Original
Fiction by Richard Boyd
These are stories I wrote last Christmas in Marostica, Italy.
Each
story is based on someone I saw or heard about in the piazza.
(Acrobat Reader required)
Sunny
Breaking the Glass
The Spaniard
La Partita
The
American
Oscar
(Links discontinued as I start shopping for a publisher)
This
is a short piece I wrote after an operation Pieces of Me
Fearless
and Mission Impossible In
1991 I created a scene for a very successful Paramount movie called
Fearless. So, obviously I am a bit biased. But this is a movie
I have returned to several times over the years. The existential
issues it raises are so universal that I think it will be relevant
forever. Fantastic performance by Jeff Bridges. Early performance
by one of my favorite actors, Benicio del Toro. I was working at
Virtus Corporation in 1991 late on a Friday evening when I received
a call from Suzanne Peck, the art designer for the film. At that
time we were teaching our 3-D design software for Macintosh at the
American Film Institue in LA. Peter Weir had heard about our software
and was interested in having it for one of the scenes. I think that
there was originally more background to a character named Nutty
Nick. But I guess he was cut from the film. Suzanne asked me to
create a 3D model of the Nutty Nick's project and save it as a real-time
3D model for Bridges and De Lancey (Q from Star Trek), playing partners
in an architecural firm, to review in one scene on the plane. I
created the model over the weekend and sent it to Paramount for
shooting by Monday afternoon. I had forgotten all about it until
I went to the movie two years later and saw my work on screen. I
didn't make the connection because all of my correspondence with
Weir and Suzanne had the movie titled "Joyride". This was one of
the first examples of real-time 3-D "CAD" software in a motion picture.
Get this movie and watch it on rainy afternoons. It will definitely
give you some perspective on life.
In
1993 I also went out to Pinewood Studios in London to help Brian
de Palma construct virtual sets for Mission Impossible. No work
appears in the movie, though.
What I am reading now
Pattern
Recognition William Gibson
The DaVinci code
Don
Delillo's Cosmopolis
The Mind of War: John Boyd and American Security
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War
Boyd,
no relation although I suspect we are kindred spirits, was a maverick
who bucked the military system yet still managed to make it to Colonel
instead of being court martialed. Through these two books and other
writings he is quietly emerging as one of the most influential thinkers
on military strategy and tactics since Clausewitz. He takes Sun
tzu to heart and takes it further. He believed that the best victory
is one where you don't have to fight, only outmaneuver and confuse
the enemy until he withdraws or surrenders. This contrasts with
Clausewitz who preaches about the Decisive battle as the best route
to victory. Boyd is known for creating the concept of OODA loops
(now known as Boyd loops) - the process of compressing time and
getting inside of an opponent's decision process to gain an advantage.
OODA stands for Observation, Orientation, Decision and Action.
If
he were alive today, his supporters agree that he would be frustrated
to see Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein using the tactics he taught
against us while we stumble toward our Clausewitz clash with Saddam.
Recommended
Reading.
The heavy air travel schedule I have endured for the last decade
while covering technology sales for Asia, Europe and the Middle
East has resulted in a very voluminous reading list. There are a
number of great authors out there, but the following list represents
those who have had the greatest impression on me. If you read any
of these you will see the common thread of masters of the language
able to weave tremendous lyrical accounts of every human condition.
Mark
Helprin
Memoir
from Antproof Case
A
Soldier of the Great War
Winter's
Tale
Ellis
Island and Other Stories
A
Dove of the East and Other Stories
Don
Delillo
Underworld
White
Noise
Mao
II
Americana
The
Names
Ratner's
Star
The
Body Artist
End
Zone
Richard
Ford
A
Piece of My Heart
Wildlife
The
Ultimate Good Luck
Independence
Day
Rock
Springs
Women
and Men
Douglas
Adams
The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The
Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Life,
The Universe and Everything
So
Long and Thanks for all the Fish
The
Notebook the Proof the Third Lie: Three Novels. The Notebook, The
Proof and the Third Lie is a trilogy of mixed perspective narrative that challenges
the reader early on to try to trace the real story line amid the clipped, stark
prose of Kristof. It seems to be a diatribe against passion. Every passionate
character in the book suffers. Especially from the by-products of love -- lust
and duty. More...
