The Explorers Club
No. XCIII - The Palace of Soviets, proposed and commenced, but never completed.






Let's use this as a measuring stick: if your political ideology is well-served by architecture designed to highlight the inconsequence of an individual human being compared to the might of the State - I'm looking at you, Marxist-Leninists and National Socialists - then, well, this will probably all end in tears.

Project TROIKA
The third telephone confab spent a lot of time off-topic, but even then we remained in the realm of Blue Tree Whacking, discussing last weekend's great strides toward the completion of CODENAME: Koala. And we did cover a goodly portion of Project TROIKA, confirming that we are both on the same page regarding the antagonist and brainstorming ways to make The Professor's task, turning our "Bible" into a salable novel, easier, or at least less daunting. We are hammering out a game plan for the rest of the year, ever mindful of the looming deadline for the Bible's completion: midnight on 1 January '09. Steeze has taken upon himself a specific assignment, and grateful as I am for all his long, lonely work on Koala, I am glad to have him working rather exclusively on TROIKA.

For those of you who are Blue Tree Whackers, keep an eye on the Forums for updates and random snippets of information. For the majority, denied admittance into B.T.W.'s holy of holies, please know that I look forward with great anticipation to the day when you have fattened my pockets by buying the Project TROIKA novel, or at least borrowed it from your local lending library which fattened my pockets to stock the book, and we may discuss its characters, plot, strengths, and inevitable weaknesses (my comrades and I are skilled, but we are hardly infallible) at some length.

Grow or die.

In other news, I am regrowing my too long absent imperial, also known as a soul patch, gone since the summer of '06. Though at first I was surprised by the effect it absence had on my face, I have since become accustomed to this more natural look; I shall have to wait until the imperial is fully restored before I am capable of judging which version of my face I prefer. I do have to say, though, that just letting grow that small tuft of hair beneath my lower lip has kindled within me an excitement for the second installment of the Banzai Beard Bonanza, to be undertaken in January of '10 and to be followed directly by the Massive Mustache Mistake. As a general rule, I long for the day when facial hair is again fashionable on a widespread basis. Imperials! Van Dykes! Waxed mustaches! Burnsides! Muttonchops! Let your freak flag fly, gentlemen, and let your whiskers grow!

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Astropop 3, "So Happy" from Plea For Peace (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"I'm so happy you got everything you wanted,
I'm so delighted for you.
What should I do,
With all my dreams that never came true?

I'm so happy you got everything you needed,
I'm so excited for you.
What should I do,
With all my dreams that never came true?

...

Should I fake it to everybody, until
It finally drives me insane?"