Saturday, December 03, 2016
Alice Drummond, R. I. P.
Deadline: Alice Drummond, a prolific character actress nominated for a Best Featured Actress Tony in 1970 and known for appearances in films like Awakenings, Synecdoche, New York, and Ghostbusters among many others died on November 30 from complications following a fall in her home. She was 88. The news was confirmed by Drummond’s friend, June Gable, to The New York Times.
Steampunk 101
Steampunk 101: From Sci-Fi Sub-genre to Cultural Phenomenon: The creation of the ‘steampunk’ term is usually attributed to the science fiction author K.W. Jeter, who used it in a letter to Locus Magazine. He was trying to find a way to describe Victorian fantasy novels like those written by himself (Morlock Night and Infernal Devices), Tim Powers (The Anubis Gates) and James Blaylock (Homunculus).
Friday, December 02, 2016
Don Calfa, R. I. P.
The A.V. Club: Don Calfa, perhaps best known for his role as mortician Ernie Kaltenbrunner in 1985’s Return Of The Living Dead, has died. The news was made public on the actor’s Facebook page. He was 76.
The Knife Slipped -- Erle Stanley Gardner
Hard Case Crime has found a really lost book, this time an A. A. Fair novel by Erle Stanley Gardner. As Russell Atwood explains in his Afterword, the book was to be the second in the Cool and Lam series but was rejected by Morrow because Bertha Cool was too hard-boiled for them. She tended to "talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people." Instead of of reworking the book, Gardner wrote an entirely different novel and put The Knife Slipped in the trunk. Now, 75 years later, we can read it for the first time.The case appears to be a divorce job, but it soon develops into something much more complicated, as you'd expect from Gardner, though not as complicated as some of the later books in the series. Lam still has a lot to learn about the detective biz, and Bertha's an enthusiastic teacher. Atwood speculates that the series might have developed differently had this book been published. As it is, Lam makes some crucial errors along the way and gets the crap beaten out of him more than once, but things work out in the end.
A lot of the fun here isn't the case itself but in the characters, especially Bertha Cool. She's cheap (if you ever want someone to sell your old used car, get her on the job), but she's generous when she gets a big slice of the cake. This book's a lot of fun. Check it out.
Peng Chang-kuei, R. I. P.
General Tso's chicken inventor dies after giving the world one of its favorite dishes: It's been a rough week for food pioneers. First the creator of the Big Mac passed away, and now General Tso's chicken inventor Peng Chang-kuei died at age 98, reports Taiwan News.
Milt Moss, R. I. P.
The New York Times: Milt Moss, a comic actor who delivered the rueful catchphrase “I can’t believe I ate that whole thing” in a memorable commercial for Alka-Seltzer in 1972, died on Sept. 26 in Manhattan. He was 93.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
FFB: Man in the Shadow -- Harry Whittington
Man in the Shadow is the novelization of a 1957 movie starring Jeff Chandler and Orson Welles. The movie was on Encore Westerns, and I wanted to watch it, so I read the book first. It's very good, which is no surprise, since Harry Whittington wrote it.Not that there's anything new in the story. It's a modern western about the big landowner who controls a small town, and if a migrant worker is murdered on his land, well, everybody would just as soon forget about it, cover it over, and go on. Everybody except the sheriff, that is, if he's a man who believes in doing his job like Ben Sadler does. Sadler's a man who'll keep going against whatever odds are against him to do what the law requires.
And when it comes to stacking the odds against a guy like Sadler, nobody ever did it any better than Harry Whittington. He gives full value in this short novelization, and the brutality factor is raised to about 11 on a scale of 1 to 10. The attitudes toward the migrants in the story are about what you'd expect for the middle 1950s, not that much different from now, I guess, except for Sadler and a local barber, who are a lot different. It's a sad commentary that so little has changed in the last 60 years.
The book's well worth a look if you have a copy lying around or want to pick one up on the 'net. It follows the movie closely, and I'll be talking about the movie on Tuesday.
Thursday, December 01, 2016
Andrew Sachs, R. I. P.
BBC News: Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, who played hapless Spanish waiter Manuel in the BBC sitcom, has died aged 86, his family has confirmed.
Put on Your Deerstalkers
DB Cooper Case Could Still Be Solved —With Your Help: True Ink releasing case files for citizen sleuths
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Health Update
I was beginning to think that M.D. Anderson had forgotten all about me, and that was just fine. Yesterday, however, my oncologist called and asked me if I could come in today. That's unheard of. They must have suddenly remembered me. Anyway, I went in and got mostly good news. The not-so-good part is that my PSA has crept up over 4 again. The good part is that the doctor isn't worried about it and has postponed chemo again. I'll go in after the holidays for testing, and then we'll decide about the chemo. Maybe the PSA will go down again. Cross your fingers.
Emily Dickinson’s Singular Scrap Poetry
Emily Dickinson’s Singular Scrap Poetry
If there's a link in the article, I missed it, but here's one that works.
If there's a link in the article, I missed it, but here's one that works.
Michael "Jim" Delligatti, R. I. P.
McDonald's Big Mac inventor dies at 98: The McDonald's franchise-owner who invented the fast food chain's signature Big Mac has died at the age of 98.
“Ellery Queen—a Website on Deduction”
“Ellery Queen—a Website on Deduction” (by Dale C. Andrews and Kurt Sercu) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: Since readers will learn about the careers and literary work of Dale Andrews and Kurt Sercu in their own words in the following post, I will simply note that they are among the most dedicated and knowledgeable fans of Ellery Queen, and of EQMM, to be found anywhere in the world. All of us at EQMM salute them, for without such fans it is unimaginable that EQMM would be celebrating a 75th anniversary and looking to the future.—Janet Hutchings
Al Brodax, R. I. P.
The New York Times: Al Brodax, a television producer who delivered an enduring psychedelic classic when he turned the Beatles song “Yellow Submarine” into an animated film in 1968, died on Thursday in Danbury, Conn. He was 90.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .
. . . and Texas leads the way!
Argument Between Grandmas Ends In Shootout At Texas Walmart, Cops Say
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Argument Between Grandmas Ends In Shootout At Texas Walmart, Cops Say
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Joe Esposito, R. I. P.
The New York Times: Joe Esposito, who was Elvis Presley’s right-hand man, close friend and road manager for nearly two decades, died on Wednesday at his home in Calabasas, Calif. He was 78.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
10 Little Facts about Louisa May Alcott
10 Little Facts about Louisa May Alcott: Born on this day in 1832, Louisa May Alcott led a fascinating life. Besides enchanting millions of readers with her novel Little Women, she worked as a Civil War nurse, fought against slavery, and registered women to vote. In honor of her birthday, here are 10 facts about Alcott.
Overlooked Movies -- Horror Express
Christopher Lee is an anthropologist who's discovered a frozen humanoid in Manchuria. He's going to take it back to London via the Trans-Siberian Express. Peter Cushing is Lee's rival, and he's also aboard. Before the train even leaves the station, a man is killed. Once the train starts moving, more and more people die. The setting is of interest here because after the first few minutes, everything happens on the train. There are a number of twists involving the now-unfrozen humanoid, so I won't reveal them. Let's just say he's hard to kill. Eventually Telly Savalas shows up as the leader of a band of Cossacks. He thinks there are rebels on the train and that they're responsible for the deaths. Savalas starts out over the top and then builds from there. He's obviously having a great time, and his performance is a nice contrast to that of Cushing, who does a fine low-key job. And then there's the mad monk, played by Ángel del Pozo, who gives Savalas a run for his money.
Horror Express isn't a great movie, but it's a good bit of goofy fun. Worth a look if you like this kind of thing. And it's a must for train buffs.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Why Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Daughter Might Become a Saint
Mental Floss: Besides writing The Scarlet Letter (1850) and other famous works, Nathaniel Hawthorne is best known for studying transcendentalism and hanging out with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and 14th President Franklin Pierce. But his daughter, Rose Hawthorne, had an arguably even more compelling life than her father. Although she belonged to a wealthy Protestant family and had connections to the literary and political elite, she switched careers from writing to nursing at 45 years old. While caring for poor terminal cancer patients in New York City tenements, she became a Catholic nun, founded a religious order, and took a new name. Today, she’s on her way to becoming a saint.
Amos Oz: By the Book
Amos Oz: By the Book: The Israeli author, whose most recent novel is “Judas,” would like to meet Chekhov, if only to gossip with him. Gossip, after all, is “a distant cousin of stories and novels,” although they are “embarrassed by this member of their family.”
Shakespeare Update
The Indian Express: An anonymous 16th-century play may have been written by William Shakespeare, according to scholars who used mathematical techniques to uncover the hidden hand of the Bard in a 1592 tragedy, Arden of Faversham.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Fritz Weaver, R. I. P.
The New York Times: Fritz Weaver, a Tony Award-winning character actor who played a German Jewish doctor slain by the Nazis in the 1978 mini-series “Holocaust” and an Air Force colonel who becomes increasingly unstable as the nation faces a nuclear crisis in the 1964 movie “Fail Safe” died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan. He was 90.
Uh-Oh
Den of Geek: Director Jeff Nichols admits that his planned Alien Nation remake will draw influence from the recent US presidential election.
Judy Stutts Crider, November 5, 1943 - November 27, 2014
Connie Smith had a country song long ago, addressed to a lover who jilted her. She says the only time she wishes he weren't gone is "once a day, every day, all day long." That pretty much sums it up for me when it comes to losing Judy. I think about her once a day, every day, all day long.
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