Edward's May 2019 Mix

This one is a long one which is surprising that summer’s here and I spend more time outside. It appears I really can spin plates on outstretched fingers as good as any circus clown. I’m still much involved with my guitar, putting in time each day. I’m looking to pick up a chorus pedal. I have to get that Robert Smith The Cure sound, and what better way than a Boss Super Chorus pedal? 

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot: I’m about 4/5 of the way through this 19^th century tome. It concerns the plight of a girl, Maggie Tulliver, whose father a local miller for a small English village loses everything to bankruptcy. Our protagonist, Maggie, has a well above average intellect, but is denied going through advanced education because she’s a girl, meanwhile, her brother, Tom, who would rather be out fishing and chasing things through the woods is forced to attend higher education in such things as Greek and Latin. Eliot’s writing is somewhat stilted. (I have to use the dictionary to ascertain the meaning of some disused and archaic words—but this is a good thing!) She’s a bit windy in this one, taking several pages to describe something a modern writer would execute in a paragraph. This is one of those books, however, I’ll be glad to say I have read when it’s done.

Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD: Produced in 1973, I remember watching these on Saturday mornings and finding them rather dry. Now that I’m seeing them again, they are compelling episodes voiced by the cast of the original series. Though they may not fit into the perfect Star Trek canon, D.C., and the animation is nothing to write home about, but those stories! Wow! Good stuff. Some of the episodes are even continual story lines from previous episodes of the classic series. Mudd, from the “Mudd’s Women” episode makes an appearance, as does the Tribbles, and there’s even a revisit to the rest and relaxation planet in which Dr. McCoy was near mortally wounded by a knight on horseback. This is well worth watching if you’re a fan of the original series. D.C. Fontana, famed Star Trek writer, including some of these episodes, said it best: “This is the fourth season the fans didn’t get.”

Magician by Raymond E. Feist: Many thank yous to my good friend, David Tidwell, for turning me onto this book. He always tells me the story of how he was in Operation Desert Storm and they were marching through the Middle Eastern dunes. Their officer in charge would call for a break, and he would set his pack down and use it as a chair, eagerly pulling his copy of this novel out of his side desert camo fatigue pocket and lose himself in a different world for ten minutes. I can understand that, reading this book about a young lad taken into apprenticeship by the castle royalty’s official magician. The main character, Pug, suffers a lack of confidence and a multitude of frustration as he attempts to learn his craft amid enduring a crush by the castle Duke’s spoiled princess daughter. This is not  in-depth as George R. R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series, but definitely not as laborious to read.

Battletech on PC: When I recently found this on PC Gamer Magazines list of the best real time strategy games to play I decided it was time for a revisit. I had initially started it last year but got lost along the way. I was so lost coming back to it that I simply started over. It was a bit more smoothly sailing because I somewhat knew what to expect. I got caught up quickly. I didn’t know much about the famous Battletech or Mechwarrior series, and that’s okay. You don’t need to have prior knowledge of the legacy game/novel series to enjoy this. Actually, I could see this being a springboard into the whole world of Mechwarrior.

Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific on PC: I embarked on a campaign over two years ago and pretty much shelved the game. I decided to pick up where I left off. I was doing well, sinking my share of Japanese merchant ships. And then I got swooped by two Japanese zeros that left my hull in a state of disrepair and killed several of my sailors. I immediately quick saved, thinking I could ride it out. I sunk. So I reloaded my quick save, and immediately perished. Doh! And as luck would have it, this was the only save I had. Will I ever learn my lesson? Saving in the middle of a death is probably the worst thing that can happen in a PC game. I ate my crow pie, and started over. I just finished my first campaign and earned a medal for my troubles. For what it is, piloting a death bringing weapon of war, this is a glamorous simulation of World War II American submarine warfare. Despite its 2007 release, the game still looks amazing at 1440p and the undulating waves are still capable of inducing seasickness, a malady I knew well from experience. 

Industry Stranger to Stranger on cassette: Who would have thought I’d be writing a mix about a cassette tape? My daughter has a cheap cassette player I recently discovered and I popped in this cassette because it had been almost 30 years since I’d heard it. Industry was a band utilizing heavy synth (super 1980ish) and  similar to Duran Duran without all of the fanfare (or the fame.) I discovered their album in the Philippines. It was almost eerie listening to this cassette and becoming nostalgic. Cassette tapes are trying to make a sort of resurgence. I’m not seeing it, myself. CD technology usurped it for a reason. 44.1 kHz/16 bit CDs still continue to be my favorite medium and probably will be for some time. 

Star Wars: A New Hope on Blu Ray: I watched this a few years ago on DVD and swore it couldn’t get any better. Now that I’ve seen it on Blu Ray I beg to differ. The storybook edition I have is the collector’s edition to have, as it’s filled with extra features and is complete with the first six movies. The Blu Ray edition is sparkling pristine. I’m seeing dents and blemishes on C3PO’s exterior I’d never noticed before. Oddly, after having seen this so many times I’m starting to see things probably better left unseen. Mark Hamill’s acting is amateurish in some scenes to the point it seems he’s emitting lines as if he’s in a high school play. Indeed, his performances improved with time. 

Dragon Age II on PC: I’m still having fun with this one. From what my workmates say, I’m about 2/3 of the way through. I’m knocking out a lot of side quests, trying to level up for the main story. In typical Bioware fashion I’m getting a real kick out of the characters and their bantering with each other. There are a few “FedEx” quests, going out to retrieve items, but even these are interesting to do. Several reviewers hated the “consolitis” that seemed to infect this game, but I actually like being able to click on a city on the map and have it list what quests need to be completed there. Such a mechanic saves a lot of unnecessary footwork.

Indianapolis by Lynn Vincent & Sara Vladic: This book tells one of the worst stories I’ve ever encountered. The aftermath of the sinking of one of the US Navy’s finest cruisers in July of 1945, and the aftermath of the survivors who weren’t rescued for four days afterward. After the third day, the life jackets of the single survivors became so waterlogged the men were up to their chins in the sea. And then the sharks came. They came so thick that they didn’t even have to tread water. They could simply stand on the backs of the sharks to keep afloat. I’ve read Dan Kurzman’s famous Fatal Voyage which was well researched at the time (1990) but Indianapolis goes into more detail with the repercussions and the aftermath of the Navy’s cover up. (No surprise there!) Recently the US Navy had to answer for a rash of incidents involving ships collisions. It was revealed the sailors weren’t getting enough sleep. They weren’t allowed to. This sounds like the Navy I remember. The poor sailors aboard the USS Indianapolis, when rescued were not allowed to tell anybody their ship had sunk, nor were they allowed to correspond to anybody the location of the hospital they were in.

Third Eye Blind “Third Eye Blind” on CD: It’s been years since I’ve listened to this. I’m surprised how good it is. This really is an amazing album! It plays like a greatest hits album; there are no B-side songs on it whatsoever

. Incidentally, the band’s first album holds a one time record of being given the most money by a recording label given to an unsigned band. It’s a shame that every subsequent album after gained a little less traction than the one before it, but I read they are still touring/recording. Then of course there was the odious underhanded trick that Stephan Jenkins did to co-founder Kevin Cadagon. The two men founded the band together, but Jenkins covertly registered the name of the band under his name alone so he would get all royalties and entitlements. And then of course, Cadagon was dismissed from the band. I may not add anymore of their albums to my catalog, but this one is a fine listen worthy of anybody’s collection.

Edward's April 2019 Mix

April was busy. My free time was put to some good use though, good music, good reading, good movies, and of course, good gaming! I finally finished two series I had been watching which always fills me with a sense of accomplishment. And as visible on my GoodReads.com page I'm well on my way in my goal of knocking out 18 books this year. That may change, however, with George Eliot's tome-like, The Mill on the Floss. I'm really harboring an interest in board games which is strange because I have hardly anybody to play them with. Ah, the non-perks of working an off shift. I'm still contemplating a new PC. I'm just waiting for those 2080 cards to go down just a tad more in price.

1.     The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot: And so begins another foray into great 19^th century literature. Published in 1850 this almost autobiographical tale of a miller’s daughter growing up in rural England is some of Eliot’s best work. The story concerns Maggie Tulliver, the girl, who has both beauty and brains, but is dismissed for any formal education because she’s a girl. Her brother, whom she idolizes is being groomed for scholarly learning at an academy despite his more obtuse demeanor and desire to play with pocketknives and fish, and chase through the woods. I’m only in to the first 100 pages, and the book is sending me to the dictionary a lot, but so far I’m well immersed.

2.     The Hurt Locker on Blu Ray: This is a thinking man’s take on modern Middle East warfare. Interestingly, it was directed by Katherine Bigelow, a woman, who as a matter of fact is James Cameron’s ex-wife. Jeremy Renner plays a bomb defuser who carries a flippant attitude toward the dangers of his work which puts him at odds with his fellow soldiers. The movie seems to capture the authenticity of US Army soldiers being deployed to Iraq, but the main star of this show is the Barret Light .50 that appears in a sniper duel halfway into the movie.

 

3.     Pet Sematary at the theater: This was an entertaining deviation from Stephen King’s famous novel, and an even further departure from the original 1989 film. Metacritic gave the film a 57. This is a rather tepid score for a movie I really enjoyed. Amy Seimetz gave a brilliant performance as Rachel Creed, the little girl star of the show, (and enough of a lookalike to actor, Matthew Lilliard to be his daughter. I was surprised she was not) who is at odds with her parents who each take separate stands in explaining the concept of death to her. And when little Rachel meets the concept head on we are filled with terror and then horror when we see what she does with it. Liberties are taken from King’s novel, but in a good way.  

4.     Boston Boston on DSD: Weighing in at hefty 1.49 GB and 24.99 on the ol’ wallet, from HD Tracks this one is for the pure snob audiophiles. I bought this album to put my DAP through its paces. I realize the human ear is only capable of so many frequencies, and the dynamic range of this album In this format far exceeds these, but I have to admit, this album sounds pristine beautiful. I believe this edition is the best I’ve ever heard, and believe me, I grew up on this album. When the organ subsides on “Foreplay/Long Time,” and the drum kicks in to welcome that amazing high E string guitar, it was an utter moment of aural bliss. 

 5.     Lost: Season 4 on Blu Ray: I finally knocked out the 4^th season. I’m still very much enjoying the series, especially with more science fiction mechanics stepping in. There were several episodes flash forwarding to events happening in the future (after an apparent rescue of the survivors) which is slightly disconcerting, and one has to be careful of bathroom breaks because important plot movements are bound to be missed. The show had an uncanny ability to make me hate one character in an episode, and then to go into backstory about that character in the next episode and finding they ingratiate themselves to me again. I love when art, whether it be literature, oil paintings or shows make me feel this way. I guess that’s what it’s all about. 

6.     The Last Samurai on Blu Ray: I saw this when it first came out in the early oughts and enjoyed it then. I watched it with my parents this month and found it equally as enjoyable, given they had never seen it. It’s along the same lines as Dances with Wolves and Avatar, but I got so involved watching it I never took notice. Tom Cruise portrays jaded US Calvary soldier, Nathan Algren, who is sent to Japan as an advisor against the ancient Samurai. He is captured by his new enemy and becomes smitten with their ways, eventually joining them to combat the very sources who hired him in the first place. The movie depicts a 19^th century Japan that makes me sad it didn’t stay that way. Change is the only constant, and “The Land of the Rising Sun,” is not exempted from it either. This movie shows that in a most bittersweet manner.

