firing point

Take a look at this book cover. Do you know who DIDN'T write this book?

That's right Tom Clancy didn't write this book. He "slipped the surly bonds of Earth" nearly 10 years ago. it means he's dead

So is this a "Tom Clancy Brand" book or something? Has anyone Penguin Random House come out and said what this is about? My wife bought this book, thinking it was written by Tom Clancy. The publishers must know that is going to be the case, and I'm sure they feel confident that adding the real author's name on there covers them in the legal department, but is that the right way to do business? Lying to customers? I don't think so. its not the smallest font on the cover I guess

For a while, books like this said something like "Tom Clancy's: super bad-ass character," which claimed some ownership, either of the story, or the characters, or something. When you look at the Tom Clancy page at Penguin Random House the 's books way outnumber the books Clancy actually wrote. Penguin Random House has them listed as books Tom Clancy "contributed to." That sounds a lot like the co-authorship attributed to James Patterson on approximately 30% of the books published in America, based on my extensive sarcastic research project. After reviewing 3 or 4 Wikpedia articles on Clancy, it looks like he started to work with co-authors a few years before he died. He also appears to have collaborated with Steve Pieczenik on the creation of the Op-Center and Net Force novel series, of which he wrote nothing. So he an Steve came up with these ideas, and then some authors got assigned to it like cub reporters in a publishing newsroom or something. 

Its like the Agribusiness of writing.

So I finished it. Jack Ryan Jr. is in the same vein as Son of Frankenstein, as far as I can see. They'd like to keep writing Jack Ryan stories but the haven't figured out how to disengage him from a normal human life span like they've managed to do with James Bond. So Jack Jr. does the same kind of word saving things his dad did, just not as well written.

If you're into the whole Tom Clancy brand, and you assume that the publishers are only working with authors who have Clancy's raw talent, and would otherwise be writing bestsellers on their own, if they weren't so interested in keeping Clancy's characters going, then you'll probably enjoy this. Mike Maden asked me to suspend disbelieve a few times too far.

I wouldn't bother. In fact I'd say we skip the book mill fake authors like the Clancy brand and James Patterson and anyone like them. We don't need publishers and marketing executives clogging up the bookshelves with curated crap and formulaic plot points designed to drive sales and make money. We want quality authors, working hard at what they do, and we want room for them on the shelves. 

Organic, farm-to-table writing, please.

wonder woman - final final

My final design. click to see larger.

I know, I said final, but after it sits with you for a little bit, and you think about it, sometimes you need to go back in and do some tweaking. That's what happened, and here's where I'm at. As much as I don't like it, and I don't see the need for it, Wonder Woman iconography is pretty well tied to the tiara. If you didn't know the 'final' drawing I posted was a image of Wonder Woman, you may not immediately guess. So I've added a very understated head adornment. I was going for something small, like those eleven crowns from The Lord of the Rings movies.*

I also added a few highlights to the drawing, which made way more of a difference than I thought it would. If I haven't bragged enough about how good this drawing/painting application is, here I go. This was all done with Sketchbook which you can download for free from AutoDesk, the folks that make AutoCAD, among other things.

 

That's it! Let me know what you think.

* Bro, I don't remember crowns in the books. The only thing I recall that was similar is the Star of Eärendil which was given to him by his wife, Elwing, after being recovered from Morgoth's iron crown by Beren and Lúthien. Eärendil wore it on his brow, to light his way, and I assumed that it was set in something metal. Other than that, I don't recall crowns. Am I missing anything nerds?

last trial

Its been years since I read anything from Scott Turow. 

I think... I'll check the Books page here to see if hes on there at all.... Nope, nothing noted here since I began the blog in 2009. 12 years, oh crap! I recall reading Presumed Innocent, and then going to see the movie when it came out a few years later. Since then, I guess I may have if my wife bought something. I think Turow does courtroom stuff, right? Presumed Innocent had the crime thing, and that's not usually what I like to read. With the library closed for the VID, I've been a little lazy about picking something out and having it set out for me so I can run by there and pick it up. I'm not quite sure why tho, its pretty convenient, but not as convenient as reading stuff my wife has, or this most recent book, which is one of four books I got from my mom and dad. One of those books was good, and one was so crappy that I recycled it and the other one by the same author.

