May has always been a month of celebration for me. It marks the month I was discharged from the Navy which, for me, must be similar to being released from prison. But the month of May will now commemorate something darker. This month, I lost my shadow, in the guise of my cousin, Gregory Land. It’s caused a succession of strange days. The warm nights of the month gave me opportunities to ruminate on the porch and ponder sweet memories. And it also gave me a refuge to disappear into my reading and music. (Greg would approve.) I was able to experience my first demolition derby. I revisited a game I’d first played back in 1999, but this time in hopes of beating it. We shall see.
Demolition Derby in Spencer, Indiana. I had made plans to attend this when I heard about it from a guy at work, but being I work off-shift, when Saturday night rolled around for the event, I started talking myself out of going. Fortunately, I had some persistent friends who coaxed me and I went. Boy, howdy! I had a blast. The people, the audience participation, the cars, the drivers, the dusk turning into night under the high beam sport lamps. It was quite the spectacle! The cars would motor out, rumbling along like noble steeds showing off for the crowd, sizing each other up and picking first targets. And then when the flag dropped it was like watching a pack of rat terriers involved in a brawl to the death. Cars would limp along, bloodied and spent, parts dangling, smoke spewing, committing to last ditch efforts to be the last car standing. I can’t wait for the next one.
Guild Wars 2 on PC: This is STILL the best MMO out there in my opinion. No monthly fees, an overwhelming number of things to do, and constant love, support, and new content from NCSoft, what’s not to love about this game? Thanks to my buddy, Brian Bartley I got to participate in the dispatching of my first world boss. Oh man, those loot drops! Like a recent PC GAMER article posted, there’s so much to the game that you spend most of your time somewhat lost, but that’s okay, you’ll have a great time anyway. I’ve been tackling my character’s storyline since the game came out in 2012, and I’m making good progress. I don’t play GW2 as much as I should, but when I do jump in, I get lost for hours, and that’s in the best way!
Company of Heroes 2 on PC: My buddy Vic Berwick and I have been wreaking our usual havoc in the great CoH mod, Europe at War, but in the lapses between, I’ve been trying to knock out a single player challenge in the Theater of War segment of the game. (Indirect Fire is the scenario if you’re a glutton for punishment.) After an ignoble twenty-five or so attempts I finally did it! The mission opens up to you playing as the Russians holding your own Soviet city which is about to be usurped by the Germans. You must raze the city so the Germans have nothing beneficial to take. Of course, it’s a timed mission, but for each building you destroy you get a minute added to the game time. First off, I HATE timed missions in RTS games. I have no idea why most every developer feels they are needed. It’s at these points in strategy games that I typically uninstall them. But something kept at me to keep trying. My tenacity paid off.
No Promises in the Wind by Irene Hunt: My first Irene Hunt novel was Across Five Aprils which I read when I was in the Navy. It told the story of a Civil War soldier who deserts his unit and seeks refuge at home, hiding on the family property. The story is told through his younger brother who pens a letter to Abraham Lincoln asking for a pardon for his brother. This story, involves two boys who leave home during The Great Depression to stake their fortunes as musicians across the Midwest. It’s sappy to a point, like Waltons sappy, but Ms. Hunt doesn’t hold back. She has a gift for putting characters on paper. Her characters’ reactions to the things other characters say, it’s as if she saw all of this with her own eyes and simply wrote it down.
Fallout on PC: The only Fallout I ever finished was Fallout 3 back in the early aughts. And it always bugged me knowing I had never finished the first game. Oddly, the original game which came out in 1997 in its box and jewel cased CDs with the manual is selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay. I had the game and gave it away! Fortunately, the game is on Gog.com and can usually be found for less than a fiver. (With a strategy guide, desktop wallpapers and the original OST as freebies – not to mention, the soundtrack done by Paul Morgan is excellent.) I’m playing the Gog version, and talk about bringing back memories. The game looks like mud by today’s standards, but the ambience and the NPC dialogue, and the storyline more than make up for it. Granted, I’m having to consult a walkthrough for much of it, I’m having fun actually making progress in the game, just having hit level four. (I’ve tried to play it at least three times in the past, but never got far.) Perhaps the best part of all is seeing the roots of the series’ folklore. Even though he’s quite spritely looking, Dogmeat is accompanying me and helping me to defeat the dastardly foes.
The Art of Tom Clancy’s The Division by
Paul Davies: It's not often that an art book covering a specific game that was
actually published just before the game's release (to fuel the hype train,
mostly) compels me to want to go back and play the game. But this book has done
just that. The
book is a coffee table book full of such great renditions of the scenes and
backdrops of this great game that it instantly instills a desire to not crease
the pages and to look at it with clean hands.
Each depicted scene is narrated with captions explained by the game's art
directors. It's as if Paul Davies went into the studio and let these guys
simply open a vein and pour out. I sometimes take for granted the artistic creativity
that frame these great games I play. Reading this book was a needed exercise in
humility for me.
Lost in Space on Blu-Ray: I’d been after this set for eight years now when I first heard it had been transferred to Blu-Ray. It’s funny how you can find the DVD sets for $20 but this set, and perhaps this is a testament to what went into it) is unobtainable for anything under a hundred bucks. I’m only five episodes in, but the black and white presentation is absolutely pristine. I listened to a commentary by a LIS historian talking about how they remastered this version. The cost to do so was over $750,000. That’s quite a pretty penny, but it’s obvious a lot of love went into its making. One cool aspect of the series so far is just that, the aspect, which is wider and allows you to see more of probably what wasn’t meant to be revealed to TV audiences back in the 1960s. Some episodes even have a special feature which enable you to see the original station breaks and commercials that aired with it’s first run airing. If you were a fan of the series, then this is the set you need to pick up!
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