Wednesday, November 09, 2016
Archaeological Discoveries We Still Don't Understand
Video: Archaeological Discoveries We Still Don't Understand: When it comes to defining the world around us, we humans tend to think we've figured it all out. Since the Enlightenment, the Scientific Method has reigned supreme in our quest for knowledge. Here are some archaeological discoveries we still don't understand.
Tuesday, November 08, 2016
“Writing Iron Chef” by Eve Fisher
“Writing Iron Chef” by Eve Fisher | Trace Evidence: Eve Fisher is a novelist, playwright, and short-story writer living in South Dakota. She volunteers with The Alternatives to Violence Project and blogs at SleuthSayers. Her stories in AHMM include many set in Laskin, SD, and here she talks about her story “Iron Chef” from the current November 2016 issue.
Second Glance: ‘Heist’
Second Glance: The Endlessly Quotable and Fiendishly Clever ‘Heist’: David Mamet's caper flick operated under the bold notion that maybe action movie characters don’t have to talk like monosyllabic morons.
Voting
Judy and I always voted in every election, local, state, national. We often talked about the fact that our two votes didn't really count for much, especially in Texas, where we were usually on the side that lost by a wide margin. Hundreds of thousands of votes in some cases. But we voted.
Two years ago on election day, Judy wasn't feeling well at all. We didn't know it, of course, but she had only a little more than three weeks to live. I'd sent for ballots to be returned by mail, but I was too late, so to vote, we'd have to go in person. I told Judy that we should just skip it, but she wouldn't hear of it. She said that she was going to get dressed and that we were going.
I have to tell you about Judy getting dressed. She never went anywhere in jeans and a sweatshirt. In fact, she didn't even own any jeans. Getting dressed meant putting on her makeup and her good clothes. Not that she didn't put on makeup every day, anyway, no matter how bad she felt, even if she wasn't going anywhere. She'd wear comfortable clothes around the house, but when she went out the door, she was dressed to the nines Always.
So she got dressed, and we went to vote. It gave her a real sense of satisfaction to have voted for Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte, even though they lost by huge margins, by even more than had been predicted.
The next trip we made was to M.D. Anderson, three weeks later. I'm sure I'll be thinking about this every election day from now on, and you can bet I'll be voting every time I can.
Two years ago on election day, Judy wasn't feeling well at all. We didn't know it, of course, but she had only a little more than three weeks to live. I'd sent for ballots to be returned by mail, but I was too late, so to vote, we'd have to go in person. I told Judy that we should just skip it, but she wouldn't hear of it. She said that she was going to get dressed and that we were going.
I have to tell you about Judy getting dressed. She never went anywhere in jeans and a sweatshirt. In fact, she didn't even own any jeans. Getting dressed meant putting on her makeup and her good clothes. Not that she didn't put on makeup every day, anyway, no matter how bad she felt, even if she wasn't going anywhere. She'd wear comfortable clothes around the house, but when she went out the door, she was dressed to the nines Always.
So she got dressed, and we went to vote. It gave her a real sense of satisfaction to have voted for Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte, even though they lost by huge margins, by even more than had been predicted.
The next trip we made was to M.D. Anderson, three weeks later. I'm sure I'll be thinking about this every election day from now on, and you can bet I'll be voting every time I can.
Overlooked Movies: Swing Vote
What if the election came down to one specific man and his one vote? That's what Swing Vote is all about. I'm not sure if the explanation of how it happened is correct, but it's plausible, and the movie is amusing and funny. Kevin Costner is a good-for-nothing good old boy in New Mexico, and it's his vote that matters. Imagine the kind of scheming the two candidates will go through to get that one vote.
I liked just about everybody in the movie, even the evil ones. Sure, they're all pretty much cliches, but when you have Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci, Dennis Hopper, and Nathan Lane playing the parts, it's quality work. Some people don't like Kevin Costner, but I do, and he can be charming even in a role like this one. And Madeline Carroll steals just about every scene she's in.
If you're fed up with the election campaign and want some light entertainment, you could do worse. It's a comedy, after all, and everything works out for the best. Just as it does in another political movie I recommend for these trying times.
Monday, November 07, 2016
Leadfoot -- Eric Beetner
Leadfoot is a prequel to Beetner's Rumrunners. It's set in 1971, and Calvin McGraw is the leadfoot of the title, a driver with ties to a criminal family that go back generations, to the time when his ancestors were running booze. Now McGraw is picks up and delivers packages. He doesn't ask what's in them. He just drives. Now his son, Webb, 19 years old, is about ready to become a driver, too. His father's been training him for years. The two of them are making a delivery when things go wrong. A man is killed, and Calvin finds himself in the middle of a mob war. Webb goes out on his first job and loses the "package." Things get complicated for the McGraw family, and graphic violence and fast driving ensue. Things blow up real good.Leadfoot moves almost as fast as Calvin McGraw drives. The plot has several nice twists, and the prose is smooth and assured. The book is just the right length, too. If Beetner had been around in the 1950s, he could've had a nice career writing for Gold Medal or Dell First Editions, and that's a high compliment from me. Get a copy of the book and you'll see what I mean.
Sinner Man -- Lawrence Block
So you've just killed your wife. Accidentally, of course. What next? Well, if you're Donald Brashter, you leave town, adopt a new identity, and find a new line of work. Brashter, who sells insurance, decides to become a mobster.
When Sinner Man was originally published, it was amazingly easy to get a new identity, and soon Brashter is Nat Crowley, hanging around Buffalo, NY, and hoping to catch on with the local mob. He's seen a lot of gangster movies, so he knows what to do. And it works. Before long, he's in the biz and working his way up. Then things get complicated, and Crowley finds himself with a gun in his hand and a decision to make. Become a killer, or not?
There's a beautiful woman, too, and a twisted love story (well, not "love"; that's the wrong word, but "twisted" fits).
Block lost track of this book and didn't even remember who published it. For 50 years, nobody remembered it. How does a book get lost for 50 years and then found? It's a fascinating story, and of course Lawrence Block tells it well in his Afterword to Sinner Man. One reason we love the Internet is because it can find lost things, and this is one we owe to Facebook. But you should read all about it, yourself, either before or after you read Sinner Man, billed by Hard Case Crime as Block's first crime novel. You'll discover that Block already knew his way around and that his ability to tell a story was already firmly in place. This is a taut noir, recommended for its place in Block's history and as a dandy story on its own. You should check it out.
Block lost track of this book and didn't even remember who published it. For 50 years, nobody remembered it. How does a book get lost for 50 years and then found? It's a fascinating story, and of course Lawrence Block tells it well in his Afterword to Sinner Man. One reason we love the Internet is because it can find lost things, and this is one we owe to Facebook. But you should read all about it, yourself, either before or after you read Sinner Man, billed by Hard Case Crime as Block's first crime novel. You'll discover that Block already knew his way around and that his ability to tell a story was already firmly in place. This is a taut noir, recommended for its place in Block's history and as a dandy story on its own. You should check it out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)