My good friend Grez reminded me that the new Doves album dropped yesterday, a fact I had completely forgotten. When I crawled out of bed this morning and sat down to write this post, I threw on my headphones and dug in. So far, fantastic album, but of course those who know Doves would expect no less. Here's one of my favorite tracks, so far, although it was difficult to choose.
READ:
I finally got around to working through the stack of comics I picked up from both The Comic Bug and Atomic Basement two weeks ago. On that pile was the second issue of Ryan Parrott and Evgeniy Bornyakov's Dead Day, published by Aftershock Comics.
In prepping to read issue two, I went back and re-read issue one, realizing I'd completely forgotten how awesome this book is! Basic set up is every year for the last four years, dead people - not all dead people, no one knows who or why exactly - return from the grave and visit the loved ones they left behind. Well, as the story is showing us, some also visit those who wronged them.
There felt like a considerable gap between issues 1 and 2, so here's to hoping that won't be the case with issue 3, which is currently scheduled for this coming week, 9/16.
Playlist:
Contours - 20th Century Masters
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
Melvins - Houdini
Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
Fen - Dustwalker
Marilyn Manson - We Are Chaos
Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
Kensonlovers - Keep Rolling (single)
Jaye Jayle - Prisyn
Exhalants - Atonement
Code Orange - Down in a Hole (single)
Code Orange - Underneath
X - Los Angeles
Card:
I wanted to do a full spread this morning, as it has been quite some time since I'd done one of these.
Starting with 0 The Fool, this spread lays out a slightly tumultuous path that includes overthrowing current paradigms and fighting through self-doubt toward a new idea that will help define the subject.
Episode two of Halt and Catch Fire's fourth and final season ends with James' Laid playing over the characters as they move through the culmination of the episode's interactions, relationship and business shake-ups that no doubt begin to move all these people I've grown to love into position for the series' end in eight more episodes. It reminded me how long it had been since I last listened to James, and how much this song - a song I despised when it made its initial splash in the mid-90s zeitgeist - has come to mean to me since I fell in love with it in a pub in Dublin, circa 2001.
Watch:
I'm not really a Dune fan. I've never read the novels, and the 80's film adaptation is the only film directed by David Lynch I abhor - and feel fine doing so, considering Lynch petitioned to have his name removed from it. That said, I am definitely a Denis Villeneuve fan. And this looks gorgeous, so I'm in:
I'd love for Mr. Villeneuve to pattern his career after someone like Christopher Nolan - alternating big-budget, franchise, or high-end IP projects with original films, and I have a feeling that's exactly what he will do. In the meantime, I loved Blade Runner 2049, and I think I'll love this, too.
Playlist:
I don't do many shuffles, but I ended up having a pretty good one this morning on Apple Music and then translated it into a playlist on Spotify. Here it is:
From there the day's music looked like this:
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Darkness Brings the Cold - Devil Swank Vol. 1
Lawnmower Deth - Billy
Iress - Prey
The Bronx - The Bronx (I)
Card:
"Quiet contemplation yields unexpected results."
I'll be looking for that today, in the (hopefully) quiet moments when contemplation often sneaks up on me.
I pulled out Firewater's classic 1998 album The Ponzi Scheme and, as usual, now find myself unable to put it away. I've posted other songs from this album here before but haven't paid tribute to others. In that interest, here's"So Long Superman," just another of my favorite songs on an album where every song is a favorite.
Read:
I finished John Ajvide Lindqvist's Handling the Undead a few days ago. Wow. Very good. Understated, powerful, and creepy as hell. Lindqvist's prose is a touch dry, but it works well as he filters between the three main groups of characters - three families - and how they react to the return of dead loved ones. Their reactions then become superimposed across a larger arena as the whole of Sweden reacts to the return of what the media dub the "Reliving," a term very much inspired by a government trying to handle a baffling and unprecedented experience. This is an undead book where the undead are, for the most part, completely unviolent, leaving the characters to deal with the psychological, emotional, and sociological ramifications of what would happen if the recently deceased returned to us.
From there I moved back into Nathan Ballingrud's debut short story collection, North American Lake Monsters. I'd been reading a story here or there over the last two weeks, just to have something to dig into that inspires me to write, and now that I'm full bore, I'm once again in Ballingrud's beautiful prose. This man is easily one of the best writers working today, no need for the genre quantifier. I simply cannot wait for this to hit Hulu next month as the new anthology show Monsterland; I'm hoping they do all nine stories. In particular, The Crevasse is one of the best shorts I've ever read, and to see it properly translated would be majestic, in the least.
Playlist:
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Card:
"Harmonious union of male and female energies" is a nice reminder on something I've been working on as I muster up the gumption to jump back into Shadow Play, which I continue to avoid for some reason.
Struggling a bit to get into the recent Jaye Jayle, so I ended up going back to 2018's No Trail and Other Unholy Paths. That led me to this. Very cool to see them in action.
Watch:
Finally sat down and watched Z on Shudder last night. I really liked this one. There was some great, sustained tension, and one scene in particular really affected me in a way that resonated long after.
Also, K and I had a 'nefarious mansion' doubleheader across two nights over the long weekend. We kicked it off Saturday night with this classic which I had never seen but K swears by. She's totally right, too. April Fools Day is definitely not your ordinary 80s Slasher flick. Which, of course, made me like it quite a bit.
And Sunday night it was the always amazing Clue!
Love that one, as it's got such a great cast who all turn in iconic performances.
Playlist:
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Nirvana - Nevermind
Zeal and Ardor - Vigil
The Clash - London Calling
The Obsessed - Lunar Womb
Ainoma - Necropolis
Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me
Jaye Jayle - No Trail and Other Unholy Paths
Card:
Okay, now this is getting crazy.
I have to dial back in. I did a fairly decent job tonight, hoping I can plow through after the return to work tomorrow. Back is better with some anti-inflammatory meds the doctor gave me, so that's not really an excuse right now.
New music from All Them Witches on this wonderful first day of a three-day weekend. New album Nothing As The Ideal dropped yesterday, order it HERE.
Watch:
Originally, I had no intention of watching the new Ridley Scott produced Raised By Wolves.
After Mr. Scott decided Michael Fassbender's android character David
was now the focal point of the Alien franchise - a decision that would
not have bothered me had Scott not bizarrely used it as a reason to kill ALL the Engineers off camera* - the trailer for Raised By Wolves
looked like he was now doubling down on his android fascination,
deciding to make something new and wholly apart from Alien that only
focused on those white-goo filled humanoids.
I mean, David, Bishop, Ash - the androids are all great characters, filled with weird amoral dilemmas, but they're not that cool, right? I mean, cooler than the Engineers, the god-like creators of the Xenomorph and, um, EARTH? No.
However, then I began to
think, what if Raised By Wolves does end of tying in? I've always
regretted the fact that the marketing for Prometheus gave away the
connection to Alien before the movie even opened. I mean, imagine having gone to see this new Ridley Scott Sci Fi movie in the theatre, getting to the
end, and seeing it suddenly connect as a surprise? It would have been
one of the best theatrical experiences ever! Robbed of that, what if Mr.
Scott had a new opportunity to do the same thing and took it, only this
time as a top tier HBO series?
Well, after watching the first two of the three episodes that dropped this week, I'm pretty sure Wolves will not tie in to Alien. However, it's pretty damn good. Also, it's not a Scott creation. This is the brainchild of Aaron Guzikowski, who also wrote one of my favorite films of the previous decade, the Denise Villeneuve-directed Prisoners. Keeping that in mind, after two episodes, I'm all in.
Playlist:
Zeal and Ardor - I Can't Breath (pre-release single)
Zeal and Ardor - Vigil (pre-release single)
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Nirvana - Nevermind
Card:
Whenever I draw the Ace of Disks now, I draw a clarifying card, because somehow, this one has becomes slightly bent, which physically increases the chance that it is the card I will cut the deck at. I don't want to completely disregard it; also, my preference previous to beginning these daily pulls was always to do at least a three-card spread, however, as the meme goes, ain't nobody got time for that.
Four of Wands, Completion. Two solid cards, one vested in Material or Earthly matters, one in aspects of Will. What do they tell me when taken together?
As is my wont, I interpret pretty much everything in these daily draws as relating to my work as a writer. If I ever need anything outside of that, I draw separately and don't mention it here. Keeping this in mind, I believe my plan for the day should be to finish my most recent query letter on Murder Virus before I dip back into Shadow Play, and send it out. I've stalled on everything of late, mostly because I've slipped or herniated a disc in my back and am more or less in continuous pain, which has affected my mood, which in turn has made me quite lethargic. Need to get over that.
I've been meaning to post about this all week! I'm in the middle of a re-watch of the Cowboy Bebop, and on a lark - and because lately, Saturday nights after midnight I tend to go buzzed record shopping online - I looked up the constantly out of print soundtrack for Bebop and found there is a new pressing up for pre-order RIGHT BLOODY NOW!!!
I ordered mine from the evil empire HERE, but if you have another source, there may be an alternative. All that really matters is I will finally own this one. The music Composer Yoko Kanno and Seat Belts did for this series is among my most favorite music in the world. I can't wait!
Reading:
I have fallen in love with Mirka Andolfo's comic Mercy. Look at these covers!
Art is not usually the factor that pulls me into a new book, but it convinced me to pick up the first issue of this one a few months back. Well, more than a few. I let the rest slide, but recently made it back into Atomic Basement Comics - I'm lucky enough to have two comic shops I love near me, it's just the Bug is literally walking distance from my crib, so my pull at Atomic sat lonesome since this whole Pandemic began. Anyway, I picked up my stash and there they were - four more issues of Mercy. It's not just the art - this one is a sly, period piece horror story that reminds me more than a little of Mike Mignola and Troy Nixey's Jenny Finn or even Joe Hill/Laura Marks/Kelley Jones' recent book Daphne Byrne. Polite society in what I think is late 1800s Washington state, with a tentacled monster(s) preying on lords, ladies, and orphans alike! Can't recommend this one enough.
Playlist:
Earth - Primitive and Deadly
Rezz - Mass Manipulation
Sam Ewing - The Shed OST
Windhand/Satan's Satyrs - Split
Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1
Tennis System - Technicolor Blind
Card:
Persistent, eh? Persistent creativity perhaps? While it's true my creative impulse has lately been curbed by persistent back pain, I had a good little session on Shadow Play Book Two this past Wednesday, enough to get me stoked for the possibility of a deep-dive on this upcoming holiday weekend that begins, well, today!
A couple weeks ago, my good friend Jacob sent me a link to a band called Skywave's album killerrockandroll on Apple Music. It took me until late last week to get around to it, and when I did, my first reaction was apprehension. I liked Skywave quite a bit, but they sounded an awful lot much like A Place to Bury Strangers, and because of that I had mixed feelings. I mean, it even sounded like Oliver Ackermann singing. A lot. I did some quick research and learned there was a good reason the two bands sounded so much alike: Skywave was Ackermann's precursor to APTBS, disbanding around 2003.
As a sound, killerrockandroll definitely scratches the APTBS itch, which is great, because ever since Exploding Head, I've been less than impressed with most of what Strangers release, so now I have a new place to go when I wear Head out and feel like something more.
Watch:
Last week was fairly unproductive, writing-wise. I had a major breakthrough early one morning on my way to work, but after that, the days just took too much out of me. I have developed some kind of chronic, insanely painful back pain that manifests as sharp, horrible spasms when I do things like, well, move. It's not constant, but walking on eggshells and the fact that this hasn't gone away in almost a month has me more than a little afraid and totally exhausted mentally. Every day last week I came home, stared longingly at the spot at the kitchen table where I write during the afternoon, and then collapsed onto the sectional instead. As is my habit on afternoons such as this, I threw on a few movies, mostly conking out before they even began. Most were utterly forgettable. One was great, one good.
First, the great one: Director George Popov's The Droving. I loved it.
This one fits into a subgenre I've kind of created in my head, "British Occult," and shares that tag with films like Colm McCarthy's Outcast, Julian Richards' Darklands, and Ben Wheatley's Kill List. The Droving follows Martin, an ex-military interrogator, home from the desert and looking for his sister, who has disappeared. I have a brief review up on my Horror Amino profile, as well as on my Letterbxd page. Needless to say, I really dug this film, and plan on going back and watching Popov's first film Hex, which stars much of the same cast as this one, and is currently included with Amazon Prime.
Next, the good one was Director Dan Bush's The Dark Red. Here's the trailer:
This one took a while to win me over. Being distributed by Dark Sky Films I should have given it the benefit of the doubt from the start, but I found it on Prime and, honestly, the movie algorithm they use has started to make their 'Recommends' list look like the ass end of the Horror Section you'd see at Hollywood video back in the early 2000s, when a ton of cheaply made crap horror flix began to fill out the shelves of the Horror section (Dark Night of the Scarecrow anyone? How about Alien vs. Hunter?). Anway, The Dark Red is pretty solid. The tone switches in the third act, and even though it's a bit jarring, that final act really turns everything that came before on its head. Which turns out to be both good for the viewer and the excitement factor in the flick, a little bad if you're really paying attention. Full disclosure, I nodded off a bit, so my issues may be mine, and I can't help wonder if I'd seen this under better circumstances, if it would have totally wowed me. One thing is for sure, the actor Bernard Setaro Clark blew me away with his supporting performance, and I'd definitely like to see more of him.
Playlist:
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
Santogold - Eponymous
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - Ancestral Recall (pre-release single)
Well, I would have never expected to be posting a track off Jeremiah Sand's debut album Lift It Down, out October 30th on Sacred Bones Records. You can pre-order this psyche-folk insanity HERE.
I'll probably be skipping this one, however, I definitely appreciate the ridiculous level of detail that's gone into pulling this from the fictional world of Mandy into our own.
NCBD:
Not a lot out today. However, chomping at the bit for this one after just reading issue two a week or so ago:
Next, there's a couple new books I'm curious about (I know, I know. Wasn't I the guy saying I was done buying monthlies just a few, well, months ago? Yeah). First up, Lonely Receiver from Aftershock comics. Written by Zac Thompson, one of the two writers of Her Infernal Descent, which I loved, and art by Jen Hickman. This one sounds really interesting and taps into something I've been meaning to write a story about myself: AI life mate dolls.
From the solicitation:
"Catrin Vander, a lonely video producer, buys an Artificial Intelligence partner that's meant to bond for life. After ten years together, her holographic wife suddenly discon-nects without a warning. The breakup drives Catrin to the point of near insanity. She's alone for the first time in years and reeling from a loss she can't comprehend. Set in the new future, drenched in pastels and sunshine, LONELY RECEIVER is a horror/breakup story in five parts."
Sound good? Yeah, I think so, too.
Finally, I've always been hesitant to engage with any of the newer iterations of the John Constantine books that DC has put out over the years. Constantly starting/restarting, renaming, endless turnover on of the moment creative teams - what's all of it mean for a character as old and storied - and beloved - as John Constantine? Usually just a watering down of his legacy.
That said, I have an interesting feeling about this one, perhaps based on the facts that, A) they've gone back to calling the book Hellblazer, B) it's a limited series, C) Darick Robertson.
Playlist:
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping
Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Windhand - Eternal Return
Card:
Four chapters into Shadow Play Book Two, and yeah, it's a new journey alright. This is the first book I've written off an outline - a comprehensive outline whose word count may actually end up rivaling that of the finished product. I've been having back issues, so I'm by the time this post goes up, I've probably taken the day off work and am hip deep in writing.
Not sure anything could have made me happier than finding out that Mike Doughty has a new project named Ghost of Vroom. Doughty's solo career is great, but I've kind of always had trouble getting past the dissolution of Soul Coughing, a band I would count as one of the most influential bands of my young adult era. Being that Ghost of Vroom feels more like it's in that particular wheelhouse, I bonded with Rona Pollona pretty much immediately. Also, what a great concept for a music video!
The EP, Ghost of Vroom 2, drops on mod y vi records this month, and was produced by Mario Caldato, Jr., better known as former Beastie Boys DJ/Producer Mario C.!
Finally got to watch Frank Sabatella's The Shed. I really dug this one. It seemed like a love letter to Fright Night, without directly taking anything from it. Can't wait to see what Mr. Sabatella does next!
I just posted the trailer for this one a few days back, so instead, here's an awesome poster! The Shed is steaming on Shudder right now, go check it out!
Have to say, recently, there's been more than a few stories - movies, comics, books - that have made serious inroads in updating the zombie mythos, which is exactly what The Shed does for vampires, simply by going full-in on the classic Vamp lore. Nothing new here, except a new approach to handling the old bloodsucker tropes. Maybe others will follow suit?
Playlist:
Anioma - Necropolis
Faith No More - Angel Dust
The Clash - Combat Rock
Ghost of Vroom - Rona Pollona (pre-release single)
Another song from the forthcoming first solo album from former Dillinger Escape Plan/current Black Queen frontman Greg Puciato. Child Soldier: Creator of God is out October 23rd, you can pre-order it HERE.
Watch:
Saturday night, K and I checked off a box and watched Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland. Man, I remembered this one being way better than it is. While it's hard to fault any slasher that uses a garbage truck for its first kill, Teenage Wasteland is mildly entertaining, but essentially little more than a perfunctory set-up to deliver a series of mostly uninspired kills.
Yeah, it kinda all goes downhill after the garbage truck.
Friday, we did John Wick 3, and I continue to be amazed at how much I like these movies. The location scouting is unbelievable, and everything in the series, from the costumes, to the lighting, to the choreography, only helps establish a very unique and opulent atmosphere for unparralleled levels of violence to unfold within. Hell, not even Halle Berry - who is almost always a "No" for me, did a fairly good job.
Playlist:
X - Los Angeles
The Clash - London Calling
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
The Babies - Eponymous
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Boy Harsher - Careful
Brand New - God and the Devil are Raging Inside Me
Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
X - Wild Gift
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Ainoma - Manhunter
Ainoma - Necropolis
Card:
Referencing the importance of maintaining a clear head, especially when confronted with or analyzing former setbacks. This is a huge nod toward my thought process this morning in the car, where I kind of went over a previous project I'd let wane due to a reluctance on my part to bond with what I and a collaborator had come up with for an entry point to the story. Tossing that key point aside, respectfully, I think I have a much better idea. I just need to be careful how I explain that to the collaborator.
I stumbled across Ainoma's 2019 release Manhunter purely by accident. After reading THIS a few days ago, I've had Richard Stanley's 1990 Techno-Horror masterpiece Hardware on the brain, and the cover art for Manhunter bares more than a passing resemblance to that film's murderous robot, the M.A.R.K.-13. That, coupled with the description "Grim Music from the DEAD CITY" caught my attention, and I like what I've heard. Ainoma hail from Russia, and you can pick up both Manhunter and its predecessor Necropolis on their Bandcamp HERE.
I have been in such an X mood for the last few weeks! Here's a favorite from their 1980 debut Los Angeles, surely the greatest album to reference my adopted hometown, out of probably a thousand songs that reference it. I need to dig back into Alphabetland soon, this year's all-original line-up X record, their first in some time.
Watch:
I'm working the weekend this week, so today is my day off! Other than writing, I'm hoping to squeeze in Frank Sabatella's The Shed, which just hit Shudder yesterday. I've heard good things about this one, and I feel like Shudder has been on a bit of a roll with new movies, so my hopes are high. Also, it's an RJLE release, and I don't think I've seen them release a bad flick yet. Here's the trailer:
Playlist:
Alice in Chains - Facelift
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Santogold - Eponymous
Cults - Host (pre-release singles)
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - We Created Putin (pre-release single)
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
Boy Harsher - Careful
Boy Harsher - Country Girl Uncut
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Public Image Limited - This is What You Want... This is What You Get
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping
The Clash - London Calling
The Clash - Combat Rock
Windhand - Eternal Return
Jaye Jayle - Prisyn
X - Los Angeles
Black Breath - Heavy Breathing
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Card:
The Tens are always rooted in the most physical senses. Malkuth, the world. For the Ten of Swords in particular, where the hilts of the Swords are arranged to represent the Qabalahistic Sephiroth and the blades converge on and shatter the Six - Tipareth or the Sun - the idea is if you fight long enough, the only outcome is destruction. This is an important reminder for me at the moment; my Beta Reader has Murder Virus, and I've encountered a situation where I need to do some more work on it to smooth out a considerable bump in the road. There's two paths I can take - one where I do a lot of work, and write and re-write several chapters, and one where simply re-ordering certain parts might do the trick. According to the Ten of Swords, the latter may be the better way.
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine have a new record out this fall on Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label, and if We Created Putin is any indication, Tea Party Revenge Porn will be the musical reaction of the trump years I have been waiting for.
NCBD: It is a very good thing I went in and picked up the three weeks worth of books in my Pull last week, because this week's NCBD has the biggest haul in a while. Let's start with the return of one of my all-time favorite books:
It's been a minute since Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses #41, but I do not begrudge David Lapham the time off. On the contrary, this is one of the hardest working men in comics, so I'm one hundred percent behind the occasional hiatuses he takes. That said, it's good to have Beth, Orson, and the crew back!
New Locke and Key, you say? Yes, I only just read the entire original series at the end of last year/beginning of this one, but I'm definitely in on this two-issue series, especially because it leads to a Locke and Key/Sandman crossover later this year. Can't wait for that!
I'm still a bit on the fence with That Texas Blood, however, I plan on going back and re-reading issue one before plowing into two and now three.
Bliss number one made a pretty big splash with me, and I'm anxious as hell to see how the story continues.
The Plot returns with issue six this week. I love this return to the Ancestral Horror genre, so much so that I penned the first installment of my new "A Most Horrible Library" column on TheHorrorVision.com. Read it HERE, and watch for future installments to go back to a video format similar to my 2017 Evolution of the Arm series. I don't really have the time to write a regular column at the moment, but with a Video Column, I get to work with K again - she shoots and helps design the look of the show - so that'll alleviate me putting another project solely on myself.
The best thing about picking up all your books after they've been out for a few weeks is that, such as is the case with TMNT, I literally just read last month's issue a few days ago, so the story is still fresh in my mind. This series has been a consistent succession of awesome evolutionary moments for a lot of the characters in the TMNT universe that might have gone stagnant in a lesser series. Case in point, last month we got this:
I don't know if that makes anyone else out there as happy it does me, but I'm excited as hell to see more of "Leatherkrang!"
See what I mean? That's A LOT of books for one Wednesday! Feels good.
Playlist:
Thou - Heathen
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
Santogold - Eponymous
Drab Majesty - The Demonstration
Card:
This one keeps coming up of late, and as I surmised on 8/20 when the Princess of Disks came up last, a signpost on the logic/emotion tug of war it's been reentering the Shadow Play world. Big breakthrough two days ago, not much since. But I've been a bit lost in my head, and reluctant to dig into the dirt and really start laying the foundation in prose. Time to pony up.
It's been some time since I broke out the Vitalic, but a few weeks ago this
song floated to the surface of my mind and I spent an afternoon at work
revisiting the French DJ's 2005 debut album, OK Cowboy. Good times. My
Friend Dario is such a perfect little electro-pop song that I'd imagine would
have been all over the radio in a sane world. If there's one thing the
intervening years since this record's release have taught us, it's that this
is most definitely, not a sane world. Sometimes, like Dario, don't you just
feel like driving too fast, taking your hands off the wheel and...
