I took K and my folks to see Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill's adaptation of Joe Hill's short story The Black Phone yesterday. This film 100% holds up to the magnificent impression it made on me at last year's Beyondfest; one of my favorite scenes (in a film with a lot of "Favorite Scenes") is the one that utilizes Pink Floyd's classic "On The Run," from their perfect 1973 MASTERPIECE Dark Side of the Moon.
Watch:
Here's a new Horror flick that drops on VOD this week from Dark Star Pictures and Bloody Disgusting films:
Wow! There are some pretty gross bits in here; loving that Body Horror has seeped into the overall Horror genre DNA.
Read:
Since switching from a Kindle to an iPad, I'm having trouble reading digital prose. I would love Kindles if they weren't total garbage machines made to be discarded when the new ones come out - you can accuse a lot of tech of that, however, I've had several Kindles over the last few years, and most of them don't last more than a year or two tops. The iPad was an investment I made primarily for artistic reasons, and I still have my one functioning Kindle, however, I'm already traveling with my Macbook, Nintendo Switch (for the plane, mainly; made the hours disappear), iPhone, and now iPad, so I didn't want to add yet another device to my already burdensome backpack. Anyway, I'm sorely missing reading, so while I was tooling around on Twitter last night and landed on author Donnie Goodman's book The Razorblades In My Head, I Eat Its Seeds, I ordered it.
What a great cover! And while you can't necessarily judge a book by its cover, I've been following Goodman's account for a little while and he's made an impression as a kindred soul, so of course, I'm going to read the man's book! I report back when I receive it and begin!
Playlist:
Powerman 5000 - The Noble Rot
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Card:
Had to get in an actual Spread, as opposed to the daily, one-card pulls I normally do.
"Never mind what you would normally do."
Things are going to change quickly, and navigating those changes will require an abundance of love and support to get through. Not sure if that's a good reading or a "things are going to get tough" one. Obviously, I'm reading this as reference to the fact that we bought a house 2000+ miles away from where we live now. I will be going 'Remote' with my job, and there's a chance that, after a last-minute management change in the upper echelons of our company, that might put me on a chopping block. My ace is NO ONE can do what I do as fast as I can. I'll be stepping down from Management - which should improve my stress levels, as well as my opinion of the human race - and focusing on the International Logistics end of my job, already more than a full-time position on any given day. So I think I'm safe. But it's going to be a mountain to climb just to pack and move. So an abundance of love and support is exactly what we'll need.
One of my most anticipated albums dropping this year is Greg Puciato's sophomore Mirrorcell. I pre-ordered this as soon as it was announced a few months back, despite the fact that I wasn't sure where I would be living at the time of its release on the first of July (I used my parents' address, but there was speculation that they might move to TN as well). Regardless, our trip is more than halfway done now, we made an offer on a house that the seller accepted, so once the inspections and everything go through, I'll be able to lift that pre-order ban. Regardless, the album hasn't shipped yet, but Bloody Disgusting broke the news that Mirrorcell dropped early on Puciato's Bandcamp.
Watch:
On Saturday, K and I took my parents to the local AMC to see Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. I am NOT a Baz Luhrmann fan. Perhaps I shouldn't say that, because I've never actually been able to sit through one of his movies. I find his childish little "Look how anachronistic I am" proclivities to be infuriating, and the fact that he may be made the first good visual adaptation of my all-time favorite novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, only to eschew the Jazz music that is central to the book's themes for Hip Hop makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs directly into his face. I never bothered seeing that Gatsby (friends who did warned me to save myself, that the beauty of its visuals would only drive me crazy played under the soundtrack), but I'll say, this Elvis movie looked great. Plus, my Pops really wanted to see it. So we went.
On the way in, I almost made the statement, "If I hear one lick of Hip Hop or other modern music, I will get up and leave." Good thing I didn't, because of course, there are at least two instances in the first half of the movie with Hip Hop in the soundtrack.
It's so embarrassing. I mean, it's not that it's Hip Hop; if Luhrmann was adding Portishead, or Mastodon, or whatever other 'future music' to the film, I would have been equally pissed. He reminds me so much of Tim Burton - Lurhmann's idea of who he is as an icon or "brand" gets in the way of the decisions as to what's best for the movies he makes. The film also spruces up some of Elvis' music with a sometimes irritating modern twist, and some of the editing is a bit ridiculous in the amount of effect and flair. It works sometimes - more at the end of the film - and other times, not so much. Just looks like they were cutting it together in weird ways for the sake of making it a "Baz Luhrmann joint."
Still, the movie - despite all this - is fabulous. Austin Butler is FANtastic as The King, and Tom Hanks - Jesus. Really well done, and the script is great.
Playlist:
Powerman 5000 - The Notable Rot
The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes
Jackie Wilson - Higher and Higher
Card:
Solid foundation - perhaps a literal nod to the fact that we made an offer, they accepted the offer, and now we have to go through the inspection process. One of those inspections? You guessed it: Foundation. A lot of work still to come.
Wow, not totally sold on the song yet, but I LOVE the video (how many times can you say those words?) From the forthcoming album Patient Number 9, out September 9th. You can pre-order HERE, which I broke my ban when I saw I could add this to my order:
Yes. I'm a f*&king sucker. I just can't help but picture our cat Sweetie curled up with this on the couch (she has a teddy bear she curls up with now, so not unheard of).
If I've not said it here previously, I find it endlessly fascinating that my own apparent "Mid-Life Crisis" consists of a reversion to obsession with the Action Figures, Super Hero Comics and Metal I loved as a kid.
Pretty good Crisis to have.
Watch:
Rob Zombie's brother Spider One has his first film hitting Shudder courtesy of Shudder and RLJE Films. Here's the trailer that dropped two days ago:
I'm not a Powerman 5000 fan, despite posting a track from their 2020 album The Noble Rot that sounded pretty good back sometime last year. Wasn't enough to inspire me to check out the rest of the record (I'm actually remedying that as I type this by downloading it on Apple Music to check out later). Anyway, this looks like it could be cool, so I'm laying aside any musical prejudices I might or might not have and going to go in with an open mind.
Playlist:
Perturbator, Johannes Persson and Final Light - Final Light
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
CCR - Bayou Country
Card:
We saw two more houses yesterday and attended an open house for the one we almost put an offer on two days ago. The two new ones didn't hold a candle to the one we re-walked, so we made an offer, just went in at the asking price. They had until 12:00 PM today to respond, and right up to the wire, the seller's agent reached out to ours and asked for an extension. We replied with EOD. I'm still feeling a bit of uncertainty, but I'm trying to just put myself back in my mindset at home in LaLaLand (i.e. - other than my friends and the abundance of culture we'll be leaving behind, I hate L.A.). If someone bids even a dollar over us, we're going to let this one go and reassess. I can't help thinking it's funny that on a day where there was an open house, the seller's agent hasn't talked to their client; seems this is probably a strategy while they maybe wait on some last-minute second offer. The Moon always denotes hidden influence/agenda.
Another new single/new album announcement my travels have left me behind on. After seeing The Soft Moon live several years ago for their 2016 album Criminal, I can attest to the fact that, as much as I dig Anthony Vasquez and crew's albums, they're way better live. Regardless, I'm psyched for the new album, Exister, which drops 9/23 on the always amazing Sacred Bones Records! Pre-order HERE.
Watch:
Saw this dropped and wanted to post it here for posterity's sake:
As per usual, I am not watching the trailer, just salivating until 4:2 drops. I still just don't understand how every season of this show is able to get exponentially better than the previous.
Read:
I'm not really getting a lot of time to read while we're out here. Since we arrived, it's been pretty hectic. We almost made an offer on a house last night, but there were two we were interested in that didn't hit the market until today, so we held off. Thing is, the one we almost made an offer on has an open house today, and so does one of the two that goes on sale today. So we could end up screwed. Fine. That'll suck, but I always read shit like that as "Wasn't meant to be." I'm not a believer in Fate, but I have reservations about EVERYTHING at the moment, so I'm happy to let the Universe act as an Equalizer.
No, not that Equalizer. Oh well, you get it.
Anyway... I haven't had a chance to read much, but I will say, I burned through the comics I bought the other day at Rick's Comic City - GREAT Shop and SUPER nice people - and I cannot get Immortal X-Men #3 out of my head.
Characters I've always loathed and found nothing but boring:
1) Charles Xavier
2) Magento
3) Mystique
4) Destiny
Characters I now find endlessly fascinating:
See 1-4 above.
I love the graphic representation Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck used to show us Destiny's Precognitive sight and at the same time tease possible future events. Also, I loved how big they went with the one future they did show us, simply because they're never going to show us it again.
What the hell is that? Giant Exodus possessed by The Phoenix Force eating Mr. Sinister (who manages to re-set the timeline first anyway?) This is some crazy shit, but the craziness is fleeting compared to the "game of thrones" going on and the character development. As Dave Buesing from Comic Book Herald points out in the most recent "Talking Krakoa," this is the first deep or probably even good character study on Destiny EVER in X-comics. That says a lot.
Then there's Mystique, I've never cared for her. When the original X-movies began to use her as a major character I always kinda scratched my head. Even for years after that, whenever I would dabble with an X-book again, I never bought Mystique's post-movies position as a now-major character. All that has changed. Hickman started it, and Gillen is CRUSHING it continuing this fascinating series.
Playlist:
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - 1957-1972 (Live)
The Blues Brothers - Briefcase Full of Blues
16 Horsepower - Low Estate
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
Card:
Okay, based on my brief run-down of the last few days above, this is a sight for sore eyes. 10 of Disks: Wealth doesn't promise anything, but "A solid foundation" definitely equates to "A good home" in my mind, always has. So okay, let's go out and find a fucking house!
The Founder/Guitarist from iconic Horror Soundtrack Prog group Goblin passed away at 70. Goblin has many amazing tracks and albums, this may be the greatest.
Also, along with guitars, Morante played the bouzouki. How about that? If you're like me, you might find yourself suddenly wondering if that's the instrumental layers in some of their music you could never quite place before.
Watch:
I know there's not a lot of Goblin's music in the intro scene to Dario Argento's Suspiria, however, it feels like there's more than there is, right? I believe that's because Goblin crafted such a fantastic score - and I'm under the (possibly mistaken) assumption that they wrote the music without having viewed the final cut of the film - in such a way that it mixes perfectly with the nightmare logic of Argento's cinematic aspirations.
I love the way the music hard stops when they cut from what Susie sees to the medium close-up of her walking. The direction, editing and score suggest she's not seeing what is actually there, which, if you think about it, fits the film perfectly from start to finish. Or rather, she's seeing what is there but what no one else can see. She's entering a Nightmare. Massimo Morante ladies and gentlemen. Rest in Peace, sir.
Playlist:
Orville Peck - Pony
Roy Orbison - Mystery Girl
Gordon Lightfoot - Greatest Hits
The Soft Moon - Him (pre-release single)
Hank Williams III - Straight to Hell
The Essential Dolly Parton
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
Card:
Open to new influence, awareness and new life. Not sure any of that really does me any good at the moment. Both K and I are having MASSIVE doubts about our plans for TN. There are a ton of reasons, but a lot of it boils down to it may not be exactly what we thought, we're priced out of the area we wanted and our second choice isn't nearly the same, and even though we've seen some houses we love and almost jumped on, there's the idea that, find the perfect home, move in, and if you have nothing around it to make you happy, in six months it's a prison and that will make you resent it and maybe your partner. And fine, so don't move, but the thing is, I really don't know where the hell we're going to live if we don't move here. Stay in LaLaLand paying insane rent? There's really nowhere else we've thought of, so we would have to take some serious time. In my head, there's also the idea that, if this shit with my lungs goes south, I want to be able to get her into a house that's hers before I check out. That's probably paranoia, but that doesn't mean it isn't clouding the situation.
Really digging this new track from Preoccupations that not only did Heaven is an Incubator post about recently, but both my good friends Jacob and Mr. Brown sent me last week (or the week before, we are now officially in a blur, ladies and gentlemen). It's been some time since we had new music from these guys, and I'd forgotten just how much I love their Eponymous and New Material Records (not to mention the Viet Cong stuff).
The new album Arrangements is out September 9th, and you can pre-order it now HERE. I'm currently on a ban from anything pending our move, but that shouldn't hold you back.
Watch:
I feel like someone sent me something about this one a few months back, as the title rings familiar. After watching this trailer, however, I don't know. The first feature from Writer/Director Zach Cregger, this is new to me:
Holy smokes. SOLD. What a fantastic trailer - it gives us so much of the aesthetic but gives NOTHING away (I'm assuming). Bill Skarsgård is beginning to be enough to make me stop and consider anything he's in, so there's that, and the 'tunnels under suburbia' angle is right in my sweet spot, so my arse will be in a seat come 8/31.
Playlist:
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
The Mars Volta - Blacklight Shine (pre-release single)
The Soft Moon - Him (pre-release single)
Preoccupations - Ricochet (pre-release single)
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - 1957-1972 (Live)
Card:
Fortify your position. Definitely apt. I'm having massive "is this the right thing?" thoughts as we look at houses.
Holy cow - NEW MARS VOLTA! This news still caught me by surprise, despite the fact that Mr. Brown sent me a message yesterday about a show at Chicago's Aragon Brawlroom in early October. I'm hoping this heralds a new album on the horizon, which it almost certainly does because even though this official video for "Blacklight Shine" is over 11 minutes long, well over half of that is the percussive section that accompanies the images of dancers; the actual single on streaming services isn't even three minutes in duration, and thus, just about the shortest Mars Volta song that's not a 'lead-in' track EVER.
Oh yeah, how cool is it that Omar directed the video?
NCBD:
Since I'm traveling, a lot of these will be waiting for me in my pull box back home. Some of them, however, are books I haven't yet added to my official list, and instead have been scooping up off the shelf with reserve the last few months. Those, I'll be stopping at a local shop to pick up. I'll probably go with Rick's Comic City.
I'm still reeling from how awesome issue three of this new iteration of The Amazing Spider-Man was; hoping number four continues on the same path. There's really something classic about seeing Spidey duke it out with a bunch of street-level hoods, even the goofy ones like the Rabbit or whatever the chick with white rabbit ears calls herself.
Three issues of Deadly Class remain after this one. I'll admit, because of all the time jumps in "A Fond Farewell," I began to lose my compass as to where we were a few issues back, but I'm assuming this comes from not seeing the big picture to the final arc yet, and also, reading it monthly.
The final issue of Homesick Pilots, and another one I kind of got lost in a few issues back. I'm planning a series re-read as soon as I get home. This book has been nuts in the best possible way, and there is nothing else out there that even remotely resembles it. I mean, Grunge-era haunted house ghost mech suits employed by the military to fight other ghost mech things? It even sounds nuts. I'll miss this one, but I'm always glad to hold a completed story in hand and relish its completion. Better to leave 'em wanting more than to overstay your welcome.
The first issue of I Hate This Place was great. Let's see where we're going, because all signs point to cattle mutilation - which is disgusting and terrible, but a part of alien mythology that always fascinated me for all its oddness. I mean, why cattle? Regardless, I'm digging the way this one seems to be mixing that Alien lore with haunted houses and a classic slasher set-up. Kind of a kitchen sink aesthetic, which can be tricky, but so far here, has me intrigued.
Do I even have to talk about how I wait for every issue of Kieron Gillen's Immortal X-Men with bated breath? I thought not. On my pull, but I'm picking it up anyway, cuz there's no way I want to wait.
I feel like the art in this Moon Knight book is getting a bit cartoony, which is something I usually don't go for in comics (there are exceptions and East of West springs immediately to mind), but so far, I love what MacKay is doing with the characters, so I'm hanging on.
A new limited series continuing one of my favorite one-off storylines from back in the early 90s?
If you don't know or remember, back in late 90/early 91, for three issues the world thought Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben were dead, and in their wake, Spidey, Grey Hulk, Logan and Danny Ketch as Ghost Rider took over to avenge their deaths. I haven't re-read this one in a long time, and it was clearly a gambit to boost sales on "The World's Greatest Comics Magazine" and garner ever more exposure for four of the most popular characters of that era (Punisher would fit that bill too, but he doesn't show up until the last page of the final issue in a kind of meta-commentary on the situation by writer Walt Simonson).
Anyway, Marvel's doing a lot of these 'in-continuity' throwback series lately: iconic writers of the 80s and 90s go back and flesh out these classic eras. I've dug Symbiote Spider-Man by Peter David and the X-Men Legends that Walt and his wife Louise wrote for their OG X-Factor team, so of course, I'm giving this a try.
I hadn't been reading this current New Mutants until last issue, when "The Labors of Magik" storyline began. Look, reading the X-books in the 80s, I was... twelve when the original "Inferno" came out. It is still, to this day, the best X-Men Event or Crossover ever. Also, as a pre-pubescent male, The Goblin Queen and Ilyana Rasputin gave me something to live for in some ways, if you know what I mean and I think you do. So all of that is imprinted on me pretty deep. Thus, anything that references back to that storyline is immediately on my radar. They've toyed with this stuff before - wasn't Maddy or Magik or both Queen of Hell before? Or wasn't there another Inferno, before Hickman's new masterpiece that had nothing to do with Limbo or Magik at all? I believe so, but I ignored them. And if the first issue of "Labors of Magik" hadn't been as good as it was, I would have bowed out right away. But it was good, and I'm here again for part two.
Man, I remember when great indie books like Newburn were all I read. Now, they're kinda the minority in my monthly spending habit. Doesn't change the fact that Newburn is awesome, though.
HORROR. That is all.
Being that this is the final issue of X-Men, volume five for Duggan and Larraz? I hope not, but being that A) this is the last issue before the now annual Hellfire Gala, B) this is the final issue before Judgment Day, and C) no writer/artist are listed in Comics CLZ for issues 13 and 14's solicitation, I'm inclined to think maybe. I hope not, as I've LOVED this run. Either way, last issue dropped a BOMB, so let's get to picking up the pieces.
Playlist:
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Card:
There's no surprise to me that I pulled this one again today. Got the news that my boss's boss is leaving the company, and that puts my keeping my job once I move in question.
I should clarify: I'd previously worked out that I'd be stepping down as Assistant Manager and taking a pay cut to focus on the international logistics side of my job, which exponentially increases every year and leaves me little time to actually 'manage' anyway.
Receiving this news shook me a bit, but it really hit K hard. Which I totally get. But receiving this "Temper Emotion with Reason" message two days in row indicates that we shouldn't make the assumption that I won't be able to keep the job. We also shouldn't assume I will. We have to approach the entire situation reasonably, which I definitely had flashes of yesterday. We looked at a lot of houses yesterday, several with our Real Estate Agent Josh (who is awesome), and several more just using Josh's portal. Zillow and Google Maps to triangulate areas where we saw things we wanted to look at. During those drives, we saw a lot of industry here with positions open. When K dug around online after we got home, there's a lot of stuff out there - whether local or 'remote' - that I more than qualify for. And I won't lie - I got a huge ego boost from totally crushing my officiating speech/duties at my Sister's wedding on Saturday. So I know I could find something good. Maybe better. The downside to losing the position I have now - or rather the new version of it I would have upon moving - is that, despite the fact that it's challenging, once I drop the management side of things - which is KILLING me at the moment - my job will be very cush in that I will have a large workload that will keep me on my toes, but it's a workload I am familiar with and enjoy.
