No. I did not forget. In these crazy days, I’m working 10-12 hour days every day, and I have little time for anything else, well, besides work. I’d like to think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but evidently not. There are still bright points, however. I’m making a last car payment this month, how cool is that? And hey, spring is here! Why does it always feel like every year it’s never going to get here? Oh yeah, and there is one more thing. I had another heart ablation and I feel truly remarkable. Like I told my cardiologist, I didn’t know I felt so bad until I felt good. Our human bodies are amazingly complex, and equally amazingly wonderful. I acquired a broken heart through my years of pounding the pavement as a competitive runner, and yet, when my heart took the plunge, it was my years of prior conditioning that saved me. (That of course, and God’s tender mercy.)
1. Chrome on PC: I lost four years of my life to World of Warcraft, Second Life and Age of Conan. I watched so many games parade by like some odd adult mobile, tantalizingly out of reach simply because I refused to indulge. I was too busy with my MMOs. One such game was a game from Polish developer Techland called Chrome (2003). Computer Gaming World Magazine gave it a good review, posing the question, “Halo, who?” The game utilized open world environments and similar augmentation devices as Deus Ex. I’m only in the first couple of chapters, and the graphics look like puke by today’s standards, but the game is compelling. The voice acting is hilarious, probably because it takes itself so seriously. The main character, Bolt Logan, seems as if he’s going to yell out, “Calgonite!!” at any time.
2. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Five on Blu-Ray: I can’t believe it took me a year to watch this, despite all of the time off due to the pandemic. Of course, I’ve never been one to binge watch. But I’ve finally finished it. This season incidentally, has what is now my favorite episode, “Inner Light,” which is a sentiment I share with none other than Patrick Stewart who says this is his own personal favorite episode as well. The plot is genius, and well worth seeking out if you’ve not seen it. “I, Borg” was also an incredible episode, casting a member of the Borg into a situation that invokes sympathy for the vile being that will stop at nothing but universal domination.
3. Snow by Ronald Malfi: As a member of Bookbub, I get great ebook deals for my Amazon Kindle all of the time. The blurb for this discounted book was enough to get me to pull the trigger. It involves a guy trying to make amends with his estranged son by flying to meet him in Iowa over a Christmas holiday. The story opens up with our man being snowbound in O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Several feet of snow is impending, and the man decides to finish the trek in a rented car with a girl he meets at the airport. They share the rented car with an older couple. The journey is fraught with horror. But so far, all I’ve done is laugh. Malfi has a great knack for creating characters, and his cast so far are just what you’d see in a airport filled with aggravated snowbound travelers. So far, this is really good stuff.
4. The Way Back via Redbox: I’ve always like Ben Affleck as an actor. This vehicle has him as a separated husband named Jack Cunningham driven to excessive drinking over the loss of his son. He gets a chance at redemption to coaching a local inner city high school basketball team. The losing team starts winning games with Cunningham’s focus. But his drinking gets in the way. It’s a pitifully sad movie, and it’s not the usual feel-good underdog sports movie. Afflek gave a great performance, best summed up by Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter, who wrote: “Affleck gives the impression of intimate familiarity with the anguish and self-disgust that dominate Jack's life; this character and project clearly meant something important to him, as the title bluntly suggests, and he gives it his all without overdoing the melodrama.”
5. Far Cry 4 on PC: At first glance, Ubisoft’s seminal Far Cry 4 with its storyline and hella fun outpost and fortress side missions might seem like a typical open world filled with lush graphics, but it’s also a well-designed brilliantly made shooter. We’ve been here before with Far Cry 3, which was the story of a spoiled rich kid left to his own devices to become a man in the face of utter tribulation, whereas Far Cry 4 tells the story of a lost tourist rising to free a country from a nefarious despotic ruler. The side missions are a blast, sneakily sniping your way into army-controlled outposts or going guns ablaze with powerful weapons that are weighty and invite experimentation Its wildlife, the wonderful muted color environments, and especially the two main NPCs, Amita and Sabal (wonderfully voiced by Lost’s own Naveen Andrews) you ultimately have to pick sides with, assisting one’s efforts and alienating the other. I genuinely sympathized with the cause of each entity sided on, and it made my decision making difficult. I love books and movies, but the intensity of this type of predicament can only unfold through the magic of a PC game in which you are taking part as a player-character.
6. 1917 on 4K Blu Ray: Probably the best film I watched this year. It’s a film that captures the claustrophobia of WWI trenches and the steel gray skies I’ve always envisioned from every WWI photograph I’ve ever seen. Using unusual film techniques involving several minutes of single shot takes and the pioneering of the new Arri Alexa Mini LF digital camera, the film was an IMax release in the United States. The whole movie was saturated with a bleak dour feel, which is what was intended and involves two messengers sent to deliver an urgent message across 9 miles of “No Man’s Land.” I wouldn’t say it had the same impact as Saving Private Ryan on me, but I still was quite overcome at the film’s beautiful but sad end. Oddly, I have no real desire to see it again. (A strange sentiment for me given my predilection for war movies.) I think it’s because the film answers so much, there was nothing left unturned. I feel the movie was so “complete” it fulfilled me. Having said that, I’m sure I’ll watch it again.