Watch:
Thesecond episode of HBO's adaptation of Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country aired last night and I have to say, this show is fantastic. HBO seems to know how to change story elements so that, while they are clearly trying to meet inclusive agendas, they do not sacrifice story elements. In fact, I'd say so far, between this and last year's Watchmen, the changes HBO makes improve the material. Again, as I said last week, in no way am I casting aspersions on Ruff's novel, because it's great. However, it does not feel like "pop" to me. This does, and the fact that anyone has made a Lovecraft-adajacent show "pop" blows my fucking mind.
If you're unconvinced, HBO has the entire first episode up on their youtube channel, so maybe give it a whirl. The episode opens with a particularly crazy, CG dream sequence, so don't let that convince you. The graphics are good; not great. About on par with those from Ash Vs Evil Dead. There's a lot of shit going on in this dream sequence and none of it's in the book, but seeing Jackie Robinson fight Cthulhu proved to be one of those things I never knew I wanted until I saw it happen:
After Lovecraft Country, as K and her mother sequestered themselves in another room to watch a reality show they have a long-standing tradition of watching this time of year, I settled in for a weekend wrap-up flick. I'm getting better at circumnavigating the 'paradox of choice' that streaming has inspired in me, where I flip through Shudder, Prime, Netflix, HULU, HBO and never settle on anything. Last night, I went straight to Shudder, saw that Jay Baruchel's new slasher flick Random Acts of Violence had landed, and settled in for what turned out to be a pretty damn fantastic viewing. Here's the trailer:
I really liked this flick! First, it was so good to see Jesse Williams, who you may remember from Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's Cabin in the Woods. Second, I pretty much instantly fell in love with the way Baruchel and cinematographer Karim Hussain capture the locations and sets here. They really know how to convey the mood of traveling the interstates that lay at the heart of this country. There's what I call "truck stop paranoia" seeping from the darkened highways, crappy motels, rest stops and dank bars with only ancient beer logo lamps for lighting.
Playlist:
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
The Haxan Cloak - Eponymous
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - Ancestral Recall (pre-release single)
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Iress - Prey
Vitalic - OK Cowboy
Ritual Chair - Pain and Decay
Cult of Mary (Ritual Chair) - Praise
Ritual Chair - Brock Turner
Thou - Heathen
Perturbator - New Model
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
**
Card:
And before I even post this one, I've let something trivial at work influence an otherwise good mood. I'll need to fight my way back to a positive mindset, and the best way to do that is strap on my headphones and work.
A happy accident that while looking up music by another band, I stumbled upon a Daily Bandcamp article by Jordan Reyes spotlighting Ritual Chair's music. The name caught my attention, but the music is what caught my breath. I started with 2017's Pain and Decay, and quickly found I could not work my way away from Ritual Chair's bandcamp. Each successive piece I listened to helped grow a seed of horror and anxiety inside me, which is a good thing when you see where Hailey Magdeleno's music comes from, what motivates it, and where the proceeds go. By the time I arrived at this piece, which incorporates what the artist describes as a "random tape called Africa Praise 1" - which appears to actually be released as a different project by the same creator - I feel like I should have been ready for the harrowing funnel of sound that enveloped me, but I was not. This made for a distinctly unique listening experience, one I will probably attempt to recreate down the line, but will most likely fail.
Another thing that absolutely blew me away, and seemed like the best example of an artist giving a well-deserved 'Fuck you' to a deserving party who has thus far escaped the maximum desecration he deserves, is Ritual Chair has a release titled "Brock Turner."
The album art is his smug, cunt face, and the description is a terse indictment of his failed humanity. Mr. Turner deserves far worse than having an album named after him, but it's my long-held belief that sound and idea, when sculpted from outrage, anger, and frustration, can act as a kind of Sword of Will. Perhaps if enough of us listen to and talk about this recording, it will gain the power to steal his breath while he sleeps, leaving only a lifeless shell in his place.
One can hope. In the interim, all proceeds from this, and quite a few of Ritual Chair's other releases, go to The House of Ruth.
