Saturday, October 26, 2013

We Have to Restrict Civilian Access to this Stuff

Police Hunting For Man That Robbed 7-11 Using Coffee As A Weapon (Video)

Armageddon Films FAQ -- Dale Sherman

Stories and novels about the end of the world as we know it have always fascinated me.  One of my favorites is Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, so my favorite chapter in Dale Sherman's massive (well over 400 pages) study of Armageddon films is the one on that book and the movies made from it.  The chapter isn't just some cursory glance.  First comes a discussion of the novel, and it's followed by a thorough examination of each movie made from it, with first the plot being laid out and then we're told what the novel and the movie have in common and what's different.  Even the notorious (to some of us) I Am Omega is included here.

My other favorite chapter is the one on "Ten Famous Apocalyptic Novels Never Turned into a Major Film."  Several of my favorites are mentioned (including Earth Abides and A Canticle for Leibowitz).  But the the whole book is full of interesting material.  You can't go wrong with stuff like this.  Check it out.

Marcia Wallace, R. I. P.

 Variety: Marcia Wallace, the feisty redhead who starred as receptionist Carol Kester on “The Bob Newhart Show” and voiced teacher Edna Krabappel on “The Simpsons,” died Friday at her home in Los Angeles. She would have turned 71 on Nov. 1.

Susan Sontag on Literature and Freedom

Susan Sontag on Literature and Freedom

Song of the Day

▶ Mack the Knife-Bobby Darin - YouTube:

Or Maybe Not

7 Myths About Your Brain You Probably Believe

Today's Vintage Ad


How About You?

Sent To An Insane Asylum: The next time someone says count your blessings, do it... were it not for the scant 120-odd years that have passed, pretty much every last one of us would have been a good candidate for the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane.

Big Sale on DEAD MAN Titles! Today Only!

$1.99 each, and each volume contains three Dead Man novellas.





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J. Jefferson Farjeon, Death of a World, White Circle

Texas Doesn't Lead the Way

Most dangerous states in the United States 

What's the Origin of the Word "Dude"?

What's the Origin of the Word "Dude"? 

Dino Update

294 Dinosaurs Once Walked on This Wall in Bolivia 

I Miss the Old Days

People using Cincinnati Public Library Card Catalog

Gator Update (Home Invasion Edition)

Florida Man Shoots Home Intruder That Also Happened to Be an Alligator

Spy Chasers

▶ The Bowery Boys in "Spy Chasers" (1955) - Theatrical Trailer - YouTube:

Friday, October 25, 2013

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Wharton HS cheerleaders benched for putting condoms in spirit bags

Free Until Midnight!

Amazon.com: Bad News Travels Fast (The Joe and Dottie Loudermilk Mysteries) eBook: Gar Anthony Haywood: Kindle Store: Joe and Dottie Loudermilk are all set for the perfect early retirement. Joe's an ex-cop, and Dottie's a former English teacher, and as soon as the "SOLD" sign goes up on the lawn in front of their longtime Los Angeles home, they intend to take their brand new Ford pickup truck and Airstream trailer wherever the great American highway leads. Unfortunately, fate is determined to have two forms of trouble dog their every step: murder, and their five incorrigible grown children. In Dottie's own words, the Loudermilk brood "go to school, but take pains not to learn anything remotely useful; date weird people and adhere to Mickey Mouse religions...And give birth to grandchildren from hell (whom they raise) like goldfish won at a church carnival." In this, their second adventure, Joe and Dottie visit the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., and quickly find themselves assigned the task of clearing their political activist/shameless womanizer son Eddie of a rival's murder. Both lovers of the offbeat cozy, and parents who know the misery of wayward children, have declared the Loudermilk adventures an hilarious and, to quote the New York Times, "credibly sentimental" treat.

Hal Needham, R. I. P.

Variety: Hal Needham, longtime stuntman and director of “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Cannonball Run” for Burt Reynolds, died Friday in Los Angeles after a short battle with cancer, his manager confirmed. He was 82.

It's Baaaaaaaack!

R.L. Stine to relaunch the Fear Street series, terrorize Shadyside once again

Ghost Stories

The Presurfer: Ghost Stories: Ghost Stories is a compilation of eleven short-form spooky tales compiled by some of the coolest independant animators working today. These cryptic tales will scare you, make you laugh, and make you run for cover. They might even teach you how to resurrect the dead right from home.

The Top 10 Horror Stories

The Top 10 Horror Stories

The 10 Best Short Story Collections

The 10 Best Short Story Collections

Gator Update (Detroit Lions Edition)

Louis Delmas Gives Up His Pet Gator Because It Scares Kevin Ogletree 

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Very Carefully

How crocodiles have sex

Song of the Day

▶ Ballad of Paladin Have Gun Will Travel - YouTube:

A Classic

The Golden Age: BILL ELDER, EDGAR ALLAN POE, MAD #9 Feb-March/1954

Today's Vintage Ad


Vintage Illustrations for the Fairy Tales E. E. Cummings Wrote for His Only Daughter

Vintage Illustrations for the Fairy Tales E. E. Cummings Wrote for His Only Daughter

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John Creasey, A Six for the Toff, Hodder, 1958

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

CBS Dallas / Fort Worth: A North Texas woman was handcuffed, stripped down and booked into jail – all because of an overdue traffic ticket.

EDGAR ALLAN POE, Movie Posters

 EDGAR ALLAN POE, Movie Posters

10 Novels That Will Scare The Hell Out Of You

10 Novels That Will Scare The Hell Out Of You 

The Strange Life of Benny Hill

The Strange Life of Benny Hill 

Or Maybe Not

14 Famous Movie One-Liners You've Been Quoting Wrong For Years

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas judge forced to resign after caught texting instructions to assistant DA during trial

Another Forgotten Book

Black Gate Blog Archive Vintage Treasures: The Pirates of Zan by Murray Leinster

Forgotten Books: Scratch One -- John Lange (Michael Crichton)

This was Michael Crichton's second published novel back in the days when he was writing paperbacks as John Lange.  I've mentioned several of the others in the past.  You can check out my comments here, here, and here.  Clearly the edition of Scratch One on the left is the brand new Hard Case Crime edition, so the book is no longer forgotten, if it ever was, but I think it's appropriate to talk about it here.

The story involves an American lawyer, Roger Carr, a man with no ambition or goals.  He has a cushy job with a prominent law firm, thanks to the fact that his father is an influential senator.  When the firm sends him to Nice, France, to purchase a villa for another powerful politicial figure, he's glad to go.  He'll stretch the trip out with wine and women, or so he thinks.  But when he's mistaken for a hired killer, he winds up in the middle of a complicated arms deal, wanted by the American spies and by the Associates, a group involved in the deal.  


Crichton/Lange has a good bit of fun with this.  The chief American spy is a fool.  Carr is lucky but often hapless.  And one of the spies who's killed in his cameo appearance seems very familiar.  Carr meets The Woman of His Dreams and begins to shape up.  I don't think you'll be surprised when the woman turns out not to be what she seems.  


In fact, not much in the book will seem surprising, but it's quite entertaining, anyway.  It rips right along, and the local color is outstanding.  Crichton/Lange does a good job with this in all his books, and if he's never traveled to the exotic locations he's describing, he's certainly good at faking it.  The big scene near the end is set at Monaco's Grand Prix, and it's like watching a movie of the events.


This isn't a deep  or thoughtful novel, nor is it intended to be.  It's just good paperback fun.   The prices of the original Signet edition are quite steep, but now you can get it from Hard Case Crime.  Check it out.

The Adventures of Frank and Jesse James

▶ 1956 ADVENTURES OF FRANK & JESSE JAMES SERIAL TRAILER - YouTube:

Thursday, October 24, 2013

I Miss the Old Days

42 Classic Black And White Album Covers

Archaeology Update

Two 1,000-year-old mummies found in ancient Peruvian cemetery

I Miss the Old Days

▶ Video Stores Explained To Modern Kids - YouTube:

Uh-Oh

NBC reviving 'Murder She Wrote' starring Octavia Spencer 

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas astronomers discover the most distant known galaxy in the universe

11 Classic Horror Films That Should Have Never Been Remade

11 Classic Horror Films That Should Have Never Been Remade

Horror Films FAQ -- John Kenneth Muir

I was immediately sold on this book by Chris Carter's introduction in which he says that the horror movie of the '50s that had the most effect on him was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, because that happens to be a personal favorite of mine.  What follows that introduction is 370 or so pages of discussion of 28 different sub-genres of the horror film (zombies, slashers, boogeymen, mad scientists, werewolves, vampires, and so on).  The author, John Kenneth Muir, gives a short intro to the each chapter in which he discusses the subject in general, and then he does into detail about certain films.  This book isn't an exhaustive treatment of all horror movies, but it sure does cover a lot of ground as Muir writes about a huge range of them.  This is a great book for browsing, and it will remind you of a lot of movies you've seen, a lot you haven't, and quite a few you might want to take a look at.  Belongs on every horror movie fan's bookshelf.  Check it out.

They Studied the Cast of Jersey Shore?

Jersey's place in Neanderthal history revealed in study

Song of the Day

▶ DUANE EDDY -"The Ballad Of Paladin" (1962) - YouTube:

27 Actors Who Got Their Starts on Miami Vice

27 Actors Who Got Their Starts on Miami Vice 

Today's Vintage Ad


Once Again Texas Leads the Way

The Dallas Safari Club Will Save the Endangered Black Rhino by Auctioning Off the Chance to Shoot One

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Leslie  Charteris, Call for the Saint, Hodder, 1964

“Tips for Writing Locked-Room Mysteries”

“Tips for Writing Locked-Room Mysteries”

Hat tip to SF Signal.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Police Officer Accused of Stealing Pricey Sneakers During Drug Raid 

I Found a Penny Last Week

The Man Who Cheated Death Seven Times, Then Won the Lottery

Just Say No

There's A Pushup Bra For Men That Will Give You Bigger Pecs

Somehow I'm Not Surprised

Chinese farmer Zheng Yanliang regrets cutting off his own leg 

Au contraire

You Know You Want One: Loaded Nacho Grilled Cheese Sandwich 

Both Feral Cows and Cows Gone Wild WBAGNFARB

Cows gone wild: Feral cattle scaring hikers in Chino Hills State Park

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

EPA: Texas still No. 1 in greenhouse gas emissions

Joe Smith, American

▶ 1942 JOE SMITH, AMERICAN TRAILER ROBERT YOUNG - YouTube:

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

I Want to Believe!

Is sandy imprint proof of bigfoot? Man says sasquatch has moved next door  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

BEAT to a PULP :: Angel Bitch :: David King

BEAT to a PULP :: Angel Bitch :: David King

Archaeology Update

Ancient Magician's Curse Tablet Discovered in Jerusalem 

6 Recommended Books for Giving You and Your Friends the Creeps

All Hallow’s Read: 6 Recommended Books for Giving You and Your Friends the Creeps

Anthony Hinds, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Anthony Hinds, the producer who put the horror in “Hammer horror,” in the process turning a puny British film studio into a Goliath of cinematic gore, died in Oxford, England on Sept. 30. He was 91.

James Bond, Jeeves and Philip Marlowe Return in New Books

James Bond, Jeeves and Philip Marlowe Return in New Books 

The Hunter and Other Stories -- Dashiell Hammett, Richard Layman and Julie M. Rivett, edtors

The Hunter is a book for completists and collectors.  It contains three screen treatments and seventeen short stories, none of which have been previously collected.  All but one of them come from the collection donated by Lillian Hellman to the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

Many of the works here are seeing print for the first time.  Nothing here is top-shelf Hammett, but if you're like me, you want it, anyway.  Also, some stories have nothing to do with crime fiction.  Take a look at "Magic," which might be the most interesting story in the book to some of us.  It's an unpublished fantasy, about as far from realistic hardboiled fiction as you can get, and the style is quite different from that of the crime tales.  In fact, so is the style of a number of things here.  Hammett was far from a one-trick pony, though anybody who's read both The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man already knows that.

There's crime here, too, and the opening story is plenty hardboiled.  The closing story isn't complete. It's a fragment of a Sam Spade story.  I've never been particularly fond of the short stories featuring Spade, but I'm still glad to see this material.

Richard Layman has a short introduction and adds commentary to each section of the book.  Julie M. Rivett, Hammett's granddaughter provides the afterword.  

We're told that the e-book edition of The Hunter provides additional fragmentary works.  Pretty sneaky.  You completists (you know who you are) will want that one, too.

New From Stark House

Charles WilliamsBack when I was writing the Gold Medal Corner for Steve Lewis' Mystery*File, I did a column on Charles Williams, one of my favorite paperback writers.  The first two books I discussed in the column are two of my favorites by Williams, River Girl and Nothing in her Way.  I can still remember walking into a used-book store in Austin long years ago and seeing River Girl right there in rack in front of the store.  What a treat that was, as I'd been looking for the book for quite some time.  I took it back home and read it right away, and I've read it a couple of times since.  I have two copies of it now, in case of emergency.

River Girl is still hard to find, and Nothing in her Way isn't easy, either.  Until now, that is.  The invaluable Stark House is publishing both books together in one volume, along with a long, insightful introduction by Rick Ollerman.  This gets my highest recommendation.

Yet Another List I'm Not On

10 Senior Citizens Who Made Great Art

Song of the Day

▶ Tommy Roe - Everybody (Stereo) - YouTube:

Today's Vintage Ad


Why Book Publishing's Doomsayers Are So Wrong -

Why Book Publishing's Doomsayers Are So Wrong 

Look who’s back! |

Look who’s back! | Lawrence Block

I'm Almost Embarrassed that I Knew So Many of These

How Well Do You Know These Celebrities' Real Names

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Hermina Black, Strange Enchantment, Hodder, 1960

23 Famous Authors' Last Words

23 Famous Authors' Last Words

SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN FOR THE SHAMUS SAMPLER VOLUME TWO

SONS OF SPADE: SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN FOR THE SHAMUS SAMPLER VOLUME TWO

Archaeology Update

Archaeologists find 4,000 year-old tomb of prominent doctor to pharaohs southwest of Cairo

You Won't Be Surprised to Learn What Else the Cops Found

Detroit, Enough With The Alligators Already

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . .

Florida Woman, 19, Arrested For Water Pistol Attack On Her Boyfriend 

Rocketship X-M

▶ Rocketship X-M (1950) - Movie Trailer - YouTube:

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Amazon Launches The Dead Man Kindle World

Amazon Launches The Dead Man Kindle World

The 10 greatest World Series program covers

The 10 greatest World Series program covers

Hat tip to Rick Klaw.

Al Navis, R. I. P.

Mystery Fanfare: Sad news. Al Navis, bookseller, Radio personality, Kennedy Assassination expert, and organizer of the Toronto Bouchercon, died of cancer on October 13. Arrangements for a Memorial will be posted. His wry sense of humor and tenacity sustained him until the end.

Want to Write Your Own Dead Man Story?

Now you can.  Details here: The Dead Man

I For One Welcome Our New Gelatinous Masters

Meet your new jellyfish overlords — you won't like them 

Great photos!
Hat tip to Art Scott.

Croc Update (Breakfast Edition)

Mail Online: Breakfast is served! One of the world's largest crocodiles wakes up from three months of hibernation and tucks into a chicken

Great photos and video at link.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Pimpage: An Occasional Feature in Which I call Attention to Books of Interest


I wrote a chapter of this one, but it's highly recommended, anyway.

Amazon.com: Wolf Creek: Night of the Assassins eBook: Ford Fargo, Troy D. Smith, Bill Crider, James J. Griffin, Chuck Tyrell, Clay More, Matthew Pizzolato: Kindle Store:  Welcome to Wolf Creek. 

Here you will find many of your favorite authors, working together as Ford Fargo to weave a complex and textured series of Old West adventures like no one has ever seen. Each author writes from the perspective of his or her own unique character, blended together into a single novel. 

In this volume: 

Wolf Creek, Kansas, is not peaceful on a good day –but things really escalate when Tsu Chiao, owner of the Red Chamber, decides to edge out his competitors in the seedy part of town with the aid of Tong assassins sent from San Francisco. All-out war ensues, with peaceful Chinese citizens like the Li family caught in the middle. Can the lawmen of Wolf Creek hold the town together in the face of a threat they have never faced before? 

New York Doesn't Lead the Way

New Haven Pizza Named Best In America 

Pimpage: An Occasional Feature in Which I call Attention to Books of Interest

Amazon.com: Ink Mage (Kindle Serial) eBook: Victor Gischler: Kindle Store: This book is a Kindle Serial. Kindle Serials are stories published in episodes, with future episodes delivered at no additional cost. This serial currently contains one episode out of an estimated seven total episodes, and new episodes will be delivered every two weeks.

Mongo Just Pawn in Game of Life

Man attacked Orlando police horse Mr. George  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Noel Harrison, R. I. P.

BBC News: Singer Noel Harrison has died at his home in Devon, aged 79. The son of the actor Rex Harrison, he was best known for recording the hit song The Windmills Of Your Mind on The Thomas Crown Affair soundtrack.

Hat tip to The Rap Sheet.

They Can Have My Electric Drill When They Pry It from My Cold Dead Fingers

Worker with drill sets off Brandon hospital lockdown

10 World War II Soldiers Who Pulled Off Amazing Feats

10 World War II Soldiers Who Pulled Off Amazing Feats 

Song of the Day

▶ The Chad Mitchell Trio - John Birch Society - YouTube:

Or Maybe You Do

7 Things You Might Not Know About Calvin and Hobbes

Today's Vintage Ad


The Golden Girls as Action Heroes?

Yes.  Read ‘TEAM GOLD FORCE 4′ Now!

Link via Neatorama.


And Keep Off Her Grass!

Florida model claims boyfriend repeatedly ‘walked into the knife’ after his dog ate her marijuana

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Joan Fleming, You Can't Believe Your Eyes, Fontana, 1961

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

khou.com Houston: Police arrested a man accused of stealing a Houston Fire Department ambulance Monday and crashing it into an overpass.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . .

chicagotribune.com: A man and woman have been arrested after a brawl broke out among people waiting to claim prizes at a Chuck E. Cheese's in the Lincoln Park community, injuring three people, police said.

The 29 Most Austin Things That Ever Happened

Some possibly NSFW, and there's bad language.  

I love #12 because I miss the old days.  Jeff Meyerson might like #10.

The 29 Most Austin Things That Ever Happened

Another Forgotten Movie

The Blob: the Making of a Classic B-Movie

More Forgotten Movies

TV’s Most Memorable Sitcoms-Turned-Movies - Do You Remember

Overlooked Movies: They Made Me A Criminal

Quick, what's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name "Busby Berkeley"?  Crime movies with John Garfield, right?  And that's what we have here.  And not only John Garfield, but the Dead End Kids, too, with Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall doing their thing before becoming the Bowery Boys.  

This isn't a long movie, but the plot is jam-packed with stuff.  Garfield is a champion boxer accused of a murder committed by his manager.  The manager runs of with Garfield's watch and best girl, and they're both killed in a car accident.  Because of the watch and the manager's mangled body, the cops think Garfield is dead.  He gets some really bad advice from his lawyer and goes to hide out in Arizona on a ranch, where he meets the Dead End Kids.  See, they're there because the ranch is a place where kids like them can get rehabbed.  But the ranch is going broke, so Garfield has to save the day.  Meanwhile, tough NYC cop Claude Rains (!) is hot on his trail.  Garfield is probably better known for The Postman Always Rings Twice, but this one's not bad.  Check it out.