Andrew doesn't live here anymore. He packed up his stuff and moved to: http://www.armagideon-time.com / So, like, update your bookmarks and feeds and links and stuff, okay?
(from Captain Marvel Adventures #113; October 1950) B.E.F. - Suspicious Minds (from Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 1 , 1982; collected on The Best of B.E.F. 2002) - In which the Ware and Marsh production team (previously of the Human League, and the heart of Heaven 17) reimagine one of The King's finest works with the help of tarnished glam idol, Gary Glitter. ("Because I love you too much, baby..." Major contextual eeeeew, there.) "We can't go on together [...]
(from The Witching Hour #49; December 1974) Duke, the Action Dog! When some woefully unprepared suburban adventures try to scale the slopes of Mt. Avalanche in mid-January.... Duke is there! When Mommy is sleeping off a hangover doesn't notice little Timmy's excursion into the abandoned Black Lung Mine... Duke is there! When the enemies of Freedom TM need a little impromptu menace to the genitalia to keep them in line... Duke is there! (Though [...]
Find a gap in the market and fill it, preferably in a more efficient manner than your competitors can manage. That axiom might seem straightforward enough, but it can be highly problematic when applied to industrial capitalism's economies of scale. While you might make terrific profits upon unleashing a new must-have commodity, there comes a point where sales stagnate in the face of market saturation, and demand based on consumption and attrition falls well short of your corporate target. If you have a stove in your home, you're not going to buy another unless it stops [...]
Oh, how I miss those comics anthology series of yesteryear. When I first started collecting comics, many moons ago, no trip to the flea market quarter bins (which is where the bulk of my childhood collection came from) was complete without an issue or three of Marvel Premiere , Marvel Spotlight , Marvel Presents , or any of the reprint-heavy "100 Page Giant" books DC put out in the early 1970's. This was before peer and industry pressure imprinted themselves on my tastes, and the criteria for selecting which comics to buy was based entirely [...]
This man is clearly a visitor from an alternate universe. Things that need doing, abridged version: - get Super Lumina's brake pads replaced - scale the cherry tree out back and unhook the windchimes before the bad weather starts - clean off and store the patio furniture - figure out what I'm going to do with pronounced WOO-BIN - get my Christmas shopping sorted out before things go crazy - migrate Armagideon Time to a Wordpress setup on my own webhost - dig out the sumacs that have snuck [...]
Combining historical accuracy with cultural sensitivity! Here is the scenario: Your side has just been decisively defeated by the opposition. While the rout can be credited in part to the superior leadership, organization, and tactics of the enemy, the unfortunate (but entirely forseeable) consequences of your side's ideological and policy decisions were also a major factor. Even after launching every weapon in your arsenal and mobilizing your most loyal and reliable ground forces, you had to fight (and lose) on fronts that you hadn't even anticipated from the outset. [...]
I've made many bad decisions in my life (usually involving proper dental care), but the one I'm currently regretting most was choosing to include this bit of music hall fare repurposed as British Invasion pop... Herman's Hermits - I'm Henry VIII, I Am (from The Very Best of Herman's Hermits , 2001) ...on a three-disc compilation of 50's and 60's tunes I assembled for Maura a few years back. I found the set up in the attic when I was looking for our copy of Total Coelo's greatest [...]
A friend pointed this site out to me the other day, with the comment that I "shoulda done this." I get respectable number of emails every day hyping and promoting some band or another. Some are slick PR pieces, complete with attached digital presskits, whipped up by professional promoters. Others are sent directly from the bands themselves. Even though most of the material really isn't to my tastes or not easily contextualized as an annotation to an old Captain Marvel story, it's flattering to be noticed...though given recent events , maybe willful obscurity is a wiser course [...]
It was supposed to be a golden moment in American history, and indeed it was. The realization that I was witnessing something very important happening, on so many levels, managed to cut its way past decades of cynicism born of thwarted idealism and swell my heart with pride. I went to bed last night giddy with hope and schadenfreude , and though I still feel the warm buzz, it has since been harshed by events in California, where it looks like the ban on and possible nullification of same sex marriage has been approved. While [...]
More when I can form a coherent thought, but.... HOLY SHIT, IT REALLY HAPPENED.
Election 2008 -- this time it's personal . It's not about validating a flawed system or governance or overreaching hopes for meaningful change or some lingering vestiges of patriotic idealism. It's about spite, an opportunity to flip the bird at the sanctioned looters and their legion of sanctimonious thugs which have run roughshod over everything that is sane and decent for the last eight years. That's more than enough for me. A Popular History of Signs - Land of the Free (from Comrades , 1984) - I [...]
Orbital - Choice (from the US version of Orbital , a.k.a. the "Green Album", 1991) - The lines have been drawn. The soul of the nation hangs in the balance. Get off the fence and join the election year rave. The party won't stop until the last ballot drops.
It's been a while since we checked up on Senator Psycho Man. I wonder what he's been up to these past few weeks.... Meanwhile, back at the McCain campaign headquarters..... November 5th can't come soon enough. The Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays (from Singles Going Steady , 1979) - It must be true, because I saw it in a poll.
I'm feeling a little woozy from all the candy I ate last night and still have a ways to go getting the house in order before the wife gets home, so here's All Saints' Day linkblog post in lieu of actual content. The best political commentary of this election season. Satire is not only merely dead, it's really most sincerely dead. Dorian celebrates Dario Argento's works in all their uneven glory. Bully explains why ham should not be [...]
(from The Sensational She-Hulk Graphic Novel , 1985; by John Byrne & Kim DeMulder) Yep, nothing kills the mood worse than cockroach breath. Larry Williams - You Bug Me Baby (from the Specialty Profiles collection , 2006) - Not only was Larry (no relation to Barry) Williams one of the most influential songwriters of the early days of rock and roll, he was also played a role in Little Richard becoming a born again Christian...by attempting to shoot the Georgia Peach over a drug debt. [...]
We've reached the end of 2008's Halloween Countdown, and all that remains to be done is to crown this year's groovy ghoulish track of honor. The past two winners have been sedate, atmospheric affairs -- "Unexpected Guest" by UK Decay and "A Forest" by The Cure -- but this time I've chosen something a little more uptempo...but no less befitting this day of fiendish delights... The Damned - Nasty (from 1984's "Thanks for the Night" single) This hard-to-find gem, recorded shortly before Captain Sensible's long departure from the band, was alone worth the [...]
I remember that day as if it was yesterday... (From The Witching Hour #36, November 1973) Almost seventeen years together and four years this day as husband and wife, and we owe it all to the Dark Arts! (I kid. Maura is actually an animist non-traditional Catholic, which parses as "witch" to my Puritan-descended cognitive processes.) Happy Anniversary, my Funky Foo! Even on those very rare [...]
Back in my junior high days, my friend Brian and I would hike up the Middlesex Canal path to the (now defunct) Northeast Trade Center whenever Jolly Jim's Flea Market rolled into town. A three dollar admission fee (if a friend wasn't working the gate that day) would grant one access to a hundred or so stalls filled to the brim with overpriced crap...and the one dude in the far corner who sold comic books. Brian was an early adopter of the comic collector ethos that stresses bags, backing boards, and buying multiple copies of a book for [...]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAURA! The above is not an entirely accurate depiction of today's festivities. For one, my family members are much more terrifying than the party guests portrayed on the cover...nor would I invite any of them to our house, ever. Also, two decades and change have passsed since Maura's Sweet Sixteen, and we had to move our serving table coffin up to the attic after I left one too many rings on it. (Drink coasters are for anti-American elitists, don'cha know. Here in Real America TM , we put [...]
Armagideon Time
The Weeknd - Kiss Land
Holy Ghost! "Dumb Disco Ideas"
MØ - Waste Of Time (Audio)
Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action - Album Trailer
Kanye West - New Slaves
Baauer knocks trap music out of the park with Disclosure ‘You & Me’ remix
Talking Heads interpretando Psycho Killer con Arthur Rusell en el cello
Listen to Pharrell Williams’ new song “Happy”, off the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack
