Syd Field's screenwriting paradigm

For those familiar with Syd Field's screenwriting paradigm, we have arrived at Plot Point 1 with President George Bush and Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki signing the “Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship”. There is now no turning back for the U.S. (protagonist) in Iraq and the first act has come to a close. The second act opens with the rising action of Ms Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

Had she won the upcoming election in Pakistan, the relative safe harbor provided al-Qaeda by President Pervez Musharraf would have been jeopardized as she had shown herself to be effective in dealing with them. The assassination ensures a continuation of the status quo. President Bush has spoken out for keeping the election on schedule, which ensures a Musharraf victory inasmuch as Ms Bhutto's party will be unlikely to replace her with a viable candidate in the coming days. This means that al-Qaeda can be counted on for actions that can be used to leverage further acts contributing to the rising action leading us to the Midpoint (aka Page 60), which is bound to be a corker.

The old Hollywood moguls couldn't have written it any better.

Notes on an aromatherapy card

If the title of this entry has a vaguely familiar ring to it, perhaps you were a fan of Alan Malamud's Notes on a Scorecard column he wrote for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner beginning in 1974. As one read his columns, it was evident that Alan was first a man, then an enthusiast and finally a writer. The same, I think, could be said of Ernest Hemingway.

'Mud', as his friends called him provided perspective that I now find lacking. In a similar manner, Henry N. Manney III offered a sometimes whimsical and at other times savagely funny take on the European automotive scene for Road & Track magazine. He, too, was an owner of a Ferrari GTO and shared his unique wit on any number of his experiences ranging from a drive in an Alfa Romeo TZ1 to a trip to the Île du Levant. Denis Jenkinson did his reporting for Motor Sport magazine providing race coverage and his Letter from the Continent describing his adventures between races in his beloved E-type Jaguar.

These gentlemen were irreplaceable, which might explain why nobody has filled their shoes. The sort of commentary they provided, shaded and filtered by their distinctive personalities, has been replaced by more generic personalities involved in the redistribution of press releases.

I engaged in these somewhat nostalgic thoughts as I sat poolside in the hotel's sous-sol health spa reading from an aromatherapy menu while waiting for my massage and sipping the extraordinary cocktail of fruit juices they offer to anyone wearing a white robe and terrycloth slippers.

I felt I was on the cusp of some sort of understanding when my phone vibrated and it was Beigbeder. That conversation certainly put things into perspective.