April 29, 2013
Categories: Uncategorized . . Author: simondrax . Comments: Leave a Comment
Signing Off — Zero Signal Now —
Two pics snapped a second ago with as little self-consciousness as we can muster—
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First one: so typical. “Grrrr.”
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Second one: much better. “Relax, Vader.” I think this pic will now go on the “about” page. And maybe I’ll turn it into my goddamn avatar.
WE ARE NOW GOING TO ZERO SIGNAL
if you are a draxfan, we thank you
if you are an “enemy,” we probably gave you good reason
Be well and treat those around you with care and love
We will return.
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Monday April 29 2013 approx 14.00 est
Music: DARKNESS OF THE DOCTOR, a repeat in anticipation of PYRAMIDS OF MARS
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Music: Click, Play. Darkness of the Doctor
When I wrote my own (puny, humble) Doctor Who story featuring the Fourth Doctor as played by Tom Baker and his companion as played by Elisabeth Sladen—it was the angry Time Lord we saw in Pyramids of Mars, Genesis of the Daleks, and Seeds of Doom that I envisioned as the Doctor of my story—ANGRY! Not willing to accept Apocalypse, no matter the cost to the immediate material around him— not the planet, not the people, not even beloved Sarah— even though SUTEK THE DESTROYER was the Apocalypse, the Fourth Doctor as played by Tom Baker gave us a sense his eyes had already beheld the end of time; that doomsday was already a fucking forgone conclusion— BUT — tragic as that all might be — there was no way a punk like Sutek, or Morbieus, or even the Daleks— there was no way the Doctor was going to let them play the last card. He is a Time Lord. He’s seen it all before.
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The Doctor will fight for every last breath of every living creature—even though he knows he can’t save them all. It was Baker’s furious scientist/mage we see in Pyramids of Mars that fueled my little story— and, I think, allowed Chris Eccleston in 2005 to show some long witheld fury, and consequently slipped passage to many other storylines—almost all of which were royally fucked by the current creative team. But that’s another war.
Some pics of the Doc and Sarah Jane from Pyramids of Mars
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I Need to Rip All This Shit Off My Wall. Also, I Must go ZERO SIGNAL, Again
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Sad pretty young women and monsters and scribbled trinkets from my kids and reminders of bills I haven’t paid— I need to rip this shit from my field of vision and do. And do and do and do.
Things I still haven’t done:
GOODBYE, BEAUTIFUL: My Tribute to Gerry Anderson, which I started on December 26 2012, the day of his death. I got all tangled up! Childhood memories, rockets and dreams. It’ll be good, I think. Eventually. Really. There won’t be a dry eye in the house after the Stingray sequence!
A Review of Barry Graham’s IT ALL COMES DOWN TO DUST: One of the most heartbreaking novels I’ve ever read.
A Review of the New BIG COUNTRY album, THE JOURNEY. Talk about tangled emotions!
Movies: I wanted to write reviews of Ridley Scott’s PROMETHEUS and Don Coscarelli’s JOHN DIES AT THE END — I liked one MUCH more than the other — but which one?! (We’ll probably never know. Who cares?)
ONE LAST BLAST OF HEXES: The Lockdown—BOSTON! This shit was just so mindblowing, visually and conceptually. I really wanted to talk about it. But I’ve just run out of time: Here’s the cover from last week, and the beginning of the photo essay I wanted to assemble:
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Image: ”Psyche Weeping” by kinuko Y craft
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LOCKDOWN BOSTON
Lockdown Boston will be a gallery of photographs, links, and commentaries about the unprecedented “lockdown” of the city of Boston and its immediate suburbs which was the equivalent of martial law that effectively enforced millions to STAY INSIDE and DO NOT LEAVE on Friday, April 19, 2013.
Photos
Via @julianahatfield
The following six photos are cribbed from mediaite.com
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LOCKDOWN BOSTON, DISCUSSION:
There are already many arguments for and against, and many were fascinated and horrified by the actions and realities of Friday, April 19 2013.
