YOU COME ACROSS A DARK MANOR

Those of you who hold the absolutely superb, multiple-artist, Lovecraft-inspired illustration collection PUFFED SHOGGOTHS in as high esteem as I do should be aware that many of the same artists have once again teamed up, this time to produce a haunted-house themed collection called YOU APPROACH A DARK MANOR, and it looks amazing. 

I mean, think about it. An entire book devoted to grabbing you by the hair and visually dragging you from room to room through what promises to be the creepiest and most haunted house in fictional history, all rendered by over 50 incredibly talented artists who do nothing else but sit around thinking up new and improved ways to make your blood run cold, send shivers running down your spine, and basically freaking you the fuck out. 

This time out, the prolific creator of PUFFED SHOGGOTHS, "Halloween Hangers" maven Trevor Henderson, is joined by Tait Howard and Jenn Woodall. Interested parties will be able to purchase YOU APPROACH A DARK MANOR beginning Monday afternoon. At $10, it's a real steal. Canadian customers can purchase it from Trevor's Etsy, while Americans can order it via Tait's. I intend to get my own copy as soon as it's available, and I urge many of you (you know who you are) to look into getting a copy of your own.

MEDIAVORE TV ~ POST-BINGE BULLET REVIEWS, PART 2!

As I wrote in the first part of this new ongoing Mediavore sub-project here at DDD, more and more people are consuming their entertainment in great, gulping binges. And yer old pal Jerky is no exception. 

In fact, my recent attempts to go back and watch all the shows my friends wouldn't stop raving about over the past decade or so have forced me to watch not just seasons, but entire SERIES in marathon sessions. I'm particularly worried about my upcoming attempt to watch The Sopranos from beginning to end. That one's gonna hurt.

Anyhoo, my pain in this case is your gain, because today, I bring you the second installment of my bullet reviews for as many of those "must watch", "TV renaissance" shows. I'll try to fill you in on which are worth the effort, and which are just a waste of everyone's time. Enjoy! - YOPJ

TRUE DETECTIVE, (HBO), Season 2

Speaking of wasting everyone's time... what the fuck happened here?! Nic "Alphabits" Pizzolatto had the TV viewing public eating out of the palm of his hand after the unparalleled (if somewhat qualified) success of True Detective, Season 1. That stylish exercise in Swamp Gothic Neo-Noir left a churning sea of critical acclaim, ratings success, geek reverence and awards galore in its bloody wake... which is fine. Despite its pretty substantial failings (which I won't get into here), it nevertheless featured some killer cinematography, interesting ideas and undeniably great acting performances. Season 2, on the other hand... Oy. Okay, this season also featured some fine performances, key among them being Colin Farrell's and Taylor Kitsch's. It also had some intriguing imagery and a few genuinely thrilling sequences.  Unfortunately, these few pleasures can't counteract the show's myriad problems, which include a complete lack of narrative cohesion, an incomprehensible tangle of seemingly unrelated subplots, and some of the most ridiculous dialogue ever to cross an actor's lips.

Flow Factor: Bad. The first two eps are terribly slow. Things kick up a notch and reach a crescendo with the show's penultimate (and best) episode, but the finale drags it all back down to Failsville.

Superfluity Levels: NA

Binge-ability Index: More easily watched in one chunk than week-by-week, but that's not saying much.

Bottom line: Ersatz Lynch meets second-rate Polanski, trying way too hard and failing, big time.

***

ENLIGHTENED, (HBO), Seasons 1 and 2

Speaking of David Lynch, one of his favorite actresses, the supremely talented Laura Dern (and her mom, fellow Lynch vet, Diane Lane) stars in this lovely ode to the paradoxical emptiness/wisdom to be found in all the Self Help section of your local book emporium. But this Mike White-scripted series is about so much more than that. It's about contemporary workplace etiquette, the complexity of family and other intimate relationships, learning to accept yourself and others, warts and all... and despite being sincere and serious at times, it's also frequently hilarious and, yes... even occasionally enlightening. 

Flow Factor: Watch the first episode first and the last episode last for both seasons, and watch the seasons in order, and you're good.

Superfluity Levels: None. It's all good and worth your time.

Binge-ability Index: Middle-high.

Bottom line: Fellas; introduce your gal pal to this show and score some serious Good Guy Points. Ladies; if you haven't heard about this show yet... you're welcome!

***

THE BRINK, (HBO), Season 1

Right up front, The Brink declared that it was trying to be a contemporary re-think of the Dr. Strangelove model, with three sets of characters in three different locales, all linked via potentially world-destroying international nuclear intrigue. And why not? Kubrick's satire is, after all, considered one of the greatest achievements in comedy film of all freaking time. And so, just like in Strangelove, we have a group of characters surrounding the President of the USA (with series star and producer Tim Robbins playing kind of a Fantasy Football version of the Secretary of State), a group of military men (a pair of pill-popping fighter pilots based on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf) and Jack Black as a low-level embassy official "on the ground" in Pakistan as a series of coups and counter-coups take place.

Flow Factor: Moves along at a fast clip, each episode flowing into the next quite nicely.

Superfluity Levels: Admirably low.

Binge-ability Index: The short episodes and frequently over the top humor make this one an easy, breezy viewing experience.

Bottom line: Nowhere close to Kubrick, but political junkies (especially center/left) should get as much of a kick out of it as I did.

***

PARTY DOWN, (Starz), Season 1 and 2

Recommended by someone whose opinion I respect tremendously, I nevertheless found this catering industry-set sitcom to be only intermittently amusing, lazily written, and ultimately not worth the time needed to watch it. Which is kind of sad, because the performances by the series regulars playing wannabe actors earning a living slinging hors d'oeuvres and cheap sparkling wine are uniformly good. Adam Scott is suitably hangdog, Ken Marino is suitably hapless, Lizzy Caplan is suitably cute/conflicted, and Jane Lynch/Megan Mullally are suitably off-the-wall in their respective seasons. I mean, there are worse shows, to be sure. But I was expecting more from a creative team that included some of the Eastbound and Down gang and Paul Rudd.