7.     Project Cars  on PC: Much like its estranged cousin, Assetto Corsa, this is a revered car racing simulation adored by its fans. I was prompted to pick this up by my Steam friend from across the pond, Ausmerica so we could do some online racing. “It will be fun,” he said. “It will be challenging,” he said. “We’ll be on equal footing,” he said. The truth is, I suck at online racing. I’ve only come close to beating him one time and he came from behind on the last lap, I bounced into a wall and sat there in frustration gunning my engine (in a go-kart of all things) trying to find reverse and get back on the track. Doh! Still, this game is a joy to play against the AI racers. The tracks are gorgeous, the cars are magnificent, and the sunshine looks so real I’m tempted to don my Ray-Bans. If you’re torn between this game and Assetto Corsa I’d say the latter might be a tad more realistic from a physics standpoint. They both seem to handle about the same. Just do like me. Pick up both of them!

8.     World War II in Color on Netflix : This is an excellent narrative on layman’s terms of the whole of the last good war. The series takes no biases either way, and in pure journalistic fashion tells it like it was from both sides. I had no idea the Germans would slaughter the population in cities they were about to lose back to the allies. I didn’t know the Russians raped women AND children when they marauded Germany. And I didn’t know the Japanese had no intention of surrendering after the first atomic bomb was dropped. Each episode is about fifty minutes long and covers one aspect/theater of the war. If you have any interest in Word War II, this will set it on fire.

9.     Hitman Codename:47 on PC: Yeah, I know I’m a masochist because I play so many difficult PC games. The thing is, I want to play the newer Hitman series, but I just don’t feel right doing it without going through all of the legacy games in the series. And brother, let me tell you, this one is hard. I’m thinking back to my Dark Souls days. I’m only into the 5^th mission, but with no in-game saves or stupid console-style checkpoints I’m struggling. I’ve made twenty-one attempts so far on this fifth mission. Typically, when I do get killed and fail the mission I’m laughing so hard because I did something so foolish I don’t even get angry. When I’m on my 70^th attempt I’ll see if I still feel that way. Released in 2000, the game has a great art style, and that coupled with the music reminds me of one of my other favorite games from 2000, Deus Ex. I’m always pushing it just to see how “intelligent” the AI really is. They seem to be pretty sharp. I trip one alarm and the whole flock of them scramble to meet me in the closet where I’ve been hiding. Suspect! 

Edward's March 2019 Mix

 
Sort of more of the same from last month, it’s been a busy March. It’s ranged from books to PC games to board games. And music. Lots of music. I upgraded my digital audio player and it’s truly like hearing every song in my collection for the first time. I wrestled with the idea of high resolution music being better than the old CD standard (44.1 kHz/16 bits) and came to the conclusion the money I’ve been spending on higher resolution files on sites such as ProStudioMasters and HDTracks was probably in vain. There is nothing wrong with CD resolution. Vinyl diehards will tell you differently, but in truth you’re comparing fish to bicycles. CDs are digital, vinyl analog. The one sticking point, however, is the modern mastering of CDs that involves “crushing” the sound. This is why it is always better to buy pre-1990 CDs. If this sounds interesting to you then simply google the phrase “loudness wars.” The way you look at music forever after will be changed. I promise.   

1.      Wing Commander II on PC: The game beat me. I hate that I got 18 hours into it and the difficulty was so much that I just couldn’t beat the game. Now, after all these years I remember why I never beat it back in 1992 when I purchased the big box game out of my local Babbages. I even looked for cheats and workarounds. There is one workaround involving altering command lines in the start up file, but alas, they no longer work! I really dislike this because it quells my desire to play the rest of the games in the series, but knowing me, I’ll end up picking them up anyway. Doh! 

2.     Gretta Van Fleet “Anthem of the Peaceful Army” on FLAC 88.2 kHz/24 bits. I picked this up on ProStudioMaster.com to test out my new high res DAP. Still retaining their Led Zeppelin type sound, I think they are starting to find their own sound. Josh Kiszka has a great rock and roll voice. My favorite will always be Joe Elliot, but Kiska has my utmost admiration. I’ve read he’s been having troubles with his voice. I hope it holds up. It’s refreshing to discover a new band, especially a rock band and acquiring their second of two full length albums. It reminds me of first discovering Van Halen when I was a kid and saving my money to buy their cassettes.


3.   Total Recall on Blu Ray: I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie I haven’t liked. He’s not an Academy Award winning actor, but he puts his all into his movies while still having fun. He’s come a long way since his first appearance as a dubbed over Hercules. Total Recall is equally as good because it co-stars Michael Ironside, one of my favorite bad guys. Oh, and there’s also the Philip K. Dick thing. I keep forgetting this was based on one of his stories. This movie is clearly a product of the 1980 action movies complete with the one liners, despite it came out in the 1990s. And Arnold delivers them with aplomb. The transfer to Blu-Ray is clean and crisp. Well worth picking up if you’re a fan of Philip K. Dick, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Michale Ironside.  

4.  All of the Pretty Horses  by Cormac McCarthy on Amazon Kindle: The first of a trilogy by this Pulitzer Prize winning author. This is the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers, cut off from the only life he has ever imagined for himself.  It’s 1946, the aftermath of WWII. With two companions, he sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to seek his fortune. I once deemed McCarthy’s “The Road” to be the most depressing book I’ve ever read. But there’s no denying this guy can sure write. This book is very reminiscent of Larry McMurtry’s western writing. It’s a serious book despite such passages as roasting a jackrabbit over a campfire and pulling it out of the flames, looking like a desiccated effigy. I’m not far into it, but it’s been fun so far.  

5. Formula D by Asmodee Games: My daughter and I set out to play one game just to get a feel for it, and ended up playing three games straight. It’s a race car game played on a board. Yeah, yeah, I know, it doesn’t sound like fun, but it’s a blast. And we’re just playing on the simple rules. As we become acquainted we’ll up the difficulty (and the fun) with the advanced rules. Thank you, James Champion, for turning me onto this game. Unfortunately, the game is difficult to find for under $50. I got lucky and made a good eBay find. 
  
6.  Independence Day on Blu Ray: I hadn’t seen this since its release in 1996. It’s a summer type over the top popcorn action movie, but still fun to watch. Bill Pullman does a great job as the President. The story goes he did so well that people on the set humbled themselves around him as if he really were the President. This is a great film to watch on big screen with a sound bar. It’s amazing that special effects have come so far in twenty years to the point the effects in this movie look almost cheesy, but I think they serve the perfect purpose for what they are. The Blu Ray version looks much cleaner than the DVD version. I just found out it’s been released on 4K Blu Ray. I’ll probably pick it up on that format and rewatch it, the movie is that fun to watch. 

7. The Trail of the Fox by David Irving: I’ve muddled into the halfway point of this tome. Erwin Rommel definitely burnt the candle at both ends, but pulled it off surprisingly well. I’m currently reading about his adventures in Africa. I think what truly defeated him was Enigma which enabled the Brits to sink the ships carrying petrol to his forces. The book started out with Rommel admiring Adolf Hitler, to one of his aides witnessing him pacing back and forth near his command vehicle and stating that Hitler was crazy. As early as 1942 Rommel wrote to his wife and said “we’ve lost the war.” He even sent her an English dictionary and instructed her to learn it because she was probably going to need it. He was definitely Brit general Montgomery’s thorn. He tried several times to flank Rommel and shut him down, but each time he tried he came up empty. Rommel outwitted him. Oddly, he had an uncanny sense of an enemy’s approach. He would look out over a bare stretch of land and say, “In ten minutes the enemy will be upon us.” Sure enough, ten minutes later dust clouds would appear signaling the approach of British forces. Unfortunately, the paperback I’m reading truncated about forty pages right at the prelude of what happened at El Amien. The book picks up again at Rommel’s retreat. I take it things went south there.  

8. BGVP DMG High Resolution Ear Phones. I wanted portable buds for going outside and taking to work from time to time. And I think I found the ultimate. I watched numerous reviews of these on YouTube and they seemed to steal the show, some reviewers stating they sounded as good as or better than $500 and $600 sets out there. Honestly, I’ve never listened to a $600 set of ear buds, but these bad boys with their six drivers sound pretty amazing. I hit a speed bump selecting the right size buds (I thought I was going to have to return them because they wouldn’t fit.) But once I affixed the right size buds I was in aural heaven.

9. Hitman Codename 47 on PC: I’ll never know why I’m drawn to hard PC games, but the masochist side of me craves them. This game came out in 2000 and was credited for being one of the more difficult games out there. I’ve only gotten through the tutorial and the first mission so far, but oh man, the rewarding feeling I got when I beat that mission. The truth is, I want to play the newer renditions of the game, I’ve heard nothing but good stuff. But being the purist I am, I can’t bring myself  to do that, not until I’ve played through every game leading up to it. The controls are wonky and the graphics look like a purple baboon butt, but I’m in for the long haul. We’ll see how far I get. 

10. R3 High Resolution Music Player by Hiby: I had a nice HD music player, but I felt the need for an upgrade. I spent the month doing research. They run the gamut from $12 cheapies from SanDisk all the way to $2600 Sony Walkmans. I found a sweet-spot in the Hiby R3 at $200. What sold me was the album artwork that depicts when a song plays. And I have to admit the music sounds pretty damn good. Pick one of these up and you’ll give your iPod away. 

Edward's February 2019 Mix

February is upon us as we plunge headlong into another year. I’m still looking at new PCs. I’m wanting a beast of a rig, we’re talking an I9-9900K with a Geforce 2080 video card. My blessed old I7-3770K is still holding its own quite well, but sheesh, it’s six years old! I used to build my own rigs, but NZXT BLD will build you a state of the art machine with a two year warranty on all parts for $99. The total price is as cheap as if I built it myself. I think it’s worth it. Ironically, I’ve not been playing PC games as much. I’ve been catching up on my reading, engulfed in my guitar and discovering the joys of board gaming. And I’ve inserted the time to discover some cool new music as well. 

1.  Wing Commander II on PC: I played the original almost 30 years ago but didn’t get very far. There were no difficulty settings on these old games, nor were there any cheats back then. I picked the game up on Gog.com for under two bucks on sale and it’s been tweaked for modern rigs. I remember this game was lauded for its “amazing graphics!” and this along with its predecessor Wing Commander is what made Soundblaster a household name. Today, despite the wonderful tweaks Gog implemented to ensure the game runs well, the game looks like utter mud. And the sound that seemed so stellar back in 1991 is simple 16 bit midi tones that sound slightly better than old NES game tunes. Still, this series is regarded as one of the best space flight sims ever and it’s worth a play through. Completely innovative for its time, it featured a branching story line depending on whether you were winning or losing the great war between the factions, the Terrans or the bipedal feline aliens known as The Kilrathi. It was one of the first games to feature a dynamic soundtrack that pepped up as you headed into battle, or softened to a melancholic dirge if your ship was destroyed. The original game actually prompted me to upgrade my 286-12 mHz to a blistering quick 386-25 mHz. Ah, those days! 

2.  Wes Borland “Crystal Machete” on Amazon Music: I was never really a fan of the band Limp Bizkit. I always harbored an aversion to Fred Durst’s lack of vocabulary. And to attempt to overcome it with profanity, to me it’s just dismissive. Limp Bizkit’s guitarist, Wes Borland, on the other hand, I’ve always had a certain fascination for. From his humble beginnings of learning guitar from his church pastor who believed in chords to the max “Wesley, let me teach you another Merle Haggard song,” to his crazy on-stage costumes. With his Will Robinson spitting image looks he’s no shredder and he’s certainly not a Jimmy Page or Eric Johnson technician, but boy is he a “soundscaper.” Did I just pen a new word? I picked up his recent “Crystal Machete” and I easily inferred it as a labor of love. I’ve been going crazy on auto repeat on the album. If you’re a fan of ambient music you owe it to yourself to check this out. Listen to “The Cliffs.” 

3.   Extraordinary Tales on Netflix: A collection of animated tales based on the works of Edgar Alan Poe and coming in at one hour and fifteen minutes, this is a short film worth watching. Each story is a showcase for modern animation. And the tales are narrated by some heavy hitters. Bela Lugosi tells “The Tell Tale Heart.” Yes, THAT Bela Lugosi. It’s eerie to hear his voice transcribed from a scratchy old record album recording paired with such modern animation, but works beautifully. Giullermo del Toro is also cast as a narrator. I remember skimming and skipping over Poe in high school because it seemed like boring writing to me. But in truth he’s paved the way for Lovecraft and King in future years. This show makes me want to revisit those stories in book form and take them seriously this time around.

4.  Band of Brothers: Hell’s Highway on PC: I finally finished this, the third game in Gearbox’s strategy/shooter WWII series. The story involves Sgt. Matthew Baker and his men fighting on the sidelines of Operation Market Garden September 1944. In actuality this is the story of a man’s journey into madness brought on by the horrors of war. The set pieces and game mechanics still hold up despite the game’s age (2008.) Gearbox put their all into this one, making it the best in the series. Perhaps the most compelling thing about WWII stories, whether they be books or the great movies that have been made in the past two decades, is the camaraderie depicted. It’s enough to make any of us envious, wanting to travel back in time to be a part of that “brothers in arms” concept. I served in the peacetime military myself, and I never experienced that. Maybe it’s something only truly felt in war. This game seems to nail it. 

5. Pandemic by Z-Man Games: My daughter and I have been playing this board game, and it is as addicting as chocolate crack! It’s a co-op game pitting the players against the board game itself. You play as agents of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta battling an outbreak of four different diseases taking over the world. And the game shows no mercy. We played six games straight and won two of them, and that’s not even on the highest difficulty.   

6.  Gretta Van Fleet: “From the Fires” on CD: One brother plays guitar, one brother plays bass, and one brother sings, and oh man can he sing! This band has been lauded and hated for sounding eerily (and almost identically) to Led Zeppelin. They took a Grammy this year for best new Rock band, and I can see why. Even Robert Plant approves. It is strange, but in a good way to see this band surface. I remember as a kid hearing Led Zeppelin on the radio. My brother still has to have his dose everyday on his way to and from work. It's as if listening to this album conjures up memories of me in an alternate universe since Zeppelin never sang these songs. If you miss or are nostalgic for 1970's rock but with a slightly newfangled twist pick this CD up. I really think you'll enjoy it.

7. The Trail of the Fox by David Irving: I’ve only started this fabulous biography of Germany’s revered WWII general, Erwin Rommel, but so far I can’t put it down. He was so universally respected that even British officers hung his portrait in their tents and quarters. Eisenhower and Montgomery were fond of such sentiments as “The only good German soldier is a dead German soldier.” Rommel never said such things. He always admired his enemies, and even instructed his invading German troops, “there is to be no pillaging, raping or looting.” Rommel’s sweetest victories were those in which he totally confused the enemy, outflanked them or came from behind them and caught them in complete surprise. Rommel was one of the early supporters of Adolf Hitler simply because of how Hitler put the military in such high esteem. Supposedly this book, a genuine tour de force, is THE Rommel biography for the ages. I’m looking forward to delving deeper into it. 

8. Memoir ’44  by Days of Wonder Games: I’ve written about it before on here, but this game is truly the entrance down the rabbit hole of board games. Depicting the invasion at Normandy on into the glider landings and the failed attempt of Operation Market Garden, this game uses cards, dice and figurines of soldiers, armor, bunkers, sandbags, and bridges to mimic every battle and skirmish that occurred during this time. Taking only a few minutes to learn,  this game is a blast to play. I just introduced my oldest daughter to it, and now she’s hooked.  

9. Dragon Age II on PC: I’m still continuing my journey in this wonderful EA game, the second of the trilogy. I survived my jaunt through The Deep Roads. I lost a sister through it, but gained a level or two with my rogue, Edward Hawke, finally acquiring level 12. This game is right up there with The Witcher as far as enjoyable RPGs, and honestly, this is perhaps the most fun I’ve had in any RPG. Every quest is a blast to play through. Critics panned the console-like mechanics of the game, but to me the game is highly polished and plays just fine. I don’t even have a problem with the confinement of playing basically a pre-made character. I’m probably half way through the game and still each time I sit down to play it is a great experience.