Metal Monday
REVITAL
Metal Monday is back! Thank you for being patient as I made the move from a format made for writing a weekly blog to a format that most certainly is not that. But, having my own website is something I have always wanted to do ever since the Angel Fire™ days and I’m glad I finally did it.
YouTube Obsession
I am not a “believer”. Big Foot, alien and ghost stories usually send me into a skeptical fugue state. However, if there is an element of “high strangeness” or absurdity in the story, I am all in.
Blurry picture of big foot in the Washington State wilderness? Yawn. Story about big foot emitting an infrasound shriek causing it’s own face boil? Yes, indeed, pray, tell me more. For the best example of high strangeness, I point to Remedy Entertainment’s 2019 video game Control. That game’s story is entirely built on high strangeness causing it to be one of the few games where I read every piece of incidental media within.
I say all this for context of how I approach youtube channels that cover paranormal topics; I find most of it to be unentertaining bullshit that falls apart after even the lightest scrutiny. However, there are gems of high strangeness that I love.
True or not, told cynically or genuinely, it does not matter to me: It’s just a rad story.
What I also love about most of these channels is that the host always qualifies with something like: “I’m the biggest skeptic out here…” To add some sort of “objective observer” distinction. LOL
Watching
Naked Lunch is streaming on HBO (or MAX or X or whatever it’s called now) and you should really give it a watch.
This is the first time I have ever seen it streaming anywhere and it’s often hard to find even for purchase.
Naked Lunch is based on the book of the same name by William S. Burroughs, but director David Cronenbrg, instead of trying to adapt an unfilmable book, creates a truly unique film. Topics of drugs and the creative process, anxiety, queer identity, what it means to be a writer; Coupled with Croneberg’s penchant for practical effects and body horror, to try to explain it would sysyphean task and so it must be seen.
Reading
While I continue to hack away at Infinite Jest (Which I am still enjoying btw) I needed to dip into something a bit lighter. The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson is a great combination of John Le Carre and R.R. Martin (sans incest). Traitor has feudal intrigue, paper-trails of power, black mail, plays on plays on plays and still manages to keep me guessing without being confusing.
I will definitely be following this series forward.
Other Items?
“The truth is delighting”
