PC Gaming and Train Sim World 7

 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.

 

A screen capture of my run from Doncaster to Peterborough this evening.  That's me driving! 

 

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. 

 

Kate Walker begins to solve the mystery of Hans Vorlberg and his automatons in Syberia.  There are now 4 games with that title, the 1st and 4th being the two best. 

 

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.

 

Leaving Criterion Sept. 30th. 

 

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.

 

Leaving Criterion Sept. 30th. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

Tengami

I am back to some PC gaming, after a hiatus following the completion of the newest version of Riven.  Tengami is an older game from 2014, but runs smoothly on our PC.  The adventure game takes place in medieval Japan.  There is no dialogue, and the one character in it, a Samurai, is one dimensional and not important to the game, other than to drive it forward.  The redeeming quality of Tengami is its look; the story and backgrounds unfold as does a cutout pop-up book, and many of the scenarios are quite lovely to walk through.  Don't expect really difficult puzzles, though a few of them are tricky enough.  Though not finished playing yet, I am enjoying my walk.  Deb has joined me for this game.

 

Three scenes from Tengami. 

 

I have also loaded an even older 2 CD Rom game on the upstairs older machine.  Road To India is a 2001 release from Microids.  An American man flies to India to check on the well being of his Indian fiancee.  He sees her kidnapped and must try to find her and rescue her.  A pretty old fashioned story for 2001.  So far the game runs perfectly.  I am still near the beginning, but am making progress.  The visuals are similar to slide show games, but views are 360 degrees.  I almost missed a very important monkey right at my feet near the beginning, though I had no trouble finding the elephant.  Part of the game is played in a dream state, where a lot of weird things can happen.  For instance, in the first dream a flute is played to make a rope climb up, so the hero can climb the rope and get at some oranges in a tree (for the monkey).  I've had the game on my shelf for many years.  I finally started to pack up some of the old games I will likely not play again, and I found several that I hadn't yet played.  More reports to follow.

 

In local news, Deb continues to keep our local medical profession busy and on their toes.  Most of our journeys are either for groceries, or to medical appointments.  She has been having really bad jaw trouble lately, an advanced form of TMJ, and will see a specialist next Thursday, one of three medical appointments for her next week.  But life goes on, though on a somewhat liquid and/or squishy diet for Deb.  She has had to rethink her recent stop motion film attempt.  Though the film will still be made, it will not be stop motion.  It already looks much better with the new techniques she is using.  And it probably won't take an entire year to complete now, either.

 

In film watching news, here is the latest report from the Homestead viewing room.  My leaving film choice this time was The Hudsucker Proxy, a film from 1994 and the Coen brothers.  Tim Robbins stars in this throwback to much earlier b and w comedies.  While much of the humour works, a considerable amount doesn't.  A young hopeful from Muncie Indiana, fresh out of business college, comes to New York to seek his way in the world.  He gets chosen to be the proxy director of a major company, whose fortunes are rising along with share prices.  The board of directors, led by evil Paul Newman, want to depress the shares so they can buy 51% of the company,then allow the shares to rise again.  Robbins has a goofy idea that is sure to flop, and he is allowed to proceed with it.  However, his idea, the hula hoop becomes a world wide hit, and the company continues to rake in money.  Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a snoopy reporter who is on to the scheme.  Watchable, but I prefer some of the old comedies from the 30s and 40s.

 

Leaving Criterion Dec. 31st. 

 

Deb's main film choice was Pictures of Ghosts, a 2023 film from Brazil that made it into some very major festivals.  How it did so is a mystery to me.  The film is a pretty lame documentary about the filmmaker's family and life in Recife, Brazil.  After a while he begins to examine the old and now closed cinemas of that city's downtown area.  Most of the cinemas were dreary places when they opened, nothing like the movie palaces that once dominated American cities.  I found the film to be mostly quite boring, though I am always interested in seeing before and after photos of how cities have changed.  Not recommended, unless you have spent a lot of time in Recife.

Kleber Mendonça Filho's documentary is showing on Criterion. 

 

Deb's leaving choice was a Terrence Malick documentary from 2016 called Voyage of Time.  Created for Imax theatres, it is showing on Mubi.  While there is some decent photography, the organization of material and the voice over narration is laughable, to be generous.  It purports to show the history of the universe, up till the time that a little girl in a blue dress walks through a field of grass not far from some highrise apartments.  Thankfully it is only 46' minutes long.  I wonder how much money was plunked down at Imax theatres to see this bomb.  No doubt many people who saw it thought that they had just seen and heard the most profound bit of science ever imagined.

 

The film leaves Mubi in two days. 

 

Because that film was so short, Deb also chose another one from her Animation Showcase channel.  A Bear Named Wojtek is a 30' animation from 2024, telling the story of how a bear became a colonel in the Polish army.  It is a true story, and quite heartwarming to watch.  Unfortunately we don't get to see the bear smoking and drinking beer with his comrades.  After the war the bear ended up at the zoo in Edinburgh. The animation itself is in a sort of swirly children's picture book sort of style.  Recommended, especially for bear lovers.

Now streaming on Animation Showcase, a channel for registered animators.

 Mapman Mike