Edward's January 2016 Mix

 

The east coast is being buried alive in snow. The New England Patriots, who presumably sold their souls to the Devil, are engaged in the playoffs. We just lost David Bowie, whose iconism I do respect, but I wasn’t a fan. (Jacob Dylan’s rendition of “Heroes,” was much better in my opinion) and Glen Frey, which admittedly makes me feel like a chunk of my youth has vanished forevermore. It’s time to do taxes again. It’s a good time to simply stay inside, drink coffee and lose myself in media culturism which I’ve unabashedly done this month.

1. The Beast OST on CD: Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Basil Poledouris, Hans Zimmer, Vangelis (a personal favorite), James Horner. These are names synonymous with great movie soundtracks. But have you heard of Mark Isham? This incredible one man show has done movie soundtracks for Men of Honor, A Midnight Clear, Life as a House, Blade, A River Runs Through It, and a much loved movie by me that I’ve seen probably eight times over the years, The Beast. This simple tale (and brutal rendition of man’s inhumanity to man) concerns a Russian tank separated from its group that becomes lost in a valley surrounded by angry Afghan Muslims intent on destroying the tank after it attacked their village. Full of eerie, haunting, heart rending high pitched synthesizer that sounds much like sad voices wailing over a desert expanse, I fell in love with this soundtrack the first time I heard it way back in 1989. I’ve been on a search for it ever since. It’s listed on Amazon now for a paltry $150.00. My persistent searching has panned out, however. I got lucky and found a source where I picked it up for $40. Expensive, but I can say it’s one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard.

2. XIII  on PC: Released in late 2003, this game wasn’t a big hit. It’s first person shooter fare with a typical story. (You find yourself waking up on a beach with a strange tattoo on your chest, and if that wasn't enough you discover you’re on the run, accused of assassinating the President of the United States.) The game’s cartoonish (er, uhm . .graphic novel) art style consists of cell shaded graphics, and the inclusion of Adam West and David Duchovny (despite Dave’s seemingly sounding phoned in appearance) notwithstanding, I’m enjoying the hell out of this game. I picked this up on www.gog ages ago, and Ubisoft has since pulled their license from that wonderful site. If you picked it up on eBay or Amazon now, I’m not sure it would work. An install from the game’s CDs might play rather finicky with modern systems (Windows 10 can be really particular with old games.) But if you can find it and make it work, you’ll be glad you did. Adam West as the general is worth the price of admission alone.

3. Running with Rifles on PC: This was a nice little gift from my friend Dillon Gard acquired from Steam’s rather underwhelming Winter Sale this year. It’s an isometric top down over the shoulder strategy game in which you’re a common foot soldier embarked on a great crusade to conquer fiercely held territory. Beginning with the soft crunch of boots running through snow and erupting into the myriad cacophony of rifles and machine guns wreaking havoc, total chaos ensues. The snow becomes saturated with blood and every square foot wrested from the enemy becomes a major feat. It’s discovered early on there are no Rambos in this game. You are a simple buck private, but if you do well and stay alive your side eventually builds in numbers and becomes progressively stronger. If you continually perish, you’ll be overrun, and end up throwing your arms up in despair. It’s maddeningly addictive, and each bit of territory taken will have you fist pumping.

4. Die Trying (Jack Reacher 2)  by Lee Child: Just finished Child’s second Jack Reacher novel. Think Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, less the diplomacy and Ian Fleming’s James Bond, less the suaveness, coupled with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator size and formidability (a word?) and Sylvester Stallone’s haunted John Rambo’s sad past and you have an almost man’s perfect protagonist. This fast moving novel finds Reacher walking by a downtown Chicago dry cleaners at high noon, a simple bystander, and being thrown into a white panel van along with a young FBI agent picking up her weekly dry cleaning. Cast into muffled heat and darkness, joined by handcuffs, Reacher discovers the girl holds far more value than simply being a US Army general’s daughter. Carted 1,200 miles away, Reacher and the girl find themselves held in a madman’s militia compound. The crazy compound leader is set on establishing a sovereign country hellbent on pronouncing its independence through mass orchestrated violence against the United States. Failure to do so will have the compound’s less than willing denizens committing mass suicide. “Live free or die!” the leader is fond of saying. Reacher does everything in his power to prevent both heinous events, including crawling through a tunnel filled with rotting corpses (and feasting rats.) Child has written almost twenty Jack Reacher novels. I’m glad.

5. Borderlands on PC: I finished this game way back in 2010 and it took me 70 hours to beat, mostly solo despite its wonderfully constructed multiplayer feature. HumbleBundle recently had a no-brainer sale consisting of Borderlands, and Borderlands 2 AND all of the included DLC for both games for a walloping $18.00. Of course, being I had none of the DLC packs, I couldn’t pass this up. I’m now tackling Borderlands all over again with the DLC. I’m mostly playing with my friend, Keylan Monnett, and on Steam’s voice chat it’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. The cell shaded art style and the soundtrack reminds me a lot of the new Mad Max movie. I’m not really a social gamer. I prefer to fly solo, my game and my own mind. But this game is so good multiplayer it’s making a hypocrite out of me.

6. Assetto Corsa on PC: This is my go to game for auto racing. Well, if you want to call it a game. It’s actually a pretty hardcore racing simulator. It gives my trusty Logitech G27 wheel/shifter/paddle set a workout each time I play it. I write about it here a lot. Shoot, just writing this little blurb makes me want to minimize this and boot up the game again! Having just beat EA’s Need for Speed: Shift, I’m using it to tide me over until I begin playing another car racing sim. I’m 18% into my car racing career. I have the opponent AI set to 87%. I’m driving a Mercedes AMG SLS at Nurburgring and I’m consistently getting 5^th place. I can tell, getting a podium finish is going to involve a little bit of luck.

7. 80 Days on PC: I used to live in a big house filled with people. I worked nights and I struggled to sleep during the day constantly bothered by the noise and bustle of all of these people. I would come home in the predawn hours, brew a cup of tea, and pull a finely bound volume of Jules Verne’s works from the mantle bookshelf and lose myself. Playing this game takes me back to those days. This brilliant game, masqueraded as a clever “choose your own adventure,” holds some of the most magnificently written prose in a game I’ve ever played. Playing the part of Passepartout, the trusted servant of Phileas Fogg, Verne’s stodgy character who takes a wager to race around the world in 80 days, you are thrust into adventures that ultimately see you into becoming a man of the world. I delivered a baby in the South Pacific, contracted cholera in Manila, dodged the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas, Texas. And I sat with Death in a bar in New Orleans after he bought me a drink and kissed my hand. Do yourself a favor. The game is on sale at HumbleBundle.com for a measly $7.49. You can thank me later.

8. Sanford and Son: The Complete Seasons on DVD: I remember when this show made its debut. We were living in Texas. My mother worked second shift at a factory and Friday nights while waiting for her to come get me my babysitter would plant me in front of her big floor console color television. I remember watching this show and belly laughing. It was probably the show that saw me transition from kids’ cartoons and shows like Lassie and Lost in Space to actual grown up television. Revisiting the series again after all these years with my mother has become a special event each week. Despite the show’s age, the humor is still just as funny, though dated in spots. Quincy Jones’ catchy opening music is absolutely perfect. Red Foxx’s character is just as irreverent, probably more so in today’s world where many on Facebook are offended simply because you don’t believe the way they do or slam the same political candidate he or she does. I don’t like network television, and I haven’t for years. But I loved it as a kid, and this show is one particular reason I did.