Straight to You, Beyondfest. Straight to You

I threw on the Bad Seed TeeVee youtube station yesterday afternoon and let various iterations of Mr. Cave and his band/s wash over me while I finished laying out a friend's novel that I've been working on editing. It was a pretty great mix of Nick Cave, ranging from classic Birthday Party live footage to Grinderman to this track, which I've not heard in I don't even know how long. It lifted my day's transition into evening, and I thought I'd share.  

---

---

---

Watch:

Rejoice, for it is upon us once again!

Beyondfest 2021 tickets went on sale Friday, and luckily I had the day off because it took me two-and-a-half hours to get through the bottleneck on the American Cinematheque's website. I'm out of town for almost half of this year's fest, but there was NO WAY I was going to miss attending this year, as if our plans materialize, I will no longer be a resident of LaLaLand come next year's. 

So what did I get? 

Tickets to the West Coast Premiere of the new 4K presentation of Andrzej Żuławski's 1981 CLASSIC Possession. I am so excited to see this film - which I'd never seen before earlier this year and have now watched twice - on the big screen!

Also, the West Coast Premiere of Scott Derrickson and Robert C. Cargill's Adaptation of Joe Hill's The Black Phone, another film I've been anxiously awaiting. 

That's it for now, however, as always with Beyondfest, there are a pretty extensive number of free, RSVP day-of screenings I'm eyeing, and although it's nice to be back in an actual theatre for this year's fest - last year's was at the Mission Tiki Drive-In out in Montclair - it feels like a loss to have this fest not be at the Egyptian Theatre. That said, with a large portion of this year's films at The Aero, I'm uniquely positioned nearby due to the proximity of my work. So stealing off for a free afternoon screening shouldn't be all that difficult.

Also, holy hell - did you see this?!?

What a cast! Holy cow, I guess I didn't realize we were getting a new GDT film this year, and by the looks of it, this ups the ante even from his previous, the stunning The Shape of Water. Between Beyondfest, now this, and let's not forget Edgar Wright's Last Night in SoHo, the last quarter of 2021 are looking good for theatrical viewings.

---

---

---

Playlist:

The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Type O Negative - October Rust

Bridge City Sinners - Here's to the Devil

Sleep - Dopesmoker

Sunn O))) and Boris - Altar

Boris and Merzbow - 2R012PO

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Bad Seed TeeVee Feed

Nico Vega - Lead to the Light

---

---

---

Card:

Caught between two two major forces, unable to make a decision. Consult the inner voice that arises from introspection. In other words, I'm smart enough to make my decision, I'm just not trusting in my gut.

Monolord - The Weary

I'm not a huge Monolord fan - in fact, I kind of don't understand why I don't like them more than I do based on all the ingredients they create their music with. I think it has a bit to do with how fanatical I am about Windhand, and the fact that you can really only listen to so many Doom/Stoner bands and feel a unique rush from them. Whatever the case, by saying all this, it is definitely not my intention to derate or downplay them. Monolord is a solid fucking band, with a couple really great records. I just get winded listening to them after only a song or two (most of the time).

This new track, however, is fantastic and feels just different enough that maybe this is their release I'll really become hung up on. Either way, Your Time to Shine drops October 29th on Relapse Records, and you can pre-order your copy HERE. 

---

---

---

Watch:

 

Beyondfest announces their line-up tomorrow. It's 9/29-10/11, so I will be out of town during roughly half of it. I think at this point, the movie I want to see the most is Julia Ducournau's Titane. This is one of those films I have read next to nothing about and the trailer, which I saw on the big screen before The Green Knight last month, looks amazing without telling you anything about the film.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Ghost - Enter Sandman (Cover)

Monolord - The Weary (pre-release single)

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Metallica - Eponymous

White Hex - Gold Nights

---

---

---

Card:

Affirmation that although I keep rewriting the same damn section of the new book, my efforts are not wasted. 

Control Room in The Obelisk

 

Although I've been able to spin this one a few times since the vinyl arrived about a month ago, I've not had a chance to really sit down and digest Adam Egypt Mortimer's The Obelisk. That changed a bit tonight, where I carved out a small niche of time to read the final issue of Rick Remender and Jerome Opena's Seven to Eternity.

---

---

---

NCBD:

Pretty mellow week this week, which is how I think it's going to go from now on. Lots of series ending or me jumping off. Here's what's on tap for today:

I'm not 100% on this one, but it's a one-shot and kinda hard to pass up a book on Bouchh, especially when you read the solicitation and realize the armor Lea wore in Jedi came from a pre-existing Bounty Hunter.  Which, of course, makes me ask what was their story? This, apparently, is just that.

This book is a staple of my monthly reading. Love the story, love the art.

The first issue sold me. 

---

---

---

Watch:

 

I never got around to reading anything past the first trade of this series, and that was a looooong time ago. Since then, and through series like Saga and Paper Girls, I've very much become a Brian K. Vaughn fan. After watching the first episode of the new FX show on Hulu (they dropped three this week, I only had time for one), I'm definitely going to give the show a chance.

---

---

---

Playlist:

The Plimsouls - Everywhere At Once

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

X - Under the Big Black Sun

High on Fire - Snakes For The Divine

Jerry Cantrell - Brighten (pre-release singles)

The Marias - Superclean, Vol. II EP

Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk

Bohren and Der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission

 

---

---

---

Card:

Lots of fortification against encroaching neuroses. Time to find my inner Lion (or cat).

Mastodon - Pushing the Tides

 

New Mastodon before year's end and it's a double-fucking-album! In general, double albums don't work out so well, but Mastodon inspires enough faith in me that I don't think that will be the case with Hushed and Grim, dropping October 29th. Pre-order in the band's store HERE.

---

---

---

Watch:

Hell, what haven't I watched in the last two weeks? Laid low by what definitely turned out to not be COVID-19, I still spent a week and some change on my couch. I read three books (well, read one and finished reading two others), and watched something like 15 flicks. For most of those, you can see my Letterbxd. What I specifically want to mention here are two readily available new flicks that I absolutely loved, Ben Wheatley's In the Earth, and James Wan's Malignant.

 

I loved this flick. Wheatley seems to never disappoint - I even dug his recent remake of Hitchcock's Rebecca he did for Netflix - and this is a bit of a return to his previous dabblings in UK Occult/Folk Horror, only this time, with a technological twist I found very much needed. Folk Horror is becoming a bit like Steampunk, i.e. there's a checklist of images and themes associated with it, and all a filmmaker needs to do is add those ingredients to produce an entry in what is becoming a somewhat tiresome set of tropes. A Classic Horror Story attempted to do this as well, I believe, but failed, while Wheatley conjures what could easily be seen as a sister-work to some of what Warren Ellis did with his and Declan Shalvey's comic series Injection.

I had no interest in seeing this but changed my mind for review purposes (The Horror Vision's deep-dive on Malignant drops tomorrow). In a nutshell, the only things I liked about the first 33 minutes of this flick were DP Michael Burgess' cinematography and Joseph Bishara's score. Then, around 40 minutes I understood what Wan was doing and totally fell for the film. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

The Cars - Eponymous

T. Rex - The Slider

Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting

Concrete Blonde - Eponymous

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

Sleep - The Sciences

Ghost - Prequelle 

Powerplant - People in the Sun

Pearl Jam - Vs.

Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full

An Autumn for Crippled Children - The Long Goodbye

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

Anthrax - Spreading The Disease

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Mastodon - Pushing the Tides (pre-release single)

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

---

---

---

Card:

This makes sense - I've recently found a new path into the second Shadow Play book, which was very much needed. 

Dreaming of A Dream Away

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)

---

---

---

Playlist:

K's Zeal and Ardor Playlist

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

K's 60's Playlist

David Essex - Rock On

T. Rex - The Slider

The Cars - Eponymous

---

---

---

Card:

Moving into a new chapter. 

Leviathan the Fleeing Serpent

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.

Abby Sage - Residing in the Sky

 

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).