Flow Factor: Nothing much happens. Characters don't evolve or change. Relationships all seem to be in stasis. The whole thing is oddly Limbo-like. Or maybe Purgatory?

Superfluity Levels: Off the charts. So many repeated beats and similar scenes taking place in only marginally different locales it begins to feel like an improv troupe doing their shtick on different nights.

Binge-ability Index: Low.

Bottom line: Maybe if you've worked as a caterer, you might get more out of this than I did.

***

BOSS, (Starz), Season 1

Chicago mayor Tom Kane (played menacingly by Kelsey Grammer) is diagnosed with a mental disorder that causes him to hallucinate, and which will ultimately kill him. He decides not to tell anyone, as he attempts to retain his monstrous grip on power. Kane is one of the most vile and corrupt public officials ever to be portrayed in fiction. We're talking Shakespeare level evil, here, with Kane seeming like a combination of Richard III and Macbeth. The human wreckage this character leaves in his wake is astonishing. Reputations are ruined, fortunes are lost, lives are snuffed out... this is a killer series. 

Flow Factor: Awesomely addictive.

Superfluity Levels: Zilch.

Binge-ability Index: It's tough to stay immersed in such a vile milieu for extended periods of time, so two or three episodes at a time is the maximum I'm willing to recommend.

Bottom line: I haven't seen Season 2 yet, but based on Season 1, BOSS is one of the best premium cable dramas ever produced, and the fact that it was cancelled is almost as big of a loss as the premature abortion of ROME.

***

SILICON VALLEY, (HBO), Season 1

Beavis and Butthead creator Mike Judge strikes again, with perhaps his best offering yet, a half-hour sitcom set in various different success levels of the technology business. From the lofty heights of a Microsoft-like, ultra-slick "tech campus" to the lows of a suburban start-up "incubator" where the participants live and work together in an effort to both save money and increase productivity. Starting with Office Space, former aerospace industry employee Judge has shown himself to be an astute observer and keen critic of contemporary workplace dynamics, and here he unleashes his full satirical fury on a deserving subject.

Flow Factor: Excellent. The stakes start out high, and they keep on increasing, ratcheting the tension non-stop as the series progresses.

Superfluity Levels: Minimal, except for a stretch in the middle of season two, when a tech billionaire investor's shenanigans start to wear thin.

Binge-ability Index: Very high, especially thanks to its being a half-hour per episode.

Bottom line: A great ensemble cast in a fresh setting with an amusingly populist/postmodern sensibility make this one of the best ongoing TV comedies around.

***

BETTER CALL SAUL, (AMC), Season 1

I haven't seen more than 10 minutes total of Breaking Bad, but Bob Odenkirk has been one of my favorite human beings for a long time, now. Even his so-called "shitty" movies (Let's Go to Prison, The Brothers Solomon) have somehow managed to find a way to give me pleasure. So when he and his cohorts manage to pull together a series as impossibly perfect as Better Call Saul... well, it makes my heart swell with an odd combination of pride, jealousy, and a sincere wish that I could meet him in person just to say thank you.

Flow Factor: Perfect.

Superfluity Levels: Non-existent.

Binge-ability Index: Supreme.

Bottom line: The most "must see" TV show of all the "must see" TV shows that is still currently producing new episodes. Yes, that includes Game of Thrones.

***

VEEP, (HBO), Seasons 1, 2 and 3

What if Seinfeld's Elaine Benez somehow grew up to become the Vice President (and, ultimately, President) of the United States of America. That's it. That's the premise.

Flow Factor: Excellent.

Superfluity Levels: Minimal, with slight samey-ness early on in the second season. But it manages to pick up steam again pretty quick, and the third season is maybe the very best.

Binge-ability Index: Very, very good.

Bottom line: Elaine becomes Vice-POTUS. It really is as simple as that.

DDD SUGGESTED READINGS FOR SEPT 13

1. As a lifelong fan of the man's cinematic and graphic novel output, I couldn't be more pleased to bring to your attention Alejandry Jodorowsky's 82 Commandments. As the article on Arcane Daily begins:

Reyna Assia, daughter of the influential spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff, relayed these commandments, given to her by her father, to renowned filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. She told him: "We have been badly educated. We live in a world of competition in which honesty is synonymous with naïveté. We must first develop good habits. Some of them may seem simple, but they are very difficult to realize. Believing them to be obvious, we fail to see that they are the key to immortal consciousness. Now I shall offer you a dictation of the commandments that my blessed father taught me…” 

1. Ground your attention on yourself. Be conscious at every moment of what you are thinking, sensing, feeling, desiring, and doing.
2. Always finish what you have begun.
3. Whatever you are doing, do it as well as possible.
4. Do not become attached to anything that can destroy you in the course of time.
5. Develop your generosity ‒ but secretly.
6. Treat everyone as if he or she was a close relative.
7. Organize what you have disorganized.
8. Learn to receive and give thanks for every gift.
9. Stop defining yourself.
10. Do not lie or steal, for you lie to yourself and steal from yourself.
11. Help your neighbor, but do not make him dependent.
12. Do not encourage others to imitate you.
13. Make work plans and accomplish them.
14. Do not take up too much space.
15. Make no useless movements or sounds.
16. If you lack faith, pretend to have it.
17. Do not allow yourself to be impressed by strong personalities.
18. Do not regard anyone or anything as your possession.
19. Share fairly.
20. Do not seduce.
21. Sleep and eat only as much as necessary.
22. Do not speak of your personal problems.

Click on the link for the next 60 commandments. You won't regret it, I promise.

2. Current Cult Stud sensation Slavoj Zizek has a thing or two to say about the immigrant crisis in the Middle East and Europe... and I think some of you may be surprised by what he has to say. As far as I'm concerned, this so-called Clown Prince of Philosophy makes a few eminently astute observations about both the left AND the right, and the inherent weaknesses in both standardized positions. It begins:

The flow of refugees from Africa and the Middle East into Western Europe has provoked a set of reactions strikingly similar to those we display on learning we have a terminal illness, according to the schema described by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her classic study On Death and Dying. First there is denial: ‘It’s not so serious, let’s just ignore it’ (we don’t hear much of this any longer). Then there is anger – how can this happen to me? – which explodes when denial is no longer plausible: ‘Refugees are a threat to our way of life; Muslim fundamentalists are hiding among them; they have to be stopped!’ There is bargaining: ‘OK, let’s decide on quotas; let them have refugee camps in their own countries.’ There is depression: ‘We are lost, Europe is turning into Europastan!’ What we haven’t yet seen is Kübler-Ross’s fifth stage, acceptance, which in this case would involve the drawing up of an all-European plan to deal with the refugees.

The rest is well worth reading. I urge you all to read and grapple with it, with the ideas Zizek puts forth.

3. And, finally, for your visual delectation, here's an excellent iteration of the editorial artform, combining god only knows how many movies into a single, solitary scene set in a crimson-lit dance club in the middle of Hell.  

MEDIAVORE TV ~ POST-BINGE BULLET REVIEWS, PART 1!

More and more people these days are choosing to take in their entertainment the same way bulimics take in food, devouring shows in great, gulping binges that leave them bleary-eyed, stiff-jointed, mentally foggy and utterly spent. 

Yer old pal Jerky is no different. In fact, after years of being inexcusably lax in my attempt to stay on top of the whole "television renaissance" thing that everyone says we're experiencing, I have taken to watching not just seasons, but entire SERIES in long, marathon viewing sessions. With some of these shows stretching into five seasons, that is no easy feat, let me tell you. 

Anyhoo, my pain in this case is your gain, because today, I'm going to clue you in as to which of these "must watch" TV shows really are "must watch" TV shows, which are just a waste of everyone's time, and all points in between. I hope you enjoy these short reviews at least as much as I hated watching some of these shows. - YOPJ

***

ROME (HBO), Seasons 1 and 2

This lavish American/British/Italian co-production launched that infamous homosexual catch-phrase: "You can Pullo my Verenus all day long!" Okay, so that's not technically true, but the testosterone runs thick through this series' veins. Maybe that's because of the intensity of Rome's central bromance between the aforementioned lead characters, Legionaries Verenus and Pullo, portrayed so winningly by Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson. Or maybe it's because the show was co-created by legendary Hollywood fascist John Milius, upon whom the Coen brothers based the character of Walter in The Big Lebowski. Rome served up heaping helpings of period detail with buckets of blood (and sex) to help wash down those history lessons. Sadly, despite being scheduled to run for 5 seasons, producers pulled the plug after only 2 because of how damned expensive it was to shoot. This is doubly tragic, because the decision to pull the plug came literally weeks before the first season DVD broke all previous sales records, and ratings for the last half of the second season exploded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. 

Flow Factor: Excellent episodic flow. Must be watched in sequence.

Superfluity Levels: Negligible. Virtually no repetition, constant narrative novelty.

Binge-ability Index: Dangerously binge-able. Schedule breaks ahead of time so you don't caught in a 24-hour video vortex.

Bottom line: It's like Game of Thrones, only real.

***

GAME OF THRONES (HBO), Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

It's like Rome, only totally made up. Everybody's favorite historical drama about shit that never happened, Game of Thrones is an absolute phenomenon, so I doubt I have to describe it to you except to say that the setting seems like a mix of Medieval Europe and Ancient Rome, while the behavior of the characters seems positively Ancient Greek, or even (gulp) Babylonian. Rape and brutality abound. And it's pretty fucking glorious, if you ask me.

Flow Factor: Decent, but the last season started to drag.

Superfluity Levels: Negligible. Not a whole lot of repeated beats, here. More like constant one-upping itself.

Binge-ability Index: Maximum. Dangerously binge-able.

Bottom line: Probably the most must-see TV show currently on air.

***

THE WIRE (HBO), Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

The Greatest Show in the History of Television by some lights. It's definitely the finest police procedural show ever produced, and it's also definitely one of the most relevant socially conscious dramas ever produced. Depending on your personal politics, your mileage may vary, but as far as I'm concerned, The Wire's reputation is well deserved. Even the "worst" episode is better than the best of most network - and even a lot of premium cable - offerings.

Flow Factor: Perfect. Multi-episodic arcs flow seamlessly into season-spanning arcs. 10/10.

Superfluity Levels: Zilch. This is a show that is constantly evolving and changing.

Binge-ability Index: Nigh unto Game of Thrones levels.

Bottom line: The most "must see" of all the must see TV shows of the last decade and a half. Easily out-Sopranos The Sopranos.

***

AMERICAN HORROR STORY, (FX), Seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4

MURDER HOUSE

Freaky-deaky goings on in a beautiful old house that has seen more than its fair share of diabolical and dastardly doings. A bit uneven, but the novelty works in its favor, so make this the first season you watch.

ASYLUM
Excellent swirl of horror movie tropes, as escaped Nazi scientists breeding monstrosities while aliens and super-genius serial killers do their thang. I was hopelessly addicted to this, what I consider to be the best, of the four seasons so far.

COVEN
Barring a few fine performances and a few good ideas, the inclusion of a Franken-Fratboy and Stevie Nicks dooms this season as undeniably the goofiest, fail-iest season of this popular franchise. I recommend skipping.

FREAKSHOW
An excellent return to form, with one of the creepiest show openers in TV history, ranking up their with the original Twilight Zone montage. If clowns freak you out, you're gonna love this one. Also, freaks!

