Mandy

I was fortunate enough to see the Los Angeles premiere - thank you Beyond Fest and American Cinematheque - of Panos Cosmatos's Mandy on Tuesday night and I can wholeheartedly say it was possibly the best cinematic experience I've had in over a decade. See this movie IN THE THEATRE.

2018: September 11th - Melvins Cover Sabbath

With Al Cisneros from Shrinebuilder/Sleep!

I talked a bit previously about my friend John being in town. This is John of Jonathan Grimm Art. His work is amazing, and he's also the artist and co-creator of The Legend of Parish Fen, the swamp monster comic we hope to have the first volume out of mid next year. We spent the day yesterday working out the entire 2nd issue and it is grand, much better than what we had when we originally beated out this 3 issue arc about a year ago. We also came up with something else, something that's not quite a comic and not quite prose, and should prove considerably easier to release in a more expedient fashion. More on that later, but for now I'll leave you with the title.

CIAZARN

There was no playlist yesterday, as we chose to work on Fen without music. Weird - a day with no music. I'll make up for it today.

Tonight - the Los Angeles premiere of Mandy! I can NOT wait! Here's the recently released Japanese trailer - I'm not watching it, but I'm on trailer ban.



Card of the day:

Always good to see you pop up, especially after a week off working on my current project. I'll be back to that tomorrow, until then, TO VICTORY!!!

2018: September 10th

Had this pretty little ditty in my head when I woke up, probably because it's used in a fantastic film John and I watched last night.



My friend John Grimm is still in town and we drove out to Hollywood last night. I brought him to the HWA meeting so he could make a few connections, and then we hit Scum and Villainy and The Beetle House, both pop-up bars that have hopefully become permanent. Scum and Villainy is designed after the Cantina from the original Star Wars. It's cool but small. The real joy was Beetle House, which is a bar/restaurant themed around Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. Really, really cool place.

Playlist from 9/09:

John Carpenter - The Thing OST
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I
Earth - Primitive and Deadly
Zen Guerilla - Positronic Raygun

Card of the day:

Twos represent balance and harmony. They are also of the Crown of Creation and not of the physical world. I'm taking this two ways right now. First, my interest in the idea of a Prime Mover has become more influential, so that it's working it's way into my daily thoughts. Not sure how that will play out with my writing, but I have several older projects that deal with this, so maybe I should think about dusting one off. Second, I've been doing yoga and it's helping me immensely, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Dominion can be seen as rule over self. Control.

2018: September 9th

Starting the day off with a little Led Zeppelin.

Watched a couple great 80s horror flicks yesterday with K and my good friend John who is out visiting. First up:



I love both of the original Demons flicks by Lamberto Bava. The first would rank as my favorite, but mechanics of the horror in two is perhaps odder than the first, with the Demons coming through the television instead of the giant movie screen. In both films, I love the tone of the movie/show the audience is watching and how it kind of reflects their real world and kind of doesn't. There's a weird trans-meta element I can't quite explain, but it really works to make the entire thing creepier. And that's a lesson I often hear repeated - in horror, you don't have to explain everything. Sometimes that takes away from the story (I'm looking at you, Babadook).

Next:



Considerably more solid than you would think, I really enjoyed what I put on expecting a goof from.

Playlist from yesterday:

Secret Chiefs 3 - Book of Horizons
Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave - Phantasm OST
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
The Thirsty Crows - EP
Stellar Corpses - Hellbound Heart EP
Stellar Corpses - Respect the Dead EP

Card of the day:

Reinforcing the reading from September 3rd.

Perturbator has a Side Project: L'Enfant De La Forêt

Translating to "The Child of the Forest," I immediately feel a kinship here due to my old band The Forest Children's name. This is dark ambient, not like Mr. Kent's Perturbator at all, and I love it. The digital album is available on the bandcamp:



And physical copies can be pre-ordered on Neuropa Records's website HERE.

Spooky shit, as one would expect from Mr. Kent.

2018: September 8th

Ghostland Observatory released a new album today. This is a band I very much dig, but who fell off my radar quite a few years ago. Good to see them back in action.

I've been thinking quite a bit about the bands that kept me afloat in the 00s. These guys were definitely one of them, along with a lot of more electronic-based artists. My general musical inclination has shifted over the last seven or eight years, so that I generally listen to heavier music these days (although Sunn 0))), The Ocean and High on Fire were staples for much of the 00s). That has a lot to do with writing - I just find it easier to write to heavier stuff. Most of the time. Also, it tends to fit my tone.

Oh! Mr. Brown sent me a link to the new film by Harmony Korine. Looks great, and I love the fact that Korine has kind of - for the time at least - reinvented himself with this Neon Beach Noir look.



Playlist from yesterday:
The Ocean - Permian: The Great Dying (Pre-release Single)
White Lung - Eponymous
Dead Rabbits - The Ticket That Exploded
Soundgarden - Super Unknown
The Cramps - Flame Job
John Carpenter - Big Trouble in Little China OST
Black Sabbath - Volume 4
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Card of the day:

Dogma. Well, what am I dogmatic about? I don't draw this card often, and when I do I don't always attribute it the respect and fascination it deserves. In my general temperament, I'm used to thinking of this card as being followed by or juxtaposed with XVI The Tower, as in law or dogma in a state of upheaval. Alone, I have to wonder if I am supposed to look deeper into my belief systems, which are ersatz for sure, as I decided long ago the word belief is much akin to the word prison. Maybe that doesn't have to be the case? Most people would read this - I think - as beware your belief structures. I'm wondering if I need to fine-tune my own, as lack of belief is still, ironically, belief.

2018: September 7th

A collaboration between Alain Johannes Trio and Mike Patton? Nice. Happy weekend peoples! My good friend John is in town and we are going to have some fun! First up - Night of the Creeps on the big screen in my friend Ray's front yard tonight. No, you didn't read that wrong. Ray has a very large inflatable screen and a killer sound system and he puts them up in his front lawn and plays movies until like 4AM. It's amazing. And it's ending soon, because Ray and his family rent and the landlord wants the place back, after like 15 years. These are the harsh truths of the modern world. They have a Go Fund Me and I wanted to post something about it (I just found out about it - I think they got talked into doing it but have trouble asking for help. Just like I would). Link to it HERE.

I watched a flick on Shudder last night called Observance. Very good. Totally a Weird Fiction novella done as a film; I could see the Laird Barron influence in it, which is definitely a good thing. Highly recommended.



Playlist from 9/06:

David Bowie - Reality
White Lung - Eponymous
Minsk -
Windhand -
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le Mani Destre Recise degli ultimi Uomini
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST

No card today.