Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Novelizer

The Novelizer: AN INTERVIEW WITH ALAN DEAN FOSTER ON THE ART OF ADAPTING SCI-FI MOVIES INTO BOOKS

Song of the Day

Bob Seger - Roll Me Away From the album "The Distance" 1982 - YouTube:

Trouble with the Curve

There are some things I can't resist, and Clint Eastwood playing a grumpy old baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves would be one of them.  He's old, his contract is about to expire, and he's having serious eye problems.  So naturally he's the one who has to scout the hotshot phenom that Atlanta's considering taking with their top pick in the draft. The hotshot with the computer doesn't think Clint can do the job and that his computer already knows what's best.

 Eastwood's character is named Gus, and he has a daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), who's semi-estranged.  Gus' choice.  Gus' old friend (John Goodman) persuades Mickey to join her dad for a few days.  She does, even though it puts at risk her hopes of becoming a partner in the law firm where she works.  Justin Timberlake, a former player once recruited by Gus and now a scout for the Red Sox, shows up and is naturally attracted to Mickey.

Once all the pieces are in place, the movie follows a predictable path, but it's so well acted and written that I didn't care.  I kind of like predictability, I guess, at least some of the time.  I'm willing to overlook a lot of implausible stuff, too.

I made a prediction of my own before we went to the movie, and it was dead on the money.  When we walked into the back of the theater and looked out over the crowd, it was like looking at a sea of Q-Tips.  So now you know the movie's target audience.  Whippersnappers, beware.

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

19 Graphically Advanced Bedspreads Of The '80s And '90s

10 Questionable Household Tips from the 19th-Century White House Staff

10 Questionable Household Tips from the 19th-Century White House Staff 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

"Gangnam Style" Dance-Off Ends In Shoot-Off

PaperBack

 

R. V. Cassill, Naked Morning, Avon, 1957

Alvin Community College Radio Leads the Way

KACC: "Gulf Coast Rocker" Is Houston's Last Great FM Hope

Combination Knuckleduster/Pistol

Combination Knuckleduster/Pistol

Abandoned Spaces Reclaimed by Art

Abandoned Spaces Reclaimed by Art

I Report, You Decide

Was Isaac Newton a scientist or a sorcerer? 

7 Movies That Put Insane Detail into Stuff You Never Noticed

7 Movies That Put Insane Detail into Stuff You Never Noticed

Too Easy

Food Fads of the '60s and '70s Online Quiz

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Rare 1943 Lincoln penny sells for $1million 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

And keep off her lawn!

Boca Raton Woman, 86, Assaults Husband, 89, in Spat Over Canceled Trip to New York

And Keep Off His Lawn!

Dixon Smith, Stage 4 Cancer Patient, Thwarts Robbery With Shotgun

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Badge 373

Badge 373 (1973) Trailer - YouTube:

Friday, September 21, 2012

Bob Randisi Update

Speaking Volumes has dropped the price of the first book in all of Bob Randisi's adult western ebooks from $9.99 to $2.99.  This includes the Gunsmith series as by J. R. Roberts.  Check 'em out.

Song of the Day

Tonight I Fell In Love - YouTube:

Or Maybe You Did

10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About E.T.

When Authors of Adult Literature Write for Children

The Crows of Pearblossom by Aldous HuxleyWhen Authors of Adult Literature Write for Children: It can be said that most authors primarily stick to one style of writing or one genre in their literary career. However, this is not the case with this selection of books. The authors here are all known for their works that appeal to adult readers but have also written children's books.

Today's Vintage Ad


First It Was the Hot Sauce Tantrum . . . .

Pillow fight in New London leads to arrest

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Hot sauce tantrum ends in arrest

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

The Story Behind Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side"

The Story Behind Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" 

I Know at Least Two People Who Would Go to This Movie if it Were Real

Removie Posters

10 Eighties Action Stars Who Are Now Total Nobodies

10 Eighties Action Stars Who Are Now Total Nobodies

PaperBack

 

R. V. Cassill, The Wound of Love, Avon, 1956

“Army Day – Crocodiles Keep Out” Cannon Towel Ads, 1943

Nudity!

“Army Day – Crocodiles Keep Out” Cannon Towel Ads, 1943 

I Report, You Decide

Proof that Star Trek's warp drive might actually work?

No Comment Department

Fall 2012 Hair Trends

Great Photos!

Take the high road! Chinese village's only contact with world is 1,000-yard zip-line at a dizzying height above valley floor

Or Maybe Not

 50 of the Best Closing Lines in Music

Southern Discomfort

The Sound and the Fury by William FaulknerSouthern Discomfort: Tumultuous Literature set in the American South.: The American South offers famous food, memorable music and honest hospitality, but why do so many authors dwell on the dark side of this region? Books like Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora N. Hurston, Alex Haley’s Roots and The Color Purple by Alice Walker are acclaimed, but harrowing. Discrimination of all kinds, voodoo and other black arts, violence and murder, incest and rape – you will find them all prominently featured in Southern-themed literature.

Forgotten Books: Valley Beyond Time -- Robert Silverberg

Not too long ago I was in a Half-Price Books and saw this copy of Valley Beyond Time.  It was published in 1973, but it looked as fresh as if it had just come from the printer.  I don't know where it's been all those years, but I couldn't resist picking it up.  It contains four novellas, two from Science Fiction Adventures ("Valley Beyond Time" and "The Flame and the Hammer"), one from SFA's sister publication, Infinity ("Spacerogue"), and one from If ("The Wages of Death).  In his introduction to the book, Silverberg says that these aren't the kinds of stories he writes anymore, as they'd been written about 15 years previously.

I read all four of the stories, probably for the second time, as I was a big fan of the SF digests (particularly the three where these tales appeared) in the late 1950s.  I'm sure that none of them could be published in the few remaining digests.  Things have changed, and so have Silverberg's stories.  He could write for any market, and in the '50s, he wrote for a bunch of them.  Crime, SF, western, softcore erotica, you name it, he wrote it, and very successfully.  

In these four stories you get starships, FTL travel, exotic societies, and strange, powerful inventions.  You get action and romance (not too much romance, though, and none at all in two of the four stories)You get old-fashioned adventure and storytelling.  If that's what you're looking for, you can't go wrong here.

The Laughing Policeman

The Laughing Policeman (1973) Trailer - YouTube:

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Gator Update (Big One Edition)

Record gator caught in southwest Arkansas

Hat tip to John Duke.

Ashbel Green, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Ashbel Green, a widely respected editor in the publishing industry who shepherded more than 500 books into print for Alfred A. Knopf, including detective novels, the autobiography of Walter Cronkite and the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, died on Tuesday in Westerly, R.I. He was 84.

Free for Kindle through Sunday

Atomic Renaissance: American Women Mystery Writers of the 1940s and 1950sAtomic Renaissance: American Women Mystery Writers of the 1940s and 1950s: Jeffrey Marks: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: America in the 1950s was a place of Eisenhower, the Korean Conflict, McCarthy, and Sputnik. Women found themselves trapped into a mold of Donna Reed and June Cleaver, marginalized by the hyper-masculinity of the age. Mystery fiction had become a male bastion as well, promoting hardboiled private eye novels and spy fiction. It would be another three decades before groups to promote equality between the sexes in mystery fiction appeared. 

Yet during that post-World War II era, seven women carved out a place in the genre. These women became the bestsellers of their time by innovation and experimentation. Margaret Millar, Patricia Highsmith, Leslie Ford, Charlotte Armstrong, Dorothy B. Hughes, Mignon Eberhart, and Phoebe Atwood Taylor are in no way similar to each other in style, theme, or subject matter. However, their writings created an Atomic Renaissance that continues to impact the mystery field today.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

BBC News: A 47-year-old man has appeared before Perth Sheriff court accused of causing fear and alarm by being aggressive with a black pudding.

Hard Case Crime Update


NEW STEPHEN KING NOVEL COMING
FROM HARD CASE CRIME

JOYLAND to be published in June 2013

New York, NY; London, UK—Hard Case Crime, the award-winning line of pulp-styled crime novels published by Titan Books, announced it will publish JOYLAND, a new novel by Stephen King, in June 2013. Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, JOYLAND tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever. JOYLAND is a brand-new book and has never previously been published. One of the most beloved storytellers of all time, Stephen King is the world’s best-selling novelist, with more than 300 million books in print.

Called "the best new American publisher to appear in the last decade" by Neal Pollack in The Stranger, Hard Case Crime revives the storytelling and visual style of the pulp paperbacks of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The line features an exciting mix of lost pulp masterpieces from some of the most acclaimed crime writers of all time and gripping new novels from the next generation of great hardboiled authors, all with new painted covers in the grand pulp style. Authors range from modern-day bestsellers such as Pete Hamill, Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block and Ed McBain to Golden Age stars like Mickey Spillane (creator of "Mike Hammer"), Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of "Perry Mason"), Wade Miller (author of Touch of Evil), and Cornell Woolrich (author of Rear Window).

Stephen King commented, "I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts. That combo made Hard Case Crime the perfect venue for this book, which is one of my favorites. I also loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we’re going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book."

King’s previous Hard Case Crime novel, The Colorado Kid, became a national bestseller and inspired the television series "Haven," now going into its third season on SyFy.

"Joyland is a breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking book," said Charles Ardai, Edgar- and Shamus Award-winning editor of Hard Case Crime. "It’s a whodunit, it’s a carny novel, it’s a story about growing up and growing old, and about those who don’t get to do either because death comes for them before their time. Even the most hardboiled readers will find themselves moved. When I finished it, I sent a note saying, ‘Goddamn it, Steve, you made me cry.’"

Nick Landau, Titan Publisher, added: "Stephen King is one of the fiction greats, and I am tremendously proud and excited to be publishing a brand-new book of his under the Hard Case Crime imprint."
JOYLAND will feature new painted cover art by the legendary Robert McGinnis, the artist behind the posters for the original Sean Connery James Bond movies and "Breakfast At Tiffany’s," and by Glen Orbik, the painter of more than a dozen of Hard Case Crime’s most popular covers, including the cover for The Colorado Kid.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Treds Tire and Wheel, All Girls Tire Shop, Sticks It To Pep Boys (VIDEO): At Treds Tire and Wheel in San Antonio, Texas, there's a certain irony that Pep Boys is just across the street. Not because it's a small business thriving in the shadow of a chain store, but because Treds Tire and Wheel is run entirely by women.

Interview with Charles Boeckman

The Education of a Pulp Writer: Interview with Charles Boeckman

Song of the Day

Carla Thomas-Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes) - YouTube:

The man who turned his home into a public library

The man who turned his home into a public library

My Tree House Was a Couple of Loosely Nailed Boards

23 Magical Tree Houses We Want To Play In

Today's Vintage Ad


And Keep off Their Lawn!

Marty Childs arrested in St Paul after mother and daughter hold him for police 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Or Maybe They Do

10 Dog Facts Even Dog People Don't Know

Top 10 Most Expensive Heists

Top 10 Most Expensive Heists

Uh-Oh

The Hollywood Reporter: The femme-skewing network has made a script order for "Wunderland," a contemporary reimagining centered on a young female detective in present-day Los Angeles who discovers another world that exists under the surface of this ultra-modern city.

PaperBack

 

R. V. Cassill, Night School, Dell, 1961

A Review of Interest (to Me, Anyway)

Review: Murder Of A Beauty Shop Queen by Bill Crider | This latest Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mystery does not disappoint

In the Navy, yes, you can sail the seven seas. In the Navy, yes, you can put your mind at ease.

ICBS Connecticut: A Navy officer who was dismissed last month as commander of a Connecticut-based nuclear submarine faked his own death to end an affair he was carrying on with a mistress, investigation documents show. Navy Cmdr. Michael P. Ward II was relieved of his duties aboard the USS Pittsburgh a week after taking command of the attack submarine.

