Edward's July 2021 Mix

 

 

Still in the throes of working long hours, but I did manage to squeeze some niceties out of my free time. As you know, I had to forego last month’s mix; I simply didn’t have the time. But this month, perhaps I made up for it in the variety of indulgences I did partake in. I acquired a very ornery female kitten this month. Ah, the pitter patter of tiny feet in the household to make one feel young again. Speaking of feet, they’ve become an endangered species in this house. This kitten loves to attack toes, and there is no safe refuge. Feeling needle stabs on your toes is quite the rude awakening!

 

Max Payne 3 on PC: The original game in this series was a real hallmark innovation (for its time.) It introduced “bullet time,” which enabled your character to leap into a dive with both guns blazing, complete slow motion, and cap everybody in the room at quite the unfair advantage. It was perk that required an initial buildup, but its result was a game changer. Max Payne, himself, was a sympathetic character who lost his family to a bad run in with the mafia. And Payne’s problems continuing into the second game, finally crescendo in this third game in which we find him boozing himself to death, doing odd jobs as bodyguarding corporate suits in South America. The game is almost too cinematic, quite the change up from a Rockstar game, but the graphics are gritty and beautiful. Max Payne’s soliloquys are as bad as ever, as if penned from Dashiel Hammett in a drunken stupor. The shooting is challenging, (I continue to struggle as of this writing) somewhat brought down by arduous save checkpoints and unskippable cutscenes. I’m eleven hours into what seems to be a 12-15 hour game. It’s been fun, but I’m ready to move on to something else.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Six on Blu-Ray: Only recently started this, the penultimate season. The best episode so far seems to be “Rascals,” in which Guinan, Ensign Ro and Picard come back through the transporter as children, miniature versions of themselves, their recognizance on par with their adult selves, simply trapped in children’s bodies. “True Q” casts Q visiting the Enterprise again (always a welcome treat.) The series has really hit its stride in season six and is another testament to the idea of keeping this series on my media shelf for future viewings.

Snow by Ronald Malfi: Winding down in this woeful tale of a guy trying to make amends with his estranged son by going to meet him in Iowa over a Christmas holiday. The story opens up with our man being snowbound in O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Several feet of snow impending, and the man decides to finish the trek in a rented car with a girl he meets at the airport. They share the rented car with an older couple. The journey is fraught with horror as their car runs off the road into a snowbank and they are forced to seek help in a small town held captive by supernatural forces. Easily comparable to a King tale, Malfi has a gift for great metaphors and a twisted sense of humor. His characters are just what you’d see in a commercial airport filled with aggravated travelers. I’m now a fan. I’ll look forward zestfully to some of his other works.

Lost: Season 5 on Blu Ray: In a sense, this is a redux of the first series. The main crew, having been rescued are now back on the island once again (this time by choice.) It involves a heavy science fiction tone with time travel being a heavy slant. Many of my friends lost their way (pun intended) in this seemingly lackluster season, and I can kind of see it. But I’m in it for the long haul. It’s still a pleasure to come home from work, throw a bowl of salsa and chips together and lose myself for a good 47 minutes or so in a romp that involves characters I’ve grown to care about.  

World of Warships on PC:  My friend, Vic Berwick, got me to try this game. I’m always trying to get him to try different games, so I felt compelled to reciprocate. Boy, did he get me hooked. It’s nearly all I’ve been playing since. It’s a simple concept. You steer warships around a huge map and fire on enemy warships. Victories are rewarded with experience points used to research and purchase higher tier ships and join bigger and more fierce battles. There are numerous modes consisting of brawls (3 vs 3 against other people), co op fights against other AI ships, and full on PvP (people fighting teams of other people) and then there’s the operation of the week consisting of team-based objects that form a sort of campaign. The game is free to play, but I advise you don’t. If you do, you may run the risk of addiction. You’ve been warned.

Conquest of Paradise: The Original Soundtrack by Vangelis on CD: This hangs right up there with Vangelis’ Bladerunner soundtrack as one of my favorites. I’ve only watched the movie once when it was released on VHS back in the last century, but the soundtrack haunted me until I was finally able to procure it. More than the music itself, well, not more than, but more like as much as, the music is spectacular, it’s the mood of the music that fits the film so gloriously. The backdrop is Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the new world. Those who would frown upon our history and rewrite it, be damned. This is a powerful film I recommend if only to hear the wonderful soundtrack.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift: I always thought this was a children’s story. No way is this is a story for kids! It’s ribald, surprisingly obscene and probably one of the most intelligent fantasies I’ve ever read. I’m halfway through it, and I already don’t want it to end. Far be it from me to laugh aloud while reading a book, but this book has brought out the laughs and the astonishment. In the land of Lilliput where the people are only a few inches tall, we see our hero putting out a castle fire by standing over it and pissing on it. And then instead of being hailed the bespoke hero, he is held to task for doing something so unorthodox. And then in the land of Brobdingnab where Gulliver is the size of a field mouse in a land of giant humans, we see him used to entertain the daughters of royalty by being placed down their brassieres to tease and tantalize them. And to Gulliver’s chagrin, he finds the size and smell involved to be grossly stomach turning. I am honestly surprised this book ever found publication. (But I’ve been wonderfully amused by it.)

Alpinestars “Carbon Kid” featuring Brian Molko on CD: I first discovered this great song in a game soundtrack way back in 2007. The game was Test Drive Unlimited which involved purchasing cars, winning road races to acquire money to purchase even more cars, all against the backdrop of a very realistic Oahu, Hawaii. I lost many hours in the game when it released and this song was part of the line up for what played when you turned on the in-car radios. Brian Molko, the frontman for the band Placebo was the perfect vocalist for it. The song’s beautiful synths fitted perfectly for driving convertibles through forested roadways, shadows of tree branches carpeting the road ahead and views through the trees of the ocean beyond. I’ve since committed this EP to my computer’s Music directory and my Digital Audio Player (so it will always be with me) because I tried to play the CD in my car and it got stuck in the player! I had to purchase it internationally, and I’m not sure, maybe UK CDs are made differently or something. Google was definitely my friend on retrieving the CD from my player. I thought the CD hosed it. Whew!  

XXXII Olympiad, Tokyo 2021 live broadcasts in 4K: As a former distance runner, I’ve always enjoyed the Olympic games. This time around was no exception. I got to witness skateboarding (of the street freestyle type) introduced and won by a young Japanese man who, upon watching him compete, I told my wife, was the best skateboarder I’d ever seen in my life. I wasn’t surprised he clenched the gold medal. And of course, the track and field events, always my favorite, where I got to see a resident of Taylor, TX where I lived for some years, take the silver medal. As a military veteran I find it odd that I feel more patriotic watching the Olympics, then I ever did donning the uniform of a servicemember. I don’t know why that is, but I do. Maybe it’s because of my own participation in long distance running years ago. Maybe it’s a race I ran in Austin that secured a spot in the US Olympic trials for the winner. (My own little brush with Olympic potentiality.)

 

Edward's April 2021 Mix

 

 

 No. I did not forget. In these crazy days, I’m working 10-12 hour days every day, and I have little time for anything else, well, besides work. I’d like to think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but evidently not. There are still bright points, however. I’m making a last car payment this month, how cool is that? And hey, spring is here! Why does it always feel like every year it’s never going to get here? Oh yeah, and there is one more thing. I had another heart ablation and I feel truly remarkable. Like I told my cardiologist, I didn’t know I felt so bad until I felt good. Our human bodies are amazingly complex, and equally amazingly wonderful. I acquired a broken heart through my years of pounding the pavement as a competitive runner, and yet, when my heart took the plunge, it was my years of prior conditioning that saved me. (That of course, and God’s tender mercy.) 

 

1. Chrome on PC: I lost four years of my life to World of Warcraft, Second Life and Age of Conan. I watched so many games parade by like some odd adult mobile, tantalizingly out of reach simply because I refused to indulge. I was too busy with my MMOs. One such game was a game from Polish developer Techland called Chrome (2003). Computer Gaming World Magazine gave it a good review, posing the question, “Halo, who?” The game utilized open world environments and similar augmentation devices as Deus Ex. I’m only in the first couple of chapters, and the graphics look like puke by today’s standards, but the game is compelling. The voice acting is hilarious, probably because it takes itself so seriously. The main character, Bolt Logan, seems as if he’s going to yell out, “Calgonite!!” at any time.  

 

  

2. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Five on Blu-Ray: I can’t believe it took me a year to watch this, despite all of the time off due to the pandemic. Of course, I’ve never been one to binge watch. But I’ve finally finished it. This season incidentally, has what is now my favorite episode, “Inner Light,” which is a sentiment I share with none other than Patrick Stewart who says this is his own personal favorite episode as well. The plot is genius, and well worth seeking out if you’ve not seen it. “I, Borg” was also an incredible episode, casting a member of the Borg into a situation that invokes sympathy for the vile being that will stop at nothing but universal domination.

