An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Essay - Bail Out the Writers! - NYTimes.com: "My friends (as the nation’s most famous loser, John McCain, likes to begin his appeals), in these times of plummeting consumer confidence and evaporating labor markets, it is time to address the problem head on. We must now go boldly forward and bail out the writers."

Hmmmmmm

Judge: Disclose undercover officers in Philly KKK melee | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/13/2008: "Both police and FBI witnesses said they learned of the purported rally through a leaflet and through a demonstration permit filed with city officials. But they also said the leaflet no longer exists, and city officials said the Klan never applied for or received a permit."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Dog feces DNA leads to man's conviction in rape | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "DUMAS — A Texas Panhandle man was convicted of rape and sentenced to three life terms in prison after tests showed dog feces found on a man's shirt matched DNA from the victim's pet.

Prosecutors presented DNA evidence from the rape as well but said the dog DNA found on the shirt of Rufus Sito Nanez III bolstered the case. He was convicted of a 2007 attack on a 27-year-old Dumas woman."

Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs of 2008

Top 10 medical breakthroughs - Telegraph: "In this list TIME has selected 10 of the most important medical breakthroughs of the past 12 months."

Okay, Guys, Listen Up

How to buy underwear for women - Times Online: "John Lewis department store has set up a ‘lingerie academy' to ease the plight of men buying underwear for women."

Uh-Oh

Hopalong Cassidy Will Return to the Silver Screen: "300 producer Mark Canton is teaming up with Pterodactyl Productioins to bring two classic stories back to life. According to Variety, Canton is reviving the classic tale of Bill 'Hopalong' Cassidy for a new film version.

The character was created in 1904 by Clarence E. Mulford, which appeared in several stories and novels before hitting the cinemas in 1935. William Boyd portrayed Cassidy in 66 films that spanned through the 30s, 40s and 50s. The character spawned a number of spin-offs into comic books and radio programs and became the first Western TV series in history. Cassidy was also the first character to ever appear on a lunchbox."

10 Best Movies of 2008 (Stephen King's Picks)

Stephen King | Stephen King: 10 Best Movies of 2008 | Photos | EW.com

Probably the only list like this you'll see that includes Death Race.

Happy Birthday, Ross Macdonald

And to celebrate, you can read this review/essay by Roger K. Miller.  I recommend it.

Nice Bettie Page Tribute

An Appraisal - Always Comfortable in Her Own Skin - NYTimes.com: "The art critic John Berger once wrote: “To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself.” I’m pretty certain he never met Bettie Page, naked, nude or otherwise."

Archaeology Update (That Sounds Like a Monty Python Sketch)

Archaeologists In York Find UK's Oldest Preserved Human Brain - 24 Hour Museum - official guide to UK museums, galleries, exhibitions and heritage: "The skeleton of a man believed to be one of Britain's earliest victims of tuberculosis was found in a shallow grave at the site earlier this year, and they expected to find pre-historic farming landscape on the six and a half acre plot. What they got was the oldest human brain in the country."

The Black Godfather

Van Johnson R. I. P.

Actor Van Johnson Dies at 92 - washingtonpost.com: "Van Johnson, 92, a disarming and popular Hollywood star of 1940s musicals and comedies who later proved effective as a G.I. grunt in 'Battleground' and a conflicted Naval officer in 'The Caine Mutiny,' has died.

Mr. Johnson died Dec. 12 at Tappan Zee Manor, a senior citizens home in Nyack, N.Y. No cause of death was immediately reported.

Starting in the late 1940s, Mr. Johnson took many viewers and reviewers by surprise for his dramatic performances.

He was especially good as a presidential candidate's wily campaign manager in Frank Capra's 'State of the Union' (1948) with Spencer Tracy as his client. Mr. Johnson also portrayed a sneaky aide to a general in 'Command Decision' (1948); and a cynical rifleman in William Wellman's 'Battleground' (1949), a film praised for its harrowing depiction of combat during the Battle of the Bulge."

Thanks to Cap'n Bob Napier for the link.

And I thought THE DEVIL'S REJECTS was Fiction

Five family members jailed for axe attack - The Local: "Five members of the same family were found guilty on Friday of involvement in a vicious axe attack against a 47-year-old man last spring near Haparanda in northern Sweden."

This Just In

Doctor's Advice: Leave the Toilet Seat Up - Yahoo! News: "One of the longest-running spousal debates may now be settled in favor of men and for the sake of little boys.

Leave the toilet seat up, some British doctors now say. The reason: a rising trend for heavy wooden and ornamental toilet seats to fall down onto the penises of unsuspecting (and just potty-trained) toddlers."

The Dukes

Doo-wop and crime.  My kind of movie.

Thanks to George Kelley for the tip.

Get Ready for Tonight

Sky Show Friday: Biggest, Brightest Full Moon of 2008: "Don't expect to spot an Apollo lunar lander. But Friday night, weather permitting, sky-watchers around the world will see the biggest and brightest full moon of 2008.

Although a full moon happens every month, the one that rises to[night] will appear about 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger than the other full moons seen so far this year."

Forgotten Books: DRIVE EAST ON 66 -- Richard Wormser

Okay, as I said yesterday, it was inevitable that after seeing the title of James H. Cobb's West on 66, I was going to read it. Today's book is the reason why. I read it around 40 years ago, and I have to wonder if maybe Cobb's read it, too.

A cop named Andy Bastian is hired to drive a kid named Ralph from California to Kansas, where Ralph will be put into what's called, in the novel,s 1961 way, an insane asylum. Ralph is brilliant, and his father's quite rich. Accompanying Ralph and Andy is Olga Beaumont, a psychologist who's along to care for Ralph. They don't get far before it's apparent they're being followed.

This isn't an adrenaline-fueled thriller like Cobb's book. The characters following along aren't hate-filled gangsters and hitmen. There are no heart-stopping car chases, hot sex, and shoot-outs. But that doesn't mean there's no suspense. It's just a quieter kind, and it's played out along a route that runs in the opposite direction, as the titles indicate.

James mentions that Cobb's book isn't quite a pitch-perfect recreation of a Gold Medal novel. Wormser's book is pitch-perfect, not as a re-creation but as an original. Read the first couple of pages, and you'll know what I mean, I think. Wormser's descriptions of the people, the landscape, and the seedy motels are on the money. I like all Wormser's GM books, including The Invader, which one an Edgar for best paperback. If you get a chance, give one a try and see what you think.

Drum

Bettie Page, R. I. P.

Bettie Page dies at 85; pinup queen played a key role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and later became a cult figure - Los Angeles Times: "Bettie Page, the brunet pinup queen with a shoulder-length pageboy hairdo and kitschy bangs whose saucy photos helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has died. She was 85.

Page, whose later life was marked by depression, violent mood swings and several years in a state mental institution, died Thursday night at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been on life support since suffering a heart attack Dec. 2, according to her agent, Mark Roesler."

What to Carry in your BookSale Jump Bag

Hang Fire Books: Booksale Jump Bag: "Over the last few years of going to booksales, I've been developing a toolkit of essential and useful items to bring along. Here's the contents of my jump bag so far (more or less in order of importance)."

Link via Boing Boing.