more dots

bones and all (2022) dir. luca guadagnino

Ginger Snaps (2000)

music & a bite to eat is life

An American Werewolf In London Directed by John Landis (1981)

Georges Rochegrosse (1859-1938)

The Sphinx (the Chimera)

Emil Melmoth

Scorn: The Art of The Game

One flesh. One end.

I really liked this book! It's indulgently weird and nasty, and the melodrama and absurdity also made me laugh. It reminded me of the New Testament, Majora's Mask, and, uh, Tarzan.

I've seen a lot of Jesus metaphors in pop culture, and Remina is as boldly on-the-nose as things like Narnia and Man of Steel. But while Narnia is straight apologia and MoS is clumsily stealing a Jewish metaphor, Remina serves Christ for the freaks. It goes hard on the torture (I had a hard time with that part, tbh), as well as the daddy issues, the followers-turned-traitors, and the cosmic anomalies that also marked the end of Jesus' earthly life (loved that shit). Remina takes the Gospels the same way Tommy does, but backwards and in heels.

The Biblical reference that impressed me the most was Simon of Cyrene: a random guy who gets pulled into the brutality for no reason at all. He's an entire Station of the Cross, but I can't think of any other Christ metaphor that even includes him. This book loves that guy.

The Majora's Mask similarity is also obvious: a celestial object with a creepy face hurtles toward the planet. Remina leans more scifi, in a way which allows for clever thought experiments (if something is moving at light speed, then you wouldn't see it coming until it's too late), but still requires much suspension of disbelief (how did they survive that?!). Both stories depend on ambiguity and subtext, and both care more about resolving their themes than their mysteries. The moon is a lonely child; the hellstar is an obsessed fan.

Neither Junji Ito nor Legend of Zelda pull their punches: the cosmic horror DOES destroy the planet; the peoples' fears ARE perfectly justified; and some of them ARE really shitty about it. Ito's apocalypse just has a lot more writhing bodies.

And the Tarzan thing is that most of the action consists of badass dudes hurtling through wild environments and impossibly swinging through the sky, all with a babe slung over their shoulder. I do wish poor Remina had a bit more guts herself, but at least all her real friends are secretly martial artists.

I got done with my custom Roller Derby Helmet, only took me a life time and cost me my soul ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

Wendy Klemperer

Howling Naildog

1999

Schiaparelli: Crystal Ants Skirt (2023)

Kate Kretz embroidery

Vampire Hunter D (1985) Directed by Toyoo Ashida