We are hitting the downswing of
summer now. I feel the sublte inferrences of fall in the air. I love it, but I
hate the winter it portends. I had my summer shutdown/vacation from work and
figured I’d get more gaming time in. And guess what I played more than anything
during that time? Bookworm. Almost
unbelievable eh? And then there was the Steam Summer Sale. Sadly, it’s glory
days are long gone. You’ll do better visiting Humble Bundle or Fanatical. They
host better sales and much more often as well, and they’re all Steam keys
anyway. Bucking Steam altogether you can hit up Gog.com as well. Cheaper games,
and usually nifty extras included like avatars, game guides, and soundtracks.
And Gog tracks your game time just like Steam. I went on the table again for a
paddle shock. It helped the a-fib go away, and to further embellish the happy
story, they tweaked my ICD and brought my heart ejection fraction from a lowly
15-25% to a blazing 30-35%. Fortunately, it seems I’ll be around a while
longer.
1.
Big Wreck Ghosts on HD FLAC: Created in 2014, this album was nominated for
the Juno Awards “Rock Album of the Year.” It’s a bit more bluesy than standard
Big Wreck fare, and admittedly it took a few listens to grow on me, but like
so many good albums it did grow on me. I think the best song on the album is
the titular “Ghosts,” but the whole album is worth a pick up and listen to. And
for the price, the album is 70 minutes long, so you get your money’s worth.
Oddly, the album which shows a multi toned blue city back-grounded by
searchlights reminds me of the underground city, Rapture in the PC game Bioshock. It’s a weird correlation, I
know, but it’s what the cover made me think of, and that’s a good thing. I’ll
take anything as an excuse to revisit that terrible and wonderful city.
2.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 on Blu Ray: This series
continues to blow me away. It’s some of the best writing I’ve ever seen on
television and the Blu Ray treatment still makes my jaw drop. I often buy whole
series and then unload them on eBay. This is one series I shall forever keep
and re-watch. Data has become my favorite character, though I’ve grown quite
fond of all the characters. It’s interesting how the classic series always
revolved around “strange new worlds, new civilizations,” and this newer series
seems to involve life aboard the Starship Enterprise
and its characters much more. And it just works. Perfectly.
3.
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hogue by
Robert A. Heinlein: (blatantly plagiarized (stolen) from my GoodReads review.) Heinlein’s
early works will always be my favorite. This was during his what I consider
transition time, moving from his early work to his modern writing. This is a
novella and short stories. None of them particularly stood out except the story,
“The Man who Traveled in Elephants,” which
is a story of a man at the end of his life entering a sweet hereafter. Oddly,
I’m not alone. Heinlein considered this his best short story.
4. Mission: Impossible 2 on Blu Ray: One of the highest
grossing action films of 2000, and directed by John Woo, a tour de force of
action sequences. As farfetched as you can get in a movie (somersaulting hi-jinks in slow motion, catapulting over a motorcycle while aiming and shooting
a pistol. Seriously?) Yet it is fun to watch. This is the stuff that sells
popcorn. The plot was not quite as convoluted as the first movie, but still one
to pay attention to if you want to be in the know. This, my second delve into
the box set I recently picked up. No regrets so far, and the Metallica song
“Disappear” was a nice touch at the end credits.
5. Siphon Filter on Sony PlayStation Vita: My first purchase from the PSN Store, this was originally released on the PlayStation
back in 1999. It’s reminiscent of Sam Fisher meets Solid Snake. I forgot
how difficult these old games were, not being able to save until you end the
level. The controls aren’t so intuitive, but I’m getting better. Still it’s a
fun challenge, and the graphics look pretty slick for a 2000 game ported to a
handheld. Actually, it makes the graphics look even better on a small screen
gaming device.
6. Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational on Sony PlayStation Vita: This is quite the fun
little golf game. The chirpy happy music coupled with a slight Japanese art style
and the intuitive controls make this game worth buying a Vita for. The background detail is amazing and the detail in the
courses make it easy to believe you are stepping out of the phenomenal world
into a wonderful place Sony has created for the player. With upgrades and
unlocks, this game ventures into slight RPG territory.
7. Neverwinter Nights on PC: I’m still trudging
through haunted forests and zombified towns trying to fight the good fight and
discovering what has cursed Neverwinter. It’s a noble cause and definitely a
compelling journey, though I still lose my way sometimes and drop the game to
do other things. I’m nearing the end of chapter two. I’ve recently acquired a
+3 Greatsword which is sort of a gamechanger, but in the best of ways.
8. Big
Audio Dynamite This is Big Audio Dynamite on CD: In my five decades of life on this
earth, 1985 will forever be a standout. It was the year I got out of the US
Navy, my four year hell-hole. It was like walking out of prison. One of the first
albums I remember hearing when I got out was, “The Bottom Line.” I recently
picked this album up, and yep, sure enough it was a time machine. I instantly
found myself back in 1985. The band, vocalized by The Clash fame, Mick Jones, was a mix of punk, reggae, hip-hop
(before that was even a thing) and funk. It was a strange conglomeration that
spelled success for the band. The album on original Compact Disc Audio sounds
great without any “sound wars” remastering,
unfortunately, try as I have, “The Bottom Line,” is the best song on the
album and I would have been just as happy finding it on an ‘80s
compilation album.
9. Pink Floyd: The Ultimate Collector’s Edition: I’ve been reading this
for awhile. And to be honest, I’m about Pink Floyded out. That may sound harsh,
but for all of their broad musical endeavors over the course of several decades
they have intrinsically defined their music as a tribute to Syd Barrett. And
then their definition became a tribute to Roger Waters (who became bitterly estranged
from the band.) This carried even into The
Division Bell which in my opinion is David Gilmour’s magnum opus. It just
seems such a waste to define a band’s impetus being any kind of legacy left
behind from former members who would probably not care less anyway.
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