Human nature is perhaps the most mysterious of things. Mrs. Burton just bought a car. We went in on a Saturday and couldn’t find a place to park. We ended up parking behind the dealership which is a double benefit. We are both allergic to dings and dents on our vehicles, and we don’t mind walking; it torches calories. We spent the rest of the entire day with Andy Mohr Associates, a dealer who started local and has made a literal fortune selling cars. I’m no alienist, but watching people in that dealership taught me something. People work hard for their money, and despite complaining about the economy and politics, they deserve a nice ride. At least they think they do. House prices are through the roof, no pun intended, groceries and apartment rent are unaffordable. But still, people think they deserve a new car. Maybe it boils down to something as simple as people having control of something in these crazy last days.
House of Wax on Blu Ray: Imagine MTV’s Road Trip crew decided to rework the classic Cinemascope feature film House of Wax with Vincent Price and Charles Bronson by stealing its title and filming it in 720p, adding music from rejected submissions to their 120 Minutes and adding plot elements from Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This would be the end result producing the 2005 movie House of Wax. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as that sounds. The acting in it was honest and proves that if Paris Hilton can act, then we all have a chance at an Academy Award. I give the special effects a solid B and the script (despite the theft of the title and the Texas Chainsaw motif) a blurry C. If anything, you can watch the birth of humble beginnings in the careers of Chad Michael Murray and Elisha Outhbert.
Star Wars: Zero Company on PC: When the LucasFilm Games motif splashed across the screen, I was expecting John Williams ever famous bombastic Star Wars theme to follow. . . and it didn’t. Do you know how refreshing that actually was? Based on a system from XCom, this game has captivated me more than any game has this year. Taking place just before the infamous Clone wars, this game has pulled me into the Star Wars universe more than anything else has, including my venerable Blu Ray six disc digibook series. In spite of the game receiving favorable reviews, the company’s founders laid off 80% of its crew in a rather sketchy move because they thought the game would be an epic failure. The game has since sold a million copies. Will the sketchy maneuver by the developers devolve into fruition for its estranged employees? We shall see, but the game is fantastic.
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro: I average reading about twenty books a year. Most of those books garner a rating of 3 out of 5 stars. This year, I’ve stumbled on cavalcade of four star books, this one included. This is my first Kazuo Ishiguro book, who is considered a grand master of an author. He penned The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go and A Pale View of the Hills. No spoilers here, but the summation here is: A fresh take on fantasy and an age old theme of restraining something bad, and by doing so, keeping even worse things in check. And paying the consequences when the gates are let down. This unusual King Arthurian tale interestingly meandered and always kept me wondering where it was going. This, being my first Kazuo Ishiguro novel was delightful in its prose and writing style. Coming away from the story, it felt like a children's tale written for adults. I could see Guillermo del Toro making this into a movie.
The Sight Below “Stagger” on 16 bit/1.44kHz FLAC: The Sight Below is an American ambient musical artist from Seattle, Washington He uses ambient/shoegaze to produce haunting, tearjearking sounds unlike the sounds of the sirens on the rocky island shores in Book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus is warned by the witch Circe about the Sirens, creatures whose enchanting song lures sailors to their deaths. To safely experience their song, Odysseus orders his crew to plug their ears with beeswax and has himself tied to the ship’s mast, instructing his men to tighten the bonds if he begs to be released. As the ship nears the Sirens’ island, their voices promise knowledge of past and future events, tempting Odysseus with irresistible allure. Despite his struggle, the ship passes safely, leaving behind the remains of sailors who succumbed to the sirens’ call. Think back to the times of you, as a child opening presents at Christmas, and the loved ones from that time who are now gone. This song is the sound of that. With its background record scratching and its haunting yearning for times past calling in the background, you’ve been warned.
The Terminator on 4K Blu Ray: Released in new 4K but downscaled to 1080p/SDR; therefore, it begs the question should you even consider this if you have the 2013 remastered Blu Ray? Short answer: no. This is my first experience with a Blu Ray “downgraded” to 1080p “4K release.” It's darkly ironic that The Terminator, a cautionary tale about the impending threat of artificial intelligence would be mired in controversy regarding the use of AI for its "new" 2160p/HDR transfer... but this is James Cameron's timeline, and we're just living in it. This recycled master was reportedly completed in 4K but finished in 2K, and by that logic this release should be considered an upscale with the obvious benefits of better compression and HDR.
The Odyssey in IMAX: I mentioned The Odyssey earlier, and no small wonder. I’ve got it on my mind thanks to this entry right here. My daughter was up for a visit and we decided to go see The Odyssey. Typically, during a three hour movie, I have to embarrassingly brush against people’s knees and block their views to answer nature’s call. This movie was so intriguing, there were no such mishaps. Encompassing all of Homer’s Odyssey in a three hour venture, both my daughter and I were intrigued. Filmed with IMAX cameras, this is truly the way to see the film. When CGI was introduced, it became all of the rage, so much so, that any filmgoer could spot (and laugh at) the fakery. It has seemingly evolved so well that I could not determine any of its use in this movie. My daughter, upon egress, when asked about what she thought, simply stated, “It’s the best movie I’ve seen this year.” She watches a lot of movies.
System Shock on PC: Granddaddy, here you are. Rapture, The Big Daddies, Ken Levine’s uncertain stone throw in the darkness of racism in Bioshock Infinite. It all started here. Nascent, here is a fun word. This game came out in 1994. I tried to play it then, but I thought the graphics looked like trash. And then recently Nightdive tackled it and made it their own. The legacy of this game is absolutely holy. The game has been cited as a key popularizer of emergent gameplay, and alongside Thief and Deus Ex, is considered one of the defining games of the immersive sim genre. Certain game developers have acknowledged System Shock's influence on their own products. Deus Ex, developer Warren Spector revealed a desire to "build on the foundation laid by the Looking Glass guys” in games like System Shock. Developer Ken Levine has commented that the "spirit of System Shock is player-powered gameplay: the spirit of letting the player drive the game, not the game designer", and at Irrational Games... that's always the game we ideally wanted to make.”
