Comments on: A tale of two cities’ disappearing

By: Steve Block

Steve Block — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:08:28 +0000

Darn! We don’t really have any gigs scheduled in April at this time. But it will get me thinking about where we could play in the Bay Area. We are really a local band in Sacramento although we enjoy a good road-trip when the opportunity presents itself.

By: Mr. Crotchety

Mr. Crotchety — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:53:51 +0000

What about April? I’ll be in SF mid April.

By: Steve Block

Steve Block — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:41:37 +0000

Thanks Mr. C-good recommendation.

I think Patton saw himself as an inter-generational soldier, if not literally by believing in reincarnation, then certainly figuratively-as the prototypical warrior who pops up when we need him throughout history. Patton is reported to have been thoroughly confident, yes arrogant, understanding through his knowledge of history, or from actually believing he was there, that he would succeed because he had the knowledge and experience to do so. No repeating bad war experiences in history for him!

The other war-hero type is the common person, like most of the foot soldiers in WWII, who knew they had never been there before, had no experience, but totally rose to the occasion which was sufficiently compelling to bring the best out in them and succeed. I don’t know where Scipio fits in and am satisfied to wait for the book. I am really interested in how this all turns out. (or I guess learning how it turned out).

With all this discussion about the Baby Boomers, I must tell you that my cover band, Betty& the Boomers (no joke, it is the name of the band) is playing a fundraiser at the 4th Street Bar and Grill in downtown Sacramento on March 14, 2009 from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. I will leave all access passes at the door for AK, Mr. C, Mrs. S, and all the Hannibal Bloglodytes who are in town that night.

rock n’ roll baby!!

By: Mr. Crotchety

Mr. Crotchety — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:55:21 +0000

Ohmygosh. You’ve got to read the Generations book. In fact, AK is the same Archetype as Patton (as am I) – being slightly too young to be a Boomer. Now, unfortunately (and I’m not making this up) our generation’s ‘constellation’ is moving into a time period (~ the Fourth Turning) when it’s time (forgive me) to clean up the mess left by my parent’s generation (too young to fight in WWII, overprotected during and after) and the Boomers’. Our children (mine and AK’s) will step in and fight the good fight while the Boomer’s provide the moral vision (ironically), and AK’s generation will kick ass and take names (like Patton). Patton, in today’s vernacular was not politically correct and from my reading, not cosmopolitan or charming (fair and noble, yes). Benjamin Franklin is the same archetypal generation as the Boomers, George Washington was not (he’s the same archetype as Patton and AK). The Strauss and Howe books don’t extend to Scipio’s generation, but it might be interesting to extrapolate.

My wife’s Great Grandfather (definitely the WWII, American-Dream Guy), who is 93, teaches a course at Dartmouth about this. He has a ‘bird’s eye view’ of all four of the archetypes. He buys it. Very cool stuff.

By: andreaskluth

andreaskluth — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:57:41 +0000

Oh my, I remember that scene now. I also remember that, watching it, I cringed at the word “Arabs”. The Arabs would be there in time, of course, but not for another 900 years.
I’m not sure how to compare Scipio to Patton. that’s because I forget what our view of Patton is. But Scipio, in my book, is a noble, cosmopolitan, talented, charming and fair character, who is also (because of all this) rather naive when it comes to his own personal enemies in Rome and their petty means.

By: Steve Block

Steve Block — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:42:22 +0000

Andreas:

You previously commented that you were born in the wrong generation. I remembered that Patton (at least as described in the movie), handled the generational thing by believing that he was there, at many great battles throughout history. From the movie:

The Carthaginians defending the city were attacked by three Roman legions. The Carthaginians were proud and brave but they couldn’t hold. They were massacred. Arab women stripped them of their tunics and their swords and lances. The soldiers lay naked in the sun. Two thousand years ago. I was here.

I wonder if your treatment of Scipio in your coming bookis at all comparable to the legend we know as George C. Patton. Was he our Hannibal in WW II?

By: andreaskluth

andreaskluth — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:21:41 +0000

Not actually from the death of Alexander in my book, Joel. I start with Hannibal and Hamilcar, because I'm describing a personal and invididualstory. But yes, through to the sack of Carthage, and in each chapter with parallels to notable figures throughout history up to our times. Sounds ambitious, I know, but it's much easier (to write and to read) than you would think. And 110,000 words only, by the way.

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:54:36 +0000

So you are going to cover events from the death of Alexander through the rise of Rome, 3 Punic wars and run parallels to notable figures throughout history up to our times? With your attention to detail, this could span 2000 pages easy…

Quite a bit to bite in a first book. I like the ambition (: