Saturday, May 30, 2015
Beau Biden, R. I. P.
News from The Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Beau Biden, who followed his father, Vice President Joe Biden, into politics and was twice elected attorney general of Delaware, died Saturday of brain cancer nearly two years after he was first diagnosed. Beau Biden was 46.
Demystifying the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night"
Boing Boing: Guitarist Randy Bachman (Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive) explains how he figured out the famously mysterious opening chord to the Beatle's 1964 song "A Hard Days's Night."
Friday, May 29, 2015
Once Again Texas Leads the Way
Yahoo News: "Houston is the No. 1 city in America to be injured and die in a flood."
Wally Cassell, R. I. P.
Hollywood Reporter: Wally Cassell, a film-noir favorite who played Cotton Valletti, one of Jimmy Cagney’s gang, in the electric 1949 crime thriller White Heat, has died. He was 103.
Reynaldo Rey, R. I. P.
NY Daily News: Actor and comedian Reynaldo Rey died early Thursday in Los Angeles from complications related to a stroke suffered last year, his manager told the Daily News. He was 75.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
FFB: The Whispering Gorilla -- Don Wilcox
As usual, it's all James Reasoner's fault. In a comment on my FFB review of War of the Giant Apes by "Alexander Blade," he said, "David V. Reed seems like a reasonable guess to me as to the author of War of the Giant Apes'. It occurs to me that if I bought the reprint of those Whispering Gorilla stories, I could read them and compare the style to this story. So it would all be for scholarly purposes, of course."Naturally I couln't let him get ahead of me when it comes to scholarship, so I bought a copy of The Whispering Gorilla/Return of the Whispering Gorilla so I could also do some scholarship. The first of these two tales appeared in the May 1940 issue of Fantastic Adventures, and it was written by Don Wilcox, a fairly well-known SF writer of the time. Here's the scholarship, ripped from the pages of a Fantastic Adventures "Introducing the Author" feature, which you can read in full here: "Originally Don Wilcox submitted the Gorilla to Mr. [David V.] Reed during his tenure as literary editor of Fantastic Adventures. Mr. Reed instantly saw the possibilities of the character, and worked day and night for many weeks in close harmony with Mr. Wilcox in whipping the story into the shape in which it was finally published in our pages." The story was quite popular, so Reed himself wrote the sequel, which appeared in the January 1943 issue of the magazine.
And now on with our story. The Whispering Gorilla, or W. G., as his friends call him, doesn't really whisper. That's just the name of the hit Broadway show he stars in. He also has a hit radio show and is a crusading columnist for a great metropolitan newspaper. How did this come about? Well, it seems that there's a contract on crusading reporter Steve Carpenter, so his editor does the only thing he can do. He sends Steve to live in Africa, where he winds up living next door to Dr. Devoli, who just happens to believe that speech is the key to intelligence. So naturally he's working on the voice box of a gorilla named Plumbutter to help Plummy speak.
Africa isn't far enough to run from a hit man who's really into his job, so one night Carpenter is killed. Dr. Devoli decides that only the body is dead and transplants Carpenter's brain into Plumbutter's body. (I suppose he just tossed Plumbutter's brain away.) Sure enough, the gorilla/human recovers but is unhappy. He wants revenge. He wants to finish his crusade. So he skips out on Devoli and gets on a ship that just happens to be carrying a theatrical company. People assume he's wearing a costume.
I'll skip blithely over the plot details here and say that the problem is this: Carpenter's brain is okay for a while, but the wild blood of the gorilla flows in his veins. It's a simple scientific fact that the wild blood of the gorilla can overpower the civilized brain and change W. G./ Carpenter into a creature of the jungle. I can say no more.
However, if you want to read the story, you don't have to buy the book, as I did. You can read the original magazine publication right here. Come on, go ahead. You know you want to.
And by the way, I don't think either Wilcox or Reed writes badly enough to have written War of the Giant Apes.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
To ‘Rising’ creators: Don’t mess with Texas history
To ‘Rising’ creators: Don’t mess with Texas history: Well the best one can say about the History Channel’s “Texas Rising” is that they spelled Texas right.
Better Call Saul
SFGate: The trial of a man accused of fraudulently buying more than 150 iPads came to an abrupt halt in Redwood City this week when the judge learned the defense attorney’s law license was inactive — and that the lawyer had a warrant out for his arrest on drug and theft charges, prosecutors said.
Hat tip to Art Scott.
Hat tip to Art Scott.
Once Again Texas Leads the Way
An Austin Brewery is Making 99 Packs of Beer Because Why Not
Hat tip to Tom Neary. If I've run this one before, I'll cut him out of the will.
Hat tip to Tom Neary. If I've run this one before, I'll cut him out of the will.
Happy Birthday, Cassius!
euronews: Cassius, the world’s largest and oldest crocodile, celebrated his 112th birthday at his retirement home on idyllic Green Island, a Great Barrier Reef coral cay off the coast of Cairns, Australia.
Hugh Ambrose, R. I. P.
Historian And Author Of 'The Pacific' Hugh Ambrose Dead At 48: HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Hugh Ambrose, who wrote the World War II history "The Pacific" after years of researching for his father, the renowned historian Stephen Ambrose, has died at age 48.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
'WTF' added to dictionary
CNN.com: WTF joins emoji, NSFW, net neutrality, clickbait, click fraud, photobomb and other words reflecting modern life among the latest entries in Merriam-Webster's unabridged dictionary. Some 1,700 words have been included, along with 3,200 new examples to add context.
11 Facts About Hemingway’s 'The Old Man And The Sea'
11 Facts About Hemingway’s 'The Old Man And The Sea'
About #8: I was 11 years old when the Life magazine pictured here came out, and for whatever reason I already knew who Hemingway was (I was destined to be an English major, no doubt), so I read the excerpt and thought it was great. It was the first Hemingway I'd ever read, but not the last by a long way.
About #8: I was 11 years old when the Life magazine pictured here came out, and for whatever reason I already knew who Hemingway was (I was destined to be an English major, no doubt), so I read the excerpt and thought it was great. It was the first Hemingway I'd ever read, but not the last by a long way.
There's Good News Today!
The Atlantic: Like some inflatable phoenix whose wings double as beer koozies, SkyMall is rising from the ashes.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
New EQMM Podcast
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Fiction Podcast - CastRoller: An historical mystery filled with high-seas adventure, by award-winning author and editor Toni L.P. Kelner, is featured in this month?s podcast, as read by Charlaine Harris. ?The Pirate?s Debt," which appeared in EQMM's August 2009 issue, received a nomination from the Short Mystery Fiction Society for best novelette of 2009. Following the reading, Toni and Charlaine join editor Janet Hutchings for an interview recorded at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. (This interview...
Happy Birthday, Herman Wouk!
Herman Wouk, dean of historical novelists, turns 100: Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Herman Wouk turns 100 years old Wednesday and his long-time office manager says he may stop writing for an hour or two to celebrate.
Who were the Forty Elephants?
Who were the Forty Elephants?: This all-woman gang of thieves and blackmailers terrorized London for nearly 200 years.
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Tuesday, May 26, 2015
26 Striking Photos Showing The Effects Of Destructive Floods In Texas And Oklahoma
As for me, I'm back in Alvin, where it rained only around 4 inches. So no problems here.
26 Striking Photos Showing The Effects Of Destructive Floods In Texas And Oklahoma
26 Striking Photos Showing The Effects Of Destructive Floods In Texas And Oklahoma
Tanith Lee, R. I. P.
Heavy.com: Tanith Lee, who also wrote under the pseudonym Esther Garber, has died at the age of 67. She passed away on May 24.
Overlooked Movies: Girls Town
A rerun from 10-25-2011. It just gets better with age. The movie, that is, not this little commentary.
What we have here is a great trash classic. It has so much going for it that I hardly know where to begin. How about the cast, featuring the world's oldest teenagers? Okay, there's Mamie Van Doren, which right there lets you know you're in for a good time. There's Mel Tormé as a "hot-rod hoodlum"! Ray Anthony as a private-eye. Harold Lloyd, Jr. Charles Chaplin, Jr. Paul "Lonely Boy" Anka! Dick Contino. (Yes, the same one James Ellroy fictionalized.) The Platters! Not to mention Elinor Donahue, Cathy Crosby, Gigi Perreau, and Gloria Talbot.
One of my favorite memories of this movie comes from its first appearance on screen in my hometown. I was trying to talk a friend into going to see it with me. "It has Mel Tormé in it," I said. "Who's Mel Tormé?" he asked. "He's the Velvet Fog." "I still don't know who you're talking about." It was 1959, but Mel's time had come and gone. This movie didn't bring him back into the limelight.
It didn't do anything for Paul Anka's acting career, either. He's pretty bad. Okay, more than pretty bad.
So why do I love movies like that? I have no idea. Even in 1959 I knew how bad it was. But it shouldn't be forgotten. Watch it and see if you don't agree.
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