Saturday, January 12, 2013

No Comment Department

Porn study had to be scrapped after researchers failed to find ANY 20-something males who hadn't watched it 

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Frank Page, R. I. P.

WDEF News 12: The man who introduced a then-unknown Elvis Presley to worldwide audiences through his work with the Louisiana Hayride — the state's version of the heralded Grand Ole Opry — has died. 

Veteran radio broadcaster Frank Page died late Wednesday after succumbing to a severe respiratory infection while hospitalized at WK Pierremont Health Center in Shreveport. He was 87.

Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.

Song of the Day

Sister Christian- Night Ranger with lyrics - YouTube:

John Wilkinson, R. I. P.

Herald-Dispatch Nation/World: AP Coverage: Rhythm guitar player John Wilkinson, who performed with Elvis Presley more than a thousand times, has died at his home in southwest Missouri. He was 67.

Subterranean Magazine Now Available as Free Downloads

Subterranean Magazine Now Available as Free Downloads — Subterranean Press: The two most recent issues of Subterranean, Fall 2012 and Winter 2013, are now avaialbe as free downloads in Mobi and Epub formats, with no DRM, naturally. Might we suggest you give Maria Dahvana Headley's stunner "Game" a try. Or, from the Winter 2013 issue, Walter Jon Williams' long (31,000 words) alternate history novella, "The Boolean Gate". You can look for each and every issue of the mag from here on out as a free download.

Dang

BBC News: The White House has rejected a petition to build a Death Star - a huge battle-station armed with a superlaser as seen in the Star Wars films. 

In a playful response, a senior US government official said the Obama administration "does not support blowing up planets".

Hat tip to Richard Prosch.

Today's Vintage Ad


Or Maybe You Did

12 Celebrities You Didn't Know Were In After School Specials

Is This the Most Amazing Library in the World?

Is This the Most Amazing Library in the World?

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Robert Nathan, So Love Returns, Pyramid, 1962



Top 10 Frightful Firsts in Homicide History

Top 10 Frightful Firsts in Homicide History

The Only #1 Song Recorded by a Father and Daughter

The Only #1 Song Recorded by a Father and Daughter 

Paging Kharis

Archaeologists unearth 3,000-year-old Egypt tombs

You Be the Judge

WATCH: The great faux Twinkies taste test

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Or Maybe Not

11 Common Words You're Probably Mispronouncing

I'm Shocked -- Shocked!

Yes, Money Does Buy Happiness

Saddle Up With the Best Horse Fiction

Black Beauty by Anna SewellAbeBooks: Saddle Up With the Best Horse Fiction: Horse fiction is one of literature’s deepest genres and yet it is often dismissed as lacking in substance. Let’s start with Black Beauty by Anna Sewell – you have all heard of this novel from 1877, but are you with familiar with the book’s impact on animal welfare?

FEMALE

FEMALE 1933 TRAILER RUTHER CHATTERTON PRE-CODE - YouTube:

Friday, January 11, 2013

Out Now! Lit Noir Magazine 8

Out Now! Lit Noir Magazine 8 | PAUL D. BRAZILL: The 8th issue of Jack Lehman‘s Lit Noir Magazine is out now and includes my story The Man Behind The Curtain. And at the moment it’s FREE for your Kindle!

Song of the Day

Rod Stewart - The First Cut Is The Deepest. Lyrics - YouTube:

Free Today for Kindle

The Box and Other Odd StoriesThe Box and Other Odd Stories: Steven Torres: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: From award-winning author, Steven Torres: 13 Stories, 60,000 words, Countless Oddities...

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Police: Man gets wrong order at McDonald’s, fires shotgun at another car 

Today's Vintage Ad


The Best Book Covers of 2012

The Best Book Covers of 2012, As Chosen by Our Favorite Book Cover Designers 

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L. V. Davis, Dallas Blue, Tower, 1982

Where Did the Looney Tunes “Acme Corporation” Come From?

Where Did the Looney Tunes “Acme Corporation” Come From?

The worst publisher of all time

The worst publisher of all time 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman 'bites off half her boyfriend's ear' during argument

The Late Movies: Six Really Strange Elvis Covers (Including Dolph Lundgren and Rod Blagojevich)

The Late Movies: Six Really Strange Elvis Covers (Including Dolph Lundgren and Rod Blagojevich)

The Decline of Western Civilization Continues Apace

British schools told to scrap 'i before e' - UPI.com: "The i before e rule is not worth teaching," it said. "It applies only to words in which the ie or ei stands for a clear ee sound. Unless this is known, words such as sufficient and veil look like exceptions. There are so few words where the ei spelling for the ee sounds follows the letter c that it is easier to learn the specific words."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Mr. Teeth Update

Marijuana-guarding alligator Mr Teeth dies after rescue

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

He Needed to Relax

Suspect admits to smoking "blunt" prior to going to sheriff’s office

Hat tip to John Duke.

The Worst Dictators You’ve (Probably!) Never Heard Of

The Worst Dictators You’ve (Probably!) Never Heard Of 

Forgotten Magazines: The Original Science Fiction Stories (11/55) & Double-Action Detective and Mystery Stories (3/59)

 Both these magazines were edited by Robert A. W. Lowndes, and both were Columbia Publications.  I'm guessing nobody's having any difficulty in figuring out why I chose these two for today's little commentary.  I've had the November 1955 issue of The Original Science Fiction Stories for quite a while now, and I like Kelly Freas cover a lot.  So when I saw the March 1959 issue of Double-Action Detective and Mystery Stories on eBay with the same cover, I couldn't resist.

What I discovered after reading the stories that the cover illustrates is that it seems (to me) to fit better with the Calvin M. Knox (Robert Silverberg) story in the later magazine than with the Simak tale in the earlier one.

Now about that Simak tale.  "Full Cycle" reads to me like an excerpt from a novel.  It's about a reorganization of society that takes place after some event involving nomies and stuffys, but we never learn what that event is or who those two groups are.  If it is indeed part of a novel, it's one I haven't read (or don't remember; maybe someone who's reading this does).  The protagonist is a history professor who's let go by the university because there's no need for him anymore.  No more money, no more students.  He believes there must be a need for someone like him in the brave new world of tribal nomads, but it takes him a while to find out what it is.  The story's told in Simak's typical low-key style, one I admire greatly.

The Silverberg story is about book collectors, and it has some amusing comments about them.  Someone's killing the owners of the extremely rare ("four copies in this country") Doomsday Book.  The gimmick in the story is old hat by now, but it probably seemed fresher when the story was published.  That doesn't really matter; it's the stuff about book collectors that makes the story fun.

The Horrible Dr. Hichcock

Barbara Steele - Horrible Dr. Hichcock - Trailer - YouTube:

Thursday, January 10, 2013

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . . and now it's the jealousy-fueled attack!

61-year-old Florida woman tortured ex-husband with cattle prod, dragged him behind truck in jealousy-fueled attack

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Evan S. Connell, R. I. P.

KansasCity.com: Evan S. Connell, the Kansas City native who did more than any writer to shape the city’s literary image, died Wednesday at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 88.

I Want to Believe

UFO Grey Alien Spotted in Texas?

No Comment Department

KOMU.com | Columbia, MO |: Boyson, who lives in Davenport, Iowa, had been searching for his sister for nearly six decades. He asked an 8-year-old neighbor, Eddie Hanzlin, to look online for Billadeau. Within a week, the child found her on Facebook by using her maiden name.

Song of the Day

Beverly Hills Cop Main Theme - YouTube:

Or Maybe Not

The Scariest Scenes in Cinema

Today's Vintage Ad


Yet Another List I'm Not On

10 of Our Funniest Living Authors 

The 6 Most Insane Covers in the History of Old Magazines

The 6 Most Insane Covers in the History of Old Magazines

Possibly NSFW.

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Theodore Sturgeon, The Rare Breed, Gold Medal, 1966

Gwendoline Butler, R.I.P.

'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?': Gwendoline Butler R.I.P.

Now They Tell Me

Best and Worst Learning Strategies: Why Highlighting is a Waste of Time 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Four Smurfs arrested over attack on man who refused to light one of their cigarettes 

Hollywood announces 85th Academy Award nominations

Oscars: Hollywood announces 85th Academy Award nominations

Castles -- Lots of Castles

Aren't Castles Just The Greatest Things?

The 11 Worst Companies To Work For In America

The 11 Worst Companies To Work For In America 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

At Least He Added the Pit Bulls

Waterford man charged with owning alligator, pit bulls and drugs heads to court Wednesday 

One Night in the Tropics

One Night in the Tropics Official Trailer #1 - William Frawley Movie (1940) HD - YouTube:

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Readers of this Blog Will Not Be Surprised

NBC Bay Area: Alligator Used to Guard Bay Area Pot: Cops Gator, named Mr. Teeth, was found in a bedroom of a Castro Valley home during a probation check

Hat tip to Art Scott.
Nice photo of Mr. Teeth at the link.

2013's Most Undeserving Razzie Nominees

2013's Most Undeserving Razzie Nominees

Key quotation:  Nope. You don't get to nominate Nicolas Cage for being Nicolas Cage. As with the Piranha 3DD nom, his inclusion here is baffling. This is an actor who has elevated his complete lack of restraint to an art. We know that Cage can act, but he chooses to give us this eyeball-straining gonzo shit instead. That's a legitimate (and courageous) choice. Surely someone can't be the worst when he's also the undisputed best at what he does.

The BBWAA, Keepers of the Flame

Baseball Hall of Fame elects no players for first time since 1996

The 2013 Razzie Nominations

The 2013 Razzie Nominations

Song of the Day

Rock the Casbah - The Clash {lyrics} - YouTube:

And So It Goes

Boing Boing: Hasbro announced it is holding an election to oust one of Monopoly's existing game pieces and replacing it with a new one.

Today's Vintage Ad


“A Lifetime With Ellery Queen” (by Francis M. Nevins)

“A Lifetime With Ellery Queen” (by Francis M. Nevins) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

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Michael Avallone, There Is Something about a Dame, Belmont, 1963

5 Insane 'What If' Scenarios That Almost Changed Everything

5 Insane 'What If' Scenarios That Almost Changed Everything 

2012 Word of the Year

“Hashtag” is the 2012 Word of the Year

Free SF Short Story Collection for eReaders

Some of the Best From Tor.com 2012 is Out Now!

Link via Sandra Seamans.

Ned Wertimer, R. I. P.

The Jeffersons' Star Dies at Age 89: Ned Wertimer, who appeared on 11 seasons of "The Jeffersons" as Ralph The Doorman, is dead at age 89. The actor's manager Brad Lemack confirmed to The Huffington Post Tuesday that Wertimer died on Jan. 2 following health complications at the Sherman Village Health Care Center in California.

Run for Your Lives!

Dog shaved to look like lion sparks 911 call in Norfolk

Texas Doesn't Lead the Way

Top 10 Cities for Book Lovers

Hat tip to George Kelley.

Criminal Genius of the Day

Trail of Cheetos leads to man's arrest

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man pelts girlfriend with oranges 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

10 Amazing Great Escapes

10 Amazing Great Escapes

Ummmmmmm. Fast Food.

America’s unhealthiest fast-food items

AbeBooks’ Most Expensive Sales in December 2012

AbeBooks’ Most Expensive Sales in December 2012

Top 10 Money Making Dead Celebrities

Top 10 Money Making Dead Celebrities

Ride 'Em Cowboy

Ride 'Em Cowboy Official Trailer #1 - Lou Costello Movie (1942) HD - YouTube:

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Here's the Plot for Your Next FBI/Private-Eye Thriller

Former FBI agent missing in Iran photographed in Guantanamo jumpsuit

Richard Ben Cramer, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Richard Ben Cramer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and the author of “What It Takes,” a prodigious account of the 1988 presidential election that has been widely hailed as among the finest books about American politics ever written, died on Monday night in Baltimore. He was 62.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Top American Destinations To Avoid In 2013

Top American Destinations To Avoid In 2013 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

chevy van - YouTube:

All the Free Books on Amazon in One Place

Freebook Sifter - A Resource for Free eBooks

Link via Boing Boing.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Vero Beach woman pulls gun, poops in kitchen after finding hubby with another woman 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

10 Ways 'Buckaroo Banzai' Has Infiltrated Pop Culture

10 Ways 'Buckaroo Banzai' Has Infiltrated Pop Culture

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

Today's Vintage Ad


The Masquerade of Leonard Zinberg (Ed Lacy)

The Masquerade of Leonard Zinberg, the Communist Who Was Also the 1950s Crime Novelist Ed Lacy – Tablet Magazine: Stranger Than Pulp Fiction Crime writer Ed Lacy died 45 years ago. Few knew he was also a New Yorker contributor and communist darling.

Link via Mystery*File.

Sammy Johns, R. I. P.

Writer of ‘Chevy Van’ dies at 66 Sammy Johns’ song about a chance encounter with a girl sat on the shelves of a record company for nearly two years before it was released in 1975. 

That song, “Chevy Van,” went on to sell 3 million copies and was called “The Song of the Seventies” by Rolling Stone magazine. It reached No. 5 on the charts in the United States and Canada. 


Johns, who was born in Charlotte but spent most of his life in Gaston County, died Friday at Gaston Memorial Hospital. He was 66.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman tells police her boyfriend choked her with his dreadlocks

PaperBack



George H. Smith, Swamp Lust, Novel Books, 1960

Astronomers launch advanced planet search to look for signs of life

Astronomers launch advanced planet search to look for signs of life

Are You Smarter Than an Eighth Grader?

Are You Smarter Than an Eighth Grader? 1912 Edition

Not That There's Anything Wrong with That

And once again Texas leads the way.

Cleburne pastor: 'Me and my ex-wife were in porn' 

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Top 10 Movies Better Than The Book

How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes: Lessons in Mindfulness and Creativity from the Great Detective

Another Overlooked Movie

Love Me Tender: Elvis Presley's First Film

The Top Ten Oddest Things Ever Stolen

The Top Ten Oddest Things Ever Stolen

Overlooked Movies: Some Came Running

Even when I was a kid, I was fascinated by books and movies about writers.  Some Came Running, based on a novel by James Jones, is one of those widescreen Technicolor melodramas that were typical of the '50s.  

Dave Hirsch, the formerly promising writer, is played by Frank Sinatra, just out of the army and returning to his hometown, where his brother is a successful businessman.  On the bus, he meets Ginnie, a not-so-classy young woman who falls for him.  She sticks around the old hometown, too, though Frank supposedly falls for Martha Heyer, the local schoolmarm. 

Frank meets a heavy-drinking professional gambler, Bama, played by Dean Martin, and the two become roomies.  They do pretty well on the gambling circuit, too.  Meanwhile, a gangster from Chicago has followed Ginnie to town and isn't happy with her infatuation with Frank. 

The things I remember best from my first viewing of this movie are the performances of Shirley Maclaine and Dean Martin.  At the time I was a bit worried about Martin (I cared about such things) because recently his partnership with Jerry Lewis had ended, and I wondered if Martin was going to be able to make it on his own.  This movie convinced me that he would.  He was great.   Maclaine was nominated for an Oscar.  She claimed it was because Sinatra insisted that they change the ending of the movie.  Maybe so.  There's a great carnival scene, too.  

Some of the '50s attitudes towards women captured here might be a offensive to today's viewer, but I suspect nobody thought a thing about them when the movie played in 1958.

Some Came Running

Some Came Running (1958) Trailer - YouTube:

Monday, January 07, 2013

Here's the Plot for Your Next Big Money Thriller

Chicago lottery winner died from cyanide poisoning just before he was to collect $425,000 

Hat tip to Bill Peschel.

Another One Bites the Dust

Portland's MURDER BY THE BOOK

Link via Mystery Fanfare.

David R. Ellis, R. I. P.

Deadline.com: Director David R. Ellis has died in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Snakes On A Plane helmer passed away suddenly early this morning Los Angeles-time, Deadline has learned. Ellis was 60 years old.

Hat tip to Vince Keenan.

The Trials and Tribulations of Making E-book Covers

Western Fictioneers: The Trials and Tribulations of Making E-book Covers

Sol Yurick, R. I. P.

WNYC: Writer Sol Yurick died this weekend from complications from lung cancer, according to his only daughter Susanna Yurick. 

Yurick is best-known for the novel The Warriors, which combined a Greek story with a fictional account of gang wars in New York City. The book inspired a cult movie by the same name, released in 1979. Some of his other books include The Bag and Confession.

Happy National Nicolas Cage Day!

Happy National Nicolas Cage Day!: January 7th is that magical time of year when we celebrate the birth of America's greatest actor.

Cliff Walk by Bruce DeSilva – Read The First Two Chapters

Cliff Walk by Bruce DeSilva – Read The First Two Chapters

Song of the Day

The Cars - You Might Think - YouTube:

Archaeology Update

Yahoo! News Maktoob: Iraqi archaeologists have found 66 gold coins that are at least 1,400 years old, officials said on Monday, adding that they hope to put them on display in Baghdad's National Museum. 

The artefacts, which date back to the Sassanid era that extended from 225 BC to 640 AD, will be sent for laboratory tests in order to confirm their authenticity.

They Must Have Trained by Watching Republic Serials

Four people leap out of truck before it plunges over cliff on Vancouver Island

Today's Vintage Ad


Penguin's New Editions Of Orwell Are Graphic Design In Jokes

Penguin's New Editions Of Orwell Are Graphic Design In Jokes

Hat tip to George Kelley.

Bristling Dixie

Song of the South: Disney’s Most Notorious Film 

PaperBack



Michael Avallone, The Tall Dolores, Perma Star, 1953

Ummmmmmm. Sheep's Trotters.

10 Weird Foods Sold By Victorian Street Vendors 

But We've Solved Those Self-Esteem Problems!

Study shows college students think they're more special than ever...even those that can't read or write and barely study 

Top Pet Names for 2012

Top Pet Names for 2012

You Know You Want One

Vampire Wine Bottle Holder 

9 Unluckiest People Ever

9 Unluckiest People Ever

How Many Times Have You Seen This Plot?

The Raw Story: Austrian police have made an appeal to the public for help over a tourist thought to be German languishing in the country for the past seven weeks who has lost his memory and has no identification papers. 

All police know is that the man arrived in the German town of Lindau on Lake Constance by train on November 19 wearing hiking gear, went to the tourist office and walked over the border to nearby Bregenz.

New Poem at The 5-2

The 5-2 : Crime Poetry Weekly: Charles Rammelkamp

Or You Could Just Stay at Home and Read a Book

10 Highbrow Horror Films You Should See Instead of ‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’

Keiji Nakazawa, R. I. P.

Keiji Nakazawa dies at 73; Japanese artist of comic 'Barefoot Gen' 

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

The Crimson Pirate

The Crimson Pirate / Karmazynowy Pirat (1952) Movie Trailer - YouTube:

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Latest Getting Away With Murder Now On-line

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER #74 JANUARY 2013

Song of the Day

Elvis Presley - Joshua fit the battle (1961) - YouTube:

The Dirty Streets of Heaven -- Tad Williams

I've never been tempted to read Tad Williams in the past because his books are so long.  However, I liked the idea of this one, and it was only (!) 400 pages, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Bobby Dollar, the narrator, is an angel.  He has an earthly body and gets to live on earth and enjoy earthly pleasures as an advocate, an angel who debates with demons for the fate of the souls of the departed in Bobby's area (somewhere south of San Francisco, in the fictional city of Saint Judas) along with other advocates.  Then something odd happens.  A soul disappears.

That's not all.  There's a maguffin, and some powerful demons believe Bobby has it.  Bobby's just an ordinary angel, and the things coming after him are considerably beyond his powers and experience.

Throw in visits to what I suppose we could call heaven, a beautiful demon called the Countess of the Cold Hands for some hot angel/ demon hanky-panky, and a description of the vast bureaucracy that Bobby works for.  That's a lot, but there's more.  Bobby begins to suspect that even heaven might not be perfect.  No one's ever seen the Highest.  Does he even exist?  What about all the other earthly religions?  Do they have angel analogues?  And there's that angel trainee that Bobby's friend Sam has been saddled with.  What about him?

By now you probably have a pretty good idea about whether this is your kind of book.  If you're familiar with current fantasy trends, you know that it's only the first of a trilogy and that a lot of questions will go unanswered at the end.  I liked it enough to consider reading the following books, though I did find it too long.  Some of the chase scenes went on for quite a while.  I guess all that's expected in a fantasy.  I prefer the leaner stuff, but, as I said, I'm willing to give the next one in this series a look.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Large fight shuts down Mall of Louisiana 

Today's Vintage Ad


Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texans cheerleader voted NFL's most beautiful

Where Did the Phrase “Smart Alec” Come From?

Where Did the Phrase “Smart Alec” Come From?

PaperBack



Richard S. Prather, Ride a High Horse, Gold Medal, 1953

How a Nickel and a Paperboy Brought Down a Cold War Spy

How a Nickel and a Paperboy Brought Down a Cold War Spy

Or Maybe You Did

20 Things You Didn't Know About "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"

Gloria Pall, R. I. P.

Gloria Pall dies at 85; Voluptua character deemed too sexy for TV - latimes.com: Fans dubbed the statuesque Pall "Eyeful Tower" and "Miss Cleavage" for her shapely figure and plunging necklines. Her steamy on-camera poses and flirtatious comments soon earned her another moniker: "Corruptua." 

Just seven weeks after it first aired, amid mounting pressure from religious and PTA groups and lackluster commercial sponsorship, the station abruptly canceled the show. 

Pall, who went on to become a Los Angeles real estate agent, died Dec. 30 of heart failure at a Burbank hospital, her son, Jefferson Kane, said. She was 85.

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

A Misleading Headline, but an Interesting Article Anyway

6 Important Things You Won't Believe Were Invented in Comics

Omaha Leads the Way?

The Most Hungover Cities In America 2013 

The Mask

THE MASK aka EYES OF HELL (1961) trailer - YouTube: