PODCAST
Ghosted! By Roz Hernandez (Podcast)
Back with Living For The Dead from the last post, cast member Roz Hernandez (LFTD’s Researcher) has been hosting this entertaining podcast for a while now (there’s over 200 episodes!). It’s a bit like Celebrity Ghost Stories as a podcast with an array of interesting guests (Cassandra Peterson/Elvira, Coco Peru and Margaret Cho, yes, this show was made just for me). It’s also funny and spooky. This is the link to it on Podbean, but it should be available on the podcasting portal of your choice.
SOUND
Thomas Dolby – The Golden Age of Wireless (1981)
Every once in a while I realise what a genius record this is. Complex song structures and arrangements, artful and florid lyrics, the ahead-of-its-time steampunk style, and above all, catchy tunes. And not just the singles, although they’re excellent, the album tracks are superb too. This is the only Dolby album I listen to (Hyperactive, and She Blinded Me With Science put me off much continued exploration) but I really should explore the others. The one about Aliens eating his Buick perhaps.
The 225 Greatest Girl Group Songs – 1954-1970 (Fan-made compilation)
I’ve spent most of the week listening to a fan compilation of 225 Girl Group Songs. Including many well-known outfits such as The Supremes, The Marvelettes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, The Ronettes and The Shangri-las, as well as lesser knowns The Honey Bees, The Butterflys, The Orchids and The Apollas. Some artists that I was less familiar with that caught my attention were The Flirtations, Gigi & The Charmaines and The Velvelettes.
With girl groups it’s inevitable that that the track list is almost entirely comprised of American artists as there were so many more in the U.S. The Breakaways and The Orchids, both UK, are, I think, the only non-USA groups in the entire collection. Style-wise some of the tracks can get a bit samey (especially the doo-wop style which is my least favourite), and it would have been nice to have had a wider global representation, but overall it’s a very fine collection.
Details here.
ONLINE
Golden Apples of the Sun (Blog/Radio Show)
I found this because Claude Mono did an excellent Karminsky Experience tribute show on his other blog. There’s an encylopedic amount of music to explore and it’s made right here in Australia.
Lena Hâgendâzovich – I came across this parody of the incredible Lene Lovich mixed with a bit of the also stupendous Nina Hagen that I’d seen a long time ago but completely forgotten about. Ann Magnuson would have been unknown to me then probably.
FILM & TV
I’ve been on a 7 month break from Netflix which apparently means a barrage of begging emails from them telling me how much they miss me. I’m touched that they spend so much time thinking about me in the Netflix offices however, I’m on a schedule and Netflix had to stand aside for a while for Disney+ and Shudder to take centre stage. But they’re ending (queue the emails!) and Netflix is back, for a while.
Heartstopper (Netflix)
I love a teen drama and this is a great one. Based on Alice Oseman’s graphic novel. So glad they’re back.
Dragula (Shudder)
Wildly entertaining but sometimes a hard watch – the things they make their extermination challenge contestants do, I mean, bugs, horror houses, tattoos(!), I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here is like Playschool compared to this. But what I watch for is the queer artistry which is incredible.
M3GAN (2022) (Foxtel)
Creepy smart doll gets smarter and stabby. It’s what you might expect.
The Bubble (1966) (SBS On Demand)
Debra Walley (from various teensploitation films) and Michael Cole (Mod Squad) crash land and are trapped in a bubble installed by aliens, I think, they don’t explain a lot in this 60s sci-fi drama. It’s a neat idea, with some fun visual stuff that unfortunately stumbles in concept and screenwriting. Also unfortunately I didn’t get to see it in 3D, so it was the 2D version with lots of gimmicky in-your-face ladders and Can-Can kicks popping off the screen, but flatly. I wrote a review here at Letterboxd.
PRINT
Psychic Tarot by Craig Junjulas (1985 Morgan & Morgan Books)
Inspired by the suave Ken Boggle (name!) of Living For The Dead I wanted to do some reading about tarot cards and remembered I still had this book hidden away (really hidden away, I had to delve). It uses the Aquarian tarot deck designed by David Palladini, it’s a beautiful deck but I haven’t been able to find mine yet. More delving required.
The Very Now 