2018: October 27th

New Finn Andrews track! I love everything about this man's music. In the past two years, I've gone to so many concerts, that I've made a little oath to lay off in 2019, in an attempt to start saving some of the money I spend at shows. The two exceptions to this are The Veils, who I've only been into since David Lynch introduced them to me on Twin Peaks, and Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. Well, I procured Uncle Acid tickets this past Wednesday, so that only leaves The Veils. Would Finn Andrews solo suffice? Of course.

31 Days of Horror was supposed to continue last night with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, however between decorating for Halloween and baking Zombie cookies, K and I didn't think a 2+ hour film was realistic, so we went with John Carpenter's The Fog, a film I love but hadn't watched since Mr. Brown and I viewed it back in, oh, probably 2003. Jesus, time flies.



Tonight's film is already set in stone - Suspiria, at the Arclight in Hollywood. Excited does not even begin to describe my mindset. I believe this film will not be a remake at all, but a totally new and different film that will sit alongside the original as another fantastic piece of horror cinema.

31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners
10/23) Jacob's Ladder

10/24) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10/25) Ghost Stories
10/26) John Carpenter's The Fog

On a bit of a paperback kick right now, and finding that August Derleth's Cthulhu cycle stuff is not nearly as bad as I remembered it being (I say I remembered them being bad, but regardless I've always loved what I've read, just wondered about going back to it, which has been rewarding thus far).

Playlist from 10/26:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Digipak)
The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro
The Knife - Silent Shout
Fantômas - Director's Cut
Jóhann Jóhannson - Mandy OST

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire, "Culmination." Good, lots of spinning plates and I believe I just implemented something to streamline their results. Ten is also Malkuth, the world, and I guess, in a way, I'm announcing myself to the world today.

2018: October 26th

Taken from the album I'm mainlining this morning thanks to my good friend Sonny's edition of The Joup Friday Album. I found Julian Cope and the Teardrop Explodes late - like 8 or 9 years ago - and I was FLOORED I had never heard them before. This was the first song I heard, and it's probably still my favorite.

I've kind of fallen off the Protomartyr hysteria that 2014's Under Color of Official Right stirred in me. In fact, while I liked 2015's The Agent Intellect, 2017's Relatives in the Desert left zero impression on me. Granted, I only gave it one listen, so I'll go back to it eventually, but in the year or so since that album's release I've kind of ignored the band. Yesterday I received a message through Band in Town (best app) alerting me to the fact that Protomartyr and Preoccupations are releasing a split 7" in November, with Protomartyr covering Preoccupations' Forbidden, and Preoccupations covering Pontiac 87, one of my favorite tracks from The Agent Intellect. I'm pretty psyched.

You can pre-order the split HERE; below are the original tracks.





And the Protomartyr version they released on their youtube channel:



Last night K and I watched Ghost Stories. Pretty solid flick, and scary as hell at points. Like, legitimately scary. Not jump scares, but real, sustained fear-inducing tension. Loved that; didn't love the ending. But maybe you will. Worth a watch and it just popped up on HULU.



31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners
10/23) Jacob's Ladder

10/24) Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10/25) Ghost Stories

Playlist from 10/25:

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Your Funeral... My Trial
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls
Grinderman - Grinderman 2
Windhand - Eternal Return
The Knife - Silent Shout

No card today. Happy Halloween weekend everybody!!!

2018: October 25th

I've read this video is awesome, however until the entire album is released, I'm playing it safe and not indulging in the any new songs from The Ocean Collective in five years (they had a split E.P. with Mono in 2015).

Last night's movie - Halloween III: Season of the Witch. SO good. Tom Atkins for president.



31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners
10/23) Jacob's Ladder

10/24) Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Playlist from 10/24:

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Blood Lust

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - The Night Creeper

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Vol. 1

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - B-Sides and Rarities Vol. III

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Mandy OST

Card of the day:

This one again, eh? Lately, when I do these readings I'm rushed, so I never really dig into the meanings. Emotionally honed intelligence? Twice in three days? To get a court card like this twice in such close proximity obviously indicates something largely than happenstance, larger than the normal nuts and bolts of things. Contemplating it now I believe it may be recommending I kickstart something I keep telling myself I'm going to and don't, namely meditating. I've been very splintered, distracted to the point of anxiety. I know I can get ahold on this if I meditate, so I believe I'll begin today. 

2018: October 24th

I fell pretty hard into this Minsk record last night. Several of the guys in the band were in the Chris Connelly-fronted The High Confessions back in 2012, and I'd been meaning to check them out ever since.


31 Days of Horror continued last night with Jacob's Ladder. Such an underrated film. So damn creepy, and especially interesting when looked at as an extrapolation of the old, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners
10/23) Jacob's Ladder

Playlist from 10/23:

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife
John Carpenter - Anthology (movie themes 1974-1998
Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - B-Sides and Rarities Vol. 3
Windhand - Eternal Return
Minsk -The Crash and the Draw
Legs Occult - Dark Rituals

Card of the day:

The ups and downs of life, fate, whatever you want to call it. Definitely feeling that right now. Relationships strain, others wane, others reform. I try to keep an even keel, regardless. If I know you and I speak to you in any form outside of my work life, I probably love you.

2018: October 23rd

From the B-Sides and Rarities Box set released back in the early 00s. Such a strange track; Cave definitely has a sense of humor - anyone that doesn't agree needs to absorb the entire And No More Shall We Part record - but rarely does it come off like this... not even sure how to describe it, other than it's awesome!

My friend Kristen Renee Gorlitz is the upcoming Drinking w/ Comics guest on Friday, November 9th at 9:00 PM. She also just launched a Kickstarter for the continuation of her comic The Empties. Best freakin' tagline EVER, "There are many ways to ruin a relationship. Turning into a zombie is one of them..."

Brilliant! Check out the trailer below and support her Kickstarter HERE



31 Days of Horror is quickly coming to the final stretch and I still have a handful of 'must-watch' movies left. Last night crossed off a big one. Regardless of a setting that, while being visually stunning, feels more ridiculous every time I watch it, Flatliners will always be one of my favorite movies, especially around this time of year. I love EVERYTHING about this one. And watching this last night means we have to watch Jacob's Ladder tonight, which although not standard Halloween fare, compliments Flatliners as part of a late 80s/early 90s sub genre that really only exists in my mind. Angel Heart and Serpent and the Rainbow would also fall into this same category.



31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners

Playlist from 10/22:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Rarities and B-Sides Vol. 1

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Good Son

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In

New Order - Power, Corruption, and Lies

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic

Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog

Killing Joke - Nighttime

Card of the day:

Emotion honed by intellect. This perfectly describes last night. Perfectly! For today, I'm looking at applying that same intellect to the emotional deluge I've felt of late in editing the first two parts of the novel for continuity, which is really difficult at the moment. 

2018: October 22nd

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds tore it up last night. The set list contained much of the standard tunes they're performing in the current incarnation, with one nice surprise of the non-album Shoot Me Down, one of my favorites from the B-Sides and Rarities Box Set released back in the early 00s. My favorite of the evening was probably From Her to Eternity. Love this new, extra cacophonous version.



Absolutely fantastic to see Warren Ellis play the flute on it live. And props to the guy in the audience wearing a perfectly fitted suit and dancing his ass off all night. Almost as much fun to watch as Old Nick.

Cigarettes After Sex opened the night, and while I'd had a bit of trouble getting into their music on the headphones at work - not the time or place when you need a tempo - I LOVED them live and intend on gorging on their music in the following nights.



Oh, and it turns out The Forum, while I still would 99 times out of a hundred skip stadium shows, really does a tip-top job with efficiency. I'd been carrying some anxiety about going to this, with the logistics of parking, seating, etc, but everything was easy peasy. The seats were fairly small and uncomfortable, but everything else was 1-2-3.

31 Days of Horror continued with Dante Tomaselli's Satan's Playground. I've been wondering for a while whatever happened to Tomaselli, who released three avant grade horror films back in the late 90s/early00s and then kind of disappeared after 2012's Torture Chamber, which I never bothered with based on the name and that era's predilection for torture porn flicks. But Desecration (which I've only seen clips of), Horror, and Satan's Playground, while having no chance of winning any acting awards, are enjoyable, unique little gems. Turns out, Tomaselli is currently working on a remake of Alice, Sweet Alice, the original having been directed by his cousin, Alfred Sole. Here's the trailer for Desecration, which is nuts:



10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

Playlist from yesterday was virtually non-existent, aside from Mr. Cave and the Bad Seeds live:
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Good Son

No card today.

2018: October 21st

31 Days of Horror continued last night with yet another viewing of Panos Cosmatos's Mandy. Also, finished Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House. Pretty damn tight. Being that this is a series, and they do kind of set it up for another season, I'll be curious to see where it goes.


10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds tonight. Can't wait! I've seen Cave solo and with Grinderman, never with the Bad Seeds. Not happy it's at The Forum, but we do what we must.

Saw the trailer for The Invitation director Karyn Kusama's new film, Destroyer. Looks fantastic, and Nicole Kidman looks as though she puts in the performance of her life.



Playlist from 10/20:

Windhand - Eternal Return
Black Sabbath - Volume 4
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland
Second Still - Eponymous
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Card of the day:

Still one of my favorite cards. From the Grimoire, "Create within yourself a Universe."