Edward's December 2019 Mix

It’s been a strange month. Christmas hit 60 degrees. It was like being in Texas. I got some decent time off from work. This month ended a year long of PC gaming with a final tally of 7 games completed which is an all time low. It’s okay though, other diversions, other interests. I’ve been indulging my guitar habit much more. This is probably a good thing. I’ve been trying to sell stuff on eBay, but it’s not going well. I think eBay’s best days are behind us. Now they collect sales tax (which isn’t their fault, I get that, it’s compulsory) but I just don’t get paying sales tax on other people’s junk that’s already had sales tax collected on it by people who have official retail merchant numbers. It doesn’t make sense to me. I took advantage of the Steam Sale this year and picked up a few games. And I took a long overdue trip to visit my brother out of state. Compared to last month with a missing phone and strange debit card issues, I have to say this month was a success.
   
1.      Dungeon Siege II on PC: Goodness gracious, I’m so ready for this game to be over with! Supposedly a 20-30 hour hack n’slash Action RPG, and here at 80 plus hours I’m feeling like it’s on par with a Witcher game. I do declare! My trusty sorcerer is now at level 41 and able to cook his enemies with a single snap of the fingers. It’s been a fun ride, it’s just been an incredibly long one. I’m in the last act of the final chapter. I’ll be glad to put this one on the shelf.   

2.     Cock Robin  on CD:  I discovered this band back in 1985, having just got out of the Navy. The band was helmed by Peter Kingsbery who studied classical guitar in Austin, TX. His counterpart was a gorgeous girl named Anna LaCazio who was of Chinese and Italian descent. The song that caught my attention was “When Your Heart is Weak” though they had other hits, none of them charted big in the USA. Kingsbery, however, moved to France and became a big success there. I’m surprised the band didn’t fare better. Kingsbery’s vocals were a powerhouse right up there with Bryan Ferry or Morrissey. 

3.  The Meg on 4K Blu Ray: I was disappointed in this. It was typical summer popcorn movie fare concerning the discovery of a megalodon , a prehistoric shark of gargantuan proportions. Jason Statham arrives to save the day like a superhero. And we have Rainn Wilson, who looks like he’s on a field trip from The Office. The movie paced well, and had a surprising twist or two, and for CGI the effects were good, but I think the writing suffered. This is what happens when you have a slew of people writing the screenplay. One of the writers feels he or she has to make a change simply to justify the paycheck. The best screenplays always have a single writer. For comparison, watch this, and then watch Jaws based on Peter Benchley’s novel. I think you’ll agree. They just don’t make them like they used to. 

4.  Railway Empire on PC:  Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon was the third PC game I ever purchased way back in the last century, 1990 to be exact. I’ve played every iteration of this noble series since. 2003 was a big highlight with Railroad Tycoon 3. And then 2006 gave us Sid Meier’s Railroads! which turned the series (albeit fun) into more of a beer and pretzels type casual game. Unfortunately, Sid Meier will no longer be making railroad tycoon games. But that’s okay. I discovered Kalypso’s Railway Empire. If you’ve ever played any of the Tropico games, you’ll see how the German based developer puts a lot of love into their games despite not having Activision, EA or Bethesda type budgets. This is truly one of my dawn games, meaning regardless of when I begin a game, the sun is always popping up and birds are singing when I quit. Railway Empire deals with early railroading, 1830 to the 1870s. It’s basically a marriage of Railroad Tycoon 3 with its serious tendencies and Sid Meier’s Railroads! with its cartoon antics. The art style is colorful and gorgeous, and there is a mode in which you can hop aboard one of your locomotives and check out the view from your cab at the wondrous rail line you’ve created. With this, who needs a sprawling electric train set in their basement?

5.  The Right Stuff  on Blu Ray: This movie has become a quiet classic, taking a year just to develop the script, and Dennis Quaid simply proclaiming,  “This is a great American film”.  I had known about Tom Wolfe’s venerable novel, but I had never seen the movie. The movie is about the Mercury Space program headed by NASA in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This movie has what would now be considered an all star cast, but who were nobodys when the film came out in 1983. (Oddly these nobodys were selected because of budgetary constraints.) This was one of Dennis Quaid’s first appearances. He and Scott Glenn took their roles so seriously, they both bought new Corvettes like the real astronauts they depicted did.  I looked for inaccuracies and anachronisms and I couldn’t find any. It was a movie superbly done, even to the point of being filmed only at sunrise and sunset to get the best lighting, but the real star here is the transfer to Blu Ray. The colors popped and the whole movie exuded a Technicolor kind of feel as if it really had been made in the time period it depicted. Bill Conti was rushed to make the soundtrack, and still managed to earn an Academy Award, along with the movie’s three other Academy Awards. 

6.  Saboteur on DVD: This was Alfred Hitchcock’s first time to use an all American cast in a film, and in typical suspenseful Hitchcock fashion we have a movie about an innocent man who finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time and suddenly in a world of hurt. When our protagonist seeks refuge with a blind man and his dog in a cabin, heavy rain outside and a warm fire crackling in the fireplace, the movie takes a breather and we get a wonderfully touching scene that almost moves into the territory of real literature. Hitchcock had a genuine fear of heights, even to the point where if he saw a construction worker high atop a city building it would make him queasy. Strangely, that fear has managed to work its way into several of his films, Vertigo, North by Northwest (featuring one of the villains falling from Mt. Rushmore) and in this one, we get to see The Statue of Liberty take center stage causing the demise of one of the villains.  

7. Terraria on Nintendo Switch Lite:  I recently picked up a Nintendo Switch Lite because it hosts a bevy of indie PC games I’ll never play on PC. I booted up Terraria which is a Minecraft  type game where your goal is to simply stay alive. You start with hardly anything and have to build tools and collect resources to build a house to avoid the different entities out to get you. And night brings zombies! The thing is, instructions are minimal. It’s all about the trial and error. I died. A lot. I finally built a house, but now I’m afraid to venture out of it. I guess the game-play really is the thing because this game has 2D graphics and I still get totally immersed in its world. 

8. Night Gallery Season One on DVD:  I just wrapped up the first season of this supernatural horror series that came out in 1970. I can see why the show eventually failed. Some of the stories are just downright absurd. Perhaps the best one so far is, “They’re Tearing Down Tim Leary’s Bar.” It’s about a man putting his job in peril because of his drinking. He stumbles about living in a confused state, his way being clouded by his drunk excursions and his memories of the better days he had in the past. The episode won an Emmy Award. If you can track it down, watch it for this episode alone. 

9. Northern Exposure: Season Five on DVD: Each episode is still an enjoyable 47 minute trip into the 1990s with some of my favorite television characters. The series seems to have lost some of its profundity it exuded in the earlier seasons, but I’m still never bored by the antics of the citizens of Cicely, Alaska. Maurice Minnifield has grown into my favorite character. He’s always looking for a way to turn something into coin or bask in his former fame as an astronaut who once walked on the moon. There is an episode in which he’s awarded a lifelike replica of himself in the form of a wax statue. He shows it off like a beloved twin brother, but is eventually repulsed by its silence and everlasting gape. It’s hauled to the local dump with little fanfare, two stiff legs sticking out of the back of a camper shell. It’s one of the funniest episodes I’ve seen in the series yet.

Edward's November 2019 Mix

It’s been a bizarre month. My mobile phone died. So, I did what I always do: buy a new one on eBay. The seller sent me a phone set up for the wrong network and then wanted me to try all kinds of things to get to work on the correct network. I went to two Sprint stores and one local phone repair center. No joy. I was finally refunded my money. I then tried to purchase a phone on the Sprint site and my bank suspended my debit card. When I talked to them about it they stated it was standard procedure. They don’t trust mobile phone websites. Go figure. I got the card reinstated, and made another attempt. Sprint sent me a text message for identification verification. Being that my phone was bricked there was no way I could receive the text. I called their tech support and was told they couldn’t help me. What? I ended up having to make the purchase in a Sprint store. I’m finally connected again. I’ll tell you, it was like being alone in outer space without a phone. Is such a dependency a good thing or a bad thing? To combat the frustration I listened to a lot of music and discovered a few new bands. Maybe something good does come out of everything.  

1.      Stranger than Fiction on Blu Ray: One of the best role casted movies I’ve ever seen. And no, I’m not so much a Will Ferrell fan, but I have to admit the guy was endearing and graceful in this film. A modern fable about a man buried in the mundane routine of his work days as an IRS auditor who suddenly discovers he’s actually a character in a fiction book.  Realizing he’s going to be killed off in the book he embarks on an adventure to find the real life author writing the book. Emma Thompson (little known fun fact: started out as a stand up comedian) plays the author. She cites a line from her own book, and I’m paraphrasing here, but I’ll never forget it: “ We must remember the nuances, anomalies and subtleties which we assume only accessorizes our lives, in fact, are here for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives.” 

2.     Fender Mirror Image Delay Effect Pedal: Found this brand new at a bargain price at a local music store. It seems Fender released a whole arsenal of effect pedals, everything from distortion to reverb and chorus pedals. They even released a distortion pedal for acoustic guitars. This Mirror Image pedal is a delay pedal that even had my wife proclaiming how interesting it sounded. (She never comments on my playing. I think she just quietly tolerates it.) Imagine playing your guitar in the Grand Canyon during sunrise. This pedal is the sound of that. 

3.      Deaf Center “Pale Ravine” on CD: A wonderment of atmospheric soundscapes and ethereal instrumentation perfectly coalesced. One Amazon reviewer likened this music to the soundtrack of old grainy black & white 8mm films. I could easily see it. The band, comprised of two gentlemen from Norway, create some of the most achingly beautiful ambient music I’ve ever heard. Look up “Path to Lucy” on YouTube. You’ll be converted. What’s amazing is I paid 8 bucks for this CD a month ago, and now there are only 3 available on Amazon selling for an exorbitant $182.10. How did this music get so expensive so quickly? 

4.   Jeff Pierce “To The Shores of Heaven“ on CD: Pretty much to guitar what John Serrie is to keyboards when it comes to space music/new age music.  Pierce is a one man show, using numerous guitar effects, especially reverb and delay to make amazing soundscapes.  Take a drive on a late night Interstate highway under the stars, when it’s just you and the 18 wheelers and the lights of the dashboard. Chances are this music will take you to places in your mind you’ve never been. “Sudden Light” is the one to sample via lookup.

5.   Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit on PC:  Finally beat this on Steam. As I’ve mentioned before this is old by today’s standards, released in 2010. There’s no storyline, but there is a conflict as old as literature. True man vs man and machine vs machine. There are two sides to the game, the first half played as an illegal street racer trying to outsmart the cops. And the second half in which you are one of the cops trying to take down the street racers. Some of the exotic police cruisers are downright comical in their luxuriance. When was the last time you saw a Lamborghinni Countach decked out in police markings? Still the game was fun, and challenging enough I had plenty of do-overs.  

6.   The War on Drugs “Lost in the Dream” on CD: I never would have discovered this band without my friend Cary Gillaspy posting one of their videos on my Facebook wall. It was a love at first listen. I immediately purchased the CD. It’s a mishmash of so much good music. Try this one for size: A spoonful of Bob Dylan mingled with a dash of Bruce Springsteen. And I swear I can hear A Flock of Seagulls in the shadows (others state they can hear Dire Straits.)  This is like a return to the 1980s for me. I’m amazed I had never heard of this band before. Carey, thank you.   

7.   Twelve Monkeys on Blu Ray: I hold a few film directors in high esteem. Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan (some of his films, not all). Ever since my old friend, Vic Berwick introduced me to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen I’ve added Terry Gilliam to that list. The bespoke film, Munchausen almost killed it for Gilliam in Hollywood being the film was the most expensive ever made to date completely lacking any computer generated special effects. Hollywood lost money and all trust in Gilliam making money making films was pulled. However, when Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt signed on to make Twelve Monkeys, the Hollywood execs took another look. Financing was granted along with some restrictions, but Gilliam’s maxim is “I have to start small because the film will get big.” And this movie was no exception. Set slightly in the future from 1990, the film concerns a man sent into the future to get a sample of  a virus that will annihilate Earth’s population in 1996. Somewhat convoluted, it’s a movie you will want to pause for bathroom breaks because if not, you’ll come back lost. The transfer to Blu Ray (from DVD) is gorgeous.

8. Dungeon Siege II on PC: My Grand Sorcerer is level 33 now and I’m 2/3 into Chapter 2 of a game with 3 chapters. It’s a mouse click festival, hacking and slashing in its purest form, but it never gets old. I still wrestle with trying find goal locations, but mowing down monsters on the way to them is never a waste of time. It all adds up to leveling up. Despite its muddy graphics, once I cut the lights and don the headphones I still get lost in the game’s world. This is every bit as immersive for me as good music or an enjoyable novel.

 9. David Copperfield  by Charles Dickens: Weighing in at 940 pages I’m only on page 150 and I already never want this novel to end. My goal was to knock out 18 books this year,  but reading this I doubt I get it done. It’s okay though, it’ll be worth it to lose the goal over this novel. Remember the 90s movie, Matilda and how the titular little girl told her teacher she could read Dickens everyday?  Well, little sister I’m with you. Granted I’ve met with one or two Dickens novels I found dry and dreary, but I think this one more than makes up. The tale concerns a boy, David Copperfield, who’s lost his father. He lives with his mother in a small cottage near a lighthouse.  His world is less than idyllic, but he’s a happy boy. One day his mother meets a charming gentleman named Edward Murdstone.  Charming, to her, that is. Murdstone feels threatened by the boy’s relationship with his mother and schemes. He has little Copperfield sent off to a boarding school filled with harsh taskmasters.  And so our story begins.

Edward's October 2019 Mix

This might be another new record, this one, conversely, for the smallest mix I’ve created. It’s been an odd month. My Blackstar amp has been in the shop getting a tube replacement. I resorted to buying an old cheapie at a local guitar store. It worked, but sheesh, I felt like a high school kid with a cheap Crate amp pilfered from a $100 guitar/amp kit. After two and a half weeks I finally got my amp back, and boy howdy! Truly a testament to the old adage, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. It’s been some really long hours at work (including Saturdays.) It’s another year in which we had no autumn. Beautiful fall foliage worthy of calendars and post cards. I think they’ve become a thing of the past, in Indiana, anyway.

                                       

1.       Alien Covenant on 4K Blu Ray: Ridley Scott returning to the roots of the series. That’s how I’d best describe this one. The movie exudes the same kind of stressful intensified suspense that defined the original Alien (1979). It basically reveals how/where the original alien comes from in what is technically the second half of the movie Alien Prometheus. Scott covered all of the bases in his usual obsessive style. He story boarded each and every scene. He wrote a page long character sketch for each character in the movie which was so well received, all of the actors took them and used them to flesh out the characters they were portraying. He’s been called a visionary, and you can see it in the very beginning when the spaceship Covenant unfurls solar “sails” to extract light from nearby suns to recharge the ship’s power cells. NASA is actually working on this technology as you are reading this. Scott said in an interview he was inspired by several sources in the making of this movie, including John Williams’ original score from which he uses small snippets and the great comedic actor, Slim Pickens, which he used as inspiration for Danny McBride’s character, Tennessee, right down to the cowboy hat. The hat alluded to Pickens’ character as the pilot in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. I thought this was a really well done movie. The only thing I found incredulous is the amount of f bombs dropped. I mean, yeah, I get it. Everybody thinks it’s cool to adjectivize every single noun on the planet with the f word these days. I think the word is an affront to the eloquence of our language. I would hope in two centuries the word will have fallen into disuse.

2.      Steel Division on PC: This had been sitting in my Steam library for the better part of a year. I was getting burned out on my old favorite Company of Heroes so I thought I’d tackle it. Think Company of  Heroes only at a platoon level instead of squad level. Eugen Games used satellite topography to depict Normandy, France and they nailed it beautifully. Hedgerows, buildings and trees all come into play. The units are authentic (and behave accordingly.) You expend “playing cards” to build your armies to go into battle. There are three phases each lasting ten minutes. It’s critical you balance which units are on the field in a given phase. It starts out well enough, but eventually there’s a lot going on. It can get overwhelming. I’m playing the American campaign now (there are only four missions per campaign. I’m told skirmish and multiplayer is where this game shines.) And admittedly, it was relatively easy, and just challenging enough to be fun. The last mission has shut me down. I’ve watched YouTube videos to try to get through it. And hopefully I will. I’ll just keep slogging through it until I do.  

3.      Sanford & Son: Season 3 on DVD: A carry over from last month, I’m about 2/3 of the way through this one. The Quincy Jones theme song still takes me back to my childhood. Everything Redd Foxx says still sends me into guffaws. Supposedly Norman Lear developed this on NBC as an answer to CBS’s “All in the Family.” Redd Foxx made $19,000 an episode, not bad money, especially for the early 1970s. The show had high ratings clear up until the end of its sixth and final season (in which ratings began to decline.) I was a child of television, meaning, I watched a lot of it as a kid. I remember getting on the school bus and the first thing out of my mouth to one of my friends would be, “Hey, did you see so and so last night on TV?” I think we were all like that at the time, and what’s funny is, there were only six or seven channels on television at the time. Yet, television meant so much more. Today, it seems almost mind numbing. I don’t watch network television and haven’t for years simply because of television advertising. I find them repulsive. (Definitely a topic for another discussion.) But Sanford & Son will always hold a place in my heart as the first adult comedy I took interest in as a kid. It made Friday night fun before the late night horror movies.

4.      A Million Little Pieces by James Fey: I’m still quite engaged in this notorious novel by James Fey. His description of life inside of a high dollar rehabilitation center is as effective of a dissuasion as the old 80’s TV commercial of an egg being cracked open and dropped into a sizzling skillet with the monotonic voice guy saying, “This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?” Actually, Fey does offer glimmers of hope in a character named Leonard who has mafia ties and generally seems to care for Fey’s well being, and a girl, a former crack addict that Fey has become smitten with. Fey is a tough character in this book, his parents come to visit him and all he does (albeit unintentionally) is say things that shatter their hearts, and he becomes so angry he pulls his toe nails out by hand for the sake of the pain. It seems to be the only thing real that he can truly feel. One moment I love this guy, and in the next I find him disgusting.

5.      Dungeon Siege II on PC: I’m still hacking my way through this hack and slash action RPG. It’s fun, despite its now muddy graphics. My party is all comprised of high 20 something level characters. I rarely die now even when surrounded by high level foes. Composed of 4 “Acts” I’m currently in Act 3 and it’s moving quickly. This isn’t the most novel ARPG I’ve played (so far that honor goes to The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. Though not as frustrating as the first game of the series, Dungeon Siege, this game is fraught with difficulties in trying to find key locations even though it includes a hotkey accessible full scale map. It doesn’t help that I’m such a completionist probably to an extent that borders masochism.

6.      Rod Serling’s Night Gallery Season One on DVD: Debuting in 1970, I remember living in an old decaying apartment house at the time. I was nine years old. I was supposed to be in bed but I would sneak up to the doorway of our sleeping room and watch this show as my mother would sit closer to the television (unknowingly that I was behind her in the doorway.) The episodes would creep me out and I’d crawl into bed, my mind lingering on the horrors I’d just witnessed. The opening theme music (which will go down in history as one of the first television series to use electronic music in its opening) along with the myriad of creepy faces always gave me the willies. It’s odd watching this now. I wouldn’t say it’s cheesy, not at all. The show took itself seriously, but it was just a stifled product of its time.

Edward's September 2019 Mix

Brace yourself. September was a busy month. I believe this one is a new record. Seventeen items, yes, that is a record. A smashing record! My reading goal for this year is 18 books, and I think I’m going to hit it (though it would be nice to surpass it to hit the 20 book mark.) My games completed this year, not so good. Here we are heading into the fourth quarter and I’ve finished five games. That’s terrible! And I thought 2016 was bad with only eight games! My tubes in my guitar amp took a dump on me which really hurt my playing this month, and Doom took me a considerable amount of time to beat. Those things somewhat quagmired me, but looking at this list I guess I did accomplish quite a bit after all.

1.      Van Halen II on FLAC: I hadn’t listened to  this album in years and then I read a recent Guitar World magazine that had an article listing the best rock albums of 1979. Lo and behold, therein lay a pronouncement of Van Halen II. Despite the commercial attributes of “Dance the Night Away” and “Beautiful Girls,” this is a remarkable album. David Lee Roths’ vocals matched with Eddie Van Halen’s guitar make the album. What really surprised me was Michael Anthony’s bassing. Listening to this now I see the guy was underrated. He is also naturally left handed (but plays right handed.) Admittedly I’d be a bigger fan had he been true to his school, but sheesh, this man can seriously play a bass! I remember really digging Van Halen’s first album in high school, and then the summer of my senior year I moved to another state, leaving all of my friends behind. And then Van Halen II released. Talk about being homesick! Hearing this on my Digital Audio Player in FLAC I’m hearing things I’d never heard on the cassette or CD version.

2.      Big Wreck But for the Sun on 192kHz/24 bit FLAC: I’ve loved this band since their debut in 1997. At the expense of sounding self centered I’m glad nobody knows about them. Turning my friends onto them is still a pleasure unequaled. Sadly, the band just lost their rhythm guitarist, Brian Dougherty to cancer, that rapacious vulpine nefarious beast.) But the band is carrying on. Ian Thornley is amazing with his ability to sing, play, and write (“You’re still waiting for your ever after.”)  His leads are enough to move you to tears, seriously. He’s a major proponent of Suhr guitars, which to me is just an overpriced Fender Stratocaster copy, but I’ll forgive him that. His vocal style is reminiscent of our former Chris Cornell, and he’s been called the “Canadian Chris Cornell,” an appellation he’s not fond of, but hey, if the shoe fits. Interested? Simply YouTube “Alibi” or “So Clear.” You’ll be hooked. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

3.      Back to the Future Part II on Blu Ray: An interesting evolution of the first movie, but not as good in my opinion. Oh don’t get me wrong, the plot was engaging, how a sports almanac could have such a bearing on the future, I’ll give Bob Gale that much, but like so many sequels, why? The most interesting aspect of the movie was how inclusive it was of the first movie. I’ve not seen a movie pull off such a thing before, and even Robert Zemeckis stated it was one of the biggest challenges he’d ever faced in making a movie. Still, it’s good fun. If you’ve not seen it it’s worth a viewing. It’s Michael J. Fox as we remembered him best.  

4.      Sanford & Son: Season 3 on DVD: This came out when I was a kid. I remember watching it on Friday nights and though I’ve said it here before, laughing out loud at what was probably the first adult comedy I appreciated. Thankfully, it lacked the stupid laugh track you now hear in modern comedies, which makes me by default hate them. I never felt I needed a queue to laugh. Racy, as always, this would be a series even the Anti Defamation League would find repulsive. Red Foxx and Demond Wilson both play characters I’d be enthralled to meet in real life. If you feel like taking a trip down memory lane this is a good series, but be warned, there are no rose colored glasses with this one. The series is grainy to the point it seems they simply slopped these onto disk and shoved them out the door.

5.      A Million Little Pieces by James Fey: This, a rather notorious novel, by James Fey is a book I can hardly put down. Originally released as a memoir (autobiographical?) and then later to be revealed as pure and utter fiction. I loved Fey’s Bright Shiny Morning, so I was impelled to read this one despite its controversy. The controversy involves Fey himself who promulgated that he’d written a memoir about being in a rehabilitation center for six weeks. He describes undergoing dental root canal surgery without anesthesia due to his being a drug addict. The way he describes the pain and proceedings is cringe-worthy. I’ll continue to read this in spite of what I know to hold true.  

6.      Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit on Steam: Released in 2010 this is old by today’s standards. The graphics are aged, but it’s still fun to play with an Xbox Controller. There’s no real story line. You simply boot up, select a race (of which there are a variety) and beat it which opens up other venues. Cars and equipment used to foible the police are unlocked with progression (Spike traps, EMP jammers, etc.) As always with NFS titles, it’s a fun time waster. I’ve not tried the law enforcement side yet, but I expect it’s going to be just as fun. The soundtrack is good, but honestly, I’m not familiar with much of it. The songs included must have been B sides by popular bands in the mid aughts. This game is certainly no Assetto Corsa or Project Cars, but it will give your Xbox Controller a good workout. Pick it up on a cheap sale. You will be entertained

7.      Hang ‘em High on Blu Ray: Coming hot off the trail of Sergio Leone's “Spaghetti Westerns” Clint tried his luck with an American western. This movie wasn’t a disappointment, but it was surely lackluster in comparison to Eastwood’s previous fare.  Pat Hingle gets the award for this one. His portrayal of a hanging judge attempting to ingratiate himself into New Mexico Territory statehood by hanging each and every transgressor who happens through is spot on. You’ll love to hate him, yet you’ll sympathize with his cause. There is a riveting build up in the movie involving a hanging execution right out of the history books. Cold beer being sold, bonnet clad women, little boys being perched upon their fathers’ shoulders, all in attendance to watch the “public hanging,” and when the sandbags fall, there’s a great hush that seems to transcend the audience in attendance through to at home TV viewers. I found the scene quite sobering. It may very well be worth watching the movie alone for that moment. It stuck with me for three days after.  

8.      Doom (2016) on Steam: I hated this game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a gorgeous game on modern systems. It has a great metal soundtrack, and nothing quite hits gaming nirvana like glory kills with a chainsaw, but this is a 15 hour game, and it took me 60 hours to defeat. Of course, like the true masochist that I am, I played it on the hardest setting “Hurt Me Plenty.” I eventually tried to cheat but couldn’t get the cheat codes to work. So I settled for the “Please Don’t Hurt Me” setting which is the minimal difficulty setting. It worked. I beat the final boss on my third attempt. The game is pure eye candy, and definitely what was to Doom 3 what Doom II was to the original Doom. I had to play it simply because of Doom:Eternal which will be releasing before the end of the year.

9.      Age of Conan: The Original Soundtrack  on CD: In my opinion the OST for Guild Wars 2 will always hold highest place for the best soundtrack to an MMO I’ve ever experienced. The discs alone are over $400 on Amazon. Good luck with that. Running a close second, however, is this soundtrack released with the game in 2008. The game captures over sixty years of all that is Conan, the Robert Howard stories, the movies and the comic books. And this music is the perfect conglomeration of all that. Composed and produced by Norwegian native, Knut Avenstroup Haugen and hauntingly vocalized by Norwegian singer/actress, Helene Boksle, this soundtrack could easily grace a Hollywood Conan feature. Standout tracks are “Day of Wrath,” which is at the character login screen. (I remember playing the game and logging in, staying on the login screen just to hear this song in its entirety.) And “Foundations of the Temple – Mitra.” This is the song you hear upon entering the temple in Tortuge. It’s filled with women of the cloth administering aid to diseased people in poverty. The somber deep bass resonance of the men in this chorus couldn’t have been a better choice. If this song doesn’t move you emotionally, you must have a heart of stone.

10.   Classic Guitars by Walter Carter: When I found out this was written by a former historian employed by Gibson Guitar Company I thought, oh great, this is going to be a shill job. I was pleasantly surprised. This book, on loan from my dear friend Greg Cox, is pleasantly surprising as an informative guide to ALL guitars I have ever known. Mr. Carter knows his stuff and makes it fun to read. There is a well known phenomena among guitarists known as GAS. It stands for guitar acquisition syndrome. This book is starting to make me feel symptomatic. Heaven help me! 

11.   The Who Who’s Next on CD:  Released in 1971, I’ve heard bits and pieces of this album over the years, but don’t really recall any time and place. I recently picked this up at a nearby Half Price Books and listened to it in its entirety. Alex Lifeson from Rush once cited his inspiration coming from the angst The Who produced in their music. I can see why that would be an inspiration. Oh, so late in life, so little time. Pete Townshend used a 1961 Gibson SG for most of his works, but for this album he used a Gretsch Chet Atkins Nashville guitar gifted to him by Joe Walsh. And now I want one. The growl tone used by Townshend on this album has promoted him to my favorite rhythm guitarist of all time. Not only do I want to play this guitar, now I want to own all of The Who’s catalog.