Paul Burke, R. I. P.

Emmy-nominated 'Naked City' actor Paul Burke dies: "Paul Burke, who was twice nominated for an Emmy for his role as Det. Adam Flint in the gritty crime hit 'Naked City,' died Sunday. He was 83.

Burke, who had leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, died with wife Lyn at his side at his home in Palm Springs, family spokeswoman Daniela Ryan said.

Burke was featured in dozens of TV series in his four-decade career, including prominent parts on '12 O'Clock High' and 'Dynasty.'"

Hat tip to John Hall.

Patrick Swayze, R. I. P.

Patrick Swayze Dies of Pancreatic Cancer at 57 - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment - FOXNews.com: "Patrick Swayze died after a nearly two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

Swayze's publicist Annett Wolf says the 57-year-old 'Dirty Dancing' actor died Monday with family at his side. He came forward about his illness last spring, but continued working as he underwent treatments."

The Top 10 White Trash Heroes of Cinema

The Top 10 White Trash Heroes of Cinema | SPIKE: "Redneck and 'white trash' culture tends to get a bad rap by the snootier elements of our culture. Maybe you think that hicks and hillbillies don’t know nothin’ ‘bout nothin’, but you couldn't be further from the truth. Sometimes we need to look to the trailer parks for succor, refuge, and justice."

The Gift of Murder Update

Kris Neri blogs about The Gift of Murder today at Femmes Fatales. Check it out.

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Rising menace in Texas. | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/13/2009: "Something crazy is spreading across Texas, and it may be so destructive that one day it will make Texans actually miss the hated fire ant.

Crazy ants, so named because they move in all directions rather than in a straight line, first surfaced in Houston seven years ago and had previously been confirmed in 14 southeast Texas counties as far north as Huntsville.

Now the ants have been seen beyond the Houston area, with sightings in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley."

Hat tip to Jeff Segal.

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

By which I mean that the state doesn't lead the way. It's four cities on the list are near the bottom, and two are on the bottom.

Full List: America's Most Stressful Cities - Forbes.com: "Sinking property values, high unemployment and prices, and poor environments add to the pressure felt by residents in these metros."

Nasty, Brutish, and Long -- Ira Rosofsky

The subtitle is Adventures in Old Age and Eldercare. The author, Ira Rosofsky, is "a psychologist who travels around to nursing homes and talks to sad, confused, and, occasionally, happy old people." There's no privacy in a nursing home, and not much dignity, either. No one wants to be in one, but lots of people are. As Rosofsky says, ten years from now, it'll be the depression babies. Twenty years from now, the Boomers. "Will the Beatles songbook replace the Glenn Miller sing-along? Will I nod off in my wheelchair in the face of an endless YouTube loop?"

Depressed yet? There's more. Plenty of loss and suffering. Death and dementia. Loneliness. All those things we hate to think about.

Luckily Rosofsky has a sense of humor and great humanity. The book's not nearly as depressing as it could have been. And we all need to know this stuff. How should you choose a nursing home? What about those even more final decisions, the ones that come at the very end.

If you have elderly parents, you should read this book. If you've getting along yourself, you should read this book. It won't cheer you up, but it'll be good for you.

7 Things Romantic Comedies Taught Us About Women

7 Things Romantic Comedies Taught Us About Women - Asylum.com: "Study closely the ways of women so that you too may be able to achieve love the way only Ralph Fiennes can in the span of 93 minutes."

10 Things Romantic Comedies Have Taught Us about Men

Romantic Comedies Have A Lot to Teach Us About Men | The Frisky: "[T]he 10 oh-so-realistic things that romcoms have taught us about men."

Gator Update (TSA Edition)

Baby alligator among items seized by TSA - UPI.com: "Transportation Security Administration says it has seized 123,189 items from passengers at three New York-area airports, including a baby alligator."

The Time Machine

Jim Carroll, R. I. P.

Jim Carroll, Poet and Punk Rocker Who Wrote ‘The Basketball Diaries’, Dies at 60 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "Jim Carroll, the poet and punk rocker in the outlaw tradition of Rimbaud and Burroughs who chronicled his wild youth in “The Basketball Diaries,” died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 60."

True Crime

SLING WORDS: Jennifer Schuett: Hero: "Take a close look at this police artist sketch. That's what this blog post is all about. For the first time in my life, I'm using something I clipped from the newspaper without gaining permission. I'm doing this because I didn't see the photo posted on The Houston Chronicle website where I checked after reading the article in the September 11, 2009, edition."

I urge you to click the link and read the entire post and maybe even link it on your own blog if you have one.

When They Say "No Fishing," . . .

. . . they mean it.
Hat tip to Jeremy Lynch.

Hippo kills poaching soldier in DR Congo park - Yahoo! News: "A hippopotamus killed a member of Democratic Republic of Congo government forces at Virunga National Park while he was fishing illegally, a local environmental NGO said Saturday."

How I Met Your Mother as Noir

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

New Story on BEAT to a PULP

BEAT to a PULP :: Cedar Mountain :: George Miller, Jr.

Folk Tales

Fairy tales have ancient origin - Telegraph: "They have been told as bedtime stories by generations of parents, but fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood may be even older than was previously thought."

An interesting article and excerpts don't do it justice. If you like this kind of thing, read all of it. I think "fairy tales" is the wrong name, by the way.

Bad Karma -- Dave Zeltserman

Bill Shannon, a Boston cop in Bad Thoughts, gets put through the wringer. After those terrible events, he left Boston and moves to Boulder, Colorado, where he sets up shop as a private-eye while trying to develop some of his latent powers (such as having out-of-body experiences). He and his ex-wife live happily together, and things are going well until Shannon takes on a case that begins with the brutal double murder of a couple of college students. During the course of his investigation, Shannon takes on another case [SPOILER ALERT -- the two cases turn out to be connected -- END OF SPOILER ALERT] that involves a strange religious cult and Russian mobsters. Really bad Russian mobsters. Shannon has shaken off many of the effects of his experiences in Bad Thoughts, but he's still a damaged character, which makes him interesting company. And if you like the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, you'll find some fun in Shannon's banter with a couple of other characters. Finally, there's a nice nod to Fast Lane, Zeltserman's earlier novel set in Colorado.

The violence in this book is more subdued than that in Bad Thoughts, but it's certainly there. The story is also a pretty straightforward p.i. tale, though not without some horror and New Age elements, which once again proves Zeltserman's versatility (he's doing noir novels and Nero Wolfe pastiches in EQMM, among other things). If you haven't read Zeltserman's work, it's time to start. He's making quite a name for himself these days.

Still More Amazing Stories

Here's the inside back cover of the November 1954 Amazing Stories, more of the great SF Book Club advertising. I don't know if you can read the summaries, but again I love the marketing. The old "sense of wonder." Can't beat it.

As for some other stories in the issue, "Sell it to Satan" by Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe) is an amusing little fantasy that mixes a few mythologies, good for a smile. An okay story. So is "Two's a Crowd" by John Toland, a variation on the "duplicating machine" story. Ah, the attitudes of the '50s.

John Jakes contributes "The Revenge of Edwin Mudd," about a guy who invents a way to talk back to people on TV. Literally. I don't think it would work out the way it does in the story, certainly not today, but it's fun to think about.

And if you've ever wondered what would happen if all the dogs on earth died, you can read Frank Herbert's The Gone Dogs. Some of them get cloned elsewhere, with predictable results.

Atlantis the Lost Continent