2018: October 5th - The New Windhand is Out and it's Awesome!

Two full listens this morning on headphones and I'm hooked.

31 Days of Horror continued last night, but I'll tell you right now my definitions of horror are probably the most lenient. I drove up to Santa Monica's Aero Theatre after work and caught one of the satellite Cronenberg double headers Beyondfest has been offering this year. Last night was Crash and Spyder, neither of which I had seen before. I only stayed for Crash, primarily because I'd been up since 4:00 AM and was due to wake up at the same time today, so sticking for Spider would have killed me. Secondly though, Crash had such an immense impact on me, I didn't want to dilute the experience with a second movie, even if it was by the same man.

Crash blew me away. I remember it opened back in 1996 around the same time David Lynch's Lost Highway did. At the time I was completely unfamiliar with Cronenberg though, so despite the premise peaking my curiosity, I passed on seeing it. As the years have gone by and I've begun getting into Cronenberg, this film is always one that eludes my attention.

No more.

Shooting straight up to almost tie with Videodrome as my favorite film by DC, Crash's falls firmly into the Body Horror genre in my book, despite there not being a lot of grotesque imagery. The horror here lies in the mutations of sexuality the characters undergo, their willingness to embrace the strange and outre, and the philosophical ramifications that lie buried so deep beneath the surface of the film that they really only tickle their way out. The film feels very much like a virus once its been ingested, and I'm on a kick to further explore its concepts with more viewings and a go-through with JG Ballard's 1973 novel of the same name. I also absolutely loved Howard Shore's score on this one, in particular this opening track:



And where the hell did Elias Koteas and Deborah Kara Unger go after this film? Talk about fantastic performances.

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) ???

Playlist from Thursday, October 4th:

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery
The Misfits - Earth A.D.
The Misfits - Static Age
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Boy Harsher - Lesser Man EP
Boy Harsher - Country Girl EP
King Woman - Doubt EP
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

Card of the day:

Opposing elements can cause imbalance. Hmm...

Daredevil Season 3 Trailer

Gotta say, I generally don't give a toss about what Marvel does these days, big screen or little screen, but this... THIS gave me chills. Multiple times. And my money is on fake DD being Bullseye.

Also, what a class act, dropping the trailer so close to the release (October 19th) we hardly have any time to wait at all? Super cool Marvel.

2018: October 4th

K and I continued our 31 days of Horror last night. In spite of a late start, or rather because of it, we went with a shorter flick, specifically Stuart Gordon's entry into the Masters of Horror library. As an adaptation and modernization of H.P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witchhouse, Gordon's piece works pretty well. It's been a minute since I read the story - going to try and remedy that this weekend - but from what I remember of it Gordon does a good job. Brown Jenkins, in particular, is pretty creepy. And kudos for going all the way with the ending.



I've been in a Gordon mood lately. Chomping at the bit to re-watch Dagon, as it's my favorite by him and I haven't seen it since the big screen at the Warner Grand back at either 2011 or 2012's H.P. Lovecraft fest. Also, ordered Arrow Film's Re-animator, a film I've only seen once and a long time ago. Back also around 2011/2012 I saw Gordon's musical stage adaptation of Re-animator at the Steve Allen Theatre, and I loved it so much in that form I've been afraid the film just won't hold up since. Pretty sure that's unfounded, and Arrow's release is packed with extras, so I pulled the trigger on finally adding that to the collection.

Okay, so that puts our 31 Days of Horror list at:

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House

Playlist from 10/03:

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls
The Soft Moon - Eponymous
The Soft Moon - Criminal
White Lung - Sorry
Daughters - Satan in Wait (single)
The Ocean - Anthropocentric
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always

Card of the day:

The Twos are the pure breakthrough of the Ace into the first stage of practice.

The Ocean Release Another New Track!

I'm still debating on whether or not I'm going to listen to this one before the album comes out, but that's no reason not to share it! These guys are such a great band, but I feel like not everyone that would like them knows about them. Hopefully that changes.

Pre-order Here for a November 2nd release!

2018: October 3rd

Love this song! I love all tracks by Type O, especially from this album, but this is one of the standouts. Also a great example of why they were so great: interesting, non-traditional song structure,  those group vocal accents that give everything a lush sense of good-natured hostility, fantastic two-person vocal melodies, and a sense of bloody humor for Christ's sake, just to name a few elements on display here that I love. No October would be complete without Type O Negative.

I decided to do the 31 Days of Horror movie thing. Not really a challenge, but a commitment for sure. Last night we opened Shudder only to find they'd added a bunch of Hitchcock! Super cool. First up from these was Rope, the adaptation of the play, starring Farley Granger, John Dall, and of course, the inimitable James Stewart. It had been quite some time since I'd watched this one, and while I remembered the big picture, a lot of the nuance - which is where all the fun lies - played for me like a first viewing.

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope

What will tonight's movie be? Not sure yet. I set a few DVDs out though, fodder for the coming evenings:

And there's a hell of a lot more than that. October is just getting started!


Playlist from October 2nd:

Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Fields of Nephilim - Dawnrazor
Zombi - Spirit Animal
Zombi - Shape Shift
Sleep - The Science
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST

Card of the day:

Seeking completion and fulfillment: And I continue to work on finishing my book!

2018: October 2nd

Hallelujah, it's October! Yeah, I know yesterday was the first, but it took me a day to realize we've finally arrived. The year is on its way out starting now, the seasons will change (well, not really for those of us who live in LaLaLand), and everything just gets better. Darker. Cooler. What you can expect to hear a lot of on this page in the coming 30 days?

Type O Negative
Bauhaus
Miranda Sex Garden
Fields of Nephilim
Trust Obey
The Final Cut
Ain Soph
More Sisters of Mercy and I'm certain I'm forgetting some major stuff. But I like surprises, so that's good!

I watched The Summer of 84 yesterday, the new film by the directors of the much talked about Turbo Kid, which I still need to see. 84 was derivative as all hell - think heavy Stranger Things vibe mixed with The Burbs - but it was a really fun, well-made flick that scratched my 80s nostalgia itch (which I'm thinking might disappear at some point if there's too much of this kind of thing). And I LOVED the ending. Recommended if you're not looking for something new but something engaging and fun:



NCBD tomorrow and it's a big one:

A Walk Through Hell -  The only book I currently think about all month long between issues!

Batman/The Maxx Arkham Dreams - my most eagerly anticipated book in ages!

 Die! Die! Die! #3 will be the determining issue as to whether or not I continue to read this one.

Super psyched for my friend DJ Kirkbride's new book, Errand Boys!

No, that's not a Walking Dead one-off featuring Princess, that's the Bill Sienkiewicz alternate cover!

Playlist from Monday, October 1st:

Pale Sketcher - Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Nothing - Dance on the Blacktop
The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Behind the Music
The Ocean - Anthropocentric
The Ocean - Fluxion
Perturbator - Terror 404

Card of the day:

The Will to drive, to conquer, to complete. That's what I'm channeling today, as I'll hit my writing time hard, nearing the end of the layout of the chapters for my newest project, the final re-vamp of my now 6 years in the making novel ShadowPlay Book One: Kim & Jessie.

2018: October 1st

Justin K. Broadrick + Nothing + Prurient? Wow. I didn't know this existed until five minutes ago. What an awesome collaboration! And Somersault, off Nothing's 2014 record Guilty of Everything, is one of my favorite tracks by the band. This really blows it up to a massive size.

The website for the new podcast I've undertaken, TheHorrorVision.com had a bit of a delay, but should be up by mid-week, along with the first episode.


Playlist from Sunday, 9/30:
Etta James - The Second Time Around
Chuck Berry - Berry on Top
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Yob - Ablaze (Single track)
White Lung - Eponymous
Chris Connelly - Artificial Madness
Sunn O))) - Kanon
Zombi - Shape Shift

Card of the day:

This again. Loud and clear. Yesterday's writing was the first in a few days, and it was pretty disappointing. Basically interpreting a second day of the five of Cups as another day of breaking rocks, which means Wednesday should be good.