Let’s acknowledge the elephant and move on. Hello, elephant. Now go.
Well, that was some Pride month, wasn’t it?
Sometimes I wonder if I should retitle this newsletter Sick Sad World because I feel like I’m just grousing or fretting over this or that every month. I hate it. I don’t want to do it. But the world sure keeps lobbing some softballs of crap at us, doesn’t it? This month, however, I’m going to just acknowledge that, yes, this has been one rough Pride month. And yes, the fact that we’re expected to turn around and celebrate the ol’ red, white, and blue now feels like cruel comedy. But that’s all I have the emotional wherewithal to say for now. So, let’s talk about some fun stuff. Because, looking back at this month, I want to think about all the joyful things it brought.
I Just Know That Something Good is Going to Happen
I have been so happy to see Kate Bush receive so much love (and money!) from the use of “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” featured in Stranger Things. I’m writing this on the day before the season 4 finale of the show, and I’m excited and nervous. Excited to see how the battle wraps up. Nervous of avoiding spoilers AND that something bad will happen to one of my favorite characters.
But, anyway, back to Kate. I discovered her thanks to the radio when I was a kid, when “Running Up That Hill” and “Cloudbusting” got some airplay. I always liked those songs, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to musical artists outside of the radio. I didn’t really buy cassettes as a kid. It was only in high school I started buying CDs and listening to entire albums by my favorite artist. It seems so weird in retrospect, because I loved music. But money was scarce, and you couldn’t just pop on Spotify.
So, my real, actual love for Kate Bush began in my 20s when I started diving further into her catalog after buying (and loving) her 2005 release Aerial. It was similar to how I got into Bowie via Heathen a few years earlier. It just took the new release that was getting buzz ( was very into music magazines) to make me explore more. And what a bounty of wonders I found. So it’s exciting to me that a whole new generation might be doing that same thing now. Hopefully they discover “Wuthering Heights,” “Babooshka,” “Army Dreamers,” “Nocturn,” “How to Be Invisible” and—okay, stopping myself now. Or this will just be a very long list of my favorite Kate Bush songs.
These Are the Voyages…
I know I talked about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds already here. I just wanted to reiterate what a joy this show has been. I just watched episode 9 today, and I can’t believe how perfect and joyful these episodes have felt. There’s stuff to criticize, if you really want to. Every show has that sort of thing. But overall the show has made me fall for this new crew so hard. I was already onboard with Pike, Number One, and Spock, of course, after their fantastic turns in Star Trek: Discovery. They probably could have coasted along by making them the new “big 3” and making some reasonably likable characters to surround them with. But they didn’t. They gave us a crew full of people to care about, to laugh with, to worry about, and to cheer. And it all feels very natural and unforced. Something, although I love it dearly, Star Trek: Discovery has really struggled with in the past.
I’m still kind of in awe with what Celia R. Gooding has done with Uhura. They have done an amazing job taking a character I always loved (Nichelle Nichols gave so much life to an often thinly-written character) and then just enriching and deepening it. Then add in La’an’s toughness and vulnerability, Dr. M’Benga’s soulful heart, Chapel’s spiky fun, and Oretgas’s fun and swagger. And the, of course, Hemmer. Wise, sarcastic Hemmer. It feels weird that we only have one more episode. This is a show I’d gladly watch a full 22-24 episodes of. A rarity these days for me, to be honest. But at least we know we’ll have more adventures coming our way.
A Comic Panel. Because, You Know. Just Because?
Dean Kotz posted this to his Twitter. It’s a panel of someone ordering some smokes in a tiny Chicago convenience store. He’s an awfully talented artist, right? :)
By the way, don’t forget I wrote a story in the one-shot tie-in to Revealer, the new horror movie on Shudder! It’s out from Vault Comics in August. Here’s the solicit info so you can pre-order it from your local comic book shop!
REVEALER #1 CVR A SEELEY JUN222028
VAULT COMICS
JUN222029 – REVEALER #1 CVR B – 4.99
JUN222030 – REVEALER #1 CVR C 15 COPY INCV – 4.99
(W) Tim Seeley, Michael Moreci (A) VARIOUS, Tim Seeley (CA) Steve Seeley
Spinning out of this summer's hit indie horror film REVEALER, these four stories tie directly into the movie! Learn more about the characters, the lore, the Revealers adult bookstore, and what awaits on the other side of the biblical apocalypse.
In Shops: Aug 31, 2022
SRP: 4.99
Things I’ve Greatly Enjoyed
Top Gun: Maverick
So, I don’t have the deepest connection to Top Gun. I watched it before seeing this sequel, and I was surprised how much I remembered of it after 20+ years of not having seen it. It’s a good, likable movie. I was not prepared, however, to just be bowled over by its sequel. It builds upon the first movie to make an even more involving, emotional story with some of the coolest action sequences. The jet flying stuff here is top notch. Everything about this worked for me.
Crimes of the Future
I hate body horror. I have a hard time with it. Maybe that’s why it’s so intriguing? I got to see this in the theater and was so happy I did. What an eerily prescient movie this feels like, in ways I wish weren’t a reality. The cast is uniformly excellent. But I have to give Viggo Mortensen extra accolades for a riveting and strange performance. The score by Howard Shore is a complete, brilliant surprise. The costuming. The devices. The staging of everything in a rusted out, twilight world standing at a cross-section of time. Anywhere and nowhere. Perfect. If Top Gun: Maverick gave me that old summer blockbuster high of yore, this movie kicked my butt and reminded me to be brave and strange as a creator.
All About Evil
Filmed in 2010, this campy dark comedy exploitation slasher has been sitting in relative obscurity (outside a very cult audience) before being re-released by Shudder and Severin Films. I watched this on Shudder, and ordered the blu-ray from Severin Films in the first 15 minutes. It’s an absolute twisted joy I would not immediately recommend to everyone. But if you’re into that sort of thing, I think you’ll be very into this. I know I was.
Until Next Time…
Well, my friends, we made it through another month. Since my last email I got to see Tori Amos in concert for the first time since the Unrepentant Geraldines tour. It was amazing. An incredible release of emotion. I needed it so much. I wish I could go to it monthly.
Oh, and the hotel we were at was the host hotel for IML 2022! So we got a little taste of the leather men who were going to be at the hotel for the weekend. Alas, we went home Thursday after the concert. But a cute Norwegian bear competing there did give us his card and chatted with us at breakfast.
We were also honored to be at the wedding of our friends Seth and Albert. Such a great time, and that felt like a bright spot and a win this Pride.
Grab your joy out there. You deserve to experience it. It’s what fights back the dark.