Saturday, July 25, 2015

Interview with Kay Kendall

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR KAY KENDALL

No Comment Department

Woman with 30-pound breast implants gets 'Botched' reduction

Hat tip to Bill Pronzini

Song of the Day

The Electric Prunes I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night - YouTube:

The Secret American Military Cemetery Where There Are No Names and Flags Are Forbidden

The Secret American Military Cemetery Where There Are No Names and Flags Are Forbidden

Today's Vintage Ad


8 Odd Acts of the Vaudeville Era

8 Odd Acts of the Vaudeville Era

PaperBack



Artemis Smith, The Third Sex, Beacon, 1964

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Steemjammer: The Deeper Truth 1, John Eubank - Amazon.com

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review 

I Miss the Old Days

The '60s at 50: Sunday, July 25, 1965: Dylan goes electric

Or Maybe You Do

15 Things You Might Not Know About the Washington Monument 

Friday, July 24, 2015

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The 10 Best Emily Dickinson Poems

I Want to Believe!

NY Daily News: The mystery behind a Los Angeles gun fanatic found decomposing in a car last week has deepened as his fianc�e's family said he was an alien-hybrid secretly working for the government.

Song of the Day

The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction - YouTube:

Punk Films: An Essential List

Punk Films: An Essential List

It's Summer and People are Awesome

It's Summer and People are Awesome

Today's Vintage Ad


Vintage Treasures: Midnight Pleasures by Robert Bloch

Vintage Treasures: Midnight Pleasures by Robert Bloch

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John B. Thompson, The Lash, Beacon, 1965

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

105 Superhero Movies, Ranked

Link via SF Signal.

15 Things You Should Know About Bosch’s 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'

15 Things You Should Know About Bosch’s 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' 

Today's Bonus Forgotten Book: Paper Towns -- John Green

Since the movie version of Paper Towns opens today, I thought some of you might be interested in my review of the book, which certainly isn't forgotten, which appeared 6 years ago on the blog.  Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Paper Towns -- John Green

Forgotten Books:The Duende History of The Shadow Magazine

Will Murray is one of those prolific writers whom I admire greatly.  He wrote many of the novels in The Destoyer series, and now he's writing books that continue the adventures of Doc Savage, Tarzan, and, most recently, The Shadow (in The Sinister Shadow, in which The Shadow meets up with Doc Savage).  He also knows just about everything about every pulp magazine ever published, or so it seems.

Before I read The Sinister Shadow, I decided I'd better brush up on my Shadow lore.  I was a big fan of the character on radio when I was a kid, but the radio Shadow isn't the same as the pulp Shadow.  In fact, the pulp Shadow is a complicated guy in more ways than one.  Luckily I had Murray's book on had to clear things up for me, at least as much as things can be cleared up.  

As you can tell from the ToC below, there's a lot of info in the book, but the ToC just gives you a vague idea.  It's a great book.  Unfortunately, cheap copies do not abound on the Internet.  If you happen to run across one at a reasonable price, grab it.

Contents:
1. The Men Who Cast The Shadow by Will Murray
2. The Duende Shadow Index by Will Murray
3. The Golden Shadow by Bob Sampson and Will Murray
4. The Vulnerable Shadow by Bob Sampson
5. Theodore Tinsley-Maxwell Grant's Shadow (interview by Will Murray)
6. The Third Cranston by Bob Sampson
7. The Purple Girasol by Walter B. Gibson
8. Blackmail Bay by Walter B. Gibson
9. Walter B. Gibson Revisited (interview by Will Murray and Bob Sampson)
10. The Sinister Sanctum by Will Murray
11. The Authors

Features:

Interviews with the authors of the pulp Shadow (see above)
Short story "Blackmail Bay" by Walter B. Gibson

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Three in One Volume of Jack Lynch's Bragg Books -- Free (PDF version)

Bragg V1 - Brash Books: THE FIRST THREE, POWERHOUSE NOVELS IN JACK LYNCH’S EDGAR AWARD-NOMINATED AND TWO-TIME SHAMUS AWARD-NOMINATED BRAGG SERIES…NOW IN ONE VOLUME!

The 20 Highest-Grossing Movies of All Time

The 20 Highest-Grossing Movies of All Time

Song of the Day

The Clovers Love, Love, Love Atlantic 1094 B - YouTube:

I Miss the Old Days

Retrospace: Vintage Sharity #1: SPY Magazine (May 1988)

Today's Vintage Ad


Battles, Batman, and Liberace: A Cultural History of Capes

Battles, Batman, and Liberace: A Cultural History of Capes

PaperBack

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Claire Morgan (Patricia Highsmith), The Price of Salt, Bantam, 1958

Wyatt Earp and the 'fixed' heavyweight title fight

The forgotten story of … Wyatt Earp and the 'fixed' heavyweight title fight 

It May Appear that I Am Here . . .

. . . but I am not.  I'm on my way to Austin to attend Armadillocon.  I'm going a little early so I'll have time to visit my sister and my son while I'm in town.  The usual posts have been scheduled, along with some of the usual weird miscellaneous items.  I'll be back on Monday, so behave while I'm gone.

The Decline of Western Civilization Continues Apace

Emoji movie in the works at Sony Pictures Animation

The AP Releases Thousands of Archived Videos on YouTube

The AP Releases Thousands of Archived Videos on YouTube

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: The Young Magicians edited by Lin Carter

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: The Young Magicians edited by Lin Carter

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

It Might Have Been Worse If Her Colleague Had Not Been in a Suit

NY Daily News: 'Horndog High' teacher says NYC Ed Department gave her ‘unfair’ 2-year suspension for after-school tryst with female colleague in suit  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

This Is Exactly Why We Have 911

Man Who Called 911 Sought Help Fixing His Air Conditioner

First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

and now it's . . . Meat tenderizer mayhem in Fort Pierce

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Help Me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're My Only Hope

Man used toy light saber to fend off stun gun 

“Bach, Beethoven, and Bedlam” (by Gerald Elias)

“Bach, Beethoven, and Bedlam” (by Gerald Elias) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

Song of the Day

James Brown - Please, Please, Please - YouTube:

24 Mind-Expanding Drug Novels

Flavorwire: High Literature: 24 Mind-Expanding Drug Novels

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Orlando Sentinel: Machete-wielding man threatened teen for disciplining Chihuahua

Today's Vintage Ad


Sheriff Dan Rhodes Inexplicably Not Included

The 12 Greatest Fictional Detectives (Who Aren't Sherlock Holmes)

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Vin Packer (Marijane Meaker), The Evil Friendship, Gold Medal, 1958

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & Sports: Police say that Terry Gauntt asked his girlfriend, Kimberly Moore, for his cigarette lighter when she grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed him repeatedly, after 2:00am Tuesday.

The Drunk Squirrels WBAGNFARB

CBS News: A squirrel in the UK broke into a Worcestershire pub, July 12, 2015, and caused over $400 worth of damage. 62-year-old Sam Boulter, the owner of the Honeybourne Railyway Club, told the Western Daily Press that he originally thought his private members club might have been ransacked by burglars, when he discovered the damage.  

Hat tip to Laurie Powers.

I Miss the Old Days

Underground and Alternative Magazines from the ’70s and ’80s

In Case You Have Any Lying Around

How To Get Rid of Cursed Treasure 

The Omnibus Volumes of Andre Norton, Part One

The Omnibus Volumes of Andre Norton, Part One

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

E. L. Doctorow, R. I. P.

Author E. L. Doctorow dead at 84: Author E.L. Doctorow, who wrote "Ragtime" and "Billy Bathgate," has died. He was 84.

Hat tip to Deb.

First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . . and now it's the Ramen Noodle Robbery: A South Dakota man brandishing a chain yesterday robbed another man of a cup of ramen noodles outside a convenience store, police

Theodore Bikel, R. I. P.

The New York Times: Theodore Bikel, the multilingual troubadour, character actor and social activist who created the role of Baron von Trapp in the original Broadway production of “The Sound of Music” and toured for decades as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 91.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

And never leave home without it.
A Teen Girl Who Was Nearly Killed In A Riptide Was Saved By Her Selfie Stick

Vixen -- Bill Pronzini

Vixen is billed (no pun intended) as a "Nameless Detective Novel," but we fans of the series know that Nameless has had a name ever since Twospot.  Not that it matters.  We'll just call him Nameless.

Nameless tells us in a brief prologue that before the case he's about to relate, he'd never run into a genuine femme fatale, one of those "whose brand of evil would be like nothing I could ever have imagined."  This time, though, he does.

Cory Beckett is her name, and the case starts off simply enough.  She wants Nameless and his agency to find her brother, who's jumped bail in a the case of a stolen necklace.  She doesn't want anyone to speak to her brother, though, when he's found.  She just wants to be informed of his location.   Things don't work out that way.  To say that complications ensue would be understating the case, and the story gets darker as it goes along, all the way to the end, which is very dark, indeed.

At the same time we read the story about Cory Beckett, we also get other stories about Nameless's family, about Jake Runyon, about a man named Frank Chaleen.  Pronzini brings all this in with his usual style and skill, and the stories add a deceptive depth to the proceedings, which, by the way, are concluded in about the same length as a Gold Medal novel from the 1950s.  It's a pleasure to read a book that's not padded out to doorstop size yet which has enough plot to satisfy anybody.  The Nameless series is one of the best private-eye series ever written, and Vixen is a fine addition to the canon.

Frank R. Paul's Life on Other Planets 1936-39

Frank R. Paul's Life on Other Planets 1936-39

Song of the Day

Another Day, Another Dollar - Wynn Stewart - YouTube:

The history of the first quick-draw shootout

The history of the first quick-draw shootout (VIDEO).: On July 21, 1865—150 years ago today—Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt in the center of Springfield, Missouri in the first example of the type of Old West showdown that defines the era on the big screen.

Today's Vintage Ad


Possibly You've Been Wondering . . .

. . . what was the first stereo LP released by every label that was active in the late 1950s.  "MR. MUSIC" has the answer.

PaperBack



Richard Grant (J. Calvitt Clarke), Boarding House Blonde, Knickerbocker, no date



I Miss the Old Days

Celebrating Roundness - Bathing Suit Fashion Spread 1950

15 Mysterious Facts About ‘The Hardy Boys’

15 Mysterious Facts About ‘The Hardy Boys’ 

Travis McGee Reads Bluebook

The Trap of Solid Gold: Travis McGee Reads Bluebook

Overlooked Movies -- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

This review originally appeared in September, 2004.  I thought I'd run it again because after reading this article, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed the movie.  I highly recommend you click on the link and check out the article.

I grew up during the 1940s and 1950s. The world was a different place then. One way it was different, at least in Mexia, Texas, is that on Saturday afternoon all the kids I knew, and plenty of others besides, went to the double feature at the Palace Theater. The Palace, in spite of the name, was a pretty ratty place, but that didn't matter to its clientele. For about a dime, we got to see two cowboy movies (Johnny Mack Brown, Charles Starrett, Rex Allen, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Allan Rocky Lane, Whip Wilson, Lash LaRue, Monte Hale, Tex Ritter, and you know all the rest). We also got a cartoon, previews of coming attractions, and a serial. Probably my favorite part of the whole afternoon was the serial. Why? I don't really know. I do know that my earliest movie memory is going to the Palace with my grandfather. I have no idea what the movie was, but the serial was The Phantom. At the end of the chapter we saw, The Phantom was sinking into a bed of quicksand. I remembered that scene vividly for well over 50 years, and finally, a few years ago when The Phantom was released on DVD, I got to see how he escaped. 

So what does all this have to do with anything? Well, yesterday I went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. And I loved it. It was the next best thing to being six years old, back at the Palace Theater. I just sat there with a silly grin on my face for the entire running time and enjoyed the heck out of it. 

Yesterday I posted a link to Roger Ebert's review of the movie and recommended it highly, especially the second paragraph. After I posted that, I read James Reasoner's blog, where he comments on a book by Milton Lesser. I highly commend James's comments to you because he echoes Ebert's remarks. And like both of them, I have no problem overlooking the ridiculous plotting and the pseudo-science of something like Sky Captain or Secret of the Black Planet. Those things aren't the point. Having a good time is the point, and at Sky Captain I certainly did that. 

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: Trailer 1 (2004) - YouTube:

Monday, July 20, 2015

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Chinese Woman, 30, Found Guilty Of ‘Assaulting Police Officer With Her Breasts’  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Behind the World's Largest New Sherlock Holmes Story Collection

Behind the World's Largest New Sherlock Holmes Story Collection - I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Baxter Co. Man Behind Bars After Stabbing Friend Over Facebook Posts  

Hat tip to John Duke.

Douglas Cook, R. I. P.

Deadline: Screenwriter Douglas Cook died at noon Sunday in Santa Monica. He was 56 and was surrounded by his family when he passed away. Cook and his writing parter David Weisberg wrote the screenplays for The Rock, Double Jeopardy and the upcoming picture Criminal.

First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . . and now it's the Turtle-nest fight leaves one man wounded, another arrested  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

Dee Clark - Hey Little Girl - YouTube:

George Coe, R. I. P.

Rolling Stone: George Coe, an original Saturday Night Live cast member and longtime actor and voiceover artist with over 50 years of credits, passed away Saturday in Santa Monica, California after battling a long illness, Variety reports. He was 86. Coe was featured among the other "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" when Saturday Night Live debuted on October 11, 1975.

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback - July 20th, 1965

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback - July 20th, 1965

Today's Vintage Ad


17 Faces Every Grammar Nerd Will Recognize

17 Faces Every Grammar Nerd Will Recognize

PaperBack



Francoise Mallet-Joris, The Loving and the Daring (The Illusionist), Popular Library Eagle Books, 1957

Chuck Jones: The Evolution of an Artist

Chuck Jones: The Evolution of an Artist

I Miss the Old Days

Time-capsule: hi-rez scans of 1946 Toronto Star funny-pages pull-out

Paging Inspector Clouseau

CMPD: International jewel thief, 84, targets SouthPark store: Police say an octogenarian, international jewel thief, credited with a decades-long career in locales like France and Monte Carlo, stole a $33,000 ring from a SouthPark Mall jewelry store this month.

46th anniversary of the first moon landing

Seems like only yesterday, but at the time I was using a wired landline phone, writing grad school papers on a portable typewriter, and listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival on a record player.  Let the whippersnappers snicker, but I saw this happen on a TV set without a remote control.  It's something I'll never see again in my lifetime and something they'll never see at all.

Deseret News: On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step foot on the moon, making history forever with their "giant leap for mankind."

Vintage Treasures: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Vintage Treasures: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Alex Rocco, R. I. P.

The New York Times: NEW YORK — Alex Rocco, the Emmy-winning character actor best known for taking a bullet through the eye as the Las Vegas casino boss Moe Greene in "The Godfather," has died. He was 79.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

22 Ways To Subtly Cover Yourself And Your Home In Nicolas Cage

22 Ways To Subtly Cover Yourself And Your Home In Nicolas Cage  

Hat tip to Deb.

Meet the Man Who Owned William Carlos Williams' Famed Wheelbarrow

Meet the Man Who Owned William Carlos Williams' Famed Wheelbarrow 

Song of the Day

"Dry Bones" (1963) Jackie Wilson & Linda Hopkins - YouTube:

16 Pics Of Fairy Tale Architecture From Norway

16 Pics Of Fairy Tale Architecture From Norway

Today's Vintage Ad


Or Maybe You Have

10 People You've Never Heard Of Who Changed the World 

The Story Behind Janis Joplin’s ‘Mercedes Benz’

The Story Behind Janis Joplin’s ‘Mercedes Benz’  

Link via Neatorama.


Gill Hunt (Dennis Hughes), Hostile Worlds, Curtis Warren, 1951

The Death of the Hippies

The Death of the Hippies

Elvis Presley and Politics

Elvis Presley and Politics

The Books of Tanith Lee: Companions on the Road

The Books of Tanith Lee: Companions on the Road

30 Lessons for a Life on the Edge from Hunter S. Thompson

30 Lessons for a Life on the Edge from Hunter S. Thompson