The Explorers Club
№ CCXLI - Jason, Part II: his betrayal of Medea & her terrible revenge.







I strive not to reproduce the same images found on the Wikipedia, but an exception had to be made in the case of the last image; it had to be included. In my files the picture is saved as "Medea kinder." Given what it about to happen in the picture, I enjoy the pun of the English "kinder" & the German "Kinder."

Project MERCATOR
The weekend last I had the privilege of seeing some most welcome out-of-town visitors, The Guy & his lovely & formidable bride, The Gal. We met for breakfast at Venus Coney Island on Saturday morning; as they are both early birds I feared a rendezvous to which I would arrive still half-asleep, but in the event we did not gather until the thoroughly civilized hours of ten o'clock. I was the only one who actually had breakfast for breakfast, as The Gal had a coney dog & The Guy had two coney dogs; the poor devils can't get coney dogs in Saint Louis, & The Guy reported the jones began to form as soona s he knew he was coming back to sacred Michigan. We spoke of everything under the Sun & nothing at all, as do old friends for whom time & distance spent apart are nary any obstacles to amity. The Guy & I saw Cars 2 on Sunday evening; the film was a bitter disappointment, but I'm glad I saw it with him as our after-action discussion helped to make sense of the debacle we'd just witnessed.

The Guy & The Gal asked when next I will be in Saint Louis to visit them; noises were made about a visit in the fall. Most of the transplanted Michiganders whom I see upon their visits to the Great Lakes State ask when I will next visit their new homes; this is proper & welcome & I hope to travel as much as possible once Project RADIANT has been retired & my treasury is in a stronger position. The curious part of all this is that they always ask when I am going to travel to visit them... even though they have not traveled to visit me. The time spent with The Guy & The Gal was grand, but they did not sojourn back to Michigan for me, at least not principally for me. When last I saw The Sardine during the Christmastide & she inquired as to my next visit to her in Brooklyn she had not departed from the Empire State on my account, but to spend the holidays in mourning with her family over the sudden demise of her father. I do not intend any criticism by these remarks, but it is interesting to note the juxtaposition of various persons' reasons for traveling. That said, I do look forward to next calling upon The Guy & The Gal, to returning to the Mighty City by the Mighty Mississippi & exploring what is has to offer.

Two weeks hence I attended a going-away party for Love/Hate & her code nameless boyflesh Matthew, both of whom are soon to leave the country to teach English abroad. I have no particular wish to spend any time with Love/Hate; so, Too Sly was appropriately confused when I told him I'd gone, asking me why I'd bothered. Why? Because I had no sufficient reason to decline the invitation; the protocols of Project MERCATOR thus compelled my attendance.

Last week I attended the guerrilla wedding of Mr. & Mrs. Awesome, the second & third designated Super Fans of The Loose Ties. The Awesomes have been a couple for six years, even though they are only in their early 20s. The decided to get married rather abruptly & the wedding was held five days later. The ceremony was in a public park, standing in the shade of some trees because the chosen day was blisteringly hot, even for skinny folk like Mr. & Mrs. Awesome. Ska Army was the "minister," having attained his certification online; it's amazing what passes for binding nuptials these days. After the wedding on the surface of the Sun we motored to the reception at Don Pablo's, where late in the proceedings I was fortunate enough to sport briefly a gaily-colored sombrero, a perfect addition to any festivities. At the reception, Farr Afield's boyflesh invited me to a poolside shindig he'll be hosting over the Fourth of July weekend; so, we shall see if that pans out in the days ahead.

I am returned home from smoking a pipe for the first time. A ban on smoking is about to go into effect on all three campuses, in Ann Arbor, Flint, & Dearborn. A small group gathered in McKinnon Plaza to have one last non-illicit smoke in the heart of campus. I joined Ska Army & was given instruction by Kevin, one of his frat "brothers." I feel vaguely ill upon catching the scent of cigarette smoke, but I have fond memories from my youth of the smell of Grandpa Wilson's pipe. And then I found five dollars.

The Savage Wars of Peace
Regarding Libya, my reactions are these: {a} I support & encourage the use of martial power to overthrow Qaddafi's monstrous regime. Particular kudos go to the French who, stung by their out-of-step-with-the-new-wisdom support for Ben Ali in Tunisia, have been that much more zealous regarding Libya, to the extant that they have actively armed the anti-Qaddafi resistance, much to the annoyance of the Russians.

{b} I oppose two very curious aspects of America's participation in the anti-Qaddafi/"protect civilians" campaign. The first is President Obama's "lead from the rear" approach; N.A.T.O.'s military structure is specifically set up for American forces to be the core of any expeditionary force with the Europeans & Canadians playing as large a supporting rôle as their lesser capabilities allow. N.A.T.O. exists because we wished it so; the other N.A.T.O. members are our allies, not mere puppets as the old Warsaw Pact states were to the Soviet Empire, but the United States is still & must remain the first among equals, the primus inter pares. It is a manifestation of Mr. Obama's deep-seated leftist detestation of America that he wishes us to follow our European friends rather than assume our necessary & proper position of leadership. Also, I am confused: regime change in Tripoli is the explicit policy of the United States & the United States is using deadly force against the regime in Tripoli, but the purpose of the use of that deadly force is not regime change but rather a nebulous protection of the civilian population? If regime change is our stated policy, why are American lives & American treasure being risked in support of a mission other than regime change? There is no coherence to our martial involvement in Libya & that is a recipe for disaster.

{c} The War Powers Act is one of the most unconstitutional pieces of legislation ever to emerge from the United States Congress. It is am embarrassment, one President Obama is right to flaunt. The President of the United States is the commander-in-chief of our armed forces. Yes, the Congress alone has the power to declare war, but if the Congress disapproves of how the President is commanding our armed forces it should withhold the funds for the operations to which it objects. An end-run around the Constitution such as the War Powers Act is no remedy, it is a muddying of the waters to no good purpose.

Vote for Kodos
The great tragedy of the rise of the "tea parties" is the legitimization of Libertarian isolationist thought in the Republican Party. The unholy alliance of the isolationist Right (Representative Ron Paul, R.-Texas) & the anti-war left (Representative Dennis Kucinich, D.-Ohio) is one of the most disturbing trends in American politics of the last decade.

Also, a question on the anti-war Left: Where are the massive protests against the ongoing war in Afghanistan & the half-measures being employed in Libya? President Bush was roundly denounced as a "terrorist" & a "war criminal" for America's involvement in Iraq & Afghanistan. Under President Obama those same American troops are still deployed in Iraq & Afghanistan, & are now involved in the skies over Libya. Where are the protests? Where are the outraged pacifists? Where are the T-shirts denouncing Mr. Obama as an "international terrorist"? Where the the effigies? The protests against Mr. Bush were despicable; I am glad that the hypocrisy directed toward Mr. Obama have finally revealed that those disgusting orgies of hate had naught to do with the wars & everything to do with partisan politics.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Ivy, "Lucy Doesn't Love You" from Long Distance (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Some dreams don't come true."

Zooey Deschanel Appreciation Day
Whilst watching the European Grand Prix on FOX this past Sunday I learned of a new television show to debut in the fall: New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel in the titular rôle. The interwebs inform me that also appearing in the cast is Max Greenfield, best known to your humble narrator as Deputy Leo on Veronica Mars. Bonus!



Max Greenfield is seated second from the right. If you cannot pick out Zooey Deschanel from the above photograph then you have my pity.

The intrepid Miss Deschanel's elder sister, Emily Deschanel, plays the titular character on the FOX drama Bones. With both Deschanel sisters to headline shows on FOX I am reminded of that period in the '00s when FOX seemed to own the Masterson bros.: the elder Danny played Hyde on That '70s Show while the younger Christopher played Francis on Malcolm in the Middle. (Delightfully, the Masterson bros. recently portrayed feuding brothers on White Collar. Verisimilitude!)

If New Girl is paired with the returning & much-beloved Raising Hope—the only show besides Jeopardy! that my mother & I enjoy together—that should make for a jolly hour of entertainment, the perfect dose of escapism for a Tuesday night.

The Savage Wars of Peace | Obamboozled
In deriding the threat that al-Qaeda continues poses to American lives & U.S. interests even after the well-deserved execution of Osama bin Laden John Brennan, President Obama's paramount adviser on counterterrorism, makes painfully clear why neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Brennan should ever have been entrusted with our nation's security: poppycocklink. The odd ducks in Wired's "Danger Room" remain skeptical, bless them. All & sundry suppose that economic issues will dominate the 2012 presidential race, but one cannot help but suspect that the Obama Administration wishes to play down national security issues—in this instance by minimizing al-Qaeda & its affiliates—because even in an economic election that will still be perceived as a secondary or tertiary strength of the eventual Republican nominee. (Mayhap I've grown overly cynical; if so, I blame the corrosive influence of British espionage fiction, especially endlessly cynical old television series like Callan & The Sandbaggers.) If Mr. Brennan truly believes that the threat of transnational jihadist (he prefers "extremist") terrorism has passed, let me refer him to the scores Ugandans murdered by the the A.Q.-affiliated al-Shabaab network just over a year ago in Kampala, well outside al-Shabaab's dominions in Somalia.

Science! | The Stars My Destination
President Obama's stated rationale for axing Project Constellation—thereby ending American manned spaceflight upon the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, after which we will be beholden to our Russian comrades for lifts to & from the International Space Station—was to free up greater resources of both manpower & treasure to robotic explorers, planetary rovers such as Opportunity (& the late, lamented Spirit) & the forthcoming ExoMars (which became a joint N.A.S.A./E.S.A. mission once N.A.S.A. cancelled the M.A.X.-C. rover) & deep space probes such as ME.S.S.EN.GE.R. & Cassini. Of course, now it appears that N.A.S.A. is trying to pull the financial rug out from under ExoMars: let's do neitherlink. I disagree with the decision to end manned spaceflight in favor of more unmanned probes, but it is at least a coherent policy; what exactly is the reasoning behind having neither astronauts nor robots exploring the solar system? If we are not to have robots in lieu of men, what exactly is our space policy, Mr. President?

I should have known from the first that our charlatan president's ambition was not limited to ending American leadership in manned spaceflight, but to ending America's involvement in outer space entirely. I suspected him of perfidy, but I should have assumed the worst instead of taking that inveterate liar at his worthless word. A pox on each of you who voted for then-Senator Obama; you did this, you fiends.

Science!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Pete Seeger & Bill McAdoo, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Get ready for the jubilee,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give the hero three times three,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The laurel wreath is ready now
To place upon his loyal brow,
And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home."

Dienstag, 28 Juni
Ivy, "Edge of the Ocean" from Long Distance (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The following bit of trivia is not the reason that "Edge of the Ocean" was selected as yesterday's R.B.D.S.O.T.D., but I adore the word ocean. I love "sea," but I adore "ocean."

The Explorers Club
№ CCXL - Jason, Part I: the quest for the Golden Fleece.







Operation AXIOM
One year ago to the day, 27 June 2010, the Magnificent Moustache Malarkey came to an end. The final curtain fell on the Banzai Beard Bonanza II: Bonsai's Revenge. I would spend the remainder of the summer of '10 without whiskers, due to a necessary period of reflection following the Bonanza/Malarkey; the achievement of Objective ZED ALPHA (a.k.a. my appearance on Jeopardy!); & a desire to let Mrs. Skeeter, Esq., a vociferous critic of my beard/moustache, see me cleanshaven at the running of the Crim (a.k.a. Objective FINNLAND of Operation ÖSTERREICH). A year ago plans were already being drawn up for the Banzai Beard Bonanza III: Third Time's the Harm & the Banzai Beard Bonanza IV: Four For Forty. Now that I sport whiskers for the foreseeable future, whatever will become of these bonanzas? Bah, that's a concern for another day, another post. For now, a year has passed since the end of the Malarkey. Did the year pass swiftly? Did the year pass slowly? Was it a good year? Much to ponder.

Banzai!

The Queue
I'm moving up in the world: in only a fortnight I've gone from № 68 in the G.D.L. queue for Carte Blanche to № 59. (Please please please let this not be a repeat of Devil May Care.) For the nonce, onward with late Victorian/Edwardian fiction!

Recently
Drew Karpyshyn, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
E. W. Hornung, The Complete Raffles, Volume One: The Amateur Cracksman & The Black Mask
Greg Rucka & various artists, Queen & Country: Operation: SADDLEBAGS & Operation: RED PANDA

Currently
Anthony Hope, Rupert of Hentzau

Presently
John Buchan, The Thirty-nine Steps
John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
John le Carré, Smiley's People
...
Jeffery Deaver, Carte Blanche

This Week in Motorsport
The seventh round of the F.I.A. Formula One World Championships, the Grand Prix du Canada, was run a fortnight ago, I watched the race a week ago, & I am commenting upon it now. The Canadian Grand Prix was run only a few hours after the finale of the 24 Hours of Le Mans; my decision to tape record the race & watch it at a later date was motivated more by the fact that I had been too busy watching Le Mans to watch F1 qualifying than by my manifest fatigue following the Grand Prix of Endurance. For the serious aficionado like your humble narrator qualifying is an integral part of a grand prix weekend, a necessary part of the experience I am unwilling to forgo. On the Sunday of the race (12 June) I did check my tape recording in progress & discovered that the race had been red-flagged (suspended) due to excessive rain. Unsure if I would capture the full race on FOX, I decided to tape also an edited rebroadcast of the race later in the week on Speed. (Both are part of the News Corp. empire, so Speed is to FOX as E.S.P.N. is to A.B.C.) Last weekend I watch qualifying & the edited race, only this past weekend did I watch the mostly rain-delayed red flag period that I recorded live on the day of the grand prix.

