It's an early Frank Black kinda morning, so I fired up Teenager of the Year. Love this record!
Watch:
Last night I watched Roadhouse for the first time.
This movie is Ridiculous! I would have turned up my nose and made fun of this even ten years ago, but really, I've come to see a lot of these 80s studio action movies as major studios doing exploitation flicks, and that's essentially what this tries to be. Now, I believe there's a DVD out there with Kevin Smith doing the commentary back like 20 years ago. I'd be pretty interested in checking that out.
Playlist:
22-20s - Eponymous
Various - Up Above the Stars Spotify Playlist (culled from Barry Adamson's Biography)
T. Rex - The Slider
David Lynch & John Neff - BLUEBOB
Metallica - 72 Seasons (pre-release singles)
Lamp of Murmur - Saturnian Bloodstorm (pre-release singles)
Lustmord - The Others
Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission
Ozzy Osbourne - Patient No. 9
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
Willed transformation will result in an energizing new endeavor/perspective. I know exactly what this is referencing. Time to dig out something I've had on the backburner and give it another once over in between working on Shadow Play Book 2.
Andrei Tarkovsky has only ever barely been on my peripheral, but thanks to Criterion Channel, I just had the opportunity to watch his 1979 film Stalker.
I still need time to unpack this one before I can talk about it, however, let it be said that I absolutely LOVED this film. Talk about 'location porn.' The visual aesthetic of this film perfectly aligns with my innermost aesthetic - something that goes back to when I hunted around my yard for half-full culverts and dirt mounds, shattered bricks, twisted metal, anything to have a location for my action figures.
I've been obsessing over Stalker in my head for the last two days, and this inspired me to look for a podcast discussion of it. Well, boy did I find it.
The Weird Studies podcast is fantastic! Hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel not only deep-dive the film, but their discussion of philosophy, art and life feels absolutely refreshing in the stifled academic pretense of our time. I've already subscribed, and intend on Weird Studies keeping me company for many a commute to come (while I still have a commute, that is).
Watch.2:
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I cannot wait for this movie!
Against all odds, this really moved the needle for me. I "broke up" with Kevin Smith about the time I sat through Tusk, which could have been fantastic, but had James Laxton's gorgeous cinematography and a stellar Michael Parks performance destroyed by adolescent whimsy. I used to be a big fan of his films, but now, well, I still hold Chasing Amy in extremely high regard - the acting! - but other than that... not so much. Clerks II had its moments but was overall depressing. I'm not saying Smith makes bad movies (sometimes, sure), but overall I feel like I just outgrew him. This, though, looks like it will be a nice way to revisit that original film and these characters. My mileage varies with most of them, but it's been a minute and I didn't go within ten feet of that Reboot movie, so I think I may enjoy the Quick Stop one last time.
I've always been a bit on the fence when it comes to Black Mountain. Not sure why, but it very well could just be a case of not having spent enough time with them. Whatever the case, I'm digging this new song the band dropped off their upcoming album Destroyer, out May 24th on Jagjaguwar. Pre-order the album HERE.
Finally heeded all of the recommendations to go see Spider-man: into the Spiderverse last night. BLOWN AWAY. The animation was revolutionary, a far cry from anything that all the pixars of the world put up on the big screen. I never read Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-man past the first trade back in the day, so while I've been peripherally aware of Miles Morales since he took over the Spiderman persona in the former Ultimate Universe, I'd never actually engaged with him as a character in a story.
He is marvelous.
As much as I grew up with and will always have a soft spot for Peter Parker, this is the Spiderman of the future. I'm reminded of Grant Morrison's run on Batman and Robin, where Bruce Wayne was dead and Dick Greyson took over the Batsuit, with Damien Wayne as his Robin. Brilliant arc, and Morrison spoke on Kevin Smith's Fatman on Batman podcast about how he told DC that Bruce should stay dead, and that Dick and Damien were the team for the new millennium. And of course, DC ignored him. Status Quo - the staunchest villain to the medium of comics ever. Marvel has, of course, figured out ways to keep all their Spider-characters going, but with the emphasis on Miles in this film, they're clearly hedging their bets on him, as though they heeded Morrison's advice for their own major flagship property.
Playlist from 3/09:
Windhand - Eternal Return
Playlist from 3/10:
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper
Twin Temple - Twin Temple (Bring You Their Signature Sound... Satanic Doo-Wop)
Chromatics - Camera
Noctural Projections - Complete Studio Recordings
Card for the day:
Nine = Yesod: the fields fo imagination, reflection, and foundation, where you can root your creation in firm soil and sit back and let it breath on its own. This pull is telling me I'm pretty much finished and need to prepare to release the book. It's a bit ahead of the actual workload being completed, but close enough to be a sound reminder not to overthink things.
And it looks better than I imagined. Oh I do love Michael Parks...
One thing of note here is that during Smith's two episode stint on Bret Easton Ellis' podcast back around the beginning of the year the two talked about the Stanley Kubrick conspiracy doc Room 237 and Smith told Ellis that the idea of Kubrick's visual symmetry in his films was something he actively took away from the documentary and applied to Tusk. I dare say you really see it in this trailer.
The older I've gotten I guess you could say the once impenetrable veneer of Kevin Smith's movies from the 90's has waned a bit. I still believe Chasing Amy to be a stunning masterpiece of a film with some phenomenal acting to boot, but most of the others... I still love them, just not so much or so blindly as 'films'. Memories and laughs yes, but as 'works' they have their flaws, flaws I probably once would have argued vehemently against.
Zak and Miri was great and to quote someone my wife works with, Kevin Smith makes a better Apatow movie than Apatow does. Cop Out wasn't on my radar - it was Mr. Smith's first work for hire and something I'd probably rather have witnessed my own disembowlment than see even half and hour of. But for years Smith spoke of his desire to do a horror movie and now... here we go in March.
What does the trailer tell us? Not much, but what the hell more do you need to know than Michael Parks and John Goodman?
