PC Gaming

Tuesday evening

 I have been playing some old Cyan games on XP, including Myst IV, a favourite of mine because of the location, setting, and architecture of the home of Atrus and Catherine and Yeesha, a fantasy home of great beauty and elegance.  I followed up with Uru, a huge game very much in the tradition of Myst and Riven.  When I originally played it, I had no idea what was going on, or what I was supposed to do.  I was just wandering the landscapes, which was fun but meaningless.  This time I did a long walk thru with the guidebook, which tells the story and follows a logical order.  My experience was 100x better 2nd time around.  It is a breathtakingly beautiful game, and one with a story that makes some kind of sense at last.  I followed that up with a reply to the Uru sequel To D'Ni, which allows the complete exploration of the vast underground city of D'Ni.  Once one knows his way around, the entire city can be walked without linking, except to certain rooftops and balconies, which must be linked to.  It is enormous, dark, artificially lit, and very atmospheric.  A great sequel.

And I have started replaying the 3rd Uru game, The Path Of The Shell.  The first huge segment is very mechanical, reminding me a lot of parts of Riven, where the paper was made.  It is also vast, very colourful, and fun to walk there.

For our co-op game, Deb and I downloaded Goetia, from Steam.  You play as a spirit investigating an abandoned manor house and its environs, and the strange goings on that are occurring there.  Though there is a wonderful night time atmosphere, so far it isn't scary.  It's a point and click game with great visuals, and so far has puzzles that are easy and fair.  We have played three or four times now, for about an hour each time, and are pretty far into the game.

Deb and I are playing this together using Windows 10.  So far so good. 

We've also recently played a few games of The Art of Chill, a board game based on Bob Ross' TV art show.  It's easy to play (up to four), and quite fun.  The idea is to be the first to complete a painting, using the proper colours and brushes.  Chill points are awarded, from red hot to cold blue.  Whoever reaches the blue chill line first is the winner.  In addition to competing against your fellow players, you are also trying to finish your painting before Bob.  Artistic skills not required (otherwise I would not be able to play).

We are just about to finish up our latest ten game tournament of Middle Earth: The Wizards collectible card game.  We have a five game major tournament based on the official rules, and then we play five different games that I have made up for a follow up minor tournament.  It can take us nearly a year to finish ten games, even in a lock down.  The player decks always take a lot of preparing.

In art news, here is another print by Lucas van Uden (see the previous blog for another).  This landscape is based on a work by Rubens.  If I find the original I will try and place a photo of it here, too.  Enjoy.

A Village Near A Stream, after 1640.  Lucas van Uden, Flemish, 1595-1673, after Peter Paul Rubens.  Etching and engraving in black ink on laid paper, 8" x 12".  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.

Detail of above.

Detail of above.

 Detail of above.

Detail of above. 

In domestic news, Deb had her first haircut of 2021 today, an exciting event for sure.  Her hair is shoulder length now and growing out, and it looks great.  The more red hair in the (my) world, the better!  And we ordered a new sofa on Sunday, and it was delivered today.  Right now the old one is in the garage for disposal (we had 9 1/2 good years out of it, as did several cats), and the new one is assembled and in action (currently with a cat sleeping on it).  Photos to follow soon.  We had a good old fashioned heavy rainstorm late this afternoon, receiving 1/2" of rain in about twenty minutes of heavy downpour.  That should be it for several days, as the heat and humidity return to us beginning tomorrow.

In movie news, Deb's two weekend choices were as follows.  Her main choice was Room With A View.  Usually I can tolerate British period dramas, thanks to good acting, great costumes, and sets and settings that engage the eye.  There are no surprises in this tale of young love, but the 1986 Merchant/Ivory production is nearly perfect in every way.  It is quite risky to frame an entire film around a 19 year old actress (Helena Bonham Carter), putting her in virtually every scene, but she pulls things off splendidly.  My main criticism is the overuse of lush music in the background.  Though we saw it back in the day, it still holds up really well today.

Her leaving July 31st choice was The Men from 1950, directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Marlon Brando and, of all people, Jack Webb.  It deals with a veterans hospital that deals with war wounded, and we are in the paraplegic wing.  Brando is perfect in his first major role as a bitter victim having great difficulty in adjusting to his fate.  The movie is up to date (1950) in its treatment of such men, and brutally honest emotionally.  Worth seeing. Deforest Kelley makes a cameo appearance.  As a doctor!

