Espionage Aficionados discussion

Whaddya think of any of these?

1


2


3


4

I kinda lean towards the second one.

how about this

5

6

7

8

Reminder: this is our current one



It was one of the first I whipped up; and I did it in haste. That's why I'm considering a possible revision.
The point of all this is that this image is seen all around the Goodreads site

I'm sorta leaning towards #8, how do you like it?

double we need to talk some more movies sometime

I think I'll just switch to #8; we can always go back to the original if we wish

Yep number 8 looks pretty good.

#8 is the winnah!




see it in action here:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_...

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_...

Number 1... Says it all...

Feliks wrote: "double we need to talk some more movies sometime"

I'm always up for some talk about movies.

Thanks Jim
I went with a logo with a transparent boundary rather than one set inside a rectangle--just out of habit

Doubledf99.99 wrote: "I'm always up for some talk about movies."

I was just killing time looking at the internet's round -up of 'Top 50 Movie Tough Guy lines'...pathetic! Whoever the incompetents frat-boys are who make these lists, I'm sure I don't know.

Remember this one, William Holden in The Wild Bunch, "If they move kill'em".
Don't hold it against me for bringing up a western.

I wouldn't. That flick is full of good lines; but I bet 'Fifty Tough Guy Movie Line' lists all over the web wouldn't even mention it.

Its in my top 5 westerns for sure, maybe even my #1.

Spot quiz for you: name me one classic espionage+noir+western (all in one movie) and one classic horror+western

The WB is very high on my all time favorite list as well.

Man, thats a tough couple of questions, may take a while to figure those out, and I'm sure I'll be way off base.

I agree with Jim. Number 1. Number 3 is good also but not as clear to read in a condensed font.

I always prefer keeping a logo or header in a single typeface. The credibility is much stronger.

Ty for the input. I think there's many styles which can work in the right hands--I'm a little out of practice but nevertheless I'm too experienced to make any major mistakes. Did the best with what the graphics engine offered me.

I ~did~ immediately go with a unified logo for my other groups--they had easier themes to represent than I was faced with, here. In *this* case had to make some hobson's choices. 'Aficionados' is such an odd word, too. Wanted to de-emphasize it.

Anyway I am very surprised to hear votes for #1. I never took it seriously thanks to the rectangular gray background it has to sit in. No way to remove it.

#3 I can barely read; in fact both #1 and 3# I'm not sure what they say at all, and I formed them. I like the cryptic font, but its failing basic legibility.

Anyway, its much ado about nothing; but it may help us attract a new member here-or-there.

Oh well. Thanks for piping up G Man! Good to know you're taking an interest. How about some 'Graham Greene talk' soon eh? I consider myself at a deficit because I haven't yet read enough of his novels to provide a robust opinion of his espionage writing.

I intend to get to 'Our Man' soon and then I should be better equipped.

Thanks Feliks. On Graham Greene's espionage works, I would recommend No Man's Land, this edition also has another short story 'The Stranger's Hand'. These are two 'draft treatments' for film. The quality of the writing stands on its own as short stories.
If I were a writer I think I'd write as if I were writing visualising for a film.

I agree, novels and short stories call for visual writing; but some authors show that focus on dialog works well in its own way, too. Hemingway, Elmore Leonard, George V Higgins, John O'Hara.

Writing is tricky to develop a knack for. Sometimes you want to do something, but to get the writing actually down on paper in a manner that flows well enough for you to complete a work, you have to follow where your own traits dictate.

Greene can be a pernicious reading experience, I have found. You really have to pay attention to each paragraph to catch crucial nuances; he changes gears so often and writes rather densely. As if with a microscope to the surroundings and characters. I haven't read many of his short stories, perhaps they are different. But as I say, his novels can be painstaking to read even if (I agree with you) he also writes visually. At the end of each work I consumed from him, I felt it was a rewarding experience and I felt that he succeeded in his aims; but it was still a relief to set them down. There's no 'coasting' with a Greene novel.

'Comedians' was my best experience; 'Power/Glory' was the worst.

By the way we have a 'cover art' thread and his Penguin editions earn great praise there.

Two things stand out for me when I reflect on 'The Wild Bunch'
(going back to Double99's comment above)

William Holden leads not only in this western (which could very well be my favorite western) but he also stars in my favorite war movie (Kwai). What're the odds of that? Then, its amazing how much of a badass he is in both of these romps, even though most of his career has nothing at all like it. He usually played quiet-spoken good-guys. Casting him at all (as Bishop) was a stroke of genius.

Second, I dig the practical, realistic wisdom portrayed in the way the gang relates to each other. In the early section, Warren Oates and Ben Johnson (the Gorch Brothers) are quibbling about the share of the loot.

Bishop: "Why don't you just take it all?" (daring them to draw on him) "Well go on, you lily-livered trash!"

Lyle Gorch: "Now, Pike you know I--"

Bishop: "I don't know a godamn thing, except I lead this bunch or I don't!"

And he was right. Every situation I've ever been in with groups of men arguing about the way to do something, its 'top dog makes the rules'.

You can see it as well, in 'Hell Drivers' or in the superb Civil War (Pulitzer winner) 'Andersonville'.

I read somewhere a while back that a remake of The Wild Bunch is in the works.

yeah I been hearing that for a while too. effin' idiotic