You can find them anywhere. Here, however, we are pleased to welcome the oft-missing writer of his own own website, the increasingly craggy
SIMON DRAX
Thank you. Well, the news we woke to on Friday, April 19 was nothing short of surreal—the two suspected bombers of the Boston Marathon had been identified, made the focus of a sudden intense manhunt, and in short order the suspects committed murder and carjacking; they were pursued, cornered, lobbed explosives at police, exchanged multiple rounds w/ said police, then attempted to surrender but it was only a ruse: the would-be surrenderer had explosives strapped to his body and the Boston Blue lit him up boom boom boom and the surviving other suspect DROVE OVER HIS BROTHER’S BODY IN A HAIL OF GUNFIRE AND ELUDED CAPTURE, later calling police to politely tell them, “You killed my brother, I will kill you all,” and remained at large as the east coast staggered awake Friday morning to a city that blared STAY IN YOUR HOMES. SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED. PUBLIC TRANSIT IS CLOSED…
Yeah, well, it would have been good — There are so many issues to talk about — but like everything else we will ever attempt, there will never EVER be enough time and optimum energy to do it “right,” and now The Legion of Drax must move on to do something else, no promise or glory of “right,” but it is time TO DO.
It is time to DO SOMETHING.
If seeking entertainment and enlightenment —
• The astonishing MLLE GHOUL has made brilliant sad heartbreaking mixes in the last week
• Storm Thorgeson died. John Coulthart payed tribute
• Warren Ellis’ renewed SPEKTRMODULE mixes (18, 19, 20) continues to amaze
DOCTOR WHO, HIDE:
I was so fucking unimpressed with the recent super HAUNTOLOGY episode of Doctor Who, “Hide.” It was like George Lucas strolled in and said, Let’s spend a million bucks on every shot and concept and make it as Mickey Mouse as possible. Yep, that is my review. It was dumb, and it played to the lowest bottom feeder of every trope it rolled out. Dumb stupid obvious but worst of all—NOT SCARY. Duh! It’s scary first, a fashion show second, if ever.
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YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: SENSATION BY NICK MAMATAS
NOT out of nowhere. At year’s turn I swore to Satan that I would write a sober, serious, comprehensive review of Mamatas’ SENSATION after being fucking utterly befuddled and frustrated by all the limp and lifeless commentaries by the best and worst minds of “our generation,” including Lavie Tidhar and Requires Only That You Hate. I still haven’t written it. I suck! But this piece at the publisher’s site is pretty good.
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and finally,
We Will Dance Until We Die
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“I am the Pope of Paganism!” Ha ha ha, yes— and I was just bitching about the fucking BBC feeding off the bottom-feeders—but I love this song and video. Sometimes we need the equivalent of Star Wars, you know? Big and dumb and bright, but somehow the “right” thing when “we” need it.
Sign off soon. Love you all. TRYING TO, anyway.
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Because It’s Saturday and It’s Do or Die (and we all know, man—YAMATO Dies)
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And that’s why we all have to fight like fuckin’ Hell.
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UNCLE HARLAN STILL HAS A MOUTH AND SCREAMS ANEW @ TOR.COM
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“You’re three days late!” Ellison growled after I introduced myself. This is unfortunately true, and possibly my fault. I decided to remind him that not only did we meet over ten years ago, but also that we spoke on the phone in 2011. That time I talked with Harlan Ellison he thanked me for an article I’d written on Tor.com about a short story of his called “How Interesting: A Tiny Man.”
Luckily he remembered this and said, “Well, I try to be punctilious in these matters,” and then laughed like a jolly gargoyle.
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HELLO, BEAUTIFUL
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Partial lunar eclipse of June 4, 2012 as seen in Summit County, Colorado by EarthSky Facebook friend Daniel McVey Photography. Visit Daniel McVey’s Facebook page. The lunar eclipse of April 25, 2013 will not be visible in North America.
INSTANT UPDATE: The Partial Eclipse of April 25-26 has ended, but scores of Great Pictures Here.
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Hey, Look! It’s the New Issue of VideoScope!
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And what a lovely garish flower to finally sprout from this Bleak Black Spring of 2013, with fistfuls of new reviews, The Phantom’s Annual “B” wards, William Forsythe, R. Lee Ermey, Reb Brown, and much more. At better bookstores everywhere, or subscribe online at videoscopemag.com.
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BLACK SABBATH — GOD IS DEAD
via: @Brumcast —
“New Black Sabbath single ‘God is Dead’
https://soundcloud.com/radiomel-mano/black-sabbath-god-is-dead … not bad, not great. Warning, contains annoying ‘i heart radio’ idents #fb“
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Yeah, the ’i heart radio’ idents are pretty annoying. But pretend you’re listening to it for the first time on the radio, you know? Or you’re over your friend’s house and the drunk dad is flipping out. Or the cat’s throwing up in the corner. Or the service has been disconnected. Or your lover will never—well, whatever. Imperfections, crackle, bullshit, advertisements, idiot DJs, a crying baby, JESUS, something’s always fucked up, somehow, somewhere. But hey—maybe you’re listening to a new song from a beloved band, and nothing else matters, and all is weird and strange and good for a few seconds.
