Saturday, January 19, 2013

No. Just No.

The Great Gatsby Unbound: Amazon.co.uk: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Karena Rose: Books

Or Maybe You Did

21 Things You Didn't Know About Janis Joplin

Earl Weaver, R. I. P.

MLB - Sporting News: Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver has died, according to MASN.com. 

The New York Daily News reports Weaver had a heart attack early Saturday while on a Baltimore Orioles fantasy cruise in the Caribbean. He collapsed and was unable to be revived.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

PA Leads the Way

seattlepi.com: A 5-year-old Pennsylvania girl who told another girl she was going to shoot her with a pink toy gun that blows soapy bubbles has been suspended from kindergarten.

Hat tip to Steve Stilwell.

Song of the Day

THE FIREBALLS BOTTLE OF WINE ATCO RECORDS - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

Swatch ads 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

David Cooper, Jr.: Runs Wife and Kids Off the Road Over Disconnected Cell Phone

PaperBack



Brian Garfield, The Last Hard Men, Fawcett Crest, 1976


Croc Update (Prison Edition)

Mexican Inmates Kept Crocodile as Prison Pet

Edgar Allan Poe Was Born on this Date in 1809

Edgar Allan Poe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.[1] He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.[2]

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

Strippers cited in fight over disputed dollar

Seepy Benton Can Predict Anything!

5 Things You Won't Believe Math Can Predict

Mine Isn't


Texas talk is losing its twang - latimes.com: Back in the 1980s, about 80% of Texans interviewed by researchers at UT Austin, including many students, had traditional Texas accents. Now that's down to a third.

Don Graham, who's quoted a bit in the article, and I went to grad school together.  I can vouch for his accent

Hat tip to Walter Satterthwait.

10 Literary Board Games for Book Nerds

10 Literary Board Games for Book Nerds 

Top Ten Man Made Wonders

Top Ten Man Made Wonders

Mr Moto's Gamble

Mr Moto's Gamble Trailer - YouTube:

Friday, January 18, 2013

No Comment Department

Florida Creep Pleads Guilty To Enema Tampering

Robert F. Chew, R. I. P.

 baltimoresun.com: Robert F. Chew, a 52-year-old Baltimore actor and teacher who portrayed one of television’s most unforgettable characters as Proposition Joe on HBO’s “The Wire,” died Thursday of apparent heart failure in his sleep at his home in Northeast Baltimore, according to Clarice Chews, his sister.

Gussie Moran, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Gussie Moran, who as a ranked American tennis player in 1949 caused an international stir and gained worldwide fame for competing at Wimbledon wearing a short skirt and lace-trimmed underwear, died on Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 89.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

neil diamond red red wine - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman slices man's scrotum 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

12 Famous Authors Who Also Wrote for Children

12 Famous Authors Who Also Wrote for Children

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas bank welcomes concealed handguns to stop ‘Yankee’ robbers: Chappell Hill Bank is thought to be the first bank in the nation to welcome concealed handguns.

PaperBack



John Milius, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Bantam, 1973

Bid Early and Often

Curt Schilling: Former Red Sox pitcher to sell famed bloody sock from 2004 World Series

Free Today for Kindle

Branham's Due (Holt County)Branham's Due (Holt County): Richard Prosch: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Holt County, Nebraska, 1881. Deputy sheriff Whit Branham sets out alone to bring in a scurvy killer, but will surprise alone be an advantage? Armed with his trusty Stevens 10-gauge and some hard won experience, even Branham isn't above giving the devil his due. This 3,000 word short story introduces Branham and is followed by a 2,000 word sneak peek at the deputy’s upcoming adventure, HOLT COUNTY LAW, a brand new novella slated for December.

8 Conspiracy Theories (And How They Could Be Right)

8 Conspiracy Theories (And How They Could Be Right)

The Life and Times of Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves

The Life and Times of Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Police: Man bit off woman's thumb, spit it out

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Pimpage: An Occaional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Works of Interest



Integral works by James M. Cain, now available as ebooks

James M. Cain has been called one of the most important writers of American crime fiction. As one of the founding father of the hardboiled and noir genres, Cain’s influential novels inspired countless writers, filmmakers, and readers around the world.

MysteriousPress.com and Open Road Media are proud to announce the ebook release of twelve of Cain’s later works.

Similar to Cain’s earlier works, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, these later stories are filled with greed, regret, lust and murder, and his characters are portrayed with the same complexity and desperation.

About the Books: The Moth is a sweeping tale of love, loss, and the pursuit of beauty during the Great Depression.The Magician’s Wife is about a love triangle that turns fatal when a life insurance policy holds the promise of financial freedom. Past All Dishonor is the story of a Confederate spy that risks his life to win the heart of a fallen woman.

Other ebooks include:

·      Sinful Woman
·      Root of His Evil
·      Galatea
·      Mignon
·      Jealous Woman
·      Rainbow’s End
·      The Institute
·      Cloud Nine
·      The Enchanted Isle

These ebooks, available for the first time digitally, now make it possible for American crime fiction fans to read the entire collection of the influential author’s work.

3 Past Box Office Hits That Prove January Movies Suck

3 Past Box Office Hits That Prove January Movies Suck

Forgotten Books: Buffalo Hunter: Hellhole -- Ralph Hayes

I picked this up the other day and thought I'd give it a try, never having read any of this series before.  It turned out to be an ultra-violent western with a rape, shootings, fights, gun battles, beatings, torture, and just about anything else you can think of.  

The Buffalo Hunter's name is O'Brien, and he's arrested and brutally beaten for a crime he didn't commit.  He's sent to Bradenville, Texas' toughest prison, where the prisoners work in a big copper mine.  The warden and the guards are brutal, and so are the prisoners.  O'Brien's idea is to escape and get revenge on the men who really committed the crime he's accused of, along with the sheriff who sent him to prison.  As you've probably guessed, he does.

That's it for the story, and I'll have to give Hayes credit.  This is one book in which the action truly never stops.  You're never more than a page or two away from another gunfight, beating, knifing, whatever, all described in loving detail.  However, no buffalo are harmed.

The Great Alaskan Mystery

1944 GREAT ALASKAN MYSTERY SERIAL TRAILER - YouTube:

Thursday, January 17, 2013

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Donna Lange, Washington Woman, Accused Of Using Her Breasts To Smother And Kill Boyfriend

Hat tip to George Kelley.

Pauline Friedman Phillips. R. I. P.

WTOP.com: Pauline Friedman Phillips, who as Dear Abby dispensed snappy, sometimes saucy advice on love, marriage and meddling mothers-in-law to millions of newspaper readers around the world and opened the way for the likes of Dr. Ruth, Dr. Phil and Oprah, has died. She was 94.

Song of the Day

Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want) - YouTube:

Now Available for Your New E-Reader!

...A Dangerous Thing (The Carl Burns Mystery Series)...A Dangerous Thing (The Carl Burns Mystery Series): Bill Crider: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Professor Carl Burns knew the new dean wasn't going to work out when she bought the two goats. And that was the least of the problems. Hartley Gorman College was being attacked - with a vengeance - by the forces of political correctness, and the new dean was an unreconstructed hippie. Courses would have to be rewritten, manners watched... and everyone knew Burns should have been the new dean, anyway. As if this weren't enough to contend with, Tom Henderson's fatal fall through a window definitely wasn't part of the planned curriculum. But figuring out whodunit is going to be a lot more interesting for Burns than grading papers for his developmental English class.

Today's Vintage Ad


I Found a Penny the Other Day

Lucky prospector finds huge gold nugget

10 Amazing History Facts

10 Amazing History Facts

Yet Another List I'm Not On

The 100 Best, Most Interesting Blogs and Websites of 2013

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Jack Oleck, Tales from the House of Mystery #2, Warner Books, 1973

Denizens of the Deep

Denizens of the Deep: Alexander Semenov’s Pictures of Undersea Creatures

Some amazing creatures, but of course it's a annoying slideshow. 

The 25 Most Powerful TV Shows of the Last 25 Years

The 25 Most Powerful TV Shows of the Last 25 Years

Mama Don't Take My Kodachrome Away

The Last Roll of Kodachrome Film

How Many Have You Read?

Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)AbeBooks: 50 Essential Science Fiction Books: This was a virtually impossible task. Put together a list of 50 must-read science fiction books and don’t make anyone angry. Science fiction is the most discussed and argued over genre in literature but it actually goes way beyond books and into film, TV, video games and even toys.

Here are the criteria I used. One book per author, so that was hard on the big three of science fiction – Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke, who each have multiple classic titles to their name. Attempt to show as many sub-genres of science fiction and plot themes as possible. Include early stories that influenced the genre as a whole and launched popular themes, even if those books appear a bit dated today.

The Velvet Underground Map of New York City

The Velvet Underground Map of New York City

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man shot in the butt in Kansas City bar fight that erupted after partying pregnant woman’s water broke

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Valley of Terror

1937 VALLEY OF TERROR TRAILER KERMIT MAYNARD - YouTube:

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Jimmy O'Neill, R. I. P.

LA Observed: Jimmy O'Neill gained a measure of Los Angeles radio immortality when he became the first voice heard on KRLA when the AM station switched to rock and roll (from country western music) in 1959. He went on to become LA's top radio deejay, then at age 24 went national as the host of ABC's short-lived rock music show "Shindig" in 1964.

I'm Sure the Aggies Think They Were Needed

"In fact, we sent out a shipment of brains to the University of Texas at Austin last week via UPS," Dudek said.

18 heads found at airport were sent for cremation

Hat tip to Michael Bracken.

Chicago Leads the Way

America’s Top Bedbug Cities Named

Hat tip to John Duke.

Now Available for Your New E-Reader!

Dead Soldiers (The Carl Burns Mystery Series)Dead Soldiers (The Carl Burns Mystery Series): Bill Crider: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Bill Crider, famous for the popular Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series, is back with a mystery novel combining his wry wit, a clever plot, and the usual hijinks - all set against the normally placid backdrop of academia. First, someone steals several valuable toy soldiers from the collection of the dean of a small liberal arts school. The dean asks Carl Burns, Chair of the English Department, to look into things. Then a college board member is killed, and one of the stolen soldiers is found at the scene. After another attempted murder, another soldier is found, making a clear link between the stolen toys and the shooting. Burns begins asking questions and finds himself involved with a varied cast of characters, all of whom appear to have some connection to both toy soldiers and the murder.

No Comment Department

Taiwan confiscates 435 dog penises

The Two Raymond Chandler Sentences That Changed Walter Mosley's Life

The Two Raymond Chandler Sentences That Changed Walter Mosley's Life 

COWBOY DREAMS--THE ADVENTURES OF THE ABERNATHY BROTHERS

Western Fictioneers: COWBOY DREAMS--THE ADVENTURES OF THE ABERNATHY BROTHERS

Conrad Bain, R. I. P.

chicagotribune.com: Conrad Bain, who played Philip Drummond, a wealthy white widower who adopts two young African-American brothers in the hit sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes," died Monday, the Associated Press reports. He was 89.

Criminal Genius of the Day

Forrest Kenneth Randall Smashes Car Windows at an Auto Dealership, Leaves Wallet Behind 

Song of the Day

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge over troubled water (with lyrics) - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


6 Awesome Easter Eggs Hidden in Programs You Use Every Day

6 Awesome Easter Eggs Hidden in Programs You Use Every Day

Go drinking with past presidents at the Willard

Go drinking with past presidents at the Willard: Every inauguration season, he brings out a special menu of drinks based around what our 44 presidents drank, or might have drunk.

The list is at the link.

PaperBack



Joe R. Lansdale, Batman® in Terror on the High Seas, Little, Brown, 1992

Flying Frog WBAGNFARB

"Fantastic" New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms

Judy Approves of this List

5 Films That Didn't Deserve Their Razzie Awards 

English Majors Vindicated

Shakespeare and Wordsworth boost the brain, new research reveals

Edgar Awards Nominations

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 204th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2013 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television, published or produced in 2012. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 67th Gala Banquet, May 2, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.


BEST NOVEL

The Lost Ones by Ace Atkins (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn (Crown Publishers)
Potboiler by Jesse Kellerman (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Sunset by Al Lamanda (Gale Cengage Learning – Five Star)
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
All I Did Was Shoot My Man by Walter Mosley (Penguin Group USA – Riverhead Books)


BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay (Random House Publishing– Ballantine)
Don’t Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman (Minotaur Books - Thomas Dunne Books)
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal (Random House Publishing– Bantam Books)
The Expats by Chris Pavone (Crown Publishers)
The 500 by Matthew Quirk (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company – Reagan Arthur)
Black Fridays by Michael Sears (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)


BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Complication by Isaac Adamson (Soft Skull Press)
Whiplash River by Lou Berney (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow Paperbacks)
Bloodland by Alan Glynn (Picador)
Blessed are the Dead by Malla Nunn (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books - Emily Bestler Books)
The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books)


BEST FACT CRIME

Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French (Penguin Group USA - Penguin Books)

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
More Forensics and Fiction: Crime Writers' Morbidly Curious Questions Expertly Answered by D.P. Lyle, MD (Medallion Press)
Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben Macintyre (Crown Publishers)
The People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo – and the Evil that Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry (Farrar Straus & Giroux Originals)


BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe: The Hard-Boiled Detective Transformed by John Paul Athanasourelis (McFarland and Company)
Books to Die For: The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books – Emily Bestler Books)
The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and Forensics by James O’Brien (Oxford University Press)
In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and theCreation of an American Hero edited by Otto Penzler (Smart Pop)


BEST SHORT STORY

"Iphigenia in Aulis" – An Apple for the Creature by Mike Carey (Penguin Group USA – Ace Books)
"Hot Sugar Blues" – Mystery Writers of America Presents: Vengeanceby Steve Liskow (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company – Mulholland Books)
"The Void it Often Brings With It” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazineby Tom Piccirilli (Dell Magazines)
"The Unremarkable Heart" – Mystery Writers of America Presents:  Vengeance by Karin Slaughter (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company – Mulholland Books)
"Still Life No. 41" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Teresa Solana (Dell Magazines)


BEST JUVENILE

Fake Mustache: Or, How Jodie O’Rodeo and Her Wonder Horse (and Some Nerdy Kid) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election from a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermind by Tom Angleberger (Abrams – Amulet Books)
13 Hangmen by Art Corriveau (Abrams – Amulet Books)
The Quick Fix by Jack D. Ferraiolo (Abrams – Amulet Books)
Spy School by Stuart Gibbs (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dial Books for Young Readers)


BEST YOUNG ADULT

 Emily’s Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Roaring Brook Press)
The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George (Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking)
Crusher by Niall Leonard (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte BFYR)
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton Children’s Books)
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Disney Publishing Worldwide - Hyperion)


BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Pilot” – LongmireTeleplay by Hunt Baldwin & John Coveny (A&E/Warner Horizon Television)
“Child Predator” – elemeNtarY, Teleplay by Peter Blake (CBS Productions)
“Slaughterhouse” – Justified, Teleplay by Fred Golan (Sony Pictures Television/FX Productions)
 “A Scandal in Belgravia” – Sherlock, Teleplay by Steven Moffat (BBC/Masterpiece)
“New Car Smell” – Homeland, Teleplay by Meredith Stiehm (Showtime/Fox21)


ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"When They Are Done With Us" – Staten Island Noir by Patricia Smith (Akashic Books)


GRAND MASTER

Ken Follett
Margaret Maron


RAVEN AWARDS

Oline Cogdill
Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, San Diego & Redondo Beach, CA


ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
                                                                                          
Akashic Books


THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, May 1, 2013)

Dead Scared by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
A City of Broken Glass by Rebecca Cantrell (Forge Books)
The Reckoning by Jane Casey (Minotaur Books)
The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books)
Sleepwalker by Wendy Corsi Staub (HarperCollins Publishers - Harper)
 
BBC News: The values of the letters in Scrabble were assigned according to the front page of a US newspaper in the 1930s. Is it time the scoring system was updated to reflect today's usage?

Ned Kelly Update

The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: Legendary Australian outlaw Ned Kelly will finally be laid to rest beside his mother in line with his final wishes at a plot not far from the site of his last stand, reports said Wednesday.

The 17 Best Failed TV Shows Of The 80s (As Judged By Their Openings) | The Awl

The 17 Best Failed TV Shows Of The 80s (As Judged By Their Openings) 

Link via Boing Boing.

The Phantom Creeps

1939 BELA LUGOSI THE PHANTOM CREEPS SERIAL TRAILER - YouTube:

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Storytelling

Western Fictioneers: MARATHON MAN BY TOM RIZZO

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas Proposal: JAIL Any Federal Officials Trying to Enforce New Gun Restrictions in the State 

Song of the Day

HANK SNOW-NINETY MILES AN HOUR DOWN A DEAD END STREET.wmv - YouTube:

Watch the Skies!

Howdy partners! Oil workers claim to witness flying saucers in their south Texas fields

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Lunatics -- Dave Barry & Alan Zweibel

Phillip Horkman's a fairly bright, mild-mannered guy who owns a pet shop called The Wine Shop.  Jeffery Peckerman's a forensic plumber who's everything Horkman isn't.  He's crude, rude, and stupid.  So this is an odd-couple novel.  

The action begins when Horkman is refereeing a soccer game and calls a foul against Peckerman's daughter.  A little later, Peckerman visits The Wine Shop under the impression that he can buy wine there.  He leaves under duress with a stolen lemur, which Horkman tries to retrieve, ruining Peckerman's swale in the process.  It's at this point that things begin an escalation into the realm of the ridiculous (or possibly the sublime, depending on your mood).  Rather than revealing  more of the plot, such as it is, I'll just say that the book could have been called Philip and Jeffery Conquer the World.

Lunatics strikes me as the kind of book that you'll either love or hate.  It's full of sophomoric humor, potty jokes, ethnic slurs, and more.  To my shame, I'll admit that I laughed a lot.  You might not.  There's only one way to find out. 

Today's Vintage Ad


Click the Link at Your Own Risk

Literary Puns 

35 Blogs for Those that Aspire to Become Writers

35 Blogs for Those that Aspire to Become Writers

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Elmore Leonard, The Bounty Hunters, Bantam, 1979

How to Write with Style: Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Keys to the Power of the Written Word

How to Write with Style: Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Keys to the Power of the Written Word 

Paging Alfredo Garcia

18 human heads found at O`Hare Airport 

Last call for phone booths

Last call for phone booths

Typos of the Year for 2012: The 12 Most Regrettable Errors in Print and Elsewhere

Book Dirt: Typos of the Year for 2012: The 12 Most Regrettable Errors in Print and Elsewhere

Plan ahead

Plan ahead: The best animal holidays in 2013!

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Now it's the wedgie attacks!

Video Prankster Arrested After Wedgie Attacks

Overlooked Movies -- Sleeping Beauty

Probably no Disney animated movie really qualifies as an "overlooked" film, but this one was overlooked when it opened back in 1959.  It didn't do very well at the box office, and it wasn't shown for a long time afterward.  The reason I remember it is that it was shown at an Aggiecon sometime in the early '70s.  Too bad it wasn't show in Technirama.  It was, however, shown on a huge screen in an enormous theater to an appreciative audience of con-goers and a multitude of assorted Aggies, all of whom received it with glee.  I loved seeing movies with the audience for those Aggiecon films.  It was great fun.

You know the plot of this one, and Disney didn't really fiddle with the basic outline much at all.  I don't remember the dragon (and it's a great dragon) from the original story, or the three fairies, but who cares?  Maybe one reason for the movie's lack of success was the lack of anthropomorphised animals.  There are none.  Or maybe it was the dark nature of some of the scenes.  There's some frightening stuff here, and I can imagine kids being pretty scared.  The usual comic relief is provided by the bickering fairies, so the lightness is still present in a lot of the film.  I wouldn't mind seeing it again, but I'd like to do it under the same conditions as the first time, and that's not going to happen.

Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty - 1959 Theatrical Teaser - YouTube:

Monday, January 14, 2013

Amazon.com: Kindle eBook Exclusives

Check out the "Featured Authors" on the left.

Amazon.com: Kindle eBook Exclusives

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Yahoo! News: A book-less library. 

It sounds like an oxymoron, but come the fall of 2013, San Antonio's Bexar County is going to be home to the BiblioTech, the country's first book-less public library. Of course, there will be books -- just e-books, not physical books.

Hat tip to Steve Stilwell, who does not approve of this library at all.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

pravda.ru: In Russia's Volgograd, a criminal case was filed against an Egyptian, who urinated on the Eternal Flame and beat an accidental eyewitness on New Year's Eve, . . .

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Jimmy Hoffa Update

CBS Detroit: Reported Detroit mob underboss Anthony Zerilli came out this weekend to say he knows where the bodies are buried — one body in particular, belonging to Detroit’s most notorious missing person — Jimmy Hoffa.

Jacki Clerico, R. I. P.

Expatica France: Jacki Clerico, who headed the Paris cabaret Moulin Rouge for 50 years and revived its famed revues featuring plumed can-can dancers, has died at 83, the establishment said on Monday.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Mother and daughter face punishment for piercing neighbor's anus with stick

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

Deadlock (A Judge Earl Stark Western)Deadlock (A Judge Earl Stark Western): James Reasoner: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: A man had to have sand in his craw to live out on the frontier, even in a settlement, and Judge Earl Stark proves he has plenty when he walks right into a lynching. Billy Thorp, the son of Jud Thorp, the big he-wolf of the area was arrested for murder. Billy became a little too fast with the gun when he shot an unarmed man. The townsmen, tired of Thorp's heavy handedness, decided to take matters into their own hands. So it was up to Judge Stark to bring justice to the small West Texas town. 7,000 word story was originally published in Guns of the West.

Song of the Day

Emmylou Harris - Hobo's Lullaby - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


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

STARK HOUSE has published two classic crime novels under one cover.  I know I probably use "great" and "classic" too often, but this time it's really the truth.  Marlowe had the magic touch in these two, and if you like hardboiled fiction and haven't read them, you should order the book immediately.  There's an introduction by Charles Kelly, the author of Gunshots in Another Room, a fine biography of Marlowe, as well as a short afterword by Gary Brandner.  

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

OrlandoSentinel.com: Woman cut boyfriend, used cat as shield against two OPD K-9s

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

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Carlyle Tillery, Red Bone Woman, Avon, 1951

It's Just Like Home

Taiwan restaurant serves leftovers to unwitting tourists

5 Little-Known Sequels That Ruined Iconic Stories

5 Little-Known Sequels That Ruined Iconic Stories

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

BBC News: A German student "mooned" a group of Hell's Angels and hurled a puppy at them before escaping on a stolen bulldozer, police have said.

H. P. Lovecraft's Advice to Aspiring Writers, 1920

H. P. Lovecraft's Advice to Aspiring Writers, 1920

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Boston.com: Three men and a 14-year-old boy have been arrested in connection with a violent brawl at a Stoughton baby shower in which bottles and punches were thrown and furniture was smashed.

The World’s First Eyewitness?

The World’s First Eyewitness?

Link via Neatorama.

Another Bunch of Lists I'm Not On

The Private Book Collections of 10 Famous Readers

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Westover man arrested for cutting relative with razor blade

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

1942 S. HOLMES & THE SECRET WEAPON TRAILER - YouTube:

Sunday, January 13, 2013

There's Good News Tonight

THE DEEP BLUE GOODBYE | Washington Post Book Reviews: [S]ome characters in suspense fiction have long outlived their creators - think Lord Peter Wimsey, Sam Spade, Miss Marple and Philip Marlowe - but mostly they just fade away, a fate that surely seemed in store for Travis McGee. 

Perhaps that day will come in time, but that time is not now. With the publication of this handsome trade-paperback edition of the first of the McGee novels, Random House - a publishing Goliath not known for sentimentality in literary matters - is bringing not only McGee but almost the entire MacDonald oeuvre back to life with what can only be called a bang.

Click the link and read the whole essay. It's worth your time.

Steven Utley, RIP:

Steven Utley, RIP: 1948—2013 -- Lawrence Person's Futuramen

Song of the Day

Dust in the wind lyrics - Kansas - YouTube:

Fire Hydrant Colors Actually Mean Something

Fire Hydrant Colors Actually Mean Something

Today's Vintage Ad


The Amazing Adventures of E.E. 'Doc' Smith

The Amazing Adventures of E.E. 'Doc' Smith

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Ennis Willie, Work of the Devil, Merit Books, 1961

Yet Another List I'm Not On

The Bestselling Books of 2012

Hi, There. I'm Mr. Teeth. Fly Me.

(14) CCSO AG DETECTIVE GETS 7-FOOT GATOR FROM GOING ONTO MAIN RUNWAY AT PUNTA GORDA AIRPORT: The Charlotte County Sheriff's Agriculture Detective Justin Treworgy, was called to Punta Gorda Airport by security concerning a 7-foot alligator very close to and approaching the main runway on Dec. 31. A commercial jet was due to arrive and could have caused a serious problem.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

11 Obscure References in Classic Songs—Explained!

11 Obscure References in Classic Songs—Explained!

11 Bizarre and Dangerous Items Sold by Sears in 1902

11 Bizarre and Dangerous Items Sold by Sears in 1902

A Photo Tour of Famous New Yorkers’ Living Rooms

A Photo Tour of Famous New Yorkers’ Living Rooms

The Cat Creeps

The Cat Creeps (1930) Trailer - YouTube: