Edward's December 2013 Mix

It's been a very busy multimedia month for me. Using my age old excuse that it's all because of the weather, I managed to stay inside for most of the month and do all kinds of nifty indoor things, mostly watching movies and playing games. It looks like I'm going to set a new record as far as finished games this year. I've managed to play over forty different games and finish playing seventeen of them. The first game was reviewed in my trusty PC Gamer magazine that actually suggests a better video card than what I currently use, and to think a few months ago I was bragging about how futureproof I was. Confound it! (The game, by the way, is Battlefield 4.) I  have a GTX 670, and PCG is suggesting a GTX 680 to draw out the full effects of the game. This is currently a $500 video card, more than the retail cost of a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One. This, another testament to how much of a powerhouse a top end PC is over the "next gen" consoles. I know, I know, I should keep my mouth shut, PC gaming is dead after all. I guess the creators of The Elder Scrolls Online and Everquest Next didn't get the memo. Oh, and someone should tell Nvidia, who is about to release a superhumongous new technology: The G-Synch. This technology will move LCDs truly into new generation territory with the ability of your video card to adjust the refresh rate of your LCD as it sees fit. We've been using old CRT technology for years, and we're about to step into a bold new era with this astounding technological shift.

1.  Torchlight on PC

This little sleeper of a game swept the critics off of their collective feet when it came out in 2009. Garnering a respectable 83 on Metacritic this is the game that PC Gamer said was "more Diablo III than Diablo III." I've got about 50 hours into it which puts me at about the halfway mark. I do like the cartoony art style, but the game is getting rather long in the tooth. I've hit level 20 and I've got some elite armor, (though no complete sets yet.) Still, the game fills my strange need to just kill a thousand things with a thousand million mouseclicks. I probably won't be in a hurry to play Torchlight II anytime, soon. I think this game will satiate my appetite for a long time to come.

2. Bioshock: Infinite on PC

I finally beat it. This was Irrational's/2K's epic magnum opus (for this year anyway.) I struggled a little bit during the last boss fight, but it wasn't quite a killjoy. I had to dumb the game down from Hard to Easy, but I got it. And in some odd way this might have been my personal homage to the masses who wanted to bypass the combat elements and continue through the storyline, yes, it was that good. Although, I felt the ending was a bit contrived. Still, Ken Levine, tells a great tale here. The game deals with the heavy subjects of anti-Christianity and anti-patriotism, but it pulls it off as poignantly as it can. (Is that really possible?) This is the first game in ages that I actually sat there stunned at the end and watched awestruck as the credits rolled by for ten minutes. (And got to see the little mini quick time event bonus after the credits.) This is an amazing game that not only affirms my love for the Bioshock series, in which the environments are as much a character as the NPCs you interact with, but also gives me bragging rights as to how and why I love PC games with all of my heart and lay valid claim to the fact there's nothing else I'd rather be doing.

3. Fiddler On The Roof on DVD

When I was 9 years old I accompanied my mother and my aunt to go see Doctor Zhivago at the theater in downtown Urbana, Illinois. The movie was over my head at the time, but one thing stuck with me from that movie: I think Russians must be the saddest people on the planet. I'll never forget the blue snow scenes and the furry Russian hats, and I'll never forget the sad and confused look on Zhivago's face when he was a boy attending his mother's graveside service. I watched Fiddler on the Roof for the first time this month, which reminded me of the sadness in Doctor Zhivago. This movie, which focuses on a poor Jewish farmer attempting to cling to the old ways of tradition, being uprooted because of his religious beliefs. He has three daughters who have become young women, and like the old traditions he has to let go, so he must let his daughters go to their respective new husbands. This 1971 film was based on a Broadway play. Normally I eschew such things. B-O-R-I-N-G! But my parents loved this movie and told me I'd enjoy it. The parents were right (for once.) I won't watch it again, but this is an important movie. As a fan of good movies, I'm glad I watched it.

4. Paths of Glory on DVD

Stanley Kubrick made this movie when he was only twenty eight. And Kirk Douglas fell in love with the script when he read it. He was quoted as saying, "Stanley, I don't think this movie will make a dime, but we HAVE to make it." Douglas was correct. The movie didn't turn a profit, but this is one of the greatest anti war movies ever made, right up there with All Quiet on the Western Front. The movie concerns Frenchman Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) who must defend three soldiers in a World War One courtroom who were picked at random to represent a whole brigade of men accused of cowardice after they fail to capture a hill held by German infantry. This is a movie that impacted me on a deeper level, and made me tense with frustration at the outcome.

5.  The Music on CD 

Good luck Googling "The Music" and finding out anything about this amazing band out of Leeds, England. I'll save you the legwork, instead simply go to www.themusicuk.com and there within you'll discover a knock out band that blends the sounds of U2 with Led Zeppelin. Some compare the lead singer, Robert Harvey, to a twenty one year old Robert Plant. I'm not seeing it, but there's no need to. This guy can croon all on his own. Check out "Into the Night" on Youtube and prepare to be blown away. I've been wearing out my replay button on my car stereo to this CD lately. Favorite tracks are "Into the Night," and "Guide."

6. Who I Was Supposed to Be by Susan Perabo

Back in 2007 a friend loaned me a collection of short stories by southern American writers. One write stood out for me, and that was Susan Perabo. I recently found this book, and I'm about halfway through it. The beautiful thing about writing is the ability to play God. You can shape your own world, you can create your own people, and then jump into their skin and tell your stories through their eyes. Susan Perabo does this with amazing ability.  In the short story, "Counting the Ways" she is a young man in a young marriage, and she nails the experience of being a man so vividly.  She's a writer who makes me strangely envious, in that gnawing little way where I know as long as I live I'll never match her abilities.

7. Test Drive Unlimited 2 on PC

I researched extensively on the forums before I picked this game up. The game's developer's Eden Games are now defunct. And the game's publisher, Atari, has nothing to do with it anymore. Okay, that's not entirely true. If you want to buy any of the DLC they are there for you, but try to get some good ol' bona fide technical support. TDU2 is the game they set in the wicker basket and left on somebody's doorstep. Still, there are people playing online. And with my Logitech G27 wheel/paddle set, this car driving simulation is a blast. There are 2,000 miles of roads in Ibiza and Hawaii in this sim. And I plan on hitting them all.

8. A Scanner Darkly on DVD

Based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, this animated movie became for me, one of my famous "three day movies," a designation created by my sister and I calling attention to movies that got into our heads and got us to thinking about them for three days straight.  The movie is animated, but contains an all star cast, and oddly, the cartoon characters look exactly like their real life counterparts.  It's as if someone filmed a video of the actors, Robert Downey, Jr., Woody Harrelson, Wynona Ryder and Keanu Reeves and then used a weird caricature filter in Photoshop on them.  I've read my share of Philip K. Dick books and found them a bit on the dry side. The movie BladeRunner was a far better movie than Dick's original novel it was based on. I'm really interested in reading the book this movie was based on to see how they compare. I'm not a big fan of animation, but the animation style and the film's great use of lighting effects has endeared this movie to me. It now holds a permanent place on my shelf.

9. Team Fortress 2 on PC

I'm typically not a fan of cartoon games (Torchlight being an exception).  I suck at online first person shooters, and more importantly why would I jump onboard a game so late that's been out since 2007? I dabbled in TF2 in the past, but only stuck around to take in the scenery. Just not my thing. But this month something happened. Now I can't get enough. This is a grand game. Every class is a good class. People are halfway respectful toward each other. There isn't the verbal abuse you find in Dota and LOL games. And I haven't laughed out loud in a game in a long time.  I mentioned the scenery, well, the art style exudes all sorts of charm. It's as if Norman Rockwell and the Hanna-Barbera team had an orgy and produced a lovechild. Maybe, the best perk of all about this game, however, is that my skills are seemingly improving with each game. For a guy like me who is reaching the age where I can watch my reflexes evaporate like dew on a suddenly scorching  mid morning this is a very good thing.

 

 

Edward's November 2013 Mix

I’ve been a man possessed. The object of my obsession: Euro Truck Simulator 2. Coupled with this new Logitech G27 wheel and paddle set I’ve just been too lazy to unclamp the peripherals from my desktop to do anything kinda sorta productive on it. But you have to admire the adaptability and flexibility of the PC. In minutes I can pull the wheel/paddle set and hook up my Saitek X52 Flight Control system and suddenly I’ve left the cabin of a huge cab-over Volvo semi and plopped myself into the confining cockpit of a Sopwith Pup in World War I. “Next gen” consoles, chew on that.

1.  Rise of Flight on PC

Speaking of that aforementioned Sopwith Pup, I’ve been flying the not so friendly skies over Flanders Field. My new Sopwith Pup exudes all of  the quirky charm of its namesake. It turns on a dime, and has the ability to almost land on a tennis court. I’ve recently started a career and I’ve already shot down two crafty Germans.  Rise of Flight truly is the end all/be all WWI flight simulator. I’m not crazy about their price scheme, the core game is free to play, but you have to buy individual planes, and they’re not cheap. They range from $6.00 to $12.00, but with that said, each plane flies so differently each purchase is like buying a stand alone flight simulator. And there is nothing quite like being 4,000 feet up seeing wispy clouds you can almost reach out and touch, and then looking down to see the amber fields and black rivers looking like a fantasy chessboard out of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and hearing the oh so warm rumble of your plane's engine. It's certainly nothing like the real thing, but it sure can give you an appreciation why these ancient flyboys loved what they did. Be forewarned, however. This is no arcade game. Finishing out a career and bagging five kills to become an ace is far easier said than done.

2. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 

Plagiarizing from my own review of this book on www.shelfari.com, Regarded as a highly revered work of modern literature, I liken it more to a great men's adventure novel set during the Spanish Civil War. Nothing epic here, just the subtle niceties of Hemingway's concise and tight writing. This, an excerpt from the book concerning the main character's sighting of a squirrel. Each and every word is the stroke of a brush on a palette, and the period at the end of the paragraph the realization that you are looking at a beautiful word painting: "He saw the squirrel's eyes, small and bright and watched his tail jerk in excitement. Then the squirrel crossed to another tree, moving on the ground in long, small-pawed, tail exaggerated bounds." Nothing profound here, just a word painting excerpt of Hemingway's great writing style. He’s by no means my favorite writer, but an important 20^th century writer, and well worth reading.

3. Combat Mission on PC

Ah, I don’t know why this turned out to be a month of warfare and violence for me, but carrying on with it, I finally gave up on Knights of the Old Republic on my laptop. I realized I was just not going to finish it. So, I replaced it with Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord. With its sparse graphical engine it makes an ideal game to stick onto a laptop. Eschewing typical hex based war game mechanics, this game has you placing and commanding your units, and upon completion, the AI does the same, and then you hit the GO! button and everything plays out in real time. It turns into a sixty second long heart racing, temple sweating, ordeal that rivals anything seen in a war movie.  I never realized a minute in time could be so intense, nor last so long. The icing on the cake: Every little thing is taken into accountability, the morale of the lowliest infantryman, and how many grenades he’s carrying, to the armor thickness on a King Tiger Tank, and whether or not the armor is thickest on the front of the tank or the sides. Of course, all of this is taken care of so elegantly behind the scenes.

4. The Godfather Trilogy on DVD

I had never seen The Godfather, despite its claim to fame as a recipient of the 1972 Best Picture  Academy Award. A buddy of mine at work overheard me tell somebody this, and he rectified the situation by lending me his Godfather trilogy. At its core, The Godfather is ostensibly a tale of bad men betraying each other and killing each other off.  It makes you wonder if the Italian machismo and good looks are worth having to watch your back every time you leave your house. This series is truly Francis Ford Coppola’s best work, and what makes it superb is that Mario Puzzo (the author of the famed novel) penned the screenplay. He did likewise for The Godfather II as well, and not surprisingly, The Godfather II got an Academy Award  for its brilliant screenplay. (The Godfather and The Godfather II became the first series movies in the history of cinema to both pick up Academy Awards for Best Screenplays.)

5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Picked this up for free on my Kindle a long while back, and just began reading it while waiting in dentist’s office, car shops, check out lines, etc. And it’s become a subtle addiction. I never realized the conspiracies this book delineates, and at first I thought much of it was the “faction” (fiction + fact) stuff that Michael Crichton writes, but then when I read about the mystery of the Mona Lisa and how the name Mona Lisa is an anagram for the Egyptian god of fertility Amon and the Egyptian goddess of fertility, Isis, (formerly called Lis) I just got more fascinated by this book.  I remember when this novel became an overnight sensation in the late nineties when it debuted, and I’m not sure it’s captivating me on that level, but it’s a great read nonetheless.

6. I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg

Fannie Flagg has always been my gal. Ever since I sat in a break room at Abbott Laboratories years ago reading Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café and having a coworker ask me if I was okay. I was silently holding my stomach, tears rolling down my cheeks, laughing so hard I couldn’t even breathe, let alone speak.  Flagg’s books have always had this ribald humor coupled with a subtle sadness that has the power to play your emotions up and down like a Wham-O! Yo-Yo. I’ve just started this novel, but it concerns an aging real estate agent, a former Miss Alabama who’s heading into old age and realizing despite her perfect veneer and her contributions to the community she’s one of the saddest people inwardly she’s ever known. And she’s about to do something about it, something drastic. She’s written what looks like a suicide note, but not sure if she’s going to dispatch herself or simply pull up stakes and fill her gas tank up and just drive. I’ll keep you posted.

7. Euro Truck Simulator 2 on PC

This culprit of a game, actually a simulator, is my biggest time robber as of late. I had purchased this on a Steam Sale many months ago, but didn’t want to install it until I had my wheel and paddle set. Boy, was it worth the wait! The whole simulation takes place in Europe. You start out with a single truck and choose the jobs you want, hop into a rig supplied by an employer. You get to drive a variety of trucks and haul a variety of loads. Easy Peasy. All the while you make big money that enables you to finally buy your own rig. You make bigger money, but now you are financially responsible for fuel and repairs. And all the while you have to stop and rest or risk being cited or worse getting involved in accidents from lack of sleep. Ultimately, you make enough to buy a garage and outfit it with multiple semis, and then you hire additional drivers to keep them going. It’s a fascinating simulation that brings back my own memories of when I used to drive trucks. Driving through Holland at midnight in the rain, and looking out of the side window during a lightning flash and seeing a field full of the old Dutch windmills spinning in the high winds, I couldn’t help but smile. Or seeing bib overall clad men work in hayfields alongside Allis-Chalmers tractors and hearing the whistle of my turbo diesel as I mashed the accelerator, such good stuff. I put over 50 hours on this sim in 4 days. And now I want to move to Germany.

Edward's October 2013 Mix

October. It's been a cool one. And our harvest moon has been beautiful straight out of Westfall in Azeroth. Or maybe out of a classic Hammer horror film. My oldest daughter was home for the month which was good. You just can't help but feel that youthful zeal that exudes from her and floods the house. She just left for Chicago again with a brand new job. Good luck, Ginger. I wish her all of the best. She left her amazing cappuccino machine behind and on these cold nights on my PC with a hot mug of coffee I'm in my little piece of Heaven on Earth.  

  

1. Gas Guzzlers Extreme on PC

There really is no excuse for me to have played this (and beaten it.) I have so many other games on my plate now I'm trying to beat. When I saw it offered via a Steam sale I couldn't resist. Imagine a Twisted Metal/Mad Max environment updated for today's PCs? Heck yeah! Truly good stuff. The game sure gave my joystick a workout and I finished it in about 25 hours. The soundtrack was great, and the developers' sophomoric humor was the icing on the cake. I was racing along, hammering the guy ahead of me with my dual machine guns, and being nailed by a guy with a rail gun behind me when suddenly my trunk shattered and blew off. And lo and behold I had a blow up sex doll in the trunk. I almost lost the race due to sheer laughter alone.    

2. Sir, You are Being Hunted on PC

This is one of the more difficult games I've played this year, but also the more compelling. The right degree of difficulty in any game can usually drive me to ragequit. Oddly, despite the insane hardness of this game I know I'll never do that. Imagine, you're cast on a group of islands against Victorian era British robots with shotguns and mechanical foxhounds, and you're the prey. It's like being a living character in an H.G. Wells novel. There are elemental shards which you have to collect on each island (and of course each one is guarded by robots.) You use empty bottles and rocks to divert their attention. There's not much use in trying to fight them since you are wholly underpowered against them, although, fortunately you can scavenge some weaponry if you're thorough enough. This game is stealth/survival at its best. And it's still in beta. It's really interesting being part of a game like this that's still being developed.

 

3. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 

I don't have much to say just yet. I've only started it, but it's a Pulitzer Prize winner. Of Hemingway I must say this. I recently read Charles Dickens, and  reading that was like putting on your best Sunday finery to attend an opera. Reading Hemingway, on the other hand is like putting on a favorite pair of khakis and comfortable old walking shoes, and going for a stroll though the park. He's just that easy to read. A writing teacher once told me Hemingway's favorite word was the conjunction "and." I believe it.

4. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

When I was playing through S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl on PC a long while back I endured a wealth of frustration. I ended up ragequitting the game twice over a period of two years. Finally, I reinstalled it and finished it. I just couldn't stop coming back to it. With its sad and lonely bleak environment, and its X-File overtones I couldn't resist. And then I found out the game was based on a novel. Of course I had to pick it up. The novel, penned by two brothers in Russia in 1972, travelled nearly the same difficult path I weathered while playing the game. Despite it's clearly a Sci-Fi novel, the Soviet censors would just not leave these boys alone as far as getting their novel out there. The book was simple enough; it reminded me of a modern Phillip K. Dick story, but what was fascinating for me was the afterword by Boris Strugatsky who basically wrote a nasty love letter to the former Communist regime telling them to go to Hell.

5. Band of Horses "Cease to Being" on CD

I first discovered BoH a few years back on Pandora. I was surprised I'd not heard of them before. I guess they're kind of like The Flaming Lips in that they have this huge following you've never heard of. Most of the members have been around for years in previous bands, but they have this great sound that reminds me a lot of My Morning Jacket. And if you want to try them on for size, simply go to Youtube and type in Band of Horses "Is there a Ghost?" Truly mesmerizing stuff.

6. The BoDeans "The Best of The BoDeans: Slash and Burn" on CD

Rolling Stone Magazine called this band 1987's "Best New Band." If you're familiar with them you can clearly see why. I lived in Austin, Texas for almost twenty years, and this band was synonymous with that wonderful live music capitol city. This album truly is a Best Of. There's not a bad song on it. You might be familiar with The BoDeans if you ever watched the hit TV show, Party of Five. They sang the theme song, "Closer to Free." And if not, well, they have a sort of upbeat acoustic rock twang to them that just borders on being "folksy," but not quite. This is good tuneage while imbibing your favorite ale, while sitting under yellow warm glow lights over hay colored hardwood floors, and don't forget your dress shirt, your favorite pair of Levis and a pair of cowboy boots.

7. Garden State on DVD

My daughter had this movie in her collection, and I wasn't familiar with it. It looked boring to be honest. But she told me the soundtrack was exceptional so I thought, what the heck, I'll check it out. The movie was written, directed, and starred by Zach Braff, who I'm not that familiar with, and co-starred Natalie Portman, who, I'm not really a fan of, but what got me was the writing. This young guy who's left his hometown in New Jersey for the glamour of becoming an actor in Hollywood, returns home for his mother's funeral. His gig in Hollywood is lackluster at best: a bit part playing a mentally challenged guy in a local short film. He returns home thinking his old friends are going to be overtly successful and all traces of their memories of him will be merely afterthoughts. To his surprise, he discovers this isn't the case at all. His old friends are for the most part washed up and living life running in one place. He meets Natalie Portman's character in a doctor's office waiting room and eventually realizes his true life is there in New Jersey with her and his old friends. Most haunting line in a movie ever though, is when he comments to her, "Maybe the true definition of family is the same group of people who miss the same imaginary places."

Edward's September 2013 Mix

September. The month of my birth. Ah, another year older. Can't anybody do anything to slow it down? Seriously, I've had enough birthdays . . . oh wait, I don't want to stop having them, that wouldn't be good. I keep telling myself 50 is the new 40. And all of the cool guys on television are in their 50's, yeah, (nodding my head here) that's right! Shoot, I'm the same age as Jim Carrey and Tom Cruise. Johnny Depp is only a year or two behind me, and my daughters (both of them) lust after him! Oh well, I can't stay young forever, not physically anyway, but I'll never stop playing computer games. Hmmm . . .maybe that's a fountain of youth in itself.

  

1. Rise of Flight on PC

I couldn't run this game very well on my old rig. But now that I've reinstalled it on my new machine it looks simply amazing. And I've never been a fan of DLC, but this game has prompted me to purchase two new planes. The thing is, each plane is so inherently different that it feels like you are buying a complete new flight simulation with each plane you buy. You spend hours just learning the quirks and idiosyncrasies of each plane, and then when you meet your first gallant foe in the sky you use those plane characteristics to attempt an advantage over your enemy. I've recently started a career, and at this point, I can't even imagine shooting down an enemy plane. The sim is THAT difficult. I have, however, managed to shoot an observation balloon down. And if you read the history books, that was quite a major feat with all of the anti-air guns on the ground below surrounding each balloon.   

2. Mass Effect 2 on PC

I've been getting serious about finishing this game. I have no idea what kind of progress I'm making with 20 some hours under my belt, but this game is still as fun as it was the day I started it. I love RPGs, but it seems to me I always hit that certain spot where it feels as if the game has turned into a chore just trying to get quests done. And that's the special thing about Mass Effect 2. Every mission feels like you're in a blockbuster movie in which you're the star. I love this game. I guess, truth be known, I've been milking it because I never want it to end. I've grown so fond of the characters that each time I select my crew to go questing with me it's as if I'm with family. Losing one would be as bad as attending a funeral.

3. Merrick by Anne Rice

I'm plagiarizing my own review here from www.shelfari.com but it pretty much sums up how this book went: I was initially enamored with this series of books. I read Interview with the Vampire twice, and the second novel in the series, Lestat, The Vampire, is one of my top five all time favorite novels. I read Lestat over a six month period in which I was unemployed. I took full advantage of it--a chance to get off the Habitrail Wheel back in 2006. And Lestat, the Vampire became 2006 for me. And this is a cruel assessment, but it seems each book after Lestat, The Vampire slowly descended into near mediocrity. This is not a bad novel, but it's certainly incomparable to Rice's first two amazing novels. She's writing my beloved Lestat and Louis into characters that I no longer really care about. The series is winding down with this one. I'll have two more to complete the series. Maybe this is a good thing.

4. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I picked this up per the suggestion of my friend, Neil Campbell, when he told me couldn't put it down. I have no choice but to second that. Ken Levine, the creative director for Bioshock: Infinite was inspired by this book to create that game. And I have to admit, if schools had a book like this, I would have run to history class every day. I'm only fifty pages into it, but Larson's writing is in the same vein as Michael Chricton. Learning can be fun! This book focuses on the architects who crafted the Columbian Exposition a.k.a. The Chicago World's Fair of 1893. And laterally, the book details the goings on of H.H. Holmes who operated a boarding house in proximity of the fair. He lured boarders into his mansion where he murdered them and sold their skeletons to universities and medical schools. This guy made Jack the Ripper look like a wannabe copycat.

5. Train Simulation 2014 on PC

When I was in the fourth grade I lived a block away from a train yard in a crumbling old apartment house filled with old people and mean drunks. My yard was a white gravel parking lot, and I whiled away my hours reading books from the school library. But I remember on Sunday nights lying in bed unable to sleep. I would lie there and think about dying, and I'd hear the sound of the train engines winding up their diesels and then winding them down. And I thought it was the most lonesome sound on the planet. I've always had an affinity for trains ever since and playing Train Simulation 2014 takes me back to those days. The sad truth of this game is this: I missed my true calling in life. I should have worked for the railroad.

6. Mission: Impossible Season One on Netflix

Technically, this old series looks like a high school play compared to the flash and dash of today's episodic television, but back when I was a kid this show was the bomb! Watching this show, it's a wonder I have any fingernails left. Each episode constantly cliffhangs, and that's every fifteen minutes right before the commercials! (Okay, well, where they used to insert the commercials.) Just watch the first few episodes, you'll be hooked. I never realized how great of an actor Martin Landau was.

7. Hope for Haiti 2013 

I've only participated in one other group ride on my bicycle. That was two years ago in Linton, Indiana, a fun, oak tree shaded early morning 25 mile ride. This ride was 45 miles and I had doubts as to whether or not I could even finish a ride of this length. The proprietor of our local bike shop, Larry Shinn, told me, "ah, yeah, you'll be in a group. You'll be able to do it." Well, this ride consisted of three separate distances, a 25 miler, a 45 and a 63 miler. Wouldn't you know it? I was like the only one riding the 45 miler. Ha! So, I rode alone, and this was no shade tree venture. I rode over flat country roads surrounded by corn fields and vistas where the land was flat all of the way out to the horizon. The first half I was bombarded by a nasty headwind, but then the route circled back and I had a tailwind helping me out. My legs felt a little squirrely driving home, but the next day I was fine. I figured I'd need a walker or a wheelchair. Heh. I guess those daily 8 mile rides are doing better than I thought they were.

 

 

Edward's August 2013 Mix

Autumn in July! Who would have known? And now here we are in August experiencing temperatures in the upper nineties. Crazy weather! Funny how it all went nutso after El Nino in 1993. Coincidence? Anyway, I paid my car off this month, Hallelujah! More money for games now! Actually, my next big purchase will be a peripheral for my PC. I've been drooling for the Logitech G27 Wheel/Paddle set for a very long time. I'm told once you go with a wheel and paddle set there's just no going back to anything else. Oh, and I didn't think I would, but I've become hopelessly addicted to crafting Steam badges. Anybody got any they want to trade for? I'm particularly looking for Civilization 5 and Bioshock Infinite badges. Come on, help a bro out!

1. SimCity on PC

Soon to hit the 75 hour mark in this game. Maxis just released a new patch that enables one to create roads which include bridges and overpasses, how cool is that? Truthfully, this game is nothing like the debacle it was on launch day. I've started my first city specialization: gambling, and installed my first gambling HQ. And now all of a sudden, MONEY! MONEY!, it's raining MONEY! So what if my sewage pumps are at max, and people are getting sick due to encroaching ground pollution. It's a tourist town they don't have to stay there! 

2. Battlefield 3 on PC

DICE is trying to instill a lot of anticipation for Battlefield 4. And they did it right this month; they offered a long double XP weekend. I took full advantage, earning a lion's share of medals, assignments, a ton of XP, and I ranked up twice. Boo-yah! My kill/death ratio isn't the best. I die about twice as many times as I dispatch someone, but my accuracy is my gift. Of all my friends I have the best.

3. Bioshock Infinite on PC

Bioshock way back in 2007 was the first game that worked me into an emotional turmoil in the end. The cinematic cut scene worked its magic and yes, I wept. The game's undersea madhouse outshined the characters in the game. Shoot, the environment really WAS the main character. And now I'm finally getting to play Bioshock Infinite and for the first time in my life I've actually gotten emotional at the beginning of a game. It took me completely by surprise. I'm only about a quarter into the game and loving it immensely. This is one of those games that make me proud to say I'm a PC gamer and confirms that the love I have for my chosen platform is unshakable.

4. Hard Times by Charles Dickens 

This is a bleak novel of the underbelly of pre-Victorian England. Dickens's characters are all memorable and his language is evocative, but sheesh, this is a very heavy novel. What I mean is, the plotline is confusing, and there's a lot going on, and to tell you the truth I got lost. A lot. This is certainly not my favorite Dickens's novel. I'm not so familiar with the man's works; I've read few of them, but I did knock out his outstanding Great Expectations. That book was enjoyable. This one, in my opinion was like mowing a lawn. In other words, reading it was all too chore-like.  This is a book I would have enjoyed much better with an accompanying Cliffs Notes.

5. Hole Celebrity Skin on CD

Courtney Love is the female rocker of our discontent. She's more infamous than famous, former girlfriend of Billy Corgan and ex wife of Kurt Cobain, she's pressed on nobly. She's a big fan of Manga, and I've seen her in a movie. She's not a bad actress. But I like her best as the front man, er . ..woman, that is, of the band Hole. I've not heard Hole's first album, but the second album was interesting, gritty and raging. This third effort, however, is polished and plays like a greatest hits album. I was first introduced to it back in 1998, and each time I listen to it now it always takes me back to that time. It's never far from my car's CD player. It's one I'll never get rid of, and a replay always makes me smile and makes me feel just a little too cool.

6. Computer Games Magazine 2004

Still working on this venerable year of my old Computer Games Magazine. 2004 truly was a great year for a geek culture whore such as me. The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly came out on DVD in a very nice box set, The Star Wars Trilogy was released on DVD this year, and more importantly, this was the year City of Heroes came out, and my first foray into MMOs. (Thanks to my cousin, Justin Rexroad.) World of Warcraft came out soon after and I abandoned City of Heroes, but there are aspects of CoH I really miss, even today.

7. Lanterna Desert Ocean on CD

This little band from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois was a Pandora discovery that hastened me to order the CD right after hearing that first song. They are ambient, sort of like a more quiet version of Explosions in the Sky. Their sound is mostly comprised of glittering floaty guitars. Listening to them on my early morning bicycle rides have been really fulfilling lately. Who needs aspirin when there is music like this in the world. Go to youtube and look up "Luminous." You can thank me later.

 

8. Lost: Season One on Blu-Ray
 

Still working my way through season one. (See, I've always told you I'm a procrastinator) but dragging this out nice and slow is making it worth it. Still, so much is happening so quickly. Boone has died, which I found to be more disheartening than I would have imagined. Sawyer keeps vacillating from an evil prick I can't stand to a good guy I'd want on my side. And now even John Locke, who I'd always liked, is starting to wade out into grey areas. We find Hurley is a lottery winner and worth 158 million back in civilization. Michael is trying to build a raft and is going to take a small crew with him to seek out the known world. It will be interesting to see where (and if) that raft will take them. But I think so far the greatest revelation to me is discovering that Sawyer really was crushing on Kate in a very big way.

9. The Munsters: Season One on Netflix

Granted, this show only spawned two seasons, however there were a lot of episodes! Just finished the first episode, and I have to admit it got a little long in the tooth. Maybe it's because the last time I watched this I was 9 years old. Still, it's interesting all of the vernacular I thought came out much later that I'm actually hearing in this show, "Let's go, already!", "That would be really boss!" And I've gotten to hear Lily Munster sing. (I'm guilty of crushing on Yvonne DeCarlo.) I actually saw the episode featuring Grandpa's Drag-ula (one of my favorite model car kits as a kid.) This show really does depict a more innocent time.

10. System Shock 2 on PC

I've tried to play this game before, but recurring bugs finally caused me to give up. I recently purchased the game on www.gog.com and it seemed promising. But alas, like an idiot, I quick saved right at a point where I was falling over dead. And I've progressed much too far to go back. It's too bad I couldn't finish this, the spiritual predecessor to Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, but it will remain in my personal annals of history now because I won't make a third attempt to play it.

11. Civilization 5 on PC

Definitely my favorite Turn Based Strategy game ever made. I see myself playing this for a long time to come. I recently ventured into my first online game. It was with my next door neighbor, and it turned into an 8 hour all-nighter. How cool is it that my neighbor would be as much an addict as am I! I'm the Songhai and he's Japanese, and the two of us are taking over the world. And you know what? I think we're actually going to pull it off! Our game isn't completed yet, (another cool feature that you can save online games) but we'll finish it before long.






 

Edward's July 2013 Mix

Autumn in July! Who would have known? Who could have guessed, yet that’s what it is. Our nights lately have been in the low 50’s. But it doesn’t matter, whether I’m avoiding the melanomanic rays of the sun or escaping these unseasonably Icelandic temps, I’ve been indoors indulging in Steam’s wonderfully maddening Steam Sale and losing myself in all sorts of gaming goodness. I picked up Shogun 2, Bastion, X-Com: Enemy Engaged and Darksiders. I suppose the real tragedy in this is I still have games from Steam’s Winter Sale I’ve not played! Doh! Anyway, I think I’m good to go . . .for a while . . .er, at least until Steam’s Winter Sale.

1. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne on PC

I knocked this game out in 10 hours. A friend once told me, play the first Max Payne for the gameplay, and the second one for the story. Having made it through the game, and looking back, I have to agree with him. Kudos to Tommy Stevens for that nugget of sage advice. I was a little disappointed I had to download a NO CD crack to get the game to work, but then I recently heard Rockstar was doing the same thing to get the game to work properly when they ported it over to Steam. Ah, the irony!  Much of this game was a nightmarish tour in which I was not led by the hand, but more like pulled along, my heels hesitantly dug into the ground, and looking back to see a wake of twin furrows. But through the movie set funhouse, and the dreamscape police precinct, and the construction site in the rain and the myriad shootouts with countless bad men (and bullet time!) I found myself wildly entertained. I’m a fan of emergent gameplay, but a great solid linear storyline in a game once in a while is always a good thing.

2. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin in paperback

I’m winding down the first novel. It has been a magnificent tour de force on paper. I’ve not found myself so emotionally involved in such a colorful cast of characters like this for ages. Who is good in one chapter does something underhandedly heinous in the next. And the guy you loved to hate in one chapter does something noble and redeeming in the next. The settings Martin has conjured up in this novel make me feel as if they’re real places. This is a book that makes me want to play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In last month’s post I intimated this series of books were reputed to be better than The Lord of the Rings. At this point I can safely say, yes, A Song of Fire and Ice is more entertaining than LOTR. 

3. Sid Meier’s Railroads on PC

Another completion of a game this month. Boo-yah! This makes the second time I’ve played through this game. And who knows, with its quaint charm, its ease of use and its bright eye popping graphics I may give it another go in the future. I’m not so pleased they took Railroad Tycoon 3’s seriousness and dumbed it down to appeal to a wider audience, but this is a beer and pretzels kind of game well worth checking out.
 

4. The Darkness II on PC

I was a little put off by the fact the original game was not released on PC at all. Damn! PC gamers getting screwed again! But despite its console roots it was a very well done game. It was another foray into a heavy narrative of a game, but I kept focus throughout simply because I wanted to see what was going to happen next. Was I a resident in a state hospital who dreamt I was an anti hero with unearthly powers inspired by the comic books laying on my nightstand? Or was I actually a demon possessed former mafia hitman who had terrible dreams of being locked away in a state hospital? The ride was over all too soon. I finished the game in 11 hours, but wow, what an amazing 11 hours! This game reminded me of why I believe games still outshine the best movies Hollywood has to offer.

5. Revenge on DVD

(Speaking of movies . . .) Tony Scott may not have been as revered as his brother Ridley, but he did a fine job with Top Gun and Crimson Tide. This earlier gem starring Kevin Costner, Madeline Stowe and Anthony Quinn didn’t receive quite the same fanfare. This suspenseful thriller also introduced John Leguizamo in probably the most serious role I’ve ever seen him in. But what really made me a fan of this movie was the music. I ordered the CD of the soundtrack years ago, and it had to be specially ordered from England. Not since Blade Runner or 1492: Conquest of Paradise have I seen music so effectively used in a film. Okay, how odd is that? Blade Runner and 1492 were both directed by Tony’s brother, Ridley. (Incidentally, the Blade Runner and 1492 soundtracks were both done by Vangelis; Revenge was done by Jack Nitsche.)  

6. Computer Games Magazine 2004

Reading back through my back issues of CGM. 2004 was a great year for PC gaming. Far Cry came out as did Doom 3. This was the year I had my first essay published in Computer Games Magazine about one of my favorite games, Novalogic’s Black Hawk Down. I was big into LAN gaming parties at this time. Everybody has broadband now and Teamspeak so those days are behind us but I sure do miss them sometimes.  

7. The Ocean Blue: Ultramarine on Amazon Cloud

This is the band you’ve heard me talk about that I discovered on late night Conan O’Brian way back in 1989. Hearing David Shelzel’s guitar solo on “Between Something and Nothing” made me an instant fan. The band’s sophomore release, Cerulean, was slightly more mature, and more dreamy sounding. They had several more released in the years to follow, but I’ve read on more than one message board (and I have to agree) this album is the true successor to Cerulean. This is the album I would pass to someone to become acquainted with the band. They’re certainly not esoteric, but they’re not mainstream, and I like that. I like keeping them to myself. “New York, 6:00 A.M.” If Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song about New York City today, this would be it. “Ground Gives Way” this song reflects the wholesomeness that seems to exude from all TOB lyrics, and that heavily chorused guitar intro always makes me replay the beginning about five times.

 

8. Train Simulator 2013 on PC

From my first electric train on my 9th birthday I've always liked trains. I've lived in a few places where I had trains running near my back yard, and it seems I've always lived within earshot of that long lonesome whistle at night. Shoot, I interviewed with Union Pacific in Austin, Texas, and I've interviewed twice with Conrail out of Indianapolis. I was never selected and I think that's been one of my life's injustices. Self pity aside, at least now I can do the next best thing. I can drive pretty near every engine on nearly every line in the US (and the world.) Yes, it's true, all you really do is go forward and backward, but oh man, all of the in between. Staring out the open window at the world outside while feeling the vibration of those turbo diesel engines under your feet, and looking back to realize you're pulling a 70 car train. This simulation pulls it off beautifully. This is a dictionary definition of a niche game, and its esoteric following proves this. If you were to download all of the retail lines and engines, you'd have $2,000.00 in the game. Most expensive PC game on the planet!