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Tonight
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Waxing crescent moon near Gemini stars on April 17
The above sky chart shows the wide waxing crescent moon on April 17, 2013, near the bright stars Castors and Pollux in the constellation Gemini – and also the star Procyon in Canis Minor the Lesser Dog. Castor and Pollux, the beacon lights of the constellation Gemini the Twins, are sometimes called ‘twin’ stars – allthough the kinship of these stars is more imaginary than real. Why twins then? These shimmering luminaries are named in honor of mythological twin brothers, Castor and Pollux.
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Well, Shee-It
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At last! A reason to talk to my agent!
Our last conversation regarded Ebury Books’ polite “No Thank You” for The Wicker Dalek—nah, that’s not true, I exaggerate. My noble agent also hooked up The Creep in the Art Department with the author of this piece of shit. Which was fun. Until it wasn’t. And exemplified everything that is wrong and foul w/ vanity publishing—of which I am both willing participant and victim.
I still won’t submit shitty work to legit markets, nor self-pub shitty work, no fucking way. Hence my silence. Why publish shit? Lish once told me, “If the work doesn’t advance the literature of the language in which it’s written, it’s not worth publishing.” †
FOR THOSE IN THE PUBLISHING KNOW: Skyhorse’s acquisition of UNDERLAND cannot compare with Skyhorse’s recent inhaling of NIGHT SHADE but make no mistake: my next book will be a new version of Exit Vector. Which will be dedicated to Victoria Blake, btw, dedicated with love and affection and forgiveness. No, really. I have closed the door to the Engine Room of Anger, and I’m looking for the lock.
† paraphrased + reconstructed but accurate
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Update: Big Country’s New Album “The Journey” Available on iTunes Two Weeks Early (Now!)
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Though listed everywhere else as going on sale April 30, I bought my copy of The Journey on iTunes this morning. Listening tonight. Reviewing soon. That is all.
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Stuart Adamson Would Have Been 55 Today
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April 11, 1958 — December 16, 2001
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And in other news, the surviving members of Big Country are set to release a new album. Full press release from Cherry Red Records:
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Big Country will release their brand new studio album, The Journey as they embark on a 14-date tour of the UK this April. Released on Cherry Red Records, this is Big Country’s ninth studio album and their first since the sad and untimely death of lead singer and songwriter, Stuart Adamson in December 2001. The Journey was recorded on the Welsh border town of Wrexham in an old cold war nuclear bunker With 8-feet thick walls, there was no phone or Internet signal and, thus isolated and disconnected from the outside world, the group were able to enjoy a very productive time in the studio.
Aptly titled, The Journey is released some two years after Big Country embarked on a new era, when guitarist and founder member Bruce Watson officially invited Mike Peters (The Alarm) to join them as lead vocalist for two concerts to celebrate 30 years since the group’s formation. Two years of intense and emotional touring followed and as fans and critics alike responded positively and a whole new generation of fans were created, the group, imbued with new energy and passion, performed at many of the UK and Europe’s most prestigious festivals, including Isle of Wight, V, T In The Park and Oxygen.
More recently, Big Country has been joined by another long-standing friend of the group, Derek Forbes (Simple Minds), who took over bass guitar duties from original bassist Tony Butler who retired gracefully in 2012. Derek was recently voted Best Scottish Bass Player of all time and, in the words of Tony Butler himself “plays a mean D”.
Mike Peters has had a long and heartfelt association with Big Country. He first met Stuart Adamson in 1983 and was with him at his last ever Big Country show at Glasgow’s Barrowlands in 2000. Mike, who has fought and won two very public battles with cancer, also credits the words of In A Big Country as literally inspiring him to “Stay Alive” during his illnesses.
Mike wrote 99% of the lyrics for The Journey, a challenge he accepted in the knowledge that it would mean having to look into the soul of the band’s original lyricist, Stuart Adamson, whose words revealed someone who was at once both positive and pessimistic. Moreover, Mike realised the importance of following the formula for all of the great Big Country songs, which started life as instrumentals; a guitar phrase from founder member Bruce Watson or a drum break and piano melody by Mark Brzezicki, with lyrics and vocal melody coming after the music had been created by the band as a unit.
“There are themes of redemption and of coming to terms with a life lived all through this record, and the process has brought us together as a family united and ready to stand proud for what and who we are…..Big Country.” (Mike Peter)
“I am looking forward to the next Big Country chapter…. it feels right and fitting that Big Country continue the journey… and as Stuart always said, “When taking a journey, it’s not about the getting there, it’s enjoying the view on the way”” (Mark Brezezicki)
Release Date: 8/4/2012 : To pre-order the album on limited edition 12″ vinyl click here.
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The Folk Art of Maxim Peter Griffin
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Pylons ! ( Folk Deities Anew )
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In your area ( Ra ra )
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He said there would be dragons . Geoffrey tells lies.
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Maxim Peter Griffin on Twitpic.
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Ultra Sonics for Sunday
space.com
The Zero Moon approaches… so you better stock up on some good vibes…
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Stream Pyyramid’s Brightest Darkest Day in full
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Killer ALIENS Sampled Bass and Drum mix —
LV 426 Part 2 by Malasuerte – First Wave [FREE DOWNLOAD]
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A DARKER SHADE OF PAGAN April 7, 2013
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Deus Ex – Unsacred Seed – Track 1
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I drew a picture just like this when I was a little boy….
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Cloudscape #36: April 2013 By Evening of Light
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00:00 | Brian Eno | Triennale | The Shutov Assembly | 1992
03:15 | Clint Heidorn | Atwater II | Atwater | 2011
06:51 | Stone Breath | Mad Song | Spear of Flame, Horse of Air | 2013
11:23 | The Doomed Bird of Providence | Seabound | Collision/Detection v7 | 2013
16:23 | Grey Lotus | Deal | Our Little World of Glass | 2013
27:00 | Sundrugs | Radio Depth | Hidden Scenes | 2013
27:50 | ZENИTH | Deepest Sea | Ritual | 2013
30:11 | Saåad | ठोस बादल (Noir Cœur Remix) | Στερεά Σύννεφα | 2013
33:23 | Burial Hex | The Tower (St Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort’s Day Remix) | Eschatology II | 2012
44:27 | The Floating World | The Moon Remembers | We Hunted | 2013
51:30 | Infinite Particles | Perhonen II | SEQUENCE5 | 2012
57:26 | Lamia Vox | Born of the Abyss | Sigillum Diaboli | 2013
60:46 | raison d’être | Falling Twilight | In Sadness, Silence, and Solitude | 2002
67:35 | The Ashes of Piemonte | Sacred Micrology | Winter’s Fire |
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Beyond Genocide: Stanley Kubrick’s Revisitation of Pagan Myth in ‘The Shining’
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So, what are we to make of The Shining, this Stephen King narrative of exile and madness played out almost exclusively across one trinitarian family, supposedly turned by Kubrick into a dark history of the American continent? King’s original story does not share all of the film’s symbolic elements, but Kubrick’s version can very easily be accosted to one of the major Greek deities. I am referring to Artemis (also known by her Latin name, Diana), goddess of the hunt, of the wilderness and of wild animals, as well as the protector of little girls and the guardian of mothers during childbirth.
Artemis, in modern culture, is best known for her associations to the practice of hunting. There’s certainly an element of that in The Shining, as the story concerns a father tracking and hunting down his wife and child in the corridors of a hotel (and later, in a labyrinth). Even the film’s opening shot seems to follow a sort of eagle’s eye perspective, rushing through and above forests as it scans for and eventually catches up to an unidentified car (belonging, as we soon find out, to the family). The electronic musical score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind reinforces this theme for us in a foreboding sequence of notes, repeated in the monotonous cadence of footsteps. It’s an overture that throws us back to other horror and suspense films – Jaws (1975), with the POV underwater shots and its famous John Williams score, comes to mind – but it also has another, subtler dimension.
Artemis is not only the goddess of the hunt; she is, above all else, a goddess of double nature. She first appears to Danny in the form of two twins, as Artemis herself was the twin of Apollo, the two of them born simultaneously of Zeus and Leto. She stands in a yin and yang relation to her brother – the same relation that Nietzsche later formulated by assigning Dionysus as the counterpart to Apollo. But while the Apollo / Dionysus dialectic is an invention of the moderns, the dualism between Apollo and Artemis is far more ancient, and the symbolic dichotomy which it opens up is much more specific and precise.
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Read the entire article By Andrea Tallarita at Popmatters.
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sigur rós – brennisteinn
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from the upcoming sigur rós album kveikur, released worldwide june 17/18 on xl rcordings.
preorder: sigur-ros.co.uk/kveikur /shopusa.xlrecordings.com/kveikur.
sigur rós begin their north american tour on march 24th, madison square garden march 25th.
video directed by andrew huang: andrewthomashuang.com
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IT’S ALIVE — Ramones LIVE @ Rainbow 1977, mofos
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Hey Ho. Let’s go.
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HELLO, BEAUTIFUL ["Stay, Beautiful" a Love Song to the Departing Moon featuring Imaginary Lyrics by the Late Stuart Adamson, a Prose Music Video by Simon Drax]
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Stay, Beautiful
a prose music video by Simon Drax | late winter 2013
Fade in:
A lone man in workboots and factory overalls struggles through a snow-covered apocalyptic wasteland, dropping his tools and bags as he trudges to the top of a hill which he reaches with terrible effort; he gasps for air as he is bathed in the light of the full Moon, a perfect and bright world of craters and mountains and dead black seas, cradled in a wide and open and star-filled sky. The man drops a hammer, then swings out his last tool, a guitar. We see now he is the sad and wizened and risen revenant of Stuart Adamson, late of the band Big Country and late of this plane for more than eleven years now. His hand slashes the strings of his guitar and the risen dead Stuart Adamson sings to the Moon:
We knew the Moon would leave us soon
We knew the Earth had grown too cold
We knew the ice would fill the scars we’d sown
[preemptive blast of rapid fire Adamson guitar]
We knew all this with frozen hearts and heads of stone
[2nd big blast of Adamson guitar, ending with a flourish, then a steady tick-tick-tick]:
Yet still we prayed and still we sang
For the grey hills of our dreams
For She may forgive and love us still
And we may glow and burn again
In the sky, lips to hips and hand to hand,
oh Stay oh
Staaaaay—
[Big rip of the guitar]
And as the dead Stuart Adamson sings to the Moon She swells in the sky, coming closer, and then a lovely woman’s face is superimposed over the valleys and crags of the now-huge Moon, and she gazes down at Dead Stuart as he sings his song. A story is visually told—two lovers, two worlds, once in love, but now one world has lost its way and has begun to resemble too-closely the stark and bleak features of the loving but fickle Muse/Moon; She has loved the Earth for centuries, but she will be leaving, now. And She will not be coming back.
BUT as the story is told and the song is sung, the beautiful woman in the Moon is not entirely unswayed; her eyes pool with compassion as Dead Stuart blasts out the last of his plea:
We knew we’d kill our own green hills
But we can make it right again, I know
I will die again (and then) and when my blood
Has spilled
[big descending scale]
And we may glow and burn again
In the sky, lips to hips and hand to hand,
oh Stay oh
Staaaaay—
[Big final blast of the guitar]
Dead Stuart falls to his knees, gazes up. The Moon looks down at him, eyes full of pity, even love—and slowly, sadly, she shakes her head
No.
And she zooms away like the receding eye of a tunnel, and is gone from the brittle and cold sky.
Dead Stuart falls backward, then moves no more.
The motes swirl above the barren landscape and we
FADE OUT
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— Notes —
• I completely did not listen to a stitch of Big Country while writing this.
• The lyrics could loosely be read to the beat of “Wonderland” or “Remembrance Day” or “The Teacher.”
• For the first half of writing this, I listened to this.
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Daughter – “Love” (Live from St Giles in the Fields Church)
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Evil Bunny says, “Get used to seeing vids and posts and links and stuff for this band via all channels Drax, oh yeah.” (But if you are impatient for more of DAUGHTER, just visit them on youtube.)
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A Holiday Classic! “One last time, Evil Bunny’s gonna tell you how it’s gonna be, got it?”
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Easter memories to treasure forever…
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Short Film: KARA
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Only the wavering shadows — a new mix by ghoulnextdoor
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Only the wavering shadows | ghoulnextdoor | 8tracks
image: ‘Kindred’, Wendy Given
Track List:
Phantom Limb, Frankenpine | He Is No Earthly Man, Ellen Mary McGee | Candles, Daughter | Til The Dawn, The Dinner Belles | Caravan, Passenger | You My Love, Marcus Foster | In Memoriam, The Oh Hellos | Alpha Shallows, Laura Marling | Where Do My Bluebird Fly, The Tallest Man on Earth | Stole You Away, Benjamin Francis Leftwich | Two Tombstones, Widower | Three Pieces, Bella Hardy | Black Dress, O’Death | Nobody in the World, The Honey Dewdrops
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“I seen shit that shocked the eyelids.” MIRACLES by Insane Clown Posse
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Yeah, I still believe in miracles. I have @TheRealGarySand to thank for selecting this song, which I never would have heard in my frigging life, ever. Thank you, Gary. Good morning.
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Cool Pictures of Writers I Like
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SAM WELLER at Stonehenge
Sam Weller is the author of The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury. He has lectured across the United States on the life and work of Bradbury. Weller is the former Midwest Correspondent for Publishers Weekly magazine. He has written forThe Paris Review and NPR’s All Things Considered, and was a host for the Chicago Public Radio program Hello Beautiful! A frequent literary critic for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and Playboy.com, Weller is also a professor in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago.
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KIT REED at #ICFA
KIT REED, author of Son of Destruction is about the toxicity of buried truths. It is also about psychic powers, although to the very last line the reader is kept guessing as to whether these actually exist in the world of this novel – or are merely the product of coincidence.— James Lovegrove in The Financial Times
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Simon Drax holding Nick Mamatas High
Nick Mamatas is the author of the Lovecraftian Beat road novel Move Under Ground, which was nominated for both the Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild awards, the Civil War ghost story Northern Gothic, also a Stoker nominee, the suburban nighmare novel Under My Roof, and over thirty short stories and hundreds of articles (some of which were collected in 3000 Miles Per Hour in Every Direction at Once). His work has appeared in Razor, Village Voice, Spex, Clamor, In These Times, Polyphony, several Disinformation and Ben Bella Books anthologies, and the books Corpse Blossoms, Poe’s Lighthouse, Before & After: Stories from New York, and Short and Sweet.
A native New Yorker, Nick now lives in the California Bay Area.
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Photo: Daishin Stephenson
BARRY GRAHAM is a novelist, journalist, poet and Zen teacher from Glasgow, Scotland. He has been based in the U.S. since 1995, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of more than a dozen books and has written for a diversity of magazines and newspapers, including Harper’s, Flaunt, Parabola, Las Vegas Life, The Arizona Republic and Scotland on Sunday.
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Ten Years Ago Today—
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The United States of America has committed many crimes against the world—its “greatest hits,” off the top of my head? Let’s see: Sherman’s blitzkrieg against his own fellow American citizens. The genocide of the indigenous people of the North American continent. The instigation of the American/Spanish War. The willing duplicity and blind eye turned toward Poland and the indifference of The Holocaust during World War II (right up there w/ the Vatican—see no evil, kids.) The firebombings of Germany and Japan, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And needless to say, the grievous, slow, torturous, and absolutely hateful advance of civil liberties within our own country, our own people.
And so, so, so many other crimes—I haven’t the space or the capacity for the bloodshed and the cruelty, the selfishness of The United States of America.
But everything mentioned above occurred before I was born. When I was a baby, when I was a boy? Hey: the bombing of cambodia. The use of chemical weapons in Vietnam. Our propping up of dictators that served our interests. The incarceration and execution of our own citizens, the economic blight we have visited on our neighbors. But the worst? When I was a living thinking voting adult?
The 2003 bombing and Invasion of Iraq.
I remember March 19, 2003 with unfortunately piercing clarity.
NEW YORK CITY, MIDTOWN. It was bright and warm day. I was already sad for multiple reasons, half of them real ones—my beloved brother Noel had just died two months before; I had just bought a big goddamn house which I had no idea how to run; my wife was miserable, dislocated; my daughter was less than two; I had a very stressful big deal job for a major company I despised: McGraw-Hill, a company run by complete idiots— I was depressed. Very fucking depressed. But nothing could have prepped me for the desolation I felt on March 19, 2003.
I went to lunch w/ my friend Kyle and the pale spindly administrative assistant who thought she was in love with one of us, but she wasn’t sure which one. Her crush had nothing to do with anything, not really, and if it did, I didn’t care. Kyle was one of my best friends; we had gone through 9/11 together—Manhattan, the fall of the towers, the showers of ash, blood. We didn’t talk about it too much; we had lived it. Miranda, the assistant for the evil company for which we worked, hadn’t been there. Miranda thought everything was “wonderful.” I think we kind of pitied her.
We had lunch at Jack Dempsey’s Pub and Bar, on 33rd street, in the shadow of the Empire State building.
Kyle wanted french fries. Miranda had onion soup. I ordered a martini. I was in the habit of drinking during lunch. Our orders arrived, I sipped my martini. There were giant TV screens, everywhere.
It was around noon. The TV screens bloomed with fire.
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There were muted and stupid cheers from nearly all corners of the pub, but not mine.
I ordered a second martini.
Kyle pushed away his french fries. Miranda finished her soup, started on Kyle’s unfinished fries. I ordered a third martini, then a forth, then a fifth. Then a sixth, a seventh—
The TV screens were merciless. They were red, so red —
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“Drax, what the fuck is wrong w/ you?!”
“I’ve got to get out of here,” I said, “Jesus, this airstrike, this ‘war—’ God, I’m going to be sick.”
“What, the drinks?”
“No,” I gasped. “All of it. The mush-faced moron that people call Mister President—”
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My friends loved me (they did, they really did), but they didn’t understand. Not really. They said I watched the explosions on the screen like a man drowning, they said they watched my caucasian complexion turn sheet white, they said as the explosions bloomed on the TV screens all over the bar I turned like a man alive to a fucking zombie, and it wasn’t the fucking drinks—
Yeah, I staggered back to work. But as I blinked in the bright grey cruel light of 33rd street, man, I had never been more ashamed of being an American son of the fucking American Empire. Ten years ago. Today.
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Dunsany’s “House of the Sphinx” Read by Seraphic Manta
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Lifted shamelessly from the excellent and weird Astronomic Blur. Hang out with him as Hypnagog.
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The Real Gary Sand
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Hey kids! Follow @TheRealGarySand on twitter:
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Some of Gary’s tweets, nothing stunning, but representative:
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Gary sings ENTER SANDMAN:
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The Iron Maidens — Aces High
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It is absolutely a good morning, it is absolutely Friday.
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Also of Interest in the Solar System This Week…
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NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars
WASHINGTON — An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.
Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon — some of the key chemical ingredients for life — in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.
“A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “From what we know now, the answer is yes.”
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More at NASA
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Earth and Lunar Transits in Same Day
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Top: The view of the sun is partially obscured by Earth as seen by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on Mar. 11, 2013, at 2:20 a.m. EDT. Credit: NASA/SDO Bottom: This image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on Mar. 11, 2013, at 8:00 a.m. EDT, shows the moon crossing in front of the sun. Credit: NASA/SDO
On March 2, 2013, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) entered its semiannual eclipse season, a period of three weeks when Earth blocks its view of the sun for a period of time each day. On March 11, however, SDO was treated to two transits. Earth blocked SDO’s view of the sun from about 2:15 to 3:45 a.m. EDT. Later in the same day, from around 7:30 to 8:45 a.m. EDT, the moon moved in front of the sun for a partial eclipse.
When Earth blocks the sun, the boundaries of Earth’s shadow appear fuzzy, since SDO can see some light from the sun coming through Earth’s atmosphere. The line of Earth appears almost straight, since Earth — from SDO’s point of view — is so large compared to the sun.
The eclipse caused by the moon looks far different. Since the moon has no atmosphere, its curved shape can be seen clearly, and the line of its shadow is crisp and clean. Any spacecraft observing the sun from an orbit around Earth has to contend with such eclipses, but SDO’s orbit is designed to minimize them as much as possible, with only two three-week eclipse seasons each year. The 2013 spring eclipse season continues until March 26. The fall season will begin on Sept. 2.
— Karen C. Fox
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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Most, Definitely, Pulp
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The Great Norman Saunders. A bonanza of “memorable” headlines/titles. Nazis. Drugs. Porn. Who doesn’t like Mondays? Good morning, afternoon, and evening.
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The War on Winter, continued: HAWKWIND / WIZARD BLEW HIS HORN
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The Great Hound Barked
And the world turned white
The Great Hound Sighed
And the forest died
The Wizard Blew His Horn
The Wizard Blew His Horn
The snow snake hissed
And the world turned round
The snow snake grinned
In his fine cold sin
When The Wizard Blew His Horn
The Wizard Blew His Horn
The horse wept blood
And the earth did groan
The tall horse reared
From a lake of tears
To seek a Champion
To seek a Champion
The world was bleak
And the Earth did fear
The Wizard’s Horn
The magic Horn
So it screamed for a champion
It screamed for a champion
The eagle laughed
And the world grew black
It stretched giant claws
And it snatched the Law
And the Champion stirred in his sleep
The Champion stirred in his sleep
Writers: MOORCOCK, MICHAEL/SIMON, HOUSE/POWELL, ALLAN/KING, SIMON
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
As always, you should check out John Coulthart’s Weekend Links
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Nokturnal Mortum – Україна (Ukraine)
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Good afternoon, evening, and morning everybody. Let’s go find winter and kill it.
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The Final Storm of Winter and the Man Who Saw It All
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Or at least, his strange new menacing avatar. Happy Friday!
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Kristine Barrett — Eulogies — plus New Work
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Kristine Barrett wrote: As the album’s title suggests, Eulogies is a series of farewells and celebrations; endings followed by beginnings: death and birth. Often we understand the value and weight of a thing by witnessing its passing or transformation. And in some cases, the passing is an opportunity for liberation from ideas/beings that have been oppressive; in others, it can be an awakening to the love of a thing we never truly appreciated. In turn, by eulogizing what has passed, its essence becomes integrated with our own. We internalize it and are thus transformed ourselves.
Listeners can offer Kristine what they wish for Eulogies at BANDCAMP.
New Work is also coming, soon:
An otherworldly collection of new and ancient songs from around the world.
The full length album will be available mid April 2013.
“There is a place I go to in the Marin Headlands where I remember things from another life. I am filled with joy and homesickness for a place, for a body I have not known for these thousand years. When I look to the sea, it is the same. I am homesick.
We are born. With our breath, the spirits of air and of place drift through our transient bodies. Ancestors and memory course through our veins, taking up residence in the very marrow of our animal being. Spirit accumulates over the course of our lives. It surrounds us: the waters, the trees, a forest, a spider, a hill. We move between worlds.
The impetus of this album began out of grief. I was deeply and fundamentally broken. I was stripped and gutted. It was enough to eat and to sleep. One night I found myself begging the universe, god, goddess, anything to give me rest. I was visited by a luminous woman. She touched my chest, and I could see into my inmost being. From the darkness of that gaping hole immerged a flower. It was illuminated. As it bloomed it became more radiant, luminous, beautiful. It became a music in my body. Out of the depths of my grief sprang the depths of my love.
The spirits that sang to me in the night reside in this music.”
Music written & arranged by Kristine Barrett
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Blonde Twins Playing Iron Maiden On Harps While Standing In A Ruined Brick Building
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< if only they were dressed in rags! and on fire ! and did anyone see the waterfall in the background?! >
(down, demon)
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Paul Delvaux – The Sleepwalker of Saint Idesbald
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Phhh! Artists.
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ICHIBAN WEAPON READY IS 4 YEARS OLD TODAY
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MARCH 2, 2009. Remember THIS header? You probably don’t. Is OK. Favorite comment: “What a nice picture of you, Drax!”
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Because my back is against the wall on this 4th Anniversary, please to enjoy my “Greatest Hits” links from this site, below:
Zali Krishna’s Galactic Emperor Blues
“Rod, You Holding Anyone Good, Man?”
HEXES: Death Special | The Vampire Special | DEATH BY SOUND Special, featuring mlle ghoul, internet Goddess | Requiem for a Black Cat | Lament for a Comic Shop | Memories of Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith | Worst Cover | Best Cover
The Haining / Parker WITCHCRAFT Archive
EXIT VECTOR: The Archive | The Blog Posts
Giving the HEX to HITLER (I Love This Shit)
DRAX SHORT FICTION — FREE DOWNLOADS:
DRAX SHORT FICTION — POSTS:
Thank you for everything, fans.
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Full Stream of Bowie’s New Album THE NEXT DAY
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Via The Quietus:
Yet more surprise Bowie news – as of today, you can now stream his new album The Next Day in its entire, glorious 53 minutes 11 seconds via the iTunes Store here. [Ends March 11, when the album goes on sale]
image via Prefix Mag
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Hello Again, “Beautiful”
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Your host on the final day of February 2013. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Wonderment to follow.
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Hello, Beautiful
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Images: Nasa / Gothrix
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…and The Ghoul May Speak of You
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The nights between our separated cities | ghoulnextdoor | 8tracks
Track List:
Here They Used To Build Ships, Johann Johannsson | La Somme, Saschienne | We Never Talk We Only Speak, Oak | From The Massives To The Masses, Audiocæneat | Harmony From The Past, Otto A Totland & Erik K Skodvin | Blue Howl, Simian Hunters | A Dead Sleeping Forest, Sweek | You Said You Would Be Here, The Echelon Effect | Time Lapse, Ludovico Einaudi | Stjarna, Collapse Under The Empire | Clouds, The Stars Above
And one by one the nights between our separated cities are joined to the night that unites us.
Image: Yang Yongliang
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