Saturday, August 22, 2015
Melody Patterson, R. I. P.
Variety: TV actress Melody Patterson, best known for playing Wrangler Jane on “F Troop,” died Thursday at the age of 66. Patterson died in a nursing home after multiple organ failure, according to reports.
I Want to Believe!
Ancient civilisation 'drove tanks across Turkey 14 MILLION years ago'
But this spoilsport says, "No way."
But this spoilsport says, "No way."
Who Says TV Is Out of Ideas?
CBS Orders Huckleberry Finn Pilot | News | Dark Horizons: CBS has handed out a put pilot commitment for "Sawyer & Huck," a modern-day take on the classic Mark Twain characters.
Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier ("The Blacklist") have penned and Anthony Hemingway ("Treme") will direct the pilot for this new take in which a murder case in St. Louis sees Tom Sawyer hiring his previously estranged boyhood friend Huck Finn as an investigator for his foundering one-man legal firm.
Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier ("The Blacklist") have penned and Anthony Hemingway ("Treme") will direct the pilot for this new take in which a murder case in St. Louis sees Tom Sawyer hiring his previously estranged boyhood friend Huck Finn as an investigator for his foundering one-man legal firm.
O the Times They Are a-Changin'
Orlando Sentinel: Lucy -- A Tribute, one of the original attractions at Universal Studios theme park, has been closed. It will be replaced by a new Hello Kitty interactive retail experience that will open this year, Universal confirmed Monday.
I Miss the Old Days
How to Drive Safely, According to a Martian-Filled 1959 PSA: This midcentury driver’s education film somehow manages to connect aliens, reckless driving, and Biblical teachings with the help of a whimsical talking car from Mars.
Friday, August 21, 2015
First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
. . . and now it's the umbrella dispute.
NY Daily News: One man dead, another woman critically injured after brawl on Harlem street corner breaks out over umbrella dispute
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
NY Daily News: One man dead, another woman critically injured after brawl on Harlem street corner breaks out over umbrella dispute
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
. . . and now it's sauerkraut battery.
Cops Arrest Florida Man, 40, For Sauerkraut Battery On Girlfriend
Cops Arrest Florida Man, 40, For Sauerkraut Battery On Girlfriend
"Murder Is My Business"
"Murder Is My Business": The Photographer Who Chronicled America's Most Brutal Crime War: Weegee made the murders and violent crime of post-Prohibition New York City his thing. Warning: Photos of dead bodies.
FFB: Blondes Die Young -- Bill Peters (William P. McGivern)
This post originally appeared on 8-3-2005: The other day I commented on a novel by William P. McGivern, and Ed Gorman had this to say in the comments section: "Thanks for bringing McGivern to our attention. I became friendly with Dorothy B. Hughes the last five years of her life and we often talked about writers who had faded after their deaths. She considered McGivern one of the two or three best hardboiled writers of his generation. She always said that he was a serious writer, kind of a pulp Graham Greene. And I sure agree. There are at least eight or nine of his titles that would be in print in a just world and But Death Runs Faster is one of them. He did a post-war novel set in the jazz clubs of Chicago called Blondes Die Young---under the pen-name Bill Peters--and the historical element is fascinating. Because what he's describing is the pre-beat era that was already there--crash pads, cheap wine parties, poetry readings, heavy duty jazz and of course so much marijuana I got a contact high just reading it. He was a fine fine writer and Blondes could also easily have been a Gold Medal, too. His masterpiece was Odds Against Tomorrow, which is spiritually one of those most violent and nihlistic novels I've ever read until the very end."After reading Ed's comment, I naturally had to check the shelves to see if I had a copy of Blondes Die Young. Sure enough, there it was, in a nice Popular Library pb edition. "Time On Her Hands -- Men On Her Mind." They don't write blurbs like that anymore. Naturally I had to read the book.
And, sure enough, Ed was absolutely right. This one could easily have been published by Gold Medal. It's boiled a lot harder than But Death Runs Faster. Lots of violence and brutality, and some of the reviews compare the book to those by Mickey Spillane. But the narrator, Bill Canalli, takes more punishment than even Mike Hammer. He gets in a lot more sack time, too, if you know what I mean and I think you do. One think I liked the book is the neat variation on Spillane's themes that McGivern works out here. I won't say anything else about that, but if you ever get a chance to read the book, you'll see what I mean. Check it out.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
. . . and now it's the Subway squabble ends with woman biting off part of man's ear
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
The Combat Zone -- Jed Power
A couple of years ago I reviewed the first novel in Jed Power's Dan Marlowe series. Now Power's back with a new series about a Boston P. I. named Mike Malloy. Malloy is working the area around Boston Square, and the year is 1972. This is a bit earlier than a p.i. named Spenser came on the scene, and that's just as well. Malloy isn't like Spenser. He's a novice, for one thing, and he gets the crap kicked out of him only a few pages into the novel. Not to mention that he has some serious flaws.The story begins with a wandering daughter job, and it drags Malloy into the seedy world around Harvard Square, a world that's considerably gritter than most anywhere visited by Spenser.
One of Malloy's problems is that he's haunted by his experiences in Viet Nam. Add in that beating he took, and it's not surprising that when his sidekick, appropriately called Stoney, offers him some primo coke that Malloy indulges. As the story progresses, so does Malloy's dependence on his newfound pick-me-up. I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just say that while the case gets solved, Malloy's problems don't. The ending is a little darker than most, and it makes me wonder where Malloy's going from here.
This is the real hardboiled goods with a bit of a different slant on the p.i. tale. Check it out.
First It was the Thin Mints Melee
Girlfriend gets revenge by setting cheating boyfriend's crotch on fire
Today's question: If you were forming a rock band, would you choose the name "Crotch on Fire" or "The Fiery Crotches"?
Today's question: If you were forming a rock band, would you choose the name "Crotch on Fire" or "The Fiery Crotches"?
Bud Yorkin, R. I. P.
The New York Times: LOS ANGELES — Bud Yorkin, a writer and producer who helped forge a new brand of satirical TV comedy with the 1970s hit “All in the Family,” has died, a family spokesman said Tuesday. He was 89.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
This Makes Perfect Sense to Me
KTRE.com: LINCOLN COUNTY, KY (WAVE) - A man was arrested after deputies said he tried to dig up his late father's grave in order to argue with him, according to a report.
Yvonne Craig, R. I. P.
CBS News: Actress Yvonne Craig, best known for her role as Batgirl on the 1960s TV series "Batman," has passed away from cancer at the age of 78.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Feeling Safer Now?
Price for TSA's failed body scanners: $160 million: How bad are the machines at catching threats? So bad that Sen. Ron Johnson suggests adding metal detectors.
Overlooked Movies: Slow West
Slow West was released only last May, but some of you might have overlooked it. It didn't play a lot of theaters, and it didn't stay in them long. It was released simultaneously on pay-per-view, and that's where I saw it.The title is, I think, unfortunate. I have no idea what it means, and it might make someone think the movie is boring, which it isn't. It does have some slow moments, but often they end in unexpected violence or humor. The setting is Colorado in 1870, but the movie was filmed in New Zealand. So the visuals, while lovely, might come as a shock to some people.
Now about the plot. Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) has come to this country from Ireland, where an unfortunate incident has sent his own true love, Rose, and her father on the run. Jay's trying to find Rose so they can marry and live happily ever after. A young boy in the west is likely to be at a disadvantage, and Jay is apparently lucky to hook up with Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender), who becomes his mentor.
So this is in one way a coming of age story, with Fassbender playing Han Solo to young Luke. (I'm only halfway kidding about this. The trailer above gives away too much of the plot, but when Silas calls Jay "kid," I couldn't help hearing Harrison Ford.) In the end, it may be Fassbender who learns the most useful lessons, however.
Jay doesn't know that his true love and her father have a very large price on their heads that the Silas is actually a bounty hunter, who's interested in collecting the money. He also becomes sincerely interested in helping Jay, and there are other, much less honorable bounty hunters in the chase.
There are several interesting encounters in the movie, and the entire cast is excellent. [HUGE SPOILER ALERT] The ending is a shocker, or it was to me. It might not please everybody. [END OF SPOILER ALERT] This is far from a run-of-the-mill western, but it's under 90 minutes long, so it's worth taking a chance on if you're looking for something different. Check it out.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Making up the Bed
This morning while I was making up the bed, I thought about my honeymoon. Do people still go on honeymoons, or is that just some quaint old custom now? I remember that Judy put great thought into her trousseau. Do brides have trousseaus anymore? But I digress. I think one purpose of the honeymoon is for the newlywed couple to get to know each other. Judy and I had been dating for years, but unlike the hip kids today, we hadn't cohabited, and we had a lot to learn.
For example: I come from a weird family. Some of us (especially me) were picky about pillows. When we went on trips, we took our pillows with us. When I went off to college, I took a suitcase and my pillow. So naturally I took my pillow on the honeymoon. When I took it out of the car, Judy asked me why I had a pillow, and I explained that hotel pillows just weren't satisfactory.
She said, "I didn't bring a pillow. Can I use that one?"
Gallant soul that I was, I said, "Sure. I can manage with the motel pillow."
When we were getting ready for bed that evening, I put the pillow down on the right-hand side of the bed. Judy said, "I thought you told me I could use the pillow." I admitted that I had and said that I'd put it on the bed for her.
She said, "I don't sleep on that side of the bed."
I said, "I don't, either."
I have a feeling you know where this is going, so I won't drag it out. Let's just say that for nearly 50 years I slept on the right-hand side of the bed.
As I said up above, we had a lot to learn about each other. I learned almost immediately who was going to run things. Not that I minded one bit.
The Only Known Surviving Footage of the Titanic
Neatorama: This footage from the A.P. archive begins with the R.M.S. Titanic moored in Belfast Lough prior to leaving for Southampton. The Titanic is shown at sea where icebergs abound, and there is a shot of Captain Smith on the bridge pre-disaster. The remaining minutes show shots from before and after the tragedy in fascinating stages. The Carpathia is shown at sea with rescued passengers on board, there are various closeups of rescued crew and passengers on land, the families of the passengers are seen lined up outside the cruise line's office to hear word about their loved ones who were aboard the Titanic, and more.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
Spanish Luck: Robert Skinner: 9781515108559: Amazon.com: Books New Orleans, May 1944: A low-level bank employee tries to horn in on an impending bank robbery and is murdered by a shadowy fellow employee who attempts to make it appear a suicide. New Orleans cop Des Cortes and his girlfriend, local reporter Jessica Richards, quickly recognize the death as a murder and begin asking questions. Across town, a teenage African American youth named Butch Martin runs away from home with his ex-con father, Al, prompting his mother to hire disabled war vet Sal Cortes to find the boy and bring him home. Working independently of each other, the trio eventually find that they're following the same trail which leads to a bank heist worth $85,000.00. Sal, learning that Al Martin is part of the gang put together by a professional thief named Fade Taber learns he's in a race with his brother to find Butch Martin and get him away from his father before the heist goes down. Taber has put together what he thinks is a foolproof plan, not realizing that Martin, through a series of violent misadventures, has also exposed the plot to Des and Jessica. Sal, his brother and Jessica follow twisted trails of robbery and murder that eventually lead them to an explosive showdown with Taber, Martin, and the rest of the holdup gang.
50 years ago the Beatles performed six songs on the Ed Sullivan Show
50 years ago the Beatles performed six songs on the Ed Sullivan Show
I watched this show and remember it well. It was in B&W on the TV set I watched, of course. I didn't even know anybody who had a color set.
I watched this show and remember it well. It was in B&W on the TV set I watched, of course. I didn't even know anybody who had a color set.
Julian Bond, R. I. P.
CNN.com: (CNN)Julian Bond, a lifelong civil rights leader and former board chairman of the NAACP, has died. He was 75.
The Truth Is Out There
Mexican senior citizen claims UFO attempted to abduct him: Francisco Acosta Tostado, 68, told authorities he was riding his bike on a state highway when the alien aircraft ran him over and attempted to kidnap him.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)