Monday, March 18, 2024

New Music From Barry Adamson!!!

 

New music from Barry Adamson! Special thanks to Mr. Brown for giving me a heads-up on this, as I did not know it was coming. The new album, Cut to Black, is out May 17th on Lexer Music. Pre-order HERE. They come signed by Mr. Adamson, so that's an extra little thrill in and of itself. But this first single is fantastic, so I'm already excited.
 


Watch:

This year, K and I did our customary St Paddy's viewing of State of Grace on Saturday night. The film continues to captivate me, even after all these years, to the point that when it finished, I started it over again, only to quickly realize I was fairly inebriated and needed to go to bed. Still, the realization that no other film can follow this one was stunning, but not surprising in the least.


So that left Sunday, March 17th open for a similarly themed film. We chose the Cohen Brothers' 1990 Miller's Crossing

Hot damn is this a fantastic movie! I mean, I knew that already. I've seen this one several times, but not for close to ten years.

 

I remember I'd seen Miller's Crossing a time or two previous, but around 2010 I purchased a slim-line set of Cohen movies that contained this, Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Barton Fink and Blood Simple. I worked my way through re-watching these (Fink was the only one that, if memory serves, I had not seen previously), re-affirming my joy with each, but when I reached Miller's Crossing, I had someting of an epiphany. I had liked Miller's Crossing before, however, I believe I had not been open to its absolute mastery until this viewing. Within a week or two I scheduled a viewing with my California "Movie Night" crew, and upon seeing it again in such close proximity, Miller's Crossing blossomed even more in my eyes; this was surely the Cohen's masterpiece. Anyone who is a fan of Joel and Ethan's work knows what a tempting yet dangerous statement that is, because almost every one of their films feels like their masterpiece when viewed. Simply put, the Cohens have many masterpieces, so does it even which reigns supreme?

Not at all.

Yet, this most recent viewing has me flabbergasted by how much more nuance to the film there is than I'd previously interpreted, and I thought I was pretty in tune with the film then. The dialogue, the characters, the HUMOR! Damn if this isn't just about the funniest "non comedy" I've seen since.... well, probably since the last Cohen Bros. film I watched. They do kind of excel in that, as well.

Miller's Crossing and State of Grace - I would attempt to follow the first with the latter, but not the other way around, so I suppose I'll continue to reserve Phil Joanou's masterpiece for St. Paddy's day and allow for Tommy, Leo and Caspar to pop in and out of my life whenever they want.




Read:

I finished Taft 2012 and raise a thankful glass to my brother in literary adventures, Mr. Brown! FAN-tastic novel, and I can't thank him enough for his patience while it sat on my shelf for the last who knows how many damned years until I finally got around to reading it. Tooling around online, I found this NPR interview with the author, Jason Heller.

Can't recommend this one enough. 

Next up, Malcolm Devlin's 2022 Novel And Then I Woke Up, which my good friend and Horror Vision cohost Ray gifted me during a trip to L.A.'s Skyline Books, in the still unsoiled neighborhood of Los Feliz. 


I know nothing about this one, only that Ray recommended it so strongly he plunked down the cover price twice - once for his own library and once for mine, so I'm 100% on board. 

It is wonderful to have friends who read, who you can pass books back and forth to for discussion and discovery.




Playlist:

Steve Moore - Bliss OST
John Carpenter - Lost Themes
The Rolling Stones - It's Only Rock n Roll
The Rolling Stones - Goatshead Soup
20 Watt Tombstone - Wisco Disco
Bryce Miller - City Depths
Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the End of the War
Merrimack - Of Grace and Gravity
Deafheaven - Ordinary  Corrupt Human Love
CCR - Eponymous
Ruby the Hatchet - Fear is a Cruel Master
Ruby the Hatchet - Planetary Space Child 
The Damned - Evil Spirits
Funkadelic - Eponymous
The Bronx - IV
Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
Orville Peck - Bronco
The Pogues - Rum Sodomy and the Lash
The Pogues - Red Roses for Me
Brigette Calls Me Baby
Amigo the Devil - Everything is Fine
United Future Organization - 3rd Perspective




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

Just one Card to start the week off. 


First and foremost, I ADORE Grimm's interpretation and design for Trump 18: The Moon. As a card for the day and, I guess, for the week, I'm reading it more inline with the interpretation that tackling an obstacle that might otherwise be easy to sidestep will lead to self discovery and improvement upon conqueroring. So as they say, let us go once more into the fray!!!

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven


The title track from Mannequin Pussy's new album, I Got Heaven, which you can order HERE. This came out two weeks ago, the same day as the new Ministry, which is kind of hogging all my attention, hence why I haven't thought to post something here yet. This is probably my favorite track on the record, which is saying something because the entire thing is fantastic and a safe bet to end up in my best of 2024 list.
 


NCBD:

Man, some weeks NCBD can't come fast enough. This was one of those weeks! 


The cover says it all: Let's SNIKT us some Dr. Stasis! While Rise of the Powers of X has been pretty much a major slog so far, its sister book Fall of the House of X has been pretty great. Hoping that continues. 


Jeff Lemire's Fish Flies comes to an end! I won't be able to read this one until early April, as I'll most likely have to have my Drinking with Comics cohost Mike Shin throw it in my box up in Chicago, but that's okay. Looking forward to rereading this entire weird little series. 


Hot off the heels of The Six Fingers, we pivot back to the detective's perspective with The One Hand issue #2. These two series really have me excited. 


One issue left after this, then the TMNT gets turned on its ear - luckily without restarting the continuity! It's anybody's guess where this is heading, but I'm psyched for the finale.


Has it already been a month since Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers #5? Man! I love this cover, and can't wait to see Devastator in action. This series is really packing a punch.




Watch:

Fuck yeah - Joe Bob and Darcy are BACK this Friday!


So happy to have The Last Drive-In back for another year! Granted, this year, Shudder is making it one movie instead of two and every other week, but that's because they're really trying to keep the subscribers who click on for JBB and then leave after as long as possible. That's fine - I'd advise anyone reading this who subs in and out simply for Joe Bob and Darcy to rethink their approach. There's tons of great stuff on Shudder and they're always adding more, a lot of which is exclusive content they help produce. In order to help folks navigate the best of the best on Shudder, my podcast, The Horror Vision, recently started an off-shoot called The Horror Vision Presents: ON SHUDDER. Kind of a streaming kind, the first episode went up this past Monday and highlights Josh Forbes' Destroy All Neighbors.


We're recording a new episode soon, as this may end up being a weekly addition to our regular episodes. There's just so much great stuff on Shudder.




Playlist:

Forhist - Eponymous
Nobuhiko Morino - Versus OST
Sleep - Dopesmoker
Ministry - Hopiumforthemasses
Ministry - The Last Sucker
Mudvayne - Lost and Found
Steve Moore - Bliss OST
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
John Carpenter - Lost Themes
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Perturbator - Nocturne City EP
Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


• Ten of Pentacles 
• Ace of Cups
• King of Cups

Culmination of hard work pays off with an emotional breakthrough that lends insight into 

Monday, March 11, 2024

Brigitte Calls Me Baby

 
My good friend (and unbelievable artist) Jeffrey Equality Brooks tipped me off to these guys one day last week and upon my first listen to Brigitte Calls Me Baby's 2023 debut EP This House is Made of Corners, I was instantly smitten. Tell me you love The Smiths and The Veils without telling me you in words. This entire EP is fantastic. You can order the record from the group's Bandcamp HERE
 


Watch:

After watching Alice Maio Mackay's Bad Girl Boogey a few weeks back, I'll pretty much follow wherever they go next. Where they go next is T-Blockers. Here's the trailer (that I only skimmed for a few seconds):

 
There is a visceral element to Mackay's work that feels born of a considerably different era. To say that BGB captivated me with its Video Nasty gore is an understatement, and it looks like those ideas have been pushed even more to the forefront of this new film.




Playlist:

Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves
T. Rex - The Slider
Bauhaus - Telegram Sam (single)
Bauhaus - Third Uncle (single)
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Can - Tago Mago
Can - Turtles Have Short Legs (single)
The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
Brigitte Calls Me Baby - This House is Made of Corners EP
Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Flying Lotus - Pattern+Grid World
The Body & Dis Fig - Orchards of a Futile Heaven
Boris and Merzbow -  2R0I2P0
The Damned - Evil Spirits
The Besnard Lakes - ... Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


• V: The Hierophant
• Two of Pentacles
• Eight of Pentacles

Focus on what you don't know about the world around you, particularly how your opposition changes itself. I'm reading this as pertaining to recent woes I've had with the website for The Horror Vision. I won't go into detail, but it's Wordpress, it's down, and I want to replace it. For that, however, I have a lot of work ahead of me and my attention has been increasingly drawn toward what I don't know about the world of the internet, which definitely feels more and more like an opposing force in so many way.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

John Carpenter - My Name is Death

 

John Carpenter and Sacred Bones announced Lost Themes IV a few days ago. You can pre-order the record HERE. I'm not going to lie - I don't love this first single (or its video); the song feels like a long 5:44. That said, I've also not had the greatest morning - I woke up with one of my cats puking next to my face, so I might just be in an ornery temperament (JC can no doubt relate given that sour look plastered across his puss in the video). I'm suspending judgment - and all further listens - until I can hear the entire album. Something tells me "My Name is Death" will work better as a lead-in to the rest of the ten tracks. 




Watch:

I watched Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys for the first time in what I'm realizing is close to twenty years last night. This flick was very important to me when it came out, and afterward. 


No one uses a camera the way Gilliam and long-time Cinematographer Roger Pratt do; a lot of the angles here just reinforce Gilliam's Orwellian, bureaucratic worldview even more than the way he tells his story. This really put me in mind to finally order that Criterion Brazil 3 Disc DVD set they put out in the 90s. The update to Blu-Ray is tempting. However, I can't quite discern from what I'm seeing online if the other versions of the film in the 3 Disc were ported over to the Blu-Ray. 

Gilliam's worldview, especially his sense of humor, very much shaped me as a young adult. I'd go so far as to say that, without early exposure to the works of Terry Gilliam and David Lynch, I would not be the person I am today. It's been quite some time since I revisited Gilliam, so perhaps it's time.




Playlist:

Double Life - Indifferent Stars
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues
Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Baroness - Stone
bunsenburner - Rituals
Judas Priest - Invincible Shield (pre-release singles)
Ministry - Animositisomina
Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves
Judas Priest - Invincible Shield
Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven
Brigitte Calls Me Baby - This House is Made of Corners EP
Ministry - Hopiumforthemasses
Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
Jim Williams  - Possessor OST
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the End of the War 
Frankie and Witch Fingers - Data Doom
Dead Boys - We Have Come For Your Children




Thursday, March 7, 2024

New Music From Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds!!!


When Push the Sky Away came out in 2013, the departure in sound from previous Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds albums grabbed me right away. I loved 2008's Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! and Cave's concurrent side project Grinderman for their ferocious rebuttal to the aging process, but Sky's total immersion in storytelling and the grandeur employed in the songcraft seemed the exact perfect pinion from that antagonistic sound. There seemed an evolution in writing, production, everything - Push the Sky Away just felt so HUGE. 

Then tragedy struck, and 2016's Skeleton Tree felt like an unbelievably poignant - naked even - response. When Ghosteen hit in 2019, I heard too much of those two previous records in it to feel anything other than... tired by its 11 tracks. I give the album a listen every now and again, but really, I'd just rather listen to Sky or Skeleton Tree (both of which have since suffered dilution at having yet another record released in their image). 

Maybe I'm spoiled by how often Cave has reinvented himself over the years. I got into him shortly before 2004's Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Oepipus came out, after a friend of a friend burned me CDs of  2001's And No More Shall We Part and 1994's Let Love In. I was living with some friends in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood at the time, and I remember smoking a bowl and putting And No More... on. This sudden, immense and immaculate eclipse overtook the world at the start of that record, and it swirled and evolved and stung and didn't relinquish control of my senses until the final track ran out. There was something so dark, so sad, so funny, so intricate... 

I'd heard of the Bad Seeds before then, of course, but just hadn't been exposed to them. I remember, shortly before those burned discs came my way, I was with Mr. Brown and some friends at The Valley Inn in Palos Hills. This was a small neighborhood restaurant in Chicago's south suburbs that featured a bar that stayed open until 4:00 AM on the weekends and yet, impossibly in Palos Hills, didn't get as crowded with the kind of scum that filtered into the 4 AM bars just a few blocks away on Roberts Road. We ran into a friend, John Pratt, and were sitting at the bar drinking beers. John was a punk rawk dude from the neighborhood, and as he regaled us with tales of a recent show he'd been to, a guy from across the bar recognized him and came over to extend salutations. I didn't catch this new addition to our little group's name, but he was wearing a simple black t-shirt that had "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds" printed across the front of it. I remember thinking that shirt was the most punk rock thing I'd ever seen. Not a month later I had those discs, and a love affair began*. 

That's my long-winded wind up to say, when this new track and the announcement of the subsequent record, out August 30. Pre-order HERE, fills me with both hope and dread. The single begins subtle enough that it carried my fears of another Ghosteen with it until the back half of the song begins to gain complexity and, what I can only call a sort of smoldering hope. THIS instills me with hope. I really want to care about another Bad Seeds record.


* Somehow, I had already made the sonic acquaintance of Cave's previous band, The Birthday Party, but hadn't yet put together that this was the same man. Delayed discoveries were still possible in the era before we all walked around with the internet in our hand 24/7. Not an indictment, just a fact. Plus, if you don't explicitly read that this is the same man, it just might take a minute to reconcile that Cave was the frontman in both these groups. I mean, come on. Listen to "Big Jesus Trashcan" and then listen to "Sweetheart Come" (often misheard as Sweet, Hot Cum) and tell me there's no room for disbelief.




NCBD Addendum:

Another NCBD addendum is in order, as I ended up grabbing a few books I had no idea where going to be put in front of me.




A new three-issue limited series set in 1939? Yeah, sounds like a great idea for a Batman setting, right? Ryan at Rick's Comic City put this in my hand, and I found myself strangley compelled to take it home. The art's gorgeous, and since I'm not a regular Batman reader, every once in a while I can really go for a good mini-series with the character. 


I had completely forgotten about the first issue of Beyond Real, which was a freebie from Vault Comics back in early December. I really dug the story—though I'll definitely have to unearth and re-read it now. I was stoked to see issue two on the shelf and only too happy to give Zack Kaplan and Co. my money after the generous first-issue comp and thought-provoking story.


This one was a little tough to actually plunk down the $$ for. Not because I don't want delivery on the cover's tagline: "What if Carter Burke Had Lived," but because after reading two story arcs of Marvel's Aliens books, I really don't ever want to read anymore. But this... this was pretty damn good! It's a three-issue series, so no big investment and I liked what they did with Burke's character enough to want to see where this story goes.

Also, cowritten by Paul Reiser? There was a time when Reiser was on my "most hated actors" list right alongside jim carrey and b. stiller. THAT's how powerful his performance as the sniveling Carter Burke was for me (not to mention his ubiquitousness of his appearances in pop culture in the 90s thanks to mad about ewe). Stranger Things changed that.

Thanks to my A Most Horrible Library cohost, Chris Saunders, for putting this one on my radar. Since Marvel took over, I've long learned to just glide my eye past any comic that says Alien. 




Playlist:

Brigitte Calls Me Baby - This House is Made of Corners EP
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Butthole Surfers - Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands
Kaiser Chiefs - Kaiser Chief's Easy Eight Album
Ministry - Hopiumforthemasses
Judas Priest - Invincible Shield (pre-release singles)
Double Life - Indifferent Stars
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Fleet Foxes - Shore
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman 




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


• Page (Princess) of Swords - Terror or impetuousness
• Six of Cups - Something new through hard work and a little pain
• V: The Hierophant - Something more, just outside the scope of your tiny little world

Gonna need to shed some (metaphorical) blood in order to get what I'm missing. Another nod to the book, which I took time out of working on to finish this post. 


Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Ministry - New Religion


LOVING this new Ministry record. Somehow, Uncle Al almost never disappoints. This particular track, while I'm not in love with the video, is one of those Ministry songs where you can really hear the Killing Joke influence. This started back around 2003 with Animositisomina, which is interesting when you consider that Paul Raven didn't join the band until 2006's Rio Grande Blood. Not that there wasn't always a little Killing Joke DNA in Ministry, but occasionally, it really shines through.




NCBD:

Light pull this week, but there are some goodies, so let's get into it:


A new Last Ronin series? Whoah! This slipped by my radar completely until about a week ago. Apparently, if I understand this right, this series is set a number of years after the original series and follows more grown-up versions of the four new turtles that Casey (Jr) was training. I love the Miller-esque dystopia of the first Last Ronin series, so definitely sign me up for this next round. I love to see the evolution of future worlds like this. 


Here's another one that slipped past me - David and Maria Lapham have a new series called Underheist and I missed the first issue! I'll be grabbing that as well as this week's number two. Everything the Laphams do is fantastic, so I can't wait to see what this new one has to offer.


Void Rivals returns! I honestly had only realized it must have been on hiatus - probably because I've been so preoccupied with the other Energon Universe series. I feel like this family of books is moving in to take over the fervor I've held but watched wane for the X-Books since Hickman. I don't know if my brain finds something to fill the, ahem, void, or if 


Speaking of the X-Book, I still haven't found any issues with Gerry Duggan and his X-Men. Solid, every issue. And what's this? Lockheed returns? Can't wait to see this. Where the core Fall of X books have been a mixed bag, Mr. Duggan continues to drive his RBI percentage up by turning in solid episodes of the core 'team' book in the family. Also, love seeing Kitty and Ilyana side by side with swords!




Watch:

Recently, I was psyched to see that Shudder added the first three Coffin Joe movies to their ever-expanding roster. I am not super familiar with these, but back in 2004, my friend JFK (where are you?) mentioned these to me and I started a hunt that didn't end until I walked into either Generation Records or Village Revival Records in Greenwich Village, NY and found a copy of At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul. I picked that up and gifted it to JFK for Christmas that year, and after we watched it one night, I haven't seen a Coffin Joe flick since. Until now.


"The Brazilian Freddy Krueger" is how Coffin Joe is often described, and while there is a simple comparison there, that's a bit of a misnomer, and probably the reason I walked away from that first viewing twenty years ago less than impressed. So despite the fact that I myself have used that comparison recently, I offer here the caveat that Coffin Joe is not a supernatural being (at least not in the early flicks) and he doesn't invade his victims' dreams or materialize in gross and grandiose ways. He's a terribly evil human being, an undertaker with no empathy and a greedy soul, and he terrorizes the town in rural Brazil where he resides as a rich and powerful citizen. 

On the surface, these flicks feel a little quaint. At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul is from 1964 Brazil for god's sake, so that's to be expected. But, if you really pay attention and move past that surface layer, these are some pretty f**ked up films. What's more, let's think about that year of origin again: 1964 Brazil! These are also SO ahead of their time, even in the States, and slot in nicely with some of the other creators releasing Horror films at the time; if you google "Horror Films Released in 1964," you get a list that includes Roger Corman, William Castle, and Hershal Gordon Lewis.

Ultimately, Coffin Joe - the character created and portrayed by Brazilian cinematic jack-of-all-trades  José Mojica Marins - won't be for everybody, however, in rewatching the first film last night, I found a decidedly more cerebral and, honestly, disturbing experience than I remembered. Strip away some of the limitations of the day, some of the slightly archaic approaches to the accouterments of the Horror genre - maniacal laughter, spiders (no laughing matter for me), and female hysteria, and you have an amoral villain who commits grievous acts in the name of a rather messed up approach to child-rearing. Joe is an icon in Brazil - hence the real reason for the comparison to Mr. Kreuger - so Shudder adding these films is another way in which the service continues to promote a more well-rounded fan base for the genre. Something we're all the better for. 




Playlist:

The Body & Dis Fig - Orchards of a Futile Heaven
Uniform & The Body - Mental Wounds Not Healing
Witchfinder - Hazy Rites
Black Sabbath - Volume IV
The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicentre
Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
Dio - The Last in Line




Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


• XI: Justice
• Four of Wands
• VIII: Strength

Approaching a situation or decision without bias leads to empowerment. Again, another character nod to the book I'm writing. I turned in a solid hour and a half last night - actually made it out to my old coffee shop and was really able to lose myself for the duration of the session. These characters are growing in depth and complexity, and the cards are assuring me I'm on the right path.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

RIP Selim Lemouchi - Eleven Years Gone


Since there was never any exact day of death released, March 1st denotes the beginning of the month when one of the most talented artists to grace the metal genre in decades left the planet for the "endless ever after," to quote the song.




Watch:

My good friend and Horror Vision Cohost Anthony "Butcher" Guerrera tipped me off to this one, which I had heard about but ignored under the auspices that no spider Horror film could do to me what Arachnophobia does. Yeah, I know the big "A" isn't that scary, but when you feel about spiders the way I do, well, it does a good job exacerbating that fear. On Anthony's recommendation, however, I watched about half of Sting's trailer and yes, I see it now. This is a completely different kind of spider movie.


Written and directed by Kiah Roache-Turner, who also gave us a bunch of movies that I've yet to see (Wyrmwood was on Netflix forever but suffered from bad thumbnail disease, so I passed over it for years before anyone recommended it to me), this hits theatres on May 31st. I'll definitely be in a seat if Sting plays near me. 

What the hell is it about spiders that terrify me? I'm not sure. Of course, there are folks with a lot greater arachnophobia than I do; little spiders don't bother me. Well, it's not the size, it's the girth. Any spider with a meaty body, regardless of the size, is going to creep me out. Now take that girth and scale it up and... no. Let's just stop there. 

A friend once told me a story about growing up with a friend named Spider who also had a paralyzing fear of spiders. Apparently, the reason this friend achieved his moniker had to do with a story. As a child, Spider's parents built him a treehouse. One night, when he was older, he snuck up there in the middle of the night to smoke a joint. As the high settled over him in the dark, Spider realized he was glimpsing movement out of the corner of his eye. He flicked his lighter and realized the walls of the treehouse were covered in spiders. Like, hundreds upon hundreds of them. 

Spider fell out of the treehouse and broke some bones. It was, in his words, a welcome price to pay for the expedient extraction.

The treehouse was torn down a few days later.

I relate this story, which I openly admit I may have fudged a few specifics on but got the gist (the walls of spiders I could never forget or amend; I see this in a way that terrifies me, even all this time and space away from the event, only knowing it as folklore) because it speaks to the power available to a Horror movie that uses this innate terror the Arachnida instills in a certain percent of the population. The insect kingdom in general is so goddamn alien it can give me the chills, but spiders... there's just something about their shape, their textures, their limbs... I've often said that the cinematic Xenomorph is my favorite movie monster because its design is absolute nightmare fuel in my eyes. In the real world, that honor goes to spiders. The girthy ones. The hairy ones.




Read:

I finished Mary Roach's journalistic endeavor to hold a scientific lens up to the afterlife and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in a seriously skeptical but fair discussion of the many facets of spiritualism that have arisen over the course of the last two hundred years or so. Mary travels to India to talk to doctors, believers and naysayers about reincarnation, she travels to England to attend a Medium Workshop, and she travels to rural America to investigate a court case from one hundred years ago where a spirit's intervention helped decide a legal hearing. Spook is a fantastic romp through the detritus of the spirtualism movement and the scientists that have attempted to take that torch and run it through calibrated methods without bias - which she always seems to find is still present. Mary's snarky sense of humor peppers her conversational tone, so I found myself smiling a lot, and laughing quite a bit as well. Great book - Thanks Mr. Brown!

Now, I've moved on to another book Mr. Brown lent me: Jason Heller's Taft 2012. This one's been sitting on my shelf or in various packing boxes for years, so that I had forgot about it. 


About halfway through, the premise here is the book is set in a slightly alternate timeline where William Howard Taft disappeared the day his successor Woodrow Wilson was to take the presidential torch from him, then wakes up in 2011 as if not a day has gone by. The novel's charm so far really comes from reflecting on the fact that, for someone who was considered almost a presidential albatross in his day, in ours Taft appears almost Christ-like in his earnestness, strength of character, and honesty. As you can imagine, this gives author Heller room to play with how our world of today (well, of 13 years ago) to someone from one hundred years prior. And his characterization of Taft's interpretation of our social ills and foibles is both hysterical and cutting. We don't see the depth of the bullshit we wade through on a daily basis, because as the level rises, we acclimate to it as the norm.

I don't need to finish this one to recommend it. And yeah, I'd kind of like Will Taft to reappear and steer for a while. 




Playlist:

Julee Cruise - Floating into the Night
David Lynch & Alan R. Splet - Eraserhead OST
Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands
Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon
Ministry - HopiumfortheMasses
Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven
Oranssi Pazuzu - Live at Roadburn 2017
Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
Stephen Sanchez - Angel Face
Prince - Purple Rain
The Fixx - Reach the Beach
Raspberry Bulbs - Before the Age of Mirrors
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - White People and the Damage Done
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
Ministry - Psalm 69
Double Life - Indifferent Stars
The Damned - Evil Spirits
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman





Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.


• Queen of Cups
• Nine of Wands
• Five of Pentacles

Emotional connection reachds a climax, leads to conflict. Pretty sure this is a nod toward two characters' relationship in the novel I'm working on. Things have stalled a bit of late, as I recently began starting work two hours later and this cuts into my evening writing time. I'd been meaning to phase out my mindset of having to drive to a coffee shop to write anyway, so this was a boon. However, it's taken me some time to integrate a new writing schedule that I can actually adhere to. I spent a nice chunk of time this past Saturday afternoon, and during that session, the relationship between my main character and a love interest really began to blossom, so this is a welcome sign post on the the route forward.