Project PALINDROME
The hostage-taking, having failed, is at an end. 'Twas doomed from the start in accordance with two principles. The first is my repeatedly reinforced observation that the busier I am the more I can get done; by ceasing to work on The Secret Base I did not redirect that time & vim to Project PALINDROME. Leisure time does not beget productivity, old son, but work begets more, & more productive, work. The second is my natural aversion to ultimata; I've long held that instead of negotiating with hostage-takers we should proceed on the assumption that they've already murdered their hostages & dispense justice/vengeance accordingly. On that score, I'm mildly proud of myself for having the courage of my conviction, of not giving in to threats.

None of this has finished my work, however. Back to the salt mines, curse my bones!

Operation AXIOM
Seventy years ago to the day (at the time of typing), 27 May 1942, British-trained Czechoslovak commandos mortally wounded Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the Reichsprotektor of Bohemia & Moravia (the ethnic Czech areas of the then-defunct Czechoslovakia) in an audacious assassination plot code named "Operation ANTHROPOID." Heydrich was a monster amongst monsters, vicious even by Nazi standards; worse than that though, he was also damnably efficient, deserving much of the credit/blame for building the Sicherheitsdienst (S.D.) into the brutal engine of terror & repression it became. Killing Heydrich wasn't just striking a blow for Czechoslovak freedom or the Allied cause, it was striking a blow for all Mankind. A terrible vengeance was wreaked by the furious Nazis, but a likely successor to Himmler as Reichsführer-S.S. & a principal organizer of the Final Solution, an invaluable asset to the "Thousand-year Reich," was removed from play. By such small victories are wars, & nations, won & lost. Heydrich lingered for a week before succumbing to the wounds inflicted upon him in Operation ANTHROPOID; I like to think he suffered greatly in that week. Three cheers for the death of the "Butcher of Prague": Heydrich must die-link. Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Eric Hutchinson, "Watching You Watch Him" via iTunes, (free) Single of the Week (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Jojo is out of bounds as far as Project PANDORA is concerned, but that does precious little to make her any less appealing whenever we socialize. I'm not in love with her, but I am woefully in lust.

Mittwoch, 30 Mai
The Animals, "House of the Rising Sun" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I'll always treasure the memory of being lead in a rousing chorus of "House of the Rising Sun" in the basement of Ashley's—the pub in A²—by Father Firestone.

Dienstag, 29 Mai
Ben Folds, "Kylie from Connecticut" from Way to Normal (T.L.A.M.)

Montag, 28 Mai
Sam Cooke, "Summertime" from Portrait of a Legend, 1951-1964 (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: A cover of the Gershwin song from Porgy and Bess, one of several covers of that song in my library, chosen in honor of this unofficial first day of summer.

Sonntag, 27 Mai
Charles Coborn, "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Sorry, Indianapolis, but Sunday's R.B.D.S.O.T.D. was chosen in honor of the "grandest grand prix of all," the Grand Prix de Monaco, "the jewel in the F1 crown."