Saturday, March 07, 2015

12 Books for 99 Cents -- Limited Time Offer

Deadly Dozen 3 - Kindle edition by Diane Capri, J. Carson Black, Gary Ponzo, A.K. Alexander, Vincent Zandri, Aaron Patterson, Cheryl Bradshaw, Joshua Graham, Brett Battles, Robert Gregory Browne, Allan Leverone, Jack Patterson, Carol Davis Luce. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

As I've Been Saying . . . .

Is Daylight Savings Time Pointless [Short Video]: Long story short: Yes.

Song of the Day

PIPELINE - The Chantays - YouTube:

Contact Is Not a Verb

39 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Bad

Today's Vintage Ad


I've Been Saying this for Years

Time to Move On? The Case Against Daylight Saving Time: Changing our clocks twice a year doesn't save us energy or money, experts say.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Comic Strip of the Day

Link

PaperBack


Jonathan Craig, Junkie!, Falcon Books, 1952.

As those of you who are addicted to accumulating books will understand (there are some others like me out there, I hope), no matter how many books you have, there's always one more you feel you need, one elusive title that you think you just have to own.  Here's one that's been on my list for many years, and when I ran across a copy of it, I couldn't resist.  I had it in a reprint version, but that's just not the same.  This copy's pretty ragged, but that doesn't matter.  It's probably the best one I'll ever run across, and now it's right there on the shelf with my favorite paperbacks.  It looks pretty good, I think.

13 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

13 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review 

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1952: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1952: A Retro-Review

New Stephen King Story You Can Read for Free

“A Death” - The New Yorker

Kazuo Ishiguro Interview

Kazuo Ishiguro: By the Book

Gator Update (GoPro Edition)

Worker at alligator farm dons a GoPro while he struggles with 500lb beasts: Jason McDonald cares for rescued gators at Colorado Gator Farm in Mosca. He caught Bertha, who is 10ft long, using just his hands and some rope. And he even opens reptile's mouth to pose for pictures in front of a crowd.

Friday, March 06, 2015

Brian Carman, R. I. P.

The Orange County Register: You probably don’t know Brian Carman’s name today, if ever you did. But odds are good that you do know his most famous riff, that rapid-fire burst of sound that flew from Carman’s fingers and the strings of his guitar, turning the instrumental “Pipeline” into one of the most legendary hits of surf music and transforming the Chantays from five Santa Ana teenagers barely old enough to shave into the brightest stars of pop music for a brief period as 1963 arrived. 

Carman, who was 69, died Sunday, said Bob Spickard, who co-wrote the “Pipeline” with Carman and continued to play with him in the Chantays off and on until a year or two ago.

I Want to Believe!

And since it's in the Daily Mail, you know it must be true!

Mystery noise could be an Earth-like world: Strange signals suggest habitable planet exists 22 light years away

The Two Mississippi Rivers by Joe Helgerson

The Two Mississippi Rivers by Joe Helgerson | Trace Evidence: In addition to his very entertaining stories featuring Sheriff Huck Finn, Joe Helgerson is the author of two clever YA books, Horns & Wrinkles (2006) and Crows & Cards (2009), both published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. The latter was named a Smithsonian Notable Book. The Sheriff Huck stories, which he talks about here, go back to June 2002, but he published two stories with us [AHMM] in 1983, beginning with “Eighty-Seven Miles of Smoke and Mist” (April 1983).

Cartoon of the Day

Link

Comic Strip of the Day #2

Link

Albert Maysles, R. I. P.

Flavorwire: Albert Maysles, the filmmaker who co-directed such groundbreaking documentaries as Grey Gardens,�Salesman, and Gimme Shelter along with his brother David, has died. The Criterion Collection, which made the announcement on Facebook, writes, “Our dear friend Albert Maysles passed away last night at the age of 88. We saw things through his lens that we will never forget. He was a filmmaker up until the end. We loved him and will miss him terribly.”

Comic Strip of the Day

Link

Song of the Day

The Kingston Trio - Remember The Alamo (HQ) - YouTube:

Criminal Genius of the Day

Man Calls 911 To Report Wife Stole His Cocaine 

Today's Vintage Ad


Baton Rouge? Get a rope.

AMC to film 'Hap & Leonard' for Sundance in Baton Rouge; 7 episodes already ordered 

What People Asked Librarians Before Google Came Along

Let Me Librarian That for You: What People Asked Librarians Before Google Came Along 

PaperBack



Eugene O'Neill, Desire Under the Elms, Signet, 1958

9 Historical Murder Mysteries Solved More Than A Century Later

9 Historical Murder Mysteries Solved More Than A Century Later

I Report, You Decide

Should Shakespeare be censored for sensitive times?