The Grand Prix du Canada was won by '09 World Champion Jenson Button of McLaren (Mercedes), who had an extraordinarily eventful day. Much praise was heaped on Button for what he called the "best win" of his career; I, openly admitting to a loathing of the man, take a different view. Is Jenson Button a good driver? Very much so. Did he drive well on that soggy day in Montréal? Yes, he did. But several factors must be considered. There were multiple safety car deployments during the grand prix (the racing gods were merciful, all were due to the rain, not massive shunts), which bunched up the field, meaning Button never fell as far behind '10 World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull (Renault) as he would have on pure pace. Left to his own devices, Vettel would have disappeared into the distance. Button knocked both '08 World Champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren & '05 & '06 World Champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari out of the race through collisions that left Button's car unscathed. Given the damage he inflicted on the others his escapes were owed purely to chance, not to any skill on his nefarious part. Both Hamilton & Alonso would have otherwise been significant obstacles to Button's charge to the front. Button was assessed a drive-through penalty for an infraction during the first safety-car period. This sent him to the back of the grid, making his drive to the front all the more impressive, yes? No. The drive-through was before the two-plus hours the race was under the red flag. When the race started up again under the safety car Button was not nearly as far from the front, in physical distance, as he otherwise would have been. Nevertheless, Button's performance was praiseworthy; he did propel himself up to the front of the field so that he was in a position to snatch the race lead on the last lap with Vettel made an error & went slightly off track. But it is also necessary to recognize that the stars aligned for Button, & without several pieces of staggering good fortune he would never have been in a position to capitalize on Vettel's misfortune.

Sport is the one area where the B.B.C. most resembles the loathsome American media. McLaren is a British team, & both Button & Hamilton are British drivers; a clear & annoying bias in favor of McLaren is evident in the B.B.C.'s F1 coverage. B.B.C. Sport was most obnoxious in the fortnight following Canada. (Most of the Formula One teams are physically based in Great Britain, including the Austrian-registered Red Bull, the Indian-registered Force India [Mercedes], & the Malaysian-registered Team Lotus [Cosworth]. But McLaren, even though founded by the New Zealander Bruce McLaren & formerly owned by those Kraut bastards at Daimler-Benz, is considered thoroughly British. When Vettel of Red Bull wins, two national anthems are played while he stands on the podium, the German national anthem for him & the Austrian national anthem for Red Bull. If the driver & team are both "from" the same country, a single anthem is played; so, when Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix & Button the Canadian Grand Prix only one anthem was played: "God Save the Queen.")

Fast forward to this weekend & Formula One returned to Europe for the second of the two races in Spain, the European Grand Prix on the streets of Valencia. Vettel reestablished his dominance, claiming the top spot on the podium over Alonso's Ferrari in second & the sister Red Bull of Mark Webber in third. The much-praised Button finished a distant sixth. Vettel's lead over Webber & Button, tied for second in the championship standings, is such that were Vettel to score zero points in the next three grands prix, & one of either Button or Webber to win all three, Vettel would still hold a slight lead. The chances of this seem all the more remote when you consider than Vettel's worst finishing position of 2011 is second, the spot he claimed both times he was denied the top step, in China & Canada. Has Vettel sown up the Drivers' Championship? Have Red Bull sown up the Constructors' Championship? By no means; after all, we're not quite halfway through the 2011 campaign. But some observers, & even some of the top drivers, are beginning to despair that the other twenty-three drivers on the grid have been consigned to a separate competition… for second place.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Dressy Bessy, "Just Once More" from Dressy Bessy (T.L.A.M.)

Sonntag, 26 Juni
Dressy Bessy, "This May Hurt (A Little)" from Dressy Bessy (T.L.A.M.)

Samstag, 25 Juni
Dressy Bessy, "Baby Six String" from Dressy Bessy (T.L.A.M.)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Robert Duncan, "Gunfight Epiphany (Theme from Terriers)" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Science!
The European Space Agency is more timorous than temerarious, but with President Obama having quelled any near- or medium-term prospects for American manned spaceflight the Europeans are the only hope for a future of human spaceflight not dominated by the illiberal if not outright anti-democratic regimes in Moscow & Beijing. So, here's to hoping much is learnt from the I.X.V. & its test flight is followed up soonest with a scaled-up craft eventually to be manned: wedgelink.

Science!

Operation AXIOM
Yesterday marked the seventieth anniversary of the beginning of Operation BARBAROSSA, the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany, on 22 June 1941. BARBAROSSA was one of the genuine fulcrums on which the fate of the world turned, & I had the pleasure to spend part of the day in the company of another individual who also knew not only what BARBAROSSA was but when it took place. Most people are scandalously ignorant of history.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Blues Brothers, "Going Back to Miami" from Made in America (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: A hearty "welcome back" to Burn Notice!

Mittwoch, 22 Juni
Dressy Bessy, "Girl, You Shout!" from Dressy Bessy (T.L.A.M.)

Dienstag, 21 Juni
Ivy, "Thinking About You" from In the Clear (T.L.A.M.)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" from Motown 1's (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: One of the all-time great songs.

The Explorers Club
№ CCXXXIX - Cadmus.







Operation AXIOM
Happy Fathers' Day to one & all! I bought my pop a Thermos, because he spends a lot of time on the road pursuing his Quixotic political ambitions & drinks boatloads of coffee whilst crisscrossing those highways & byways. I'm not using the genericized name for a vacuum flask, it's the real McCoy, a genuine Thermos.

The centenary of the outbreak of the First World War is just over three years away & will be upon us in a flash. A look back at one horrifying aspect of the nightmare that was the Western Front: The Miners' War.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Aquabats!, "Tarantula!" from The Return of The Aquabats! (Captain Thumbs-up)

Commentary: "Tarantula!" isn't just a song about a scientist fighting a giant, monstrous spider. It's a song about a father's dedication to his daughter. It's a song about fatherhood.

"Armed to the teeth, he ventured forth,
If he'd live or die he did not know!

Professor Jones! He did not know!
Professor Jones! He did not know!
Where was his daughter? Where did she go?
She's fallen to the beast of the webby hole!"

Samstag, 18 Juni
Letters to Cleo, "Co-Pilot" from Go! (T.L.A.M.)

Project GLOWWORM
I've been a hypocrite, I recognize this, I am chagrined over this, & I mean to make amends if only I could devise a method. I've complained long & bitterly about my inadvertent membership in the "tattoo club," by which I mean the habit of other tattooed lads & lasses to strike up conversation with me specifically if not solely because I am inked, too. In the months since the shorn aftermath of the Banzai Beard Bonanza II: Bonsai's Revenge & the Magnificent Moustache Malarkey gave way to whiskers as a way of life I have been guilty of pressing blokes into a "beard club." I've gone out of my way to compliment impressive beards & moustaches, speaking to chaps I would otherwise have ignored to exhort them to keep up the good work, little enough different than was done to me courtesy of my first tattoo.

I received a large number of compliments in kind on my moustache, though that was never my purpose in exhorting others. This is what first gave me pause. I was mortified at the idea that someone might think I was fishing for compliments about my own whiskers. I then began to ponder what I might inadvertently be doing. What did I hope to accomplish by praising other beards & moustaches? My whiskers been pilloried from certain quarters, both by those who think them genuinely unattractive & those who denounced them as simply unfashionable. I presumed that other beard- & moustache-wearers had also faced such slings & arrow & sought to lend them some moral support. I've examined my conscience & do believe that my motives really were that pure, & that naïve. Yet naïveté is no excuse for such rank hypocrisy! I should have either regarded more kindly my fellow tattoo-wearers or I should have held my tongue toward my whiskered fellows. I did neither, painting me as a base hypocrite. For this I am sorry.

I am open to & would be appreciative of ideas for how I might make amends for my hypocrisy.

Project MERCATOR
I face a trifling conundrum of a sort I have not too often confronted of late: dual social invitations. Or should than be dueling social invitations? The Action Hero has invited me to a bonfire at his house in B.F.E. The Impossible Ingenue has invited me to a screening of the new motion picture Green Lantern.

Update: The die is cast, I've decided for Green Lantern &, 'tis hoped, crossed into Project PANDORA's bailiwick by extending the invitation to The Redhead… about whom I've not published (read: composed) the relevant "Project MERCATOR | Project PANDORA" post. Would you believe that I'm getting to it?

The Queue
Now that I've read the finale of Queen & Country I remember why I stopped reading the series short of its finale: I am not nearly so enamored of series protagonist Tara Chace as was writer Greg Rucka. Heroine worship trumped all other story considerations, dooming the venture. Little enough time has been lost, & such experimental reads are one of the great advantages of borrowing from a lending library. Back to gentleman thievery I go. Raffles! Raffles! Raffles!

Recently
Drew Karpyshyn, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
E. W. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman
Greg Rucka & various artists, Queen & Country: Operation: SADDLEBAGS & Operation: RED PANDA

Currently
E. W. Hornung, The Black Mask

Presently
Anthony Hope, Rupert of Hentzau
John Buchan, The Thirty-nine Steps
John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
...
Jeffery Deaver, Carte Blanche

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Sam & Dave, "Soothe Me" (live) from the Rhino Hi-Five: Sam & Dave E.P. (T.L.A.M.)

The Winged Wheel: Stanley Cup Special
I am glad to see the Boston Bruins claim Lord Stanley's Cup for three reasons: {a} the Bruins are among the inaccurately-named Original Six, a invaluable part of the lore & tradition of the N.H.L.; {b} my sincere hope is that the Cup is never again won by a team from the Canadas, or if it must return to that benighted land let it at least reside with the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens, who are less loathsome than the others only by their membership in the Original Six; & {c} if the tale of Tim Thomas doesn't warm your heart than you simply have no regard for sport or the sportsman. My congratulations to Boston & a job well done to the Bruins.

Project OSPREY: Bastardized N.B.A Special
As long as we are on professional sports, it is a sorry state of affairs when a team from deep in the heart of darkness is the lesser of two evils. It is an even sorrier state of affairs when the vile Mark Cuban is not the most villainous bloke in a given milieu. Yet both of those preposterous conditions were satisfied in the N.B.A. finals, contested betwixt the Dallas Mavericks & the Miami Heat(s). I cannot congratulate the "Mavs" on their championship, but I do extend my thanks to them for defeating the Axis Powers of Miami.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Billy Joel, "Tell Her About It" from An Innocent Man (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: My mom was playing the C.D. in her motor car when we drove over to meet one of her oldest friend's newest grandchild/one of my childhood friend's firstborn child & it got stuck in my head.

The Queue
I suppose I should not regard The Amateur Cracksman & The Black Mask as two different books since they are collected together in one volume, The Complete Raffles, Volume One: The Amateur Cracksman & The Black Mask. Yes, each was published individually in the long long ago, but they're each only a hundred fifty pages, & even at that the book is in a fairly large font. So, two short volume or one proper length book. There is also a companion volume, The Complete Raffles, Volume Two: A Thief in the Night & Mr. Justice Raffles, which I shall read on my next planned break from espionage fiction. Speaking of which, I am taking a brief sojourn to read the finale of the comic book series Queen & Country, a favorite of mine back in the day but which fell by the wayside due to general disillusionment with the other works of the writer, Greg Rucka. Comics are flimsy little things & read quickly, even in collections; I'll soon be done with Operations: SADDLEBAGS & RED PANDA; then back to the exploits of Raffles, Gentleman Thief; followed by a return to Ruritania; & then back into the spy game with Lord Tweedsmuir & The Thirty-nine Steps. Then more of Len Deighton, at least SS-GB; the rest of le Carré's "Karla trilogy," & perhaps more; additional intrigues with Richard Hannay if The Thirty-nine Steps pans out; & beyond. My personal case of spymania shows no signs of abating.

Recently
Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake
Drew Karpyshyn, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
E. W. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman

Currently
Greg Rucka & various artists, Queen & Country: Operation: SADDLEBAGS (Vol. 7) & Operation: RED PANDA (Vol. 8)

Presently
E. W. Hornung, The Black Mask
Anthony Hope, Rupert of Hentzau
John Buchan, The Thirty-nine Steps
John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
...
Jeffery Deaver, Carte Blanche

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Taylor Swift, "Mean" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Operation ÖSTERREICH
I am uncommonly sleepy. The lack of caffeine? Might also have something to do with Diva having woken me up at 5:30 A.M. insisting on my undivided attention.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Santo & Johnny, "Sleep Walk" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Operation ÖSTERREICH
I am in the midst of giving up pop. I had one Jones Soda cream soda this evening & I'll have another tomorrow, the last of the bunch. No more can after can of Dr. Pepper. My great fear is dehydration; so, I am trying to make myself drink as much water as I used to drink pop. Fortunately, at debate Nationals (yes, I know that I am tremendously behind on my "Master Debating" posts, pray forgive the tardiness) at the University of Vermont each participant was given wee water bottle, a water bottle with a base small enough to fit in Lumi's cupholder. I own a couple other water bottles, each with a greater water carrying capacity but neither with a base capable of fitting into Lumi's cupholder. Score! Vermont is a very "crunchy" school & chockablock with green weenies to boot; the refillable water bottles were given to us in lieu of free bottled water being made available. This is an act of environmentalism with which I agree fully: the discarding instead of recycling of bottled water water bottles is obscenely inefficient, an unconscionable waste of material. Just drink the water out of water fountains, people! That's what they're there for! The reason I roll my eyes whenever the European nations seeks to lecture the U.S. on environmentalism? Because the Eurotrash throw away millions upon millions of bottled water bottles every day, even though they have perfectly potable public water. I'll entertain their ideas once they stop being such obvious hypocrites. But I digress. My second greatest fear is withdrawal symptoms as my body goes off caffeine. I'm no sawbones, I really have no idea if I was or was not addicted to caffeine. But I am anticipating/dreading headaches. We shall see if they come to pass. So, yeah, water. I'm not going to lose eleven stone unless I make bigger changes than just going to the gym. My hope is that quitting pop will help me cut down severely on my between-meals snacking. The goal is to eat nothing twixt meals that isn't a fruit or vegetable. Those I can each with abandon, & if I stay fat off of carrots so be it.

He's Dead, Jim
In other health-related news, I slept eleven hours between Sunday night & Monday morning. I think my internal clock's been righted after the glorious disruption of the 24 Heures du Mans, but I'll feel better about that tomorrow morning, after another full night's slumber.

The Queue
I am in the queue to borrow the new James Bond novel, Carte Blanche by Jeffrey Deaver, from my local library. The last new 007 novel, Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks, was an unmitigated disaster, but my hope is that Ian Fleming's dimwitted descendants have learnt the lesson of Devil May Care's critical lambasting. (It wasn't a Bond novel, it was a parody of a Bond novel, & not a good-humored parody at that. Faulks clearly disdain's Bond & every word Fleming wrote; I call Fleming's family dimwitted because they are the only people who didn't realize that Faulks was insulting their forbear at every turn, lampooning Fleming's work rather than celebrating it.) I'm scores of people down the list; so, I don't know when I'll get my mitts on Carte Blanche, but I don't want to own it unread just in case it turns out as badly as Devil May Care. Carte Blanche. Here's hoping.

I have not read the older Bond novels only because I wish not to commit myself to a series. That might well change if Carte Blanche comes up trumps, which will whet my appetite for more Bond, leaving the non-Fleming novels as the only available fare.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Wombats, "Anti-D" from The Wombats Proudly Present: This Modern Glitch (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Please allow me to be your anti-depressant."

24 Heures du Mans | +11:40:00
It seems that it did rain at Le Mans after all (woot!), but I missed it due to my nap. The rain contributed to the wreck of the № 16 Pescarolo (Judd) in the twenty-second hours of the race, a retirement made all the more regrettable because the Pescarolo had long been leading & had a very good chance to win the unofficial petrol-powered subdivision of the L.M.P.1 class. (Since the diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI debuted in 2006 no petrol-powered prototype has been able to compete; the key to Peugeot's rivalry with Audi is the French marque's own turbocharged diesel propulsion.) I'm not mad at myself for napping, it was the right decision at the time & today would have been much worse without that rest. That aid, next year I shall be indefatigable. Next year I shan't miss more of the great race than W.C. pit stops, food preparation, & switching back & forth between television & streaming online coverage require; next year, I will stock up on sleep the night before the race, whereas this year I was on maybe five hours of sleep when I awoke to catch the 8:30 A.M. start of Speed's pre-race broadcast.

Le Mans fever: contract it!

This Week in Motorsport
I did not watch today's Grand Prix du Canada owing to {a} fatigue from the 24 Hours & {b} having not yet watched Saturday's qualifying session due to the 24 Hours. (Qualifying is an integral & necessary part of a grand prix weekend, at least for the obsessive fan like moi.) I will get to it as soon as I am able, but quite possibly not before next weekend, if I am unlucky & unskilled in my time management.

As I was waiting to gain access to the shower in the upstairs bathroom this afternoon I did catch a little bit of the World Rally Championship (W.R.C.) on Discovery's H.D. Theater channel. I make no bones about it, rallying is batshit crazy… & I want to see more. The next round of the W.R.C. is this coming weekend, & will be carried on H.D. Theater the weekend after that. I plan to watch a little, to see if it tickles my fancy when I'm not addled by sleep deprivation.

Project MERCATOR
I went to a going away party for Love/Hate & her boyflesh-cum-appendage this afternoon. The late afternoon/early evening was my most lucid time of the day; so, I pulled off the charming façade I use on such group occasions. I would not have minded going if it had been a different day, if I had not been so deeply tired.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Reel Big Fish & Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "Say Say Say" from the Duet All Night Long E.P. (T.L.A.M.)

Samstag, 11 Juni
Michael Giacchino, "Casa Cristo" from Speed Racer: Original Motion Picture Score (T.L.A.M.)

24 Heures du Mans | +00:37:00
Victory for Audi. Deutschland über Alles. Heartbreak for Peugeot, & looks of such devastation on their faces that my heart goes out to them. Vive la France! Victory for Chevrolet in both G.T.E. classes, the factory Corvette Racing squad in Pro. & a privateer Corvette in Am. America, fuck yeah! A grand achievement in the 100th anniversary year of Chevrolet.

I'm going to steal another quick nap, but first I'd like to leave you with a bit of wisdom from The Guy, reflecting on the glory that is Le Mans: "I love that finishing is an achievement." The 24 Heures du Mans is the most grueling auto race in the world entire. It is the grand prix of endurance. "By endurance we conquer." Finishing is indeed an achievement.

24 Heures du Mans | 01:11:00
I did sleep, from approximately 4:45-7:00 A.M. During that nap a slight drizzle has started to fall at the circuit, but I am despairing of us getting a proper rain to fulfill the opening line of Truth in 24, gravelly intoned by narrator Jason Statham, "It always rains at Le Mans." There was a briefly interview with Allan McNish, he of the death-defying first hour shunt, & though we'd been told he escaped without injury it did my frazzled nerves good to see him hale & hearty. Over an hour yet remains. Can Audi hold off Peugeot? Can Corvette hold off Ferrari & B.M.W.? There are no prizes for winning the first twenty-three hours of Le Mans, only the full twenty-four. This race is an excellent illustration of Bo Schembechler's immortal words, "Those who stay will be champions."

24 Heures du Mans | 04:51:00
The hardest part of the race right now has naught to do with the race. Our kitty Diva has parked herself on the ottoman that hosts my feet & was slumbering up against my legs. This makes it impossible for me to fidget, which in turns makes it much harder for me to fight the fatigue that wishes to overtake me. Also, watching her peacefully sleep is nearly hypnotic. Diva is such a successful advocate for Somnus that I came upstairs intending to go to bed, only to feel more awake & alert as soon as I shut the door & saw my Macintosh. Yet, Diva is not a particularly cuddly kitty; so, I wold feel bad about driving her away from the ottoman just so I could enjoy the race. Curses! To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question.

24 Heures du Mans | 06:31:00
This is insane (in the best possible sense)! Nearly three quarters of the way through the 24 Hours the Peugeots & the last Audi standing are not only running on the same lap, a rarity in an endurance race this long, but within a handful of seconds of each other! Parity, parity, almost incomprehensible parity!

Also, I well understand that Audi & Peugeot are fighting for the overall win, & that Corvette & several American drivers are competing for the G.T.E. Pro. class win, but I really wish Speed & the official A.C.O. video feed would spend more time on the P.2 field. There are four classes (arguably five) in competition, guys. I'm not saying they each deserve an equal slice of the coverage pie, but surely we can come up with something more equitable that what we've got now? Also, I demand more Pescarolo. Henri Pescarolo is a Le Mans legend, give him & his resurrected team their due!

I'm going to get weirder & weirder 'til the dawn, & then tomorrow I'll just be distracted all day. The sad part is that, if past experience is any guide, I won't really be able to fall asleep much earlier than normal tomorrow. Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! It's not just that I'm staying awake so long. It's that I'm staying awake so long alone.

24 Heures du Mans | 09:01:00
This is a far weirder time of the race for me than it is for those at the Circuit de la Sarthe; they are enjoying the dawn & all its rejuvenating power while I am staring at a breaking dawn… & watching my clock approach midnight. It's a funny old life. The fine fellows at Speed have just finished an interview with the lovely Vanina Ickx; pardon me whilst I swoon.

24 Heures du Mans | 11:45:00
This is my favorite time of the 24 Hours: the dead of night, when there's as much race ahead as there is behind. The night makes people silly. The night instills a sense of calm. The dead of night is what Formula One doesn't have, not even the Singapore night race. The dead of night is what neither the 12 Hours of Sebring nor the Petit Le Mans (10 hours or 1,000 miles, whichever comes first) have. The dead of night. Man alive, I love this race.

24 Heures du Mans | 12:45:00
We're coming up on the halfway mark of the Grand Prix of Endurance. The dawn is coming, yet is still hours distant, & even when it arrives it proves to be one of Le Mans's cruelest tricks—the dawn provides relief from the dark of night, but does not presage the end of the race, which is still hours & hours distant. This is always such a weird, weird day for me, now in its third iteration (& the second time I've attempted the whole twenty-four hours).

Update: Audi driver & 2010 Le Mans winner Mike "Rocky" Rockenfeller is reported to be "okay," & is being held in hospital overnight for surety's sake. Whew! That's quite a relief. Let us hope that the remaining twelve-plus hours of this great race won't hold any more of the type of excitement that befell the № 3 Audi of the Scottish terrier McNish & the № 1 Audi of Rocky.

Current leaders: I'm not sure, I just rejoined the action after eating dinner & washing the dishes.

Project GLOWWORM
My mom said, her tone preparing me for unpleasant news, "I want to tell you something." She continued after a pause, "I don't like your moustache, not the way it curves upward like that." I love my mother dearly, but we rarely see eye to eye: the upward curve is precisely what I love most about my moustache. If I didn't have a handlebar moustache I'd have some variation of a pencil moustache, which I doubt she'd like any better. A Magnum, P.I.-style moustache such as my father sported for better than three decades does not interest me.



To paraphrase the Eleventh Doctor: "I wear a moustache now. Moustaches are cool."

24 Heures du Mans | 15:06:00
There has been another horrifying shunt at the Circuit de la Sarthe, this one also involving an Audi R18. The № 1 car piloted by Mike Rockenfeller was forced off the track by an indefensibly irresponsible G.T. car, one piloted by a gentleman (read: amateur) driver. It is believed that "Rocky," an immensely amiable chap whom Audi is wise to make prominent in their P.R., was able to evacuate the wrecked husk of his prototype under his own power & he has been taken to hospital for medical examination. Night has fallen at Le Mans, meaning there are no pictures of this. His R18 was torn to ribbons & in so doing it severely deranged the armco crash barrier also the curiously unnamed stretch of track leading from the Mulsanne Corner to Indianapolis, necessitating a full-course yellow-flag caution period. The remaining competitors are circling the track behind the safety cars. I've said a prayer for all the drivers, marshals & officials, & spectators (including the press) to escape from the race alive & unharmed. Let us hope the Lord will be merciful. Let us also pray that word soon reaches us that Rocky is understandably shaken but fundamentally sound. I hate shunts, they hang above my love of motorsport like the Sword of Damocles.

24 Heures du Mans | 18:00:00
It's hard to believe we're only one quarter of the way through Le Mans. Of course, that's why it's called endurance racing. The battles on track remain amazingly close, with Peugeot & Audi constantly trading the P.1 class lead (which is also the overall race lead) & Chevrolet (Go Corvette Racing!), B.M.W., & Ferrari regularly swapping the G.T.E. Pro. class lead.

I am also thrilled to see an increased Japanese presence in the great race: Nissan & Toyota have joined Honda as engine suppliers ("Honda"-branded chassis are manufactured by the French constructor Courage [not "courage" but coo-raj]). I am informed that this year is the twentieth anniversary of the only overall win by a Japanese marque, Mazda in 1991 with the 787B. There is of course additional attention to & affection for the Japanese in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake & tsunami, but it's also nice to see the Japanese again expanding their rôle in international motorsport after the '08 economic crisis & its lingering malaise lead both Honda & Toyota to withdraw from Formula One.

24 Heures du Mans | 21:24:00
The first stint of Speed's race coverage has concluded, with the "broadcast" of the race switching from the television channel to the streaming website. Watching online is an overall inferior experience to watching on T.V., as I've groused extensively about the American Le Mans Series's decision to "air" the races live exclusively on ye olde interweb, but I think Speed can be forgiven for not carrying all twenty-four hours of Le Mans on television. Television coverage will resume at 3:30 P.M. (local time) & continue 'til 8:00, then resume again at 11:00 P.M. & carry on through the night (night here, day in France) right to the end of the race at 9:00 A.M.; so, there's no room to complain with seventeen hours on T.V. I am soon to step away briefly to catch a shower & get some lunch.

I received a text message from The Guy just shy of 9:00 this morning; "Mornin', race fans!" I didn't respond until well after 10:00 because I'd left my mobile upstairs whilst I was downstairs comfortably ensconced in the green chair, my preferred perch. So, that's at least one boon companion to whom I've spread the Le Mans fever. Huzzah!

Project GLOWWORM
I cut my hair & trimmed my beard yesterday, one day ahead of schedule so as to minimize the interruptions to my viewing of the 24 Hours. My hair is been & has been for quite some time on a consistent every-three-weeks basis; this was the first time I'd fully aligned the trimming of my beard with that rotation. Three weeks prior I trimmed my beard at the same time I cut my hair, but my beard had been growing for five weeks at that point & as has oft proved the case over the many years that I've been trimming my hair that when I let my hair grow too long I then cut it too short. That was the case with the beard last time 'round; even this trim was not a true test of the three-week rotation. Next time will be a better gauge. I'm dialing in on the Goldilocks length, the length at which I hope to maintain my beard over the long term. We're just not quite there yet, but I knows it coming.

My moustache continues to grow, more unabated that before. I am experimenting with letting the whiskers over my lips grow a little bit longer, hoping to generate a fuller appearance. Sir Edward Elgar is my moustache idol in this (Wayback Machine, "Moustache Hero"). This experiment will die a quick death if the whiskers start to get tangled up with my food. Eww! Meanwhile, the wings continue to grow fuller & longer. This is no longer the Magnificent Moustache Malarkey, but this malarkey with my moustache is still magnificent!

24 Heures du Mans | 23:02:00
Holy smoke, Allan McNish has just had a bone-rattling shunt in the № 3 Audi R18. His prototype tried to pass a G.T.E. Am. in a spot where there was just not enough space, the rear left of his car came together with the front right of the another, & both were thrown off the track. The Audi flew sideways into a tire barrier, at which point it was smashed to pieces, showering the nearby photojournalists & track marshals with debris & tires in truly terrifying display. That was the most violent crash I've seen in my three years of watching the "Grand Prix of Endurance." Between them, the three drivers of McNish's car had won Le mans thirteen times, but neither Tom Kristensen nor Dindo Capello will get the chance to drive in the 2011 race. McNish was able to climb out of his deranged prototype after the marshals had managed to flip it off its back & initial indications are that he is, almost miraculously, unhurt. That was terrifying.

One of the three Audi R18s, out inside of the first hour. Fortitudine vincimus.

P.1



versus



G.T.E. Pro.



versus



Don't worry, Porsche & Ferrari are dueling it out in G.T.E. Am. It wouldn't be Le Mans with Ferrari v. Porsche.

He's Dead, Jim
My mom had her regularly scheduled check-up today; she & my dad returned from the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor with the cheery news of so far, so good. Her nose looks clear & initial examination of the P.E.T. scan revealed nothing suspicious. The radiologist still has to look everything over & report back, but everything we've learned so far is most welcome news.

Project MERCATOR
The Loose Ties played at a house party this evening & all were invited to the "All American"-themed shindig, but, man, much as I love the ska I was not in the mood to go to a Kettering house party tonight. They're playing tomorrow at Jimmy Lum's Aloha Lounge, but I'll be otherwise engaged reveling in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. You win some, you lose some.

The Queue
Our long national nightmare is over: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction is but an unpleasant memory & never again will I sully mine eyes with the Expanded Universe. I so want to give Ska Army a verbal lashing he shan't soon forget, but I also know that I should not, for in gifting me that awful, stultifying work of hackery he thought he was doing me a good turn. Of course, if he asks why I did not like the book I shall than have no qualms about giving it—& by extension him—what for. This experience will only reinforce my snobbish refusal to take video games seriously as a storytelling medium (the hack masquerading as an author, Drew Karpyshyn, was the writer of the popular video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, among other popular & acclaimed games).

Raffles has jumped the queue & leapfrogged Ruritania. What can I say? I've got a hankering for a gentleman thief.

Recently
"Richard Castle," Heat Wave
Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake
Drew Karpyshyn, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

Currently
E. W. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman

Presently
Anthony Hope, Rupert of Hentzau
John Buchan, The Thirty-nine Steps
¿byeh?

My mother has a serious yen to see Super 8. What the devil is that all about? I, by contrast, will put out my eyes with a salad fork before seeing another new motion picture by the Devil made flesh, J. J. Abrams.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Less Than Jake, "Bridge and Tunnel Authority" from B is for B-Sides (T.L.A.M.)

Project MERCATOR | Project PANDORA
Though 'twas feared that The Loose Ties would be on sabbatical throughout the summer last Friday (3 June) I saw them at the Soggy Bottom Bar (in downtown Flint, & north of the river to boot, because I live dangerously) with two related acts. The Adrenal Dregs are new & still trying to find their sea legs; the connection is their drummer, Jon, brother of Loose Ties trombonist Dick & himself a utility musician for the Vehicle City's favorite ska band. A Suitable Paradise, formerly The Amity Effect, are the band of Brandon, Farr Afield's boyflesh; they, too, are still in search of their signature sound, at least to mine ears. Upon my arrival I made a beeline for the W.C., but was waylaid by friendly greetings & glad-handing, including my now usual greeting-by-hug from Farr Afield (at her instigation, dear readers; it is not my place to initiate casual hugs with comely lasses). I emerged from the W.C. refreshed, acquired a Red Stripe from an obliging barkeep, & soon gravitated to my best chums in the band, Ska Army & Nick Andopolis.

My master debating team-specific nickname is "Big Mac," first applied to me by The Most Dangerous Game & enthusiastically adopted by Too Sly. I think it an obvious & apt commentary on my morbid obesity, but they insist it is because I am a shameless & relentless flirt at tournaments. I've no idea what they're talking about, that's just the chummy, avuncular façade I always adopt around strangers. That notwithstanding, I was apparently in proper Big Mac form on Friday. The Adrenal Dregs played first & after their set their distaff keyboard player planted herself on the stool next to mine. We got on well, as well as we could above the din of A Suitable Paradise, & she seemed to find my hilarious. (A great many people do, even when I'm being quite witless. Perhaps it is the moustache at which they are laughing? Mayhap, but this phenomenon pre-dates the moustache by a decade.) When she went off to join her bandmates Ska Army said, with as much innuendo in his voice as he could muster, "So, you're getting along with the keyboard player." I'd perceived our intercourse as being no more than friendly, but I defer to Ska Army's suggestion that there was something more to it on two grounds: {a} I am notoriously daft about these things. {b} Ska Army's girlflesh is way too hot for him; it is a reasonable inference that he knows what he's doing to a greater degree than you'd suppose from talking to him.

I again visited the W.C. after my second Red Stripe; on the way back to my table I had to pass betwixt a girl & her friends at the bar. Without a word, without preamble of any sort, she reached out & twirled the left handlebar of my moustache. I mustered as much twinkle as my eyes could convey & said, "Yes, oh, yes." I then rejoined my chums. Let me be clear: I support girls twirling my moustache. I encourage girls to twirl my moustache. I regularly invite girls to twirl my moustache. (Just about the first thing I ever said to From Russia with Love was an invitation to twirl my moustache, which she demurely declined.) But I am of the opinion that a little preamble is in order before twirling a stranger's moustache. Am I wrong? When told of this later, Love/Hate suggested, as if the idea had not occurred to me, that maybe the girl was flirting with me; Love/Hate really is useless, isn't she? Obviously the twirling was flirting, & I'll cut the twirler a little slack owing to her probable imbibition of a few libations by that point in the evening, but I still think that some manner of preamble was necessary & in this instance quite lacking.

To be continued…

This Week in Motorsport
By Endurance We Conquer
Sung tunelessly with the gleeful abandon of a wee bairn: It's almost here! It's almost here! It's almost almost almost here! The 24 Heures du Mans is almost here! The Prototypes & Grand Tourers roll off at 3:00 P.M. local time on Saturday, 9:00 A.M. here in the Eastern Time Zone of the good ol' U.S.A. What follows the world's most grueling test of man & machine, a relentless day of breakneck speed, withering strain, &—for all those who do not stand at 3:05 P.M. on Sunday on the top step of the podium—rending heartbreak. There is nothing else in the world like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not even the other twenty-four-hour automobile races.

I wish to share the 24 Heures du Mans with all of you because I stand in awe of its splendor. The race is a glorious synthesis of sport & mechanical ingenuity; you cannot win the 24 Hours of Le Mans without both the stamina of the athlete & the intellect of the engineer. It is a celebration of human achievement. Join me, won't you?

