Edward's June 2018 Mix

It’s that time of year again. Summer shutdown from work, the annual lackluster Steam Sale, yard mowing, looking out my office window and wishing I could be outside. Still, I’ll take this over ice and snow anytime. Speaking of the Steam Summer Sale (which Gog.com, Humble Bundle and Fanatical seems to blow clean out of the water) I’ve picked up a few games to add to my ever growing backlog and the funny thing is . .when will I play these games? .

1.      Brian McBride The Effective Disconnect on CD:  Commissioned to score the OST for the famous documentary about the vanishing honeybee dilemma, The Vanishing of the Bees.” this album is a tour de force of McBride’s work. You know him as 1\2 of Austin, TX’s brilliant ambient duo, The Stars of the Lid, which I know and love well, but frankly speaking, I think this work outshines his work with TSOL. Filled with emotive orchestral sweeps the whole album reminds me of Voltaire’s famous quote, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to keep silent.” The album is heartrendingly sad but so beautiful it’s like audio crack cocaine. I simply can not stop listening to it.

2.      Mission: Impossible on Blu Ray: I had been searching for this Blu Ray box set forever, and my local Hellmart had the DVD set, but never the Blu Ray set. Finally, they got it in! And all five movies for $25, that’s a hard deal to beat. I confess, I fell asleep while watching this movie back upon its release in 1996, but this time I was glued to the set. Critics decried the convoluted plot, but I didn’t think it was that difficult to follow, certainly no more than some of  the old television episodes I watched as a kid. (Speaking of, this movie makes the old series, as venerable as it is, look like a high schl by far. I have lost whole hours engrossed in this book. ool play.) If you research it you’ll find it’s one of those movies that struggled to be made (e.g. scripting problems, film-on-location difficulties, personality conflicts with directors/actors, indecisive screenplay writers, the list goes on.)

3.      The Wolf’s Hour  by Robert R. McCammon: Still plowing along in this magnificent horror novel by one of my favorite writers. I have to admit it’s a tad long winded in parts, but if you’re a fan of such great WWII flicks as Where Eagles Dare or The Guns of Navarone, or you played the heck out of the Wolfenstein series, you’d be doing yourself a disservice to pass this one up. I don’t know how McCammon pulled it off, it’s as if the man was a werewolf himself because he ostensibly captured what it would be like to be a lycanthrope and put it on paper for us all to experience. I’ve read some great werewolf stories, (The Werewolf of Paris, Thor) and this tops them all.

4.      Ronin on Blu Ray: An action film starring Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno. I had watched this years ago on DVD and recently came across a bargain bin edition of it on Blu Ray. Directed by John Frankenheimer who certainly needs no introduction. This director directed action movies years before they were ever a thing. After a the Cold War there are broken and splintered secret agents still hyped and pumped full of a adrenaline. They need something to do, and so a group of them came together and formed an A-Team of sorts. This movie is filled with surprises, betrayals, and enough action sequences to mesmerize a cave man. And not mention the appearance of Natascha McElhone who’s as beautiful as a summer day in the winter solstice. If you like car chases, this is one not to be missed, of particular note is the chase through the Parisian highway tunnels, similar to the one in which Princess Diana lost her life.  

5.      Sony Playstation Vita: I suddenly had the urge to pick up a handheld gaming device which is odd being that I’ve never once played a game on my mobile phone. And years ago I purchased a Sony Playstation PSP and just couldn’t get into it. I quickly sold it on eBay. With this Vita, however, I’m totally hooked. Everybody seems to be clamoring over the new Nintendo Switch and that’s all fine and dandy, but rather than hanging out with Mario, I’d rather play the original Final Fantasy, Silent Hill and Metal Gear games. Not to mention, all of the great indies available for the Vita. Stardew Valley, Limbo, Full Throttle, Risk of Rain, Child of Light. I like how Sony murdered the Vita yet its rabid fanbase keeps it going strong.

6.      Rise of Venice on PC: I bought this on a Steam Sale many moons ago. It’s one of those Patrician era wooden ships/trading simulations in which most of the goings on occurs behind the scenes in invisible spreadsheets, but the graphics and the art style and the music grace the game lovingly. The thing is, I really suck at it. The tutorial is not the best at explaining things. In truth, I’m about to uninstall it. I may give it one more go, but the future doesn’t look too bright. It’s a game I really wish would work out.

7.      Euro Truck Sim 2 on PC: I recently picked up the Vive La France! expansion which bloated my map from 60% explored to now only 45% explored. This just goes to show how much content was added with the map. I’m now driving a Mercedes semi and have six or seven drivers working under me. I’m slowly building my empire into a mega corporation trucking company. You’ve heard me say this before, but ETS2 is my garden of zen. There’s just nothing quite like it, cruising along a rainy highway, the lights in the cab and Trance music playing on the radio (which is actually authentically streamed from European stations via the Internet.) This is a game which shall always reside on my HDD.

Edward's May 2018 Mix

 

It went straight from winter to summer. Of course I’m not complaining. I’ll take heat over cold anytime. I’ve got to have an excuse to stay inside and play computer games. I’m embracing my new obsession for guitar, both listening and playing. My only regret is wishing I’d began this journey decades ago when I was a young man. I had a cardioversion this month and guess what? It worked!! Doctors said I should start to feel progressively better. I didn’t realize I was feeling badly!

1.      Garbage Beautiful  on CD: The album sounds like . . . well, garbage. Beautiful Garbage failed to match the commercial success achieved by its predecessors. I can’t believe the disappointment of this album, Rolling Stone Magazine cited it as one of their top ten releases of 2001. I don’t see it all. And I guess I’m not alone. The album garnered critical complain yet sales were wholly lackluster. The album sounds like a b-side compilation of Garbage 2.0. Better, it sounds like songs that would have been culled from a new release. I don’t know how to describe it. Each song is very samey . . .with a tinge of hip-hop and something not quite electronica, but maybe close. I’ve listened to it twice now thinking perhaps it would grow on me. Not happening.

2.      For Honor on PC: It was free to play on Steam for a weekend this month. And the standard version of the game went on sale from $60 down to $15. I couldn’t resist. This is the ultimate sword fighting simulation. It makes Medieval: Chivalry look like a mod some 7^th grader made for an Intro to Computing class. The game is super polished, but in line with Ubisoft’s money generating schemes, there are a gazillion incrementals which cost money. There is one “emotion” basically an animated gesture your foe does when he defeats you that costs the equivalent of $9.00. This is ludicrous. But of course, this is what Ubisoft does. I’m still in the training academy, and I have to say my Xbox Controller hasn’t had such a workout since Dark Souls. The game is torturous difficult. I can only imagine how I’m going to be dueling someone online. I’m going to be like Curly of  The Three Stooges, self slapping my face and whoop, whoop, whooping . . .right before I throw my PC out of the window. But hey, you know me: the eternal masochist.

3.      The Wolf’s Hour  by Robert R. McCammon: Had a friend approached me with this book and said, “Hey, I have this book I want you to read,” and gave me this I probably would have laughed and said, “Ah, that’s okay . . . just tell me what it’s about. And give me the Reader’s Digest version.” But this IS Robert R. McCammon, of whom I am a big fan and it’s a book I hadn’t read so I decided to dive into it. The book concerns a Russian spy in WWII converted to the English who does clandestine (and sometimes not so clandestine ) missions behind German lines. He kills his share of Nazis and steals his fair share of documents and he works with almost superhuman aplomb. And the reason he’s able to pull these shenanigans off so well is because he’s a werewolf. Yes, I know, it’s laughably farfetched. But McCammon breathes life into this guy . . er . .beast? so vividly that you can’t help but sympathize with him and believe in the character.

4.      Battletech on PC: Easily the most fun I’ve had in a PC game this year. This game was a Kickstarter project, obviously by a band of people who were big fans of the original FASA license of the 1980s, we’re talking the books, the table top miniatures game. And yes, even the Activision and Microsoft games of the 1990s. I’m loving the campaign, oddly, limiting my playtime with it because I don’t want to reach the game’s end, though it has unlimited playability. And Paradox Interactive is famous for oodles of DLC—this is a good thing. I’ve gotten to play around in some online skirmishes. I suck, but I still have fun losing. This is a game I’m going to play for a long time.

5.      Heat on Blu Ray: I watched this with my good friend, John Wallen who had never seen it. This makes probably my sixth viewing of the movie. It’s odd how one can watch a movie over again and pick up details formerly passed over. Directed and produced by Michael Mann, this movie makes me want to check out more of his work (Miami Vice notwithstanding.) Coupled with an amazing soundtrack, this movie features one of the greatest bank heist shootouts in movie making history. It’s no small wonder this movie was the inspiration for the games, Kayne & Lynch: Dead Men, Payday: The Heist, & Grand Theft Auto.

6.      The Cure  Seventeen Seconds on CD: Released in 1980, this is The Cure’s second album and was made on a minimal budget. Some say it paved the way for Gothic music (despite Robert Smith’s extreme aversion to that association.) My personal favorite, “A Forest” reminds me of  the soundtrack to IonStorm’s venerable computer game, Deus Ex. The whole album is seemingly consisted of as much minimalism of instrumentation as was the budget, but I think it set the standard for that distinct Cure sound. And I can see how critics claim it was at the forefront of Gothic music. Chris Westwood of Record Mirror described the album as "sad Cure, sitting in cold rooms, watching clocks". It’s a perfect description. 

7.   Ibanez AW54LCE Guitar: Progressing in my journey on becoming a master guitarist I’ve discovered the following notions to be total falsehoods: “I’m too old to learn,” or “I have no talent.” The truth is, it’s really just a matter of practice. I’m keeping it fun, and each time I pick up the guitar I feel like I come away from it having learned just one more little thing which made me better than the previous session. And speaking of keeping it fun, I just picked up a new Ibanez AW54LCE  lefty acoustic. Solid mahogany, it looks like a guitar dipped in chocolate. And I can’t say enough for the folks at Sweetwater, out of Fort Wayne, IN where I purchased it. Switching from electric to acoustic is different and more difficult, but I’m enjoying the transition and my newly found passion for singing.    

Edward's April 2018 Mix

I took a break last month after my divorcement from Facebook. I guess I miss it at times, but then where does one draw the line? Force fed fake news from the Russkies, my information being blatantly sold to third parties, and my online habits being culled unbeknownst from me . . . all by one site. I’d just had enough. And now watch, I’ll reactivate my account in a week or so. Spring is finally here. The struggle will become real, that is . . to stay inside and play or go outside and enjoy the real world. Speaking of struggles, I engrossed myself in an old Codemaster’s game this month called Soldiers: Heroes of World War II. Truly, one of the worst games I’ve ever played, but I couldn’t stop. But when it comes to computer games I’ve always been a masochist anyway.

1.      Big Wreck Grace Street on FLAC: They simply get better with each album. I jumped onboard with Big Wreck way back in 1997 with the debut of their first album and I’ve been a fan ever since. I could listen to any of their albums on eternal auto play and be satisfied. Ian Thornley has always had a wonderfully distinct voice (reminiscent of the late Chris Cornell, as a matter of fact he’s been referred to as the Canadian Chris Cornell, and it’s a sobriquet Thornley’s not fond of.) But it’s his guitar playing that has blossomed and matured into an incredible thing. I don’t quite know how to describe this album. It’s bluesy, despite I’m not a blues fan. I guess mellow rock and roll is the best way to describe it, but oh so compelling. It’s one of those albums that if you’re not a fan, just hang on because the album will grow on you like a tumor of happiness.  

2.      BladeRunner  on Blu Ray: I broke out my 5 disc ultimate collector’s edition to rewatch this, my favorite movie of all time, just to hear the commentary by the two screenplay writers and the producer. All good stuff. As it goes, this movie was released during the summertime in the time frame of E.T. just as the studios thought E.T. would be dying out in popularity. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and BladeRunner never got the applause it deserved. And did you know the most beautiful line in the whole film, the famous “Tears in Rain” speech was something Rutger Hauer approached Ridley Scott with? Yep, that’s all a Rutger original. Who would have known that last bit of lines would hallmark the movie as one of the greatest cult films of all time. I’ve seen this movie approaching a dozen times, and I could watch it again just as many times over.

3.      Echo Burning (Jack Reacher #5) by Lee Child: Spending time with my favorite superhero, Mr. Jack Reacher. This time, he’s accosted by a beautiful young woman who picks him up while he’s hitchhiking, and she implores him to off her abusive husband. Of course Reacher declines the offer, and the woman’s husband ends up dead anyway with all evidence pointing to her as the murderer, but Reacher surmises all doesn’t add up to be what it seems. And suddenly he’s in over his head (like every other Jack Reacher novel.) Quite entertaining to the point of page turning intensity, Child has a knack for this sort of thing.

4.      F1 2016 on PC: I’m still fighting to not be last place in every race I engage in, and of course that’s easier said than done. I do okay in the practice sessions, earning my points to invest in R&D. Every little bit helps, but it’s going to be a long time before I start placing consistently. Still, I love this game. Like I’ve said recently, this game made me infatuated with real life F1 racing. I’ve not missed watching a race since the end of last season. And a little dream of mine is to actually attend the USA race this year in Austin, TX. We shall see.

5.      Northern Exposure: The Fourth Season on DVD: My favorite comedy from the 1990s. In their recent “The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time,” Rolling Stone Magazine declared this series one of the worst shows of all time. They describe it as critically acclaimed and the show’s creator went onto formulate their favorite show of all time: The Sopranos. But then go figure, this is the most liberal rag in America yet hosts full page ads of Skoal chewing tobacco. What’s wrong with this picture? I find myself reaching for a Kleenex tissue about every episode. And I don’t know if it’s Joel Fleischman’s self discoveries or Chris “in the morning” on the radio and his wit often borrowed from great lines in poetry or books, but the show always resonates with me. It makes me want to move to Cicely, Alaska and take up residence there with these compelling characters.

6.      Elizabeth Smith’s Fast Track to Japanese in 6 Weeks book/CD: Having lived in Japan many decades ago I got a nice little firm grip on the language. Well, now I work at a Japanese company. Who would have ever guessed speaking Japanese would come into play after all these years? I’m rusty to say the least. This program has been a Godsend. It’s strange, being an old guy now, it really is more difficult to learn things. I’m just not as absorbent as I was in my twenties, but using this program 45 minutes a day like it instructs you to do, I’ve come far in even the past week and a half I’ve used it. And the beauty of it is, I’m never going to forget this stuff. I encourage everybody to learn a new language. If anything it just makes you feel incredibly intelligent.

7.      A Reunion with my Guitar: Since my brush with death last year (interestingly I just read a malady with a 95% mortality rate) I’ve discovered each day has become much more important to me. I’m trying to reinvent myself, hence learning Japanese. I’ve recently picked up my guitar and blew the dust off it. I’ve committed to thirty minutes a day. It’s amazing how muscle memory works, and the fact that old songs have started coming back to me. I just had my axe cleaned and restrung this month, and coincidentally, HumbleBundle.com is offering a slew of beginner guitar books. You can pick up the best of them for one dollar. Isn’t it funny how fate works? My relationship with my guitar, well, I’m like a dinosaur caught in a California tar pit. I have to really work hard for any little bit I master. Funny, how it runs in the blood so thick (I come from a family of musicians) yet I have no natural ability. Oh well, it makes success taste that much sweeter. . . er . .uh, that’s what I keep telling myself anyway.

8.      Soldiers: Heroes of World War II on PC: I just beat this game after 96 hours of pure unadulterated rage. It’s a game in which you use a squad of soldiers to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks often involving taking over entire towns, undermanned and under equipped. Remember the old Commandos (1998)? Well, this is like that, except much prettier graphics and an environment capable of being torn asunder by bazooka and King Tiger tank blasts. It started out fun, but long in the tooth, and I’m just glad it’s over now. Man, what a sludge fest! I haven’t had to reload save games like this since I played Dark Souls. Of course, I handle games like this in one of two ways. I either rage quit and get the game off my hard drive like an HIV saturated cloth bandage or I embrace the rage and hold tunnel vision until the game is defeat me because I refuse to let it defeat me. This one was definitely the latter. Truly one of the most difficult games I’ve ever played, and guess what? I played it on medium difficulty. The game goes on sale on Steam quite a bit for a mere $1.49. I defy you to pick it up and beat my 96 hour stint.  

Edward's February 2018 Mix

It’s been an interesting month. My heart still seems to be on the mend, despite I’m slated to have another ablation in a month or so. It’s been a lot of tweaking over the past 7 months and hopefully it’s winding down. I’m experimenting this month with unplugging from Facebook, yeah, I’ve let it go. It was consuming me. I’ve fallen for a new hobby, well, not so much fallen for it. I’ve always been in love with it. Let’s shall we say . . . immersed myself. We’re talking high resolution music. HDTracks.com is definitely the gateway drug. Just go there. You’ll see. It’s impacted much of what you will read on my mix this month. Perhaps much more so than any other dominating thing in any of my mixes before. But I think you’ll like it.

1.      The Eagles Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 on CD: This album will go down in history as one of the top selling albums in the history of music in any genre (and according to Wikipedia THE top selling album of the 20^th century in the United States. If any conglomeration of a band’s hits are as eclectic as this collection I think you’d be hard pressed to find it. The CD sounds as good as any vinyl album and I defy you to take it for a spin and not be taken back to sweet memories of youth. Our local high school had a jukebox we were allowed to play at lunchtime. Each time I hear “Take it to the Limit” (an oft repeated tune favorited amongst our high school’s fairer sex) I’m instantly propelled to those days of angst, teen frustration and daydreams about night things with the pretty girl who sat next to me in English class.

2.      Aftermath on Blu Ray: Arnold Schwarzenegger may have outgrown his days of cheesy 1980’s one liners, but he’ll never outgrow his Austrian accent. As a matter of fact several of his roles take advantage of it. This is one such movie. He plays a character named Roman who hails from Russia. Having long been an American citizen he goes to the airport to pick up his wife and daughter who’ve been visiting the “old country.” He horrifyingly discovers they’ve perished in an airliner crash inadvertently caused by an air traffic controller who becomes caught up in too many tasks at one time. The air traffic controller is so beleagured by personal demons after the incident it causes a family breakup (his wife, the ever endearing Maggie Grace leaves him, and you can’t help but not hate her for it) and he moves to another state complete with a name change. Oh, but one cannot always escape one’s fate. Schwarzenegger has been searching for him, just to get a proper apology for his mistake which took his family away. This film captures the sad plight of both men with equal sympathy. I honestly wrestled with the attachments I had to both main characters in the film, and the ending really caught me off-guard. It’s a depressing film, and the film’s muted grays and blues throughout the movie reflect this.

3.      A Chosen Faith by John A. Buehrens and Forrest Church: I spent my boyhood in church. Every summer I attended numerous vacation bible schools and typically impressed every bible school or Sunday school teacher I had with my divine-like knowledge of the “good book.” But looking back I wonder if my faith was a result of my love for God or rather a fear of spending an eternity in “the bad place.” So, imagine a Christian denomination in which it’s believed God is too good to send any of his creation to such a place. The idea is termed Unitarian Universalism. Clara Barton and Ralph Waldo Emerson were members. I was turned onto this idea several years ago by my friend Mark Lowe (who is now an atheist). I was disinterested at the time, but Mark planted a seed. I’m doing research reading this book, and so far it seems to speak to me. People cross in and out of our lives for a reason I’ve learned. And perhaps I was meant to read this book. Mark, thank you.

4.      Def Leppard Adrenalize on CD: I remember when this came out in 1992 and though I never owned it, I loved every song that played on the radio. I wasn’t a super fan of Def Leppard (and had no idea Steve Clark had died) but following on the heels of their epic Hysteria, who couldn’t help but be a fan? I picked this up the other day and gave it a good long spin. Joe Elliot’s vocals are as cool as ever, but I realized without Steve Clark something was just missing. Phil Collen valiantly attempted to mimic Clark’s style, and I admire his effort, but Steve Clark was unique. Still, it’s a fun album and a great album to follow on the coat tails of Hysteria.

5.      DB Power Amp on PC: I’ve been ripping a lot of my CDs into FLAC files now. This pretty much retains the CD sound better than any other form out there and is compressive at the bare minimum. CDs are recorded at 44.1kHz/16 bit. HDTracks.com offers FLAC titles in 96kHz/24 bit which as you would infer, are even better than CD quality. I’d been using Windows Media Player to rip CDs to .wmp files or .wav files for years, and it’s done a swell job. But FLAC is really where it’s at, and Windows Media Player is just incapable. I’d used Media Monkey to play the few FLAC files I’d purchased and it worked. It even rips CDs to FLAC, but when I did this it got confused. My CD was untitled, the songs were untitled, and I had a difficult time finding my music files. They weren’t in the default Music folder of my PC where all of my other rips lived. So I hit some forums and found out power users like a program called DB Power Amp. It costs $38.00 and when you download it you can try it free for 21 days. I knew in 5 minutes I was going to buy it. It’s that good. It even makes multiple passes if it rips a bad part on the CD in an attempt to get it right, but the topper is this: It rips .wav and FLAC at the same time in a single pass. What will they think of next?

