West World
Howdy, partner…
Recently, I started playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on my PS4. I’m not a HUGE video game nerd, but I’ll play a good game when time allows, and the original Red Dead remains the best video game I have ever played. RDR2 (so far) is even larger and more epic than its predecessor, with a sandbox world you can run around in that is stunningly gorgeous. The level of absurd detail they have packed in to the game is also worth mentioning.
Abruptly switching gears, this past weekend I took a break from my gaming to visit my brother, sister-in-law and new niece in Bozeman, MT. I took the route that skirts across the western edge of Yellowstone and over the Gallatin Mountains. At dusk, covered in a light brushing of snow, it was the RDR2 landscape brought to life.
Taken together, I now have a desire to segue my way out of two months of horror films and scary stories, and into a month or two of exploring Westerns (on film and in print). It is something that I dedicated some time and effort to back in grad school, when I was making connections between Western myth and subsequent (rough) treatment of environment, and I am very much looking forward to picking it up again (and possibly sharing what I discover in this blog). In typical fashion, I have made a Spotify playlist for the journey! Saddle up…