3. Snow by Ronald Malfi: As a member of Bookbub, I get great ebook deals for my Amazon Kindle all of the time. The blurb for this discounted book was enough to get me to pull the trigger. It involves a guy trying to make amends with his estranged son by flying to meet him in Iowa over a Christmas holiday. The story opens up with our man being snowbound in O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Several feet of snow is impending, and the man decides to finish the trek in a rented car with a girl he meets at the airport. They share the rented car with an older couple. The journey is fraught with horror. But so far, all I’ve done is laugh. Malfi has a great knack for creating characters, and his cast so far are just what you’d see in a airport filled with aggravated snowbound travelers. So far, this is really good stuff.

4. The Way Back via Redbox: I’ve always like Ben Affleck as an actor. This vehicle has him as a separated husband named Jack Cunningham driven to excessive drinking over the loss of his son. He gets a chance at redemption to coaching a local inner city high school basketball team. The losing team starts winning games with Cunningham’s focus. But his drinking gets in the way. It’s a pitifully sad movie, and it’s not the usual feel-good underdog sports movie. Afflek gave a great performance, best summed up by Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter, who wrote: “Affleck gives the impression of intimate familiarity with the anguish and self-disgust that dominate Jack's life; this character and project clearly meant something important to him, as the title bluntly suggests, and he gives it his all without overdoing the melodrama.”

5. Far Cry 4 on PC: At first glance, Ubisoft’s seminal Far Cry 4 with its storyline and hella fun outpost and fortress side missions might seem like a typical open world filled with lush graphics, but it’s also a well-designed brilliantly made shooter. We’ve been here before with Far Cry 3, which was the story of a spoiled rich kid left to his own devices to become a man in the face of utter tribulation, whereas Far Cry 4 tells the story of a lost tourist rising to free a country from a nefarious despotic ruler. The side missions are a blast, sneakily sniping your way into army-controlled outposts or going guns ablaze with powerful weapons that are weighty and invite experimentation Its wildlife, the wonderful muted color environments, and especially the two main NPCs, Amita and Sabal (wonderfully voiced by Lost’s own Naveen Andrews) you ultimately have to pick sides with, assisting one’s efforts and alienating the other. I genuinely sympathized with the cause of each entity sided on, and it made my decision making difficult. I love books and movies, but the intensity of this type of predicament can only unfold through the magic of a PC game in which you are taking part as a player-character.   

6. 1917 on 4K Blu Ray: Probably the best film I watched this year. It’s a film that captures the claustrophobia of WWI trenches and the steel gray skies I’ve always envisioned from every WWI photograph I’ve ever seen. Using unusual film techniques involving several minutes of single shot takes and the pioneering of the new Arri Alexa Mini LF digital camera, the film was an IMax release in the United States. The whole movie was saturated with a bleak dour feel, which is what was intended and involves two messengers sent to deliver an urgent message across 9 miles of “No Man’s Land.” I wouldn’t say it had the same impact as Saving Private Ryan on me, but I still was quite overcome at the film’s beautiful but sad end. Oddly, I have no real desire to see it again. (A strange sentiment for me given my predilection for war movies.) I think it’s because the film answers so much, there was nothing left unturned. I feel the movie was so “complete” it fulfilled me. Having said that, I’m sure I’ll watch it again.  

 

Edwards March 2021 Mix

 

 

 

 A very interesting month indeed, this one. My heart, which has been broken for a while now has finally been repaired. I went to see the wizard and got another ablation completed. It really took a lot out of me. And it was my first experience with a urinary catheter. All was fine and dandy until they removed it. Not fun. But on the brightside they informed me all is well now. I should be feeling much better. Other than that, this may be the shortest mix I’ve had in a long time. I didn’t do much, but what I did was intense.                               

  1.   Assetto Corsa on PC: 505 Studio/Kunos Simulazioni released this racing sim in December of 2014, and up to that time it was the most realistic racing simulation there was. It was one of the first games I bought into Early Release, which can sometimes be a burn if you buy into a game the developers stop developing. This one, fortunately, turned out okay. With laser scanned race tracks and real time wheel wear physics, this truly is as real as it gets sitting in a chair racing in your pajamas. I even had a buddy sit down to it and learn to drive a manual transmission playing this game. It doesn’t get more authentic than that! The only thing missing: rain races and night races, but what this sim does it does exceedingly well. 
 
 
 2.   Assetto Corsa Competizione on PC: It’s been said one must walk before he or she runs. This simulation is the successor to the above aforementioned Assetto Corsa. And to be honest, the only reason I went back to the original was to compare it to this new one. Not surprisingly, the old one is now easier to play because of the fierce difficulty of this one. A friend convinced me to pick this one up, lauding its extreme difficulty. And I’ve always been a glutton for punishment so it made perfect sense. He told me I wouldn’t even have to choose a fast set up, simply choose “safe set up” and hop into a car. Turns out he was right. The sim hosts GT3 and GT4 cars and it’s all I can do to get a car around a lap intact. I’ve been watching YouTube videos now to learn how to drive. Turns out after 30 years of racing sims, I’ve been doing it wrong. Doh! Braking too soon, throttling too hard, ignoring racing lines to name a few. I’ve turned a 2:08 lap at Silverstone, my favorite circuit. Some of these YouTubers turn 1:56. I have some room for improvement.

 

3.      Type O Negative World Coming Down on CD: I didn’t like it. I hate to say that, being I’m a Type O fan, but this album, the band’s 5^th studio release was just too slow and too dark. Maybe it’s me. 1996’s October Rust set the bar pretty high for me. This album was just so disappointingly different in comparison. The album dealt with numerous deaths frontman, Peter Steele was going through at the time. (Hey, they don’t call the band the Drab Four for nothing.) I can’t say it’s a bad album, it’s just that October Rust was so good, despite Metal Hammer Magazine christened this album one of the best metal albums of 1999.

 

4.       Rush in Rio on DVD: Loaned this by my good friend and guitar mentor, Michael Stevens, this was truly enjoyable. And it’s caused me to find a new favorite Rush song, “The Pass” on the Presto album. These guys are truly proficient with their instruments and it’s sheer fun just to watch them having fun with their instruments on the stage. It’s truly appreciated by the live audience in Rio because one would think they had just won the soccer world cup. I never did see Rush live and it’s been a big regret. At least with this remarkable DVD I’m getting a semblance of it.

 

5.      Thrustmaster TX RW Leather Edition Wheel/TH8A Shifter:  I used a Logitech G27 Wheel/paddle set for my racing games/sims for the past five years and it served me quite well. That set has always been considered the ultimate beginner wheel. I figured it was time for an upgrade, so I went with the intermediate Thrustmaster set. There is a noticeable difference. The wheel is stouter and the shifter, being made of metal, has all of the girth and feel of the real deal. (You can actually remove the shift knob and replace it with an authentic one of your choosing.) If you roll over a curb or run over the apex on a track you’re going to feel it with this wheel.

 

6.       Blue Oyster Cult Cult Classic on Hi-Res FLAC: A really good greatest hits album. And a great score on the loudness wars site. I sang this album’s high praises a few mixes back, but I keep coming back to it. It’s probably one of the greatest greatest hits albums I’ve ever listened to. If you want to hear some delightfully charming solo guitar work that will put a grand smile on your face, look up “Buck’s Boogie.” The last time I heard it I was in the middle of doing something and I was so taken aback I stopped what I was doing and simply stood there listening. I love when a song has that effect on me.

Edward's February 2021 Mix

 

 

 

 It seems this month was a month of extremes. We had a massive snowstorm that killed two days of work. (I’m not complaining!) And I picked up a new guitar amp which breathed new life into my playing. My reading is suffering, and I have no idea why. My Goodreads.com goal is 20 books this year, but at this rate I won’t make it. I’m reading three books currently, maybe that’s part of the problem.  

                                         

1.        Battlefield Bad Company 2 on PC: EA’s venerable Battlefield 2 will live in my heart all the rest of my days. And I wouldn’t call Battlefield Bad Company 2 a close second, but it is a second. With EA releasing multiple Battlefield games at such a frequent pace one can barely keep up with active servers, it is nice to know that BFBC2 which released in 2010 still has active servers. There aren’t many, but the players who play the game are diehards. I’m proud to be one of them. Laying claim to some of the best sniping mechanics in any multi-play shooter, this is a game that despite my aging reflexes I’m quite good at. The map designs are superb and the sound design is stellar. The game frequently goes on sale on Steam for less than $5.00. It’s worth it.

 

2.      Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 on Blu Ray: Continuing on with the voyages of the stars
hip Enterprise this season has some of the best episodes I’ve seen. We see Counselor Troi’s mother Lwaxana, one of the most annoying people in the universe teach Worf’s son, Alexander, about the seriousness of adulthood, despite her eternal capriciousness and hedonism as she prepares to wed a man she’s never met. Then in a wonderful touch of sensitivity we see Alexander reel her back in to her senses with the realization that sometimes we must give in to being capricious. And in this season we also see Worf in a role as a father trying to do the right thing with his son. But who can forget, The Perfect Mate? Kamala is an empathic mesomorph who can be what any man wants her to be. She has been groomed to be basically a mail order bride to the leader of a planet who has been at war with her home planet for generations. She is to be the ultimate peace offering, but Picard suggests to her she has value in and of herself, and he is the first man to tell her this. So, she starts falling for him. It’s a must see episode. Well, like all of them. And then there is I, Cyborg.  

 

3.       Fender Champion 40 Guitar Amplifier: I love my Blackstar amp. It definitely has that warm fuzzy Marshall vibe to it. It’s a hybrid tube amp, no wonder. But it’s given me some troubles. I’ve had it for about two years and I’ve already had to have the tubes replaced in it TWICE! While awaiting repairs this last time, I picked up a Fender Champion 40, basically a 40-watt practice amp. It has a nice mixture of effects and voices. I didn’t think I’d fall in love with this thing so quickly, but since I’ve had it I’ve not turned on my Blackstar. That can’t be good! Not to mention, my pedal board affixed to my Blackstar. With the effects produced by the Fender I’ve not needed the pedals. The Chorus and Reverb are satiny smooth. And the voices really do honor the gamut from metal to 1960s beach style guitar. This amp makes practice more compelling. I’m glad I found it.

 

4.       Limitless on DVD: I was recommended to watch this movie because the main character was a failed writer named Eddie. Ha! Eddie finds a pill that allows him to access all facets of his brain, able to conjure up every memory he’s ever had and able to utilize far more than the 10% we supposedly use of our brains. When he goes to get more of the pills, he finds the man who gave him the wonderful drug a victim of a homicide. Eddie takes the man’s stash of pills and uses them to change his life, playing the stock market and becoming a sensation that puts him on the front page of USA Today. Suddenly hedge investors take an interest in him, but so do the people who murdered his source for the pills. A fast paced action movie worth a watch. Bradley Cooper does the role justice and becomes a guy we root for despite his less than noble intentions.

 

5.      Loverboy Classics on CD: Sixteen of their greatest hits digitally remastered. Released in 1994 and surprisingly a decent score on my favorite “loudness wars” site that shows the dynamic range for each song in the remastering process. Despite this, I wasn’t impressed with the album, and don’t get me wrong. It’s certainly not the album. It’s the band itself. I guess I’ve simply outgrown Loverboy. When I was a teenager hanging out at the local pizzeria with its arcade games, me and my friends thrived on this band (along with Van Halen and Rush, of course.) But listening to some of these songs after so many years, I don’t know. I can’t put my finger (or rather my ear) on it. It just doesn’t appeal to me. Still, this is a valuable CD to have in the collection because it really does hold true to its word. These truly are their greatest hits. No omissions.

 

6.      Come Dancing with the Kinks: The Best of the Kinks 1977-1986 on CD: A really good greatest hits album. And a great score on the loudness wars site. Great dynamic range across the whole album. To my surprise this album exceeded my expectations. I actually listened to it multiple times in a row. I rarely ever do that with any album, maybe a song or two on auto repeat a few times, but rarely a whole album. Though they weren’t as innovative as The Beatles or as popular as The Rolling Stones or The Who, these rockers were an original part of the British Invasion. I guess I never appreciated the band until now, but hey, better late than never, yeah?

 

7.       Grid Autosport on PC: I’ve always loved the Codemasters “sim-cade” racing games. And I’ve played every Grid game up to this one (and they’ve since released another one.) This one makes me wish Steam really did have a neutral rating on its review system rather than a positive and a negative. The graphics are glitzy and quite functional for a game released in 2014. Metacritic gave the game a score of 78/100. Personally, I feel the AI is way too aggressive, aggressive to the point of feeling like it’s succumbed to the “rubber band” physics EA is notorious for in its racing games. It’s frustrating to see a car tumble end over end in a crash, and then moments later come up behind you full force. And then there’s the career mode which I typically enjoy in racing games, but I’m 60 hours into this game and still have two more disciplines to unlock. I will stay the course to see it through but I’m going to be glad when the ride is over.   

 

8.       Kings of Leon “Mechanical Bull” on CD:  I discovered this band one summer night a few years back while taking a company car on a required road trip. It was a song off of their “Walls” album and the in the following days I sought the CD everywhere, but nobody had it. I finally had to order it online. I stumbled across this CD at Half Price Books and was elated to find it sounds every bit as good as “Walls.” Kings of Leon is a great southern band with just enough twang and lyrical prose to make you think of outdoor parties, multi colored plastic hanging lights, swatting mosquitoes, and the tartness of an ice cold beer. The band’s guitarist, Matthew Followill is quite the talent, with his crunchy Gibson LP chops, and his ability to reverb like Daniel Lanois.