6.      HiFi Walker H2 High Resolution Player: My music listening has outgrown my smart phone. It was time to move up in the world. And boy did I. This little music player can play any kind of file imaginable, including DSD files. It weighs as much as a pistol and is a glossy piano black, but its real beauty is its sound. The first time I listened to it my mouth dropped open. All of those years wasted on a smart phone! It’s compact enough to take anyplace, and I actually look forward to getting home from work now just so I can listen to it and lose myself in a book. $138 on Amazon. It’s a cheap ticket price to enter the land of music bliss.

 

7.      Sennheiser 599 Open Back Headphones: So many sets of headphones have hung their hats on my Amazon wish-list over the past three years I couldn’t make up my mind on what to pick until I started spending hours reading reviews and watching YouTube reviews of premium cans. I’d never entertained the idea of open back headphones (in which the back of the headphone is open so it produces a much wider soundscape at the expense of people around you being able to hear what you are listening to.) But when I finally decided on these 599s by Sennheiser and I put them on for the first time, I was sold. Listening to 10,000 Manics perform on their MTV Unplugged album sounded as if they were performing right in front of me, honey wood flooring, soft amber lights, Natalie Merchant’s black hair shining blue under those lights and the acoustic twang of those instruments. I swear I was there. Picking up these cans was like moving from Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to a bottle of recently discovered French Revolution era wine found in the attic of an old chateau. Sound on these things is incredible. And though they are more designed for home use, with their chocolate brown and butterscotch ice cream color I just want to wear them out in public to show them off. But I’ll keep them as the beautiful woman at home who waits for me

                                                                                                           

8.      Panzer Corps on PC: I picked this up on a Steam Sale last year. It’s not what you’d find on a grognard’s shelf, but for a beer and pretzels type war game it’s probably one of the best on the planet. Remember the old and venerable Panzer Commander ? Well, call this its spiritual successor. You begin with a handful of units and as they gain XP and prestige commensurate with their actions on the field of battle you can purchase more units. It’s a hex style game with a minimum of flash and graphics, but when you play it you’ll see that’s a big part of the game’s charm. I’m still in the tutorial section, and I have to admit it’s pretty challenging. There are scenario packs that consist of the whole of WWII including the Allies side. And do you know what? The game is on sale on Humble Bundle right now.

9.      Neverwinter Nights on PC: My brave and true Paladin, Edward is still at it. I’m level 9 now in the middle of chapter 2 (of 4.) I’m in the process of saving four village lads who were led astray by a werewolf, bitten, and now they themselves are afflicted. Such is the great writing of this RPG. The graphics still hold up quite nicely. Going on vacation? Stick this on your laptop and you can eschew the crappy cable TV the hotels offer. I’m still trying to get the spell casting down, and coming to realize my Paladin is more of a guy who relies on brawn and bravery than magical shenanigans. Some of the quests seem disconnected, but then they all come together. If you’ve never tried an RPG before, it’s a great place to start. The only caveat is there is no four-six party mechanics. It’s just you and a “henchman” you hire from one of the local inns. Still, very good stuff. It’s a game I’ll be honored to say I beat.  

10.  Blondie Eat to the Beat on CD: Birthed in 1979 this was Blondie at their best. Recording during the day and hitting the infamous NYC club, Studio 54 at night with drinks and drugs, and despite the never ending conjecture and bickering, this was the pearl created by the friction of this great band. Did you know Blondie was accredited with creating the very first rap song? And this album was neck and neck with The Police’s early works of reggae music. Highlights include “Union City Man,” and “Shayla,” both testaments to Deborah Harry’s remarkable vocal talent. And much like The Police, this album resonates with not only reggae, but punk and New Wave. Probably not as well known as Blondie’s other works, it remains my favorite by them.