The Last Trial started out a little slow, but once I got into it the pace picked up and I enjoyed it. I could see some of the developments coming down the pike, but there was enough dodge and weave to keep me interested in how it was going to end up. 

This book, like a lot of others I've read in recent years has a 'Prologue' that is actually a peek at a further point in the story. I'm not sure where this ploy originated, but I get the feeling the idea comes from the publishers rather than from the author. I'm not sure why an author would encourage you to flip open to the last 20 percent of the story and read what's going to happen. Seems like a hook, or a coming attraction. Reminds me of the Mission Impossible opening credits which showed tiny clips of what was coming up in the episode. An idea picked up in the movies too. I'm not a fan of spoilers, so this type of 'Prologue' seems dumb to me.

dutch house

I went to visit my mom in her new little house, and we spent a few hours catching up, playing Rummy 500 (she won) and having a small lunch. Before I left we talked a little about what we were reading. We're a reading family. I was just finishing a David Baldacci book, and she was reading something in the same genre. She asked if I'd like to look through the books to see if there was anything I wanted to read. I was going to grab one; she gave me four.

The first one I started was written by an ex-soldier about some crackerjack team of ex-special forces, run by a secretly funded government group, sent to solve problems for Uncle Sam, with plausible deniability. never heard that idea before Written by Brad somebody. Less than 50 pages in, the leader of this crackerjack team admits to blacking out in anger so badly that he just murders everyone. This is the leader of the most secret, most capable tactical team in America, that is secretly saving us all? Oh, and gay bashing too. So that, and the other book by the same Brad guy, went in recycling. the writing stunk too, so even if you like gay-bashing, secret-police murder-boys, don't bother

Any-HOO...

Why I've brought you here today is to discuss Ann Patchett's The Dutch House. After adding a few of the crime/spy type novels to my arms, Mom passed me this book saying, "I asked Dad to pick out something different for me." Mom's copy has a little gold label on the cover that indicates it was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, for 2020. I'm not sure if it was that, or some other reason my dad thought she would like it, but she seemed satisfied with it, so I took it.

Its been a little while since I skipped doing other things so I could spend some more time reading a book. This one pulled me in. The Dutch House is the story of a family, and how it grew, evolved, fractured off, and came together again, around a house. The Dutch House was their escape, their palace, their history, and for some of them it was their misery. Still others, their obsession. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't some melodramatic horror movie about a haunted house, but the ghosts that whisper through the rooms and look down from the gilded frames of the past are almost characters in this story themselves.

What The Dutch House is really about is the love--and a certain amount of resentment--that still binds this little family together through the generations. Its a treatise on the work it takes to love one another. Its a study in delft blue. The characters and their relationships are real, complex and fully formed. By the end of this book, I felt like I would have recognized many of them on the streets of New York, or in a suburb north of Philly.

Patchett's writing is crisp, refreshing, and [sparingly] sprinkled with some perfectly formed phrases. Little gems that I read through, and then a few sentences later, went back and read again. I don't think I've read anything by Ann Patchett before, but looking at the list of her books on her website, I'm pretty sure I've seen some of them on reading lists, and among the recommended at libraries and bookstores. And speaking of bookstores, Patchett has opened her own with a partner, and you can find a link to her store on her website. She's all in.

Patchett also keeps a blog, which is linked to her site, and I noticed that one of the entries is a list of questions and answers from readers of The Dutch House. party on if you want to know more

I'm going to add Ann Patchett to my list of authors to read more of. 

Read this book.

cowgirl blues

My first experience with Tom Robbins was when I was about 25 or so. Skinny Legs and All had just come out in paperback; my Mom and Dad had read it and its was making the rounds in my family. That would been around 1990-91, not long after that book first came out. Robbins is not one of those super-prolific, book a year or four a year kind of writers. Skinny Legs sits at the middle point of his 8 published novels, which span from 1971 to 2003. Robbins is getting close to 90 now, so maybe he has slowed down. I don't have high hopes that we'll see another novel, but who knows, the man is a genius.*

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is Robbins's second novel, published in 1976. So how does this 45 year old book hold up? Wrong question. Sure, you can hear the crackle of Nixon/Ford, the sigh of the ERA's recent passage, the swish of polyester slacks, and the squish of the still young sexual revolution, positively pulsing in the pages of this book. But what sets it apart (other than the quirkiness) is the philosophical undercurrent. 

I don't know enough about Robbins to call him an anarchist or a hedonist, which are two that come to mind, but I think the former is more accurate than the latter. He does seem to advocate free love, but seems more interested in each individual's right to govern what is right for them, and to police ones-self by entering into relationships based on what is right for each of the participants. It seems clear that social constructs such as marriage and monogamy don't appeal to him. He seems to place larger social constructs, such as government and laws, in the same boat, along with more vague notions, like our collective notion of adulthood.  He goes as far as to say that a kind magic exists--or is even brought about by--the relationships that people have with those around them, and all the people, places, and things they come into contact with.

Sissy Hankshaw is the main protagonist in Cowgirls, and she was born with a gift that allows her to excel in her chosen field. So much so, that her understanding of, and her relationship with her chosen field expands to the point where it intersects with everything else. keanu-like whoa  This is another of Robbins's beliefs: it doesn't matter how you get there, as long as you can get there. Its another branch of the same theory: doing what is right for yourself.

Importantly, he ties all of these personal freedom issues together with a ribbon of peace. He clearly believes that the ideas he is advocating are for the self, and while he believes these idea should be shared he does not think they should be preached. he doesn't believe in any kind of preaching it seems Just as he does not think one should fight against what we don't believe in, only ignore it as much as possible. Its the long game: change not by revolution, not by revolt, but person to person. It seems like he believes that we can love one another to change.

Robbins's stories are peppered with strange facts, that he seems to have carefully researched and included in the story, almost arbitrarily; using these little know tidbits as analogies and metaphors for events in the story, in only the most stretched and contorted ways possible. They often come up at the ends of chapters, and there is little breaking of the fourth wall when it happens.

There is really too much to cover in a book review like this. Robbins seems to be winking at us with his impish grin on every page. This is the kind of book I imagine that Rolling Stone, Playboy and National Lampoon, all would have recommended when it came out.**

Surprisingly enough, Cowgirls was adapted into a movie directed by Gus Van Sant in 1993, with Uma Thurman playing Sissy Hankshaw. Not a big hit at the time; and 19% on the Tomatometer as of this writing. All star cast too. Should have been good, but maybe Robbins's ideas are just too difficult to capture in a movie.

Read this book. Then read the others.

* Tom Robbins was born in 1932, so he'll be 89 in July. He published a collection of essays in 2005, a novella about beer in 2009, and what he called an un-memoir in 2014.

** If anyone knows this, let me know in the comments .

end game

Its been a while since I put up a book review. I just finished End Game by David Baldacci. My wife likes this author's books, so we've got some of them around and I think I've read a number of them, but they don't seem as good overall as some of the other folks in this genre.

End Game is the fifth installment in the Robie and Reel series. This is called the Will Robie Series on Baldacci's website, and I assume that is because it started out with him, and Jessica Reel came after. Another quick look at Baldacci's website reveals that Reel shows up in the second book in the series; The Hit.

This is a pretty easy read, and follows our two heroes to a quiet part of the country where folks can live away from the fuss of urban live, and have the freedom to do what they like. Referred to in the book as flyover country. The freedoms here include open carry laws, very little government, and even less oversight, which, in Robie and Reel's case, means very little to prevent unsavory types from setting up shop. So there are skinheads, and Nazis, and cult groups hanging out in the local tavern in the small town they are sent to to find someone. It seems like everywhere they turn, they run into some other odd neighbor, and everyone has secrets.

I haven't read the rest of this series, but I don't think its a spoiler to say that Robie is an assassin, and Reel is a sniper. Given that, I guess I don't see why these two were sent to look for someone, regardless of how dangerous the locals may turn out to be. Seems like someone with some detective skills may have been a better choice.

If you've been reading along in this series, I'm not sure how you'll feel about this one, but that's only because I don't think I've read any of the others. Of course, after I typed that, I went and took a look in The Books section of this blog, and I found that I have read one of these; the aforementioned The Hit, and I apparently enjoyed it. So I'll revise my earlier statement and say that End Game isn't as good as that one.

wonder woman suit redesign - part iii, final

Wonder Woman Suit by Phil O'Brien, 2021

 

Here's what I came up with. click on the image to bigerize it I actually did this drawing and one more version, which I'll put in down below so you can see why I decided against it, just recently.

I worked on the original design drawings late last year, and I'm just getting to the posts on these things now. I'm not sure why, but its been fun to do. After working on the posting of the drawings I did a while ago, I got to thinking about some fine tuning. I had some favorites in the Wonder Woman sketches I did and so I took those and worked on adding back a little bit of that iconography that helps identify Wonder Woman. Even tho I don't like the tiara, I can see why the numerous folks that have redesigned her suit have kept it; its a really strong icon.

If you take a peek below, you'll see an image of the lorica musculata or muscle cuirass I talked about in my earlier post redesigned with the eagle similar to Gal Gadot's from the movies. I tried to incorporate that better into the breast plate and tried to avoid the eagle's head sticking way up over her chest, which seems a little dumb to me. I was bale to pull that off, but ended up with an eagle design that is just too... eagley?

My other favorite design from my earlier versions is the red armored top, so I took that and incorporated a stylized eagle wing design inspired by the Linda Carter TV version; the later one. The early design of that top is horrible. Here's a picture of the later design from the 70s TV show with the stylized eagle wings I used for inspiration for mine.

Its a subtlety in my design, but I've also picked up on the interlaced Ws used on the Gal Gadot suit. I didn't use the Ws myself, because why would the amazons fabricate a suit with WW on it when they had no idea Americans would call Diana Wonder Woman. My design just picks up on the weaving idea.

Here's that other design with the eagle armor that is over the top. Fun, but a little campy.

Let me know what you think, nerds!

wonder woman suit redesign - part the second

You can read about some of the recent history of Wonder Woman's super suit, and my problems with it, in a previous post. In that post, I planned to write a few quick thoughts and then get to my design efforts, but I guess I had more to say than I thought. 

My redesign efforts are driven by improving on Wonder Woman's suit; to make it better, more usable (and user friendly) and perhaps a little more dignified. I won't repeat what I don't like here, you can read about on my other post. I did have some goals I set for myself for the redesign, which you may or may not agree with, but I felt it was important for the task I set myself to understand those goals.

Design a suit for Wonder Woman that:

• Is flexible, usable, and comfortable to wear
• Is suited to the tasks and challenges the user may undertake
• Is robust enough to withstand the wear and tear expected
• Is identifiable and iconic, appropriate to the wearer's status as a hero, both in reality, and within the reality which the wearer is extant
• Is dignified. In other words, evocative of the wearer's heroism foremost, as opposed to her sexuality

I think there is room in a design challenge like this to keep a lot of what we think of as Wonder Woman's iconography. Part of that image IS her sexuality, and I would argue that is the case for most superheros, male and female alike. the ladies in my life are like, 'oh, Thor!' As part of this endeavor, I've tried to think of it this way: If Wonder Woman was to design her own suit, even assuming she is aware of the history of her suit design over the years, what is she likely to want to improve upon? What would her goals be? I have a hard time thinking her goals would include things like: 'more thigh,' or the irreconcilable 'armor here, but completely naked there.' *

I tried a series of things--some are just variations--so I stuck them in a simple movie so you can see what I did and how it evolved. [UPDATE: The movie was a bust, Blogger potatoed it, so I junked it put in pics] started with a two part suit, long sleeve red top, long blue pants, red boots, gold trim. Simple, but I thought it could be simpler, so I removed the gold star and the boots. [CLICK on the images for a larger view, and you can scroll thru them]

Next I added a gold breast plate that extends over the shoulders, as most armor breast plates do. A variation of that is the armored breast plate without the red long sleeve shirt.

The last three are variations, showing a lower cut breast plate built into the top. Tactical clothing or armor integrated into the clothing, so its red with a faceted red breast plate, red with faceted gold breast plate,and last is a gold breast plate, sleeveless, with a red tint on the some of the gold plating.

I'd still like to look into how to incorporate the eagle insignia, and I have some ideas about simplifying that similar to what I did with the Superman logo. I would also like to think a little more about lariat carrying and storage. A rope hanging at your side seems like a hazard, and because its used pretty rarely, I think storing it in suit on the lower back or something may be better.

And the sword and shield? Those are a newer developments, and tho a sword has been used occasionally in the comics, it didn't really show up consistently until the New 52, in 2011. And of course the movie from a few years ago figured them prominently, but not in the newest one. My biggest problem with them: Wonder Woman doesn't need them, so in keeping with my simplification ideal, I'm going to ignore them and assume that if needed, she can strap on a sword belt, baldric, or back sling as needed.

 So... more to come...?

* You're right, I'm not a woman, and I'm not a super hero, so maybe I'm not the best person to make decisions like this on Wonder Woman's behalf. Moreover, Wonder Woman's creators may have written the character with the personality traits that embrace the design of her suit as it is. Its hard to argue with an author, but, as with Superman, these heroes have so long been a part of our pop culture, that I feel some ownership.

wonder woman uniform re-design

Why is Wonder Woman naked?

All the men get to wear clothes.

I actually had ideas about Wonder Woman's uniform* before I started working on Superman's suit redesign. It seems to me that the 1941 Wonder Woman was dressed as a hero which reflected the time in which she was developed, regardless of how forward thinking and empowering the ideas behind her development were. Diana's suit has been updated over time, and the flowing, star-studded skirt has taken on the appearance of a Roman centurion's cingulum militare; those straps of metal studded leather or baltea, worn hanging down over the lower part of their tunic. The eagle adorned bustier has become a gold lorica musculata or muscle cuirass; the Roman decorative breast plates with muscles (and other decorations) formed into the metal. These were normally only used for parades and other showy events, by folks really high up, like the Caesar. The bullet deflecting bracelets have become vambraces. And the high-heeled red boots, have become a combination of centurion sandals, or caligae, and greaves. they still have high heels, but they're 3 or 4 inch wedges now, so much more practical for crime fighting

The Wonder Woman movie of a few years ago and a lot of the current comic book art mostly agree on these updates to the suit, and depending on what issue you're looking at they're pretty consistent, altho there are some variations. I haven't seen the current movie, but I have seen an image or two that lead me to believe there is a special suit that is different there, and the comics have certainly had suit variations as well. There has even been some versions of the suit with pants, from Jim Lee's 2010 version with what looks like a bolero coat with the sleeves magically pushed up, and the ill-fated 2011 TV pilot.

Now in 2015, a new suit rolled out that picked up on the pants idea, and ran with it, adding an apron looking (loincloth?) thing over the pants, and some gold pauldrons to the breast plate, and some wicked, Conan-esque, stabby looking things that shot out from her bracelets (vambraces) and some thigh-high boots. All in all, not bad, in that it does check off some of the boxes for me: the most import being getting her out of a bathing suit and into a super suit. The 2010 and 2011 efforts did that as well, but what they all have in common is that they are too complicated, and they all include the tiara. Call it a headband if it makes you feel better nerds, the whole 'every little girl wants to be a princess' trope is not what we need now.

What we need is a super suit designed for a woman that provides what she needs, and eliminates what she doesn't.

What she doesn't need is her arms and legs hanging out there. I know she invisible, but so is Superman, he's got pants. She also doesn't need sharp, pointy bits of metal poking up at the top of her armored breast plate. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't need 4-inch wedge heels.

What I think Wonder Woman does need is a simple, dignified super suit, which recalls her history and iconography so that she is identifiable. Why is that important, out may ask, even if you are playing devil's advocate? I think its important because in both reality, AND in Wonder Woman's fictitious universe, she is a symbol; of peace, and standing up against evil and violence. As such, her symbolism needs to be acknowledged. speaking of violence, if you're standing up against violence, I'm not sure the aforementioned punching knives are most peacekeeping or elegant weapon for Wonder Woman to wield.

So what did I come up with? Actually, I came up with some options. Its kind of a kit of parts, which can be changed out depending on the task, or the weather.

Wonder Woman Suit redesign by Phil O'Brien, Option 6

More to come.

*Costume? super suit? kit? PPE? Lets say suit, mostly what I see on the interwebs seems to say suit.