Thursday, July 27, 2017
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Lincoln Memorial Undercroft
Lincoln Memorial Undercroft: A cavernous three-story, 43,800-square-foot basement that was forgotten about for 60 years.
10 Ridiculous Feats of Literature
10 Ridiculous Feats of Literature: Instead of judging works of literature based on their artistic merit, we’ve decided to rank them by degree of difficulty. These 10 authors may not be Shakespeare, but they sure had vaulting ambitions.
In Conversation with The Digest Enthusiast’s Richard Krauss
In Conversation with The Digest Enthusiast’s Richard Krauss | Trace Evidence: Richard Krauss is the editor and designer of Larque Press’s The Digest Enthusiast, which has appeared twice yearly since 2015. In today’s post, associate editor Jackie Sherbow talks with Richard about his work and the world of digest magazines
Bonus FFB on Wednesday: The Long Haul -- Anthony Johnston (writer) & Eduardo Barreto (artist)
As you may have guessed, this is a graphic novel. And it's a nice hybrid of a western and a caper novel. All the elements of the caper are present: the main character and his antagonist, the recruitment of the team members (each one with a special skill), the pulling of the caper, and even an epilogue that lets you know what becomes of the characters after the event. What's the event, you ask? Here's the way one of the characters puts it: "So all we have to do is break into an unbreakable [train] car, open an unopenable safe, avoid fourteen Pinkertons, then hightail it out of there within fifteen minutes?" To make it even trickier than that sounds, the train the safe weights 2000 pounds and can't be blown open, the train it's on can't be stopped, and telegraphers report on the progress of the train every so often so that everyone knows it's on schedule.
I don't supposed that it's spoilery to say that things don't go exactly as planned, and I also don't think it's spoilery to say that in the end everything works out just as you'd probably want it to.
Author Johnston is the creator of the comic book on which the film Atomic Blonde is based, so he's probably much better known now than he was when he wrote The Long Haul. Reading it was a lot of fun. And so was looking at the pictures. Artist Barreto is great at doing clear, detailed work that's perfect for the story being told. If you're looking for a good western and a good caper story all in one, this is it. Check it out.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Health Update
I don't like writing these things even when there's good news, so I'll keep this short. My most recent test results at M.D. Anderson weren't good. Those pricey pills didn't get the job done. The upshot is that I'll be having chemo by infusion again as soon as the arrangements can be made. This will be different from the first chemo, a cocktail of two different drugs. What fun. As ever, all good thoughts, prayers, and karma (not to mention cash) is appreciated. Love to all.
Overlooked Movies -- Lost Horizon
Okay, I know it's not overlooked, but I wanted to write a little about it since I'd read the novel recently and since TCM obliged by showing Frank Capra's 1937 version starring Ronald Colman. The introduction says that Capra turned in a six-hour movie. What was he thinking? I have no idea. He edited it down to three hours plus, but the previews weren't encouraging. Harry Cohn took it away from him and edited it himself. It's complicated, and I'm not sure who created the final version, which comes in at a bit over two hours. Even part of that version has been lost, but the restoration shown on TCM covers the missing few minutes with stills from the production. The entire soundtrack was preserved, so we do have the words that cover the missing scenes.The plot of the movie changes that of the book considerably, and the opening action scenes are truly impressive. So is the B&W photography throughout. So is the acting, for the most part. I've seen a good bit of Ronald Colman lately, and he's never been better than here. The only questionable player is Isabell Jewell, who seemed to be to overact egregiously in the first part of the film.
While the plot has been changed from the book, the theme is the same, and some of the ideas expressed in the book are quoted almost directly in the movie. Some of the plot changes are for the better, as they clarify points or explain some things better than the novel itself. As for the ending, well, I suppose some people will like the ending of the movie better than the one in the book, but I'm not sure it's an improvement. Anyway, a great movie, highly recommended.
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