Category: brain droppings

2020.01.27 Scattershot Musings

Brain taking longer to spin up than usual this morning. Normally, by the time I get to my desk I’m more or less functional. Days like this are when I wish I liked coffee. The smell of coffee is wonderful, but I’ve yet to acquire a taste for the stuff. Someday. The lack of full functionality means I have no main topic today, instead: Brain Droppings.

In place of the brown sludge the rest of you all consume to jump-start the mental neurons, this morning I’m listening to Paleowolf albums. Paleowolf describes itself on its bandcamp page thus:

Paleowolf is a tribal/dark ambient project aimed at invoking the ancient spirits of prehistoric past. The ear of Paleowolf is set in times before, during and after the Ice Ages, when humans were still living the lives of hunter-gatherers. 

I find this particular sub-genre of ambient music very useful when I need to focus or to think. There’s something in the mythic qualities it possesses that inspires. Sometimes I’ll listen to this sort of music and a slow, black & white movie up on the big external monitor on mute to glance at once in a while; a practice I stole from Warren Ellis.

A film I’ve been throwing on the aforementioned screen is Abbas Kiarostami’s 24 Frames. A series of short scenes made up of mostly-static shots with limited movement: wildlife seen through car windows, rocky landscapes, tides lapping up on shores and even a painting by Brugel the Elder with limited animation. It’s very meditative. I love looking at it and letting my mind wander. It seems another thing I stole from Warren Ellis is a fascination with “slow cinema”, particularly in black & white.

I’ve been assembling a list of these sorts of films to see and keep to hand for use on the big monitor. When the list gets a bit longer maybe I’ll talk about it here.

I watched the David Lynch short film that Netflix released last week. “WHAT DID JACK DO?” and I loved it. I think it was very considerate of Netflix and David Lynch to produce this weird thing specifically for me.

Currently Playing: Paleowolf – “Megalitheon”

Currently Reading: A MAN’S HEAD, Georges Simenon (CA) (US)

2020.01.22 – Body. See: Snatched

I have a bunch of movie posters on the walls in my office. I spend so much time in this little white box that it’s nice to look up, from time to time, and see pictures of stuff that bring me joy. (Yes. I also have pictures of my wife and children. Shut up.) One of the posters is for Don Siegel’s science fiction-horror classic “INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS”. It’s a really nice poster. 


The film is based on a Jack Finney novel of the same name (that I swear I plan to read one day). It’s one of the great science fiction concepts that seems to always feel relevant. It’s also one of the best horror archetypes out there. Seeing something familiar that you see every day and one day suddenly knowing, deep in your gut, today it’s different.

There have been 4 direct adaptations of the novel (and it’s inspired probably dozens of other novels, shows and films):

The first, the aforementioned 1956 version that starred Kevin McCarthy.
Second, a 1978 remake directed by Philip Kaufman which in some ways is even greater than the original.
In 1993 Abel Ferrara directed “Body Snatcher” which is a pretty good pulp sci-fi horror that pales in comparison to the all-time classics it succeeds.
Finally in 2007 we have “The Invasion” directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel but it’s dogshit and the less said about it the better.

1956, 1978, 1993, 2007.

22 years between 1956 and 1978
15 years between 1978 and 1993
14 years between 1993 and 2007
13 years between 2007 and 2020

According to my calculations? We’re due for another Invasion of the Body Snatchers movie. 

This is the first of a category of blog posts I’m calling “Brain Droppings” (in honor of the late, great George Carlin) in which to file these sort of stupid, unfinished thoughts that are of no value to anyone but I don’t need cluttering up my head.

Currently Playing: Kannibal – “(final)FANTASYWAVE(vii)”

Currently (still) Reading: ORIGAMY, Rachel Armstrong (CA) (US)