New Directions

Isn't that the shitty name of the Glee Club in Glee? I think so. Anyway...

Time sucks. I wish I had time in the day to do everything I want to, but between work, family, friends, and other obligations, my blog has suffered over the past month or so. After a record-breaking February, traffic took a major tumble in March. Part of that, I'm sure has to do with movie malaise after the Oscars, but I contribute the bulk of it to a shocking lack of output on my part.

So I've spent the last few weeks thinking about how I can become more active again. The answer: Less full-length reviews. Gone (at least for now) are the days where I'll write 700 words about every movie I see. Instead, I'll be introducing a number of new series which will include more news and capsule reviews than anything. I'll try to pump out 3-4 per week.

On Mondays, I'll write my "News Desk" column, offering thoughts on the news from the past week, including box office numbers, any and all things related to Oscar, and upcoming new and DVD releases.

Tuesdays will be a "From the Vault" column, where I'll offer capsule reviews of any older films I've seen. If I haven't gotten around to seeing any, I'll either take the day off or just talk about something that's on my mind. Expect this column to appear and disappear most, depending on my schedule.

Wednesdays will be all about "The Art House Corner." Independent movies are my favorite to watch and write about, but they are a time suck when I look at how they do traffic-wise. So for this column, I'll talk about all things independent/foreign/doc, preview anything coming up that I'm excited for, and briefly review anything that I've seen that fits in this category.

Thursdays will be devoted to "Your Thoughts," a discussion post. I'll introduce a topic (ideally, one that will be related to a new release), give my brief opinion, and throw it out to you.

Gotta get down on Friday, so I'll typically take a day off there.

Saturday will feature a full-length review, either of a new release that I saw or something else that struck me as worthy of the time and words.

And Sunday will remain Top 10 day.

Finally, I'll be doing one longer feature at the end of every month. The two I have in mind right now are "Director's Spotlight," which will involve watching a number of films from a certain director's filmography, rating and comparing them, and talking more about the director's strengths and weaknesses. The other feature is "The Gold Standard," where I'll cover a certain Oscar category, watch all the films from that category over the course of the month, and discuss them together in one long post. Obviously, both projects will take a while, hence the only monthly appearance of them both.

I hope this proves to be interesting for you and I both. I'll miss writing full reviews so often, but I just haven't been feeling as inspired lately, and I think a new gameplan will bring the best out of my writing.

Feel free to leave some thoughts on the new plan for the blog, as well as any ideas you had for posts.

Thanks,
John

You Never Forget Your First... PLANET OF THE APES

As regular readers of this blog may recall from a few posts back, I recently acquired an HD television set and all of the Planet of the Apes feature films on Blu-Ray disc. Re-watching the original movie in high-def reminded me of the first time I saw it; not in the theater (I was only about three years old when Planet of the Apes had its theatrical run), but on television... around 1973 (I think). 

Obviously, I was already familiar with the franchise, but I'd never actually seen an Apes movie. I'm pretty sure this was before the television series, so I'm thinking it was December of 1973. I haven't been able to track down any network TV schedules going that far back to confirm the dates, but I know it was in December, because my parents were going to a Christmas party. For some reason, they had been unable to secure the services of a babysitter for the evening, so I was informed that I was going to accompany them. It was a "grown-up" party (cocktails), so I was to spend the duration in an upstairs bedroom at their host's home, sleeping, until they were ready to go home.

I balked. For at least a week (since the latest TV Guide had arrived - even at eight years-old, I made a weekly habit of scouring each issue with a fine-tooth comb for cool stuff to watch) I had been plotting to watch The Planet of the Apes on TV - but it was airing the same night as their stupid party. 

After much bargaining, my mom finally called her friends to see if they had a TV in that room. They did, so it was agreed that I could stay up and watch the movie while my parents enjoyed their party downstairs. I'm sure I had to make some sort of concessions and/or promises of my own, though I no longer recall what they might have been. To seal the deal, my mom bought me a Planet of the Apes coloring book ( the one pictured with this post).

That coloring book was the first piece of Apes memorabilia I owned - and I recently discovered, while prowling through my parents' basement,  that I still own it. Once the TV series - and then the animated Return To The Planet of the Apes - debuted, I remember picking up other bits and pieces of Apes merchandise: trading cards from the TV show, a Mego gorilla and Cornelius (or was it Galen?), the Power Records comic book adaptation of Escape from The Planet of the Apes, one of those little Galen figures with a parachute, etc.

You know, I just had another memory: if I recall correctly, the night before the cartoon show premiered, I slept over at my friend Mark Usher's house. He had a bunch of Mego POTA figures, and after we watched the first episode of the cartoon series, I'm pretty sure we spent the rest of the afternoon in his backyard working out our own continuation of the story with his Megos. Did I mention that Mark had that awesome POTA Ape Fortress playset?

It was great being a kid back then, before the Internet, movies-on-demand, and videogames, when you had to actually put some planning and effort into watching a movie like Planet of the Apes on television, or arrange your activities around the TV schedule. When cartoons were pretty much only on TV on Saturday mornings (no 24-hour cartoon channels, back then!), and playtime involved using your imagination instead of sitting in front of a monitor with a controller in your hand....

Don't get me wrong - I love my vast video collection, Netflix Instant and video game consoles, but then, I got all that stuff as an adult. If I'd had those things as a kid, would I still have memories like these? Would I even remember the first time I saw Planet of the Apes (or Star Wars, or Star Trek- TMP)? I kinda doubt it....

You Never Forget Your First... PLANET OF THE APES

As regular readers of this blog may recall from a few posts back, I recently acquired an HD television set and all of the Planet of the Apes feature films on Blu-Ray disc. Re-watching the original movie in high-def reminded me of the first time I saw it; not in the theater (I was only about three years old when Planet of the Apes had its theatrical run), but on television... around 1973 (I think). 

Obviously, I was already familiar with the franchise, but I'd never actually seen an Apes movie. I'm pretty sure this was before the television series, so I'm thinking it was December of 1973. I haven't been able to track down any network TV schedules going that far back to confirm the dates, but I know it was in December, because my parents were going to a Christmas party. For some reason, they had been unable to secure the services of a babysitter for the evening, so I was informed that I was going to accompany them. It was a "grown-up" party (cocktails), so I was to spend the duration in an upstairs bedroom at their host's home, sleeping, until they were ready to go home.

I balked. For at least a week (since the latest TV Guide had arrived - even at eight years-old, I made a weekly habit of scouring each issue with a fine-tooth comb for cool stuff to watch) I had been plotting to watch The Planet of the Apes on TV - but it was airing the same night as their stupid party. 

