I fell back pretty hard core back into Beach Slang's 2020 album The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City. What a great record. Will in be in my top ten this year? I guess it's about time I start trying to figure that out.
Watch
I've always wondered why people don't use James Duval in more movies. I love the guy, and here, surrounded by C. Thomas Howell, Ray Wise and James Hong, well, looks like a slam dunk to me:
See what I mean?
Playlist:
Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Dance with the Dead - B-Sides: Vol. 1
Low Cut Connie - Hi Honey
Beach Slang - The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City
Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect
Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wraith of the Easter Bunny
Van Halen - 1984
Turquoise Moon - The Sunset City
Card:
Realization of false promises? Is this America's indictment? What's that mean for the never-ending side show currently stressing everyone the F*&k out?
Monday night was the first night I came home from work since the clocks went back. I'd gotten out late, and by the time I arrived home, the sky was already beginning to darken. K was still at work, so I threw on my headphones and took a nice long walk into the Dusk and listened to Yob for the first time. I mean, I'd given a song or two a whirl before, but the music hadn't really made an impact on me then, for whatever reason. This time though, I began with a song a friend recommended - Marrow, the final track on 2014's Clearing the Path to Ascend - and the timing couldn't have been better. Perfect.
NCBD
A lot of good stuff this week!
And yes, even the final issue of Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams!
Playlist:
The Velvet Underground and Nico - Eponymous
Meg Myers - Sorry
Naked Raygun - Basement Screams
Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend
Kevin Ayers - The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories
Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn
New chapter in the Bret Easton Ellis serialized novel landed this week, and things are really beginning to get creepy. I'm really loving this as an addition to an already great podcast! Ellis' Podcast Patreon is HERE. In looking for an image to post, I found THIS insane little tidbit from a few months back. Ellis and Irvine Welsh writing a series together? YES PLEASE!
Also found out a friend of mine has been doing a BRILLIANT Quarantine Podcast called Cabin Fever. It began back in April, when all this was still fresh, and it's interesting to go back and hear other people's experiences as "essential" or "non-essential," and how either distinction affects their lives and the lives of the people around them. The cast covers everything: how they spend their days, how their roles have suddenly changed, what they're watching, insights into COVID, work, life, etc. It's all good stuff, and I've grown quite fond very quickly. Cabin Fever is up on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, here's widget:
Card:
Full disclosure: This post is scheduled to auto-post at 12:01 AM on Wednesday, October 4th. I'm writing this section, and thus drawing the card below, at 6:21 PM Tuesday, October 3rd. I have not checked in on the election all day other than one small peek at about 9:00 AM. What was the card I was hoping for when I did my draw this morning, saw it was addressing the election and thus, prompted me to draw two clarifying cards? This one, which I just drew from the Raven deck after a rigorous shuffle:
By the time you read this, maybe the results will be in. Maybe this will be erroneous, a moot point. Or maybe, the old guard will have, as indicated by the guard, imploded. One can hope.
Poignant words from an album I fell in love with in High School. This day will change things going forward. Unfortunately - and I hope to hell I'm wrong here - I'm preparing for either outcome at the polls today to bring domestic terrorism on a scale we've not seen before. Obviously, the preferred outcome is achieved and we step into a new chapter, but I believe the "Stand back, stand by" was meant to put orange's cronies on watch for this very day. Expect militarized action if he is tossed out on his ass, as he should be.
Of course, if the opposite happens, well, I guess we'll really know what kind of cuntry (and other cunt like tendencies) we live in, and how many bigots, xenophobes, and downright misguided people surround us. In that case, well, it's going to be a very long four years.
Watch:
This is more of a listen than a watch, but here's a great episode of Henry Rollin's KCRW radio show where Mike Patton is his guest. They get into some great stuff in this one:
In the actual category of 'Watch' however, my first non-US region Blu Ray arrived yesterday. If you listen to The Horror Vision, you'll know my cohost and good friend King Butcher swears by his region-free player, and I finally decided to listen to him. I jumped the gun and ordered several things from Arrow's Shocktober sale - the Hellraiser Trilogy Blu Ray Boxset and Bride of Renanimator - and then doubled down and picked up a copy of the Swedish release of Fede Alvarez's 2013 Evil Dead on ebay. I'd been planning to hunker down and pick up a region-free modified player this week, but LUCKILY, I did some reading first and found out that, joy of joys, the two Sony Blu Ray players I've had for the last several years already are region-free!!! Evil Dead arrived last night, I pulled it from the mailbox this morning upon seeing the notification, and popped it in. Happy to report - it works!
I LOVE Alvarez's Evil Dead - I count it as my second favorite among all the films - adamantly battle the idea that it's a remake (Tappert, Raimi and Campbell have all said all along it's not), and am psyched to finally own the extended cut.
I'm thinking I may leave work a little early to try and avoid any madness, come home and watch this one while encased in a 'womb of refer.'
Playlist:
Opeth - Deliverance
Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
Meg Myers - Sorry
Foster the People - Torches
Earth - Full Upon Her Burning Lips
Apple Music Blackgaze Pioneers Playlist
Amesoeurs - Eponymous
Yob - Cleraing the Path to Ascend
Card:
I really read around on the Pull this morning, because here's the first card I drew:
From (source) "In a more personal view the Emperor might stand for a time of stability and structure, linear thinking and discipline. Yet we can't live without it, too many of those attributes will only lead to rational despotism and mental poverty."
Wow. On the nose for current situation. However, nothing to indicate which way things might go. (NOTE: I did not set out to direct my morning Pull at the election, that just happened.)
Next, in a classic Past - Present - Future Draw, I pulled:
For Past: Baggage - the Lust of Earthly result leads to a great weight that makes it impossible to get out from under. Yeah, the last four years I've increasingly felt that weight. Finally, for Future:
Hmm. From the Grimoire: "The Airy aspect of Earth. Pragmatism. Can be a bit of a cunt for matters pertaining to money and stability."
The Prince of Disks can be stubborn and ignorant when ill-dignified, which is something I only take into account when I'm having trouble deciphering how the cards in a Pull relate to one another, never in a one-card Draw. The Airy aspect of Earth, so strength in practical matters. This also implies a certain degree of trust-worthiness and inventiveness. Often, a good listener.
Definitely not our current problem's cup of tea, being a good listener.
Is this Biden? It fits some of what I know about him, but the 'stubborn and ignorant' are almost our current problem's calling cards, especially the 'ignorant' aspect. The card was not ill-dignified, so I have to hope that's not the case and we have a change in Guard (I was really hoping to draw XVI The Tower as the future card, but no so luck).
All this does is remind me that the cards are merely reflections of our inner psychology and how it rubs up against the collective unconscious and, perhaps, more 'cosmic' elements we don't really have a chance in hell of understanding in any literal sense, because they are not literal in nature. So what's the outcome? We'll have to see. Go Vote people.
Yes, happy, happy Halloween! In honor of the day, this time of year, and my emotional attachment to all things Autumn, I have had to create and sustain what I think of as, "A perpetual inner Autumn" for years now because, well, there's no bloody seasons in LaLa Land. The Quarantine Junkie moniker worked during those months of intense isolation and introspection, however, while I'm still mostly avoiding social contact, I really can't consider myself fully quarantined after three drive-in movies with Ray from The Horror Vision, a visit to Anthony - also from THV - to see his new son, and an increasing desire to reengage with people. While I won't be acting on 99% of those urges - no beer patios yet I'm afraid, even though I'm dying for a proper pint - I certainly don't feel Quarantine Junkie fits any longer. Instead, I decided to rename this site after my aforementioned favorite day of the year, which also happens to be a favorite song of mine by a favorite band. So there you have it - Happy Halloween!
31 Days of Halloween:
I may not be able to get around to it today, but Jonathan Grimm just pointed out that Australian film The Boys in Trees is available on youtube in its entirety for free. Now, I would normally never advocate sidestepping paying for a movie, especially one as independent as this, however, this one disappeared off Netflix a few years ago and while there are NO other release that I'm aware of, you can rent it on youtube HERE.
This movie is so amazing, a seminal Halloween classic in my book, it deserves our full support.
1) Tales of Halloween: Sweet Tooth/The Wolf Man (1941)
2) From Beyond/Monsterland: "Port Fourchon, Louisiana"/Tales of Halloween: "The Night Billy Raised Hell" & "Trick"
3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): "The Crate"
4) Waxwork
5) Synchronic/Bad Hair
6) Dolls
7) Lovecraft Country Ep. 8/Tales of Halloween: "The Weak and the Wicked" & "The Grim Grinning Ghost"
8) 976-Evil
9) Repo! The Genetic Opera
10) Firestarter/George A. Romero's Bruiser
11) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 1 & 2/Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
12) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 3, 4, and 5/House of 1000 Corpses
13) Masque of the Red Death/Creepshow (2019) Episode 7/Creepshow (1982)
14) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 6 and 7
15) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 8 and 9/Roseanne (88) season 2 and 3 Halloween Episodes
16) The Mortuary Collection/Roseanne (88) season 4 Halloween Episode
17) Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning
18) Lovecraft Country episode 9/The Haunting/Roseanne (88) season 5 Halloween Episode
19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"
20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch
21) The Omen
22) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait/Masters of Horror: "Sick Girl" (Lucky McKee)
23) Joe Bob's Halloween Hideaway: Haunt/Hack-O-Lantern
24) Eight Legged Freaks/What We Do in the Shadows season 1 episode 1/Night of the Demons
25) 10/31 - "The Old Hag"/Absentia
26) Prince of Darkness/Tales of Halloween (remainder)
27) Joe Bob's Haunted Drive-In - Nine short films
28) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
29) Lords of Salem/The Connors 2020 Halloween episode
30) Mike Mendez's The Convent/The Wizard of Gore (2007)
Playlist:
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Sir Neville Marriner & Academy of St Martin in the Fields- Amadeus: Requiem, K 626 Rex Tremendae Majestatis
Skinny Puppy - Rabies
Dance With The Dead - Loved to Death
Dance With The Dead - B-Sides: Vol. 1
Concrete Blond - Bloodletting
Concrete Blond - Eponymous
Fantômas - The Director's Cut
Fantômas - Delirium Cordia
Mr. Bungle - California
The Final Cut - Consumed
Goblin - 2013 Tour EP
Mr. Bungle - Raging Wraith of the Easter Bunny
Card:
The fiery aspect of water, or Emotion tempered by Will. Time to shake off the slump and get back into it. October is always a difficult month for me to concentrate in, so after today, it's back to work.
Epilogue
Finally, let me leave you with my standard, 'must play on Halloween track,' Type O Negative's Black No. 1, a perfect song and my favorite for the season:
Chock this up to unexpected. I finished my movie last night and sat down at my computer, only to stumble into a premiere for the first single from the upcoming first Remix album from Deftones - Black Pony. This is for the 20th Anniversary of their seminal album White Pony, which will always be special to me because it's where I began following the band.
I'm not really one for remix albums, but this version of Knife Party - done by Purity Ring no less, a group I was briefly obsessed with during the later half of the 00s - is pretty fantastic on headphones. I'll definitely be giving the entire Black Pony a spin when it drops.
31 Days of Halloween:
I had my second viewing of Rob Zombie's 2012 film Lords of Salem. The first time I watched this, back when it originally hit VOD, I have to say, I was not impressed. Now, however, I'm not sure how that was possible. This is easily my second favorite Zombie flick after House of 1000 Corpses. It's a slow burn - maybe a crawl really - but it's essentially Zombie doing Argento, and it really works well. Very few of the tropes RZ usually painfully adheres to are present (clowns, midget nazis, white trash, etc.), and everything about the film is breathtaking, especially Brandon Trost's cinematography and his ability to translate the genius of RZ's shots and composition.
1) Tales of Halloween: Sweet Tooth/The Wolf Man (1941)
2) From Beyond/Monsterland: "Port Fourchon, Louisiana"/Tales of Halloween: "The Night Billy Raised Hell" & "Trick"
3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): "The Crate"
4) Waxwork
5) Synchronic/Bad Hair
6) Dolls
7) Lovecraft Country Ep. 8/Tales of Halloween: "The Weak and the Wicked" & "The Grim Grinning Ghost"
8) 976-Evil
9) Repo! The Genetic Opera
10) Firestarter/George A. Romero's Bruiser
11) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 1 & 2/Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
12) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 3, 4, and 5/House of 1000 Corpses
13) Masque of the Red Death/Creepshow (2019) Episode 7/Creepshow (1982)
14) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 6 and 7
15) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 8 and 9/Roseanne (88) season 2 and 3 Halloween Episodes
16) The Mortuary Collection/Roseanne (88) season 4 Halloween Episode
17) Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning
18) Lovecraft Country episode 9/The Haunting/Roseanne (88) season 5 Halloween Episode
19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"
20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch
21) The Omen
22) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait/Masters of Horror: "Sick Girl" (Lucky McKee)
23) Joe Bob's Halloween Hideaway: Haunt/Hack-O-Lantern
24) Eight Legged Freaks/What We Do in the Shadows season 1 episode 1/Night of the Demons
25) 10/31 - "The Old Hag"/Absentia
26) Prince of Darkness/Tales of Halloween (remainder)
27) Joe Bob's Haunted Drive-In - Nine short films
28) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
29) Lords of Salem/The Connors 2020 Halloween episode
NCBD
I totally forgot to post my picks for NCBD this week. Some great stuff, but one above all else I've been chomping at the bit for:
One Turtle left in the not-so-distant future and he carries all of his brothers' (and sister's) weapons, so that we don't know which one it is? Wow. Haven't read it yet, but it's here by my side and I can't wait!
Playlist:
Meg Myers - Sorry
Danzig - Danzig II: Lucifuge
Joy Division - Still
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico
Card:
Fairness and mindfulness can eliminate unnecessary restrictions and problems down the road.
LA band PLaNETS is doing a special Halloween show on Youtube this Friday at 9:00 LALA Land time and I'm going to try and 'be there.' I only know one of their records, 2012's The Dark Woods, but it's a favorite. They'd fallen off my radar for quite some time and it was only last week that I broke out the album and then went digging around online for updates on them - their name makes them kind of hard to find stuff about. At any rate, I found their youtube, subscribed, and it was totally fortuitous because now I have this awesome virtual gig to look forward to!
31 Days of Halloween:
1) Tales of Halloween: Sweet Tooth/The Wolf Man (1941)
2) From Beyond/Monsterland: "Port Fourchon, Louisiana"/Tales of Halloween: "The Night Billy Raised Hell" & "Trick"
3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): "The Crate"
4) Waxwork
5) Synchronic/Bad Hair
6) Dolls
7) Lovecraft Country Ep. 8/Tales of Halloween: "The Weak and the Wicked" & "The Grim Grinning Ghost"
8) 976-Evil
9) Repo! The Genetic Opera
10) Firestarter/George A. Romero's Bruiser
11) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 1 & 2/Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
12) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 3, 4, and 5/House of 1000 Corpses
13) Masque of the Red Death/Creepshow (2019) Episode 7/Creepshow (1982)
14) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 6 and 7
15) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 8 and 9/Roseanne (88) season 2 and 3 Halloween Episodes
16) The Mortuary Collection/Roseanne (88) season 4 Halloween Episode
17) Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning
18) Lovecraft Country episode 9/The Haunting/Roseanne (88) season 5 Halloween Episode
19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"
20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch
21) The Omen
22) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait/Masters of Horror: "Sick Girl" (Lucky McKee)
23) Joe Bob's Halloween Hideaway: Haunt/Hack-O-Lantern
24) Eight Legged Freaks/What We Do in the Shadows season 1 episode 1/Night of the Demons
25) 10/31 - "The Old Hag"/Absentia
26) Prince of Darkness/Tales of Halloween (remainder)
27) Joe Bob's Haunted Drive-In - Nine short films
28) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Playlist:
Deftones - White Pony
Orville Peck - Pony
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife
