I'm not really big on Gunship, but A) this video is cool A.F. and B) It features a ripping guitar solo that ushers in none other than Tim Cappello on saxophone! Wow, it's almost like Gunship's ScyFy aesthetic is a reality and they were able to go back in time and bring the big, bad sax player straight from The Lost Boys! Hopefully, while they were there, they didn't snag any of Grandpa's Double-Thick Oreos or Root Beers.
Gunship's upcoming album Unicorn drops on September 29th. You can pre-order a copy HERE.
Watch:
So, I'd heard about Tubi making original material now, but pretty much turned my nose up. Until now:
K watches a lot of youtube folk who buy old houses and convert them into their dream homes, so I've absorbed a lot of that over the last few years. That means this trailer immediately caught our collective attention. This really looks like it could be something great, so I'm checking it out sooner rather than later.
Playlist:
Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
Pale Dian - Feral Birth
Zombie - 2020
Willie Nelson and the Family Live
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XV: The Devil
• Knight of Pentacles
• Three of Cups
Taking ideas/information from unlikely or uncomfortable places is best accomplished with a thorough application of Will to subjects mired and misaligned by conventional opinion.
Wow. Took me a minute, but this new Drab Majesty track from August 25th's An Object in Motion E.P. rocks. Still bummed it's only an E.P., but I'll take what I can get. Pre-order from the always wonderful Dais Records HERE.
NCBD:
Here's what I'm bringing home for NCBD today:
LOVE this cover. I'm very curious to see where things are headed with this book now that my fears that Kieron Gillen is confirmed for what looks like more than a year's worth of issues (article linked through THIS X-Post)
I thought I'd given up on this Night of the Living Dead series from relatively new (I think) publisher American Mythology, but when I saw it was only going four issues, I figured what the hell. First two issues were by no means bad, just kind of always looking for someone to take a crack at continuing Romero's original Night/Dawn/Day timeline instead of just adapting it, but there's been enough little flourishes here to make it a fun read.
Love this cover! Also, I really enjoy the fact that every time Kang/Leatherhead show up, this book evokes Slasher film techniques!
Holy cow! Michael "Silver Coin" Walsh writing and doing cover duties for this year's TMNT annual? Count me in!
Watch:
Screambox has really been on fire putting out new content. Unfortunately, despite subscribing for the year back in December, I haven't really watched much on the channel because it is still incompatible with Firestick, my primary interface (for better or worse). I can watch on my computer, however, that doesn't really do any film justice, so I'm biding my time, making a list of all the original content hitting the service that I want to watch. Here's the newest entry on that list:
We Might Hurt Each Other, originally titled Rupintojelis (Pensive), looks like a pretty solid Foreign Slasher that writer Jonas Trukanas and writer/director Titas Laucius apparently based on local Lithuanian legends. I've been in a Slasher kinda mood of late, so this one's calling to me.
We Might Hurt Each Other dropped yesterday on Screambox. Stream (scream) HERE.
Playlist:
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse
Witchskull - The Serpent Tide
Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
Cocksure - K.K.E.P. EP
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Misfits - Static Age
Misfits - Collection II
Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror
Card:
• Three of Disks: Works
• Six of Swords: Science
• Five of Disks: Worry
I could tell the moment I saw the doubled Disks that this is 100% a warning/reminder that the upcoming process of moving my parents to Clarksville is going to be trying. Not that my parents themselves will be, but the process of moving is never easy. Especially not when you're moving people from a house they have been in since 1985.
In 2011, my good friend and Horror-Vision co-host Tori gifted me Fen's album Epoch. This, maybe more than any other album, propelled me headlong into Black Metal. I'll never forget the first time I hit play on Epoch; it was pouring rain - uncharacteristic for Southern California - as I drove home to San Pedro from Borders Books in Torrance where both Tori and I worked at the time.
The rain was perfect; I've maintained ever since that this record sounds like it was recorded in the rain (whatever that means, exactly, I can't really explain). At the time I was also falling in love with John Crowley's Little Big, and that book, the weather and Epoch combined to invoke a nearly hallucinatory couple of days off. I kept up with Fen through the follow-up, 2012's Dustwalker, then kind of dropped off for no reason that had anything to do with the band. Seeing the release of Monuments of Absence last week, I was blown away by the opening track, which is considerably more severe than anything I've heard Fen do, though as I say, I'm behind a few albums. Looking forward to catching up, though.
Monuments to Absence dropped this past Friday, 7/07/23, so you can head over to the Prophecy Productions website and order a copy HERE.
Watch:
Bloody Disgusting did an exclusive premiere of the trailer for the new company Neon Noir's first film, That's A Wrap:
Beautiful colors abound, so they definitely nailed that element of the classic Giallo aesthetic. I watched enough of this trailer to know I will be checking it out when it releases August 25. You can read Bloody Disgusting's full article about That's A WrapHERE.
Playlist:
Ghost - Stay (single)
Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
QOTSA - In Times New Roman
Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh
Godflesh - Pure
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse
Fen - Monuments to Absence
Fen - Epoch
Drab Majesty - Careless
Drab Majesty - The Demonstration
Final Light - Eponymous
The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicentre
Forhist - Eponymous
Type O Negative - October Rust
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
Cocksure - Be Rich
INXS - Kick
Tennis System - Technicolor Blind
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
It's been a minute since I handled the Bound deck, so I tapped into it for this morning's Pull:
• Knight of Pentacles - The Will as applied to Matter; Fire/Earth
• Knight of Wands - The Will as applied to Will; Fire/Fire
• Page or Princess of Wands - Matter applied to Will; Earth/Fire
That's a lot of wink-wink about my Will, eh? I read this as a reminder to be present and apply patience, lest my Will, pulled taut, snap and leave me rudderless for a while. Long story short, I need a reset in order to carry on.
From Blackbraid II, out today. You can order your copy from Blackbraid's Bandcamp HERE. I woke up this morning and I'm already on my second run-through on the album. Absolutely fantastic.
Watch:
I'm not really a huge Blumhouse Horror guy. I mean, some of their stuff lands pretty well, but even those that do often feel at least partially flat. So, I've never watched The Nun, despite some interest generated when I heard the Colors of the Dark podcast say, "There's kind of a little Fulci movie buried in The Nun." Whether the overall film fails, hearing something like that makes it seem like watching the film would have to be worthwhile. Yet, it's been almost five years since its release, and I continue to abstain. Now there's a sequel, and I wonder if maybe that will finally prompt me to check that first one out.
I'm not trying to sound too cool for school here; there's nothing 'wrong' with Bllumhouse Horror. In fact, hell, they're pretty much singlehandedly responsible for keeping the genre afloat in big-box theatres in the early 10s. The first Insidious was a HUGE buoy for the post-torture porn theatrical Horror release, and through subsequent flicks like The Conjuring, Sinister, et al, Blumhouse has proven Horror to be a viable genre for theatres to continue to invest in, which is a good thing no matter how you cut it. Sometimes I feel like we're thIS close to Marvel being the only game in town - now that scares me. Anyway, as usual, I'm really overthinking whether or not I should watch The Nun, which is currently streaming on Max.
Sky:
It's been difficult for me to keep up with a lot of stuff I want to watch, and I've barely logged more than a couple hours on Puppet Combo's Stay Out of the House, because all I really want to do right now is sit in my backyard at night, drink beer and stare at the sky. So, I thought I'd try and share some of that here.
This shot comes courtesy of K, who is even more enraptured by the phenomenon of having personalized access to such grandeur. As a native and life-long Angeleno until last August, it's easy to see how this would blow her away; in LaLaLand, there is no 'big sky;' your view is polluted by nothing but buildings, lights, billboards, etc. I don't want to take that away from L.A. - it is a city, and you go there for city things. Given the choice of staring at the Egyptian Theatre or the sky it occupies, I'll take the theatre. L.A.'s problem, like all problems, is that the ratio is out of whack.
But staring at the sky here at night, it's amazing to see the wonder that shines in K's eyes while we lay on our recently acquired gravity chairs (best investment!), sip our nightly poisons and just drink it all in with our eyes. This has given me a completely new perspective on a lot of things, and it's definitely helped mellow me a bit more of late. Hard to be high-strung when you're staring at the night sky.
Chamber of Screams, Clement Panchout & Mxxn - Murder House (Original Puppet Combo Soundtrack)
Drug Church - Hygiene
Mammon XV - Bleeding in Excess (single)
Pharmakon - Bestial Burden
Code Orange - Underneath
The Raveonettes - Raven in the Grave
Cash Money - Who Killed the Blues (single)
Card:
• Ten of Swords: Ruin
• XIII: Death
• XX: The Aeon
Lots of big ideas today, and they're breaking down the rational in the face of actually implementing them.
Regarding Ten of Swords, I wanted to throw in something from Crowley's Book of Thoth: "The number Ten, Malkuth, as always, represents the culmination of the unmitigated energy of the idea. It shows reason run mad, ramshackle riot of soulless mechanism; it represents the logic of lunatics and (for the most part) of philosophers. It is reason divorced from reality."
I see bad information and dreams of grandeur that tempt away from the one path forward. This is all writing stuff, and I'm really picking up what the Cards are putting down today, as I draw in closer to writing the finale to the new novel.
I'm sure I've posted this here at some point in the past, but it felt like the right thing to do this morning. From The Ravenonettes PERFECT 2011 album Raven in the Grave, this has long been one of my favorite songs by the band. That guitar just breaks my heart in the best way possible!!!
Watch:
Sacred Bones just announced a new edition of Julee Cruise's 1989 album Floating Into the Night, her collaboration album with Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch. If you know the record, you know it's HUGE for Twin Peaks fans, as several of the tracks here went on to populate the soundtrack to the original two seasons of Twin Peaks. To promote the re-release, Sacred Bones produced this charming little video:
You can order a copy HERE; I was able to snag the Pink and Black Galaxy Vinyl, although I am uncertain if I qualified for the poster. Either way, I'm happy as hell to finally have this on wax without having to pay for an original pressing on eBay.
NCBD Addendum:
On a lark, I picked up the first issue of Bliss on Tap Publishing's new series Killing Hope. I was not disappointed.
Written by Josh Barbee and Maloney, with art by Alex Cormack, who I was familiar with from 2020's Aquatic Horror mini-series Sea of Sorrow, Killing Hope starts out as a thriller then veers into what I'm guessing is going to be full-on Horror territory. It's a woman on the run from seemingly unstoppable forces, and I can't wait to read more!
Bliss on Tap is new to me, but a quick gander at their website shows they've got quite a few titles under their belt, with seemingly something for everybody.
Playlist:
Blut Aus Nord - 777: Cosmosophy
Principles of Geometry - Lazare
Roxy Music - Eponymous
Colors of the Dark Podcast - Episode 61: The Boogeyman
Chamber of Screams, Clement Panchout & Mxxn - Murder House (Original Puppet Combo Soundtrack)
The Sword - Warp Riders
Faetooth - Remnants of the Vessel
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Card:
• Ace of Disks
• Two of Swords: Peace
• Prince of Swords - The airy aspect of Air, or conflict with intellect
Resolving issues with spending money leads to further resolution of internal conflict. I think this is a tit-for-tat response to my current state of continual distraction. The internet is both a powerful tool and a siren that calls me away from my work on a regular basis. Fighting this over the last couple days has led to a huge breakthrough in my work. I was stuck on a final act, but I believe I now have it well underway and it's better than I first imagined!
MAJOR thanks to Simon G for posting this on his youtube channel, which you can check out and subscribe to HERE. If you dig the Cramps, it's a win-win. And with a set list and attire that, while pretty spot-on for The Cramps, seems especially strategic to alarm a television broadcast company, this is one for the ages.
NCBD:
Really looking forward to today's NCBD. Here's why:
I'm loving Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Hernandez Walta's Phantom Road so far. Stories that include a slip into any kind of 'between place' always hit a certain harmonic with me, and this one's taking that idea and really doing something different with it.
Pat O'Malley's Popscars is in Comic Stores and you're missing out if you're not reading it. Why? Check out my interview with Pat HERE to find out.
Another "Before the Fall" one shot, however, like last week's Heralds of Apocalypse, this one is written by one of the main X-architects, so I'm in.
This book just continues to delight me.
Watch:
I rewatched Moorhead and Benson's 2014 film Spring this past Monday evening. Wow. I hadn't seen this one since before I knew who Moorhead and Benson were, and looking back on it after watching and rewatching their other movies, I couldn't remember very much about Spring other than the basic set-up, the location, and that both K and I really liked it when we watched it back in, probably 2016.
All the performances are fantastic, and just seeing Vinny Curran and Jeremy Gardner in the opening ten minutes or so was a treat, as was hearing talk about "Shitty Carl." I need to track this one down on Blu-Ray, as I'm hoping there will be a making of or commentary track, as I find myself really wanting to know how they made this. I'm kind of assuming they did a lot of the filming guerilla style, but who knows? Moorhead and Benson continue to prove they are two of the best filmmakers working today, regardless of whether they have a budget or not.
Playlist:
Flying Lotus - Yasuke
Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamble Abysses
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse
Blackbraid - Blackbraid I
Spotlights - Seance EP
Greg Puicato - Child Soldier: Creator of God
Secret Chiefs 3 - Le mani destre recise degli ultimi uomini
Secret Chiefs 3 - Book of Horizons
Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
Sepultura - Schizophrenia
Sepultura - Arise
Godflesh - Purge
QOTSA - In Times New Roman
Ike & Tina Turner - Live! The World of Ike & Tina
Pastor T.L. Barrett & the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship (Without a Sail)
Christopher Cross - Ride Like the Wind (single)
Bria - Cuntry Covers Vol. 2
Orville Peck - Pony
Card:
• IV The Emperor
• Ace of Wands
• Two of Disks: Change
Draw on strong, established resources (practices?) to enact a breakthrough with Will, but don't expect it to last just because it happens once. Will, as with everything else in the Universe, is fluid, coming and going depending on millions of variables. Those variables are actually what rule us, The Emperors of all life, but especially those humans who try and find a window into their own internal operating systems.
Besides just being an awesome track, if you're watching FX's The Bear, you're probably picking up what I'm putting down.
From 1998's The Shape of Punk to Come, a veritable classic of that era.
Watch:
Easily my favorite show at the moment, FX's The Bear returned recently and K and I just caught up by rewatching season one.
This is the most "Chicago" anything I've ever seen. I know these people - Richie Jerimovich is one of my best friends, Cicero (Oliver fucking Platt!) is every other middle-aged man I met through friends and family in the 80s - I mean, it's freaking uncanny. It's also one of the most honest narratives about loss, drive and passion I've ever seen.
Read:
I'm about 100 pages into my re-read of Stephen Graham Jones's My Heart is a Chainsaw. If you're a Horror fan and you haven't read this, you're missing out on your new favorite novel:
Chainsaw's protagonist, Jade Daniels, is one of the most relatable and magnetic final girls of all time. Also, what a wonderful experience, reading a book that puts you so deep inside the mind of a High School kid who is obsessed with Horror, specifically Slashers, so much so that she interprets the arrival of a new girl at her high school in Proofrock, ID as the arrival of a Final Girl and the beginning of her town's own Slasher Cycle. There are reasons historic to the town that prompt this theory, but as SGJ is so damn good at, we're so awash in Jade's inner thoughts that we're never quite sure if she's just a bored and obsessed teenager or if there's actually something to what she's saying to anyone who will listen.
Can't wait to finish this and go directly into the sequel, this year's Don't Fear the Reaper!
Playlist:
Ruby the Hatchet - Fear Is a Cruel Master
Various - Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series)
Ruby the Hatchet - Planetary Space Child
Screaming Females - Desire Pathway
God is LSD - Spirit of Suicide
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Radiohead - OK Computer
The Body - No One Deserves Happiness
A001 - Necro (single)
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Flying Lotus - Yasuke
Ariel - Molten Young Lovers
Witchfinder - Hazy Rites
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
Forhist - Eponymous
The Body - I Shall Die Here/Earth Triumphant
Secret Chiefs 3 & Traditionalists - Le mani destre recise degli ultimi uomini
Fear Factory - Demanufacture
Rein - Reincarnated
Grimes - Art Angels
Gram Rabbit - Music to Start a Cult To
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse
Sylvaine - Nova
Card:
• Ace of Disks - Breakthrough in Earthly concerns
• Seven of Disks - Failure - A difficult period in modern life
• Princess of Disks - Fortification; Frugal
All Disks? Well, this really splits the difference between warning and encouragement, but I get the overall gist, just hope it's not too late - STOP SPENDING MONEY!!!
Duration:
I've come up with a better way to post my 'time card' here. Check this out:
Didn't take me much time either, which is good, because when I instituted this a few weeks back, it quickly became apparent I was spending time on reporting that I could have been spending on actually writing. I've known people who do things like this instead of write - it can have a pretty negative impact on the process overall.
As for the time, it's still not where I want it. I took yesterday off completely so I could edit the new episode of The Horror Vision - up in the widget to the right at the top of the page - and hang with K. Another important thing to remember in all this, is to maintain a life/work balance. Considering I worked 40 hours last week at the day job and recorded and edited a podcast, 15 hours isn't bad.
