December is such an ambivalent time for me. Work vacation, watching grandkids revel in the joy of Christmas morning, and seeing Christmas lights at night are things I love about the month. The stress that seems to befall last minute shopping, the onset of bitter weather, and knowing the year is winding down to its death are the things I hate about December. I did get a few days in Austin this year to visit la familia, (where the weather was oddly a tad warmer than my own stomping ground in the Midwest.) But bad weather notwithstanding, I rode it out indoors with my favorite pastimes: books, movies, music and gaming.
Kiss Destroyer on HI-RES FLAC: Produced by Bob Ezrin, who is as much a household name as Robert “Mutt” Lange, this guy produced albums with the likes of Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Taylor Swift, Deep Purple, Jane’s Addiction and Thirty Seconds to Mars. This was Kiss’s fourth studio album, and it was one that profited the band enough to start touring in Europe. Interestingly, none of the Kiss members had musical training and Ezrin would stop occasionally to give quick lessons on music theory. Gene Simmons later said, “It’s what we needed at the time.” This was the first Kiss album I owned as a kid, and to my peers and I at the time Kiss was a band of superheroes. I first heard “Detroit Rock City” emanating from a jukebox we had at our gymnasium during lunch period in 9th grade. Oh, the memories! This hi-res edition is everything my old album was only so much better without the snaps, crackles and pops. Rolling Stone magazine stated Peter Criss’s drumming was “pedestrian drumming,” but I have to say Peter Criss was definitely a powerhouse on this album (listen to “Detroit Rock City” you’ll hear) and he later stated he spent much downtime with his hands in buckets of ice.
Fallout on PC: There is an original big box version of this game on eBay currently selling for $350. That is the legacy of this game, many believe despite its post-apocalyptic setting, to be the best RPG ever made. I can kind of see it because I’ve tried it multiple times over the years. I never get very far, but something keeps calling back. The graphics look like puke (and that’s with mods that augment it for today’s rigs.) The game is difficult, the dialogue is hilarious, and Mark Morgan’s OST is unforgettable and becomes a meme into itself for this type of game. I’ve not gotten very far, but because of the distant voices I’ve decided to give it another go.
7 Faces of Dr. Lao on Movieland TV: I saw my grandsons this past vacation, and we had a sit down for some good old movies. I stumbled across this old gem, and knew it was a pick the moment I saw it on the Movieland TV app on my daughter’s television. I had only seen bits and pieces of the movie over the years. (It came out in 1965.) Tony Randall plays the mystical Dr. Lao in a role that would now be considered racially biased these days, but man, does he pull the character off so excellently! Dr. Lao brings his small circus to the tiny town of Abilone, Arizona. The town is under duress to be bought out by a deceitfully kind entrepreneur who wants to upsell the area to a railroad coming through. Lao’s circus instills in the people hope and courage to keep their town. The movie is cheesy and uses Ray Harryhausen type stop motion effects to animate the characters Lao becomes, but it’s a heartwarming film offering life lessons. The streaming quality was not so good, but I couldn’t beat the price: free.
The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler: Anne Tyler's books for me are always a journey into people's lives. I'm herewith stealing a term she used, but it's as if I gain a dual citizenship while reading her. There is the one that exists here, and then there's the sublime one that inhabits her wonderful novels. The Beginner's Goodbye concerns a man who loses his wife to a freak accident involving a tree that falls on their house. Soon after her death, she appears to him and he is able to talk about their complicated (but quirky loving marriage) and all of the woulda, coulda shouldas which are now too late to take advantage of. This novel caused me to take pause and ponder my own here and now. I read fiction to be whisked away to places of imagination. It's not often a book will bounce back from that ethereal place and bonk me on the head here in the phenomenal world. Tyler has an uncanny ability to do that to me, especially with her incredible gift of creating characters better than any other writer I know of.
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert Heinlein: This book was a bit confusing, probably because it's so connected to other works by Heinlein. The book begins with Heinlein's usual SF flair, something you'd see in a dime store science fiction serial in the 1950s, and then escalates into an almost cyberpunk type tone, reminiscent of William Gibson or Neal Stephenson. Given the book was written in 1985, I can see why such a comparison would surface. Heinlein was bold in his beliefs and his politics. Some would argue this book spears through a moral compass with its references to incest and underage sexual intimations. In the context of the story I found no misgivings. I am however, much more a fan of Heinlein's vintage works (Starship Troopers, Red Planet, Have Spacesuit Will Travel and Space Cadet.)
The Brides of Dracula on Blu Ray: Typical Hammer lavishness and old school chills are the backdrop for this 1960 vampire tale. Originally made with the working title, Dracula 2, Christopher Lee was not reprised in this movie, and the name Dracula is only referenced once. It’s okay because the movie stands on its own casting David Peel as the charismatic young vampire. The plot is hole filled at best, but the movie is carried by the grand performances of Martita Hunt as the Baroness Meinster and Freda Jackson as Greta, the servant. And not to mention Peter Cushing as one of the best (and most stylish – those red leather gloves!) Van Helsing to ever grace a film. I’d had this on DVD. The Blu Ray cut is a noticeable improvement despite its slightly closer zoom.
The Banner Saga on Nintendo Switch: Take a little bit of Don Bluth animation, The Oregon Trail and The Neverending Story and throw it into a mixing bowl stirred by ex Bioware developers Alex Thomas and John Watson and out pops a clever little indie masterpiece called The Banner Saga about a band of Vikings escorting a prince to a capitol city while trying to outrun the Dredge, a tribe of monsters trying to destroy the humans. The band mixes its unique cell shaded cartoon style with turn-based strategy (and not to mention a great narration) to make this one a game that caught me by surprise. I don’t play my Switch often, but when I do, I’ll be booting this up to continue the adventure.
