Golden Vengeance

An early week surprise with a son lunch which went a long way in setting the day for success.  His new work schedule isn’t as predictable as earlier which required this.  This means I’ll have to get through hump day today without the usual injection of morale he provides but the residual effects of yesterday should suffice.  We compared fantasy football machinations as well as upcoming cinematic events.  We are both devotees of horror movies so we had plenty to talk about with the annual Pre-Halloween fright fest stalking theaters.  We both married women who wouldn’t set foot in a movie theater showing a scary movie.  Such is life.

Son and I Yesterday

My wife, while avoiding horror movies, attacked the remnants of her garden yesterday.  She’s trying to salvage some of her majestic dahlias for next year.  She bemoaned the fact we live in such northern climes (a recurring theme) that the bulbs have to be removed each autumn to prevent freezing.  We spent some time on the deck last night dipping the bulbs in bleach before bringing them to the basement to dry.  I’ll have to keep an eye on the Wonder Pooch because he took an unhealthy interest in these new additions to what he considers his space.  I could see the wheels turning in his head trying to translate these exotic new smells into something edible.

Buddy's Fascinating "Snack"?

Date night called for an action movie and John Wick more than delivered.  It’s a cross breed of Shoot ‘Em Up and Payback with Keanu Reeves as a very dangerous hero.  He plays a retired mob hit man who, shortly after the death of his wife, is wronged by the son of a former associate.  Reeves then spends the rest of the movie relentlessly chasing Theon Greyjoy all over New York City with legions of double tapped Russian mobsters in his wake.

This is exactly what you expect going into an action/revenge flick; it doesn’t apologize for the cartoon level of violence but revels in it.  The pace is outstanding and Reeves is surprisingly good even though he only says six or seven words for the entire movie (probably a correlation there).  There’s a very cool vibe to this movie, a real win for Keanu, thoroughly enjoyable, as long as you can stomach multiple head shots and a dead puppy.

I’ve done an inadequate job explaining my fascination, bordering on worship of Travis McGee.  I finished another one yesterday - Deadly Shade of Gold.  This is the book where MacDonald really seemed to hit his stride with McGee, probably the point in his writing career he realized he had a bona fide hit on his hands.  He makes an effort to fully explain his hero in the following passage which contains my new favorite saying:  

“All that remains for the McGee is an ironic Knighthood, a spavined steed, second class armor, a dubious lance, a bent broadsword, and the chance, now and again, to lift into a galumphing charge against capital “E” evil, his brave battle oaths marred by the occasional hysterical giggle.  He has to carry a very long banner because on it has been embroidered, by maidens galore, The Only Thing in the World Worth a Damn is the Strange, Touching, Pathetic Awesome Nobility of the Individual Human Spirit.  The end of the banner trails on the ground, way the hell behind his horse, and people keep stepping on it.”

In Deadly Shade of Gold McGee is seeking out the truth behind the cold blooded killing of one of his friends.  He travels from Florida to Mexico to Los Angeles unwinding the thread back to those responsible. 

“This time they had taken one of mine.  One of the displaced ones.  A fellow refugee from a plastic structured culture, uninsured, unadjusted, unconvinced.  So I had to have a little word or two with the account closers.  This was what I had been trying not to admit to myself.  It wasn’t dramatics.  It wasn’t a juvenile taste for vengeance.  It was just a cold, searching speculative curiosity.  What makes you people think it’s that easy?  That was the question I wanted to ask them.  I would ask the question even though I already had the answer.  It isn’t.”

There’s the usual bevy of poignant ladies along the way as McGee eases his way to the truth.  This is the first McGee novel I clearly remember reading but it still was fresh since only the bare outline of the plot was remembered.  This marks the first book where McGee’s iconic friend Meyers appears for some true interaction.  Yet another beloved old friend I was reunited with.  Mexico was entirely more rustic in the time this book was written but once again I was struck by how well MacDonald’s work stands the test of time.