It’s going to be a short one this month. Working 60 plus hours leaves little time for anything else, but work. Still, looking at the bright side, the weather is getting nicer and it looks like we escaped a serious winter this year. (I wanted to try my Subaru in the snow!) I’m three books behind on my GoodReads reading challenge, but I’m not too worried. I’ll make that up, I’m sure. I was able to squeeze in a bit of time for some things, however, so without further ado I’ll get to the good stuff.
Max Payne 3 Original Soundtrack on CD: Can you name your favorite game soundtrack? Mine will always be Far Cry 3. I played the game way back in 2014 and throughout my experience I was going through some strange things. But I remember dreading the game’s ending because I knew the beautiful soundtrack that carried me the whole way was going to be over with. That wasn’t the case. I drove around listening to the OST in my car for months afterward. And I still listen to it occasionally. It’s an OST that has come to define a part of who I am. In a close second place, however, is Rockstar’s amazingly good Max Payne 3. The band who comprised the soundtrack, Health, is what you would refer to as a Noise/Industrial rock band. Strange, huh? They are somewhat reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails. But what they did was took this oddly strange compelling Max Payne game, a story of a haunted man on a quest filled with death and betrayal. The soundtrack is particularly filled with hard and edgy percussion, metal being banged against metal, with guitar reverb awash. Look up “Max: Finale” on YouTube and prepare to be caught off-guard. Being chased by every bad guy in the country through backroads and highways, you lose control, but in a cool way, like an “I meant to do that kind of way.” The car flips over end over end. You kick the door open and crawl out, walking away from it slow motion, the car explodes taking all of the bad guys out. And the coolest part of it all, in your slow motion swagger you don’t look back. This song is the sound of that.
Assetto Corsa on PC: From a physics standpoint, this is arguably the best PC racing sim of all time. Or well, could have been. All of the ingredients are there, but unfortunately Kunos Simulazoni, the developer/publisher, put the brakes on supporting the game after going at it full throttle. They instead focused their attentions on Assetto Corsa Competizione which is a grand game unto itself, but that’s a topic for a different discourse. The game doesn’t feature any night races, nor weather effects. The racing career mode is anemic enough to simply consist of a series of races strung together in a series order. Codemasters/EA F1 series has nothing to fear here. But as mentioned, what is here, the authenticity of the tracks, the interiors of the cars, the physical handling of the cars, it’s all just incredible. I’ve been dabbling this month in trying to finish the career mode. I’ve come far, but still have a ways to go.
All Quiet on the Western Front on Netflix: I read the book way back in maybe 1994, and it left an impact like a 3-mile-wide meteorite slamming into the Atlantic Ocean. Considered an anti-war novel, its grim narrative of the Western Front in WW1 through the eyes of an idealistic young German soldier accomplishes just that. And then there were the movies, the 1930 one and the 1979 Richard “Johnboy Walton” Thomas one most of us are familiar with. But this one, by far, has to be the best World War I movie ever made, and quite possibly my new personal favorite. The photography of this one was morbidly beautiful (can there be such a thing?) What I mean is, this movie, the way it was shot, the high resolution film cameras doing the shooting, well, it’s why I’m glad we have 4K TVs. I’ve always been a fan of war movies and watched many of them repeatedly. (Oddly, they seem to be getting better and more graphically realistic—Saving Private Ryan see what you started!) This one will join their ranks. It’s no wonder the movie garnered an Academy Award nomination for the Best Picture of 2022.
Hunt: Showdown on PC: Been playing this one off and on since its release. I get made fun of for playing old dated games most of the time, but this is the one modern shooter that I’d be remiss if I didn’t play it. I’ve talked about it before, but it’s the one shooter I can usually be good at simply because it doesn’t require a 14 year old’s housefly reflexes to have fun. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still stink at the game, but when the pistons are firing in-synch and I’m with a good squad of mates, it’s the best PC game out there.
Moon Cake by Charlie Carillo on Kindle: It's the summer of '69, and the whole world is eagerly awaiting the greatest achievement in human history - men are actually going to walk on the moon! Nobody is more excited about the Apollo 11 mission than Billy Gallagher, a troubled 15-year-old from Queens, New York who lives in the shadow of his big brother, a basketball star who's been felled by a knee injury. But suddenly the spotlight is on Billy when a foolish act of vandalism gets him arrested. He's at the mercy of Mr. J, the mysterious neighborhood ice cream man whose window Billy has smashed. Mr. J chooses not to press charges, and not only that - he gives him a job, pumping soft ice cream! It's the strangest summer of Billy's life as he sweats over the moon mission, learns life lessons from his boss, harbors his brother's dark secret and agonizes over Mr. J's beautiful 18-year-old daughter, a brilliant violinist with a wild streak. She's as unreachable to Billy as the moon itself - or is she? Everything comes to a head when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon, and Billy comes up with a creation to honor the triumph of the astronauts - a creation that rocks everybody's world.
This one is being a quick read. It’s quite entertaining. I’ve found a few anachronisms as far as the dialogue goes. Did anybody say “freakin’” in 1969. I don’t think so. But Carillo’s cast of characters are as memorable as the Cleaver family, though a bit more “mature” in the PG-13 rated manner.
Fallout on PC: Yes, that Fallout, the original released in 1997. This makes about the third time I’ve attempted the game, but the only one I’ve ever beat was Fallout 3. It’s going to haunt me for life if I don’t go back and play this one through to the end. The graphics look like mud, and the game is hard, even on “easy.” The story (so far) is compelling and I love the soundtrack by Mark Morgan. I’ve just hit level 2 and I have a bevy of quests. I’m playing the GoG version (which you can score on sale much of the time for under $5.00. It is oddly interesting to dabble in this game and see where all of the original lore came from. Maybe this time I can stay the course.
