Saturday, September 02, 2017

You Can't Kill Bigfoot in Washington and More Odd Animal Laws

You Can't Kill Bigfoot in Washington and More Odd Animal Laws  

Hat tip to John Duke.

Harvey Update


A lot of people in Alvin weren't as lucky as I was.

A Brief History of DayGlo

A Brief History of DayGlo 

Song of the Day

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

8 SFF Books No One Will Ever Completely Understand

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

Decoding Jackie O's Signature Style: Ways Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Influenced Fashion in the 1960s and Early 1970s

PaperBack



Ben Ames Williams, All the Brothers Were Valiant, Avon, 1949

At the Birth of Crime Photography

At the Birth of Crime Photography, Mug Shots and Death Scenes

Harvey Update

The only damage to my sister's place is some wet carpet.  The Crider siblings all lucked out with Harvey.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas Teacher Launches Hurricane Harvey Book Club to Help Children

Forgotten Hits: September 2nd

Forgotten Hits: September 2nd  

Two surveys included.

Why Can’t You Wear White After Labor Day?

Why Can’t You Wear White After Labor Day?

Friday, September 01, 2017

Louise Hay, R. I. P.

Louise Hay, Widely Read Self-Help Author, Dies at 90: Louise Hay, who from a 1984 best seller built a self-help publishing empire that has attracted millions of devotees with its messages about the power of thought and attitude, died on Wednesday at her home in San Diego. She was 90.

Update

My brother's place in Port Aransas.  Roof leaked badly, but that appears to be the only real damage. He might need a new roof and a new ceiling, but that might be all.  His flags were still there.  

Shelley Berman, R. I. P.

The New York Times: Shelley Berman, whose brittle persona and anxiety-ridden observations helped redefine stand-up comedy in the late 1950s and early ’60s, died early Friday morning at his home in Bell Canyon, Calif. He was 92.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

I saw Berman on the evening of JFK's election in 1960.  When he came back on stage after the intermission, he announced that JFK was leading, and there was a big round of applause.   Though the headline calls Berman a "stand-up" comic, he sat on a stool for his entire show.

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

23 Bingeworthy Book Box Sets

Song of the Day

Song of the Day

(22) She's a Rainbow - Rolling Stones - YouTube:

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

En garde! Texas open carry sword law takes effect Friday

Today's Vintage Ad


I Found a Penny in the Walmart Parking Lot Last Week

Colorado Construction Crew Unearths 66-Million-Year-Old Triceratops Fossil 

PaperBack



Sam Sinclair Baker, Murder - Very Dry, Graphic, 1955

Harvey Update

My brother is headed to Port Aransas this morning.  He's pulling a trailer (okay, he's not; his SUV is) loaded with supplies donated by folks in our hometown.  My sister is driving there, too, but she's not pulling a trailer.  Her SUV is packed, however, with things she's bought and that her Austin friends have donated.

As far as we can tell from pictures we've seen, their vacation homes in P. A. didn't sustain much exterior damage.  Today they'll check the interiors.  We're all hoping for the best. 

A 1,000-Year-Old Texas Oak Tree Stands Firm

A 1,000-Year-Old Texas Oak Tree Stands Firm: A natural treasure is weathering the calamitous storm.

"Witness Trees"

These Five "Witness Trees" Were Present At Key Moments In America's History

FFB: The Xanadu Talisman -- Peter O'Donnell

The Modesty Blaise books rely heavily on coincidence, and this one's no different. In the opening chapters, Modesty finds herself trapped in the rubble of an earthquake with a mysterious man named Bernard Martel, who's double-crossed a criminal organization and is going to locate "The Object" and get back his wife, long ago sold into slavery.  

The organization he betrayed is led by Nanny Pendergrast, whose two charges are the deadly Silk brothers.  The feared assassin of the organization is the mysterious El Mico, who can sometimes be in two places at once. When Bernard is murdered by El Mico on Modesty's grounds, she's ready to get revenge, but Giles Pennyfeather (whom we've met before), always full of goodness, talks Modesty into completing Bernard's quest, instead.  This leads to one of the biggest coincidences ever, and also to Modesty and Willie being captured in scene I found really hard to credit, with Modesty being put to the test in the arena in Xanadu, a true pleasure dome, or at least the rough equivalent.  Of course [SPOILER ALERT] they eventually escape, carrying Bernard's wife with them, and this results in a nice bit of irony [END OF SPOILER ALERT].

To tell the truth, I didn't mind the coincidences in the least.  It's the kind of thing I expect in a Modesty Blaise novel.  The novels are pure spy fantasy with no intention of mirroring reality.  That's their attraction, along with the characters and O'Donnell's smooth narration.  I'll be reading another Modesty adventure soon, I'm sure.

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Richard Anderson, R .I. P.

Richard Anderson Dead: 'Six Million Dollar Man' Actor Was 91: He played Oscar Goldman on 'The Bionic Woman' spinoff as well after working in such films as 'Paths of Glory,' 'Seven Days in May' and 'Seconds.'

How Mary Hemingway and JFK Got Ernest Hemingway’s Legacy Out of Cuba

How Mary Hemingway and JFK Got Ernest Hemingway’s Legacy Out of Cuba

Song of the Day

6 Towns Trying to Change the World

6 Towns Trying to Change the World

Today's Vintage Ad


“A Tribute to James Yaffe” (by Jeffrey Marks)

“A Tribute to James Yaffe” (by Jeffrey Marks) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: James Yaffe is a name to conjure with at EQMM even to this day, decades after his last story for us was published. I regret never having had the opportunity to meet the man who was, and remains, EQMM’s youngest debut author—a writer who went on to do the magazine credit through his long and stellar career as a novel and short-story writer, a playwright and screenwriter, and a general man of letters. James Yaffe passed away earlier this summer and we invited Jeffrey Marks, award-winning biographer and previous contributor to this site, to provide us with a post in his memory.—Janet Hutchings

Only 99 cents for Kindle for a limited time!

Dead on the Island (Truman Smith Private Eye Book 1) - Kindle edition by Bill Crider. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com 

PI Truman Smith has become a loner after failing to find his sister Jan during a recent search of Galveston Island. He jogs on the Seawall, plays with his cat, and reads lots of Faulkner books. He is pulled from his self-imposed retirement when his old high school football buddy Dino asks him to find a young girl named Sharon. As Tru begins his investigation, dead bodies begin to appear and Tru himself is attacked. His search for Sharon takes him to all sorts of interesting places on and near the Island. Bill Crider spins a good mystery tale in a wonderful setting with interesting characters and enough plot twists to keep readers guessing until the last few chapters.

PaperBack

 

Amos Hatter, Crossroads of Desire, Cameo Books, 1952



I'm Sure You'll All Agree

John Wayne’s 10 Best Westerns

Jerry Lewis' Early Years

Jerry Lewis' Early Years 

Great photo of early Lewis hairstyle.

Forgotten Music

8 Famous Songs Using Borrowed Tunes

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Happy Birthday to Allen Crider!

Now that I'm back on the internet, I have to give a shout-out to my only son, and of course the best son ever, Allen Crider.  This photo is from when we lived in Brownwood, Texas, a good long time ago.  Allen could really work that horse.  My mother used to say that he and Angela were cute and smart and sweet.  Still true. 

Allen lives in Austin now, where he's part of the Cornell Hurd Band (he's the next to last guy on the right in the top photo at the link) and does some sound work for other bands as well as producing and mastering CDs.  I'm proud to be his dad.

Update: Mission Accomplished!

Couple finally completes 40-year-long quest to eat at every Cracker Barrel in the United States

But now I'm back

Well, that was fast.  It didn't take days, after all.  I don't know how long I'll be online before losing service again, but maybe I can schedule some posts for tomorrow.  Wheeee!

It may be days . . .

. . . before internet service is restored. 

Frances Glessner Lee's Crime Dioramas

Frances Glessner Lee's Crime Dioramas Are Getting Their Own Smithsonian Exhibition 

Song of the Day

Top 10 Forgotten Artifacts Rediscovered In Museums

Top 10 Forgotten Artifacts Rediscovered In Museums

Today's Vintage Ad


No internet

now that Harvey is gone and skies are blue, I have no internet service. Thai sucks. 

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

15 revamps that turned out better than expected

PaperBack



Kermit Welles (Manning Lee  Stokes), Sin Preferred, Cameo Books, 1951

I Miss the Old Days

35 Interesting Vintage Snapshots of 1960s Women With Bouffant Hairstyle 

Can Your Best Friends Be Books?

Can Your Best Friends Be Books?: Recently, reading a Mary Oliver essay collection, I stumbled across a piece called “My Friend Walt Whitman.” In it, she admits she had merely a few friends as a child in 1950s Ohio, and they were all dead. They were her favorite books.

Bouns FFM for Wednesday -- Espionage Volume 1, Number 1

The first issue of Espionage doesn't have great cover, which is fitting since the stories aren't great, either.  Most of them aren't even very good.  The idea of a magazine devoted to spy stories in 1984 seems a little odd.  The fascination with spy fiction had long since disappeared by then, hadn't it?  

As you can see from the contests list below, there are a few familiar names.  There are also a few names I never heard of before, nor have I heard of them since.  The magazine didn't last long, and I can see why.  I read every story in the issue, and most of them have already slipped from my mind. Jack Ritchie's story is a reprint, but I believe it's the only one in the issue. It's not bad.  The Asimov story really strains to explain its not-quite-dying message.  The Hoch story is one of the okay ones.  The Goulart tale is a "Odd Jobs, Inc." story and not intended to be taken seriously.  It's amusing, but not one of his better ones.  Ardath Mayhar's story is in the form of a letter, and it's printed in italics.  It's not long, but I found the italics annoying.  The story was okay, though.  Some of the others seemed to have no point, like "The Hurricane Courier."  I think the less said about most of them, the better.  So I won't say any more.  Well, I will say that the magazine improved, but not enough to save itself.  It's an interesting curiosity from another time.

3 · Editorial · [The Editor] · ed
6 · Time to Kill · Tony Wilmot · ss
16 · The Queen and King · Isaac Asimov · ss;
24 · The President’s Brain Is Missing · Ron Goulart · ss
39 · The Purist · Edward Wellen · ss
48 · The Hurricane Courier · P. E. Halycon · ss
58 · The Foreign Minister’s Brother · Stuart Symons · ss
69 · The Commissar · Jack Ritchie · ss
78 · Historically Spying... · Joe Lewis · nonfiction
81 · A Boy and His Camera · Jery Tillotson · ss
92 · Breakfast at the Kawnbawza · Isak Romun · ss
100 · The Hatchtree Assignment · Edward D. Hoch · ss
115 · The Knack · Percy Spurlark Parker · 
118 · The Intelligence Process [Part 1 of 3] · Ernest Volkman · ar
128 · Winds of Change · John Lutz · ss
134 · A Cameo Disappearance · E. Brooks Peters · ss
152 · You Can’t Fool a Wife · Ardath Mayhar · ss
158 · Game Pages 

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

The Unprecedented Flooding in Houston, in Photos

The Unprecedented Flooding in Houston, in Photos  

Many of these are new, though not all.

Top 10 Historical Whodunits Worthy Of Sherlock Holmes

Top 10 Historical Whodunits Worthy Of Sherlock Holmes  

One photo possibly NSFW.

Song of the Day

Top 10 Classic Movies That Almost Ended Differently

Top 10 Classic Movies That Almost Ended Differently   

Spoilers galore.

Today's Vintage Ad

In honor of "Blonde Week" at George Kelley's blog.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

The Agony and the Ecstasy of the State Fair Food Finalists: Funnel Cake Bacon Queso Burger Included

17 Photos That Show Just How Bad The Flooding In Houston Really Is

17 Photos That Show Just How Bad The Flooding In Houston Really Is

PaperBack



Arthur Marin, The Doctor's Wife, Venus Books, 1951

Too Late for Me

The 7 Writer Types You Should Avoid Becoming

I Miss the Old Days

33 Fascinating Photos That Capture Everyday Life of Dallas in the 1970s

A Review of Interest (To Me, Anyway)

Kevin's Corner: Review: Eight Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Bill Crider

Harvey Update

Harvey Update for early Tuesday: The rain stopped sometime last night, and I got only 4-1/2 inches. That makes 28-1/2 inches at least, but since the rain stopped, the ditches carried the water away, and I'm still dry. Not high yet, but the day is young. The wind is a good big higher than it's been, but a little wind is nothing to worry about. Maybe this is the tail end of Harvey, and if so, I'm glad to see it go.

Too many others haven't been as lucky as I am, and the Texas Gulf Coast won't recover for a long time. Texans are a resilient bunch, but this is a true catastrophe, maybe on the level with Katrina and Sandy. It's going to take quite a while just to evaluate the damage to property and to know how many lives have been lost. I've made a donation to my favorite disaster relief organization, but that seems a small thing. At least it's doing a little something, even if very little, to help.

Overlooked Movies -- Phantom Lady

I believe this movie is considered a classic, so it's not really overlooked by anyone other than me.  I'd never seen it before, but when it turned up on TCM, complete with an introductory discussion hosted by Eddie Muller and featuring Vince and Rosemarie Keenan, I couldn't resist.

Let me say right up front that I wasn't all that taken with the movie.  It's wonderful too look at, with great B&W photography, but the plot is all too simple, unlike the book it's based on.  Ella Raines is great as the loyal secretary trying to free the boss she secretly loves from prison as she searches for the "phantom lady" of the title, but Alan Curtis as the boss made me wonder why she'd bother.  And Franchot Tone just didn't work for me at all.  Thomas Gomez as the police inspector is very good, but the real star of the show is Elisha Cook, Jr., who was cruelly ignored by the Academy when it came time to nominate for the Oscars.  His drumming scene is the most amazing thing in the movie (and Raines contributes, too).  Don't ask me how they got away with it.  As Vince Kennan said, there's no subtext in this scene. It's all text.  In case you've never seen it, here's a link

A lot of people like this movie more than I do, so give it a try if you've never seen it.  Or let me know why I should have liked it better.

Phantom Lady

Monday, August 28, 2017

10 Weird Jobs That Legendary Rockers Had Before Becoming Famous

10 Weird Jobs That Legendary Rockers Had Before Becoming Famous

Song of the Day

The Last Adventure of Richard Halliburton

The Last Adventure of Richard Halliburton, the Forgotten Hero of 1930s America   

Judy loved Halliburton's books that she read as a kid.

Today's Vintage Ad


Everybody Misses the Old Days

Nostalgia TV makes a comeback. How Hulu and Netflix are breathing new life into old TV shows

PaperBack



Peggy Gaddis, Unfaithful, Venus Books, 1952

Nixon’s List

Nixon’s List: As 1972 approached, President Richard Nixon started to get more and more concerned about his coming reelection campaign. He became convinced that his political adversaries weren’t just opponents-they were “enemies” and had to be stopped. He and his advisers compiled this list of 20 public figures who they felt could hurt them in some way. Were they ever really threats to Nixon? Probably not, but Nixon thought so, which makes this piece of history all the more fascinating.

I Miss the Old Days

16 Cool Ads of Men's Shorts From the 1970s 

Forgotten Hits: August 28th

Forgotten Hits: August 28th: Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" holds on to the #1 spot for the second week as The Beatles hold at #2 with "All You Need Is Love".  Slowly climbing The Top Ten are "Baby I Love You" by Aretha Franklin (#4 to #3), "Reflections" by Diana Ross and the Supremes (#6 to #4), "Heroes And Villains" by The Beach Boys (#10 to #9) and "You're My Everything" by The Temptations (#12 to #10) while Bobby Vee's latest hit, "Come Back When You Grow Up" jumps ten places from #18 to #8. 

Includes a SuperChart.

Harvey Update

It's raining a bit here now, but not  heavily.  I got only an inch of rain overnight, bringing my total to at least 17 inches.  But I'm still safe and dry and well-provisioned.  I don't know what Harvey will do next, but I think I'm ready.

How the Plastic Pink Flamingo Became an Icon

How the Plastic Pink Flamingo Became an Icon

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Here's Where I Donate to Disaster Relief

And here's why:  UMCOR spends 100 percent of designated donations on the projects our donors specify.  UMCOR Home - UMCOR

Another Harvey Update

Poured one more inch of water out of the rain gauges, so 16 inches so far.  At the minimum.  As I said, the rain gauge overflowed last night.  Maybe tonight will be better.  We're currently in a lull in the rain, and the water is rapidly draining off.  The minor street flooding nearby has cleared up, and my house is still and in no danger.  I feel truly sorry for Houston and some of the surrounding towns, Dickinson in particular.  The National Weather Service said this was "an unprecedented catastrophe."  That says it all.

Harvey Update

Fifteen inches of rain here so far, and it's still raining.  Minor street flooding near my house, but the house is still safe except for a small leak that's developed over the den.  That can't be good, but a lot of my Houston friends have it much worse and have posted on Facebook that their homes have flooded.  And it's still just the beginning.

12 Facts About the Smithsonian's Collections

12 Facts About the Smithsonian's Collections

Song of the Day

The Science of Soft Serve

The Science of Soft Serve: It’s just like regular ice cream–with a few big differences

Today's Vintage Ad


Are We Different Writers When We Move From Longhand to a Screen?

Are We Different Writers When We Move From Longhand to a Screen? 

PaperBack



Peggy Gaddis, Runaway Lovers, Venus Books, 1952

Daniel Silva on Seeing His Thriller Plots Come True

Daniel Silva on Seeing His Thriller Plots Come True

Harvey Update

I'm fine.  12 inches of rain so far, or more, but it's draining well.  This isn't the case in Houston and other nearby towns where there's terrible, catastrophic flooding.  And the rain will continue for at least two more days.  I still think Alvin will be okay, but this is the kind of flooding that will be remembered for generations.  The hurricane damage was disastrous, but the flooding is going to be even worse.

Tobe Hooper, R. I. P.

Variety: Tobe Hooper, the horror director best known for helming “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “Poltergeist,” died Saturday in Sherman Oaks, Calif., according to the Los Angeles County Coroner. He was 74. The circumstances of his death were not known.  

Hat tip to Jeff Segal.

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

These Are The Most Colourful Streets in the World 

Link via Neatorama.