Break Like the Wind by Spinal Tap - CD (4/10)

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I so much wanted this record to be more than it was. The original Spinal Tap soundtrack was legendary and, even if this didn’t quite live up to the original, it was destined to be great, right? Turns out, Spinal Tap’s music detached from the comedic sketches becomes what it originally set out to parody: boring hair metal. I always felt Spinal Tap was only a metal band because metal happened to be popular at the time. A Spinal Tap record in the nineties should have been about the band trying to make it as a grunge band and then failing miserably. The CD’s only moment of redemption is the unlisted “13th Song” which parodies political message songs by featuring the band members clumsily speaking out about caring for the sick and elderly. Other tracks like “Cash on Delivery” and “Just Begin Again” are just awful.

Let’s Tell a Story Together by Jimmy Maher (8/10)

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I’m a regular reader of Jimmy Maher’s blog The Digital Antiquarian which documents the history of the early days of home computing with a focus on gaming and interactive fiction. This ebook sticks to the interactive fiction side of things and gives a well-rounded overview of the major players from the days of Zork/Adventure all the way to Inform 7 and the modern IF hobbyists. I really like reading about interactive fiction much more than actually playing the games. I am terrible at text adventures. My attention span is just too small. However, I find the story behind the classics and the all the artsy theory stuff very interesting to read about. My only complaint: I could do without the use of the feminine “she” when generically referring to anyone playing one of these games. I get it, the English language is misogynistic, paternalistic and probably all racist too, but, seriously, how many adventure gamers were female back in the day? 5% or 6%? And that’s including Roberta Williams.

Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher Masoch (7/10)

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After seeing Jess Franco’s movie of the same name, I noticed that this ebook was available for free at Amazon. The book and the movie have nothing to do with each other. This is the story of a man so devoted to a woman that he’d rather be her slave than ever be apart from her. I guess this is where the term masochism comes from? It’s not as dirty one might expect. Instead its a surprisingly engaging and well-written tale that is, however, completely unbelievable in its premise.

The Last Hydronaut - Woodcut

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This print was created to be used as a back cover illustration for Nonagon’s The Last Hydronaut EP. After incorporating the image into the layout I editioned the print to be given out as a freebie with the first fifty copies of the record.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution on PC (8/10)

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While Invisible War was not without its merits, it really lacked the depth of the original Deus Ex. This third installment attempts to amend some of that and bring the series a little closer to its RPG, stealth-centric roots. For the most part it succeeds. The levels offer all sorts of play options and paths. Also, the third-person perspective stealth system works much better than the hiding in shadows ever did in the original game.

Personally, I think the original is a tad bit overrated. I attempted to play it a again before diving into Human Revolution and found it doesn’t really hold up. My God that Hong Kong level is unbearably tedious and boring. There’s a point in Human Revolution when the game frees you to start exploring a more open environment. I immediately started to get panicked flashback of my hours spent backtracking through the dull streets of Hong Kong, but. thankfully, there are quest arrows that guide lazy modern gamers back into the action.

The story as something to do with kidnapped scientists and anti-cyber augmentation zealots. Once the Illuminati were brought into the mix I tuned out the narrative and just concentrated on getting through the levels undetected. Tightly plotted and understandable narratives are not a hallmark of this series.

My Pet Fish by Malka Spigel - CD (8/10)

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Being as it’s the same two people making music, My Pet Fish is a nice complement to Colin Newman’s, Bastard. Both records combine guitars with loops and electronics back with throbbing dub-style bass lines. Malka’s vocals play a much larger part here but the overall feel is the same.

Now I Got Worry by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The - CD (8/10)

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This record doesn’t reach the level of greatness that was established on Orange. There’s a level of polish or, dare I say, professionalism on many of the tracks that just lose sight of what makes the Blues Explosion the raw and fun band it can be. They’ve been hanging out with Beck for too long.

Rambo: First Blood Part II on Apple ][ (5/10)

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This is another game, like Dream Zone, that I owned for years (decades actually) and was never able to finish. Now, thanks to the Internet and instant walk-through availability, I finally was able to continue past the point where I was stuck nearly twenty years ago. I had originally bought this game thinking I was in for some intense, four-color, commie-killing run-and-gun action on my Apple ][+. Imagine my disappointment when I got home, popped in the disk, and discovered that this was the text adventure adaptation of the film. Having bought this game at a B. Dalton’s book store in the mall, I should have known better.

Although I am terrible at these games, I have since come to appreciate the interactive fiction genre much more. Rambo has some well written and very atmospheric room descriptions. You really get a feel for the jungle environments. However, the game itself is not that great. It suffers from the text equivalent of a problem with many modern games: great graphics and uninspired game-play. There are simply way too many “guess the verb” moments. For example, there is a fight near the end of the game where the correct response is to “flip” your opponent, then “kick” and finally “trip” him. There are no cues telling you this is how you should attack him. You are just supposed to know this. “Punch” or “hit” don’t work. The worst offense is an interrogation scene were you are reminded that you are never to co-operate with the enemy. As the torturers ramp up the pain you are only supposed to type, “Say my name is Lone Wolf.” You have to say that specific phrase otherwise you will die. No where in the manual or game preamble is this hinted. Again, you are just supposed to know it (or was it in the movie? I can’t remember).

The game is relatively short with a time limit that effects the final win condition if you are not fast enough. I think I needed hints for about forty percent of the game, but I’m just glad I finally made it through. Now I can take down my POW-MIA flag that has been hanging over my Imagewriter for all these years.