Censor

 

Oh, 1990s music videos - so very easy to spot even if you don't know the song. I've had this one in my head for about a week, and it's nice to be kind of obsessed with the Pixies again! I read something recently that posited that, with Kim Deal's reduced input on Trompe le Monde, it's essentially pretty close to a solo Frank Black album, and thinking about that while spinning through it multiple times over the last few days, yeah. I can totally see that. Really matches up to that first Frank Black solo era (in my thinking, that's Frank Black - Eponymous up to and including Cult of Ray).

---

---

---

Watch:

 

Censor dropped recently and I finally had a chance to watch it last night. Wow. I am so impressed with this flick, the feature-length debut by Writer/Director Prano Baily-Bond. Visually, this one has such a distinctive look, largely because of the lighting. Censor takes place in the 80s - during the Video Nasties era to be specific - but the film doesn't play up the 80s-ness that a lot of other films would. Instead, it lives and breathes in the textures of analog, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the set design and approach to the lighting. There are also ongoing tweaks to the aspect ratio, which sneaks up on you at strange moments and really adds to the otherworldly feel Baily-Bond executes in every single shot. At no time does this film rest on the laurels it establishes simply via subject matter. And Raised By Wolves's Niamh Algar kills it in the lead.

Also, goddamn Michael Smiley is fantastic in EVERYTHING.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Steve Moore - VSW OST

Vaguess - Bodhi Collection

Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie

Pixies - Trompe le Monde

Various - Playlist to Joe Begos's Bliss

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin' 

Charles Mingus - Blues & Roots (Mono)

Diatribe - Odite sermonis EP

Sunken - Livslede

Bells Into Machine - Eponymous

---

---

---

Card:

Well, The Moon card literally lept out of the deck at me when I went to do my pull, so I guess I'm misunderstanding or missing something. I have to say, I feel perpetually overwhelmed by Tarot lately. 

Ordinary Fascist

 

A little Bells Into Machines to start our Wednesday. If you're unfamiliar or haven't heard their 2018 Eponymous full-length, I cannot recommend it enough. I kind of forgot about this one after hearing it initially around the time of its release, almost like it made a lackluster impression on me. After digging it back out earlier in the week, I can't stop listening to it. 

---

---

---

NCBD:

Seriously, I don't know how this many issues of ASM in such a short succession isn't getting on my nerves, but there's such a big picture going on at the moment, I just want to read a new one every damn week, and Marvel is pretty much accommodating me.

Finally! Home Sick Pilots returns with a new arc. Love this book; its weird mash-up of Horror tropes and Mech fiction is so unique and darn right amazing to take in at the eyes.

The climax of what is undoubtedly the best mini-series of 2021, and I absolutely MUST have this cover!

Not 100% certain I'm going to dig this book, but I'll give it a shot. We must be in the golden age of Comic Book Cover art, 'cause here's another great one.

I feel like TMNT must be bi-weekly at this point, because I just read 117 like a week ago.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Bells Into Machines - Eponymous

Anthrax - I'm The Man EP

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Vreid -  Wild North West

Tennis System - Technicolor Blind

Steve Moore - VFW OST

---

---

---

Card:

 

Two separate but easily juxtaposed events that directly preceded my pull last night caused me to have a breakthrough. I now believe I know what the Devil/Wheel cycle I've been caught in for the last week or so was trying to tell me, and I drew IV: The Emperor with that query in mind - am I correct in this revelation?

I'd say this means yes. 

These Arms Are Snakes

 

In honor of the fact that These Arms Are Snakes has once again reunited for a show (Seatle, WA). Hopefully, there's new music coming, miss these guys.

---

---

---

Watch:

Evil came back in a BIG way this past Sunday. I'll spare you my annoyance at having to sub to yet another streamer, this time Paramount +, because as it happened, I got two months for .99. Plus, honestly, this show is so freaking great, I would totally pay whatever the usual price is. Here's the trailer for season two:

While we were on Paramount, I remembered another show I'd been curious about, Strange Angel lived there. This one came out a few years ago, did two seasons and I'm not sure if it wrapped up or was canceled. I also wasn't sure I'd dig it, but Strange Angel is about Rocket Propulsion Engineer Jack Parsons, one of the men who designed the propulsion that put us on the moon. Parsons was also hand-picked by Aleister Crowley to run the California chapter of his occult organization.

 

From what I've seen so far I'm intrigued, even if the show appears to be "Hollywooding" up Crowley's organization as animal/virgin sacrifices, which of course they were not. The show is based on the book of the same name by George Pendle, which I didn't read, although starting around 2002 I read probably just about everything else I could find about Parsons, whose mix of military and the Occult absolutely fascinated me for a time. Still does, really, which is why I'm going to - for now at least - continue with the show.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Entropy - Liminal

Deftones - Gore

Celtric Frost - To Mega Therion

Chris Isaak - Heart Shaped World

Numenorean - Adore

Lustmord - Heresy

These Arms Are Snakes - Easter 

Tape Waves - Bright

Cathedral Bells - Ether

Bells Into Machines - Eponymous

---

---

---

Card:

 

Missi is going to laugh at me, but I still can't figure out what I'm not letting go of! I shuffled the HELL out of the deck for this draw, and as the saying, such is Ka.

Up All Night (Reading Comics)

 

I broke out El-P's 2007 I'll Sleep When You're Dead recently and found myself unable to get this particular song out of my head. I love where this man has gone with his craft, both as an artist and producer, since I found this album in a thrift store circa 2010 and was immediately hooked by the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me sample that opens it.

 

---

---

---

READ:

I've read quite a few comics recently that surprised the hell out of me. Here's a rundown:

I mentioned wanting to read this after hearing writer Al Ewing interviewed on Marvel's Pull List Podcast, so I found it on Kindle and dug in. What a pleasant surprise! This almost feels like Neil Gaiman's Sandman at times, the way the story weaves through different iterations and incarnations of classic Folklore characters and situations. There's a charming complexity in Loki: AOA, which is part heist film, part fantasy, and part straight-up classic Marvel Super-Hero. Also, I'm really loving the art by Lee Garbett, who if this is any indication, is a criminally underrated illustrator.

If you want to know more, there's a great review of the Last Days chapter of the Loki saga over on Slings and Arrows HERE.

Next up, Venom 200 did some things I never would have seen coming from a mile away:

I won't spoil anything here, I'd rather just post more of this awesome cover art, however, let me just say that I've always had a bit of an issue with Brock as a 'good guy' character based on his early, heinous crimes after acquiring the symbiote. In fact, after buying and getting rid of the first issue of the original Venom series (Lethal Protector? How lame) (but if I'd held onto it despite my ire, I could sell that issue for a pretty f*&king penny today) in short order, I did not read another Venom book until a friend turned me onto Rick Remender's run, which eschewed Brock for Flash Thompson. I still feel that was the pinnacle for the character as a hero, instead of a villain.

That said, Venom 200 alleviated most of my "Brock issues," and ultimately changed the course of the character (hopefully) for all time. Because of this, and because the aforementioned Mr. Ewing is taking over the book from departing rock star Donny Cates, I'll probably stick around for a while. 

Finally, I picked up Planet-Size X-Men purely as an investment. I have NO intention of reading any X-books despite this purchase, but I did read and kind of marvel at the direction the franchise has taken. But I am SO tired of these characters, regardless of this drastic new direction, so while I enjoyed reading this simply for big picture reasons, this is where I leave you, oh brotherhood of dreary mutants. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Slope - Street Heat

Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling

Nick Mason and Rick Fenn - White of the Eye OST

The Jon Spender Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry

Lustmord - Heresy

Various - Twin Peaks (Music From the Limited Event Series)

John Carpenter - Lost Themes III: Alive After Death 

Pixies - Trump le Monde

 

---

---

---

Card:

 Okay, I really have no idea what the hell I'm NOT seeing here, but the cycle remains. 

Slope

 

This is a 'Thank the Universe for my friends" post, because both of the two things I'm posting here, I NEVER would have found and/or given the time of day to without my friends. First up, Jacob, who sent me Slope's new album on Apple Music yesterday and totally picked up the later part of my day. This album rules! It starts almost like NIN's Broken, with a slowly building noise, then leaps into something that initially sounded a lot like nu-metal to me. I was just about to click off when the first change in the song hit, and I was roped back in - and from there, I could no stop. This record is fantastic - reminds me SO MUCH of Infectious Grooves' debut album, which I desperately wish I still had, 'cuz it's streaming on nothing. In the interim, Slope will help (or push me to buy the CD on ebay for $20 - I had the cassette).

---

---

---

Watch:

MODOK - First: Patton Oswalt can do no wrong.

MODOK has long been a joke between myself and my good friend Joe.Baxter, the other half of on-again-off-again musical project Christian Fisting. In fact, if you could go to the Christian Fisting website (which is down) , you would see that MODOK even figured into our fake 'origin story' that we wrote for ourselves back in, oh, 2011 or so. Anyway, apparently Joe and I weren't the only people who found MODOK comical, and I glad of that after seeing this INSANE Marvel/HULU collaboration. Part Robot Chicken, part... I don't even know, I'm laughing my ass off as I watch this. And that's not very easy to do. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Lindsey Buckingham - Gift of Screws

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Jackie Wilson - Higher and Higher

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs 

Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color

Blur - Parklife

Windhand - Eternal Return

Slope - Street Heat

K's 70s Playlist 

---

---

---

Card:

 

Clearly, I'm on repeat, going around and around, because I keep getting The Devil card from this deck. Until today. Unless this is just another way the deck is telling me what I'm apparently not hearing.

Tape Waves - Sundowning

 

Wow. I LOVE this band. I listened to Tape Waves' new record Bright about three times in a row last Friday night after Joe Bob's Last Drive-in, and I just can't get it out of my head since. Which is good, because I don't want it out of my head!

---

---

---

NCBD:

What a short but totally SWEET week for NCBD:

Hell is primed to break loose in this issue. Heads is gunna roll...

Love this book. Many thanks to my Drinking with Comics cohost Mike Wellman for making sure I read this book!

This Horror Anthology series is one of the best things to come down the pipes in years, and it has really given me an appreciation for Michael Walsh. 

Finally! I don't love this series, but I like it a lot, and a big part of that is Ryan Stegman's art. There have been several iterations of Venom's spooky-ass visage, and this is my favorite. By far. I actually ordered a couple of variants for this one, too:

I will actually probably sell both of these on eBay, however, this Stephanie Hans one is pretty damn awesome. Those colors!

---

---

---

Playlist:

Prince - Sign O' the Times

David Bowie - Reality

The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia 

Zeal and Ardor - Devil is Fine

Judas Priest - Hell Bent for Leather

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Deafheaven - Infinite Granite

Empire of Love - Violet Cold

---

---

---

Card:

 

What am I missing? Apparently I'm clinging to something, but I'm not really sure what the hell that is.

Trackademicks

A track I heard last week at my Horror Vision cohost Ray L's first Cineray of the pre-COVID era. This is a very '2000s' track for me, however, it's been cool to reintegrate some of that vibe over the last few years, kicking off with my rewatch of Veronica Mars, a show I first watched and fell in love with back during my first year or two after moving to California, when the 2000-ness of everything was at full height.

---

---

---

READ:

I finished re-reading Phillip Pullman's The Subtle Knife this past Sunday, and I have to say, reading these first two books in the His Dark Materials series I originally read in the early 2000s has highlighted just what a faithful adaptation of the BBC ONE/HBO's series is. 

Whatever I imagined the characters to look like previously is gone, and the cast of the show has now fully inhabited the imaginary world I'm experiencing as I read. These are tomes, and I've been pretty slow in re-reading, however, only one book left before I can begin the newest entry in the saga, 2017's The Book of Dust, which my A Most Horrible Library cohost Chris Saunders gifted me a few months back.

Most interesting to me is how, whoever my favorite character may have been during my first read, it is now Lee Scoresby by a longshot, all because of actor Lin-Manual Miranda's portrayal of the aeronaut. Interesting, because during the first season, he was the one casting choice I felt did not fit the character. Now, as I read, I see Mr. Miranda, and it's very cool.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Trackademicks - 7th Heaven EP

ACDC - Highway to Hell

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Dance With the Dead - B-Sides: Vol. 1

The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia

 

---

---

---

Card:

 

There is a common goal I share right now with my better half. It's a huge idea that will ultimately change our lives forever. More later.