Goodiscon

David Loeb Goodis Convention (Goodiscon)

Deen and Jay Kogan Award for Writers of Importance and Distinction

Who? DLG was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 2^nd, 1917 (90^th Birthday). He died in Philadelphia on January 7^th, 1967 (40^th Anniversary of his death). David Goodis is best known for his major contribution to American hard-boiled crime fiction via pulp fiction writing (Dark Passages [1946]), hardback novels and paperback originals (Cassidy’s Girl [1951]).

What? A seminal meeting celebrating Philly Noir, featuring David Goodis and those influenced by his work.

Why? This conference is the first planned yearly symposium to spotlight writers of significance and importance. It will be a unique opportunity for writers, fans, collectors and friends to get together and discuss fine writing in a collegial setting. The intention is to allow all attendees to meet, revel, discuss and experience the Philadelphia Noir in a brand new way.

Where? Philadelphia is the setting for GoodisCon 2007. Several different venues will be utilized to capture the “spirit(s)” of David L. Goodis and his wonderfully dark writing. These include, but are not limited to Temple University, The Legendary Blue Horizon Boxing (#1 Boxing Venue in the World), Yards Brewery and the Port Richmond Bookstore (PRBS).

When? January 5^th, 6^th and 7^th 2007. Hotel, registration fee and schedule of events TBA .The intention is to have three fun-filled days to celebrate the life and writing of David L. Goodis in the spirit with which he would have enjoyed it.

Contact: Lou Boxer (lboxer1@comcast.net) and Deen Kogan (shp@erols.com)

The Da Vinci Parody -- Check it Out

DO THE MATH: The Da Vinci Parody: "To commemorate the release of the movie The Da Vinci Code, Do The Math offers up a retelling of the prologue of Dan Brown’s book in the style of Richard Stark."

Happy Birthday, Dobie Gillis

Dwayne Hickman is 72 today. I hope he has a great one.

Gator Aide

Gator Update

WorldNetDaily: No end to gator attacks in Florida: ". . . on the western coast of the Sunshine State, a woman used a handgun to fend off a gator that was attacking her own dog, and was issued a warning citation for hunting without a permit.


Candy Frey of Bradenton, Fla., shows the dog door where she was able to push a 3-foot gator out after it scuffled with her dogs.

Candy Frey says a 3-foot gator confronted her golden retriever at her East Manatee, Fla., home.

She and he daughter were able to push the creature through the dog door of her patio, but she also got her gun and opened fire.

'I was running on so much adrenaline,' Frey, 48, a former U.S. Marine aviation technician, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 'I just freaked out and shot him – boom, boom, boom, boom.'"

The Ghosts of Elkhorn -- Kerry Newcomb & Frank Schaefer

This is a fine book, but I wonder if it could even find a publisher these days, much less The Viking Press, which published this edition.

Newcomb and Schaefer wrote a number of bestselling paperbacks under various names. Eventually Schaefer drifted away from the partnership (I assume), and Newcomb continued on his own. His westerns and historicals are well worth looking for.

This book is about The Wind River Kid, who lives alone in the ghost town of Elkhorn. Well, alone except for the ghost of Aden Creed, a horse, a bear that may or may not be a ghost, and a pesky falcon. The Kid's tired of that life, and he decides to move down the mountain to civilization. But it's 1927, and The Kid finds it a tad difficult to accept that his favorite whorehouse is now a beauty salon and that the general store where he bought his supplies has sold out to a Piggly Wiggly. So The Kid returns to Elkhorn, only to find that it's been invaded by a young man and woman on the run from a bagman for the mob. Before it's all over, The Kid will have to confront more than gunmen. He'll have to face the ghosts of his own past.

The next time you're in the mood for something entirely different, something stylish and nostalgic, see if you can find this one.

Frankie Thomas, R. I. P.

Thanks to Jeff Meyerson and Art Scott for alerting me to this.

Yahoo! Top Stories - 'Space Cadet' Frankie Thomas Dies: "Frankie Thomas, who became famous in the 1950s for his starring role in the TV children's show 'Tom Corbett, Space Cadet,' has died. He was 85.

Thomas died Thursday of respiratory failure at Sherman Oaks Hospital, said his stepdaughter, Julie Alexander.

Thomas began acting on Broadway in the early 1930s and soon ventured west to Hollywood, where he appeared in films including 'A Dog of Flanders,' 'Boys Town' and 'The Major and the Minor,' as well as four Nancy Drew movies."

Where is Robert Forster When You Need Him?

Thanks to Jeff Meyerson for this important update.

nbc6.net - Local News - Latest Alligator Reports: "Alligator Nuisance Hotline Getting Flooded With Calls
Operators at the Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program in Okeechobee are swamped.

Program officials said they logged 225 telephone calls Monday -- more than double the amount of calls answered last year.

Operators are staying late to handle all the calls. "

Bob Dylan on XM

This week's theme on Bob Dylan's radio show was "The world of Liquid Libation." I was hoping for at least one Amos Milburn song, but I didn't get one. Got John Lee Hooker's version of one instead. Here's the eclectic playlist:

George Zimmerman and the Thrills, I Ain’t Got no Money to Pay for this Drink
Electric Flag, Wine, Wine, Wine
Loretta Lynn, Don’t Come Home a-Drinkin’
Porter Waggoner, Daddy and the Wine
Mary Gauthier, I Drink
Charles Aznavour, I Drink (not the same song as the one above)
Jimmy Rogers, Sloppy Drunk
Lonnie the Cat, I Ain’t Drunk
Johnny Tyler and the Riders of the Rio Grande, It Ain’t Far to the Bar
Hank Williams, Jr., What’s on the Bar
The Clovers, One Mint Julep
The Andrews Sister, Rum and Coca-Cola
John Lee Hooker, One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
Charlie Walker, Who will Buy the Wine?
Betty Hall Jones, Buddy Stay off that Wine
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Whiskey You’re the Devil

End of an Era

New York Daily News - Breaking News: "NEW YORK (AP) -- Lew Anderson, who captivated young baby boomers as the Howdy Doody Show's final Clarabell the Clown, has died at the age of 84, his son said.

The musician and actor died Sunday in Hawthorne, N.Y., of complications of prostate cancer, Christopher Anderson said.

Long mute as Clarabell, Anderson broke the clown's silence in the show's final episode in 1960. With trembling lips and a visible tear in his eye, he spoke the show's final words: 'Goodbye, kids.'

Though Anderson was not the only man to play 'Buffalo Bob' Smith's mute sidekick, he was the best, Smith said in his memoir."

Noir Night Guys Make EW's "Must" List

Entertainment Weekly's EW.com | Feature: The Must List: May 19, 2006:

3. 'BUST,' BY KEN BRUEN AND JASON STARR
A cheating husband, a smart floozy, and a poetic killer are enmeshed in the web of this tense, witty, cold-blooded noir.

Noir Night Guy Hits the Big Time

Reed Coleman Writes of Crime and Brooklyn - New York Times: "The name of the bank has changed, as with most of this block of Jerome Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. But it's still a bank, and the building next door is still a post office, and Reed Farrel Coleman can still hear the gunshot and see the man lying there in the street more than 30 years later.

He was around 15 that summer day, walking to his job at a Baskin-Robbins. 'I heard a gunshot. I was here,' he said, pointing, 'and I ran right to this building right here. There was a guy lying in the street, a middle-aged guy. He had a little blotch of blood right here.' Mr. Coleman pointed to his stomach. 'His chest was just heaving in and out.'

Later it was determined that the man had been carrying a large amount of money for his business payroll, and the killer had robbed him. 'It changed my life,' Mr. Coleman said. 'Crime really happens. People really do get hurt.'"

You Might Want to Reconsider Your Florida Vacation Plans

After Fatal Alligator Attacks, High Alert and Lowered Eyes - New York Times: "MIAMI, May 15 — Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida, has some advice for people who never want to come face to face with an alligator: Stay out of Florida.

Todd Hardwick, a trapper, taped the mouth and eyes of an alligator he captured Monday in a lake behind homes in North Miami Beach, Fla.

While alligator attacks are not everyday occurrences in the state — only 17 fatal attacks have been reported since 1948 — three women have been killed by alligators in the past week, prompting concern among residents, visitors and state wildlife officials.

'We live in a wildlife state in and among many different species,' said Willie Puz, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. 'Be alert to your surroundings. Any freshwater body in Florida can be home to alligators.'"

Mystery*File Update

MYSTERY*FILE ON-LINE: "Reviews by Steve Lewis. Recently posted are my comments on two more I read in March, one by George Harmon Coxe, Focus on Murder, and the other by William Murray, I’m Getting Killed Right Here. "

Good, thoughtful reviews. Check 'em out.

V for Vendetta -- Alan Moore and David Lloyd

Once upon a time I read a lot of funny books (that's what they were called in the Old Days, even though many of them weren't funny at all). I read everything I could get my hands on, from Captain Marvel to Captain Marvel Bunny (Yes, there was a Captain Marvel Bunny). And then I stopped. I have no idea why. I just did. And the next thing I knew, funny books had become comics and comics had become graphic novels and I hadn't read any of them.

(This brings up a philosophical point: Does one "read" graphic novels, or is that the right term? There's more than reading involved, since the pictures are as much a part of things as the text. But I'll leave that discussion to someone who knows a lot more than I do.)

Having seen the movie of V for Vendetta, I thought I'd have a look at the graphic novel and see what the differences were. For one thing, the structure was changed drastically for the movie. I can see why, and I thought it worked pretty well. The ending was changed, too, and I think the one in the movie was actually more effective than the one in the book, which reminded me for some reason of the Ghost Who Walks. I know that some fans of the book complained quite a bit about the movie, but having seen the movie first, I'm not sure why. I thought it was pretty faithful to the book and that the changes made for the film worked pretty well. (There were some others besides the ones I've mentioned, such as the fact that the movie gives V's time in the experimental hospital short shrift compared to the novel.)

About the artwork. I liked it. It reminded me of the old style used in some of the funny books I read.

I'm glad I took the time to read the book, but, that being said, I'm still a long way from becoming a fan of graphic novels.

Happy Birthday, Katherine Anne Porter

I've posted before about my meeting with Katherine Anne Porter, who was born on this day in 1890, or there abouts. She was notoriously unreliable as to the actual date. Like any memoir (especially these days), my post might not be entirely accurate, but it's the way I remember things. The symposium mentioned on the program to the left was attended by quite a few KAP scholars, two of whom (Joan Givener and Darlene Unrue) went on to write biographies of Miss Porter.

My Mind is Boggled

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Universe 'child of previous one': "A joint UK-US team has put forward an alternative theory of cosmic evolution.

It proposes that the Universe undergoes cycles of 'Big Bangs' and 'Big Crunches', meaning our Universe is merely a 'child of the previous one'."
.............................

"At present there may be an alternative 'dark matter' universe that exists at the same time as ours, but we could never reach it," explained Professor Turok.

"The best way to think of this is to think of a pane of double glazing with a fly on it. The fly is unable to cross over from one side to another, just like we are unable to get from one universe to another.

"These two universes are drawn together by the force of gravity and will eventually collide.

"This means that things that are happening now will help to create another universe in the future."

Vince Keenan Has an Epiphany

VinceKeenan.com: "I had an epiphany at the movies over the weekend. It had nothing to do with what was onscreen, but these moments are rare enough that I’ll take whatever I can get."

I think he has a point. Check it out.

Mystery*File Again

Pulp fans, take note:

MYSTERY*FILE ON-LINE: "May 14. The 17 Detective Magazines. Reprinted from the April 1930 issue of Writer’s Digest are the editor’s candid appraisal[s] of the detective magazines of the day, along with helpful comments and advice for would-be crime fiction writers hoping to make sales to them."

eBay Item of the Day

Remember, guys, you're bidding on the coin.

Stampede!

As I've mentioned before, there's a small buffalo herd located about five miles from Thornton, Texas, where Judy's mother lives. Since we were going to visit Judy's mom yesterday, we naturally drove by to see if the buffalo were in sight. The sky was clear and the sun was hot, so we figured they'd be back in the trees. But we got lucky. Just as we reached the top of the hill, I saw a pickup driving along the fence line. There was a guy sitting on the open tailgate, and he was opening a sack of cattle cubes. The driver of the pick-up honked his horn, and the buffalo came charging out of the trees and across the meadow on the dead run. Those guys are pretty impressive when they're running around in a movie, and they're even more impressive in person. I wish I'd had a video camera. Of course they all stopped as soon as they got to the cubes and started to chow down, so the stampede didn't last long. It was fun for a few seconds, though.

Mother's Day

I'll be out of town tomorrow (Judy and I will be visiting her mother), so I thought I'd better put my Mother's Day posting here. Link via Pop Culture Junk Mail.

The Transporter

As usual, while you were reading essays by Pauline Kael, I was wasting my time watching a trashy movie. This time it was The Transporter. I'd already seen The Transporter 2, being a guy who does things backwards, and I thought it might be fun to see the first movie in the series.

It was. If The Transporter were a book, it would be a Gold Medal novel. It has the strong, competent (boy, is he competent!) hero, played by David Stratham, the enigmatic woman he encoungers in odd circumstances (boy, are they odd!), and plenty of action. When I say plenty of action, that's an understatement. This movie is almost all action. Stratham puts the Bruce Lee on dozens of guys in various scenes, defies the laws of gravity and physics, and drives like a NASCAR guy on meth. The plot didn't make a whole lot of sense, but that was okay. It was just something to hang the action scenes on.

The movie also features great photography and some nice scenery. Compared to Transporter 2 there was only one thing missing: my favorite nurse. So I put her photo here anyway, just to cheer myself up a little this morning.

OK, this is Scary

MySA.com : Printer Friendly Story: "If diseases like AIDS and bird flu scare you, wait until you hear what's next. Doctors are trying to find out what is causing a bizarre and mysterious infection that's surfaced in South Texas.

Morgellons disease is not yet known to kill, but if you were to get it, you might wish you were dead, as the symptoms are horrible.

'These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry,' said Ginger Savely, a nurse practioner in Austin who treats a majority of these patients.

Patients get lesions that never heal.

'Sometimes little black specks that come out of the lesions and sometimes little fibers,' said Stephanie Bailey, Morgellons patient."

Die a Little -- Megan Abbott

Cool cover, right? It looks like something that might be on one of the sleazy digests of the '50s, I think, very appropriate given the book's '50s setting and its subject matter.

Megan Abbott copped an Edgar nomination for Die a Little, which is a noir story about Lora King, a school teacher who lives with her cop brother, Bill, and quite happily, too. (Though it's never spelled out, I got the idea that Lora's feelings for Bill were a little more than sisterly, if you know what I mean and I think you do.) Eventually Bill falls for Alice Steele, who's no school teacher. She's been part of the dark underside of Los Angeles, but now she's reforming. Or is she? She gets a job teaching school, but little bits of her past keep popping up here and there, like her friend Lois.

Bill and Lora don't know about Alice's past, but Lora is curious, and maybe driven by something else, too. She starts to investigate. The more she finds out, the sleazier things become, and eventually Lois disappears. Lora supects murder, and she's drawn closer and closer to the dark side, which has a strange attraction for her. I'm not telling what happens and spoil the story for you.

I didn't detect any anachronisms the way I did in Dope, another recent novel with a '50s setting. My only complaint about Die a Little is the names. Lois and Lora. Why have two major characters with such similar names? Sometimes that's confusing to an old guy like me. Maybe there's some literary reason that escapes me. While the book didn't win the Edgar, it's easy to see why it was a strong contender. It'll be interesting to see where Megan Abbott goes next.

Mother of Mercy, Could This Be the End DEADWOOD?

from Lee Goldberg's blog:

A Writer's Life: "Variety reports that HBO has let their contractual options lapse on the cast of DEADWOOD, which begins airing its third season in a few weeks. This decision frees the cast to pursue jobs elsewhere, which strongly suggests that HBO has lost interest in a fourth season of the show before the third season has even aired."

An Anniversary (Not Mine)

Congratulations to Jaime Weinman on the second anniversary of his fine blog, Something Old, Nothing New. If you haven't checked out his clips, this tribute to the great radio newsman and commentator Les Nessman would be a good place to start.

Threats on the Air

New York Daily News - Home - Hip-hop jock's sick rap: "Power 105 DJ fired after sex threat vs. rival's kid

BY GREG WILSON
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Troi Torain, Power 105's DJ Star, has been fired by the station after he spewed racist, violent remarks on air about rival Rashawn Casey, aka DJ Envy of Hot 97, his wife, Gia Casey, and their daughter.
A popular radio personality was fired yesterday after making a series of shockingly ugly, racist and violent on-air remarks - including a threat to sexually molest the young daughter of a rival deejay."

Thanks to Ed Gorman for the heads-up on this. Ed says he can remember when Andy Williams threatened Pat Boone the same way.

Evolution of the Dance

Thanks to Jeff Meyerson for the tip.

Bob Dylan on XM

Once again I listened to Bob Dylan's XM radio show. This time the theme was "mother," and Dylan had another great playlist:

Julia Lee, Mama Don’t ‘llow
Tommy Duncan, Daddy Loves Mommy-O
Jan Bradley, Mama Didn’t Lie
Buck Owens, I’ll Go to Church again with Mama
Randy Newman, Mama Told Me not to Come
Bobby Peterson Quintet, Mama Get the Hammer (a Fly’s on the Baby’s Head)
J. B. Lanoir, Mama, Please Talk to Your Daughter
Earl King, A Mother’s Love
Ruth Brown, Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean
Carl Smith, Let Mother Nature Have her Way
Memphis Slim, Mother Earth
Ernie K-Doe, Mother-in-Law
Little Junior Parker, Mother-in-Law Blues
Merle Haggard, Mama Tried
Jimmy McCracken, Gonna Tell Your Mother
Rolling Stones, Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby
Dirty Red, Mother Fuyer
L L Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out

Mystery*File Update

After a few days away, Steve Lewis is back and updating. Check it out.

MYSTERY*FILE ON-LINE: "May 9. ROBERT EDMOND ALTER. Peter Enfantino, M*F’s resident expert on mystery digests, examines and reports in on each of the stories this author wrote for Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine in the late 50s and early 60s."

The Beach Boys

Judy and I drove down to Galveston last Saturday to see the Beach Boys. They don't look a thing like the group at the left because only one of those guys (Mike Love, far right) is still with the group. Bruce Johnston, who joined in 1964, is close enough to being an original member to count, though. His first recording with the group was "California Girls."

At any rate, the current group puts on a fine "greatest hits" show, with songs by other groups (the Hondells, Jan and Dean) thrown in. There's also a brief doo-wop segment that I enjoyed. Mike Love's voice isn't what it used to be, but the other singers help out a lot and do a fine job of duplicating the groups' original sound. If they're ever in your area, and if you're not disturbed by the sight of dozens of geezers dancing in the aisles (and hundreds of geezers singing along), check 'em out.

On Second Thought, Maybe I'll Have a Slug of that Rum

Body-in-rum story had us over barrel - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com: "OK, maybe we should have known it was too good to be true. But we couldn't resist the story, offered by Reuters as legitimate, of workers in Budapest who drank a barrel of rum with a special flavor and then were mortified to find a pickled corpse at the bottom of the barrel. So we published it Thursday.

Readers soon began questioning the veracity of the tale and pointing out references to similar stories on urban legends sites."

Noir Night 2006

Okay, Blogger seems to be working again, and here's a photo from Noir Night. Jason Starr on the left, Reed Farrel Coleman on the right, and Ken Bruen in the middle. There was a good-sized crowd at Murder by the Book, and everyone seemed to have a fine time. For more photos of the event, click here. (And you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them if you want to get really up close and personal.)

Blogger Blues

Blogger is free. So I really have no right to complain. However, that's never stopped me before. I have photos from Noir Night that I can't post because Blogger has gone nuts. It's happening more and more often. And of course Blogger never acknowledges that there's anything wrong. But it's free.

You Don't Want to Miss This

Click on the image to enlarge it. Or for all the info, click here.

Judy and I watched Match Point the other day. I liked it, but I didn't love it. One reason is that I didn't find it filled with twists as apparently some reviewers did. In fact, at about the midway point, I said to Judy, "We both know where this is going. Why don't they cut to the chase?" After all, I've seen a lot of noir films and read a lot of Gold Medal novels. I've also seen A Place in the Sun, a movie of which I was strongly reminded. I'm sure the resemblance is deliberate, and I wonder if Woody Allen made Scarlett Johansson study Shelly Winters' performance in the earlier movie. She sort of plays her role the same way Winters did. But I digress. The plot was clever and well-constructed, but it didn't surprise me.

Another thing, and this is a terrible admission for me to make, is that I don't get Scarlett Johansson. I know, I know. She's supposed to be a hottie. She's supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world. And so on. Not to me. It couldn't be my age, could it? (Hey, you damn kids get off my lawn!) Anyway, because she leaves me cold, I didn't buy the attraction between her and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. To me, the supposedly hot scene in the rain was just silly. I'm also not impressed by Johansson's acting. She was adequate, but for me, that's about it.

I know I'm in a minority here. Can't help it. I'm glad I saw the movie, but it's not one I'll ever want to see again.

Dragon Precinct -- Keith R. A. DeCandido

I've enjoyed the fantasy novels by Glen Cook about a p.i. named Garrett, so Dragon Precinct seemed like it might be fun. It's more or less an attempt to come up with the fantasy novel equivalent of an 87th Precinct novel. Too bad it didn't work very well.

My problems with the book included characters that I didn't find very interesting, threads that didn't really develop, and an ending that comes from way out in left field (it's a variation on what Roger Ebert calls the "idiot plot," and it relies on someone's not giving essential information at the beginning of the investigation, information that would have rendered the rest of the book unnecessary).

What did I like? Well, the book concentrates on the procedural details instead of the magic angle, and the world-building isn't bad. All in all, though, the book wasn't strong enough to make me want to read another one in the series, assuming that one was ever published. DeCandido has written a ton of media tie-ins (Buffy, Star Trek, Farscape, Serenity, etc.), and this seems to have been an attempt to establish his own territory. Maybe it would work better for you than it did for me.

Smith & Wesson is Back on Top

A massive Smith & Wesson revolver. By Brendan I. Koerner: "Leading the way for Smith & Wesson was the Model 500, a .50-caliber revolver that was advertised as the world's most powerful handgun when it debuted in early 2003. The marketing pitch echoed that for the .44 Magnum revolver, which was touted for its unrivaled stopping power when it debuted in 1955. With three times the muzzle energy of Dirty Harry's classic .44 Magnum, the Model 500 was a success with both consumers and critics, earning Handgun of the Year honors from the likes of American Rifleman."

Noir Night 2006: Be There or Be Square

Monday, May 8, 6:00 p.m.
Houston's Mystery Book Store Since 1980 - Murder by the Book: "Ken Bruen, Steve Brewer, 2006 Edgar Award nominee Reed Farrel Coleman, Bill Crider, Peter Spiegelman, and Jason Starr."

New Issue of Hardluck Stories

Hardluck Stories - Best Hardboiled and Noir fiction: This time it's "Borderland Noir." Stories by Ken Bruen, Manuel Ramos, Mike MacLean, Teresa Kennedy, Craig McDonald, Bradly Mason Hamilton, Garnett Elliot, and Rick Deckard. Interview with James Crumley, and more. Check it out.

Nooky Update

houstonpress.com | News | Still Fighting: "Even after a year, the war between uptight Sugar Landers and a slightly risque business shows no signs of waning.

Once again Nooky's Erotic Bakery -- without a doubt the finest place in Fort Bend County to purchase a dick-shaped cake -- is finding itself in the crosshairs.

This time it's their reprehensible decision to actually put up a billboard advertising their store. A billboard with no pictures, and nothing racier than the words 'naughty' and 'erotic' on it."

The original story is here.

Shoutgun Opera -- Victor Gischler

I was slightly bemused by this blurb from PW that appears on the back cover of Shotgun Opera, the new Dell paperback from Victor Gischler, who's looking for a few "Gischler Virgins," by the way. The blurb, from a review of Suicide Squeeze says, "Gischler is a light and clever satirist . . . ." You can read my review of that book here. Somehow the phrase "light and clever satirist" is not one that would have leapt to mind as I read it. Sure, it's funny from time to time, but, well, never mind. Let's get to Shotgun Opera. Probably PW thinks this one is another of those light and clever satires. I found it to be a fast-moving chase novel with a really high body count, which is only to be expected when you're dealing with "the most dangerous woman in the world." Her job is to kill a few guys who happen to know that a terrorist is on the loose in the U.S. Before long we meet her murderous family, a deadly geezer who'd be right at home in Damned Near Dead, other assorted killers, and a few nice folks. There's even an assassin named Lee Goldberg, except that his show-biz name is Jack Spratt. But what really won my heart is the fact that Jack's (or Lee's) wife is an alligator wrestler. You simply can't go wrong with female alligator wrestlers. If you haven't read anything by Victor Gischler yet, you're missing out. Not to worry, though. He's going to be around for a while.

Cool Archeology News

Archeologists discover Maya tomb, defy looters - Yahoo! News: "EL PERU WAKA, Guatemala (Reuters) - Archeologists outsmarted tomb raiders to unearth a major Maya Indian royal burial site in the Guatemalan jungle, discovering jade jewelry and a jaguar pelt from more than 1,500 years ago.

The tomb, found by archeologist Hector Escobedo last week, contains a king of the El Peru Waka city, now in ruins and covered in thick rainforest teeming with spider monkeys.

He may have been the dynastic founder of the city, on major Mayan trade routes that could have stretched from the city of Tikal in Guatemala up through Mexico.

'If this is indeed the founder, then it is a discovery of a lifetime,' said David Freidel of Southern Methodist University in Texas, who co-directs the project with Escobedo."

From the datajunkie

datajunkie: Michael Shayne Part 1: "Oh yes.... we're not done with the crime rampage just yet... equal time for those top 'tecs we know and love (and would never invite into our houses, but we dig reading about their tough-guy antics none-the-less)."

Paperback and magazine covers, along with 12 episodes of the Shayne radio show. Part 2 is here, more covers, more shows. Mike Hammer soundtrack music is here. You might want to spend some time exploring the site. Lots of covers and other good stuff.

I'll Stick with Dr Pepper, Thanks

Pickled corpse tumbles out of rum barrel - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com: "BUDAPEST, Hungary - Hungarian builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine Web site reported.

According to online magazine www.zsaru.hu, workers in Szeged in the south of Hungary tried to move the barrel after they had drained it, only to find it was surprisingly heavy and were shocked when the body of a naked man fell out."

Stark House Press Strikes Again

Another great double from Stark House. Two classic Gold Medal novels from Vin Packer, for which she's written new introductions. You can't go wrong with this one. And it's a good-looking, well-made trade paperback.

The Movie Lover's Tour of Texas -- Veva Vonler

Disclaimer: I attended graduate school with Veva Vonler. Naturally that in no way influences what I have to say about her book. Which is great fun. It gives you a virtual tour of the Lone Star State via movies filmed here. Want a tour of Corpus Christi? Rent The Legend of Billie Jean. Austin and the Huntsville? The Life of David Gale. (Hey, nobody said these were good movies.) Nice scenes in San Antonio (River Walk, Alamo, etc)? Try Miss Congenialty. And so on.

The book is divided like a travel book, by the regions of Texas that are depicted in the movies. I found it all very interesting, and it does include a few movies about Texas that weren't filmed here (Red River comes to mind). There are even two indexes, one of the films and one of the places. Great for browsing and for armchair traveling. Check it out.

Yeah, Yeah, It's Another List

And actually not too bad.

Guardian Unlimited | Science | Top 10 sci-fi films: "Our expert panel votes for the top 10 sci-fi films"

Bob Dylan on XM

Okay, so I listened to Bob Dylan's new XM Radio show this moring. He's devoting each show to a specific theme, and today's was "weather." It was a great show. I haven't heard such a good variety of music in one radio hour in years. Dylan's a cool dj, too, making with the patter between songs. Here's a list of the artists on the first program: Muddy Waters, Jimmie Davis, Joe Jones, Dean Martin, the Prisonaires, The Consolers, Jimi Hendrix, Judy Garland, Irma Thomas, Slim Harpo, Lord Beginner, Fats Domino, the Spaniels, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, the Staples Singers, and the Carter Family. Every song a winner. I'll be listening next week for sure.

Another Don't-Miss Site for Paperback Covers

Australian Vintage Paperbacks: "This website, produced by Graeme Flanagan, author of Australian Vintage Paperback Guide, is devoted to several series of Australian vintage paperbacks, including the long-running Carter Brown and Larry Kent series, as well as the unique and fascinating Phantom Books series. New cover scans will be added on a regular basis. Click on any of the images below to enter different parts of the website."

Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger!

When I was a kid, the Kingston Trio hit it big. (I have some comments here.) Another group I liked a lot was the Weavers (Seeger is second from the right in the group's photo on the left). I loved their big hit "Goodnight, Irene" in the early '50s when I was just a kid, and later I got their live double LP, which is still in my closet even now. One of the Weavers was, of course, Pete Seeger, who had already been singing for years, including a stint in the Almanac Singers with Woody Guthrie. Seeger was a huge influence on the Kingston Trio, and thousands of others. He's 87 today, and I wish him well.

Anna in the News

From the NY Post. And in case you're wondering, I'm not guilty. New Anna Nicole battle aborning?

Anna Nicole Smith was in a Supreme Court fight over her late husband's estate, but her profile may be growing even more: We hear she's pregnant. Execs at Trimspa should be careful about scolding their diet program spokesmodel Anna Nicole Smith if she gains a few pounds. Sources say she has an airtight excuse: She's pregnant. If true, the former Playmate - who battled relatives of her late husband, J. Howard Marshall 2nd, at the Supreme Court over his estate - could be in for another scrap. Smith, 38, is said to have conceived the child with the help of a friend. "Anna's freaking out because she got pregnant by this guy, who's now saying, 'I want money and access to the kid,'" an insider tells our Gatecrashing colleague, Ben Widdicombe.

Another Mystery*File Update!

MYSTERY*FILE ON-LINE: "With Ed Gorman’s gracious consent, I will be taking over his series of ProFile interviews with (we hope) a long list of contemporary crime and detective fiction authors. The first to appear in this new sequence are the husband-and-wife co-authors of the “John the Eunuch” historical mystery series."

Faces of Meth

These are some scary photos! Thanks to Pop Culture Junk Mail for the link.

Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise

Judy and I watched Death in Paradise Sunday evening. I think this is the third movie that Tom Selleck has made based on Robert B. Parker's series of novels about Jesse Stone. As usual, Selleck was excellent. Watching the movie, I wished that he'd been cast as Spenser. I think he'd have done a heck of a job.

As the other two movies before it, this one followed the book pretty closely. That's both good and bad, since the plot was pretty thin in the book, and the movie didn't improve on it. There were a couple of narrative glitches that bothered me, too. Overall, I didn't like this one as much as the first two, but when Selleck does another one, I'll be watching.

Mystery*File Update

Seve Lewis at Mystery*File continues to do important work: "THE AUTHORS WHO WERE WADE MILLER: Robert Wade and Bill Miller." Another must-read, with cover scans, an interview, reviews, commentary, analysis, and a bibliography.

DVD News

I commented on this novel in its new Hard Case Crime edition here. Now I see that the movie's coming to DVD in June. Here's what Netflix says: "In director John Farrow's taut drama, insurance investigator Al Colby (Glenn Ford ) has taken an assignment that may be more complicated than he can handle. He's become a smuggler and must make his way from Havana to Mexico without being found out. Colby doesn't know what he's transporting and doesn't want to know until a shipboard murder forces him to ask more questions than he intended -- but doing so may endanger his life. Releases on DVD Jun 06, 2006."

I wonder if the new edition of the book had anything to do with the DVD? Whatever the case, I'm glad the movie's going to be available.

Justice Triumphs!

Supreme Court Backs Ex-Playmate's Effort: "The Supreme Court ruled Monday that one-time stripper and Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith could pursue part of her late husband's oil fortune.

Justices gave new legal life to Smith's bid to collect millions of dollars from the estate of J. Howard Marshall II. Her late husband's estate has been estimated at as much as $1.6 billion.

Smith has been embroiled in a long running cross-country court fight with Marshall's youngest son, E. Pierce Marshall. The court's decision, which was unanimous, means that it will not end anytime soon."

Happy Birthday, Glenn Ford!

So Glenn Ford turns 90 today. That means he was 39 when The Blackboard Jungle was released. I was 14, just the right age to see that movie. When "Rock Around the Clock" played over the opening credits, I knew I was in the right place at the right time. I liked the movie so much that I bought a paperback copy of the novel, which was even better and which began my long-term affection for the works of Evan Hunter. I went on to read Strangers When We Meet, A Matter of Conviction, Buddwing, and a number of others in the years after that. I was also reading Ed McBain, but at the time I didn't know that McBain and Hunter were one and the same.

But I digress. I was talking about Glenn Ford, right? I'd seen him before The Blackboard Jungle, in movies like The Man from the Alamo and The Big Heat, and he'd already made an impression on me. The Blackboard Jungle put him firmly among those actors I really liked, and he went on to make some movies that are still among my favorites: The Sheepman, 3:10 to Yuma, Don't Go Near the Water (another one that sent me to the book; William Brinkley wrote a couple of novels that I loved, including that one), Cowboy, Experiment in Terror. A lot of them, including Gilda, will be on TV this week. Click here for a schedule. Ford had a fine career, and I wish him the best today.

Incredibly Seductive -- Ennis Willie

I'll bet Incredibly Seductive wasn't Ennis Willie's original title for this book. Not that it's entirely misleading. It's just not the kind of title you give to a tough-guy mystery. Or at least not the kind I'd give.

It's hard to find books about Ennis Willie's most famous creation, Sand, and this one's about an ex-cop named Gard Hogan who’s irresistible to women of a certain type (“She shrugged and her breasts played games beneath the negligee”). He’s out to solve a murder, and if you’ve ever read a Mickey Spillane novel, you’re not going to have a bit of trouble spotting the killer. Hogan left the force because of some problems of his own, and now he's back in town with a vengeance.

Just so you know what you're in for, here's the opening paragraph: "The big man swung his right fist hard and the grin that had been stretched across the face of Louigi the Lump suddenly crumbled into broken teeth and blood. The blow slammed him against the sweating wall of his buck-a-day room, and sound of surprise and pain was just finding its way out of his throat as he bounced off." There's lots of action and a lengthy torture sequence. Ennis Willie did this stuff very well, but obviously it's not for everyone. Don't say you weren't warned.

Gardenias

Here's the obligatory (or should that be oblogatory? -- hahahahahaha!) annual photo of one of the backyard bushes in bloom. We'll have a lot more blossoms before long, since some of the bushes bloom a bit later.

Happy Belated Birthday, Ann-Margret!

Okay, I'm a day late with this, but only because the thought of Ann-Margret turning 65 depressed me so much I didn't post it. I like to think that she's still exactly the way she was when she filmed Kitten with a Whip or Viva Las Vegas. And in fact to me she still is. Take that, Father Time.

Crocodile Chainsaw Massacre!

Cranky croc snatches chainsaw from man: "Cranky croc snatches chainsaw from man
Friday Apr 28 17:00 AEST

A crocodile agitated by a chainsaw's noise has chased the man operating it and snatched the machinery from him.

Freddy Buckland was at a Northern Territory roadhouse on Friday cutting a dead tree that had fallen against a saltwater crocodile pen during Cyclone Monica when the 4.4-metre reptile struck.

'As he was trimming up the tree on the outside the croc jumped out of the water and sped along the tree about 18, 20 feet and actually grabbed the chainsaw out of his hands,' said Peter Shappert, the owner of the Corroboree Park Tavern, 80km east of Darwin."

Happy Birthday, Harper Lee

Harper Lee is, of course, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my favorite books. Here are a few amazing facts about it from The Writer's Almanac: Today, To Kill a Mockingbird sells about a million copies every year, and it's sold over thirty million copies since its publication. In 1963, just three years after its publication, it was taught in eight percent of U.S. public middle schools and high schools, and today that figure is closer to eighty percent. Only Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Huckleberry Finn are read by more high school students.

Mystery*File Update

MYSTERY*FILE ON-LINE: "We're back. Due to circumstances beyond our control -- it's a long story, which means I don't understand the technical stuff -- we were off-line all morning. If you tried to access any pages uploaded over the past few days, including the latest revisions to this page, you couldn't. I hope you will try again!"

Mystery*File seems to have suffered a little downtime (I was able to get to the site most of the time, myself), but things are going well again, so check it out. The latest article to be added is an overview of Robert Crais' Elvis Cole novels.

The '60s Redux

You can listen (for free) to Neil Young's new CD here. Shades of the '60s. (Link via Eschaton.)

From MWA: The Winners

It gives us great pleasure to announce the winners of the 2006 Edgar® Awards (for books, short stories, TV episodes, etc.) published in 2005. BEST NOVEL Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Regan Books) BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR Officer Down by Theresa Schwegel (St. Martin's Minotaur) BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford (Dark Alley) BEST FACT CRIME Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick (Harper Collins) BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak (Harcourt) BEST SHORT STORY "The Catch" – Greatest Hits by James W. Hall (Carroll & Graf) BEST CHILDRENS The Boys of San Joaquin by D. James Smith (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books) BEST YOUNG ADULT Last Shot by John Feinstein (Knopf Books for Young Readers) BEST PLAY Matter of Intent by Gary Earl Ross (Theater Loft) BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY Sea of Souls – "Amulet", Teleplay by Ed Whitmore BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY Syriana – Screenplay by Stephen Gaghan, based on the book by Robert Baer (Warner Brothers)

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions -- Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen's new CD, a tribute to Pete Seeger, is the kind of thing that would have given the folkies of my day apoplexy. I mean, like, man, it's not "authentic." It's not just one guy with an acoustic guitar (which Springsteen has done before, more than once, most recently on Devils and Dust). It's a guy and a chorus and a band. Guitars, sure, but also barrelhouse piano, horns, accordion, maybe a washboard, lots of other instruments. Some of the songs have been given a Dixieland feel, while others are more zydeco. I like 'em all.

Supposedly Springsteen heard most if not all these songs for the first time on albums by Pete Seeger. I heard at least four of them on Kingston Trio albums back in the day, and one on albums by both Burl Ives and the Brothers 4. Springsteen doesn't do them like any of those guys did. He does them like Springsteen. I find it hard to single out one song I like more than the others. There's the Dust Bowl humor of "My Oklahoma Home," the grade-school nostalgia kick from "Erie Canal," the church group nostalgia from "Jacob's Ladder," the kick-out-the jams fun of "Old Dan Tucker," "Oh, Mary, Don't you Weep," "Old Dan Tucker," "Pay Me My Money Down," "John Henry," and "Jesse James." There's the quiet power of "Mrs. McGrath," "Shenandoah," "Eyes on the Prize," and the title cut. The whole album is loosey-goosey, and it sounds like everybody involved is having a heck of a good time, which is just the way a folk album should sound. Sure, some of the songs are solemn, and I'm certain there are contemporary political references to be inferred, but I don't see how anybody could listen without smiling most of the time. In fact, I think I'll listen to it again right now.

Another New Drive-In Theater for Texas

Chron.com | Drive-in theater makes its debut: "Drive-in theater makes its debut
Show Boat attracts nearly 1,000 to its opening night

By TODD HVEEM
Chronicle Correspondent

The Show Boat Drive-In Theater has put on quite a show during its first few weeks.

Make that two shows.

The Show Boat Drive-In, 22422 FM 2920 between Bauer and Roberts Cemetery roads, drew just under 1,000 spectators to its 'grand opening' on March 31.

The drive-in featured the movies Ice Age 2 and Failure to Launch. It will continue to show double features Wednesdays through Sundays each week.

'Everything has gone great so far,' said Show Boat co-owner Chris Rumfolo. 'We have received a lot of positive feedback. Everyone is real excited about it.

'The ones who are coming with their kids are so thrilled the drive-in is coming back. The younger ones who have never been to a drive-in before are just fascinated.'

Those new to the drive-in have provided some good-natured humor.

'They don't know how to park,' Rumfolo said. 'They also don't know they can stay for the second movie. A lot of them think they have to go get back in line again."

This one doesn't have the speakers on poles, though. You have to listen through the car radio.

Wanna Buy the Lone Ranger's Pistols?

Chron.com | Classic Western items going on the auction block near Waller: "John Reedy reaches into a stack of clutter and pulls out a faded framed photo of himself, grinning widely next to a good-looking older man about the same height.

'There's Roy,' Reedy said, pointing to Western star Roy Rogers, 'and there's me. I never stopped smiling with him.'

For 60-year-old Reedy, what started as Saturday afternoons at the movies with his brothers became a consuming passion for the classic Hollywood West, ultimately manifested in a massive collection of memorabilia and a closeness to genre stars including Rogers, Rex Allen and Clayton Moore.

It's strange, he said, being star-struck by men you call friends.

'I was always cowboy crazy,' Reedy said. 'I get misty-eyed when I think about it.'

Those friends and other stars of the genre may now be gone, but their memories — and belongings — remain. On Saturday, Reedy will open up his personal collection for an estate auction, giving the community a chance at everything from the Lone Ranger costume worn by Moore in a 1956 movie to more than 40 pieces by Edward H. Bohlin, 'the saddlemaker and silversmith for the Hollywood stars.'"

Not That There's Anything Wrong with That

New Jersey 101.5 FM Radio: "A federal judge has dismissed a cross-dressing Atlantic County corrections officer's civil rights and harassment lawsuit.

Gregory DePiano said his civil rights were violated because the county kept two photos in his personal file of him wearing a red bra, black blouse, red lipstick and earrings. He was sitting on a bed with handcuffs and stuffed animals nearby. "

Burn -- Sean Doolittle

Andrew Kindler is escaping his past by hiding in plain sight in Southern California. Anybody who's ever read a mystery novel or seen an old western movie knows you can't escape the past, however, and Kindler's catches up with him in an unexpected way. He finds himself involved in a murder, too, one that everybody seems to think he knows something about. He doesn't, but that doesn't keep him from getting involved.

I liked this book for a couple of reasons. Doolittle can be funny without going over the top, and he fills the story with interesting characters. I like the writing style, straighforward and lean. The book went on for a little too long for my taste, and the tying up of the plot didn't really satisfy me, but I plan to read another of Doolittle's books Real Soon Now.

Happy Birthday, Maurice Williams!

Maurice Williams is 68 years old today. He's the author of the best 1:38 single ever released, and he sang lead with the Zodiacs on the recording. One of the greats.

The Gator Should Have Pled Self-Defense

local6.com - News - Alligator Bites Golf Ball Diver In Florida:

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - -- "A diver hired by the city to retrieve golf balls from a lake was attacked by a 9-foot alligator that bit the man's arm, authorities said.

Stephen Martinez, 43, of Coral Springs, was treated at a hospital for injuries similar to a dog bite, said Palm Beach County sheriff's Lt. Rolando Silva.

'It's serious, but certainly not life-threatening,' he said.

Martinez was under murky water at The Links golf course when a group of golfers heard him yell for help, said course manager Dan Hager.

The alligator apparently bit Martinez's air tank and tried to pull him under the water. Martinez grabbed a utility knife strapped to his dive suit and tried to stab the animal. That's when it bit his arm, Hager said."

Side by Side #5 (by Request)

Side by Side #4

Mystery*File Update

MYSTERY*FILE ON-LINE: "In the first installment of Bill Crider’s column in which he reviews Gold Medal paperbacks of the 1950s, neither of two books he reviews are Gold Medal paperbacks of the 1950s. Can you guess who the authors might be? Hint: Their last names are Pronzini and Gorman. Reprinted from Mystery*File 40."

There's always so much going on at Mystery*File that it should be on your "check every day" list.

The Family Circus plus H. P. Lovecraft = ?

Scott Cupp sent me this link. Family Circus cartoons with captions provided by H. P. Lovecraft. Talk about your Unholy Duos! Check it out.

Happy Birthday, Howard Garis!

If Howard Garis was still around, he'd be 133 years old. Who, the youngsters are asking, is Howard Garis? Just a guy who had a huge influence on my life, though I never met him. Garis was a writer. He created a character I loved as a kid, Uncle Wiggily, the kindly old rabbit gentleman. I even had an Uncle Wiggily board game. Other characters in the books were Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the Alligator, and Baby Bunny. But Garis wrote a ton of other things. He was the first "Victor Appleton" and wrote the first thirty-five Tom Swift books. He wrote most of the Motor Boys series, not to mention a lot of the Bobbsey Twins books (his wife wrote more of them than he did). And that's not nearly all. Baseball Joe and Dick Hamilton were also Garis characters. He wrote the Great Marvel series as Roy Rockwood (and maybe some of the Bomba books under that name, too). Most of these books have been long forgotten except by old codgers like me who read them in their misspent youth. They seemed wonderful to me then, bu it's probably better that I don't re-read them.

Happy Anniversary, Heartbreak Hotel!

TorontoSun.com - Other Entertainment News - This week in entertainment history, April 23-29: "1956 Elvis Presley reached No. 1 on the charts for the first time, with Heartbreak Hotel. It was Presley's first hit for RCA Victor after the company purchased his contract from Sam Phillips of Sun Records for $35,000."

Malcolm Braly from Stark House

When I posted the list of upcoming publications from Stark House the other day, I forgot to mention the current double dose of Malcolm Braly. These are two excellent novels, originally Gold Medal originals, and both are highly recommended. You can order the book here. And I should mention, if I haven't already (and even if I have) that these are beautiful, well-made books, trade paperbacks that you'll be happy to own and have as part of any collection.

Okay, It's Official . . .

. . . the world has gone to hell in a handbasket. Or maybe I'm just a crotchety old fart. You can vote here for the new landmarks and so on. They don't have a "Don't Change a Thing" category.

From USA Today: Monopoly, invented in 1935, is undergoing gentrification. For the game's Here and Now edition (due this fall, $30), Atlantic City landmarks go national, property values are up and the metal tokens are modern.

Beginning today, fans can vote (at www.monopoly.com through May 12) for landmarks from 22 cities — including New York's Times Square, Chicago's Wrigley Field and Honolulu's Waikiki Beach — to be on the new board. Votes also will determine placement; the top vote-getter gets the high-priced Boardwalk spot.

Happy Birthday, Roy Orbison!

My brother decided to have a party in honor of what would have been Roy Orbison's 70th birthday, April 22. He rented the Civic Center in Mexia, Texas, our hometown, and invited just about everybody he knew. Naturally I couldn't resist attending.

The star attraction was, of course, a performance by Roy Orbison, or at least a reasonable facsimile of same. He was great, and he's pictured at the left with a couple of my high school classmates, Claudia Moss New and Mary Clark Mortimer. A great time was had by all.

Horror of Dracula

Yes, while you're using your Netflix membership to get obscure black and white European movies with subtitles, I'm wallowing in trash. But for some reason I just felt a need to see Horror of Dracula again. It's one of the best-known of the Hammer horror movies, and for good reason. Christopher Lee is great as Dracula, the best ever in my opinion. And Peter Cushing is the definitive Van Helsing. (We won't even speak of Hugh Jackman.) The Victorian period detail is superb, the score is rousing, and the color photography is wonderful. What more could you want?

Oh. The story. Well, let's face it: the plot has undergone some radical changes from Stoker's book. That's okay. The spirit remains. And while I was bothered by a couple of little inconsistencies, they didn't bother Judy at all. So why complain?

While Horror of Dracula was considered ground-breakingly gory when it first appeared (1958), I think current audiences for horror movies would find it bland. There's really very little blood, and the director never goes for the gross-out scene. It's all rather tasteful, which I think works in the movie's favor. Take a look at the looks on the faces of those sexually repressed Victorian women when Dracula approaches. That's really all you need. Anything else would be overkill, so to speak. Check it out.

MooTube

Todd Mason has alerted me to MooTube. Toward the end of his life, my father developed an interest in Texas Longhorn cattle and bought a few for his ranch. My brother still has some of them on the property.

(Wallis, TX; April 20, 2006) — Joining the stampede to create new content platforms, PBS today announced the launch of MooTube.com, the first 24/7 inside look at the daily life of Texas Longhorn cattle. Beginning April 20^th, visitors to the site will get an exclusive, bovine’s-eye-view, as wireless cow-cams, attached to the Longhorns’ collars, reveal the day-to-day intrigues of life on the range.

Your Homeland Security Tax Dollars at Work

Is this a great country, or what?

From the Washington Times: Fire departments are using Homeland Security grants to buy gym equipment, sponsor puppet and clown shows, and turn first responders into fitness trainers.

The spending choices are allowable under the guidelines of the Assistance to Firefighters grant administered by the Homeland Security Department, which has awarded nearly 250 grants since February totaling more than $25 million out of the current spending pot of $545 million.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff vowed to redirect grant spending based on risk of a terrorist attack, but Congress has ignored his pleas, federal officials say.

"The administration has not supported the funding for physical fitness equipment as part of the fire grant program," says Marc Short, Homeland Security spokesman. "Physical fitness is an individual responsibility."

The Bush administration has specifically asked Congress not to allow funding for physical fitness, but the members who run Congress' appropriation committees keep inserting the language into the department's budget, officials say.