a hatful of sky

The Last Flag?

2012-02-12T19:29:00.000Z

I've just finished reading Darryl Ponicsan's Last Flag Flying, the sequel to his earlier 1970s book The Last Detail which was adapted into one of my favourite films. The events of the The Last Detail - in which two US Navy sailors, Billy "Bad Ass" Buddusky and "Mule" Mulhall, escort young cadet Larry Meadows to a Naval prison, the boy having been sentenced to eight years for the petty crime of stealing $40 from a charity box - are relived and repeated. This time the three - now some thirty-five years older - are escorting home the body of Meadows' son, a Marine killed during the second Iraq war.

Last Flag Flying is a strange kind of sequel. At the end of the novel of The Last Detail, Buddusky was killed in a drunken brawl (this was changed for the film, and both endings work well). In writing the sequel Ponicsan was therefore obviously faced with a dilemma: whether to write the book without Buddusky, or to somehow resurrect him. Given that he was the most entertaining and interesting character, there really was no other choice but to bring him back to life. Thus Ponicsan re-writes history: Buddusky was not killed after all, but severely injured, and received a pay-off from the Navy to keep it quiet. It's an awkward plot device, and I feel the book never truly recovers from this premise. For one thing, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and for another, it almost entirely robs the first novel of its dramatic, tragic ending.

Last Flag Flying is nevertheless a worthwhile read. Getting past the explanation for why Buddusky is still alive, it is the story of three men who are once again united for a terrible purpose. The men are older, and each has changed in many ways, but they are also still very much the same as before. Fate - or rather, the Internet - has brought them together again, and they must now finally face up to both their bitter pasts and their uncertain futures.

It's a very political book: Ponicsan is scathing about the reasons for the war.The tragedy of the death of Meadows' son looms large. It was an unnecessary, avoidable death, and of course Meadow Jnr is not the only victim. Whilst Ponicsan might not always make the subtlest of points, it is hard not to agree with his point of view. There were - are - many things wrong with the invasion of Iraq, and the price of war is always paid not by the men and women in charge but by those on the front line and their families.

The book raises the interesting question of whether it is a good idea to resurrect characters? To go back to the past and reinvent it for the present? Despite Last Flag Flying's problems, it is a less awkward sequel than Winston Groom's Gump & Co was to Forrest Gump. Groom had to make serious u-turns to write a sequel that conformed to the successful film adaption of his first novel, and the result is a very messy read. By the end of Last Flag Flying however I was sad to see the conclusion of the trio's adventures. As short as the two Flag books are - less than 350 pages in total - a lot of ground is covered nevertheless, and I had grown to be extremely fond of Buddusky, Mulhall and Meadows. I enjoyed catching up with the three men, whose lives seemed to have been stopped too short at the conclusion of The Last Detail. It really would be overkill should Ponicsan ever write a third Flag book, but nevertheless I would be delighted to read it.

The very idea of a sequel to The Last Detail should have sent alarm bells ringing, but overall I'm certainly glad for having read Last Flag Flying, and would recommend both books to anyone. Neither book is perfect, but then few books are. Ponicsan was brave to even attempt a sequel after such a long interval, and even if the result is uneven, we should not forget just how difficult it is to recapture the past.

At The Mercy Of The Internet

2012-02-07T09:52:00.001Z

How quickly things have changed! Not too many years ago our homes and offices were quite capable of running happily without access to the Internet. Instead of downloading or streaming films we went to the rental stores. Instead of accessing 24-hour news updates at a single click, we read daily newspapers or monthly magazines. Our offices were slower - less focused on speed. Whether at work or at home there was less pressure to be always available - or to be constantly connected.

And now? We rely so much on the Internet, with its speedy data transfers and widened communication possibilities, that we are simply unable to function without it. A break in the connection means that our offices grind to a halt. No longer do we receive the updates we crave. We feel cut off from the world - unable to communicate. And it only takes a few minutes - seconds, even - for the irritation to begin.

It's sad in a way, because, after all, the world did function prior to the World Wide Web. Technology has given us much. We should indeed be thankful for its richness and the benefits we derive. But perhaps we should also remember how to exist without it. Just in case...

The Importance of Questions

2012-01-21T19:39:00.000Z

I've just finished reading Mark Kurlansky's book What?, subtitled Are These Really the Twenty Most Important Questions in Human History? It is a short book of questions - literally, for every sentence (bar the last) takes the form of a question.

Kurlansky's aim is to get people to ask more questions, and I fully support his quest. Too few people ask too few questions. If we lived in a world where more questions were asked, perhaps we would not take so many things for granted. Or perhaps we would be driven mad by the lack of answers. In any case, it is only through questions that we can discover: how much we do or do not know, how much we want to know, what we are, who we are, even why we are. It is an essential part of our development - as individuals, as humans - to ask questions. People who don't question are stagnating. A world that is not being questioned is standing still.

So question. Question everything. Question yourself, and others. How? That is up to you...

Stewart Lee and Margaret Thatcher - A wasted opportunity

2012-01-15T10:05:00.001Z

So, Stewart Lee has written a piece for the Observer regarding the new Thatcher film, The Iron Lady, which can be found on the Guardian website here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/15/margaret-thatcher-iron-lady-ira

In it he argues against its soft portrayal of the controversial leader, which is completely right. It's as if the filmmakers wanted a story, but not hers, and so selectively crafted a film from the bits they wanted. Shame on them.

But Lee fatally undermines his position in two respects. Firstly, he admits that he hasn't bothered to watch the film, which is quite incredible. On what basis can you judge a film you haven't even made the effort to see? This leads on to the second flaw: perhaps if he had bothered to see the film he would have known that Thatcher is played by Meryl Streep, not Glenn Close as he claims. That's a substantial, embarrassing error. It would be like me confusing Lee with his old comedy partner Richard Herring. Sloppy, disappointing.

How easy it is to undermine your own arguments. If someone wishes to critique another person's work they should at least have the decency to view said work and complete the most basic of checks on supposedly factual information. Anything less results in weaknesses that ruin the writer's arguments, or, in Lee's own words, "a tragic wasted opportunity". And that means another victory for the Thatcherites. Shudder.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography - Walter Isaacson

2012-01-09T12:56:00.000Z

I'm very nearly finished reading Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, and all I can say is that it is simply one of the most inspiring books I have ever read.

His story is a remarkable one - founding Apple, being kicked out, starting another company which is then purchased by Apple thus returning him to the fold, and then overseeing a spectacular reversal of fortunes to transform Apple from nearly bankrupt to holding a cash reserved of $40bn. All while managing to establish Pixar as the best CGI animation film studio in the world.

Job's persistent, unremitting focus on creating great products rather than making money was the complete opposite approach to every other tech company, and this is why Apple has grown so impressively over the past 10-15 years. And yes, it's true that Apple products are expensive - overpriced, even. But they are lovingly-crafted works of art. Every millimetre of every Apple product has been pored over and carefully considered. And it is art that actually has function, which is no mean feat. So yes, the cost to the purchaser is high - but if something has worth, there must be a price to pay.

It's a relatively balanced book, too. Isaacson is not afraid of highlighting Jobs' flaws - he expected the best and refused to accept anything less than perfection, resulting in an abusive management style that burned many people over the years. There's no excuse for this type of behaviour, no matter what results are obtained. But Jobs also got many things right, and it is these things that we should choose to remember. The book certainly does raise the question of how Apple can maintain its success following Jobs' untimely death, but hopefully he has left them with enough of his spirit.

Why is the book so inspiring? What elevates it above being a simply great biography? Because it successfully relays Jobs' message that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right - no matter how much time it takes, or how much extra it costs. If you cut corners - whether it's designing a tablet computer or entering a marriage - it will never be "right". It will always be a failure. And to shift shoddy products onto the world is nothing short of a sin. You are selling yourself, and everyone else, short. Your potential is unfulfilled, and you are wasting everyone's time, including your own.

Now that Steve Jobs is dead, we are the ones who have to keep his dream of perfection alive. So go and do your best.