The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding

There's only one Encyclopedia. There's only one Bible. And they're both called "The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding" by Arnold Schwarzenegger. You do the math.

I've been reading a few books concurrently, this is one of them. I finally just finished reading it cover to cover. About 800 pages covering everything you need to know about bodybuilding. From exercises to diets, to overcoming injuries, to picking out posing trunks, to how to train for Mr. O. It's all in there. It's aimed at anyone who lifts, from n00bs to professionals.

Surprisingly it's not a dry read. I often found myself wanting to get stuck into it. Of course reading it and retaining the knowledge are two different things. It's not like I'm a walking encyclopedia now. Far from it. But it was nice to see what's covered so when I'm looking for a particular answer to a problem I can remember, "oh, that shit was in the encyclopedia, lemme look it up." And there were a few fundamental principles that I pulled out and started applying to my lifts.

I recommend that muscleheads of all sizes and walks of life read this book from cover to cover at least once.

#GAINZ

Man, just look at his traps and chest definition...

Birth of the Living Dead

Here's another one that just popped up on my Netflix queue. It's a 75 minute documentary about the making of Night of the Living Dead.

'The Living Dead is easily one of my all time favorite horror movies so I grilled up a double veggie burger and sat down to check it out.

This is a good doc that quickly goes through the humble inception of the flick, its release, and cultural impact. Most of it done simply through talking heads. Romero dominates the story-telling. He's an affable character who's really reminiscent of Stan Lee. Seriously. I'd love to see them hang out together. Like long lost brothers.

I didn't know that Romero had Spanish heritage; I always thought he was Italian. He's from the Bronx and he's called Romero...but I'm hardly an über fan, just ignorant, I guess. Anyway, that was just a tidbit I picked up.

But I digress. This is a good, quick doc on the making of the a classic. I imagine you love Night of the Living Dead, so nerd out for just over an hour on this shit. It's pretty good.

The Monster Squad

I saw that this was recently added to Netflix so I had to watch it. C'mon, it's the freakin Monster Squad, man. Classic shit. 1987.

For those of you with deprived childhoods, The Monster Squad was essentially a Goonies rip-off with classic monsters instead of the Fratellis. Now, it wasn't as good as the Goonies, but it was still legit. I loved it as a kid.

Marie had never seen it and she was up for watching it last night. Marie's taste in film has changed quite a bit over the years. She can't really stomach some of the violence and realism that we used to watch together. So this was right up her ally. We've found her niche. B-rated 80's kid movies. She was cracking up throughout the flick. Loved it.

I dug it, too. It holds up. So clearly whether you want a trip down Nostalgia Lane or you just want to watch a lighthearted entertaining 80's flick, you can't go wrong w/ The Monster Squad.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos: Volume 2

I tried reading Lovecraft years ago and I just wasn't in the right mindset for it. It felt hokey. I was just never really into reading horror, occult, fantasy, sword & sorcery, anything remotely like that for a long time. But after falling in love with Conan that lead to reading the original Robert E. Howard stories. I loved them. And from there I started reading more Howard, and before you know it it's a slippery slope to Lovecraft, Bloch, Moorecock, etc.

The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene was a killer novel that had overt nods to the Cthulhu mythos without actually being an "official" tale of Lovecraftian lore. I liked that book a lot and I'm definitely open to these occult/horror/fantasy stories now that I've eased my way in.

I had to own this book as the cover is a painting called "Twilight" by Bruce Pennington. Forty-five years after this book came out, Temple of Void licensed the artwork for our debut album. So I had to own it. And since I bought it I might as well read the damn thing.

It's good. Real good.

I have a few Hitchcock books that are collections of short stories, much like this, and I dug reading them. I'm on board with the whole short story thing. The book becomes an "album", which each story being a "song." I can dig it.

There were no duds amongst the stories. Just all typical tales of the mythos involving forbidden books, scholarly protagonists, occult/esoteric wisdom...and monsters and death. There's always a lot of mystery and intrigue. And in most cases curiosity kills the proverbial cat.

Recommended.