Thursday, May 30, 2013
Dead Dudes Dig Dope
NBC News: Nearly two pounds of still-green plant material found in a 2,700-year-old grave in the Gobi Desert has just been identified as the world's oldest marijuana stash, according to a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany.
Mosaic in Morocco: Inlaid Leather Bindings
Mosaic in Morocco: Inlaid Leather Bindings on AbeBooks: Leather has been a common and traditional material used in bookbinding for centuries and centuries. It's pliable, can be stretched and cut easily, absorbs dye, and adds to the beauty and aesthetic appeal of a volume. While not without its problems - susceptibility to extreme temperatures, moisture and humidity, light exposure and more - leather is still often the binder's choice for fine jobs, though synthetic equivalents are popular as well as various cloths.
Forgotten Music: "The Late Great Johnny Ace"
There's a Texas connection. You can read his story here: Music History #23: "The Late Great Johnny Ace"
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Jack Vance
The death of Jack Vance wasn't surprising, given his age, but like anybody else who admired his books, I sort of hoped he'd just keep on going forever.
I never met Vance in person, but I've been reading his novels and stories since around 1955. The first novel of his I remember reading is Big Planet, in the Ace Double edition of 1958. I read a lot more of them after that, and I never read one I didn't like. In the early '70s, I ran across another Ace book, The Fox Valley Murders, by John Holbrook Vance. I knew that was Jack Vance's full name, so I grabbed the book and read it. It's about Joe Bain, a sheriff in a small county in California. I really liked it, and I don't doubt that there's something of Joe Bain in Sheriff Dan Rhodes.
A year or so ago, maybe a bit more, out of the blue, I got a phone call from Vance. I told him how much I loved his books, and he mentioned that he liked mine, too. What a great feeling that was. He told me that he could no longer write because of his near blindness, but that he could still make music. To prove it, he played me a number on the uke and kazoo. Fun stuff. He called again a couple of times, and each time was as much of a thrill for me as the last. He made a old guy feel like a fanboy again.
If you've never read anything by Vance, I hardly know where you should start. Maybe with The Dying Earth, a wonderful collection that influenced generations of fantasy writers. Or with just about anything. You can hardly go wrong with Vance, either for the story or the writing. What a stylist the guy was, one of the best ever. Even though he was 96, he left way too soon.
I never met Vance in person, but I've been reading his novels and stories since around 1955. The first novel of his I remember reading is Big Planet, in the Ace Double edition of 1958. I read a lot more of them after that, and I never read one I didn't like. In the early '70s, I ran across another Ace book, The Fox Valley Murders, by John Holbrook Vance. I knew that was Jack Vance's full name, so I grabbed the book and read it. It's about Joe Bain, a sheriff in a small county in California. I really liked it, and I don't doubt that there's something of Joe Bain in Sheriff Dan Rhodes.
A year or so ago, maybe a bit more, out of the blue, I got a phone call from Vance. I told him how much I loved his books, and he mentioned that he liked mine, too. What a great feeling that was. He told me that he could no longer write because of his near blindness, but that he could still make music. To prove it, he played me a number on the uke and kazoo. Fun stuff. He called again a couple of times, and each time was as much of a thrill for me as the last. He made a old guy feel like a fanboy again.
If you've never read anything by Vance, I hardly know where you should start. Maybe with The Dying Earth, a wonderful collection that influenced generations of fantasy writers. Or with just about anything. You can hardly go wrong with Vance, either for the story or the writing. What a stylist the guy was, one of the best ever. Even though he was 96, he left way too soon.
Jack Vance, R. I. P.
Jack Vance Website - Home: Jack Vance passed away at home on the evening of Sunday May 26, 2013, ending a long, rich and productive life. Recognized most widely as an author, family and friends also knew a generous, large-hearted, rugged, congenial, hard-working, optimistic and unpretentious individual whose curiosity, sense of wonder and sheer love of life were an inspiration in themselves. Author, friend, father and grandfather – there will never be another like Jack Vance.
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
Listen to a podcast featuring Barry here.
Streets of Blood (Dead Man #18): Barry Napier, Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Matt Cahill was an ordinary man leading a simple life until a shocking accident changed everything. Now he can see a nightmarish netherworld that exists within our own. Now he's on a dangerous quest for the answers to who he is and what he has become...and engaged in an epic battle to save us, and his soul, from the clutches of pure evil.
An elderly, bed-ridden woman in a retirement home is having nightmares of a dark, devilish entity tormenting her and her childhood friends in a dreamscape that's as familiar to her as it is terrifying. She's not the only one having the dreams. Matt Cahill is, too, and when he arrives in town, he discovers a community torn apart by gruesome violence, its residents in the grip of an evil force unlike any Matt has encountered before...one that's even beyond the touch of Mr. Dark.
Uh-Oh
The Flintstones wrestle their way back to big screen: The Hanna-Barbera favourites are set for another film adventure, courtesy of World Wrestling Entertainment
Hat tip to Fred Zackel.
Hat tip to Fred Zackel.
It Was Handy When He Wanted to Jot Something Down
German clinic: Man had pencil in head for 15 years
Hat tip to Art Scott, who says, "Wasn't Pencil Head a Dick Tracy villain?"
Hat tip to Art Scott, who says, "Wasn't Pencil Head a Dick Tracy villain?"
Django Unchained
Right at the beginning we see writing on the screen that says the year is 1858 "two years before the beginning of the Civil War." Right away we know that we're in a parallel universe, since the Civil War in this universe started in 1861, three years after the time of the movie.
Also, Lubbock, Texas, is mentioned. Lubbock didn't exist in this universe in 1858 or for about 20 years after that date. So that's another clue.
And we learn that the opening scene is set somewhere in East Texas and that the closest town is 37 miles away. A wounded guy later asks to be taken to the doctor in El Paso, which is more like 837 miles away in our world. So, parallel universe.
Check out the weapons used in the movie by just about anybody. Did they exist in our world in 1858. Nope. Mandingo fighters? Same thing.
So this was one of the big SF movies of last year. I thought it was okay. I especially liked one scene, the one that was obviously
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Give This Youngster a Listen
▶ Paige Shannon: Singer/Song writer, Paige Shannon is releasing her first EP titled, "13". Don't let her age fool you. The EP consists of incredible vocals, complimented by folk-style acoustic melodies.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
NYTimes.com: The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, punched a constituent in the face after being called the Portuguese equivalent of “excrement” in a dispute before stunned diners at a Japanese restaurant.
The Way We Live Now
Suspicious package found on Scottsdale tennis court posed no threat: Twenty firefighters responded to the scene.
Hazardous material technicians monitored the area and Scottsdale police had a K-9 sniff the suspicious item but nothing hazardous was found.
Authorities determined it was an empty U.S. Postal Service box that posed no hazard or threat.
Hazardous material technicians monitored the area and Scottsdale police had a K-9 sniff the suspicious item but nothing hazardous was found.
Authorities determined it was an empty U.S. Postal Service box that posed no hazard or threat.
Archaeology Update (Hairdo Edition)
Baltimore ‘hairdo archeologist’ cracks Roman hairdressing code: Janet Stephens likes to say she has a secret identity. By day she’s a mild-mannered hairdresser in Baltimore, Maryland. But a museum trip led her to become a “hairdo archeologist,” unraveling the secrets of the elaborate braided hairstyles favored by women in ancient Rome.
Edwardian First Editions
AbeBooks: Edwardian First Editions: The Edwardian era began with Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 and stretched until 1910 when Edward VII died. A mere nine years hardly constitutes anything worthwhile but it was a period of immense change and memorable literature. First editions from this era are plentiful and easy to find. First editions, complete with dust jackets, from this era are scarce and more expensive.
Overlooked Movies -- Steamboat Round the Bend
Judy and I watched Steamboat Round the Bend on Public Television many years ago, and there are parts of it that we've never forgotten. We even quote it to each other now and then. One reason I enjoyed it was that I'd never seen Will Rogers in a movie before, and he was still remembered and talked about by a lot of people in my family as I was growing up. My father was a bit of an aviation buff as a boy, and a story he repeated often was about the time he met Wiley Post, the pilot of the plane in the crash that killed both him and Rogers in the same year this movie appeared.
The plot involves Rogers as a con man whose nephew is in real trouble. Rogers needs to raise some money to pay the nephew's legal fees, so he puts some wax dummies from a defunct museum in a steamboat and travels the Mississippi, pulling at small towns to exhibit his dummies and make a little money. Each stop leads to some (usually) humorous situation, but the laughs are not generally the slapstick kind. It's gentle humor, which is in keeping with Rogers' persona. Some of the other players get most of the laughs, in fact. The movie was directed by John Ford, so if you think it's going to be melodramatic and sentimental, you won't be disappointed.
Will Rogers wasn't a trained actor, or much of an actor at all, but he does just fine playing someone who's more or less himself. I was interested to see Irwin S. Cobb, who's better known (to me, anyway) as a writer than an actor. He's just fine, and so is the rest of the supporting cast. Most of them are better than good.
Steamboat Round the Bend is going on 80 years old now, so it's definitely old-fashioned. I can't imagine an audience of young people sitting still for it, but for an old guy like me, it's just fine. I love the look of the steamboats and the river, and it would be hard to get that look now, if not impossible. If you're up for a bit of nostalgia, check this one out.
Marshall Lytle, R. I. P.
Marshall Lytle, bass player for Comets and Jodimars, dies at 79: When rock ’n’ roll pioneer Bill Haley refused to give three members of his Comets band $50-a-week raises in 1955, he opened the door for those talented musicians to walk out and create what became a Las Vegas lounge act legend — the Jodimars.
Monday, May 27, 2013
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
Amazon.com: Get Hit, Hit Back (Fight Card) eBook: Jack Tunney, John Kenyon, Paul Bishop, Mel Odom: Kindle Store: Ottumwa, Iowa 1954 Griffin McCann's small-town world is rocked when the bank where he works as a guard is robbed. He chases the robbers out of the bank and into a gun battle, leaving one hood dead and one on the lam. Left alone with a dead robber and a bag full of cash, McCann makes a rash decision ...
Knowing he’s made a bad mistake, McCann wants to return the money, but life is never that simple. He needs a plan, so he turns to the one thing he knows best – boxing. Now, his moment of weakness has put him in the ring against a deadly opponent who wants to destroy him.
But McCann remembers the most important thing Father Tim, the battling priest, taught him back at St. Vincent’s Asylum For Boys in Chicago: When you get hit, hit back ...
Morris Renek, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Morris Renek, a critically admired New York novelist who wrote comic tales about historical criminals and modern urban life but never achieved the commercial success many thought he deserved, died on May 10 in Manhattan. He was 88.
Australia Update
WSJ.com: A fading mining boom may be taking the gloss off Australia's resource-rich economy but the country has retained the title of happiest industrialized nation in the world.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
Rice ruckus lands PSL woman in sticky situation: An apparent flap over rice between sisters erupted into a battle involving an iron, a pot and a broomstick, according to statements in a recently released arrest affidavit.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
And Keep Off His Lawn!
Outnumbered by the girls, he's the last man standing: With the death in Barbados on Thursday of James Emmanuel ''Doc'' Sisnett, at the age of 113 years and 90 days, Jiroemon Kimura, of Japan, has become the last man alive to have been born in the 19th century.
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Cave Art Update
Ancient cave art unearthed in Mexico: In the mountains of northeastern Mexico, archaeologists have unearthed thousands of ancient paintings on the walls of caves and ravines from a time before Spanish rule.
I Miss the Old Days
Paris Hilton plunders the '70s for fashion inspiration as she jets out of LAX in floppy hat and maxi dress
Hat tip to fashion maven Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to fashion maven Jeff Meyerson.
Memorial Day
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Here's the Plot for Your Next Con Man Thriller
Fake cop scams seniors out of nearly half a million dollars with faux ‘sting operations’ | The Raw Story: Police in Washington state are searching for a man who they say has scammed seniors out of nearly a half a million dollars by pretending to be a police officer, recruiting unsuspecting victims for faux “sting operations” involving large cash transfers.
It begins as a phone scam, police told The Seattle Post Intelligencer. Introducing himself as either Sgt. Drumbowski or Capt. Jack Truska, the conman preys mainly on elderly women with claims of a counterfeit money investigation that he needs help with.
It begins as a phone scam, police told The Seattle Post Intelligencer. Introducing himself as either Sgt. Drumbowski or Capt. Jack Truska, the conman preys mainly on elderly women with claims of a counterfeit money investigation that he needs help with.
Ed Shaughnessy, R. I. P.
'Tonight Show' Drummer Ed Shaughnessy Dies at 84 - The Hollywood Reporter: Ed Shaughnessy, a longtime drummer for The Tonight Show band, died at age 84 of a heart attack while at home Friday in Calabasas, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reports.
The jazz drummer played in Doc Severinsen's band from 1963 to 1992. Shaughnessy performed drums for artists as varied as Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash, and Oscar Peterson, the Percussive Arts Society noted in a hall of fame profile.
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
The jazz drummer played in Doc Severinsen's band from 1963 to 1992. Shaughnessy performed drums for artists as varied as Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash, and Oscar Peterson, the Percussive Arts Society noted in a hall of fame profile.
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
Here's the Plot for Your Next Great ImposterThriller
And once again Texas leads the way.
Fort Worth police say ‘Colonel Mike’ created an elaborate ruse about a military ca...
Fort Worth police say ‘Colonel Mike’ created an elaborate ruse about a military ca...
Illuminated Manuscripts on AbeBooks
Illuminated Manuscripts on AbeBooks: The word manuscript comes from the Latin manu scriptum, which translates literally to "written with hands". It typically refers to any document produced manually, through handwriting, chiseling or other method, without the use of machines. An illuminated manuscript is any manuscript whose text is accompanied by decoration. It originally referred only to silver or gilt adornments, but came to be acceptable terminology for any manuscript with drawings, paintings or decorations such as ornate initials, borders, floral accoutrements and the like. Often the illuminations would depict a historical or rural/pastoral scene.
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