Gazing Into the Black Prism

 

I don't even remember how I discovered Black Prism this past week, but I woke up ridiculously early this morning and while scrolling through Apple Music for something to listen to while finishing Joe Hill's novella "Loaded" - scary shit, that - I landed on this and realized I had not listened to it yet. Forty-Seven minutes later I was starting back at track one again. 

Released independently on Christmas days, 2016, Black Prism's eponymous debut full-length album is a tight little chunk of Sabbath-influenced, down-tempo Stoner/Doom that, while that influence is evident from the opening track, quickly finds its own unique footing in the annals of the Iommi-verse that has blossomed in the past ten years or so. 

You can buy the digital album on Black Prism's Bandcamp HERE, or, if you're really lucky, you can track down a moderately priced copy of their 2013 7" Satan's Country that was released on Easy Rider Records, before they changed their name to Riding Easy Records. Here's the video for that one, and it's a super cool throwback to those Lo-fi Satanic Panic images that line the shift of the 1960's Free Love movement into something much darker and more mysterious:

I can only dream of a future double-bill where Black Prism opens for Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats; the two would be perfect touring together.

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Watch:

Well, my grandiose plans to plow through the entire season of Netflix's new live-action Cowboy Bebop adaptation were ambitious, to say the least. Got home from work later than anticipated and ended up taking a much-need nap before meeting some friends at Torrance, CA's Monkish brewery for a few beers, so by the time we returned home and fired up the tube, the 50-minute pilot was all I had in me before I fell asleep. But so far, I really like what I've seen.

Bebop is holy to me; I realized recently that it's probably my second favorite show of all time, right behind Twin Peaks. So I should be one of those people who get turned off by the liberties of adapting something like this into "real life." But no, I dug the pilot and can't wait to go back for me. 

Here's the ending credit theme of the original show:

Oh yeah: Monkish? That was our first time there and hot damn, all those folks who have sung their praises as the best brewery in Southern California were not lying. I had the Dark and Mild Dark British Ale, and it is one for the books. I'll be heading back sooner rather than later. Maybe tonight, after a bunch of us spill out of a 7:00 PM showing of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which I've surprised myself by being extremely excited to see,

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Playlist:

The Ocean - Fluxion

Underworld - 1992-2002

Deee-Lite - Dewdrops in the Garden

Deee-Lite - Groove is in the Heart (single)

Deee-Lite - Call Me Remix (single)

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

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Card:

Finishing (for now) one project opens a path to a new journey. Or maybe just a renewed one.

Bnny

 

A friend of mine posted about Bnny's new album Everything a few days ago. I'd never heard of this artist, so I took a little stroll into her music and wow. Blown away. I spend a lot of my time pretty keyed up on various incarnations of Metal these days - it's just what gets me through the days. But it's always good to counterbalance the chaos with some downtempo stuff, especially when it's this good and desert-flavored.

You can order directly from her Bandcamp HERE. 

As a strange aside, I messaged my cousin Charles last night to see if he'd heard this album and it turns out this was his upstairs neighbor at one point. I love those kinds of synchronicities. 

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Watch:

I don't know if this movie looks good or bad, hard to tell from this trailer. However, it's got one hell of an awesome-looking monster, so I'm in and will remain cautiously optimistic. Honestly, it's the guys in the movie that look like they might take it down a notch or two for me. Why is it that, in the 80s and even into the 90s, action actors could pull off military or tough-as-nails roles without coming off like douche bros, but now, that's almost always the case? What we need to be asking ourselves as a society is, how do we fix that?

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Playlist:

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Jerry Cantrell - Brighten

White Zombie - La Sexorcisto - Devil Music, Vol. 1

Slayer - Live Undead/Haunting the Chapel

Motörhead - Bastards

The Damage Manual - Limited Edition

Crystal Castles - (III)

Bnny - Everything

Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

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Card:

A reminder that movement and change are the antidote for stagnation.

New Beach House!!!

 

New Beach House to welcome us back to the land of the waking and working this Wednesday morning. I need it. The album Once Twice Melody drops... well, I don't know that I quite understand the release schedule for this one, so let me just post the pre-order link to the band's site HERE and copy and paste the itinerary directly from the video below: 

ONCE TWICE MELODY RELEASE SCHEDULE 

Chapter One: November 10, 2021 

Chapter Two: December 8, 2021 

Chapter Three: January 19, 2022 

Chapter Four: February 18, 2022 (LP, CD, and cassette available)

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Holy F&*k, and that's all I have to say about this. 

I really hope none of this is red herring (I fish I don't particularly care for.)

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NCBD:

Another fantastic NCBD Wednesday. Short and sweet as far as the commentary this week, let me just mention how much I've grown to love Maw over the past two issues, and am very much looking forward to issue #3.

Oh yeah, and Primordial is just the bee's knees at this point. Andrea Sorrentino's art is next level. There are narrative mechanics at work even just in his layouts that represent enormous leaps forward for the medium - leaps I think it will be years before other people build upon. 

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Playlist:

Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - The Helm of Sorrow

Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Greg Puciato - Child Soldier: Creator of God

Emma Ruth Rundle - Engine of Hell

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch: Censor OST

Slayer - Show No Mercy

Code Orange - Underneath

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Card:

Another nod to completion, which leaves me slightly perplexed. That's half the fun, though. I always think of this card as an indication of balance - or at least a suggestion to strive for it. And truth be told, my balance is way out of whack right now. So maybe that's what I need to focus on right now. If it wasn't for this damn day job...

Emma Ruth Rundle - The Company

I'll be totally honest - I totally forgot this record came out. Loading it into Apple Music and going to hit it later tonight, but if the production on "The Company" is any indication, this one is stunning. ERR's voice already has an ethereal quality to it, but this really raw, up-close feeling makes listening to her sing almost voyeuristic. 

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Watch:

Just last week I was talking here about everything releasing on November 19th, but it wasn't until about an hour ago that I realized, HOLY COW - that's in three days! That means Cowboy Bebop is in THREE DAYS!!! Here's musical genius Yoko Kanno going behind the scenes on the music for the show, which is the best music from any show ever.

Wow. I know what I'm doing Friday.

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Playlist:

Odonis Odonis - Post Plague

NIN - With Teeth

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

DEADLIFE - City of Eternal Rain

Bnny - Everything

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full 

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

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Card:

Well being. Completion. These things are normally very abstract concepts in my readings, as I tend to interpret everything as being about my writing. However, writing has suffered, what with this insane work schedule, the massive open loop of the move looming, and the often debilitating exhaustion that has come with both of these. I get down about this, and that adds to the weight of things, but then I draw a card like this and realize I'm in control of how much these things affect me. I don't have to stay ten hours at work. I don't have to obsess over the move. I can fight back and clear some time and headspace for myself. 

Zetra - From Within

 

Heaven is an Incubator recently posted about the upcoming From Without EP that drops in January (pre-order HERE). I'd never heard of the band, and when I clicked over and heard the 1-2 of Life Melts Away that opens From Within, well, I was totally sold. 

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Watch:

So I made it through Mike Flanagan's Midnight Mass. Not an easy task until the last three episodes, which ended up really coming through and making the rest of the show worthwhile. Not that it's terrible, but a lot of the 'aging' make-up used is pretty bad, and the lead character is just pointless and annoying. I mean, really. He ultimately serves no purpose that could not have been collapsed into another character. Ah well, in the end, I really dug the juxtaposition of religion and the supernatural, so it's a recommendation, although I can pretty safely say I'll never watch this one again.

Next? Castle Rock! I've been meaning to watch this for, well, years now, and I'm finally doing it. Three episodes into Season One and I'm digging it. Fantastic cast. Here's the trailer:

I've read a pretty fair amount of Stephen King, but not enough to deftly spot every reference in this one, so I'm gingerly taking mental notes and will look up all the references afterward. The obvious one here is Shawshank Prison, which I didn't realize played such a big part in this first season's story. Very cool. 

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Playlist:

Anthrax - Among the Living

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Bnny - Everything

Hotel Decor - Could It Take Me Any Longer EP

The Fixx - Reach the Beach

Slayer - Decade of Aggression

Boz Scaggs - Silk Degrees

Zetra - From Within

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Card:

A reminder that methodical approaches to projects and problems are the way to go. Timely, as I have one big, open-loop issue in my life right now - the eventual move - and on any given day, it feels over-fucking-whelming.

RIP Dean Stockwell

I'm a couple days late with this but talk about shitty news. Here's to your fuck, Ben.

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I'd never seen William Malone's 1985 Creature, but I grew up seeing the VHS box cover art on the wall at the local video story and been curious as a kid. 

Somewhere in the intervening years I completely forgot about this one, until Vinegar Syndrome announced a new, restored version they're releasing at the end of this month. Pre-orders are closed - I didn't act fast enough while I tried to figure out if it was worth spending the money on when I'm still really limiting my frivolous expenses in preparation for moving across the country - but I believe will go live again for VS's Black Friday sale. 

 

So is Creature worth it? Well, as I stated in my quickie Letterbxd review, this film isn't great and it's not even really good, however, I feel like there are echoes within echoes that lead me back to this one. Probably the best of those 80s Sci-Fi Monster-in-Space Horror flicks that ballooned overnight as a response to the success of Ridley Scott's Alien, Creature reeks of the B-Movie, down-n-dirty pulp atmosphere that a low budget required filmmakers excel at in order to make up for the otherwise lack of expensive sets/props/production value. And from this era, that's not a bad thing in my book. Well, not in this case, anyway. Creature is a pinnacle of the zeitgeist landslide of cheap and fast Sci-Fi that created a zeitgeist in the 80s, one that washed up on the shores of comics, role-playing, and all kinds of other geek-centric mediums. Watching it for the first time at 45, Creature felt like a well-spent hour and forty-odd minutes that triggered all kinds of peripheral genre memories, or as I've come to think of them, PGMs. So yeah, I'll probably plunk down the $$$ for this one. Would make a fantastic double feature with Richard Stanley's Hardware. 

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Playlist:

Pilot Priest and Electric Youth - Come True OST

Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Soviet Soviet - Fate

Motörhead - Ace of Spades

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In

The Who - Live at Leeds

Odonis Odonis - Spectrums

Odonis Odonis - Post Plague

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

The Fixx - Reach the Beach

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Card:

Keeping a keen eye out for portents and omens today.

Cellular Death!!!

 

This album is really one of my recent stalwarts. I've come to love every song, but it's an intense journey and often, I don't make it all the way to the final song. The last two days I've really had to knuckle down on the physical side of work, and using this record really helps me conquer exhaustion. When I hit "Apoptosis" this morning, it felt like a revelation, so I wanted to share it here.

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NCBD:

Jeff Lemire's Mazebook has really become one of the main books I look forward to. Pretty cool, considering I almost skipped it altogether. 

I guess I jumped the gun on Venom #1 last week. Or it was delayed? I'm not sure. Either way, I'm still not going to be lucky enough to snag this variant, but with a gazillion covers to choose from, I'm sure I'll find something good.

I know nothing about What's The Furthest Place From Here except the pedigree of the creators. That's enough to have me pretty freakin' excited.

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Watch:

It's looking like come November 19th there is going to be a serious lag on Netflix. First Cowboy Bebop premieres, now a new Horror tv show from Train to Busan creator Yeon Sang-ho:

This trailer runs the gamut from what looks like a home invasion thriller to a fight scene with creatures that look like they'd be right at home in a Marvel movie. Cowboy Bebop takes precedence, but I'm pretty curious about this one.

Now, all we have to do is catch up and watch Midnight Mass, Doom Patrol Seasons 2 and 3, Squid Games, Castle Rock 1 and 2 (finally!), plus have a  full Stranger Things rewatch, before.... oh fuck it. This one will end up on the list.

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Playlist:

Small Black - Cheap Dreams

Motörhead - Ace of Spades

Arctic Monkeys - AM

Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic

QOTSA - Era Vulgaris

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Anthrax - Among the Living

Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image

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Card:

I'm not entirely sure how to interpret this at the moment, so we'll just have to see. 

This Pallid Mask is one of the Stranger Things I've Seen...

Some friends recently saw High on Fire at a small venue in Chicago and hearing them talk about how awesome it was really made me miss seeing this band live. Over the years, I've seen Matt Pike and crew several times, one of which was at the Viper Room in Hollywood - a venue that felt waaay to small to contain a sound as big as theirs. Thinking on this, I decided to dig back into their music, only this time, I started with their most recent records and began working my way backward. 2018's Electric Messiah is an album I have not spent nearly enough time with, and running through it the other day, I realized that while I definitely think it's the weakest of the band's six albums, it still contains some absolutely devasting tracks. This is one of them.

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Watch:

Another Stranger Things teaser for Season four!

 

I really can't wait for this next season of Stranger Things. K and I need to start that rewatch of 1-3 soon.

 

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Playlist:

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Deafheaven - Infinite Granite

Zetra - From Without E.P.

Odonis Odonis - Spectrums

David Bowie - Reality

The Clash - London Calling

Pink Milk - Ultraviolet

Odonis Odonis - Shadow Play

 

It's been a minute since I've kept up with Odonis Odonis. Back in 2016, their album Post Plague was a constant in my ears and on my turntable, however, the band's subsequent releases, while good, didn't quite live up to the same high regard I'd assigned them after what I still feel not only sums up a small era of my life but is one of my favorite records of that decade. So I guess that disconnect explains why I totally missed the fact that they dropped a new record back in October, and what's more, it's FANTASTIC. Special thanks - as always - to Heaven Is An Incubator for posting a track from this and alerting me to it. If you dig, you can order one of the thirteen remaining copies (fourteen until I ordered mine) of Spectrums over on their Bandcamp or from the always marvelous Felte Records.

It goes without saying I'd developed an affinity for this particular song, as it shares a title with the series of novels I've been working on for several years now. 

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Time Machine GO!!! 1991:

In this past Wednesday's NCBD section, I casually mentioned an idea that kind of occurred to me on the spot but didn't really sink in as to what a profound self-insight I'd inadvertently made, the idea that my reversion to a fairly rabid Marvel Zombie/comic collector had more to do with a return to the things that had made the tumultuous task of navigating adolescent as an unconscious way to deal with the equally rocky navigation of Middle Age. This started with an out-of-the-blue interest in following the last year of Nick Spencer's run on Amazing Spider-Man but has pushed me not only back into following some of the modern X-titles (really, just one and a few mini-series), but a nearly inexplicable longing to rebuy and reread a bunch of the post-Claremont X-men stories, first with 1994's The Phalanx Covenant and now, of all things, the original Onslaught opus.

I want to point out here that these are books that I do not in any way shape or form consider 'good.' Conceptually, perhaps, but writing-wise, not at all. And while Fabien Nicieza had some pretty good chops, when we get into Scott Lobdell territory, well, I just consider that era of X-Men pretty mediocre-to-downright-awful stuff. And yet, here I am, combing the back issue bins at the Comic Bug and reading some of this stuff. And that off-the-cuff comment about reaching back into my past to reconnect with touchstones of my adolescence as a coping mechanism for the Horrors of aging in an era of little compassion and perhaps less tolerance really strikes me now as another instance of how our minds will do what they need to do to cope and survive, even if our personalities are completely unaware of those tragedies. So with that in mind, let me resurrect a moniker from my old Chud days to you about what I'm reading from the past, what I think of it now, and how it holds up.

Okay, granted this 1991's Muir Island Saga is still protected as awesome in my book because it's penned by Chris Claremont, however, it's Claremont's final entry and thus, the gateway to the end of his continuity, or rather the way he approached continuity, so I've always kind of held a grudge against both this series and it's villain, the Shadow King, who for whatever reason, I just could not care less about. That's my 'historical' perspective of this small, four-issue 'saga' that really doesn't feel like a saga at all. A bit short and to the point to be a saga. That said, in this instance, the brevity is good, and unlike the full-blown crossovers and X-Events that began to clog the continuity after the near-perfect triumph of Inferno, Uncanny X-Men 279-280 and X-Factor 69-70 feel like a pretty good story that lines 'em up and knocks 'em down, reworking all the allegiances Claremont had, up to this point, used to divvy up the characters and keep things interesting, paving the way for the 'Blue' and 'Gold' teams that would surface in Jim Lee's X-Men #1 and Uncanny 281, which realigned all the original X-characters like Scott and Jean with the Xavier camp and made X-Factor the new equivalent of Freedom Force, under Valerie Cooper - a character I had completely forgotten about.

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Playlist:

The Neverly Boys - The Dark Side of Everything

Lower Dens - Escape From Evil

TVOTR - Return to Cookie Mountain

The Bronx - The Bronx (IV)

Motörhead - Ace of Spades

Motörhead - Overkill

Converge and Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I (pre-release singles)

High on Fire - Electric Messiah

High On Fire - Luminiferous

Odonis Odonis - Spectrums

Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror 

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

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Card:

A reminder to strike while the iron is hot.

Light House

 

I'd completely forgotten about Future Islands until Julia Ducournea's Titane put them back in my head by using "Light House", from their 2014 4AD release Singles.

 

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Play:

A couple years ago, I totally missed out on Mixtape Massacre. Now, the creators of that have a new game on Kickstarter, and by the looks of it, this one is a definite for me:

I'm really trying not to spend $$ on stuff like this, so there's a bit of a tug-o-war going on as I watch this. We'll see. Either way, I wanted to spread the word.

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Playlist:

Allegaeon - Into Embers (pre-release single)

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Allegaeon -Proponent for Sentience

Megadeth - Rust in Peace

Converge and Chelsea Wolfe - Blood Moon I (pre-release singles)

The Besnard Lakes - A Coliseum Complex Museum

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - The Good Son

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues

Lower Dens - Escape From Evil

The Neverly Boys - The Dark Side of Everything

TVOTR - Return to Cookie Mountain

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Card:

Two days in a row, I receive positive reinforcement for a series of investments. 

Hellraisin'

No More Tears turns 30? Shit man, I'm old. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy the hell out of his new, super cool video for one of the best songs on a pretty solid Ozzy album (his best, IMO). The version on the album was co-written by Lemmy - as were several other tracks - but did not feature him on co-vocals, although if memory serves this version with both Ozzy and Lemmy singing surfaced somewhere years later. Either way, I've always really liked this song, and the video is super cool. Reminds me A LOT of Daniel Warren Johnson's Beta Ray Bill series from earlier this year (that I'm still super hung up on).

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NCBD:

Another great week at the Comic Shop -  NCBD has really come to be something I look forward to with rabid anticipation again and being that I psychoanalyze myself constantly, I'm pretty sure this is a nostalgia blanket, something that I needed to reinstate in midst of 2020's uncertainty. Why else would I revert back to following Spider-Man so rabidly for 6 months, pick up a new Defenders series with a bunch of characters I know nothing about or are not particularly keen on, or fall back into an X-book? Being a Marvel Comics fan is what got me through the uncertainty of adolescence, and as such, I've apparently flipped that switch again in order to navigate middle age. Whatever the case, I start looking at what's hitting the stands as early as possible, assemble my list, and then wait with bated breath for Wednesday to come around.

Speaking of which, this week we begin with the return of a new friend I hardly had a chance to get to know before it up and disappeared back in the spring:

Definitely not something I normally go in for, I ended up really digging the first two issues of James Stokoe's Orphan of the Five Beasts, and I'd begun to fear it was never coming back. Speaking of returning titles...

I love The Silver Coin so much, and am extremely pleased it proved popular enough to continue on after what was originally supposed to only be five issues.

The Me You Love in the Dark - ghost fucking, huh? Based on the cover art, there might be trouble in paradise for our heroine.

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Watch:

I've recently been getting into the films of Alex de la Iglesias. My end-of-night movie on Halloween ended up being his 2014 Heist-turned-cannibal-Witches flick Witching and Bitching. Here's the trailer:

This movie is completely fucking insane. I mean, the last twenty minutes is... well, spectacle filmmaking at its finest.

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Playlist:

Opeth - Deliverance

Motörhead - Ace of Spades

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Allegaeon - Into Embers (pre-release single)

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Card:

Keeping my mouth shut.

A Dirge For Boba Fett's November

 

Here we are again. Remember what yer grandpappy telt ya, November brings the Opeth.

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Finally!!!

 

When they brought Fett into the second season of The Mandalorian, I was bummed. I mean, with the creation of Mando, it seemed a misstep to overturn Fett's death, because the brilliance of following another character in the beloved armor floored me as a simple and elegant solution to the problem of how to bring back one of the most popular characters in the franchise. By the end of that season, however, when I realized Fett would not end up a regular character on the show, I warmed to his presence. The masterstroke of setting up a new, Fett-centric show with the post-credits sequence on the final episode proved a masterstroke to me, and now, here we are! With Bossk people, Ree-Eyes, Sand People, Bib Fortuna and Gamorrean Guards a'plenty, I am super excited for this one. Bring it on!

 

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Playlist:

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Jerry Cantrell - Brighten

Type O Negative - Dead Again

HEALTH & Poppy - Dead Flowers

Boy Harsher - Careful

Boy Harsher - Country Girl Uncut

Slayer - Decade of Aggression

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Card:

The shortest distance between two points isn't always the fastest. Swiftness can come by way of out-thinking a dilemma. 

