6 Spy Tales

A spy movie with lots of fast cars, beautiful women, sharp-dressing sleuths and unmistakably evil bad guys. Set in a multitude of locations around the world, no expense is spared in producing an exciting and exotic movie that demands the most intense suspension of disbelief!

***

Barrington Wainwright III sipped his brandy, keeping an eye on the couple in the corner of the room. Rachel maintained focus on her Creme Bruhlee, each mouthful gently measured to maintain a delicate appearance of pose and grace. She noticed Chesterton's vigil. Pausing with the fork in her hand, she furrowed her brow and looked puzzled.

"Barrington, why are you so preoccupied with the woman on that table? Am I lacking something you need?"

Wainwright smiled. Rachel had been a model for most of her young life and spent most of her time fighting off admirers. As far as physical attraction went, she was in the big leagues. Still, he thought, it's interesting that she has some little insecurities.

"Strange as this might seem my dear girl, I am much more interested in the gentleman."

Rachel lifted an eyebrow.

"Well Barry, I'm afraid I can't compete on that level!"

He laughed and leaned over in her direction.

"Rest assured that I have not renounced my heterosexual proclivities. However, I believe he's the link between Senator Bunting here in Washington and our good friends in Iraq."

"And how do you work that out?" she asked.

"Well, we know that the contact man is English, even though he has a passable American accent. Take a look at how the man in the corner is eating. Observe the silverware."

Rachel turned slightly to watch the man eat a piece of steak. Unsure of what she was supposed to see, she asked Wainwright to explain.

"He holds the fork in his right hand, cuts with the left, then pops the food into his mouth with the fork still in his right. And he's been doing that all night. Typical Brit."

"You call that evidence of his nationality?" said Rachel incredulously.

"Well, that and his tie."

"His tie?"

"Yes. Look at the stripes. The point downwards from his left shoulder to his right side. That's a British tie. American stripes go the opposite direction because tie-makers here start with the cloth facing up whereas British couturiers start pattern-down. Put the two together and you have your man."

Rachel flopped back in her chair and shook her head in amazement.

"Is this always how Secret Agents work?" she asked.

"No," said Wainwright with a well-earned smirk, "Only the best ones!"

Click to download "Spy Tales"

4 Foolish Kisses

For those who like their movies in a lighter vein, this sex comedy tells of the struggles of four friends living in San Francisco trying to hold together relationships that are foundering on the rocks of sexuality. The film follows each character as he or she tries to find the perfect partner - or partners!

***

Claire felt guilty about the dream she'd had about Miriam. But then again, Claire was a master of Guilt having been raised as a Catholic and having had to endure that most special of religious punishments - the All-Girls Catholic School. The Jesuits used to say "Give me the child until he's 7 and I will give you the man." In Claire's case, it was more of "Give me the child until she's 7 and I will give you enough neurotic guilt to enable Sigmund Freud to write a three-volume case study.

There was also a certain irony in that the object of her guilt was Miriam, whose Jewish upbringing made her just as much a slave to guilt as Claire. A good test of what would happen if the Immovable Object came against the Irresistible Force would be to put a group of Catholics in a room with a group of Jews and have them try to decide who was the more guilty. Throw in the notion of sexuality and both of them could be arguing well after the Second Coming has been, gone, sold the T-shirts and restarted the Universe in the next Big Bang.

The exact reason for the guilt was unclear. After all, thought Claire, it's only a dream and I can't control my dreams. But that argument didn't wash. A Dream is just a Wish, and a Wish is a Desire, and a Desire is wrong if it leads to any sort of pleasure. And what Claire had been doing with Miriam in her fantasy would have been erotic enough to result in the film censors setting fire to the celluloid. If only she'd not included the baby oil, whipped cream and six feet of rope.

Click here to download "Foolish Kisses"

Dreamer of Dreams

The theme for the SL on SL podcast is available as a download. It's from the album Soundtrackz in Search of Moviez by Castle of Astolat. And yes, Castle of Astolat is me.



Dreamer of Dreams is an hommage to one of my favorite movies, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - the original with Gene Wilder and not the remake with Johnny Depp. Using sounds clips, a Korg keyboard, some fancy software, and a lot of sweat, the song is an encapsulation of this incredibly dark movie in just under four minutes.

Check the section marked What To Download for the link. More songs from SoundTrackz will be made available as time goes by.