7 Submerged Wonders of the World

Underwater Cities, Ruins & Urban Archeology: 7 Submerged Wonders of the World

Exploring The World's Eeriest Shipwrecks

Exploring The World's Eeriest Shipwrecks (PHOTOS)

Worst-Paying College Degrees

Worst-Paying College Degrees 

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Is A 15-Year Old Texan Girl Driving This Ultra Rare Lamborghini To High School? [UPDATE: Yes, She Is]: The Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Super Trofeo Stradale is one of the rarest Gallardos ever built. There are just 150 in the entire world. 

 But one of them has been seen in the parking lot of a Texas High School. And even more surprisingly, it is allegedly being driven there by a 15-year old girl with a license granted to people that are in economic hardships.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man arrested for shoving tomato in wife's mouth "mostly to shut her up" 

Collecting Mountaineering Books: A Literary Everest

Cho Oyu. By Favour of the Gods by Herbert TichyAbeBooks: An enduring feature of mountaineering is that achievement and disaster are closely linked. The triumph of an historic ascent can be painfully affected by the perilous descent. As the conquering spirit of modern man has taken mountaineers to faraway places to climb mountains by ever more difficult means, one outstanding legacy is a rich narrative of text for the collector. This is as true nowadays as it was during the infancy of mountaineering.

Assassination

Trailer - Assassination starring Charles Bronson! - YouTube:

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

And Keep Off His Lawn!

Grandpa saved dog from jaws of gator

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

No Comment Department

"Gored To Death By Indian Bison": A Brief Index Of Recent Terrible Events Involving Joggers

Hat tip to Art Scott.

10 Pirate Myths and Surprises

10 Pirate Myths and Surprises 

Kasey Lansdale Update

Dark Deals: 'Christmas with the Dead' and Kasey Lansdale’s Varied Options | Interview

Gil Brewer’s Sexual Obsession; or, Why You Should Read Noir Short Stories

Gil Brewer’s Sexual Obsession; or, Why You Should Read Noir Short Stories 

Book of the Week: Making Story: Twenty-One Writers on How They Plot

Book of the Week: Making Story: Twenty-One Writers on How They Plot, edited by Timothy Hallinan

Stephen Dunham, R. I. P.

'DAG' Actor Dies At 48: Actor Stephen Dunham (né Bowers) is dead at age 48. According to Variety, the cause of death was a heart attack the television actor had suffered a few days earlier, before dying on Sept. 14 at Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, Calif. 

Dunham was a prolific actor who appeared on a number of television shows, including ABC's "Hot Properties," "Just Shoot Me!" and, perhaps most memorably, "DAG," on which he played Edward Pillows. He also made appearances in the films "The Mummy" and "Monster-in-Law." He is set to star as part of a wedded couple in the upcoming "Paranormal Activity" with his real-life wife, actress Alexondra Lee.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

My Mother-in-Law

My mother-in-law, Pet Campbell Stutts, would have been 100 years old last Sunday.  Judy sent flowers to the little church that her mother attended for all her adult life.  

Pet grew up in tough circumstances and started picking cotton when she was six years old.  The house she lived in didn't have electricity of indoor plumbing.  After she married Eldred Stutts, who worked in his father's little grocery store, earning $6 a week and his groceries, she milked a cow every morning to earn extra money.  When Eldred took over the store, she started to work there.  She got up every day at around 5:00 and cooked breakfast.  Then she'd clean the house before going to work.  At noon she'd cook lunch in the kitchen in back of the store.  After she cleaned up the dishes, she'd work until late afternoon before going home to fix supper.   

She believed in work and judged people by how much and how hard they worked.  She didn't consider my teaching job to be work, but she was willing to cut me a break because I was her son-in-law.  She thought people who took naps were lazy, and she didn't think much of anybody who didn't work all day.  She was still mowing her own lawn with a push-type power mower until shortly before she died at age 94.  Her house was the cleanest I've even been in.  She's the only person I know who regularly mopped her garage.

She never accepted any help from anybody if she could avoid it. In her later years she did allow me and Judy to buy some things for her, but not much.  We wanted to do a lot more, but she simply refused to let us.  She did accept her Social Security and Medicare, but she'd paid into both of those programs since their inception. Her income was from her Social Security checks and the small interest she earned on her savings.  In the last ten or so years of her life, she didn't pay income taxes.  A remarkable person by anybody's reckoning, and one of the 47%.

Song of the Day

Blondie | The Tide Is High (Official Video) (Original Version) - YouTube:

10 Artists Not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

10 Artists Not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Today's Vintage Ad


100 Forgotten Heartthrobs Of The '80s And '90s

100 Forgotten Heartthrobs Of The '80s And '90s

WOLF CREEK: BOOK 1 BLOODY TRAIL–MEET THE AUTHORS!

WOLF CREEK: BOOK 1 BLOODY TRAIL–MEET THE AUTHORS!

Recommended Reading

BEN HAAS By Lynn Munroe

A Teenager Asks a Question

YCteen Story: What’s Wrong With Reading? 

PaperBack

 

R. V. Cassill, Dormitory Women, Lion Books, 1954

10 Celebrities Who Spied on the Side

10 Celebrities Who Spied on the Side 

5 Infamous Female Spies

5 Infamous Female Spies

New Story at BEAT to a PULP

BEAT to a PULP :: Pulp of the Week: Half-Breed Ron Scheer

Fantastic Original Posters for Film Noir Classics

Fantastic Original Posters for Film Noir Classics

Photos of Famous Authors and Their Bicycles

Photos of Famous Authors and Their Bicycles

Arrrrrrrrrrr

Krispy Kreme Celebrates 'Talk Like A Pirate Day' On September 19 With Free Doughnuts

I Miss the Old Days

Bedding Ads, 1970s 

Mr. Majestyk

Mr. Majestyk Trailer - YouTube:

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . .  and Texas Leads the Way!

Texas mom charged for helping kids vandalize home with condiments, raw chicken and toilet paper, causing $6,000 in damage 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Suspect caught in sex act goes into a rage 

Before They Were Writers: Mystery Authors on their Path to the Pen

Before They Were Writers: Mystery Authors on their Path to the Pen - YouTube:

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Redheads Die Quickly and Other Stories
I provided a blurb for this collection, and it's well worth picking up.  I'm a fan of Brewer's paperback novels, but I didn't know a thing about his short fiction.  Fortunately David Rachels did.  He's located it and published the best of it here.  You get twenty-five stories, Rachels' excellent introduction, a bibliography of Brewer's short fiction, and a short note on the texts.  You just can't go wrong.

Redheads Die Quickly and Other Stories: Gil Brewer,David Rachels: 9780813044064: Amazon.com: Books: Brewer revolutionized the availability of reading-as-entertainment for the American people by helping to exploit a new market: the paperback original. Many of his novels, including the bestselling 13 French Street, have recently been reissued for a new audience. However, Redheads Die Quickly and Other Stories is the first collection of his short fiction. 

 Because his work was published in a large number of pulp magazines, and because he regularly didn’t publish stories under his own name, Brewer’s fans—and fans of hard-boiled noir fiction in general—have often been frustrated in their efforts to find the work of this mid-century American crime writer. David Rachels has sifted through the Brewer papers at the University of Wyoming, thumbed thousands of publications, and tracked down rare pulp magazines on eBay, to create the first-ever authoritative list of Brewer’s short stories, with the best featured in a single volume.

Jerome Kilty, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Jerome Kilty, an actor and playwright known for writing epistolary dramas — most notably “Dear Liar,” his adaptation of 40 years of amorous correspondence between George Bernard Shaw and one of the London theater’s most temperamental actresses — died on Sept. 6 in Norwalk, Conn. He was 90.

Wright for America -- Robin Lamont

Pryor Wright is a talk-show host, who of course bears no resemblance to any person living or dead.  His devoted listeners number in the millions, and he says things like this: "What more could he do to ruin this country?  Wake up, people!  He's hell-bent on destroying the America that you and I love.  And I'll be honest with you, I'm afraid.  And you ought to be afraid, too."  

Maren Garrity works for a private-investigating firm that's looking to expose some people who sell counterfeit handbags.  Her brother is hospitalized as a result of terrible beating he received at the hands of some gay bashers.  Maren's also a member of an amateur theatrical group.

Harry Thorne's part of an FBI team investigating some illegal arms dealers who happen the be the same people Maren is investigating.

There's more.  A lot more.  Before it's over Maren is using at least three different names and various disguises.  The theatrical troupe is working a big con on Pryor Wright.  There are arms deals going down, not to mention handbag deals.  I'll let you read the book to sort it all out.  It's funny and farcical, the characters are interesting, and somehow the author manages to pull it all together at the end.

Speaking of the author, I wasn't familiar with Robin Lamont, but she's had quite a career, having come to writing only recently.  She's sung on Broadway and in the movies (in Godspell), been a p.i., and served as an assistant D.A. in New York.  A lot of this comes through in the book.  Check it out.

Steve Sabol, R. I. P.

Yahoo! Sports: NFL Films President Steve Sabol, half of the father-son team that revolutionized sports broadcasting and mythologized pro football into the country's favorite sport, died Tuesday from brain cancer. He was 69.

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest


I've read this one, and it's a really great take on the Dead Man.  Christa Faust brings it!

The Death Match (Dead Man #13): Lee Goldberg,William Rabkin,Christa Faust: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: While investigating a grisly and eerily familiar murder, Matt Cahill is drawn into the violent world of underground cage fighting. He agrees to help Stacy Barnett, hot-headed young grappler whose best friend and fellow female fighter has gone missing. Stacy’s friend turns out to be more than a friend and the kinky fetish wrestling matches she’s involved with turn out to be something far more sinister. As Matt uncovers layer after layer of twisted horror, he finds himself locked into a no holds barred fight to the death—and beyond—that will leave him questioning everything, including himself.

Song of the Day

Bobby Darin - Dream Lover - YouTube:

NYC Leads the Way

NYC Breaking News: A recent survey by Travel Leisure magazine ranked New York the dirtiest American city. 

 The online poll of 50,000 people found that rats, funky odors and trash heaps were the main factors for the dubious distinction. If there isn't enough dirt for you, it also "won" the survey for being the loudest and rudest city in the country.

It also ranked worst for affordability.

Can You Guess The Prices From This 1996 Best Buy Flyer?

Quiz: Can You Guess The Prices From This 1996 Best Buy Flyer?

Today's Vintage Ad


Readers of This Blog Will Not Be Surprised at the Gator's Presence

National Post: A Milton barn fire on Saturday led to the discovery of a grow-op, the seizure of $300,000 worth of marijuana plants and the death of a five-foot alligator. 

Vintage Ads for Bacon

The Ten Most Sizzling, Succulent Old Bacon Ads

PaperBack

 

Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake), The Handle, Pocket Books, 1966

Archaeology Update

Roman Fort That Helped Julius Caesar Conquer Gaul Identified In Germany

The most popular baby names from 1901

Bertha, Mildred, Clarence; Check out the most popular baby names from 1901 

Is Young Adult Fiction The New Chick Lit?

Is Young Adult Fiction The New Chick Lit?

Sunken Treasure Update

Drought in Poland reveals 400-year-old sunken treasures 

Uh-Oh

Ain't It Cool News: Alright folks... Sony is going to make a MANIMAL Movie, really...

The 10 Most Ridiculous Album Cover Trends of All Time

The 10 Most Ridiculous Album Cover Trends of All Time

John Ingle , R. I. P.

latimes.com: John Ingle, 84, an actor who played scheming patriarch Edward Quartermaine on the daytime drama "General Hospital," died of cancer Sunday in Los Angeles, ABC said. 

Ingle took over the role as the ruthless businessman Quartermaine from actor David Lewis in 1993 and made his final appearance in an episode airing last week. He also played Mickey Horton on "Days of Our Lives" during a two-year break from "General Hospital" beginning in 2004.

Overlooked Movies: The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Six years ago, I had a few comments about a book called The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists.  The book's now become a movie called The Pirates! Band of Misfits in the U. S., though in Britain it retained the original title.  It's really a great-looking animated film, and though I don't think it got much of a chance in U. S. theaters, I found it fast-moving and funny with some really nice action sequences.  

The plot's simpler than the one in the book.  The Pirate Captain wants to be "Pirate of the Year," even though he hardly has a chance against the really great pirates.  After all, he's barely a midlist pirate.  By chance he meets up with Charles Darwin, who discovers that the Pirate Captain's parrot is actually a dodo.  Darwin suggests the possibility of great reward for the scientific discovery.  Hilarity ensues.  Or it did for me if not for the majority of movie critics.  Favorite line: "You can't make everything all right just by saying 'arrrr' at the end of a sentence."

You know you can't trust my opinion about movies, especially pirate movies.  After all, I liked Cutthroat Island. Let the viewer beware.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

The Pirates! Band of Misfits trailer 2012 official movie trailer - YouTube:

Monday, September 17, 2012

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Magic Lantern (Rogue Angel)
This just goes to show how far out of it I am.  I didn't even know about this series, but there are something like 35 books in it already.  I was thoroughly entertained by this one, and you can read my Amazon review of it at this link.

Magic Lantern (Rogue Angel): Alex Archer: 9780373621569: Amazon.com: Books: In late 1700s Paris, a young but promising illusionist dabbles in the arcane art of phantasmagoria. But at his moment of greatest triumph—unveiling a magical lantern said to open a door to the Chinese spirit world—he is violently struck down by a vengeful phantom…. On assignment in London, archaeologist Annja Creed is hunting down a man who claims to have discovered the Jekyll and Hyde potion. On the trail of one curiosity, Annja finds herself pulled toward another mystery…the origin of a strange, old-fashioned projector once used by eighteenth-century illusionists. As Annja delves into its rich history, a dark past begins to emerge. And someone wants to harness the power of this cursed artifact…risking everything for the treasures it promises. But Annja has a little magic trick of her own. One that she wields with deadly accuracy….

Free Today for Kindle

McGrave
I've read this one, and it's great.  Highest recommendation.

McGrave: Lee Goldberg: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Hold on tight for a wild, rollicking, action-adventure novella that captures all of the fun, excitement and pure escapist pleasure of the "Dirty Harry," "Lethal Weapon" and "Die Hard" movies...with the humor, sharp dialogue and inventiveness that you've come to expect from Lee Goldberg, bestselling author of "The Walk," "Watch Me Die," "The Dead Man," and fifteen hilarious Adrian Monk mysteries.

Eva Figes, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Eva Figes, a refugee from Nazi Germany who became an acclaimed novelist, memoirist and critic best known for an influential feminist treatise, “Patriarchal Attitudes,” published in 1970, died on Aug. 28 at her home in London. She was 80.

Dead Anyway -- Chris Knopf

I've read and remarked on three or four of Chris Knopf's previous novels in two different series, the ones about Sam Aquillo (here's one example) and Jackie Swaitkowski (here, for example).  His new one features a different character, Arthur Cathcart.  In the first few pages of the book, Arthur loses his wife and almost his life.  He suffers a severe head wound.  Really severe.  So when he finally regains consciousness and begins to recover, he has a long way to go both physically and mentally.  He's determined, however, to find out the reasons for what's happened to him and to do something to the people responsible.  He goes about it with computers.  He knows a lot about them, even more than some of the hotshots in the movies.  ("Hollywood doesn't know that half of it.")  He uses disguises.  Trickery.  Elaborate con games (including a great Gatsbyesque party).

Sometimes, as he admits, Cathcart is no longer sure who he is, but he knows he's not who he used to be.  His brain doesn't work the way it used to, not entirely, and he's lost a bit of what I suppose I'd call his humanity.  So his struggle's not just to find out what happened and why but to recover a bit of himself, or at least to find out who he's become and to make peace with that.


Knopf does a fine job of storytelling here.  It's engrossing entertainment with an edge, and since there's at least one big plot thread left unresolved, I'm sure that he's started a new series.  I'm looking forward to finding out what happens to Cathcart in the next volume, and I'm betting you will be, too, after you read this one.  Check it out.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Allegedly Penis-Devouring Piranha Relative Hauled Out of Texas River

Just An Old Guy Trying to Make a Living Here

Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen: A Dan Rhodes Mystery (Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries)Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen: A Dan Rhodes Mystery (Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries): Bill Crider: 9780312640170: Amazon.com: Books: Dan Rhodes, sheriff of Blacklin County, Texas, is called to the Beauty Shack, where the young and pretty Lynn Ashton has been found dead, bashed over the head with a hairdryer. The owner said Lynn had gone to the salon late to meet an unknown client. There was a lot of gossip going on about Lynn before her death, but no one seems to really know much about her, or they’re not telling Rhodes. 

 Lynn was known to flirt, and it’s possible an angry wife or jilted lover had something to do with her death. The salon owner suspects two outsiders who have been staying in an abandoned building across the street. While he investigates the murder, Rhodes must also deal with the theft of copper and car batteries, not to mention a pregnant nanny goat that is terrorizing the town. 

 Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen is a wonderful entry in this always delightful series by award-winning author Bill Crider.

Song of the Day

Runaround Sue - Dion - YouTube:

Constitution Day!

Constitution Day - September 17, 2012 | U.S. Constitution

Or Maybe Not

10 Novels That Deserve a Prequel

Today's Vintage Ad


Six Reasons To Write Short Stories

Top Suspense Group: Six Reasons To Write Short Stories

11 Drunkest Presidents in US History

11 Drunkest Presidents in US History 

PaperBack

 

Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake), The Seventh, Pocket Books, 1966

Jack Kerouac Update

Kerouac's ex-girlfriend lifts lid on beat novelist's rise and fall 

Yet Another List I'm Not On

10 Underrated Books Everyone Should Read

Vintage Photographs From Inside 10 Famous Libraries

Vintage Photographs From Inside 10 Famous Libraries

5 Stupid Bets That Changed the World

5 Stupid Bets That Changed the World

And Keep Off Her Lawn!

Local - Ohio: . . . I’ll bet you a week’s pay there’s not another woman on the planet who continues to change her own oil at the age of 102. Meet Margaret Dunning of Plymouth, Mich.

Happy Rosh Hashanah!

Judaism 101: Rosh Hashanah

Messenger of Death

Messenger of Death Trailer - YouTube:

Sunday, September 16, 2012

James 'Sugar Boy' Crawford, R. I. P.

NOLA.com: James “Sugar Boy” Crawford, the New Orleans rhythm & blues singer who wrote and recorded the enduring Mardi Gras standard “Jock-A-Mo,” died early Saturday while under hospice care following a brief illness. He was 77.

Why Couldn't They Have Done This 60 Years Ago?

Japan tooth patch could be end of decay 

Employees of Wal-Mart

WalMart employees ripped up woman's $100 bills because they thought they were fake

Song of the Day

DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY by Alison Krauss with Lyrics - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


5 Mind-Blowingly Valuable Things Hidden in Everyday Life

5 Mind-Blowingly Valuable Things Hidden in Everyday Life 

PaperBack

 

Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake), The Score, Pocket Books, 1965

Top 10 Most Hazardous Sea Creatures

Top 10 Most Hazardous Sea Creatures

Royale with Cheese Not Included

15 of the World’s Most Expensive Foods

This Will Come as No Surprise to Any English Teachers Reading This . . .

. . . and the headline writer really should say "fewer" in a headline like this.

Less than one in four American teens has proficient writing skills - even when allowed spell check and computers 

Looking for a Cheap Halloween Costume?

Cat Sunglasses

10 Iconic Film Performances That Almost Never Happened

10 Iconic Film Performances That Almost Never Happened

Photo Manipulations Before the Digital Age

Photo Manipulations Before the Digital Age

Cactus Flower

Cactus Flower (1969) Trailer - YouTube: