Finally! Netflix's Dark, Season Two drops June 21st, and I cannot wait. Season one blew me away, even if it did take me two go-throughs to 'get' it. There are just so many characters, many of which are old white men with beards, and on first pass, I found myself having a difficult time differentiating between some of them. Second pass though, all that confusion dissipated, and I fell hard into the story. Not gonna lie, I'm baulking a little at the idea of the apocalypse being a plot point in season two, but Dark definitely gets the benefit of the doubt with me.
**
Woke up and watched Under the Silver Lake again, this time with K. Even better the second time. Love this film, and now Turning Teeth is stuck in my head.
**
Playlist from 4/26:
Soundgarden - Down on the Upside
Soundgarden - Super Unknown
Stevie Nicks - Stand Back (Single)
Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored (Single)
Suburban Living - Video Love (Single)
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
**
Card of the day:
Power given purpose and direction. A definite nod to Ciazarn, which I need to stop researching and begin writing, but also a cue to my short story Trending Now, which I am about to submit for a fairly high profile anthology.
My good friend and increasingly frequent collaborator Jonathan Grimm flies in for a long weekend, so I took today off. With an open morning, I did what I've wanted to do all week - I rented Robert David Mitchell's Under the Silver Lake, altered my perception a bit, and fell into a film I'd ascribed an alarming amount of expectation to in the eight days or so since I first heard about it. With a run time of two hours and nineteen minutes, I knew I'd need a day off to give Mitchell's follow-up to It Follows a proper shake - lately anything with an above-average run time that I watch at night runs the risk of my nodding off. This isn't usually the film's fault; my early schedule and aversion to conservative bedtimes simply runs me ragged. All this aside, I'm happy to report I had a perfect morning, a perfect viewing experience, and I absolutely loved Under the Silver Lake. I don't want to say too much - I didn't even watch the trailer until after I'd seen the movie - so I'll leave you with three words: Approaching. Modern. Hitchcock.
That's big and hyperbolic, I know. Don't care. Visually, we still get some of that soft, pastel style of Mitchell introduced in The Myth of the American Sleepover and perfected in It Follows, though that has been combined with a real love of the medium, and the history of the Hollywood Thriller as a genre. The early scenes of Andrew Garfield's Sam following three girls in a convertible feel like they are pulled right out of Vertigo, as does the deference the story pays to the institutions and living spaces of Los Angeles, the likes of which were directed toward the cities and forests of Northern California in Hitchcock's masterpiece of obsession. Oh, and Disasterpeace knocks the score out of the park; gone are the synths, replaced instead with string-and-brass instrumentation one would also associate with Hitchcock, De Palma and their lineage, both forwards and backwards in time.
Oh yeah, and David Yow from the Jesus Lizard is in it. When is that not a sign of good things?
$5 rental on Amazon. Absolutely worth it, but wait until you have the time to sink slowly into a winding mystery. This films tastes best when allowed to breath.
**
Playlist from 4/25:
Soundgarden - Louder than Love
Totalselfhatred - Eponymous
Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
Queens of the Stone Age - ... Like Clockwork
Queens of the Stone Age - Villains
Windhand - Eternal Return
Rounded the tunes out last night, driving home from Hollywood with KXLU program The Witching Hours as a sonic companion. GREAT show, and its host, DJ Marina, keeps an excellent website with news, prompt archives of playlists, and a bunch of other great stuff. Check it out HERE.
**
Card of the day:
From the Grimoire: "By adding to an idea's original form, we dilute it. Not inherently bad, just different. Expect ups and downs while fleshing out and developing anything."
From the forthcoming record Somebody's Knocking, out October 18th on Heavenly Recordings, who have a wealth of information about the making of the album and some great quotes from Lanegan HERE. You can pre-order Somebody's KnockingHERE, though at this point it's only for digital. Hopefully when we get another track, there will be a vinyl link for pre-order as well.
Coincidentally, I dug Bubblegum out recently and played the hell out of it for a day or two. Such a great album. I didn't realize there was a new Lanegan Band record in the pipes. Excited.
**
The new Fangoria hits the shelves today. I have a copy on reserve at the Comic Bug, but after today I'm going to subscribe. There's a fantastic episode of the Shockwaves podcast from the last week or so with Fango editor-in-chief Phil Noble, where besides discussing all kinds of horror goodness, Noble talks about how, at this point, the revamped Fangoria is an expensive labor of love, and honestly, just spending the last few months with issue #2 I can see it. I make no bones about falling out of love with the previous incarnation of the magazine, which I thought Rue Morgue surpassed as the only 'need to read' horror zine on the stands some time in the early 00s. That said, Rue Morgue is still pretty damn cool, but Fangoria is back in a big way. Plus, between Fango and Ruck and Lark's Lazarus, I am LOVING the return of the prestige, quarterly format. So subscribing and supporting the mag at the source seems like the best thing to do if I want it to continue, which I do. You can subscribe too, if you click THIS link.
**
Playlist from 4/23:
Boy Harsher - Careful
Bauhaus - Vol. 1
Melvins - Houdini
Soundgarden - Super Unknown
Cocksure - K.K.E.P.
Cocksure - T.V.M.A.L.S.V.
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
John Carpenter & Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST
Interesting this pops up in my youtube feed this morning, as I spent a good deal of time yesterday listening to Boy Harsher's Careful, reflecting on how much I love this damn record. Having seen them live last year as my introduction, I could watch these two for hours. Something about them is completely enthralling. It doesn't really come out here, I think, because there's just one song, and not enough for them to warm up.
Also, maybe it's because K and I finally finished Bates Motel - awesome through and through, by the way, although none of season seasons 4 or 5 can match the pacing of three - but Augustus Muller looks a bit like Norman Bates in this video.
**
NCBD tomorrow! I'm caught up and back in the flow, so here's my picks for the week:
Finally! Still one of the most intriguing books I read.
Having just caught up and read #3, it's no surprise Brubaker and Phillips' ongoing is one of my favorite books on the stands at the moment. I was way late to the Criminal Empire, many thanks to my good friend Joe Baxter for turning me onto the regular book. I'm hooked.
Shit. I missed issue 2, which means when the original Punk's Not Dead ended, I forgot to re-up the pull service on this second volume.
Big things ahead for this book and I can't wait.
**
Playlist from 4/22:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Melvins - Houdini
Melvins - Stoner Witch
Boy Harsher - Careful
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers, and Queers
Misfits - Earth A.D.
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Sunn O))) - Kannon
Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor
From the forthcoming album Noctiluca, which drops on Sargent House this Friday! Can't f&*king wait! Pre-order physical HERE or digital HERE.
**
The new film by It Follows director David Robert Mitchell drops on Amazon tomorrow (it was originally slated for today, but apparently got pushed back a day). I'm unclear if this will be available to rent or just buy. It's also playing a limited theatrical run in some city Monday through Wednesday this week. I've only known about this for about five days, and I've avoided all trailers or media, though I'm posting it here. It Follows is one of those films that immediately blew me away; I've never understood all the negativity thrown at that film. Also, The Myth of the American Sleepover was a great first film, so in my opinion, David Robert Mitchell is definitely someone I'm interested in keeping up with.
**
Playlist from 4/20:
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Faith No More - King for a Day
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Windhand - Eternal Return
Zombi - Shape Shift
Paramore - Riot
The Rolling Stones - Tide High and Green Grass
Michael Parks - The Best of Michael Parks
This dropped a few days ago, but I haven't had time to post here. There's an article on Bloody Disgusting - I think - that mentions this show is going to be pulling a lot from Alan Moore's seminal run on the book, the one that not only redefined Wrightson and Wein's character, but arguably the comics industry in general. If I hadn't witnessed that insane Doom Patrol sequence I posted a few weeks ago, I'd probably be a lot more skeptical of this. As it stands, that's two shows on the DC Universe app that I want to give a shot. That said, I don't know that I intend on subscribing to a DC streaming app regardless of whether or not they bring up a show with Jesus handing out free passes, so I guess I'll wait and see. Still, kudos to DC on finally getting something going, because I happened to see about ten minutes of that JLA movie on cable in a hotel recently, and all I can say is, no thanks.
**
My trip to the comic shop did NOT decimate my wallet, and now I've had a morning's worth of new books to read. My favorite this month? The return of Rucka and Lark's Lazarus, but in a quarterly, prestige format, with a shit ton of back matter:
Also, there's two big conflicts - probably wars, actually, coming in two of my favorite titles, and while I'm pretty excited, I'm also a little afraid of the body count that may follow as a result:
I'm especially concerned about what's coming in TWD. With issue 200 on the horizon, my prediction remains that Rick Grimes will die, probably before the anniversary issue, just because Kirkman likes to defy expectation.
**
Didn't get to watch The Last Drive-In last night, so K and I will be watching Joe Bob this evening. Can't wait! And I've never seen either of the films he played this week.
**
Playlist from 4/18:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Drab Majesty - Careless
Drab Majesty - Ellipses (Pre-release Single)
Playlist from 4/19:
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Grand Duchy - Petite Fours
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Odonis Odonis - Reaction EP
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Faith No More - King for a Day
Thought Gang - Modern Music
Card for the day:
I really need to do a deep dive on this card. I'll not waste time with another abbreviated interpretation right now. Needless to say, I suppose I'm supposed to control my emotions, but that just doesn't seem to fit right now.