Archaeology Update

Genghis Khan's Lost Fortress Uncovered In Western Mongolia

Vintage Treasures: Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny

Vintage Treasures: Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny

The Omnibus Volumes of Jack Vance, Part II: Tales of the Dying Earth

The Omnibus Volumes of Jack Vance, Part II: Tales of the Dying Earth

FFB: Spoon River Anthology -- Edgar Lee Masters

I had another FFB ready to go today, but I'm holding it for another week and running this unaltered repeat from 2011.  Why?  Because on Wednesday night, I turned on XM radio to see what was playing, and I got in on the beginning of a program called CBS Radio Workshop.  The episode I heard was called "Epitaph," and it was narrated and directed by William Conrad.  There was a star-studded cast (I remember only John McIntire, Richard Crenna, and Howard McNear) reading poems from Spoon River Anthology.  I was hooked and had to listen.  The show was originally broadcast in 1957, and Conrad said that the book was "scarcely remembered."  I suspect that it was in 1957 or 1958 that I was having the experience with the book that I mention below.  The book was clearly alive to me, at least, and Masters was still found in high school textbooks.  Here's what I said four years ago:

Maybe this book isn't really forgotten, but I have a feeling not many people read it these days. It was a sensation when it was originally published, though. Masters had written many books before this one, and he wrote even more afterward, but none had the same effect.

When I was in high school, I thought I'd write poetry all my life. I read all kinds of poetry and loved 99% of it, including the poems by Masters that were in our high school textbook. I checked Spoon River out of the library and read all of it. I was highly impressed, but I'd never looked at it since then. I picked up a copy the other day at a library sale and started to read. It was like visiting old friends, though none of them is alive. Lucinda Matlock, Hod Putt, Judge Somers, Benjamin Pantier (buried with his dog), Anne Rutledge, and so many others, "all, all, are sleeping on the hill," as they have been all my life, but they're still as eloquent as ever. Small-town life hadn't been depicted like this before, and if Masters never had another success like this one, he doesn't have to worry about winding up like his character John Horace Burleson. Masters wrote one mighty book that works as well for me today as it did more than 50 years ago.

Thursday, March 05, 2015

Harve Bennett, R. I. P.

Deadline: Harve Bennett, the producer who helped guide four of Paramount’s Star Trek movies in the 1980s and produced TV series Mod Squad, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, died Wednesday in Oregon. He was 84 and becomes the latest key figure lost from the seminal Star Trek franchise following Leonard Nimoy’s death February 27.

Who Says TV Is Out of Ideas?

‘Expendables’ Event Series In Works At Fox With Sylvester Stallone Producing

I Want to Believe!

Nasa finds evidence of a vast ancient ocean on Mars

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Fight over handicap parking spot sends elderly woman to hospital 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Let Joy Be Unconfined!

SkyMall is Coming Back! 

Song of the Day

Toni Basil - Hey Mickey (One Hit Wonder) - YouTube:

The Book Thieves of London

The Book Thieves of London   

Link via Boing Boing.

Today's Vintage Ad


Horace McCoy’s Legacy

Tired of Living, Afraid of Dying: Horace McCoy’s Legacy

PaperBack



Leo Margulies, editor, The Unexpected, Pyramid, 1962

The Secret History Of Knock-Knock Jokes

The Secret History Of Knock-Knock Jokes

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Every James Bond Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best

Ron Scheer Interview

STORYTELLER’S 7: RON SCHEER, WRITING THE WEST

Yes. Yes, I Can.

Can You Identify These Books By Their Covers

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Tom Selleck Is Back In New ‘Jesse Stone’ Movie

Tom Selleck Is Back In New ‘Jesse Stone’ Movie On Hallmark 

Get Ready to Set Those DVRs!

With Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, Syfy Combines Two Franchises You Forgot Existed

Nine Amazing Takes On Treehouses

Nine Amazing Takes On Treehouses 

New York Leads the Way

This Public Library Is Inside a Subway Station 

Song of the Day

The Temptations - My Girl - YouTube:

Yet Another List I'm Not On

The 40 smartest people of all time

Annoying slideshow alert.

Today's Vintage Ad


Jeff Meyerson saw Portable Ancestors Open for Strawberry Alarm Clock

Archaeologist finds defleshed human bones in ancient religious complex in Bolivia: Archaeologists investigating a religious complex in Bolivia have discovered an ancient mortuary where human body parts were boiled, stripped of their flesh, and cleaned. Experts believe the practice was carried out to enable the remains of the deceased to be easier to transport making them what archeologist Scott C. Smith calls “portable ancestors”. 

PaperBack



Alan Gregg, The Mystery of Batty Ridge, Pocket Book Jr., 1950

A Few Reflections about Suspense -- Janet Hutchings, Editor, EQMM

A FEW REFLECTIONS ABOUT SUSPENSE | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

I Found a Penny Last Week

Cartouche purchased for £12 may be precious seal of Ramesses II | Ancient Origins  

Link via Boing Boing.

New EQMM Podcast

PodOmatic | Best Free Podcasts: The series of Edward D. Hoch radio plays we’ve been running intermittently for several years (produced in the 1970s by Dave Amaral) continues this month with a story that not only features a locked room but an escape artist bound and chained at the center of it. Edward D. Hoch, who died in 2008, was the modern master of the locked-room, and, as is notable in this story, a writer able to recreate convincingly time periods other than our own.

Diagram's oddest book titles of the year 2015

Weird words: Diagram's oddest book titles of the year 2015 – in pictures

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Machete-Wielding Man Held Mom Hostage Over eBay Purchase

I Want to Believe!

Is the US government actually run by Nazi aliens?

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Woman hits TGI Friday's manager with drinking glass: police  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

The Grapes of Wrath: 10 surprising facts about John Steinbeck's novel

The Grapes of Wrath: 10 surprising facts about John Steinbeck's novel 

I Want to Believe!

The Simpsons 1998 episode predicts Higgs Boson's mass 14 years before CERN

10 Exceptionally Clever Female Con Artists

10 Exceptionally Clever Female Con Artists 

Song of the Day

Linda Ronstadt ~ Poor Poor Pitiful Me - YouTube:

The secret life of a public library security guard

The secret life of a public library security guard

Today's Vintage Ad


The Grammar Pedant

 The Guardian: ‘The abuse of language causes needless anger, hurt and offence. It’s a question of good manners. Did you really just say refute?’

PaperBack



Philip Jose Farmer, Riverworld and Other Stories, Panther, 1981

10 Early Scathing Reviews of Works Now Considered Masterpieces

10 Early Scathing Reviews of Works Now Considered Masterpieces

I Miss the Old Days

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: In 1967 CBS hired the Smothers Brothers to host a variety show that would attract a young, hip audience. The show did that …but CBS didn’t like it. Here’s a look at the controversy behind The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Late Victorian Crime Fiction in the Shadows of Sherlock

Book review of Clare Clarke's Late Victorian Crime Fiction in the Shadows of Sherlock

I Want to Believe!

Daily Mail Online: Has the White City of the Monkey God been found after 500 years? Ruins could be legendary lost jungle city where lurid tales say tribe worshipped a giant simian deity and bred chimp-human children  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

The Rev. Malcolm Boyd, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: The Rev. Malcolm Boyd, an Episcopal priest and author who challenged racism, war and religious complacency in the 1960s and ’70s, and was one of the first prominent clergymen in America to acknowledge his homosexuality publicly, died on Friday in Los Angeles. He was 91.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

A Ranking of 1980s Fantasy That Would Please Crom Himself!: Long before Game of Thrones, there was a time in history when HBO stood for “Hey, Beastmaster’s on!” A time when, if you asked for a dragon, you got a puppet instead of CGI. A time when the words “fantasy hero” didn’t call to mind a pensive Viggo Mortenson or a bespectacled Daniel Radcliffe—nay, but a shirtless, bemuscled Arnold Schwarzenegger (or cheaper facsimile) dripping with oil.

Everyone Hated ‘The Sound of Music’

Everyone Hated ‘The Sound of Music’: The Sound of Music premiered to horrific reviews in 1965. Now it’s the most beloved and popular movie musical ever. On its 50th anniversary, how did it climb that mountain?

Overlooked Movies -- White Lightning


Put this up a day early, so I thought I'd move it to today just to be consistent.

A couple of years ago I talked about Gator, a dandy B-movie from the '70s starring Burt Reynolds, who plays a character named Gator McKlusky.  Burt returned for the sequel, White Lightning, also a dandy B-movie.  

Gator's in prison at the film's opening, but ain't nobody goin' to kill his brother and get away with it.  So Gator's going to cooperate with the Feds and get the dirty bastards, including Ned Beatty as the crooked sheriff and R. G. Armstrong as Bear, his enforcer.  That's about it for the plot, but when you have Burt at his charming best and a whole bunch of really great car chases and stunts (the finale is a real treat), you don't need much more.  If you do, though, there's some romance with the alluring Jennifer Billingsley (great line in the trailer) and a great cast that includes Diane Ladd, Bo Hopkins, and John Steadman, among a lot of others.  Don't blink or you might miss the screen debut of Laura Dern.

They really knew how to do this kind of thing back in the '70s, and Reynolds was made for parts like this.  Did I mention that I miss the old days?




White Lightning

White Lightning (1973) - HQ Trailer - YouTube:

Monday, March 02, 2015

First It was the Thin Mints Melee



Police: Brother shoots sister with BB gun over shape of birthday cake

31 Fairly Obscure Literary Monsters

31 Fairly Obscure Literary Monsters  

Link via mental_floss.

It's Texas Independence Day!

Texas Independence Day in United States: Texas Independence Day celebrates the adoption of the state’s independence declaration. It is an annual legal holiday in Texas, in the United States, on March 2. March 2 also marks Texas Flag Day and Sam Houston Day, although these are special observances rather than legal holidays.

Female Writers Who Had To Hide Their Gender

Female Writers Who Had To Hide Their Gender

Song of the Day

Fats Domino - Fell In Love On Monday - YouTube:

'Sharknado 3': Update

'Sharknado 3': Mark Cuban, Ann Coulter: 'Sharknado 3' Sets President and Vice President Roles

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback - March 2nd, 1965

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback - March 2nd, 1965

Today's Vintage Ad


Under the Lights: The First Baseball Game Played at Night

Under the Lights: The First Baseball Game Played at Night

PaperBack



Richard Condon, Some Angry Angel, Crest, 1961

No one could see the color blue until modern times

No one could see the color blue until modern times

New Poem at the Five-Two

The Five-Two: David S. Pointer: PASSING ON A POSSIBLE CAREER-ENHANCING INTERVIEW FAÇADE

Stephen King’s “Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully – in Ten Minutes”

Stephen King’s “Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully – in Ten Minutes”

Includes You Tube Video of the Song

Playback.fm | #1 Song On Your Birthday

A Is for Aardvark

Why The Aardvark May Be The Strangest Creature On Earth

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

The Tower - Kindle edition by Helen Haught Fanick. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Lara Benedict, a mystery writer whose career is blossoming, finds herself in the middle of a real-life mystery when her cousin, Sam Hamilton, is accused of murder. Sam insists that Jim Scott, a local handyman, died as the result of an accidental fall, but the prosecuting attorney is moving forward with the case against Sam. Lara has returned to the village of Pine Summit in order to help figure out what actually happened to Jim Scott, and she’s disturbed to discover that her ex-fiancé, Daniel Riley, is the assistant prosecutor who’s handling the case against Sam. 

It’s been nearly a year since the handyman died—why the unexpected murder charge against her cousin now? Does it have anything to do with the fact that Sam is married to the dead man’s widow? Or are there other, more devious, circumstances involved? 

Jim Scott died when he fell from the tower at the corner of Lara’s family home. While trying to solve this mystery, Lara discovers that the tower holds an even greater secret, one that’s putting her life in danger. She’ll have to uncover the truth about both of the tower’s secrets in order to save Sam—and herself.

Sunday, March 01, 2015

New Getting Away with Murder Now Online

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER #100 MARCH 2015

Orrin Keepnews, R. I. P.

SFGate: Orrin Keepnews, the celebrated jazz record producer who nurtured the work of great musicians like Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Sonny Rollins and put out a stack of classic albums by them and other major artists, died Sunday at his El Cerrito home. He was 91 and had been in ill health.  

Hat tip to Art Scott.

10 Real-Life Female Spies Who Deserve Their Own Movie Franchises

10 Real-Life Female Spies Who Deserve Their Own Movie Franchises  

Link via mental_floss.

Minnie Minoso, R. I. P.

AOL.com: CHICAGO (AP) - Minnie Minoso, who hit a two-run home run in his first at-bat when he became major league baseball's first black player in Chicago in 1951, has died, the Cook County medical examiner said Sunday.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

There's Still Time Brother by Bill Courtney on 1959 RCA Victor 45. - YouTube:

The 5 coolest NASA missions that never happened

The 5 coolest NASA missions that never happened  

Annoying slideshow warning.

Today's Vintage Ad


The Time When Pre-Sliced Bread Was Banned in the United States

Pre-Sliced Bread Was Once Banned in the United States

PaperBack



Clarence E. Mulford, Hopalong Cassidy, Dell, 1947

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The 50 Best Movies About Hollywood 

Piltdown Man, Beringer’s lying stones, dinosaurs… are they all hoaxes?

Piltdown Man, Beringer’s lying stones, dinosaurs… are they all hoaxes?

Stone Age Update

Stone Age Britons imported wheat in shock sign of sophistication

Vintage Treasures: Echoes of Valor III, edited by Karl Edward Wagner

Vintage Treasures: Echoes of Valor III, edited by Karl Edward Wagner