This singular month of March 2020 will be one for the history books. This is one your kiddos will tell their grandchildren about. The novel virus COVID-19 has intruded upon us like invaders from Mars wanting to conquer Earth. The world has become like so many science fiction movies or Stephen King stories. For lack of a better way to put it, it’s unbelievable. Being holed up for two weeks at home seems like a grand idea, but in reality it’s Christmas break in The Twilight Zone. I’m not complaining. It was a wonderful chance to get in some quality gaming time not to mention the books I read, the music I listened to and the movies I watched.
1. Light in August by William Faulkner: I’m still engrossed in this gritty muddy work
of great American literature by Faulkner. The novel centers around Joe
Christmas, a drifter at odds within himself because he’s of mixed race. He’s a
rough man who’s running from a ghastly crime he’s committed. I couldn’t stand
him until the backstory reveals he was plucked from a foster home by a stern
religious man who whips him daily for not being able to remember verses from a
catechism. My favorite writer, Carson McCullers who left her native Columbus,
GA and settled in New York once said she conducted visits to her old south to
“renew her sense of horror.” I get that with this novel.
Faulkner’s
brilliance in descriptive writing comes through here in which we get a
description of the stern religious man’s wife: “It was as though instead of having been subtly slain and corrupted by
the ruthless and bigoted man beyond his intending and her knowing, she had been
hammered stubbornly thinner and thinner like some passive and dully malleable
metal, into an attenuation of dumb hopes and frustrated desires . . .”
3. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back on 4K Blu Ray: Jack Reacher is as close to a superhero as you can get without treading upon the territory of Marvel or DC comics. In a way he’s better than those superheroes because he’s truly believable, just a seemingly average joe trying to find his place in the world after a career in the US Army. Unfortunately, trouble always seems to find him. Suddenly, he’s doing his thing, not withholding to any laws but his own justice. Reacher is depicted much different in the book series, of which I’m a huge fan, than he is by Tom Cruise in the movies. Still, Cruise does a good job of bringing Lee Child’s character to life. This particular movie has Reacher who is used to being alone suddenly eschewing that “aloneness” to protect a teenage girl who could potentially be his daughter. Cruise puts his everything into his movies, (he even did his own driving stunts in this film) and his love for what he does shows. One of the actresses on the set stated in an interview, “It would be Monday morning 6:00a.m. and we’re all still kind of groggy trying to get into the swing, and Tom would show up on the set and start yelling, ‘Hey, guess what we’re getting to do? We’re making a movie!’” She said he was always an inspiration to all.
4. Magician by Raymond E. Feist: My friend, David Tidwell, got me fascinated with this book when he described being on forced marches while deployed to the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm, and having this novel ensconced in the side pocket of his battle fatigues. He would look forward to break times where he could plop down on his pack and break out the book, instantly being teleported to another world (probably a much better one than the real one he was currently existing in.) And so, I started this tome and found myself complaining to Dave that I just couldn't get into it. Then something took hold. The characters sucked me in and I got hooked. I now see why Raymond Feist's Betrayal at Krondor series went on to become a best selling RPG series on PC in addition to the great novels Feist penned. Perhaps not quite as deep as a George R. R. Martin Song of Fire & Ice novel, but venerable nonetheless and every bit as engaging. This indoctrination into the Riftwar Saga novels makes me want to play an old school RPG and delve into the second book of The Riftwar Saga.
5. The Smashing Pumpkins “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” on CD: This was The Smashing Pumpkins’ third studio album. It was described by the band as a teen angst message to 14-24 year olds. Declared a concept album by frontman, Billy Corgan, he said it was Pink Floyd’s “Wall” album for Generation X. That’s kind of a bold statement, but then perhaps proved to be true. The album spawned six singles and became a diamond album by the RIAA (Ten million albums sold) not to mention seven Grammy nominations (of which it scored one single award for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings.” (That had to hurt.) Personally, I think these are good Pumpkins’ songs. Most of the songs have a “samey” sound to them, but I could put the discs on auto-repeat and not be bored.
6. The Hurricane Heist on 4K Blu Ray: A typical popcorn summer blockbuster movie to liven up your big screen 4K TV and give your Home Theater surround sound a good workout. The movie certainly didn’t fail at that task. Not quite an epic roller coaster ride, but the movie was full of great action sequences. Friends betraying friends, good guys who are actually bad guys, and bro moments galore. Interestingly, the two main characters hail from the UK and Australia, yet they pull off Alabama accents fairly well. Still, it begs the question, are we running out of young American male actors? The transition from Blu Ray to 4K Blu Ray is subtle at best. I didn’t compare the two, myself, but this, according to the experts at blu-ray.com. Rob Cohen, the film’s director gives an interview on the disc lamenting the state of the movie industry and a short bleak history of movie making in the past four decades. It’s well worth watching.
7. F.E.A.R. 3 on PC: The original F.E.A.R. was lauded for its AI back in 2005. A challenging AI coupled with a creepy ghost girl stolen right out of the movie Ring, what was there not to like? The horrors continued with F.EA.R. 2. F.E.A.R. 3 tried to carry the torch, but turned into more of an action game. I still encountered moments of dread as I played it, but the fall out of my chair shock moments especially apparent in the first game had become a thing of the past. Still, it had some great set pieces. I won’t soon forget the airport. As a matter of fact after beating this game I may not look at airports the same way again.
8. The Complete Guitar Encyclopedia by Nick Freeth: This is a pretty inclusive guitar book covering every aspect from the history of famous guitar brands, to guitar gods (and how to play like them) to how to clean your guitar or set up a pedal board. It’s a thick and beautiful volume filled with some fantastic close up pictures of guitars and the players who made them famous. Included with each guitarist profile is a short discography of their venerable works. Whether you’re just starting out playing or you’re a gigging veteran this is a book that will make you want to pick up your guitar.
9. Night Gallery: Season Two on DVD: Television sure has come a long way since the early 1970s when this series made its appearance. I remember being enthralled as a nine year old kid watching these episodes, sneaking up to lean against the doorway when I should have been in bed, being sleepy the next day at school, but thinking it was worth it. In truth, these episodes were as campy as a Saturday morning Sid & Marty Kroft kid’s vehicle. But the shows took themselves seriously, and to an impressionable boy like me, that’s all that mattered. These shows are fun to watch now because I took them so seriously as a kid, not to mention the sense of nostalgia that accompanies each episode: elongated cars that looked like road boats, leisure suits, paneled walls, and bushy sideburns. I’m not so sure I’d really like to go back in time.
10. Tammar “Visits” on CD: Take a hint of The Smithereens, add a pinch of The Stone Roses, and mix in a dash of Joy Division and you have Tammar. Hailing from Bloomington, Indiana, this was a Pandora discovery, and boy am I glad I found them! Great writing music, great driving music, and even music to simply slip the earbuds in with and lie down and let your thoughts go. The band’s music conjures up images of 1970s movie scenes depicting families on a Mediterranean shore, windswept blond hair and turtleneck pullovers all shot on yellow grained film stock. Wes Anderson would do well to use Tammar to create the OST for his next film. Go to YouTube and listen to “Yung Jun.” You can thank me later.
11. Pillars of Eternity on PC: Is there a more perfect time to begin an old school hardcore RPG than when being imposed upon with a self-quarantine? Backed by 77,000 Kickstarters, this game has all of the trimmings of an old D&D style dungeon crawler, only upgraded with a more user friendly UI and better graphics. I’m playing a road roughened Ranger named Edward Wanderlust, accompanied by a pet wolf named Boris. It seems I came out of a mysterious comatose type sleep as a “Watcher,” the ability to see souls wandering the earth and communicate with them. This in addition to stumbling into a village in which a mad king has decorated a town concentric oak tree like a Christmas Tree with hanging bodies in the belief that everybody in town is a heretic. I’m early into the game, level 4 so far, but I have the feeling I’m going to be called on to save the world, typical RPG fare. This is not Diablo III. You can’t buff up before fights, and you must rest after each battle to restore health, stamina and endurance. This is D&D mechanics at its finest.
