Saturday, October 28, 2017
Ron Chernow: By the Book
Ron Chernow: By the Book: The author of “Hamilton,” “Titan” and most recently “Grant,” is a slow reader: “It’s a shameful thing to admit for someone who writes such long books.”
Friday, October 27, 2017
History of Trick-or-Treating
History of Trick-or-Treating: Trick-or-treating—going from house to house in search of candy and other goodies—has been a popular Halloween tradition in the United States and other countries for an estimated 100 years. But the origins of this community-based ritual, which costumed children typically savor while their cavity-conscious parents grudgingly tag along, remain hazy.
Donald Bain, R. I. P.
The New York Times: Donald Bain, the pseudonymous author of the “Murder, She Wrote” novels, Margaret Truman’s “Capital Crimes” mysteries and “Coffee, Tea or Me?,” the supposed memoir of two saucy airline stewardesses, died on Saturday in White Plains. He was 82.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
FFB: Four Ugly Guns (Buffalo Hunter #2) -- Ralph Hayes
Ralph Hayes wrote a lot of books for the low-rent paperback houses back in the '60s and '70s, both westerns and adventure series. He wasn't a great prose stylist, and his storytelling was pretty straight ahead, as it is in Four Ugly Guns. The buffalo hunter is a man named O'Brien, and in this book he stops off his wandering to pay a visit to his friend Tobias. When he arrives at Tobias's house, he finds Tobias, his wife, and his sons dead, murdered by a Mexican bandit called Diablo and the three other members of his gang.
After that, it's a simple affair. O'Brien goes after the killers to get revenge. He gets it, killing one after another of the gang members. There's no swerving from the plotline, no twists, no unexpected thrills. I don't know why I picked this book up to read, but it was fast going if mediocre. I doubt I'll be reading another one in the series, although I have a couple.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Forgotten Music: 'Rumble' Aims to Upset the Rock 'n' Roll Canon
'Rumble' Aims to Upset the Rock 'n' Roll Canon A documentary based on a Smithsonian exhibition is wowing festival audiences
The year was 1958 and some radio stations were refusing to play a song that was making its way up the pop charts. But it wasn’t Elvis Presley who was causing the furor—it was the similarly coiffed Link Wray.
They played "Rumble" on Texas stations until the grooves wore out. I still have the 45 I bought in 1958 so I could listen to it even more.
The year was 1958 and some radio stations were refusing to play a song that was making its way up the pop charts. But it wasn’t Elvis Presley who was causing the furor—it was the similarly coiffed Link Wray.
They played "Rumble" on Texas stations until the grooves wore out. I still have the 45 I bought in 1958 so I could listen to it even more.
10 Fascinating Facts About Davy Crockett
10 Fascinating Facts About Davy Crockett: Born on August 17, 1786, backwoods statesman Davy Crockett's life has often been obscured by myth. Even during his lifetime, fanciful stories about his adventures were transforming him into a buck-skinned superhero. And after his death, the tales kept growing taller. So let’s separate fact from fiction.
As Proved by Math
Estevez Is Hollywood's Most Profitable Actor: A new analysis report conducted by PartyCasino has looked at the box office numbers from 1980 to 2017 to determine Hollywood’s most and least profitable actors. The result? Surprisingly Emilio Estevez has emerged as the most profitable actor over the last four decades.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Dracula 1979: Celebrating Frank Langella's Rock Star Count
Dracula 1979: Celebrating Frank Langella's Rock Star Count: The 1979 version of Dracula with Frank Langella didn't get the names right, but it nailed the cobwebs.
“Open Letter to Queen Fans” (by Francis M. Nevins) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN
“Open Letter to Queen Fans” (by Francis M. Nevins) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: Francis M. Nevins has distinguished himself in every area of the field of mystery and crime fiction. He’s the author of six novels and forty short stories and has won the Edgar Allan Poe Award twice for his critical work. He is widely considered one of the leading authorities on the life and work of Ellery Queen, and he authored the influential works Royal Bloodline: Ellery Queen, Author and Detective (1974) and Ellery Queen: The Art of Detection (2013). In early 2018 his first published fiction, an Ellery Queen pastiche, will be reprinted in the anthology The Misadventures of Ellery Queen, edited by Josh Pachter and Dale Andrews (from Perfect Crime Books). It is the hope of all of us at EQMM that the collection will generate new interest in the novels of Ellery Queen, most of which are available in new e-editions from Mysterious Press/Open Road.—Janet Hutchings
Fats Domino, R. I. P.
TMZ.com: Fats Domino, the legendary New Orleans singer and piano player who took the '50s and '60s by storm ... is dead.
Domino died in New Orleans, surrounded by friends and family, according to his daughter.
His hits were epic ... "Blueberry Hill," "Ain't That a Shame" and "I'm Walkin'."
The Creature from the Black Lagoon
Neatorama: "It plays on the basic fear that people have about what might be lurking below the surface of any body of water. You know the feeling when you are swimming and something brushes your legs down there. It scares the hell out of you, if you don't know what it is. the fear of the unknown. I decided to exploit this fear as much as possible."
-Jack Arnold, director of The Creature from the Black Lagoon
Health Update
On Monday I spent the day at M.D. Anderson getting a bone scan and a CT-scan. Yesterday I got the results. I also had a cystoscopy. You don't want one. Trust me.
But on to the results, which were mixed. My PSA count is higher than it's ever been, which isn't good; however, the doctor said it might be "reactive." My bone scan and CT-scan results were good, with reductions in both areas, so the tumor might be, to use the technical medical term that the doctor used, "pissed off" and reacting by putting out the PSA to fight the improvements. At this point, the chemo seems to be winning, so I'll be continuing with it even taking into account the PSA number. I don't know how many treatments are left, but there will be at least one, and maybe more. I'm feeling good, as those who saw me at Bouchercon can attest, and the doctor cleared me to go to my hometown this weekend to a memorial service for a high-school classmate. I'm also cleared to attend the World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio next week if I'm feeling up to it. I'm planning to feel up to it.
But on to the results, which were mixed. My PSA count is higher than it's ever been, which isn't good; however, the doctor said it might be "reactive." My bone scan and CT-scan results were good, with reductions in both areas, so the tumor might be, to use the technical medical term that the doctor used, "pissed off" and reacting by putting out the PSA to fight the improvements. At this point, the chemo seems to be winning, so I'll be continuing with it even taking into account the PSA number. I don't know how many treatments are left, but there will be at least one, and maybe more. I'm feeling good, as those who saw me at Bouchercon can attest, and the doctor cleared me to go to my hometown this weekend to a memorial service for a high-school classmate. I'm also cleared to attend the World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio next week if I'm feeling up to it. I'm planning to feel up to it.
Bonus FFB for Wednesday: A Long Time Dead -- Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
Yes, I know I'm cheating again. This is practically a new book, but somehow I overlooked it. When I found out about it, I ordered a copy at once.The subtitle is A Mike Hammer Casebook, so you know it's a collection of short stories. As usual in these collaborative works, Collins' informative and entertaining introduction tells you about the fragments and incomplete stories he worked with to bring them into print. Most of them appeared in The Strand, and several of them are award winners.
All the stories feature Mike Hammer, and they're arranged more or less chronologically from the earliest written to the most recent. A couple of the stories are horror stories, "Skin" and "Grave Matter." The latter story wouldn't be out of place in one of the Shudder Pulps of the '30s. One of my favorites is "It's in the Book," and not just because I loved the Johnny Standley recording when I was a kid. I like bibliomysteries, and this is a good one. The theme running through most of the book is revenge. Most often it's Hammer who's after it, and of course he sometimes administers his own rough justice. In a good many of the stories, someone wants to kill Hammer, either for revenge or other reasons. Fat chance that they'll succeed.
I've always liked Hammer at the shorter lengths, and these stories were a lot of fun to read, at least for me. I know some of the readers of the blog still haven't been converted to Hammer. They know who they are. The fans should get a huge kick from these entertaining tales. I sure did.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Long and the Short of It
The Big Switch
Fallout
A Long Time Dead
Grave Matter
So Long, Chief
A Dangerous Cat
It's in the Book
Skin
About the Authors
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Robert Guillaume, R. I. P.
Robert Guillaume Dead: 'Benson' Actor Was 89: He also portrayed Isaac Jaffe on 'Sports Night,' voiced Rafiki in 'The Lion King' and earned a Tony nomination for 'Guys and Dolls.'
Robert Guillaume, the urbane actor who received two Emmy Awards for portraying the acidic butler Benson on a pair of ABC sitcoms, died Tuesday. He was 89.
Guillaume, a baritone who also starred on the stage and voiced the wise mandrill Rafiki in 'The Lion King' (1994) and its related sequels, video games and TV series, died at his home in Los Angeles, his wife, Donna Brown Guillaume, told the Associated Press.
Guillaume, a baritone who also starred on the stage and voiced the wise mandrill Rafiki in 'The Lion King' (1994) and its related sequels, video games and TV series, died at his home in Los Angeles, his wife, Donna Brown Guillaume, told the Associated Press.
Dark Recesses
Dark Recesses (November/December 2017) | Trace Evidence: As the days grow short and winter looms, the lengthening evenings offer ample time and reason to brood over the nature of darkness. As the stories in this issue attest, a landscape of shadows offers far too many opportunities for both deception and misperception.
Hey, Vern: It's the Ernest P. Worrell Story
Hey, Vern: It's the Ernest P. Worrell Story: In her review of the 1991 children’s comedy Ernest Scared Stupid, The Washington Post film critic Rita Kempley described the titular character, the dim-witted but well-meaning Ernest P. Worrell, as “the global village idiot.” As portrayed by Kentucky native Jim Varney, Ernest was in the middle of a 10-film franchise that would see him mistakenly incarcerated (Ernest Goes to Jail), enlisting in the military (Ernest in the Army), substituting for an injured Santa (Ernest Saves Christmas), and returning to formal education in order to receive his high school diploma (Ernest Goes to School).
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Amazon.com: Devlin And Johnny Forever eBook: Peter Brandvold: Kindle Store: An all-new, ebook-exclusive backwoods horror story from Mean Pete Press!
Overlooked Movies -- Texas Rangers Ride Again
For a B western, Texas Rangers Ride Again has a stellar cast. But even a stellar cast can't save it. It's a short movie, just over an hour, but the scene near the beginning with Akim Tamiroff doing his painfully unfunny comic Mexican routine seems to last forever. And that's not the last we see of Tamiroff, which is too bad. He may have won an Oscar later*, but this performance is painful to watch. Almost equally painful is the geezer romance subplot with May Robson and Charley Grapewin.The plot of the movie involves large-scale rustling of thousands of cattle, primarily from the Dangerfield ranch, where Cecilia Dangerfield (May Robson) is in charge. As soon as you see Anthony Quinn, you know he's a baddie, and that's not a spoiler, as his villainy is revealed seconds later. John Howard and Broderick Crawford are the Texas Rangers sent to work undercover and root out the rustlers, which they of course do, with Howard romancing Slats Dangerfield (Ellen Drew) along the way.
This is a contemporary western, set around the time it was filmed (1940), so it mixes cars with horses and radios with carrier pigeons. There's not much action until the end, and the comedy, of which there is much too much, is, as I said, painful to watch. Horace McCoy is one of two credited screenwriters. Not his finest hour. Some movies deserve to be overlooked, and in spite of the fine cast Texas Rangers Ride Again is one of those movies.
*Correction from Jeff Meyerson. Tamiroff, never won but was nominated twice.
Monday, October 23, 2017
Walter Lassally, R. I. P.
NY Daily News: ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Hospital officials on Greece's island of Crete say German-born cinematographer Walter Lassally, who won an Academy Award for the 1964 movie Zorba the Greek, has died following complications from surgery. He was 90.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
George Young, R. I. P.
The Guardian: George Young, the pioneering Australian songwriter and producer of AC/DC, has died at the age of 70.
Young, the brother of AC/DC’s Angus and Malcolm Young, was a member of the Easybeats and co-wrote its classic hit "Friday on My Mind."
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Deadly Florida
Deadly Florida: Good thing it’s pretty in the Sunshine State. At least the view will be nice as you try to outrun all of these dangerous things.
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