I played FEAR and its expansions enjoying the game play and the action. FEAR is a First-Person-Shooter game and sometimes you just want blow some stuff up (in cyberspace, of course). There are plenty of different weapons that produce different effects on the clever enemies, some human and some not so much. The early reviews of FEAR 2 have been very positive. The game goes on sale tomorrow so you know what I’ll be doing far into the night.
The original vinyl record album jacket had the notation: “Recorded loud to play loud.” Back in 1976 when I first bought this album, I did play it loud (my neighbors in the next apartment can attest to that). The J. Geils Band never really made the Big Time. They had a hit album with Freeze Frame which included their only Number One hit, “Centerfold.” They toured a lot, but never gained the audience that would assure them elite rock group status. Eventually, the group disbanded and is largely forgotten today. But Blow Your Face Out is still around at a bargain price to remind you of what this talented group could have been if they’d caught a few breaks.
Although Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone is more famous, I’m a big fan of Serling’s later effort, Night Gallery. This recently released 5-DVD set includes 22 episodes, a feature on Tom Wright’s haunting paintings used by Serling to introduce the 61 stories, a commentary by Night Gallery historians Scott Skelton and Jim Benson, and some insightful comments by director Guillermo Del Toro. There are almost 19 hours of wonderful watching here.
It’s hard to believe that a three-time Edgar Award winner could be forgotten. But Time can be cruel. Stanley Ellin, once regarded as one of the greatest practitioners of writing mystery short stories like the classic “The Specialty of the House,” is nowhere on today’s readers’ radar screens. His work is out-of-print. Yet, while rereading Ellin’s 1958 Edgar Award winning novel, The Eighth Circle, I was struck with Ellin’s craftsmanship. The plot involves police corruption. Ellin takes this mundane activity and spins gold. You’ll meet some unforgettable characters and encounter some questions that will gnaw at you long after you’ve finished reading The Eighth Circle. “So in the eighth circle are the liars, flatterers, and sellers of office, the fortune tellers, hypocrites, and thieves, the pimps and grafters, and all such scum,” wrote Dante. Ellin’s visit to his own version of Dante’s Inferno sparkles and burns.
I’m a fan of “Smooth Jazz.” Boney James has produced a consistent, professional set of CDs filled with mellow, soulful music. This is perfect background music. I own all of Boney James’ CDs and he never disappoints. His just released “Send One Your Love” would make a dandy Valentine’s gift.
Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco and long-time leader of the California legislature, is a colorful figure. His memoir, Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times isn’t going to supersede Machiavelli but is a breezy account of a career in politics like no one else’s. Brown comes from a poor Texas town. “I didn’t live in a log cabin, I lived under a log cabin.” Relatives help Brown move to San Francisco and encourage him to get an education. Brown thrives in an academic environment and ends up going to law school. Almost through chance, he gets involved in politics and the rest is history. There are plenty of political lessons to be learned from Brown: don’t lie, reward your friends (but not too much), punish your enemies (but not too much), build coalitions, don’t get greedy, stay true to your beliefs, and have fun. I had fun reading about Brown’s life. You will, too. GRADE: B+.
1. Jane Austen
2. Jack Vance
3. Raymond Chandler
4. Dashiell Hammett
5. John Barth
6. Thomas Pynchon
7. Fritz Leiber
8. John O’Hara
9. Agatha Christie
10. Anthony Trollope
11. Norman Mailer
12. Samuel Johnson
13. Joseph Epstein
14. Henry James
15. Joan Didion
16. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
17. Andre Norton
18. Robert Heinlein
19. Isaac Asimov
20. Leigh Brackett
21. H. P. Lovecraft
22. Robert Bloch
23. Donald Westlake
24. John Brunner
25. Clifford Simak
Maybe it’s too much Botox or cosmetic surgery gone wrong, but Renee Zellweger’s face looks pinched and paralyzed in this run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. Renee plays a “fish-out-of-water” corporate executive from Miami sent to downsize a factory in rural Minnesota. You know the drill: Renee coping with frigid temperatures in her designer suits, Renee almost hitting a cow and driving into a snow-filled ditch, Renee getting outsmarted by the clever locals. But New in Town, predictable as a Die Hard battery, has an above average cast with Harry Connick Jr. as the hunky union rep, Siobhan Fallon as Renee’s plucky secretary, and J. K. Simmons (the police commissioner on The Closer) as the wily factory Foreman. With all this talent, New in Town could have been a whole lot better. GRADE: C+.
