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.