Saturday, January 26, 2013

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Austin, Houston and Dallas Top Three in Fastest Growing Cities in America

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Police: Ga. woman assaults man with jar of olives 

They Call Him The Streak

SEE IT: Philadelphia streaker creates stir in viral video 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

www.wftv.com: A brawl broke out after a 16-year-old boy had his hands, feet and mouth duct-taped, and then he was glued to a chair, said Volusia County authorities.

Night of the Lepus

Rabbits Wreaking Havoc On Cars At DIA

Song of the Day

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - I love Rock`n`roll - YouTube:

Hear James Joyce Read From Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake

Hear James Joyce Read From Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake

Ernest T. Bass, Take Note

Kyrgyzstan cracks down on bride snatching

Today's Vintage Ad


John Hodgman’s Advice for Writers

John Hodgman’s Advice for Writers: The Competition is Insane, and Persistence Trumps 

I Know You've Been Wondering How They Did It

Dung beetles use Milky Way light to guide them

PaprBack



Michael Moorcock, The Swords Trilogy, Berkley, 1977

Here's the Plot for My Next Big Alligator Thriller

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com: At least once a day, Robert Mackey and Paul Trucchio would pray to "the alligator god" that a human head, the only evidence of the brutal murder they committed, would be devoured by a reptile in the Everglades, two witnesses told jurors Thursday.

Gothic Novel Covers

Retrospace: Artful Conception #17: Women Running from Houses

The Vintage Waiting Room Art That’s Hooked the Shabby Chic Crowd

The Vintage Waiting Room Art That’s Hooked the Shabby Chic Crowd

The Deadly History of Persia’s Ancient Assassins

The Deadly History of Persia’s Ancient Assassins

SATURDAY MATINEE with L. J. MARTIN

Western Fictioneers: SATURDAY MATINEE with L. J. MARTIN

Or Maybe You Did

10 Most Bizarre Professions You Didn't Know Existed 

The Lady Eve

The Lady Eve Official Trailer #1 - Henry Fonda Movie (1941) HD - YouTube:

Friday, January 25, 2013

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

OH|News, Weather, Sports: Police say a 21-year-old woman tried to run over her instructor with her car after she failed her driving test.

MACMILLAN TO START E-LENDING PROGRAM

Mystery Fanfare: MACMILLAN TO START E-LENDING PROGRAM

Song of the Day

Lesley Gore - You Don't Own Me (1964) - YouTube:

10 Curious Facts About Your Favorite Childhood Authors

10 Curious Facts About Your Favorite Childhood Authors

Today's Vintage Ad


This Year's Five Most Outrageous Gadgets

Money Morning: This Year's Five Most Outrageous Gadgets

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

UPI.com: Police in South Carolina said they arrested a woman accused of choking a man when he attempted to pull more blanket on top of himself.

PaperBack



Harry Harrison, The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World, Berkley, 1972

Is It Halloween Already?

Creepy Stories of Grave Robbing 

Shawshank Not Included

5 Insane Prison Escapes You Won't Believe Actually Worked

How R.L. Stine Discovered Ray Bradbury

How R.L. Stine Discovered Ray Bradbury

Link via SF Signal.

The Lester Dent Pulp Fiction Formula

The Lester Dent Pulp Fiction Formula 

I Miss the Old Days

10 Bizarre Lost Tourist Attractions We Wish Were Still Around 

RESEARCHING THE WEST

Western Fictioneers: RESEARCHING THE WEST by MEG MIMS

Put on Your Headphones

The 5 Oscar nominees for Best Original Song

Forgotten Books: The Best from Manhunt -- Scott & Sidney Meredith, Editors




Manhunt was the premier hardboiled digest of the '50s and'60s, and whether the stories included in this collection are really the best would be up to you to determine.  Maybe they are.  Maybe the stories here are "13 of the toughest crime short stories ever written."  And maybe Scott and Sidney Meredith really did edit the collection.  I don't know.  Their names are attached to the introduction, so it's possible.  At any rate, the material reproduced here should give you a good idea of the book and its contents.  You can't go wrong with it; even if it's not "the best," it's plenty good.

Black Angel

Black Angel Official Trailer #1 - Peter Lorre Movie (1946) HD - YouTube:

Thursday, January 24, 2013

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Doctor accused of urinating on dentist office door

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Hmmmmmmmm

Total Boox: Total Boox is building a new platform for ebook distribution and consumption. A reader does not have to purchase a book upfront. He downloads the book into his tablet device, and pays for the portion he actually reads, when he reads it.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Knives Came Out After Threesome Failed To Occur 

Song of the Day

The Vogues Five O'Clock World Stereo Remastered HQ Version (use 480p) - YouTube:

Yes, The Wicker Man Is Included

The Eight Worst Performances from Famous Actors

Today's Vintage Ad


Top 10 List of the Most Unusual Shoplifted Items

Top 10 List of the Most Unusual Shoplifted Items

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Patient charged with fighting paramedics, squeezing their testicles

A Craft for the Whole Family

Vincent Price's Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture

23 Vintage Pop Culture V-Day Cards You Can Buy Now

23 Vintage Pop Culture V-Day Cards You Can Buy Now

PaperBack



Harry Harison, Bill, the Galactic Hero, Berkley, 1965

7 Mind-Blowing Easter Eggs Hidden in Famous Publications

7 Mind-Blowing Easter Eggs Hidden in Famous Publications

THE WIDE WORLD OF MYSTERY FICTION

THE WIDE WORLD OF MYSTERY FICTION | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

Here's the Plot for Your Next Big Clerical Thriller

phillyburbs.com:A former Pennsylvania pastor awaiting trial in the 1999 death of his first wife was convicted Tuesday in the 2008 death of his second wife.

Top 10 War Comics

Top 10 War Comics

James Bond Update

Adele confirmed to perform ‘Skyfall’ live at the Oscars: It is also rumored that all six Bonds - Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig – will appear together for the first time ever at the ceremony to mark the movie franchise’s 50 years.

Elegant Editions: Rizzoli’s Art Books

Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio (various issues)Elegant Editions: Rizzoli’s Art Books on AbeBooks: The name Rizzoli carries considerable weight in the world of publishing. The company began in Italy when a young entrepreneur named Angelo Rizzoli purchased four magazines. He eventually built a global media empire called RCS MediaGroup. But there is one particularly fascinating company within this mega-corporation and that’s Rizzoli Publishing, which is responsible for some of the most beautiful and well-designed art books around today.

Soon to Be a SyFy Movie of the Week

15,000 crocs escape from South African farm

Ministry of Fear

Ministry of Fear Official Trailer #1 - Ray Milland Movie (1944) HD - YouTube:

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

I Don't Think I'll Try to Trademark "Bro Bowl" After All

The man who trademarked ‘Harbowl’ a year ago, until NFL lawyers pressured him to abandon it 

Soon Cops Will Have No Personal Freedoms Left at All

Cops busted for racing cars to donut shop

Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.

The Benefits of Civil War Reenacting

Western Fictioneers: The Benefits of Civil War Reenacting

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman charged for throwing cat feces at officer's home

Song of the Day

The Outsiders - "Time Won't Let Me" - YouTube:

The Double Game -- Dan Fesperman

When I read George Kelley's highly favorable review of The Double Game, I thought I'd give it a try.  I'm glad I did.

The plot isn't easy to summarize, but I'll give it a shot.  Bill Cage is a former newspaperman, now a PR flack.  When he was young, he read widely and deeply in the spy fiction field, and his father, an American diplomat was a collector of first editions (Cage, too, collects them).  Cage hasn't read any spy fiction in the last 20 years, but the books he loves and remembers are the same ones that I was reading at about the same time Cage was.  The good stuff.  Fleming, Deighton, Ambler, Greene, Hamilton, and on and on (there's a nice appendix that lists the books in the library of Cage's father).

Thing get started when  Cage gets a mysterious note that welcomes him to The Double Game.  He's easily sucked in, and the game is of course espionage.  There's an old secret that even the CIA has never quite come up with an answer to, and someone's using Cage to find out.  Cage returns to Europe, where he grew up, and is put through his paces in many of the cities he's familiar with both from spy fiction and because he lived in them as a boy.  The clues he gets are all based on books he's read, and many familiar novels are quoted or referred to.  For added fun, one of the characters is a book scout, and several bookstores get visited.  Real characters you older folks will be familiar with from newspaper stories about the Cold War are mixed in with the fictional ones.

As it turns out, there are a lot of secrets besides the big one.  Cage is reunited with the woman he'd loved as a teen.  Is she on his side?  His father is clearly keeping things from him.  So is everyone else he meets.

A twisty plot, neat settings, books (lots of books), rekindled romance, fathers and sons, slimy characters, tradecraft, danger, and all the other ingredients.  The story's also told in a fluid, engaging style.  Thoroughly enjoyable.

No Comment Department

‘Inigo Montoya’ shirt upsets travelers, leads to awkward flight

Hat tip to Steve Stilwell.

Today's Vintage Ad


Not for the Faint of Heart

6 Creepy Cautionary Tales for Kids of Yesteryear

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Deputies: Man tried to force fiancee to swallow engagement ring

14 TV series that usurped their original film versions

14 TV series that usurped their original film versions

PaperBack



J. G. Ballard, Terminal Beach, Berkley, 1964

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman charged in ice cream assault 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

911 call reveals moment naked home invader rampaged Florida man's home

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Australian Priest, 80, Bites off Fellow Clergyman’s Ear in Parking Row

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

The Best Run Cities in America

What A Difference Four Years Makes

What A Difference Four Years Makes: Definitive proof that technology is ruining the world.

Top 10 Famous Books That Were Originally Rejected

Top 10 Famous Books That Were Originally Rejected

The Best Shots Fired in the Oxford Comma Wars

The Best Shots Fired in the Oxford Comma Wars

Oops

Security Guard Shoots Penis Off, Charged With Crime

Here's the Plot for Your Next Big Detergent Thriller

How Tide Detergent Became a Drug Currency

Invisible Agent

Invisible Agent Official Trailer #1 - Peter Lorre Movie (1942) HD - YouTube:

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Soon We'll Have No Personal Freedoms Left at All

Clarksville Police Arrest Intoxicated Zombie Shouter

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Auto Nachos

Cheese fire causes traffic meltdown in Norway tunnel

Hat tip to Patrick Golden.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Walmart Frozen Food = Epic Food Fight

Song of the Day

The Five Blobs - The Blob (Burt Bacharach and Mack David) - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


PaperBack



L. Sprague de Camp, editor, Wizards and Warlocks, Berkley, 1970

Croc Update (Lost Dutchmen Edition)

Stalking crocodile forces Dutch tourists to hide up a tree

10 Ways John Milton's Paradise Lost Is Like a Bad Comic Book

10 Ways John Milton's Paradise Lost Is Like a Bad Comic Book

Hat tip to Todd Mason.

Bob Engemann, R. I. P.

Entertainer Bob Engemann dies Sunday at age 77: Bob Engemann had a smooth voice and eyes that melted female hearts from half a concert hall away. The tight harmonies he sang with fellow artists Jim Pike and Tony Butala were the things young love was made of from the earliest days of the 1960s. Through the decades Engemann went on to do many other things, but music remained one of the loves of his life. Engemann died at 1:30 a.m. Sunday at the age of 77. He had heart surgery recently and contracted pneumonia.

Will the Persecution Never End?

Redford lays into Paris Hilton for coming to Sundance

Bad Writing Advice From Famous Authors

Bad Writing Advice From Famous Authors

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Now it's the urn attack!

Joel Perez allegedly broke urn full of ashes over man's head: Man charged in urn attack

22 Unforgettable Hollywood Taglines

22 Unforgettable Hollywood Taglines

Amazing Stories Goes Live - Opens For General Admissions

Amazing Stories Goes Live - Opens For General Admissions 

The Fascinating Business Cards of 20 Famous People

The Fascinating Business Cards of 20 Famous People

Overlooked Movies: The Blob

Another cheat, since I figure many of you have seen or at least heard of this one, thanks to the fact that it stars Steve McQueen.  It was one of those double-feature horror movies of the '50s that I remember seeing in the theater.  Even at the time, I thought that Steve McQueen and Aneta Corsaut (Miss Crump!) were the world's oldest teenagers.

When the movie opens, their necking in the local lover's lane is interrupted by the fall of a meteor.  Steve wants to go look for it.  Meanwhile a farmer has poked at the fallen object with a stick, breaking it open and allowint the little blob to emerge.  Before he knows it, the blob has attached itself to him.  Steve and Aneta arrive in time to take the man to the local doctor and then go back to see if there's anything else at the site.  When they get back to the doctor's house, the blog has pretty much inhaled everything and everybody, growing bigger all the time.  

Steve and Aneta try to warn the town, but nobody believes their crazy story.  Then we get a series of blob attacks.  Finally, after the blob has scarfed up a theater full of kids, people believe.  Too bad that Steve, Aneta, and a couple of others are trapped in a building that's being ingested by the blob.  Do they escape?  I ain't telling.

I thought this was great when I saw it, and it's still fun.  Seeing McQueen jump into his dandy convertible is worth the price of admission all by itself. And then there's the title tune, which I can still sing even after 55 years.  "Beware of the blob, it creeps and leaps . . . ."

Monday, January 21, 2013

Michael Winner, R. I. P.

Michael Winner, 'Death Wish' and 'The Mechanic' director, dead at 77 - NY Daily News: "Death Wish" director Michael Winner, a British filmmaker, restaurant critic and bon vivant, has died at the age of 77. 

Winner's wife Geraldine said he died Monday at his London home after an illness. 

Winner's 30 movies included three "Death Wish" films starring the late Charles Bronson.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Here's the Plot for Your Next Rural Thriller

Getaway donkey ruins robbery

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' - Crazy Elephant - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


Here's the Plot for Your Next Big Fossil Smuggling Thriller

On the trail of the dinosaur rustlers

Super Bowl

So has anybody else named this year's Super Bowl The Bro Bowl?  If not, I want to get that name trademarked or something.

PaperBack



William Goldman, The Great Waldo Pepper, Dell, 1975

Some Swell Vintage Ads

This Woman's Constipation Worries Are Over

5 States That Secretly Control the Rest of America

5 States That Secretly Control the Rest of America 

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Top Ten Cop Shows

10 More Incredible Archaeological Discoveries

10 More Incredible Archaeological Discoveries 

The Top 10 Prison Break-Ins

The Top 10 Prison Break-Ins

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15. The floating holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, though the act predated the establishment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by 15 years.

17 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes You Never Hear

New Poem at The 5-2

The 5-2 : Crime Poetry Weekly: Heidi Kraay

Sunset in the West

SUNSET IN THE WEST TRAILER ROY ROGERS - YouTube:

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Gator Update (Three-Year-Old Edition)

See you later alligator! Fearless boy, 3, struggles to maintain grip on restless reptile while swimming in wildlife park pool

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

www.wsbtv.com: A fan was stabbed in the neck after the NFC Championship Game outside of the Georgia Dome on Sunday night.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Wanted: 'Adventurous woman' to give birth to Neanderthal man - Harvard professor seeks mother for cloned cave baby

Hat tip to Art Scott.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman attacks man with Swedish sausage

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood-Some Velvet Morning - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


10 Bizarre Theme Parks From Around the World

10 Bizarre Theme Parks From Around the World

Rob Lopresti Picks His Favorite Short Stories of 2012

SleuthSayers: Nothing but the best

You Don't Often See the Words Yeti, Resort, and Siberia in the Same Sentence

New Yeti resort to be opened in Siberia to encourage tourists to catch the Abominable Snowman

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

PaperBack



John Brunner, The Squares of the City, Ballantine, 1965

In-Depth Analysis of a Brief Moment in Elementary

Breaking Down The Craziest Half-Inning In Television History

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Listen to Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Roger Anker, and Chris Beaumont Memorialize Author Charles Beaumont

Listen to Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Roger Anker, and Chris Beaumont Memorialize Author Charles Beaumont 

Berlin Bank Robbery Tunnel

Berlin Bank Robbery Tunnel

Raised in Fear: Horror Films as Schoolyard Lore

Raised in Fear: Horror Films as Schoolyard Lore 

Stan Musial, R. I. P.

Baseball Great Stan Musial Dies at 92 - NYTimes.com: Stan Musial, one of baseball’s greatest hitters and a revered figure in the storied history of the St. Louis Cardinals — the player they called Stan the Man — died Saturday. He was 92.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE TRAILER 1938 PETER LORRE - YouTube: