2020: 'NUFF SAID

APOCRYPHAL OF POSY: BEDTIME FOR ROBOTS' ELECTRONIC FEAST

For Christmas Day (and to cap off 2020), Michael Ferentino has released a piping-hot Bedtime for Robots album: Apocryphal of Posy. To say the least, this Black Box Recordings release makes for quite the electronic feast. 

The content bounces off a trio of emotional platforms: dual perspectives, dangerous dreams and heated hideaways, all within a constant, yin-and-yang subtext. There's also potential mix-and-matching among the ingredients if one should so choose, but the blend in the end proves as smooth as the tastiest stew.

For the sake of his dual-view selections, Ferentino dishes a tasty title track, which by its very name covers hypocrisy, pretense and capitulation all on one fine, groovin' lump. "Apocryphal of Posy" does just what it's supposed to do, for its cutting edge belies its title, dispatching a mocking message in such a jazzy way as to twist one's perception into separate vantages: degrading the degraded, while presenting a core that's as creamy as it's dreamy. 

Others in this dynamic, thematic batch consist of the squishy "Double Glove"; the super spy-vibe "From the Bunker"; the percussive "Endure"; the Carpenter-esque "A Deer in the Headlights of Love"; and the placating "The Prophesy". They paint comparable forms of duality, with a spice of catatonia among their variances. In their own specialized manners, they ask that one aspire to hope and dream, even though doom and gloom invade. As such, the set's sounds project an ideal, double whammy, moving in an up-and-down, electrical beat: always ambivalent, yet determined to seize focus. 

I would also add "Viva La F*ck" as an adieu to this cluster: a rattling salute to Adam Ant (if only in label), which dips from the two-view twist just enough to warm up the next category.

For his queue of dangerous dreams, Ferentino throws one into an allegorical spider's web: a beckoning of enticement, but more so lethal slippage. The shrewd fold is most profound in the rubbery and part-slicing "Dissection of a Supermodel", but a brush of underlying destruction rises equally so in "Slaughter of the Golden Dawn", where the wavering chords confirm one's worst fears.

"Death is a Portal" and "Faceshift" push the baroque, Anton Phibes envelope even further, sounding anguished, obsessive and regal, much like a gooey piece of gum chewed to a strenuous, die-hard peak. 

For the sake of the culminating aftertaste, there's the hammering "Ministry of Truth" (its incessant sweep invoking what we both wish to know and ignore) and the testy "Luciferian Dream", where the Faustian notes flick like flames, as one falls ever farther into the pit of punishment for that goddamn, brooding chew. 

Like "Viva La F*uck", "Luciferian" behaves as both an epilogue and prologue, symbolizing the penultimate avenue one travels to avert one's seedy deeds. This "Luciferian" offspring never once cowers with the lame need for forgiveness, but rather presents deep, hideaway pulsations that nurture a full-blown, punkish descent. 

For example, "The Grim Song" is molded for digging ever deeper into a personal, echoing cavern, and "Fright Wig" is the thing one dons, just to ensure that the condemners flee if they dare see. "Produkt 19" is the promising plate one licks to stabilize oneself beneath all that verbose "World Piss", with "Sordid Out" being that toe-tapping, moment when one digests the gamut of the brimming stench. 

"Shadow Work" and "Lolly Sun" follow as slow-teasing tips of the same righteous rope from which one might hang, but after their sighs subside, "Lullagoodbye" takes it all in under-the-covers stride: Be a freak or fool; either option has been earned. Now, it's time to rest and accept life's contradictory consequences for all the gaseous gluttony they spur. 

As mentioned earlier, any of the album's compositions can be juxtaposed to enhance one's listening experience, for when all is said and done, they can't help but complement one another, and when properly stirred, their resulting flavor makes this particular Bedtime for Robots extravaganza a supreme smorgasbord. 

Nibble a bit here and there. No matter the arrangement, it's all delicious to the ears: 

https://blackboxrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/apocryphal-of-posy?fbclid=IwAR38tNU4KwHPCMEawyMwtPLlIZpKnoL3MDdYWzQMSzImPOb5f0nZZk7pyiY

I saw Wonder Woman '84...

"Wonder Woman 1984", directed by Patty Jenkins and scripted by Geoff Johns and Dave Callahan (based on Jenkin's concept) is in part a turnabout, Donner/Lester-esque sequel to the 2017 blockbuster, reinventing the first film's endearing, fish-out-of-water motif to the '80s. In this particular chapter, Chris Pine's spiritually transplanted Steve Trevor is the symbolic fish, or is he? The catch of "WW84" is that perceptions can be tweaked, especially when old love dangles and the truth is evaded whenever one wants more.

Within the surreal set-up, Gal Gadot's fearless amazon, whether in the guise of Diana Prince or Wonder Woman, must deal with an affable but struggling, Luthor-like, oil magnate named Maxwell Lord, played by Pedro "The Mandalorian" Pascal.  

I suppose dewdrop highbrows would argue that Lord possesses Trumpian attributes, but if so, those traits evaded me, maybe because I saw no need to see them. Heck, I'm no highbrow; nor would I ever wish to be. The same goes for most who'll see this flick. Something to consider among filmmakers, critics and casual viewers alike who insist on finding one-sided, political narrative in fantasy features. I mean, why shove in stuff that the hardcore fan base doesn't want, anyway? Just sayin'. 

At any rate, thanks to a God of Lies dream stone, Lord is able to mesmerize people and bring their desires to life. Are these desires beneficial or detrimental? Well, considering that Lord is the antagonist, the answer should be clear. (Think along the lines of W.W. Jacob's "The Monkey's Paw" and its wish-fulfilling consequences: No wish is ever fulfilled without a profound and terrible price.) As Wonder Woman and the channeled Trevor's relationship grows, Lord begins to expand his empire of deception on tiers of fears, illusions and delusions to the point where one wonders if its infectious spread can be stopped. (Certainly love can't stop it, even though the script implies that heartfelt affection could and should be the antidote.) 

Along with the supporting (perhaps-faux) Trevor, Kristen "Ghostbusters '16" Wiig's  Cheetah, aka Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, claws her way into the plot (and early on, at that, as a sheepish, Smithsonian staff member). She's without question pure flesh and blood to the script's circumstances, and though lonely, desperate and empathetic at the outset (in the same floundering-fish way that we find Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, Jim Carrey's Riddler and Jamie Foxx's Electro), she becomes Lord's accidental accomplice through basic, make-me-like-Diana wish-mastery. This leads to two brawls between Wonder Woman and Cheetah, charged by heavy, CGI prancing in the nocturnal second. (Hans Zimmer's "Batman v Superman"-linked score fuels the blurry ferocity in both instances.) 

"WW84'"s '80s setting is another distinguishing factor, with its titular date alluding to an obvious, Orwellian subtext. (High-tech charms are never trustworthy, especially when buffered by televised, "Halloween III" trickery.) Still, the decor (often prismatic and like Wonder Woman's mind-of-its-own lasso and grand, Asteria armor, golden and Reagan-era sleek) doesn't place the adventure on a par with David Leitch's "Atomic Blonde", which better stokes the decade's genuine, Cold War-finale flame. If anything, "WW84'"s backdrop is but nostalgic filler that alludes to "Wall Street" avarice, but it's purposeful enough to highlight its heroine's eternal endurance within other timelines in other possible (if not probable) sequels/prequels. (The athletic, Themyscira prologue further spearheads the evident intent.)

Though it may not emit the freshness of its origin-revamping (WWI) forerunner, "WW84" is worth trying on for size. (Whether it fits is all a matter of taste.) However, more than "WW84'"s content, it's refreshing to see a big-budget, DC/WB movie hit the scene again, despite the annoyance of a propagandized pandemic that can't help but blunt the goddess' righteous thunder. (Now, let's see if the dewdrop patrol can stop Ms. Gadot from playing Cleopatra.)

FROM ROD SERLING'S NIGHT OF THE MEEK:

GODSPEED, DAVID GILER...

Through your producing finesse, you made the "Alien" franchise one of the best of the best. 

In this respect, not only did you produce Ridley Scott's classic original, but James Cameron's blockbuster sequel (also acting as one of its story developers); David Fincher's "Alien 3" (which you co-scripted); Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Alien Resurrection"; Paul W.S. Anderson's "Alien vs Predator"; Colin and Greg Strause's "Aliens vs Predator: Requiem"; and Scott's profound, Christian-sprung prequels, "Prometheus" and "Covenant". 

In addition to the "Alien" series, you spread your creative know-how upon "The Parallax View"; "Southern Comfort"; "Myra Breckenridge"; "Rustler's Rhapsody"; "The Black Bird"; "Undisputed"; "Skin Game"; "The Money Pit"; "Let it Ride"; "Fun With Dick and Jane '77"; and HBO's "Tales from the Crypt", along with its feature-length offshoots, "Demon Knight", "Bordello of Blood" and "Ritual". 

What you gave horror fans was rich and precious, with the power to influence far beyond the often futuristic settings you helped nurture and shape. Rest assured, you--and your dark sojourns, melodramatic scenarios and carefree romps--will be infinitely cherished, eternally savored. 

QUANTUMNAUT: NXPTNE'S SERENE DEBUT

Bold yet placid is this creation called Quantumnaut: an inspiring, debut album by the experimental wonder, NXPTNE (produced no less than by the innovative Musica Orizzantale). 

Per clever allusion, Quantumnaut is akin to a religious/alien merger: reminiscent of "CE3K'"s finale, where science and religion are as one. The album strokes one's mind, while cradling one's spirit with chapters that invoke children's carols and carefree whims and therefore, comprises a purifying anthology that ascends straight from an unfettered subconscious.

The title track captures this with awesome accuracy, even if it comes a tad farther down the album's line. For this particular composition, NXPTNE presents a sounding board that demands transformation through grace and a need for forgiveness: not only for oneself, but for anyone who's caused one harm. It's a heavy ejection, but one that oils the spine, inducing a reverent rest before an imminent storm.  

"Godseeker's Crib" is a precursor to this concept: a subtle salutation for those who know something's awry, but can't yet say how or why. In this exacerbating submission, there are traces of the strange, with lush noises that invoke the soundtracks of "Last Cannibal World" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", though devoid of that set's virulent culminations. This "crib" is calm and wide, making a promise that no matter how off track things get, they can (and will) get better. 

"Heavy Sustain" smothers the "crib" with a carpet-roll of untamed warmth, baking one's subconscious with spacey peace and joy, its beckoning in some ways elusive, but still luring the listener with friendly persuasion. "Sustain", like the prior track, claims that a greater view exists around the starry bend, but to earn it, one must first face life's clashing currents.

Those currents become amplified in "When the Sun" plays: an entry that implies a sizzling force; however, its long-term ebbing never once disintegrates, but instead embellishes and fortifies, as in the Nietzsche quote, "What does not kill me, makes me stronger."

"CMBR" is the album's mega goodbye, so sprawling as to erase melancholia, though to abandon all woe would be misguided. In this regard, NXPTNE's sendoff is more a matter of status-quo acceptance and practical aspiration than resignation, which in truth symbolizes all aspects of Quantumnaut: a New Age, audible injection that may not purge one's personal demons, but at least assures one that all is cool, despite them.

Experience NXPTENE's musical inebriety: 

https://musicaorizzontale.bandcamp.com/album/mo7-quantumnaut  

and

https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1731735953/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/artwork=small/transparent=true/

AIRSHIP 27 PODCAST (DEC '20): READY FOR LIFTOFF!!!

Another year comes to a close, marked by an Airship 27, Dec '20 Podcast. 

In this episode, Captain Ron Fortier and Chief Engineer Rob Davis detail two of Airship's most recent releases: Fred Adams Jr's "Blood is the New Black" (the latest Sam Dunne mystery), which features enriching interiors by Richard Jun; and the long-awaited "All American Sports Stories, Vol 2", which includes a pugilist novella by Derrick Ferguson; a football jaunt by Fortier; and a baseball sojourn by Dexter Fabi, each tale adorned by Adam Shaw's gutsy illustrations. 

The guys also cover a number of intended, 2021 releases, including "The Three Musketeers, Vol 1"; Mike Bullock's sword-and-sorcery sizzler, "Runemaster" and the hugely anticipated "Bass Reeves, Frontier Marshal, Vol 4." 

Ring out the new year (while welcoming the new) by engaging in this terrific, year-end adieu:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFRPxuWXz7o

MERRY (COOL YULE WITH A GHOUL) XMAS 2020

 

WELCOME WINTER 2020/2021 (CREATION CREATES: TS ROGERS)

GOODBYE, JEREMY BULLOCH...

Your claim to supreme fame came as Boba Fett in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi", but your persona was visible beyond "Star Wars", in a long, distinguished career that encompassed both big and small screens. 

For one, you had recurring roles in "The Newcomers" and "Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School", as well as supporting parts on two, superb episodes of "Doctor Who": "The Space Museum" and "The Time Warrior".

On the theatrical circuit, you entered "A Night To Remember"; "The Devil's Agent"; "Spare the Rod"; "The Idol"; "Play it Cool"; "The Virgin and the Gypsy"; "Mary, Queen of Scots"; "Carry On Teacher"; "Summer Holiday"; "O Lucky Man!"; "Can You Keep it Up for a Week?"; "Escape from the Dark"; "Comic Book: the Movie"; and the 007 extravaganzas, "Octopussy", "For Your Eyes Only" and "The Spy Who Loved Me". 

From villain to hero and back again, you never let your fans down, Mr. Bulloch: a pop-cultural titan whose indelible spark will no doubt continue to beam far into the future.