Skip to main content

Dumpster Dive #1: Chickenhawk by Robert Mason

.39 cents at the local Salvation Army, early '80's non-fiction paperback (1983 to be exact) concerning the Vietnam War. No-lose situation right? We will find out (I'm slogging through Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre and I should probably finish that first; a little over halfway through and I have only the faintest idea what is going on, let alone who Karla is...ugh) soon enough and I'm psyched to get this ball rolling.



"...Violent, deafening, treetop world of 1000 Viet Nam helicopter missions...its vertical plunge into the thickets of madness, will stun readers as well..."
Time

Sounds like it might have potential and I will report back as I make some headway.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: "Snowball Express" (1972) HBO January 1st, Friday, 6:30 am

The first movie listed in the January '82 guide is Snowball Express , airing at 6:30 am, perfectly appropriate for the little ones to wake to (see previous post for my comments on the similarly inappropriate scheduling of Border Cop immediately afterwards at 8:30). This is a Walt Disney production starring Dean Jones (whom I recognized from somewhere when I first saw him, and it appears I'm remembering from the Herbie the Love Bug Disney flicks as I don't see anything else in his oeuvre that looks remotely familiar) and the instantly recognizable Harry Morgan (actually instantly known from his characteristic voice more this his appearance, hidden as it is behind a scraggly beard in this appearance) from the TV series MASH . Also noteworthy is the little freckly ginger kid (Johnny Whitaker) from Family Affair , a late '60's/early '70's TV show I remember well in syndication during the late '70's, typically aired around the Partridge Family and si...

Movie Review: Valentino (1977) directed by Ken Russell

This was another selection guided by my progression through the review compilation When the Lights Go Down by Rosemary Kael, which collects her reviews from the latter half of the 70's. Valentino emerged in 1977, one of a multitude of biopics from Ken Russell, this time focused upon the silent film star Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) and his rise from ballroom gigolo dancer to massive movie star, following abruptly with his premature demise.  Tasked to play the Italian-American was Soviet dancer/choreographer Rudolf Nureyev; his strongly accented English, though not authentically Italian inflected, nonetheless 'works' in an organic fashion (it isn't 'fake' bad English, if that makes any sense). Further, the fact that Nuryev is not an actor per se actually plays nicely into the caricature -- and not having the pleasure of knowing the real Valentino, I must assume that is what this portrayal largely is: a larger than life caricature. 'Rudy' is always '...

Slow start...

...to put it mildly. Just noticing that I set this blog in motion back in August of 2011; apparently I have just enough energy and attention bandwidth to fill out the bare minimum of blog profile data, but not the stamina to see it through even one measly post. Several weeks back I read something that felt 'inspirational' and 'eye-opening' regarding various techniques an author might use (or 'wanna-be' author as the case may be) to get the writing process started when in a funk: one said technique was, of course, simply write...anything for minimally 5 minutes every morning. I read this, felt inspired and tingly and all of that, then proceeded to...um  yeah you guessed it...do nothing whatsoever. Well, now it's 2 weeks on and there is that nagging thing buzzing around the back of my neck, that won't leave me be until I try this writing exercise and see what comes out (somewhat akin to an experiment in dietary fiber if you will). I suppose something nee...