This winter just doesn't want to let go. I know, I know, my rantings here about the weather are worse than an Oscar Wilde quote. (He once said "Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.") But still, this winter just refuses to let go, and I simply hate it. I mean, it would be cool if I had a thermos full of hot chocolate and was involved in a Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings marathon. Or I had just started playing Skyrim, but I'm not. After finishing Mass Effect 2 I'm taking a breather from heavy RPGs. I'm intentionally playing lighter stuff, perhaps so I can depart my computer chair more guilt free when the sun does shine and the out of doors calls to my inner self, and I can finally succumb to those primal urges to feel the earth beneath my feet and the road under the wheels of my Vespa.
1. The United States of Leland on DVD
This movie was recommended to me a long time ago by my friend, Gene Clifford. I watched it and found it brazenly profound. It's the tale of an empathetic individual who does something terrible, or seemingly so from an outsider's perspective, but by so doing is simply following a driven desire to make the world a better place because its sadness overwhelms him on a daily basis. At first we are horrorstruck by the character (so greatly played by Ryan Gosling) but then who, having a heart, cannot fall victim to his noble intentions and become sympathetic to his plight? I recently watched this again, and rediscovered why Ryan Gosling is probably one of my favorite contemporary actors, right up there with Edward Norton. Sitting in a juvenile school classroom, Leland (Ryan Gosling) is asked to describe Venice, Italy. And his answer is, "Footsteps. There are no cars there, and you can hear everybody's footsteps." What an amazing way to look at the world. If you can find this movie (I wish you luck) check it out. You won't soon forget it.
2. ARMA II on PC
Probably the greatest (and most realistic) military combat simulator on the planet. This game makes Call of Duty and the Battlefield series look like products made by a junior high school class dabbling in computer programming/game design. I've talked about this before, but this game was my first experience with emergent gameplay (where the AI does things the programmers didn't anticipate) and it makes each scenario totally unpredictable, and is the stuff of legendary next day at work water cooler stories. Granted, the developers cheated in that every AI NPC is a deadly marksman from 1500 meters away, but as long as you go into this knowing that, this is the most realistically immersive experience out there outside of actually donning a pair of BDUs, lacing up combat boots, and tasting sand. I installed it on my new rig, (Okay, it's a year old, now, but still chews up everything I throw at it with 0 lag) and it runs like silk.
3. Deus Ex: Invisible War on PC
Basically, Deus Ex 2, this game didn't live up to the merits of the original Deus Ex released in 2000 which PC Gamer magazine declared the best PC game of all time. This one suffers from consolitis. Every scene change involves long load screens and there are no wide open spaces, it's just a relocation from one corridor to the next. But it still has that unintentional cheesiness that makes it a gas to play. I couldn't help but to laugh when I heard a guard say, "For someone trying to hide, you sure are making a lot of noise!" And of course I'm hiding under a table two feet away from him and yet he doesn't see me. And nothing beats putting a proximity mine next to an alarm panel, alerting the guards and watching them run over to the alarm panel only to be planted through the wall behind them. Released in 2003, the game is showing its wrinkles. I'm really just wanting to get through it so I can tackle Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the celebrated prequel.
4. Mr. Bean on DVD
Who would have guessed that Rowan Atkinson, the famous Mr. Bean, acquired two electrical engineering degrees before delving into the world of slapstick comedy. And it doesn't take a brainiac to see this is where the man is in his true depth. This box set compiles his A&E television episodes where I first made his acquaintance back in 1990. Arguably, Atkinson is every bit the comic genius Charlie Chaplin was. He went on to be in a few movies, but this set is clearly his best work. Bring a hernia belt; you'll need it.
5. Sony A300/A350 Field Guide by Tom Bonner
I read this book quite a while back when I first got my Sony A300. Now that I feel I'm an old hand at using the camera I'm reviewing this book again. It's amazing how far I've come. Still there are some little things that come in handy that I probably needed to get reacquainted with. And these truly are little things. I've been a photographer since I was 11 years old and introduced to my first Kodak camera that used 127 spool film by my grandmother. Shutter and aperture mechanics are ingrained into my very being, and it's nice that modern DSLRs still utilize these principles yet allow newbies to simply move from full auto, to programmed auto, to the fully immersive manual settings. The odd perk with reading a book like this is it makes me want to get out there and snap some pictures. In light of this winter from hell we've just had, I needed something like this.
6. PC Gamer magazine
Once again, I'm a minor celebrity of sorts, well, at least I took a picture that will be viewed by 400,000 readers. Last month PCG asked readers to submit pictures of their PCG magazine collections. I've been collecting the magazine since 1996. I have quite the shelf full, and amusingly, on the shelf above is home to many of my old games. PCG posted my picture, and said, "Edward gets bonus points for having Wing Commander in his collection." Ha! They gave me a free game on Steam, too. Ah, life is grand!
7. Priaggio Vespa
Just acquired this less than a month ago, and it's a dream machine. I have respect for Harley Davidson and its plethora of fanatic followers. It's like the old Jeep sticker you still see in Jeep windshields "It's a Jeep thing. You wouldn't understand." Well, yeah, actually I do because the Vespa has its own rabid fanbase. Just owning this little mechanical gem makes me feel like I'm part of something much bigger, a connection to every other Vespa owner in the world. Like I mentioned on a Facebook post earlier this month, riding this scooter is like riding a piece of art. Like smoking a cigar, it's an act of conspicuous consumption. My daughter says it's total nerdville, and yes, perhaps it is, but so much so that it comes full circle to being the ultimate in coolness. The first Vespa rolled out of the factory in 1946, and it seems my own Vespa exudes something on it from every decade after. Why read a history book when you can straddle it and take it for a trip down the road?
