2018: November 4th

Has it really been two weeks since I saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds? That show and the Bad Seed's performance of Shoot Me Down inspired me to pull out the B-Sides and Rarities, three volume box set released back in 2005. It'd been a while since I really dug into this one, so I put the three discs in the ride and have been flirting with it on a somewhat regular basis. I forgot how much I love some of the songs on these discs! Come Into My Sleep is one of my favorites; originally released as a B-Side to (Are You) The One I've Been Waiting For?, from 1997's The Boatman's Call. This is classic Bad Seeds suave - the vibes carry the song, nice slinky bass line from Martyn Casey and Cave's trademark literary lyrics. So good.

On the exact other side of the musical spectrum, Mr. Brown sent me a link to a fantastic article on the 30th anniversary (eek!) of ...And Justice For All. Read it HERE. I might detest the band now, but I didn't then; Justice is where I draw the line, although I seem to waiver between thinking it's genius, and rolling my eyes at four white guys playing like they have sticks up their bums. Either way, it's musical history at this point, and the article's well worth a read. Also, the remaster really brings out the vocal effect Hetfield used on his voice in the verses for Eye of the Beholder, which changes the feel of the song a bit from what you probably know.

Just finished the second issue of Sam Keith's Batman/The Maxx crossover. Man, I think this is shaping up to be a proper sequel - or at least continuation - of the original Maxx/Julie storyline that disappeared after issue #20 of the original Maxx comic. If you read that book and can remember back to the mid-90s, issue #21 jumped ten years into the future, jettisoned Julie and Maxx (for the most part), and focused on an older Sarah, a man named Norbert, and Iago, the giant Banana slug. This new series seems to be following Maxx and Julie several years down the road from that twentieth issue, with Maxx reiterating several times that he had long ago lost contact with Julie. Admittedly, it's probably been six years since my last re-read of the original series, so I might be mixing some of this up. I think I'll start another re-read now, to accompany this new series. If you're curious about the timeline, as always Comic Vine is a great resource. HERE's their page for The Maxx.

And look at this cover gallery for #2.

Playlist from yesterday:

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - B-Sides & Rarities, Disc 3
Matthew Dear - Playlist (culled mostly from Black City)
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Intronaut - Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Weeknight - Post-Everything
Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch
Health - Death Magic

Card of the day:

If The Fool is the beginning of the journey, The Magus is the moment the novice becomes acclimated to the idea that the journey is no longer a transitory one, but transformative. This is life, and life is what the cards attempt to guide us through, revealing secrets that are, generally, right in front of our face the entire time. Magick isn't special; for most of us most of the time, it appears magical, like fireworks in the sky, but if you can tap in and pay attention, all the answers are with you, you've just been conditioned to ignore or chosen not to see them. Maybe you've never learned that the answers are even there. The Magus can help.

As usual, I apply my interpretation toward my writing and take this as a signifier that my work on the book goes well; the answers to ALL the continuity problems have always been close at hand, it's just not until I slow down and actually methodically think about the situations and characters that the answers come clear. And for the most part now, they have. With minor re-writing (further proven they were nearby the entire time) I've managed to scrape off the 'passable' patina and find the golden road through the heart of my little story about shadows and reflections wanting to switch places with us.

2018: November 3rd - New Music from Chasms

One of my favorite live shows I saw in 2017 was Ritual Howls at the Echoplex. The show was fantastic, not just because the Howls absolutely killed it live, but because opening band Chasms - who I'd not heard at the time - held me mesmerized for the entirety of their set. The ethereal quality of Sky Madden and Jess Labrador's music stops time, transfixing moments into a fluidic-like substance that bubbles up around you in colors as you stand and stare at a stage that ceases to be a stage and instead becomes a portal.

Highly recommended live.

According to Chasms Bandcamp, this is the final track of their current shoegaze/industrial sound and a closing chapter on their time in the Bay Area. The band has relocated to Los Angeles (yah!), and 2019 will see the release of a new record on Felte. I can't wait.

Thanks to Kristen Renee Gorlitz - whose Kickstarter for her Zombie Romance comic The Empties, and who will be the guest on next Friday's Drinking with Comics, which streams live on the DwC facebook page - I've found an awesome new project on Kickstarter I just backed. The Murder Balloon! Check this out:



Four days left, so if like me, you love the idea of a vengeful clown inventing a Murder Balloon, click HERE and drop some $$$ - the rewards are worth it!

Playlist for 11/02:

Tones on Tail - Everything
The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Wasteland
The Chameleons UK - Strange Times
Queens of the Stone Age - Villains
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Blut Aus Nord - Memorial Vetusta III (Saturnian Poetry)
Chasms - Divine Illusion (Single)
Chasms - On The Legs of Love Purified

Card of the day:

My favorite card, the number 17, a beautiful portrait of the cosmos and the idea of ebb and flow, balance and harmony, and a guiding light. Reminds me that although last night I had appeared to write myself into a nasty little corner, this morning in the shower I thought my way out of it rather easily. Looks like she's bathing, right? I've come to suspect this card surfaces when I do my best problem solving, which is almost always in the morning, in the shower.

2018: November 2nd - New Windhand Video for Red Cloud

Apparently this new Windhand video dropped on Halloween but I missed it. Here now, I present Red Cloud for your viewing pleasure. Great that they basically made a Hammer Horror short for it.

With all the spins I'm clocking on Eternal Return since it's release last month, I came to an interesting revelation. While definitely having their own sound, Windhand's sound could be elevator pitched as Carly Simon singing over early 90s Melvins. Not accurate, but I think it gets you there. As an interesting side note, I never really cared for Carly Simon before, but now I think I dig her.

If you live in Los Angeles, David Lucarelli's brilliant Dr. Zomba's Ghost Show, an old-time theatre experience is back for its final show this Saturday. I caught this a few months back during Fringe Fest - very much worth seeing. You can get tickets HERE and check out the trailer below:



And here's a clip of David talking about the origins and ideas behind Dr. Zomba's on Drinking with Comics:



Playlist from 11/01:

Weeknight - Post Everything
The Misfits - Static Age
The Final Cut - Consumed
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST

Card of the day:

Well well well. Two days in a row, eh? I don't have time to dig deeper at the moment, however I pulled a clarification card and received this:

Swift action toward goal. This feels ambiguous at the moment, or maybe I'm just having trouble betting up my brain on the cusp of a three-day work weekend that starts eight days in a row. For now, I'll take it as a prompt to accelerate my work on making the book materialize, and leave it at that.

2018: November 1st

A Real Indication, video directed by David Lynch.

For those of you who are long-time David Lynch fans like myself, this is track is an oldie. However, Thought Gang's A Real Indication - which is featured in the 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - is receiving a breath of new life, as Lynch, Badalamenti (that's him doing vocals on this track, by the way) and Sacred Bones Records are making available Thought Gang's Thought Gang album for the first time. This is actually older news - I pre-ordered a "Monkey Fur" vinyl copy about a month ago and just received word it has shipped! You can grab a copy HERE, if you're so inclined, although I believe the Monkey Fur edition has sold out.

31 Days of Horror concluded last night with a whimper instead of the BANG! I had planned. Previously, I had arranged for today off and planned to stay up late and pack in at least three movies.

That... was ambitious.

I came home from writing last night close to 7:00 PM, sat outside with my devil mask on while K handed out candy to trick r' treaters, and read some comics. In ~40 minutes we had more candy goblins than I had in the entire 12 years I lived in San Pedro. It was awesome. Our entire neighborhood was crawling with costumed families, and seeing it brought me great joy. After we ran out of candy, K and I went inside to begin the night's viewings. Instead of leading with Lucky McKee's May - one of my all-time favorites movies period, let alone Halloween-related films - we couldn't pass up the chance to follow Tuesday night's viewing of Tod Browning's Dracula from 1931 with Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, Bram Stoker's Dracula. As you can imagine, the two films pair quite nicely. After that, however, I was out. 4:00 AM wake-ups add up sometimes, and the sad fact is I can no longer fight through my tiredness like I used to when I was younger.

Ugh. Despite all the mental and emotional advantages that accompany ripening as a human being, sometimes age just plain sucks Charlie Brown.

Final 31 Days of Horror Totals:

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners
10/23) Jacob's Ladder

10/24) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10/25) Ghost Stories
10/26) John Carpenter's The Fog
10/27) Suspiria (2018)
10/28) Suspiria (1977)

10/29) Beetlejuice/Pyewacket

10/30) Trick r' Treat/Dracula (1931)
10/31) Bram Stoker's Dracula

Let's talk NCBD. I hadn't been to the shop in three weeks, so all the tantalizing stuff I've written about for the last few Wednesdays was waiting for me in my pull. I won't reiterate on those, however, let's talk about what Mike put aside for me that I was originally intending to pass on:

The original Lucifer series that spun out of Neil Gaiman's Sandman was written by Peter Carey and drawn by Peter Gross. It ran 75 issues and told one EPIC story. I can't recommend this one enough folks, and I myself am due for a re-read, as I haven't read it since its monthly run. I've had real reservations about going back for another story with this character, especially since the television show came up and basically re-did Castle, but with Lucifer helping the LAPD solve crimes instead of the writer. I've since heard and fully believe the show is good for what it is, however I'm protective of series as amazing as the original Lucifer is, so I'm not interested in the show. Buying this new comic was nothing short of a leap of faith for me. After reading it though, you better believe, I have faith.

This was one of those first issues that drops you in and doesn't concern itself with giving you the lay of the land. NOT a complaint, as I love that when done well. And I really think this book is going to be done well. After all the seemingly disparate story threads introduced in Lucifer #1, I am damned intrigued at where this book is going, so much so I can scarcely believe it.

Also, having Kelley Jones do the variant cover was an A++ for me.

Playlist from yesterday:

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses
Ritual Howls - Into the Water
Various - Halloween Playlist
The Final Cut - Consumed
Specimen - Azoic
Jóhann Jóhannson - Mandy OST

Card of the day:

Perfect, considering I spent a large part of two days this past week dressed like him, and LOVED the new Lucifer series. Here's what it says in the Grimoire:

"Materialism over spiritualism."

Short and to the point, eh? Looks like I need to flesh that entry out. In the meantime, I'll regard this pull as a warning to not run up my cc this month the way I did last month. October is always an expensive time of the year for me because it is my favorite time of the year.

2018: October 31st - Happy Halloween!!!

I figured this would be appropriate.

31 Days of Horror's penultimate evening yielded two movies. The first, Trick r' Treat, which is always a viewing standard for the season. I almost passed it over last night, lured by ideas of exploring something new on VOD. After about three minutes though, I was all in. LOVE this film. My favorite segments would be the Bus in the Quarry and little Red Riding Hood. An autumnal cinematic institution I will never doubt again.

The second movie was 1931's Dracula, directed by Tod Browning and starring the inimitable Bela Lugosi. Had to get in at least one Universal Monster.

"I never drink....... wine."



Classic. The sets on the old Universal monster flicks are indelibly seared into my soul from watching them so much as a kid. It wasn't until K and I got together and she revived my love of those original horror franchises that I revisited them. Last year we did Frankenstein (still my fav) and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, this year Dracula.

31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners
10/23) Jacob's Ladder

10/24) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10/25) Ghost Stories
10/26) John Carpenter's The Fog
10/27) Suspiria (2018)
10/28) Suspiria (1977)

10/29) Beetlejuice/Pyewacket

10/30) Trick r' Treat/Dracula (1931)

You know how sometime in the 00s someone put out a DVD with logs burning in a fireplace, a kind of background mood-setter for Christmas? Well, Shudder has the Halloween equivalent: The Ghoul Log, one hour and three minutes of this:

So awesome! They added in night sounds (owls hooting and wind and stuff), and it's real-time, that is to say the camera is rolling, capture every flicker of the candle's flame. Once again, kudos Shudder!

Big plans for tonight, as I am off work tomorrow.  If it's foggy again like it's been the last few nights, I might just go for a midnight stroll in costume.

Playlist from 10/30:

Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (digipak)

Siouxsie and the Banshees - 

Fantômas - Director's Cut
Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always
Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Windhand - Eternal Return
Ritual Howls - Their Body
Ritual Howls - Into the Water

Card of the day:

Success from hard work. Good to hear. I've been reinvigorated of late in streamlining Shadow Play Book #1: Kim & Jessie. Things felt a little strained yesterday, but I kind of squandered my inspiration, applying it later in the day than I should have. I won't make that mistake today.

One last video, my favorite Halloween song, which I probably post every year. It's worth the reiteration:



Happy Halloween everyone!!!

2018: October 30th

From the album Post Everything (great title) and featured in the movie Pyewacket, which I watched last night and absolutely loved. In a way I saw Pyewacket as an updated version of George A. Romero's Season of the Witch, kind of a cautionary tale about messing around with Black Magick. I loved everything about this film, from the camera work, which was diverse and pragmatic in its approach, i.e. if the filmmakers needed to create tension or up the tempo for the viewer, they did so with hand-camera work - never gratuitous - or odd angles. They used the score well, partially by playing with volume to accent moments of tension release or revelation, and they kept their locations tight but aesthetically aligned with what they were trying to do, as in the use of Autumnal colors and rustic buildings. Also, director Adam McDonald certainly knows how to play on the strained relationships of Mothers and their adolescent daughters. Nicole Munoz and Laurie Holden (who some of you will remember from The Walking Dead as Andrea) kill it in their roles, Munoz especially.



I also finished watching Beetlejuice last night. Man, I miss liking Tim Burton's stuff. Unlike his later stuff, Beetlejuice is pure imagination unconfined by the caricature the auteur has made for himself, which really just acts as a prison.


Thanks to my good friend Jonathan Grimm Art for the recommendation!

31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners
10/23) Jacob's Ladder

10/24) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10/25) Ghost Stories
10/26) John Carpenter's The Fog
10/27) Suspiria (2018)
10/28) Suspiria (1977)

10/29) Beetlejuice/Pyewacket

Playlist from 10/29:

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland

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

Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria

Exhalants - Eponymous

Trust Obey - Hands of Ash

Trust Obey - The Tides of Sin - EP

No card today. I keep forgetting my decks at home in the morning.

Well, that's almost it, as tomorrow is Halloween! Rejoice, oh you children of the night! The walls grow thin.

2018: October 29th

Whoah. I had ear-marked this Perturbator collaboration with LA-based Health sometime a week or so ago and then promptly forgot about it. Listening to it last night while writing, it made a strong impression. Which led to me checking out Health's 2015 album Death Magic (great title). Fantastic stuff. Reminiscent of Crystal Castles at times, very melodic and killer electronics.

31 Days of Horror rounded the final lap last night with attempts to watch two other movies as well. The first was Beetlejuice, which I rented from Amazon and which dropped out and sent me back to the start twice before I gave up. The second was Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi, but by then it was pass out time, so I only made it 2/3 of the way through. Ugh.

31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners
10/23) Jacob's Ladder

10/24) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10/25) Ghost Stories
10/26) John Carpenter's The Fog
10/27) Suspiria (2018)
10/28) Suspiria (1977)

Playlist from 10/28:

Various Artists - Halloween playlist
Skeletal Family - Singles Plus One
Health/Perturbator - Body/Prison
Health - Death Magic
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula

No card today.