The Killing Way: An Arthurian Mystery

With the world fast becoming a global village I have become accustomed to the exotic locales of  the books that I read . I have read mysteries set in Iceland, Sweden , Norway , Holland, ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, Botswana, South Africa, HongKong, China, Japan and ancient Greece just to name a few. All the same , The Killing Way , a mystery that takes place in the Britain of King Arthur,was a first for me .

A crackling good yarn it is !

The action begins with Arthur about to be crowned Rigotamos (or King). His selection is almost a certainty but , on the eve of the council that will validate his ascension, a young woman Eleonore is found brutally murdered , her heart cut out , and with Merlin’s knife beside her corpse. Arthur is faced with a terrible dilemma. Should he stand by his old friend and counselor and risk alienating his subjects or should he allow  Merlin to be summarily executed ? Either way, his ties to Merlin may doom his chances of being Rigatomos . In desperation , he turns to the one man who may be able to get to the bottom of the matter . That man is Malgwyn, surely one of the strangest protagonists in a mystery novel , or any novel for that matter.

Malgwyn was once a  happy farmer and husband, content with his lot ,when treacherous Saxons invaded the farm , murdering his wife and laying waste to all. Determined to avenge his wife,the vengeful Malgwyn fought alongside Arthur wreaking havoc on the Saxons, until one of them lopped off his arm at the elbow. Arthur saved his life by having his wounds tended to by the priests of the abbey at Avalon. However, far from being grateful ,  Malgwyn hates him for condemning him to life as a one-armed cripple. Since his recovery, Malgwyn makes a living copying manuscripts for the priests when he is not drinking and whoring. This then is the man that Arthur turns to for help. 

Eleonore is Malgwyn’s dead wife’s younger sister and this gives him a personal stake in finding out who murdered her. He quickly establishes that she was murdered elsewhwere and her body dragged to where it was found. He becomes convinced of Merlin’s innocence but proving it to the satisfaction of the restive populace is another matter. Someone seems to have staged the murder to discredit Arthur and ruin his chances of being elected Rigotamos. But who is it ? Is it the doughty warrior Vortimer ? Is it Arthur’s cousin , the scheming Modred? Both of them would like to succeed the current chieftain , Ambrosius. And what of the Druids who seem to be making a play for a return to power? If the devoutly Christian Arthur is sidelined it will be easier for them to make a comeback. Before Malgwyn can sort matters out, another woman is murdered in the same ritualistic way. and Ambrosius is forced to issue an ultimatum. Malgwyn has until sundown the following day to find out the murderer. If not, Athur must  execute Merlin with his own hands and should Malgwyn fail to return by that time his own life will be forfeit. Accompanied by the loyal knight Kay, Malgwyn races against time to delve into the sinister plot against Arthur and to save Merlin’s life.The Killing Way also has some gripping subplots .  Malgwyn’s brother, Cuneglas, is a jealous man who has turned Malgwyn’s young daughter against him. Will Malgwyn be able to regain the child’s affections ? And what of Cuneglas’s wife, Ygerne, who seems to harbor feelings for her one-armed brother-in-law ? All these make for a richly detailed page-turner , a highly evocative historical mystery  which will keep the reader guessing until the very end.

The Castellum Arturius where the action takes place is quite different from the prettyfied Camelot  of Hollywood movies. It is a cruder, harsher , barbaric place  that has the ring of authenticity. The knights who people this novel are also different than what might expect. Lancelot does not make an appearance in these pre-Round Table days , and Gawain is barely mentioned. The main characters are Arthur (of course), Kay, Bedivere, Tristan of Cornwall, the scheming Modred, and Vortigern and they are sometimes surprisingly depicted. Kay for instance is usually depicted as a jealous, boastful bully. In The Killing Way he is a more sympathetic character, utterly loyal and steadfast and it is he who protects Malgwyn as he searches for a solution to the mystery.Tristan in this novel is a callow weakling and not the romantic figure we have come to expect from other sources. Merlin  is shown as an addled old man, only sometimes in full possession of his senses. This is a surprise and doesn’t quite ring true , considering the important part he plays in Arthurian legends.

Tony Hays, the author of the Killing Way , was a journalist in Tennessee before turning his hand to novels. He seems to have done an impressive amount of research in order to write this novel. It shows in his treatment of the characters, different from the usual but quite convincing, and in the meticulous detailing of life in Arthurian Britain. I wish though that he had been more careful with the dialogue . It is jarring to find his characters use modern Americanisms such as ” How come… ” . It reminded me of the time I saw the Hollywood potboiler The Black Shield of Falworth and heard Tony Curtis spout  Brooklynese like ” Dese .. ” and ” Dose…”. I am not sure whether the author consciously intended to use the modern vernacular or whether it never occurred to him that it might be incongruous in a historical novel. Regardless, it is a minor matter and should not keep one from sampling this book. It looks as though this is the beginning of a series and I for one eagerly await the next adventure.

The Killing Way  by Tony Hays. A Tom Doherty Assosciates book . New York ( 2009) . $ 24.95.

What is Really Really Important

In an interview in Book Page, the writer Colton Whitehead ( John Henry Days, Sag Harbor) was asked  ” What three things would you want with you on a desert island ?”

His answer ” Internet, TV and everyone I know ‘.

An honest answer though he cheated a little since ” everyone I know ” is not one thing or even a thing. Still his answer points up what have become the most important things in our lives whether we like it or not. Recently, my daughter moved into a new apartment in a new city and was without Internet or TV for a few days. The TV wasn’t a big loss since she doesn’t usally watch it much but being without the Internet made her feel isolated , cut off from everybody. I know that I too feel somewhat deprived when I’m on vacation and can’t check on  e-mails from my friends. For young people the sense of deprivation is even stronger since they use it to a much greater extent to keep in touch with their friends.

The second item , television, is a bit  redundant since much of what it offers is also available on the Internet . Still there are many shows that would help alleviate the boredom on a desert island. The third choice is interesting because it underlines the basic need for human contact. Technology can never take the place of human interactions though it may help alleviate their lack.

I know that many of you reading this are, like me,  not completely satisfied with Whitehead’s choices . For instance, the third thing ” everyone I know” should not be allowed .But what would you choose instead ? I know the religious among you may opt for a Holy Book  but come on … would it really satisfy you for more than a little while ? Be honest in your replies.

The Shape of Things to Come

I had been to the carwash last week after a lapse of several months and noticed several changes. The first was that prices were lower. The regular wash was  $7 ( it used to be $ 10) and the most expensive, the De Luxe was $ 10 ( it used to be $ 14). Also, there was a marked reduction in the number of employees. Previously there was one person to find out which type of wash you wanted, two or three others to apply the coatings and vacuum the inside of the car. Another man aligned the car properly onto the guide rails after you had stepped out. There was also a little counter manned by another employee where you paid for the car wash and where you could buy extras such as car fragrances. Finally ,after the car came off the rails there was a little army of three or four helpers who wiped down the car and whom you tipped.

Under the new set-up, one employee handled everything . He took your money, applied the different waxes and coatings and directed you as you drove the car onto the rails ( you remained in the car). Instead of three or four wipers , there was exactly one. And, oh yes, they no longer vacuumed the inside of the car; before you got to the “PAY” counter you did that yourself  with the ‘free ‘ vacuums provided by the car wash.

All in all, there were exactly two employees ( one of whom subsisted on tips) compared to the seven ( four paid , three on tips ) that there were before.

I couldn’t help thinking about a book I had read twenty years ago, a management book written by a British author, Charles Handy. It made a deep impression upon me at the time because even though I recognised the truth of his predictions,( some of which were already coming true), they represented such a big change from the workday world as we knew it then. Handy postulated that people would no longer join a company and stay there till they retired thirty-five or forty years later. He declared that companies would have a much flatter structure with far fewer levels of management and that the permanent employees would be a small core group. The majority of the work would be outsourced to temp employees or smaller specialist businesses on a project-by-project basis. Neither would employees be loyal to a company, More like subcontractors than traditional  employees, they would move from company to company every few years , or even months, and would change careers several times in the course of their life time. All this has come true in the years since and doesn’t seem radical the way it did twenty years ago.

In order to cut costs, Handy said, companies would make the customers do some of the work themselves and he gave an example which I cannot now remember. I couldn’t fathom this then but I understand it now after my experience at the carwash. I vacuumed the inside of the car myself and helped reduce the labor cost, neatly illustrating Handy’s prediction.Overall, the carwash was run much more efficiently and some of the cost savings were passed on to the customers. The change-over to this type of work structure is inexorable . Businesses will become leaner to cut down costs and ( where applicable)to compete globally but the implications for the society of the future are troubling.

Handy foresaw that the world of the future would not need as many workers. He figured that only about 33% of adults would be employed while the rest would be paid some sort of dole (something  like social security ). I think Alvin Toffler had predicted something similar , years earlier. It will be a while before this happens  but  eventually it will become a reality if Handy is to be believed.Right now, we are seeing the effects of an unemployment rate of 10 %.What will it be like when two out of every three are not employed ?

Technology and the Modern Sports Fan

The  Man Wall is a new product that has  to be the sports fan’s ultimate wet dream. It is an entertainment center: a wall unit that is loaded with four television sets, a live sports ticker, two cigar humidors ( why two?) a microwave oven and a refrigerated beer tap.Priced at $ 14, 900 the Man Wall is  expensive but I’m sure there are some well-to-do sports buffs who will be glad to shell out the money. It contains everything they could possibly want . Now they can park themselves in front of the Man Wall with their friends , send out for pizza or KFC and have their choice of different games , four at a time. Sports Nirvana !!

Products such as the Man Wall illustrate how different  the sports fans of today are and how changes in technology have affected the way in which we relate to sports. In the good ole days, watching sports meant going out to the ballpark, sitting in the afternoon sun with one’s kids and enjoying the game live while scarfing   hot dogs and downing a cold brew or two. Those days are long gone . Ticket prices are  astronomical and ,in the case of football , tickets are just not available. Watching sports today almost always means watching them  on TV.

And really it isn’t too bad a deal. With cable TV , a fan has access to many more games than before . With ESPN ( 1 and 2), TNT, the Golf Channel, MSG, SNY  and the regular channels all vying with each other the sports fan has a variety of choices. Also, With the advent of HDTV, he can follow the game better at home than if he had watched it live. The picture is  crisp and clear; there are instant replays , slo-mo  replays to explain how it happened , multiple camera angles and expert commentary. He can also be  warm and comfortable in his  den or basement, not freezing his  balls off in the upper reaches of  some stadium. I remember going to an early season N.Y. Giants football game once. It was 42 degrees and sunny but the wind was blowing and I was chilled to the bone even though I was wearing three layers of clothing. From where we sat, the players looked like ants, spectators kept moving to and fro in front of us, and most of the time we  followed the action on the big TV screenbehind the end zone .And to think we’d  paid $125 / ticket for the privilege of watching the game live( LOL) ! Never again !!

I am also convinced that television makes the games appear more interesting than they really are. I have in the past been to pro basketball games but, in every single case, the action seemed helterskelter. A  player would miss a shot at one end , the ball would be advanced to the other end and an opposing player would throw up a rock. Between all the free throws and time-0uts there was just no continuity to the game . Watching on TV, espescially HDTV, would have been far more preferable. Ice hockey is the only sport that is better live  because you can see the whole rink and actually see the play developing.

Computers have hugely affected the way in which we relate to sports. Because of computers, there are more sports statistics than ever including categories that never existed a few years earlier. For instance, baseball box scores used to record Wins(W)  and Saves (S);somewhere along the line they also started to keep track of relief pitchers who held the opposing team at bay but did not stick around till the final out . Such pitchers are now credited with an H ( hold ?). In basketball, they used to tabulate the minutes played by each player ; now they keep track of the minutes and seconds  that each player is on the court. Talk about meaningless stats! It seems as if  some player or another is setting a new record in practically every game. ( The first player to average more than fifteen points and six assists a game in two consecutive seasons! The only player to hit eighteen home runs and steal twelve bases in his rookie year.!) I’m exaggerating but not by much. Sadly, some fans think the stats are  the game and talking heads  like Tony Kornheiser perpetuate that misconception. 

Computers also enable all sorts of statistical analysis which makes its way into the sports pages. A recent newspaper article analyzed the Wimbledon mens final match between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. Much was made of the aces , service winners, forced errors, unforced errors , backhand winners, first serve percentages, percentage of points won on the first serve and second serve respectively, number of net approaches and the like. It was all very edifying though I’ve forgatten what the conclusions were. Even as I admired the work that had gone into the analysis, I couldn’t help thinking that the emphasis on analysis detracted from what was an enthralling  match played at a high level of skill throughout. It was like taking apart a butterfly to see what made it tick.

Increasingly , the sports action is not confined to the field. The nature of modern pro sports also means that sports fans have to keep track of much more than wins and losses. With pro athletes jumping ship at every opportunity to make big (ger) bucks, fans have to keep track of trades, expiring contracts , draft choices, cap space, luxury tax thresholds, free agents ( restricted and unrestricted) etc. They are able to do so  , in no small part, due to the proliferating number of sports blogs. Many of these blogs are team specific and it is amusing , even a little touching, to see how strongly the fans identify with their team and with each other.Of course there is a lot of cussing and salty language on these sites as fans “invade” enemy sites and vilify rival teams.  

In this era of big money pro sports when players are no longer tied to a team , when every indiscretion by a player makes the newspapers or the blogs, the relationship between the fans and players has also changed. Wide eyed adoration of players by fans is a thing of the past . Fans today are much more cynical about their heroes. This morning’s Wall Street Journal carried a story about “ballhawks” , spectators who go to baseball games intending to grab any ball that goes into the stands. If the ball is a milestone ball, like a players first HR or his hundredth, the ballhawk refuses to give it back to the player unless he gets something valuable in return. In the old days, the ball would  be returned to the player for an autograph, an autographed ball  or a signed photograph. Nowadays the ransom is much higher. One such ballhawk, Nick Yohanek, has caught more than 50 home-run balls since 1998 . It’s not a matter of luck because he does an awful lot of research to figure out where the ball is likely to be hit by a particular batter, the dimensions of the ballpark and even the opposing pitcher.This kind of research would never have been possible before computers and the internet.

To sum it all up, the modern fan is more savvy, more up-to-date with sports trivia, more hard eyed and more parochial . He hates other teams just as much as he loves his own and he places a much greater premium on winning. In the process though, I wonder if he has not lost some of the true enjoyment of sport.

A Wimbledon Final in Which There Were No Losers

What a magnificent match ! For the second year in a row, we were treated to a pulsating contest that could have gone either way and was in doubt until the very end. I had watched Andy Roddick prevail over Andy Murray in Friday’s semi-final but I never dreamed that he would be able to sustain his level of play against Roger Federer. Time and time again, good players , even great ones, have seen their game come apart when facing Federer just as golfers paired with Tiger Woods’  find themselves  shanking drives and missing putts. It did not happen today. Andy Roddick did himself proud as he faced everything that Federer threw at him and gave as good as he got.

The breaks when they came took me by surprise. In the first set, Roddick fought off  four break points to hold serve and make it 6-5. Then in the very next game Federer, who had until that point lost only three points in 5 service games, suddenly faltered and Roddick pocketed the first set. In the days and weeks to come Roddick will surely rue what happened in the second set tie-breaker. Incredibly,Federer saved four set  points and rattled off six consecutive points to win the second set and tie the match at one set apiece.

 The high quality of play continued throughout the match as both players traded booming serves, sizzling passing shots and crisp volleys as they played evenly to share the next two sets and reach 6-6 in the decider. At that point I thought that Roddick would win . He had broken Federer twice while holding serve throughout. It seemed unlikely that Federer would be able to break him now. And yet that is exactly what Federer did, winning the marathon fifth set 16-14 to make tennis history with his 15th Grand Slam triumph. Federer won, but Roddick did not lose. A year ago he had thought about quitting but with a new coach in Larry Stepanki and a new found dedication to training and preparation he played the best tennis of his career and came oh-so-close to hoisting the trophy himself. No doubt, the next few days will be spent mulling what happened today .  I hope he gets over his disappointment and goes on to win one or more Grand Slams of his own. Certainly he should be proud of his performance today.

It was a wonderful match and not merely because of the quality of the tennis. There were many, many things to admire: the grace and beauty of Federer’s movements, the athleticism and stamina showed by both players,the businesslike manner in which they conducted themselves which led to the match being played at a fast pace, the absence of gamesmanship ( no bouncing balls twenty times before serving)  and the wonderful setting. I have attended matches at the U.S Open for almost twenty years but Wimbledon is special, in a class by itself.No wonder the players love to compete there and prize a Wimbledon triumph over all others.

It was fascinating to see past Wimbledon greats Pete Sampras, Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg  and Manuel Santana ( I’d almost forgotten him) sitting side-by-side in the Royal Box. Looking at them and at TV commentator John McEnroe, one was achingly reminded of  other days in the golden sun when they were young and graced the lawncourts at Wimbledon. History was made on CenterCourt today and it was good to see them part of it.

John McEnroe in his post-game interviews asked Sampras a question which we all knew was going to be asked. ” With this victory, would you rank Roger Federer the greatest of all time? ” It was a particularly difficult question for Sampras to answer because standing next to him was ‘The Rocket” Rod Laver who is also among the greatest players who ever picked up a tennis racquet. I thought Sampras handled it well , pointing out that Laver won not one but two Career Grand Slams and missed out on many tournaments For five years at the peak of his career he was shut out of the Grand Slam circuit because he was a professional. In the number of Grand Slams won , Federer is at the top and he is one of the Greatest of all time and we should all leave it at that. On this day let’s celebrate his triumph and applaud a courageous  effort from Andy Roddick who did himself proud today.

NBA Roundup :Artest, Ariza, Kupchak and the Lakers

Just two days after the start of free agency, the Lakers have pulled off a tremendous coup by signing Ron Artest and waving goodbye to Trevor Ariza. As a Laker fan, I am sorry to see Ariza go; after all, he was a big reason why the Lakers won the NBA Championship last month. Sure, Kobe Bryant was the lynchpin for the Lakers but it was Ariza’s defense ,his ball-hawking steals and threepoint shooting that rescued the Lakers first against the Nuggets and then, in the finals, against the Magic. Who can forget that fourth game in Orlando when he exploded for 13 points in the third quarter and almost singlehandedly propelled the Lakers to a lead they would never relinquish? At only 24, he has a bright future ahead of him and it’s too bad he had such a dunderhead for an agent. David Lee tried to play tough with the Lakers and overplayed his hand by negotiating through the media, making pronouncements such as ” Lakers will not get a hometown discount for Ariza “. As a result Ariza now finds himself stuck with a rebuilding team playing for the same money that he had been offered by the Lakers.

By signing Ron Artest for the midlevel exception ( $ 18 million over three years) the Lakers achieved several things. 1) At this stage of their careers, Artest is an upgrade over Ariza, particularly on offense.A  tenacious defender Artest is  a tougher, more physical player who will not be pushed around . He will bring a much needed touch of nastiness  to a Laker team that has been characterized as ’soft’. Opposing players will now think twice about teeing off on Kobe. Artest’s  bulk also makes him better able to defend players like Carmelo Anthony or Lebron James. 2) Artest is also a better shooter than Ariza . Defenders will not be able to sag off on him the way they did on Ariza. He provides yet another scoring option and should reduce some of the pressure on Kobe. 3) Another big plus is that signing Artest means that other contenders such as  Cleveland and Boston will not be able to make a run at him. 4) Artest’s contract  3-year is the perfect length. He is 30, the same age as Kobe : the Lakers should be set for awhile and yet have the flexibility to sign complementary players as Kobe starts to wind down.

With this signing, the Lakers are in a good position to repeat as NBA champions though I am not one of those Laker fans crowing about a possible three-peat. There are so many things that can go wrong . It is so difficult to repeat let alone threepeat. Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown still have to be signed. Derek Fisher is a year older and they  are still  searching for his successor. Phil Jackson’s health may not permit him to return. Other contenders are also improving themselves with trades. The San Antonio Spurs strenghthened themselves immeasurably by signing high scoring small forward , Richard Jefferson thus addressing a glaring weakness of last season’s team. If Manu Ginobli rebounds from injury and Tim Duncan has something left in the tank, they will team with Tony Parker and Jefferson to make a serious run at the Lakers and the Denver Nuggets.( As I write, the news is that the Boston Celtics have offered a mid-level extension to Rasheed Wallace . In many respects this is simlar to the Lakers signing Artest ; both Rasheed Wallace and Ron Artest are talented players with hair trigger tempers that could be a liability. By the same token , they could be the last piece required for a championship team.) Still, providing that the Lakers keep  the team intact, they have to be considered favorites or at least joint favorites.

It is surprising to hear so many voices criticizing the signing of Artest. The criticisms are twofold .1) His penchant for drawing  technical fouls  2) That he will destroy the team chemistry since he has a big ego and will demand the ball more than the unassuming Ariza thus reducing scoring opportunities for Kobe and Pau Gasol . I think that these fears are groundless. For one thing, Phil Jackson and Kobe will be able to rein him in. If Phil could handle the craziness of Dennis Rodman in Chicago, he can certainly handle Ron Artest. Besides, Ron at this stage of his career has calmed down a lot as he showed last year in Houston.The other thing is that Ron badly wants a ring and will do everything he can to earn it, including concentrating on defense and taking fewer shots. Sure, he will have to renounce his ball-hogging tendencies but I expect that he will do so to fit into the team concept.

A word here a bout Mitch Kupchak, the Laker GM. He came in for heavy criticism three or four years ago , not least from Kobe Bryant . He has since proven himself a worthy successor to his mentor and predecessor, Jerry West. First, Kupchak displayed a fine eye for talent in his first round pick to selecta young 7 foot center, Andrew Bynum, fresh out of high school . Then he showed great courage in withstanding calls to trade away Bynum for Jason Kidd. His biggest coup was trading for Pau Gasol while simaltaneously getting rid of the under-achieving Kwame Brown. Another important trade he made, one which was unnoticed at the time , was for Trevor Ariza. And now, the ’swap’ of Ariza for Artest should make the Lakers contenders for at least the next three years.

When the Lakers won the championship last month , NBA commissioner David Stern handed the trophy to Joey Buss, the owner’s son. Mitch Kupchak was nowhere to be seen. If the Lakers do win the championship again next year, I hope that they recognize Mitch Kupchak’s contributions by making sure that he is on the dais when the trophy is presented. He has been a big part of the Lakers recent success and it is only right that his efforts be acknowledged.

Update ( 7/09) : Contrary to the first reports, Ron Artest’s contract is for 5 years not 3. The annual rate is the same ( $ 6.6 million / year ; $ 33 million total). This is the identical amount that Ariza for signed with Houston and what he would have got from theLakers  had his agent been more reasonable .

Thumbs Down for W.E.B. Griffin’s “Black Ops”

W.E.B. Griffin is a prolific and phenomenally successfull author  having authored well over a hundred novels under different names. He writes what can be best described as “military fiction”, relating the deeds of American servicemen both on the battlefield and in the covert war against our nation’s enemies. Black Ops is the fifth novel in the Presidential Agent series and chronicles the continuing saga of Lt. Col. Charley Castillo  who heads a clandestine outfit , the Office of Oraganizational Analysis, and reports directly to the President. At the beginning of the novel, an investigative reporter looking into the German and Russian thieves involved in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal is brutally murdered in Marburg , Germany. Almost simaltaneously, there are assassination attempts on U.S. agents and allies in Philadelphia and Argentina. All these targets are linked to Charley Castillo and his investigation of the Oil scandal. This  leads to the suspicion that he himself is next on the hit list. While attending the funeral of the slain reporter, Castillo fortuitously meets a brother-sister pair of Russian spies, Dmitri Berezovsky and Svetlana Alekseeva who are desperate to defect to the West. Castillo makes a quick decision to accomodate their monetary demands and spirits them away from Germany. Through them he learns of a secret factory being set up in the depths of the Congo, a factory that could very well be manufacturing Weapons of Mass Destruction.The rest of the novel describes how Castillo and his agents follow up the lead ,determine the nature of the threat and  who is behind it and nip it in the bud. Complicating matters are the interservice rivalries and jealousies that are endemic in our spy agencies. In achieving his objectives, Charley Castillo has to fight not only against the bad guys but also the CIA and his nominal boss Charles Montvale , the director of National Intelligence. The CIA is mad at Castillo because their agents had been about to pick up the Russians themselves when Charley beat them to it.As for Montvale, he  has always been jealous of Charley Castillo’s direct access to the President and tries to obstruct him at every turn. To make matters worse, the CIA has already discounted the Congo threat and is more interested in defending its conclusions rather than keeping an open mind about mounting evidence that the threat is for real. The action shifts between various safehouses in Argentina and the U.S as Castillo and his merry men- a mix of former FBI, CIA, Secret Service and military men- try to keep one step ahead of Montvale and the CIA while trying to get incontrovertible proof that the Congo factory is a threat to the U.S and must be destroyed forthwith. And ,oh yes…  Castillo accomplishes all this while managing to fall in love with  the gorgeous Russian spy , Svetlana.

Griffin  has an unparalleled knowledge of military jargon and the administrative wrting style. It is no wonder because he served in the military after the Second World War and also during the Korean war. He was stationed in Germany for several years and is married to an Argentine woman which makes his descriptions of Germany and South America ( particularly Argentina but also Uruguay ) very authentic sounding.With his detailed descriptions of weaponry, his true-blue All-American heroes and his dastardly villains , it is no surprise that his novels are a hit , particularly with male readers. In the past, I was initially among his legions of fans but his latest novel has little to recommend it.

It does have his trademark writing style and a plausible plot but its biggest failing is that it has  absolutely no action sequences. What little action there is happens off-camera. For most of 500 pages , Castillo and his men are trying to stay one jump ahead of Montvale and the CIA while trying to verify the existence of the deadly factory in the Congo. There is almost no character development ; Charley and his men are mere ciphers. They are all are impossibly brave and patriotic , heroic and … and … they have a sophomoric sense of humor. They are constantly cracking wise , playing practical jokes,making up stupid nicknames and giving each other the finger.  For instance , Charley Castillo  codenames  the Russian spy Little Red Britches because he gets a long glimpse of her underpants as she is escaping from a train.Later on, he nicknames her Sweaty ( short for Svetlana) and still later Simple Susan. This is supposed to be funny ? Also, the accounts of interservice rivalry are caried to such extremes that they are hard to believe.

In the increasingly complex world that we live in, I suppose that some of us yearn for a simpler world in which everything is black or white and there are no shades of gray, no ambiguities. A world in which the good guys always win  even against impossible odds and the bad guys always lose. Such people find Griffin’s novels great reading though even they will be hard put to like Black Ops.

Black Ops by  W.E.B.Griffin. Published by G.E.Putnam’s Sons ( New York) ,2008. $ 26.95.

Quantum of Solace : Not as Good as its Predecessor

I had great expectations for “Quantum of Solace“. I hadn’t seen it when it first came out and all my friends had said it was a terrific movie.Well, I finally saw it on   DVD and I was profoundly disappointed. It is nowhere near as good as it’s predecessor Casino Royale , a pity because it could have been better,so much better.

( Spoiler alert)The movie takes up where Casino Royale left off.It begins with a hair-raising car chase as Bond drives from scenic Lake Garda to Siena, Italy  with Mr. White, the captured criminal mastermind, in the car trunk. He manages to outwit his pursuers , sending them crashing down the hillside, and limps into Siena, to a cavernous room where M is waiting to interrogate Mr. White about his  terrorist organization Quantum . Before they can get very far, M’s traitorous bodyguard  Mitchell attacks her enabling White to escape. In a thrilling chase over the rooftops of Siena Bond catches up with Mitchell but is unable to take him alive. Still trying get a bead on Quantum, Bond surfaces in Haiti where he kills the baddie Slate and rescues the beautiful Camille Montes ( Olga Kurylenko). She has been trying to avenge her father’s death at the hands of the corrupt General Medrano. In order to do so, she has had to cozy up to Dominic Greene ( Mathieu  Amalric), the head of the eco-organization Greene Planet. It is Greene who is the chief villain of  Quantum of Solace as he maneuvers to bribe General Medrano and corner a large part of the Bolivian desert for his own nefarious purposes. Greene has convinced the American and British authorities that there are underground reservoirs of oil to be had there and consequently, the secret services of those two countries are cooperating with him. Making Bond’s job even more difficult is the fact that M begins to doubt his loyalty, thinking that he is driven by a desire to avenge the killing of his lover Vesper . She cancels his credit cards and attempts to capture him and have him returned to England. Bond escapes his captors in a short but brutal fight sequence in the hotel elevator and makes his way to Bolivia where he is aided by Camille Montes and his old friend Rene Mathis. How Bond manges to find out what Greene’s real objective is and how he thwarts Greene’s plans form the rest of the story. True to Bond films , Quantum is replete with terrific action sequences. In addition to those already mentioned there is a motorboat chase in the Port-au-Prince harbor, an aerial dogfight in Bolivia and  a climactic firefight at an eco-hotel in the Bolivian desert.These are just the highlights; there may be two or three others which I’ve not mentioned for lack of space.After besting Greene, Bond also squares accounts with Yusuf Kabira who had been one of the lynchpins of Quantum responsible for recruiting Vesper, leading ultimately to her death.

If Quantum of Solace disappoints, it is not because of Daniel Craig. In this , his second outing asJames Bond, he is terrific:  assured and entirely believable as the British superspy. He combines ruthlessness  and hard-edged charm as no one has since Sean Connery, the original Bond. His muscular physique suggests that he is capable of doing all the fighting that the role calls for. Well, almost all the fighting. I know that one is expected to suspend one’s disbelief when it comes to Bond’s fighting capabilities but this  just a little too much. In Quantum of Solace, Bond is more like an invincible superhero  than a flesh-and blood character. He does get scratched but he wins every fight , often against insurmountable odds .It would have been better if he had been shown as being just a a little bit more vulnerable ( as he was in Casino Royale). The action sequences also are too much of a good thing. They are certainly spectacular but they come thick and fast. The viewer has barely caught his breath after a harrowing fight sequence or chase when the next such sequence starts.The relentless pace of the movie makes the story difficult to follow.  It would have been much more effective had there been some quiet periods between the action sequences,as there would have been more time to develop the characters and the plot.Adding to the problem is  the quickcutting technique used for the action sequences which make them rushed and difficult to absorb.

One of the other problems with the movie is the casting of the arch-villain Dominic Greene. Matthieu Amalric as Greene doesn’t appear sufficiently menacing and his slender physique makes us feel that Bond could wallop him with one hand tied behind his back. Olga Kurylenko as Camille Montes  looks fetching and turns in a competent performance as Camille Montes and the rest of the cast is adequate.   I wish the romance between Bond and Montes had been developed a bit more though I suppose he is still grieving for Vesper.

Overall, Quantum of Solace has several of the trademarks that have made the Bond adventures such megahits  for half a century. Gorgeous scenery,opulent settings, beautiful women, the trademark musical score ( though it appears at the end of the movie rather than the beginning), nonstop action ( a little too nonstop, in my opinion),dastardly villains, familiar characters and ,of course , the unflappable secret agent James Bond. Bond aficionados will enjoy Quantum of Solace even as they mentally enumerate the ways in which it could have been better.

 My Rating:  ***  ( 3 stars out of five).

Shaq and Lebron in Cleveland … Happy Together ?

So the long rumored trade of Shaq to Cleveland has gone through . The only surprise is that Cleveland got him so cheaply, giving up Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic , a second round draft pick and $ 500, 000. Since Ben Wallace is on the verge of retirement and Pavlovic was a little used reserve, it means that all Cleveland gave up was a second rounder and a little money. One would have thought the Suns would have held out for a first round pick instead of a second rounder. ( On second thoughts Cleveland’s  1st round pick was the 30th and would not have been that much more valuable than the 2nd rounder they actually got).Of course, Phoenix’s  primary motivation was  to shed Shaq’s $21 million salary since the owner is reputed to be in  financial difficulty.By buying out Wallace and Pavlovic, they save themselves a ton of money though, of course, they face a long rebuilding process.

From Cleveland’s viewpoint, the trade makes them THE team to beat in the Eastern Conference and it will worry their two main rivals: the Boston Celtics and the Orlando Magic. No doubt, those teams  are already figuring out their countermoves to match up with the Cavs.Boston is rumored to be shopping Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo while Orlando is trying to re-sign  Hedo Turkoglu. Dwight Howard is still a work in progress and as he develops his offensive game under the tutelage of Patrick Ewing he is going to prove a handful for opposing centers , Shaq included.It should be an interesting summer as the teams reload.It is foolish at this point to speculate who will be best placed to emerge from the Eastern Conference next season.

Shaq gives the Cavaliers the inside presence , low-post scoring , defense and rebounding and will lighten the load on Lebron James. IF he can play like he did last season ( 17.4 PPG , …. RPG) AND  IF he can stay healthy through the playoffs, the Cavaliers could be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy next June.  But those are two big IF’s .He IS 38 years old , has creaky knees and doesn’t always keep in shape. I don’t think he can play consistently at a high level  but then I also thought he was all washed up when he first went to Phoenix . He proved me wrong by having a stellar 2008-2009 season and playing like a much younger man. Some observers are skeptical of whether Shaq and Lebron can co-exist but I’m not one of them. Shaq certainly will be motivated to train hard and give it 100% ;. Firstly, to pull ahead of Kobe in terms of career championships ,and secondly because he will be playing  for one more big contract before he calls it quits. As for Lebron, he is so focused on winning the championship that he will put up with Shaq’s antics short-term in order to get that elusive ring. Whether the Cavaliers win in 2010 or not, I will be very surprised if Lebron stays on in Cleveland. The temptation of the big city and it’s  opportunities for lucrative ad-deals will prove too much and I expect that he will sign elsewhere .

Cowpooling ; Definitely not for me

( Since this post is about non-vegetarianism, vegetarians might want to give it a miss .)

Cowpooling is a term that means ‘ joining together with others to buy a cow in order to share the expenses and then divvying up the meat after slaughter.’ It’s a trend that apparently has come into vogue over the past couple of years as people try to maximise the flavor and freshness of their meat .

It reminded me of the one and only time I’ve experienced the taste of really fresh meat.

Several years ago, my brother-in-law came to know of a South Jersey farm where you could place an order for a whole lamb. He did so ,and when he got his order, he distibuted the meat among friends and family. I still remember it as the best lamb that I’ve ever eaten. The  boneless cubes were melt-in-the mouth tender and had none of the strong taste that I usually assosciate with lamb. He felt the same way too but, in the twenty years since,  we have never repeated the experience. In my case, and maybe in his, there are still feelings of guilt with eating meat much as we love its taste. I do eat meat , much less frequently than in the past, and cowpooling would be too direct a connection between me and the animal.

Growing up in India fifty+ years ago, refrigeration was still a luxury , and meat was not available neatly packaged as it is now. In order to buy chicken, one went to the live poultry market, picked out a live chicken, saw it dipatched in front of one’s eye’s and watched it cleaned and cut up to order. My father was unable to bring himself to pick out a chicken for our meal and would instead select from among the already cut-up pieces that were available. Others were not so sqeamish and he had to watch chickens being slaughtered while he waited his turn. It was too much for him and so we never had chicken at home , only eating it in restaurants. I myself went only once to the poultry market; that was quite enough for me.

I realize that this may sound like hypocrisy to many. After all, if I eat meat  what difference does it make if I obtain it in a shrink wrapped package or ‘fresh’ to order ?From an ethical point of view, it makes no difference at all. And yet it does to me, and to many others like me. It assuages our sense of guilt if we are not directly ‘connected ‘ with the killing of a particular animal.Even as determined a carnivore  as Anthony Bourdain seems to experience a twinge of guilt when he goes hunting in Africa , or when a goat is slaughtered for an alfresco picnic in Greece.

Even though non-vegetarianism is the norm in our society, I wonder how many of us would be non-vegetarians if we had to arrange for our meat individually. My guess is that it would be about a third or less of those who now eat meat.