Flow Factor: Each season throws so many ideas at you that you never have time to be bored, and things never feel like they're getting stale or samey.

Superfluity Levels: Coven suffers a bit from "we've already been down this road" syndrome, but the other series keep the freshness levels elevated at all times.

Binge-ability Index: Totally binge-worthy. Sticks in your head, too, so you don't have to watch them all in one big gulp.

Bottom line: Two excellent seasons, one good season, and one shitty one. Bring on AHS: HOTEL!

***

DAREDEVIL (Netflix), Season 1

Marvel's blind avenger Matt Murdock gets his first TV outing since a guest appearance on The Incredible Hulk in the early 80's. Also, Gomer Pyle plays a way too emo and somewhat under-weight Kingpin in a performance that makes him seem more like a PG-13 version of Richie Rich's dad than the Wilson Fisk of comic book lore.

Flow Factor: So-so. The jumping back and forth in time that the first few episodes indulge in make them a bit of a slog, as we're constantly taking a break to learn what we already knew about what was going to happen to Matt's doomed, boxing loser of a dad. Punch-punch, kick-kick, flashback.

Superfluity Levels: A great many of these episodes feel like repeats of previous episodes. Way too many fight scenes that look exactly like the previous half-dozen fight scenes. How much punishment are we supposed to believe one man can take before he requires hospitalization and a few months off to recuperate?!

Binge-ability Index: Moderate. The sameness gets to you after a while.

Bottom line: Meh.

***

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, Seasons 1 and 2

Criminal Lesbians on Parade! What's not to like?

Flow Factor: Good.

Superfluity Levels: I never got bored, and loved learning the backstories behind all these lovely ladies (and the one lady with a little something extra). It really kept me coming back for more.

Binge-ability Index: High to Extreme. I never thought I'd become addicted to a show like this. But I did.

Bottom line: Maybe the ultimate couples' binge series.

***

THE JINX, (HBO), Season 1

A six-part documentary series with all the surprises and high drama of good fiction. Hard to believe it's true, but apparently, it is.

Flow Factor: It's short, so, quite excellent.

Superfluity Levels: Zero. It doesn't have time to become superfluous.

Binge-ability Index: Maximal.

Bottom line: If you like true crime documentaries, this is for you.

***

TRUE DETECTIVE, (HBO), Season 1

The cosmic horror and dread of H.P. Lovecraft, the nihilistic anti-human philosophies of Thomas Ligotti, the frills and chills of Robert Chambers' The King in Yellow, Southern Gothic inbred serial killing Christian fundamentalist legacy families... and two of the finest performances of the last decade in ANY medium, in a somewhat over-written and ultimately disappointing must-see masterpiece of wasted opportunities.

Flow Factor: Starts slow, but mesmerizing if you're attentive and invested. Eventually picks up steam.

Superfluity Levels: Low.

Binge-ability Index: Yeah... quite good.

Bottom line: Again, your mileage will vary depending on how well read you are in the sources from which Pizzacollatamundo (or whatever his name is) has so liberally and shamelessly plagiarized.

***

HAPPYISH, (HBO), Season 1

Steve "Alan Partridge" Coogan steps in for a suicided Philip Seymour Hoffman in this edgy, sophisticated, but still raunchy and occasionally ridiculous dramedy.

Flow Factor: You could easily watch these episodes out of sequence (bar the final one) and not lose any story value.

Superfluity Levels: Medium. A running gag with the Kiebler Elves starts to lose its sting towards the end.

Binge-ability Index: Medium.

Bottom line: This one was cancelled before the final episode aired, I believe. There's a reason for that. Anyway, I enjoyed it.

***

OTHER SPACE, (Yahoo!), Season 1

The creator of Freaks and Geeks (among others) launches this Yahoo!-funded sci-fi parody web-series with a little help from some familiar faces, including two Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumni (Joel and Trace). 

Flow Factor: Pretty good.

Superfluity Levels: Negligible.

Binge-ability Index: This was like the purest crack rock for yer old pal Jerky's sensibilities.

Bottom line: The least likely series you're ever likely to find yourself in love with. It certainly helps that three of the cutest gals in the galaxy are along for the ride. Yowza!

DDD SUGGESTED READING ~ SEPT 12, 2015

1. From used panties vending machines to Satanic tentacle rape porn, Japan is home to some truly fucked up shit. It's also home to some truly fucked up people. People like "Boy A", the notorious child-killing child-killer who called himself "Satei Sakakibara" (which means devil's sake-drinking rose apostle, or something) and who remains nameless, due to Japan's lax child crime laws (he was 14 when he killed two children and attacked a few more). His crimes took place in the 1990's, and he was released a few years later. Now, American press sources reveal that he's set up a "vanity website" for himself, complete with semi-nude selfies and a strange fixation with slug-related artwork. And although they try to describe it, reporters apparently couldn't find the website's url. Well, I did a little digging, and I found it. Guess what? It's as fucked up as you'd expect from a former child-killing child killer who fucked a victim's severed head before sticking it on a schoolyard fence with a message stuffed in its mouth. Enjoy!

2. Have you ever wanted to read a book by Thomas Pynchon, but figured you didn't have the massive amount of time you figured it would take to both read, and then figure out, what it is, exactly, that the notoriously difficult reclusive author was trying to get across? Well, on a purely plot-based level, The Guardian has distilled The Crying of Lot 49 into a few snappy paragraphs that I suspect even seasons Pynchophiles will find valuable... especially as a way to get people interested in reading the entire book (which is, after all, Pychon's shortest and punchiest).

3. As long as we're on the topic of my favorite English language author, did you hear the one about the book that may or may not have been pseudonymously written by said reclusive author, for undetermined reasons? A recent Harper's article by Art Winslow begins:

Is it possible that the literary sensibility—person—that produced a clutch of novels under the name Thomas Pynchon has had a fat new novel out since April, under a different name, only to encounter a virtual vacuum of notice? That relative anonymity may have been expected, or might even have been among its aspirations, to prove a point? 

Yes and yes. The book in question is called Cow Country, a 540-pager that came out of the chute from Cow Eye Press, a publishing house (if that is what it is) established in 2014 apparently for the express purpose of issuing Cow Country and perhaps related follow-ons, one of which is a centennial reprint of a 1916 eugenicist tract by Madison Grant, tying Americanism—patriotism—to racial purity. (Surely that is a stunt up someone’s sleeve.) Cow Eye Press sports a street address in Cheyenne, Wyoming, that is occupied by a registrar agent for company incorporation in the state, a firm that offers virtual offices in a locale “known for business-friendliness and respect for privacy.”

The progenitor of this novel, its faux leather back cover attests in urine-yellow type (a hue and liquid one finds in the narrative as well), “is an independent author of idiosyncratic fiction. His work has been published under multiple pseudonyms. Including this one.” Adrian Jones Pearson. He is on Facebook, of course.

The mystery only deepens over at Harper's Online, but some wags have already begun to suggest a more likely culprit in this imbroglio... Art Winslow!

DDD SUGGESTED READING ~ SEPT 6, 2015

1. I assume we're all Pink Floyd fans here, right? Well then, I'm going to have to assume that you guys are going to be as shocked, surprised and delighted as I was to discover that the boys created a multi-page comic book "program" to coincide with their Dark Side of the Moon tour in 1975. As Dangerous Minds explains:  "It has an appealing lack of polish that puts it somewhere halfway between 'professional promotional item' and 'schoolboy’s notebook scribbling.' ... The 'programme' is credited to Hipgnosis, Nick Mason, Gerald Scarfe, Paul Stubbs, Joe Petagno, Colin Elgie, Richard Evans, and Dave Gale." You can download the whole thing at the link, and find more vintage Pink Floyd ephemera at the Ultimate Pink Floyd Fan Site. Especially their Tour Book Project page.

2. I am currently working on a long essay about the Rise of the Conspiritards, in which I will be making use of some of the concepts first delineated by Richard Hofstadter in his ground-breaking essay for Harper's entitled The Paranoid Style in American Politics. It's a great history lesson, and a wonderfully argued bit of intellectual polemic. I urge you all to bone up on it so you'll be better able to grapple with the ideas that I plan to put forth in my own essay. If you're one of those particularly wooly sheeple who believes that nobody died at Sandy Hook, THIS MEANS YOU.

3. And finally for today's "curation" (see Saturday's Suggested Readings for why that's kinda funny), I bring you Italian pop/rock superstar Adriano Celentano's "Prisencolinensinainciusol", a song that topped the Italian pop charts in 1972. The lyrics consist of gibberish designed to sound like English. “Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did,” said Celentano during a 2012 interview with All Things Considered. “I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn’t mean anything.” Thanks to my writing partner Marc Roussel (and BoingBoing) for bringing this gem to my attention. Somebody needs to put this thing in a movie before Quentin Tarantino does.

DDD SUGGESTED READING ~ SEPT 5, 2015

Filipino Black Magic Fetuses Used in Ceremonies. See Today's Final Entry.

1. Holy crap... Jack Kirby drew a (pretty compelling) three-page graphic narrative detailing all the important events of the day that Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas! The Harry McCracken blog, before publishing all three pages, explicates:

The May, 1967 issue of Esquire–this was during the period when it was edited by Harold Hayes and was probably the best magazine in the history of magazines–featured an article by Garry Wills and Ovid Demaris about Jack Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who killed Lee Harvey Oswald. That piece, published after Ruby’s death in January 1967, was complemented by something remarkable: “46 Hours and 36 Minutes in the Life of Jack Ruby,” a three-page comic strip beginning with Ruby learning of JFK’s assassination and ending with him shooting Oswald. The strip was written and drawn by Jack Kirby, inked by Chic Stone and annotated with references to the Warren Commission hearings.

Here's the first page. The rest is at the link above.

2. To those who have looked at art and thought “I could do that”, an art curator explains why you couldn’t. In a video. A video you can watch right here in the comfort of your own home. Also, by the way... to those who have looked at any of my blogs and thought "I could do that"... um, you probably could, without too much effort at all, actually, come to think of it. This is such a bullshit gig, to be honest with you. I guess you get what you pay for, eh?

3.  Hey there, truth-seeking investigator! Now you, too, can investigate Occult Crime in the USA, by downloading and researching this Occult Primer: A Law Enforcement Primer. From HolySmoke.org's description:

This is the electronic version of the precedent-setting report concerning "occult crime" in the United States of America. At the time of its commission, several American communities had been plagued with "mass hysteria" among small groups of people (almost exclusively Fundamentalist Christians) who believed that Satanists and other "occultists" were among them, kidnapping children, burning and looting businesses, and terrorizing their victims in secret midnight "Satanic" rituals. Many of these communities were ravaged with hatred and fear; many innocent people were sent to prison with little or no valid evidence against them other than the words of little children who claimed to be victims, and yet were later found to be lying or confused (deliberately or not) by their "therapists."

Okay? So hurry up and download this shit, save it on your hard drives, then do your best to spread it around, so that the hard-won collective wisdom contained therein doesn't get lost to history.

DDD SUGGESTED READING ~ SEPT 4, 2015

1. From the Dig Within website, a few words about Fourteen Incredible Facts about the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. It begins:

As the 14th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, it’s important to remind people that we still don’t know what happened that day. What is known about 9/11 is that there are many incredible facts that continue to be ignored by the government and the mainstream media. Here are fourteen. 

1. An outline of what was to become the 9/11 Commission Report was produced before the investigation began. The outline was kept secret from the Commission’s staff and appears to have determined the outcome of the investigation. 

2. The 9/11 Commission claimed sixty-three (63) times in its Report that it could find “no evidence” related to important aspects of the crimes. 

3. One person, Shayna Steinger, issued 12 visas to the alleged hijackers in Saudi Arabia. Steiger issued some of the visas without interviewing the applicants and fought with another employee at the embassy who tried to prevent her lax approach. 

4. Before 9/11, the nation’s leading counter-terrorism expert repeatedly notified his friends in the United Arab Emirates of top-secret U.S. plans to capture Osama bin Laden. These treasonous leaks prevented Bin Laden’s capture on at least two separate occasions. 

5. Former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger was caught stealing documents from the National Archives that had been requested by the 9/11 Commission. The Commission had previously been denied access to the documents but the White House reluctantly agreed to turn them over just as Berger was trying to steal them. 

6. The official story of the failed air defenses on 9/11 was changed several times and, in the end, paradoxically exonerated the military by saying that the military had lied many times about its response. The man who was behind several of the changing accounts was a specialist in political warfare (i.e. propaganda). 

7. Military exercises being conducted on the day of 9/11 mimicked the attacks as they were occurring and obstructed the response. NORAD commander Ralph Eberhart sponsored those exercises, failed to do his job that day, and later lied to Congress about it (if the 9/11 Commission account is true).

To read the other seven facts, and to check out the multiple references embedded into the above text as evidence, click on this link.

2. As an addendum to the above article, here's this thorough (and, for me, thoroughly disappointing on a personal level) takedown of one of the guys I used to think was one of the few "good guys" working from the inside of the Bush regime at the time of the September 11 terrorist attacks: former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke. This revelation alone, is enough to shatter that delusion:

In 1984, Clarke was selected to take part in one of the most highly classified projects of the Reagan Administration. This was the secret Continuity of Government (COG) program run by the National Program Office that continued up to and after the attacks of September 11. Other than Clarke, the members of the COG group included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George H.W. Bush, Kenneth Duberstein, and James Woolsey. If not a formal member of the group, Oliver North reported to it and acted on its behalf. Although Cheney and Rumsfeld were not government employees throughout the twenty years that Clarke participated in this official government program, they both continued to participate. COG was developed to install a shadow “government in waiting” to replace the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Constitution in the event of a national emergency like a nuclear war. In 1998, Clarke revised the COG plan for use as a response to a terrorist attack on American soil. The first and only time that COG was put into action was when Richard Clarke activated it during the 9/11 attacks. As of 2002, that shadow government continued to be in effect as an “indefinite precaution.”

3. After the above terror-related horror, I thought we could cleanse our palates with a bit of alien sex-related horror. Because, apparently, thanks to the Internet, there's no fetish so strange, so off the beaten path, that it doesn't exist anymore. So say hello to the creator of Primal Hardware's "alien ovipositor" sex toy, which "is basically a big dildo that lays goopy eggs molded from gelatin in the body cavity of your choice." It's an interesting interview with the item's creator, a dude who goes by the name of "Lone Wolf". The promotional video promising "enhanced splorch" is particularly enlightening.

DDD SUGGESTED READING ~ SEPT 1, 2015

1. Ann Diamond has some interesting things to say about Canadian national treasure Leonard Cohen. Hold on to your hats, kiddies, because this narrative swerves and slides around in some increasingly zany territories, including the Kennedy assassination(s), the CIA, mind-congrol and MKUltra, the Rothschilds, New World Order social engineering, reptilian shape-shifting, psychedelic drug use, an overnight conversion from lefty socialism to right-wing Zionist-tinged end-times ideology and much, much more. The fact that it manages to visit all these topics and remain disturbingly credible and sober-sounding is an incredible achievement in and of itself.

2. How awesome is this newly developed technology that allows medical professionals to visualize where your veins and arteries are before they start jabbing you with hypodermic needles? This should also become a boon to junkies the world over. No more near misses means a lot less wasted junk!

3. Doc Clock's video mash-up combining nearly 200 TV shows and movies that reference Shakespeare's Hamlet is a wonderful use of these awesome technologies gifted to us by Al Gore all those years ago. I bet you enjoy it as much as I did.

GOOD GRIEF! CANCER BOY!

"This lost classic short film of 1990 is a post reunification Nihilist allegory of the tensions between the immigrant worker population of Germany and the natives who still long for Heimat. When foreign bullies cajole a young German man into trying to kick an American football. Hilarity ensues."

My friend Todd Graham made this video, as well as the legendary mash-up video Apocalypse Pooh. To find out what he's working on these days, read this recent profile from Ozy.com.

MEDIAVORE: COMICS ~ "ANNIHILATOR", "CROSSED + 100", "IMPERIUM" 3X6

I've recently finished reading the first six issues of three new titles, all from separate publishers, and have a few brief thoughts to share about each of them.

ANNIHILATOR #1-6 (Legendary, $3.99) ~ Originally billed as a six-part miniseries from writer Grant Morrison and artist Frazer Irving, publishers Legendary Comics dropped a tiny bombshell on readers in the sixth issue, proclaiming that no, this wasn't a stand-alone series, but only a prelude to an ongoing, unlimited comic series to come. That might have been welcome news had this tale of washed-up Hollywood screenwriter Ray Spass coming into contact with cosmic supervillain Max Nomax, who's recently escaped from a jail orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy (the Great Annihilator), had any sort of payoff. Instead, all six issues felt thin and stretched out, with one chase scene dragging on for almost three issues. The same dialogue gets spoken again and again throughout these six issues, with Oscar Wilde-lookalike Nomax spouting off ever more grandiose rhetoric without much of consequence ever really happening. The art is fantastic though... almost worth the price of admission in and of itself. You'll have to decide for yourself if that's enough. Personally, I won't be picking up any subsequent series.

CROSSED + ONE HUNDRED #1-6 (Avatar, $3.99) ~ Another title, another publisher, another last minute switcheroo. Originally billed as a 12-part mini by Alan Moore set one hundred years after "the Surprise" of the hyper-sadistic Garth Ennis-created "Crossed" universe, with the sixth issue it was revealed that Moore would not be writing the rest of the series, which would no longer be limited to 12 issues. Well... that's certainly a twist, isn't it? And not a good one, if you ask me, except for the fact that I've been looking for a reason to drop this title, and this gives me as good a reason as any. Why have I been meaning to drop it? Well, a few reasons, chief among them being a) the Riddley Walker, Clockwork Orange style invented language continues to be a cumbersome and unwieldy device even after six issues. With verbs as nouns and nouns as verbs, for me, it felt like a noble experiment that just didn't pan out. Also, b) the snail's pace storytelling has been grating on my nerves, with it taking a full six freaking issues for ANYTHING of consequence to happen (although to be fair, when it does, it's pretty fucking devastating). Finally, c) I'm not a fan of the artwork, much preferring the clean lines and vivid emotional expressivity of the original series' artist Jacen Burrows. I guess if you like brutal, horrific, dystopian science fiction, the six issues might be worth reading in one shot as a collected work. It might work as a whole, but the first five issues in themselves might end up boring you to tears and leaving you feeling ripped off. And, again, I don't like being lied to about creative teams and series lengths. If Moore was going to go on writing the last six issues, I might have stuck with. But not now.

IMPERIUM #1-6 (Valiant, $3.99) ~ Finally, an unmitigated winner of a title! This is the story of super-powered "Psiot" Toyo Harada, and his efforts to bring about a future Paradise on Earth, whether the inhabitants of said planet agree with his plans or not. In these first six issues, the art is very good, but the writing is absolutely fantastic, with one beautifully visionary scene from the first issue literally bringing me to tears with its power, poignancy, and subtle grace. Meanwhile, subsequent issues have featured scenes of breath-taking action, sinister subterfuge, unbelievable corporate evil, otherworldly woo and, ultimately, the ethics of (super)empowerment, all written with equal skill, wit and power. The characters, their motivations, the plot twists, all are absolute first rant. Simply put, Valiant's Imperium is easily the best science-fiction / super-hero style comic being published today. Now, with the first six issues being bundled into an affordable trade paperback edition, there's never been a better time to jump aboard the Imperium bandwagon.

MEDIAVORE: COMICS ~ "18 DAYS" #1, "CREEPY" #20

GRANT MORRISON'S 18 DAYS (Graphic India, $1.00) ~ Comics Renaissance Occultist Grant Morrison has been working on this Western-style re-telling of the great ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata (billed as Lord of the Rings with Star Wars technology) since 2010. Its first incarnation was as a series of animated shorts that showed up on Youtube without much fanfare or success in 2013. Viewership is still in the low five figures two year later, which must be a disappointment to investors considering that over a billion people are intimately familiar with the source material. Anyway, July of 2015 saw the rebirth of the work as a comic book, which quite frankly is a format that better suits the gravitas of the story. You want to be able to linger over and savor each panel, jam-packed as they are with beautifully rendered details. Art-wise, it's like Jack Kirby has taken a whack at Hindu mythology, which is a damn good idea when you think about it. And at a mere ONE DOLLAR per issue... how can you go wrong? Easily the best comic book value of the month, if not the year. I will definitely be picking up the rest of the series.

CREEPY #20 (Dark Horse, $3.99) ~ I remember the Creepy Magazine of my youth as being a much darker, more sinister affair than this collection of pet-related horror shorts, beefed up with a few inconsequential single-pagers from Peter Bagge. The highlight of this issue is a reprint of an old Rirchard Corben chestnut, presented here in full color. So it's not like I didn't enjoy this issue, or won't consider buying future issues, but I definitely would like to see a return to the pitch-black evil of the late 70's Warren title. Perhaps I'll give Dark Horse's recently released "Collected Creepy" volumes a try, when they come down in price. Who knows? Maybe I'm mis-remembering the tone?

MEDIAVORE: COMICS ~ GOD IS DEAD: BOOK OF ACTS, ALPHA AND OMEGA

GOD IS DEAD: BOOK OF ACTS: ALPHA (Avatar, $5.99) There's grisly fun a-plenty to be found between the pages of these two collections of deity-themed short tales that loosely fit into the God Is Dead comic book universe, wherein all the world's various pantheons have returned to do battle after the murder of the Big Kahuna Himself, Great God Almighty. The longest story here - and the only one spread between the Alpha and Omega issues - features a crazed mix of Arab, Hindu and Christian mythologies, and provides a bit of back-story for the wider series. If you've ever wanted to see Ganesha going toe-to-toe with Satan, then this is the comic for you.

GOD IS DEAD: BOOK OF ACTS: OMEGA (Avatar, $5.99) The second issue of this double-shot contains stories of a decidedly darker tone than the first, which features more comical tales, including one written by Alan Moore and starring his personal deity, Glycon, an obscure Roman puppet-god. The second issue, in contrast, features brutal torture, demons being skinned alive, satyr-babies exploding full-grown from pregnant bellies, and other assorted horrors. All in all, one of the better "dark fantasy" anthologies that I've had the pleasure of reading in recent months. Highly recommended, if you have a taste for the dark stuff.

MEDIAVORE: COMICS ~ RICHARD CORBEN'S "RAT GOD"

RAT GOD (Dark Horse, 5-issue mini, $3.99 each) ~ In the world of illustrated horror and dark fantasy, it just doesn't get any better than Richard Corben, multiple-award-winning Eisner Hall of Fame inductee (2012), tent-pole artist of Heavy Metal Magazine's late-70's Golden Age, and one-time High Priest of the comix underground. Whether he's working with established characters and storylines--his Luke Cage and Hulk minis for Marvel were both excellent and influential in ways that are only now beginning to be appreciated--or creating entirely new ones, as is the case with this awesome new title for prestige publisher Dark Horse, Corben is one of the most iconic and essential comics artists working today. It's always cause for celebration 'round Chateau LeBoeuf whenever the Master decides to put out a new title... and that's an understatement.

