Edward's March 2025 Monthly Mix

 

I’ve been on a hiatus from work and let me tell ya, I could get used to this! No alarm clocks, no forced overtime, every Saturday a free one, and all the time in the world to do, well, pretty much anything I want to do. The lack of structure felt a little weird at first until I got my head wrapped around it. Now that I have the time, I could see winning the Lottery and using those funds to become a world traveler, but once I’d seen the world I’d probably go right back to my usual books, movies, games, and music. Just like I’m doing now.

A Fistful of Dollars on Blu-Ray: It’s always a treat watching this trilogy of favorite westerns. I’ve said it before, but Clint Eastwood’s “man with no name,” could very well be the first anti-hero character I was introduced to in all iterations. This one introduces the character, fresh off the set of televisions popular western, “Rawhide.” Eastwood actually wore some of the same clothes with this character that he donned in the TV show. To my surprise, Clint Eastwood partook in these abroad westerns because under contract to his television show, he wasn’t allowed to make movies in the United States. Something good really does come out of everything.

Nemo’s War: Maybe the best (and deceivingly difficult) boardgame I’ve ever played. I have now played this game more than 30 times. I’ve never won, nor have I even really come close. The best rating I’ve gotten is “inconsequential.” I average 3 hours in a game, but it’s always worth it, not only for the experience of getting to play it, but for the fact it always makes me want to revisit Disney’s wonderful movie on the subject or read Jules Verne’s classic novel. Not to mention, the boardgame is just a thing of beauty with its Victorian looking map style board layout and the intricate pieces that make up the game. The art on the cards, a hand drawn motif accents it remarkably well. The game is a masterpiece, especially for someone like me who enjoys solo games.

Sanford and Son on DVD Season 4: I remember watching the first episodes of this show at a babysitter’s house in Texas when I was a kid. I wasn’t used to old men acting in the irreverent manner that Fred Sanford did and it had me rolling on the floor. This show was one of the ones that marked my foray into more grown up television, coming from kidhood, sitting Indian style on the floor on Saturday mornings and watching cartoons with a bowl of cereal nestled between my legs. Watching this now, the political stabs and allusions to racial bigotry are still humorous, but I’m sure wouldn’t be appreciated by certain groups of people. Initially, we see Fred not even in the show. (He was exercising some form of a strike involving pay issues.) We have Grady, Fred’s friend, staying with Lamont and running the household. Red Foxx reached a pay settlement and returned to the show, only being missing for a few of the initial Season 4 episodes.

The Beast on Blu-Ray: I’ve had this on DVD for decades. I finally tracked down a collector’s copy on Blu-Ray, factory sealed nonetheless for a decent price. The transfer didn’t seem to be anything remarkable, definitely better than DVD, but nothing super noticeable as far as “remastering” goes. I would rank Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, and Black Hawk Down as more superior war movies, but the depiction of the bond formed between Jason Patric as the estranged Russian tank driver and Steven Bauer as the maddened Taj, and Mark Isham’s beautifully fitting soundtrack make this one a definite keeper. (Interestingly, the CD of this OST generally commands big bucks because it’s done so well, and it was released in limited numbers.)

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck: I must have read this in 7^th grade as far as I can tell. Having spent many a summer on my grandparents’ farm, the book really resonated with me. It concerns a boy in a religious household, his father slaughters hogs for a living, and the boy is one day given a pig of his own to raise. The boy feels restricted by being raised in a strict religious environment, but as events transpire, that all changes. He gets to show his pig at the local county fair, an extreme adventure for such a strictly tethered boy and gets a blue ribbon for the “most behaved pig.” As all of these kinds of stories go, the story eventually ends in loss. The book, released as a Young Adult novel, is brutal, stark, and profoundly sad. I thought the book was heart wrenching this time around. I can’t imagine how I felt a lifetime ago when I read this the first time.

Lords of the Fallen on PC: I can’t help but feel this game took a piece of me and claimed it for its own. Hacked or sawed flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone and kept it there in its deep dark fortress. Lords of the Fallen, which is impossible to not compare to Dark Souls, really does have its own signature flair in its carnival of dark fantasy horrors. Portraying a criminal released from a life sentence in the big house to rescue a kingdom from invading demon forces from another dimension. Deck 13, a German developer, produced this game as a double A title in the same vein as Dark Souls, basically a rip off, it was one of the first and one of the best to do so, and had a better storyline and more easy to follow plotline. People clamor about how easy the game is compared to Dark Souls, but that certainly is not my experience. It’s a 20 hour game, but it’s taking me forever to wallow through it. But maybe it’s just my skill level and natural ability. There truly is nothing worse than totally sucking at a hobby you’re so passionate about. It’s about as bad as it gets. In typical fashion for ARPGs such as this, defeating bosses is all about patience, learning their attack moves, and timing your parries to stay alive long enough to beat them. I just beat The Champion, the fifth boss (of 9) and it took me 59 attempts. 

 

 

Kiss Alive! on Amazon Music: Guitar World Magazine once published an article listing the top ten live albums of all time. This album was posted as number one. I figured it was time I give it a good listen. Boy, was I surprised. The album in its rawness is a testament to the fact the painted-up quad would only get better, but there’s no denying the energy and the fire puppeteering the members. I’ve always admired Peter Criss’s mad drumming skills, but I didn’t realize how much the guitar virtuoso Ace Frehley was. If Paul and Gene were the fanfare and the smoke and mirrors of the band, Ace and Criss were the serious technical forces behind it. 

 

 

 

 

Mass Effect: The Legendary Edition on PC: In this well respected trilogy of games, I’ve managed to finish the first and second one. I never got around to playing the third game. Some years back a complete overhaul of the three games was released, christened, Mass Effect: The Legendary Edition. The game was remastered in 4K resolution and all of the previously released separate DLCs were included. It’s definitely the version to pick up. I’m a few dozen hours into the first game, and despite the clichés that make up all major RPGs, you, being the chosen one, must go out and conquer evil to save the world, this one behind all of its trappings is more of the same. Being a lone surviving hero from an attack on your people, and eventually becoming the XO of a starship, and then being picked to be the first human SPECTRE (an ultimate bad-A Delta Force, SEAL, and SAS rolled into one.) You are commissioned to go out into the universe commanding your own starship to stop a creature hellbent on destroying all of humanity. The gameplay is so good; however, the game is irresistible, and the SR1 Normandy, the starship you commandeer, is and always shall be one of my favorite in-game homes. 

 

 

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: Like any Tolstoy book, don’t be intimidated. Despite its 750 pages, it doesn’t take a university degree to get through the book. Tolstoy’s plots aren’t deep. There are a lot of characters (and great ones!) but they’re easy to follow. At least, that’s the impression I’m getting in this book, which I’m still in the shallow end of. I just passed page 100. Totally aristocratic rich Russians in the Victorian Age, cheating on each other and stewing in misery, harsh white winters, and steam engines blowing black smoke silhouetted against mountainous countryside. This has been the gist. So far. But I’m finding it delightfully entertaining. Tolstoy seems to have a mastering hand on characterization. He writes women the way women think (I think.) But he definitely captures the sadness and quiet longing of the Russian people.

The Bear on Blu-Ray: Made in 1989, I remember watching Siskel & Ebert review this movie on At the Movies and being instantly intrigued. Back then I’m sure I rented it from a local Blockbuster. The movie always stuck with me. I recently upgraded to Blu Ray from DVD, and it was like watching it for the first time. I learned getting a 1,500 lb grizzly bear to “act” on set is easier said than done. The trainer stated to get the bear to do anything you have to feed him with a treat. Once he’s full, he will absolutely do nothing else on queue. He’s pretty much done for the day. But who wants to work with a hungry grizzly bear? What goes on behind the smoke and mirrors, however, is betraying because this is a wonderfully done movie. Bart who was the Kodiak Bear starring in this film, did such a remarkable job that a petition was started to create an Academy Award for animal actors. This never came to fruition. But his presence in films was noteworthy. He first starred in The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and then you probably noticed him in Windwalker, Legends of the Fall, and The Edge.

 

Edward's Feb 25 Monthly Mix

 

In the continuation of my odd year (so far), I’m wrestling with on and off again allergy and flu-like symptoms. I’m involved in a drastic self-improvement journey that’s frustrating (but fun!) The work is done, so now I’m waiting to see the results. I’ve had extra time this month freed up from the frustrations of work and it’s turned into a serendipitous vacation, but I promise you won’t hear me complain. I finally got my car back (after a minor fender bender at work.) Oh, how I missed it! It had been a month, but I now have my noble steed once again in my possession.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist on PC: When I cracked the binding on Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October back in the 20th century, I was hooked. I’ve been a fan of all things Tom Clancy since. Way back when Splinter Cell released in 2003, I always felt it was Clancy’s love letter to Solid Snake/Metal Gear fans who would forever do without, unless of course, they owned a Sony PlayStation. Tom Clancy passed away and Sony decided to do crossovers. My, how things change. I was long overdue for another Splinter Cell game. Sadly, this was the last one in a series of five. It was a good game, introducing some new mechanics involving the Paladin headquarters aircraft and its nifty upgrade intricacies. Michael Ironside opted out of being the voice of Sam Fisher, and yes, I felt this omission and found the game lacking because of it. Still, the series went out with a nice resounding bang with this one.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution on PC: I remember when the first Deus Ex came out in 2000, I struggled to play it. It was my first “immersive-sim” which was almost overwhelming having come from Valve’s seminal Half Life with its highly linear gameplay. I finally did beat Deus Ex in 2011, over ten years after its release. I’ve since played the second game in the series, and now this, the third. The series has strayed from its open world roots to having clear cut linear paths to follow, albeit, the choice to resolve those stories with varied options, is up to the player. Despite its 2013 release date, the graphics look great though they are dated by today’s standards. City backdrops look as flimsy as those old movies in which someone in a fedora is driving a car, and you see a rolling motion picture backdrop in the rear window running in the background. Still, up close character representations are pristine. The second game in the series, Deus Ex: Invisible War had clear and pronounced objectives in its mission layout. This game has similar mechanics which is a good thing since sometimes you just want to be able to get into a game, knock out a few missions, and move on. If you’ve not played this series, I’d suggest starting with the first one.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson: When I think of the smothering heat and overwhelming sunshine of the south, I think of some of my favorite writers who hailed from there. William Faulkner and Carson McCullers (who once said she liked returning to the south to renew her sense of horror.) And then there’s this short novel by Shirley Jackson, whom you remember from your high school assigned reading of her short story, “The Lottery.” The eerie story involved a small town in which citizens drew pieces of paper from a wooden box and a winning “ticket” would determine who got stoned to death in the town square. Every bit as chilling is this story about the surviving remnants of a family who was poisoned to death. The perpetrators, being a part of that family, were exonerated and lives on in the house at the edge of town, the subject of gossips and whisperings. Told through the eyes of a teenage girl, the brunt of quiet conversations as she makes her way through town, getting weekly supplies, the girl thinks of her world as perfectly normal in the insular safety of her house with her sister and uncle. There is an underlying creepiness permeating Jackson’s writing, reminiscent of Robert Bloch’s infamous Psycho. This family bears all of the melancholy and macabre of The Adams Family without the obvious comedic overtones. If you’re wanting a good book to kill the weekend with, this is a good one. Pull your window shades and leave the lights on when you read it.   

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on 4K Blu Ray: In the trilogy, this was the thinnest of the three books. Full of action and ever moving forward, the campfire scenes in which the history conversations of The Shire and Middle Earth was absent. This served the book well, making it the quickest read of the series. This contributed to the movie being much the same. The muted colors which have gone on to serve every kind of medieval fantasy type setting (A Game of Thrones, The Witcher, etc.) on Netflix got its start here. Gollum starts to be at the forefront in this one, with him accompanying Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee and Saruman’s ghastly orcish Uruk-hai army on their quest to wipe out all remnant of goodness in Middle Earth. After being introduced to all of the elements of Middle Earth in the first movie, this one, every bit as long, seems to move faster given its action elements. 

 

 

Thirteen Ghosts on Blu Ray: A remake of the classic 1960 William Castle film, 13 Ghosts, I would suggest forgetting that movie exists before you watch this one. Outside of the allusion to special glasses to see the ghosts (the original movie suggested viewers to use 3D glasses to “see” the ghosts in the movie.) They have zero to do with each other. This film, although, stylized artistically and unique in what it’s trying to do, lacks in any real scares. It’s like a failed small town carnival spook house ride. The movie’s producer, Joel Silver, even describes the film as “a wild ride.” The make up on the movie’s “ghosts” is done well and contributes to the creepiness of the titular 13 ghosts, but the antics of the house’s visitors trying to simply survive and escape are reminiscent of a Scooby-Do cartoon episode. Matthew Lilliard’s zany presence in the movie cements this notion. I much prefer William Castle’s gimmicky but eerie 1960 film. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times may have been on to something when he said of the film "what we're left with after the scares is just plain dumb.”

Duel on Blu Ray: Stephen Spielberg got his start directing TV shows, but his aspiration was directing Hollywood feature films. In 1971 he got his one shot chance to make a movie from a short story Richard Matheson had published in Playboy magazine called “Duel.” It was in the classic style of man versus nature (although the natural beast in this story is a 1955 Peterbilt semi truck.) Given a working time of ten days, Spielberg made this movie in 13 days, going over schedule, but garnering big ratings when it aired on television. Spielberg utilized advice from Alfred Hitchcock which was, “Never let the audience off the hook. Keep the suspense going.” This was advice, Spielberg took to heart, as proven years later when he suggested all film makers quit film school and simply watch Hitchcock films.  Spielberg chose a red Plymouth Valiant for the main character (Dennis Weaver) to drive because it stood out amongst a backdrop of gray roads and brown California desert backdrop. The Blu Ray transfer reflects this, retaining some of the film’s original grain but making the colors stand out vividly. If you listen closely, during the truck’s demise, you can hear a dinosaur scream. Spielberg emulated the same sound when the shark in Jaws is killed. He did this as his way of saying thank you to Duel for giving him his movie start.

Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman: Klosterman, on an assignment from Spin magazine, goes on a 21 day road trip to visit the sites where famous rockers ended their lives, be it through accidental deaths (plane crashes) or suicides. We ride with him along the way, being made privy to his witty thoughts, but instead of making an honest assessment of life and his surroundings, he uses a sort of sleight of hand trick in his pop culture internalizing to beat it back and not deal with it in any meaningful way. It’s misleading because you are led to think that he is thinking very deeply about his life and the world at large in regard and respect to pop culture. But he isn't. Still, it works. Like an epiphany, I realized as I read this, Klosterman thinks like I do about these references, I just never thought about it as in depth enough to put it into words. This is a very fast and fun read. I’m surprised I’d never heard of Chuck Klosterman before this.

 

Edward's January 2025 Monthly Mix

 

What a strange month. I’ve wrestled with some type of influenza most of this month. I even called off sick one day. I never miss! I guess it goes hand in hand with our typical ugly Indiana winters. Gray slush, stark treetops, biting cold and the feeling that I just stepped out of a Russian gulag every time I step outside. I’m struggling with Rush’s “Limelight.” Such a beautiful song to play, but despite my beautifully structured guitar hands, I just can’t get my ring finger top knuckle to articulate. All I get is dead strings. Doh!

Rainbow Six Siege: Permafrost: My friend, Dalton Gallaher, coaxed me into trying this ridiculously fun last man standing game mode in Rainbow Six Siege. A group of players put into a winter wonderland complete with blowing snow and Christmas lights, chasing each other around circles of buildings with different weapons dropping at random. At the end of ten minutes, the one with the most kills wins. Using Discord to talk to each other, we would become so concentrated on our grisly tasks, we would be eerily silent. If only I could be this good in regular Rainbow Six Siege!

Baldur’s Gate: It doesn’t quite require a college degree to muddle through this first iteration of Baldur’s Gate, but one might think so. THAC almost needs a key legend to decipher, but not really: To Hit Armor Class is simply the recipe that dictates the lower die roll the greater a chance to break through an enemy’s armor and get a hit on him. I’m at 136 hours now and in chapter 6 (of 7?) I’ve grown to love all my characters and I can see carting them with me into Baldur’s Gate 2 and 3. There’s no hand holding in this old style RPG, and the difficulty and the graphics (it is a 1999 game) might be a deal breaker for non-Boomers who aren’t familiar with these types of games, and purists will tell you it’s not necessary to play through 1 and 2 to get to today’s hot topic, Baldur’s Gate 3. This game is like reading a much-loved fantasy novel and despite its 1,000 page tome characteristics, never wanting it to end. 

 

 The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb: A high school teacher living in New England with his wife, who works in the school nurse’s office, decide to move to Littleton, Colorado after she has an affair. Her family is from there, and a move out west might patch things up and reinvigorate the marriage. It’s 1999 and as they arrive, settle in, and both get jobs at Columbine High School, the unthinkable happens: The Columbine School Shooting. He is away from school the day it happens, but the wife is hiding in a cupboard in the library where the gist of it all happened. She survives, but is stricken with PTSD so badly, it tests the bounds of their marriage on a level that makes the affair seem microscopic. Wally Lamb’s writing is mesmerizingly good. I could easily sit on a sofa with a good set of cans on and read this book all day long, never putting it down. Despite its dismal theme, it’s just a fun book to read. This book is why book lovers exist. I remember reading his, She’s Come Undone which was about a girl suffering from obesity. He wrote it from her point of view so artfully that critics and reviewers found it unbelievable that Wally Lamb was not a female!  

Lost in Space 2^nd Season on Blu Ray: I’m well into this season with my grandson, Eric. The colors are bombastic, and give testament to the notion that when this originally released in 1966, color televisions were still a novelty in all of their 19” glory. The Blu Ray edition rips the rose colored glasses of nostalgia away, as we can make out the flimsiness of the show’s props, make up lines, and the naked effort put into the show’s productions (which consisted of escalated budgets in its time and allegedly contributed to the show’s ultimate demise.) Dr. Smith’s buffoonery and nefarious shenanigans which were always at the expense of the Robinsons’ safety are in full swing here, and we get to see Will Robinson grow out of his little boy self into an intellectual and scientific curious pre teen who probably epitomized every American boy in the mid 1960s.  Owning and watching these now with my grandson makes me feel like I am still one of those mid 1960s boys.   

 

 Slay the Spire on Steam Deck: After spending a few dozen hours on this artsy indie style card deck builder of a game and getting to the third city, I’ve discovered the great secret. It’s all about the defense! When given the chance to upgrade or acquire new cards, go with blocks and defense. That’s what will see you through those terrible boss fights at the end of each level. Of course I fail, but each time makes me want to boot up the game for another round.

The Wolfman (2010) on 4K Blu Ray: Of all of the classic Universal monster movies, this is probably the best one by far. This is a perfect iteration of the evolution of werewolf movies since 1941’s venerable Lon Chaney, Jr.’s The Wolfman. Benicio Del Toro, who starred in this film, stated in an interview that he had a deep love for the original and even had the famous Lon Chaney, Jr. picture of the wolfman’s face full front as a poster on his wall as a kid. The Victorian setting in London was grandiose and authentic enough to feel as if you were visiting it in a time machine. The wolfman running atop the London rooftops and clinging to a gargoyle as he howls with the full moon in the background is enough to establish a paradigm as a perfect scene in a modern horror movie. Danny Elfman, who did the score, is a composer I’ve always thought of as a creator of “mini-orchestrations.” He does a lot of quick tinkly piano stuff. I think he outdid himself in this movie, however, his music being as much a star as the actors themselves. Like the film itself, the movie is a great evolution of the music that was used in horror films of the 40s. It is oddly similar, just more modern. And lastly, Rick Baker’s make-up. Baker, being the first recipient of the Best Make Up award at the Academy Awards for 1981’s An American Werewolf in London, did the honors here of using make up that simply made the original The Wolfman look as if it were made in the new millennium. 

 

 

Edward's December 2024 Monthly Mix

 

 The stem cell therapy trip turned out to be a wash. Such procedures are purely experimental at this point (pending FDA approval) But I was told, being in the remarkable shape I am for my malady, I’d be a likely candidate for clinical trials in the future. Vampires! This, of all months, seemed to be a time for their presence, well, sort of. (Also, it was a month for books.) A vampire novel, another horror novel by the author of Dracula. A vampire movie. Coincidental? December is always a good time for me, being I get to visit my oldest daughter and it’s vacay time!

Live Aid Disc 4 on DVD: The last disc is probably the most lackluster of the four discs. We get Darryl Hall and John Oates (who by their energy made me realize they were such a force, especially in the 1970s.) Hall and Oates did bring a bevy of former Temptations out on the stage to sing with them which was really cool. And then we get Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan brought the house down, though I was never a fan. He stood as stoic as a tree, unusually lifeless compared to everybody else who took the stage. Mick Jagger and Tina Turner brought up the rear. Mick’s gallivanting all over the stage was not unlike a marionette breaking free from its puppeteer. Unbuttoning his shirt and flinging it around on one finger, he was skinny, proud of it, and wanted the world to know it. Tina Turner danced-walked out onto the stage to join him, a trotting bottle of nitroglycerine, but with the grace of a cowboy miner tiptoeing to keep it stable. And the grand finale, Lionel Richie assembling everybody for the venerable, “We Are the World.”  

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowland on Kindle: When these books came out, my daughter read them voraciously. I recently asked her if she thought I would like them. She explained that I would, and very much so. I decided to dive in to the first book. I don’t often laugh at passages in books, this one, however, I’m finding very funny. Rowling’s characters are well written out and the book is so full of quirks that make Hogwarts Academy come off like a real and enchanting place. I’m sure had these come out when I was a kid, I would have read them as fast as they rolled off the presses, myself. But I’m glad I’m getting to read them now and discovered the same appeal that infatuated my daughter.

The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: Known much more for penning the seminal Dracula in 1897, this is every bit as dark. It concerns a young man who discovers he has an uncle he’s never met that turns out to be a very wealthy relative about to leave his fortune to him. The young man, an Australian, ventures to jolly old England to meet this benevolent uncle. When he arrives, the young man is made privy to strange goings on by the uncle’s friend. It seems there is a neighboring woman enshrouded by mysterious happenings and poor misfortune to those who venture too close. This becomes an exciting tale with intermittent scenes consistent with the Victorian period: stuffy guys in formal clothing, sharing cigars and brandy in front of fireplaces, and bantering with stilted language. I liked it.  

The Vampire Show by Richard Laymon: A thick book, but a quick read. This was nothing short of dime store pulp fiction, but nevertheless a fun read. Imagine Roger Corman being a writer instead of a movie maker, this would be a book he would create. Our story involves a trio of best friends in the early 1960s in a small town during a visit of a traveling troupe christened, The Vampire Show, where you can meet Valeria, the world’s only living vampire. Set up for one night only, at midnight (naturally) on the outskirts of town, the three friends conspire to sneak into the show since nobody under 18 is admitted, and their parents wouldn’t allow them to go anyway.

Nosferatu at the movie theater: Bill Skarsgard, who so effectively played the horrible archvillain, Pennywise, in the newer It movies, is an unrecognizable Count Orlock in this remake of the 1922 silent Dracula ripoff. He does a remarkable job. 1838 Germany. A decaying castle filled with rats and last hope sunsets. This movie contains all of the trappings of a classic Universal Dracula movie. There is a scene in which the young litigator, having gone to Transylvania to assist the mysterious Count Orlock with a real estate purchase, is walking toward the Count’s residence. He comes to a crossroads in a forest. It’s broad daylight, but the trees are so thick it looks like night. Suddenly, in the distance can be seen a black mass coming down the road toward him. It’s not discernible until you can make out the manes of galloping horses and we begin to realize it’s a coach sent to pick the young man up. This will become the most memorable scene in a horror movie for me in probably the last five years. The movie is heavy with blacks and grays. The costumes are on point, as is the dialogue which is painted with Victorianism. I was glad when the movie ended and not because it was a bad movie, not at all. It was just bleak and filled with melancholy. It made me glad I didn’t live back then. 

 

 

Baldur’s Gate on Steam: With all of the wondrous rage over Baldur’s Gate 3, I figured it was time to get Baldur’s Gate 1 knocked out. And yes, I know besides the setting the games are unrelated. Still, being the purist I am, that’s not the way I roll. I’m glad I started with this one. The characters have real personality and I care what happens to them, the writing is topnotch. Level caps are weird, over 50 plus hours and I finally hit level 5.  (And I’m in Chapter Four of a six chapter game.) And, being as difficult as these early RPGs were out of the gate, some leveling up consists of simply changing your level number. There are no added pluses to weapons, no fresh skills, no increasing lockpicking from 45 to 46, oh no, it’s simply bumping your character up from level 2 to level 3. The game scenes look handcrafted and are a beautiful play space. Lastly, Beamdog did a wonderful job with the Enhanced Version tweaking the game to run on modern rigs. The game centers on a curse that causes realm-wide corrosion of iron. So, there goes all of the weapons and all of the armor. It’s up to your party to delve into the mines where the iron is pulled and get to the bottom of what’s causing the curse. The plot is as immersive as reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time. If you’ve finished Baldur’s Gate 3, do yourself a favor: go play Baldur’s Gate to see where it all began. 

 

 

 

Edward's November 2024 Monthly Mix

 

 

 

November was a busy month. Lots of work and lots of activity on the homefront. I lost my last maternal aunt. She’s been a component of my earliest memory, and now she has departed us. As usual, my own clock ticks on and I am reminded of my mortality. I made my GoodReads reading goal of 20 books this year. Yay! I succumbed to temptation and picked up a Steam Deck. I generally take my Kindle in situations in which I have to wait somewhere (car service center lobbies, patient waiting rooms, etc.) So, now will my reading suffer? I don’t know, but this thing is so much fun, I don’t care!

 

Act of War: Direct Action on PC: I’ve tried playing this game a few times over the last two decades, but for some odd reason it would not work with the AMD processors I was using at the time. With its release on Steam, and my now Intel processor based rig, I was able to fire it up again and this time it worked! The story was written by USAF retiree and action thriller writer, Dale Brown and is pretty much a Command & Conquer: Generals copycat. It bears the same cheesy FMV acting and the usual hyperbolic storyline involving a near future debacle in which terrorist take over major energy sources. Critically lauded, I’m not sure why. I thought the game was difficult enough that I had to employ a money cheat to finish the game. But I have to admire that it took itself so seriously, and that made me want to see it through to the end. 

 

 Battlefield 1 on PC: This is probably the most beautiful game I’ve played on my PC in several years. And it came out back in 2016. The single player campaign had my eyes lugubriously wet with tears, or it would do a 180 and have my flesh tingling with goosebumps, overly excited about what was going down in the mission. Unfortunately, as with all EA Battlefield games, the current multiplayer situation is lacking. Despite having some wonderful mission maps, the only online presence now is the Conquest maps (which are still fast and frenetic and frustrating, those silly snipers! I’ll never figure out why EA consistently undermines themselves and keeps releasing Battlefield games in such quick succession.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger: (Shamelessly plagiarized from my very own GoodReads review.) I added more Leif Enger books onto my To Be Read list before I even finished this book. This is a testament to Enger's wonderful writing. In the last chapter, several pages before the book ended, I felt a great sob rise within me, a slowly moving floe of ice as big as a glacier. I read through glazed eyes struggling to get to the end. It's not often a book has such a power over me. This is the story of a religious man who’s son shoots a home intruder to death and then goes on the run. The man, a single parent, gathers his children and his Airstream camper and they go on a long-distance journey to find the prodigal son. I’m surprised this hasn’t been made into a Hollywood blockbuster. 

 

Steam Deck on PC or bed, or the kitchen table, or the toilet, or wherever!: I was going to hold out for one of these until Valve released a Steam Deck 2.0, but when they released this in a limited edition white version, I couldn’t resist. I had a Nintendo Switch before, but the poor thing sat in its case where it would otherwise collect dust. This Steam Deck is having the opposite effect. I can’t keep my hands off of it. It’s the ultimate portable mini PC built for one purpose: gaming! It’s a DIY modder and upgrader. And it has a great Steam community it was built around. It’s big for a handheld, and if I try to hold it up while I’m lying down, it eventually gets my hand to cramping. But boy is it spectacular. Next time you’re going on a long flight, or a hospital stay (the inevitable place I’ve come to know well) grab yourself one of these. You won’t want to check out. 

 

 

 

 Slay the Spire on Steam Deck: You, being the adventurer you are, have to fight a multitude of baddies and bosses in dank dungeons. All of your blocks and strikes are dictated by a deck of cards. You can only play 3 cards, initially. Do you choose all blocks? One block and two strikes? Or do you go all out, damn the defense, and simply charge in with total offense? This game will make you take such questions seriously. Each victory awards all kinds of sweet loot such as card upgrades, more health points, or potions that weaken foes. This is one that’s hard to put down, and despite its difficulty, meeting with death and defeat simply makes you want to boot it up and try again. 

 

 

Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring on 4K Blu Ray: I rewarded myself with an early Christmas present and picked this up on a Black Friday thingamajig. Let me tell you, this movie looked better than when I saw it in its original theatrical release. 4K puts you right there as if all of these events are happening next to you. It’s almost disconcerting. I remember reading the trilogy of books right before going to see this movie, and as expected, much was omitted from the film, but I thought Peter Jackson did a wonderful job with this movie version. Watching this made me want to finally get back to Baldur’s Gate and finally finish it. This is a movie with a pitch-perfect cast and over the top production values. It may be one of the most fantastic movies I’ve ever seen. 

 

Balatro on Steam Deck: Right up there with the chocolate crack that is Slay the Spire, this is a simple poker game where winning hands allow you to purchase jokers that offer buffs, basically cheating at the game. Imagine a world in which a cheater can be regarded in high esteem! Hypnotic in its iteration, this game will make hours feel like minutes and dazzle you with its early aesthetic like something from an arcade machine in the back corner of a bowling alley in 1970. PC Gamer Magazine reviewer Abbi Stone said, “The Steam Deck should have been called The Balatro Deck.” I can truly believe it. 

 

 

 

Edward's October 2024 Monthly Mix

 

 Stem cell therapy was always the stuff of science fiction and fantasy for me. That was until my cardiologist encouraged me to contact the Heart Center at Cleveland, Ohio. It took me several weeks to make contact with someone, but I finally did and now I’m slated to pay them a visit in December. My cardiologist explained they probably couldn’t fix me, “but I’ve seen them do some amazing things,” he says. I guess we’ll see. In the interim, I’m putting in almost sixty-hour weeks at work which leaves little time for much of anything. I did however, manage to get a star on The Cure’s “Lovesong” and despite my free time, I was able to dabble in a few things. 

 

Lords of the Fallen on PC: I’ve talked about this delightful Dark Souls copycat before. Having killed off four bosses now, I’m beginning to see how everything comes full circle. I can look out on a vista and view some mystical looking spot in the distance. Eventually I’ll find a way to get to that spot. I’ll enter a door that was once incapable of being opened, and going through it, find that I’m in a room I’ve already been in several times, just from a different entrance. Seems I’ve just discovered a shortcut that shortens half the map! One thing I will say that this game has over Dark Souls is the color palette. Though it’s still a gloomy game, it’s so much brighter and shall I say. . . hopeful? 

 

 

Fallout on PC: First starting this game in 1999, and after four attempts, I beat it. It is with great honor I’ll be able to venture into this world from this point on, being able to state I’ve beat Fallout. As I’ve said before, it’s worth the playthrough, if just to see the origins of Deadmeat, and the Brotherhood of Steel, of which I earned my very own power armor. I got to meet the mutants and put an end to them. Admittedly, the game hasn’t aged well. The controls are wonky and the game is difficult. I used a walkthrough, but at this point I didn’t care. I just wanted to finish the game. I’ve read Fallout 2 is even bigger and more expansive. I can’t wait to check it out.  

 

The Birds on 4K Blu-Ray: Deemed, Alfred Hitchcock’s monster movie, this movie struck a chord of inspiration. Remember Richard Dreyfuss in the shark cage being rammed by the shark in Jaws? Well, you saw it first in The Birds when Tippi Hedren escapes the birds by sheltering herself in a phone booth, and the birds try to crash through to get at her. Slow pacing reigns supreme in this film, as alluded by the lack of a musical score. Bet you didn’t realize it, did you? However, you probably experienced the impending dread that prefaced each bird attack in the film because of the movie’s pace. Hitchcock does something else interesting in this movie, he shows a lot of closeups of a person’s face, particularly their eyes, and then we see what they are looking at. It has an intimate effect, creating anticipation and drawing the viewer closer to the character. But the main character in this film is the birds themselves. The birds were trained by Ray Berwick was the bird handler/trainer. It was discovered the crows were the most intelligent and the gulls were the meanest. Once trained to dive bomb humans, none of these birds could be released from captivity again.  

 

 The Reivers by William Faulkner: William Faulkner could be inferred as the 20^th Century South’s GNP. His writing clearly has more verbiage than his scribbling peers, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. And he sends me to the dictionary. Steinbeck and Hemingway never do. This is probably the most comical of Faulkner’s books I’ve ever read. It involves three youths in the early 1900s who “borrow” a car from one of their wealthy grandfathers and head to Memphis, Tennessee where they spend the night in a brothel and lose the car in a foolish trade for a race horse. Then they must race the horse and gamble on the race to try to win the car back. Hilarity ensues, but there is a passage towards the end involving a boy’s corporal punishment (or lack of) however, that I found poignant and moved me to tears. As per any other Faulkner novel, this one has its share of “n-words” because it's the old South, and it was a different time back then. The novel won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize.

Simcity on PC: When this game came out in 2012 it caught an unnecessary amount of flak for it’s always online requirement and its limiting real estate space to build its bespoke cities. And then Colossal Order Ltd.’s Cities Skylines dealt the killing blow to EA’s venerable city building sim. I actually enjoyed SimCity and favored it over Cities Skylines. The poppy colors and vibrant art style, and not to mention the stellar sound design put it a cut above in my opinion. Clicking on a supermarket brought with it the sounds of grocery items being scanned, someone pushing a shopping cart with a squeaky wheel, and the plaintive cries of children being denied candy at the checkout lanes. There was such an ambience to the game. I recently reinstalled and tried to play the game again, however. It had been a minute and a half, but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe the general consensus was right; the game just needed more real estate. 

 

 

Death Race on Blu Ray: Take the idea of reality television and catapult it twenty years into the future. This is the concept of Death Race. Prisoners at a maximum security penal colony drive weapon clad vehicles in an all out race in which the winner is granted his freedom if he can survive five races. I’d never seen the 1975 David Carridine movie Death Race 2000 (but always wanted to.) Paul W. S. Anderson stated the movie was more a prequel than a clear-cut remake of the original film. With an all-star cast, the movie was filmed as a Hollywood A film and not a B film (despite Roger Corman opining treatments for the film) Also the an original idea for the film was helmed by Paramount Pictures and the Paula Wagner/Tom Cruise team. Tom Cruise did not like the first two screenplays of the film he read, so he passed on it. Jason Statham was cast as the lead, and I was not disappointed. The cars were the main stars, however, each having dedicated mechanics that worked 12-14 hour days 6 days a week to keep the cars running while filming. It’s a fun movie to watch, rough around the edges and graphic, but it will rivet your senses.

The Untouchables on 4K Blu-Ray: Could you imagine Bob Hoskins playing Al Capone in this epic gangster movie? Well, that’s how it almost happened. Brian De Palma much preferred Robert DeNiro in the role, and when DeNiro went to meet with De Palma, he thought Robert DeNiro was much too slight in his manner, softspoken and not rough enough. He was told he would be in for a big surprise when DeNiro showed up for filming. DeNiro used a heavy set body suit, and gained weight in his face and neck, and he had his hair shaved into a receding hairline, and he adopted the mannerisms and voice. He became Al Capone. Brian De Palma said DeNiro did subtle things in the film that you simply could not see behind the camera – a testament to DeNiro’s talent. The characterizations in the film were superbly done in the guise of four men (Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Andy Garcia, and Charles Martin Smith) who were totally disparate, coming together like a well-oiled machine and working to topple Al Capone and his chokehold on Prohibition era Chicago. The soundtrack created by Ennio Morricone (who won a Grammy for his work on the film, produced the theme song that Paramount still uses today to present preview trailers on their home media. Metacritic summed up the movie perfectly: Slick on the surface, but loaded with artful details. De Palma was going for a clean and pristine look like Nazi Germany. This really shows in the 4K transfer.

 

Edward's September 2024 Monthly Mix

 

 

 September has become my favorite month and it’s not because it’s the month of my birth. I think it’s because it heralds the coming of autumn. When I was young, May was my month of choice because it announced the arrival of spring and my inevitable follies that only befall the youth. Now that I’m old, and I have more days behind me than ahead, there’s a certain chill vibe to autumn that I embrace more deeply and it’s deepening with each passing year. Unfortunately, like Robert Frost’s poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” autumn is always fleeting which gives rise to winter, which is an altogether different story.  

 

Company of Heroes 2 on PC: You’ve heard me say it before, Company of Heroes is one of my all time truly favorite games. Were I to be banished to some beautiful tropical island with funky umbrella laden drinks and vacation worthy sunsets, and broadband Internet of course, I’d have a copy of Company of Heroes on a killer gaming laptop at all times. In the interim, I’ve been spending time with Company of Heroes 2. I beat the campaign sometime last year, but I’ve been busying myself with the game’s pre-packaged scenarios. Offering three levels of difficulty, Conscript, Captain, and General. Most of these missions are just impossible, let alone trying to play them on General difficulty. But I want those Steam achievements! Anyway, I shall stay the course, at least until I get to the end of the missions. And let’s not forget that stellar soundtrack helmed by Cris Velasco, an American musician who has done everything from God of War to Borderlands 2 to The Long Dark. Filled with operatic haunting male chorus and philharmonic grand orchestras, it’s a soundtrack fitting for a Hollywood feature film.

Mission Impossible: Season 5 on DVD: There were some changes made in season five of this venerable television series, and I’m embracing them all. Lesley Ann Warren has joined the cast as Dana Lambert, a vivacious young agent, with a charm and beauty not unlike the typical girl next door. Sam Elliot (who looks almost strange without his trademark Tombstone moustache) has also joined the Impossible Mission Force. The theme song has a subtle variant, which admittedly, makes me long for the previous theme song style. Shows are introducing more elements of missions involving mafia kingpins and organized crime.

Dell Alienware 34” Ultra Widescreen monitor: As all of my gaming buddies know, acquisition of this bright, beautiful monitor is proof I’m in no hurry to upgrade to 5K resolution. This monitor had been on my wishlist for a long time. I’ve always moved up in computerdom over the years from 640 x 480 to 1024 to 1650 to 1080p, and then I discovered 1440p. It truly is the sweet spot for PC gaming. This monitor being ultrawide and curved, I thought would take some getting used to. It was more like a sense of homecoming when I plugged it in. If you’ve been thinking about takin the plunge into curved, I recommend doing so.  

 Psycho on 4K Blu-Ray: Alfred Hitchcock never cared subject matter or acting. He cared about photography, and the pieces of film that could do something to an audience. And this movie did something to me when I first watched it at 8 or 9 years old. I realized it made an impression on me like a fingerprint tattoo. John Carpenter said this movie was a piece of American history and you can see how movies are made today because of this movie. I’ve seen it numerous times over the years, and picked up the Blu Ray edition when it first released. This new 4K edition was the gamechanger, however, and not for the reason you’re thinking it is. The movie was filmed in black & white, so there isn’t much resolution-wise you can do to improve it. The improvement in this edition comes with a different (and very noticeable) upgrade. The sound! Sound is often overlooked, but in a movie, dialogue is where the story lives, Effects are where the action of the film lives, and music is where all of the emotion lives. In the original film when the policeman who’s been following Marion Crane tails her to a used car dealership where she trades her car in to avoid suspicion for her criminal act, the cop can be seen standing across the four lane street, leaning against his car with his arms crossed. You see cars passing in front of the camera and the sound of their passing is a single monotonic whoosh. The painstaking sound remastering in this 4K edition really comes through when you now hear the cars pass from your left speaker through the center channel and then out of your right speakers. This effect about made my mouth drop open. This newly released version is testament to the old adage, “just when you thought it couldn’t be improved upon.”  

Eternity Eau de Toilette by Calvin Klein: You know me, spicy fruitiness colognes in the warm months and musky leathery man scents in the autumn and winter. Seeing as how fall is approaching, I decided to try Eternity. It’s proved its worth, having been around since 1990. It offers up the masculine smell of barbershops and lemon. I like its tenacity. A few sprays seem to last all day long. The scent though, maybe not so much. It’s an old cologne, and it smells like it. It kind of made me miss my Drakkar Noir, but that said, Eternity ranks number 18 according to Yahoo!’s poll of the 25 top colognes that women love on men. Maybe I’ll keep it around.

Railroad Corporation on PC: Railroad economic strategy games are some of my favorite games on the planet. (I’ve played through Sid Meier’s Railroads! five times.) I’m always searching for the next iteration of Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon 3, but by the looks of it, there will never be one. I have found something almost as fun though. Enter Iceberg Interactive’s Railroad Corporation. It takes itself a bit more seriously, graphics-wise than 2006’s Sid Meier’s Railroads! And in this game, rather than owning a railroad, you control a railroad for robber barons. If your job isn’t up to par, you’re fired and it’s game over. I had attempted this game a few years ago, but lost interest due to its complexity. I made the decision to give it another go, however, and so far, it’s been pretty fun. I’m on mission 8 of 12, so it seems I’m doing okay since there are no difficulty levels - - it’s one size fits all.