More than a decade before The Silence of the Lambs (1988) Thomas Harris wrote his debut novel Black Sunday (1975), which was also quickly adapted for film (1977). Directed by John Frankenheimer, the plot involves a Middle Eastern terrorist plan to attack the Super Bowl by means of a Goodyear Blimp. Bruce Dern, invariably pegged for weirdo roles, plays a troubled Vietnam War veteran who pilots the vessel thanks in part to the machinations of mysterious operative Dahlia.
Instead of poison gas, biological agents or explosives, the somewhat ludicrous plan is to rain darts on the unsuspecting Super Bowl crowd. Though the government knows the Superbowl is a target, the show must go on. "Cancel the Superbowl? That'd be like cancelling Christmas!" Robert Shaw is one of the men who must stop the madness before it's too late. Can he do it? This was well before Oklahoma City and 9/11, so . . . . .
Another little bundle of joy involving airships is H.G. Wells' 1908 novel, The War in the Air. It's a more terrestrial-based version of his classic SF novel The War of the Worlds (1898). More on these in a future post.
Today's Rune: Defense.
Birthdays today include those of Zane Grey and Franz Schubert.
23 Skidoo!
7 comments:
"Black Sunday" was the first Thomas Harris book I read, and I remember enjoying it. The movie was not bad. I haven't read Well's "The War in the Air" though and I'd like to.
I actually read the book in high school (late seventies). I don't think I've ever seen the movies, but yes, Bruce Dern certainly had the market cornered on "whacko guy" roles, starting with the sociopath he played in "The Cowboys." I mean, how many guys got to kill John Wayne in a movie?
Oops, did I spoil the ending for everybody?
I remember the movie Black Sunday, but I never read the book. The movie was ok though.
yThe Airships?
I prefer them in Ivalice; a world where magias they are common and the Airships sails for skies. It has contrast between the technology, the customs and the nature visibly. It is not a technological world, neither medieval or highly archaic. At the same time where if it sees a Airship taking a walk for the sky, an informal market in land exists, with tents offering different products. It has castles, kings and its powerful armies. Trick mine. This is the scene of End Fantasy XI. It likes games?
Erik, I came back of the vacations and I am homesickness deceased! Beijus
Whoa, I just finished a post that I mentioned Buffalo Bill, and then I came here and you mentioned him too.
I've been reading "Hannibal Rising." Shockingly bad. I love the books "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs," though.
"I think of war with Iran as the ending of America's present role in the world. Iraq may have been a preview of that, but it's still redeemable if we get out fast. In a war with Iran, we'll get dragged down for 20 or 30 years. The world will condemn us. We will lose our position in the world."
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Vanity Fair, 2006.
Your post re-links me to a so-called 'conspiracy site' which deals in facts - like speeches by Richard Perle and Brzezinski, and comments on H.G. Wells who was allegedly part of some elite group with access to human made echnology beyond the general public, access due to his allegiance to certain groups.
The difference between lunatic conspiracies and this is that the author (Alan Watt) deals mainly in facts, and believes that we see different sides to political faces - that the Democrats and Republicans are pretty much looking at the same direction, but with different slants, yet all aiming in the same direction. You just need to look at the current Father/Son; Husband/Wife monarchy in the US right now. Ruling families in the spotlight - the white sqares, ruling families a few feet back in the darkness - the black squares. Misleading and always changing face - that's our leaders.
Dig deeper, and the wonder behind these untouchables who shape our word. our culture can be seen as downloaded in a sense. Memes spreading and conditioning.
The site has an off-putting HTML, but deals in opinion on facts, primarily, not theories. Have a good look - there's much of interest once you get beyond the world-weary voice of this historian. Even if you read it as science fiction, it's enlightening - it could , even be read as science fact, which much of it is.
http://www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com/
I womder whether we can access the H.G. Wells book online. Lots of ancient texts are increasingly available:)
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