Each year in late summer Train Sim World comes out with a newer and better version of itself. I entered the game at its 5th iteration, and I now have installed the 7th. It took 27 hours to download, amid thunderstorms and power interruptions. Nevertheless it seems to run fine, with smoothness and more intense graphics. I just did a run from Doncaster to Peterborough driving a high speed train for 80 miles. A good test, methinks. All systems go.
We also recently installed the original 2002 version of Syberia. We have never replayed it up till now. It is still a great looking game and I can't wait to get deeper into the story. There is a new jazzed up version of the first game, but so far I feel no need to purchase it. The old one is still quite presentable, especially on our super monitor.
I have also written up three parts to my London blog (see link in upper left margin), hoping to begin a fourth very soon. Feel free to begin scrolling, or wait for all of it to be finished. That should take about another week. It was one week ago today that we staggered in the door at 10 pm, just back from London. It's been a busy week of catching up. My piano pieces are now, after a week of practice, about where they were when we left for London on the 26th of August. Now to advance them towards concert level.
In movie news there are two to report, both from the "leaving this month" list on Criterion. First up was Straight Time from 1978, with Dustin Hoffman playing a guy fresh out of jail, having done 6 years for armed robbery. He wants to go straight, but his overly strict parole officer drives him over the edge. He becomes much worse than he ever was, though he is grounded somewhat by Theresa Russell, looking vulnerable and about 19 years old. He meets her when he is job searching, and she falls for him in a bad way. Also starring Harry Dean Stanton and Gary Busey. Hoffman studied his role with Edward Bunker, an ex-con who wrote No Beast So Fierce about his struggles with the system after getting paroled. This is an excellent film, and surprisingly still relevant. Highly recommended.
Next came a big budget Hollywood film rendered in CinemaScope and with De Luxe colour. The Long Hot Summer is from 1958 and directed by Martin Ritt, from a novel by Faulkner. It stars Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Welles, Tony Franciosa, Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury. Newman plays Ben Quick, son of an infamous arsonist. Welles is the overbearing patriarch of a Mississippi plantation, with a gutless son (Franciosa) and a daughter who he wants to see married (Woodward). While Welles might get more lines (though some are difficult to understand), and Newman gets star billing, it is Woodward's performance that really scores points here. No wonder Newman married her soon after filming! She is totally amazing as the school teacher daughter raised by a seemingly uncaring father. Franciosa is also good in his role as the son who is being eclipsed by the outsider (Newman) in his father's eyes, and Lee Remick sparkles as his young and immature bride. A recommended film.
Mapman Mike
