Saturday, June 29, 2013

Here's the Protagonist for Your Next Cop Novel

Andy Pope, Police Officer With Photographic Memory, Can Identify Pretty Much Anyone

Gator Update (Connecticut Edition)

WFSB 3 Connecticut: New London police were called to a home in New London Saturday afternoon, after the homeowner spotted an alligator.

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

Song of the Day

Janis Joplin- Cry Baby - YouTube:

Uh-Oh or OK?

'Encyclopedia Brown' Movie Adaptation Eyed By Warner Bros.

The Highest Grossing Movie Franchises

The Highest Grossing Movie Franchises

Today's Vintage Ad


11 Unforgivable Changes Made To Book Adaptations (SPOILERS)

11 Unforgivable Changes Made To Book Adaptations (SPOILERS)

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Dorothy Salisbury Davis, The Judas Cat, Bantam, 1951

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

CMC inmate wounds six guards with a plastic cup

Croc Update (Dubai [Yes, Dubai] Edition)

Dubai to Open World’s Best Crocodile Theme Park

11 Words Which Are Older Than You Think

11 Words Which Are Older Than You Think

Parts Is Parts

The '60s at 50: 1963: Origin of chicken nuggets

You're Doing It Wrong

The Raw Story: A meeting intended to improve police-community relations in Pittsburgh ended on Wednesday with a black teacher being arrested by a white officer.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Rival drag queens clash on stage in violent brawl

Warning: Autoplay video.

The Stranger

1947 ORSON WELLES TRAILER - YouTube:

Friday, June 28, 2013

15 Life Lessons From "Calvin And Hobbes"

15 Life Lessons From "Calvin And Hobbes"

Cursive Update

Is cursive writing dead?

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

abc27 WHTM: Two real estate agents in a wealthy Philadelphia suburb are accused of tossing dead mice and snakes onto the lawn of their neighbor's house, which is up for sale.

I Miss the Old Days

Variety: Radio Digs Its Own Grave as Cultural Currents Shift

Song of the Day

Castle Kings - "Loch Lomond" - Atlantic #45-2107 (1961) Doo-Wop Rocker - YouTube:

10 car options the law won't let you have

10 car options the law won't let you have 

Interview with Troy D. Smith

SONS OF SPADE: Q & A with Troy D. Smith

Today's Vintage Ad


10 Questions Still Baffling Scientists

10 Questions Still Baffling Scientists

10 Food Lies We've All Been Fed

10 Food Lies We've All Been Fed

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Nigel Sligh, Copperbelt, Popular Library, 1951

Yet Another List I'm Not On

Books: 10 All-Time Greatest 

Warning: Slideshow

Alvin, Texas, Still Not Included (These Are Not the Same as in the Posting Below)

Smartest Cities In America

Warning: Slideshow

Alvin, Texas, Not Included

These are the 100 smartest cities in America 

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The 10 Best Sitcom Seasons Over Past 20 Years

Suspicions Confirmed

Cats really CAN understand their owners' voices - they just act aloof as a form of survival 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Forgotten Books: The Tall T -- Elmore Leonard

You can tell by looking at the covers and spine of the paperback edition of The Tall T that when this Avon book was published, nobody knew who Elmore Leonard was.  His name is nowhere on it.  If you looked at the spine, you might even think that Randolph Scott had written the book.  And if you look at the tiny print under the title, you'll see "And Other Western Adventures" because instead of publishing a novelization of the movie, which was based on a novelette called "The Captives" from Argosy, Avon just published the novelette and padded out the book with some still photos from the movie and two other stories, one by Steve Frazee ("The Man at Gantt's Place") and one by Noel M. Loomis ("The Twilighters").

If you've seen the movie, as I'm sure many of you have (and if you haven't, you can watch it right here), you might want to know how it's different from the book.   The opening 15 minutes of the movie aren't really in the story.  A couple of the events are alluded to, but others have just been added.  And the ending is changed.  In the story, Chink (Henry Silva in the movie) is the of the killers that Brennan (Randolph Scott) has to deal with.  In the movie, it's Frank Usher (Richard Boone).  Not that it makes a lot of difference.

Most everything in between comes directly from the story.  Leonard's dialogue is hardly altered.  It's as if he were already writing directly for the screen.  It's fun to see the movie shortly after reading the book to see how the actors handled the dialogue.  As I read the story, I could hear Scott saying some of the lines, and in the movie he spoke a few of them pretty much as I thought he would.  Not nearly all of them, however.  It was a pleasure to watch him work.  He was a much better actor than he sometimes gets credit for.

The question of the day is, "Why is this movie called The Tall T?" Nobody in the movie mentions it. Nobody is named anything that begins with the letter T.  It's not the name of a ranch.  Anybody know?

I recommend both the story and the movie.  Great stuff.

The Tall T

1957 RANDOLPH SCOTT WESTERN TRAILER - YouTube:

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Boldly Going

NASA baffled as Voyager 1 enters unknown region of space

FROM DUNDEE'S DESK: New Bodie Kendrick Novel: DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH - Preview & Special Sales Offer

FROM DUNDEE'S DESK: New Bodie Kendrick Novel: DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH - Preview & Special Sales Offer

Peru & Archaeology Update

First Unlooted Royal Tomb of Its Kind Unearthed in Peru

Link via Neatorama.

Alan Myers, R. I. P.

Alan Myers, Devo drummer, dead at 58.: Alan Myers, one of the foremost drumming talents of the punk and new wave era, died on Monday from cancer. Myers is best known as the drummer for Devo; he was featured on six albums and live tours during the height of their creative and commercial success, from 1976 to 1986. Their iconic 1980 single, “Whip It,” is marked by Myers’ shuffling high-hats and metronomic kick-snare combo.

Ultimate Literary Calendar

Flavorwire’s Ultimate Literary Calendar: A Bookish Event for Every Day of the Year 

The Childhood Art of Famous Authors

The Childhood Art of Famous Authors

Song of the Day

Irma Thomas - Time Is On My Side - YouTube:

Who Said It?

"We Are Made of Star-Stuff"

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Samurai sword-wielding attacker terrorizes mom, girlfriend, deputies say

Today's Vintage Ad


Buffalo connections to ‘The Lone Ranger’ are deep

Buffalo connections to ‘The Lone Ranger’ are deep

Hat tip to George Kelley.

Kemosabe: meaning, origin and history of Tonto’s word in Lone Ranger.

Kemosabe: meaning, origin and history of Tonto’s word in Lone Ranger.

Top 10 UFO sightings

Top 10 UFO sightings: from Roswell to a pub in Berkshire

Just Like Seepy Benton's Students

Plants Capable of Solving Complex Maths Equations 

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Dale Kramer & Madeline Karr, Teen-Age Gangs, Popular Library, 1954

Lewis Carroll’s Letter to Alice Liddell

Lewis Carroll’s Letter to Alice Liddell and Other Artifacts From the NYPL’s Children’s Books Exhibition

In Case You Were Wondering . . .

Where the Word “Wiki” Comes From

Mugshots Included

Meet the ladettes of Edwardian Britain: 'Black List' of boozy female drinkers barred from pubs for their drunken antics is revealed

The Wedding Photos of 16 Famous Authors in Love

The Wedding Photos of 16 Famous Authors in Love 

6 Episodes Of "The Simpsons" Inspired By Richard Matheson

6 Episodes Of "The Simpsons" Inspired By Richard Matheson

The Girl in the Black Stockings

1957 GIRL IN BLACK STOCKINGS TRAILER - YouTube:

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Deputies say Birnard Larkin Jr. took shots at cousin over birthday party slight

Gator Update (Severed Limbs Edition)

‘Beast of Brooklyn’: Bizarre find of severed alligator limbs on Williamsburg street

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Amazon.com: It's a Dog's Life, Snoopy! eBook: Charles M. Schulz: Kindle Store: FRIENDS FOREVER!Charlie Brown and his friends . . . Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, Marcy, Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, and Franklin! Life is about good friends, those you’ve come to know and love through the years. Now, for the first time in book form, It's A Dog's Life, Snoopy presents a brand-new collection of your old favorites, bringing all your familiar friends from Peanuts together again for more great times and hilarious fun!

Dodgy Dumplings WBAGNFARB

Bad beef, rows over the washing line and dodgy dumplings: The bizarre ways that the Victorians died discovered in coroners' files 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man robbed of condom at knife point

None of My Readers Will Need the Explanations

Smart Joke Explanations 

Link via Neatorama.

In Case You Need to Comment to Someone

150 Different Words For 'Fart'

Hat tip to Francelle Bettinger.

Top Suspense Sale!

CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOKS!  BUY OFTEN!  ESPECIALLY MINE!

Song of the Day

Janis Joplin- Piece of my heart - YouTube:

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . . and, yes, Raccoon Attack WBAGNFARB.

Children fight off raccoon attack 

16 Most Epically Famous Unibrows

16 Most Epically Famous Unibrows

Western Comics Focus: JONAH HEX

Western Comics Focus: JONAH HEX

Today's Vintage Ad

10 Creepy Mysteries Involving Unidentified People

10 Creepy Mysteries Involving Unidentified People 

Writing Novels Versus Stories

Writing Novels Versus Stories: It’s Not About the Word Count (well, just a little) (by Twist Phelan)

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Jim Thompson, Recoil, Lion Books, 1956

Gators and Drugs. Again.

Pct 4: Constables find 6-foot long alligator in Splendora home during drug bust 

Gort with a loose screw

Gort with a loose screw

Ummmmmm --- Mega Melt

The highest calorie menu items at America's top 10 fast food chains revealed...and you may be surprised

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Top five regrets of the dying

Top five regrets of the dying

Most of What I Know about Writing, I Learned from Kurt Vonnegut

Gavin Extence: Most of What I Know about Writing, I Learned from Kurt Vonnegut

30 of the Worst Album Covers of the '80s and '90s

30 of the Worst Album Covers of the '80s and '90s

From Anatomy to Phrenology: Collectible Medical Books

The Collected Works of one of the Greatest Surgeons of the Sixteenth Century by Ambrosius Pare
AbeBooks: From Anatomy to Phrenology: Collectible Medical Books: The appeal of collecting beautiful, old medical books is strong for many book collectors. Medicine has been practised - in one form or another - since the beginning of mankind and many of these practises have been documented in book form.

Elliott Reid, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Elliott Reid, a character actor familiar to television and movie audiences and probably best remembered as Jane Russell’s love interest in the 1953 film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” died on Friday in Studio City, Calif. He was 93.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Ho Doooo You Do?

1945 HOW DOOO YOU DO TRAILER BERT GORDON - YouTube:

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

What the Most Famous Brands Are from Each State

What the Most Famous Brands Are from Each State

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Top Suspense Has a Sizzling Summer Sale!

CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOKS!  BUY OFTEN!  ESPECIALLY MINE!

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Former Texas cheerleader, 19, wrestles in a 72-pound catfish with her bare hands to win noodling competition

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Police: Upset Texas woman throws dog waste at man

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Amazon.com: Yellow Medicine (Billy Lafitte #1) eBook: Anthony Neil Smith, Craig Johnson: Books: Deputy Billy Lafitte is not unfamiliar with the law—he just prefers to enforce it, rather than abide by it. But his rule-bending and bribe-taking have gotten him kicked off the force in Gulfport, Mississippi, and he’s been given a second chance—in the desolate, Siberian wastelands of rural Minnesota. Now Billy’s only got the local girls and local booze to keep him company. 

Until one of the local girls—cute little Drew, bassist for a psychobilly band—asks Billy for help with her boyfriend. Something about the drugs Ian’s been selling, some product he may have lost, and the men who are threatening him because of it. Billy agrees to look into it, and before long he’s speeding down a snowy road, tracking a cell of terrorists, with a severed head in his truck’s cab. And that’s only the start.

JG Ballard Predicted Social Media In 1977

JG Ballard Predicted Social Media In 1977

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

Amazon.com: The Baddest Ass (Billy Lafitte #3) eBook: Anthony Neil Smith: Books: *** special launch offer: price reduced from $4.99 to $2.99. 

Billy Lafitte, former Deputy-Sheriff and motorcycle gang enforcer, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

For some of his enemies, that's still not enough punishment. Agents Colleen Hartle and Franklin Rome want Lafitte dead so bad, they've put a price on his head--eighteen grand to the first prisoner who takes him out.

11 Historical Figures Who Were Really Bad At Spelling

11 Historical Figures Who Were Really Bad At Spelling 

Song of the Day

LUCINDA WILLIAMS- Drunken Angel (1998) - YouTube:

Steinbeck! My Man!

