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.