Many thanks to youtube user Baby Gorilla, whose channel you should absolutely go check and support with some likes and a subscription; the video content is outstanding! Link to Baby Gorilla HERE.
**
I've known for a while that DC has a subscription service called dcuniverse. Anyone who reads these pages knows this should hold no particular interest for me, as especially in the modern day there is very little content DC generates that I'm interested in. HOWEVER, a week or so ago, my good friend Mike Shinabargar sent me this:
I need to see this, like, soon. While I don't have any interest in reading the current iteration of Doom Patrol that DC Comics publishes, I am a HUGE fan of Grant Morrison's 80s run on the title, and according to Mike, the show leans heavily on it, so if this scene is any indication, I am very interested.
**
Three Fourths of The Horror Vision recorded our Spoiler-heavy discussion to Jordan Peele's Us last night (Chris out helping manage a European tour with Rezurex!). You can find the Us episode below:
After the Us reaction, we watched indie horror gem Book of Monsters, which will be the focus of our episode going up early this week. Here's a trailer:
Nice work on getting this one out there, Dread Central!
Playlist from 3/23:
Windhand - Eternal Return
Canadian Rifle - A Peaceful Death
Gary Numan -
Card of the day:
A new beginning of Earthly Matters. Time to double down on saving money - it's been difficult lately and I've been slipping - and time to start outlining the sequel to Shadow Play!
I should have realized that, a few days ago when they released We Never Fall, that it would be a harbinger of the band's first live album. I can NOT wait to dig into this today.
K and I saw Jordan Peele's Us last night. Despite one of the worst crowds I've shared a theatre with in recent memory, and me being a bit too high to let all the random conversations not affect my viewing, the film is outstanding. Peele is one of the most original filmmakers out there today, and seeing him interviewed recently on both Horror Noire and Eli Roth's History of Horror, it excites me to no end that he embraces Horror as much as he does, and wants to continue to create inside the genre.
Also, that second trailer for Pet Sematary that I had been avoided was foisted on me before the movie last night, and it looks scary as hell.
Playlist from 3/22:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
Thought Gang - Eponymous
Stan Getz - Focus
Mr. Brown sent this to me yesterday. I am PSYCHED. I mean, with the momentum of just finishing a re-watch of the original series, I cannot WAIT for May 31st, which really, isn't that long to wait at all.
**
When my friend Keller showed me this the other day, it absolutely blew me away. Skating Polly have such a throw-back sound to the 90s, but in a way that feels pretty genuine. Siblings, I'd wager their mother and/or father are about my age, grew up in the 90s and exposed their daughters to PJ Harvey, The Pixies, The Breeders, etc, from an early age. This is influence, not imitation, a fine line in today's world. Anyway, this is an older track; Keller discovered them a few months back at the Echo and ended up seeing them multiple times since then. His assessment? They Rock. The musical exchange here, both in the girls' singing and playing, warms my heart.
**
K and I finished the first season of Deadly Class last night; the season finale aired a week or two ago, so we were behind. Man! I'm calling it now - best comic book adaptation yet! These characters are insanely alive in the book, but on the show, I don't know, you get more gravity with their emotions and situations. Also, all the deviations from the book? Well, Remender himself is the show runner, so all of it is him writing new material. My favorite new character? I can't believe I'm going to say this, but French Stewart is freakin' fantastic in the role of Scorpio Slasher. Here's a peek:
LOVE Billy's reaction!
Playlist from 3/21:
Skating Polly - On Audiotree Live - EP
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Finn Andrews - One Piece at a Time
Kevin Ayers - Bananamour
Chasms - On the Legs of Love Purified
Chasms - The Mirage
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
Second Still - Eponymous
Stan Getz - Focus
Card of the day:
The Airy aspect of Water. Emotion curbed with intellect. Is this a harbinger to my workday ahead? Probably, so I'll interpret it as a cue to remain mindful even in instances of explosive emotions. In other words: It might be a trying day. Breathe deep and keep your head up and your mouth (mostly) closed. It's eight hours until the weekend.
This showed up in my youtube feed last night and frankly, listening to it was so exciting I had a bit of trouble falling asleep afterward. This band continues to amaze me; while this track obviously bears more than a little passing resemblance to the standard 'Zeal & Ardor Sound,' there's more than enough that's 'new' here to show that Manuel and crew are continuing to stretch that signature sound in new directions, without eschewing the core ideas that made them so awesome in the first place. Not an easy thing to do, but they're doing it. So coupled with Baphoment, the new track K and I saw them play at the Roxy back in August, that's two new tracks. Let's hope we get another new album sooner than later. That said, don't rush it guys. Just keep doing what you're doing.
**
Tuesday night after work I drove up to Hollywood, and my friend Keller and I attended something of a dream event - Harmony Korine's 1997 film Gummo in 35mm at the Egyptian Theatre, with Korine present after the film, interviewed at the front of the room by a long-time friend.
It was magnificent. Gummo has, since shortly after I first saw the film back in, oh, probably '99, occupied a spot in my top-five favorite films of all time. And while the movie disgusts many folks, this screening cemented my observation that it is both one of the most ugly and simultaneously one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. There is such life here! After the movie, Korine talked about casting, and how he wanted to put people in the movie that you normally would never see in a movie. You can argue that there's an element of exploitation here, but to that I'd counter that Korine documents and puts himself in the film, which to me dissolves the barrier between filmmaker and subjects. He's one of them, not above them, and I think he makes this very clear. I feel real love in Gummo, and while there's definitely some terrible stuff contained within, it's documented objectively, not celebrated or diminished.
**
Because I was out late Tuesday, I'd already secured yesterday off from work. The caveat to myself though, was if I stay home, I have to work. So, I spent the entire day, from about 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM working to finish Shadow Play, with only the distraction of the occasional break to read a comic and several loads of laundry between sessions. There was some major dialogue sculpting I had to do in some of the final chapters, and one serious flaw in a certain character's logic that caused a massive reassessment and overhaul of the last ten chapters. Nothing plot-wise, but all the tiny nuances that go into this disparate collection of characters' lives and machinations all coming to a head in a penultimate moment needed to be massaged something fierce. You know, you change something here, you have to follow the ripples through to the end and make sure they all gel. And although I was exhausted and in need of an ice cold Sierra Nevada by 6:15 PM, I am quite happy with the work. Four more chapters to record and I'm ready for that final go-through. Can't wait.
**
I worked with such focus yesterday, that I was able to ignore two major trailers that dropped and had everyone talking. I'll post them here now as I watch them for the first time.
Wow. Kudos on the use of Baba O'Riley. Also, that's quite the monster near the end, right? And this one, well, I just can't wait for this one:
Playlists from the past few days:
3/20:
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST
3/19:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Finn Andrews - One Piece at a Time
Kevin Ayers - Bananamour
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST
Card of the day:
I keep seeing this one. There's definitely something more below the surface here, something I don't have the time to research at the moment. Deep dive later on.
Wow. I didn't even know this was coming. I've never been a very active Cranberries fan, despite the fact that I loved their sound. Zombie and Dreams were HUGE parts of the musical landscape of my youth, but I never really followed through on their albums. Then, maybe ten years ago, I picked up Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We and experienced a brief fascination with the band again after the use of one of their songs in the movie, The Sound of My Voice. I had just fallen head over heels in love with The Smiths - another band I had previously only dabbled with - and with their music floating through my head 24/7, I began to realize a lot of other bands were directly influenced by them, The Cranberries one of them.
When Dolores O'Riordan tragically passed away in 2018, an unexpected thing happened on Los Angeles radio - everybody began playing The Cranberries again. What's more, from what I gather in my little snippets of FM radio at work, they still play them. Often. This feels a bit like some sad triumph for a great band that kind of disappeared for years, only to resurface after tragedy. Fast forward to April 26th this year, and apparently we get the final album The Cranberries recorded with O'Riordan and then, that's it. This is the first single, and both the song and the video are emotional heavy weights in light of everything that's happened. A fitting tribute to the late O'Riordan, whose voice was really unlike anyone else's on Earth.
I received and began reading The Art of Hunting, the second book in Alan Campbell's Gravedigger Chronicles, and I can already tell I'm going to freak out when it's over, knowing there's a third volume finished that Tor won't publish. I can't express how high a regard I hold Campbell's writing in; I did when I read the Deepgate Codex, and the Gravedigger series feels like a serious level up from that, so in my mind, this is a fantastic example of expertly rendered world-building fantasy that does not succumb to "Tolkienism."
Yeah, I made that term up.
Anyway, thirty pages in, and The Art of Hunting has me as strongly as Sea of Ghosts did.
Playlist from 3/17:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control
The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Card of the day:
A lot of ending this morning. I'm reading this one at face value: I'll finish the reading of Shadow Play today. I had an excellent session yesterday, and I really can't stress what a game changer reading out loud has been for me. I'm finding the book very much on track, and hearing it out loud is helping iron out little inconsistencies in tone, syntax, grammar, and detail.
Friday March 15th was the three-year anniversary of Tom's death. This year it blind-sided me, and I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even realize it until the morning of the 16th, when K reminded me. Tom - wow. When I stop to consider it, I can still feel his loss like it's a wound that's only scabbed over. You know, the kind you bump against the inside of your dresser drawer that sticks, and it opens and gushes blood and pain for a few hours. That's exactly what contemplating my 'former life' is like, in regards to Tom (and Tom alone). You'd think with the number of friends I've lost in my life - an inordinate amount by most people's standards - death would come a bit easier. And I guess it kind of does. But when the loss is someone you see everyday, that you live with, it's different. And Tom stuck with me through the worst time of my life, and what's more, made it clear he understood and wanted to help me persevere. That's pretty insane, if you ask me. The bond we had was unlike any I've had with a cat before or after, and I am definitely a cat lover. Anyway, Tom, I miss you. I'll be raising a pint in your honor later tonight. In the meantime, this one's for you, my friend:
**
If you want to see the best goddamn coverage of SXSW, click over to Heaven is an Incubator's page and feast your eyes on the meat and potatoes of the yearly fest. You can find coverage on a ton of sites, but not like this. Tommy goes out of his way every year to burrow in deep and really find the stuff that matters, not just the stuff everyone already wants to read about. In years past he usually posts about bands that seep up throughout the subsequent years into taking the spotlight, and I'd wager this year is no different. Also, he's started a 'daily jam' posting schedule that I absolutely adore. Link to Heaven Is An Incubator HERE.
**
Friday night, K and I saw Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats at the Wiltern. WOW! Seriously these guys blew me right the hell away. I mean, I knew they'd be good, but this was another level. All business, no nonsense, Uncle Acid easily goes into the category of 'Best bands I've seen live.' Tight performance, heavy as hell, and awash in Occult/psychedelic imagery, I still can't stop thinking about how great their set was. And as much as I dig their albums, none of them do the band's sound full justice. Neither does this video, from youtube Chicanochrist, but it gives you a sense of their visual presence:
Uncle Acid's Wasteland album might not have made it into my top ten of 2018, but I love it and couldn't wait to see it live. Especially because I had no idea what to expect. I'd never seen what the members of the band look like, and especially with Kevin Starrs' unique voice, I harbored a strange, almost B-movie idea of the face attached to the voice. This ambiguity is a rarity these days, and as much as it is partially of my own design, I feel like it's also part of the band's mythos. So when faced with having the curtain pulled back by seeing them live, I had to embrace the idea of giving that ambiguity up.
But you know what? It didn't happen.
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats took the stage under darkness, with a video image and an elongated version of the loud speaker announcement that begins Wasteland playing over the speakers. From there they ripped directly into album opener I See Through You, then proceeded to plow through song after song, hoping from Wasteland to Bloodlust to The Night Creeper, no acknowledgement of the crowd until after six or seven songs, when the man I'm assuming was Kevin Starrs simply asked how we were doing. Of course, he didn't wait for a reply before kicking into Crystal Spiders from the band's recently re-released demo, Vol. 1.
The reason I can only assume our addresser was Kevin Starrs is because A) he was standing in the middle, and B) he was playing guitar and singing into a microphone. However - and maybe this is simply my self-imposed ignorance of the members of the band, which, as you can no doubt tell from above I prefer - but stage left was another man playing a guitar and singing into a microphone. The music was played so flawless, executed in such a concise manner, that you couldn't tell who was singing or playing what. And other than one subsequent brevity to the crowd, there was no speaking in-between songs. The performance was all about the music and the aesthetic, that's it. So in my mind, the band fully retained their enigmatic presence. Which is awesome, because I love the mythos I perceive around these guys; the evocation of that strange era of the 60s/70s when hippy dippy free love turned into hard drugs, black magick and satanism. This is the first band I've encountered since My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult back in the early 90s that feels dangerous in some capacity.
Opening was local band Twin Temple. My good friend Chris from The Thirsty Crows and The Horror Vision turned me onto these guys a couple weeks ago, and they did not disappoint live. Self-described as "Satanic Doo-Wop," I'd say a more accurate description is a Satanic Amy Winehouse. Either way, check out this video:
Finally, it's St. Paddy's day! Since our new place is considerably smaller than my former residence, I'm unable to hold my annual party, and as such my 'St Paddy's Spirit' is considerably diminished. I've got a corned beef in the slow cooker, and some Guinness to quaff, but I'm not even really in the mood to watch State of Grace - which I'll probably watch and be consumed by anyway.
Playlist from 3/14:
Le Butcherettes - bi/MENTAL
Thin Lizzy - Fighting
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Vol. 1
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Playlist from 3/15:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Le Butcherettes - bi/MENTAL
Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
Nick Lowe - The Jesus of Cool
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Playlist from 3/16:
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Night Creeper
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Card of the day:
Hod, the area of Prudence, defined by Merriam-Webster as the ability to govern and discipline oneself with the use of reason. This applies directly to the self-destructive feelings I have toward a certain project I have right now, one that the carelessness of of one of those involved has led to a flurry of thoughts on my part to end the project. Anger and frustration are a natural reaction when the carelessness of others directly affects our plans, lives, etc. But instead of lashing out, it's always better to just take it on the chin and continue. If, that is, it's something and someone you care about.
I had completely forgotten there was a new album from Le Butcherettes that dropped in February! Only a couple listens in, I prefer the back half of the album to the A side, but overall bi/MENTAL is a stand-out piece of music.
New Music from Grimes, but not Grimes? The music is not grabbing me the way anything on Visions or Art Angels did, but the song isn't really the point. Double click on the embed here and listen to the track on Grimes' official youtube channel. While you're listening, read the summary. It's fascinating. Apparently this is not from the forthcoming Grimes album, but from a musical she is working on. This character is named "Dark." Grimes has a really interesting creative thought process, which is why many of us like her so much. Can't wait to see what comes next. But yeah, I really want that next Grimes album...
Playlist from 3/13:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Second Still - Eponymous
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Card of the day:
Creative Drive (Binah, the Mother); striving toward a goal. Yep.
For the last two days, I've actually woken up before my first alarm at 4:07 AM and had time to do my daily entry early. Both days I've begun things with Talking Heads' 1980 album Remain in Light on headphones. On an album where every song is my favorite song, Born Under Punches is probably my favorite of the favorite. There's something so huge about this song; so many moving parts that comprise the whole. If you listen to Remain in Light on headphones, Brian Eno's production becomes entrancing. This pairing was so well suited; on Eno's three collaborations with David Bowie you can hear how he brings a certain approach to rhythm. The only way I can think to describe it this early, while I wait for my first pot of coffee to complete its brew cycle, is he thickens it. This works wonders for Bowie's music, transforming it into something those who'd followed the Thin White Duke to that point hadn't heard before from him. When we apply the same aesthetic techniques to a band like Talking Heads, a band that already looks at rhythm from a slightly non-rock perspective (not to diminish Bowie), well, you get Remain in Light. This live version further emboldens that approach, only in a live environment, and the result is mesmerizing.
Such a great freakin' band!
Virtually nothing for me on this NCBD, although I'd been on the fence about continuing The Dreaming and I may stop in and pick up the three issues I've missed; having recently completed reading issues three and four, I'm finding I really want to continue. Lucifer, the book I previously thought I would be reading consistently, has kind of fallen by the way side for me, and I'm not sure I will go back to it.
Oh! After a quick check on today's release (I use THIS SITE), I've realized Dan Wickline's Freeze #4 hits stands today, so that's a definite reason to stop in at the Bug and hang out a bit.
Like I need a reason.
David Lucarelli, author of The Children's Vampire Hunting Brigade and the BRILLIANT Tinsel Town, just launched a Kickstarter for the expanded graphic novel edition of the five-issue series. Link to it HERE:
I can't wait to support this, and I suggest you do the same. Tinsel Town is a fantastic historical series about Abigail Moore, the first woman police officer in fictionalized version of the early Twentieth Century Universal City, when Universal Studios was had its own police force! Inspired by Lucarelli's mother, who was a Police Officer for twenty years in Pittsburgh, Tinsel Town is expertly plotted, beautifully told, and personal enough to give it a meaty emotional resonance that will linger in your thoughts well after having read it.
Playlist from 3/12:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Fela Kuti - The '69 Los Angeles Sessions
Fela Kuti - Sorrow, Tears, and Blood
Prince - Sign O' The Times
Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool
Misfits - Earth A.D.
Le Butcherettes - bi/MENTAL
Bells Into Machines - Eponymous
Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
King Woman - Doubt EP
King Woman - Created in the Image of Suffering
In Search of Darkness is the self-appointed, "Definitive 80s Horror Documentary." We've been knee-deep in horror docs at the moment, with both Horror Noire and Eli Roth's History of Horror landing on Shudder within a few weeks of one another, but who cares? I love watching these, hearing insider's interpretations, and building a scope for the tempest I grew up inside the eye of in the 80s. This is everything to pop culture at the moment, or at least the alleys of that culture that I traverse. Stranger Things is based on 80s Horror, Ash, Jack Burton, and Lucio Fulci all have current comic books on the shelves. John Carpenter makes records. Child Play's getting a TV show, and boutique Blu Ray imprints like Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome and Scream Factory and specialty streaming services like Shudder and Prime are making it possible for people to see movies they'd only ever heard of since those films disappeared off first-stage VHS rental shelves, never making the jump to disc. So why the hell would I not want someone to draw an outline around this behemoth?
The final Indiegogo is up now and ends on March 31st, link HERE.
Man, I walked into a book store the other day and hadn't realized Irvine Welsh released the 'Grand Finale of Transporting."
I felt so removed; I used to buy Welsh's books the day they dropped. But he's one of those authors I love SO much, his writing tends to steer my own, and I haven't had much space for that since starting to seriously work on Shadow Play, back in 2012 now. Of course, I've had a few long interstitial projects that have prolonged that, but really, this has been where I've learned to write genre, and there just wasn't room for a more literary pull in my voice. That's changing soon; I vowed to read at least one of the Welsh books I've missed this year, and now that there's a new chapter in the Trainspotters' lives, well, I guess I'll start there.
Wait, no. I believe I have to start with 2016's The Blade Arist, because I'm fairly certain this is what happens when Franco goes to America, which both amuses and terrifies me. Imagine Begby as your new neighbor. Nightmare fuel, that.
Playlist from 3/11:
John Cale - Black Acetate
Placebo - Meds
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Don Shirley - Don Shirley Trio
Erase Errata - Other Animals
Waxwork Records - House of Waxwork Issue #1 OST
Wink Lombardi and the Constellations - 10 Songs
Earth - Phase 3 - Thrones and Dominions
Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty
Exhalants - Eponymous
Card of the day:
More Cups. Emotion and sensitivity as directed or acted upon by Fire. This is good. This will get me through the lag I've experienced in finishing the book, where daily life seems to be conspiring against my productivity. I'm saying it now: My birthday is on the 24th of this month. The reading of it will be done by then, which means a few days to listen to it, a few more to make changes based on that listening, and then it's done.
I'm about a week late on this one, but there's a new video for one of my favorite tracks on Windhand's 2018 opus, Eternal Return. Oh, who am I kidding? They're all my favorite tracks on this record. Awesome video, as well.
If you grew up in the 80s and 90s like I did, surrounded by shelf upon shelf of mass market paperbacks in the local library and Kroch's and Bentano's, and whatever that other bookstore in the mall was, you know, before the advent of big box, stand-alone bookstores, then you might have an inherent understanding of the horror paperback boom that permeated the pop literary world. You might have an understanding, but probably not of the scope of that boom. Unless you've read Grady Hendrix and Will Errickson's Paperbacks from Hell, in which two things probably happened:
A) You had an extremely entertaining romp through the history of Horror Literature and understand its timeline a hell of a lot better
B) Since reading Hendrix and Errickson's tome, you find yourself occasionally scouring the internet for copies of some of these lost gems, only to find prices repugnant.
But fear not! Valancourt Bookshas begun a Paperbacks From Hell reprint series - which you can subscribe to - that in most cases will feature the original paperback artwork. For myself, the price point of $16.99 for a MM paperback is better than eBay pricing but still too much for me to pull the trigger, but then again VB has not really solicited any of the titles I want yet, so I'm still keeping my eyes open for some goodies I spied in Hendrix's tome.
BTW - Errickson is a fantastic curator and played a large part in amassing the subject matter of PfH, and his Too Much Horror blog is definitely worth following.
So what are the paperback gems from days gone by that I'm interested in?
Michael McDowell's The Elementals because I am really interested in his Blackwater series, based on the fact that of all the books in Paperbacks from Hell, Blackwater sounds like it might be solid literature. Before beginning a series, however, I'd rather my introduction to McDowell's work be a stand-alone.
Because the pen name Peter Saxon is awesome, and because The Guardians series sound like a lot of fun.
Because the cover is subtle yet absurd and reminds me SO Much of my childhood, when covers like we find on all these books were the wallpaper to my life:
And finally, because I remember holding this one in my hands at a young age back in the early 80s at and almost checking it out of the Worth, Il public library, but never actually doing so.
Satanic Rock bands. Sounds like a great double feature when I finally get around to Hendrix's latest novel:
Playlist from 3/10:
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night
Exhalants - Eponymous
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Earth - Phase 3 - Thrones and Dominions
John Cale - Black Acetate
Card of the day:
This is a very emotional card in respect to Earthly matters. There's revelation, although it might be confused at first. There's no inherent conflict, except maybe that of emotion taking over for a bit. Not really sure what this is in reference to, but I'll keep my eyes open today and try not to let emotions get the better of me.
I've always been a bit on the fence when it comes to Black Mountain. Not sure why, but it very well could just be a case of not having spent enough time with them. Whatever the case, I'm digging this new song the band dropped off their upcoming album Destroyer, out May 24th on Jagjaguwar. Pre-order the album HERE.
Finally heeded all of the recommendations to go see Spider-man: into the Spiderverse last night. BLOWN AWAY. The animation was revolutionary, a far cry from anything that all the pixars of the world put up on the big screen. I never read Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-man past the first trade back in the day, so while I've been peripherally aware of Miles Morales since he took over the Spiderman persona in the former Ultimate Universe, I'd never actually engaged with him as a character in a story.
He is marvelous.
As much as I grew up with and will always have a soft spot for Peter Parker, this is the Spiderman of the future. I'm reminded of Grant Morrison's run on Batman and Robin, where Bruce Wayne was dead and Dick Greyson took over the Batsuit, with Damien Wayne as his Robin. Brilliant arc, and Morrison spoke on Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman podcast about how he told DC that Bruce should stay dead, and that Dick and Damien were the team for the new millennium. And of course, DC ignored him. Status Quo - the staunchest villain to the medium of comics ever. Marvel has, of course, figured out ways to keep all their Spider-characters going, but with the emphasis on Miles in this film, they're clearly hedging their bets on him, as though they heeded Morrison's advice for their own major flagship property.
Playlist from 3/09:
Windhand - Eternal Return
Playlist from 3/10:
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
Twin Temple - Twin Temple (Bring You Their Signature Sound... Satanic Doo-Wop)
Chromatics - Camera
Noctural Projections - Complete Studio Recordings
Card for the day:
Nine = Yesod: the fields fo imagination, reflection, and foundation, where you can root your creation in firm soil and sit back and let it breath on its own. This pull is telling me I'm pretty much finished and need to prepare to release the book. It's a bit ahead of the actual workload being completed, but close enough to be a sound reminder not to overthink things.
It's 12:00 AM, and for the second time this week, I can't sleep. There's bravado in the clouds tonight, distant thunder echoing across the sky, holding the population of LA's South Bay hostage. Those of us still awake, anyway. I'm on the couch, watching Lucio Fulci's City of the Living Dead as I type this. I've had horror on the brain this evening - I feel both that I want to consume an unheard amount of it, and that there's some new story bubbling just beneath the surface of this rabid spike in fandom I'm experiencing. Maybe it's an escalating love for Shudder's historically minded programming, or a love for all the peripheral content the open-market of the internet has made possible. Or maybe it's just that the world we live in is a horror story, a very sad yet wonderful story whose outcome remains unproven. I watched Horror Noire a few days ago, and the first episode of Eli Roth's History of Horror earlier tonight. One quote from Edgar Wright rings out in my head; while discussing George A. Romero's Day of the Dead, Wright says something to the effect of, "It's an apocalypse you wouldn't mind living in. Or at least, I wouldn't." Very true, but the question is, does ours measure up? Would you rather have a never-ending parade of narcissistic cunts running things and two hyperbolically ludicrous political parties totally devoid of common sense, or a hell-on-Earth, zombie apocalypse?
I'd wager you can guess my answer.
**
I ended up unable to drop off until around 2:00 AM, so I called out from work. Will use the time to make major progress in finishing the book.
But first, let's look at what's happening this morning, now that I have slept.
Sargent House just dropped new music from Seminal Crawl band Earth. New album Full Upon Her Burning Lips drops on May 24th; you can pre-order physical HERE and digital HERE.
**
NCBD:
This is the MVP pick of the day for me. Hell, maybe of the year. I acquired the first two volumes of Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt's The Wildstorm at Amazing Fantasy in Chicago back in December. I read them in a day, and seriously think it might be Ellis' best comic work since Transmet. The relationship between Jon Davis-Hunt's art and Ellis' script make this the best example of 'wide screen comics' I've seen in years, maybe ever. It's so clean. A complex, fascinating story that just feels effortless in how it's told. And if you're worried about the superhero source material, don't: I had next to no experience with the Wildstorm Universe before this, aside from the occasional mini series by Ennis (not even sure if those are Wildstorm, now that I think of it; all those early Image "team" books run together for me because I never read any of them back in the day), and I think my read on this new reimagining from Ellis is better for it. And it's not a superhero book. At all.
I Can't recommend The Wildstorm enough:
Finally! Walk Through Hell returns! I think I was referring to this in previous posts as "A Walk Through Hell," and now that I see my mistake, I feel like the title is even creepier, because, in keeping with the story, it's a command.
More Warren Ellis! Cemetery Beach, with artist Jason Howard, comes to an end. I'm assuming this is the end of a first volume, and now that Ellis and Howard's Trees is set to rotate back in with a five-issue third volume, we'll have to wait until after that completes before we have more Cemetery Beach. Whatever the case, this book has been fantastic. If you read Ellis' newsletter, with its fascinating glimpses into the man's work methodology, you can see a window into how he has evolved into such an efficient storyteller. This is the end goal for me folks; it gives me something to shoot for. Not to write like Warren Ellis, but to have as crisp and clean a process.
A new issue of Deadly Class will pair nicely with my continued love of the Remender-run SYFY adaptation, and serves as a reminder that now that K has read the entire run of the comic to date, I need to initiate my own re-read. Look at that cover!
Jesus, this is looking like an expensive week! No complaints though, not when Paper Girls is returning. And again, look at that cover! I'm going to have to revisit the final issue of the previous arc, because I can't quite remember where we are in this totally batshit crazy book.
And I may have listed it here last, but this will be the first book I read today! The Walking Dead 189. This book has, as always, been a riveting descent into the chaos at the heart of humanity's designs on civilization. Why doesn't structure work? Because we are the walking dead, and all order is transient when compared to the chaotic nature of the Universe. Or is it just order on a scale we can't see?
Who knows? Part of the fun is wondering. But I digress...
Part of the beauty of TWD, is it maps out an allegorical timeline to our own history inside the world of the book. The seeming perfection of this new society our long-haul characters have found in this newest arc is turning out to be not so civilized, and as we inch toward the landmark 200th issue, I think things are going to get hairy. As usual though, Kirkman has no limit in his writing and imagination, and he never does what I think he's going to do; that's why I love this book.
Playlist from 3/05:
Various Artists - Trainspotting OST
Cold Showers - Matter of Choice
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Prince - Sign O' The Times
Blut Aus Nord - Cosmosophy
Boy Harsher - Careful
Card of the day:
Perfectly grounded. Water of Earth; cares for her house. Perfect for the day for two reasons: A) The Earth track that dropped, and B) I'm home and going to attempt to finish this house I've built in Shadow Play, Book One. I finished the Grammarly editing last night, now I have to record myself reading the last half of act two and all of act three, and I can listen to it and suss out any final story edits that need to be made. Excited!
I've posted about LA's Cold Showers here before, but I don't think I ever really gave the band the due they deserve, because as much as I dug their dark, Post Punk sound, I never fully fell into them until yesterday. 2015's Matter of Choice spun around and around on my iTunes yesterday while I plugged along at work, and I became more and more entranced by it with every turn. It's one of those albums where I have trouble taking one song out of the larger context of the full cycle. Which of course makes me like it even more, because I've always held albums in higher regard than songs.
With 2015 being four years ago now, I began to fret that just as I fell in love with Cold Showers, they might have winked out of existence. Not the case. On their facebook page I learned that the band has an album coming out on the always awesome Dais Records this year. Why so long between records? Well, back in July, guitarist, engineer, and founding member Chris King was in an auto accident with an uninsured motorist and has had a slow recovery due to medical costs. The band set up a GoFundMe page, and I'll link to it here; I'm going to throw something down come payday, and if you can, I'd ask you to consider doing the same.
The uninsured motorist is a legitimately terrifying boogeyman here in LaLaLand; I walk A LOT and I can't tell you how many times I've almost been hit by people rolling through or just straight-up blowing stop signs (if I was a serial killer, I would kill people who blow stop signs. No BS, that'd be my MO). I used to be pretty bold about this; you know, someone shows no signs of stopping and I just keep walking, figuring, "Fuck 'em, they hit me, they better kill me or I'll ruin their life."
What a bunch of shit.
My attitude changed when formerly great weekly paper LA Weekly ran an article about what they called the "epidemic" of uninsured motorists who land people in the hospital with no insurance to offset their recovery costs. That, and K's pleading for me to exhibit a little common sense have turned my formerly fourteen-year-old's attitude around. Still, this shit happens, and just so no one thinks my 'uninsured motorist' is some kind of an invisible barb about illegal aliens, IT'S NOT. There's just as many douche bags born in the US as not who are riding around without the proper insurance.
***
Sunday night into Monday I didn't sleep very well, so with Cold Showers on my headphones I bulldozed through my work yesterday by 12:30 PM and cashed in some PTO. Went home and watched the following three films, all of which I enjoyed:
An exclusive on Shudder at the moment, Noroi: The Curse was recommended to me by a co-worker. Previously I'd attempted to get into this one and failed; you have to adjust to a certain pacing, as well as a bit of over-acting at times (Mr. Hori does crazy a little too over the top in certain sequences), but this one is unlike any other film I've seen, and stands as a pretty important cultural artifact as far as Japanese Horror is concerned.
I've been meaning to watch Jodorowsky's 'Horror' movie for years, and it's included with Prime at the moment so I finally had a chance. Wow. I won't lie; there's something about Jodorowsky that leaves me a bit cold. My theory is that it's the cultural background he draws from that I do not have experience with, so his movies resonate less with me than, say, David Lynch, another 'Avant Garde' director, who's life experiences are closer to mine and so I really relate to. That's not to say I didn't dig this film; Santa Sangre is beautiful, and watching the composition of some of the scenes I was blown away. The term 'visionary director' might be overused these days, but not on Jodorowsky it's not.
Personal Shopper was a very pleasant surprise. I'd heard something about this film last year on the Bret Easton Ellis show; I can't remember what that something was, but it was enough to pique my curiosity, so that when I saw this pop up on Netflix recently, I ear-marked it. Really cool film, and it made me want to watch more from director Olivier Assayas.
Playlist from 3/04:
Joy Division - Still
Cocksure - T.V.M.A.L.S.V.
Cold Cave - Cherish the Lights Years
Cold Showers - Matter of Choice
Card of the day:
Lots of Swords lately. There's conflict on the horizon? To clarify, I pulled two more cards, so here's what the whole 3-card spread looks like:
This looks like a lot of confusion, or tiny skirmishes that ultimately play into the reverse side of my psychology. You know, the part of you that doesn't want you to finish those things you've worked so hard on? Chock this up to me not working at all on my book yesterday, but watching three movies instead. That wasn't easy; I positioned it as a 'day of rest' in my head, because I'd been craving new content, but really I should have made some time. It's hard for me to fit anything into a weekday that's not writing, so to knock out those films and 'fill the well' I went the other way completely. The understanding was - and here's where I think the Knight of Cups comes in - I work my ass off for the rest of the week and through the weekend. See that Chalice with the Crab he's reaching for? Almost in reach. That's the book. So very close now that I have to be careful not to sabotage it.
I've been waiting for this documentary for a while now. Can't wait.
Hopefully going to the theatre to see this later today. I'm posting the trailer, but I haven't watched it; I want to go in blind, as I'd not even heard of it until K mentioned it two days ago.
Happy Birthday to one of my extraordinary co-hosts on The Horror Vision, Ray Larragoitiy.
It started strong, but around page 100, Alan Campbell's Sea of Ghosts became magnetic and I ca no longer put it down. The world Campbell has built, this drowned, imperial ghetto, soaked in the fall-out poverty of endless war and a desperate population, is both beautiful and affecting. There are scenes here that I visualize perfectly, in a way that makes me suspect I am seeing exactly what the author saw when he penned them. It's that vivid. HIGHLY recommended.
It's a real shame these books, the two Gravedigger Chronicles volumes Mr. Campbell published earlier this decade, didn't find their audience. I just ordered the second volume, The Art of Hunting, from a bookseller on Ebay. I worked at Borders for five years from 2006 to 2011. We received and sold all three main volumes of Campbell's Deepgate Codex series, but I remember we never received Sea of Ghosts in 2011 when it was originally published. Honestly, I'm not even certain the Gravedigger books were available in America. Tor is the publisher, and in crawling around online, trying to catch up with Campbell's been doing these last few years, I've seen on his facebook that apparently there is a third volume ready for print but Tor wouldn't invest in it because the first two volumes didn't sell well. To that I say, Did you fucking market them at all? Because as a fan, I've had to scratch and claw for every bit of information I've garnered about these books since their inception, and even on Amazon they fetch an insane aftermarket price. So no, I'd say you did not. I hold out hope someone will give this book and any future projects Mr. Campbell has up his sleeve a home, because he is an exceptional writer. This is the kind of Fantasy we need, not more Knights and Dragons.
Playlist from 2/28:
The Cure - Pornography
The Cure - Faith/Carnage Visors (Side B)
Deafheaven - Black Brick
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Playlist from 3/01:
Wasted Theory - Warlords of the New Electric
Baroness - Purple
Ritual Howls - Turkish Leather
Budapest Festival Orchestra - Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite
Budapest Festival Orchestra - Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka
Cocksure - K.K.E.P.
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Deafheaven - Black Brick
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Card of the day:
Epiphany. Good. I'm posting this, tearing Sea of Ghosts from my hands and digging in to work on my own book, which is coming along swimmingly.
Rick Remender's Deadly Class on SyFy continues to blow me away. I seriously think this might be my favorite and possibly even what I would now consider the best comic book adaptation yet. And I love the way they do the flashback sequences for the characters in Wes Craig's animation. Here's Maria's story from last week's episode #6, aptly titled after one of my favorite Bauhaus songs, Stigmata Martyr.
Playlist from 2/27:
Glass Candy - B/E/A/T/B/O/X
Chromatics - Camera
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want
Ghost - Infestissumam
Card of the day:
Breakthrough! This refers to two events: One, that I've begun using the Zoom H4N Pro that I record The Horror Vision with to record myself reading the finished product of Shadow Play, so I can add it to my iPod and listen to it. I can't express enough how reading my writing out loud helps me make it better. It's a 100% game changer. Previously, I've read everything out loud to K and my close friend Keller, but now, reading it for myself, it's even more profound. Especially since I can go over it on my headphones the next day. Breakthrough indeed!
Two, I found out I'm going to Spokane, WA for a week in mid April for work. Nothing like a couple of lonely nights in a hotel room to kickstart new short stories! Breakthrough!
There's a whole slew of music re-released recently on Italians Do It Better, and of particular interest is The Chromatics' 2004 album Nite, long OOP and recorded/released before current lead singer Ruth Radelet joined the band. You can order NiteHERE; there's links at the bottom of the page for a ton of other music from both The Chromatics and Glass Candy, all on beautiful limited edition vinyl.
Now I just wish IDIB would release the old Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre demos. I'd love to have Night Nurse, Love Love Love, or Brittle Women on vinyl.
NCDB:
Consistently entertaining as all hell:
Finally! The return of Punk's Not Dead! And the new mini series is titled, "London Calling." How awesome is that? Might have to spin some Clash today to prep.
Playlist from 2/26:
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Young Widows - Settle Down City
Jaye Jayle - No Trail and Other Unholy Paths
Bob Mould - Sunshine Rock
Shockwaves Podcast #134 dropped last Friday and the back half of it is an hour-plus interview with Tobias Forge of Ghost. After the lawsuit by his ex-ghouls bringing his identity to light two or so years ago, I've avoided all interviews with the man. I think he's really adept at rolling with the punches, and the lawsuit hasn't hurt the band at all, though it has changed its persona's course for sure, but this one I couldn't pass up. You can find the episode (and all the others) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever fine podcasts are desalinated. You can also go straight to the source HERE.
Finally, at 12:00 PM noon CT time, Mondo/Death Waltz is releasing the John Carpenter/Alan Howarth soundtrack to my favorite JC movie, Prince of Darkness, or as I like to call it, Prince of Fucking Darkness. You can grab that HERE, just know there are probably a bunch of fanboy motherF*&kers like me who have alarms set and intend to be sitting at their computer with their fingers poised over the Order button on Mondo's site.
I'm digging the Beachhouse/Smiths feel here. Foals is a band my interest has pinioned back and forth on. Their new album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1, is out March 8th and can be pre-ordered HERE, with Part 2 following in Autumn. Pretty cool release idea.
The teaser for the AMC adaptation series of Joe Hill's BRILLIANT novel NOS4A2 dropped yesterday. It's not much, but it certainly has me excited, especially after seeing Zachary Quinto in Charlie Manx, III make-up:
I cannot say enough good things about the novel. After having read Hill's Heart-Shaped Box and Horns and loved them both, when my friend Becky handed me an advanced reader copy of NOS4A2 back in early 2013, I expected I'd dig it, but what I didn't expect was how different the tone and style would be from Hill's other books. In retrospect, I should have already reached the conclusion that Hill is such an accomplished writer he is able to change these integral elements of his voice and completely reinvent himself from book to book. Where Heart-Shaped Box was a tight, atmospheric horror novel that worked gloriously inside the tone of the mass market paperbacks of the 90s, Horns felt stylistically similar to a Chuck Palahniuk novel. NOS4A2 was the first of Hill's books where I felt the influence of his father, Stephen King. It was also the first where the two writers began to mingle their worlds a bit, and while in 2019 I'm pretty exhausted of 'shared universes,' I still say King/Hill's methods hold up. They intertwined their worlds just the right amount so as to leave you smiling at the possibilities, but without being overly ostentatious about it.
Here's that teaser:
Playlist from 2/25:
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Firewater - The Man on the Burning Tightrope
Beck - Mutations
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
The Devil's Blood - III Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars
Card of the day:
Second time in how many days I received this one? Hmm... Looking deeper into it, I'm wondering if this has to do with the somewhat shadowy side of this card. Prince of Cups is the Intelligence that navigates passion, and passion includes Art. It has been in my head of late that I often fall into a pattern of neglecting the ones I love while caught inside these worlds I'm building in my head. Perhaps it's time to find a flash of non-Artistic inspiration and do something unexpected for someone I love?
A little classic Firewater to kick off the morning. I drove in to work playing The Ponzi Scheme, the band's 1998 masterpiece, and it reminded me how much I love this album. I've always been a bit reticent when engaging with their other albums; nothing against the band or Tod A, the principal composer/arranger/lyricist who is the anchor of the group, Firewater is just one of those band's whose first album I heard made such a deep impression I've always had trouble going for anything else. That changes today, I think. I've loaded 2003's The Man on the Burning Tightrope to my Apple Music and intend on engaging with it shortly after I post this.
Congratulations to Green Book for winning best picture. I know, I know: I'm one of those people who flap their gums about detesting the oscars and then applaud when the awards line up with my personal choices. What'dya gunna do?
Quick correction on my previous entry to these pages. In 2015, Hateful Eight was not my favorite/the best movie of the year, it was Alex Garland's Ex Machina.
Saturday night I had the guys from The Horror Vision over and we watched Philip Ridley's INSANE 1991 film The Reflecting Skin. This just hit Shudder and is a bit hard to come by, so I recommend if you have the service you watch it. Haunting, and you will never see daylight and fields of wheat look so freakin' ominous again.
The final episode of True Detective season 3 aired last night. Much like the first season, I didn't love the finale. Still, no complaints on an overall awesome season. My slight disappointment simply stems from the fact that, even more than season 1, this season set up a lot of what could have been really profound ideas and then skirted around them for a pretty convenient and simple resolution. I guess the show will never be what I want it to be, but even just these teases - when executed this well - are enough to permanently endear it to me.
Playlist from 2/23:
Beck - Odelay
Don Shirley Trio - Don Shirley
The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicenter
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
Paramore - All We Know is Falling
Ritual Howls - Into the Water
Odonis Odonis - Post Plague
The Cure - Pornography
Playlist from 2/24:
United Future Organization - Third Perspective
Card of the day:
Hmmm... poisoned waters? Overflow of emotion tainting the perfection of the Six? No idea on this one, though I'm tempted to read it as my preoccupation with a new short story idea - well, a couple of them really, hence the overflowing symbolism - interfering with my editing of the book I've promised myself will be published in April.
There's a new album from Tamaryn on the way. This is a performer I know nothing about. Somewhere are 2010-2011, her debut album Waves ended up in my iTunes - no idea how it got there, which is a story/theory for another time - the point is when I listened to I fell for the album hard. That's it; I know none of her other music. When this came up in my youtube feed this morning I was interested. Sounds very Cure to me, so a departure from that first album, but pretty cool nonetheless. You can pre-order Dreaming the Dark, out on DERO Arcade March 22nd, from Tamaryn's bandcamp HERE.
K and I went to the movies for the first time in forever last night and saw Green Book. Wow. Here I've been down about the fact that there's pretty much no big Prestige films this year, a sad fact when last year was jam-packed: I, Tonya; Three Billboards; Phantom Thread; Shape of Water. I'm sure I'm forgetting some others as well. This year... not so much. But I'd heard Green Book was good, and Viggo Mortensen is always great, and Mahershala Ali has been blowing me away in True Detective, so we gave it a shot.
FANtastic film. Seriously, it won't be in theaters much longer, but if you can, go see Green Book. Some will say it has a touch of schmaltz, but don't believe them. Life-affirming, and it introduced me to the music of Dr. Don Shirley:
Okay, so I never do Favorite Film list anymore. Probably not in five years. Why? Well, A) I never see everything I want to before the end of the year. And B) at some point I went back and looked at my list for 2012 and basically no longer trusted myself to remove the viewing experience and all its facets from the quality of the film, because in 2012 I ranked Argo over both The Master and The Dark Knight Rises. Nope. I call bullshit on you, sir. The reason for this was a fantastic theatrical viewing experience, at home in Chicago with my parents - a family bonding moment - and although I haven't seen Argo since, there's just no way it's better than those other two I ranked below it. It's good. Great even. But not that great.
So I began to consider myself an 'unreliable narrator' when it came to ranking films.
My favorites of the last few years seem more solid choices: Three Billboards in 2017, a tie between LaLa Land and The Witch in 2016, Hateful Eight in 2015, and Whiplash in 2014, but I never get around to seeing everything I feel I need to in order to make an educated assessment. This year, however, since there haven't been many movies I felt I needed to see, I'm a little bit more assured that my opinions are accurate. So here then, is my 'best of' list for film in 2018:
Best film: a tie between Hereditary and Green Book, sort of both ends of the spectrum, but both affected me immensely.
Best Actress: Toni Collette - by a fucking landslide; the fact that she didn't get nominated for an oscar proves how pointless the award is now, and was the impetus for my never capitalizing the award's name again. Forever.
Best Actor: Mahershala Ali - Viggo's up there as well for Green Book, but Mahershala also has his performance in True Detective factoring in, because like I said earlier, he has me in awe. Juxtaposing the two performances, I hadn't seen a cast list for Green Book before the credits rolled at the end of the film, and I questioned whether it was him or not for the entire movie. In fact, I had pretty much deduced it wasn't him, and was curious to see who played the part of Dr. Don Shirley. There's a physical difference between Ali in the two roles, some of which comes down to the aging make-up in TD, but some of which is Ali's ability to manipulate his mannerisms, stature, and poise.
Favorite movie: Mandy - the reverberations from my initial theatrical viewing the night of the film's release at the Egyptian Theatre still surround me, coloring my thoughts with excitement. This is the film I struggle not to watch every day, so as not to sap its power.
Playlist from 2/22:
Beck - Odelay
The Goat - Puppy
Jaye Jale - No Trail and Other Unholy Paths
C-Building Kids - Shitting in the Urinal
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes
True Widow - AVVOLGERE
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Windhand - Eternal Return
Don Shirley - Waterboy
