Well, maybe not exactly new Mastodon, as the forthcoming Medium Rarities, out September 11th, is, as the title suggests, a rarities collection, and not a full-blown new album. Either way, I'm excited. It's been three years since Emperor of Sand, and I am fully ready for new music from these guys.
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Last night, it was with great fervor that I rented Amy Seimetz's new film She Dies Tomorrow. Wow. This is one I'll be mulling over for months to come. It's not that there's necessarily something deeper than what's on the screen, but the film is an interesting idea - and extrapolation of linguistic, sociological, and psychological idea already out there - executed by Semitz's unique and confident voice. It's a voice that is wholly her own, although you'll be able to make some comparisons when it comes to tempo and restraint. It's the confidence I'm smitten with here; this is not going to be a popular film, but the writer/director doesn't care. And she shouldn't. That's the point.
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Playlist:
Poe - Hello
Exhalants - Bang (pre-release single)
Moaning - Uneasy Laughter
Contours - 20th Century Masters
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Mastodon - Fallen Torches (pre-release single)
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers - L.A.M.F.
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Card:
I did a spread today, to see if A) the recently omnipotent Hierophant would rear his head and, B) if so, might I find a little clarity. No V, but I think I may have found some clarification.
I've recently finished The Secret Life of Murder, which I'm alternately thinking of as A Beast of its Own Momentum, although that title will most likely go to something else. Once finished, though, I decided instead of simply publishing the novel through my The Horror Vision Press, I would try to shop it. That meant buying a Writer's Market - thank god for Kindle, so no phone book sized tome laying around, waiting to be discarded in a few months. It also meant figuring out a way to make the book slightly different. The version I'm shopping has a different title - a far simpler title, and not necessarily one that I approve of. The idea here is to try and use this to my advantage, to usher in a larger audience and paycheck. Selling out? Who cares - that's an argument for a younger man. As the world unwinds, I find that all I really want to do is be able to buy a piece of land somewhere in Washington state - somewhere away from major cities - and have my little enclave. This is the first step on that experiment.
My plan also means sending query letters, something I used to find
distasteful, but which I now recognize that I am 100% terrified of. I
find this near-paralyzing fear confounding, but its there alright. So
for the better part of a week I sat twiddling my thumbs, making excuses
of why I wasn't ready to do that yet. Until the first of the three draws
of V The Hierophant recently, which basically says this is the dogma
you left behind, but for the moment, face it head-on. This new spread
then, tells me I have to put in the work doing this, and it will pay off
and change my world.
