Series are an important part of "The Explorers Club," but a tool on which yours truly became overly dependent over the last year. On the one hand, series allow for the exploration of several interconnected or closely related subjects, adding to a fuller understanding of each. On the other hand, series tend to have an almost parochial focus on two subjects near & dear to mine own heart, Greek myth & espionage. Is it in the spirit of exploration never to venture beyond the same subjects? On the gripping hand, variety is the spice of life, & the natural bent of your humble narrator's magpie mind. Regarding series, moderation shall be our watchword going forward, in the mold of Goldilocks: not too may, not too few, but just right.
Our longest-running series to date comprises five episodes spread over two years, highlighting various aspects of what I regard as possibly the crowning glory of Man's ingenuity, Project Apollo & the landing of men on the Moon. I stand behind the proposition that there is no such thing as too much Project Apollo & I would not be surprised should the future hold a sixth part to the series. Apollo! Apollo! Apollo! (Not the Olympian god, in whom I have no interest, despite my general fascination with Greek myth.)
Project PALINDROME
'Tis going to be a December to remember as K. Steeze & I race to wrap up this non-enumerated tier of Project PALINDROME, a project that I suspect is going to undergo significant change based on Steeze's irrepressible energy & entrepreneurship. Of course, as far behind on my work as I am, by the end of this December to remember I'm going to want to forget the whole tortuous (yes, I mean tortuous, not torturous) month. Let the recriminations begin! All the work I have to do in such little time? It's all because Past Mike, when he was Present Mike, didn't feel like writing & said it would be Future Mike's problem. Future Mike has now become Present Mike & he simply cannot pass the buck onto some later-yet Future Mike, not without running the grave risk of the work never being completed. If Present Mike/former Future Mike knew how to get his hands on Past Mike, he's wring Past Mike's fat neck. Curse your sloth, Past Mike! Okay, that's enough of that, because recriminations, as dreadfully fun as they are, aren't going to bring PALINDROME any closer to (tier-bound) completion. Onward!
Grow or die.
Project "THUNDERBALL"*
Aside from the importance to PALINDROME's advancement of finishing my assigned PALINDROME work by New Year's Eve, the paramount reason for this final push is a new challenge that I am going to take up on New Year's Day: Between 1 January & 31 December Anno Domini 2012, I am going to complete the first draft of my first novel. I have never undertaken an endeavour of this magnitude before, but know that it is necessary if I am ever to be anything more than an aspiring writer. 2009, the year of Tier 1 of Project TROIKA, was a time of great creative flowering, as for once my scattershot mind was compelled to focus on one project, to discipline itself; during the two years that The Ace has been laboring on Tiers 2 & 3 of TROIKA I have backslid into my old, unproductive habits of dabbling with this, dabbling with that, & never getting any real work done. K. Steeze did me a good turn by requesting my help with Project PALINDROME, & I have been honored to work on a something that has been so close to his heart for so long, but the fruits of PALINDROME are undeniably Steeze's own; I aided him, but past & present he's done the lion's share of the work & the project is his. If I am to hone my skills as a writer, I need to write more than just treatments & "Bibles," but something that is itself meant for publication. I am not so arrogant as to think I have any conception of how hard this is going to be, though paradoxically I feel certain this endeavour is going to be more torturous (yes, I meant torturous, not tortuous) than anything else I've attempted. I've failed in life to this point because I've attempted next to nothing; the only way to change my stars is to attempt something unprecedented. I might yet fail, but, by Jove, this time it will not be for want of trying!
The sage words of President Theodore Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
'Tis time to be the man who is actually in the arena.
Because next year's exertions are meant to result in (the first draft of) a novel I can (at least attempt to) sell to a publisher, I am unwilling to post in as public a forum as The Secret Base as many details as I'd like to share with you, loyal readers. The secrecy of Projects TROIKA & PALINDROME will be my guide vis-à-vis this blog, though in (relative) private I'll answer all questions, I'll tell you all you wish to know, or at least as much as I've dreamed up at any given moment.
These are far from our last words on the subject.
Grow or die.
He's Dead, Jim
The swelling under my right eye has receded & I've still no explanation for its occurrence in the first place. C'est la vie, I'm just glad to be back to nominal.
*This new project is NOT going to be code named THUNDERBALL. THUNDERBALL is the placeholder name Steeze & I use when we've devised but not yet named a character. Rather, THUNDERBALL is what we call the rôle that character will play in the story, since from my perspective as something with a minor degree of logophilia a character isn't really a character without a name. I adore the works of the Bard of Avon, but must disagree that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. This is to be a "Project," not an "Operation" nor an "Objective"… though now that I think about it the tiers of this project might later be broken down into individual objectives. Leading candidates include Project ANTIPODE, Project OMDURMAN, & Project BALDERDASH, those these are not finalists & the field is still wide-open to other ideas. Any suggestions for code names, dear readers?
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Civil Wars, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" via iTunes, Free Single of the Week (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: 'Tis the second Sunday of Advent. Rejoice! Make ready! The King of Kings draws near!
Also, welcome to the first day of Christmas-themed R.B.D.S.O.T.D., secular music 'til Christmas Eve, excluding Sundays & the looming Feast of the Immaculate Conception, & sacred music (or at least sacred-ish) throughout the Christmastide.
Samstag, 3 Dezember
Irish Tradition, "Loftus Jones" from Green Linnet Records: The Twentieth Anniversary Collection (T.L.A.M.)
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