 

Over the course of its five issues, RAT GOD tells a story that is both familiar and yet completely sui generis, combining elements of Lovecraftian horror (territory with which Corben is intimately familiar) and Native American lore. In a nutshell, it tells the story of Clark Elwood, a bookish Miskatonic University professor who falls in love (sort of) with a Native American co-ed named Kito Hontz, who hails from a strange small town in the Pacific Northwest. After a nasty tiff that puts the kaibosh on their burgeoning romance, Kito splits from campus and a regretful Clark decides to drive out to her homeland to try apologize and win her back.

The story is quite good, with exciting action, convincingly concocted and original esoterica, a number of intriguing characterizations, and odd plot twists a-plenty. It also contains surprisingly mature and measured riffs on Lovecraft's all-too-human flaw of racism, and the human wreckage such beliefs can cause. You can learn more about what Corben was attempting to do in this interview with Comic Book Resources.

Of course, RAT GOD's biggest draw, as is so often the case with Corben, is the artwork.

Running the gamut, from the gorgeous lush greenery of dense evergreen forests to the grisly, gruesome carnage of rat-infested sacrificial death-pits, Corben clearly put everything he's got on the pages with this, his most visually satisfying long-form work in well over a decade. His use of color to set an emotional tone in particular has never been more assured or successful.

The fourth issue, as an example, has Clark sneaking his way into an "Eyes Wide Shut" style costume ball, and it features some of the most beautifully evocative costume designs that I've ever seen. Each costume was unique, but they all felt of a piece, as though whoever created them was harkening to some long-forgotten esoteric aesthetic... which, considering this is Corben we're talking about, probably isn't that far from the truth.

If you missed this series, which ran from February to June of this year, don't despair. I imagine a reasonably-priced volume collecting all five issues in a single book will be hitting bookstore shelves within a month or two. When it does, don't fight the urge to splurge. RAT GOD is going to go down in comics history as one of Richard Corben's finest works, which instantly puts it in the running for Best Limited Series Comic of 2015.

MEDIAVORE ~ WEEKLY COMICS HAUL REPORT

Welcome to the first in what I hope will be a regular, weekly Mediavore-branded sub-series, in which I give recommendations from, and bullet reviews of, my weekly comics haul.

WE STAND ON GUARD #1 (Image, $2.99) ~ This is an odd new title from Image, in which veteran scribe Brian K. Vaughan presents us with a grim vision of war between the United States and Canada. The story kicks off in 2112 (a nod to Canadian prog power-trio Rush), when the States' military obliterates Ottawa via missiles, then launches a land invasion, ostensibly in retaliation for a September 11-style terrorist attack that somehow gets blamed on the Great White North (I figure it's going to be exposed as a false flag attack ginned up as an excuse to go after Canada's fresh water supply in a future issue). Jump ahead a decade or so, and a rag-tag team of Canuck survivalists dodge interceptor drones and bring down giant manned robot "mechs" with little more than their wits and their tremendous Canadian balls. The combination of angry, paranoid polemic and crazy sci-fi action/adventure is a tough sell, and I'm not sure if I'm buying yet. I'll give it another issue or two to decide once and for all.

STRANGE FRUIT #1 (Boom!, $3.99) ~ Speaking of angry polemic, here's a shockingly good idea that I'm surprised hasn't been done before: What if Superman's alien craft had crash-landed in rural Mississippi in 1927, just as the KKK was getting ready to go into the Black part of town and fuck shit up? And what if he emerged from that craft a full-grown Black man? Named after Billie Holiday's legendary anti-lynching song, this series by J.G. Jones and Mark Waid is rendered in a gorgeous, painterly style throughout, and considering the book's final image is of Black Superman covering his nudity with a Confederate flag torn from a Klansman's standard, it couldn't be more timely. If the first issue of this four-issue miniseries is any indication, I predict that Strange Fruit will be winning multiple statuettes come award season next year. Well worth checking out.

FUTURE IMPERFECT #1, #2, # 3 (Marvel, $3.99 each) ~ There's not much that I like about Marvel's ongoing, continuity-wide "event", Secret Wars 2015. With every single Marvel title taking part in this deeply flawed, pathetically transparent, and ultimately misguided attempt at copycatting Game of Thrones, the entire superhero dynamic is thrown out of whack. I mean, it's basically game over. The heroes failed and the Multiverse has collapsed into nothingness, leaving behind only Doctor Doom's personal AD&D game, populated with amnesiac versions of characters that we USED to know and love... some of them barely recognizable as such, and many of them present in multiple versions of themselves. I mean, Captain America is a barbarian who roams the various wastelands of "Battleworld" with his pet, King Dinosaur. And there's a region populated by nothing but Hulks. And there's a Great Big Wall that separates all the "Zones" from the Marvel Zombies and the Ultron Annihlation Wave... except it's on the SOUTH side of the map, so it's not another Game of Thrones rip-off! No way! Anyway, my main question about this iteration of Secret Wars is, why should we care about these heroes if there's no normal people left for them to protect and save and be heroic for? I'll have more to say about this mess in later columns, but for now, I just want to say that I picked up the first three issues of the Future Imperfect 4-part tie-in series exclusively for Greg Land's excellent renderings of both the Maestro Hulk and The Thing (even though this Thing is... ugh... General Thunderbolt Ross). I guess I'll pick up the fourth issue, even though the story is pretty much for shit. This goes to show you... good art goes a long way in comics!