October hosted my second favorite holiday when I was a
kid. Construction paper cutouts done in black and orange of black cats, jack
o’lanterns and witches on broomsticks affixed to the school windows set the
prelude for the evening’s ebullience of trick or treating. But this year, that
holiday caught me at work. No time for distributing candies to eager tots, not
when the duty of the almighty paycheck beckons me away. I did have time,
however, for some diversions involving movies, reading and gaming.
Whitesnake Greatest Hits (2022 Remastered) 96 kHz 24-bit on FLAC: A very good rendition of Whitesnake’s hits all on one volume, in high resolution to boot! Whitesnake was a band I loved upon my first listen back in the 1980s. David Coverdale had a majestic rock and roll voice. And the band had all of that hair! Truly an 80s hair band. Despite the band not having a real presence in the States (they are Britons) until 1980 with the release of Ready an’ Willing, I didn’t really catch on until the release of Whitesnake (1987). The band’s formations/dissolutions, present and former members and influences read like a Who’s Who of rock and roll music. David Coverdale has been accused of plagiarizing Led Zeppelin, which is humorous considering Coverdale and Jimmy Page created an album together in 1993. This album sounds incredibly good in hi-res, and if you don’t have a Whitesnake album in your collection, this is a must have.
The Witcher 2: Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski: This is the second book in Sapkowski’s medieval fantasy series involving Geralt of Rivera, a work for hire monster slayer. I first encountered Geralt in the PC game The Witcher which debuted in 2007. I was enthralled to discover the game was based on a series of books. I’m reading this on my Kindle, and it’s clearly the source of the second season Netflix series. The leather glove fist action in these books is akin to dime store western novels of yesteryear. And being a fan of the Netflix series, I must admit, using these books as source material, they’ve done a good job translating the stories to the TV screen.
Hell Let Loose on PC: I’ve mentioned it here before. This is the game that places you into a time machine and sends you back to battles in World War II. Staring as a grunt soldier, you are able to voice communicate to the rest of your squad and your squad leader (who in turn has the ability to communicate with a commander overseeing the battlefield. If you played army as a kid, this is the same thing, played by grownups in fuzzy slippers and pajamas. Granted, the dirt, the grit, the blood and the ear ringing explosions are all virtual, the immersion factor has you feeling as if you are really on the front lines. The game is authentic enough that if you spawn as an armor crewman, your tank won’t move without two other members. Combat has an odd subtlety to it. You never see the bullet that gets you, and upon firing your own weapons, you may never realize you nailed someone until after the game. You may see a crouching enemy behind cover, he peeks out, you nab him, and then you just don’t see him again. You’ll wonder, did I get him? Is he still waiting there behind cover? It’s a chance you’ll just have to take. I have actually sweated while playing this game.
The Thing on 4K Blu Ray: I’ve seen this movie multiple times. It’s a classic story about isolation and trust and paranoia. Based on John Campbell’s venerable novella, “Who Goes There?” published in 1938, John Carpenter took this idea and ran with it. He was inspired, of course, by the 1951 movie, The Thing from Another World which he stated scared him to death as a kid. He teamed up with Dean Cundrey, as the director of photography, who worked with him on Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from New York to make a rather excellent horror/SF movie that has become a cult classic. Kurt Russell plays MacReady, one of the Arctic base scientists who inhabit an isolated station in which an alien has become thawed and uses its ability to shapeshift into any human or animal it has come into contact with. I’m sure you’re familiar. The movie came out in 1982. Admittedly, despite this is such an ugly movie, this is the most beautiful 4K Blu Ray version of a movie I’ve seen. The colors pop and each scene looks like a masterpiece painting. Doctor Copper, the resident physician at the compound is called that because he wears a copper earring in his nose. I hadn't noticed this before, not even in the Blu Ray release! The 4K resolution makes this movie look even better than the original theatrical release.
Heartbreak Ridge on Blu Ray: This is a movie I get a hankering to see every couple of years and ranks among my favorite of war movies. It almost makes me wish I’d been a Marine instead of a sailor. (Ha! Just kidding. I wouldn’t have made it through Marine boot camp.) Clint Eastwood pulls off his usual stoic gruff and tough guy role, but it’s the Marines he whips into shape that make this movie. Mario Van Peebles was the real star. His wit and one liners make me laugh every time I watch the movie. Like Top Gun or Stripes it’s a movie that will make you feel patriotic and have you start searching for the nearest recruiting office. From the esprit de corp Gunney Sergeant instills into his band of slackers to the rousing Phillip Sousa march playing during the closing credits, it’s a fun movie to watch.,
The Golden Rendezvous by Alistair MacLean: Alistair MacLean was an adventure writer who excelled in the 1970s. This book, penned in 1962, was considered one of MacLean’s best works. Much like his other novels, the book is so visceral it reads like watching a movie. (As a matter of fact, this book later became a movie, like many of MacLean’s other works.) Having to do with a hijacked passenger liner, a hidden nuclear bomb, and the main character’s self deprecating wit I enjoyed this book, although it’s severely dated by today’s standards.
