2020.03.19 Dispatches From the Wasteland – Day 4

Another day of the new normal.

I feel pretty settled in, unsurprising given I was born to be a wizard-hermit, burrowed deep in the earth, muttering incantations and gnawing roots for sustenance. Others I know having a much tougher time adjusting, I suspect the “getting-used-to-the-new-normal” period will be much worse than the actual “new normal”.

This will hopefully help

Classic Tokusatsu shows are EXACTLY what you need. I got the first 3 Ultra series blu-rays when they released last year so I should dip into those soon, but the idea of sampling a bunch of weird shows appeals to me.

Both of my favorite ambient music podcasts released new episodes recently, so stick those into your ears here and here.

And here’s a movie youtuber I like doing a very in-depth analysis of the Oil Derrick Fire Sequence in There Will Be Blood (the best movie of 2007).

Currently Playing: Drums & Tuba – “Vinyl Killer”

Currently Reading: FLIGHTS, Olga Tokarczuk

2020.03.18 Dispatches From the Wasteland – Day 3

I’ve got the livestream of the jellyfish from the Monterey Bay Aquarium up on one of my monitors and am playing my backlog of ambient music releases from bandcamp over it.

Little Eldritch Beauties

It’s the BEST. Especially when I’m taking a moment to just look at it and feel peaceful and suddenly a squeegee pops into the shot and starts wiping down the glass. I laugh EVERY time.

This feels like a really great time to watch slow cinema and peaceful, slice-of-life shows. I started Mushishi the other night and it was just perfect for this moment. Thinking of starting Laid Back Camp later tonight too.

I finally finished Bruce Sterlings HEAVY WEATHER last night. More about it on friday in the book roundup, but I liked it a lot.

Keep safe and find good stuff to read/watch/play/do. Flatten the motherfuckin’ curve, y’all!

Currently Playing: Marc Ertel – “[Overtures]”

Currently Reading: FLIGHTS, Olga Tokarczuk

2020.03.17 Dispatches From the Wasteland – Day 2

Brain feeling very frazzled today. Getting the staff at work set up with the ability to work remotely went smoothly but now everyone is settling in and trying stuff and finding little things they need answers for and they’re all coming in at once.

Time to throw some muted, peaceful black and white movie on the big screen and pipe ambient music into the earbuds and start tech support triage. Welcome to the new normal, I guess.

Currently Playing: The Master Musicians of Dyffryn Moore – “Music for Hand-Washing”

Currently (almost done!) Reading: HEAVY WEATHER, Bruce Sterling

2020.03.16 Dispatches From the Wasteland – Day 1

Greetings, fellow wasteland-dwellers! How is the end of all things treating you?

I am safely sequestered in Joezone HQ, full work-from-home protocols engaged. Still fine-tuning small details and making sure all the tech I have set up is working in concert the way I need it to, but overall very pleased with everything so far… too bad it’s under these circumstances.

Trying to explain to my 4 and 6 year olds why they need to stop putting their goddamn mouths on everything without terrifying them is proving to be the greatest challenge thus far.

I also learned that a cheap ink-jet printer that sat in the back of a closet for 9 years doesn’t just WORK when you plug it back in. Who knew?

Anyway, settling into the new normal as best as I can, you do the same. Take care of yourself and your loved ones, watch some anime, read some books, listen to good music, wash your hands, flatten the motherfucking curve.

Currently Playing: Kloob – “Remarkable Events”

Currently Reading: FLIGHTS, Olga Tokarczuk

2020.03.13 Books in the Wasteland

Yesterday I missed my first weekday post since starting the zone. I’m sure you didn’t notice as you were too busy tending to the world catching fire (more than usual) around you!

I spent the day getting myself set up to work from home for a while and now that I’m more or less settled in we return to our regular broadcasting schedule.

So, time for the weekly book round-up. I finished 3 books and one graphic novel this week:

MEDDLING KIDS, Edgar Cantero
THE NEDDIAD: HOW NEDDIE TOOK THE TRAIN, WENT TO HOLLYWOOD, & SAVED CIVILIZATION, Daniel Pinkwater
FACELESS KILLERS, Henning Mankell
SWIMMING IN DARKNESS, Lucas Harari

MEDDLING KIDS seemed like it might be a fun little pulpy “scooby-doo vs cthulhu” sort of yarn, but unfortunately it was just bad. The first half I was very distracted by how mediocre the actual writing was and the second half that was overshadowed by how much I disliked all the characters and how bored of the incredibly stupid plot I was. Big whiff.

