A few days ago I watched In The Mouth of Madness, one of the few John Carpenter films I had never seen. I seriously can’t stop thinking about how awesome of a movie it was and why on Earth I waited so long to see it! My god do I love Lovecraftian Horror! Hell It was so good that it’s made me want to revisit some more of Carpenter’s later films like Ghosts of Mars. But maybe that would be a mistake on my part… anyone?

For those of you who have never seen it, In the Mouth of Madness centers around an insurance agent sent to investigate a publishers claim on a policy when their prized author, Sutter Kane goes missing while writing his latest and greatest Horror masterpiece.

Seriously, how amazing of a name is Sutter Kane for a Horror novelist!? Haha.

Catchdubs, Ayres & Jubilee are back at it with Flashing Lights returning as a monthly this Friday, January 23rd at Mehanata in the L.E.S.! Just in time for Catchdub’s birthday!

Be sure to wish him a good one and bring him a gift  because he’s been gracious enough to bestow one on all of you… BAM! New Catchdubs, Ayres & Jubilee mix

After an excruciating eight months of waiting, season 5 of Lost kicked off last night with a twisty, sci-fi bangah. Fans turned off by the show’s sci-fi elements must have squirmed for the whole two hours, but for the rest of us it was gold. It was a traditional Lost premiere in the sense that it introduced an array of story and allowed us to be reminded what these characters are all about. By the second hour, it had us jumping back and forth through time with some straight-up anxiety-inducing moments. And in true Lost fashion, it introduced more questions and answered very little. But that’s one of the reasons I love this show; it engages the hell out of us and we spend the next week theorizing, arguing, and ruining friendships. I’ve got faith that the writers aren’t making it up as they go along (any more) and with a set amount of episodes left, it’s only going to get more satisfying.

I’m not going to give a recap of both episodes. I’m assuming that if you want to discuss Lost then you watched the premiere. Let’s just dork-out about the juicy shit!

“Because You Left” and “The Lie”: Lost always has “Oh Shit!” beginnings to their premieres (Season 2 is still my favorite) and this one was no different. In the first five minutes we find out that the wheel was already there?! I had always thought Dharma had installed it or found it when they pushed the Others off their land. Daniel Faraday is in disguise as a worker which means that he’s already been to the island and has been time traveling for quite some time. It looks like Daniel is going to be a much more central character this season which is great because he seems to know more than anyone currently on the island as to what the hell is going on, even though he clams up every time someone asks him what the hell is going on. “Trust me.”

Kate is visited by lawyers who claim they’ve been hired by an unknown client to determine if Aaron is actually Kate’s kid. The “unknown client” may be Ben. He knows Aaron is actually Claire’s child, so maybe he’s using the lawyers to sort of push Kate into going back to the island, which I doubt she will do without some heavy persuasion/manipulation. I wish Kate stayed on the damn island. Why did she want to go back anyway? As much as she struggles with it, she’s obviously in love with Sawyer. She has really no family, nothing to go back to, why leave? And where’s Walt? WAAAAAAAAALT!!!

A lot of the big questions from the premiere involve the time travel elements. The island is out of control and the fucking thing jumped through time about five times last night. I’m really glad they set rules for time travel. If it were possible for them to alter the past (in turn altering the future) the show would be 1000 times more bananas. Especially with the incorrigible Sawyer running around banging on hatch doors. Maybe the writers were just making shit easier for themselves, but I pat them on the back for that.

Locke went through some heavy shit during his most excellent adventures. Now, since he was shot and confronted by Ethan, this must mean that Ethan met Locke before the Oceanic crash and he must’ve told the Others about him. Remember when Locke is taken to the Others camp for the first time? They seemed to know who he was, like they had a prophecy about him. Interesting side note: One of my homies read that the spot where Locke fell after he was shot is the exact spot where his legs gave out when him and Boone were checking out the Beechcraft plane. If that’s true, that’s fresh beyond words. His encounter with mega-sketchball Richard Alpert was interesting. Richard gave Locke the compass from Locke’s childhood flashback (when Locke chose the knife instead of the compass) and tips on applying eyeliner.

Daniel explains that they’re unable to change the past, except Desmond. What makes Desmond so damn special? Was his chemical makeup altered when he stopped the electromagnetic anomoly from exploding? That’s the only theory I’m leaning towards so far. Daniel tells Desmond (in the past) that he has to go to Oxford and find Daniel’s mother (who I believe to be Ms. Hawkins, the old woman who meets up with Ben at the end). It looks like Ms. Hawkins is in the church where Desmond got his monk on, but I could be wrong, bruthah. She warns Ben that he only has 70 hours to get the 6 back to the island. What’s going to go down in 70 hours and how can she be so specific when she’s using a chalkboard, a pendulum, and an Apple II computer?

Hurley really is the heart and soul of this show and he threw a Hot Pocket at Ben.

I wasn’t expecting a new character to be introduced, but meet Jill. Ben dropped off Locke’s “dead” body at her butcher shop and she seemed to know exactly who Locke was and that Ben would be stashing him there. She must be Dharma or Dharma-related if Ben trusts her that deep. She’s also possibly a dyke. Just sayin’.

I had an argument today over whether the soldiers that attack Sawyer and Juliette are Dharma or not. I don’t think they are. There’s no distinguishing Dharma-elements on their uniforms and chopping off someone’s hand as a scare tactic doesn’t sound like Dharma regulation to me. Namasté and all that. And who did the flaming arrows belong to? The Others?

Chime in with your thoughts, rebuttals, bitches, and whatever I missed. Welcome back Lost.

This series is at least a couple of years old , but way worth digging in the back issue bins for. Super Fuckers by James Kochalka (printed by Top Shelf) is a comic riff on teen teams in comic books, except the Super Fuckers are the most foul mouthed, badass, high and drunk teen team around. This funny a hell comic series is being collected into a 144 page trade paperback by Top Shelf this December and the single issues are still available at Top Shelf.

SuperF*ckers (Theme Song)
© 2005 James Kochalka

We’re always in our clubhouse getting high
SuperF*ckers!
Everybody wishes we would die
SuperF*ckers!

Here we come, like a bomb,
everybody run and hide.

Our dicks are stuck in the Playstation 3
SuperF*ckers!
Everybody wishes they could be
SuperF*ckers!

Here we come, like a bomb,
Everybody f*ckin’ run and hide.

We’re here in San Diego for the Agenda Trade Show! So we decided to bring a nice little warehouse party along with us!

With the help of San Diego’s own un|steady boutique and our friends at Turntable Lab, we guarantee that this party will be a banger!

DJs
The Gaslamp Killer
Gina Turner
Acid Girls
Dan Oh

Free Booze 10-11pm!

The other parties end at 2, we rage until 4 am!

Dubstep. House. Bass. Techno. More

Please email mishkarsvp@gmail.com to find out the “secret warehouse location.” YOU MUST RSVP FOR ADDRESS!

Provided by MERGE EVENTS.

A.C. Newman - Get Guilty (2009) [Matador] // Grade: C

I’ve always felt that the New Pornographers were never truly the sum of their parts. Despite all the critical praise lauded upon their work, all of their albums felt hollow to me. Nothing they ever put out collectively ever came close to the solo efforts of Neko Case, Dan Bejar (Destroyer) and, in particular, A.C. Newman’s old band Zumpano and his  2004 solo debut The Slow Wonder.

I’ve patiently waited five years for the follow-up to The Slow Wonder, an album that I consider to be one of the best releases in the past decade. That day finally came this past Tuesday. I normally try to keep my expectations in check… especially for bands or follow-ups to something I absolutely love. I let those albums soak in, trying not to let the genius of their past work influence my opinion. After a few days with Get Guilty I can firmly and sadly say that this album is a disappointment.

A.C. Newman is still quite adept at blurring the lines between delicate Chamber Pop and ragged Power Pop, but unlike The Slow Wonder, this effort doesn’t feel organic. What made The Slow Wonder so good wasn’t just the song craftsmanship, but how heartfelt and honest everything felt. It was  a very personal album with enough room to breathe and embrace the listener in it’s space. While not devoid of good songs, the album only boasts one great one, The Heartbreak Rides. As a whole Get Guilty just feels calculated and unfitting of a songwriter of A.C. Newman’s caliber.

I’ll say it… Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion is a great album, however I’m still not certain that it’s 0.4 from perfection. For the album’s first video they chose My Girls and tapped the über talented Jon Vermilyea to do animate it alongside video effects by Chad Von Nau.

Jon has been one of our longtime “go-to” illustrators here at Mishka. He’s done so many T-shirt illustrations that I don’t even want to begin rattling off a huge list because I’m afraid I’ll forget a bunch. He’s got a pretty distinctive style so I’m you all can put two & two together once you see his work. Congrats Jon!

Girls and Corpses magazine bills itself as the comic combination of real girls and real corpses.  With columns like Beating a Dead Corpse and Dancing with the Stiffs, a cover shoot with a rotting sensei getting his head chopped off and a multi-corpse shoot featuring the entire crew from the Howard Stern Show, the magazine has a substantial light side. When someone tipped me off to it, I was told the bodies were positively real plasticized corpses. According to the one and only frequently asked question on their site, that’s the truth.

I was about halfway through writing this post before I discovered one of their staff members runs The Ed Gein Collection, who manufacture lifelike fake corpses. It’s not conclusive evidence that these bodies are fake, but their consistent toffee like exterior makes them look more like delicious skeleton brittle than festering Deadites. I’ll let you guys be the judges, but if you are looking for a coffee table conversation starter; this is a good place to start!

Spidey saves President Obama in a predictable 5 page story, no big deal.The actual Spider-man story that preceded the Obama story was also pretty shitty. I haven’t read Spider-man in awhile, but Marvel really fucked him up. I also bought Amazing Spider-Man #584, and It was okay, I really just bought it because John Romita Jr’s art is amazing.

Dark Avengers #1 was actually good! Now that Tony Stark has been fired as head of S.H.I.E.L.D.,  Norman Osborn is the new man in charge. In this issue Osborn is hand picking his “Avengers”, and some of the choices will surprise you. Artist Mike Dedato really steps up his game in this new series, much better artwork than his work in New Avengers .

Green Lantern #37 is my runner up pick of the week. I never was into GL that much but since Johns took over the book has pretty much been a slam dunk. In this issue the Blue Lanterns are trying to convince Hal Jordan to turn over Sinestro to them once he apprehends him, and they also want Hal to give up being a GL and become the leader of the Blue Lanterns. Once Hal locates Sinestro on Ysmault, he along with the BL’s are ambushed by Atrocitus and his Red Lanterns. Now Hal and the Bl’s are fighting for their lives against the RL’s when Sinestro’s Yellow Lanterns show up to rescue Sinestro  and join the fight, and in the end one of the Lanterns change sides, can you guess who?

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D #2 is my pick of the week. I know, I talked shit last week about Morrison’s and Final Crisis but this is the one diamond in the FC turd pile.  Stranded in Limbo, Superman, Overman (Nazi Superman), Captain Marvel, Captain Adam (Dr Manhattan like Superman) are trying to stop Ultraman from bringing forth the Apacolypse by opening a portal to the Multiverse. Superman Beyond 3D is Grant Morrison at his best ,telling a mind bending tale of Supermen from across the Multiverse trying to save existence and the people of Limbo from Vampiric Monitors and megalomaniac Ultraman.I have to say a huge draw to this book for me is the art by Doug Mahnke , and the fact that part of the book is in 3D doesnt hurt either. 30 plus pages (some 3D) and the fact that you don’t have to read any of the other Final Crisis books to understand (or not understand) this book makes it well  worth the $4.50  cover price. Make sure you go to your local comic shop and pick up issue one and two of this cool mini series.

MixHell is the musical brainchild of husband/wife team Igor and Lalma Cavalera, fusing dark rock, hip hop cyberpunk and dance into the mix, they bring a new approach to the Keep Watch series. Relentlessly heavy, the mix combines old favorites spanning at least a few genres as well as introducing original MixHell tracks – ranging from trance inducing soundscapes to drum beats that need to be danced to, MixHell encompasses everything we at Mishka love about the Keep Watch Series.

Igor Cavalera is best known as the drummer in Sepultura, as anyone who listened to metal in the 90’s knows, Sepultura had an uncanny ability to make some of the most punishing music on the planet – known equally for their rhythmic structure as their heavy handedness. Igor’s contributions to the band have transcended just the metal world and helped spawn MixHell. He and his wife Lalma perform live mixes worldwide incorporating their love of all music giving each set an organic almost pulse like essence.

Keep Watch Vol. V: Mixhell by Мишка Bloglin