Mamet’s political coming out book doesn’t offer much new insight into conservatism. Instead it cribs a lot from Thomas Sowell and other prominent conservative thinkers. He even goes so far as to restate Sowell’s ideas of the “constrained vision” almost verbatim. Large sections of the book seem to be rooted in his defense of the state of Israel. If anything, what Mamet brings to the discussion is his colorful and often dense style of prose. Although I am on-board with most of his positions, I do have to concede that he does invoke straw man arguments to some degree when he targets his ire against liberals. And he also uses the phrase, “Which is to say…” a whole lot.
With the exception of the title song, “Ninna Nanna In Blu,” all of the tracks on this CD are solid Morricone thriller ambiance. Most of the experimental sounds are backed by jazzy, repeating bass riffs and brushed snare. Unlike his more avant-garde compositions, there are lots of recurring motifs and themes to hold everything together. There is something about the tone that’s very Scooby Doo mystery sounding. This would be great music for sneaking around a creepy old cemetery.
This was perhaps one of the first non-Spaghetti Western Morricone soundtrack that I discovered and it remains one of my favorites. The title track is a stirring, swelling masterpiece. The rest of the disc contains the type of experimental noise collages featured in most of Morricone’s giallo scores, but, in this case, they’re grounded and grooved out with rhythmic drums and funky bass lines. The style plays well with the film’s theme of killer hippies and drugged out parties. There is a lot of variety here and I would rank it as one of Morricone’s best, or, at the very least, the best example of his music in a thriller.
We never owned a Super Nintendo so I never got around to playing the 16-bit incarnation of Metroid. Well, thanks to the Wii Virtual Console I have finally crossed this one off my list. These days I am much more familiar with the 3-D versions of the game and, even though I played it back in the day, I don’t really have too much nostalgia for the NES version. There were some really frustrating moments of platforming incompetence on display as I made my way around the planet, but I eventually got the hang of the floaty physics and stuck it through all the way to the final boss battle.
The formula is well established: explore the world searching for upgrades and the more you discover the more areas will open up to you. There are monsters all around but killing them is usually a waste of time. You are rewarded for exploration not your extermination skills. That is until you meat one of the half a dozen or so bosses. The bosses are pretty rough but, in all honesty, the hardest part of the game is jumping out of sand pits. I hated that section the game. My final score was 64%, so I guess I missed a lot. However, I am not an OCD gamer so I doubt I will be going back to try for 100% completion… especially if that means more sand pits. Gawldamned SAND PITS!
Kathy Rain is a point and click adventure which uses the same AGS engine that all the games from Wadjet Eye games use. Visually it’s as impressive as the best games in this niche. The Wadjet connection goes a little further in that all the voice over direction was done by Dave Gilbert. Unlike his games, here there is no commentary track filled with gushing praise of New York based voice actors. Thank goodness.
So, with all that said, fans of the genre will know what to expect in terms of quality and game-play mechanics. I found the puzzles to be mostly fair, although there’s a whopper of a riddle in the middle that just tested my patience. The story has a very strong beginning which sets up the primary mystery to be solved. However, as the game progresses it descends more and more into the supernatural(?) and starts to lose its impact. Maybe they are setting up a larger story arc here, but the ending just didn’t feel complete.
This game was a $5 budget CD when I bought it over a decade ago at CompUSA but I never got around to playing it until now. I have seen it rated on several lists as one of, if not the best strategy game of all time. I can see why it has its reputation. There is a ton of depth in the technology trees and every aspect of the game can be micro-managed to you heart’s delight. The early stages of the game are fun as you explore the planet and set up your first bases. However, gradually the game becomes and overly-complex and tedious exercise in unit management. One might argue that is just the game’s depth showing its hand. Fair enough, but to me it just feels like work.
There’s a point in which every game, no matter your strategy, begins to feel exactly the same. The AI opponents are always saying the same stuff and behaving the same way. There is no real variety in the terrain beyond forest, dirt and fungus. As such there is no need to adapt to a strange alien world or anything like that. The science fiction theme only served to make all the technologies difficult to understand at a glance. Matter Editation, unlike something in an Earth-based civ game, is meaningless to me and tells me nothing of how it could be used to bolster a particular strategy. Not that it matters, because it feels like the game randomly just gives you these tech discoveries.
Again, I can see the appeal. The whole “just one more turn” thing got me for a couple of nights, but lack of variety wore on me. I think I’d be willing to try a more modern Civilization sequel if my mood and the price was right.
I like this soundtrack well enough, but it doesn’t have any of the jazzy or avant-garde elements of my favorite Morricone scores. It feels like a fairly normal sixties soundtrack in the vein of Nelson Riddle. The vocal parts in the main title are fun and keep this from being a total bust. This is part of the Maestro box set.
Another great soundtrack from the Maestro box set. This one is a split between easy listening bossa numbers and avante garde horror jazz soundscapes. The main title features Edda Dell’Orso at her best. The film is one of the more memorable giallos too (I sampled it in my music).
A very mellow, bossa nova tinged soundtrack from a film I’ve never seen. It includes the fantastic “La Moda” which is a jangly, foot-tapping pop number and one of Morricone’s finest moments. This CD was part of the excellent Maestro box set from Dagored.
Another arty walking simulator for the PC. This one is all about the nature of choice and free will within a game world. You play Stanley, an office worker who finds that everyone in his office is gone. The game is dominated by an often funny narration that tries to get you to follow the “correct” path. The whole point here is that every time you think you are subverting the game but straying from the correct path, the narrator explains how your choices don’t matter. Ha ha. ART! A fine exercise but definitely not worth more than a couple of bucks or an hour of your time.
