Saturday, February 09, 2013

Song of the Day

The Casinos - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye - YouTube:

Hit Me -- Lawrence Block

When I read the previous book in Lawrence Block's Keller series, I thought that Block probably wouldn't be writing any more about his stamp-collecting hit man.  Keller was, after all, settled in New Orleans with a wife, a child, and a booming business.  His past is pretty much buried, as is the past of Dot, the woman who'd passed on his contracts.  He could afford to indulge his stamp-collecting hobby, and there was no reason for him to go back to his old ways.

But I should've known better.  Block found the perfect reason for Keller to take up his old trade again, and he does it in four more-or-less related novellas and a short story that are up to Block's usual standard of excellence.  The first novella in the book is "Keller in Dallas," so he hooked me right off the bat with only the title.  I can't resist a good Texas tale.

There's a lot about stamp collecting in these stories, but that didn't bother me at all.  As a guy who has his own obsessions, I can easily identify with the obsessions of others.  The plotting is slick, and the writing is smooth.  It's all good.  Each story can stand on its own, even if you've never read any of the other Keller books, though they'll mean more if you have.  And if you have, you'll definitely want to read this one because you just can't resist.  Check it out.

Today's Vintage Ad


Superhero Posters Get A Film Noir Makeover

Superhero Posters Get A Film Noir Makeover

Mystery Mania: Zoe Sharp's Die Easy

Mystery Mania: Zoe Sharp's Die Easy

PaperBack



Brett Halliday (Davis Dresser), This Is It, Michael Shayne, Dell, 1951

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Teacher Suspended After Pouring Pencil Shavings In Student’s Mouth 

Everyone's a Critic

Top Suspense Group: Everyone's a Critic

I Miss the Old Days

The Ridiculous Vs. The Incredibly Useful In A 1940 Issue Of Popular Mechanics

Will the Persecution Never End?

The 28 Dumbest Questions Asked By Paris And Nicole On “The Simple Life”

Can Writers Retire? Let Us Count the Ways

Can Writers Retire? Let Us Count the Ways

Ummmmmm. Grilled Cheese.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich That Is 100% Cheese 

John Kerr, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: John Kerr, a Tony Award-winning actor who was best known for roles that challenged bigotry in the 1950s in films like “Tea and Sympathy” and “South Pacific,” and who turned down a starring movie role because of ideological differences with its subject, Charles Lindbergh, died on Feb. 2 in Los Angeles. He was 81.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Or Maybe You Did

20 Words You Didn’t Know Were Inspired by People 

Fifty Million Frenchmen

Fifty Million Frenchmen (Trailer) - YouTube:

Friday, February 08, 2013

Reminder

Have you downloaded your MP3 yet?  Edge of Dark Water by Kasey Lansdale

Agatha Award Nominees

Mystery Fanfare: AGATHA AWARD NOMINEES

No Comment Department

'Female' romance author Jessica Blair unmasked as 89-year-old war vet called Bill Spence

Don't Hand Me the Phone. Just Take a Message.

Talk about a booty call: Ring tone outs inmate's phone 

Hat tip to Michael Bracken.

Martha Wells Interview

Our Interview with Martha Wells -- Roqoo Depot

Or Maybe Not

Most of What You Think You Know About Grammar is Wrong

Alfred Hitchcock Update

Mail Online: 'I was horrified people took it seriously': Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock reveals Psycho was meant to be a comedy in newly-unearthed interview

Song of the Day

Traveling Wilburys - Handle With Care - YouTube:

Diary of a Body-Snatcher

Diary of a Body-Snatcher

Today's Vintage Ad


Croc Update (Motorbike Edition)

Man in India builds huge crocodile motorbike

Photo at the link.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

I Miss the Old Days

Let These '80s Pop Stars Teach You A Thing Or Two About Style

PaperBack



Cary Lucas, Unfinished Business, Dell, 1950



Anne Of Green Gables Is A Sexy Blonde On The Cover Of A New Paperback Book Set

Anne Of Green Gables Is A Sexy Blonde On The Cover Of A New Paperback Book Set

Or Maybe You Did

13 Things You Probably Didn't Know About "The Price Is Right"

Michael Dirda on Bram Stoker

‘The Forgotten Writings of Bram Stoker,’ reviewed by Michael Dirda

Jules Verne: A prophet of science fiction

Jules Verne: A prophet of science fiction

10 Craziest Things That Happen When You Google.. -

10 Craziest Things That Happen When You Google..

I Miss the Old Days

The '60s at 50: Friday, February 8, 1963: The Beatles on U.S. radio

Forgotten Books: The Empty Trap -- John D. MacDonald

By coincidence (or was it?) I picked up this copy of the The Empty Trap at the same time I got The Only Girl in the Game.  The price was right, and I figured I'd reread both of them.  I didn't remember at the time, and maybe it never occurred to me on the first reading, that the protagonist in both is a hotel manager.  The Empty Trap was published in 1957, three years before The Only Girl in the Game, and it's considerably shorter, maybe half as long, but I can imagine JDM thinking about them at the same time.

Because of the novel's length, there's not nearly as much in it about the running of a big hotel in a gambling town (not Las Vegas, this time, but it might as well be).  The manager in both cases is young, competent, and honest.  In both, he's involved with a beautiful woman, but this time she's the wife of the hotel's owner, who's not a nice man at all (just like the one in the later book).  

The manager's name is Lloyd Wescott, and the book opens with him and the woman being kidnapped, tortured, and killed in Mexico.  Well, Wescott isn't killed.  He's supposed to die, but he doesn't.  Instead, he's seriously injured and mangled when the car he's in is pushed over a cliff.  He's found by a youngster and taken to a remote village where he's nursed back to health.  He stays there and eventually gets back in shape by doing hard physical labor.  His plan is to return and kill the men responsible for the death of the woman and his own suffering.  There's a lot of filling in of backstory before he recovers, and a lot of dialogue with the noble men of the village.  The thing is that back in 1957, plenty of readers would've bought right into all of it, and maybe still would.  It didn't bother me in the least.  I suspect I knew even when I read it the first time, I knew where it was headed, but I didn't mind that, either.  MacDonald could really put together a story.

The book was originally published by Popular Library and went through two printings there.  I have no idea how many times Fawcett reprinted it, but it was a lot.

Little Women

Little Women (1949) Trailer (June Allyson, Peter Lawford and Margaret O'Brien) - YouTube:

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Um, What's This Weird Hunk of Metal We Just Found on Mars?

Um, What's This Weird Hunk of Metal We Just Found on Mars? 

If You're in L.A. and Driving a Vehicle Similar to Dorner's, Park It and Leave It

Women delivering newspapers in Torrance shot in manhunt for ex-cop - latimes.com: A second shooting, involving Torrance police officers, occurred about 5:45 a.m. at Flagler Lane and Beryl Street in Torrance. 

No injuries were reported in that incident. Chase said that in both instances police came across vehicles they thought were similar to the one Dorner is believed to be driving. Neither vehicle was Dorner's.

Uh-Oh

Amazon Poised to Sell Used E-books

Here's the Plot for Your Next Big Escape-from-Custody Thriller

India Chhattisgarh border sealed to find 'chilli powder hijackers'

The Many Names of Catherine Lucille Moore

The Many Names of Catherine Lucille Moore

Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens

Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens: A Timeless Letter of Advice to His Youngest Son

Song of the Day

Warren Zevon - Desperados Under The Eaves - YouTube:

The 7 Weirdest Sex Stories of the Ancient World

The 7 Weirdest Sex Stories of the Ancient World

New Story by Martha Wells

Books of the Raksura Compendium - Trading Lesson

Today's Vintage Ad


13 Directors Who Work With the Same Stars Again and Again

13 Directors Who Work With the Same Stars Again and Again 

Book Tie-Ins Feature Real-World Elements

Book Tie-Ins Feature Real-World Elements

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman arrested for hit-and-run after allegedly hitting teen wearing cow costume outside Chick-fil-A 

PaperBack



Jefferson Farjeon, Greenmask, Dell, 1946

As If It Needed Increasing

Paris Hilton tops up her brain power with a nutritional supplement as she goes grocery shopping in stylish playsuit

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

I Miss the Old Days

How to develop a He-Man personality

The Evolution Of The Zombie

The Evolution Of The Zombie

AbeBooks: Most Expensive Sales in January 2013

First edition, first printing of Dune by Frank HerbertAbeBooks: Most Expensive Sales in January 2013: In the realm of science fiction, few books carry as much significance as Frank Herbert’s Dune series. With more than a dozen books and short stories written by two generations of Herberts, the Dune universe is deeply interwoven into science fiction culture.  Signed first editions of the book that started it all are treasured by collectors of science fiction and modern firsts. The $15,000 copy that sold last month was the third copy of Dune to be sold by AbeBooks priced over $5,000.

6 Early Theories About the Origin of Language

6 Early Theories About the Origin of Language 

No Comment Department

50 Sure Signs That Texas Is Actually Utopia

Hat tip to Todd Mason.

Gator Update (Redeye Edition)

Alligator with red eyes at Myakka River State Park, Florida

Great photo at the link.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Paul Tanner, R. I. P.

MiamiHerald.com: Paul Tanner, a trombonist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra who later played a space-age instrument on the Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations," has died at 95.

Rope

MOVIE TRAILER -- "ROPE" (1948) - YouTube:

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

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

WHIMSEY: A NOVELWHIMSEY: A NOVEL: Kaye Wilkinson Barley, Earl Staggs, Jill Harman Smith: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: WHIMSEY is a novel of southern fiction with a splash of magic and a touch of fantasy, topped with a sprinkling of humor. 

The magic was already there when cigar-smoking matriarch Elizabeth Calhoun established an artist’s colony on an island off the coast of Georgia and named it Whimsey. Elizabeth’s ghost still drops in from time to time to make sure things are going as she planned. 

There’s also a wicked pixie named Earlene who fancies tight-fitting designer clothes and Louboutin stilettos. 

Elizabeth’s grandniece, Emma Hamilton Foley, a once-promising jewelry designer who moved away from the island, now fears her talent has deserted her. 

Along with her four best childhood friends, she has been invited to be a resident artist at Whimsey’s new upscale gallery, Les Etoiles. To join them, she’ll need to regain her talent, face the demons from her past and her feelings about Eli Tatnall, whom she loved as a girl. 

Will moving back to the Island of Whimsey bring the magic back?

Yeah, Right

How to Let Go of Book Clutter

Hat tip to George Kelley.

Stuart Freeborn, R. I. P.

22 Important Things You Should Know About Yoda: Stuart Freeborn, the British make-up artist who designed Yoda, has died. Miss you we will. Here are some intriguing facts about Freeborn's most famous creation.

PimPage

Cliff Walk by Bruce DeSilva – Read The First Two Chapters. PAUL D. BRAZILL

PimPage: An Occasional Feature

Jochem Vandersteen | Dani Amore

All Righty, Then

Finnegans Wake a bestseller in China

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Deputies: Woman breaks into home, attacks ex-fiance's new girlfriend in bed

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood: Michael D. Sellers: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: It took 100 years to bring Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars to the big screen. It took Disney Studios just ten days to declare the film a flop and lock it away in the Disney vaults. How did this project, despite its quarter-billion dollar budget, the brilliance of director Andrew Stanton, and the creative talents of legendary Pixar Studios, become a calamity of historic proportions? 

Michael Sellers, a filmmaker and Hollywood insider himself, saw the disaster approaching and fought to save the project – but without success. In John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, Sellers details every blunder and betrayal that led to the doom of the motion picture – and that left countless Hollywood careers in the wreckage. 

JOHN CARTER AND THE GODS OF HOLLYWOOD examines every aspect of Andrew Stanton's adaptation and Disney's marketing campaign and seeks to answer the question: What went wrong? it includes a history of Hollywood's 100 year effort to bring the film to the screen, and examines the global fan movement spawned by the film.

Song of the Day

Warren Zevon - Mohammed's Radio - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


Popular Myths, Debunked (and Confirmed)

Popular Myths, Debunked

14-plus entertainments altered due to historical events

Hold for some minor retooling: 14-plus entertainments altered due to historical events

Gotta Love It!

The Nick Carter & Carter Brown Blog: Coyote Connection (French Edition) by Bill Crider and Jack Davis

“A Conversation with Myself” (by Robert S. Levinson)

“A Conversation with Myself” (by Robert S. Levinson) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

Be Still, My Heart

Monopoly Introduces New Token To Replace Boring Old Iron: The new Monopoly token is ... a cat!

PaperBack



Dolores Hitchens, Stairway to an Empty Room, Dell, 1953

A Brief History Of Nerds In Pop Culture

A Brief History Of Nerds In Pop Culture

None of You Are Guilty, I'm Sure

Cyberloafing: An Increase in Employees Surfing the Web While on the Job 

Top 10 Must-Read SF Books

Top 10 Must-Read SF Books

Seepy Benton Can Recite the Digits If You Ask Him

World’s largest prime number discovered -- all 17 million digits

Troy D. Smith Interview

Telling Good Stories | Tom Rizzo: StoryTeller 7: Troy D. Smith, Inspired by Comic Book Legend

10 Great Hoaxes of the 19th Century

10 Great Hoaxes of the 19th Century 

Margaret Frazer: R.I.P.

Mystery Fanfare: Margaret Frazer: R.I.P.

SONS OF SPADE: Hardboiled Collective Excerpt Week: Little Elvises (Junior Bender) by Timothy Hallinan

SONS OF SPADE: Hardboiled Collective Excerpt Week: Little Elvises (Junior Bender) by Timothy Hallinan

How Full Moons Got Their Strange Names

How Full Moons Got Their Strange Names

Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Official Theatrical Trailer - YouTube:

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Meet Ellery Queen

Meet Ellery Queen - YouTube:

Here's the Plot for My Next Big Prison Romance Novel

Prison officer busted after becoming pregnant by cop-killer she was guarding

Yet Another List I'm Not On

English literature's 50 key moments from Marlowe to JK Rowling

And Keep Off Her Lawn!

Connecticut grandmother who threw rowdy kids from grandson’s sleepover is arrested 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . . .

Cat Urine Leads To Road Rage Attack

Song of the Day

Warren Zevon - Poor, Poor Pitiful Me - YouTube:

Mark Summers: The Man Behind the Iconic Barnes & Noble Author Portraits

Mark Summers: The Man Behind the Iconic Barnes & Noble Author Portraits

Today's Vintage Ad


The Original Endings of 10 Famous Films

The Original Endings of 10 Famous Films

PaperBack



Robert Parker, Passport to Peril, Dell, 1952


Before and After

Before and After Special Effects from Various Notable Scenes

Yet Another List I'm Not On

The Best-Selling Books in 10 Countries Around the World 

King Richard III Update

King Richard III’s face revealed for first time in 500 years

Don’t Quit Your Day Job – Traditional Publishing by the Numbers

Don’t Quit Your Day Job – Traditional Publishing by the Numbers

Uh-Oh

NBC is Remaking ‘Ironside’

Seepy Benton's Kind of Beauty

The 11 Most Beautiful Mathematical Equations 

Reg Presley, R. I. P.

Metro News: Reg Presley, the frontman of 60s rock group the Troggs – best known for their hits Wild Thing and Love Is All Around – has died aged 71. 

The singer, whose real name was Reginald Maurice Ball, passed away at his home in Hampshire after a battle with lung cancer, his daughter Karen confirmed.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Or Maybe You Have

The Coolest Disney Movies You’ve Never Seen

Great Literary Characters Inspired by Real Famous People

Great Literary Characters Inspired by Real Famous People

Overlooked Movies: Alphaville

Insert usual apologies for talking about a movie that's not really overlooked.

I've probably told this story before, but it's worth repeating.  In the middle 1960s, Channel 11 in Dallas was a movie channel. I have no idea who programmed it, but I was lucky enough to be around to watch for a while.  One programming block was the "Sons of Hercules," and it brought all sorts of Italian beefcake into our little apartment. Another block was of French movies about a private-eye named Lemmy Caution, played by Eddie Constantine. I believe they showed the movies more or less in order of appearance, but I know for sure they ended with Alphaville.  

I have no idea what Constantine thought he was getting into when he signed for the movie. I don't know if he even saw a script. What I do know is that the movie's nothing at all like any of the others in the series but that Constantine played it as if it was.  While everything around him is screaming, "This is really weird stuff!" he went right on being the same Lemmy Caution of all the B-movies he'd made before.  Even when he's driving a car that's supposed to be a spaceship. It pretty much works out fine.

The movie is a dystopian SF tale of a future where the world, or at least the city of Alpahville, is ruled by Alpha 60, a computer, which assures that everything is run logically. Emotion is outlawed. Caution is supposed to be searching for a missing agent, kill the creator of the computer, and destroy the computer itself. [SPOILER ALERT] He accomplishes the last part of the mission by posing a riddle the computer can't answer. It involves poetry, which doesn't compute with the logical computer.

The movie's strange, funny, and certainly unlike any other Lemmy Caution movie ever made.  

Alphaville

Jean-Luc Godard / Alphaville / Original Trailer - YouTube:

Monday, February 04, 2013

Sample Chapters from Chester Campbell's Latest

The Poksu Conspiracy by Chester Campbell

Richard III Update

Richard III’s scarred skeleton becomes a battlefield for academics

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Angry Dallas Neighbor Allegedly Kills 2 Over Dog Poop

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

Buffalo Wolves (Holt County)
A Christmas ghost story? You're durn tootin'.  It's "A Gift at Bitter Creek," and it's the second half of this fine twosome from Rich Prosch.  Check it out.

Buffalo Wolves (Holt County): Richard Prosch: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Left by themselves on the hardscrabble Nebraska frontier, teenaged sisters Edna and Holly Blanchard persevere with twin carbines and iron determination. By themselves, but not exactly alone. And an unguarded moment is all Peck Harris and his craven brothers need to take what they want. Plus! Pap McGee spins a Yuletide windy of fast violence, hard justice, and a gift at Bitter Creek.

Chris Cassatt, R. I. P.

The Daily Cartoonist: Chris Cassatt, who became Jeff MacNelly’s assistant in 1993 on the comic strip Shoe has passed away after battling cancer. Chris was introduced to Jeff through Mother Goose and Grimm creator Mike Peters and thus began a collaboration that lasted until Jeff’s passing in 2000. Chris was instrumental in helping Jeff use computers to streamline his work. After Jeff’s passing, Chris carried on with Shoe with Jeff’s widow Susie and Gary Brookins.

People Are Freaking Out About the New Cover of The Bell Jar

Book Dirt: People Are Freaking Out About the New Cover of The Bell Jar

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

High school basketball brawl could lead to charges 

Hat tip to John Duke.

Song of the Day

Linda Ronstadt ~ Poor Poor Pitiful Me - YouTube:

10 Amazing Hidden Director Cameos in Movies

10 Amazing Hidden Director Cameos in Movies 

Left Coast Crime Award Nominations

Mystery Fanfare: Left Coast Crime Award Nominations

Today's Vintage Ad


Why We Write: Mary Karr on the magnetism and madness of the written word

Why We Write: Mary Karr on the magnetism and madness of the written word

PaperBack



The Tall T and Other Western Adventures, Avon, 1957

The 10 Most Notorious Parts of Famous Books

The 10 Most Notorious Parts of Famous Books

Hat tip to George Kelley.

6 Insane Disney Comics You Won't Believe Are Real

6 Insane Disney Comics You Won't Believe Are Real 

Top Ten Theories of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death

Top Ten Theories of Edgar Allan Poe’s Death

16 Great Library Scenes in Film

16 Great Library Scenes in Film

And Keep Off His Lawn!

Elderly man floors news reporter with punch to the face

Bigfoot Update

The Sun |News: A “YETI” which has terrorised Russians for three years and sparked a global bigfoot frenzy is really a bear from the US, a Sun probe reveals. Our decisive DNA tests — by a leading genetics expert from Oxford University — show the creature is an American bear that could have fled a circus.

New Poem at The 5-2

The 5-2 : Crime Poetry Weekly: Anina Robb

Black Dahlia Update

Can This Dog Solve the Black Dahlia Homicide?

Gaslight

MOVIE TRAILER -- "GASLIGHT" (1944) - YouTube:

Sunday, February 03, 2013

Gator Update (Super Bowl Edition)

The Washington Post: Brass bands marching among spectators and a live alligator and trainer were among the sights on the grounds immediately surrounding the Superdome on Super Bowl Sunday.

The heist always goes wrong – ten of the best heist movies ever made

The heist always goes wrong – ten of the best heist movies ever made 

King Richard III Update

The Raw Story: British archaelogists hunting for the lost remains of King Richard III on Monday revealed the first image of a battle-scarred skull found at a car park ahead of what they said would be a “major announcement” about their findings.

Harbaugh Boys Miss Super Bowl While Attempting To Solve Mystery Of Smugglers Cove |

Harbaugh Boys Miss Super Bowl While Attempting To Solve Mystery Of Smugglers Cove | The Onion

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

ORMOND BEACH MAN ARRESTED FOR CARJACKING DURING CONVENIENCE STORE MELEE

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

Don McLean- American Pie (with Lyrics) - YouTube:

Three New Poems at Beat to a Pulp

BEAT to a PULP :: Three Poems :: Gerald So

DICE, TINHORNS and RANCHO NOTORIOUS

Western Fictioneers: DICE, TINHORNS and RANCHO NOTORIOUS

Today's Vintage Ad


Or Maybe You Did

Warner Bros.' 90th Anniversary: 25 Things You Didn't Know About the Fabled Hollywood Studio

Here's the Plot for Your Next Irish Kidnapping Thriller

Missing Irish millionaire found after eight months: Tycoon found wandering dazed in road in County Leitrim, claiming to have been thrown out of van by kidnappers

30 Famous Authors Named Ken

30 Famous Authors Named Ken

PaperBack



Baynard Kendrick, Death Knell, Dell, 1949

10 Tallest People in History

10 Tallest People in History

Link via Neatorama.

We're Doomed

This Year's Illuminati-Super Bowl Connection is More Sinister Than Ever

11 of the Most Beautiful Museum Libraries in the World

11 of the Most Beautiful Museum Libraries in the World 

27 opening-credits sequences that evolved with their series

Begin again: 27 opening-credits sequences that evolved with their series

Short, Sharp Interview: Jim Winter

Short, Sharp Interview: Jim Winter

%&*#@^!

NJ School Implements 'No Cursing' Rule But Only for Girls: A teacher who organized the campaign says that while males weren't asked to take the vow, they have been asked not to swear when girls are near.

Black Narcissus

BLACK NARCISSUS - trailer - HQ - YouTube: