May 1, 2012

1. I saw in this month’s SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN an article entitled “A Unified Physics?

New Efforts to Unite Quantum Mechanics with Einstein's Relativity.” Interesting–scientists, like people of religion, try to find a point of unity in the midst of intense personal belief.

2. Book reviews are being churned out across the planet about Robert Caro's new book PASSAGE TWO POWER. This is his fourth installment on the life of Lyndon Johnson. This volume covers a brief period: from 1958 through 1963, and concludes when Johnson becomes president after JFK’s assassination. I've got to admit I cannot wait to read it. Caro is 76. Here’s hoping he has the strength and good health to complete his work. There have been famous examples of biographers who were unable to do so. Two who come instantly to mind are Douglass Southall Freeman in his series on George Washington, and, more recently, William Manchester and his biography of Winston Churchill.

3. Guilty pleasure: I have now finished the first two seasons of the FX TV series JUSTIFIED. I checked out all of the DVDs from our local public library, which made it nice in that I did not have to use up my selections at Netflix. Timothy Olyphant always makes a great lawman, but in the second season, Jacksonville, Texas native Margot Martindale

steals the show. No wonder she won an Emmy. The series was intense enough to make the hours on the treadmill pass by rapidly.

4. All right, how many of you put money down that the Texas Rangers would be leading the Anaheim Angels of California by nine games by the end of April? On top of that, who would've imagined that Albert Pujols would not have a homerun in the entire month of April. Just for the record, he will start hitting soon. I feel confident that by season's end, he will have his fair share of home runs.

            b. It makes me nervous that the consensus of the experts of baseball is that the Rangers are MLB’s best team.

            c. I like it that the Cowboys traded up to select Morris Claiborne as the sixth pick in the draft. If the Cowboys secondary stays healthy, and they get good play out of their offense line play, they might have a shot to make a nice run in the playoffs.

            d. The Mavs are 0-2 in their series with Oklahoma City. This does not concern me because I have already written this year off. I hope they can make some healthy signings in the off-season.

            e. I used to be a huge fan of the Dallas Stars. Are they still a franchise?

            f. The Cleveland Browns did Colt McCoy a huge favor by drafting Brandon Weedon. Lacking a good offensive line and quality receivers, the Browns can fail offensively with Weedon for a while. Trent Richardson notwithstanding, Weedon (who is a few years older than McCoy) will not succeed until the other offensive needs of the Browns are met. By that time, it might be too late. McCoy, healthy and competitive, will be ready to lead the way.

5. I’ve never seen an episode of the TV show COMMUNITY, but from what I read, it sounds like another metaphor for the church as described by the New Testament.

*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.

1. I had a chance to watch the greatest western of all time last week with my two oldest daughters. Haleigh, Abby, and I watched LONESOME DOVE. This is the fourth time I have seen it; the last time was 1998.

            I had forgotten how good the cinematography was in this mini-series. The actors’ work with the horses and cattle, and the stunt persons’ work was phenomenal.

            Of course, this series is where Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall sealed their legends. Still, others in the ensemble cast such as Danny Glover, Ricky Schroeder, Diane Lane, and Chris Cooper gave strong performances.

            None of that would've mattered without a strong story. Larry McMurtry's novel deserved the Pulitzer Prize it won back in 1985. If you know me you know that I don't normally read fiction, but I made an exception years ago, in this case. I found the book to be an enormously pleasant read.

            I am glad to say that my girls enjoyed the miniseries as well. I would like to thank my wife for allowing Haleigh and Abby to finally watch this miniseries.

2. A couple of years ago, the magazine TEXAS MONTHLY did a retrospective look at Lonesome Dove in commemoration of its 25th anniversary. The piece was entertaining, but one of my favorite lines came from a friend of Larry McMurtry, who was commenting on how long it took for the literary elite in New York City to accept McMurtry as a peer: “People in New York have extremely narrow horizons. The parochialism (narrow-mindedness) of the center is always greater than that of the provinces. In the provinces, they keep an eye on the center, but in the center they just gaze lovingly at themselves with both eyes.” I think that is an outstanding observation.

3. One of the great stories from the magazine article began with Tommy Lee Jones noting, with amusement, that an executive from CBS (the network which was going to broadcast Lonesome Dove) called one of the producers of L.D. to ask, “Do we have to use cows?”

            It turns out that CBS was astonished by the cost of the using cattle in the series. A meeting was called, and Bill Wittliff, one of the producers attended.

            At the conference, an executive asked him, “Bill, listen to this. What if they start the drive and right away there's that storm and the cattle scatter? You're the writer; why not let the cows go and have [Captain] Call (Tommy Lee Jones’ character) say, ‘Let's just keep going.’ Then you have all those guys going to Montana, doing all that stuff, but we don't have to pay for the cattle.”

            Wittliff was stunned. Intending to show subtle sarcasm, he responded, “Here’s a thought: why don't we just forget the cattle and get a herd of Angora goats? They can be the first guys to drive a herd of goats to Montana.”

            To his dismay, one of the executives snapped his fingers and said, “Yeah, goats!” Then Wittliff was forced to admit, “No, that's a joke.”

            Fortunately, saner heads prevailed, and the cattle stayed in the series. The rest is history.

            Let's be honest: would you have tuned into the Lonesome Dove had it been about driving a herd of Angora goats all the way from Texas to Montana? Me, either.

4. One last story on Lonesome Dove. In September of 1998, Judy, Haleigh, Abby, and I were vacationing. We stopped at Archer City, TX–the hometown of Larry McMurtry. This was my family's concession to me. Knowing how much I liked books, the family dropped me off at one of Larry McMurtry’s bookstores in Archer City (he had four huge stores there at the time.)

            I was looking around at the books when lo and behold, I spotted the great man himself. He was sweating profusely unpacking boxes of books. (This was definitely one hands-on owner.)

            Sitting near him was a young man, in his 20s, holding a pen and a note pad. He was a graduate student working on his Ph.D. in English. He obviously wanted to take notes.

            He peppered McMurtry with dozens of questions attempting to infiltrate the McMurtry's mind. This young man was hoping to discover the hidden meaning behind Lonesome Dove.

            McMurtry was clearly disinterested. He may have even been a little irritated. As I recall, McMurtry at one point looked at the student and said something to the effect of, “People are always asking me about the metaphors and symbols of Lonesome Dove. There are none. It's just a book.” He then went back to unpacking his books.

            I continued my browsing and the young student left a few minutes later. A short time later, Judy and the girls dropped by to pick me up. I told Judy, “You are not going to believe this, but Larry McMurtry is inside the store. Let me bring the girls inside. Maybe he will let me take a photo with them.”

            At that time, Haleigh was five and Abby was three. I approached Mr. McMurtry and asked, “Mr. McMurtry, would you mind if I take a photo of you with my two girls.”

            His whole demeanor changed. “I would be glad to,” he smiled. He could not have been nicer. I took two or three photos just to make sure I got one that turned out well.

            Somewhere in our collection of photographs, I have a picture of my two oldest girls standing next to one of the great American authors of the 20th century.

5. I think I mentioned recently that I have started listening to William Manchester's first volume in his biography on Winston Churchill—THE LAST LION. It’s been good so far. One of the best lines was when Manchester quoted Churchill’s colorful description of what it was like to write a book–“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”

            I did not find this to be true with the one book that I wrote years ago. I liked the process very much. Of course, to this day no company has wanted to publish that book. Maybe that is why.

            On the other hand, I have found his description to be very accurate describing my experience writing a doctoral thesis. I am proud to say there are five bound copies of that earth-shaking work in this world—spread out over five different locations. If terrorists for some reason target all five locations, it is safe to say the world will be deprived of a great labor of literature.