2018: February 16th 8:10 AM

The last thing I saw before going to bed last night:



First thing in my head when I woke up:



No idea. One thing I do know? - Tracey Pew = God.

Playlist from the 15th:

The Soft Moon - Criminal
Simple Minds - Life in a Day
The Bronx - V
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
The Reverend Horton Heat - Liquor in the Front
The Men - Tomorrow Hits (aborted listen - not in the mood)
Eagulls - Eponymous
Lustmord - Songs of Gods and Demons
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust

Watched - Nick Cave: 20,000 Days on Earth

New Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying went up yesterday. Read it HERE.

Card of the day:

The futility may have been a pointed remark about looking for a decent image of this card online.

From the grimoire:

"Difficult decisions to make
when overwhelmed, down on ourselves or stressed/helpless you MUST act or things will get exponentially worse.
Make a decision and more importantly STICK TO IT!!!

Action, pure and w/resolve breaks the will of this card. Action is Futility's Nemesis."

Applies 100% directly to our moving situation, so I think there will be a decision this weekend.

Thanks Al!

2018: February 15th 4:58 AM

In my head upon waking:



I've fallen off with Jucifer since they essentially became a thrash band - they're still awesome, and if you ever get the chance to see them live, even if you don't know their music they are definitely worth checking out. But Calling All Cars on the Vegas Strip, I Name You Destroyer, and Lambs are all fantastic records and essential musical elements to how I survived the veritable drought of the early 00's.

Valentine's Day Playlist:

God is LSD - Spirit of Suicide
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
Faith No More - Sol Invictus
Sunn O))) and Scott Walker - Soused
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Etta James - Second Time Around
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me (single)
Simple Minds - Life in a Day
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Ministry - Wargasm (pre-release single)

Card of the day:

Something hidden. The influence of the unconscious mind. You my have gone too far.

Hmm... definitely banking on the unconscious mind idea here.

February 14th 5:03 AM

I don't listen to very many bands' lyrics. That is not the case with Touche Amore.

.......

Just did the 7 Minute Workout App for the first time. Not bad. After several health issues last year, I'm no longer near as physically fit as I was. Not that I was a bastion of fitness, but I could hold my own. Hopefully this will put me back there and maybe even beyond. Also, although I'm currently in an 'anti-exercise' inertia period, any exercise definitely makes you feel better during the day (after that initial soreness/adjustment period that is). My favorite piece of writing on that is HERE.

The Tuesday the 13th's playlist:

Fen - Epoch
Lantlos - .neon
Touche Amore - Eponymous
Blut Aus Nord - Cosmosophy
Blut Aus Nord - Memorial Vetusta III (Saturnian Poetry)
Sunn O))) - Domkirke
Lustre - Night Spirit

"Mutha fucka must'a thought it was black metal day. It ain't black metal day, is it Marty?"

"Naw man. It ain't black metal day."

Daily words have been rough, as I'm not plowing on ahead now but editing and filling in, tweaking and expanding. Thus, project goal word-counts are near impossible on a week night due to the fact that whenever I cut from the document - which I'm doing plenty of as I snazzy it up - I counterbalance whatever I have written. My addiction to that little "You've met your daily goal" bell is in withdrawal. I pass the doc to Keller this week and then I can focus on my upcoming 3-issue comic collaboration with my good friend John: "The Legend of Parish Fen."

Card of the day:

Two again. This is interesting, and I have to go back and really think about this. I'm curious if this run of two-day pulls might link up to the day last week when a friend asked me for some spiritual help. If so, I need to organize the second pull in each of these into an ad hoc spread and relay the message to her. As for The Star again for me, well, I can only hope life is about to become easier and a path to enlightenment - a vague and wonderfully applicable concept if you throw out the biblical sense of it - doth appear on said horizon after a helpful conversation with a friend and the closing of a loop in my own head, all pertaining to my constant battle with my living situation.

They Remain Trailer

Based on the fantastic short story by Laird Barron, published in Occultation, my favorite of his anthologies.

February 13th, 9:15 AM

New obsession:



Lantlos reminds me a lot of Fen, and just to strengthen that comparison, the Universe saw fit to provide rain tonight in Southern California, just like the first night I heard Fen in 2011.

Playlist yesterday:

Killing Joke - Eponymous
Lantlos - Neon
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Slint - Spiderland
DyE - Fantasy
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Lantlos again.

Reading wise I did manage to dig back into the Ligotti and actually jumped ahead, read and really enjoyed The Last Feast of the Harlequin. Since then I shifted back to Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell and dug out Laird Barron's 2014 anthology, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, just to re-read More Dark for a comically accompany "Tom L."

Love this story.

Card of the day:

2 Cards jumped out of the deck again today:

2018: February 12th 4:40 AM

Based on two glowing reviews from friends, and the fact that A) I was in the mood for some new horror and, B) I had been reading about David Bruckner's latest film's steady hike to daylight (for those who have seen the film you will have guessed that pun was very much intended) on Bloodydisgusting for what feels like forever, we watched The Ritual last night. It landed on Netflix two days ago and is pretty fantastic. No reinvention of the wheel, except maybe in the effects department; not the actual FX per se, more what the film uses them to create. That's all I'll say, as I'm the type who finds movies - especially horror movies - are always better when you know as little as possible going into them.



Playlist from Sunday, 2/11/18:

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Johnny Jewel - Windswept
DyE - Fantasy

Not too much, but yesterday was a bit of a silent contemplation day, as we looked at a potential new home and decided it was too much to go ahead with purchasing. The rub is, of course, that what we almost paid for this small place in the SouthBay of LaLaLand would buy us a veritable mansion in the Midwest. But we'd also be buried in snow right now, so give and take, you know?

Card of the day:

Accidentally pulled two and turned them over, so I need to dig in a bit later this morning and figure out the juxtaposition:

"A well-rounded approach to material things - Success dictates understanding the actual value of material possessions, not taking for granted and not over reacting to gain and loss." This seems more like a card for a friend than me, so maybe the two show some insight into our business relationship? Priestess denoting change or fluctuation. Hmm.

2018: February 11th 1:41 PM

Late wake-up after a long night. Began the day with some PJ Harvey, courtesy of Season 2, Episode 1 of Peaky Blinders. Which is excellent (Thanks Tim & Lisa).



I have a feeling this album, which I haven't listened to in a while, more often than not being drawn back time and again to Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and Uh-Huh Her, not for any reason other than To Bring You My Love is such an incredibly immersive experience for me, it does not mesh well with daily tasks, routines or whatnot. No, To Bring You My Love is the kind of album that I have to sit down to by myself with a buzz and give over to. So there's pot in my future apparently then.

Playlist from the 10th

The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
Touche Amore - Eponymous
Helmet - Aftertaste
The Veils - Nux Vomica
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
FNM - Angel Dust
Barry Adamson - Oedipus Schmoedipus

Card of the day:

This one again, eh?