Edward's November 2020 Mix

 

 

 I took a week-long vacation this month, and boy was I busy. Fanatical, HumbleBundle and Steam all had sales going on. It was an embarrassment of riches. And oddly I stumbled upon probably the game I’ve had the most fun with this year. More on that later. With Covid-19 surging over us, there wasn’t much to do but stay inside. I’m starting to know more and more people who’ve become victims. (Both of my daughters recovered.) But on a brighter note I’m not hearing of fatalities now. And it’s said an inoculation is on the horizon. My wife underwent cancer surgery. It’s often a terrible world, I daresay, but fortunately, I have my books, my music and my games to help me escape.

                                         

1.        Lost in Space on Netflix: I started this a few months ago, and I’m still engrossed in the first season. With a play on the original score by “Johnny” Williams and the names of the characters being the same, this is a sea change from the original Irwin Allen 1960s production. Doctor Smith is a female this time around, and she’s downright heinous. John Robinson is a man formerly estranged from his family, trying to make a comeback. The B-9 Robot plays a much more sinister role this time around. Like I’ve said before, it’s a graphic powerhouse. I understand Netflix is now offered in 4K resolution now. This might be a reason to upgrade.

 

2.      BATTLETECH on PC: I had started to play this when it debuted. And I got lost along the way and stopped playing. I’ve decided to continue it, and for once I didn’t start the game over. It’s a good thing I didn’t. I was able to pick up where I left off. If you’re not familiar with the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe, it’s about clans of very wealthy families who fight each other using giant walking robots. Warriors affix themselves inside in a cockpit and control the giant mechanical men. I had messed around with the old Activision and Microprose Mechwarrior games over the years, but I think this one has me hooked. It looks like I have a very long campaign ahead of me, but I’ll finish it.

 

3.       Angels & Airwaves I-Empire on CD: I always thought Blink 182 was a bit pretentious, though I’ve always admired Tom Delonge’s mad guitar skills (albeit mostly comprised of power chords.) When he departed and formed Angels & Airwaves, I think is when he exercised the maturity I was looking for. Thank you to my friend, Susan Wooding, for introducing me to them. Delonge is quoted as saying their first album We Don’t Need to Whisper would be the best music in generations. The album did produce some hits, but that statement still remains to be seen. The band is considered a super group, being it’s comprised of members of former successful bands. I recommend listening to “Secret Crowds” and “Breathe” to get the real feels.

 

4.       Return to Castle Wolfenstein REALRtCW on PC: When a group of super modders released this free on Steam, I had to check it out. It’s a redux of the original Return to Castle Wolfenstein released by id Software way back in 2001. It was one of the first games I was really hyped for. And it was a tour de force of what game graphics, AI and multiplayer was capable of back then. The REALRtCW mod enhances the graphics for modern systems, and they did an incredible job. Being that I beat the original game twice, I had to present the ultimate challenge and play on hardcore mode. Needless to say, I had to cheat a few times. I’d always end up facing a boss with just not enough ammo to finish the job. I hate cheating, but sometimes a gamer’s gotta do what a gamer’s gotta do! It’s worth a playthrough, and it certainly does the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia justice. You won’t be disappointed. Just don’t play it on hardcore mode. All it does is handicap you, and it’s really not necessary.

 

5.       The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck: My mother recommended I read this. It was a rather saccharine story of a boy who wants nothing more than a bicycle for Christmas but ends up getting what he refers to as “an ugly Christmas sweater.” Then tragedy of nightmarish proportions befalls his family. It all boils down to being appreciative of people’s good intentions. Glenn Beck was a famous host of his own prime time show on CNN and a nationally syndicated radio show. He’s an okay writer, but this book just didn’t really do it for me. It was like a Lifetime Movie gone bad.

 

6.       Anno 18OO on PC: Picked this up on a Fanatical Sale I’d been wanting it for a while. It’s a city builder circa 1800. The whole game looks like a Robert Kinkade painting come to life.  Unfortunately, the game is extremely difficult sans manual or in-depth tutorial. I think it’s a shame when AAA titles release by developers who expect you to watch YouTube videos or read Reddit forums to learn how to play the game. This is the total opposite of the old days when you had a nice collector edition box with a manual, strategy guide an OST CD and other assorted goodies. Not to mention, the Digital Deluxe version I picked up was originally $99. That’s too much for a game with no viable instructions on how to play the game.

 

7.       Hearts of Iron IV on PC: This is another convoluted game with a crappy tutorial. It’s a Paradox Interactive game (which is a software company noted for their complexity.) I knew this when I started playing it. I’ve been told to simply scrap the tutorial and just dive in, sink or swim. Honestly, I think people who get good at this game are very smart people. The game has a great art style to it, reminiscent of a grand style boardgame. I’m not ready to give up just yet, but man this game is hard!

 

8.      In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway: Hemingway was proof that less could be so much more. I’m referring to his scant use of words. The man was not a fan of adjectives or adverbs. He constructed simple sentences of nouns and verbs. That was it. But sheesh, the word pictures he could paint with such an anemic writing style. If you’ve never read any of the great novels by Hemingway I’d suggest starting with this collection of short stories. You won’t find any other written work in which every single word moves a story so effectively. At 150 pages, you’ll be amazed at how fast you’ll move through this one, especially since most stories are a mere 2-3 pages long.

 

9.      Tom Clancy’s The Division on PC: Another game I picked up on sale. This truly, has to be the most fun I’ve had a in a PC game this year. How ironic the year’s end is almost upon us. The game centers on Black Friday in 2015, New York City in which a pandemic has been released (oddly prophetic.) It plays like a MMORPG, in that weapons, armor, and backpacks can change buff states, firepower, protection, and skills. The game maps New York City perfectly. You could take walking tours in this game and learn the actual layout of the real city. My buddy Vic Berwick’s first impression was, “this game looks like a movie.” Amen to that. It is a gorgeous game despite its 2016 release. This is an MMO that’s going to hold my attention for a long time to come.

Edward's October 2020 Monthly Mix

 

 

 

 It’s been an odd month (when it comes to my Mixes, they all are!) I went from my office position to being out on a loading dock utilizing a forklift. Ah, I don’t mind, it’s a bit of a change of scenery. I have the skill, so why not put it to use? It is long hours, which detracts from my good things in life, books, movies and music! Still, I made time. Somehow, I always manage that. This was the month of Halloween, and what could be more memorable than the unseasonably warm one, but the first full moon on Halloween since 1944. Those pictures depicted in the childhood storybooks I read were wrong!                                         

1.         Vertigo on DVD: Cited by scores of critics and film historians as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most important films, this fully restored 70 mm version in DTS is probably the most eloquent Hitchcock movie I’ve seen. Martin Scorsese says in 1958 When big studios had such influence on their films, he was surprised to see a movie made that was so personal, even by such a big-name director. The movie is about obsession, both figuratively and literally. Alfred Hitchcock was so obsessed with the film, the script, and the costuming (so wonderfully achieved by Edith Head) he wanted perfection. The only thing he entrusted to someone else was the music score by Bernard Hermann, which, in my opinion was the star of the movie. Hermann’s hypnotic and tantalizing score is probably my favorite in any Hitchcock/Hermann film. (Though Pyscho runs a close second place.) John “Scottie” Ferguson, the main character, a police detective forcibly retired due to his acrophobia who becomes obsessed with a young woman he’s being paid to follow, encounters gross indecision at the film’s climax when he’s again put into a situation where his fear of heights prevents him from following his moral compass. As we see Ferguson, so wonderfully played by James Stewart, run up a flight of stairs, but then looking behind himself and freezing in panic, beads of sweat coating his face, Bernard Hermann captured this scene, so efficiently in his music. This edition is a one-million-dollar total restoration in 70 mm with DTS which makes this the version to see. My sister, Lisa Nogelmeier, is the biggest Hitchcock fan I know (and a walking Wiki on the subject of Alfred Hitchcock movies.) I’m grateful her affinity for Alfred Hitchcock has become contagious.

 

2.       The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing on PC: This is simply put, a Diablo clone. But it’s one of the better action RPGs I’ve played. It’s not your usual trappings of giant rats, orks and trolls. It’s more a Transylvanian twist with vampires and werewolves. The night backdrops are illuminated by silvery full moons and an ominous score by Gergely Buttinger. The game is definitely a clickfest done surprisingly well, though there are some glaring omissions. On my first playthrough some years back I wrote a review on Steam lauding its highpoints, but bringing to light the developers suggested watching YouTube videos to learn how to play the game rather than using a manual that should have been included with the game. I beat the game this time around with a melee character on Hardcore Heroic difficulty. I left Fulmagati’s lightning rods on the rooftops, (if you played the game, you’ll get this reference. It makes the game that much more difficult and I don’t know of anybody else who played it this way.) And I got the achievement for sparing the Igors, “But they’re so cute!” It’s a 1.1% achievement, meaning only 1.1% of the people who have played the game earned it. I’ve never been so ready to finish a game before. It really became a chore simulator. The real star of this show was the great OST and the wonderfully wisecracking, Lady Katarina, your supernatural sidekick who heals you and kicks butt alongside you.

 

3.       Prince and the Revolution  Music from Purple Rain on CD: Though I’ve never seen the movie, this OST mirrors my life in the early ‘80s. I’ve experienced many a weekend dance club swaying and moving to these tunes. I didn’t appreciate Prince’s creativity then. I just thought he was an over-glamorized rock star, but now decades later, listening to each track on this CD I’ve discovered an almost ingenuity behind each Prince’s band referred to as The Revolution was aptly appropriate. This was one of the albums that helped bring about the “Parents’ Advisory” black labels you see on album covers. It was all about “Darling Nikki,” which was thought to be a bit explicit for radio play. This album was recently picked at number 8 of Rolling Stones’ “Top 500 Albums of All Time.”

 

4.        Railway Empire on PC: I’ve talked about it before, but this game is a love child of Sid Meier’s Railroads! and Railroad Tycoon 3. I’m still awaiting the true successor to Railroad Tycoon 3 but in the interim this game will have to suffice. And it does for the most part anyway. It’s a Kalypso Studio game which means it doesn’t have the AAA fluff a major studio would produce, but it’s been crafted with a lot of developer love. It gets regular updates and DLCs to boot. It’s quite the complicated game, enough that I’ve had to watch YouTube tutorials just to learn how to implement proper signaling on my track layouts. If you like RTS and you like railroad simulations you’re going to love this.

 

5.        Rod Serling’s Night Gallery Season Two on DVD: Having watched the first season of this a year or so back, I recently ventured into the second year of the series. The show (if it ever did) seemed to hit its full stride at this time. It’s unfortunate that Rod Serling and the producer of the show, Jack Laird, didn’t mesh well. Serling assumed he would have much greater control of the series, thinking it would carry the torch pass on from The Twilight Zone, but Laird didn’t want to relinquish the control he had over the show. Serling became at most, the series’ host and the narrator who introduced each show. Some episodes included short quick take comedic sketches that Serling was vehemently opposed to. These episodes certainly bring back memories of my childhood, back when I lived for what was on television.  

 

6.       Living Colour Vivid on CD: Coming out in 1988, I had never heard anything quite like this up to that time. Now I can’t stop listening to it on auto repeat. It was a black band that played hard rock music. Mick Jagger had a hand in producing the album (and can be heard on the backing vocals of “Glamour Boys.”) Corey Glover helms as the frontman as a great vocalist, probably the hook that seals this band as being so great, but the real show stealer is Vernon Reid, the guitarist who plays so flamboyantly well. The band fuses jazz and funk and melds it into some of the gnarliest rock music you’ll ever hear. Nice bit of trivia, Corey Glover played “Francis” in Oliver Stones’ Platoon (1986.) I had no idea!

 

7.       Wake of the Red Witch by Garland Roark: I’ve always been a sucker for stories occurring on the high seas (I even wrote one!) This one is almost (but not quite) as compelling as Jack London’s stellar The Sea Wolf or Joseph Conrad’s often copied Heart of Darkness. The tale concerns a half-crazed captain of a schooner who is cruel to his men, but ever loyal to his lust for gold and women. My first exposure was to the movie starring John Wayne. Unusual for John Wayne, because it wasn’t a western nor a war movie, and it's one of the few movies in which Wayne’s character dies in the end. This was a good yarn, but a bit long winded. It sent me to the dictionary a few times, always a plus. It’s truly a man’s adventure tale straight out of the old Saga or True or Argosy magazines that dotted the newsstand magazine racks from the 1940s to the 1970s.

 

8.        Xvive U2 Guitar Wireless System: I had wanted to go this route for a while now. I finally pulled the trigger, and man, what a difference! These things are like magic. I’m not tethered by a cable anymore, no more twists, broken innards, or chair wheels rolling over them. I have to thank my guitar mentor, Michael Stevens, for turning me onto these. Angus Young popularized these back in the 1970s. And now I can see why. Plug them into a USB charger for 2 hours and you get 5 hours of unimpeded untethered joy. Yay!