For Your Afternoon Snacking Pleasure

The World's Largest Gummy Bear: A 5 pound gummi bear!: "The World's Largest Gummy Bear is the lion of the candy world. There is no candy more magnificent or more powerful. This five-pound beast is the equivalent of 1,400 regular sized gummy bears and packs a whopping 12,600 calories."

The Old Man and the Sea

The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor |
Splitting an Order
by Ted Kooser: "It was on this day in 1952 that Ernest Hemingway (books by this author) came out with his last novel, The Old Man and the Sea."

My grandmother subscribed to Life Magazine. Since she lived only a few blocks from us, we visited her several times a week, and I always read her copies of Life. Or looked at the pictures, since that's mostly what Life contained, or so it seemed to me. But one issue in 1952 was different. It had a really long story in it, "The Old Man and the Sea." I can still remember what some of the illustrations for the story looked like (and if it didn't have illustrations, don't tell me; I remember illustrations, so, by golly, there were illustrations). I was only eleven at the time, and I'm sure I didn't get all the important symbolism and stuff, but I read the story. I'd heard of Hemingway, but I'd never read anything by him. I thought it was pretty good. It was years before I read anything by him again, but the next thing was "Big Two-Hearted River." After that, I was a real fan.

Who You Callin' "Elderly"?

Elderly woman leads high speed chase on I-90: "An elderly woman led Montana Highway Patrol officers on a hair-raising, high-speed chase along Interstate 94 from Pompey's Pillar to Lockwood Monday afternoon.

Olive Nightingale, a 65-year-old from Park Hills, Mo., was driving west on I-94 when Montana Highway Patrol Officer Justin R. Kirchheck spotted her at 1 p.m. He clocked her white, 2007 Pontiac GT at 111 mph."

Hat tip to Richard Wheeler.

Top 5 Menu Items Most Likely to Contain Parasites

Top 5 Menu Items Most Likely to Contain Parasites - MSN Encarta

Only one of these is likely to threaten me.
Hat tip to Jeff Segal.

I Don't Know Much about Art . . . .

3 News > Odd News > Story > Losers complain about winning 'rubbish' artwork: "Artists are outraged at a piece of art which has won a Waikato award and $15,000, the controversial piece is a pile of discarded wrapping and scraps from other entries.

The piece, 'Collateral', which won the Waikato National Contemporary Art Award, was entered by Berlin-based Dane Mitchell, who won $15,000 for his effort - or lack of.

Mitchell wrote a message to Waikato Museum art gallery staff asking them to collect the discarded wrapping of other entries and tip it on the floor. That was his entry, the Waikato Times reported."

Dune

First the Giant Rat, and Now This

Turtle thought to be extinct spotted in Myanmar - Yahoo! Singapore News: "The rare Arakan forest turtle, once though to be extinct, has been rediscovered in a remote forest in Myanmar, boosting chances of saving the reptile after hunting almost destroyed its population, researchers said Monday.

Texas researcher Steven Platt and staff from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society discovered five of the brown-and-tan-spotted turtles in May during a survey of wildlife in the Rakhine Yoma Elephant Sanctuary."

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats � The Broken Bullhorn

Rick Robinson reviews some of my favorite T. S. Eliot works.

Hard Case Crime Update and Drawing

Friends,

As the heat of summer crests and recedes, we're entering another torrid season: Hard Case Crime's biggest fall season ever. Over the next four months, we've got four original novels coming out (the most we've ever published back-to-back). They are:

* LOSERS LIVE LONGER by Russell Atwood (in stores now!)
* HONEY IN HIS MOUTH by Lester Dent
* QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE by Max Allan Collins
* THE CORPSE WORE PASTIES by Jonny Porkpie

The last two won't be in stores till Halloween and Thanksgiving, respectively -- but if you'd like to get your hands on a copy of one of them earlier than that, you'll be glad to hear that we're going to be giving away a dozen free ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) of each.

The drawing's a little different this time, though. In the interest of trying out new ways to spread the word about Hard Case Crime, this particular drawing involves the Internet service Twitter. (Don't have a Twitter account yet? You can create one for free at www.twitter.com. It takes maybe 30 seconds.)

Here's what you need to do to be entered in the drawing:

STEP 1: Using Twitter, post a message telling all the people who follow you about Hard Case Crime. You can say whatever you like (even "I'm just doing this to enter a drawing!"), but please include the address of our Web site -- www.HardCaseCrime.com -- in your post, so that your friends can see what we're all about. (And if you want to post something that makes them tempted to pick up one of our books for themselves, such as naming your favorite book in the series or telling them what you like about Hard Case Crime, we certainly won't object.) If enough of you post on the same day, "Hard Case Crime" might even become one of the "popular topics" listed at the bottom of Twitter's home page, and who knows how many people might discover us then...

STEP 2: Send an e-mail to drawing@hardcasecrime.com, letting us know what your user name on Twitter is, so we can go to your page and see that you've completed Step 1. Also let us know which book you'd prefer to receive -- QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE or THE CORPSE WORE PASTIES -- and the name and address to which you'd like the book mailed if your entry is selected.

At 5PM (New York time) on September 30 we'll randomly select a dozen people who requested QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE and another dozen who requested THE CORPSE WORE PASTIES, and will mail them each the free book they chose.

Sound like something you'd like to try? Then go ahead and make that Twitter post -- and let us know about it before September 30.

Oh, and if you're not sure which of QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE or THE CORPSE WORE PASTIES you'd prefer? You can find a sample chapter from each at our Web site (again, it's www.HardCaseCrime.com).

And while you're there, you might enjoy seeing the cover (and a sample chapter) of the latest new book we've added to the site: NOBODY'S ANGEL by Shamus Award finalist Jack Clark. This was his first novel, and he never published it professionally -- he was working as a cabdriver in Chicago at the time, and what he did was print up 500 copies of the book himself and sell them one by one to his fares when they got in his cab. Other than those 500 copies, hand-sold by the author well over a decade ago, the book has never seen the light of day...and it should have, since it's an amazing, beautifully written, heartbreaking book -- truly some of the finest pure noir storytelling I've seen in ages. We're very excited to be bringing this book to stores for the first time ever in 2010 -- and if you visit our Web site, you can get a taste of it today...

Best,
Charles
----------
Charles Ardai
Editor, Hard Case Crime

P.S. If you'd like to follow my posts on Twitter, just go to www.twitter.com, search for "Charles Ardai" and then click the "FOLLOW" button.

The Giant Rat of Papua

Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea | Environment | The Guardian: "A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world."

Link via Tim Byrd at Under an Outlaw Moon.

The Tedious and the Terrible

Paste Presents the Slowest Movies Of All Time, Pt. 1: The Tedious and Terrible :: List of the Day :: Paste: "For our examination of the best and worst in slow cinema, we’ve decided to take our time. Today we’ll roll examine the tedious and the terrible. Tomorrow we’ll unveil slow films worth your time—the meditative and the marvelous."

I Plan to Run a Few Photos of My Cats

Urlesque Announces A Day Without Cats on 9.9.09 (Video) - Urlesque - Internet Trends, Viral Videos, Memes and Web Culture: "After getting inspired by our friends at Asylum, Urlesque is organizing a web-wide ban on cat-related coverage on 9.9.09 -- A Day Without Cats on the Internet."

Be Prepared

Scouts to no longer bring penknives on camping trips - Telegraph: "Scouts will now be a little worse prepared after they were banned from carrying their traditional penknives due to the fears of those in charge of health and safety.

New advice published in Scouting, the official in-house magazine, says neither Scouts nor their parents should bring penknives to camp except in 'specific' situations."

This is in England, but can the U. S. be far behind?

Revenge of the Nerds

I Can See It Now: Me & Bacall in The Big Sleep

Yoostar lets anyone act opposite Hepburn, Brando - USATODAY.com: "You ought to be in pictures, eh? Yoostar might provide your first big break at stardom — at least in your living room or out in cyberspace. This portable movie studio is like karaoke for the movies, featuring real actors and clips from actual movies."

Hat tip to Steve Stilwell, who thinks this idea is evil.

Get Your Advance Tickets Now

Broadway Buzz | Madonna to Make Movie Musical About Socialite Simpson | Broadway.com: "Pop icon Madonna is prepping to direct a movie musical based on the life of Wallis Simpson, the American socialite who took Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, as her third husband. The pop icon is pursuing Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and British star David Tennant (TV’s Dr. Who) for the leading roles, according to The Sun."

Hat tip to Steve Stilwell.

Love at First Sight

Proof that women's chests really are a man's 'first fixation'
| Mail Online: "Women have long complained that their faces are often the last thing men look at – and now a scientific study has proved them right.

Researchers found that virtually half – 47 per cent – of men first glance at a woman’s chest. A third of the so-called ‘first fixations’ are on the waist and hips, while fewer than
20 per cent look at the face."

Too Bad

Naked Cowboy Drops Bid to Become NYC Mayor - ABC News: "The Naked Cowboy of Times Square says he's dropping out of the race for mayor of New York City."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Dispatcher Charged w/Burning Boyfriend Cop's Home: "A dispatcher in Burnet is charged with arson after fire damaged her lawman boyfriend's home hours after they broke up."

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai