HARLEY QUINN – RECKONING (2022)

June 3, 2024

CONTENT WARNING

The following discusses abuse, coercion and trauma.

There are so many Harleys.

So many.

Not just in the comics. Novels. Film. TV.

This is only a sampling of Harleys: BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Harley! (Obviously, the first Harley!) Cathy Yan’s BIRDS OF PREY Harley! Kelly Thompson’s BIRDS OF PREY Harley! Old Lady Harley! A whole buncha terrible videogame Harleys! Even more animated Harleys! That fucking awful Harley in David Ayer’s SUICIDE SQUAD that only worked because of Margot Fuckin’ Robbie! James Gunn’s THE SUICIDE SQUAD Harley! GOTHAM CITY SIRENS Harley! Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti’s Harley! DC Rebirth Harley! All of the MAD LOVE Harleys! The young Harleen in BREAKING GLASS! The current Tini Howard Harley! The Harleen/Harley in this trilogy of books!

So many Harleys!

As I’ve repeatedly said? I will never, ever shut up about Harley Fuckin’ Quinn.

Harleen Quinzell and Harley Quinn represent so much and so many terrible outcomes. The coercion. The abuse. The trauma. Not just by the Joker, but often by her parents and others.

Also? She represents the folks who are smart but went wayward. She represents the anger against abusers. She represents folks trying to repair themselves. She represents pushing through and attempting to be a better person, even though she — and you — will often fuck up along the way.

She means so much to so many because while most comic book characters are power fantasies? She has no super-powers. She is someone who is muscling through all of her issues and is fucking pissed off and so goddamn strong and trying to make the best of her life.

This is exactly why I empathize with her, a fictional character in a wildly stupid comic book universe.

This is also why so many others love Harley. She’s multi-faceted; she’s had so many iterations — hell, I even wrote a four-issue series about her encountering all versions of herself! (I shelved it because after I wrote it? The monthly Harley Quinn comic did a multi-verse Harley arc. It’s not even close to what I penned; mine was brutally emotional and probably unpublishable but whatever.)

The moment I saw the ‘Being Harley Quinn’ episode of HARLEY QUINN: THE ANIMATED SERIES? Where she realized she leapt into the acid of her own volition? That she did so to please ‘Mistah J’? That she told herself for years that she was pushed by him? That it was her origin story? That shook me to my core. (I also identify way too much with Harley disassociating, which also sucks!)

I am not proud of that! But it did!

That’s my Harley. I’ve lived through versions of all of that. (And yes, plural.) I hated it. I have never really understood why I accepted all of the abuse and bullshit but Harley didn’t either and she found a way through via a support network, and I am trying to do the same.

While there are many Harleys, these are the fundamentals:

1) She has ADHD.

2) She is extraordinarily physical and loves to throw herself around.

3) She is extremely smart.

4) Being smart didn’t prevent her from being coerced and transformed from Harleen Quinzel to Harley Quinn.

5) She is queer as fuck.

6) She is a product of trauma.

7) She managed to work through her trauma.

8) She is a survivor. 1

9) She is extremely gregarious.

10) She has a flair for argyle patterns.

I am not Harley. I am not fun like Harley. I have a lot of issues, but ADHD? Nope. Also? Not gregarious! I’m a fucking introvert!

Everything else? It tracks, although I’m still working out my trauma issues and I am not sure that I am as smart as she is.

Item #2 to me is paramount. Yeah, Jason Todd was an acrobat and all, so that dovetails with all of this shit, but you know what? I fucking loved gym. I was game for any and everything. I loved tumbling; I loved the pommel horse; I loved the beam.

But what I really loved?

The fucking uneven bars.

I have said — probably to a sickening amount — that I love to throw myself around.

Well, you can’t throw yourself around more than on the uneven bars.

I love that Rachael Allen’s Harley Quinn novel RECKONING — technically a young adult novel, but I found pleasing despite not being a young adult — puts a pin in Harley as being a beam person because? The way she throws her way around? The way Rachael Allen pens her? It’s the same sort of feeling, that sort of balance and elation and abandon and self-confidence.

Fuck. I’m telling this all wrong.

RECKONING is about Harleen, not Harley. Harleen is eighteen years old and in her gap year and enrolled in an advanced STEM college course and not acid-bathed. (It is worth noting that Rachael Allen’s day job? A scientist. She knows her shit.)

Harleen is surrounded by abuse, and as she is want to do, wants to absolutely rectify matters and go to town on them, along with a few friends who also want to dole out some punishment and light terrorism. The name of their vigilante crew? The Reckoning.

Also? Harleen falls in love — albeit not with Pamela Isley. It’s a very succinct, clearly penned thrill-ride that goes down easy without being pandering. It also fleshes out Harleen, whose pre-Harley life is often ignored or simply glossed over!

I will note that the Joker does make an appearance, and Harleen immediately feels a magnetism towards him which… yeah, but still sucks.

Also? It features a cover by the so very awesome Jen Bartel!

Sidebar: If you haven’t seen the collegiate women vigilante canceled-too-soon TV series SWEET/VICIOUS? Read RECKONING and watch SWEET/VICIOUS in tandem and get back to me.

Joker aside, it is a great read and a terrific set-up for the next two books filling out the trilogy. If you are a Harleen/Harley fan, it is a necessary read.

You can purchase HARLEY QUINN: RECKONING via Bookshop.org!

Notes

1 I do not like the term ‘survivor’, despite having it ascribed to me more than a few times. In my opinion? You’re never a survivor. You simply persist to live. I do not feel like I’ve survived jack-fucking-shit. Like Harley? I feel like I’ve died several times over. Hell, I should have. Nonetheless, I’m still here motherfuckers.

Electroclature Volume Nineteen: XIX

May 31, 2024

Part nineteen of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

Ah, when I decided to opt for Roman numeral naming.

Yet another cover I do not love. It’s too severe and there’s far too much and too little spacing with the track list.

No idea where I got the photo from, but I imagine it was from drunksaling. If you are not familiar with the term? You get tipsy in the morning and head out to garage sales and buy stupid shit. We’re too old for that now, but if you’re young enough? I highly suggest it. It’s a ton of fun. Just only get tipsy, though.

Highlights! NOUVELLE VAGUE & JULIE DELPY! You may be familiar with Delpy from the Linklater SUNSET trilogy, but she imbues this song with significance. (Also, not the only French New Wave-inspired track here!) BOY 8-BIT hits hard! CLUE’s Approach the Throne is an amazing bop. I know everyone only knows ELASTIC through their late 90s theme ‘Connection’ but? Go through the entirety of their limited collection. Pure post-punk perfection.

Not my best effort, but here’s the tracklist! (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):

A24 Zines (2016-)

May 29, 2024

Author’s Note

This is not a sponsored post! I just really like A24’s more edifying, non-moving picture works.

If you aren’t familiar with the studio name A24, you almost certainly recognize some of the films they’ve shepherded into the world: MIDSOMMAR! UNCUT GEMS! HEREDITY! EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE! THE LIGHTHOUSE! So many more!

They’re referred to by some as producing ‘elevated genre’ work, which is a terrible descriptor because genre work over the decades has often have been substantial, inquisitive, and thought provoking, but sadly it has stuck so now we all have to live with it.

What’s lesser known about A24 is that they also sell all sorts of merchandise. Yes, they have the requisite graphic t-shirts and enamel pins and vinyl, but look past those and you’ll see some inspired physical endeavors. Here’s a small selection: iron-cast, scale statue of Marcel from MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON (he’s surprisingly heavy!); wearable hot dog fingers and a pet rock from EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE; HEREDITARY gingerbread house kit; a grooming kit inspired by THE LIGHTHOUSE! That’s just a handful of their offerings!

They also offer a roughly quarterly zine, which are always immaculately designed and engrossing. Sometimes they’re overseen by the director of an upcoming A24 film, such as an entire zine about Claire Denis musing about seeds for the overlooked HIGH LIFE, or SAINT MAUD’s Rose Glass scrutinizing the theme of salvation.

Sometimes their zines simply indulge the cinephile, either by unearthing obscure film history, or are laser-focused on a specific niche.

The latter is my favorite. There’s an entire zine about films that were advertised, but never made it to the silver or home screen. The latest zine reminisces on the neon-soaked design of pre-naughts multiplexes. There’s another that is mostly comprised of photos of Brendan Fraser. The Daniels modeled a zine entirely about taxes.

While you can buy the zines individually, they’re automatically included as part of AAA24, A24’s membership subscription. The subscription is well-worth the $5+tax/month or $55+tax/year as it nets you a bunch of free goodies, a birthday gift, early access to merch as well as exclusive merch, free screenings, discounts, and more.

Again! Not a sponsored post! I definitely do not claim to be an A24 fanboy — one of the free gifts I received as part of my AAA24 membership was a bog standard A24 shirt that I refuse to wear outside the house because nothing says ‘I’m an insufferable film nerd’ like an A24 shirt.

Among the other free merch I’ve received: The aforementioned THE LIGHTHOUSE grooming kit! It is cute but pungent enough that I had to seal up the soap in a sandwich bag; an A24 dog collar and I do not have a dog but I occasionally make use of it; a number of Marcel stickers, so you can litter your house with Marcels in the least expected places.

While the merch and discounts are nice, I get far more mileage out of the zines and perhaps you will too. Maybe you’ll even indulge in a subscription as well, ensuring reading delight for a full year!

Electroclature Volume Eighteen: 18

May 24, 2024

Part eighteen of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

Cover photo? A fucking mess of a dress mannequin that someone slapped a dead star on and that we stumbled upon while in Austin, TX.

I quite like this cover. I find it engaging and well-structured, however it definitely gives off SILENT HILL vibes.

Could use a better font, but I grouse about that every time. Also? Probably should have actually included spaces. Too late now.

Anyway! Highlights! BLACK BOX RECORDER’s The School Song! The severely underheard LACROSSE and I See A Brightness! The delight of CRYSTAL FIGHTERS’ I Love London! Motherfucking PATTI SMITH’s Land which has been such a formative work for me. I cannot impart how much this song means to me! Seeing her perform it at Chicago’s The Vic? Mindblowing. I rocked the fuck out in that piss-smelling venue.

Moving forward, here’s the tracklist! (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):

  • bocca grande / Little Pianist / procedere
  • PATTI SMITH / Horses / Land
  • MUSIC GO MUSIC / Expressions / Warm In The Shadows [Villa]
  • BLACK BOX RECORDER / Passionoia / The School Song
  • VITALIC / Flashmob / Poison Lips
  • STS9 / Peaceblaster : The New Orleans Make It Right Remixes / Beyond Right Now [Glitch Mob]
  • BABY MONSTER / null / Ultra Violence & Beethoven (Mondkopf Remix)
  • CRYSTAL FIGHTERS / I Love London / I Love London [In Flagranti Vintage] (Yes, when my wife and myself visited London? I did play this song in our hotel room like a dumb American. Also? The lead in the video? They encapsulate Harley Fuckin’ Quinn and I am so here for it.)
  • SCANNERS / Salvation / Salvation
  • SONS AND DAUGHTERS / This Gift / House In My Head
  • LACROSSE / Bandages For The Heart / I See A Brightness
  • FIDEL NADAL / Nacional Records Sampler 2009 | The New Sounds Of Latin Music / Puerta De Oro [con Pablo Lescano]
  • XAVIER CUGAT & HIS ORCHESTRA / 16 Most Requested Songs Of The 1940’S, Volume II / South America, Take It Away
  • thefancydressparty / Off The Beaten Tracks / Egg & Spoon Race

EVIL (2019-2024)

May 22, 2024

It’s shocking that the CBS/Paramount+ show EVIL exists.

On paper, it reads like a spiritual version of the X-FILES: psychiatrist, ex-climbing enthusiast and mother to four daughters, Kristen Bouchard (the flinty Katja Herbers) is enlisted by the Catholic church to investigate potential demonic circumstances.

The church pairs her with priest-in-training David Acosta (the always solid and endearing Michael Colter) and science skeptic Ben Shakir (played by the fantastic dramatic actor/ex-Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi) — as the voice of reason. Each week they investigate a new ponderous negative spiritual incident, while trying to navigate their own wants and needs and also dodging the dark, deft steps of occultist Dr. Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson, clearly having the time of his life chewing the dialogue and the scenery).

While that does sound very X-FILES, even down to the chemistry between Kristen and David. It even features its own Smoking Man later on in the series and similar institutional hurdles via Vatican members.

It’s the emphasis on religion, of angels and demons, of seeing all sorts of matters that others cannot that make it more MILLENNIUM than X-FILES.

If you aren’t familiar with MILLENNIUM, you can read my prior posts but in short: ex-FBI Frank Black can see demons and he’s tapped by a Christian sect that may or may not have the best interest of humanity in mind, all while trying to juggle the weight of his family and his responsibility and need to help others.

It’s not difficult to draw parallels between it and EVIL.

I digress.

While on paper, EVIL sounds bleak and dispiriting — and yes, the characters do suffer a number of very traumatic, difficult situations — the show is often thrilling and has more than a few moments of levity. Laughs come from the absurdity of calling out a predator in a kids social MMO, the amped-up energy of Kristen’s four daughters, constantly cross-talking in a way that realistically and genuinely portrays large groups of siblings, Leland’s twisted laugh and cavalier attitude towards those who want him out of everyone’s life, Ben’s cynical quips, or even pop-up books like The Pop-Up Book of Terrifying Things or The Pop-Up Book of Demons that introduces the theme in the second and third seasons. (We can expect The Pop-Up Book of Angels in the fourth!)

Also? Andrea Martin as Sister Andrea’s dry sense of humor as she slyly but enigmatically peppers knowledge towards the group.

Visually it’s sumptuous. Dark, foreboding, but still very visible — no murky shots here! The use of color and vibrant liquids of all types make each shot striking and creepy. The creature designs are remarkable and often appear to be practically executed, and each has their own visual look to them. There’s one scene late in the third season where you see a cluster of demons huddled together that underscores just how distinct all of them are.

The season three title sequence is a real stunner, all stark black and white and red all over, the cello and cymbal crashes escalating faster and faster like a tarantella until you’re left breathless. It’s one of my favorite title sequences since HANNIBAL.

EVIL is certainly an overlooked gem, primarily because it’s a CBS/Paramount+ show. (As of the second season it went Paramount+-only and now everyone swears a lot more.) It does have a rabid fanbase, but it’s hard to imagine CBS’s core demographic of boomers glomming onto something so batshitcrazy and off the wall and relentlessly horny.

That’s exactly why I’m shocked that EVIL does exist. It doesn’t fit the network — especially given how starting with the third season it became a Paramount+ exclusive — however? It’s from Robert & Michelle King, the creators of THE GOOD WIFE, THE GOOD FIGHT, ELSBETH, and the equally batshitcrazy BRAINDEAD.

My guess is that CBS wanted to appease the Kirk’s because I find it difficult to see how it’s lasted this long, despite near-universal critical acclaim. However, their decisions have given us four seasons of immensely entertaining, scary, and humanly substantial emotional and spiritual heft and for that I thank both CBS and Michelle & Robert King.

The fourth and final season kicks off on May 25th, 2024, leaving you plenty of time to catch up and still make it in time for the last few episodes!

You can view the first season trailer here.

Second season trailer:

Third season trailer:

Fourth and final season trailer:

Electroclature Volume Seventeen: 17

May 17, 2024

Part seventeen of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

Yet again a I cover I don’t love.

This cover is a repetitive collage of images snapped while drunk at a posh club, one that I can no longer remember and probably do not want to remember.

That tracks.

I like it as an image though, but I love me my symmetry and striking lighting. It also reminds me of the hallway-facing glass bathroom wall of the first place I lived in when I moved to Chicago, although that was more colorful. (Fun fact? I did shoot an entire short film that only featured that bathroom. Not so fun fact? There was a hell of a lot of shouting and screaming in said short.)

Yet again, the text formatting here — while very intentional — yet again feels like slop to me and I regret it, but nothing to be done about it now.

As usual! Tracklist! (Artist / Album / Song):

  • WOVENHAND / Consider the Birds / To Make A Ring
  • OLD CANES / Feral Harmonic / Little Bird Courage
  • THE BUILDERS AND THE BUTCHERS / Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well / Short Way Home
  • POLLY SCATTERGOOD / Polly Scattergood / Bunny Club [Bonus Track]
  • KRADDY / Android Porn / Steppin’ Razor / Android Porn
  • DAS ICH / Kannibale / Kannibale [Inline.Sex.Terror]
  • THE SOUND OF ARROWS / Into The Clouds 12″ / Into The Clouds [Fear of Tigers] (Want a video to get high to? I suggest this.)
  • CHICKS ON SPEED / Cutting The Edge / Super Surfer Girl (Also a great video to get high to.)
  • THE PIPETTES / We Are the PIPETTES / Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me
  • FRANKIE ROSE & THE OUTS / Thee Only One / Thee Only One
  • THE WILLOWZ / Everyone / Repetition
  • WAX TAILOR / Hope & Sorrow / Sometime
  • FEVER RAY / Seven / Seven (Martyn’s Seventh Mix)
  • KATIE STELMANIS / Join Us / Harder Now
  • LOS CAMPESINOS! / The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future / The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
  • Soap&Skin / Soap&Skin / The Sun
  • Tomas Dvorak / Machinarium Soundtrack / Hodiny

TWISTED METAL (2023)

May 15, 2024

I thought a TV adaptation of the video game TWISTED METAL would be garbage.

I never had any interest in the games, which indulged all of the worst video game tropes that teen boys latch onto: fast cars, a modicum of plot, outlandish but surface-level characters, and lots and lots of guns and dumb violence.

I was wrong. It’s smart, savvy, sexy, bloody, funny, surprisingly emotional, and full of verve and amazing quips. It’s not the great and disgusting and filthy genre-fuckery that is BLOOD DRIVE but it’s pretty goddamn close. It’s all about cars and cross-country adventures and being pursued and hunted and betrayed, all while bonding with others.

It’s DEATH RACE 2000 and DRIVE (remember DRIVE?!) and ROUTE 66/SUPERNATURAL with a smattering of Frank Miller’s GIVE ME LIBERTY (before he went all right-wing).

It may or may not be canceled, but I’m pretty sure we will not see a second season.

Anyway! We got one season with a very talented cast! Anthony Mackie as the deliverer! Stephanie Beatriz as the sidecar character ‘Quiet’ who spends a number of episodes without saying a word, which is wild when you have such a versatile voice actor in the cast! (Seriously, people often freak out when they hear Beatriz’s natural voice!) Will Arnett as the voice of the absurdly violent clown Sweet Tooth! Thomas Haden Church as the psychotic sheriff! Jason Mantzoukas as an unbridled preacher! Neve Campbell as the overseer!

Also? Holy hell, the set-pieces?! I can’t imagine how much time and money they spent on some of the absolutely physical and cataclysmic driving scenes, but the races and road-based bouts are absolutely thrilling and amazing, and for the most part embrace practical effects and real people!

And? They eat a lot of Skittles. There’s even a ballpit that the leading characters — spoiler alert — fuck in, and it’s 100% a Skittles riff.

I know it’s product-placement, but I fucking love me my Skittles. Favorite non-chocolate indulgence! Taste the rainbow! Hell, I have a bag in our cupboard and now I want to break it open! (And that’s not post-related product placement!) Candy is paramount in a post-apocalyptic future! (And Sweet Tooth obviously, uh, has a sweet tooth.)

I know TWISTED METAL on-paper looks like trash, but it’s smarter and more engaging than you’d think. Set that aside, make it a Sunday viewing, and revel in the violence as well as the downtime. It’s one hell of a ride.

“Toilet paper. Two-ply.”

STRAY GODS (2023)

May 13, 2024

Just to note…

I’ve only played STRAY GODS once, so I cannot discern between any differences between lyrics and/or outcomes apart from the linked videos that I did not capture.

The STRAY GODS story I experienced is solely the one I played, so it may not feature the same songs, inflections, intonations, or lyrics that you may have or might experience.

Due to timing and circumstance, I wasn’t able to play STRAY GODS the moment it was released, which is a shame because anything that has the words ‘The Roleplaying Musical’ in its title is catnip to me, and to have to punt on it was trying.

That said, it was worth the wait.

I do want to get one thing out of the way beforehand though: by ‘roleplaying’ they literally mean ‘roleplaying’. This is not an RPG. This is an interactive novel. You are ‘roleplaying’ as the title character, a wayward young adult. The only interactions are dialogue trees via a very BioWare-ish interface.

(I will note: this game was willed into existence by the lead writer of DRAGON AGE so … none of the above should be terribly shocking news.)

Personally? I am absolutely fine with that severe amount of restraint, especially since I played it while suffering from a broken tailbone because games and narratives distract from obtrusive pain and angling dialogue trees was about the best I could do at the time. (Don’t ask, and no it wasn’t because of any Chicago snow or ice.)

Alas, I’m getting ahead of myself.

STRAY GODS takes Greek gods and situates them in a quasi-modern Earth. While the bodies said gods inhabit are ephemeral, they find new hosts and live on, partially thanks to the belief of those around them, as well as the dark shadow cast by their prior history.

If you’re a comic book and/or gaming nerd, it evokes a lot of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s THE WICKED + THE DIVINE which essentially posits mythological gods as rock stars in the modern world who inhabit mortals for their own purposes and, yes, spectacle and hedonism.

It also reminds me somewhat of Don’t Nod’s HARMONY: THE FALL OF REVERIE with its emphasis on mythological stories and tone and high stakes.

To riff on a slightly more popular work, STRAY GODS swaps the fairy tales of DC/Telltale’s FABLES’ inspired THE WOLF AMONG US in both the thick inkworks and comic book visual stylization which — oddly reminds me of AEON FLUX — as well as noir-infused conflict. However, there are no quick-time events; just dialogue. Reams of dialogue with striking shot-reverse-shots of static images.

If you’re here to play because you’re hoping to quell some sort of power fixation, you will be sadly disappointed, because here? Here, you are the mortal, and — not unlike one of many TWILIGHT ZONE episodes — it’s your life at stake, and only you can wriggle out of the noose.

All of the above may sound like I’m damning STRAY GODS with faint praise, but I am not. STRAY GODS is a gaming anomaly. It’s rare that games like these, games that are all about heightened emotions and all emotive and intensely personal conflicts, those finding their way in the world. I am endlessly thankful that it exists and? I am looking forward to replaying it and possibly taking a different tact to it and to see where that takes me.

The voice casting here is pitch-perfect. The majority of the cast are well-known for TV/video game voice work — Laura Bailey as Grace who has been foisted upon her the role of Calliope, Troy Baker as Apollo, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Persephone, Abubakar Salim as Eros — Salim voiced Bayek in my favorite Assassin’s Creed game — but also features FOR ALL MANKIND’s multi-faceted Janina Gavankar as Grace’s best friend Frankie! Felicia Day! STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’s Anthony Rapp as Orpheus! (Apologies if I left out anyone’s favorites — there’s a wealth of talent here.)

This is a work all about bombast and elation and care and worry and wrung hands and fear for the future and … well, perfectly attuned to all of the necessities that form the best musicals. (I will note? They undersell that while this is a musical? It’s first-and-foremost a rock opera.)

You can write off the static nature of the visuals which are essentially merged versions of sequential visual storytelling as economical, but they’re also emblematic of emotional moments that are frozen in time. Moments where you feel your life has changed; pivot points.

Granted, not everyone can appreciate that — obviously, those who are more inclined towards theatrics and are more emotionally grandiose will glean more from this than others — so take this recommendation with a pinch of salt.

As is the way with gods and fates, this has all happened before and it’ll all happen again. The end is pre-ordained, and everyone knows it, but you have to jump through the hoops to get there.

Are the songs in the vein of modern Broadway staples? Yes, yes, they are, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a ever-growing formula for a reason, folks.

‘Challenging a Queen’:

However, these sort of tales? Even if my engagement is simply pointing my directional stick at a quip or murmur or outburst and then hear the astounding belting of a grand duet? The journey is worth the effort.

If there was any doubt that this was a saccharine sweet musical, they put a pin in it at the end — at least with my tale — when Grace reunites with Calliope.

…and yes, I did try to romance Persephone but it didn’t quite work out. (For what it’s worth? I wrangled the second scene. So close, but yet so far.)

Addendum

Just one day before this post was scheduled to be published, it was announced that Summertime Studios will be releasing STRAY DOGS: ORPHEUS as DLC on June 27th! (Although, boo, as a console player I have to wait for some undefined time to play it.) Can’t wait to delve back into this world!

Electroclature Volume Sixteen: 16

May 10, 2024

Part sixteen of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

…and yet again I went a bit too hard with the cover. It looks far better in print than on-screen, but …yeah. Very difficult to read here. Obviously I assume too much from those who will see these designs.

I will note that I took the photo while having a bit of a stress-reliever respite outside one of my best friend’s porch, and as you may see? The light was covered with webs and spiders and their prey and was oddly consoling.

Sigh. A lot of weird melancholia and anger here. I love all of the tracks, otherwise I wouldn’t have pressed them. CIRCULATORY SYSTEM’s Overjoyed is exuberant, as you would expect from the title. CHICKS ON SPEED’s Art Rules is angry and joyous at the same time. SCREAMING TEA PARTY is tasty punk goodness that makes ya wanna throw arms in the air. I love the organ in THE LOVE ME NOTS’ Give Em What They Want. The pure hedonism of MAD JUANA’s Valhalla!

There’s also ZOLA JESUS’ Rester. I saw her perform at Lincoln Hall and accidentally ran into her after the show. As in actually accidentally ran into her. I’m taller than average and she is quite short so I legit didn’t see her. (I’ll note? Her voice makes her feel like she’s a giant). So… that was awkward. At least I didn’t disrupt her drink.

Setting that aside? Tracklist! (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):