After much bargaining, my mom finally called her friends to see if they had a TV in that room. They did, so it was agreed that I could stay up and watch the movie while my parents enjoyed their party downstairs. I'm sure I had to make some sort of concessions and/or promises of my own, though I no longer recall what they might have been. To seal the deal, my mom bought me a Planet of the Apes coloring book ( the one pictured with this post).

That coloring book was the first piece of Apes memorabilia I owned - and I recently discovered, while prowling through my parents' basement,  that I still own it. Once the TV series - and then the animated Return To The Planet of the Apes - debuted, I remember picking up other bits and pieces of Apes merchandise: trading cards from the TV show, a Mego gorilla and Cornelius (or was it Galen?), the Power Records comic book adaptation of Escape from The Planet of the Apes, one of those little Galen figures with a parachute, etc.

You know, I just had another memory: if I recall correctly, the night before the cartoon show premiered, I slept over at my friend Mark Usher's house. He had a bunch of Mego POTA figures, and after we watched the first episode of the cartoon series, I'm pretty sure we spent the rest of the afternoon in his backyard working out our own continuation of the story with his Megos. Did I mention that Mark had that awesome POTA Ape Fortress playset?

It was great being a kid back then, before the Internet, movies-on-demand, and videogames, when you had to actually put some planning and effort into watching a movie like Planet of the Apes on television, or arrange your activities around the TV schedule. When cartoons were pretty much only on TV on Saturday mornings (no 24-hour cartoon channels, back then!), and playtime involved using your imagination instead of sitting in front of a monitor with a controller in your hand....

Don't get me wrong - I love my vast video collection, Netflix Instant and video game consoles, but then, I got all that stuff as an adult. If I'd had those things as a kid, would I still have memories like these? Would I even remember the first time I saw Planet of the Apes (or Star Wars, or Star Trek- TMP)? I kinda doubt it....

Kirk & Camelot!

Here's a little April Fool's Day frivolity from Space: 1970. No pranks, just another very well edited spoof video.Enjoy!

Kirk & Camelot!

Here's a little April Fool's Day frivolity from Space: 1970. No pranks, just another very well edited spoof video.Enjoy!

blue lace dress, autumn evening light

On Tuesday we had the most beautiful day – warm and sunshiny and really quite summery, if summery was a good thing, of course. It started off freezing, though, and I was up very early for work wearing layers of winter things and my big winter coat! This later gave way – it had to! – to summer dresses and sandals. While I wonder if saying so could have me proven wrong, I'll do it anyway: I think this was the last really hot day we'll have before the cold weather settles in, settles down and stays put, until next spring. To celebrate, I went for untrammelled girly-ness, wearing a dress with lace and trims and flounce – and sandals without socks! I love the socks and sandals (and tights and sandals/open toe shoes) look and have worn it for years, and love that it has become such a trend. Apart from liking how it looks, I like how it feels; shoes usually rub! I have a couple of pairs that don't rub, though, and these are one of them. I'd like to take this opportunity to show that there is isn't anything hidden beneath the socks or tights that almost always cover my sun-starved tootsies.









The late afternoon-early evening light was especially beautiful, in a way that only the early Autumn here can be. The sun is now so much lower in the sky, and, true to cliche, everything really was bathed in golden light. It felt warm like summer, but flowers had bloomed and fallen, and now curled up, tinged with brown. It feels so special when it is like this, and I tried my best to capture it on camera, elusive as it is. I wonder if I ever could do this? I was heading of for dinner at my mother-in-law's, and as we drove across town the light kept intensifying – it was all I could do to not insist we get out of the car to take more photos. We went along the Yarra at a particularly golden time. I think I might start taking pictures from the car, and slap loads of slightly blurry who-can-tell-whats on here, framed with the windscreen and the wingy mirror. Or maybe I won't ;)









I think this might just be the closest I can get to a candid pic of myself, when I am taking my own picture with the timer and tripod… I was playing to PJ Harvey's Let England Shake, and, having pressed the shutter and stood in the spot I hoped was in focus, I tuned out the beep-beep of the camera and was left standing, listening. It really is an amazing album. The best I have heard for years. It also really suited the afternoon and the light and the magic. I feel the need to watch Wickerman again this weekend! Feel the heathen goodness…







Oh, yes; I should add that I have been getting by on around 3 hours of sleep a night, and by this Tuesday I was feeling completely hollow, like having a hangover without the good times before it. I am wearing my supposedly awesome concealer – $90 at the shiny department stores, $30 at the bargain chemists with the alarmingly bright photocopier A4 print out ads – and, while it's good, it's not magical. I look like a racoon! Just without their fluffy stealthy cuteness x



blue 1970s sun dress :: thrifted
wooden platform sandals :: sportsgirl, 2008 (& this leads me to another post... soon)

Poll Problems!

Very strange: this afternoon, at least a hundred votes seem to have disappeared from the current Space: 1970 "Saturday Morning Sci-Fi" Poll tabulations. Obviously, there's some weird - and damned frustrating - glitch in the Blogger Polls at fault.

I guess that means everyone can vote again.

Poll Problems!

Very strange: this afternoon, at least a hundred votes seem to have disappeared from the current Space: 1970 "Saturday Morning Sci-Fi" Poll tabulations. Obviously, there's some weird - and damned frustrating - glitch in the Blogger Polls at fault.

I guess that means everyone can vote again.

Captain's bLog: 0331.11

•  March was the biggest month ever for Space: 1970 in terms of traffic and number of posts (what can I say, I've been on a roll - even if most of them were art posts). Admittedly, there was a bit of recycling - I slipped a couple of re-posts in there; so many new readers were hitting the site that I wanted to give some of my favorite early posts a little more exposure. Total traffic exceeded the previous record (November 2010) by about 35%, and total page views almost doubled. The page views thing is slightly cooler to me than the increased traffic; it suggests that regardless of what brings someone here (that Battlestar Galactica disco album cover, for instance), people are hanging around to see what else Space: 1970 might have to offer.

•  There are now more than 500 "likes" on the Space: 1970 Facebook page, too.

•   Enjoyed re-visiting Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Blu-Ray over the weekend. I think it was the first time since seeing it in the theater at age 13 that I've seen the original theatrical cut of the film. As I recall, only the "Special Edition" was available on VHS during the 80s, and the DVD that I owned only had the extended "Director's Cut." Fortunately, the new Blu-Ray contains (thanks to seamless branching) all three versions. The video transfer is gorgeous, by the way - very "film-like" with great contrasts and beautiful colors. I haven't delved into the supplemental features yet, but I'm looking forward to checking them out.
  
•  As I said in my last "Captain's bLog" entry, I've been busy with other writing assignments, which is why this blog leaned so heavily on image-based posts in March. Hopefully, over the next month or so, I'll have time to write up some more substantial posts - more essays, "Favorite Episodes," and reviews. Of course, I'll still showcase any cool art or photos I come across...

•  Speaking of "other writing assignments.... I haven't mentioned it here before, but fans of 1970s science fiction and fantasy television might be interested to know that I write comic books for Moonstone Books based on the Seventies' TV show, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. A couple years ago they published a 3-issue miniseries I wrote, called Kolchak Tales: Night Stalker of the Living Dead (collected in the Kolchak Tales: Monsters Among Us trade paperback), and I'm currently writing the ongoing, Kolchak: The Night Stalker Files series for the company. The first two issues are available now, with issue #3 due out in a month or so.

The trade paperback can be purchased from your local comics shop or Amazon (Kolchak The Night Stalker: Monsters Among Us (Kolchak Tales)) and the first two issues of the Kolchak: The Night Stalker Files ongoing series can also be found at better comic shops or can be ordered directly from the publisher.

•   And, while I'm self-promoting... if anyone is interested in learning more about the arrested adolescent who spends too much time on this blog when he should be working on other things - i.e., yours truly - you can check out my homepage at Atomic Pulp. There, you'll find information about my various writing projects (including my other blogs). And don't forget to check out my DVD and Blu-Ray review site, DVD Late Show.

Captain's bLog: 0331.11

•  March was the biggest month ever for Space: 1970 in terms of traffic and number of posts (what can I say, I've been on a roll - even if most of them were art posts). Admittedly, there was a bit of recycling - I slipped a couple of re-posts in there; so many new readers were hitting the site that I wanted to give some of my favorite early posts a little more exposure. Total traffic exceeded the previous record (November 2010) by about 35%, and total page views almost doubled. The page views thing is slightly cooler to me than the increased traffic; it suggests that regardless of what brings someone here (that Battlestar Galactica disco album cover, for instance), people are hanging around to see what else Space: 1970 might have to offer.

•  There are now more than 500 "likes" on the Space: 1970 Facebook page, too.

•   Enjoyed re-visiting Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Blu-Ray over the weekend. I think it was the first time since seeing it in the theater at age 13 that I've seen the original theatrical cut of the film. As I recall, only the "Special Edition" was available on VHS during the 80s, and the DVD that I owned only had the extended "Director's Cut." Fortunately, the new Blu-Ray contains (thanks to seamless branching) all three versions. The video transfer is gorgeous, by the way - very "film-like" with great contrasts and beautiful colors. I haven't delved into the supplemental features yet, but I'm looking forward to checking them out.
  
•  As I said in my last "Captain's bLog" entry, I've been busy with other writing assignments, which is why this blog leaned so heavily on image-based posts in March. Hopefully, over the next month or so, I'll have time to write up some more substantial posts - more essays, "Favorite Episodes," and reviews. Of course, I'll still showcase any cool art or photos I come across...

•  Speaking of "other writing assignments.... I haven't mentioned it here before, but fans of 1970s science fiction and fantasy television might be interested to know that I write comic books for Moonstone Books based on the Seventies' TV show, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. A couple years ago they published a 3-issue miniseries I wrote, called Kolchak Tales: Night Stalker of the Living Dead (collected in the Kolchak Tales: Monsters Among Us trade paperback), and I'm currently writing the ongoing, Kolchak: The Night Stalker Files series for the company. The first two issues are available now, with issue #3 due out in a month or so.

The trade paperback can be purchased from your local comics shop or Amazon (Kolchak The Night Stalker: Monsters Among Us (Kolchak Tales)) and the first two issues of the Kolchak: The Night Stalker Files ongoing series can also be found at better comic shops or can be ordered directly from the publisher.

•   And, while I'm self-promoting... if anyone is interested in learning more about the arrested adolescent who spends too much time on this blog when he should be working on other things - i.e., yours truly - you can check out my homepage at Atomic Pulp. There, you'll find information about my various writing projects (including my other blogs). And don't forget to check out my DVD and Blu-Ray review site, DVD Late Show.

Telling

"Who Are The Libyan Freedom Fighters And Their Patrons?" (Peter Dale Scott, Information Clearing House):

The initially stated aim of this bombing was to diminish Libyan civilian casualties. But many senior figures in Washington, including President Obama, have indicated that the US is gearing up for a quite different war for regime change, one that may well be protracted and could also easily expand beyond Libya.¹ If it does expand, the hope for a nonviolent transition to civilian government in Tunisia and Egypt and other Middle East nations experiencing political unrest, may be lost to a hard-edged militarization of government, especially in Egypt. All of us, not just Egyptians, have a major stake in seeing that that does not happen.

The present article does not attempt to propose solutions or a course of action for the United States and its allies, or for the people of the Middle East. It attempts rather to examine the nature of the forces that have emerged in Libya over the last four decades that are presently being played out.

To this end I have begun to compile what I call my Libyan Notebook, a collection of relevant facts that underlie the present crisis. This Notebook will be judgmental, in that I am biased towards collecting facts that the US media tend to ignore, facts that are the product in many instances of investigative reporting that cuts to the heart of power relations, deep structures, and economic interests in the region including the US, Israel, and the Arab States as these have played out over the last two decades and more. But I hope that it will be usefully objective and open-ended, permitting others to draw diverse conclusions from the same set of facts.²

Who are the fighters that the US has decided to support?

You're really not allowed to ask. If you do something as innocent as cite Ted Koppell -- ask Libby Liberal -- you get accused of repeating right wing spin.

If you're not getting what a bunch of lies are spewing from the White House grasp that they didn't even bother to sell you on an enemy. Ken Dilanian (Los Angeles Times) reports:


CIA officers on the ground in Libya are coordinating with rebels and sharing intelligence, U.S. officials say, but the White House is still mulling whether to provide weapons to those trying to oust Moammar Kadafi.

"No decision has been made about providing arms to the opposition or to any group in Libya," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. "We're not ruling it out or ruling it in."

Wow. CIA's helping them too. Thought the White House was telling us that the 'rebels' were a natural uprising of the people. But they're apparently not so natural that they can take over their own country without a lot of help from the CIA.

Telling.







"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):

Wednesday, March 30, 2011. Chaos and violence continue, a hostage situation took place in Iraq yesterday with well over 50 dead and which broadcast network news told you about (yes, it is a trick question), Samantha Power flutters in on her War Hawk wings, Tom Hayden finds his voice, and more. Yesterday evening in the US, viewers of Al Jazeera English got many reports but let's zoom in on just one. Shiulie Ghosh: To Iraq now where at least 55 people have been killed in Saddam Hussein's former home city, the provincial government headquarters in Tikrit was stormed by gunmen wearing military uniforms. Three council leaders were shot in the head. They included an outspoken critic of al Qaeda in Iraq. Journalists and government workers also died. The five hour long hostage seige ended when attackers blew themselves up after government forces moved in. Our Baghdad correspondent Rawya Rageh has more. Rawya Rageh: The brazen and highly sophisticated hostage situation in Tikrit ended in a rather unfortunate manner. None of the hostages escaped alive. All of them were killed. Some in a rather horrific manner, we were told, including the three council men who were shot at point blank range and their bodies set on fire after they were killed. The assailants, all of them were also killed in the gun battle, some of them blew themselves up, they were wearing suicide vests and they detonated themselves before security forces were able to apprehend them which is why it's difficult to determine exactly how many there were though estimates say between eight and twelve attackers. There was no claim of responsibility so far. Authorities saying the attack clearly however bearing the hallmark of al Qaeda in Iraq. Authorities have been unable to establish any communication with the hostage takers. The attack comes as Iraq remains mired in political uncertainty months after the Iraqi politicians managed to finally form a cabinet.. The government, the country, remains without a Minister of Defense and [a Minister of] Interior. The attack a grim reminder of times Iraqis had hoped they had put behind them. Shiulie Ghosh: Laith Kubba is Director of Middle East and North Africa programs at the National Endowment for Democracy. He says he expects more attacks but Iraqis will have to take over security from the US. Laith Kubba: There has been an improvement in security in Iraq but not the point that they can prevent such an action. I think more importantly that the group behind it is very closely linked to al Qaeda. They rely on these suicide fighters and I think this is not the first time and it will not be the last time. I think there has been maybe one case a week ago, similarly, they attacked a military checkpoint. So I would not be surprised if more of these incidents would happen in the near future. [. . .] What of Americans interested in the news who don't have Al Jazeera on their TVs? Presumably if you watch one of the big three commercial network's evening news, you are at least semi-interested in the news, right? The few viewers CBS Evening News has left aren't actually sitting through the whole show just for those crappy last five minutes of pure fluff are they? If they are, they got what they wanted yesterday. But Erica Hill (filling in for Katie Couric) didn't have time for Iraq. Flip over to NBC Nightly News and there was a lot less fluff than what you got on CBS and ABC -- and a consistent newscast (I am not a Brian Williams groupie but he and his team do know how to do a cohesive news cast and the same cannot be said for CBS and ABC). By expanding that first segment, CBS has been better able to handle transitions but Diane Sawyer cares about as much for transitions as she does for full sentences -- in other words, not at all. It's a jerky, where-are-we style of viewing. All three anchors interviewed US President Barack Obama (who had something on his right sock in all three interviews -- you'd think one of them would have pulled him aside and pointed it out) which was fluff in and of itself. And although Diane may have said Barack Obama has to deal with Iraq (in a long laundry list she ticked off) each day but apparently she and the anchors didn't -- as all three made clear. And word to Diane, years have passed but don't think your royal interview when you were with another network is forgotten -- or rather what happened offscreen. So next time you want to fluff, don't go with one of England's princes, it only reminds everyone in the know of that sad moment. "Wait!" I hear you crying. "A hostage situation in Iraq with well over 50 dead! I'm sure PBS covered it on their award winning and hard hitting Newshour!" What PBS do you get at your home? Not even during the 'news wrap' -- when headlines are read -- did the assault get covered. Again, Diane was making such a big deal about all the things on Barack's plate and maybe it seems to big to her because she does so damn little. But Americans, we know about the toast a British prince may give his brother, don't we feel smarter? And we know about "twin talk" and wasn't that informative -- and scientific. So scientific that their 'scientist' wasn't in the studio. They had to resort to Skype to find a 'scientist' who could fit their story's angle. They laughed. They laughed about the silly of princes and twins on ABC and, over at CBS, they worked in Neal Sedaka (a reference to his "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" -- which they were too stupid to play on air -- it would have given the lifeless and still born segment something memorable) and 'hard hitting' questions about romances ending like "how did that feel?" all in their effort to 'break the news' that break ups, gosh, hurt. Who knew? America, stop breaking up! It hurts! Sure it looks sexy and exciting and fun but it hurts! That's what all those Eat-Alone specials don't tell you and our culture so obsessed with everyone never marrying . . . Oh wait, that's not our culture. Our culture attempts to dictate that we all make like we're boarding Noah's Arc. And even in our couple-obsessed culture, that segment didn't qualify as news. People died. But Diane was busy telling her Harry from her Willie and couldn't be bothered. Mohammed Tawfeeq, Yousuf Basil and Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) remember journalist Sabah al-Bazee who died in Iraq yesterday. Jomana remembers a trip to a U.S. military base in Tikrit in 2008, where she met up with Sabah. Because this was in his province, Sabah displayed the renowned Iraqi hospitality. After lunch, he grabbed some fruit and put it in Jomana's bag. She did not find it until hours later, when she got back to Baghdad. Like most Iraqis we know and we work with, Sabah has hesitated for years about leaving Iraq to escape the threats and the violence - because he loved his country. But a few weeks ago, Sabah asked Mohammed for his help and finally applied for asylum in the U.S., saying: "I don't want to live in Iraq ...at least not in the next five years... It is going to be very difficult." They noted he had freelanced for CNN since 2006. Chris Cheesman (Amateur Photographer) notes that the 30-year-old who "died after suffering shrapnel wounds" was also a freelancer for Reuters beginning in 2004. Cheesman notes this online portfolio of some of Sabah al-Bazee's work. His death was first noted by Al Arabiya TV -- where he also worked -- and then picked up by AFP. The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement yesterday which mention that he left behind "his wife and three children" and quoted CPJ's Middle East and North African program coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem stating, "We extend our deepest condolences to Sabah al-Bazi's family and his colleagues. We urge Iraqi authorities to do their utmost to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice." Peter Graff (Reuters) has a piece remembering Sabah al-Bazee which also includes several photos al-Bazee took for Reuters: Like many of our Iraqi colleagues, he was young. Just 23 or so when he started taking pictures of war for a living. He had boundless energy, constantly pestering our reporters, photographers and cameramen for tips at how to hone his skills. How do you square that boisterousness with the bone-chilling images he photographed over the seven years he worked for us? "Sabah was an enthusiast, always on the phone, keen to get the news and to tell it," writes Alastair Macdonald, Baghdad bureau chief from 2005-07. "He had an energy and courage that meant he thought nothing of driving the 100 dangerous miles between Tikrit and Baghdad at any hour to deliver video and pictures. I recall that his work rate could sometimes exhaust colleagues, and yet Sabah never seemed to stop smiling." He was killed in Tikrit yesterday when unknown assailants (wearing Iraqi security forces uniforms) attacked the provincial government building. Tim Arango (New York Times) reports, "The assault turned into a hostage standoff that lasted for hours on Tuesday afternoon, until Iraqi security forces retook the building in the early evening using grenades and small arms fire, with American warplanes overhead, according to a witness. The American military did not participate in the retaking of the building but observed from nearby, according to a military spokesman." Ben Lando (Wall St. Journal) quotes US military spokesperson Col Barry Johnson stating, "Our assistance has been limited to providing aerial surveillance of the scene and keeping our soldiers on site to receive further requests for assistance if needed." Meanwhile on the ground, Mohanned Saif and Stephanie McCrummen (Washington Post) report, "Over several hours, the attackers went room to room, tossing grenades down hallways and through doorways and killing local politicians and government workers with shots to the head, according to Iraqi security forces and two witnesses who escaped by jumping out of a second-floor window." Dar Addustour notes the death of al-Bazi (their spelling) but also notes that "a number of other journalists from local TV channels were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) explains at least one other journalist died (unnamed) and includes this: "Al-Bazi was a freelancer who worked with Reuters, CNN and Al-Arabiya, according to his cousin Mahmoud Salih, also a freelance journalist. Salih -- who said al-Bazi died in the car bombing -- told CNN his cousin contacted him 30 minutes before he died, asking him whether he wanted to film ammunition seized by security forces." Reporters Without Borders notes al-Bazi's death and that Al Fayhaa camera operator Saad Khaled was wounded and identifies the other journalist killed as Muammar Khadir Abdelwahad: It is not clear exactly how Abdelwahad, who worked for Ayn (Eye Media Agency), died. The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory quoted Ayn as saying he was in permanent contact with the agency while in the building. "We lost contact at the moment of the assault by the security forces. We later learned that he was dead." "We firmly condemn this indiscriminate slaughter in an operation deliberately targeting a public building," Reporters Without Borders said. "We offer our condolences to the families of all the victims of this act of terrorism, including the two journalists. We urge the authorities to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice." The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory paid tribute to Al-Bazi's professional dedication and personal qualities. Aged 30, he was married and the father of three children. Abdelwahad, 39, had worked for Ayn for two years. The Journalistic Freedom Observatory notes the deaths of al-Bazi and Muammar Khudair Abdul Wahid and that al-Bazi was a JFO associate since 2006. JFO's Director Ziad Ajili notes that al-Bazi was always professional and did his work for variou soutlets while also volunteering with JFO. JFO expresses it sorrow and condolences to the families of the two journalists and calls for prosecution of those involved in the latest killing which bring to 256 the number of journalists -- Iraqi and foreign -- killed since the start of the Iraq War in March 2003. . Hisham Rikabi (Al Mada) reports that yesterday evening the Director of Health in the province stated that "most of the bodies that have arrived at hospitals recently were charred and the majority of those killed were Iraqi forces who stormed the building to free the hostages." Al Rafidayn also notes the "charred bodies" (citing Tikrit General Hospital sources) and reports 65 people died (citing Iraqi security sources) and "approximately one hundred others were wounded." To the evening news on ABC, NBC, CBS and The NewsHour (and remember the last one has an hour and not a half hour and is also 'commerical free') none of the above was news. Don't think that message isn't being received. March 22nd DoD issued the following: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn. Cpl. Brandon S. Hocking, 24, of Seattle, Wash., died March 21 in As Samawah, Iraq, when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 87th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga. For more information, the media may contact the Fort Stewart public affairs office at 912-435-9879 or after 4 p.m. call 912-767-8666." Hal Bernton (Seattle Times) reported, "He died just 10 days before his scheduled return home" and speaks with his sister Brianna and his grandmother Delores Pitts who says Hocking "enjoyed fixing up old cars, sketching and playing the acoustic and electric guitar." Washington Governor Chris Gregoire's office ordere flags to be flown at half-staff yesterday "in memory of U.S. Army Corporal Brandon S. Hocking of Seattle." Brandon Hocking's family spoke to Eric Wilkinson (KING 5 News) yesterday. His father Kevin Hocking said, "We were counting down the days not only for him to bet back but for him to be moved up here for his family to be around him." He worries that Iraq has become the forgotten war and stated, "I don't want him forgot. I don't want any of them to be forgot." Again, the message is being received. The US media's careless and cruel withdrawal from Iraq, it's refusal to cover the ongoing Iraq War is registering. Don't whine about it when polling finds the media's image at an all time low just be glad that those aren't open-ended surveys because the language I hear from military families about the US media's withdrawl is (rightly) blistering. The NewsHour now tries to play catch up by speaking with Jane Arraf about the attack. Al Rafiayn reports that women are being targeted in Mosul an the targeting includes everything from so-called 'honor' killings, to accusations of collaboration with secrity services, to accusations that they walk the wrong way. Remember Monday's snapshot when we called out Tim Arango (New York Times) for repeating unverified (an malicious) gossip in his 'report' about the six women who were killed in Mosul (one man was also killed but Arango apparently had no gossip on him)? Al Rafidayn explains the six women lived with their grandfather and that an Iraqi military officer has been arrested (not convicte, arrested, he was in a relationship with one of the six women killed). The paper explains that the six women were "the grandmother, her daughter and the daughter of her daughter and the other three were sisters." Yesterday Tareq al-Hashimi, Iraq's Sunni vice president, was explaining how he and Shi'ite vice president Adel Abdul Mahdi remain the vice presidents of Iraq having promised Iraqi President Jalal Talabani they would stay in their positions (on December 26th)until new vice presidents were secured. At that time, it was expected that the two would be picked and that a third person would join them, possibly a fourth. The idea of a fourth was shot down and now the idea of a third seems iffy as well. Today Ali Hussein (Al Mada) offers a piece calling al-Hashimi out (insisting al-Hashimi either believes Iraqis are crazy or al-Hashimi himself is crazy, plagued with hallucinations and delusions while he plays in the political arena like a buffoon in a comedy). Hussein begins winding down his essay stating that it is ridiculous for al-Hashemi to claim that the survival of Iraq and its stability depends upon al-Hashemi remaining vice president. Another Al Mada piece argues that the "conterversial" issue of vice presidents (said to be "controversial" to Parliament) needs to be addressed and notes an editorial expressing shock that al-Hashemi is traveling to foreign countries and presenting himself as a vice president of Iraq. It's called "impersonation" and the Constitution and various laws are noted which require anyone guilty of impersonation be imprisoned (for no more than ten years). At the heart of the conflict is al-Hashemi and Adel Abdul Mahdi's 'arrangement' with Talabani which is not thought to be legal meaning Iraq has no vice presidents currently (if you agree that the deal is not legal, I haven't read the laws cited -- according to the Iraqi Constitution only, which I have read, there's nothing in it that allows Talabani or any president to extend the terms of vice presidents). Moving over to Europe, Andre Shepard is a US war resister in Germany. After serving in Iraq, he self-checked out of the military. Russia Today interviewed him for a segment they aired last Friday: Andre Shepherd: The American cuisine. For example, Outback Steakhouse was really good for me. A personal favorite was the roller coasters. I can't find any place in Germany that even comes close to that. Ekaterina Gracheva: But for Andre Shepherd, his life has become one giant roller coaster. Four years ago he deserted the US army, cutting off the way to his native Cleveland forever. His mom cried with pride when he volunteered for the army, but after a six month tour of duty in Iraq, Andre walked off a US base in Germany and never returned. Andre Shepherd: Anything that anyone could possibly imagine in terms of War Crimes that were committed throughout world history, the American forces have done this and are continuing to do this on a daily basis. The soldiers were being attacked from somewhere but they didn't know where, so they just shot off randomly in different direction. Ekaterina Gracheva: After hiding out for more than a year, Andre Shepherd surfaced. He married a German, secured himself support from a number of human rights organizations and is now officially seeking asylum. Tucked away on the border of Germany and Austria, Lake Chiemsee has long been popular with holiday makers but now the idyllic spot may go down in history as the home of the first US Iraq War veteran granted political asylum. To become this first is not going to be easy though. Germany is the main staging post for the US military with around 60,000 US troops stationed there. Each year, some of those soldiers go AWOL and get picked up by the police. Jacqueline Edith: The pressure is very high on Germany and Andre often said in his speeches he's so sorry about that, you know, putting so much pressure on the German government. Also he really loves this country so much. Ekaterina Gracheva: Andre will argue in court that the war in Iraq was a complete fraud but lawyers say he has little chance of winning this legal war with the US. Douglas McNabb: It's particularly uh more difficult if it's a war such as the war in Afganistan, for example, or the Iraqi War where it was not a popular war. And if we just started having droves of soldiers deciding on their own that they were no longer going to be a member of the United States military apparatus, we'd have a problem. And so, uh, there are very harsh penalities, up to life, and including the possibility of death. Ekaterina Gracheva: Mainstream media in the so-called coaltion countries are not in a hurry to give Andre a say either. Andre Shepherd: The major corporations, like the BBC, CNN, what would happen is that if I would say anything that was controversial or would go against the government line, it would be completely censored. Ekaterina Gracheva: Andre says he's ready for the battle of his life, claiming there was no justification for the war in Iraq. But he admits he is on a slippery slope. You can refer to the April 20, 2009 snapshot for a transcript of an interview he did with BBC World Service. Samantha Power should never have left Europe. But Ireland's gain is America's loss. The War Hawk has landed . . . and taken a big dump on the pages of The New York Review of Books. A surprise only to those who didn't know NYRB founder Jason Epstein is married to Judith Miller of faux reporting fame. Not a historian and not old enough to have lived through an era she wants to write about, Power gets as creative as she did as a 'reporter' (see the work of Keith Harmon Snow and check out the work Edward S. Herman did documenting the Cruise Missile Left for more on A Problem From Hell Samantha Power). At NYRB, she flutters her War Hawk wings and tells you Dems are viewed as "weak" on national security. Which she somehow defines as aggressive wars of choice. She's a complete idiot and, like most idiots, the harms she does will last forever. Reading her nonsense, you can hear her advocating, "Libya! War on Libya! It will get you re-elected!!!!!" She's such a dumb ass. Doubt it? She writes, "This faith in Republican toughness has had profound electoral consequences. Since 1968, with the single exception of the election of George W. Bush in 2000, Americans have chosen Republican presidents in times of perceived danger and Democrats in times of relative calm." What? Okay, who did they choose in 2008? Sammy's man: Barack Obama. Now he acts like a Republican but he did lead the Democratic Party's presidential ticket. And in 2008, the US was in two wars: Afghanistan and Iraq. That's "relative calm"? (What was her relationship to the IRA? Club mascot?) None of her examples make sense. The 1976 election was going to go to the Democratic Party. That was a given. Gerald Ford being the Republican nominee did not help his ticket (due to his being Nixon's vice president) but due to Watergate, 1976 was the Demcoratic Party's race to lose and it doesn't fit her "calm" nonsense. Even from someone as stupid as she is, that's pretty dumb. Internationally are we forgetting all that happened? Doemstically? How about for starters the conviction of Patty Hearst for armed robbery as part of the terrorist group Symbionese Liberation Army. You've got the IRA bombing England, you've got riots in Soweto, you've got a dam collapsing in Idaho, the mafia killing journalist Don Bolles, US Ambassador Francis E. Meloy was murdered in Syria that year (three years after US Ambassador Cleo Noel was murdered in Sudan), in July hijackers are holding 103 hostages at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, Son of Sam serial killer gets started in California, Legionellosis (two strands, the most well known is referred to as Legionnaires' disease) has its first outbreak (Pennsylvania), there was the Gang of Four in China, the Thammasat University massacre in Bangkok and so much more. And back then, Samantha, when you weren't in the United States, the network evening news actually had reporters in these countries covering these events. 1976 was a national security years as much as any other. But it doesn't fit Samantha Power's little narrative. One thing she likes to leave out of her own narrative is that she championed the Iraq War in real time. She tries to pretend that's not the case but it is. In her essay, she writes of the war she once was a cheerleader for (not head cheerleader, head cheerleader has to be pretty): Further, with al-Qaeda on the run, the administration spent 2002 mobilizing support for its March 2003 invasion of Iraq, which required it to divert precious units from eastern Afghanistan. According to many observers, this allowed the Taliban and the al-Qaeda leadership to snatch survival from the jaws of defeat. Violence has spread to once-peaceful pockets of territory, and the number of suicide attacks has increased from two in 2003 to 137 in 2007. In June 2008, forty-six American and allied forces died in Afghanistan, more than during any other month since the war began nearly seven years ago, and more than the thirty-one Americans who died in Iraq that month. As for Iraq, the war has taken the lives of more than four thousand American soldiers, created another front for US forces in combating al-Qaeda, and eroded US army readiness to such an extent that US commanders concede that the army is at its "breaking point." Since 2001, Congress has appropriated about $640 billion for the "Global War on Terror," most of this for operations in Iraq. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published in June found that the United States still lacked a strategy for meeting its goals in Iraq. The GAO found that violence had diminished somewhat; but according to the Pentagon, the number of Iraqi units capable of carrying out operations without US assistance continued to hover around 10 percent. While the Iraqi authorities passed legislation readmitting some lower- level Baathists to the parliament, legislation was stalled on oil-sharing and the holding of provincial elections. Between 2005 and 2007, the GAO report found, the Iraq government spent less than a quarter of the $27 billion it budgeted for its own reconstruction efforts. And when it came to essential services, water supplies had improved, but electricity shortages persisted, meeting only about half of Iraqi demand by early May 2008. Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank found in 2007 that the Iraq war had brought about a 600 percent increase in the average number of annual jihadist terrorist attacks throughout the world. Even if one didn't count attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the incidence of terrorism increased 35 percent worldwide. Now supposedly she's writing about national security but she cites a number of things that we could see, at best, as 'influencers.' Here's one she leaves out: Abu Ghraib. Here's another: Dead Iraqis. All of those words above and, true to her War Hawk self, she still forgets the dead victims. And it's the dead that will always tell on her. It's the dead that will haunt her in the same way it does Henry Kissinger. It's the dead she will have to take accountability for -- especially those who died via counter-insurgency because she's a counter-insurgency cover girl -- having gone so far as to blurb the US military's counter-insurgency manual. Samantha and her gal pals Monty McFate and Sarah Sewall have gotten huge passes because many of the left in front of microphones and working for magazines are too damn stupid to know what's what and another portion is too scared to tell you. This piece by Ava and I has resulted in non-stop pleas -- organized according to two who participated in 2007, by Sewall and Power, -- that the article be deleted. Not one round of please, but continuously, four years later and still going. It starts up each semester. Why? Because it's one of the few pieces that provides the context for those three and what they're up to. It's a far cry from Davey D. on air at KPFA talking to Rosa Clemente about how great and peaceful Samantha Power is. (At what point do Davey and Rosa plan to apologize for that disgraceful moment?) Tom Hayden called out Sewall in 2007 but then refused to do so again. Today he finds his voice at The Nation (though he's still fawning over Power in parts -- she's a lousy writer, she has no style unless you consider The Perils of Pauline to be complex and not just more episodic trash to divert attention): I remember wondering why, like the U2's Bono, another Irish human rights activist, Power has been less preoccupied by the human rights abuses inflicted by the British during the 30-year war in the northern part of her own country. If she wasn't willing to take sides at home, so to speak, why was it easier to take sides in civil wars abroad? Wasn't the creation of a "more perfect union" at home the foundation of any intelligent foreign policy abroad? A note from her promised more discussion on that, too. [. . .] The last I remember speaking to her, Power had gone from supporting Gen. Wesley Clark's 2004 presidential campaign to volunteering in the Washington office of a new US Senator, Barack Obama. According to her account, she bonded with Obama in a three-hour policy conversation, worked in Obama's office in 2005-6, and became a close collaborator. As Obama wrote in The Audacity of Hope "Samantha Power deserves special mention for her extraordinary generosity; despite being in the middle of writing her own book, she combed over each chapter as if it were hers, providing me with a steady flow of useful comments even as she cheered me up whenever my spirits or energy were flagging." [. . .] But the agenda of the humanitarian hawks seemed off the radar as the quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan deepened. Bringing human rights and democracy to the Middle East with bombs and bayonets was increasingly seen as a delusional folly. Foreign policy realism, not human rights, ascended in mainstream thinking. Power gained prominence as a national security strategist nonetheless, writing a comprehensive 2007 New York Times review of current books on military doctrine. While carefully separating herself from President George W. Bush's policies in Iraq, she endorsed the Army and Marine Counterinsurgency Field Manual associated with Gen. David Petraeus and co-produced with Power's close colleague Sarah Sewall at the Harvard Center for Human Rights. Power believed that counterinsurgency provided greater protection for civilians, despite mounting evidence of Iraq's secret prisons, torture chambers, thousands of civilian casualties, and top-secret assassination operations carried out by Lt. General Stanley McChrystal in 2006, described in Bob Woodward's The War Within. Liberal interventionists cringed at the outcome in Iraq, but Power apparently thought the counterinsurgency doctrine was a step towards greater emphasis on human rights. Good for you, Tom Hayden, maybe you have something still worth saying after all. Samantha Power's essay exists to justify war, specifically to justify Barack's war actions. The Libyan War is an illegal war. The US was not attacked. We are not allowed (legally) to go to war with a country to take out a leader we don't like just because we don't like them. (For example, Hugo Chavez didn't try to invade the US when Bush occupied the White House.) This is not a 'protect people' mission. You don't carpet bomb from the sky when you're trying to protect civilians. This is an illegal war of choice and Power's been pushing for it for weeks. Tom forgets that Power also pushed for US forces to go into Sudan. She wasn't so much silent in the Bush years as she was silenced because nobody listened to her -- except Barack Obama. And that's why it's so appalling that so many on the left stayed silent about the people Barack had behind him. (If you've forgotten how many lied and whored, please reflect on that time period via "2008: The Year of Living Hormonally.") Reminder: If you served in the US military and you were stop-lossed, you are owed additional money. That money needs to be claimed. DoD announces the date to file for that additional payment has been extended: The deadline for eligible service members, veterans and their beneficiaries to apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay (RSLSP) has been extended to April 8, 2011, allowing personnel more time to apply for the benefits they've earned under the program guidelines. The deadline extension is included in the continuing resolution signed by President Obama Friday, providing funding for federal government operations through April 8, 2011. Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay was established to compensate for the hardships military members encountered when their service was involuntarily extended under Stop Loss Authority between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2009. Eligible members or their beneficiaries may submit a claim to their respective military service in order to receive the benefit of $500 for each full or partial month served in a Stop Loss status. When RSLSP began on Oct. 21, 2009, the services estimated 145,000 service members, veterans and beneficiaries were eligible for this benefit. Because the majority of those eligible had separated from the military, the services have engaged in extensive and persistent outreach efforts to reach them and remind them to apply. Outreach efforts including direct mail, engaging military and veteran service organizations, social networks and media outlets, will continue through April 8, 2011. To apply for more information, or to gather more information on RSLSP, including submission requirements and service-specific links, go to http://www.defense.gov/stoploss. iraq al jazeera rawya rageh cnn mohammed tawfeeq yousuf basil jomana karadsheh amatuer photographer chris cheesman reuters peter graff the new york times arango the wall street journal ben lando the washington post mohanned saif stephanie mccrummen dar addustour al mada hisham rikabi al rafidayn the seattle times hal bernton

NOCTURNE BY SYRIE JAMES. I'VE READ IT, LIKED IT AND THIS IS WHY: RICHARD ARMITAGE!

Plot (from the book cover) : When Nicole Whitcomb's car runs off a Colorado mountain road during a blinding snowstorm, she is saved from death by a handsome, fascinating, and enigmatic stranger.
Snowbound with him for days in his beautiful home high in the Rockies, she finds herself powerfully attracted to him. But there are things about him that mystify her, filling her with apprehension. Who is Michael Tyler? Why does he live in such a secluded spot and guard his private life so carefully? What secret—or secrets—is he hiding?

Nicole has secrets of her own and a past she is running from—but Michael understands her better than anyone she has ever known. Soon, she is falling as deeply in love with him as he is with her— a profoundly meaningful experience that is destined to change their lives forever.

As the sexual tension between them builds, however, the clues mount up. When Nicole learns her host's terrifying secret, there is nowhere for her to run but into the blizzard raging outside, and Michael may be the only one who can save her life.

Filled with unexpected twists and surprises, Nocturne is a page-turning, haunting, and deeply romantic story of forbidden love that will grab your heart and not let go.

 

If you knew my dislike for vampires, zombies, ghosts and monsters in general, you should be really stunned at reading this post/review,  as  much as  I myself was puzzled while reading this novel : I was being charmed by one of those creatures I had always disliked! Dracula? Never got to the last page. True Blood with its gorgeous hotties ? No, thank you. The Twilight Saga? Just watched the first movie to understand why many of my students liked it so much. Now... why did I buy and read NOCTURNE all in one go? Though it is easy to guess, I'll try to explain. 

I interviewed Syrie James for one of my Austenesque events  on My Jane Austen Book Club, " Talking Jane Austen with ... " . She answered my questions about auntie Jane, about  The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, but she  presented her latest release, Nocturne, as well,  and what she said about it - without mentioning any supernatural creature -  made me curious. I went on reading about her new book on her blog and when I received her February Newletter, I made up my mind and ordered it from bookdepository. 

What had I read that made me want to read it? Syrie's blog at The Romance Dish and, most of all, I had seen the photo she chose for her Michael Tyler:

Vanguard Press so loved Dracula, My Love, they asked me to write a steamy, contemporary romantic novel for them featuring a vampire. I was thrilled to comply. Nocturne is a passionate love story about two wounded souls who, for four magical days, find shelter together from a raging storm, both literally and figuratively. I knew at once that my hero, Michael Tyler, had to be British. He was thrilling to conceive because even though the story takes place today at Michael's retreat in the Colorado mountains, he could be young and gorgeous yet centuries old—and thus be the kind of cultured, highly accomplished, dashing gentleman with a luscious accent of whom I'm so fond of writing. I believe that a vampire retains his humanity, so adding the paranormal element to this decent, charismatic hero just made him that much more compelling to write about. There's a reason Michael lives alone in this secluded spot; he wages a constant struggle against his darkest desires not to harm anyone. Both Nicole and Michael are running from their past, and Michael has a great deal to atone for, but through his character and actions, he shows us the power of redemption. He is brilliant, tender, and extremely romantic; a master pianist, among other artistic skills, who has taught himself to communicate with horses—which I find sexy, even if his very touch didn't make Nicole tremble with desire… And about the sex: it's guaranteed to curl your toes. I think vampire sex should be the best sex a woman's ever had. After all, they've had centuries to practice! (read the whole blogpost HERE)

Syrie had already mentioned Richard Armitage in my interview and in her February Newsletter, and clearly HE was the Michael she had in her mind while writing Nocturne. I read it and my suspicions proved correct.
I had never loved a vampire before, but if this vampire looked like RA and was like Syrie said in her presentation I couldn't resist. I didn't. Totally caught in the romance,  I forgot my previous prejudices. I liked the story and its hero.
Syrie James's skill at making her narration visual helped, she's also a successful screenwriter and that means a lot. Try to figure out this scene in your mind, then, tell me if you don't want to go on reading:

Nicole’s heart began to beat erratically. She’d heard scary things about mountain men who’d lived too long in isolated places. Who was this guy? He seemed cultured and spoke very formally, as if he belonged in the Queen’s court or in a palace surrounded by servants.

What was an Englishman doing in this remote corner of the Colorado mountains, unless he was hiding from something? But if he was a killer, surely he would have murdered her already, instead of carefully tending to her wounds. Wouldn’t he?

“You haven’t told me your name,” she said, straining to keep her voice even.

“Haven’t I? I beg your pardon. Michael Tyler.”

“How is it that you live up here? I thought this was national forest land.”

“It is. But there are pockets of private land scattered throughout.”

“Do you live here all year long?”

“I do.”

“By yourself, or …”

“I live alone.”

Her questions seemed to annoy him. He stood up and Nicole sensed that he was about to leave the room. In an effort to lighten the mood—or maybe just to put herself more at ease—she glanced at the grand piano and said with a forced smile, “So I take it it’s either you who plays that piano, or the resident ghost?”

A surprised twinkle lit his blue eyes. He sat back down in his chair with the first hint of a smile. “Definitely the ghost. Watch out for her. She plays at the oddest hours and has been known to leave candles burning in the most unlikely places.”

“She?”

“A raven-haired beauty. From her clothing and hairstyle, I deduce that she’s from the previous century. Which is strange when you consider that I only built the house ten years ago.”

Nicole laughed. His smile was charming. His accent was so lovely, she could listen to it all day long. Maybe there was nothing to be afraid of after all…” (pp. 24-25)

Did I like it then? Yes, it was a very pleasant reading. Easy, light and sometimes foreseeable, but a real delight, a gripping romantic tale.
First time I like a vampire. More than like, actually. Obvious, I know: he was very tall, dark haired, blue-eyed and British. And much more.