James Lee Burke Interview: Rejection, Crime, Marriage
Link via Kevin's Corner.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Amazon.com: Mad Magazine #1 eBook: Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder: Kindle Store: The very first issue of MAD! Including classic spoofs of multiple comic book genres--sci-fi ("Blobs!"), horror ("Hoohah!"), crime ("Ganefs!") and westerns ("Varmint!").
Friday, August 23, 2013
The Honky Tonk Big Hoss Boogie -- Robert J. Randisi
Anybody who's read a few private-eye novels would tell Auggie that he was going to be sorry for taking the job, and, sure enough, the guy who was supposed to get the package winds up dead. Prime suspect? Auggie.
There's a great MacGuffin in this book, and I'm going to resist giving any hints. You should discover it for yourself, although . . . I'm not saying.
The mystery's nicely complex, and the local color is excellent, especially if you like restaurants. Auggie surely does.
There's even an appearance by those well-known pickers and grinners Al Hall and Parnell Collins, with whom Auggie shares the stage for a few numbers, not including "King of Kindle." Check it out.
Meet 6 Monster Fish That (Believe It or Not) Live in Our Rivers
Meet 6 Monster Fish That (Believe It or Not) Live in Our Rivers
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
Slideshow alert!
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
Slideshow alert!
Archaeology Update
AFP: The discovery in Peru of another tomb belonging to a pre-Hispanic priestess, the eighth in more than two decades, confirms that powerful women ruled this region 1,200 years ago, archeologists said.
Forgotten Books: The Tall T -- Elmore Leonard
In honor of the late Elmore Leonard, I'm reprinting my comments on this book from last June.
You can tell by looking at the covers and spine of the paperback edition of The Tall T that when this Avon book was published, nobody knew who Elmore Leonard was. His name is nowhere on it. If you looked at the spine, you might even think that Randolph Scott had written the book. And if you look at the tiny print under the title, you'll see "And Other Western Adventures" because instead of publishing a novelization of the movie, which was based on a novelette called "The Captives" from Argosy, Avon just published the novelette and padded out the book with some still photos from the movie and two other stories, one by Steve Frazee ("The Man at Gannt's Place") and one by Noel M. Loomis ("The Twilighters").
Most everything in between comes directly from the story. Leonard's dialogue is hardly altered. It's as if he were already writing directly for the screen. It's fun to see the movie shortly after reading the book to see how the actors handled the dialogue. As I read the story, I could hear Scott saying some of the lines, and in the movie he spoke a few of them pretty much as I thought he would. Not nearly all of them, however. It was a pleasure to watch him work. He was a much better actor than he sometimes gets credit for.The question of the day is, "Why is this movie called The Tall T?" Nobody in the movie mentions it. Nobody is named anything that begins with the letter T. It's not the name of a ranch. Anybody know?
I recommend both the story and the movie. Great stuff.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
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Jay Richardson, R. I. P.
Jay Richardson, son of The Big Bopper, dies: Jay P. Richardson, son of rock ‘n’ roll icon The Big Bopper and frequent performer at the Surf Ballroom, died Wednesday morning in Katy, Texas, according to the Surf Ballroom staff. He was 54.
Good Work, Bomb Squad!
Glass jar filled with strange green liquid found outside Rutherford High School poses no danger says bomb squad: After testing the liquid, the bomb squad determined the strange glass jar was from a lava light, said Russo.
Sid Bernstein, R. I. P.
NY Daily News: The visionary force who helped launch the “British Invasion” by introducing America to a then-little-known band called The Beatles died in his sleep Wednesday in New York City, said his publicist. He was 95.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Marian McPartland, R. I. P.
Marian McPartland, 'Piano Jazz' Host, who gave the world an intimate, insider's perspective on one of the most elusive topics in music — jazz improvisation — died of natural causes Tuesday night at her home in Long Island, N.Y. She was 95.
Songs of the Day
The Soundtrack of Summer 1963
This was the summer after my college graduation. I worked at the Red Arrow freight line in Mexia, Texas, until the end of August and then moved to Corsicana, Texas, to teach 11th grade English. An experience I'll never forget, and I'll bet some of the students won't, either, though they might wish they could.
This was the summer after my college graduation. I worked at the Red Arrow freight line in Mexia, Texas, until the end of August and then moved to Corsicana, Texas, to teach 11th grade English. An experience I'll never forget, and I'll bet some of the students won't, either, though they might wish they could.
Name Brands: The Most and Least Respected
The Exchange - Yahoo! Finance: When it comes to the best-known brands, two big cola sellers garner the most respect in the business world, while an airline and a cigarette maker fare the worst.
Beatrice Kozera, R. I. P.
Mail Online: Beatrice Kozera, the Los Angeles-born woman whose fleeting relationship with novelist Jack Kerouac was chronicled in 'On the Road,' - the book that defined a generation - has died. She was 92.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
Amazon.com: Kwik Krimes (9781612183008): Otto Penzler: Books: Entire novels are often written about a single crime, detailing every gruesome, dark detail until the last drop of blood spatters across the page. Yet in this mystery anthology, renowned editor and author Otto Penzler weaves together to heart-stopping effect more than ninety tales of brutality, terror, and unexpected demise, with each story told in a swift one thousand words or less. These crimes may be fast in both form and fallout, but none lack the dark impulses that too often guide human hands to ill ends. Prepare to be transported into the diabolical schemes of criminal masterminds…into robberies and pranks gone horribly awry…into closets crammed with skeletons…into families bound not by love but wickedness.
Billboards from Around the Word
Billboards from Around the Word: 40 Awesome Advertisements
Yes, it's a slideshow.
Hat tip to Stan Burns.
Yes, it's a slideshow.
Hat tip to Stan Burns.
Remembering Elmore Leonard: His Most Memorable Work on Screen Movies
Remembering Elmore Leonard: His Most Memorable Work on Screen
Slideshow alert!
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
Slideshow alert!
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
Goodreads | Quote of the Day for August 20, 2013
Goodreads | Quote of the Day for August 20, 2013:
“Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability.”
― H.P. Lovecraft
“Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability.”
― H.P. Lovecraft
Elmore Leonard, R. I. P.
TMZ.com: Elmore Leonard -- the legendary writer behind "Get Shorty," "3:10 to Yuma" and "Justified" -- has died, three weeks after suffering a stroke ... TMZ has learned.
Overlooked Movies: Summer of '42
As I've mentioned many times, I'm a sucker for a good coming-of-age story, or even a mediocre one. I liked this one quite a bit, but there's no accounting for taste.
The truth is that even I am not old enough to remember the summer of '42, but there wasn't really much difference between that era and my own 15th summer. Much of what's depicted on the screen with Hermie and his friends as they try to figure out what growing up is all about could have happened just as easily in the latter 1950s. Anyone seeing this movie now might find the innocence of these boys hard to believe, but it's a pretty accurate depiction.
Gary Grimes is very good as Hermie, but he hasn't made a movie in decades. If Jennifer O'Neil never had another role as good as this one, she's at least continued working right on up until the present. What an interesting life she's had. I suppose the character she plays in the movie would be arrested for her behavior today, however tastefully it's handled, so be warned.
I've never seen the sequel to this movie, and I've never been tempted to watch it. I've never read the novelization, either, though for years after the movie's release there were dozens of copies of it in every used-book store I went into.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Archaeology Update
GlobalPost: The earliest iron artefacts ever found -- funeral beads strung around bodies in a 5,000-year-old Egyptian cemetery -- were made from a meteorite, archaeologists said on Monday.
Wear your favorite books
Wear your favorite books: Each of these shirts offered for sale by Litographs contains the entire text of your favorite public domain book.
New Poem at The 5-2
The 5-2 | Crime Poetry Weekly, Gerald So, Editor: Casey Zella Moir
HIGH SCHOOL MEMORY
Gator Update (Rehab Edition)
Alligator found in NY park, living in a pond, cops say: A nearly two-foot-long alligator living in the pond of a suburban New York City park has been captured and sent to a reptile rehabilitation preserve in Massachusetts.
Two things:
One: They should've just put him back in the sewers.
Two: I didn't even know they had rehab for reptiles.
Two things:
One: They should've just put him back in the sewers.
Two: I didn't even know they had rehab for reptiles.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Haji, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Haji, a voluptuous actress who played one of three homicidal go-go dancers in Russ Meyer’s 1965 cult film “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” died on Aug. 9 in Southern California. She was 67.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Once Again Texas Leads the Way
Rankings Annual 2012-13: COLLEGIATE LICENSING COMPANY NAMES TOP SELLING UNIVERSITIES AND MANUFACTURERS FOR 2012-13: (1.) The University of Texas at Austin (2.) The University of Alabama (3.)University of Notre Dame (4.) The University of Michigan (5.) University of Kentucky
TMI
Tom Cruise demands a thong for stunt scenes: MOVIE star Tom Cruise demands custom-made thongs to wear during filming
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