THE NEDDIAD was delightful and holds the distinction of being the first “chapter-book” I read out loud to my son. We read together every night and have done since he was an infant but this was the first book of any length we’ve read together and he loved it. We started the sequel THE YGGYSSEY immediately after we finished THE NEDDIAD.

FACELESS KILLERS is the first of Henning Mankell’s “Wallander” novels and I’ve been meaning to start those for years now. It was good, I shall read the rest.

SWIMMING IN DARKNESS is a really remarkable graphic novel. The art is excellent, very clean and clear and the way in weaves a mystery in with myth, magic and architecture makes it unlike almost any comic I’ve ever read. Definitely worth checking out.

I swear I’m going to finish the Bruce Sterling novel I’ve been reading for 2 months this week. I have to. It’s becoming embarassing.

Currently Playing: Eluvium – “Virga I”

Currently Reading: FLIGHTS, Olga Tokarczuk

2020.03.11 Chili Weather

You know what you need? You need a big ol’ bowl of chili. I make a mean chili. Chili is the cure for what ails ya. AND SO CAN YOU.

This is my personal recipe, honed after many years and many batches. It’s way better than that garbage you make. I wouldn’t feed that stuff to my dog. I wouldn’t feed it to YOUR dog. Trust me on this, I would never lie to you.

I don’t measure things when I make chili. I let my ingredients be my guide.

Get yourself some ground beef (or whatever, I have used beef in the past, I dont’ care what you use, I’m not your dad.)
Throw that in a pan and brown it up nice.
Get a slotted spoon or a sieve or whatever and drain all the juice from it and put the beef aside.
Chop up 2 onions and a bunch of garlic, I usually do a whole bulb (don’t chop either too fine, I like a nice chunk of onion or garlic, but again: YOU DO YOU).
Fry em up real nice until the onions are getting translucent. Take a moment and enjoy how insanely good your kitchen smells now.
Put the meat and the onions and the garlic into a big pot. Add a big can of stewed tomatoes (I prefer the non-chili style ones as they usually have some seasoning and I don’t need help seasoning my chili from a can of tomatoes)
Next pour in 2 cans of black beans, a bottle of beer (I use a brown ale) and most (or all) of a jar of pickled jalapenos (I’ve tried it with fresh jalapeno and it’s not as good).
Add a heap of chili powder, a bunch of garlic salt, some paprika, some black pepper and a table spoon or two of sugar.
Mix that up with a wooden spoon or a stick or any prosthetic limbs you may have.
Finally, hit it with 3 or 4 spurts of LIQUID SMOKE flavoring. I like the Hickory or Mesquitte variety.

Simmer it 90 minutes or so.

Serve with biscuits.

It’s a much soupier chili than you’re probably used to and it’s a lot more savoury, spicy and smoky than most chili. It’s great.

Currently Playing: 36 & zakè – “Stasis Sounds For Long-Distance Space Travel”

Currently Reading: THE WEIRD AND THE EERIE, Mark Fisher

2020.03.10 Creeping Death

I bought a pair of those anti-glare glasses what are supposed to reduce eye strain. By 11 am most days it feels like someone’s taken a belt-sander to my eyeballs. It’s too early into wearing them to say with any certainty how well they work but my initial review is that I’ve noticed a HUGE reduction in eye-strain. Placebo? Maybe? Who cares?

I also bought a new chair cushion. A “Coccyx Orthopedic Seat Cushion” to be precise. Already noticing an improvement in tailbone and back pain.

When the fuck did I turn 80? I used to sometimes get sore in various areas depending on my activity but when I’d wake up the previous day’s aches and pains were usually gone. NOT SO ANYMORE. I suspect body parts are going to start falling off any day now. “‘nless science do some’thin bout it. I know they workin’ on it” (joezone no-prize if you know what that’s from).

For no reason, here’s a Jonathan Coulton song that is in no way relevant to my complaints about aging: THE FUTURE SOON

Currently Playing: Gaetir The Mountainkeeper – “Fornjörð”

Currently Reading: FACELESS KILLERS – Henning Mankell

2020.03.09 Hog Wild

Today I learned that to prove their pigs are free-range some farmers strap pedometers to them.

This is already funny to me because I just imagine pigs with fitbits, which inevitably leads to pigs with smart phones and then BOOM: Starbucks.

Apparently, sometimes these pedometers fall off and other pigs eat em. Pigs’ll eat anything, as we all learned from Guy Ritchie’s one good movie, Snatch: “Never trust a man who owns a pig farm”.

So the pigs what ate the fitbits eventually poop ’em out, pigs are notorious for poopin’. Pig poop is flammable, as are partially digested pedometer batteries, and you all know the old saying:

“Show me a pigpen full of poop, partially digested pedometer batteries and dry hay and I’ll show you pigpen full of poop, partially digested pedometer batteries and dry hay that is on fire!”

At least that’s how it went down in North Yorkshire on the weekend. And people say there’s no news worth reading anymore.

No pigs were harmed in the fire (I mean, later they’re all going to get slaughtered and eaten. If it was me I’d probably rather die the hilarious battery-shit way, but I’m not sure the pig cares one way or the other)

Currently Playing: 光淵 (Pool Of Light) – “绿 (Green)”

Currently Reading: FACELESS KILLERS, Henning Mankell

2020.03.06 Son of Read Icculus

Got through 5 books this week:

THE WIDE CARNIVOROUS SKY AND OTHER MONSTROUS GEOGRAPHIES, John Langan
THE MAN ON THE BALCONY, Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö
LOVECRAFT’S MONSTERS, Edited by Ellen Datlow
FOLK HORROR REVIVAL: CORPSE ROADS – REVISED EDITION, Edited by Andy Paciorek
THE GRAND BANKS CAFE, Georges Simenon

2 short story collections, a collection of folk-horror themed or adjacent poetry, the third Detective Martin Beck novel and yet another Maigret. My XBOX is feeling seriously neglected, but I’ve been really enjoying spending what little free-time I get at home after the kids go to bed just reading.

I’ve never been able to really wrap my head around poetry, I have a history of just abandoning anything I don’t immediately get or take to. Even song lyrics, unless they’re “funny” tend to just bounce off me, so I’m making a concerted effort to read poetry this year and try not to be such a goddamn philistine. (I don’t really know anything about philistines either, what if it turns out philistines are awesome? Sorry, potentially awesome philistines!) This collection was a perfect place for me to begin diving into. I’ve been extremely fascinated with the folk-horror subgenre/culture for a while now and this collection had poems from at least 5 centuries. There was a lot of stuff that I probably glazed over and was wasted on me, but I actually felt like I was understanding and enjoying the majority of what I read.

I’m sure this is the most obvious thing in the world to people who are INTO poetry, but I found reading it out loud (or at least whispering it) made it that much easier to parse and appreciate. All it took was some poems about goat creatures and children with hooves and witches sabbaths and whatnot to get my interest! I now also have a huge list of poets in my notebook to look further into, so that’s a fun thing I’m looking forward to doing more of this year.

Both the Maigret and the Detective Beck novels were great! Definitely my favorite Beck so far and the Maigret is probably tied with NIGHT AT THE CROSSROADS for favorite Maigret so far.

Only comic that got read this week was more of my reread of Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell’s FROM HELL. Very slowly going through that a few pages at a time each night, taking lots of notes.

I’ve got some more short story collections and another Detective Beck in the hopper for this week but you never know what might leap to my attention and disrupt my carefully planned book schedule.

Currently Playing: Phish – “Scents and Subtle Sounds 2019-12-06”
Currently Reading: MEDDLING KIDS, Edgar Cantero

2020.03.05 Tale as Old as Time…

If you ever want to see real magic on film you need to watch Jean Cocteau’s 1946 “La Belle et La Bete”

For those of you who don’t speak portuguese, that means “Beauty and the Beast”.

As near a perfect fantasy romance film as has ever been made. The whole film feels like it’s floating. Every shot is something you’d hang on the wall. The designs are haunting, surreal and utterly gorgeous. The actual makeup and costume for the Beast looks amazing (and they didn’t even have to have theater owners download a patch so that James Corden would stop giving people nightmares… more than usual, I mean) and if there’s ever been a more radiant vision on celluloid than Josette Day as Belle then I’d sure like to see.

You know the plot, but you’re here for the atmosphere and just the VIBE.

I think it’s available to stream on The Criterion Collections streaming service, but I also highly recommend the Criterion bluray. It’s got an optional secondary audio track that is the Philip Glass Opera which is a pretty gorgeous way to watch it a second or third time.

Currently Playing: Temple Ov Saturn – “Meditations”

Currently Reading: MEDDLING KIDS, Edgar Cantero