If you listened to Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards, you know that it ended this week. And if you listened to that ending, you'll know why I posted this song.
*The counterargument says Bret is referencing Blondie's "Dreaming", but I feel that one mindful comparison between these songs makes it pretty clear that he's referring to this one).
NCBD:
ASM #73: One left after this. I have NO idea what the hell is about to happen, but I sure as hell am enjoying the build-up.
Deadly Class #48: Each of the last two issues literally dropped my jaw at one point, so we'll see. My guess is the series will end at 50 and Rick Remender is just being very protective of that fact. There's also a part of me that thinks this might be the end. We'll see. The book definitely feels as though it's winding down, and with it being the last of the original Giant Generator books Remender launched back in 2014 (I think) when he announced his departure from Marvel and sole focus on creator-owned stuff, it definitely feels like we're in the home stretch.
Defenders #2: The first issue was pretty cool, and Javier Rodriguez's art very much reminded me of J.H. Williams III's art on Alan Moore Promethea, which is a HUGE compliment and HUGE pull for me on this one. Rodriguez creates a very interesting and unique visual world, and I can't wait to see more of it.
The Last Ronin #4: At this point, I'm definitely needing a reread of the entire series just to get the proper context for this new issue. I'll end up reading it anyway (I won't be that ill-prepared, as Last Ronin is, at its heart, a classic story archetype, which is why it's so damn fulfilling to begin with), and save the reread for after the next (final) issue hits.
The Me You Love in the Dark #2: I really loved the set up in issue one, so let's see where this one goes. Rooted in what feels like classic Haunted House tropes, I'm pretty sure this will do anything but hit the standard marks.
MOTU: Revelation #3: Super tight story so far, a perfect accent to that Netflix series, which I find it hysterical to watch all the MEN cry about its storyline following... gasp! - a girl! Gimmie a break. One of the best things about the new show is I only had to hear "By the Power of Grayskull!" Once. Well, twice, but if you watched it, you know what I mean.
The Nice House on the Lake #4: No idea where this one is going, but I'm really enjoying how it appears to be taking its time, developing the situation through the development of the characters
Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #4: This one's been so-so story-wise, but it makes up for that by being the first comic I've read featuring the one group of SW characters I never get tired of: The Bounty Hunters! (obviously)
I think I previously recorded this one in the "Playlist" section of this page as Corpse Eater: Satanic Misery yadayadayada. Apparently, the actual band name is Leviathan the Fleeing Serpent and the album is Crushing the Ritual Live. None of that really matters because this isn't a real band - it's Rob Zombie and his musical cohorts playing the fictional Black Metal band Heidi LaRock and her stoolies interview in Lords of Salem. Whatever the hell the name of it is, I LOVE it and kinda wish RZ would focus on making more of this for a while. Here's a video I didn't know existed until just now.
Watch:
Another day at home yesterday, feeling like crap, waiting for the PCR test results to tell me what I'm now certain of: I do not have COVID. As I write this, I feel MUCH better. The AC/DC is cranked, my fingers are moving over the keys, and I'm starting my third pot of coffee. I'm almost 60% of the way through Stephen Graham Jones' new novel My Heart is a Chainsaw and I LOVE it so much. Spent a lot of time with that yesterday, as well as watching the following three flicks:
I bought this one sight unseen back when it was released on DVD circa 2008, watched it once or twice and, although really liking it, never made it back for another viewing until now. How was it? Vinyan is a Five Star film. Contrary to all the shit that studios like dimension were pumping into the Horror-sphere in the 00s, people like Fabrice du Welz were making excellent films such as this (his other Horror film I know, Calviare, is pretty badass too if memory serves).
Vinyan gave me the taste for more foreign Horror, so I decided to A and B an original and a remake, for which I chose the Indonesian film The Queen of Black Magic. The original was released in 1981, is pretty cool for that time and place, but doesn't sit terribly well now. It's by no means bad, just dated, so you really have to try and put yourself in the headspace of someone seeing this film in Indonesian in '81, which was admittedly probably insane. Overall I dug this one as a fun, kind of Hammer Horror-esque getaway.
So how's the remake?
