I backtracked a bit to finish up the completed, published canon of Tintin adventures today with Flight 714, a strange and entertaining book that takes Tintin into the realm of mental telepathy and aliens, though it’s not quite as corny as it sounds. I read the book on my lunch break on the Santa Monica […]
Swing Wing
September 22nd, 2009 · Comments Off on Swing Wing
Tags: Books · Los Angeles · Nostalgia
The Jolly Follies
September 21st, 2009 · Comments Off on The Jolly Follies
Two signs that we’re nearing the end: we heard closing arguments in the case, and Tintin’s wearing jeans. In fact, it’s a little premature; I grabbed the wrong book on the way out the door this morning, the last completed Tintin book, Tintin and the Picaros, instead of the one I should have, Flight 714. […]
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The Rules of the Game
September 20th, 2009 · Comments Off on The Rules of the Game
The Castafiore Emerald was certainly our least favorite of the Tintin books as kids. I remember consciously skipping over the book as I picked through the shelf to choose one to re-read; it just didn’t interest very much, and I think I was a little turned off by Tintin’s gaze on the cover, as though […]
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The apex
September 19th, 2009 · Comments Off on The apex
Tintin in Tibet almost needs no introduction. It’s perhaps the best-known of the Tintin books, and was the author’s favorite of his creations. It’s unique among the canon as a book with very few characters, no villains, and no crime or intrigue; it’s simply the story of Tintin’s steadfast search for his friend Chang, lost […]
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Enter Skut
September 18th, 2009 · Comments Off on Enter Skut
Tintin books of this period, in the height of the Cold War, seemed to be filled with political intrigue rather than simply adventure, and in The Red Sea Sharks, the topics are arms trafficking, the slave trade, and a Middle Eastern rebellion. As the canon gets larger, HergĂ© also takes every opportunity he has to […]
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Back to Borduria
September 17th, 2009 · Comments Off on Back to Borduria
Another disjointed day at jury duty means I read this book at the table at home, rather than at lunch in some Santa Monica location as usual. The Calculus Affair may be my favorite Tintin book, a page-turning political adventure full of action and intrigue, hidden foes and tight escapes. The book returns to the […]
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Ice on the Moon
September 16th, 2009 · Comments Off on Ice on the Moon
While it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of seeing the first man to walk on the moon, decades before Apollo 11, Destination Moon strikes me as being interesting for a few other reasons. It’s the most artistically daring of the books so far, with a much more varied landscape of layouts than […]
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Keep your eye on Wolff
September 15th, 2009 · Comments Off on Keep your eye on Wolff
So quickly after the Unicorn / Rackham two-fer, we’re on to the other best-known, most admired set in the canon, the Moon books. Destination Moon, like Secret of the Unicorn, is all about preparation, getting ready for the voyage, and leaves us hanging at the end, even more than the earlier book does, as the […]
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Sneezing powder
September 14th, 2009 · Comments Off on Sneezing powder
My third week (really?) of jury duty began today, and after a few long runs this weekend, my legs were pretty tired on the bike ride to Santa Monica, but it’s probably good for me, or something. I rode down Main Street and to the beach to read at lunch. It’s amazing how different the […]
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The magic waterfall
September 13th, 2009 · 1 Comment
It’s been a busy weekend, with two long-ish runs and a few hours spent at work trying to make up for lost time. It was the end of the day today by the time I had gotten around to today’s Tintin, so it was some bedtime reading. This sequel to The Seven Crystal Balls continues […]
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Stay away from the windows
September 12th, 2009 · Comments Off on Stay away from the windows
HergĂ© followed up the two part “sunken treasure” series with another two-parter, the “Incan curse” duo of The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun. The book is a real page-turner, but it’s interesting to me that it is almost exclusively a part of the two-book set; on its own, there’s not a whole […]
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The gang’s all there
September 11th, 2009 · Comments Off on The gang’s all there
Since our case wasn’t being tried today, I headed into work for the first time in a few weeks. I’m having to take time off unpaid as I’ve gone over the ten days of jury duty that work will cover, so every day I can go in, I will, to minimize the damage. In Red […]
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The golden age
September 10th, 2009 · Comments Off on The golden age
Today’s book, The Secret of the Unicorn, is one of the biggies. It’s half of a two-parter that is probably one of the best-known and most beloved sets in the series. It is classic middle-period Tintin, and it’s probably one of the first books we read when we were getting into the series. Like the […]
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At the pip, the time is…
September 9th, 2009 · Comments Off on At the pip, the time is…
Another bike commute to jury duty today. An unexpectedly long lunch meant I got to really enjoy the awful Euro dance music coming from the Dance Zone kiosk on the Third Street Promenade today, where I chose to park my bike, eat my lunch, and read today’s adventure, The Shooting Star. I think the strongest […]
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Enter Haddock
September 8th, 2009 · Comments Off on Enter Haddock
After having pumped my tires on Thursday, cleaned the bike on Friday, and purchased a new lock cable on Saturday, I rode to jury duty for the first time – rode my bike, period, for the first time in a long time. The commute was not bad at all, just 20 minutes, much of it […]
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