2014: Life Tries to Kill Me

On 12/17/2015 at 02:48 AM by KnightDriver

Kind of a bad year for me really. I was fighting what I found out later was carbon monoxide poisoning from my car. I had bad fatigue in my neck and eyes. Also I couldn't find a bed that let me sleep well at night. I finally got one I liked, but in the meantime, I had injured my back and I'm still not quite right even after a new workout routine, better diet and sleep. Ah life, sometimes it just up and tries to kill you. That being said, I did enjoy a bunch of media despite all that. Here's some selections.

MUSIC

Then: Behemoth - The Satanist. I had this enormous Metal Blade Records sampler box set I got for pennies at some flea market, and checked out a lot of bands. One I really dug was Behemoth and this was the first day-one album I bought from them. They create a great soundscape that makes me think of the visuals in Demon's Souls: it's bleak, and horrific, and overwelming like a huge orchestra playing in the seventh ring of Dante's Inferno.

Now: Accept - Blind Rage. In 2010 Accept came back to the stage with new singer Mark Tornillo. I got on board in 2012 with their Stalingrad album and really liked it. Mark definitely had a similar vocal sound to Udo and the band sounded like their old 80s best. I somewhat forgot about them since 2012 though, and would like to hear this third album with Tornillo.

GAMES

Then: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Last year I thought Wolfenstein: The New Order was my favorite of the year, but looking back, I got more play time out of Borderlands that lasted me into the beginning of 2015. I could still play it now and have things to do there.

Now: Civilization Revolution 2. Civilization Revolution was Sid Meier's simplified version of Civilization for the consoles. Civ Rev 2 was that for phones and tablets. I wanted desperately to play this, but I didn't want to buy a smart phone or tablet. Just this month it was released for PS Vita as Civilization Revolution 2+. It'll go on my list until I'm ready to play it. That's my new rule or I'd have bought it day-one.

BOOKS

Then: Halo: Mortal Dictata by Karen Traviss, this her third Halo book in her Kilo-5 trilogy, following the exploits of special ops team Kilo-5 sent to "manage" the Human/Elite conflict and give justice to Dr. Halsey. I didn't like making Halsey into a villain in this series, but it was still a good read.

Now: The wiki page didn't list all that much, so I couldn't find anything, and I didn't want to spend any more time digging. I'm sure something will come up eventually.

FILM/TV

Then: Grand Budapest Hotel. It's a tough choice when I saw Guardians of the Galaxy three times, the first time I've done that in a long, long while, but I've really fallen for the Wes Anderson films and his attention to detail, humor, and interesting characters. Every single shot in Grand Budapest is like an amazing still that I could frame and put on my wall. For that, it wins my photographer's heart.

Now: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey [TV] An attempt to bring back the famous Cosmos series done by Carl Sagan in the 80s, this time with New York's Hayden Planetarium director, and all around space diplomat, Neil deGrasse Tyson. I've been into Tyson every since I saw a Teaching Company lecture he did on the processes of the sun. I listened to his podcast too, but fell out of astronomy stuff probably just before this show came on the air. I'd like to see what I missed.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, they say. Well, that's beginning to be true for me. I'm super careful of my diet, lost 20 pounds and still going, in the gym several times a week, and more focused on job related tasks I need to work on. I'm still not fully recovered, but I think I'm on the right track. Maybe I'll be stronger in 6 months or so. I'll make that assessment then and see if the saying is true.

goaztecs

12/17/2015 at 10:48 AM

Damn your car was really trying to kill you. What is a day-one CD? Are there special tracks, packaging, numbered? Flea Market finds are awesome. Shame that the local one does not have any vendors that sell music I'm interested in...and I like a lot of different genres.

I haven't played a Civ game in years. I think the last one was the first one on the original Playstation.

Cosmos was hit and miss for me. I don't know why, the Science Channel had a marathon of the old episodes right before the premier of the new one, and I just couldn't get into the new one, despite enjoying the older one.

Props to you for getting healthy! That's more energy for EDF and Skylander figure hunting!

KnightDriver

12/17/2015 at 04:20 PM

I just picked up the CD the week the album was released. I used to keep track of release schedules for music as well as games. Sometimes there are special editions put out and I think there was one for The Satanist, maybe through their web site. I just went with the standard one though.

More energy for EDF for sure, and stronger hands for those long battles. I felt a slight twinge in my shoulder last time. It was definitely from pulling the trigger with my right hand a lot. I think maybe I should look into that elite controller for Xbox One. You can adjust the trigger for a lighter touch. It could be a wise investment.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

12/17/2015 at 11:00 AM

I remember you complaining about your car. That really sucked.

I still haven't watched the last three Anderson movies. I love his stuff, just can't focus on films lately.

When I was a kid, I had Carl Sagan's Cosmos book. I read it over and over. Loved that stuff.

12/17/2015 at 04:30 PM

I'll never own a car over 200k miles ever again. I've already planned to sell my current car at 200k which will happen about 5 years from now, unless I change jobs by then.

I was way into astronomy a few years ago. I got to the point where I wanted to take classes, then I wondered if it was a good investment. Maybe if I was in my 20s, but not now. I should be interested in the Pluto stuff that just came out, but I'm annoyed that I can't actually study it.

Cary Woodham

12/17/2015 at 06:32 PM

2014 was a better year for me than 2013 and 2015 were. In 2013 my grandmother passed away, and in 2015 I lost my job, so those years kind of sucked. But nothing really bad happened in 2014 to me, and I even got to go to Disney World, so I consider that a pretty good year. Hopefully 2016 will be better than this year was.

My Game of the Year last year was Super Smash Bros. on the Wii U, not surprisingly.

12/18/2015 at 02:04 AM

Glad to hear you liked 2014.

Super Step Contributing Writer

12/17/2015 at 07:17 PM

I hope you have a better next year than 2014.

I really haven't gotten into Behemoth. I did not know Accept was still around. Really only know Balls to the Wall by them.

I finally played a Borderlands game at that video game charity thing I was at. I enjoyed it. Gonna play Wolfenstein with my friend back in Nac hopefully, since I'm getting a second PS4 contoller for Xmas.

Once I get a budget going, I'll have something to prevent me from splurging on video game sales. Some of them are too good to pass up though, like Withcer 3 for $25 I got recently.

I remember Moral Dictata interesting me cause of the name. Does it go into a lot of moral dilemmas?

Weird, wiki usually has a recent year locked down. Or maybe not for books?

Oh shit, I forgot I haven't seen Grand Budapest. Need to put that on my Letterboxd watch list.

I really liked the episode of Cosmos where a student proved a highly regarded professor wrong regarding a theory. A lot of people poo poo science because of how it changes, but I love that it's constantly evolving.

I need to get back on the weight loss wagon as well as learn how to invest in stocks cause work alone wont' pay off my loans at present.

12/18/2015 at 02:24 AM

These sales keep happening. I think I have to stop following them and get stricter.

Mortal Dictata. It references a protocol for a code of ethics in the Halo Universe that prohibits flash cloning. The story was about one of the Spartans and how she was removed from her family and replaced by a clone that quickly died, as they all do. Her father became an insurrectionist and Kilo-5, of which this spartan is a member, has to stop him, and, of course, she has to face her origins. So there are a lot of moral dilemas in the book.

Wiki had long lists of books up until the most recent five years or so, and then they got really short. Not sure why.

I like how science evolves too. No dogma putting a halt to new ideas.

I read Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor this year. It made the prospect of stock trading look pretty risky unless you really know a lot, and even then it's hard to predict. Super interesting book though. Written way back but still considered important today.

PixlBit