I f*&king loved this one. It's slow off the start, which I don't mind but feel deserves a warning. However, once this one gets going, holy hell, there's some squirm-worthy scenes the likes of which I don't think I've felt since Fede Alvarez's 2013 Evil Dead (which I adore). Really cool, simple story and execution, and lots of gnarly Horror.
Playlist:
(NOTE: I didn't listen to any music yesterday, so this is what's on the stereo so far today)
Leviathan the Fleeing Serpent - Crushing the Ritual
Various - Lords of Salem OST
Zombi - 2020
Various - The Devil's Rejects OST
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
King Woman - Celestial Blues
Card:
The past four days have definitely added up to a sort of renewal for me. I was pretty burnt out from work. If you look at the dark colors of Wednesday's pull (7 of Disks) and now the light, gentle colors of The Empress, that is sort of a visual expression of where I was two days ago compared to where I am now.
This Abby Sage is something else. I can't say I'm as crazy about "Residing in the Sky" as I am "Smoke Break," but then of late, I'm not crazy about any song the way I am about "Smoke Break." Still, Ms. Sage makes some very cool, interesting music. I don't know that I'd define it as Pop, but I don't know that I wouldn't, either. Whatever her sound, it's unique, that's for sure.
NCBD:
Because of my situation at the moment (see "Watch" below), I won't be making it into the shop today. Luckily, my shop delivers to nearby Pull Customers, so this is what I'm asking them to drop off later this afternoon:
The final issue of this mostly pointless series that I still wouldn't have missed due to its part in the countdown to Nick Spencer's final issue. I've decided in the interest of saving space and $$$, I will not be going forward with the next regular, essentially weekly AMS title. When I get the craving, I can always re-read the Spencer run (I started with issue 48, I think) or any of the 80s Spidey comics I've added to my collection from back-issue bins of late.
I read the first trade of Jeremy Haun's Beauty when it first hit shelves, however, I fell off. The trade later got damaged when I moved and is long gone. Since meeting Jeremy, I've become rather fond of the bloke - he is a true Horror fan, a gentleman and most definitely a scholar. That has bumped up re-starting Beauty on the list. I think I'll start by buying the one-shot series finale this week, just to have it in the collection, then finally read it when I can grab the series in trade and catch up.
I'm not 100% I'm going to buy this title, but I'm intrigued to say the least.
I just caught up with the last two issues of Geiger a week or two ago and I'm already hungry for more. This is shaping up to be one of my favorite books of the year.
This book is F*&king INSANE. Like a modern version of early 80s exploitation cinema, but gorier!
Watch:
Well, after a year-and-a-half of caution and close calls, I'm sick at home since Tuesday morning, waiting on the results of a COVID test. It's funny how, even if you don't let your guard down, the world can get you. One of my employees has an eleven-and-a-half-year-old sister who started school two weeks ago, was tested and found to have COVID, and thus, the virus may have made its way to me by way of the office we share. We observe all the proper protocols, and both the employee in question and myself are vaxxed, so the symptoms are mild at best, but still. While my employee is a confirmed positive - luckily with next to no symptoms - and two rapid tests in the last few days came back negative for me, we're playing it extra safe and I'm waiting on the PCR results at home. I'd just finished 9 days in a row and have been feeling like crap anyway, so I ordered a bottle of Breez Royal Mint Spray (the ease of the cannabis delivery world is one thing I will miss when I move from LaLaLand), and spent yesterday doing a full recharge. Besides beginning Stephen Graham Jones's new novel My Heart is a Chainsaw - which, a quarter of the way through I f*&king LOVE, and which totally put me in the headspace for 80s Horror - here's what I watched as recharge comfort food:
And how can you watch the original and not follow it with one of the all-time greatest movies in history? The answer, you can't.
So, that was the comfort food portion of my sabbatical. Next up, a film I had not seen, but my friend/colleague Heaven is an Incubator logged on his Letterbxd a few months back and looked interesting, 1989's The Dead Pit:
Turns out I LOVE this flick! It's not good by any stretch of the imagination, but its heavy-handed Nightmare on Elm Street influence immediately endeared it to me, as well as the fact that the weird, dream-like tone and often half-completed set design makes it the perfect pairing for a double feature with another schlock flick I adore, 976-EVIL, which I may watch today.
Next, one I had not seen in ages, and thus did not readily remember very well. Stan Winston's 1988 directorial debut, Pumpkinhead:
There is not a shot in this film that I don't adore. The lighting and set design are heavenly... well, hellenly? You know what I mean. The Blackwood Cemetery sequence and Pumpkinhead's grave especially stay with me, as does the fact that, when Ed Harley first digs up Pumpkinhead and Haggis sets about resurrecting it, the young version looks almost exactly like Sam from Trick r' Treat without his mask on!
Pretty cool, huh? So, when Sam grows up, will he be a demon of vengeance?
Playlist:
St. Vincent - Daddy's Home
Jerry Cantrell - Atone (single)
Ultra Bann - Big Trouble in Little Haiti
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Abby Sage - Smoke Break
The Bangels - All Over the Place
Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk
Deafheaven - Infinite Granite
Card:
I'm assuming this is a nod that I will 'fail' my COVID test, ie be negative. This means I'm just suffering from a cold - something that didn't use to garner nearly this much anxiety.
Looking at the image for this card makes me want to go a bit deeper, though. I'm seeing it for the Abyss it represents visually. I may choose to use this as a starting point for something I may attempt to write today (can't spend every day recharging).
Here's a group I had all but forgot about. A big name to me in the early 2000s, The Hives still sound great today, and I was excited to hear this track at the end of Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley's Invincible. It put the band back on my radar and I'm excited to go through their albums for the first time in probably a decade.
Read:
The new Stephen Graham Jones novel is out today. I had completely forgotten about this until, just before bed last night, I read an article SGJ contributed to the most recent issue of Fangoria, wherein he offers some pretty interesting theoretical methods to fix three problematic Slasher films from the past (Shocker, F13 V and Nightmare on Elm Street 2). Anyway, I grabbed this on Kindle (despite my growing dislike for the device) because I read both of Jones's novels last year and both blew me away. Here's to hoping that this one - with such an awesome title - will do the same. I have every reason to believe it will.
Watch:
So, yeah, K and I finally finished the first season of Invincible. Initially, the first episode had a huge effect on me - it was engineered to do so - but then my interest tapered off. It's this thing I have about pretty much all animation sans Cowboy Bebop, 80s Transformers and... well, that's about it. I don't know why, I just don't connect with it, and I find it hard to finish any series. It was that way with Castlevania - made it up to about halfway through the third season and stopped, and even that took multiple attempts and a couple of years to do. Same with Trese, which I made it about halfway through. Anyway, if you haven't watched it, here's a trailer. However, I think it shows way too much, so maybe just go watch the first episode all the way through. In most cases, that should be enough. Unless you're like me.
Playlist:
Mark Lanegan - Bubblegum
The Jesus Lizard - Liar
The Birthday Party - Mutiny/The Bad Seed
Grinderman - Eponymous
Gesaffelstein - Aleph
Old Blood - Acid Doom
Slipknot - We Are Not your Kind
Code Orange - Underneath
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Sturgil Simpson - Sound and Fury
Metallica - ... And Justice For All
The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious
The Afghan Whigs - 1965
Card:
I feel like this is referencing something bigger than me, something I'm hopelessly caught in a repetitive dance with. I'm just not sure what that is.
Heard this the other day and it sent me down a Gesaffelstein rabbit hole. Love this track, as well as pretty much everything I've heard from this artist since. Here's the Gesaffelstein Bandcamp - check it out!
Watch:
Last night, K and I watched the first two episodes of the new American Horror Story. The Season is dubbed "Double Feature," however, the first two episodes - part of what I'm assuming is the first feature and will comprise half of the new season - are titled American Horror Story: Red Tide.
I've always maintained that AHS is a mixed bag. While I genuinely like the seasons I've watched - Murder House, Asylum, Hotel, Roanoke and 1984 - all of those except Roanoke and 1984 suffer from being too long. One of the things about Roanoke that blew me away was that, after all the previous seasons clocking in with 12 -13 episodes a piece, Roanoke went 10 and finished cleanly, without dangling plotlines hanging around, needing cleaning up after the major arcs closed. I'm hoping the double feature format will mean both of the stories that will populate this new Season will at worst leave me wanting more.
So, Red Tide is Vampires, and I have to say, the explanation they give for the show's reinvention of the fictional species is possibly my favorite EVER. Yeah, if what Even Peters's character told Finn Wittrock's characters is true, this is some serious outside-the-box thinking on an iconic horror creature that has, frankly, been pretty tired for some time now (with a few exceptions peppering the last decade).
Can't wait for more!
Playlist:
The Rolling Stones - It's Only Rock 'N' Roll
The Rolling Stones, Nicky Hopkins and Ry Cooder - Jamming w/ Edward
Talk about a goddamn legend! So sorry to hear this man left us, but what a legacy he leaves behind. I'm not much of an Exile fan - I prefer pretty much every record the Stones released on either side of it by five years to this one - however, this track, as well as a few others on the four-sider, is a CLASSIC.
Rest in Peace Charlie Watts. You'll be missed.
NCBD:
I had mistakenly thought the opening story arc of Marvel's first Alien title ended in last month's issue #5. Not so, therefore, I am back this month to see how this wraps up and just what the heck Alpha is.
Wow. One of my favorite covers yet. Not gonna lie - I'm not digging the Sinister War title all that much, as it seems extremely superfluous. That said, I still love this core AMS title, and especially after the excitement generated by THIS, I'm in the mood for some Spidey!
This title disappeared for a few months, but it's back, and I'm hoping the cover means we're actually going to see Baron Zemo take on Peter with a sword. That would be awesome
This title has quickly risen to the top of my 'must read' list every month. Can't wait to see where this current arc goes.
If issue #120 really is Raph vs. Hob, there's not much more that I need to hear. The textbook definition of the classic 'Nuff said.
Watch:
After what feels like forever, The Last Matinee finally hit VOD yesterday. Maximiliano Contenti's gory A.F. Neo Giallo is slow-moving almost to a fault at times as it stumbles through attempting to recreate the tone of classic Argento/Lenzi/Martino black-gloved kill-fests, but that's okay. Overall, K and I both really enjoyed the film, and once it gets moving, it really gets moving. If you're so inclined, and you're in for a slow burn, The Last Matinee is currently a $4.99 rental on Prime, and would especially make good viewing for a group.
Playlist:
Quicksand - Slip
Abby Sage - Wasting Away (single)
Jenny Hval - Blood Bitch
Abby Sage - Smoke Break (single)
College - Teenage Color EP
Chromatics - Faded Now
Massive Attack - 100th Window
Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Mrs. Piss - Self-Surgery
Card:
The elevated perspective will shed new light. I could totally use that on this short, which I am hopelessly drowning in at the moment.
I love love love this song! A random dalliance with NPR this past Saturday introduced me to Abby Sage's Smoke Break, and since, I have been unable to get it out of my mind. This appears to be a single, as with the other tracks I've found on Apple Music by Ms. Sage, so I'll be following her and can't wait until she releases a full album!
Watch:
I went back into a bix box theatre this past Saturday and saw David Bruckner's The Night House. An all-around good experience (We hit a matinee, so there were about five folks other than us there), and the movie was outstanding. A SUPER slow burn, to use a somewhat tired term, The Night House trusts its audience enough not to over-explain everything. This one's sure to spark some "What the fuck?" conversations in all the right ways. There's also a certain logic to its mechanisms that really drives home the fact that Bruckner and screenwriters Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski are exactly the right folks to be working on the new iteration of Clive Barker's Hellraiser.
Rebecca Hall and Barry's Sarah Goldberg turn in great performances, and the story goes places you're never gonna see coming, always an added plus.
Playlist:
The Plimsouls - Everywhere All At Once
Etta James - Eponymous
Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
The Jesus Lizard - Liar
White Lung - Eponymous
White Lung - Paradise
The Joy Formidable - Into the Blue
Deafheaven - Infinite Granite
Yola - Stand For Myself
Zeal and Ardor - Calloway (Single)
Boy Harsher - Careful
CCR - Bayou Country
David Bowie - A Reality Tour (Live)
Nicholas Elert - The Stylist OST
Abby Sage - Smoke Break (Single)
Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Card:
Strength in what you know. Words of wisdom Lloyd, words of wisdom. I could use them. Short story is driving me CRAZY.,
