Saturday, August 31, 2013

Kasey Lansdale Update

Interview with country singer Kasey Lansdale: 'Restless' 

An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

CNTV English: It may not sound thirst-quenching it may even sound rather disgusting - but spreadable beer is the latest culinary treat hitting Italy. Food connoisseurs in the European Mecca of cuisine are hailing it as the next big thing.

Link via Neatorama.

Pro-File: Paul Bishop

Ed Gorman's blog: Pro-File: Paul Bishop

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Sea World San Antonio: An alligator and a terrapin have made friends 

Great photo at the link. 

And Keep Off Her Lawn!

China: Wife 'Boils Husband In Pressure Cooker'

I Miss the Old Days

Ars Technica: What might have been: Visiting Mars and Venus with Apollo-era hardware Expecting a surge of support after the Moon landings, NASA started thinking big.

Song of the Day

▶ Crosby, Stills & Nash - Marrakesh Express - YouTube:

Mine Not Included

10 Coolest Home Offices 

Today's Vintage Ad


SCIENCE FICTION FACT MADNESS

SCIENCE FICTION FACT MADNESS

PaperBack



John Roeburt, Wine, Women and Murder (aka Jigger Moran), Avon 1958

Paging Alfredo Garcia

Can Severed Heads Live On?

Female Crime Writers Featured Exclusively In 'Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives'

Female Crime Writers Featured Exclusively In 'Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives'

Hat tip to George Kelley.

Where Did the 8 Glasses of Water A Day Myth Come From?

Where Did the 8 Glasses of Water A Day Myth Come From? 

The 10 dumbest criminals in the world

The 10 dumbest criminals in the world   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

I Miss the Old Days

The '60s at 50: September 1963: Lava lamp

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Fort Lauderdale mom accused of ordering daughter, 12, to hit a driver at gas pump

12 American Hit Movies That Caused International Controversy

12 American Hit Movies That Caused International Controversy

I Take This Oath

1940 I TAKE THIS OATH TRAILER GORDON JONES - YouTube:

Friday, August 30, 2013

Genius

British man turns the tables on telemarketers by charging them to call him 

Hat tip to Art Scott.

PRO-FILE: CAROLYN HART

Ed Gorman's blog: PRO-FILE: CAROLYN HART

An Interview With Rick Ollerman of Stark House

One Bite at a Time: An Interview With Rick Ollerman of Stark House

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Amazon.com: Bad News Travels Fast (The Joe and Dottie Loudermilk Mysteries) eBook: Gar Anthony Haywood: Books: Joe and Dottie Loudermilk are all set for the perfect early retirement. Joe's an ex-cop, and Dottie's a former English teacher, and as soon as the "SOLD" sign goes up on the lawn in front of their longtime Los Angeles home, they intend to take their brand new Ford pickup truck and Airstream trailer wherever the great American highway leads. Unfortunately, fate is determined to have two forms of trouble dog their every step: murder, and their five incorrigible grown children. In Dottie's own words, the Loudermilk brood "go to school, but take pains not to learn anything remotely useful; date weird people and adhere to Mickey Mouse religions...And give birth to grandchildren from hell (whom they raise) like goldfish won at a church carnival." In this, their second adventure, Joe and Dottie visit the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., and quickly find themselves assigned the task of clearing their political activist/shameless womanizer son Eddie of a rival's murder. Both lovers of the offbeat cozy, and parents who know the misery of wayward children, have declared the Loudermilk adventures an hilarious and, to quote the New York Times, "credibly sentimental" treat.

HP Lovecraft: The author's notes for his novella "At The Mountains of Madness"

HP Lovecraft: The author's notes for his novella "At The Mountains of Madness"

Seamus Heaney (RIP) Reads "Death of a Naturalist" and His Nobel Lecture on the Power of Poetry

Seamus Heaney (RIP) Reads "Death of a Naturalist" and His Nobel Lecture on the Power of Poetry

A Review of Interest (To Me, Anyway)

Jerry's House of Everything: COMPOUND MURDER

English Spelling

Paging Orson Welles

CBS Atlanta: A gimmicky promotion about an alien takeover at a radio station wound up scaring some residents of a north Alabama community.

Song of the Day

▶ Paul McCartney 'New' - Album out 14th Oct [UK] / 15th Oct [US] - YouTube:

75 Vintage Dust Jackets of Classic Books

Completion Is Perfection: 75 Vintage Dust Jackets of Classic Books

Today's Vintage Ad


22 Vintage Popular Science Covers That Outlined the Future

22 Vintage Popular Science Covers That Outlined the Future

10 Most Remarkable Posthumously Published Novels

10 Most Remarkable Posthumously Published Novels

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Berton Rouché, Rooming House (aka Black Weather), Lion Library, 1957

Texas turns to Ted Nugent to control feral pig epidemic - Washington Times


If I'd thought of this plot, I'd be on the bestseller list!

Texas turns to Ted Nugent to control feral pig epidemic - Washington Times: As part of the Sportsman Channel’s “Aporkalypse: 2013” series — set for Aug. 25 and described as “an entire night of wild hog stories and adventures” — Mr. Nugent will join Brian “Pig Man” Quaca to shoot dead nearly 500 wild pigs on the farmlands of Texas.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Happy Birthday, Allen Crider!

Rockin' those red jeans back in the old days.

Western Fictioneers: Friday Five With James Reasoner

Western Fictioneers: Friday Five With James Reasoner

Headline Writers Just Wanna Have Fun

DFW poised to be mecca for Christian film industry

Paris Hilton Update

Paris Hilton signs Ibiza DJ deal  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

A Forgotten Magazine

Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1951: A Retro-Review

Seamus Heaney, R. I. P.

The Raw Story: Seamus Heaney, who has died aged 74, was widely regarded as the greatest Irish poet since William Butler Yeats, who like Heaney was a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Paging Keller

Manhattan wife tries to pay hitman for her husband with $60,000 in rare stamps 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

VIDEO: Woman moons cellphone clerk over return policy, trashes store in epic fit 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Murray Gershenz, R. I. P.

News.com.au: ACTOR Murray Gershenz has died at the age of 91. The Hangover star suffered a heart attack on Wednesday, according to TMZ.com. 

Gershenz did not begin his acting career until he was 80, but went to appear in several TV shows and movies including Mad Men, Modern Family, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, I Love You, Man and NCIS: Los Angeles.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Forgotten Books: Mr. Majestyk -- Elmore Leonard

I was till thinking about Elmore Leonard this week, so here are a few comments on one of his lesser-known books. 

Mr. Majestyk started out as a screenplay, and Leonard turned it into a novel about the time it was filmed so it could be released in conjunction with the movie.  Majestyk is a melon farmer, and in a way he's like some of Leonard's characters in his western novels.  He's a seemingly mild-mannered guy who can't be pushed around.  Push him, and he's going to push back.  He's a military vet who knows how to push.

Bobby Kopas tries to get Majestyk to hire some melon pickers who aren't up to snuff instead of the skilled workers Majestyk usually hires.  Kopas gets what he deserves, but Majestyk goes to jail as a result.  There he's involved in a jailbreak with Frank Renda, a mob hit man.  All Majestyk wants to do is get back to picking his melons, and he kidnaps Renda, planning to trade him to the cops for his own release.  Renda escapes and wants revenge.  Big mistake.

There's a lot of action in the book, the usual good writing, and some great characters.  In other words, everything you're looking for in an Elmore Leonard book.  It's one of my favorites among his novels, and if you've passed it by because it's not as well-known as some of the others, you should check it out.  The movie's very good, too.  One of Bronson's best.

Give Us Wings

1940 GIVE US WINGS TRAILER DEAD END KIDS - YouTube:

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Churning It Out: Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory

The Passing Tramp: Churning It Out: Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory The Working Life of Herbert Allingham (2012), by Julia Jones

They Really Are Everywhere

Alligator killed in Scandia lake, another on the loose 

Hat tip to Steve Stilwell.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Rival campers who opened fire turn out to be sheriff's deputies: An apparent booze-fueled dispute over loud music between two groups at a Chino campground over the weekend escalated to the point where men from both sides drew guns and opened fire.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . . .

Furious neighbor swings ax at teen’s head during argument over driving 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson. 

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The 50 Funniest Movies Ever Made

Song of the Day

▶ The Byrds- I Wasn't Born To Follow - YouTube:

Why Spend Money on Space Exploration?

Why Spend Money on Space Exploration? Isaac Asimov's Witty 1969 Letter 

America's Safest And Most Dangerous Cities For Drivers

America's Safest And Most Dangerous Cities For Drivers

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Annoying slideshow alert.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents showed how rotten respectable people could be

Alfred Hitchcock Presents showed how rotten respectable people could be 

I Want to Believe!

Life On Earth Started On Mars, Say Scientists

Today's Vintage Ad


Isaac Asimov's 1964 Predictions About 2014 Are Frighteningly Accurate

Isaac Asimov's 1964 Predictions About 2014 Are Frighteningly Accurate

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Robert Moore Williams, The Second Atlantis, Ace 1965

I Miss the Old Days

These 1950s Paris Street Style Fashions Are Still Covetable

I Shot an Arrow into the Air . . . .

Sheriff: Man shoots arrow wrapped with marijuana at Whatcom County Jail

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

State Fair reveals fried food finalists for 2013 Big Tex Choice Awards

10 Weird Questions with Harlan Coben

10 Weird Questions with Harlan Coben 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman Says She Was Stabbed While Straddling Another Woman's Boyfriend  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Now with Added Protein

Colcord residents told to watch out for blood worms in water supply 

Forgotten Music

Bob Dylan, Joan Baez & More Music at 1963’s March on Washington 

The Burglar

▶ 1957 THE BURGLAR TRAILER JAYNE MANSFIELD - YouTube:

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Final CWA Dagger Shortlists Announced!

Mystery Fanfare: Final CWA Dagger Shortlists Announced!

Victor Gischler's epic fantasy novel

Victor Gischler's Blogpocalypse: INK MAGE ... the new epic fantasy novel from The Gischler

To be published in serial form.  Get in on it now for a very low price.

Top 10 Cities in the World

The Independent: The top 10 cities in the world

Yes, of course it's a slideshow.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman arrested after restaurant guests covered in soy sauce 

Arachnophobia

Police Respond After Teen Calls 911 For Help With Handling ‘Giant Spider’ 

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas woman addicted to eating vapor rub 

Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.

Paging Donovan

Miniature 'human brain' grown in lab

The First One Is the Most Depressing

Insiders Reveal The 'Dirty Secrets' Of Their Industries

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Road Rage Leads to Man Mooning Driver in Chehalis 

Song of the Day

▶ Linda Ronstadt ~ Poor Poor Pitiful Me - YouTube:

10 Crazy Outlaw Shootouts

10 Crazy Outlaw Shootouts 

Today's Vintage Ad


It Figures

Swiss government to open drive-in sex booths - Salon.com: Herzig said. “If the city doesn’t run them, the pimps will.” 

Hat tip to Michael Bracken

So You Like Clowns, Do You?

Take a look at these.  Retronaut - Clowns

Or Maybe You Don't

Movie quotes you always get wrong 

PaperBack



Lester Del Rey, Siege Perilous, Lancer, 1966

Gilbert Taylor, R. I. P.

 NY Daily News: — Influential “Star Wars” cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, a master of black and white, has died. He was 99.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson. 

Child Characters in Crime Fiction

CHILD CHARACTERS IN CRIME FICTION | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

15 More Bizarre Kiddie Cartoon Conspiracy Theories

15 More Bizarre Kiddie Cartoon Conspiracy Theories 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Police: Man threatens to shoot polite motorist's face off

Where Are the Giant Apes?

Zeppelins: the beginning of modern warfare

Gee, Thanks, Miley

‘Twerking’ to be included in next update of Oxford Dictionary

Michael Lewis on Writing, Money, and the Necessary Self-Delusion of Creativity

Michael Lewis on Writing, Money, and the Necessary Self-Delusion of Creativity 

I Miss the Old Days

9 Images From ‘Playboy’s’ Golden Age 

Alvin, Texas, Not Included

America's 10 best small towns to live in offer everything from wineries to minor league baseball -- something for everyone 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

King Dinosaur

Movie trailer: King Dinosaur [independent Classic Science Fiction Film] - YouTube:

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Food fight: Victim bludgeoned with tub of imitation butter

And So It Begins

Mind meld? Scientist uses his brain to control another guy's finger 

Or Maybe You Do

12 NBC "Must See TV" Shows From The '90s You Might Not Remember

Song of the Day

▶ Pure Prairie League -Amie (High Quality) - YouTube:

I Miss the Old Days

Retronaut: Late 1960s: Economy Class Seating on a Pan-Am 747

Today's Vintage Ad


Celebrating the Legendary Tuesday Weld on Her 70th Birthday

Celebrating the Legendary Tuesday Weld on Her 70th Birthday 

The Science Behind Why Your Mind Keeps Wandering

Wait, What's That? The Science Behind Why Your Mind Keeps Wandering

I Miss the Old Days

Old-School VW Microbus Will Finally End Production This Year

PaperBack



Corwainer Smith (Paul Linebarger), Space Lords, Pyramid, 1965

20 of the Scariest Movie Masks

20 of the Scariest Movie Masks 

The Little Professor Reviews The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection

The Little Professor: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection

The True Origin Stories of 7 Happy Words

The True Origin Stories of 7 Happy Words

Another First

BBC News: A rare painting of three Elizabethan children and their pet could be the earliest portrait of a guinea pig, the National Portrait Gallery has said.

10 Controversial Missing Persons Cases

10 Controversial Missing Persons Cases

Overlooked Movies: Jivaro

When I was a kid, there was no way I could resist a movie about headhunters.  Or a movie with Rhonda Fleming.  

You'll notice that the poster doesn't mention 3-D, but if you watched the trailer I posted, you can tell that the movie was obviously intended for 3-D showings.  My hometown didn't have a theater that showed 3-D, so I saw it flat. I think the rest of the country did, too, the 3-D fad having died down by the time this move was released.  Too bad, because Rhonda Fleming was great in 3-D.  Note the great scene in the trailer.  (Here are my comments on a Fleming movie that I did see in 3-D.)

What is Rhonda doing in the Brazilian jungle?  Well, she's there because her rotter of a fiance has been writing her about the plantation he owns, so she goes to check him out.  He's lying, though.  He's just a drunk who's taken up with Rita Moreno.  Rhonda arrives in town, and immediately Fernando Lamas and Brian Keith fall for her.  Who can blame them?  Lamas goes around a lot of the movie dressed as he is in the poster, so there's beefcake to go with the cheesecake.  

Along with all the rest, there's plenty of action, some shrunken heads, and a rope bridge scene, even though the rope bridge is kind of disappointing because the bridge is only a few feet above the water.  They needed some quicksand, too.  The jungle is all backlot stuff, but who cares.  I'd love to see it again.

Jivaro

▶ Jivaro trailer - YouTube:

Monday, August 26, 2013

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Amazon.com: Killing John Cusack eBook: K.H. Graham: Kindle Store: Killing John Cusack is a 9,700 word horror/dark humor short story. 

After losing his son in a tragic accident involving a celebrity, a father discovers that similar deaths have been occurring all over the world. After slowly becoming obsessed with getting to the bottom of these deaths, he learns that there is something peculiar about the accidents. 

There is a force behind these tragic accidents that he is not quite prepared for...a single killer that can take on any face it wishes. In their ultimate confrontation, the killer just happens to be wearing the face of a certain movie star we all know and love.

Pro-File: ROBERT J. RANDISI

Ed Gorman's blog: Pro-File: ROBERT J. RANDISI

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Shirtless Clown Pulls Down Man’s Pants After Chicken Wing-Eating Contest, Gets Punched in the Face   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Check This Out, Too

Campaign for the American Reader: Pg. 69: Bill Crider's "Compound Murder"

Check It Out

The Page 69 Test: "Compound Murder"

Song of the Day

▶ "Lola"- The Kinks - YouTube:

Why I Won't Be at WorldCon

A couple of people have e-mailed to ask why my name is no longer on the guest list for San Antonio WorldCon.  Don't worry.  I didn't get kicked out for bad behavior.  Here's the scoop.

Judy and I bought our memberships to WorldCon a couple of years ago, and we got our hotel reservations as soon as they became available. We were really looking forward to the convention, to getting together with old friends and to making new ones.  But sometimes life throws you a curve.

If you've been reading this blog for a long time, you might recall that in 2007 Judy was diagnosed with small-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  I haven't talked about this often on the blog, since the blog is more or less my escape from reality, but maybe it's time for an update. 

The kind of lymphoma Judy has isn't curable, but it's treatable, and since 2007 Judy has been through innumerable clinical trials and rounds of chemo.  Okay, maybe not innumerable, but more than I'm able to enumerate.  Let's just say there've been a lot and that it's been tough.  Judy's borne it all with grace and courage as those of you know know her would expect.  

Last fall, something strange showed up on a PET scan.  Even after a biopsy, the doctors weren't sure what it was, so we were sent to the doctor at M. D. Anderson who specializes in unknowns.  She thought the lesion was sarcoma, and Judy started chemo for that.  The chemo didn't work, so they tried radiation, six weeks of it, five days a week.  That "arrested" the sarcoma, but other lesions appeared.  Judy's lymphoma doctor was sure they weren't lymphoma, but other doctors weren't.  Judy had another biopsy.  Even after that, some of the doctors weren't 100% convinced, but Judy's lymphoma doctor was.  He released her to a sarcoma doctor.

On August 5, Judy started a new chemo regimen.  It required her to be in the hospital for six nights, as some of the chemo was administered for twenty-four hours a day.  The chemo has some serious side-effects, and Judy had to be closely monitored.  Her blood counts were so low at the end of the period that she had to have a transfusion, which meant another night in the hospital.  There are two weeks between the treatments.  I won't go into detail, but they're no picnic, either. 

If the treatment is working, there will be five more rounds.  The second one will begin today or tomorrow and will still be going on during the weekend of WorldCon, so there was just no way we could be there.  We won't be at Bouchercon, either, I'm sorry to say.  Maybe next year.

Judy, as usual, is taking all this a lot better than I am.  All we can do is hope that the treatment works.  We're hanging in and trying to take it a day at a time, which is a lot easier said than done, as some of you who have gone through similar experiences know all too well.

I probably won't have much more to say about this until the treatments are over, but if the blog posts become sporadic or even stop for a while, you'll know why.

Will the Persecution Never End?

Paris Hilton flaunts her decadent lifestyle as she poses in front of her private jet during holiday 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Harlan Ellison:Update

Harlan Ellison: “Life to me is a great ironic joke” 

Today's Vintage Ad


Or Maybe You Didn't

11 Actors You Forgot Were On "Twin Peaks"

PaperBack



Murray Leinster (Will F. Jenkins), Space Tug, Pocket Books, 1954

I'll Just Say on the Ground

Take Death Defying Walks in China's Yellow Mountains

Link via The Presurfer.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Deputies: man threatens to kill wife over dirty cat litter Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

New Poem at The 5-2

The 5-2, Gerald So, Editor: Alan Catlin CRIME STORY

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Man shot after accidentally bumping into someone in St. Louis

Tights?

How To Dress Like Nancy Drew

Where Are These Thousand Islands?

Where Are These Thousand Islands?

Ummmmmm. Bacon.

All-Pork Restaurant Opens in Chicago

Code of the Mounted

1935 CODE OF THE MOUNTED TRAILER KERMIT MAYNARD - YouTube:

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Ted Post, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Ted Post, a prolific director who collaborated with Clint Eastwood on two hit films, directed hundreds of episodes of television series like “Gunsmoke,” “Peyton Place” and “Rawhide,” and made a low-budget film about the Vietnam War that was widely ignored when it was released in 1978 but is now regarded by many critics as one of the best in its genre, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 95. His son, Robert, confirmed the death.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

New Story at Beat to a Pulp

BEAT to a PULP :: Pulp of the Week: Stringtown Road Richard Prosch

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Celebrations in the Ossuary: Kyle J. Knapp: 9780983377573: Amazon.com: Books: Kyle J. Knapp (September 1, 1989 – June 18, 2013) was a poet, musician, and short story writer from Freeville, New York. His debut collection of prose, Pluvial Gardens, was released in 2012. He studied Social Sciences at Tompkins Cortland Community College and worked for the school as an English tutor. Kyle enjoyed nature, fishing, and playing guitar. He was a prolific artist, who, at the time of his passing, had written enough material for two additional collections of poetry and a near-complete novel.

Viva Las Vegas

▶ New Frontier Hotel Implosion Las Vegas - YouTube:

Song of the Day

▶ Percy Sledge - When a Man Loves a Woman - YouTube:

John Schoenherr Revisited

Omni Reboot | FROM THE OMNI ARCHIVE: DUNE: FRANK HERBERT CALLED HIM THE ONLY ARTIST TO HAVE VISITED DUNE. DECADES AFTER THEIR PUBLICATION IN OMNI, JOHN SCHOENHERR’S ILLUSTRATIONS ARE AS MELANCHOLY AND POWERFUL AS EVER.

Link via mental_floss.

Today's Vintage Ad


No Wonder I Was Such a Calm Child

7 UP Used to Include Psychiatric Medication

PaperBack



 B. M. Bower, The Flying U's Last Stand, Popular Library, 1947

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

No Time for Coffee? Spray Caffeine On Your Skin

Should've Used Vegetable Oil

RI police arrest man found naked and covered in Crisco

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Julie Harris, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Julie Harris, the unprepossessing anti-diva who, in the guises of Joan of Arc, Mary Todd Lincoln, Emily Dickinson and many other characters both fictional and real, became the most decorated performer in the history of Broadway, died on Saturday at her home in Chatham, Mass. 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Casting Choices Fans Hated (And Then Loved)

Casting Choices Fans Hated (And Then Loved)

My House Not Included

The 7 Most Expensive Homes in the World

I Miss the Old Days

The Grooviest College Dorm Room Of 1973

Jesse James Rides Again

1947 JESSE JAMES RIDES AGAIN SERIAL TRAILER - YouTube: