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!
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