Edward's June 2017 Mix

I went from working 68 plus hours a week to a two week vacation. Yay! So, no small wonder I couldn’t squeeze out a Monthly Mix last month. It’s okay. I more than made up for it this month; I’ve been a busy boy. I guess I’m entering the ‘Tang in her first car show next month, so I have been busy with mods, and sheesh, I didn’t realize how addicting that can be! But of course, everything is expensive. It’s okay, I still managed to hold some back for the Steam Summer Sale.

 

1.      Gwent on PC: As a longtime fan of Wizards of the Coast’s venerable collectible card game, Magic: The Gathering (and with which I won a sealed deck tournament two years ago. Ha!) I’ve always liked the idea of computer collectible card games. I welcomed Blizzard’s Hearthstone with open arms. I quickly tired of its crippled communication system and its “pay to win” mechanics, however. CDProjekt has recently introduced a card game that’s actually a metagame in their amazing The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt. The game uses a simple system of each player getting a number of cards, and the winner is the one who wins two of three rounds. It’s much more strategy than luck ever thought about being. Do you bring out your heavy hitters up front and dominate the first round, or do you hold back in reserve and try to stay the course causing your opponent to lose through attrition? I’ve always loved the Witcher games (which were based on a small series of books written in the late 1980’s) but that’s no matter in this game. You don’t need to know anything about the lore of the Witcher games. And the best part of all? The game is in open public beta so for now it’s free. And entirely worth it. Get it, then hit me up. And then let me school you. Bwaahaahaa!

2.      A Song of Fire & Ice: Clash of Kings (Book 2) by George R.R. Martin: I’m slowly making progress in this magnificent series. I’m about 450 pages into this 900 page tome. Now that I have a vacation perhaps I can finish it. Martin’s writing reminds me of the imagery I used to know and love in my favorite Robert Howard and H.P. Lovecraft stories. He describes tall trees skirting a huge city on fire at night. And the trees are engulfed in flames “alive and covered with orange swaying robes.” Beautiful writing. If you have some time on your hands this is a great series, and then of course there’s the cool factor of looking smart because you are carrying a War and Peace sized novel around with you.

3.      Company of Heroes: The New Steam Version on PC: This, my second favorite desert island game ( Sid Meier’s Railroads!) being number one, I had to make a return when Steam integrated the Steam workshop into the game menu. A new map was introduced: Wake Island. Boy Howdy! Imagine the days of Battlefield 2 yore, only playing Wake in an RTS! The map is not perfect (bugs) but it’s a gas amongst my friends, Vic Berwick and David Tidwell. I’ve said it before, but if you want a RTS that’s not simply a mouse-clickfest, where you have to implement actual strategy, I wholeheartedly recommend this game. It’s done so well a movie (starring Tom Sizemore) was made inspired by the game. 

4.      Ladyhawke on CD: Of all odd things to find inspiration from, I have Dirt 2 to thank for my love for Ladyhawke. This chick came from the early oughts, but you’d swear she stepped out of a time machine nestled in 1982. This album had a few radio hits, but the one most people know is “My Delirium.” That was what I heard on the Dirt 2 soundtrack that prompted me to pick up the CD, and boy, was I in for a surprise! There is so much to like on this record. I’m amazed an artist that sounds this good could pass under the radar like a stealth bomber in Operation: Desert Shield. She took her name from the 1985 movie of the same name. Check out the tracks, “My Delirium,” and “Crazy World.” You may, like me, wonder where this girl has been all of your life.

5.      Steelseries Siberia V3 Gaming Headset: I’ve had these tucked away in the box forever as a back up. My Kingston Hyper X gaming headset gave up the ghost finally. (The microphone stopped working.) I used to own the V2 Siberias and they were great until they stopped working in one ear. These are . . . well, okay. Frankly I’m a little disappointed. They sound good music-wise, but they just don’t have the “oomph” in gaming as my Hyper Xs did. And they are really lightweight, cheap, “plastic-ey.” Hopefully, these last, but unless they do a serious engineering update, I won’t be buying another pair of them.

6.      Player Uknown Battlegrounds on PC: I’m a fan of the concept of early release games on Steam. But of course, you pay your money and you take your chances. I’ve bought into three different EA games and I’ve not been burned yet. My latest endeavor, Player Uknown Battlegrounds (which gets the award for the weirdest game title this year) chapped my hide, however. I’m plagiarizing my own review here on Steam, but well, here goes: I just watched Brenden Greene brag about the 3 million PC players who bought into the EA version of PlayerUknown's Battlegrounds (weirdest PC game title of 2017) on the E3 (very console friendly as always) 2017 Twitch. Color me jaded, but I find the game severely unoptimized, and despite the regular updates, nothing seems to be done about the real things that need to be fixed. And at $29.95 this is the most expensive EA game I've bought into to date. I regularly join with 4 friends {which make up a squad) and at least 1 out of 3 times, one of us will mysteriously drop from the game. The blue ball of death is an interesting and effective mechanic which admittedly forces the ultimate outcome of the game, but even that randomly either becomes grossly unfair or not, depending upon the speed that it decides to move across the map. As I aforementioned, Greene's presentation offered up as an XB1 "exclusive" (even though it's been on PC for months) revealed graphics three times better than what we have on PC. I just don't get it. The PC crowd made this guy rich, and yet he's showing the love to the console crowd. I'm done with it. 

7.      Spawn on Blu Ray: I remember buying Spawn comics from the shops in Austin, Texas many years ago. I really thought Image Comics was onto something there. I ended up buying several issues numbered 0 (the very first issues.) I unloaded them for next to nothing years later, but then there was the movie. It was typical anti-hero action movie fare, numerous explosions, lots of violent gunplay, great fight scenes, but arguably, John Leguizamo made the movie his own as the nasty clown/Violator character. If you want to laugh out loud and spray your soda, just watch his performance in this movie. There’s a scene where he finds a pizza crawling with maggots in a trash can. He picks up the pizza and takes a huge bite out of it, exclaiming, “I hate anchovies!” The pizza actually had live maggots on it and he took the bite in the first take.

8.      Terminator: Genysis on Blu Ray: I’ve always loved the Terminator series since I watched the first movie back in 1984. The movies are available on Blu Ray, but serious reviews pan them as half hearted reviews. I’m still awaiting a complete remastering of the series. I did pick this one up on Blu Ray for cheap, and admittedly I wasn’t disappointed. Of course, it radically changed the series’ canon, but it was done logically, and inferrentially as part of the new canon now, and I’m okay with that. I think this one ended it though. I don’t see how the producers can come up with anything new. The series reached it’s finale.

9.      Flaked Season Two on Netflix: I eagerly anticipated this second season since I enjoyed the first season. Oddly, this one was only six episodes long. The story concerns a recovering alcoholic and his best friend’s misadventures in trying to stay sober. A supposed comedy of sorts, I found it more depressing and dismal than anything, but still compelling to watch. The finale offered a glimmer of hope, but personally, I feel the series may have run out of steam. I guess we’ll see next year if a third season rears its head.

10.  Steam Summer Sale: Yes, it’s that time again for our wallets to go on a crash diet and lose inches. There’s been nothing bombastic about this sale. I’ve spent probably $25 on about six games, all remnants lingering on my wishlist for probably the past two or three years. And now I have more games on my to play list to get to. When does it end? I may yet still pick up Red Storm Rising: Vietnam despite that it’s only 10% off. I have friends who play and they’re convincing me to pick it up.

11.  Assetto Corsa on PC: I finally finished the BMW Z4  series (GT2) and moved onto the BMW Z4 Extreme (GT2X) series. This series is much more hardcore. No more 8 lap races that take ten minutes to complete. Nosirree, these are 30 lap one hour beasts. The cars are slightly beefier and there are pit stops involved if you want them. So far so good. I’ve ran one race and I won. I have Silverstone coming up. I can dominate that track. If there is any possibility of natural ability in the seat of a race car, I own it at Silverstone, but then I’ll have my work cut out for me. Wish me luck.

Edward's April 2017 Mix

Someone once told me the Chinese have a most interesting statement they oft cite to an enemy: “May you live in interesting times.” It looks like those interesting times are upon us in the guise of North Korea’s deranged dictator, Kim Jong-Un, with all his porcine gracelessness. The interesting part however, is how he’s become China’s embarrassment. The threat of a nuclear emblazoned WWIII looms. I’m working many 12-14 hour days as of late. And yet, it’s a been a great month for my Monthly Mix.  Best of all? I’m now one of the self chosen few who walk the earth. I defeated Dark Souls!

1.      Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition on PC: I finally did it. It took me 168 hours and I had leveled up to level 108? Yet I accomplished an almost insurmountable challenge in beating this game. It was an amazing feat, watching my character start out as a level 1/1 wimp and grow into a man fashioned by his environment into a bold, august, stoic killing machine. Fighting the brothers, Smough & Ornstein and defeating them, I swear earned me real life fortitude. And the environment of Dark Souls, sheesh, it’s like winter afternoons when it’s freezing outside, yet you see the sun setting through the naked tree branches. And you know you have school or work the next day, and that feeling of depression sets in. The whole world of this game was like that for me. And now it’s behind me, and oddly I feel a bittersweet melancholy that the experience is over. No small wonder I found my eyes welling over as I read through the end credits.

2.      A Song of Fire & Ice: Clash of Kings (Book 2) by George R.R. Martin: I have a friend who is the biggest fan of this beloved genre, and he refuses to delve into this series because of the length of the books (tomes?) I can relate, the depth of the books are intimidating, but I was seduced into it. I have no regrets. Martin, pulls no punches, he kills his mains off with the best of them, and often just when you find yourself getting attached. Martin’s writing is proof that magic does indeed exist. The characters in this book are so plentiful I find myself constantly thumbing through the appendix at the family tree section to determine who is who, and jarring my memory of who they were and how they came into play from the first book. If you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings or T.H. White’s celebrated The Once and Future King, you owe it to yourself.

3.      Rise of Nations: The Extended Edition on PC: Back in 2003 I had an interest in Age of Empires, but I didn’t like the restraint of only playing in one age. I had been playing a lot of Empire Earth but was hungry for something more. I stumbled upon Big Huge Games’ Rise of  Nations and never looked back. I used to play with my longtime RL friend, Vic Berwick, and lo and behold those days are upon us again. Steam has released an updated version of this wonderful old game. Vic and I played our first game in over a decade, and not surprising, our game was a draw. This, my friends, a testament as to how well and thorough our battles were against each other. If you like Real Time Strategy with a slice of Risk style board gaming thrown in for good measure, you might want to check this game out, and then hit me up on Steam. I’ll take the world out from under you.

4.      Kings of Leon Walls on CD: I was cruising down a US Indiana highway in a company car at the mercy of the radio stations, and a certain song came on that I couldn’t shake from my brain. All I could do was hang onto the chorus of the lyrics and commit it to memory. To my benefit I was able to conjure that chorus and through the lyrics discovered the song was called “Find Me” and the band was Kings of Leon. And so began a hardcore listen on Spotify and YouTube. The following week I went to three different stores to find the album “Walls” sold out everywhere. I snagged a copy from eBay, and boy am I glad I did. This is a superb album from this quad of southern boys raised in a strict Pentecostal environment. Caleb Followill, who looks like a lovechild of Kevin Costner and Christian Slater, has an amazing singing voice. And the band’s sound is remeniscient of the mid 90’s stuff I used to love in Texas and the great indie stuff that came out during the RIAA/big record moguls/Napster explosion (and incineration. Check out the songs, “Find me,” and “Walls.” You’ll like them. Promise.  

5.      James Seven on CD: It’s been a while, and I’d forgotten how good  England’s James sounded. And once again, listening to it a few times over reminded me of how much I really dug this album. The Album is a smorgasbord of delectable slices of jazz, alternative 90’s and soulful vocals. I suppose James is a band I’ve always liked, but when asked who my favorite bands were, they just never came to mind. Yet, I could listen to them all day long. And who can forget the X-Files season 3 episode in which Jack Black opens an episode by playing James’ “Ring the Bells” on a jukebox before being killed? That song is on this particular album, but it lacks the musical grace of the live version depicted in the X-Files episode. I had to search and high and low to find the live version. I found it on a Greenpeace concert album.

6.      Hell on Wheels: Season 5 on Netflix: Well, it’s getting down to the nitty gritty in AMC’s original hard western set amongst the creation of the Union Pacific Railroad pre-1870. I watch these episodes while spinning on the exercise bike, and let me tell you, I’ve never enjoyed exercising more. Cullen Bohanan gets himself in more messes while trying to do the right thing more than any other television character I’ve come to know. Now he’s becoming involved with a Chinese girl who is posing as a boy (to escape the attention of a Chinese warlord demanding her hand in marriage.) And his association with President Ulysses Grant has forced him into a stance of propriety far flung from his beginnings of the show as a Civil War criminal out for revenge against the Northern Army vigilantes who butchered his family. I’ll hate to see this season, the finale one, end.

7.      Fahrenheit 451 on Blu-Ray: An out and out ripoff of an Alfred Hitchcock film. By golly, even the film’s score is done by Bernard Herman. Don’t get me wrong, though. This movie is an homage to Hitchcock in the best of ways. I loved the book, years ago, and honestly, I didn’t know this movie existed. It’s done quite well, set in a future where having books is a crime against the state. If ownership is found out firemen are sent to your house to take care of it. But instead of fighting fires, they burn houses that have books in them. It’s the colorful cast of characters and the aforementioned score by Herman that really drove the film for me. I watched an interview afterwards by Ray Bradbury who adamantly approved the film and admitted after watching the final scenes still finds it tearful. (As did I.) He said, “If you have a good film with a bad ending it becomes a bad film, but if you have a mediocre film with a beautiful ending it becomes a beautiful film.” Truer words were never spoken, Mr. Bradbury. This particular edition is beautifully rendered on Blu-Ray. The stark colors, especially the blacks and reds stand out magnificently.

8.      Player Uknown’s  Battlegrounds on Steam: And the award for the stupidest title for a game this year (thus far)  . . . (drum roll please . . ) goes to THIS game! The game is still Early Access and it’s truly an alpha, the optimization is crap, it lags from time to time, there are frequent crashes. The graphics look like mud hand scooped from a sewer after a hard rain, and at $30 it’s not the cheapest EA game out there, but you know what? The play’s the thing. It’s a simple concept. You parachute into island villages along with a hundred other guys with nothing but the clothes on your back. You pick up guns/loot from houses and shacks and then it becomes a free for all death match. Last man standing wins the game. I watched my buddy, Dillon Gard, stream it on his Steam broadcast and I was hooked. And now I’ve turned two other friends onto it . .and now the four of us play together! It’s like selling Amway, only tons more fun! Pick the game up, and we’ll play. But it’s a sleep-killer. You’ve been warned.

Edward's March 2017 Mix

High spring is in the air! Time for changes. I’ve been seriously taking a hard look at Facebook. I’m really tired of my liberal “friends”  who hold me hostage depending on my political leanings. I’m tired of FB being a portal for false news. I have other online social venues; perhaps it’s time to use them. I started running (again?) I ran competitively for years and when I stopped it always haunted me. Perhaps the patter of my shoes on the pavement will be the true test as to whether this holds out, but we shall see. Oddly, this month seems to be a carryover of everything I did last month, and it’s probably my shortest mix on record.

1.      Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition on PC: This, truly, is the most grueling and difficult action RPG I have played, and I’m still trudging my way through it. I’ve tried to convince friends to play it, but no takers. It’s truly a character builder. I’m still having fun with it despite its difficulty. I beat The Ceaseless Discharge in my first attempt. I beat  the Chaos Witch Quelaag (basically a giant spider) in three attempts. I defeated Crossbreed Priscilla in five attempts, and I slayed Great Gray Wolf Sif in 13 attempts. Iron Golem took two attempts. I’m now battling Ornstein and Smough which have thus far proven to be the two toughest bosses in the game. And when you kill one of them, the other recharges to full health and additionally takes on the traits of his fallen brethren. I have fought this nefarious duo 24 times. I shall press on; I’ve not given up yet. My prediction is, when I beat this game it will probably be one of my proudest moments in the history of my 28 year PC gaming tenure.

2.      Pink Floyd: The Ultimate Collector’s Edition: I’m still engrossed in this collector edition magazine I picked up from my local Walmart store several months back. I’ve been reading more into it, and this is what I’ve learned about the band Pink Floyd. Their later years stuff e.g. Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall) was all written about Syd Barrett, their founding father lead singer. But the thing that baffles me is, when he was with the band they really didn’t sound good at all. They sucked! And yet each of their albums is a testament to this man of theirs who went off on a drug tangent and lost touch with them. What I find most interesting is the band’s take on The Wall. People think it’s the ultimate drug album, (in Australia, it was voted the best album to make love to) but none of the members thought this way about it at all. They just thought it was good music. And another great impression of the band, whilst reading their interviews, they are all eloquent in speech, no vulgarities, and all of them exude a grand humility.

3.      Dirt 3: The Complete Edition on PC: I’m on the last season, finally. It’s been a wild ride, not my favorite, but nothing too harshly to complain about. Just glad to get this one beat and under my belt. It has been great to drive a Mustang though in some of the races, a rendition patterned after my own sexy little beast.

 4.      Breaking Benjamin: Phobia on CD: The epitome of mid ought rock music. I spent 6 months unemployed in 2006 and this was about the best 6 months of my life. This album, and the big hit song from it, “Diary of Jane” will always stick with me. The album, truthfully, isn’t much different than most other teen angst/angered music produced in the same time frame. But this album isn’t a bad listen.

5.      The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy on Kindle: I’ve always been a fan ever since The Hunt for Red October. I loved Rainbow Six (which I read out of chronological order) and thus far all of Clancy’s books have been interesting. This one is moving rather slowly. I’m 25% into it and not sure where it’s all going. I do love Clancy’s use of modern technology and his seemingly exposure of modern government utilization of technology, which is in fact, open unclassified information.