Saturday, September 24, 2016

I Found a Penny in the Walmart Parking Lot Last Week

10 Insane Ways Ordinary People Stumbled Upon Major Discoveries

Song of the Day

Clyde McPhatter - Since You've Been Gone - YouTube:

The Strangest Adoption in the History of the West

The Strangest Adoption in the History of the West: The little-known and bizarre border saga of Santa Anna’s gringo son.

Today's Vintage Ad


100 Must-Read Books About Monsters

100 Must-Read Books About Monsters

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P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves, Pocket books, 1941

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review

"Darn," He Smiled

Reflections: "Darn," He Smiled by Robert Silverberg

Instant Karma

Cinnamon Roll Can Explodes Inside Man’s Butt During Shoplifting Incident  

Excellent mugshot included.
Hat tip to Scott Cupp.

Will the Persecution Never End?

6 Movies That Ruined Their Studios 

I Miss the Old Days

50s Hot Rod and Classic Car Covers

Friday, September 23, 2016

I Want to Believe!

“Impossible” Time Crystals May Actually Be Real, Say Physicists  

Hat tip to Howard Peters.

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

50 Best TV Duos of All Time  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

Customer throws cup of urine at McDonald's employee over cost of Bundt cakes

The Revolutionary Concept of Standard Sizes

Atlas Obscura: Almost every kitchen counter in the United States is 36 inches tall. And 25 inches deep. Eighteen inches above the counters are the cabinets, which are 16 inches deep.

Song of the Day

Andy Williams - Are You Sincere - 1957 - The Crooners Collection lyrics - YouTube:

WTF Secret Lives Your Favorite Celebs Keep Under The Radar

WTF Secret Lives Your Favorite Celebs Keep Under The Radar 

Today's Vintage Ad


Yet Another List I'm Not On

Top 20 Smartest People Who Ever Lived 

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W. Somerset Maugham, Trio, Avon, 1951

The Ig Nobel Prizes

Work on sex life of rats, life as a badger honored at Ig Nobel Prizes

Paris Hilton Update

Paris Hilton says she is 'finally an adult' ten years after infamous sex tape scandal   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Beautiful Vintage Annuals for Children

Blackie's Childrens Annual 1923AbeBooks: Beautiful Vintage Annuals for Children: In the late 1800s, children's stories were published in periodicals and distributed weekly or monthly to readers. To further capitalize on their market, publishing houses put together annuals filled with the best stories, illustrations and games from the year. The book was released for Christmas, and marketed as the perfect gift (both entertaining and educational) for children. The annuals were generally distributed in Britain and its colonies such as Canada and Australia, although sometimes also in the United States.

FFB: The Man with Nine Lives -- Harlan Ellison

The Man with Nine Lives is the other half of the Ace Double Book I mentioned last week.  When I was a youth, I followed two young SF writers in particular.  Robert Silverberg was one.  Harlan Ellison was the other.  Silverberg was selling everywhere, from the low-paying digests to the top ones.  Ellison was mostly stuck in the lower- to middle-paying ones, but for some reason, maybe because he was just starting out, his work had a lot of appeal to me.  I shudder to admit this, but I once listed The Man with Nine Lives as one of my favorite SF novels.  Rereading it now, I can see that it's a pretty bad book.

Ellison isn't a novelist.  He's best at shorter lengths, and that's what he's stuck to for most of his career.  This book isn't actually a novel.   It's a sort of a fixup of a previously published novelette and short story with a couple of more related stories and a framework tossed in.   A man named Cal Emory is seeking revenge against a powerful guy, Paul Lederman, and to get it he has to undergo the "nine lives" of the title.  Lots of adventures ensue.  

The good news is that Ellison is Ellison, so nothing is exactly standard.  As in "Run for the Stars," which I discussed last week, the protagonist is a coward.  He doesn't undergo the changes that the previous one does, but he does learn and change.  So the ending might not be the one you expect.

The Man with Nine Lives is a minor book by a major writer.  Not anything to go out of the way to find, but an interesting historical document and fun in its own way.  Certainly not one of my favorite SF novels now, though.  

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Uh-Oh

‘Magnum P.I.’ sequel coming to ABC 

Jerry Lewis' Flop TV Talk Show

Jerry Lewis' Flop TV Talk Show

Song of the Day

Meat Loaf - Rock�N�Roll Dreams Come Through - YouTube:

Here's the Plot for Your Next Novel of High Adventure

Why the Soviets Sponsored a Doomed Expedition to a Hollow Earth Kingdom: In December of 1923, two unlikely travelers arrived in Darjeeling, India intent on finding what could not possibly exist: Shambhala, a kingdom located inside a hollow earth. Along them trailed Soviet spies, Western occultists and Mongolian rebels, all serving their own agendas. Even with so many eyes on them, their expedition still managed to disappear from the face of the earth for months; when they finally emerged, they had a fascinating story to tell and even more secrets to hide.

Today's Vintage Ad


John D. Loudermilk, R. I. P.

Songwriter John D. Loudermilk dead at 82: John D. Loudermilk, 82, a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the author of songs like "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," "Tobacco Road" and "Indian Reservation," has died, according to a tribute that his friend, songwriter Bobby Braddock, posted on Facebook.

“The Magical Mystery Book Tour” (by Jenny Milchman)

“The Magical Mystery Book Tour” (by Jenny Milchman) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: Jenny Milchman’s first professional publication was in EQMM’s Department of First Stories in November 2012, just months before her first novel, Cover of Snow, was released by Ballantine Books; the book received its year’s Mary Higgins Clark Award. Two more books, Ruin Falls and As Night Falls, soon followed, with As Night Falls winning Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award in 2016.  Jenny had been active in the literary community long before her own work saw print. She is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which is now celebrated by more than 700 bookstores. As you’ll see from the following post, she has also made many personal connections with bookstores through the book tours that followed the publication of her novels.—Janet Hutchings

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Dee Winters, The Swingers, Softcover Library, 1965

27 Fantastic Colorized Photos of Classic American Automobiles of the 1910s and 1920s

27 Fantastic Colorized Photos of Classic American Automobiles of the 1910s and 1920s

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

10 Texas Homecoming Mums That Are Absolutely Out of Control

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time

It's Fall!

Autumnal equinox 2016: Facts and quotes

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Top 10 Period Films Set In The 1600s

Song of the Day

Rusty Draper - Are You Satisfied? (1955) - YouTube:

Susan Oleksiw on “Variable Winds”

Susan Oleksiw on “Variable Winds” | Trace Evidence: Susan Oleksiw is an author, photographer, and publisher. Here she writes about her story “Variable Winds,” AHMM‘s October cover story. She also writes about sailing in Come About for Murder: A Mellingham Mystery (2016). Her most recent book is When Krishna Calls: An Anita Ray Mystery (Five Star/Gale, Cengage, 2016).

D. Keith Mano, R. I. P.

The New York Times: D. Keith Mano, whose teeming, rollicking novels explored the problems and passions of Christianity in the modern world, to remarkable effect in the capacious, Rabelaisian black comedy “Take Five,” died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 74.

Today's Vintage Ad


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Orrie Hitt, Nudist Camp, Beacon, 1957

Struggling for a Dream

Struggling for a Dream: Looking back at The Outlaw Josey Wales on the iconic Western’s 40th anniversary.

I Miss the Old Days

What’s lost when telephone calls disappear.: The Death of the Telephone Call

The Lewdest Sounding Town Name in Each State

A Map Highlighting the Lewdest Sounding Town Name in Each State in the United States

Amazing, May 1963: A Retro-Review

Amazing, May 1963: A Retro-Review

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Curtis Hanson, R. I. P.

Deadline: Curtis Hanson, who shared an Adapted Screenplay Oscar for L.A. Confidential and also helmed such films as Eminem starrer 8 Mile, Wonder Boys, The River Wild, In Her Shoes and HBO’s Too Big to Fail, died today of natural causes at his Hollywood Hills home. He was 71.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

Woman charged with stabbing man who refused sex with her

Antikythera Mechanism Update

Archaeologists Find Skeleton at Antikythera Mechanism Shipwreck

Song of the Day

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son - YouTube:

Shockingly delicious mid-century treats

This is an excellent companion piece to a post from yesterday: Gelatin, mayonnaise and other shockingly delicious mid-century treats

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

McDonald's manager assaulted with burger  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Today's Vintage Ad




5 Great TV Shows Canceled For The Most Insane Reasons Ever

5 Great TV Shows Canceled For The Most Insane Reasons Ever

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E. E. Halleran, Straw Boss, Avon, 1952

I Miss the Old Days

The 10 Most Influential Men of the 1960s

10 Creepy Mysteries Involving Abandoned Vehicles

10 Creepy Mysteries Involving Abandoned Vehicles

Overlooked Movies --Django

This isn't really an overlooked movie, but have you seen it?  Or have you seen it lately?  The reason I can't call it overlooked is because it inspired so many unofficial sequels, ripoffs, remakes, and homages that nobody seems to know how many of them there are.  I've seen estimates ranging from 30 to 100.  And of course Tarantino's Django Unchained drew a lot of attention a few years ago.  Franco Nero, the original Django, had a cameo in that one.

I think the movie's beyond criticism.  It's the kind of thing where the only street in the ghost town that's the setting for most of it is a loblolly, even though it never rains, and everything beyond the ghost town looks like Death Valley.  There's a weird religious sect run by a man who likes to kill people for sport.  There's a lot of gold, and there's a force of Mexicans equal to the force of the religious sect.  Django is out for revenge on the leader of the sect, and like Clint Eastwood, he plays the Mexicans against the sect.  Many people die.  Hundreds, would be my guess.  It didn't really make a lot of sense to me, but what the heck.  I enjoyed it quite a bit, anyway.  Because -- quicksand!  You cannot go wrong with lots of shooting and fighting and quicksand.  It's  not really the plot that matters in movies like this.  It's the choreographed gunplay, the little touches with the main character, the soundtrack (this has a good one), and other things that keep me watching.

Django is regarded as a classic spaghetti western.  If you like those films, this is one you have to see.  If you don't like them, this probably won't convert you.

Django

Django (1966) - Trailer - YouTube:

Monday, September 19, 2016

‘Jane Eyre’ Manuscript on First Trip to America

She Was No Bird: ‘Jane Eyre’ Manuscript on First Trip to America

Song of the Day

Robert Palmer - Bad Case Of Loving You Lyrics - YouTube:

I Miss the Old Days

The fantastic culinary horrors of the 1970 book 'Happy Living: A Guide for Brides.' 

Today's Vintage Ad


Competitive Walking

The Hot 19th Century Sport That Launched Modern Athletic Betting? Competitive Walking 

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Brett Rider, Law of the Gun, Pocket Books, 1951

10 Famous And Notorious Guns From History

10 Famous And Notorious Guns From History 

Top 10 Convicted Murderers Who Confessed (But Didn't Do It)

Top 10 Convicted Murderers Who Confessed (But Didn't Do It)

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

Drunk guy bites friend's ear off after demanding free enchiladas from Texas restaurant

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

International Talk Like A Pirate Day – Sept. 19, every year since 2002

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Song of the Day

Dion - Still In The Spirit - YouTube:

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

99 Of The Most Breathtaking Shots In Movie History

Today's Vintage Ad


25 Great Escapist Novels

Flee the American Political News Cycle with 25 Great Escapist Novels

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Charles Gorham, The Gilded Hearse, Popular Library, 1954

The True History of Lonesome Dove

The True History of Lonesome Dove: A closer look at the history behind one of the best Westerns, ever.

10 African-American Cowboys Who Shaped The Old West

10 African-American Cowboys Who Shaped The Old West

14 Classic Facts About Cracker Jack

14 Classic Facts About Cracker Jack  

Includes some nice vintage ads.