Now showing on Criterion.

Leaving Criterion July 31st, it is a b & w film. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Valeria 2

The first draft of my 2nd Valeria novel is nearly complete.  The final chapter is in progress, to be followed by the first rewrite.  Certain aspects of the story need to pared down, and other ones brought to the forefront.  There is always a plan when a story begins, but as most writers know, novels and their characters have a way of steering things in directions even the best planners can fail to predict.  Valeria herself, the child of very ancient vampire parents, is 13 and has been raised as a vegetarian.  While her character develops more than the others in the story, including her friends, everyone is growing up and changing on the go.  Anyway, Val helps keep me young, and likely her parents, too.

As righteous anger continues to boil over in the world, staying home is a good way to avoid confusion.  Deb and I have both adjusted very well to staying home during the last 5 months, and will likely continue to do so for some time.  Our days are filled, and some days there is even time to get everything done that we wanted.  That's not to say we don't share the outrage over social injustices that have been going on for centuries, and not surprisingly, continue to go on to this day.  While it's good to see so many people demanding change and justice, during a pandemic it can really confuse people, who seem to bounce from one crisis to another like a pinball machine.  Essentially, if we don't get a grip on climate change really really soon, all of the other issues won't matter much at all.  Mr. Trump, if doing nothing else, is helping prepare the world for the chaos to come.

In gaming news, we received our new cards and play decks from The Netherlands.  The Lidless Eye is a full set expansion of Middle Earth: The Wizards, which we have been playing since about 1995.  Instead of playing with a company of heroes, one now manages a deck of evil rogues.  The games can be combined, playing an original hero deck against a minions one.  First we must learn to play the basic game, though.

One of the cards from The Lidless Eye, a new game for us. 

We also bought our newest board game, based on the famous and very popular Bob Ross PBS TV art show, where you paint along with Bob as he creates one of his "masterpieces" in about 30 minutes.  Called Art of the Chill, we played our first game yesterday.  It's for 2-4 players, and takes less than an hour to play.  It is easy to learn, and quite fun.

Art of chill, our newest board game. 

In astronomy news, I have managed one mosquito-infested outing so far this month, with another planned for Friday evening.  The sun has really began moving southerly once again, though July nights are still bright ones.  I can begin observing deep sky objects around 10:30 pm.  I am currently working mostly in the constellation Draco, a haven for galaxy lovers.

In movie news, we watched Atom Egoyan's acclaimed film The Sweet Hereafter, which I detested.  Though winning high praise from critics and several big film awards, it never caught on with the public.  Could it be that the film is actually really empty, and has covered the images and dialogue with so much pretension and garbled story telling that it literally makes little sense to viewers?  There is zero entertainment value in watching the afterlife of a small town that lost many children to a school bus accident.  The lawsuit is sabotaged by a young teen girl getting revenge on her father who raped her (I am not making this up).  The lawyer has a daughter who is a drug addict.  Not sure how that fits into this movie, but we see a lot of it.  There is good acting, great photography, and the accident scene is realistic in a dream-like and surreal way.  I would much rather have seen a first class documentary about this event (based on an actual bus crash) then this confusing mess of a feature film.

From 1997, now showing on Criterion. 

My choice this week is an early work by Wim Wenders, as I continue to seek out all available films by him and Fassbinder.  The American Friend is Wenders' take on Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game, a favourite novel of mine from many years earlier.  Dennis Hopper plays Ripley, who comes to the rescue of a Hamburg art framer, who has been taken advantage of by a mobster.  Shot in Hamburg and Paris, the movie is slow to build, but once it gets going it has some terrific moments.  The entire train sequence is very tense, as the two killers have to improvise under very strained conditions.  Parts of the movie are quite silly, including the first murder on a subway station escalator (why follow him all around?), and the way the framer is so easy and obviously manipulated over his medical condition.  But of course he knows this, right?  And parts of the movie are fun, especially once the murders begin, and never seem to stop, as one bad thing leads to other bad things.  Not a great movie by any means, but it has its moments.  Sam Fuller, Nicholas Ray, and several other directors have small roles.  We now have a small host of extras to watch now about this movie.

Now showing on Criterion, from 1977. 

I'll be back soon with some landscape art from the DIA.

Mapman Mike