's some genuine intuition in this reading, I feel like I've fallen back on rote interpretations and interpretative guides. The added inroads I've made with this deck and Tarot in general just do not seem to want to stick. Part of this is because I am always distracted and I am always anxious. I hate that - I did not use to be this way. Modern Life is Rubbish, though, and it's pretty difficult not to be distracted in this day and age. Oh! What's that - yeah, that's right. I talked a bit about restarting meditation a few months ago and NEVER DID. You think that might help? Yep....

James Gunn's Superman

 

I've really been 'feeling' CDs lately. I think January/February always inspires me to return to a state of mind that reaches through time and connects to the mid-to-late 00s, when the internet was amazing, and the world hadn't yet shifted into a post-apocalyptic paradigm.

At the time, shortly before I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, I was finishing up years of playing in bands and gigging pretty regularly. I met a lot of bands this way, and one of the fiercest was Amherst, Massachusetts' Read Yellow. 

I either saw or opened for these guys at Chicago's Fireside Bowl. Read Yellow had a big, noisy sound slightly reminiscent of Sonic Youth, but that comparison sells Read Yellow short. This band has such energy! When you exist for an extended length of time inside a live indie circuit, one thing you often find - and it definitely plagued a band or two of my own -  some bands who have fireball energy live don't always find a way to translate that to a recording.

NOT the case here.

Although Read Yellow broke up years ago (I just double-checked), their website is still up, which definitely suggests someone in the group understands the need to keep their flame burning, even dimly, for future generations to find.

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NCBD:

BIG week this week at the comic shop. 

This cover says it all! Looking ahead on this book's solicitations, Kirkman is building something epic with Megatron. The increased focus on his volatile madness we've seen over the last few issues is about to burst, and it should make for some awesome reading along the way. Also, I'm still just blown away by Thundercracker defecting to the Autobots. So cool!

A Lovecraft adaptation in mini-series form, it's been a couple of years since I read the original short story, The Thing on the Doorstep, but I'm really interested in how it will translate here, maybe because we never did get that Richard Stanley cinematic version he talked about doing after The Color Out of Space.

Having just caught back up on this book and found Splinter resurrected, I'm very curious how this is going to play out. On the surface, I don't love the idea of long-dead characters coming back from the dead, but I'm willing to give Turtles the benefit of the doubt. 

Ever wanted to see a priest kick the Mafia's ass? This is the book for you! Loved the first issue, can't wait to dig into number two!

Larry Hama's GIJOE: A Real American Hero hits another milestone, and to celebrate, he's apparently introducing two new Joes! Being that we're free and clear of toy tie-ins, unless Classified wants to take a nod from Hama, I'm pretty intrigued. What would two new Joes in 2026 look like? We'll find out today!

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Watch:

As I alluded to in Monday's post, my ventures into the DC Absolute universe have dovetailed with something... else. Let me explain.

This past Sunday, I woke up feeling burnt out. Reading a Substack newsletter from John Pavlovitz about the absolutely blatant racism of the *ahem* superbowl halftime alternative cooked up by magacunts and kid rock,* I found myself overwhelmed again by the "We can't fix this" mantra that has pretty much played on a steady loop in my subconscious since 2018. I don't doom scroll; I don't really 'scroll' all that much at all anymore, but what I have been doing is looking through the various newsletters I receive in my email. I happened on a new one from Grant Morrison's Xanaduum, and falling into the prosiac embrace of a man whose writing I was once obsessed with, I felt the urge to walk over to the bookshelf and pick up his 2011 treatise on Super Heroes as hopeful, psychological antibodies for the modern disaster.

Not looking to add yet another book to the "currently" or even "soon to be" reading piles, instead, I re-read the introduction and was reminded why Morrison once spoke so strongly to me. The bomb had begun as an idea and humanity had worked to give it material form. So too, could another idea - one infinitely more powerful than a mere bomb - be conjured into our lives to stave off the destructive potential assailing us?

Being that Morrison wrote about this way back in 2011 - when things were infinitely less F*cked than they are now - I had to ask myself, might I not need something like this now? Might I not benefit from exposure to something all-powerful and brimming with, of all things, hope?

It was with that in mind that I hit play on James Gunn's Superman laster that day.

 

All I can say is, always happy to be proven wrong.

In my defense, I have long answered the friends who assured me this film was great and that I was missing out with a patented, "I know it's great, I just don't care." So I simply reached a point in my lfie when I do care, and the film definitely worked its magic on me. 

My good friend Chris Saunders asked me to elaborate what I liked about the film and I rattled off the following list:

- That Nick Hoult's Lex Luthor was clearly designed to look like Grant Morrison was the film's evil doer

- That Coresweat somehow managed to avoid all the stupid foibles all other good-natured attempts at Supes have fallen prey to (from what I saw in Snyder's Batman V. Superman, his wasn't good-natured or cloddish, he (and Snyder) just had too much to prove by taking the chacter dark.

- That Rachel Brosnahan was born to play the role of Lois Lane

- That Gunn cast Wendell Pierce as Perry White

- That Edi Gathegi's Mr. Terrific stole every scene he was in

- That Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner cut and attitude were spot on

- That Pruitt Taylor Vince played Pa Kent

- The Monkeys!

- "Thanks, bitch!"

Honestly, I'm shocked how much I liked this, but I'm not sure why. Apparently, my love of James Gunn far outweighs my detestation of Superman as a character. 

For more, Mike and I discuss the film at length in the latest episode of Drinking with Comics, which I'll embed here in a few hours when it posts to youtube.

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* So proud that my long-time friend Cap'm Jack once cut KR's tires in a Michigan venue parking lot! I loved that story at the time - back when this cunt was first getting national exposure - but I love it even more now.

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Playlist:

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Drab Majesty - Careless

Mr. Bungle - California

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

Mr. Bungle - Eponymous

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity

Pixies - Surfer Rosa

Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.1 

Mountain Realm - Rustborn

Mountain Realm - Frostfall

Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai

David Lee Roth - Crazy from the Heat EP

David Lee Roth - A Little Ain't Enough

Helmet - Aftertaste

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance

sunn O))) - Glory Black (pre-release single)

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Card:

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

• XVII: The Star

• XX: The Aeon

• XXI: The Universe

The reason I waited to discuss this was so I could have already talked about James Gunn's Superman, Grant Morrison's Super Gods, and this idea that I might be able to use these larger-than-life characters to help assuage the fears and neuroses. 

The Star - thinking bigger can act as cleansing. The figure on the card is literally washing themself in the rivers of cosmic confidence.

The Aeon - Pass from one ruling paradigm to another, or it's never too late to change, no matter how difficult it is. No matter how big a change it requires.

The Universe - Think macrocosmic, not microcosmic.

I'm going to pursue an interest in superheroes again - especially Superman - as a way to try and tip the scales and shake off some of the unhealthy mental 'doom plaque' that's built up since, oh, 2016. I'm going to read and enjoy in an active, not a passive manner, where I imagine the foes the super gods are fighting are the foes to the healthy world I want to inhabit, both in my head and outside the walls of my house. It might be a fool's errand, but it's what Superman would do. (since when do I say things like that? Well, maybe it's time I incorporated that kind of thinking into my life.)

You Absolutely Know More Than I Know

From John Cale's 1974 masterpiece Fear. Cale's delivery in this song is haunting - it's both sarcastic and filled with a tired sense of surrender. Feels appropriate when looking at world leadership from a private citizen's perspective.

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Read:

Somewhere around 2008 I read Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman. I loved about half of that book and didn't care for the other half. No way of knowing if it was the King half I loved, but I'm guessing that, although you probably can't separate a collaboration like this into two completely self-contained 'halves,' that's probably close. Because of this, I never got around to cracking open the copy of 2011's sequel, Black House, and I just kind of forgot about these books. I love King, but I'm nowhere near what I'd call a completist with the man's work. Not because I wouldn't like to be, just because I don't have that much time in my life for his insanely prolific output!

Fast forward to last year, when I picked up a hardcover copy of The Talisman at a thrift store with the intention of sitting down for a re-read. It's not the original cover, but the 2001 edition:

Fast forward to earlier this year, and an article went around the internet where King talked about how the current book he was working on - a third and final book in the Talisman series - might be his last. Then, a few days ago, the press announcement hit for Other Worlds Than These - that third and final Talisman novel. You can read more about that over on the delightful Stephen King fan site Lilja's Library HERE. One thing King talks about here, is how this also ties up the Dark Tower's Mid-World, which King says, "...was always the Territories by another name."

Holy f*ck am I excited!!!

Apparently, although Straub passed away in 2022, the core idea of this one comes from him, and it's certainly nice to see his name on the third and final chapter. That's Stephen King, though. All around great human being. 

Also, the title for the new book comes directly from the very first Dark Tower novel, when Jake Chambers falls to his death and tells Roland, "Go then, there are other worlds than these." 

In some ways, this is one of the most influential and magical literary quotes that I've ever encountered in my life. I read The Gunslinger for the first time way back in early High School, when I found the trade paperback edition with Michael Whelan's gorgeous art in it at the school library. This was early enough in the series that I was able to go to my local public library and find Book Two: The Drawing of the Three (also with Whelan's art) and then wait with bated breath for the third book to come out about a year later. I've toyed with the idea of rereading the Dark Tower books for some time, as while I reread 1 and 2 when 3 came out and then reread 1, 2 and 3 when 4 came out, that cycle of rereading stopped when 5 came out, and I did 1, 2, 3 and 4 in preparation. Of course, due to the years-long hiatus King needfully took on the series after being struck by a car (those were dark years where many of us feared we would never get an end to the series), so 5, 6, and 7 I've only read once, as they came out. Will I have time to do that before I read Other Worlds Than These? Well... maybe. Scheduled for release on October 6, it's not out of the question. First, I'll start with The Talisman and Black House. 

This pushes a bunch of planned reading for the year back, but that's fine. This feels BIG, and I want to be in on it for the full ride, even if just to properly celebrate King and Straub's legacy.

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NCBD Addendum:

I'm sure anyone who keeps up with this page could have guessed this would happen, but I finally broke down and picked up Absolute Batman. In a true old-school maneuver, I grabbed the just-released Absolute Batman Volume 2: Abomination, choosing to jump in without the first arc's setup, much like buying comics off the stand in the 80s, before the proliferation of the write-for-the-trade paradigm. After reading this, I can say is, okay. Now I get it.

It's all about the BIG picture with this book, which is a plus for a Batman book. Nothing against the story of the week feel of the current Fraction and Jimenez run at all - that feels refreshing, too. But in my eyes, Snyder's Absolute Batman's strength seems to be building toward one big story and it has a lot of interesting elements to the setup that make me rabidly curious. 

- Pennyworth's constant references to "The War."

- Ark M as a blacksite just off the coast of Gotham, the surface-level construction hiding something dark and massive underneath. Also, the fact that this Ark M is literally "Ark: M," which I take to mean number thirteen in a proliferation of similar sites around the globe. 

- Genetically engineered snow dropped on the population to ready them for something nefarious

- Doctor Arkham turning men into monsters for purposes as yet unknown.

And of course, all that ties directly into that 16th issue that introduced this Universe's version of Joker - an ageless Billionaire with a butler, a cave beneath his mansion, and a stranglehold on the globe via economic, military and political posturing achieved over his inhumanly long life.

So yeah, reminder to self that sometimes the hype is earned. So that's two Absolute books I've converted to following in trade over the last month. Absolute WW is still the better book, but this one's intriguing as all get out, and combined they have me wondering if, despite my longstanding loathing of Superman as a character, I should check that one out as well. 

... And that 100% dovetails with something that happened to me/occurred to me shortly after typing the above paragraphs. Something I'll talk more about in Wednesday's post.

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Playlist:

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Mountain Realm - Tribal Alliance

Darkswoon - Thread (single)

The Chameleons - Strange Times

Plague Bringer - As the Ghosts Collect, the Corpses Rest

(Lone) Wolf & Cub - May You Only See Sky

Canadia Rifle - Peaceful Death

Drain - ... Is Your Friend

Exhalants - Eponymous

Slow Crush - Thirst

Various - 85 Seconds Playlist

sunn O))) - Metta, Benelvolence BBC6 LIVE: At the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs

David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Tamaryn - The Waves

Boy Harsher - Careful

Revolting Cocks - Big Sexy Land

Tool - Ænima 

Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Swann Danger - Deep North

Au Pairs - Sense and Sensuality

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Card:

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

• XVII: The Star

• XX: The Aeon

• XXI The Universe

All Major Arcana - rare for me - means BIG ideas, BIG picture, BIG everything. There are a few interesting connections I can make here, but I'm actually going to wait until Wednesday. Aaaaannnnd... I'll retake and light this picture better.

Swann Danger

I hadn't thought of Swann Danger in quite some time, but I pulled out an old CD wallet the other day in the car, saw this and instantly threw it on. Huge, dark-wave, post-punk vibes and I love it. Saw these guys live at Chicago's Fireside Bowl, although I've no idea when. 2004 maybe? Either way, was a nice surprise to see they're on Apple Music. I only know this 2007 eponymous EP, but there's a full-length I'll be checking out this weekend, too. 

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Watch:

Last night K and I had our Thursday night movie date at the premiere of Corin Hardy's new film, Whistle. Here's the trailer:

I knew nothing about the plot for this one going in; hadn't even watched this trailer. I did know that Nick Frost, Dafne Keen and Sophie Nélisse starred, so that, plus my appreciation of Corin Hardy's 2015 film The Hallow and writer Owen Egerton's 2015 powerhouse Follow, I was already in and didn't need to spoil the surprise.

Here's what I'll say: It's competently made, and if you're not a total genre cunt like me, I think Whistle might be a pretty good popcorn Horror flick. I had A LOT of problems with this one, and if you're like me and lean a bit more into the "Talk to Me" side of modern Horror, this might not be for you. But if you're looking for something that's not too deep and a loud, bloody time, this might be for you.

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Playlist:

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞ 

The Chameleons - Strange Times

John Cale - Fear

John Cale - Slow Dazzle

John Cale - Helen of Troy

Blackbraid - III

Swann Danger - Eponymous EP

Read Yellow - Radios Burn Faster

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks OST

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Mountain Realm - Rustborn

Ritual Howls - Ruin

Final Light - Eponymous

Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun

Daydream Twins - Solstice For Embodiment

Type O Negative - ... A Dish Served Cold (single)

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Card:

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

• Nine of Disks - Gain

• Four of Wands - Completion

• XII: The Hanged Man

To finish, you'll have to go into yourself and try to attain a new level. 

I Care Because You Do, Wolf Boy

Aphex Twin's 1995 ... I Care Because You Do was once an almost nightly staple of my listening, but it's been quite some time since I'd spun this one. Felt really good to reconnect. 

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Watch:

I'm a pretty big fan of a number of Brad Anderson's middle-career films, but at some point, I fell off. Vanishing on 7th Street didn't do for me what I'd hoped, and Anderson's follow-up, The Call, admittedly did not get a fair shake due to my allergic reaction to the lead actress. All that aside, I LOVE Transsiberian and Session 9 - both of which Anderson wrote and directed, and The Machinist holds a special place in my heart despite the twist. When I stumbled across the trailer for upcoming Worldbreaker, I was interested - I don't know that Anderson has done anything like this before, and that alone puts it on my list.

This is getting a theatrical release, but I'm not sure if I'll be getting it here in Clarksville or not. Either way, I'll definitely check it out once I'm able. 

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Read:

A few weeks ago I had my local independent book store, Clarksville Book Shoppe, order me a copy of Nat Cassidy's 2025 novel When the Wolf Comes Home. I'd heard a lot of good things of late, and decided I felt like walking into a well-received, recent Horror novel absolutely blind. 

This definitely fit the bill.

Cassiday's prose is sold. Like, SOLID. His ideas are unqiue and, even though a couple things in this one rubbed me a little wrong, overall I really enjoyed it and 100% recommend it to fans of contemporary Horror. 

Not a werewolf novel, but also not entirely not a werewolf novel, the shapeshifting in this book has a very unique mechanism behind it; one that opens the story up to a much larger arc than first apparent. His characters are deeply developed and as real as characters get, and because of that, there are a couple of moments throughout that really hit me hard and made me set the book down before continuing for a day. Some harrowing circumstances befall Nat's characters, and he makes us love them enough that it hurts. 

That's great writing, isn't it?

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Playlist:

Radiohead - Kid A

Radiohead - Amnesiac

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

Tool - Aenima

Alice in Chains - Eponymous

The Soft Moon - Criminal

Fever Ray - Eponymous

Gylt - I Will Commit A Holy Crime: Tandem

Chicago Underground Quartet - Good Days

The National - High Violet

Aphex Twin - ... I Care Because You Do

Sunn O))) - Metta, Benevolence BBC6 Live: On the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs

QOTSA - Songs for the Deaf

Fever Ray - Radical Romantics

Roxy Music - Eponymous

NIN - Pretty Hate Machine

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Card:

One of my favorite cards in the Crowley/Harris Thoth deck, XVII: The Star.

Basically,  a "go for it," situation. 

Thank You Judge

 

From David Lynch's 2001 collaboration with John Neff, BLUEBOB. This song cracks me up. There are lots of little things to notice the more you hear it, and all of it lands for me. One thing people often forget is just how damn funny David Lynch was. 

This is long out of print, and the version you can download from Bandcamp HERE has a slightly different track order. Glad I grabbed this the second it went on sale back in the day - I'll be buried with my CD copy. 

(Please! Someone release this on vinyl!!! Sacred Bones - I'm looking at you!)

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Watch:

Knowing nothing about YouTuber Markipliars, Game designer David Szymanski or his creation Iron Lung, I went to my local Regal and saw the premiere of Iron Lung last night.

I believe I mentioned this here a few weeks ago, when, upon exiting the aforementioned theatre, I saw the poster below, looked up the screening times and saw it had already almost sold out for the entire weekend.

That shit just doesn't happen in Clarksville. I mean, closest I've seen is the last two Terrifier films, but even those didn't sell out a month in advance. So there's hype, and it took some reading to figure out why. Pliars' YouTube channel is among the largest and most successful. Not necessarily a good omen, but I decided to abstain from anything else he's done until I've seen the film.

So how was Iron Lung?

Let's talk about a different movie instead, shall we?

Maika Monroe has just been on fire the last few years, and this new Blood Covenant anthology film looks like it will fit right in. I really dig this trailer and can't wait for a release date. Honestly, I'm just happy to have a new trailer drop for something I'm looking forward to. Despite a couple great films in January, 2026 is feeling like a bit of a dry year for Horror so far. 

Read more about Blood Covenant over on Bloody Disgusting HERE.

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Playlist:

BLUEBOB - Eponymous

Daydream Twins - Solstice For Embodiment

Mars Red Sky & Monkey3 - Monkey on Mars EP

Sunn O))) - Metta, Benevolence BBC6 Live: On the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs

Sunn O))) - Domkirke

Deadmau5 - Random Album Title

Alone in My Room - II

The Veils - Total Depravity

Helmet - Aftertaste

Self - Porno, Mint and Grime

The Afghan Whigs - In Spades

Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun

Chelsea Wolfe - Birth of Violence

White Lung - Paradise

White Lung - Premonition

Radiohead - Kid A

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Card:

• Eight of Cups: Indolence

• III: The Empress

• Knight of Disks

See how card 1 is Indolence - lack of motivation, and card 3 is Knight of Swords, literally motivation. I've been teetering between long bouts of inactivity writing and some really good days (like today) at the keyboard. Sounds like a pendulum, eh? What's the deciding factor? I'm way too engrossed in my day job. That shit isn't me, but it's owning me lately. I worked extra hours multiple days over the past week, and didn't take a lunch or barely move away from my desk for a week. I need to put that back in its box. I took a good step toward that today, and will make sure to do so again tomorrow. They want to own you - Don't let them!!! 

New Music From Sunn O)))

 

From their upcoming self-titled album, out April 3rd on Sub Pop Records. Pre-order HERE.

I'm catching up on a bunch of new music released while I was in the throes of the back-to-back Bowie and Lynch tribute weeks. Not sure when Sunn O))) moved to Sub Pop, but it's weird not seeing their name with Southern Lord. Either way, I'm definitely in the market for a new record from these guys. I kind of check in on them every so often, with Grimm Robe Demos and 2009's Monoliths and Dimensions so far being the only ones I feel truly attached to. For me, it's all about the arranging Anderson and O'Malley add to their core concept of pitch-black drone metal, and "Glory Black" gives me hope that this album may incorporate some new ideas and instrumentation into the classic Sunn O))) sound.

 

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Watch:

We got hit with a "whopping" 2.5" of snow in Clarksville this weekend. I put that in quotes because, being from Chicago, 2.5" shouldn't really be that big of a deal. In a state that doesn't get very much snowfall, though, it is a big deal, and our town's effectively been shut down since Saturday. So K and I sat around and watched movies all weekend. One of those was a first for her and a second timer for me - Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths.

When I watched this for the first time, back around 2014 or 2015, I didn't realize it was essentially McDonagh's version of Adaptation. I don't say that to take anything away from either film - both are brilliant. But where Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation is very 'heady,' Seven Psychopaths is manic and fun. Hilarious at times, really. The cast is a dream cast (Tom Waits!) and the juxtapositon of Los Angeles with Joshua Tree reminds me of an era of my life where I spent a lot of time driving back and forth between the two, staying out in the desert and really getting into a creative groove - which is all the main character in this film - Colin Ferrell's Martin - needs to do to solve all his problems. Well, not all his problems.

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Read:

I've mentioned my reticence to engage with Scott Snyder's Absolute Batman in these pages before; I've read three issues thus far - Daniel Warren Johnson's Annual, the Ark M special, and issue 16 of the ongoing Absolute Batman series. We've reviewed all of these on Drinking with Comics and my cohost Mike and I are pretty much in agreement - the writing's not great. There are some great ideas here, but also, the pull with this one is very much something I recognize as zeitgeist. Will I ever re-read them? Will the fascination outlast the fervor?

Conversely, I don't think I'd ever have considered reading Absolute Wonder Woman until I realized Hayden Sherman is doing the art. I've become a huge fan of this man's work over the last year. Titles Batman: Dark Patterns and the insanely creepy Into the Unbeing introduced and endeared me to Sherman's unique style, and when I saw he was drawing the Absolute version of Diana, I was intrigued.

This book is fantastic! Not your standard take on the character at all, which is great, because this is one of those DC icons that just does nothing for me. Here, Kelly Thomspon writes Diana in a manner that relies heavily on ancient Greek Mythology. Diana was taken from the Amazons at birth and given to Circe in Hell. Circe raised her, teaching her all of her Hecate-worshipping dark magick, and Diana rides the resurrected skeleton of the Pegasus instead of some invisible plane.

I can't stress enough how, despite this being a character I have never been able to take seriously before, Kelly Thompson has dashed those prejudices on the rocks. 

Best of all? Sherman gets to draw a lot of what I really love from him -giant, fleshy monsters! 

I won't be reading this monthly, but I'll definitely be following it in trade.

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Playlist:

David Lynch - The Air is on Fire

The Caretaker - An empty bliss beyond this world

Various - Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series)

PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her

USSA - The Spoils

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Saigon Blue Rain - Oko

Sunn O))) - Glory Black (pre-release single)

Mars Red Sky & Monkey3 - Monkeys on Mars EP

Chrystabell & David Lynch - This Train

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Card:

Putting aside Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot again today (which you can buy HERE) to work with my Thoth deck. That's really where my head and heart have been at. 

The Princess of Cups has always felt like a very gentle card to me. Nurturing in a way most other cards in this deck (or most decks) are not. There's an embrace here, reminding us of the importance of love and understanding, but there's also a nod to methodology and escaping the interior for a bit of the exterior once in a while. Princesses are a creative court, and this card tells me to nurture ideas as though they were loved ones. 

Seven Days of David Lynch Day 6: Falling for Industrial Symphony No. 1

From the Lynch/Badalamenti-produced 1989 album Falling. A modern masterpiece, in my own humble opinion.

One of the tracks that doesn't appear in Lynch's cinematic work, but is just as beautiful and haunting as those we grew to love with Twin Peaks. 

I had this on disc in the 90s and finally upgraded to vinyl when Sacred Bones released it a few years ago. I've put the link HERE because even though it's currently sold out, there's a "Notify Me When Available" button, and although I'm not sure if Sacred Bones actually represses their releases, it's worth a shot.

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Watch:

It's taken me what? Twenty or so years to figure out I could search for and probably find David Lynch's Industrial Symphony #1 on YouTube. 

Special thanks to DinosaurVideoDV's channel for upscaling and uploading this to their awesome channel. Check 'em out HERE and give a follow if you dig.

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Read:

I broke out Chris Rodley's Lynch on Lynch and began rereading the Twin Peaks chapter. I was actually trying to remember what critical writing on FWWM I owned. I know I have issues of Wrapped in Plastic that analyze and pontificate on the film, but I really wanted to read something where Lynch himself speaks about the prequel. 

I'm always very grateful for Rodley's books (the Terry Gilliam one is also fantastic), because he's an interviewer with an agenda similar to my own, but also, he really knows how to put his subjects at ease. David Lynch speaks so casually in this book that he can sometimes digress into elements that, while they may not necessarily be relevant to the question at first glance, end up creating a much more satisfying read. Lynch is often like that in interviews, but the only other place I've ever 'heard' him sound so "off the cuff" is in his biography collaboration with Kristine McKenna.

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Playlist:

Julee Cruise - Floating Into the Night

Chrystabell & David Lynch - Cellophane Memories

Thought Gang, David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti - Thought Gang

David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Perturbator - I Am the Night

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks OST

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks FWWM OST

Radiohead - Kid A

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 1

Loathe - I Let It in and It Took Everything

Loathe - Gifted Every Strength (single)

Etta James - The Second Time Around 

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Card:

Playing with the Thoth a lot again over the weekend. 

• Knight of Wands

• 5 of Cups: Disappointment

• XIII: Death

"Be decisive, your feelings have changed, so act fast and make the change."

It's always said that the Death card may be the most misunderstood in the Tarot, but I'd say in Thoth, a lot of the 'negative' cards are also misinterpreted. It's our natural reaction to think of things like disappointment and failure as 'bad,' however, the Universe is indifferent, and in the grand scheme of things - the 'long game' of our lives - disappointments and failures are part of the ebb and flow that evolves us. 

This pull shows that clearly. Things have changed, but we tend to cling to what we know, even if it's gone south. Recognize this and be decisive, make a change and evolve. Easier said than done. 

I'm not entirely sure what this is alluding to in my own life, if anything. I've been looking at my recent obsessive workings with Thoth as development of an institutional language with the deck. I've always kind of had one, but that relationship appears to be deepening of late, and for that, I'm excited. In that way, I'm looking at this as a generalized 'story' that will help me further understand the deck overall, and these three cards in particular. 

Seven Days of David Lynch Day 1: BLUEBOB - Blue Horse

 

This coming Friday marks the one-year anniversary of David Lynch's death. You know what follows in these pages. Starting Seven Days of David Lynch today, with a favorite from Lynch's collaboration with multi-instrumentalist/Producer John Neff, BLUEBOB.

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NCBD:

Big week, and I've already received a warning not to flip ahead in the finale for Dreadnok War, so I'm psyched. Let's get into it!

Creeping up on issue 30. Wow. Kirkman is building something great, and I'm here for it. 

Not a lot to say about the new creative team on TMNT so far. And that's not a bad thing by any means. The art is insanely good, and the writing feels like we're building to go somewhere interesting, so I'm just sitting back and waiting. Which, with the turtles, is always fun.

The one non-80s IP this week, and I'm happy as hell to have the respite. I love Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana!

So weird that such a large part of my monthly pull is now centered on the toy properties I loved as a kid (and still love, let's face it). 

Whatever happens in this one, I have a feeling it's BIG! Great way to end Dreadnok War, which has really served as a revitalization for the Energon Universe's version of the Joes for me. 

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Playlist:

David Bowie - A Reality Tour (Live)

Faith No More - Album of the Year

Peeping Tom - Eponymous

David Bowie - Low

David Bowie - Reality

Helmet - Aftertaste

IDLES - CRAWLER

Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound

Blood Incantation - Absolute Everywhere

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Card:

Just one card from Thoth today. I've been pulling at least one a night, independent of my Hand of Doom spreads. I've felt a reconnection to this deck of late, and I can feel myself growing into it in an even more substantial way than before, which is saying something, because I've now had this one for over twenty years. 

• Prince of Cups: Today, especially, don't undervalue pragmatism when dealing with Earthly matters. Vague, but I'll take it. There's also the intimation of making a decision and acting on it quickly. 

Hallo Spaceboy

 

From 1995's Outside. Or rather, this is a remix of the song on Outside. A remix that leans heavily into 90s electronica and really makes it work. I mean, I prefer the album version, but this is definitely a cut above what a lot of other established artists were doing to keep up with 'the new sound' at the time.

Also, is that Pet Shop Boys' singer, Neil Tennant, singing on this track? 

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Watch:

Last Thursday, I saw Johannes Roberts' latest film, Primate. Can't recommend it enough, but it's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. The Horror Vision did a spoiler-free review:

We're only two weeks into the year and I already have one film I feel pretty strongly about as far as a "Best of 2026." Always a good sign.

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Playlist:

Double Life - Indifferent Stars

Helmet - Aftertaste

Coleman Hawkins - Wrapped Tight

Tamir Hendelman - I Saw Three Ships (single)

David Bowie - Heroes

Chicago Underground Quartet - Good Days (For Lee Anne; single)

Carepenter Brut - Leather Temple (single)

Johnny Griffin - The Cat

David Bowie - Reality Live

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Card:

Setting aside Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot 9which you can buy HERE) to work with Thoth for today's card.

Control desires. Or maybe, don't control them? I think one of the things I've taken away from this card over the years is a juxtaposition with Chaos Magick's edict not to let the lust of result hamper the chances of achieving what you want. This is pertinent in everything, although I didn't have anything specific in mind at the time I drew, so I'll be reflecting on this card all day today.

Steve Moore - Cinematic Horror: Whispers from the Well

Steve Moore released a new album last week that I only discovered last night by accident. Cinematic Horror: Whispers from the Well is a deep dive into sonic spectral hauntings as only Steve Moore can provide. I'm not really sure what the deal with this album is or how to purchase it. Published by Sonoton Music, you can access it on the usual streamers or on their site HERE. It's not on Moore's Bandcamp, and I can't find anything written about it, so I'm not sure if these are completely new compositions or if this might be a culling of Moore's work from previous OSTs I am not familiar with. I have all his Joe Begos stuff and a large chunk of Zombi in my library, but looking over his credits, there's a lot more I can't wait to get to know, starting with this.

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Watch:

I saw a poster for Mark Fischbach's Iron Lung recently, and was surprised when I saw the trailer:  

Major Panos Cosmatos vibes off this, so I'll definitely be catching it in the theatre when it opens on January 3oth. Even more absurd - after typing that last sentence, I picked up my phone and went to order tickets only to find that almost the entire Thursday 1/29-1/30 screenings are sold out. Clearly, I am behind on this...

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Playlist:

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Imperial Triumphant - Imprints of Man

Imperial Triumphant - Goldstar

The National - High Violet

The National - I Am Easy to Find

The Besnard Lakes - ...are the Ghost Nation

Meg Myers - Sorry

Deftones - private music

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Card:

Taking a break from Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot (which you can buy HERE), as my Tarot work independent of these pages has led me back around to Crowley/Harris' Thoth deck:

• 0: The Fool

• 10 of Cups - Saitey

• 7 of Cups - Debauch

Beginning again can lead to fulfillment, but be sure to see where to stop.

Not really sure where this applies - work maybe. 

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

More fabulous Dungeon Synth from Mountain Realm, distributed by Cryo Crypt Records. I LOVE this one - there's something about the synth tones employed that induces a wonderfully dreamy lethargy in me. You can grab the digital for $5 over on Bandcamp. Perfect for what I've been reading (below). 

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Watch:

Well, Stranger Things is over. I feel like, overall, Season Four is still my favorite. Five had some ups and downs for me, but I think a lot of that had to do with the release schedule. 

Those first four episodes Netflix dropped around Thanksgiving blew me away - especially the very end of four. Then the three we got last week... I feel like the creators had to slow things down to address a lot of dangling character threads that probably could have been woven more evenly throughout the entire season. And those Christmas episodes could have easily been one long episode instead of three. But the finale made up for it. Not necessarily the Vecna-related stuff, which was fine. What the Duffers did REALLY well, though, was all the after-the-final-battle stuff. K and I sobbed, and it felt great. 

We're recording a full-spoiler discussion on the final four episodes this weekend, so that will go up next week. In the meantime, here's our discussion of Season Five, episodes 1-3.

Overall, I really loved the entire series. Totally worth the hype. 

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Read:

I blew through the second book in Nathan Ballingrud's Lunar Gothic Trilogy, Cathedral of the Drowned, and I can honestly say this was the best novel I read in 2025.

Ballingrud's marriage of Horror, Weird Fiction and Science Fiction/Fantasy is seamless and unparalleled, primarily because, over the course of his career, he has honed his prose into a tight and ethereal style that so confidently conjures abstractions he can put you anywhere he can imagine. This novel continues the story begun in 2024's Crypt of the Moon Spider, advancing the race of sentient but eerily quiet Moon Spiders and further exploring the bizarre, reality-shifting properties of their webbing. Ballingrud takes us from the horrors of the Moon to a burgeoning gang war in Red Hook, New York, to Jupiter's Io moon, all teeming with life, gore and questions of what it means to exist as a sentient being. 

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Playlist:

Radiohead - OK Computer

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love

Idles - Crawler

Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World: The Songs of Rodney Crowell

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads

Year-End Maintenance

Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow

Ulver - Neverland

Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

U2 - War

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Card:

One Card for 2026 pulled on NYE:

I've been studying the Thoth deck again for the last few weeks, so I felt it only right to do my New Year Pull with that. This is a definite nod to take the high view; avoid knee-jerk reactions and try to see things from a macro perspective. Use insight, intellect and Will, not emotion. 

lords. - bleeding out

 

I've been growing increasingly obsessed with lords.' single "Bleeding Out," perhaps because I can find next to nothing about them online. This song has the proverbial "it," even if I can't really explain what that it is. It's a feeling. A lonely, haunted exploration of desolation, doom and despair, but also an infectious, cyclical, creepy energy that keeps it moving and pulls you in. Well, it pulls me in for sure. I wish I could post a Bandcamp or something, but other than a Soundcloud and an Instagram, there's no trail for these guys, which just makes it even creepier in an age of oversaturation and instantaneous communication. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

While in L.A. this past Saturday, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting two places I had never been before. The first is Gardena Cinema. This is a family-owned, single-screen theatre at 14948 Crenshaw Blvd, Gardena, CA 90249 that, while I lived here, was a first-run theatre that only played big Hollywood movies. Franchises and the like. They had an all-day Universal Monster-thon and some friends and I had the pleasure of seeing Jack Arnold's Creature From the Black Lagoon in Real D 3D. 

I've loved this flick since I was a child, and it's one of Kirsten's favorites, too, so I've seen it a lot. After seeing it restored in 3D, I can honestly say I feel like I've just seen it for the first time. The restoration and conversion must have been a painstaking but rewarding process, as this just looks so good!

Next up, I finally made my way to Vidiots in Eagle Rock. Part video rental store, part theatre, I'd been wanting to hit this place up since it opened in June of 2023, a little bit less than a year after I moved. I feel like the heavens must have aligned on this trip, because while I would have been willing to go see pretty much anything there, it turns out my visit coincided with a screening of one of my all-time favorite films, Luky McKee's May.

I have no trouble admitting that as the movie began, I almost burst into tears. I love this one so much, and to see it on the big screen after all these years, side by side with some good friends - two of whom had never seen it before - was an experience that will resonate for the remainder of my life. 

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road/The Funhouse

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"/Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D/May

5) The Strangers

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Playlist:

lords. - bleeding out (single)

Drug Church - Prude

Maddie & Kenta Yacht Rock Playlist

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

NIN - I'm Afraid of Americans (single)

David Bowie - I'm Afraid of Americans (single)

David Bowie - The Stars (Are Out Tonight) (single)

Ozzy Osbourne - Tonight (single)

NIN - With Teeth

Faetooth - Labryinthine

Mark Ronson & RAYE - Suzanne (single)

RAYE - My 21st Century Blues

Gylt - I Will Commit A Holy Crime Tandem

Blanck Mass - Animated Violence Mild

The Cure - Alone (single)

Drain - ... Is Your Friend (pre-release singles)

The Bronx - American Heartattack (single)

Dreamkid - Chrissy (single)

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Card:

While I'm traveling, I'm using the mini Thoth Deck that Missi gifted me many years ago. Still, I have to offer a reminder that creator Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot has been my day-to-day deck for over a year now (buy HERE), and Grimm's new deck, the Eldritch Lace Tarot, is up for funding right now on Kickstarter HERE.

Just the one card for today, a reminder to hit the ground running on my book as soon as I return to my daily life later today. Traveling back from L.A., I will say, I kept the thread going by writing two of the four days I was gone. Small sessions, but some important groundwork was laid, and I need to continue that today and tomorrow, despite the shit storm that is likely waiting for me 'at the office.'

The Jeff Healey Band - Road House (The Lost Soundtrack)

Weird rabbit hole yesterday wherein I saw The Jeff Healey Band's The Lost Roadhouse Soundtrack had recently been released. This immediately sent me to YouTube, where I found and watched Healey's 1988 Network television debut on the old NBC Lettermen show and although I saw it when it aired and have seen it a handful of times since, I was once again completely blown away. It's hard not to be. This, in turn, led to my discovery of a forthcoming Jeff Healey documentary, See the Light.

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Watch:

Looks like this one is in pre-production, but still hopeful for a 2025 release. Nice crop of interview subjects (Steve Cropper!), and a really love realizing that there seems to be a healthy 'Cult of Jeff' out there. I've talked about this here before, but being a consummate Lettermen fan from a young age, I was exposed to Healey throughout the 80s on the show and he always blew me away. I didn't turn out the biggest fan of The Blues as a genre, however, key songs and artists from that era made an impact on me, Healey perhaps more than most. 

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Playlist:

Preoccupations - Ill At Ease

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Pinky Tuscadero's Whiteknuckle Assfuck - Halfway to Honky Heaven

Dum Dum Girls - Too True

George Michael - Faith

Prince - Sign O' The Times

Various - The Daptone Super Soul Revue LIVE at the Apollo

Various - Cowboy Bebop OST

Anthrax - Among the Living

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Rendition Was In)

The Fixx - Reach the Beach

Huey Lewis and the News - Sports

The Jeff Healey Band - Road House (The Lost Soundtrack)

Led Zeppelin - I

Sha Na Na - The Night Is Still Young

Orville Peck - Pony

Led Zeppelin - IV

INXS - Kick

The Plimsouls - Everywhere At Once

Drab Majesty - Careless

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Card:

Such a beautiful card. At times, this is my favorite in the deck. There is a cosmic or eternal renewal association with this card, and that's what I'm connecting to at the moment. I'm not sure how that fits into my current day-to-day, but as usual, when stymied, I keep my eyes peeled.