All Quiet on the Patrick Front

My three-day weekend was uneventful. My wife and I spent some time with friends and caught up on some reading. We watched a few episodes from the DVD collection of the 5th season of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. We had dinner with my folks and a Taiwanese friend of the family who was in town on business. That sort of thing.

We also watched the Jet Li film Hero. It is a beautiful film. The use of color to help distinguish different versions of the same story was clever and well done. The fight choreography was superb (although I thought the wire work looked goofy - but that is a common problem with martial arts movies). I am not sure I agree with the ultimate message of the film: that peace can only be achieved by placing the needs of the masses over those of the individual. There is definitely a sense that the end of the story was also the end of an age of heroes. But I still recommend it whole-heartedly. I might even buy the inevitable DVD.

I also listened to A Kind of Blue this weekend. Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderly and John Coltrane. Can it get any better than that?

LBJ Died For Our Sins

Not really. Texas state government observes the former president's birthday by allowing a large number of its employees a day off. So hooray, LBJ!

Some reviews to end the week:

The Losersfeatures a one-shot story featuring Aisha, the Afghani woman who works with the rogue CIA team in the series. The art is great and the action cinematic but the protagonist is unsympathetic and unstoppable, so the story didn't do much for me. I still recommend the series very highly.

Queen & Country: Operation Morningstar on the other hand, is a great story. The protagonist is also a woman embroiled in espionage (in this case, she is a special operative for British intelligence); however, that is where she and Aisha part ways. Tara is very good at what she does but she is not a relentless killing machine with moves that would earn her a gold medal in gymnastics (even taking the rotten judging into account). The conflict in this story is believable and tense and Tara solves the crisis without firing a shot. Highly recommended.

Sleeperis more of the same this month. I like the "Wiseguy"(anyone remember that TV series?) storyline but it is getting a little thin. Our hero is still conflicted and he is still manipulated by heartless bastards who are also vastly more intelligent than you or I. Ho Hum.

Ultimate Fantastic Fouris another yawner. More decompression. It takes our super intelligent, super powered heroes an entire issue to climb into an air car and leave the building. Pulse-pounding excitement! Also: Dr. Doom's special abilties apparently include the ability to make deadly insects out of cell phones and the ability to kill slackers. I have liked some bits in Mr. Ellis' treatment of this old chestnut (such as the wierd biology of superheroes) but he has shown better pacing and conflict in his excellent Global Frequencyseries.

Astonishing X-Men has a nice twist at the end. Messrs. Whedon and Cassaday have a real flair for unspoken character moments. The expression on the Beast's face after hearing a throw away comment in the beginning of the issue and Kitty Pride's reaction to the twist at the end are great examples of how this medium can really shine. But the folks at Marvel are retconning the heck out of this series, aren't they?

I've finished volume four of the trade collection of Grant Morrison's New X-Men. This is not a series for those of you who know nothing about the X-Men except what you saw in the films. The ideas come fast and furious and Mr. Morrison deconstructed twenty years of this very convoluted storyline and rebuilt it into something fresh. No mean feat and I admire how he did it. I reckon Mr. Claremont was pissed when he read these for the first time.

I also enjoyed Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic's rendition of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica") this week. This recording is from Sony's "Bernstein Century" series and also includes a lecture Mr. Bernstein gave regarding the symphony. I recommend this to anyone who wants to learn something about a composer's approach to his music or who wants further insight into this very exciting piece.

The St. Petersburg Chamber Choir single handedly converted me into a choral music fanatic. I have a two CD set issued by Philips on which the Choir performs Rachmaninoff's Vespers and Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Listening to this moving music makes me want to be one of them "Greek Orthodoxers" (anyone out there remember Paul Sorvino in the George Burns' movie Oh God?).

And check out The Lionel Hampton Quintet. I love the smooth sound Mr. Hampton coaxed from the vibraphone. Great swing. You can download the whole album from iTunes for a very reasonable price.

That's all for now. Keep it real, America!

More From the Link Desk

I may post something original later but, for now, check out these links:

1. Richard Posner, a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (federal), is the guest blogger on Lawrence Lessig's site this week. Judge Posner is a prolific writer who covers a wide variety of topics and he holds forth on intellectual property law on the blog. For those of you who don't know about Mr. Lessig, he is a law professor and intellectual property guru with some interesting ideas about copyright law. If you are an artist, musician, writer or involved in the software/internet industry, then it behooves you to check this site out.

2. Avery Tooley has an interesting blog too. He covers hip-hop and other things I know absolutely nothing about. I learn something new every time I read his work.

3. I have a classical music jones, so I make it a point to read Alex Ross' blog. He's a music critic who often writes for the New Yorker.

Enjoy!

How Am I Ridin'? I'm Ridin' High!

Since I am as smart as I am good looking, I failed to set my alarm clock last night and overslept this morning. I did not go to the gym but my internal alarm clock woke me too early to get that good sleep one sometimes gets just before waking. So I feel a little off.

Perhaps this malaise is a hold over from last night's Olympics. The judges must have been on crack, if their scoring was any indication. The whole idea of judging gymnastics is a farce. How can someone possibly discern the minute differences between performances on that level (aside from obvious stumbles and such)? Assuming one can make those distinctions, how does one quantify them into a numerical score? It is quite clear that the people assigned those tasks are not up to the job. And those kids who work their butts off must pay for it. Sheesh...

On a positive note, I send out my proposal for a book to Wizards of the Coast today. The game company also publishes a line of novels based upon their games and my proposal is one of many sent in response to this open call. A single page synopsis and a ten page sample. I worked pretty damn hard on this and got some great feedback from tough readers (see Eric's Musings in the link section to the right). Here's hoping!

I've long suspected that this muppet was up to no good...

With Supreme Power Comes Supreme Responsibility

In a stunning example of the triumph of hope over experience, I purchased this month's issue of Supreme Power yesterday. My dislike for decompression in comics is well known and this comic is an extreme example of this technique. I had hopes for this issue: the previous issue ended with two of the heroes teaming up and contemplating kicking some villain ass. Finally, some action, some forward momentum in plot!

Guess what? It didn't happen. Nothing much happens. Hyperion is confused. Dr. Spectrum is confused. Dr. Spectrum's scientist pal is confused. The government flunkies are in full exposition mode. Nighthawk is a jerk. And the Wonder Woman knock-off goes shopping in Rome. Lots of boobies too. Hey kids, comics!

That's it. I'm done with this book. It's creators had a chance to retell an interesting story in an interesting way but they succeeded only boring me to tears. And where's Tom Thumb, anyway?

What saddens me even more is that the book's writer will tackle Dr. Strange soon in a mini-series. That character is so full of potential just waiting to be tapped. After this performance, I despair that the potential will not be realized. By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, will Marvel ever release a TPB of Roger Stern's excellent run from the '80's?

Ash v. Freddy and Jason

It appears that negotiations are underway to make a movie in which the Evil Dead's Ash will take on both Freddy (the Nightmare movies) and Jason (Friday the 13th). (link from aintitcool)

Now, I am not a fan of the slasher horror movie genre but I think I'd pay to see Bruce Campbell beat the snot out of those franchises!

Hence the Lack of Blogging

My wife and I had an interesting weekend. I will give a full accounting when I can but I want to resolve a few things before I blog about it.

Does anybody out there have any thoughts on wireless internet connections and Linux? Anyone?

I began a long-overdue re-read of Henry Kissinger's Diplomacy. It is a must read for anyone interested in foreign policy and the book strikes me as particularly timely today. I must admit that I can not help but hear Mr. Kissinger's heavy accent in my head as I read it. My Dad mentioned that he's recently finished a book entitled A History of Coffee, which piques my interest, especially after that fantastic Costa Rica trip.

I have a CD burner in my PC and I've been playing around with it. As many of you may know, iTunes is available for Windows. It is a great program and it's free. I discovered this weekend that it also generates interesting jewel case art and music lists too. What a deal!

An old high school friend of mine lives in Ohio and we don't talk as much as we should. He recently picked up a copy of City of Heroes and we started playing the onlive game together last week. We spend as much time chatting as we do fighting crime! This highlights one of the most attractive features of MMORPGs: the ability to connect with people across long distances in real time and interact with them in ways one cannot accomplish over the phone. We are trying to make Wednesday nights a regular thing. Tres cool!

Whither Watchmen?

According to this article, Jude Law wants to play the role of self-made superhero Ozymandias in a film version of Alan Moore's Watchmen. I have nothing against the fellow. I have not seen many of his movies but I am told by people whose opinions I respect that he's pretty good. He may be a little short and thin for the part but whatever. In my opinion, Sting would be a good pick for the role but I have absolutely no say in what happens in the entertainment industry. James Marsters (Spike in Buffy and Angel) would be a great choice too.

While I am at it, I'd cast Robin Williams as Nite Owl, Arnold the Governor as the Comedian and Jessica Biel as the Silk Spectre. Dr. Manhattan would be CGI, so anyone with a deep voice could be cast there. Leonard Nemoy would be a great Moloch.

But what about Rorshach? That's really tough. At the moment, I'd give the part to Wil Wheaton who I believe once expressed an interest in the role. He has the chops and it would be a great "shout out" to fellow geek travelers like myself.

What do you think?

RIP, Julia Childs

A List

I am rather swamped with work, so I leave you this week with a list of CDs for children worthy for any collection (in no particular order):

1. No! by They Might Be Giants

2. Children's Classics by New York Philharmonic (Leonard Bernstein cond. and narrating)

3. Stay Awake by Varius Artists

4. Fantasia 2000 by Chicago Symphony Orchestra (James Levine cond.)

Keep it real.

Uncle Patrick's Bookmobile

Here are some quick reviews of the books I read on my recent vacation:

Firebreak by Richard Stark - This is one of a series of crime novels concerning a career criminal. Mel Gibson played this protagonist in the movie Payback, which is based upon another novel in the series. If you have seen that movie, then you have a good idea of the tone. It is a quick read and the model of a modern genre novel, with prose as tight as the smile on a presidential candidate's face. This is the kind of stuff that Elmore Leonard reads to pick up pointers. The plot concerns a breakin at a dot-com billionare's Montana hunting lodge. Computer hacking plays an important role in the story but I found many of those elements unconvincing. The rest is good, clean fun.

Background to Danger by Eric Ambler - Another paragon of tight prose, this work is a spy thriller of the first order. Mr. Ambler pioneered this genre and he did pretty well by it. In this novel, a British freelance journalist gets the crap beat out of him by amoral business flunkies who seek to convince the Rumanians not to side with the Soviets in WWII. As you can tell, the sides in the conflict are pretty blurry. I found the plot to be a little farfetched but I liked the characterization. There are no James Bonds here (and by that I mean the Bond in the films, not necessarily the Bond from the novels), just people trying to stay alive while doing the right thing. Even when they have no idea idea what that is.

Singularity Sky by Charles Stross - This is a hard SF space opera by a fellow touted as the next big thing in the genre. The plot revolves around two people who seek to prevent an armada of space ships from crushing a rebellion on a distant colony world. There is a lot of space-time anomalies, sentient communications networks, nanotechnology and the like. I am afraid that Mr. Stross makes the mistake of making all of his villains incredibly stupid in order to show his protagonists in the best possible light; however, he takes his characters through their paces and poses some interesting problems. Pretty entertaining for those long hours on plane flights.

Gringos in the Mist

My family and I spent the rest of our holiday in the Costa Rican mountains. My parents have property not far from San Isidro, about 4000 feet above sea level. From the highest point on the property, on a clear day, one can sea the Pacific to the west and a mountain range to the east, with mountains as high as 12000 feet. Most days during the rainy season the clouds roll in low and cover everything in a soft grey fog. There are pine trees up there, as well as ancient ferns, mangos and oranges. Although I never saw them, I heard howler monkeys and parrots deep within the treeline. It is a pretty amazing place.

Much of the cloud forest in that area was cleared to make way for cattle ranching and the view from up there often resembles a distorted checker board of green and brown squares and rectangles bordered by large trees. The road to town is often blocked by herds of cattle and the cowboys who move them from pasture to pasture. Of course, there is the occasional coffee plantation and grove of fruit trees. And chickens. Oy, the chickens.

We have a little house tucked away on a lower slope, where six of us (seven if you count my niece Izzy), slept for a few nights. There is no electricity, or hot water, there yet. Showers were an invigorating experience, I can tell you! There was a little propane stove to heat tea when the weather cooled down and it rained, and we often sat on the porch, reading books or talking while the rain came down. Several local workers are building two other cabins to Dad's specifications on one of the summits. My parents plan to build as many as six of them around the property, as well as a main house and a conference center. The property was once part of a ranch and Dad is currently reforesting the place, planting thousands of trees and recreating habitats for the local wildlife. In fact, he is making a business out of it. As soon as his web site is up, I will provide you with a link. There will be plenty of pictures there, I assure you.

All in all, it was a great trip. I was a little wary of the country; I am not comfortable in places where I cannot communicate very well (which is ironic, since one of my heroes is Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton). But I can easily fall in love with a place like Costa Rica.

Patrick of the Jungle

I returned from the cloud forests of Costa Rica with a whopping head cold, so I did not post this as soon as I would have liked. I tried to post yesterday but blogger was, er, problematic. The system would not recognize my password. When I tried to change the password, the system wanted me to log in again using the password it didn't recognize. I went around with this for a while until I gave up and waited for another day. That day has arrived.

I will not bore you with all of the details of my trip to Costa Rica. To sum up: my wife and I spent about seven days there, some of which was spent on the Pacific coast in the town of Quepos and some of which was spent in the mountains near San Isidro. While on the coast, we stayed in a house my parents rented and hung out on the beach, ate a lot of beans and rice, and swung from tree to tree on a canopy tour. Our tour guide, Luis (aka "El Mono"), led us across cables that stretched as long as 380 meters from points as high as 90 meters. It was quite cool. At the end of the tour, we entered some helpful comments in the comment book supplied by our guide. A previous explorer stated it succinctly: "I trust in El Mono and Jesus." Amen, brother.

I was struck by the large expatriate community in Costa Rica and how "gringo friendly" the place was. Your humble correspondent can barely speak English, let alone Spanish, but he felt quite comfortable there. He picked up a few words here and there but most of the locals were quite patient with him. As long as he ordered the beans and rice, which he always got around to, sooner or later.

More on the mountain portion of the trip tomorrow.

I note that Stephen R. Donaldson returns to Thomas Covenant series in the fall with a book called The Runes of the Earth. You can read a sample of the new story here. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it.

More on the mountain portion of the trip tomorrow.