2018: July 9th

I had a notice in Google to 'rediscover this day' for June 24, 2016 - two years since I saw Eagulls at the Teragram Ballroom in DTLA. That means it's just over two years since Ullages came out, so hopefully these lads have a new record in the wings. I'd like that very much. In the meantime, HERE is the Google Link to my very mediocre photos of the show (I share these merely for posterity's sake, and have never claimed to be any kind of photographer).

I finished Lauren Groff's The Monsters of Templeton over the weekend. Very good novel; first thing I'd categorize as "East Coast Lit" that I've read in a while. No genre trappings at all; nothing wrong with genre, in fact, I guess you could say that 'lit' is kind of a genre to me. The idea comes from working in a book store for five years - I read voraciously and definitely began to see a difference in what was in the Fiction/Lit section and what was in the various genre sections. And of course this isn't a blanket policy. But, you know, William S. Burroughs' Science Fiction is different from John Scalzy's. Neither is better than the other, they just come from different angles. Or, all that's shite. This is the inner workings of my own head, don't think I'm subjugating anyone else with these parameters.

Anyway, it really put me back in a lit frame of mind - I've put off reading almost anything I'd categorize that way for years, from the time I began to write heavily plotted material I considered more genre than anything. Irvine Welsh has released four or five novels in that time and although he's one of my favorite writers, I've avoided them completely. However, after Monsters fired me up again on the lit 'flavor', I broke out Norman Mailer's The Deer Park. This a novel I've had on the shelf for some time. From the first sentence I was in love; The Deer Park is kind of The Great Gatsby in the Southern California desert, a tale of the vices of 1950's Hollywood that has Fitzgerald written all over it. I love it. And I know Gatsby isn't Fitz's Hollywood novel, but there are HUGE similarities, especially, it seems, with contemplations of morality.

The playlist from 7/08/18 was a short one:

Anthrax - Sound of White Noise
Johnny Jewel - Digital Rain
Chromatics - Night Drive


Card of the day:

From the grimoire: "Can represent desire for rebirth or a new beginning." Interesting that I've started the new short I'm working on, "Please Believe Me," three times already, slightly tweaking the way I bring the reader into the world. And it's been a journey so far, a lot of subtle changes in the way I present the characters.

2018: July 8th

I've been using a lot of instrumental music for my writing sessions of late. Most of the time lyrics don't bother me, because most of the time I write to metal and the lyrics can almost be seen as another instrument anyway, especially with the throatier stuff (hence why I listen to Deafheaven so much when I write). But I've noticed while working on this new short story, tentatively titled, "Please Believe Me," that lyrics have proven a distraction. So the other night I fell pretty hard for the Jim Jarmusch/Jozef Van Wissem stuff, and now today I'm finding Johnny Jewel's newly released Digital Rain and absolute aces album to craft by. Here's a sample:



Oh! Before I forget, happy birthday to my one of my best friends in the world, Sonny V. Despite our distance and life's continued efforts to occupy all our time and keep us apart, I love you sir, and one day we will jam together again. In the interim, I found myself thinking about some of our old comedy skits recently, so here's an oldie but a goodie:



I attended my first Horror Writer's Association meeting yesterday, thanks to the generosity of David Lucarelli. I loved it, the idea of a large group of people gathered to discuss the craft. I found inspiration from pretty much everyone present, and I absolutely cannot wait to officially join and begin attending the monthly meetings! Also, two of the gentlemen in attendance have books I am planning on reading in the very near future. Both are available on amazon, or if you're local, I believe at Dark Delicacies, a horror-shop in Burbank I wasn't really aware of until yesterday. Can't wait to check that out as well.

 Direct Amazon Link HERE

Direct Amazon Link HERE

Playlist from Saturday, 7/07:

Zeal and Ardor - EP
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Beak - L.A. Playback
Beastmilk - Use Your Deluge E.P.
Best Coast - Crazy for You

Card of the day:

Working to develop a better understanding of the intricate Universe that surrounds us. This is Magick, the idea of tapping into something greater, and that the energies from doing so flow both ways. 

2018: July 7th

Tommy gave me a new favorite record yesterday with his edition of The Joup Friday Album. The Paper Chase had been recommended to me several times by several different friends, chief among them, I believe, Mr. Brown and Jeffrey Equality Brooks, but it wasn't until Tommy put God Bless Your Black Heart up and I read his interpretation that I actually succeeded in hearing them beyond a track or two (and let's be honest, the immediacy of Apple Music helped immensely as well).


Playlist from Friday, 7/07/18:

Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini
Beak - L.A. Playback
The Paper Chase - God Bless Your Black Heart
SQÜRL - EP #1
Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL - Only Lovers Left Alive OST
Jim Jarmusch & Jozef Van Wissem - The Mystery of Heaven
Jim Jarmusch & Jozef Van Wissem - Concerning the Entrance Into Eternity

Card of the day:

"Expectations can become a prison."

2018: July 6th - Have Some Fun Tonight

My obsession with Predator is at an all-time high. My friend Joe and I walk around all day at work quoting this scene:




Playlist from 7/05:

John Carpenter - Lost Themes
Grimes - Oblivion
Goblin - Dawn of the Dead (Theme)
David Lynch - The Big Dream
Alice in Chains - Facelift
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Crippled Black Phoenix - Horrific Honorifics
NIN - Add Violence E.P.
Perturbator - New Model

2018: July 5th

In light of recent news, let's have some Them Are Us Too, shall we?



I finally saw A Cure For Wellness. Visually I dug it, and three-quarters of the way through I was still more or less smitten. The last third, where Gore Verbinski couldn't quite decide how he wanted to end the film, just that he absolutely had to wedge in a series of scenes that all felt as though they ended the movie, really toppled the film under the weight of lofty ambitions. A Cure For Wellness just falls apart at the end, and it's a shame. Worth a watch for sure, but even at $9.99 I have buyer's remorse that I picked up the Blu Ray. #firstworldproblems for sure.

Also watched the 1986 Transformers animated movie - the ONLY Transformers movie in my book - for the first time in probably fifteen years. Still pretty damn awesome, and the soundtrack actually bothers me less today. All the ambient/synth-based stuff is great. The hair metal not so much, but again, it doesn't quite bother me as much now as it did fifteen years ago.



The new Drinking, Fighting, F*&king, and Crying is up HERE.

Playlist from 7/04/18:

Sinoia Caves - Beyond the Black Rainbow OST
Joseph Loduca - Evil Dead 2 OST
John Carpenter - Lost Themes

Card of the day:

Balance. Also, results from hard work or actualization from an idea. This is good; working on a new short story.

2018: July 3rd

How about a little Ted Leo and the Pharmacists to kick off the mid-week holiday?



Get you feeling good? Me too. There is so much Thin Lizzy in that song it's awesome!

The Comic Bug recently bought at massive collection and that means there are about a dozen long boxes (at least) of comics out for $1.00 right now, set up in the middle of their shop. A couple weeks I did some light digging and, as I always am when digging through back issue long boxes like this, I was in the mood for grabbing a few 80s/early 90s copies of Newsprint Marvels. I went with a few issues of The Avengers, specifically #352, 353, and 354. Why? Well, I never really read Avengers growing up, however I did pick up a few issues around this time back in the day and I've always been subsequently intrigued by the way the team - much like Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, often cycled out the 'Big Names' and operated with a cast of C, D, and maybe even E level characters. And you know, that didn't make the stories bad, it actually made them more interesting than just having status quo re-achieved after every arc or crossover.

Also of note in these three particular issues, penned by Len Kaminski and drawn by M.C. Wyman, is the heavy influence of the original Evil Dead movies. You see it a bit in the covers to 353 and 354, but there's a lot of little stuff lovingly cribbed from the ED2 and Army of Darkness. This fits, as these were published right about the time AoD was released.

Great covers, right? I am especially fond of 353.

Playlist from 7/02:

John Frusciante - Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Jane's Addiction - Kettle Whistle
Nirvana - Incesticide
Cocksure - Corporate_Sting
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
The Casket Lottery - Smoke and Mirrors E.P.
Fever Ray - Plunge
White Hex - Gold Nights
Jeff Grace - House of the Devil OST

Card of the day:

Pressure has eased. Yes - perfect. Yesterday was the first day after I handed over the 76k+ second draft of T12 to Keller. Immediate relief, although I didn't come until I walked to my writing spot, fired up the laptop and closed the T12 Scrivener doc, then opened up my short story one and started something new. So yes, the pressure has eased.

2018: July 2nd

Dug out the first John Frusciante solo album yesterday. Hadn't listened to it in some time. Say what you want about the performance/production, but there is something so psychologically intimate about this one. The story that he was basically found living in his own squalor when he recorded this on a four-track is legendary by now, and I no longer even remember if it's true or what the specifics are, but there's some raw shit here, and some of it is genius.

Playlist from yesterday was short:

Underworld - 1992-2002 (disc 2)
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Deadsy - Commencement
John Frusciante - Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt

Card of the day:

And... the only constant is change.