The Lucid Night

 

My good friend and fellow cohost on The Horror Vision Horror Podcast sent me this track a couple days ago, and I just got around to listening to it. Outstanding! I'm working my way through the entire The Mystic Journey EP from 2020, which can be purchased directly from the band HERE.

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NCBD:

Here's the list for this week's NCBD picks:

The finale for Pat O'Malley's Popscars! I've been waiting for this one for some time, and issue five really just threw gas on that fire. Such a great book, and if you didn't read it monthly, I happen to know the TPB is being released from Sumerian next month!

After dropping off Ed Piskor's Red Room after the first four-issue series, I'm super happy I came back for this final four-issue run. Crypto Killaz has been a crazy ride; this book takes me back to the glory days of 80s indie comics, and despite its ultra-disturbing subject matter, Piskor's Harry Crumb-esque art style really makes for something new. I just booked a trip to LaLaLand in a few weeks, so while I'm there, I'll be stopping by The Comic Bug to pick up that second-season trade and complete the Red Room saga.

Due to my own misjudgment of interest in this series, I did not end up getting a copy of last week's penultimate Weapons of Vengeance chapter in Wolverine #36. Rick's Comic City ordered one for me, though, so hopefully, I'll be able to grab that as well as this final chapter there today.

I'm a bit confused why this Emma Stone/Tony Stark wedding is happening in the midst of the Mutants' darkest hour, but I'm sure Gerry Duggan and crew will make it work.

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Watch:

A few nights ago, I watched Riley Stearns's 2014 film Faults. Here's the trailer:

 

Leland Orser spent a lot of time owning the small, supporting roles he is known for - several of which I would argue are iconic - so it's great to see him in the lead, where he turns in one hell of a performance as Ansel Roth, Cult and Mindcontrol expert. Hired to deprogram an older couple's runaway daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who also turns in an outstanding performance), things are not quite what they seem, and Ansel ends up in a series of pretty rough situations. As hysterical as it is disturbing, Faults is a fantastic film. Currently streaming on Freevee, you can also pick up the Blu-Ray for a pretty good price over at Vinegar Syndrome.

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Playlist:

Rodney Crowell - Ain't Living Long Like This

Rodney Crowell - The Houston Kid

Extreme - Six

The Lucid Night - The Mystic Journey

16 Horsepower - Secret South

Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: The Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts

Metallica - ... And Justice For All

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

Blut Aus Nord - Triunity

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

Captain Jack - Pure Electric

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Oracle:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE, and his Kickstarter for The Hand of Doom tarot is now live! Click HERE and be blown away!!!

• Ace of Wands

• King of Wands

• Page of Wands

It's all about Will today, eh? Okay, good to know. Now, let's go a little bit deeper...

I generally read all Aces as Breakthroughs, and the King of Wands as a firm hand. Page or (Princess in Thoth) is a pragmatic application, so this would appear to be outlining a course of action: Applying Will in the proper place and without judgment, but with the understanding of when to back off may lead to a break-through. 

bunsenburner - Rituals

Sometimes the algorithm works in our favor (even if it will ultimately undo humanity completely). Case in point - bunsenburder's Rituals popped into my youtube feed last Friday. The front cover artwork reminded me of Genghis Tron's Dead Mountain Mouth, so I clicked play.

Forty-Seven minutes later I was left pretty much in awe. 

You just won't believe where this one goes based on how it begins. I LOVE this band! Hailing from Freiburg Im Breisgau, Germany, here's the bio taken directly from their Bandcamp:

"bunsenburner evolved into an ever-rotating and expanding hive mind initially conceived and realised by the bassist and producer Ben Krahl in 2012."

Kinda sounds like a description of The Ocean early on in their career, right?

There's stuff on Rituals that reminds me of early Jucifer albums, of The Sword, of Angelo Badalamenti, The Calexico... the list goes on, and while it's not my intention to drown bunsenburner's music in comparisons - because honestly, that's not really possible with so unique an outfit as this, especially after you begin digging through their previous albums - I wanted to give folks enough to make them seek these guys out. 

You can pick up a limited edition cassette copy of Rituals on the Bandcamp HERE, or also support the band digitally. 

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Watch:

Cinematic Void dropped a trailer for Up All Night - every Saturday this October, the Cinemadness movie will run on the Cinematic Void youtube channel HERE. 

I can't say enough good things about Cinematic Void. Founder James Branscome does some of the best programming in the states in my opinion, and now that he's expanded from being L.A.-centric to including The Music Box in Chicago and other cities like Boston, I really wanted to help spread the word a bit farther afield. Check the Void out online and if you follow them over on FB, Twitter or Instagram and see a show close to you pop up, check it out. Also, as I've mentioned here plenty of times previously, the Cinematic Void Podcast is one of the best cult/Horror/exploitation podcasts out there. You can find them on Apple Podcasts HERE or Spotify HERE and, of course, the show is available pretty much anywhere else you might get your podcasts.

Also, and I just discovered this myself, The Void has a pretty awesome Big Cartel shop HERE.

  

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Playlist:

The Hives - The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons

High on Fire - The Art of Self Defense (remix/remaster)

King Woman - Celestial Blues

bunsenburner - Rituals

Final Light - Eponymous

Trauma is Trauma: A Mental Health Talk with Kevin Smith

Metallica - 72 Seasons

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Prayers For the Death of Fame EP

Pastor T.L. Barret and the Youth for Christ Choir - Like a Ship Without a Sail

Blackbraid - Blackbraid II

Julee Cruise - Floating Into the Night

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Card:

• Three of Disks:Work

• I: The Magus

• Queen of Disks

The Three of Disks indicates successful growth, although I'm always quick to add that growth will come as the result of some kind of labor. Not necessarily hard, physical labor. In this case here, the card's referencing my own mental labor, as I try and twist the disparate elements I've set up in the new novel and have them coalesce into the climax I can feel, but can't quite 'see' yet.

The Magus indicates, of course, that Magick will come in handy. I know this; my Magick IS the work and my commitment to it, because as so many Chaos Magicians have told us, from Hine to Moore to Spare, it's all about The Will.

The Queen of Disks reminds me to be emotionally grounded during this period. This is a direct reference to a kind of mini disassociative state that can sometimes swallow me when I'm so zeroed in that I drive myself crazy because, as Life would have it, I just can't always work on what I want to based on, you know, the day job, family, friends, etc. A good reminder.

 

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Live Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs!

 

KEXP dropped a live session with British Sludge Punks Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs a few days ago, and I'm here to tell you it kicks some serious arse! Check it out and if you dig, head on over to their Bandcamp HERE and grab the new record Land of Sleeper! 

Mr. Brown was the one who turned me onto these lads when the album dropped, and I've been spinning both the new one and 2020's Viscerals - both fantastic albums of grimy, heavy slabs of Slunk (see what I did there?) 

I hear so many different influences in these guys: The Wipers, Sabbath, Melvins, and Idles all spring immediately to mind. That said, this is a 100% original sound, which is difficult to do in the sludge world. 

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NCBD:

Once again, here are my picks for #NCBD!

As of issue 13 I realized that my theory that Danny Ketch was now a product of the Weapon Plus Program was off; instead we have some weird corporation developing weapons with aspects of Hell in their DNA? Super weird, and I'm curious to see where this goes.

I confess - I was not blown away by Nightmare Country's return last month with Glass House #1. Also, so the full title now is The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country: The Glass House? That's a lot of sub-titles. Regardless of naming aesthetics, James Tynion IV has my complete trust. Also, what a cover!!!

I love the simplicity of this story so far. I also love the mechanics of the two worlds in juxtaposition to one another.

Saga!

First X-Men: Red since coming back from Sins of Sinister, and we're looking at a cover of Storm amidst a pile of dead Xaviers. The mind reels at what insane cosmic blasphemies Al Ewing and Jacopo Camagni have in store for us now that Arakko is back

 

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Watch:

A new trailer for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer dropped earlier in the week.

At some point, despite loving every one of Nolan's films up to and including (especially!) The Dark Knight Rises. For my money, Nolan's Batman is the only cinematic Batman. That said, I always loved his non-IP films better, with The Prestige ranking as one of my favorites of that decade. Yet, I missed Interstellar in the theatres then sat on my hands when it lived on Prime for the better part of 2016, skipped Dunkirk entirely, and even mismanaged my fervor for Tenant due to not being able to see it in a theatre during its COVID-era release. After seeing this trailer for Oppenheimer, I'm not letting this one get away.

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Playlist:

Chamber of Screams, Clement Panchout & Mxxn - Murder House Original Puppet Combo Soundtrack

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

Soundgarden - Super Unknown

Tamaryn - The Waves

DIR EN GREY - The Marrow of a Bone

            

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Doubling up on Swords suggestions Conflict, however, cut with the Page (Princess in Thoth) of Cups, I'd say this refers to news of the quiet dissolution of multiple social and business problems this morning.

 

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Iress - Ricochet

 

New music from Iress! I just broke out 2019's Prey a week or so ago, so they've been on my mind and were actually one of the bands I checked to see if they had a show while I'll be in LaLaLand for the next two weeks. No dice, but at least we have this song. These guys continue to level up. You can purchase Ricochet on Iress's Bandcamp HERE.

 

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Watch:

I watched Andrew Davis's The Final Terror earlier tonight (I'm writing this at 12:53 Saturday, 3/04/23). 

 

A Full Five Fucking Stars! The movie ended two hours ago and I still just cannot stop thinking about it. The absolute pinnacle of the Backwoods Slasher subgenre, in my opinion (and I never thought anything would dethrone Just Before Dawn).

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Pre-Order Music:

New Godflesh this June!

PURGE! No new tracks posted yet, but I saw the announcement and pre-ordered the Silver vinyl from Plastic Head Megastore, evidently the only place you can grab this at the current moment. Here's the LINK, and a random, awesome photo of JKB I found searching for that album cover above, courtesy of Brave Worlds:

I Love this damn band and I have none of their stuff - no JKB stuff at all on vinyl. Some bands are just CD bands for me. Some of my favorites, too. But this, well, even with the UK shipping charge - which was much more reasonable than I've ever encountered before - I just couldn't pass this up.

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Playlist:

The Jeff Healy Band - Full Circle: The Live Anthology (Live Montreal Jazz Fest 1989)

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Viscerals

Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs

Church of the Cosmic Skull - There Is No Time

Metallica - Hardwired

Karl Casey - White Bat XVIII EP

Odonis Odonis - Post Plague

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Iress - Ricochet (single)
 

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

New ideas will lead to the completion of a process, but only if they are weighed carefully for merit and applied in the correct fashion. 100% this references a breakthrough I've had over the last two days' writing sessions on Shadow Play Book 2. Major changes but not in a way that requires a major overhaul. Lots of historical research, though, which is what the cards are confirming as the appropriate avenue. Time consuming but worth it.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - The Weatherman

 

I had not heard of the band Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs until Mr. Brown sent me something about their newest record Land of Sleeper, which dropped on Friday. I listened to this one on the way up to Indiana on Friday, and it's a fantastic Doom/Stoner Rock record. Favorite song so far? "The Weatherman." Really unique song that almost reminds me of a Robert Howard entry into the Cthulhu Mythos with its eerie chanting and whining guitar. Check it out, and the Seven Pigs Bandcamp is HERE.

 

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Watch:

I watched three movies yesterday. Here's the list in trailers:

 

Outstanding film! There are a few little acting hiccups with the kid leads, but not in any way that takes away from what's here. If you ever wanted to see what Reservation Dogs mashed up with The Thing would look like, find Slash/Back on Shudder and hit play.

   

I had not seen Red Dawn since it first hit VHS, so circa 84/85. This was homework for an upcoming episode of Elements of Horror, with the remake following tonight (remake I have never seen). I can't help wonder how much of the OG Red Dawn is propaganda, or if this was simply a case of, "Hey, these fears run rampant in our culture, let's play with what it would look like if it really happened."

The sad irony, of course, is that if you push this up to today and set it in Ukraine, well, it becomes a f*ckin' documentary.

This movie remains as wonderful and ridiculous as always. Hey Keith David - just put on the damn glasses already!

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Playlist:

Portishead - Third

Beak> - Kosmik Musik

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

I keep seeing that Empress coupled with Aces, which makes me feel like I'm flirting with some kind of breakthrough. This time, instead of an emotional nod, we see Will, and adding to that the Five of Cups, which speaks of Emotional conflict, I'm left wondering what am I not seeing? This doesn't appear tied to my writing endeavors, and the last five days have been a bit of a vacation from that, so I'm not sure how to interpret this. In cases like this, I've begun leaving the three-card Pull on my desk all day as I work, so the cards are always right in front of me. 

The Doom That's Coming to Gotham...

 

I stumbled across this pre-release track from the new Industrial band Insolent yesterday while writing, and really dug it. The album is titled Drain - which I love - and comes out February 24th via Sentient Ruin. You can pre-order on Insolent's Bandcamp HERE.

 

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Support:

I've been talking about this on recent episodes of The Horror Vision, but Author Laird Barron is in the midst of some pretty serious health problems at the moment. Being a professional writer - and a great one at that - it should come as no surprise to anyone that the man does not have health insurance. Thanks to John Langan (author of The Fisherman) and Mike Davis (from the Lovecraft Ezine Podcast), a GoFundMe went up for Laird. Here's the information; kick in if you can:

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NCBD:

Here are my picks for this week's NCBD:

Dark Web still? Okay, let's hope this is better than issue #17. I feel like, if this had wrapped up faster, I wouldn't be losing interest.

The mini-series end! Creepshow has been an uneven ride, but overall I dug it. Will I return if it does? Not sure...

I hadn't even heard about this one until last week. With the success of last year's The Last Ronin - success the book 100% deserves - this was inevitable. I'm totally down with going back into this world and seeing how we got to where that story took place.

It's always a good Wednesday when there's a new issue of Saga waiting for me.

I've been kind of excited for this one. Full disclosure: The 'twist' at the end of Immortal X-Men #10 seems like too big a swing that is just going to bring this whole carefully balanced house of cards down around Gillen's ears, but I hope not. 

The end to a fantastic mini-series that, I thought, harkened back to the way Chris Claremont did X-book miniseries back in the day. 

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Watch:

It's been quite a few years since I last read Mike Mignola's The Doom That Came To Gotham mini-series.  A prestige-format, 3-issue mashup of H.P. Lovecraft's The Doom That Came To Sarnath and Mignola's Gotham By Gaslight timeline (I think), I loved this series when it first came out back in 2000-2001. 

Now, it appears there will be an animated adaptation:

I've seen a few of the other Batman animated adaptations. Well, I've seen The Dark Knight Returns and didn't necessarily love it. But I think I'll definitely give this one a chance whenever it hits HOBO MAX. 

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Playlist:

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands

Off! - Free LSD

Bonny Doon - Longwave

Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins - Garlands

Realize - Machine Violence 

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full

Ghost Bath - Moonlover

Insolent - Inner Tomb (pre-release single)

Godflesh - Post Self

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Man, that emotional breakthrough is really insistent, isn't it? What aren't I doing? Or is is something I am doing that shouldn't be? Looking at Old Scratch and then Justic, I find myself wondering if I'm mistakenly waiting for something I am not due to receive? 

Bedridden - Soft Soap

 

My good friend Amy posted a track by her nephew's new band on her socials the other day, and I was floored when I followed the link and hit play. Can't wait to hear more by Bedridden soon; this band rules! Buy the track and hit follow over on their Bandcamp HERE.

 

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Watch:

Starting my first full rewatch of Twin Peaks since before 2017's The Return (which I've rewatched twice since it aired). This time, however, I am starting with Fire Walk With Me. 

Watched it today; never fails to blow me away.

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Playlist:

David Lynch and John Neff - BLUEBOB

Stan Getz - Focus

Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner

Lustmord - Hobart

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me OST

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Card:

For the first of my three New Year's Pulls, I used Missi's Raven Tarot for a single card to indicate where the new year will take me.

A paradigm shift! Good news. This leads me to believe I am on firm footing with the projects I am currently balancing. Let's revisit this for each of the next two days with my subsequent pulls.

Grey Hairs - Serious Business

 

Having never heard of the band Grey Hairs before, I encountered two of their songs in something I was watching (although for the life of me I can't remember what). Anyway, I checked out their record Serious Business and found it to be seriously fantastic. Here's a youtube post, followed by their Bandcamp HERE

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Watch:

Brad Anderson earned a place in my heart with the films Session 9, The Machinist and, perhaps most spectacularly of all, Transiberian. Since then, I can't say I have liked or even seen all of his film projects, but I always want to give him the benefit of the doubt. So, seeing a trailer for a new Anderson-helmed Horror flick pop up on Bloody Disgusting the other day got me a bit excited:

As usual, the photography here is gorgeous. Also as usual with modern trailers, I watched 51 seconds of this and turned it off. The trailer only needed that short a time to sell the film to me, and I don't want to know anything else. Blood lands on January 27.

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Read:

Despite my intentions, I did not pick Will Carver's Psychopaths Anonymous back up after finishing Irvine Welsh's The Bedroom Secrets of The Master Chefs. Welsh's novel was just too good, and it's still resonating through my head, providing a pretty severe distraction to anything long-form, so reading another novel would only take away from it for me. Instead, I realized I never finished Donnie Goodman's book of short stories, The Razorblades in My Head.

LOVE that cover by artist Justin T. Coons. This proved to be exactly what I needed. I started this one back when I was in Tennessee looking for houses this past July, and the fact that we moved a little over a month later made this one kinda fall through the cracks for a moment. Glad I picked it back up.

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Playlist:

Various Artists - Joe Begos Bliss Playlist

Grey Hairs - Serious Business

Depeche Mode - Essentials (Apple Music Playlist)

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Season One OST

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman - Eponymous

Chet Baker - Baker's Holiday

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Will synthesized by imagination reveals hidden asset and proves to be the final piece in the puzzle for completion. Good news - I just cannot seem to finish this story! Part of the problem is keeping it at 4K words or under - doing that means I have to rethink things at certain points, and doing so leads to changes that then ripple throughout. It keeps getting better and more refined in both theory and mechanics, but now I'm stuck at the finish line with very little space to go forward. I'll have to go back and chop some more - never a bad thing and possibly my favorite thing when working on a story; I LOVE cutting things out and making the overall piece tighter. Kill your darlings? I stalk through stories with a machete and a smile.

Fvunerals - Ashen Era

 

A special thanks to Heaven Is An Incubator for turning me on to Fvnerals. Their music has been an integral part of my afternoons as the sun sets earlier and earlier, I click over and let the slow wash of their dreary but beautiful, doom-laced music.

"Ashen Era" is the second track released from the band's forthcoming album Let the Earth be Silent, out February 3rd on Prophecy Productions, which also serves as home to one of my long-time favorite black-gaze bands, Fen. You can pre-order the album on Fvnerals' Bandcamp HERE.

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NCBD:

Here are my picks for this week's NCBD:

Another crossover? Yeah, I'm going to give Dark Web a shot. I really dug the lead-on issue of Amazing Spider-Man two weeks ago. Hallows Eve is a great character name and design, a sort of female Hobgoblin, which I'm sure some folks will roll their eyes at, but based on my lackluster reception of recent iterations of old Hobby, I see this character as a welcome addition to Spider-Man's rogues gallery, which has contained more than a few Halloween-themed characters.

The final issue of Daniel Warren Johnson's Do A Powerbomb. I won't lie, the end of the last issue went big in a way that I didn't exactly love, but I can't wait to see how this plays out regardless. Love this guy and his work.

What a cover! I don't love this Diesel character, however, I think a lot of that has to do with its name. I'm hoping once he and Flame Head tangle, things will get brutal because this book has definitely had some brutal moments thus far. 

I cannot wait to read this issue. After the previous issue of Immortal X-Men, I began reading about upcoming comics and saw that there is another, a smaller event coming up called The Sins of Sinister. Despite my usual trepidation with events, this one I will be reading with gusto.

Another final issue. Night of the Ghoul has been a fun Horror mini-series, which is a format Scott Snyder has always seemed to excel at.

The intensity dial continues to be slowly raised in this first iteration of Marvel's Predator series, and I'm digging that a lot. While I do think this will ultimately read better as a trade, if you're a Predator fan new or old, check this out. 

I love that every year since its inception, Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips do a Christmas Special for their weird fiction/southern gothic detective book That Texas Blood. Last year's was a great way to outro from the intensity of the arc preceding it, and no doubt this will function much the same. 

I'm a bit behind on TMNT, so I need to catch up soon. Some of that is due to avoiding the Event books for Armegeddon Game, as I'm not sure if I should be reading it to make sense of the last few issues. 

Abigail Brand's duplicitous (triplicitous?) agenda has been revealed, so all sorts of shit is no doubt about to go off. I don't think I've looked forward to Cable's presence or reaction in a story this much since the original X-Force 7 when Sauron "killed" Sam Guthrie. 

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Watch:

I've been teetering back and forth as to whether I wanted to subscribe to the new Horror-centric Streaming app Screambox. If you look up what's available, there's a lot of exclusive stuff, but not necessarily anything I want to see. The rest of their catalogue reminds me a lot of scoping out Shudder back at its relative inception, circa 2013. That said, as the company continues to produce and buy new films, my interest is growing. Case in point: 

Writer/Director Cristin Ponce is getting a lot of acclaim for this one, 

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Playlist:

Bobby Fingers Episode 2

Fvnerals - Wound

SQÜRL & Jozef Van Wissem - Only Lovers Left Alive OST

Dreamkid - Eponymous

Metallica - Hardwired... To Self-Destruct

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

Perturbator - Dangerous Days

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Ideas + Collaboration can lead to strife. Differing opinions. I drew a clarifier to see if a compromise is likely, Knight of Pentacles, which suggests to me that it may require an act of Will (i.e. be difficult or put me out of my comfort zone), but yes, compromise is likely.

AHS NYC

 

Happy Monday, October 17th! Here's some Dance with the Dead to wake all our asses up! From the B-Sides: Vol. 1 collection, which is available on the group's Bandcamp HERE.

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One in Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

10/14 - Halloween Kills

10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space

10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth

Jennifer Reeder's Night's End hit Shudder a few months back as a Shudder original and kind of got pushed right past my radar by all the other titles that came in hot on its heels. Luckily, while browsing back through the "All Movies" heading, I stumbled on it. Fantastic film. a tight 81 minutes, this one really pulls you into the protagonist's inner world with visual cues, then kind of explodes all over the place in the final act. Loved it.

Also, we have the first episode of AHS NYC dropping this coming Wednesday, and I'm pretty excited. I don't think it's any coincidence that this season lands just after David Bruckner's Hellraiser and appears to focus on a lot of the same imagery and even, possibly, an extension of the scene that inspired Barker to write the original The Hellbound Heart. 

Will this be American Horror Story's version of Hellraiser? Probably not exactly, but it looks like it will scratch a similar itch.

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Playlist:

Boy Harsher - Burn It Down EP

Boy Harsher - Careful

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Public Memory - Veil of Counsel EP

G.I.S.M. - Detestation

Jammes Luckett - May OST

Goblin - 2013 Tour EP

Claudio Simonetti - Phenomena OST

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

Say no more. This is one of those "loud and clear" readings: I haven't gotten shit down with writing in weeks. The second week in LA, when I stayed with friends, fine. That's an excuse. Working, commuting, seeing almost a flick a night and a concert? But I've been back a week tonight (technically a week tomorrow morning) and I've only written once. That has to change. I need to focus my energies on that time, and apply my Will. 

Trick 'R Treat Reincarnated

Another track from Rein, because I've been listening to the record a lot and really dig this song. Rein's official site is HERE and the Bandcamp is HERE.

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Watch:

Dario Argento's Dark Glasses last night at the Aero in Santa Monica was great, and we had the distinct pleasure of James Branscome introducing the flick for Beyondfest 2022. Nice to put a face to the voice of one of my favorite podcasts, James co-hosts Cinematic Void along with Nick Vance, and if you're a Horror or Exploitation buff, you need this one in your life.

As for the film, Dark Glasses is by no means a top-tier flick from the iconic Italian Director, but it's a return to his Giallo obsession and as much, a lot of fun. Don't necessarily expect things to make a lot of sense, but if you're an Argento fan, you probably already know that. The water snakes scene was laugh-out-loud riotous, and probably my favorite moment.

Tonight's movie is 2007's Trick 'R Treat, with Director Michael Dougherty in attendance for a Q&A.

If you haven't seen Trick 'R Treat, you have done yourself quite the disservice.

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Playlist:

Front 242 - Geography 

Dio - The Last in Line 

Tiamat - Clouds

Slipknot - The End, So Far

The Misfits - Static Age

Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance

Rein - Reincarnated
 

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Card:

A reminder to reach beyond the attainable and try for something more.

The Bagman Cometh

Heaven is an Incubator posted the new album by Spain's Calderum. I'd never heard of these guys (this guy?) before, or the idea that anyone was meshing Black Metal with Dungeon Synth. I mean, talk about a sound you didn't know you wanted but you've been anticipating for years!

You can pre-order the Vinyl like I did, or the cassette from Death Prayer Records in the UK, just head over to Calderum's Bandcamp HERE.

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Write:

I just posted a story called The Bagman Cometh over on the Horror Amino app. I had a lot of fun doing this one, and a longer version will ultimately be included in my forthcoming FREE short story collection Its Soil Be Murder. To read the current version, go HERE. 

The piece is a mashup of random pictures from my phone, all used to prompt the story. I really dig this one; it plays with the whole Creepy Pasta/Urban Legend thing, while also bringing back a character from a short story I wrote waaaaay back in the early 00s but still need to publish. Maybe I'll put that in the Free Collection as well.

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Back:

Hasbro Pulse began a new Haslab campaign yesterday, and unfortunately, I caught wind of it early enough that I have about a week to struggle with whether or not to cough up $299 to back this:

Christ. One of my all-time favorite figures, the HISS Driver, working treads and the kicker? That fucking working beacon. 

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Playlist:

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands

Krallice - Demonic Wealth

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses

Ruby Friedman Orchestra - Fugue in La Minor (single)

Pink Milk - Ultraviolet

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Various - The Void OST

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Card:

Reminding me to make completely 'Scientific' decisions tomorrow at the home inspection; I must not succumb to emotion for or against the move. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, we go back to LaLaLand and start a new plan.

No More Lives To Go, Elvis.

 

One of my most anticipated albums dropping this year is Greg Puciato's sophomore Mirrorcell. I pre-ordered this as soon as it was announced a few months back, despite the fact that I wasn't sure where I would be living at the time of its release on the first of July (I used my parents' address, but there was speculation that they might move to TN as well). Regardless, our trip is more than halfway done now, we made an offer on a house that the seller accepted, so once the inspections and everything go through, I'll be able to lift that pre-order ban. Regardless, the album hasn't shipped yet, but Bloody Disgusting broke the news that Mirrorcell dropped early on Puciato's Bandcamp.

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Watch:

On Saturday, K and I took my parents to the local AMC to see Baz Luhrmann's Elvis. I am NOT a Baz Luhrmann fan. Perhaps I shouldn't say that, because I've never actually been able to sit through one of his movies. I find his childish little "Look how anachronistic I am" proclivities to be infuriating, and the fact that he may be made the first good visual adaptation of my all-time favorite novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, only to eschew the Jazz music that is central to the book's themes for Hip Hop makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs directly into his face. I never bothered seeing that Gatsby (friends who did warned me to save myself, that the beauty of its visuals would only drive me crazy played under the soundtrack), but I'll say, this Elvis movie looked great. Plus, my Pops really wanted to see it. So we went.

 

On the way in, I almost made the statement, "If I hear one lick of Hip Hop or other modern music, I will get up and leave." Good thing I didn't, because of course, there are at least two instances in the first half of the movie with Hip Hop in the soundtrack. 

It's so embarrassing. I mean, it's not that it's Hip Hop; if Luhrmann was adding Portishead, or Mastodon, or whatever other 'future music' to the film, I would have been equally pissed. He reminds me so much of Tim Burton - Lurhmann's idea of who he is as an icon or "brand" gets in the way of the decisions as to what's best for the movies he makes. The film also spruces up some of Elvis' music with a sometimes irritating modern twist, and some of the editing is a bit ridiculous in the amount of effect and flair. It works sometimes - more at the end of the film - and other times, not so much. Just looks like they were cutting it together in weird ways for the sake of making it a "Baz Luhrmann joint."

Still, the movie - despite all this - is fabulous. Austin Butler is FANtastic as The King, and Tom Hanks - Jesus. Really well done, and the script is great. 

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Playlist:

Powerman 5000 - The Notable Rot

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes

Jackie Wilson - Higher and Higher

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Card:

Solid foundation - perhaps a literal nod to the fact that we made an offer, they accepted the offer, and now we have to go through the inspection process. One of those inspections? You guessed it: Foundation. A lot of work still to come.

Bexley - Sick

 

Last night marked my first live show since hitting 2 of the 3 Mr. Bungle shows in LaLaLand back in February 2020, mere days before COVID struck. I've reacquired my comfort level with seeing movies in the theatre, largely because you can very much curate how many people you'll be exposed to. Not in every case, but with Matinees and seating charts online, it's pretty easy to limit exposure. A live show is a more, "All bets are off" situation, though, so it's taken me a while to prepare. That changed recently, though.

When my good friend Jacob introduced me to The Mysterines' music, without even thinking I googled them to see if they were on tour - a practice I've maintained for years when I find a new band I love. When I saw they were playing on May 4th at the Peppermint Club, I didn't think twice about buying tickets. 

I'm glad I did.

Not only were The Mysterines awesome, but in preparation for the show, I looked up opener Bexley and was pretty blown away by her 2021 self-titled album. Above, I've posted my favorite song from said album, and since Bexley is local, I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more shows, as she and her band were also great.

You can check out Bexley's Bandcamp HERE or her official site HERE.

 

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Watch:

Oh my. I probably wasn't supposed to laugh out loud, but I did. And then I winced enough to almost fall out of my seat.

 

The Sadness is written and directed by Rob Jabbaz, and as far as I can tell, this is his first full-length film. IT LOOKS F&*KING AWESOME, so I'll be watching this the day it drops on Shudder, next Thursday, 5/12/22.

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Playlist:

Sepultura - Chaos A.D.

David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

David Lynch - Crazy Clown Time

Soundgarden - Superunknown

Bexley - Eponymous

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Card:

Water of Water, pure emotions. This can trip me up, so I'll be attempting to keep a cool on any over-the-top moments I might have; there's a lot of ridiculousness at work of late, and I've grown a bit cantankerous when certain people are involved. Play it cool.

Angel Olsen - Big Time

 

New Angel Olsen. 

Despite seeing a lot of praise for Ms. Olsen in my peripheral for years, she wasn't really on my radar until my cousin Charles professed his adoration for her 2019 album All Mirrors, which is fantastic. This new single feels like it hits a sweet spot between Patsy Cline and Sharon Van Etten, and I dig it. The new record, Big Time, is out June 3rd on Jagjaguwar, and you can pre-order it in whatever form you chose HERE.

 

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Dollar Bin:

Well, how about this one, huh?

I still have a copy of one issue from the Temple of Doom adaptation Marvel did at the time of the film's release, but I don't even think I'd heard of this Further Adventures of... book before, although it's no surprise this existed based on how popular the Indiana Jones flicks were. I found five or six of these in the dollar bin last week, and although I haven't had a chance to actually read any of them yet, I've spent a few spare moments flipping through them, and they're great.

This particular mid-to-late 80s cover format for Marvel Comics is always going to be my favorite; I love the placement of the logos, the Marvel Comics Group banner along the top, and the character box in the upper left-hand corner. Just seeing these makes me feel happy.

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Fleeting:

Blut Aus Nord recently repressed their first Memoria Vitusta album and it's available on their Bandcamp in a gorgeous "red with subtle yellow marble" that will undoubtedly be gone quickly, maybe before I finish typing this.

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Playlist:

Rammstein - Zeit

Bloc Party - Alpha Games

Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary Man

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin

Jim James - Eternally Even

Jerry Cantrell - Brighten

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Card:

Oh yes. It will take me strength to get through this day.