A Post In the Machine.

The weird path of "The Sympathizer" in my watch routine; watching "body horror" (not me); David Cronenberg live marathon on Criterion; migraines, great songs, a free Substack thing.

I’m writing this with my “lofi chill” mix on Spotify playing in the background, one of those strange amalgamations of playlists I thought I would hate ages ago and ended up using all the time (including “lofi chill beats” — and yes I would prefer it to be “lo-fi” but it’s not).

I need the “lofi chill” thing to block out noise, sometimes, and tonight to stop me from thinking about migraines or whatever my personal version of them is (crunchy neck wire short-outs, shooting like painful sparks up into my brain, leaving it throbbing, basically).

Watch out for the neck wires, people. If they arc, you’re screwed.

I’ve been periodically down and out and I will be the first to tell you that if it has anything to do with my head then I’m not a “fight through it” kind of guy. I’m a “fold like a house of cards” guy.

Bed. Meds. Wine. Not necessarily in that order. Just make it stop.

I figured I needed to get something posted though, and partner KB and I finished “The Sympathizer” miniseries on HBO and I really wanted to confront my/our odd viewing path with it.

I started watching “The Sympathizer” in Portland sometime earlier this year (it premiered in April but I don’t think I got around to it until maybe May). Anyway, I had a strange reaction to it, watching all by myself one night: I really didn’t like it (clearly was not ready for the heavy dose of Robert Downey Jr., who has five roles, four of which are very scenery devouring). It was also confusing. And despite it being directed by Park Chan-wook, it didn’t set the hook.

I put it off for a long while, and then one night KB and I, scrolling for something, decided to give it a shot together and…really liked it. Yeah, moods are weird.

We were then in the middle of many series and, despite loving this one a lot, kept having to fight through memory and impulses to come back to it, the why of which I can’t really answer.

Even after telling friends about it, we didn’t immediately return to it. I went back to Portland for a long time and we decided to only watch it together, further elongating this experience.

Well, we finally finished it Monday night. (And then my head exploded, though not literally, for those who wouldn’t rule it out).

Ultimately I found “The Sympathizer” to be one of the better series I’ve seen this year; which is either the worst or best endorsement I can think of. Why this Lombard Street path to finishing it? Not sure — working on a thesis for later.

Based on the novel of the same name from Viet Thanh Nguyen (it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015), the miniseries was created and written by Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, with Park directing the first three episodes (and Marc Munden, “Utopia”) directing three as well.

At the center of it is a great performance from little known Hoa Xuande as the Captain, the nebulously titled main character who is a North Vietnamese spy who has infiltrated the South Vietnamese police (he’s also working with the CIA) and serves as a body guard and confidant to the general. As Saigon falls, the Captain is told that he needs to flee to America with the General to keep up his spying and to be useful for the North.

It doesn’t go great. None of it goes that great.

Yes, there’s a lot of Robert Downey, Jr.

I will caution that there’s a lot more plot than what little I just mentioned going on, much of it twisty and flipping between time, which plays some havoc with understanding the plot. And as mentioned, there’s a LOT of Downey Jr. here, much of it good, much of it purposefully way over the top, and that could be a distraction for some. I would say hang in there, as I did, but maybe stay a little more focused for the payoff?

It’s only seven episodes. You should be able to bang that out in, what, six months?

Most of you probably know I’m not a horror movie person, not a scary movie lover, not a fan of basically any jump scares. I can do zombie movies, but it takes a lot.

October, then, is not my month. I also dislike Halloween.

My partner, on the other hand, loves scary movies, loves October, loves Halloween and basically falls for every jump scare invented (and yes, jumps, and screams — I learned this ages ago while watching “Stranger Things” with her and my kids; she was kind of outed right there as not being able to handle scary stuff, despite loving it.

Anyway, none of that ever stopped her and she’s been watching old school scary movies or, in her words, “OG body horror greatness from the ‘80s.”

I had to ask what “body horror” was.

This month she has watched two David Cronenberg films and one John Landis film as part of Criterion’s spooky film month. She’s watched “Rabid,” “The Fly,” “An American Werewolf In London” and wants to pass on to those who haven’t heard yet that there’s a live Cronenberg marathon today (Wednesday) starting at 6 p.m. ET, on Criterion. And yes, she’s actually going to watch “Substance” when she gets a chance.

I’ll be sitting all of that out, although weirdly I’ve read enough about “Substance” to want to watch it. I probably won’t.

And yet I feel like it’s my duty, as your captain, to ask those who ARE a fan of scary shit to go ahead and leave some thoughts about movies (or TV series) in the comments. This community runs deep, and I’m sure everyone who loves horror will have some obscure favorites.

I’ll just nod along, going “nope,” “nope”…. Oh, wait, I LOVED “Nope.” And “Train to Busan” is on my list of to-watch films. Maybe I’ll actually get something out of this exercise.

I made this a free post because for some Substacks, this one included, Substack is going to pick a bunch of free subscribers, starting Oct. 31 and running through Nov. 4, and pay for a free month. I don’t have anything to do with it other than encouraging you to take them up on it if you get picked. Apparently, eligible readers are A) Currently free subscribers to Bastard Machine, B) Highly engaged — meaning they read a lot and maybe post comments, and C) Don’t currently have the app. It’s an odd list of rules but I didn’t make it.

Those selected, I’m told, will then be prompted by email to get the app (which I already recommend on pretty much every column I post); then you claim your free month through the app and I get the $6 regardless if you keep going after that month, but of course that’s the whole point — to become a full time paid subscriber and keep reading.

My feeling is that the archive itself is worth $6, but I would love to have you hang around for all the new stuff, the majority of it behind a paywall, and get your free hugs, your free pony and your free beer — all things I’ve been offering for like 20 years now. In the mail.

I am a longtime fan of Conor Oberst and his band Bright Eyes (and yes, all of his solo stuff, which seems obvious to state). He’s a brilliant lyricist and I’m particularly fond (though not everyone is) of his life-saturated, emotionally raw voice. And wow have I been playing these two songs from the new album in heavy, heavy rotation.

The first is “All Threes” with Cat Power:

The second is “Hate,” a song I think I played just this past week about 27 times back-to-back. Yes, really.

Oberst has been a great lyricist from the jump, when he was just a kid (which is why he gets everyone from Emmylou Harris to the National and of course Phoebe Bridgers etc., to sing with him), but he’s 44 now and just keeps getting better. This is one of those song where you think, well, he could probably write this in his sleep (and others as well), but then, as usual, it takes these odd little minor turns and grows the depth and you (or at least me) end up putting it on endless replay while singing in the car.