Me and That Man - Run with the Devil

Me and That Man is a band I only recently discovered. Back in early November, I spent a few weeks ingesting their 2017 debut Songs of Love and Death. Now they release this and totally throw me for a loop on their sound - which is huge and amorphous - and I'm in love with this! Tarantino meets Bava's Demons meets The Thirsty Crows! How can this be any better? Well, in writing this post I did some reading and realized Me and That Man is a side project for Nergal from Behemoth, a band I'm not a huge fan of, but have wanted to give another try - 2014's The Satanist was fellated by many an online critic but never really burrowed into me the way I had hoped at the time. Maybe five years and seeing this completely different side of the brain trust will change that?

Here's to hoping there's a new album dropping in 2020.

**

Wow. A pretty stacked NCBD:

 Love this cover.

This book is getting even more insane with the newest story arc. There was a point where I thought it lost me; I was wrong.

This kind of NCBD hardly ever happens to me these days, so even though I'm picking up a day late, I'm psyched.

**

K and I wrapped up Season 4 of Veronica Mars last night and... well, wow. Aside from all the tears, I ended up absolutely loving this new tone for the grown-up Veronica world, despite what seemed like a slightly wobbly first two episodes (probably me bringing in baggage as we steam-rolled through season 3, into the movie, right into this, so there was some tonal shock at how the show and, particularly the Veronica character, had changed). Now, it's time for...




K is a complete X-Files virgin, and I was only ever spotty at best watching the show. I've always harbored the tendency to turn my nose up at tv, and that was especially true after Twin Peaks and before The Sopranos, so X-Files just seemed silly to me back when it came out. I never saw any of the first season episodes until waaaay later, and it wasn't until the 'Mythology' episodes hooked me with their eerie continuity before I cared at all. During a recent conversation, Mr. Brown asked if he could curate a 'playlist' of non-Mythology episodes for me, as a kind of overview of the best the series had to offer in its purest form. The idea of seeing the show through my good friend's eyes was something I would never pass up, so here we are. Of course, we have to start at the beginning, even if we deviate sharply from there.

Season 1, Ep. 1 - Pilot.

I'd seen this episode before, at some point, but remembered very little. I've gotta say, I really enjoyed it. There are so many cues The X-Files took straight from Twin Peaks (the episode opens with two Pacific-Northwest lawmen hunched over a dead girl's body found in the middle of the woods. When they turn her over, one of them recognizes her as a classmate of his son's. Does this feel too 'on the nose'?

No. It feels influenced by Peaks, but like the show is trying to do its own thing with the tone, which I appreciate. As the episode continues, I was surprised by the tasteful restraint of the music. Maybe it's later seasons, but I remember catching part of an episode in passing on someone else's tv within the last few years, and the score was so over the top and crescendo-heavy, I couldn't tolerate it for me than a few moments. Not the case here - Mark Snow's score in the non-iconic moments is wonderfully dark and sparse. I never felt like he was trying to manipulate my emotions or the story (when the writing is good, it stands on its own. Nothing worse than an over-indulgent score trying to make up for crappy writing). Also, the chemistry of the situation between Mulder and Scully works from the moment they meet. There's no fat on this one, and even though it has a lot to do in a short time, nothing ever feels rushed.

Overall, a fantastic episode and a great start to Mr. Brown's X-Files Playlist!

**

Playlist:

David Bowie - The Next Day
David Bowie - Black Star
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Orville Peck - Pony
Boy Harsher - Careful
Meg Myers - Sorry
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Blackwater Holylight - Veils of Winter
Blut Aus Nord - The Work Which Transforms God
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Moor Mother - Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes
Revocation - The Outer Ones
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

It Never Rains in Southern California

It gives me infinite pleasure to have finished Season Three of Veronica Mars last night - the episode ends with this song - and wake up to find it POURING. Because, like the man sings, it literally never rains in Southern California.

Next: Veronica Mars the movie, then Season 4! WU-HU!

**

Couple movies I watched recently:



Nothing revelatory, but an entertaining watch, to be sure. I really liked the way they used a huge red herring out of the gate and then totally dropped it. Also, the faux choking gag that results from this made me laugh out loud. Letterbxd



I LOVE this movie so very much. Letterboxd.



I LOVE Brad Anderson's films. Most of them, anyway. Transiberian owns a very special place in my heart, as does Session 9 and The Machinist, though to a lesser degree. IN my opinion, Trans is his masterpiece thus far - although there's a few I didn't see in the last few years and one I didn't care for at all, Vanishing on Seventh Street. Letterbxd.

**

I never thought I'd say it, but after reading Gideon the Ninth on a kindle, then moving on to Warren Ellis' Dead Pig Collector (finished, fantastic), and Autumn Christian's Girl Like A Bomb (in the middle of, also great) on it as well, I am in love with the digital reading format. I bought the Kindle version of the Injection Omnibus by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey - I have all the issues at home, but wanted to be able to carry the entire thing around with me all the time, as it is a source of endless inspiration at the moment, even though I've been pretty spotty on actually getting any writing done the last few days. Those weekend shifts at work kill me this time of year, and I've generally just been tired and obsessed with finishing V. Mars.

**

Playlist:

Orville Peck - Pony
Allegaeon - Apoptosis
Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Radio Symphony - Henry Górecki - Symphony No. 3
New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
Canyons - Barrie (single)
Caterina Barbieri - Ecstatic Computation
Blood Red Shoes - Get Tragic
Spotlights - Love and Decay
The Soft Moon - Criminal
The Smiths - Meat is Murder
Meg Myers - Sorry
Blackwater Holylight - Veils of Winter
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell
Meg Myers - Take Me to the Disco
Perturbator - Dangerous Days
(Sandy) Alex G - House of Sugar

**

No card today.

Grimes - My Name is Dark

New Grimes track! I reluctantly listened to this - while I'm chomping at the bit for the album and can't help but listen to every new track she drops, I'd really like to preserve the album experience. That said, I'm glad I hit play this one time (abstaining after until release day) because this is a fantastic track.

**

Finished Gideon the Ninth. Fantastic - four solid stars on Goodreads. Next up, Autumn Christian's Girl Like A Bomb, which I'm only a few pages into so far but am totally fascinated by. Sex has never been something I've shied away from in fiction, probably because so many of my favorite formative authors utilize it so well. It is a part of life, after all, and Irvine Welsh, Bret Easton Ellis, and Chuck Palahniuk -  to name a few - all write it very well. However, if you look at the common denominator there - all men - you'll probably see what I see, namely the fact that it's pretty one-sided. Christian's book starts off with sex and carries on much the same for the first chapter. It's about a girl's mission to lose her virginity and the strange power she experiences in doing so. Not sure if this power is a metaphor or something extraordinary yet, but then, that's the gotta see of the book, so far, and it's nice to see sex from the female perspective.

Because Girl Like A Bomb is a shorter book, and because I needed some inspiration and Warren Ellis is always raw inspiration, I also bought and downloaded Dead Pig Collector, the novella I picked up a signed copy of earlier in the year but can't bring myself to actually handle in order to read. It was only $.99 on Kindle, so a second, digital copy is hardly extravagant. And of course, within two pages, I'm fascinated and anxious and inspired, all at once.

There are a couple Ellis novels or novellas I've been meaning to read for a few years now, and one I plan to re-read fairly soon, but I figure I'll space them out a bit. The man has a lot of comics I still need to get to as well. The very definition of prolific.

**

My only day off this week due to the on-call schedule, K and I blitzed through a good half-dozen episodes of Veronica Mars season 3 yesterday. Man! I remembered three as being the weakest season, but honestly, just past the half-way mark and I'm thinking it is actually the strongest. The Campus rape storyline is dark AF and I have to wonder if it helped make the show disappear during that original run, but it's the most engrossing storyline to date, and doesn't suffer from being strewn across an entire season, mixed in with the "Scooby-Doo", case of the week stories that pepper throughout. Unlike the Lilly Kane or Exploding Bus storylines, the Campus rape storyline is an omnipotent presence that nips at our casts' heels the entire length of its life, and as such, really creates an ongoing sense of anxiety that works well in a detective, beach-noir show.

We're super close to finishing season three, doing the movie and then finally getting to the new season, so my curiosity is almost at the point of being sated. I purposely know nothing about Hulu's season 4, and cannot wait to dive into it and see where all these familiar characters are in their lives, fifteen or so years later. And after that... the truth is out there. Mr. Brown and my X-Files playlist project begins...

**

Playlist:

Meg Myers - Sorry
Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
Federale - No Justice
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
The Forest Children - Kingdom Animalia
The Forest Children - Darkness Brings the Cold
Oh Baby - The Art of Sleeping Alone
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Radiohead - OK Computer
Dungen - Ta det lugnt
Muggs - Dust
Thievery Corporation - The Mirror Conspiracy
Twilight Singers - Twilight
Various Artists - Under Frustration Vol. 2
Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen
Them Are Us Too - Remain
White Hex - Gold Nights
Sleaford Mods - English Tapas

**

Card:

I had to pull a clarifying card after coming up with the Eight of Swords - so some contrary experience will challenge a pre-established idea or ideal I carry with me? Good. It's always nice to get a fresh perspective.

Pan's Labyrinthine Dreamscape

Five days ago: in the car, a cover of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill comes on KROQ and mildly annoys me. I erroneously dismiss it as another 'Of Monsters and Men' type band covering a song I adore.

One day ago: I hear the same Kate Bush cover on the radio that is always on at work.  Normally tuned exclusively to KXLU, lately, the dial has been set to KROQ. I relive the experience in the car from a few days before, walk out and Shazam the track, realizing as I stand there with my phone in my hand that I actually like the cover.

Fifteen minutes ago: I wake up early, set up to stretch and see that I ear-marked the artist in question, Meg Myers', 2014 Make A Shadow EP on Apple Music. I download the tracks, lay out a yoga mat and hit play. While attempting to stretch out incredibly sore hamstring muscles, the first track starts and I melt.

This is amazing. Full salvo - this hits me hard.

Five minutes ago: I start this post, a newly minted Meg Myers fan.

**

It's time again for...

For the first time in years yesterday, I listened to Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too by the New Radicals. This was a huge album for me in the early 2000s, but perhaps because of that fact, it feels as though it belongs to that era. In this on-going obsession with recontextualizing the 00s, I listened to the album in one straight shot at work and experienced it in a deeply emotional way. Which was very, um, cathartic, I guess. Weird to experience a strong emotional response to music in an office with other people around, but it's kind of a different office aesthetic than most people have, so it worked.

I followed the one album Greg Alexander recorded as New Radicals with a song that often surprises people when it pops up on my iPod in a public forum. I know nothing about Michelle Branch and I'm not the biggest Carlos Santana fan, especially the album I'm about to reference here. However, this song, written by Alexander, sounds like it belongs on that one New Radicals album. I love it. When Ms. Branch hits those "tell my whhhyyyy" parts, it does to my soul exactly what Alexander's voice does on album opener Mother We Just Can't Get Enough, and it feels very, very good.



**

Finished the second season of Veronica Mars, and we're now a quarter of the way through the third. I've seen all these before, but my memory sucks, so while I remember how the main season arcs sweep, I don't completely remember how they get to where they're going. That was certainly the case with the climax of Season Two, where I remembered who had blown up the bus, but not why. I also didn't remember just how damn dark that Season Two finale gets, or how dark Season Three's main story is. Is this why the show ultimately disintegrated in the ratings that propelled it through its initial lifespan and subsequent following?

Chomping at the bit to revisit the movie - which I remember nothing about - and to get to the new Season on Hulu.

**

The new episode of The Horror Vision is up. Movie of the episode is James Gunn's wonderful 2006 gross-out Slither, but the conversation goes all over the place, from Jennifer Kent's Babadook follow-up The Nightengale, to AHS 1984's conclusion (no spoilers), to Clive Barker's Nightbreed. Oh, and our Classic Corner is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

The Horror Vision on Apple

The Horror Vision on Spotify

The Horror Vision on Google Play

**

Doing the movies-on-silent-in-the-background-while-I-write thing again, and it seems to be working well for inspiration. Recent features:





**

Playlist:

Alice in Chains - Eponymous
Soundgarden - Down On the Upside
St. Germaine - Tourist
New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
Federale - No Justice
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Blut Aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta III: Saturian Poetry
Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. II: Philosophy of Beyond
Telephone Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself

**
Card:

Which I associate with a very good friend who I spoke to immediately after pulling the card - coincidentally, not by design - who experienced a 6.4 Earthquake in Tirana. Stay safe, brother.

2019: July 22nd - The Dandy Warhols Used to Be Friends

It's not surprise that once K and I began Veronica Mars (from season 1 because she's never seen it and I haven't seen it in a long time), I'd gravitate back toward The Dandy Warhols. These guys helped define my early 2000s, and although it's not exactly where my head is at the moment, it's great to get back into the mood for these guys in the height of summer. Fits.

**

Saturday morning I caught Peter Ricq's horror comedy Dead Shack on Shudder TV. Fun little flick; parts of it irritated me initially, but I've grown a bit fonder of it in hindsight. And it has a fantastic concept. You can check out my brief review on my new Letterboxd account HERE.

Yeah, just what any of us need - more social media. But it's movies... anyway, here's the Dead Shack teaser trailer the director uploaded to his youtube account:



**

Sunday, K and I went to the theatre and saw Crawl. Absolutely fantastic, fun flick to see in a theatre. The storm effects are amazing. And there is zero fat on this one - as Anthony from The Horror Vision said in his review, it is a tight 87 minutes that does not mess around.



**

Playlist from the last few days:

Black Polygons - Lobélia
Public Image Ltd. - This is What You Want...
Sigur Rós - Variations on Darkness
Aerosmith - Pump
The Soft Moon - Criminal
Zombi - Shape Shift
The Soft Moon - Zeros
Drab Majesty - Moder Mirror

**

Card of the day:

A little troublesome; I finished that final read-through/edit on Shadow Play the other night, but advice from a friend in the biz is making me reconsider releasing it myself. This is a highly respected, published horror author who advised me once a book is published, no publisher will touch it, unless, like Hugh Howey, you sell a million copies on your own. I hadn't really considered seeking a publisher that seriously, but it was never out of the question. I find myself reflecting on whether this card is warning of trouble if I do self-publish, or if I don't.

2019: May 3rd: Veronica Mars Teaser

I've been wanting to post this for a few days, but I haven't had a chance to even step foot on blogger due to crazy work hours and constant exhaustion. I'm a HUGE fan of the original Veronica Mars series - especially the first season - so I'm excited as hell for the new series and an impetus to re-watch those old episodes.

**

This weekend it's Free Comic Book Day! Not sure if I'll be heading out to my beloved Comic Bug's annual gala, but if you're in Southern California and looking for something to do, Mike and Jun always have the best FCBD shindig. More info HERE.

Speaking of comics, this week was a light NCBD, but here's what I picked up:

And this one was HUGE. No spoilers here, but if you read The Walking Dead and haven't read issue 191 yet, stop what you're doing and go do that now!

Also, last weekend Jonathan Grimm got me hooked on the idea of reading comics on a Kindle. I'd read a few digital books before, but always on my laptop, and was never really a fan of it. With a Kindle or tablet however, it's pretty awesome. What else is pretty awesome is the fact that digital comics go on sale regularly. I'm not about to stop reading physical comics for my month-to-month titles, but for $3-$5 bucks a trade, I'm very much in the middle of a deep dive on stuff I've missed, am curious about, or that's out of print. First up was Grant Morrison's Animal Man trades; I read this title originally back in High School, circa '94, and it was one of the first books that blew my head wide open and transitioned me out of the superhero quagmire and into the Vertigo stuff. At some point I'm not sure what happened to the trades I had, and they are now well OOP, but on Kindle they're $4.99, so I picked up Vol. 1 and fell right back into this amazing book.

Next, for $2.99 I scored Cosmic Ghost Rider: Baby Thanos Must Die. My good friend Mike Shin talked this character up on the DwC we did at his shop Amazing Fantasy in Chicago last December, and I'd been meaning to pick something up. For $3 I had no excuse. And, I mean, Frank Castle as the flame-headed spirit of Vengeance? In space? Former Herald of Galactus and associate of the Mad Titan?

Clearly, I'm still riding high off Avengers: Endgame, and it's reignited my love for Marvel. And for that price - how could you go wrong? If I'd paid $15-20 for this I'd probably not have dug it so much, but for what I paid I had a really fun time with it. Especially with Juggerduck...

**

Last Saturday, an extended cast of The Horror Vision watched Jordan Downey's new film The Head Hunter. It's awesome! Here the trailer and links to our new episode:



The Horror Vision on Apple
The Horror Vision on Spotify
The Horror Vision on Google Play
The Horror Vision.com

**
Playlist from 4/30:

Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Silversun Pickups - Better Nature
Best Coast - Crazy for You
Kevin Morby - Oh My God

Playlist from 5/01

Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Kevin Morby - Oh My God
Ghost - Meliora
Ghost Cop - One Weird Trick
King Khan and the Shrines - What Is?!
Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

Playlist from 5/02:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Jesus & The Brides of Dracula - Turning Teeth (Single)
Rob Zombie - Apple Music Essential Playlist
Rob Zombie - The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration...
Rob Zombie - Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor

**

Card of the day:

From the Grimoire: "Can be a bit of a cunt in matters pertaining to money or stability."

On. The. Nose.

First Veronica Mars Footage out of ComicCon (via Aintitcoolnews)

I still maintain that the first season of Veronica Mars is among the best stories I've ever seen on television. All three seasons are great, but season one just really, really hums. GREAT writing.

Via Aintitcoolnews where they have more info here.

A Veronica Mars Movie?

This video reminded me just how damn awesome the show was and how attached I am to the characters. I didn't watch it when it was on, nor the first time through when my wife bought the DVD sets. However, about a year and a half ago something piqued my curiosity and we sat down over the course of however many weeks and watched the whole three season run, and it was fantastic, though it ends rather abruptly in season three and, like so many great shows do, leaves you hanging for something that's probably never gone come...

But now it might! Creator Rob Thomas has announced a Kickstarter campaign and shot a GREAT little video to introduce us to it - and to reacquaint us with the main characters and remind us what it was we loved about the show. Seriously - this video is fantastic.

And oh what a show...

The first season of VM especially is something I would put up with the best tv has ever had to offer. For me there's Breaking Bad, then there's Twin Peaks (it's only within the last two years that that order has emerged - I've been in love with Twin Peaks since the night the pilot aired and I just happened to watch it, waaaay back in what I believe was 1990) and then number three is probably season 1 of Veronica Mars. It's just that damn good; such a strong tone that runs through the entire thing, top to bottom, front to back. And so many great and complex characters, not to mention dozen of endearing little moments that stuck in my head only to re-surface on an almost daily basis (Vinnie Van Lowe singing Hall and Oats' Private Eyes to Veronica as a makeshift threat springs to mind immediately).