Timeline cleanser. Seeing this track played live in 95 ripped my head off, could be responsible for the brain damage that led to my current career. Sending love to our Kiwi friends.

Went to the HorrorHound convention in Cincinnati last weekend and it was very humbling and fun to look people in the eye who appreciate what I do. There were married couples who met in Saw chat rooms! If you can make something that affects people, then you can’t ask for much more as an artist. Hugs.

So many things I love about Australia but the main thing right now is that whole days go by without thinking about FuckFace. I am not sure I can adequately describe to Americans how blissful it is to go on with your day without a migraine induced by an all caps tweet about “LOSER” talk show hosts.

I at least thought we would’ve gotten one extremely loud, raw, vitriolic, classic album out of all this bullshit. Literally no one is going to write a song aimed at all the obscenities we see every day in the news? Just sticking to songs about the complications of love in your twenties then? Got it.

Just got off a plane in Australia, turned on my phone and see that the constant, slow slide into a dystopian dictatorship in the US continues unabated.

What a remarkable human Robert Redford was. He has to be the number one consummate movie star - but also a seriously good director, indie film icon and generous humanitarian. Look at the “he’s gotta invite us to stick around” moment from Butch and Sundance for an example of his effortless charisma.

Recently my family was away for the weekend and I had myself a big ol physical media film festival for one. Over two days I watched Thief, Slacker, Singin In The Rain, The Piano, Malcolm X, Near Dark and Wild At Heart. That was one great freaking weekend.

It needs to be said that by rebranding Charlie Kirk's views as moderate by both right wingers and liberal cowards resets the extremist views he held as normal and pushes the Overton window to the far right

This is what I’m dealing with

I need this…. you’re a mad genius, Austin

When Republicans talk about the “radical left”, they’re referring to anyone who wants the US to have the same social safety net that every other wealthy democracy has. Universal healthcare, living wage, affordable college etc may be the norm in Australia, the UK, Canada, but in the US it’s “radical”

Late to the party to say this but I just saw two Aussie horror films I LOVED - Together & Bring Her Back. I can remember a time when James Wan and I couldn’t get anyone from the film “funding bodies” in Australia to even look at us. Horror didn’t have a chance in Oz back then. How times have changed

Oasis live was - what else? - biblical. Look, I’m a hardcore nostalgist. I can get nostalgic about last Wednesday. The frustrating thing about nostalgia though is that it’s a drug that’ll never hit. You can’t grab hold of the past. Can’t eat it. But Oasis provided the closest I’ll get to time travel

Nobody asked but social media is the kingdom of people answering questions that nobody asked so here goes. My favourite songs so far on Deftones new album are Souvenir, Infinite Source and Cut Hands. Listen to them. End of tweet. (James Caan reference).

Just watched “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley”. So tragic that he left us so young, yet he left us with a piece of perfect art. His album Grace has spoken to me at so many moments in my life. We humans hurt each other a lot…but sometimes just one of us gives the entire world a gift that lasts forever.

A few people on here have asked me about the new Deftones album and the film Weapons. The latter is truly great - I had that feeling that you get in a movie theatre when you don’t know where the rabbit hole is going. And the Deftones album crushes, hard to believe they’re still going this strong. 🤘🏻

Doesn’t matter how many great horror movies get made, doesn’t matter how many times they’ve saved the theatrical movie business since Covid…the genre still can’t get any respect. The “it’s not a horror movie” crowd is always there. This includes filmmakers who can’t admit they made a horror movie.

Walking around my beloved hometown of Melbourne, I visited a local icon - The Tote. A rock n roll institution. Also the place where I shot the worst student film of all time, The Demise Of Fallon Thomas, about a punk band who kills the people who comes to see their shows. It looks exactly the same.

It’s that time again - time for me to say thank you to anyone who has ever taken an interest in or supported my work. Without you, I wouldn’t have my dream job. Hugs.

Just arrived in my hometown of Melbourne and my heart is full of love. I’ve vomited in so many places here

This is where their "AI" stems from, btw. This is their attempt to turn the act of creation into an automated assembly line that punishes a person who does something they can't. They have two goals: to be liked, to be creative. Failing that, they made a blow-up doll to tell them they're good enough.

Kid in the eighties, teenager in the nineties, twenties and early thirties in the 2000’s. Fucking nailed the existence timing.

NEVER KNEW THIS AND I’VE SEEN THE YOUNG ONES MANY TIMES HOLY SHIT

One thing that gives me anxiety is the hyper speed that people talk at when they’re narrating “content” online. I know attention spans are short but I’lI watch an Instagram video about some persons favourite restaurants in Edinburgh and it feels like I’m doing coke with them in a toilet stall at 4am

To me, the most important thing is to find a group of fellow film school people that you get along with and mesh with creatively. In an industry as obscenely transactional as Hollywood, you need REAL friends. Not just as collaborators but as emotional support. My true friends in LA are my life raft.

Finished this today. From the author of The Big Goodbye - a brilliantly written book about the making of Chinatown - this is a deep dive into Coppola’s dream of creating a new kind of film studio, a utopian artists collective called Zoetrope. Very inspiring but will make you feel lazy by comparison.

I know this is an out-there, controversial thing to say, but I’ve really got to come out against genocide and imposed starvation.

Proud to be a tortured artist

If you look at the wordinthestone.com on a laptop or desktop, the way it’s meant to be viewed har har, you’ll see the amazing artwork by Suspiria Vilchez. She’s a badass artist that I’d love to do a graphic novel with one day soon. suspirialand.com

NEW DEFTONES F*CK YESSSS

“High quality food”

Many centuries ago, before punchlines on The Simpsons became our reality and daily atrocities the norm, I had a “blog” called The Word In The Stone. I loved writing essays on it about my strange life but it went the way of the iPod. Until recently, when I decided to resurrect it. It’s back.

How justice 'works'.

YES

As someone who has lived in LA for twenty years, this is the LAPD’s MO. When I found my brother in law dead, they showed up late and were joking among each other (literally laughing). Then when there is a protest, they can’t wait to put on armor and attack the citizenry they “protect and serve”.

I know who the bad guys in this movie are and I know who the hero is

I’m not posting here much but I’m writing a new script - so look at it as an achievement in procrastination avoidance. Sending love and hugs

We live in a simulation that the creator is now bored with and just trying shit

This chicken would like to speak with your manager please

I’m not trying to control you, I’m trying to make your life better by you doing everything I say. Anyway, listen to this song. I really like it.

We’ve all been there, right? That moment in your day when you’re washing dishes or picking up dry cleaning and suddenly you start screaming “AUSTRALIA IS SO FUCKING GREAT, I FEEL BAD FOR ANYONE WHO DIDN’T GROW UP THERE”

Fire alarm

Trying to talk to someone at any industry event in Los Angeles

Bruce Willis’ performance in Die Hard is straight up masterful. Not action movie masterful, not “good for its genre” - masterful by any metric. He builds so much emotional scaffolding in the first thirty minutes that we are absolutely tied to him when he gets desperate. Bathroom scene is INCREDIBLE.

Think I’m gonna take a quick break from social media for seven or eight years

My favourite black metal track, really hope this becomes someone’s gateway drug to a better life

Recently I mourned the death of hard rock and metal in mainstream culture and it instigated an interesting (to me) conversation about how music breaks through in the Internet driven era and how music fans today have to go find stuff themselves. So I’ve been listening, here’s some of my fave stuff

Goddamnit where is the sequel to The Nice Guys, I don’t care how much money it made