Formula Fun!
The Grand Prix de Monaco, now run nearly a fortnight ago, was an amazing spectacle. Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull (Renault) won, as he has five of the so-far six rounds of the World Championship, but throughout the race his triumph was anything but a forgone conclusion. This year's tires, by Pirelli, are designed not to last as long as did the previous year's tires, by Bridgestone; this designed obsolescence was at the request of the governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (F.I.A.), in order to complicate race strategy & introduce an element of uncertainty that would "spice up" the races. In 2010, many races were run with the cars making only a single pit stop, & that only because the F.I.A. requires that two different types of tires (a harder "prime" compound & a softer "option" compound). 2011 is a different ballgame; at Turkey, with its punishing, if unimaginatively named, Turn 8, a monster of a high speed corner with no fewer than four apexes, many teams made as many as four pit stops. The streets of Monaco, tight & twisting & bereft of high speed/high G-load corners, are hardly known to beat up on tires, but a two-stop strategy was still thought to be the way to go. Vettel was set to be on a two-stopper before a mistake in the Red Bull pits & staggering pace by '09 World Champion Jenson Button or McLaren (Mercedes) & '05 & '06 World Champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari meant that a second pit-stop would shuffle Vettel behind both Button & Alonso, the kiss of death to the young German's chances of victory as overtaking is notoriously difficult on the streets of the Principality. So, on preposterously old tires in the most glamorous grand prix of the year, Vettel tried to hold off both the fiery, aggressive Alonso & the calm, silky-smooth Button. I think he would have done it, too, pulled off the win even with those two breathing down his neck, but in the closing laps the red flag was flown, temporarily halting the race, after a frightening shunt involving Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso (Ferrari) & Vitaly Petrov of Lotus Renault. While the race was stopped everyone had a chance to change tires & on fresh rubber the Red Bull had no trouble keeping the Ferrari & the McLaren behind. Yes, Vettel wins a lot of races & so maybe this victory doesn't strike you as much of a surprise, but each of his wins has been different, & the performance of Vettel's teammate Mark Webber proves that the pace isn't all in their car, the RB7. Sebastian Vettel is a world champion with a very good chance of becoming a repeat world champion. Watching him grand prix after grand prix is the same as watching any other dominant athlete: spellbinding.

During the weekend of the Grand Prix de Monaco sessions were twice red-flagged, once during the race while Petrov was extracted from his shattered Lotus Renault & once during qualifying when rookie Sergio Pérez of Sauber (Ferrari) slid hard into the barriers at the Nouvelle Chicane after losing control of his car coming out of the famous Tunnel. Petrov was held overnight at the Princess Grace Hospital, merely for observation, & released the next day. Pérez was held for longer & it is still unknown if he will be medically cleared to get behind the wheel of his Sauber at the next grand prix, this weekend in the Canadas. Both shunts were horrible to watch, & sobering reminder of the peril of motorsport, even with all the great strides that have been taken to improve safety for all concerned.

Coming up on Sunday, just hours after the close of the 24 Heures du Mans is the Grand Prix du Canada, the first of the summer's races to be broadcast on the Fox Network instead of the also News Corp.-owned Speed. The Canadian round of the World Championship, at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, is the geographically nearest grand prix to your humble narrator, & will remain so even after next year's planned return of the United States Grand Prix at the under-construction Circuit of the Americas outside Austin in verdammt Texas. Yet after the Horror of Hart House such is my antagonism to the Canadas that I have absolutely no desire to subject myself to the insult that is setting foot inside that benighted country, not even to see the Formula One circus for myself. Hooray for F1! Boo to the hated Canadas!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Pogues, "The Body of an American" from The Best of The Pogues (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "And they often heard him say, 'I'm a freeborn man of the U.S.A.!'"

Mittwoch, 8 Juni
Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "Mr. Song" from Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer (T.L.A.M.)

The Explorers Club
№ CCXXXVIII - Atalanta.







The Stars My Destination
The Space Age is drawing to a close, thanks in large part to the monstrous egoism of President Obama (as long as I live I shall never forgive any one of you who voted for that man). A bittersweet farewell to the Space Age: photolink.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
They Might Be Giants, "The Edison Museum" from No! (T.L.A.M.)

Montag, 6 Juni
Johnny Rivers, "Secret Agent Man" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Words I intend to work into a piece of fiction, spoken by a character but very much echoing mine own sentiments:

"I love Kim & Ashenden, Napoleon Solo & Jim Phelps, Bernard Samson & George Smiley, & you know I adore James Bond, but my favorite spy, without the shadow of a doubt, is John Drake."

This Week in Motorsport
By this time next Sunday, the 79th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will have been run. In other words, there's less than a week to prepare for the single best day of motorsport for the whole next year. Prepare thyself for the grand prix of endurance! Prepare thyself for la ronde infernale! Prepare thyself for the 24 Heures du Mans!

Prepare thyself by watching Steve McQueen's ode to the great race, Le Mans.



Project MERCATOR
A busy, but not too busy weekend in MERCATOR, with the welcome but unexpectedly early return of The Loose Ties, the promise of more shows to come (!), & out a left field I was asked out on & participated in a quasi-date (properly, that should be classified under Project PANDORA). More to follow.

No, I did not "bury the lead," the 24 Hours of Le Mans is far more important than making time with a long-legged redhead. Comely lasses come & go, but Le Mans is forever.

The Queue
Darth Bane: Path of Destruction is a misery, proof positive that there are few things so un-Star Wars as the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I would abandon the fetid nightmare & gleefully assign it to the ashcan it so richly deserves were it not for this accursed sense of obligation to Ska Army. I wish to make him suffer for inflicting this horror upon me, but my hand is stayed by the knowledge that he was trying to do good. How could I punish the lad? His intentions were as pure as the driven snow, curse his bones. So, I shall continue to the end, but will make a hack job of the read. Rarely exercised speed reading skills, don't fail me now!

If The Amateur Cracksman pans out as I hope it will The Black Mask could jump the queue & displace The Thirty-nine Steps.

Recently
John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy
"Richard Castle," Heat Wave
Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake

Currently
Drew Karpyshyn, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

Presently
Anthony Hope, Rupert of Hentzau
E. W. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman
John Buchan, The Thirty-nine Steps
or
E. W. Hornung, The Black Mask

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Mike Doughty, "I Hear the Bells" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Amongst its many other virtues, "I Hear the Bells" is celebrated for the inclusion of the word "ampersand" in its lyrics.

Samstag, 4 Juni
The Link Quartet, "Alfa Romeo Duetto" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Pain (as The Neptunes), "Jabberjaw (Running Underwater)" via YouTube (Mr. Universe)

Commentary: I had not thought about this Catoon Network "Groovie," or "Shorty," 'til Mr. Universe made mention of it on the FaceSpace. Way to go, Mr. Universe! Jabberjawlink.

Project GLOWWORM
A lesson learnt from the horror that was Tuesday: 90˚ Fahrenheit with humidity to match is too hot & too sticky for my driving gloves. They have ventilating holes that are normally quite effective for cooling, but there is no relief to be found in such dense, swampy air; the best chance to eek out any tiny sliver of comfort is to forgo the gloves, however odd that feels after growing used to them lo these many months.

The Queue
Heat Wave picked up toward the end, once an art theft was piled atop the murder disguised as suicide, but I still shan't be reading Naked Heat or the forthcoming Heat Rises. Too many books, too little time.

Recently
Len Deighton, XPD
John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy
"Richard Castle," Heat Wave

Currently
Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake

Presently
Drew Karpyshyn, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
Anthony Hope, Rupert of Hentzau
E. W. Hornung, The Amateur Cracksman

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Less Than Jake, "Settling Son" from GNV FLA (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: That is some bitchin', screamin' guitar, boys & girls.

Mittwoch, 1 June
Less Than Jake, "Overrated (Everything Is)" from In With the Out Crowd (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Maybe I'm jaded and bored,
Always lookin' for more,
Waiting 'round for the next big fix, I know
I'm a wreck, I'm a mess,
But I couldn't care less,
Don't know what it would take to change me.
Everybody's so afraid to be different,
Please excuse me now if I don't get it."