11 Famous Writers Who Loved Sports

Today's Vintage Ad


PaperBack



Everett & Olga Webber, Bound Girl, Popular Library, 1950

AbeBooks: The Best Movies from Books

AbeBooks: The Best Movies from Books
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

1915 Antarctic 'Endurance' Expedition Photos

1915 Antarctic 'Endurance' Expedition Photos 

Warning: slideshow

When This Guy Says, "Keep off my lawn, " . . .

. . . he means it.

Mail Online: 'He wanted them off': 72-year-old California man faces death penalty after 'shooting and killing two teens and a mother when they wouldn't get off his property and then burning their bodies in a car'

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

The 18 Most Important Hairstyles Of Nicolas Cage's Life

The 18 Most Important Hairstyles Of Nicolas Cage's Life

The Best Potato Chip Flavors

The Best Potato Chip Flavors

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Fogerty Versus Fogerty

Now I Know – Fogerty Versus Fogerty

Overlooked Movies -- Barefoot in the Park

I doubt that any Neil Simon movie is overlooked, but what the heck.  Judy and I had been married only a year or so when this one came out, and we both liked it a lot.  We thought it was hilarious.  After more than 40 years, we still occasionally quote lines from it. Neil Simon is hard to beat when it comes to one-liners.

The plot is a pretty familiar one.  Free-spirited woman (Jane Fonda) marries stodgy guy (Robert Redford), and decides they aren't a good match. The audience knows better, of course, and it's fun to see what happens before Fonda and Redford know better, too.  Or it was fun for me and Judy.  It's a very '60s movie, and maybe today it wouldn't play at all for a young couple the way it did for us.

Fonda and Redford are young and beautiful, while Charles Boyer and Mildred Natwick are older and maybe a little faded, but it's Boyer and Natwick who very nearly steal the show with their romance.  Boyer was terrific, and so was Natwick, even though she's playing a variation on a role she played many times.  Or maybe because she's playing a role she played many times.  

It frightens me to realize that I'm now a good bit older than either Boyer or Natwick was when they made this movie.  When I saw it, I never dreamed I'd be any older than I was that night in the theater.  Better not pursue that line of thought.  Anyway, this movie will always remind me of a time when I was a lot younger and the world was a different place.

Barefoot in the Park

MOVIE TRAILER -- "BAREFOOT IN THE PARK" (1967) - YouTube:

Monday, June 24, 2013

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Amazon.com: SOLOMON & LORD SINK OR SWIM (Solomon vs. Lord) eBook: Paul Levine: Kindle Store: The sharpest lawyer to barely graduate from Key West School of Law, Steve Solomon is a beer and burger guy. Fresh from Yale, Victoria Lord is a Chardonnay and pate gal. The squabblers extraordinaire can't agree on "good morning," but somehow they're a winning team in court. 

Steve plans a mysterious boat trip in the short story "Solomon & Lord Sink or Swim." He claims he's going fishing with Manuel Cruz, but Victoria isn't buying it. She knows that Cruz stole a bundle from Steve's favorite client. Victoria hops aboard to find out just what Steve has planned. The answer could get them both killed.

So It Affects Only the Young, Right?

Telegraph: Doctors in South Korea are reporting a surge in "digital dementia" among young people who have become so reliant on electronic devices that they can no longer remember everyday details like their phone numbers.

Gary David Goldberg, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Gary David Goldberg, a writer and producer who created warmhearted television shows, most notably “Family Ties,” a leading comedy of the 1980s that propelled Michael J. Fox to stardom, died Saturday at his home in Montecito, Calif. He was 68.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Richard Matheson, R. I. P.

R.I.P. Richard Matheson, Author of I Am Legend and Many Other Classics: Beloved author Richard Matheson passed yesterday at the age of 87, after a long illness. Best known for his seminal work I Am Legend, he leaves not just a legacy of great science fiction, but an indelible mark on American pop culture.

SHAMUS AWARD FINALISTS

Mystery Fanfare: SHAMUS AWARD FINALISTS

Song of the Day

Bobby Blue Bland Turn On Your Love Light - YouTube:

Gator and Croc Update: Plymouth professor reveals prehistoric origins of sex

Plymouth Herald: "A clue to why the ancestors of alligators and crocodiles quickly adapted to the vast Pangaean desert lies in the way they have sex."

Today's Vintage Ad


Top Suspense Sizzling Summer Sale!

Don't miss out on some great bargain books!

Goodreads | Book giveaway for Deadman's Road by Joe R. Lansdale

Goodreads | Book giveaway for Deadman's Road by Joe R. Lansdale Jun 20-Jul 05, 2013

7 Works Of Science Fiction That Changed The World

Business Insider: 7 Works Of Science Fiction That Changed The World

Link via SF Signal.

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Edward D. Radin, Crimes of Passion, Popular Library, 1954

10 Most Brazen Impostors

10 Most Brazen Impostors

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Cocoa man arrested after fight about how to make Kool-Aid

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

12 Old Words that Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms

12 Old Words that Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms

New Poem at The 5-2

The 5-2 | Crime Poetry Weekly: Stephen D. Rogers PUBLIC ACCESS

Z-z-z-z-z-z-z

Cows are sleeping better than you: Company manufactures waterbeds for maximum bovine comfort

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

I Miss the Old Days

The '60s at 50: Monday, July 1, 1963: ZIP codes

Bobby 'Blue' Bland, R. I. P.

Bobby 'Blue' Bland Dead: Blues Legend Dies At 83: Bobby "Blue" Bland, a distinguished singer who blended Southern blues and soul in songs such as "Turn on Your Love Light" and "Further On Up the Road," died Sunday. He was 83.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

29 Gorgeous Castles From Around The World

29 Gorgeous Castles From Around The World

G-Men vs. the Black Dragon

1943 ROD CAMERON WWII SERIAL TRAILER - YouTube:

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Invite Your Friends to Dinner!

Whole Alligator From Frontier Restaurant Tastes Like Chicken (VIDEO): In the below video, editor James Mulcahy and Frontier's executive chef Brian Jupiter walk us through the process of preparing and serving the reptile, which feeds between 12 and 15 people and must be ordered five days in advance at the bare minimum.

Hat tip to Jeff Segal.

Here's the Plot for Your Next Big SF Thriller

The daily smart pill that can remember all your passwords: Tablets can transmit personal details to devices as they pass through body

20 Geeky Engagement Rings You Can Actually Buy

20 Geeky Engagement Rings You Can Actually Buy

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Amazon.com: Headaches and Bad Dreams (A Story From the Dark Side) eBook: Lawrence Block: Kindle Store: All I can remember about the origin of “Headaches and Bad Dreams” is that I was on a train when I got the idea for it. It seems to me I was on my way home from Connecticut, though I couldn’t tell you what I was doing there. Whatever it was, my wife was there doing it with me, and this idea came to me in a sentence or two and I recounted it to her in a sentence or two. “There’s this psychic,” I said, and she heard me out, and said it sounded good to her. 

I wrote the story at the request of Elaine Koster, who was running Dutton and New American Library at the time, and who wanted a kick-ass anthology in celebration of NAL’s 50th anniversary in 1998. She decided to call it The Best of the Best, which strikes me in retrospect as strikingly presumptuous, because all the stories were to be written for the collection, and who could say ahead of time that they’d even be competent, let alone the best of anything? 

Best, schmest. I think this one came out pretty well, and I hope you enjoy it.

10 More Of The Best Bad Local Ads

10 More Of The Best Bad Local Ads

Song of the Day

Workin' on a building - John Fogerty - Blue ridge rangers - - YouTube:

Top 10 Famous Trees You Really Should Know

Top 10 Famous Trees You Really Should Know

Today's Vintage Ad


The Faces Behind 10 Recognizable Names

The Faces Behind 10 Recognizable Names

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John Keel, Jadoo: Mysteries of the Orient, Tower, 1966

Paging Imhotep

The Sun |News: AN Egyptian relic has mysteriously started MOVING in a museum — prompting fears an ancient angry spirit could be fighting to get out.

18 Disney Movies That Were Never Made

18 Disney Movies That Were Never Made

The Oldest Company Logos in America

Popular Logos: Then and Now: The Oldest Company Logos in America

Yes,  it's an annoying slideshow.

Who Said It?

When He Turned Out the Light He Was in Bed Before the Room Was Dark 

Top Suspense Has a Sizzling Summer Sale

www.topsuspensegroup.com

10 Writers’ Diets In the 1800s

10 Writers’ Diets In the 1800s 

8 Real-Life Vampire Crimes

8 Real-Life Vampire Crimes

Wildcat Trooper

1936 WILDCAT TROOPER TRAILER KERMIT MAYNARD - YouTube: