Been busy with the new job, a lot
of overtime, and still learning things everyday. Sometimes it’s relatively
easy, and sometimes it’s overwhelming. But I like it; I’m just not crazy about
the long night hours. I had a nice little weekend visit from my oldest daughter
this month. I got to hang out at a local brew pub with both my daughters. Their
company under a star filled sky, the taste of a tall oatmeal stout. It will be
a memory not soon forgotten.
1.
Robin Hood on Blu Ray: I sound like
a broken record when I say Ridley Scott is my favorite director. I knew with
him at the helm this was going to be a good movie. And I wasn’t disappointed in
the least. Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett were superb in their roles, and
this is without a doubt the best story of the Robin Hood Legend I’ve ever seen.
The picture was pristine in Blu Ray. Unfortunately, I had some troubles with
the sound. Old English was used for the dialogue and I just couldn’t understand
it. Many of the lines were soft spoken. I had to resort to putting on the closed
captions. I wasn’t alone in this. My parents watched the movie with me and they
had similar difficulties making out the dialogue. The costuming, verisimilitude
and Crowe’s portrayal of “Robin of the Hood,” were spot on. If you like medieval
history then this belongs on your video shelf.
2.
A Fistful of Dollars on DVD: Sergio
Leone completely revitalized the American western with this film (with some
help from music composer Ennio Morricone.) Little did we know it would spawn
two sequels (including my favorite western of all time, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Casting Clint Eastwood as “the man
with no name,” gave birth to arguably, the world’s first anti-hero. Not to
mention, when I first saw this as a kid I thought Eastwood’s character was the
epitome of coolness. I thought he was the coolest character in any and all
fiction, and to this day I wish The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly had a sequel. I would love to have
known what ultimately happened to “Blondie,” and Tuco Ramirez. Clint was fresh
from his role as Rowdy on the television series, Rawhide so there was a
bit of a transition from his likeable cowboy character to the squinty eyed man
of few words he became in later westerns. This wasn’t Leone’s best, but it’s
not one to be missed.
3.
Ryan Adams: Rock N’ Roll on CD: I first picked
this up back in 2003 when it first came out upon hearing “Burning Photographs” on
the radio. When I discovered I had lost the CD a few weeks ago I instantly
reordered this one from Amazon. This underrated album is on par with other one
man type balladeers such as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Bryan Adams.
Every song is edgy, buzzy, and shows off Adams’ wonderful talent in his riff
creation. If you’re curious, give his “Burning Photographs” a listen on YouTube,
or check out the whole album on Spotify. “Rock N’ Roll” is also a gem, sad and
personal. You can tell Adams wrote it about something that must have affected
him deeply at some point in his life. I think you’ll be wonderfully surprised. Over
the years, Adams has assisted in producing several major acts, and the man
himself has made fourteen studio albums. He is a force.
4.
Sanford & Son: The Complete Series Season Two on DVD: This show was only
surpassed in popularity in its heyday by Norman Lear’s other creation, All in
the Family. The show knocked The Brady Bunch off the air and as a kid was the first sitcom that drew my
attention to grown up television. I actually looked forward to watching it on
Friday nights. The show is racier by today’s standards, which is a good thing
if you hate our new sanitized political correctness zeitgeist. This box set is
remastered in HD, and noticeably so in the first season. Unfortunately, I don’t
think the second season handled the transfer as well. It just looks grainier
and rougher than I remember the first season looking. At any rate, this is 1970’s
comedic television at its finest.
5.
Tripwire: Jack Reacher #3 by Lee
Child: I’m currently engrossed in Lee Child’s third novel about the man’s man,
Jack Reacher, ex Army Military Policeman and savior of the day. This time we
find Reacher down in Key West, Florida digging swimming pools by hand since the
alleyways and roads are too narrow to get heavy construction in. He
unexpectedly finds a private investigator on his trail. And then suddenly the
PI is murdered. Reacher retraces the investigator’s trail back to New York
where Reacher finds himself involved in a different type of pool this time, a
pool of loan sharks out for blood. The book presents one of the most
interesting villains I’ve encountered in a long time, the kingpin loan shark,
an avaricious man whose hand he lost in Vietnam and has been replaced by a steel
hook he uses as a weapon. Jack Reacher
is a man of great stature (he stands 6’5”) and in this engaging novel he exudes
as much intelligence as he does cold hard brawn.
6.
Silent Storm by JoWood Games on PC:
Ragdoll physics, real world weapon authenticity (circa 1943), full 3
dimensional mapping with complete environmental damage. When this game came out
in 2003 it had it all, long before games even thought to implement some of these now standard features. After beating Company
of Heroes: Opposing Fronts I decided to tackle this one. It’s quite
difficult; it reminds me of 1997’s Jagged Alliance which is my favorite turn based strategy game of all time. This
game got great reviews back when it came out. I was overjoyed to see it pop up
on Steam.
7. Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool on CD: When I first heard Radiohead’s song
that propelled them into popularity, “Creep,”
I dismissed the band altogether. I hated the song, and the radio seemed to play
it constantly. And then, like so many of my favorite CDs in my collection, I
was driving to work one night and I heard “Let
it Down” on the radio. It was love at first listen. I went out later that
week and bought the whole album, OK Computer. And a short time later
the album swept the grammies in 1996. Many audiophiles called it one of the
best albums of all time to come out of the 1990’s. I couldn’t agree more. And
then in the early oughts, I picked up Kid A. I liked it. I liked how each
song seemed to be an experiment in sound. It was if Thom Yorke said, “Let’s
just see how different we can sound with each song.” I liked it, as I said, but
I think OK Computer was their magnum opus. And there is this new
release I just acquired, thanks be to my wonderful daughter remembering me on
Father’s Day. The band has definitely matured, and they haven’t strayed from
being experimental. “Daydreaming” has one of the most plaintive and beautifully
haunting openings in a song I’ve heard since Harold Budd/Brian Eno’s
heartbreakingly sad “Late October.” (Look it up, and try to listen to it
without your eyes welling over. I defy you.) A Moon Shaped
Pool didn’t quite captivate me like OK Computer, but it’s
been on auto repeat in my CD player, and the album is growing on me.
8.
Gone Girl on Blu Ray: This movie really caught me
off-guard. Ben Affleck returns home one morning after running errands in the
local small town to find his wife has vanished ostensibly through foul play. We
want to like Affleck’s character, he’s charismatic, and he seems wholly
credible. You can even see the police detective assigned to the case wanting so
much to believe him. His alibi seems airtight, but things occur throughout the
movie to make you think he’s not as credible as you want him to be. And this is
presented in a great way in which we begin to shed our disbelief much the same
time as the detective. It’s a great screenplay, though one character/subplot I
found rather contrived. I have many people who talk about how bad of an actor Affleck
is, but honestly, I’m not seeing it. I think he hit a homerun with this one.
9.
Steam Summer
Sale 2016: I’ve picked up two games so far, but like the past few Steam
sales, this one is underwhelming. I think I even described the last sale with
that same lame word. Yet, there is no better way to describe it. I’m glad the
silly games are gone, the games that compelled you to play to earn Steam trade
cards, but there are no more flash sales, and I have most of what I want
anyway, but perhaps the biggest slam is the fact the games aren’t going down in
price all that much. I’m still compelled to look at the sales each day, but I
think the glory days of Steam’s Summer Sales are behind us.
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