The Queue
Part of the problem I encountered in getting through Spy Sinker, beyond the foolhardy distraction of Dame Stella's Liz Carlyle series, was the third-person narration. Winter, the fourth novel in the ten-book Bernard Samson series (a trilogy of trilogies & the prequel Winter), had third-person narration, but the first trilogy—Berlin Game, Mexico Set, & London Match—& the preceding two volumes of Spy Sinker's trilogy—Spy Hook & Spy Line—were narrated in the first-person by the irascible Bernard Samson. The narrative mode of Spy Sinker was necessary since it is the behind-the-scenes tale of Game, Set, Match, Hook, & Line & conveys much information that is unknown to & unknowable by Samson, but I still missed his jaundiced view of his world & its players. With Faith, the narrative is back inside Bernard's suspicious, cynical, & oddly idealistic mind, & 'tis a wonderful vantage from which to survey a story. As I'm sure I will repeat once I finish Charity, I heartily recommend the Bernard Samson series to all & sundry.

Recently
Len Deighton, Spy Sinker
Stella Rimington, Illegal Action
Len Deighton, Faith

Currently
Len Deighton, Hope

Presently
Len Deighton, Charity
Karen E. Olson, Driven to Ink
John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy

This Week in Motorsport: Formula Fun!
The 2011 F.I.A. Formula One World Championships began a fortnight hence with the Australian Grand Prix. The season had been scheduled to begin two weeks before that, with the Bahrain Grand Prix, but that grand prix was first postponed & eventually cancelled due to the upheaval—first the peaceful protests & then the bloody crackdown—in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Is isn't that F1 is opposed to authoritarian rule, rather that it is squeamish around uncertainty & instability. But never mind all that, onward to the land Down Under! On with the show!

The 2011 campaign began as the 2010 campaign ended, with a dominating victory by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, the '10 World Drivers' Champion, at 23 the youngest in the sixty-plus years history of F1. Vettel didn't just win the grand prix, he towered like a colossus over the whole weekend. He was fastest in practice, fastest in qualifying by a full second (a lifetime in F1), & fastest in the race, crossing the finish line over twenty second before the second-place runner, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel was indeed, as was oft repeated, "on a different planet" than anyone else.

A fortnight later & the Malaysian Grand Prix is upon us. Vettel was not the fastest man in any of Friday's & Saturday's three practice sessions, but today's qualifying session saw him once again earn pole position, even though he drove fewer qualifying than any of the other "heavy hitters." He pipped Hamilton by one-tenth of a second, nothing like the untouchable form exhibited in Australia, but pole position is pole position. The two Red Bulls ("Infiniti"-powered) & the two Mclarens (Mercedes) occupy the top four grid positions. The two Ferraris & the two Lotus Renaults (see "The Lotus Eaters" below) occupy the fifth through eighth spots. Those kraut bastards at Mercedes G.P. continue to lag behind the other "top" teams, so much so that they really should be regarded as a mid-field team; the '09 glory of Brawn, which has since become the Mercedes factory team, is looking an awfully long time gone. Bwa ha ha ha ha!

The grand prix will be broadcast live from Malaysia, meaning it will air in the wee hours of the morning here in the United States (specifically, Speed's pre-race show starts at 3:30 A.M.). I will watch the Malaysian Grand Prix tomorrow after recording it overnight. Videotape may be an old medium, but I'll love it until my V.C.R. gives up the ghost. (I prefer not to use my Dad's D.V.R. because that means I must watch whatever I've recorded around my his extensive T.V.-watching schedule.)

The Lotus Eaters
There are now two teams in F1 calling themselves Lotus. One is the team that last year brought the Lotus name back into Formula One as Lotus Racing, this year using the historical name Team Lotus. The other is the former Renault factory team—which was only 25% owned by Renault in '10 & is now 100% non-Renault-owned—now calling itself Lotus Renault. Last year, Lotus Racing used Cosworth engines; had that situation persisted, this year we could call them "Lotus (Cosworth)" to differentiate them from the old Renault, which now calls itself Lotus Renault. But Team Lotus now uses the same Renault engine as Red Bull & Renault, er, Lotus Renault. So, we have two teams calling themselves Lotus, both using Renault power. The Speed broadcast team & the F.I.A. avoid the confusion by calling Team Lotus "Lotus" & Lotus Renault "Renault." A clear solution, but one I cannot countenance. "Renault" aren't Renault anymore, no more than Red Bull or Team Lotus are "Renault," no more than Williams or Virgin, both of which use Cosworth engines, are "Cosworth."



There is a legal battle raging in the British courts over which team, Team Lotus or Lotus Renault, has the legitimate rights to the august Lotus name. Team Lotus (last year's Lotus Racing) bought the rights to the name from the chap who held them after the mid-'90s collapse of the original Team Lotus, & last year enjoyed the support of the descendants of Lotus's founder Colin Chapman. Lotus Renault got the name when Lotus Cars, the road-car company Chapman founded based on his success with building race cars, paid a sponsorship fee to "Renault's" shadowy owners, the investment firm Genii Capital. Which, then, is the real Lotus? It is literally a matter for the courts to decide. Here at The Secret Base we're going to call "Lotus" Team Lotus & "Renault" Lotus Renault; I have faith in the intelligence of my audience that you'll be able to discern one from the other. (Team Lotus are running in a blood-summoning green-&-yellow livery, similar to that which they ran as Lotus Racing last season. Lotus Renault's livery is a gorgeous black & gold, reminiscent of the John Player Special liveries original Team Lotus cars bore in the '70s & '80s.)

Formula fun!

This Week in Motorsport: By Endurance We Conquer
The opening round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series, the 12 Hours of Sebring, was run on Saturday, 19 March while I was busy master debating at Ohio Wesleyan University. The streaming "broadcast" of the race is still available on espn3.com, but therein lies the problem. The streaming file cannot be downloaded, it cannot be rewound or fast forwarded, it can only play—all the way through—for over twelve hours. I watch the 24 Heures du Mans live on T.V., as much of it as I can, even at the sacrifice of sleep, but that's a once a year event during the less hectic month of Juin. I do not have the time to spare to watch the 12 Hours of Sebring, not all in one go. I faced a similar problem last year with the ten-hour long Petit Le Mans, the close of the 2010 A.L.M.S. How did I overcome this? Through the use of videotape. Over the weeks following the actual race, I watched it an hour or two at a time, as my schedule permitted. It wasn't ideal, but I saw all of the Petit Le Mans. Not so with last month's 12 Hours of Sebring nor, in all likelihood, with this year's Petit Le Mans. I simply will not be able, despite the availability of espn3.com, be able to watch this year's longer A.L.M.S. races. That's a shame, because though I enjoy the two hour forty-five minute "sprint" races that make up the majority of the calendar, the real spirit of Le Mans is best captured in the longer, true endurance races.

I accurately foresaw the problems I am now encountering with the A.L.M.S.'s bizarre insistence that streaming the races over the internet is the exact same as broadcasting them on television. I so often hate it when I'm right. I greatly enjoy endurance racing, & the A.L.M.S. hosts the best endurance racing in America, but what good does that do me if I cannot watch the races? Curses!

Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day: SKApril
The Chinkees, "Asian Prodigy" from The Chinkees… Are Coming! (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The name The Chinkees isn't racist, it's anti-racist: the second "SKApril" band from by Asian Man Records founder Mike Park, every member of The Chinkees is of Asian descent. "Asian Prodigy" is thematically similar to The Bruce Lee Band's song, "Don't Sit Next to Me Just Because I'm Asian," fighting back against even so-called "positive" stereotypes, in both cases that all Asians are high achievers who find success & fulfillment only in academic excellence & social advancement.

"Now, I don't want to be a doctor,
There are things I need to share,
And I want you to love me,
Sharing all your love with me,
Sorry I can't be your Asian prodigy.

Can you treat me like a person?
There are things I need to share…."