And so January begins another year. It’s marked big changes already. I have a daughter who left the wonderful warm south to seek her fortune here in our wintry state. It seems the traffic and the dense population of Austin, TX finally got to her. Speaking of wintry state, it has been COLD. It always makes me scratch my head when the subject of global warming comes up. Is there really such a thing? I certainly don’t see it here. I’ve been looking at new PCs. Next month my custom built Ironside Computers I7-3770k beast will be six years old. Sheesh!, even I I can’t believe that. It’s a new record for using the same PC. As a testament to the workmanship of this rig though, I feel it has life left in it. It still plays everything like silk, Grand Theft Auto V being the only game I’ve seen to cause it to chug. I picked up a new axe. Oh man, is it a beauty! Even my mistakes sound good now. This journey into music is giving me the chance to reinvent myself, and it’s given me one of the best learning experiences to date, and that’s that we should all reinvent ourselves from time to time. It’s never to late to learn.
1. Ultimate General: The Civil War on PC: I played the original Ultimate General: Gettysburg back in 2014 and reviewed it on Steam. That review has garnered more than 270 thumbs up positives. (I actually have it on my Steam profile page.) It was so good I played through it completely in one long weekend. I’ve always had its successor Ultimate General: The Civil War on my wishlist, and when I saw it on a recent sale I scarfed it up. It’s definitely the full enchilada. I started as the yanks and got my butt handed to me on broken fence planking. I guess it really does play authentically, being the north began the war at a logistics disadvantage. I restarted as the south, and so far I’m holding my own, but if history holds true I’ve really got my work cut out for me here in the not too distant future. The game plays the same, looks the same and feels the same as the original. There was a lot of love put into it by Lab-Games for sure. The solo play is a blast, and I look forward to playing against other people online. Any takers?
2. Dave Matthews Band “Crash” on CD: I’ve always had a soft spot for Dave and crew. I saw them in Indianapolis some years back at the Verizon Center, and even their concert had that sparky happy feel-good vibe, the same one as each of their albums, you know the one that causes you to smile while driving down the road listening to them. Crash was their sophomore album debuting way back in 1996. Unfortunately, I was not a fan back then. I thought their music sounded like a bad mix up of instruments handed out at the beginning of 5th grade band class to be beat on and twanged until the end of the class when they would be collected up and boxed up until the next week. But something happened over the years, maybe Dave Matthews’ passion became contagious. Now I’m hooked. It’s a blend of acoustic rock mixed with a tinge of jazz and a healthy pinch of folk. I just know I can’t be in a bad mood for long listening to it. I’d suggest listening to the song, “Cry Freedom” for starters.
3. Lost Season 4 on Blu Ray: Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m really behind the times, but hey, better late than never, yeah? I love this series. You’ve heard me say it before, I would have watched it in the early oughts when it came out but I have such an aversion to television commercials I refrained. (Yes, I hate them that much. I don’t watch any kind of network television.) This season has me despising John Locke who up to this point has been my favorite character. I’m into about the fourth episode, and so far it’s all about this mysterious freighter several miles out that sent a rescue party to pick up the survivors, but as the cello strings and the synth keys resonate their sinister tones, we wonder if their intentions are noble or ignoble. I’ve heard the series lost its way (pun intended) somewhere in this season which remains to be seen. So far I’m really enjoying it immensely.
4. Band of Brothers: Hell’s Highway on PC: This was the third game in a trilogy of cool strategy/shooter games hatched by Gearbox games in the early oughts. The games bleed high production values and tell a compelling continuing story. They’re not easy games. I’m playing on the middle difficulty (with no chance to play the most difficult, Veteran Difficulty without first beating the game on the middle setting) and I still die a lot. Still, despite the bulging population of them, I love WWII shooters. This game has an underlying dark story that pronounces its anti war theme in an effective manner. The music is sadly beautiful and the characters effectively emulate anybody you’ve ever watched in Saving Private Ryan or HBO’s quite popular Band of Brothers. The series is worth playing for their fun factor and the great story, not to mention the authenticity of the game where the missions are actually real missions taken from now classified operation documents. You can pick up the trilogy for under ten bucks on gog.com.
5. Battle for the Planet of the Apes on Blu Ray: The end of an era. This series was a favorite of mine through my childhood. I remember seeing the previews for this movie on TV and thinking it was so cool. I couldn’t wait to go to the movies to see it. For whatever reason I didn’t get to see it until a few years later when it made its way to television as probably a Friday night movie. To my unjaded eyes at the time, I’m sure I thought it was every bit as cool as I had perceived it when I first saw the ad for the theatrical release. In truth, the movie had a meager budget, a victim of diminutive finances that plagued every movie made after the original. This entire movie was made on a woodsy back lot at 20th Century Fox and the Los Angeles Hyperion sewage plant with painted backdrops filling in for the destroyed human city mauled by nuclear bombs. TV studios had acquired the rights for the TV series, and this entire movie was made halfheartedly. Still, its an important film in the series, offering hope for coexistence between the humans and the apes in the end.
6. Carbon Based Lifeforms: “World of Sleepers” on FLAC: Drum, bass, ambient chill electronics. What’s not to like? This music group is my go to for mind expanding fulfilling tuneage. I picked this up on bandcamp.com which is a site any music lover should be familiar with. You buy the digital album with the ability to download it as a flac or high quality mp3, and then two weeks later the physical CD arrives in your mailbox. Plus the money goes directly to the artist for the most part. This album is one of CBL’s best. I’d recommend it to anybody who hadn’t even heard of the group. If you like movie or video-game music it’s a no brainer. My favorite song, “Photosynthesis” is worth the price of admission alone.
7. The Blue Moons of the Wallace Hotel by Phoebe Stone: A young adult book loaned to me by my sister who insisted I'd enjoy it. And yes, it was a well written tale of a young girl pursuing a dream amidst a recent tragic event and how all things come to pass. The books historical setting of the early 1960s was hard for me to grasp; the book had a more modern times vibe to it. Still, Fiona, the main character held sway with the story and I found the book compelling enough to finish and give it three stars.
8. Hell or High Water on 4K Blu Ray: Hell or High Water received four nominations at the Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Jeff Bridges, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. And it won none of them. Regardless, this is a great movie depicting two brothers losing the family ranch and robbing the bank chain that holds title to their ranch deed. Chris Pine and Ben Foster are great as the two brothers. The film almost plays out like an old fashioned western. Jeff Bridges plays his role dead on, taking command of every scene in he’s in. Chris Pine is the reluctant bad guy robber only playing through his last resort to keep the family ranch. Ben Foster, his ex-con brother is only doing what he’s doing because his brother asked him to. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film four out of four stars, saying, "In ways large and small, Hell or High Water is a movie so beautiful and harsh and elegiac and knowing, the moment it was over was the moment I wanted to see it again.” Truer words were never spoken, Mr. Roeper.
9. Dragon Age II on PC: I’m still continuing my journey in this wonderful EA game, the second of the trilogy. I survived my jaunt through The Deep Roads. I lost a sister through it, but gained a level or two with my rogue, Edward Hawke, finally acquiring level 12. This game is right up there with The Witcher as far as enjoyable RPGs, and honestly, this is perhaps the most fun I’ve had in any RPG. Every quest is a blast to play through. Critics panned the console-like mechanics of the game, but to me the game is highly polished and plays just fine. I don’t even have a problem with the confinement of playing basically a pre-made character. I’m probably half way through the game and still each time I sit down to play it is a great experience.
10. Project Cars on PC: I’d been weighing this game for years. The hardcore crowd compares it to Assetto Corsa and I can easily see the comparison. So far I’m only in the beginning stages of the game, the Karting venue, and the game definitely nails the feels. (Based on my own personal experience, having driven a racing Kart.) The AI is a little off mark (like Assetto Corsa.) But notching the AI down from 88 to 85 made a big difference. I’m winning about 1/3 of my races. The graphics one up Assetto Corsa but just by a hair. But the racing campaign which involves a whole series of every car in the game rips through Assetto Corsa which is really just a succession of single player races assembled together to look like an actual campaign. I came onboard Assetto Corsa way back in early access, and I have no regrets. I just wish they hadn’t abandoned it to make their next racing game. I picked up Project Cars at the behest of my Steam buddy, Ausmerica so we could do some online racing. And we have yet to participate in a single race, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.
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