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.