Prime Directive: Happy Halloween

 

A little Misfits to round out the night on this All Hallows Eve, 2021. It's weird hearing this remastered version, I'm so used to the old cassette I had, I guess. Still, they didn't clean it up too much.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)

21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)

22) The Innkeepers

23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky

24) Halloween Kills

25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)

27)  Ghoulies

28) Titane/Boys From County Hell

29) Arachnophobia 

30) Possessor

31) The Final Girls/Donnie Darko/Witching and Bitching

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Playlist:

Halloween Spotify Playist

Manuel Galban & Ry Cooder - Mambo Sinuendo

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

The Misfits - Collection I

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper

The Misfits - Legacy of Brutality

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Card:

Ch-Ch-Cha-Changes.

Vera Sola's Skulls

Thursday night, I returned to the Landmark Cinema in West L.A. for a second theatrical viewing of Julia Ducournau's Titane, now holding steady as my second favorite film of the year. I brought two friends, stopped into the closest thing LaLaLand has to a neighborhood joint next door afterward for a beer and some discussion. All in all a great night, and one that was made even better when, on my drive home, I tuned into KXLU and found Fistful of Vinyl doing an all Misfits-covers set. Holy smokes, some great stuff. You can check out the full playlist HERE. In the meantime, this cover of 'Skulls' by Vera Sola ranked right up there near the top of what I heard, and every song I heard was fantastic. Check out her Bandcamp HERE,

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Watch:

My favorite show that K and I discovered in 2021 is Tony Basgallop's Servant. The experience we had watching this show was so fantastic - the casting alone won me over after about the first two episodes, especially Toby Kebbell, Lauren Ambrose and Rupert Grint, who probably proved to be my favorite character. It felt like we inhaled the first two seasons, and thankfully, before my free year of Apple TV+ runs out in March, they're dropping a new season in January! Here's the trailer, which no, I'm not watching:

If you haven't seen this, it's worth subscribing to Apple + for a month and binging it, maybe just wait until after all of this third season lands. And if you're put off by the fact that all the press says, "From M. Knight Shamalamadingdong, don't be. He is only the producer. This is Basgallop's baby, and the tone he holds for the 20 episodes that comprised seasons 1 and 2 is nothing short of breathtaking. 

Plus, there's a pizza place named Jesus Crust. Come on!

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)

21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)

22) The Innkeepers

23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky

24) Halloween Kills

25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)

27)  Ghoulies

28) Titane/Boys From County Hell

29) Arachnophobia 

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Motörhead - Ace of Spades

White Zombie - La Sexorcisto Vol. 1

Emilie Levienaise-Farrrouch - Censor OST

Pink Milk - Ultraviolet

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

Deftones - Ohms

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

Misfits - Collection I

Steve Moore - VFW OST

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Card:

Having the feeling of deja vu as I struggle to come to terms with all the shit I have, how much I want to keep, how much I want to get rid of, and what I inevitably jettison that will come back to haunt me later.

Naked Raygun - Living in the Good Times

A big thanks once again to Mr. Brown, without who I would not have realized Naked Raygun put out a new album on the resurrected Wax Trax Records! The album is called Over the Overlords and it's pretty damn good. Great to hear from these guys again. 

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Watch:

I really didn't think I was going to go for this live-action version of Cowboy Bebop, but after that first trailer and now this, well, holy cow am I in!

I love that they're still holding some cards close to their chest. Edward doesn't come into the original series until the ninth session - aptly titled "Jamming with Edward," so it's possible they might not show up in this first season. But I doubt that. A lot of the characters and images we're seeing in this new trailer and the previous one suggest this show is pulling very faithfully from the animated series, but it would be insane to wait to introduce the final person in the Bebop Ka-Tet until a later season, so I appreciate there's still some revelations to look forward to.

Speaking of trailers, howzabout this one?

My prediction, by the way, is that Eternals will not do very well at the box office, so it's good that this flick is poised about a month behind it. I have so many questions about where this Multiverse storyline will lead - we all do - so I'm chomping at the bit for this one.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)

21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)

22) The Innkeepers

23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky

24) Halloween Kills

25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)

27)  Ghoulies

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Playlist:

Naked Raygun - Over the Overlords

Boy Harsher - Tower (The Runner pre-release single)

Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

John Carpenter - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST

Goblin - Suspiria OST

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Boy Harsher Made a Movie

 

So, apparently Boy Harsher made a movie called The Runner. Of course, there's an accompanying album as OST. This is the first track they've released off of it. Listening to it over and over today, all I can say is I cannot wait. Here's the trailer to the film:

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)

21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)

22) The Innkeepers

23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky

24) Halloween Kills

25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)

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NCBD:

So, if this list looks familiar, it's because I accidentally posted this week's books last week. When I realized, I went back and adjusted the post. That said, last Wednesday's trip to the shop was super disappointing. However, today's will be glorious.

I ended up missing out on the Something is Killing the Children wave, however, I'm definitely grabbing this first issue of the new spin-off series.

If you had told me five weeks ago that I would be so psyched for the second issue of this new mini-series that reuses the name of my favorite X-Storyline of all time, I would have laughed. 

I ain't laughing no more. After reading and loving House of X/Powers of X, and not wanting to read all the X-Books that came after it, and reading the solicitations that this is where Hickman's run ends, I am super into this one. 

A book whose first issue I initially skipped, I went back and grabbed Primordial #1 a few weeks ago and ending up really digging it. When you consider how much I dug Lemire and Sorrentino's previous collaboration Gideon Falls, it seems like a no-brainer. 

Super psyched for a new Two Moons story arc!

The final issue of this series. Not fantastic, but at a paltry 4 chapters, a fun little romp through nostalgia.

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

Boy Harsher - Tower (pre-release single)

Boy Harsher - Careful

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Infectious Grooves - The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move

Slayer - Reign in Blood

The Nerves - One Way Ticket

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

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Card:

Reminder that sometimes, I DO know what's best. 

Halloween Kills Pink Milk

Heaven is an Incubator recently posted a new track by Pink Milk, a band I'd never heard of before, but which knocked me out upon first listen. The new album - Ultraviolet - spun about six or seven times this past Saturday afternoon. I literally could not turn it off.

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31 Days of Halloween:

K and I finally saw Halloween Kills. In my world, the only truly necessary Halloween flicks are the original and then Part III: Season of the Witch. But in this world, where there will no doubt always be new Halloween movies, this was a fairly good entry. I'm not sure why so many people dislike it - I actually liked it better than Halloween 2018. The lynch mob stuff strikes me as exactly how that situation would go down in real life. I could have done without the last ten minutes or so, otherwise, solid entertainment. 

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)

21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (same. Awful)

22) The Innkeepers

23) Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky

24) Halloween Kills

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Pink Milk - Ultraviolet

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

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Card:

I'm not seeing the entire scope of something that's concerning me.  Something is off. Not sure what that is.

Alice Cooper's Poison

 

You know what I remembered earlier today? I unabashedly love this song. Sure, there's severe nostalgia - my second concert was Operation: Rock n Roll and featured a duel headlining bill of Cooper and Painkiller-era Judas Priest, along with openers Metal Church, Dangerous Toys and Motörhead. Trash was the album Cooper was supporting at the time, and although I'm not super partial to the rest of the album, this song has got to be one of the greatest 80s rock anthems ever. It's just so good, from the guitar to the vocal melodies on the chorus.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)

21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (same. Awful)

22) The Innkeepers

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Playlist:

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

Alice Cooper - Trash

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Dr. John - Gris-Gris

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Belong - October Language

Beth Gibbons, The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Krzysztof Penderecki - Henryk Górecki: Symphony N. 3

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Card:

This is definitely a reminder that I will no doubt need to tap my reserves of patience tomorrow when we journey back to San Pedro to being going through K's Mother's storage space. 

Scary Little Green Men

 

Mr. Brown recently mentioned how much he liked the latest album from Rock Icon Ozzy Osbourne, and it piqued my interest. I haven't really engaged with Ozzy's music in decades, or at least not the music made during those decades. I've always championed No More Tears, and over the last few years, I've grown to have a renewed love of Blizzard of Oz and Diary of a Madman, as well as a new appreciation for two albums I had previously no interest in, 1986's The Ultimate Sin (I've always loved "Shot in the Dark", but the rest of the album fell flat for me in comparison until just a year or two ago) and 1983's Bark at the Moon, even if, yes Sonny, it definitely looks like someone shaved a poodle and then glued the fur to him for the cover shoot. This is the ridiculousness of Cocaine-fueled Hard Rock, and while many of us that grew up loving it as kids reached a point where we simply had to turn a blind eye to the escalating foolishness, there is comfort for some of us in going home again later in life.

My aversion to Ozzy probably also comes from the fact that my high school girlfriend and her two older sisters were SO into the man that one of them had a boyfriend who literally thought he was Ozzy. I mean, he knew he wasn't Ozzy, but he also put it out that he was him, going so far as to have the license plate "I'm Ozzy 1" on his mustang. Perfect for the time, yes, but he was a good guy and I hope he's done well.

Anyway, I guess enough time and distance has come to pass, because in firing up 2020's Ordinary Man, I found I quite liked it. Definitely not going to be a daily jam, but for this morning it's found a place with me, and no song made me smile more than Scary Little Green Men, which seems to encapsulate so much about Ozzy defying ALL expectations - even his own - and making it into his 70s.

Rock on, Mr. Osbourne! I'm glad you're still with us.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)

21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (same. Awful)

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Playlist:

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

Electric Youth and Pilot Priest - Come True OST

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

Hank III - Straight to Hell

Vreid - Wild North West

Mastodon - Sickle and Peace (pre-release single)

X - Under the Big Black Sun

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Card:

Because this weekend begins the work of preparing to move across the country. Fuck, this is going to take a long time, because we have to help K's Mom prune her belongings, an entire cache of which resides in a storage facility in San Pedro. So guess where I'm spending my Saturday. Considering how fucking exhausted I am from work of late, this is going to Hurt. As good friend Missi would advise - remember to breathe. So simple, but something that we always forget. Or at least I do.

New Zeal and Ardor!!!

 

Another new Zeal and Ardor track dropped last week. From the forth-coming, self-titled new album out February 11, 2022, I've successfully avoided listening to this one so far. Too many singles off an upcoming album can be like watching an extra-long movie trailer that tells you too much. I don't like hearing the songs without the context of the larger work of which they are a part. That said, I'm about to break down and jam this one, because, well, because Zeal and Ardor, you know? Pre-order the album from the band's store HERE.

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NCBD:

UPDATE: I originally posted the books hitting shelves on 10/27 here for 10/20. This is the corrected list.

Last month, I grabbed the first issue of this series on a lark. Really dug it, and I couldn't pass up this cover on issue 2!

Super into where this book is going again after issue 121. How can they sustain such a fantastic title for this long? I guess with the momentum of nearly four decades behind the characters, it makes sense. Or does it? No other book lasts this long and is good the entire way through. Maybe Claremont's Uncanny X-Men or Peter David's Incredible Hulk. This iteration of the Turtles began in 2012, so that's nearly ten years! Wow.

And lastly, the new Brubaker Phillips Reckless GN! Rejoice! These have become among my favorite things in life. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

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Playlist:

The Final Cut - Consumed

Dennis Michael Tenney - The Beast Inside (single)

Various - Apple 80s Hard Rock Essentials

Skid Row - Eponymous

Slayer - Decade of Aggression

Pretty Maids - Red, Hot and Heavy (terrible album title)

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets

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Card:

A new, solid foundation for moving forward. 

Spizm - B4uDie

 

My friend Dave recently hit me up with a link to his group Spizm's new track, B4uDie. Wow. Dave's a pretty incredible drummer - weird that I know two guys named Dave in Chicago that are both incredibly talented on the skins - and a lot of what I've heard him do before was instrumental, often a super unique fusion of jazz and jungle. Those styles are present on this new track, but Dave has taken to adding vocals and they just blew me right the fuck away. Check out Spizm's Bandcamp HERE, and if you ever get the chance to see them live, take it. Just the way Dave plays the hi-hat is enough to make me gawk in wonder.

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Watch:

I have tickets to see Julia Ducournau's Titane tonight at a theatre near my work. Wheew - thought I'd missed this one. Can't wait. I know I've posted this trailer here a few times, however, I'm posting it again. I get such a strong Cronenberg Crash vibe from this, but amped up, like Crash on Methamphetamine. Really looking forward to this one.

Also, anyone interested in hearing what I thought of Lamb, hold tight. Ray and I are hooking back up with Seattle University Professor of Film Studies John Trafton to do an episode that discusses both of these this coming Wednesday, so it'll be available to stream the following Tuesday.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

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Playlist:

White Zombie - La Sexorcisto

White Zombie - Astro Creep 2000

The Soft Moon - Criminal

Electric Youth and Pilot Priest - Come True OST

Waxwork Records - House of Waxwork Issue #1

Vreid - Wild North West

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Card:

Slowly starting to work out a new system for writing, as I've been out of the loop and pretty non-productive since my trip.