Edward's August 2023 Mix

 

So August is over already? Wow! Where has this year run off to so quickly? It’s gone by so fast I’ve hardly been able to come up for air. I didn’t even get a chance to do anything this month, well, I accomplished a few things, despite the mandatory work Saturdays and the long hours. (I did get a promotion this month, yay!)  I parted ways with my beloved Doctor Seuss mobile, my cherished Vespa. But it’s gone to a good home where it will have the chance to be more adored than I was having time for. I apologize for the brevity of this month’s mix, it’s short, but oh so sweet.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman:  Shadow, a man being released from prison after a 3 year separation from his wife, is just told his wife was killed in an automobile accident the night prior. He’s handed his personal effects and a flight ticket his wife purchased for him days earlier, from a guard who says, “This is like one of those bad news/good news jokes, isn’t it? Your wife died, but you’re getting out of prison.” And then the guard laughs as if it’s genuinely funny. On the flight home Shadow meets a mysterious man who knows everything about him and explains that Shadow is going to work for him now. And so, begins Shadow’s bizarre path to freedom. Opening this book and diving in is like belly flopping into a pristine Beverly Hills swimming pool and finding I’m actually in the murky lagoon featured in The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Like everything I’ve read by Gaiman before, this is fun.

Live Aid (1985) on DVD: Mucho thanks to my guitar mentor, Michael Stevens for providing this miniature time machine compacted onto 4 DVDs. This concert is a who’s who of anybody who was somebody musical in the 1980s. Each artist does one or two songs, so never boring. The blue skies in the background, and all of the hair, and the screaming fans, this takes me back to my own 1985. I had just been discharged from the Navy which must be what getting out of prison is like. Hard to believe this was almost 40 years ago.

Baldur’s Gate on PC: Many moons ago, I dabbled with Dungeons & Dragons in the Navy. And then in 2002 my cousin, Justin Rexroad, loaned me his discs of Bioware’s venerable Baldur’s Gate (1998). I didn’t get into it back then. But now, with the hoopla surrounding Baldur’s Gate 3, I couldn’t resist revisiting the original game. (I’m always the purist!) A company called Beamdog took the game and tweaked it for modern systems (remastered graphics, widescreen support). And boy howdy, does it shine! I’m already in Chapter 3, yet I’m still level 2. This game doesn’t hold your hand, you have to work for each level, but my Beast Master Ranger, Edward Doogooder, is staying the course. Neverwinter Nights (2002) is the only deep RPG I’ve ever beaten. I think this one is going to be next.