You know how sometimes you read a book that is sooooo good you wish it was also a movie ? Of course some books just should stay books cause they cant be improved by being a movie. But given the right treatment etc sometimes a really good book can also be a really good movie.
Most good books that get made movies have to introduce characters or voice over or something so that what characters only ' THINK TO THEMSELVES ' in the book can be delivered to the audience of the movie. Thats kinda tricky.
Anyway, this book I'm reading now would be a great movie if it could be treated well re: the above problem.
It is " The Mouse In The Moon ". It's the same author who wrote " Beware The Mouse " and " The Mouse That Roared ". The Mouse That Roared got made into a movie ( I think with Peter Sellers in it ? ) and was hilarious.
The Mouse In The Moon ( copyright about 1962 ? ) happens after the mouse that roared...
Grand Fenwick ( a little country started by some wayward Englishmen back around 1400 maybe ) which is between the Swiss and the French , sorta in a little valley between mountain ranges, needed some money in " The Mouse That Roared", so they decided to attack the United States with their Longbows and their small army of about 12 guys. So they sailed to NYC and attacked with the intention of LOSING quickly, so that the U.S. would then spend a ton of money to rebuild the country they defeated... kinda like Germany and Japan after WW2 etc etc.
Plans went awry however, because the little group found some professor who had just invented the Q-bomb and the plot thickened... and Grand Fenwick ended up winning the " war ".
Well, in the book " The Mouse In The Moon" , Grand Fenwick is applying for some financial aid from the U.S. to buy their Queen ( equiv of a Queen, as they are sorta Medieval even in modern times but with a parliment of sorts ) a fur coat ( Russian Sable )... and the professor who lives in Grand Fenwick now ( inventor of Q bomb ) is studying rocket fuel problems re: sending a man to the moon which the Russians and Americans are in a race to do ... and which threatens to "politicise" the moon territories, and space in general. Eg. If the Russians get there first will the moon be Russian ??
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I was surprised at how quickly I finished most of the Scot Harvath books. I actually had to pick up a few, while in transit.
This was my first foray into fiction (faction?) in too many years, and I just burned through the books. Guess that I had too much time on my hands, and some rather nasty weather around th globe, so brewed a few espressos, and grabbed a book. Man, fiction goes MUCH more quickly, than a technical manual... 
Gotta' try some of the others, that you mention. They sound quite good, and I have now done all of Thor's books. Why I did not get to any fiction, much earlier, is a mystery to me. Guess that I could redo my Thomas Pynchon, or maybe my James Joyce, as those would likely not go so quickly. In the last month, I have completed over 3000 pages, but they WERE exciting and very enjoyable - if one does not think too deeply about them.
Thanks for the tip, as I now see exactly what you were talking about. I would have been lost, had you not pointed me in the right direction.
Hunt
An interesting divergence from 'books that should be movies' might be ' news events ( historical events ) that should be movies....
I'm wondering how long it will be before a star studded cast is hired to do " The Fall Of Tripoli " ( maybe start in the early1800's with pirate ships etc off the northern coast of Africa attacking U.S. merchant ships ? )
Anyway, that said as an example of a good movie for historical events, it will become important to figure out how to spell the leader of Libya's name... which reminds me of === Let's Call The Whole Thing Off lyrics ===
=== you say tomato and I say tomato
=== you say potato and I say potato
Because, maybe the way you spell the leaders name has to do with how you actually 'pronounce' it ??
first pic just an action shot to get in the mood for spelling bee.
notice the water bottle the camerman left on table in foreground...after he told these guys, " Hey, drive through my frame here... looking triumphant etc, OK ? "
I've been re-reading some pg wodehouse stuff ( a collection of his work ), and I loved the jeeves and wooster pbs stuff years ago ( the actor that plays in " house " was bertie wooster ). I would love to see more of wodehouse stories made into movies.
lighthearted humor and complex "farce" ... wouldnt it be great to see lord ickingham ( sp? ) get pongo into all sorts of messes ? Or even more of the longer jeeves and wooster stories.
or some of his "golf " stories ....hehe...would be fun to watch.
fiction or faction....manuals, magazines, or in flight movies... I admire that your flights at least actually take off and go somewhere...
today I had a window seat when I could take the time to sit at all...and the plane I was on stayed in one place on a stage.
what it looks like is another thing entirely.
You know, after the last month, and then projecting to this one, I would trade places with you - just sitting on the set, smiling at the stewardesses (they were called that, way back when), and smoking my pipe, contemplating the air travel.
Actually going somewhere, via airlines, is not what it once was. Still, one does, what one must do, and I should not complain. At least we usually are upgraded to FC, so get free, cheap wine, and more pretzels...
Hunt
Yep, it's funny being on an original plane seating plan ( factory design of time ) with the 'service'... see if you can remember this....
no overhead bins...just a shelf with pillows and blankets.
tons of leg room
bar cart with real glass full size bottles ( 5ths ) of scotch, gin, whiskey, etc and real glasses ( including martini and wine ) ...
no little single "shot" pre-measured bottle things...
olives and onions etc in glass containers so they stay fresh....
food that is actually GOOD....at least compared to many quick meals and fast food things common in chains etc.
stainless steel ashtrays with little "top" to seal it ...in the armrests...
switch to window seat or any other seat you want that is empty once airborn...
stewardesses who are cute and actually say, " yes sir " ...when asked to find a copy of the new LIFE magazine.
======and one thing I've noticed a lot ========
because air travel has "gradually " gotten more and more common and geared toward "discount" ( cheaper )...including more seats in same space, faster food service or none at all, overhead bins for storage and so on...all this stuff has happened in steps over the years...you really dont notice how extreme the difference is until you get on one of these planes and see it with your own eyes....
To me it brings back memories of flying pan am from 69-72 ( flew braniff after that out of denver on employee discounts )...when all other airlines also accepted employee discounted tickets cause reservations were through airline mostly back then ( tour groups and packages were mostly the fare of travel agencies back then )...
So from nyc to tahiti was ( fc for $100 round trip ) ny - sfo pan am. sfo - tahiti quantas.... and back the same way.
I truly hate flying now and I haven't even been on plane since 9-11 with all the extra stuff now which I would not like very much I dont think.
My hat off to all those who do it and are good at it so that it is as comfortable and decent as possible... it is now an art for a passenger to actually have a good flight !
edward hamilton books ( CT )
great place, been using for eons...all hardcover unless specifically says " paperback".
great prices... one shipping charge ( about $5) no matter how many books you order in U.S.
sample search at their website for flynn, vince ( author ) -- note: click search... return key wont make search happen... in pic below... lots of his books available... hardcover...
http://edwardrhamilton.com/cgi-bin/search.pl
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For a while, I thought that Murdoch's team had tapped into the mic and Webcam on my laptop
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( almost choked on my beer when I read that )
how about the cam in the tv set you buy ? AAAAAAAAAAAA ! talk about paranoid ...so what? they see me sitting here having a beer and trying to figure out how to make a fun movie for all people to enjoy...and I dont do anything stupid in front of tv... like touch myself if I'm lonely .... who would do that anyway ?
I think those muslims and mormons and whoever else is involved in moral issues based on punishment if you screw up.... are good for the world... we need hitler and stalin and people like that to keep us in line IMO.
its beer thirty so at this point I put my thumb to my nose and wriggle my fingers like a moose with antlers on my nose.
I think my attitude is based mostly on being audited by tax people at the moment... but also based on being punched in nose by various cops in the forum when I said something " pointless " or " wrong ". OMG !
After spending hours figuring out how to help someone.. whats the point if you get beat up by your own jerk friends because the par went from .0999 to .1 from cs3 to cs4, based on PAL standard... ?? I mean really, give me a freaking break !
hehe.. anyway, this is a love letter to all those who teach me things.. and if I happen to spit in your direction dont mind me.
Mitch Rapp helps me deal with that anger and frustration. So do a lot of other characters ( james bond not so much anymore because he lost the cool humor that was part of the beatles era and making 'fun' of the world in a decent way )
we need to keep a sense of the absurd and humor in our lives and yet be real about the criticism... so we honor our parents and frankly ... ourselves .... and not for nothing maybe find a nice girl to hang out with
The other day, I found out that the IRS had hacked into my laptop. They turned on my Web-cam, and were monitoring my activities. Luckily for me, I was wearing my old cargo shorts, and a very frayed Tommy Bahama "Island" shirt. They panned to my wine bottle, but it was a cheap Zinfandel (doing tasting notes), so nothing there. The panned to my cigar, but luckily, it was not one of my Cuban Cohibas, or Monte Cristos, just a cheap La Gloria Charemange. They looked about, and gave up with their monitoring.
Now, had it been Mitch Rapp and Marcus Dumond, they would have seen the Ch. Latour (for me, after the TN's were done), the big negative-edge pool, overlooking the golf course, and maybe a Cuban ready to be fired up, and known that there was much more to be seen. As it was, I dodged a bullet. Though, if they had seen my Bulldogs, they would probably have thought, US Marine Corps, and let me slide. However, even if they decided that I was a "target of opportunity," they would have had to get past my chain gun towers, and that would NOT have been easy. Even if they got past those, the coyotes in the arroyo would have been formidable challenges, and then there would have been more surprises. Of course, Mitch would have known that I was a patriot, so I would have gotten a pass on the wine, the cigars and even the pool.
Hunt
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