Jeff Buckley, the Smiley Face Cult and the Braintree Buffalo Bill

This year we observe Garlands Day by looking at the eerie similarities between his drowning death and those of other young men blamed on the so-called Smiley Face Killers...

Memeday Monday: Can't Trust that Day

If only, Homer. If only.

Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell

I never got Johnny Depp. 

I mean I get it; he was girl-pretty and he's quirky and artsy-fartsy and kind of rock 'n' roll. I got that he liked to bury that pretty Face of his in whatever contrivance Tim Burton sketched up for him during yet-another all-night Cure/Siouxsie/Bauhaus video binge. But I think the razzle-dazzle of his youthful looks tend to overshadow the fact that he's a mediocre actor on his best day. In my opinion,  of course.

The Siren: Lady Bird and the Never-Ending Ritual

Before you know it all of the stars will be walking the red carpet under the shadow of the Babylon Gate and entering into the Dolby Theater, which was the former site of the Hollywood Masonic Lodge.

Killer Sex-Bots are Go!

Well, there's a headline for you, eh?

The Sexbots are coming to a town near you. Unless of course you live in London.

"...But High Ritual Magic is Interested in You."

Eye of Jupiter Amonn, Twin Skulls, drops of blood....

Playtime is over. Things are getting real.

Houston, Harvey, Twin Peaks and the Siren

Over the past several weeks I've been looking at the events that followed in the wake of Chris Cornell's death and the revival of Twin Peaks, which occurred within days of each other. 

Sync Log: The Fox and the Flocks

Jupiter and Moon, taken 4/17 

I ended the previous post (about the Ba'al Gate controversy) with this conclusion:

I've been finding myself looking at all my Mesopotamian books lately, my Samuel Noah Kramer books and all the rest of them. In comparison the Egyptian material seems almost whimsical, comforting, much more like the Bible than Jews or Christians would want to admit.  

 

Another Kind of Language

About three years ago, I marked the occasion of John Keel's death by writing about some of the strange, semiotic links I have to the Mothman. There were so many of them, and these syncs seemed to pop up at such important turning points in my career, that I thought it was all worthy of a post. 

The Owls Are Not What They've Seen

During my Operation Trojan Horse re-read I kept seeing the year of my birth- 1966- recur throughout the text. 

Mindbomb: Eldritch Dimensions

Maurice Masse's passport to Magonia, July 1, 1965

This series -- which started as a look at comic book sorcerers and their real-world parallels and grew far beyond my expectations -- began with "The Possessed," a Doctor Strange story in which interdimensional alien walk-ins possess the citizens of a Bavarian hamlet. 

Esteban Maroto: The Erotic and the Esoteric

In many ways, Our Gods Wear Spandex was about being a young and impressionable fanboy at a time when esotericism was common as crummy printing and cheesy advertising in comics. 

Thor: Fit for the King

 

  A typically-tardy, completely-biased review... 

 Every sci-fi and superhero movie of the past 30 years has at least a little Jack Kirby blood pumping in its veins (and most have a lot), as well as most action movies post-Die Hard. The same goes for most video games as well.

 

My Favorite Nightmares

Self-portrait, 1985

I came to a stunning realization over the weekend; my most vivid memories are of nightmares that I had as a child. 

Secret Sun Picture Parade: Post-Solstice Edition

The big story is still the BP Gulf spill, yet another real-life fiasco foreshadowed on The X-Files. While working up the big XF post over the weekend I remembered that the rig in question was called the 'Orpheus', yet more descent-to-the-underworld Mystery symbolism in the XF Mythology.

Caprica and the Spi-Fi Ascendency

 

 OK, I need to rinse the rancid taste of Braintree out of my mouth...

A lot of you may have seen this already, but I'm so jazzed on this series I want to make sure the rest of you do as well. This is the prequel to the Battlestar Galactica revamp, but it's grabbed me in a way that BSG still has not (never fear, the missus and I have the first season DVDs and plan to dig into them soon).

The Amy Bishop Saga Just Keeps Getting Weirder

The coverup is unraveling: Former Chief Now Doubts Bishop Police Report:

NewsCenter 5's Shiba Russell reported Tuesday that Amy Bishop shot and killed her brother in the Bay State more than 20 years ago in a shooting that was ruled accidental.

The Secret Sunset on Binnall of America

Part two of my marathon gabfest with Tim Binnall is now up on the BOA website. Mr. Binall?

Crimes, Cover-ups and Fringe Science

By now I shouldn't be surprised by these kinds of things, but I was a bit stunned to find out that I attended high school in Braintree, Mass. with the accused shooter at the University of Alabama. Not only that but I also attended high school with the brother she mowed down with a shotgun in 1986.

 

AstroGnostic: Trapped Here on this Alien World

NOTE: Scroll to bottom of post for important update.

Well, here we are- it's Twilight time again. The Gnostic vampire-superhero phenomenon is about to descend on multiplexes all across the planet, enrapturing tween girls in ways not seen since the glory days of N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys.