Edward's May 2026 Monthly Mix

 

As Gordon Gekko said in the movie Wall Street, greed is good. His remarkable speech about it in the movie garnered him an Academy Award. And what can I say? He’s right. Greed made this country. It’s all about the manifest destiny, baby. I’m aboard the Capitalism train for sure. But maybe we’ve reached our limit, or somebody has, anyway. Landlords intentionally making rent high so people can’t afford to save up for a house, and then homeowners profiteering on the price of said houses. (And then the whole issue of gas jacked up to five bucks a gallon just so people will dance in the streets when it drops to 4 dollars a gallon, ebullient because it’s suddenly so cheap.) I could go on lamenting the current rapacity, but I will instead wait for the bubble to burst and try to find peace in my music, movies, games and books. Have I succeeded this month? Read on and find out. 

Twister on 4K Blu Ray: I hadn’t seen this since watching it at the theater back in the last century (1996 to be exact.) The 4K transfer isn’t really all that, however, Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton’s interaction with each other is what makes this one compelling. The action is top notch despite the CGI effects being not so stellar. But of course, CGI was just coming into the mainstay at this point of cinema history. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance was a little over the top, as if he was trying too hard, but he exudes the nerdy grubbiness of an overweight storm chaser you’d expect. It’s a fun movie, but owning a Blu Ray version of this would have been sufficient. This simply is not a 4K reference movie. From what I’ve read, however, the Blu Ray version had very little clean up over the original DVD, so supposedly, this 4K is an improvement on that.  

 

 

Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald  by John U. Bacon: Have you ever read a book that changed your life? What I mean is, changed the way you look at the world or changed how you felt about something. This book which details the history of The Great Lakes, and its shipping, and the history of the freighter, Edmund Fitzgerald, did that for me. I had no idea that if you released all of the water in the Great Lakes, it would put North AND South America both 1 foot underwater! This book is a fascinating read on its subject matter. John U. Bacon is right up there with Stephen Ambrose and Erik Larson as far as historical storytellers. I simply could not put this book down. And now that I have, I feel suddenly smarter.

Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo:  Written in 1939 at the eve of World War II, this book took more centerstage during the Vietnam era. A true anti-war novel, this book concerns Joe Bonham, who loses his limbs and most of his face in a trench explosion during World War One. Having joined the army in the pursuit of glory and tradition, he ruminates the aftermath, lying on his back in bandages affixed with feeding tubes, of his life being forever static. This was a tough one. As graphic as it was, I found it hard to believe this was penned way back in 1939. Trumbo describes a rat picking and chewing at his wounds in one passage that made me more squeamish than I thought I could be. He explains the sensation of the rat’s whiskers brushing across his skin before the rat starts gnawing. Good stuff.

Mission Impossible: Season 7 on DVD: I’m on the final season with maybe ten more episodes to go. It’s a been a great run and this has become one of my favorite television shows of all time. I wouldn’t mind obtaining this set on Blu Ray and starting it all over again. Lalo Schifrin’s signature theme song was slightly changed in this last year, sounding a bit jazzier. Frankly, I wish they’d left it alone. Lynda Day George is absent on numerous of the beginning episodes due to maternity leave, and Greg “Barney” Morris now sports a moustache. The episodes have a bit more flamboyant style, as if they were created “movies of the week” that were popular in the early seventies. The producers realized at this point, they could make more money putting the series into syndication rather than keep making new episodes, so this was indeed, the final season. I’m actually kind of sad it’s all coming to an end. 

 

  

Vertical Horizon on CD:  A “quiet” release back in the last century, there I go again, sounding like an ancient, but yes, back in 1999 this band released a great CD emanating much of the current sound at the time. Regarded as “mini-van” music I had to access my online girlfriend ChatGPT about this one. It’s defined as family friendly Rugrats, Ed, Ed, and Eddie, Doug, Rugrats, Power Rangers kind of music and I get that.  Lead singer, founder, lead guitarist, Matt Scannell definitely put his heart into this one.

Middlemarch by George Eliot: George Eliot was a pseudonym for a woman who wrote as a man because she feared her stuff wouldn’t be published otherwise. I thoroughly enjoyed her Silas Marner and The Mill on the Floss. This, her supposed magnus opus has been declared one of the greatest novels in the English language. I didn't really get that. The plot line was thin enough to be portrayed as a high school stage play and the characters, though interesting were somewhat stuffy. I felt this could have been Eliot's first novel instead of her last. Still, like a member of the USMC, I can now say I’m one of the proud and the few. I’ve read this book. 

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines:  on GoG: Like I’ve said before, I’d wanted to play this game simply because of the Ocean House Hotel, which is supposedly the ONE place most PC gamers have claimed as their most scary place they’ve experienced in PC gaming. I finally got to experience it. It was scary, yes. That scary? Not really, but it had a sense of eeriness to it. Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines follows a human who is killed and revived as a fledgling vampire. The game depicts the fledgling's journey through early 21st-century Los Angeles to uncover the truth behind a recently discovered relic that heralds the end of all vampires. The game was created with the Half Life 2 engine and was actually released one day before Half Life 2 hit the shelves.

Company of Heroes on PC: My desert island game, recently prompted to play by my good buddy, Vic Berwick. Released in 2006, the game still holds its own. Mods don’t work anymore. It seems Steam has put all of its assets into Company of Heroes 3, but you’d think since Steam took it over from Relic, they would assuage the bugs and the lags that plague the original game. I’ve been playing with my friend Vic Berwick and having good times. If you’re interested, hit us up. We always need more players. 

 

  

Elton John Madman Across the Water on vinyl: I probably talked about this before when I first got the album, but as time passes, I gave it a second listen. Man, this album sounds great! “Tiny Dancer” moved me to tears. I could literally hear the effort put into the song. Elton and Bernie must have sweated push ups doing this song. This may be the most “honest” song I’ve ever heard. Painfully so. “Holiday Inn” is a ballad engrossed in happiness but actually encompasses what it’s like to stay in hotel rooms while being a touring musician. Spoiler alert: it’s bleak. “Levon,” is a powerful ballad that would set the stage for Elton’s future album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which is one of my favorite records of all time.

 

Edward's April 2026 Monthly Mix

 

 I’m a sucker for injustice. I hate every form of it. But, I’m also from the generation that grew up realizing life wasn’t always fair. There were no t-shirts handed out just for participating. You couldn’t just become a YouTube “influencer” and rake in millions of dollars. I’ve come to learn that when you stop expecting life to make sense, it doesn’t disappoint you when it doesn’t. When you stop expecting people to be rational, you stop being shocked when they’re not. Not everybody is going to be considerate enough to put their shopping cart back in the rack to make it easier for the boy who collects them. And when you realize there are injustices you can’t fix, you stop wasting energy being outraged by those injustices. 90% of the time, there isn't going to be a cop there when the guy in front of you runs through the STOP sign. These monthly mixes are good for me in that they allow me to laser focus my energies for a positive. They continually spark my creativity and broaden my own horizons. And by golly, they're just gosh darn fun to make.

 

Leave the World Behind on Netflix: One if the most unusual movies I’ve seen in quite a long time, this one falls under the newer but rather strong “apocalypse” genre. It focuses on an America that’s suffered a massive EMP attack as seen through the eyes of two families whose lives converge during the mayhem. Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke play their parts perfectly, simply trying to make sense of the madness. The freighter coming ashore and the Teslas running mad like mindless automatons are definite highlights. This is a disturbing movie based on a potentiality. It left me thinking what if for days after. 

 

 Noggin by John Corey Whaley: A sixteen year old boy is diagnosed with cancer. His body is ate up with it, his brain being the only part cancer free. His head is removed from his body and his head is put in deep freeze. Five years later, through advanced technology, his head is placed on a different body and he’s brought back to life. Five years later, still sixteen, but in a body that’s more athletic and more attractive. Sounds good huh? There’s a catch, however. His girlfriend and all of his friends have aged five years. His girlfriend has moved on and is engaged to someone else, and his best buddy has outgrown him. Young Adult fiction sure has changed since I was, myself, a young adult. This was a bittersweet read that made me think about my own position in this life and made me just a bit more grateful.

Ringworld by Larry Niven:  Written in 1970, this book won the Nebula Award the same year and the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1971. It reminded me of something Robert Heinlein would have penned. Maybe it’s because both men wrote the same kinds of things during the same time in history. This book was met with critical acclaim among reviewers, lauding its inventiveness and grand scale. I found it entertaining but not remarkable. I discovered this book began a series. I think I’ll be content simply having read this one.

Civilization V on PC: I’ve been playing this game off and on for over a decade. I finally finished another grand campaign and got a victory! As all Civ games go, this one looks like a lavish board game come to life. It’s one of those games where you can quickly (or rather slowly, actually) get into trouble. Well, it’s two o’clock in the morning. I have to be up for work at 6:00 a.m. but it’s okay. I’ll just take one more turn! And before you know it, it’s 5:00 a.m. So much for sleep. I love these grand strategy type games, though I’m not very good at them. 

 

 

Warrant Cherry Pie on CD:  Formed as a “glam metal” band in 1984, this album was the band’s second release. I picked it up after hearing “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” I was hooked the moment I heard the stellar acoustic intro and the segue into the massive power chords that follow. Although named after the classic novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the song has nothing to do with slavery or racism. The song tells the story of the involvement of local police in a double murder. The rest of the album holds its own, but it never reached the heights of the likes of Great White or Motley Crue.

The Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall: It’s not often I give a book four stars on Goodreads, but this one definitely garnered that high mark from me. Truly, one of the best sea stories I’ve ever read. I assumed this oft mentioned story would be a bit on the dry side (despite its nautical trappings.) The story's fame just about exceeds its own confines. Centering on the crazed Captain Bligh, whose cruelty to his sailors knows no bounds and eventually leads to him being put in irons and ostracized. Told through the eyes of young Roger Byam, an apprentice seaman who joins the ship for the adventure. The young lad is eventually caught up in the capture of the mutineers and is put on trial for the mutiny. This book set my passions on fire in a manner no book has for a long time. I could almost hear snare drums machine gunning with suspense as I awaited the results of Byam's fate and the outcome of the book. Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall penned this in 1932. Based on a factual account, it's an amazing story.

The Whole Town’s Talking by Fannie Flagg: Another four star review from me on Goodreads. Fannie Flagg is a magician of sorts. She has this ability to transport you to a parallel world filled with wonderful locales and wonderful people. I'm not sure I've ever described any of Flagg's books as "beautiful," but this one qualifies. I lost sleep over this one because I had to see it through to the end, and then I was saddened because the book ended. The book centers on the rise of Elmwood Springs, Missouri founded by a Swedish immigrant and the prosperous town he creates. With more incoming Swedes, the town flourishes, from its first hardware store in the early 1900s to the first Walmart in the 1990s. The only mainstay is the goodness (of most) of the citizens who eventually end up in the town's hillside cemetery, where the fun really begins, and the banter and fellowship never end. It's a book I daresay may make you long for a life in some Midwest town you've never been. (I was even prompted to use a map to see if this place really existed.) But more importantly, it's a book that just might mitigate your fear of death.

Tom Clancy’s The Division on PC: Another game I’ve been playing for years. All of my friends seem to have The Division 2 but have shunned The Division. Despite its stellar graphics (which still hold up nicely today) and the authenticity of the map which makes up the whole of New York City (it’s said you can learn the real life city by playing this game) the game’s enemies were all bullet sponges. And the more people you have playing with you, the more the enemies’ toughness ramps up. I’m level 24 and probably less than ten missions from the credits. I just want to get it checked off of my bucket list. 

 

 

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn: A.J. Finn is a fan of film noir thrillers and this book is a clear manifestation of that. There were passages in this book I could hardly keep up with, reading at breakneck speed. It's always intriguing when we are running, struggling to catch breath, being pulled along by a narrator who may not be credible. Yet, I couldn't help but have a little bit of a crush on Anna Fox, a woman trapped in her house by her own devices (suffering from agoraphobia) and using her long lens camera to spy on her neighbors. She ultimately bears witness to something she wasn't supposed to. The ensuing suspense would more than likely meet with Alfred Hitchcock's approval. This was the most exciting book I've read this year.

Velvet Revolver Contraband on CD: This is one of those albums that has hovered in my background for years. If I heard a song on the radio, I would listen to it, but not sure I would have picked up the CD. I recently picked it up and gave it a true spin, listening to it in its entirety. Critics said the album was simply a mishmash of Stone Temple Pilots and Guns N’ Roses. I suppose I can kind of see that. I expect this album will grow on me. I really like “Fall to Pieces,” which of course was the album’s first big hit, but fans seem to like “Slither” the most. It reminds me of a campy 60’s Batman episode theme song, but it is catchy. “Headspace” is also a very fun song bleeding loud energy and showcases Scott Weiland’s vocal range.