Saturday, August 22, 2015

Melody Patterson, R. I. P.

Variety: TV actress Melody Patterson, best known for playing Wrangler Jane on “F Troop,” died Thursday at the age of 66.  Patterson died in a nursing home after multiple organ failure, according to reports.

I Want to Believe!

Ancient civilisation 'drove tanks across Turkey 14 MILLION years ago'  

But this spoilsport says, "No way."

9 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

9 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

Song of the Day

Sweet Mary by Wadsworth Mansion (1971) - YouTube:

Dorothy Parker on Writing

Dorothy Parker on Writing

Today's Vintage Ad


Who Says TV Is Out of Ideas?

CBS Orders Huckleberry Finn Pilot | News | Dark Horizons: CBS has handed out a put pilot commitment for "Sawyer & Huck," a modern-day take on the classic Mark Twain characters. 

Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier ("The Blacklist") have penned and Anthony Hemingway ("Treme") will direct the pilot for this new take in which a murder case in St. Louis sees Tom Sawyer hiring his previously estranged boyhood friend Huck Finn as an investigator for his foundering one-man legal firm.

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review 

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H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror, Ballantine, 1976

R. L. Stine Interview

R. L. Stine: By the Book 

O the Times They Are a-Changin'

Orlando Sentinel: Lucy -- A Tribute, one of the original attractions at Universal Studios theme park, has been closed. It will be replaced by a new Hello Kitty interactive retail experience that will open this year, Universal confirmed Monday.

I Miss the Old Days

How to Drive Safely, According to a Martian-Filled 1959 PSA: This midcentury driver’s education film somehow manages to connect aliens, reckless driving, and Biblical teachings with the help of a whimsical talking car from Mars.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas woman’s body stolen from inside her coffin after her funeral

Here's the Plot for Your Next Narco-Thriller

SoCal Soccer Mom sentenced in Sinaloa Cartel money laundering operation  

Hat tip to Patrick Murtha.

First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . .  and now it's the umbrella dispute.
NY Daily News: One man dead, another woman critically injured after brawl on Harlem street corner breaks out over umbrella dispute  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas man fakes being a cop to threaten his way to the front of McDonald’s drive-thru

10 Facts About ‘The Call of the Wild’

10 Facts About ‘The Call of the Wild’ 

People Thought He Was Elvis

Jimmy 'Orion' Ellis Seemed So Much Like Elvis, People Thought He Actually Was 

Song of the Day

JIMMY "ORION" ELLIS - CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE - YouTube:

31 Iconic Television Quotes You'll Never Be Able To Forget

31 Iconic Television Quotes You'll Never Be Able To Forget

Today's Vintage Ad


First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . . and now it's sauerkraut battery.
Cops Arrest Florida Man, 40, For Sauerkraut Battery On Girlfriend

25 Photos of Famous Authors in Uniform

25 Photos of Famous Authors in Uniform 

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John Christopher (Christopher Samuel Youd), The Death of Grass, Alpha, 1976

Taking a Plunge

Giant "Sky Pool” to Be Built 10 Stories Above the Ground

Twinkies Inexplicably Not Included

10 Foods That Never (or Almost Never) Expire

"Murder Is My Business"

"Murder Is My Business": The Photographer Who Chronicled America's Most Brutal Crime War: Weegee made the murders and violent crime of post-Prohibition New York City his thing. Warning: Photos of dead bodies.

Fantastic, June 1965: A Retro-Review

Fantastic, June 1965: A Retro-Review

FFB: Blondes Die Young -- Bill Peters (William P. McGivern)

This post originally appeared on 8-3-2005: The other day I commented on a novel by William P. McGivern, and Ed Gorman had this to say in the comments section: "Thanks for bringing McGivern to our attention. I became friendly with Dorothy B. Hughes the last five years of her life and we often talked about writers who had faded after their deaths. She considered McGivern one of the two or three best hardboiled writers of his generation. She always said that he was a serious writer, kind of a pulp Graham Greene. And I sure agree. There are at least eight or nine of his titles that would be in print in a just world and But Death Runs Faster is one of them. He did a post-war novel set in the jazz clubs of Chicago called Blondes Die Young---under the pen-name Bill Peters--and the historical element is fascinating. Because what he's describing is the pre-beat era that was already there--crash pads, cheap wine parties, poetry readings, heavy duty jazz and of course so much marijuana I got a contact high just reading it. He was a fine fine writer and Blondes could also easily have been a Gold Medal, too. His masterpiece was Odds Against Tomorrow, which is spiritually one of those most violent and nihlistic novels I've ever read until the very end."

After reading Ed's comment, I naturally had to check the shelves to see if I had a copy of Blondes Die Young. Sure enough, there it was, in a nice Popular Library pb edition. "Time On Her Hands -- Men On Her Mind." They don't write blurbs like that anymore. Naturally I had to read the book.

And, sure enough, Ed was absolutely right. This one could easily have been published by Gold Medal. It's boiled a lot harder than But Death Runs Faster. Lots of violence and brutality, and some of the reviews compare the book to those by Mickey Spillane. But the narrator, Bill Canalli, takes more punishment than even Mike Hammer. He gets in a lot more sack time, too, if you know what I mean and I think you do. One think I liked the book is the neat variation on Spillane's themes that McGivern works out here. I won't say anything else about that, but if you ever get a chance to read the book, you'll see what I mean. Check it out.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

What is Bill Crider reading?

Campaign for the American Reader: What is Bill Crider reading?  

Or read it here.

I Found a Penny in the Walmart Parking Lot Last Week

$4.5M of gold recovered from 300-year-old shipwreck in Florida

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The 51 Best Fantasy Series Ever Written

19 Easy Rules To Write Something Every Day

19 Easy Rules To Write Something Every Day

The Only Beatles' Song John and Paul Recorded Without George and Ringo

The Only Beatles' Song John and Paul Recorded Without George and Ringo

Song of the Day

The Beatles - The Ballad of John and Yoko - (With Subtitles in English) - YouTube:

35 Of Your Favorite Fast Food Spots When They First Opened

35 Of Your Favorite Fast Food Spots When They First Opened

Today's Vintage Ad


First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Animal rights activist beaten with duck

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Flavorwire: The 10 Best Twist Endings in Movie History

Spoiler alert -- all spoilers, all the time.

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Jack Williamson, Darker than You Think, Sphere, 1976

13 of Orson Welles' Greatest Put-Downs

13 of Orson Welles' Greatest Put-Downs 

I Found a Penny in the Walmart Parking Lot Last Week

Men claim to find Nazi train loaded with treasure in Poland

Sheriff Dan Rhodes Does

11 Things You Might Not Know About Dr Pepper 

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

N. Texas man turns 'dumbest idea ever' into big business

A Forgotten Book

Flavorwire: Revisiting a Cult Classic Novel: Herman Wouk’s ‘Marjorie Morningstar’

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

First It was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

. . . and now it's the Subway squabble ends with woman biting off part of man's ear  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Alvin, Texas, Inexplicably Not Included

The world's most liveable cities  

Annoying slideshow.

The Combat Zone -- Jed Power

A couple of years ago I reviewed the first novel in Jed Power's Dan Marlowe series.  Now Power's back with a new series about a Boston P. I. named Mike Malloy.  Malloy is working the area around Boston Square, and the year is 1972.  This is a bit earlier than a p.i. named Spenser came on the scene, and that's just as well.  Malloy isn't like Spenser.  He's a novice, for one thing, and he gets the crap kicked out of him only a few pages into the novel.  Not to mention that he has some serious flaws.

The story begins with a wandering daughter job, and it drags Malloy into the seedy world around Harvard Square, a world that's considerably gritter than most anywhere visited by Spenser.

One of Malloy's problems is that he's haunted by his experiences in Viet Nam.  Add in that beating he took, and it's not surprising that when his sidekick, appropriately called Stoney, offers him some primo coke that Malloy indulges.  As the story progresses, so does Malloy's dependence on his newfound pick-me-up.  I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just say that while the case gets solved, Malloy's problems don't.  The ending is a little darker than most, and it makes me wonder where Malloy's going from here.  

This is the real hardboiled goods with a bit of a different slant on the p.i. tale.  Check it out.

Chesley Bonestell ~ The Conquest of Space and Beyond the Solar System

The Golden Age: Chesley Bonestell ~ The Conquest of Space and Beyond the Solar System

Look Who's #15 on the Indie Bestseller List!

Alley Talk

Song of the Day

Dolly Parton - Dumb Blonde - YouTube:

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Girlfriend gets revenge by setting cheating boyfriend's crotch on fire   

Today's question: If you were forming a rock band, would you choose the name "Crotch on Fire" or "The Fiery Crotches"?  

Are the '90s the Old Days Already?

29 Images That Perfectly Explain What The '90s Were Like

Today's Vintage Ad


Casting the Movie that Will Never Be

MY BOOK, THE MOVIE: Bill Crider's "Between the Living and the Dead"

Or see it here.

Bud Yorkin, R. I. P.

The New York Times: LOS ANGELES — Bud Yorkin, a writer and producer who helped forge a new brand of satirical TV comedy with the 1970s hit “All in the Family,” has died, a family spokesman said Tuesday.  He was 89.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.


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Robert Sheckley, Untouched by Human Hands, Ballantine, 1960

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

10 Most Famous Moments Ever Caught on Film

10 Popular Imitators Of Sherlock Holmes

10 Popular Imitators Of Sherlock Holmes 

I Want to Believe!

First almost fully-formed human brain grown in lab, researchers claim 

This Makes Perfect Sense to Me

KTRE.com: LINCOLN COUNTY, KY (WAVE) - A man was arrested after deputies said he tried to dig up his late father's grave in order to argue with him, according to a report.

Yvonne Craig, R. I. P.

CBS News: Actress Yvonne Craig, best known for her role as Batgirl on the 1960s TV series "Batman," has passed away from cancer at the age of 78.

Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1952: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1952: A Retro-Review

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The Page 69 Test: "Between the Living and the Dead"

The Page 69 Test: "Between the Living and the Dead"

And don't forget the Campaign for the American Reader.

Feeling Safer Now?

Price for TSA's failed body scanners: $160 million: How bad are the machines at catching threats? So bad that Sen. Ron Johnson suggests adding metal detectors.

Extinct Tree Grows From 2,000-year-old Seed

Extinct Tree Grows From 2,000-year-old Seed

Song of the Day

Stop The World (And Let Me Off) - YouTube:

I For One Welcome Our New Simian Masters

Apes May Be Closer to Speaking Than We Thought

Today's Vintage Ad


Yet Another List I'm Not On

The 100 best novels written in English  

I'm sure you'll all agree, but not everyone does.

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Gilmore Millen, Sweet Man, Pyramid, 1952

Alligators On Helium WBAGNFARB

Alligator On Helium Reveals The Secret Meaning Of Alligator Bellows

I Miss the Old Days

45 Photos That Prove How Classy People Were In The Past.

I Want to Believe!

New inflatable 'space elevator' in Canada will be more than 12 miles high

Not Forgotten By Readers of This Blog, I'll Bet

10 Largely Forgotten Actors From Cinema's Most Famous Scenes 

WINNERS: The 2014 Sidewise Award

WINNERS: The 2014 Sidewise Award

I reviewed one of them here.

Overlooked Movies: Slow West

Slow West was released only last May, but some of you might have overlooked it.  It didn't play a lot of theaters, and it didn't stay in them long.  It was released simultaneously on pay-per-view, and that's where I saw it.

The title is, I think, unfortunate.  I have no idea what it means, and it might make someone think the movie is boring, which it isn't.  It does have some slow moments, but often they end in unexpected violence or humor.  The setting is Colorado in 1870, but the movie was filmed in New Zealand.  So the visuals, while lovely, might come as a shock to some people.

Now about the plot.  Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) has come to this country from Ireland, where an unfortunate incident has sent his own true love, Rose, and her father on the run.  Jay's trying to find Rose so they can marry and live happily ever after.  A young boy in the west is likely to be at a disadvantage, and Jay is apparently lucky to hook up with Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender), who becomes his mentor.  

So this is in one way a coming of age story, with Fassbender playing Han Solo to young Luke.  (I'm only halfway kidding about this.  The trailer above gives away too much of the plot, but when Silas calls Jay "kid," I couldn't help hearing Harrison Ford.)  In the end, it may be Fassbender who learns the most useful lessons, however.

Jay doesn't know that his true love and her father have a very large price on their heads that the Silas is actually a bounty hunter, who's interested in collecting the money.  He also becomes sincerely interested in helping Jay, and there are other, much less honorable bounty hunters in the chase.

There are several interesting encounters in the movie, and the entire cast is excellent.  [HUGE SPOILER ALERT] The ending is a shocker, or it was to me.  It might not please everybody.  [END OF SPOILER ALERT]  This is far from a run-of-the-mill western, but it's under 90 minutes long, so it's worth taking a chance on if you're looking for something different.  Check it out.

Slow West

Slow West Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Michael Fassbender Western Thriller HD - YouTube:

Monday, August 17, 2015

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Cashier Fights Off Sword-Wielding World-Be Robber With Bigger Sword

Paging Neil Diamond

Kentucky woman fires gun at two 8-year-old children while babysitting them, blames alcohol

Making up the Bed

This morning while I was making up the bed, I thought about my honeymoon.  Do people still go on honeymoons, or is that just some quaint old custom now?  I remember that Judy put great thought into her trousseau.  Do brides have trousseaus anymore?  

But I digress.  I think one purpose of the honeymoon is for the newlywed couple to get to know each other.  Judy and I had been dating for years, but unlike the hip kids today, we hadn't cohabited, and we had a lot to learn.

For example: I come from a weird family.  Some of us (especially me) were picky about pillows.  When we went on trips, we took our pillows with us.  When I went off to college, I took a suitcase and my pillow.  So naturally I took my pillow on the honeymoon.  When I took it out of the car, Judy asked me why I had a pillow, and I explained that hotel pillows just weren't satisfactory.  

She said, "I didn't bring a pillow.  Can I use that one?"  

Gallant soul that I was, I said, "Sure.  I can manage with the motel pillow."

When we were getting ready for bed that evening, I put the pillow down on the right-hand side of the bed.  Judy said, "I thought you told me I could use the pillow."  I admitted that I had and said that I'd put it on the bed for her.  

She said, "I don't sleep on that side of the bed."  

I said, "I don't, either."

I have a feeling you know where this is going, so I won't drag it out.  Let's just say that for nearly 50 years I slept on the right-hand side of the bed.

As I said up above, we had a lot to learn about each other.  I learned almost immediately who was going to run things.  Not that I minded one bit.

Be still, my beating heart, Crider has arrived

Lake Mills Library: Be still, my beating heart, Crider has arrived

The Only Known Surviving Footage of the Titanic

Neatorama: This footage from the A.P. archive begins with the R.M.S. Titanic moored in Belfast Lough prior to leaving for Southampton. The Titanic is shown at sea where icebergs abound, and there is a shot of Captain Smith on the bridge pre-disaster. The remaining minutes show shots from before and after the tragedy in fascinating stages. The Carpathia is shown at sea with rescued passengers on board, there are various closeups of rescued crew and passengers on land, the families of the passengers are seen lined up outside the cruise line's office to hear word about their loved ones who were aboard the Titanic, and more.

Song of the Day

Joey Dee & The Starliters - What Kind Of Love Is This - YouTube:

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback - August 17th, 1965

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback - August 17th, 1965

Today's Vintage Ad


New Book Post Between the Living and the Dead Bill Crider

Ed Gorman's blog: New Book Post Between the Living and the Dead Bill Crider

PaperBack



Robert Heller, Who's Who in TV, Dell, 1968.

10 Facts for Davy Crockett’s Birthday

10 Facts for Davy Crockett’s Birthday 

I Miss the Old Days

Retrospace: The Groovy Age of Travel #11: Holiday Magazine (June 1950)

New Poem at the Five-Two

The Five-Two: Sarah Stockton MORTAL TERROR

Amazing Stories ~ Misc issues 1934-1952

The Golden Age: Amazing Stories ~ Misc issues 1934-1952

What Are the Best Sci-Fi Film Scores of All Time?

What Are the Best Sci-Fi Film Scores of All Time?   

Link via SF Signal.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

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

New novel by Robert Skinner!
  
Spanish Luck: Robert Skinner: 9781515108559: Amazon.com: Books  New Orleans, May 1944: A low-level bank employee tries to horn in on an impending bank robbery and is murdered by a shadowy fellow employee who attempts to make it appear a suicide. New Orleans cop Des Cortes and his girlfriend, local reporter Jessica Richards, quickly recognize the death as a murder and begin asking questions. Across town, a teenage African American youth named Butch Martin runs away from home with his ex-con father, Al, prompting his mother to hire disabled war vet Sal Cortes to find the boy and bring him home. Working independently of each other, the trio eventually find that they're following the same trail which leads to a bank heist worth $85,000.00. Sal, learning that Al Martin is part of the gang put together by a professional thief named Fade Taber learns he's in a race with his brother to find Butch Martin and get him away from his father before the heist goes down. Taber has put together what he thinks is a foolproof plan, not realizing that Martin, through a series of violent misadventures, has also exposed the plot to Des and Jessica. Sal, his brother and Jessica follow twisted trails of robbery and murder that eventually lead them to an explosive showdown with Taber, Martin, and the rest of the holdup gang.

50 years ago the Beatles performed six songs on the Ed Sullivan Show

50 years ago the Beatles performed six songs on the Ed Sullivan Show   

I watched this show and remember it well.  It was in B&W on the TV set I watched, of course.  I didn't even know anybody who had a color set.

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Woman Really Doesn’t Like Haircut, Destroys Salon With Sledgehammer 

We Could All Add to this List

8 Dated Science Fiction Novels That Are Still Essential Reading  

Link via SF Signal.

Song of the Day

Elvis Presley - Milky White Way - YouTube:

Ten great quotes from Elvis Presley on the anniversary of his death

'I don't know anything about music': Ten great quotes from Elvis Presley on the anniversary of his death

Today's Vintage Ad


I'm Sure You'll All Agree

I read the 100 “best” fantasy and sci-fi novels - and they were shockingly offensive

PaperBack



Vera Chapman, The Three Damosels, Magnum, 1978

A Review of Interest (To Me, Anyway)

Lesa's Book Critiques: Between the Living and the Dead by Bill Crider

Julian Bond, R. I. P.

CNN.com: (CNN)Julian Bond, a lifelong civil rights leader and former board chairman of the NAACP, has died. He was 75.

I Miss the Old Days

31 Pictures That Show Just How Crazy Woodstock Really Was

The Truth Is Out There

Mexican senior citizen claims UFO attempted to abduct him: Francisco Acosta Tostado, 68, told authorities he was riding his bike on a state highway when the alien aircraft ran him over and attempted to kidnap him.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Oops.

Oops. The Greenwich Meridian Line is in the wrong place

I Found a Penny in the Walmart Parking Lot Last Week

Teen finds gold bar while swimming in German Alpine lake


Vintage Treasures: The Lights of Barbrin by Joseph Burgo

Vintage Treasures: The Lights of Barbrin by Joseph Burgo