Saturday, April 19, 2014
Well, Duh
Ancient wrestling was fake too: Researchers have deciphered a Greek document that shows an ancient wrestling match was fixed. The document, which has a date on it that corresponds to the year A.D. 267, is a contract between two teenagers who had reached the final bout of a prestigious series of games in Egypt.
Archaeology Update (Bad Doggie Edition)
Ancient puppy paw prints found on Roman tiles: "They are beautiful finds, as they represent a snapshot, a single moment in history," said Nick Daffern, a senior project manager with Wardell Armstrong Archaeology. "It is lovely to imagine some irate person chasing a dog or some other animal away from their freshly made tiles."
The 5-2 Blog Tour
I try to alert everyone when there's a new poem at Gerald So's site The 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly. It's always fun to see a new poem and hear a new voice, so when Gerald asked me to be part of his annual blog tour and write about one of the poems, I was happy to take part. It's not always easy to choose one to write about since I like nearly all of them, but this year one title called out to me: "The Adjunct Professor's Lament." It's by Charles Rammelkamp, and it appeared on March 3. You can read it here, and you should.
I was taken with this one because as chair of a community college English department for many years, I had to hire a lot of adjunct professors. They're the unsung heroes of academia, teaching classes for ridiculously low salaries and trying to impart a little knowledge. Sometimes the job has its hazards, and I suspect every teacher (not just adjuncts) has had a student a little like the one that Rammelkamp describes in his poem. My own favorite memory of such a student is the one who might very well be the duplicate of the one in Rammelkamp's poem, the one who told me while ranting about her instructor and the grade she'd received, "Just because I'm mentally ill doesn't mean I'm crazy."
What's the risk of having a student like that, and what's a teacher to do? The instructor in the poem has one answer. I expect it's one that many others have also found. So much for the semicolon.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Film and Indiegogo Campaign
If you're into indie (very indie) films, you can watch A Public Ransom free online at the link below. The link tells you a bit more about the film, and you can read the rest at the link. If you watch the film and would like to kick in a few bucks to help the author and filmmaker get the film shown at a few festivals, you can contribute to the Indiegogo campaign here.
A PUBLIC RANSOM | a film by Pablo D'Stair: Visually inspired by the early films of Bresson, Fassbinder, and Jarmusch, A PUBLIC RANSOM is a slow burn character-study cum psychological-thriller in the spirit of the works of Patricia Highsmith.
A PUBLIC RANSOM | a film by Pablo D'Stair: Visually inspired by the early films of Bresson, Fassbinder, and Jarmusch, A PUBLIC RANSOM is a slow burn character-study cum psychological-thriller in the spirit of the works of Patricia Highsmith.
Little Joe Cook, R. I. P.
Little Joe Cook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Joseph Cook (born December 29, 1922; died April 15, 2014), known as Little Joe Cook, is an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of Little Joe & The Thrillers, whose song "Peanuts" reached no. 22 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1957.
Gold Medal Originals Inexplicably Not Included
Best Short Novels: 50 Incredible Novels Under 200 Pages
Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Legacy
Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Legacy: Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was one of the best loved American authors of his generation, even having an asteroid named after him. The author′s most celebrated novels are Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat′s Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions. His work stretched across black comedy, science fiction and satire.
FFB: Flesh Avenger -- J. X. Williams (Harry Whittington)
Like so many of the softcore porn novels of the late '50s and '60s, this one's a dark crime story. Jim Devlin has just been released from prison, where he's served 8 years for something he didn't do, something that resulted in the death of his wife. Now he's returned to the small town where it happened, determined to find out why three women lied on the witness stand and got him sent to prison. And why his wife died.
Devlin is relentless in pursuit of the answers, no matter how many people try to stop him and no matter what the consequences are for everyone concerned, including himself. His life no longer means anything to him. Only his revenge matters. Naturally in a book like this, the revenge-taking involves sex. Lots of sex. But it's all integral to the plot. Well, maybe not, but most of it is. Sort of.
Speaking of the plot, it's not going to be a great strain on anyone to figure out pretty much what's going on as soon as the culprits are introduced, but the book is very readable, anyway. Nobody ever depicted raw emotion better than Whittington, and this book is packed with it. And when it came to moving a plot along, Whittington was also tops. I probably won't read all or even most of the missing 38 books that I have, but now and then I can't resist picking up something by Whittington. This time, Flesh Avenger was the one.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, R. I. P.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez Dead: Nobel Prize-Winning Author Dies At 87: Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez has died at age 87, a source close to the family told the Associated Press. Marquez had been recently hospitalized for infections in his lungs and his urinary tract.
NASA discovers first Earth-sized planet orbiting in life-friendly zone
NASA discovers first Earth-sized planet orbiting in life-friendly zone: For the first time, scientists have found an Earth-sized world orbiting in a life-friendly zone around a distant star.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
SHOCKING PICTURES: Epic river battle to settle who wins in hippos versus crocs: A HUGE rumble in the jungle between hundreds of bloodthirsty animals answered once and for all the pub question of who would win in a fight between a hippo and a crocodile.
Paging Seepy Benton
And the Most Desirable Job in the World Is… : With a median income of $101,360 and a 23% projected job growth rate by 2022, mathematician topped the site’s roundup of the most desirable jobs.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
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Tuesday, April 15, 2014
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Possible Interest
Amazon.com: Fevre Dream eBook: Rachel Lampi: Kindle Store: New York police detective Sam Cordray is returning to the force after a year-long battle with Fevre Dream, a drug that both heightens the senses and causes frightening hallucinations. Police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt gives Sam a case to get him back in business: the murder of Molly O'Hara, an actress at City Lights Theatre. Sam doesn't think the case is anything out of the ordinary – until Fevre Dream surfaces in connection with the murder. Now he's caught in a battle: escaping the dark days he thought he had left behind him, or finding the City Lights murderer before he or she strikes again.
A List I'm On!
Western Fictioneers: Peacemaker Award FinalistsToo bad there's no category for "best cover." You can buy the book here.
The Legacy of Victor Gollancz: Publishing Pioneer
AbeBooks: The Legacy of Victor Gollancz: Publishing Pioneer: Many of you will be familiar with Victor Gollancz’s last name. His publishing company printed some of the finest books of the 20th century - including The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell and Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis - but there is also an intriguing story behind the man himself.
Overlooked Movies: Day of the Triffids
In the movie, the triffids are a plant that's been brought to earth by a meteor shower. They're sinister, they make a funny noise, and they kill. Keel is in the hospital recovering from an eye injury caused by a triffid when second meteor shower comes along and blinds everyone who looks at it. Most people on earth look at it, and with most of the population now blind, civilization starts to crumble. Keel and a few others who can see begin to make their way to Spain (I'm not quite sure why) and have to evade the triffids all the way. A second plot involves a young couple in a lighthouse, trying to survive.
There are some good scenes of civilization crumbling and of narrow escapes from the triffids, who are having a fine time feeding on a bunch of blind people who can't escape them. Who will save the world from these horrible creatures? [HUGE SPOILER ALERT It turns out that they can be easily killed. It's not quite a rip-off of War of the Worlds, but it's in the same ballpark. The young couple in the lighthouse figure it out. In the novel, there's no such happy ending. There's some hope that humanity will survive, but no easy way of killing triffids. END OF HUGE SPOILER ALERT]
This isn't a great movie, by any means. It's not terrible, though, and might be fun if you're in the right frame of mind.
Monday, April 14, 2014
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
North Carolina man shoots 13 bullets into strip club after he was kicked out: Mario Chavez, 33, was kicked out of the Leather & Lace strip club in Gastonia, N.C., after he reportedly slapped a dancer on the hip — so he decided to go to his truck and pull out two guns.
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Sunday, April 13, 2014
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