Saturday, September 01, 2012

Hal David, R. I. P.

Iconic songwriter Hal David dies at 91 in Los Angeles | Fox News: Hal David, who along with partner Burt Bacharach penned dozens of timeless songs for movies, television and a variety of recording artists in the 1960s and beyond, has died. He was 91. 

 David died of complications from a stroke Saturday morning in Los Angeles, according to Jim Steinblatt, spokesman for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. David was a longtime member and former president of ASCAP. 

 Bacharach and David wrote many top 40 hits including "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," "Close to You" and "That's What Friends Are For."

Announcing the 2012 Chesley Award Winners

Announcing the 2012 Chesley Award Winners 

I Wonder How They Taste . . .

. . . with maple syrup.

Silobreaker: A group of thieves worked hard for its haul this week in eastern Austria, picking a plantation's entire crop of elderberries without the owner noticing. The smooth robbers made off with an estimated 11 tonnes of berries, worth about 6,000 euros ($7,500).

Check It Out

The Page 69 Test: "Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen"

And Keep Off Her Lawn!

CBS Los Angeles: An 82-year-old woman with a rap sheet dating back to 1955 has been arrested on suspicion of burglarizing at least eight doctors’ offices throughout Torrance.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Witnesses say man threatened them with screwdriver, beer stein

Song of the Day

Jivin' Gene and the Jokers - Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 1958 - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


Hey, I Can Quit Any Time I Want To

Addicted to the internet? It could be all in your genes - Telegraph: Dr Montag said that, biologically speaking, internet addiction had the same genetic cause as smoking addiction.

Or Maybe Not

Things That Blew Your Mind When You Were A Kid

5 Underrated Crime Writers

Otto Penzler’s Book Bag: 5 Underrated Crime Writers 

PaperBack

 

Philip K. Dick, The Crack in Space, Ace, 1966

Or Maybe You Did

10 awesome things you didn’t know about ‘Married… With Children’ 

It's a Sticky Situation

Police investigate massive maple syrup theft 

Hat tip to Art Scott, who's not to blame for the blog post headline.

Once in a Blue Moon

This is the way the blue moon looked over Alvin, Texas, last night.  Cue Elvis.

Nicolas Cage Update

Nicolas Cage doesn't return rented DVDs - so LA shop mocks him online 

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Bones Update

Hundreds of bones from the Ice Age discovered in Mexico 

Tough Guys

Newcastle Mugshots, 1930s 

10 famous authors who write fanfiction

10 famous authors who write fanfiction

6 Ironic Coincidences Behind the Scenes of Famous Movies

6 Ironic Coincidences Behind the Scenes of Famous Movies

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man obsessed with 'Fox News and GOP' arrested for 'threatening to murder girlfriend for being a liberal'

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Texas Leads the Way?

Three Big Apple boroughs among the 10 most expensive places to live in America while Texas towns are the cheapest

Hat tip to Brooklynite Jeff Meyerson.

Flamingo Road

Flamingo Road - Trailer - YouTube:

Friday, August 31, 2012

Detroit Breakdown -- D. E. Johnson

Daniel E. Johnson Detroit BreakdownDetroit Breakdown is a historical mystery set exactly 100 years in our past.  The city is Detroit, naturally, but a big portion of the novel is set in Eloise, a sanitarium or, less politely, an insane asylum.  Inside the asylum there's a serial killer who's patterning the murders on those in The Phantom of the Opera.  

The story is told in alternating first-person sections by Will Anderson and Elizabeth Hume, who have considerable history from the first two volumes of this series.  Don't worry if you haven't read the others.  I hadn't, and I found that history adroitly filled in as the novel progressed.

Elizabeth has a special interest in stopping the murders because one of the inmates at Eloise is her brother.  Will comes up with the idea of having himself committed to the sanitarium to investigate from the inside.  As you probably know, that never seems to work out so well.

The horrors of the asylum are depicted very well, and some of the "cures" Will is subjected to are frightening.  Elizabeth turns out to be as kick-ass as you could hope for, and Detroit Breakdown turns out to be a fast-moving and entertaining book.

Serves Him Right

Man who tries to rob 92-year-old woman suffers skull fracture 

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

Revenge: A Mick Murphy MysteryAmazon.com: Revenge: A Mick Murphy Mystery (9781463578091): Michael Haskins: Books: Journalist Mick Murphy is walking across Harvard Yard when his name is called out. He turns and sees the woman of all his sexual fantasies. Under the spell of the pretty Filipina, Murphy is led into her search for the men that abused her brother while he was at Harvard. On the flight back to Los Angeles area, Murphy agrees to put her in contact with some of his old Harvard classmates and they soon begin showing up brutally murdered. His desire for his fantasy girls has him in jeopardy of losing close friends - including his on again/off again romantic interest. When he finally confronts his Filipina about the murders she admits her family is involved in the killings to revenge her brother's suicide. Before it's over Murphy's life is threatened and he learns that his fantasy is more of a nightmare. In the climatic ending Murphy faces the possibity of losing more than friends and a fantasy love.

Song of the Day

Cookie & His Cupcakes - Got You On My Mind 45rpm - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


19th Century Writers Who Are Even More Relevant Today

19th Century Writers Who Are Even More Relevant Today

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Unemployed man weighing 346lbs punched pizza deliveryman, 19, in the face 'because he forgot the GARLIC KNOTS'

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

PaperBack

 

Philip K. Dick, The World Jones Made, Ace, 1967

I Thought This Was Legal In Texas

 myFOXdfw.com: A 21-year-old man from southeast Texas is behind bars after police spotted him carrying a loaded AK-47 in downtown Dallas.

Literature’s Most Desperate Housewives

Literature’s Most Desperate Housewives

Writer Food From A To Z

Writer Food From A To Z 

30 Famous Historical Figures When They Were Young

30 Famous Historical Figures When They Were Young

American Realism: A Dose of Reality

McTeague by Frank NorrisAbeBooks: American Realism: A Dose of Reality: The American Realism cultural movement began to catch on after the American Civil War and was a reaction to, and rejection of, Romanticism. Driven by the desire to depict the enormous industrial, economic, social and cultural changes taking place in the United States during the early years of the 20th century period, artists, writers and musicians exchanged fantasy for reality. Readers were presented with a host of literature that detailed everyday life in America, including some of its harshest aspects.

Forgotten Books: Amazing Stories, the Anthology -- Kim Mohan, Editor


The items in this volume are, for the most part, from the mid-'90s incarnation of Amazing Stories.  The two exceptions are the Bloch story and the Bloch essay.  The story is from 1953, and the essay (which I remember having read in the original magazine) is from 1984. The essay is very entertaining, with Bloch recalling any number of things, such as his first WorldCon and meeting David H. Keller, PhD.  Bloch has some fun with a few other writers, too, including Robert Silverberg.  The only story that I recall having read previously is the hilarious "Linda and Phil," a dead-on pastiche/parody/homage of the works of Philip K. Dick by Paul de Flippo, in which Dick winds up living in Arizona and married to Linda Ronstadt.  You should read it.

Steve Davidson has acquired the Amazing Stories trademark and has done, I believe, a couple of "pre-launch" issues, so it might be returning soon.

Thieves' Highway

Thieves' Highway (1949) Theatrical Trailer - YouTube:

Thursday, August 30, 2012

2012 Ned Kelly Award Winners

Mystery Fanfare: 2012 Ned Kelly Award Winners

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man Scatters Wife’s Underwear On North Strabane Highway 

Trust Your Eyes -- Linwood Barclay

Trust Your Eyes is one of those high-concept thrillers that can be summed up in a few words: Rain Man meets Rear Window.   Thomas Kilbride is a guy who sits at his computer all day looking at Whirl360 (think Google Earth) while in the process of memorizing every street in the world.  You want to know what's at a certain address?  If he's been down that street, he can tell you exactly and in precise detail.  Then one day he notices something strange in a window, zooms in, and discovers that it's someone being murdered.

Thomas' father has recently died in what appears to be a bizarre accident, so brother Ray is home to settle the estate and to figure out how to take care of Ray.  When Thomas tells him about what he's seen, Ray's skeptical.  Who's going to believe someone like Thomas?

But Thomas is right, of course, and thus begins a story that has plenty of twists, turns, and surprises.  What I've mentioned is the merest outline of part of the setup.  Buckle up for a wild ride.

Yet Honey Boo Boo's Show Continues

MTV ending 'Jersey Shore'

Free for Kindle for Next 4 Days

Bullet For A Virgin! (The Adventures of the Rio Concho Kid): Peter Brandvold: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: ALL THE PULP WESTERN ROMANCE AND VIOLENCE OF YESTERYEAR MADE NEW AGAIN BY MEAN PETE PRESS! 

 In this first of a new series of spicy pulp western stories (roughly 50 printed pages) written exclusively as ebooks by Peter Brandvold and published by his own Mean Pete Press, the Rio Concho Kid must save a young Mexican girl from the savage intentions of the lusty General Constantine San Gabriel, who forced her into marriage. 

 On their wedding night, Tomasina De La Cruz sticks a stiletto in the General’s guts and flees his sprawling hacienda with the help of the half-Apache drifter, Johnny Navarro, a.k.a., “the Rio Concho Kid.” 

 The Kid and Tomasina race toward a rendezvous with the young man to whom Tomasina’s heart really belongs. In so doing, Tomasina and the Kid must avoid a deadly trap set by the man whom the dishonored General hired to bring his young bride back so he could have her tortured and gunned-down by firing squad. 

 That man is the infamous, deadly bounty killer known only as El Leproso, the Leper! 

 Can the Kid prove victorious over his fiercest enemy and avoid falling in love with Tomasina, who is as beguiling as she is beautiful but who also harbors a bizarre, bone-chilling secret?

Michael Cimino Update

Hollywood legend Michael Cimino unveils new director’s cut of ‘Heaven’s Gate’ 

Song of the Day

Gene Thomas - "Sometime" - YouTube:

Happy Birthday, Allen Crider!




12 Old War Photographs You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped

12 Old War Photographs You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

Yearbook Portraits, Saint Joseph’s College, Brooklyn, 1970 

A Review of Interest (to Me, Anyway)

Ed Gorman's blog: Forgotten Books: Murder Among Owls by Bill Crider

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Mayor dead after apparent donkey attack

PaperBack

 

Philip K. Dick, Dr. Bloodmoney Or How We Got Along After the Bomb, Ace, 1965

Funny Cartoons Taking Over the Pages of Harlequin Novels

Funny Cartoons Taking Over the Pages of Harlequin Novels

George H.W. Bush Does Dana Carvey Doing Him

George H.W. Bush Does Dana Carvey Doing Him

Forgotten Firearms: 12 bizarre gun designs that didn't catch on

Forgotten Firearms: 12 bizarre gun designs that didn't catch on 

The First Edition Covers of 25 Classic Books

The First Edition Covers of 25 Classic Books

And Keep Off Their Lawn!

230-million-year-old bugs found in Italian amber

Steve Franken, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Steve Franken, a character actor specializing in comedy who appeared in films with Peter Sellers, Jerry Lewis and others, but was best known for playing the wealthy and snobbish Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on the hit sitcom “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,” died on Friday in Los Angeles. He was 80.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Forgotten Music: Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train

A friend sent me this video yesterday after we'd discussed the song "Freight Train" that we remembered from our long ago youth.  This is worth a watch if you're interested in American folk music.  Or even if you're not.

Re: Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train - YouTube:

Two Seconds

Two Seconds (Original Theatrical Trailer) - YouTube:

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

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

Savage Slaughter: Jack Martin: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: The civil war had ended, the country was being rebuilt, the railroads extended. Men whose names would go down in history - Goodnight, Chisholm, were driving thousands upon thousands of wild longhorn cattle across treacherous trails. Gold was discovered and scores of whites ran rampant over grounds that had been promised the Indians by the Great White Father, the vast plains once the preserve of the Indians now rumbled to the sound of the iron horse.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Police: Dad Throws Milk On Mom At School, Leads Officer In Pursuit 

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

And Keep Off His Lawn!

8 Injured When 100-Year-Old Driver Crashes Near South LA Elementary School 

Stan Schmidt Retires from Analog

Locus Online News: Dell Magazines announced the retirement today of Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Schmidt will be succeeded by Trevor Quachri, who has been the managing editor of both Asimov’s and Analog for the past two years.

Gene Thomas, R. I. P.

American Top 40 Fun & Games Site: Gene Thomas, one-half of the duo of Gene and Debbe, passed away Sunday (August 26) in Houston, presumably from lung cancer, at the age of 74. The Palestine, Texas native began performing in Houston while still in his teens. His recording of "Sometime" (later cut by Sir Douglas Sahm) scored him a recording contract with United Artists.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man Facing Charges In Alleged Fight Over Baked Not Fried Chicken 

Song of the Day

Paul Simon - Slip slidin' away - YouTube:

“Black Mask Magazine, Steve Fisher, and The Noir Revolution”

“Black Mask Magazine, Steve Fisher, and The Noir Revolution”

Today's Vintage Ad


Question of the Day

Why are there so many species of beetles and so few crocodiles?

Yet Another List I'm Not On

20 Highest-Paid Celebrities According To Forbes Magazine

None Is as Bad as the Jerry Jones Commercial

10 Terrible Raps From Old School Movies

PaperBack

 

Philip K. Dick, Solar Lottery, Ace, 1968

Stormy Weather

Having gone through a couple of hurricanes since moving to Alvin in 1983, I can sympathize with folks in Louisiana today.  I hope everybody's safe and secure and that the damage isn't too bad.  The photo is one I took in Galveston a short while after Hurricane Ike in 2008.  Ike, Isaac, I'm not fond of those names.  Stay dry, everybody.

The Clearest Images Of Another Planet You've Ever Seen

The Clearest Images Of Another Planet You've Ever Seen

All Spoilers, all the Time

The Greatest Movie Endings

The 12 Men Who Walked on the Moon

The 12 Men Who Walked on the Moon 

4 Common Music Arguments and What They Really Mean

4 Common Music Arguments and What They Really Mean

No Comment Department

17 School Writing Rules You Need to Unlearn in the Real World

Has the Persecution Ended?

Paris Hilton makes a glamorous exit as she boards private jet from LAX to China | 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Prairie Rustlers

1945 PRAIRIE RUSTLERS TRAILER BUSTER CRABBE - YouTube:

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Black Orchid Novella Award


May 31 is the
Submission 
Deadline 
for the 2013
Black Orchid Novella Award

 

[Please pass this on to anyone who might be interested.]


Call for novellas! Please submit your novella for the seventh annual Black Orchid Novella Award (BONA). We are looking for original works of fiction in the tradition of the ratiocinative detective, as exemplified by Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe. Your entry must:
  • Emphasize the deductive skills of the sleuth
  • Contain no overt sex or violence
  • Not include characters from the original series
First prize: $1,000 plus publication in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.
 
Entries must be 15,000 to 20,000 words in length, and must be postmarked by May 31, 2013. The winner will be announced at The Wolfe Pack’s Annual Black Orchid Banquet in New York City, December 7, 2013.*

Please visit www.nerowolfe.org for official rules and procedures to submit your novella. For questions, contact the Awards Chair, Jane K. Cleland, jane@janecleland.net.


* If no acceptable candidates are received, AHMM and The Wolfe Pack reserve the right to declare no winner in any given year.

Weird And Wonderful Book Ends

Weird And Wonderful Book Ends

Hat tip to George Kelley.

Song of the Day

Jon & Robin Dr Jon The Medicine Man Abnak DJ Copy Yellow - YouTube:

Copies Still Available!

That's right.  Still available, and you can get a signed copy right here.  Or if you prefer the more valuable unsigned copies, well Amazon's got 'em.  They have the eBook, too.  So get 'em while you can, and the sooner, the better.

Or Maybe You Did

5 Things You Didn’t Know Could Make You Smarter 

Elderly? Hand Me Down My Walking Cane.

Teenage Photos of Distinguished Elderly Celebrities

Today's Vintage Ad


Answer: Very Carefully

How to harvest semen from a crocodile

Forgotten Memoirs: Life is Never Ordinary

The Snake Has All The Lines by Jean Kerr (1960)AbeBooks: Forgotten Memoirs: Life is Never Ordinary: Many memoirs, highly rated at the time of publication, slip into obscurity and fade away.  You can find them gathering dust in the corners of secondhand bookshops. But many of these books are worth dusting off. This trip around memoirs from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s includes a few famous names such as poet Cecil Day Lewis, author Gavin Maxwell, publisher Stanley Unwin and French crooner Maurice Chevalier.  However, the majority of authors on this list will be unfamiliar to most people.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . . .

Man says woman bit him over wayward looks, video games

PaperBack

 

Philip K. Dick, Eye in the Sky, Ace, 1968

And Keep Off His Lawn!

Customer shoots robber dead: Instead of saving money at a Northside dollar store, a 57-year-old grandfather ends up saving the day.

Thin Mints Melee Not Included

6 True Stories That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

The 10 Most Undervalued Actors in Movies

The 10 Most Undervalued Actors in Movies

Why You Should Have Gone to College in Las Vegas

Five UNLV courses you don’t want to miss 

Hat tip to Fred Zackel.

How Every School in the AP Top 25 Got Its Nickname

How Every School in the AP Top 25 Got Its Nickname

Out of this World: Carl Sagan’s Books

Contact (1985)
Out of this World: Carl Sagan’s Books on AbeBooks: There has been no-one else quite like Carl Sagan in the world of literature. Dedicated to the heavens and the search for life beyond Earth, Sagan (1934-1996) was a scientist first and foremost – his books merely crowned his various day-jobs and achievements in science. Perhaps the lasting legacy of his writing is that it helped to popularize science.

Don't Mess with Sasquatch

Bigfoot hoax turns deadly: Montana man dressed as sasquatch to provoke sightings struck and killed by car

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Overlooked Movies: Hearts of the West

I like this movie a lot, but I don't know many others who do.  It does have its problems (it's a little slow sometimes), but the problems are small compared to the rewards (at least for me).  

This is the movie that made me a Jeff Bridges fan, and his performance as an aspiring pulp writer who becomes a B-Western star is one of the best things about it.  So is the performance of Andy Griffith, a far cry from Sheriff Taylor, as a conniving actor who seems to be a friend to Bridges but isn't.  Blyth Danner's very good as the Kid's romantic interest, and Alan Arkin as a bottom-tier director is dandy.  

My reference to the Kid, by the way, comes from the character that Bridges creates for his pulp stories, and the lines he comes up with for the stories are another highlight of the movie.

There's a subplot about some money hidden in a car that Bridges has stolen (with perfect justification), and that has its moments, too.

Before you start thinking you might like to see the movie based on what I've said, you should check out Ron Scheer's review of a few months ago.  He's not as fond of it as I am.  As for me, though, I'll still think of Bridges every time I hear the word "Bullwhacker!"

Hearts of the West

HEARTS OF THE WEST (Original Theatrical Trailer) - YouTube:

Monday, August 27, 2012

I Report, You Decide

Hip Hop Jerry - YouTube: 666? Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson. 

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Central Texas woman aims for skunk, shoots husband

Today's Vintage Ad


Song of the Day

Hank Ballard : Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go ( 1960 ) - YouTube:

Check It Out

Writers Read: Bill Crider

Or:  
Campaign for the American Reader: What is Bill Crider reading?

I Report, You Decide

NYPOST.com: The controversial kiddie pageant show starring 6-year-old Alana “Honey Boo Boo Child” Thompson is turning into ratings bonanza. . . .

666?

8 Lovely Libraries in Australia and New Zealand

I Report, You Decide

Neil Armstrong dies . . . .

On the same day:  Snooki gives birth to a son . . . . 

666?

I Miss the Old Days

Old Maid Cards c.1960s

PaperBack

 

Philip K. Dick, Clans of the Alphane Moon, Ace, 1964

Paul Newman in the Navy, c.1943

Paul Newman in the Navy, c.1943

Top 10 Sci-Fi And Fantasy Redheads

Top 10 Sci-Fi And Fantasy Redheads

Croc Update (See #5)

The 5 Strangest Felonies Ever Committed by Animals

The History of the Exclamation Point

The History of the Exclamation Point

15 Floor Plans Of TV's Best Homes

15 Floor Plans Of TV's Best Homes

Yet Another List I'm Not On

23 Writers Who Were Famous by Age 23

Kings of the Trivia World

Frequent commenter Scott Cupp (center), Sandi Cupp, Tracey Davis, Shawn Lauderdale, Doug Dlin, Wes Hartman, and Sanford Allen (not pictured) are the Boxcar Frogs, and they are the Kings of the Trivia World, having proved it by winning Big Bucks in San Antonio this week.  Congrats to the Frogs! 

Al Capone

Al Capone (Original Theatrical Trailer) - YouTube:

Sunday, August 26, 2012

A Review of Interest (to Me, Anyway)

Jerry's House of Everything: MURDER OF A BEAUTY SHOP QUEEN

Song of the Day

Oh, Mary Don't You Weep - YouTube:

Top 10 list of most-stolen vehicles

Top 10 list of most-stolen vehicles

Today's Vintage Ad


Steve Martin: King Of Social Media

Steve Martin: King Of Social Media

PaperBack

 

Robert Moore Williams, The Day They H-Bombed Los Angeles.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Smart meter installations stir rowdy response from gun-toting, cage-building Texans - The Washington Post: “It’s Gestapo. You can’t do this,” said Shar Wall of Houston, who attended the Public Utility Commission meeting wearing a large red “Texas Conservative” pin. “I’m a redneck Texas girl and I won’t put up with it.”

Archaeology Update

Fox News: Fresh excavations near the tomb of China’s first emperor have revealed 110 new terra-cotta warriors that have been covered up for 2,200 years, archaeologists said -- adding to the army of over 8,000 solders.

Biologists Discover Real Life Jawas In South America

Biologists Discover Real Life Jawas In South America

Or Maybe You Did

Top 10 Movies You Didn’t Know Were Based on Shakespeare

The Favorite Movies of 42 Famous People

The Favorite Movies of 42 Famous People 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man accused of attacking brother with Styrofoam plate 

The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost (Original Theatrical Trailer) - YouTube: