Talk about bad news to wake up to. Julee Cruise's voice and visage has been a part of my inner world ever since the night Twin Peaks Season Two Episode 14 aired; losing her to suicide at 65 feels a bit like a seismic shifting of my personal history's plates. The old world is definitely slipping away. In keeping with my recent M.O., thus beginneth Julee Cruise week.
Watch:
Amidst a lot of discussion about the "Whole Season at Once" business model beginning to fail (see the cancellation of Archive 81), Netflix dropped a handful of great trailers the other day, as if to remind us of their potency.
We'll see. However, any reservations I have about their adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman - arguably one of the greatest comics of ALL TIME, this trailer has me salivating for August:
Wow. I mean... I am almost speechless. Here's to hoping it's as good as it looks; Locke and Key looked pretty good when the first trailer dropped, as well, but I quickly forgot everything about Season One due to a lot of the changes and found myself thinking I should just re-read the series the next time I want to visit Lovecraft (not bloody Matheson!).
Read:
This past Wednesday, Zeb Wells and John Romita, Jr.'s Amazing Spider-Man #3 hit the stands. This is Legacy issue #897. I've Liked this series so far, but this issue... Jesus. This is the best Spider-Man comic I've read in... well, a long time.
There's a visceral pulse to this one that I definitely did not expect; watching Tombstone - a character I've loved since his introduction back in the 80s, circa Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man issue #139 - beat the living daylights out of a defenseless Spider-Man really affected me, as did his childhood origin. I was really only planning to read this book until #900, but if Wells keeps this up, I'm not going anywhere.
Playlist:
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Mike Doughty - Live at Ken's House
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Windhand - Split EP
Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
Orville Peck - Pony
Pixies - There's a Moon On (pre-release single)
Kensonlovers - Keep Rolling (single)
Grand Duchy - Petite Fours
Card:
A nice warning about the gathering slothfulness I've been so afraid of for a while now. I'm not writing enough. I need to remedy that.
Pistols wise, I loved Danny Boyle's Pistol. I've watched every doc I know of, read and re-read Noel Monk's tour biography 12 Days on the Road (can't recommend that one enough), but none of that prevents me from adoring Boyle's spin. K and I even teared up at the end, and not for the reasons you'd think.
Watch:
I had not even heard of this film, but it looks fantastic.
Charlotte Colbert's first full-length film comes to us as a "Dario Argento Presents," and from the visuals, I can see why he would be involved. A lush, Gothic aesthetic with a British sentiment.
NCBD:
A decidedly light NCBD. Thankfully.
I've decided I'm continuing with this new iteration of ASM at least until the legacy issue #900 hits in a month or two. After that, we'll see. So far though, this has been a pretty great title.
That Texas Blood returns with the start of it's third story arc. If it's even half as good as the previous one, well, look at that cover. How could it not be?
The cover says it all - a Hulkified God of Thunder! Banner of War has proven a super fun, big-swings story and I'm hoping that as it comes in for a landing, it just gets crazier.
Playlist:
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks...
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife
Tin Machine - Live at La Cigale, Paris, June 25th, 1989
This past Friday on The Last Drive-In, Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mailgirl hosted Hellbender, the sixth movie by the prolific and endlessly fascinating indie filmmaking Adams/Poser family.
During the interview segments of the broadcast, the family revealed that not only is H6llb6nd6r an actual band they play in, but Ship to Shore media are releasing their debut record on vinyl.
I immediately pre-ordered the vinyl, despite an estimated ship date of Q4 2022 and the fact that, hopefully, by that time I will no longer live at my current address or even in California. Because of this, I used my parents' address in Illinois. However, there is the very real possibility they may also end up near us in Tennessee, so I'm hoping that, when all this finally happens, I will have enough time to go into the order and change the shipping address.
You can pre-order H6llb6nd6r's Side A from Ship to Shore Media HERE. The entire record is currently streaming on all platforms, and it's fantastic.
Cast:
A new episode of Southside 90s dropped concurrently with the newest installment of my Newsletter, which appropriately enough features a "Giant-sized" 90s playlist that chronicles all of the bands and albums I associate with those long-ago days spent playing in bands and smoking pot, getting crazy and watching friends build flamethrowers out of fire extinguishers. Sound insane? Yeah, it kinda was.
The stories are only going to get weirder from here out, so if you're listening, buckle up.
Watch:
My good friend and Horror Vision cohost Ray kicked off his summer outdoor movie series Cineray this past Saturday with one of the coolest double features I've seen in a while. First up, my first-ever viewing of Tango and Cash:
Next, and I had no idea this movie existed, was John Stamos and Vanity in an all-out 80s action movie called Never Too Young To Die. Feat your eyes on this glory:
Yeah, it's ridiculous, and maybe it was the tall cans of Stone's Hazy IPA I was sucking down, but it really hit the spot.
Playlist:
H6LLB6ND6R - Side A
Various - Lost Highway OST
David Bowie - A Reality Tour
Duende and David J - Oracle of the Horizontal
Deftones - Gore
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
Card:
I was SUPER excited to receive my copy of The Bound Tarot, which my friend and occasional co-conspirator Jonathan Grimm recently released. I'm extremely proud of Grimm - I watched him work on this deck over the last year and his skill never ceases to amaze me.
You can buy a set of these amazing cards on Grimm's site HERE.
Page of Cups indicates a predilection for following your Creativity, which, as of yesterday, is where I'm at again after weeks of spinning my wheels.
I'd be willing to wager there's another post on this page from about four years ago with the same title. I remember discovering David J's stunning tribute to David Bowie about as vividly as I remember receiving the text that told me of the Alien's passing. This is the perfect ode - sorrow at a passing lined the bittersweet memories of what that person meant.
Watch:
With only one-and-a-half episodes of the six-episode run, I can honestly say that despite the conundrum of seeing thumbnail advertisements for Danny Boyle's Pistol with a Disney+ watermark - because I'm assuming since Disney owns HULU and Pistol is a HULU original their network will distribute it in some foreign territories - I'm having A LOT of fun with this one.
This is very much Steve Jones' story, so I thought it only prudent to juxtapose my endorsement with John Lydon's rebuttal to the show. Because, you know, there is always creative license.
I'm always going to believe John over everyone else involved, however, the story is one that mesmerizes and recharges me enough that I'll listen to everyone's version of it.
Another awesome new song from the upcoming sophomore album Mirrorcell, by former Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato.
You can pre-order Mirrorcell from Puciato's Federal Prisoner Records HERE.
NCBD:
This week is another super fun one. Here's why:
I have NO idea where Rick Remender & André Lima Araújo's A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance is going. Hell, I'm not even sure how long this book will run. Is this a Deadly Class/Black Science, 30-50 issues kind of story, or a 10-and-done like Tokyo Ghost? I'm sure that information is available somewhere online, either in an interview with Remender or the book's solicitations, however, I prefer not to know. All I do know is it's swift, often disturbing, and yet still has a positive energy to it.
I surprised myself in the weeks since Ghost Rider #2 - I would say this may be my most anticipated book now, below of course Immortal X-Men. I definitely detected some Clive Barker influence in the second issue of old flame head's new series, and that was enough to make me want more. Think about it - why not apply a Barker-esque Horror vibe to this title/character?
See, you couldn't come up with anything there, could you? So here's to hoping the book delivers (that monster truck cover isn't doing the series any favors, but hopefully that's all it is - a cover).
I was on the fence with Little Monsters simply because I'm trying - totally unsuccessfully, I might add - to limit what I buy until I move. But the first two issues got me to come back for three, and the first page of three dropped my jaw, so I'm in.
After my recent re-read of issues 1-8 of James Tynion IV's The Nice House on the Lake, I've been waiting for issue 9 with a lot more anticipation. Such a great character study of people at the end of the world. If, that's what this actually is, which is in question at the moment.
Maybe it was just momentum from Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, but I loved issues 1 and 2, and this is a mini-series, so I'm sticking with Strange while Clea is running the show.
I know nothing about this one, but a Horror book called The Closet that shows a little kid playing in front of a closet that no doubt scares him seems like a great set-up. When you add in the fact that James Tynion IV is the author, well, count me in.
Just began re-reading What's the Furthest Place From Here last week, so issue 6's release is well-timed to say the least. I love this one.
Issue one wasn't really my thing, but I enjoyed it enough. I'm mainly buying this one because K is into it.
Playlist:
Ghost - Infestissumam
Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Various Artists - Lost Highway OST
The Mysterines - Reeling
Card:
Hopefully, this card bodes well for renewed creative energy. Because mine needs some renewal.
BIG thanks to Mr. Brown for cluing me in on the fact that there's a new John Doe record out on the always delightful Fat Possum Records. You can order Fables in a Foreign LandHERE.
Watch:
Warning: This trailer may give some plot points away.
Michael Shannon in the die-hard tropey creepy neighbor role? SOLD.
Read:
I gave up on the book I've been slogging through for the last few months, Helltown by Jeremy Bates. It's well written, it just did not connect with me. I've moved on to a novel I've been wanting to read for years, and which only recently came back into print via Drugstore Indian Press.
So far, at only about 200 pages into its 608-page runtime, this is every bit as majestic as I'd expected. Klein needs more credit - he's a master of his craft and appears to be setting up a magnum opus that I'd wager influenced Clive Barker's Great and Secret Show, another of my favorite novels. I'd commented on this edition back when I bought it last year, specifically on my fears for its binding, which for this many pages, seems weak. That said, so far so good.
Also, it's interesting to note that the first and for a long time only story by Klein I had read, Events At Poroth Farm, seems to have been a short born of the author excising and reworking a section of The Ceremonies, probably due to frustration with the novel in its original form, misgivings he has shared publically on more than one occasion.
Also, it should be noted that in checking out DIP's website, I realized they have also reprinted Klein's most heralded volume, the looooooong OOP Dark Gods, which I plan on ordering ASAP.
Playlist:
Yerusalem - The Sublime
The Bronx - II
Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy
Deftones - White Pony
Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Bexley - Lost in the Moment EP
Bexley - Eponymous
John Doe - Fables in a Foreign Land
Cypress Hill - III: Temples of Boom
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Def Leppard - Diamond Star Halos
Def Leppard - High 'N' Dry
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Revocations - Teratogenesis
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Card:
I always equate this particular card with emotional strength and support, so I'm reading this as it pertains to giving someone else the support they will soon need.
My friend Eddie over at The Comic Bug attended the Cruel World fest a few weeks ago and it was on a video he shot that I first saw Peter Murphy's new look. Oh my god! These guys were already one of my favorite bands, but seeing Murphy here, I'm blown away. I mean, for a second I was like, "Why is Rob Halford singing for Bauhaus." Then I realized, no, I just hadn't seen a photo of Murphy since... well, probably some time around 2006 when Go Away White was released (an album I still defend vehemently).
Anyway, in looking around on youtube, I found alleyc8Cat's channel with this full set. So cool they posted, and in looking at the other videos on the channel, I subscribed immediately. If you dig, give them a like and a follow HERE.
NCBD:
I'd been wanting to see Jacob Gentry's Broadcast Signal Intrusion for some time now, so when it landed on Shudder recently, I moved it up the queue.
The film takes place in Chicago in 1999, so major props for doing a great job taking me back to that particular time and place. Also, Gentry is very good at lovingly incorporating his cinematic loves in a way that is pleasurable to those who share the same feelings (Videodrome!), and overall, the story and concept are really cool. That said, this film has its share of problems, and despite liking it quite a bit, I have to admit that BSI feels like it ultimately falls flat on knocking down a lot of what it sets up.
I’m not one who needs explanations - if you read these pages, you know that. However, there’s a certain pact a filmmaker enters with their audience when they introduce certain tropes/concepts into their film. By using certain known plot devices as red herrings, this film feels like it cheats a bit. Tone over substance, and while I’ll always err on the side of tone, elements of this film rub me a bit wrong. Ambiguity is fine unless it's substituted for story, and that's definitely the case here when it comes to anything other than the awesome setup:
"In the late 90s, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with discovering the dark conspiracy behind them."
I will say, there are three points in this film where it makes like it’s going to do something so tropey it knows the audience will roll their eyes, then it intentionally doesn’t do that. Those three instances helped BSI gain a lot of ground in my good book, but also made me wonder if the film is that self-aware, couldn’t it have been refined a bit more?
NCBD:
Playlist:
Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
Joe Doe - Fables in a Foreign Land
Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium
Peter Gabriel - Melt
Mastodon - Hushed & Grim
Zombi and Friends - Vol. 1
Zombi -Shape Shift
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Card:
Too tired to interpret this now, so just recording the Pull for posterity's sake.
I don't think I was even aware this Bowie doc was on the horizon.
Dollar Bin:
One of my prized possessions is a beat-up old copy of Marvel Age Annual #2. This pretty much monetarily worthless periodical celebrates the first 25 years of Marvel Comics, and as such, it looks back on many key moments from Marvel Comics, as well as offering little one and two-page spreads that tease upcoming storylines in Captain America and Uncanny X-Men, among other titles. Because I love this book so much as a document of an era in my life, I recently jumped on another Marvel Age when I found it in a Dollar Bin.
Okay, I didn't exactly find this one in a Dollar Bin, as while I did purchase Marvel Age #44 for $1.00, it was not from a physical shop's bin, but from an eBay seller. Still, cost-wise it counts, and it's timely (see last week's Dollar Bin).
Inside there is pre-release news on the then-upcoming, original eight New Universe titles, as well as articles hyping the Mutant Massacre, G.I.Joe vs. Transformers, and a Spider-Man vs. Wolverine 64-page one-shot special. Pretty cool to go back and read this stuff. Also, the layout and design of all the 1986 Marvel Comics, with their key-character border around the cover image, has always been something I love very much, probably as they lined the shelves at the time I really fell in love with reading comics.
Playlist:
Alustrium - A Monument to Silence
Yard Act - The Overload
Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror
Tones on Tail - Everything
Mastodon - Hushed and Grim
Card:
The personification of a lot of issues I've had on my mind after a week-end of consciousness-raising viewing.
And for day 7 of our 7 Days of Ozzy, I had to go with something a little bit different. Love the first Infectious Grooves album, and especially this track, which benefits enormously from Ozzy's vocals. I'd say this is similar to Sting's contribution to Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" - you just can't imagine the chorus being sung by anyone else.
Watch:
Saturday night Beyondfest & the American Cinematheque held a free advance screening of Chloe Okuno's new film Watcher at the Aero Theatre. Holy smokes - a fantastic psychological thriller with a gut-punch ending. LOVED it!
The cinematography and direction in this one are fantastic, as are all the performances. The film really gives you a feel for the slow-motion paranoia that upturns Maika Monroe's Julia's life after she moves with her husband to Bucharest - a city she's never been to where most people speak Romanian - a language she doesn't speak. This isolation feeds directly into her paranoia, so you really don't have a sense of what's real and what's imagined in Julia's escalating panic, stoked by the fact that a serial killer stalks the city in the background of their lives.
Afterward, Maika Monroe and Karl Glusman did a Q&A moderated by Heidi Honeycutt. The two stars discussed filming in Romania during the Pandemic, the endless beauty of Bucharest, and how they prepared for the isolation and paranoia of the film.
I can't recommend this one enough.
Distributed by IFC Midnight, Watcher opens wide June 3rd on 500 screens - the company's largest theatrical opening to date.
Then, in keeping with the themes Watcher introduced, K and I took in a matinee of Alex Garland's new film Men.
Bold Horror Statement*: If The Witch and Midsommar kicked off the current zeitgeist resurgance of Folk Horror, Men is it's apex. Not to say it's better than them, but it seems to coelsce so many of the themes and images into an entirely new thing.
Because I had to pull something off the Live Randy Rhoads Tribute Album. Classic.
I remember the first time I heard this - or one of the first times it made an impression beyond, "oh, Ozzy. Cool" - some friends and I were outside at my neighbor's house. This kid was two years younger, rich AF and a total latchkey whose parents' bought him all kinds of shit to make up for the fact that they were never home. They were the first people I knew who had an inground pool, and this thing was huge, with large gazebos on either side of it and a massive wooden deck that ran all the way around the pool and then snaked around the back of the house. This would have been circa Freshman or early Sophomore year. We were smoking cigarettes and drinking Keystone in those gross-ass tall cans it came in. I was buzzed and sitting in a gazebo, staring at the flames on the tiki torches that were staged around the pool at regular intervals. My Tribute dub was playing from a boom box further down the porch but we had it loud, and I remember thinking that I felt like I was there, at the show.
Good memory.
Watch:
This show is nuts, and I'm happy to see it coming back for a third season.
All things considered, I'd rather David Fincher return to Mindhunter, but we all know that might not happen. In the words of William DeVaughn, be thankful for what you got.
Playlist:
The Mysterines - Reeling
La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again
Anthrax - Attach of the Killer B's
Anthrax - Spreading The Disease
The Jesus Lizard - Goat
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Ozzy Osbourne - Tribute (Live)
David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Windhand - Eternal Return
Dean Hurley - Analog Resource Vol. 1
Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST
Card:
Lots of feminine energy, which is good. Ruthless determination can be a bad thing; sometimes passion needs to be tempered and Will focused. And sometimes you need to ask for help.
While posting yesterday's track, I ended up inadvertently listening to the entire Diary of a Madman album for the first time in, well, in a very long time. And I really enjoyed it, the entire record.
This is one that kinda got beat to death in my late teens. I dated a girl for three years in/after High School who had two older sisters and they were all HUGE Ozzy fans. So much so that the oldest sister had a boyfriend who kind of modeled his life after Ozzy. His Mustang even had vanity plates that read "Im Ozzy 1" if you can believe that. Anyway, Diary was a staple of our lives, and so I guess it just became associated with that version of me and that time in my life. Nearly thirty years later, I've apparently reclaimed it, free from any nostalgia associated with that particular version of me. Which is pretty cool, to kind of hear something again, for the first time when you knew it so well to begin with. And Little Dolls was a track I don't think ever really clicked with me as being all that great, but last night, hearing it again, listening to the words and that glorious chorus, well, it felt a bit like a small, unimportant (in the grand scheme) epiphany. Which was nice.
Watch:
Another new flick hitting Shudder at the end of July. Really looking forward to this one:
As is my growing custom, I watched the first minute or so, got a feel for how good the cinematography and tone are and then clicked off. Trailers are increasingly frustrating pleasures that are better after you see the movie.
NCBD Addendum:
A couple things I picked up that I forgot to list or didn't expect to buy:
I still love the entire physical presence of these TMNT "Best of" Books.
A new Shaolin Cowboy book! I read the second series (I think it was the second one), back circa 2015 (I think) and loved it, so when I saw this new number one, I couldn't resist. Will also fill the void left by Orphan and the Five Beasts returns at some undisclosed time in the future, as I just re-read the first arc again, and really loved that, as well.
Playlist:
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
The Mysterines - Reeling
Small Black - Moon Killer (pre-release single)
Card:
Again? Okay, so seeing this, I went to my Thoth deck to pull a clarifier. Here's what I turned:
It's a little on the nose as an interpretation, however, I take this to mean whatever it is I'm supposed to be learning or picking up on is right in front of my face.
Years ago, my good friend Sonny observed that, on the cover of 1982's Bark at the Moon, Ozzy looked like someone shaved a poodle and then glued the shavings to him. That's a pretty funny - and still pretty freakin' accurate - description. But hey, metal album covers ran an interesting gamut back in the day. All things considered, you take the good with the bad. Which is kind of the case with Bark at the Moon, too. It's definitely not Ozzy's best solo record, and this is definitely not even the best song on the long player, but I dig the way the song moves and I dig the production. Ozzy does what he normally did back in the early 80s - Rock n Roll/you can't stop me/don't judge me. But the pre-chorus builds in a nice way and I swear I can hear how some of Jake E. Lee's guitar solos rubbed off on Kim Thayil ten years later.
k
>kl
NCBD:
Despite the wait, I actually dig that Marvel held Immortal X-Men #2 back so it landed the same week as X-Men Red's second issue.
Both these books are off to a great start, and I am still thinking about the closing page shocker of Immortal's first issue.
Madelyne Pryor, aka the Goblin Queen, up against Illyana Rasputin, aka Magik for the reigns of Limbo? No way I'd miss this one.
Speaking of Hulk, if the rest of Banner of War lives up to even half the promise of the Alpha issue, I will be super happy. Donny Cates continues to take huge swings and knock every issue out of the park.
A Misfits-esque Taskmaster? This limited series has already paid for itself in just one issue. Can't wait to dig into #2.
The final chapter in a pretty great adaptation of Joe Hill's novella Rain.
The first issue of Steve Niles and Szymon Kudranski's A Town Called Terror was mostly set-up, but that set-up brought the creep factor up to about an eight, so I'm in. I think the last Niles book I read monthly was Winnebago Graveyard, and that turned out to be a pretty wicked ride. Hoping for something in the same ballpark here, and pretty sure I won't be disappointed.
Watch:
Thanks to Mr. Brown, without who, I probably wouldn't have seen this new trailer for She-Hulk for another day or so:
Despite giving Moon Knight two episodes before jumping off amidst a seething hatred nothing since the DCU live-action Swamp Thing from a few years ago provoked, I remain optimistic about everything Marvel is doing with their shows (Mr. Brown has even talked me into giving Moonie another chance. Eventually).
The tone of this one is obviously going to be considerably less severe and more fun, but I am absolutely cool with that. Especially with appearances by "Professor Hulk."
Now, if we can just get Gray Hulk Joe Fixit.
Playlist:
Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante
Wesley Willis - Rock 'N' Roll Will Never Die
Calexico - El Mirador
The Bronx - The Bronx (II)
La Hell Gang - Thru Me Again
Various Artists - Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath
Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
Card:
Taking stock, keeping a clear head and above all things, planning. That's how I read this one. There are variables coalescing soon, but for the moment, they are still en route, traveling at an undetermined speed. Get Ready.
It's been a couple decades since I've listened to Diary of a Madman. This one was omnipotent in my life for a few years back around the end of High School/beginning of College. Not sure if the entire album will hold up, but I know the title track does.
Cast:
The second episode of my new Southside 90s podcast went up today:
This is a project I'd wanted to do for so very long; all my life-long friends from High School and I gathering periodically to tell the tales that, well, when we tell them, people don't believe them. But they're all real. Seriously. This week's ep is largely focused on a house we hung out at first semester of Junior Year, a two-story in a rich subdivision where adults were almost never present, and when they were, they didn't stop us.
Watch:
Holy shite:
Have I mentioned how much more I like Amazon's version of The Boys than I do the comic? Nothing against Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson; this is totally a case of being able to improve a story with the hindsight that comes after a decade since its completion.
Dollar Bin:
You know what I find A LOT of in Dollar Bins? Issues from Marvel's failed late-80s New Universe line:
I'm not interested in all the books from that particular experiment, but anything pertaining to The Star Brand, The Pitt or the surrounding narrative that encompassed the four titles that survived after that first, failed year. These are pretty easy to come by these days, and that surprises me a little. I don't read Jason Aaron's Avengers book, but I know he's integrated The Star Brand into the modern 616 continuity over the last few years. I'm curious if anyone has updated Spitfire - basically the Iron Man of the New Universe, except with a woman in the armor (long before that was fashionable, to boot!), DP7 (mutants), or Justice, which I can't compare to a regular Marvel 616 book, as I don't think I ever read it or at least don't remember it.
These are total nostalgia bombs for me, but also, The New Universe's arrival dove-tailed with my blossoming interest in the non-G.I.Joe comics in general and Marvel Universe specifically, so there's something about it that is integral to my love of the medium.
And as I've said before, post-Pitt New Universe is dark AF.
Playlist:
The Mysterines - Reeling
The Bronx - The Bronx (II)
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
The Ruby Friedman Orchestra - Gem
Card:
I'm pretty sure this either has to do with something I thought I was done with. Modern Life is Rubbish, indeed.
One of my favorite songs on an album that is 75% favorite songs. The guitar on this album - and this song in particular - is, in my opinion, the heights calibre hard rock guitar can reach. It sounds so rich and fuzzy, yet retains fantastic definition.
And, of course, great vocal lines, too.
Watch:
Bill Hader's Barry returned a few weeks ago and I only just found out. Over the weekend, K and I caught up and were pretty surprised by the tone of this third season:
One of this show's strengths is the way it balances its inherent darkness with some of the funniest shit I've ever seen. Part of that's the cast - Hader's fantastic, Anthony Carrigan (NoHo Hank) is brilliant pretty much every time he's on the screen, and Stephen Root is always gold. This season, the humor has, thus far, been seriously downplayed and we've been presented with a super dark take on the characters - especially Barry. Again, that comingling of tones has always been the strength of the show. Barry does not shy away from the reality of the concept: a hitman's a pretty dark protagonist.
But it works.
Really not sure where this show is ultimately headed, which is always a good thing.
Read:
I spent a large part of the weekend relaxing and catching up on my comics. Here's what I read:
So nice to finally sit and read this one all the way through, start to finish, in one tight sitting. The Last Ronin totally delivers that old school 80s Frank Miller dystopian aesthetic, while retaining and drawing from the original, B&W Mirage series. Gorgeous art - the design of everything we see in this dystopian world is gorgeous, and visually seems the natural evolution of the original book's Manhattan.
I'd dropped off reading James Tynion IV's The Nice House On The Lake monthly, simply because I lost a lot after its hiatus. sitting down and reading 1-8 in a sitting really took some time, and that just goes to show what a meaty story Tynion's telling here. Very cool story that's essentially a zombie-less update on Romero's Dawn of the Dead (in a way it is! Think about it!)
Playlist:
(Lone) Wolf & Cub - May You See Only Sky
Bexley - Lost in the Moment EP
Cypress Hill - III: Temples of Boom
Jerry Cantrell - Brighten
Calexico - The Black Light
Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST
Mike Doughty - Live at Ken's House
Calexico - Even My Sure Things Fall Through
Card:
A Conservative approach to an infuriating problem will serve me better than, say, a hammer beating. Loud and Clear.
No, you didn't miss a headline. Against all odds, Ozzy Osbourne is still alive. I know usually it's after someone has died that I do a "So-and-so week." But I'm always wanting to change that, and here's my chance.
The motivation here is really simple: I'm finding that after not paying any attention to Ozzy's music since No More Tears - an album I'll stand by until my dying day - I've become somewhat enraptured by his 2020 record Ordinary Man. What's more, for the past few years I've kind of rediscovered albums like Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin - the latter of which I used to hate every track on except Shot in the Dark, which will no doubt turn up over the next six days, even though I'm certain I've posted it here before.
Anyway, for the next 7 or so posts, I'll be celebrating the Ozman, so light a doob and frog leap off your front porch - we're biting heads (off bats)!
Watch:
Holy Fuck!
Also, since I worked last Sunday, I had a half-day today. I drove home at a leisurely pace, made a turkey sandwich and fired up The Sadness on Shudder.
Holy. Fuck. X. Two.
Easily the most violent, gory and depraved movie I've seen in a long time. I'm not saying there aren't tougher flicks out there; I know there are. I just don't normally traffic in them. This, however, comes in right over the line in favor of my tastes. There were a few moments I thought we were going to dip into territory that I don't tread, but thankfully, that never happened. An unexpected result of this line-dancing is The Sadness clocks in as the first film I've seen since The Void that feels truly transgressive, or maybe even dangerous.
Not for the faint of heart.
NCBD Addendum:
I picked up my books for NCBD yesterday and had a few extra surprises. First, I'd forgotten Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino dropped a single-issue prequel to their new ongoing Horror Universe The Bone Orchard Mythos on FCBD. "Shadow Eater" arrives about a month before the first HC graphic novel, The Passageway.
This book is freakin' awesome, and if it's any indication - and I know it is - the Bone Orchard is going to be something I won't be able to shut up about for the next few years. Mapped out through 2023 "and beyond" according to Lemire, looks like we're in for some sleepless nights. Thanks guys! (really)
Next, and talk about couldn't be more different, I picked up the FCBD prequel for Judgement Day, the new X-Men/Avengers/Eternals crossover event.
Yeah, I hate crossover events, and I completely realize that I'm setting myself up to be pissed off, but I can't help it - I love this X-Men revamp, and my post-Hickman fears have been thus far trounced by Immortal X-Men, X-Men: Red, and now issue 11 of X-Men (holy cow Dr. Stasis!).
Also, the final story in this Judgement Day lead-in has one of the most chilling moments ever in X-history (and Spider-Man history, to boot!).
Next on the "I didn't anticipate buying this in the comic shop today," I'd seen a little of the Professor Dario Bava books in a post on The Comic Bug's social media back a year or two ago for a signing, but ultimately forgot all about it. Luckily, there was a new book that dropped this week and I grabbed that and the previous. The new one is the first of an ongoing story (I think) that is actually a two-sided magazine-sized behemoth.
The second is the first GN they kickstarted (again, I'm not 100% on the timeline here - this is very new to me).
Both are gorgeous, creepy and filled with Cult Cinema goodness. You can check the Dario Bava stuff out on their website HERE.
Playlist:
Perturbator, Johannes Persson & Final Light - In the Void (pre-release single)
Calexico - El Mirador
Calexico - Even My Sure Things Fall Through
16 Horsepower - Low Estate
Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai
Blood Red Shoes - Ghosts on Tape
(Lone) Wolf & Cub - May You Only See Sky
David Bowie - The Next Day
Journey - Escape
Stian Carstensen & Mike Patton - Hydrocephalus Epilogue (single)
