Saturday, August 13, 2016

A Sound Precaution

"Dangerous" Triangular Flapjacks Banned In England  

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Kenny Baker, R. I. P.

Kenny Baker, actor behind R2-D2, dies: The British actor who played R2-D2 in the Star Wars films has died at the age of 83 after a long illness.

Summer of '86: An All-Star Year for the Razzies

Summer of '86: An All-Star Year for the Razzies

Song of the Day

1955 HITS ARCHIVE: The Yellow Rose Of Texas - Stan Freberg - YouTube:

I've Been to One of These

Twirl Paper Umbrellas at the Vintage Tiki Bars That Taught Americans to Relax

Today's Vintage Ad


Uh-Oh

Archaeologists discover 2,000-year-old scrolls with demon-invoking magic spells

PaperBack



Ellery Queen's Sixteenth Mystery Annual, Popular Library, 1962

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review

Paging Sheriff Dan Rhodes

The shocking moment a hunter BLOWS UP a herd of feral pigs  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

A Few of My Medical Adventures

Any time you think that medicine is an exact science, consider me.  

I was feeling a bit punk, so I went to see my PCP for a checkup.  He was a bit worried about my kidneys and told me to get an x-ray.  Since the only x-ray equipment in Alvin is my old x-ray specs, I had to drive to another town, and I waited until the next day.  As I was driving, I got a call from my PCP, who said, "Your blood work is very bad.  I'm afraid you're having renal failure.  You need to forget the x-ray and get to an ER."

So I went home, packed a bag and got to an ER, where I was poked, tested, and given a room.

The next day, the attending physician came in and told me that I didn't have renal failure but that I most l likely had lymphoma.   Because of Judy's illness and death, I blurted out, "What are the odds?"

The doctor misunderstood and said, "About 90% certainty."

Gloom.

The next day, the doctor said, "It doesn't appear to be lymphoma, after all.  You might have colon cancer."

Gloom.

The next day, the doctor said, "It's not colon cancer, after all.  All we can say now is that it's an adenocarcinoma of unknown origin."

Much more gloom.

The next day, the oncologist breezed into the room.  "It now appears that you might have prostate cancer.  That might turn out to be the best option of all.  Well, my flight for London leaves in an hour.  Ta-ta."

Me to Angela: "Get me out of this damn place."

We got out.  The next day.

Angela and her husband, Tom, started pulling strings, and it turned out that they were good at it.  In less than a week, I had an appointment at M. D. Anderson, but even then it took five more days before the prostate cancer was confirmed.  You'd think that would be an easy one to spot, but not in my case.  Nothing is ever easy when I'm involved, it seems.

There are many more harrowing (and funny [not to mention hugely embarrassing], in retrospect) stories I could tell about all this, and no doubt there will be many more.  Maybe one of these days I'll get around to some of them.

Amy Schumer: By the Book

Amy Schumer: By the Book 

Friday, August 12, 2016

11 Facts About 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'

11 Facts About 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'

Song of the Day

Glenn Yarbrough - "Baby The Rain Must Fall" - YouTube:

Glenn Yarbrough, R. I. P.

Singer Glenn Yarbrough dead at 86: Folk singer Glenn Yarbrough, a founding member of vocal group The Limeliters and a prolific solo artist, died at home in Nashville on Thursday night after several years of declining health. He was 86 years old.

10 Abandoned Icons of Roadside America

10 Abandoned Icons of Roadside America 

Today's Vintage Ad


I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Kickoff time again: Top 5 football movies of the '80s

PaperBack



Edward S. Aarons, Assignment: Budapest, Gold Medal, 1960

12 Of The Oldest Restaurants In The World

12 Of The Oldest Restaurants In The World

I Miss the Old Days

The first drive-in theaters

Uh-Oh

Antoine Fuqua in talks with Universal to direct Scarface remake

FFB: Agent to the Stars -- John Scalzi

Agent to the Stars was John Scalzi's first novel, written as a "practice" novel just to see if he could do it.  He serialized it online, and it was enough of a success to encourage him to continue writing.  After he became a rich and famous writer, Subterranean Press issued a limited edition, and eventually Tor reprinted the book in paperback.

Tom Stein is a Hollywood agent who works in Carl Lupo's agency.  Stein has a few low-profile clients, but he's a good agent and has just landed a really big deal for one of the clients, Michelle Beck.  Before he can celebrate much, Lupo calls him into his office and tells him to drop most of his clients because he has a new client for him.  The new client turns out to be Joshua, an alien life from, who's more or less a blob and whose race communicates through smell.  He smells terrible.  Stein's job is to create a situation in which the people of earth accept the aliens as friends and allies.  A tabloid reporter knows something is going on, and he's a bulldog when he's after a story.  Michelle Beck wants to do serious acting.  Stein's juggling a lot of balls.

Someday when scholars are writing monographs on Scalzi's work, they'll be able to trace a lot of his concerns right back to this book.  Lots of fart jokes, for one thing.  Lots of concern for social justice.  There's also plenty of snappy patter and plenty of laughs.  I thought the book was far too long, thanks to a lot of discussion about ethics in the last 1/3, but Scalzi might think that was the heart of the novel.  I enjoyed the book and was glad I finally got around to reading it.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

A Review of Interest (To Me, Anyway)

Dr. Pepper, Gators and Snapping Turtles: MysteryPeople Reviews Bill Crider’s SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN

Debunking 52 popular myths

Debunking 52 popular myths 

Song of the Day

Wilbert Harrison - Kansas city - YouTube:

Or Maybe You Do

14 Things You May Not Know About Clint Eastwood

Today's Vintage Ad


Am I the Walrus? Obscure Beatles Stories

Am I the Walrus? Obscure Beatles Stories

PaperBack



Richard S. Prather, The Trojan Hearse, Pocket Books, 1967

Forgotten Hits: 50 Years Ago Today (August 11th)

Forgotten Hits: 50 Years Ago Today (August 11th): Although nobody knew it at the time, 50 Years Ago Today The Beatles landed in Chicago for the start of what would be their final concert tour.

Some Great Paperback Book Covers

The Golden Age: Some Great Paperback Book Covers ~ art by Rudolph Belarski and others...but mostly Belarski

Patrice Munsel, R.I. P.

The New York Times: Patrice Munsel, a coloratura soprano who as a teenager became one of the Metropolitan Opera’s youngest stars and later crossed over into television and musical theater, died on Aug. 4 at her home in Schroon Lake, N.Y. She was 91.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

The Myth of Whiskey

True West Magazine: Forget what you have seen in Hollywood Westerns.

Uh-Oh

News from The Associated Press: CHILLING MOUNTAINTOP FIND MAY CONFIRM DARK GREEK LEGEND

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

“The Passion of Lizzie B.” (by Edward D. Hoch) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

“The Passion of Lizzie B.” (by Edward D. Hoch) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: It’s often been theorized that violent crime goes up in the summer due to higher temperatures. The murders of Andrew and Abby Borden are among the most notorious crimes committed on a hot summer day—on August 4, 1892.  Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s daughter and Abby’s stepdaughter, was arrested for the ax killings, tried, and acquitted. Despite her acquittal, many continued to believe her guilty of the brutal murders. Many writers have taken up the subject of the Borden murders, but few have turned a fictional eye to alternative courses Lizzie’s life might have taken after her release. Patricia Hoch, the widow of MWA Grand Master Edward D. Hoch, has kindly given us permission to post this story from Ed’s Ben Snow series, in which Lizzie’s story is imaginatively continued in a way other than it did in reality. The story first appeared in the September 1993 EQMM, and it is copyrighted by the estate of Edward D. Hoch.—Janet Hutchings

A Review of Interest (To Me, Anyway)

Words & Music: Bill Crider, Survivors Will Be Shot Again

Paperback Parade #94 with Bill Crider

Paperback Parade #94 with Bill Crider

Review: Survivors Will Be Shot Again by Bill Crider by David Cranmer

Review: Survivors Will Be Shot Again by Bill Crider by David Cranmer

Song of the Day

The Showmen - IT WILL STAND - YouTube:

Or Maybe Not

17 Stores That You Totally Forgot Existed

Today's Vintage Ad


I Found a Penny in the Walmart Parking Lot Last Week

Man Discovers Lost Dürer Work at Flea Market, Donates It to German Museum 

Sagan Lewis, R. I. P.

NY Daily News: Actress Sagan Lewis, known for her long-running role on "St. Elsewhere," has died. She was 63.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

PaperBack



Wade Miller (Bob Wade & Bill Miller), The Tiger's Wife, Gold Medal, 1959

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

Woman Punches Man In Movie Chatter Dispute

10 Tragic Facts About Legendary Musicians

10 Tragic Facts About Legendary Musicians

The Earthly Delights of Heironymous Bosch

The Earthly Delights of Heironymous Bosch

No Surprise to Readers of this Blog, of Course

Alligator, marijuana plants found in Connecticut apartment

Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Happy #PubDay to Bill Crider for Survivors Will Be Shot Again!!

Happy #PubDay to Bill Crider for Survivors Will Be Shot Again!! | BookEnds Literary Agency

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

Cops: Woman, 19, Bit Off Female Cop's Ear Following Brawl Outside Massachusetts Bar

An Affliction I Don't Have

The Strange Affliction of 'Library Anxiety' and What Librarians Do to Help: It's a real phenomenon, and Ivy League librarians are fighting it.

Song of the Day

Danny and The Juniors - Rock and Roll is Here to Stay [HD] - YouTube:

15 Solid Facts About the Rosetta Stone

15 Solid Facts About the Rosetta Stone 

Today's Vintage Ad


Uh-Oh

Same old, same old. How the hipster aesthetic is taking over the world

PaperBack



Talbot Munday, Helma, Avon, 1967

Getting Personal with John D MacDonald

The Trap of Solid Gold: Getting Personal with John D MacDonald

Or Maybe You Did

5 things you didn't know about 'Stand By Me' on its 30th anniversary

Overlooked Movies -- Buck Privates

Before you cast too many aspersions on Buck Privates, consider that it was nominated for two Academy Awards.  For music, I admit, not for acting or story.  Abbott and Costello are a couple of sharpies selling neckties out of a suitcase when a cop gets after them.  They hide out in a recruiting center and find themselves in the army.  Also joining up are a spoiled rich guy and his chauffeur.  The rich guy expects his father to pull strings and get out soon.  The chauffeur is all for doing his duty.  They compete for the charms of the lovely Joan Frazee, the Andrews sisters sing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," and Bud and Lou engage in their comedy routines.

Bud and Lou are dismayed to discover that the cop who was after them is their sergeant.  What are the odds?  There are plenty of conflicts there, of course.  The rich guy doesn't get out, the army shapes him up, and he gets into officer training school, as does the chauffeur.  They are now more or less pals.

Full-out patriotism rules the day, as it almost always did in the '40s, the real thing, not what passes for it these days.  No cynicism, no winking.  Even if the whole cast was planning to dodge the draft, the movie plays it 100% straight.  It was hugely popular and made stars of Abbott and Costello.  You might find that hard to believe, watching it now, but it's true, and it was fun to revisit the old days, even if the corn was as high as an elephant's eye.  Or a giraffe's eye.  Those who don't remember the old days might find it intolerable.  Those who can't take Abbott and Costello's brand of humor certainly will.

Buck Privates

BUCK PRIVATES ABBOTT & COSTELLO TRAILER - YouTube:

Monday, August 08, 2016

New Book: "Survivors Will Be Shot Again" by Bill Crider

Gravetapping: New Book: "Survivors Will Be Shot Again" by Bill Crider

The Great Vampire Epidemic of the 1720s

The Great Vampire Epidemic of the 1720s

Song of the Day

The Chantels - Maybe (1958) - YouTube:

The Golden Age: Some Great Pulp Covers

The Golden Age: Some Great Pulp Covers - 1930's - 40's ~ Art By Belarski, Rozen, Saunders, Anderson, Ward, Howitt and others

Today's Vintage Ad


I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Greatest of All-Time Top Country Songs

PaperBack



Edward S. Aarons, Assignment Zoraya, Gold Medal, 1960

6 things you learned in school, but your kids never will

6 things you learned in school, but your kids never will

A Neanderthal Marco Polo?

A Neanderthal Marco Polo? The prehistoric Chinese skull with intriguing signs of a European past 

Hmmmmmm

How to Tell a Crocodile from an Alligator 

Sunday, August 07, 2016

Song of the Day

1959 Reg Owen - Down By The Riverside (instrumental) - YouTube:

Or Maybe You Did

10 Things You Never Knew Were Invented By Kids

Today's Vintage Ad


I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Matthew McConaughey’s Top 10 Performances

PaperBack



John Creasey, The Toff in New York, Pyramid, 1964

Anybody Can Make a Mistake

Team USA Basketball Players Accidentally Go To 'Brothel', They Thought It Was a Spa

I Miss the Old Days

Vacationing on the shores of Acapulco, before it became a resort metropolis (1952)

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Police: Laptop used to reprogram, steal more than 100 cars: HOUSTON (AP) — Two men jailed in Houston and accused of using pirated computer software to steal more than 100 vehicles may have exploited an electronic vulnerability to advance auto theft into high-tech crime.