Saturday, August 24, 2013

James Lee Burke Interview

James Lee Burke Interview: Rejection, Crime, Marriage

Link via Kevin's Corner.

Some Good Stuff Here

The Harlan Ellison Channel - YouTube

The 20 Best End-of-the-World Movies

The 20 Best End-of-the-World Movies

Today's Vintage Ad


Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Amazon.com: Mad Magazine #1 eBook: Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Will Elder: Kindle Store: The very first issue of MAD! Including classic spoofs of multiple comic book genres--sci-fi ("Blobs!"), horror ("Hoohah!"), crime ("Ganefs!") and westerns ("Varmint!").

BaperBack



Benny Runnels, Blood on Big Sandy, Vega 1962

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Acupuncture patient makes 911 call after being left pinned and stuck in clinic

America's 20 Best Steakhouses Slideshow |

America's 20 Best Steakhouses Slideshow 

Yes, Yes It Is

Nicolas Cage digitally inserted into old movies is the stuff of dreams

I Won't Be Entering Any of Them

10 Actual Competitions for Major Mental Athletes 

Me, Too

Cliché Movie Posters We're Tired Of Seeing

When I Was Thirteen, I Was Still Collecting Baseball Cards

10 Self-Made Kid Millionaires 

The Dawn Express

daw exp trai YT - YouTube:

Friday, August 23, 2013

The Honky Tonk Big Hoss Boogie -- Robert J. Randisi

Auggie Velez is a Nashville session man. He's also a private-eye, and when he's hired by a big-time record producer to deliver a package, he takes the job.  The $5000 is nice, but the producer also offers Auggie a shot at a record deal all his own.  How can he resist?

Anybody who's read a few private-eye novels would tell Auggie that he was going to be sorry for taking the job, and, sure enough, the guy who was supposed to get the package winds up dead.  Prime suspect?  Auggie.

There's a great MacGuffin in this book, and I'm going to resist giving any hints.  You should discover it for yourself, although . . . I'm not saying.  

The mystery's nicely complex, and the local color is excellent, especially if you like restaurants.  Auggie surely does.  

There's even an appearance by those well-known pickers and grinners Al Hall and Parnell Collins, with whom Auggie shares the stage for a few numbers, not including "King of Kindle."  Check it out.

Otto Penzler Talks about Black Mask (Digital Reprints to Begin Soon)

▶ Black Mask Magazine: The Pioneer of the Hardboiled Detective - YouTube:

Song of the Day

▶ The Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City (Hot Mono 45) - YouTube:

I Miss the Old Days

Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston Were The Coolest Couple Of The '70s And '80s

Today's Vintage Ad


Meet 6 Monster Fish That (Believe It or Not) Live in Our Rivers

Meet 6 Monster Fish That (Believe It or Not) Live in Our Rivers 

Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
Slideshow alert!

PaperBack



Duane Rimel, The River Is Cold, Vega, 1962

Archaeology Update

AFP: The discovery in Peru of another tomb belonging to a pre-Hispanic priestess, the eighth in more than two decades, confirms that powerful women ruled this region 1,200 years ago, archeologists said.

The Fears and Phobias of Famous People

The Fears and Phobias of Famous People 

Black Dahlia Update

Man Says He Has More Evidence His Father Committed Infamous Black Dahlia Murder

A Forgotten Writer

Lethal Nostalgia: On S.J. Perelman

A Forgotten Magazine

Amazing, March 1961: A Retro-Review

Another Forgotten Book

Vintage Treasures: The Best of Fritz Leiber

Forgotten Books: The Tall T -- Elmore Leonard


In honor of the late Elmore Leonard, I'm reprinting my comments on this book from last June.

You can tell by looking at the covers and spine of the paperback edition of The Tall T that when this Avon book was published, nobody knew who Elmore Leonard was.  His name is nowhere on it.  If you looked at the spine, you might even think that Randolph Scott had written the book.  And if you look at the tiny print under the title, you'll see "And Other Western Adventures" because instead of publishing a novelization of the movie, which was based on a novelette called "The Captives" from Argosy, Avon just published the novelette and padded out the book with some still photos from the movie and two other stories, one by Steve Frazee ("The Man at Gannt's Place") and one by Noel M. Loomis ("The Twilighters").

 If you've seen the movie, as I'm sure many of you have (and if you haven't, you can watch it right here), you might want to know how it's different from the book.   The opening 15 minutes of the movie aren't really in the story.  A couple of the events are alluded to, but others have just been added.  And the ending is changed.  In the story, Chink (Henry Silva in the movie) is the of the killers that Brennan (Randolph Scott) has to deal with.  In the movie, it's Frank Usher (Richard Boone).  Not that it makes a lot of difference.

Most everything in between comes directly from the story.  Leonard's dialogue is hardly altered.  It's as if he were already writing directly for the screen.  It's fun to see the movie shortly after reading the book to see how the actors handled the dialogue.  As I read the story, I could hear Scott saying some of the lines, and in the movie he spoke a few of them pretty much as I thought he would.  Not nearly all of them, however.  It was a pleasure to watch him work.  He was a much better actor than he sometimes gets credit for.

The question of the day is, "Why is this movie called The Tall T?" Nobody in the movie mentions it. Nobody is named anything that begins with the letter T.  It's not the name of a ranch.  Anybody know?

I recommend both the story and the movie.  Great stuff.

Yellow Sky

Yellow Sky Trailer - YouTube:

Thursday, August 22, 2013

You Heard It Here First

An ‘aporkalypse’ has Texas fighting losing battle against feral pig menace

10 Criminals Who Got Away With Crazy Stuff In Prison

10 Criminals Who Got Away With Crazy Stuff In Prison  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Slideshow alert!

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Dunkin’ Donuts worker pistol-whipped over botched coffee order 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Wonderful Vintage Pulp Covers for Domestic Suspense Novels

Wonderful Vintage Pulp Covers for Domestic Suspense Novels 

The Internet’s 9 Most Hated Companies

The Internet’s 9 Most Hated Companies

Song of the Day

▶ It's Only Make Believe - Conway Twitty - YouTube:

Oldest globe to depict the New World may have been discovered

Oldest globe to depict the New World may have been discovered 

Link via Neatorama.

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the . . . Wait, 1999 is the Old Days?

25 Things That Were Totally Normal In 1999

Gator and Croc Update (Balanced Diet Edition)

Study Finds Alligators and Crocodiles Eat Fruit

PaperBack



Martin Ryerson, Doctor vs Murder. Vega, 1964

Jay Richardson, R. I. P.

Jay Richardson, son of The Big Bopper, dies: Jay P. Richardson, son of rock ‘n’ roll icon The Big Bopper and frequent performer at the Surf Ballroom, died Wednesday morning in Katy, Texas, according to the Surf Ballroom staff. He was 54.

Good Work, Bomb Squad!

Glass jar filled with strange green liquid found outside Rutherford High School poses no danger says bomb squad: After testing the liquid, the bomb squad determined the strange glass jar was from a lava light, said Russo.

Feeding the Mind

Feeding the Mind: Lewis Carroll's Rules for a Fine Information Diet and Healthy Intellectual Digestion

I Miss the Old Days

10 Wacky Grooming Products from the 1970s

Why is self-publishing still scorned by literary awards?

Why is self-publishing still scorned by literary awards? 

Link via SF Signal.

Criminal Geniuses of the Day

Instagram Photos Lead To Largest NYC Gun Bust Ever

Sid Bernstein, R. I. P.

NY Daily News: The visionary force who helped launch the “British Invasion” by introducing America to a then-little-known band called The Beatles died in his sleep Wednesday in New York City, said his publicist. He was 95.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Paris Hilton Update

Paris Hilton displays her trim figure in a zebra print two-piece as she continues to lap up the good life in Ibiza 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Sunset in the West

1950 SUNSET IN THE WEST RE-RELEASE TRAILER ROY ROGERS - YouTube:

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Oops

Building evacuated after burlesque dancer Go Go Amy sets off fire alarm at Dundee’s Abertay University with burning nipple tassels

Pro-File: James Reasoner

Ed Gorman's blog: Pro-File: James Reasoner

Marian McPartland, R. I. P.

Marian McPartland, 'Piano Jazz' Host, who gave the world an intimate, insider's perspective on one of the most elusive topics in music — jazz improvisation — died of natural causes Tuesday night at her home in Long Island, N.Y. She was 95.

Learning How to Write by Breaking Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules

Book Dirt: Learning How to Write by Breaking Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules

Writers Read: Bill Crider

Writers Read: Bill Crider

What is Bill Crider reading?

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

10 Great Airplane Movies

Flights of Fancy: 10 Great Airplane Movies

Slideshow alert.

Songs of the Day

The Soundtrack of Summer 1963 

This was the summer after my college graduation.  I worked at the Red Arrow freight line in Mexia, Texas, until the end of August and then moved to Corsicana, Texas, to teach 11th grade English.  An experience I'll never forget, and I'll bet some of the students won't, either, though they might wish they could.

Yet Another List I'm Not On

11 Celebrated Artists Who Didn't Quit Their Day Jobs

Name Brands: The Most and Least Respected

The Exchange - Yahoo! Finance: When it comes to the best-known brands, two big cola sellers garner the most respect in the business world, while an airline and a cigarette maker fare the worst.

Today's Vintage Ad


“Illustrator, Author, Fan”

“Illustrator, Author, Fan” (by Mark Evan Walker) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

Top 10 Zombies Different From The Ones In the Movies

Top 10 Zombies Different From The Ones In the Movies 

Hollywood's Worst Casting Choices

This is so wrong: Denise Richards as a Nuclear Physicist  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

PaperBack



Dwight V. Babcock, Homicide for Hannah, Avon Murder Mystery Monthly, 1943

FRONTLIST FEATURES

Top Suspense Group: FRONTLIST FEATURES: THE HEIST by Lee Goldman and Janet Evanovich

10 Influential Movies (Where Everybody Copied the Wrong Thing)

10 Influential Movies (Where Everybody Copied the Wrong Thing)

16 Unique And Awesome Bookshelves For Every Budget

16 Unique And Awesome Bookshelves For Every Budget

I Miss the Old Days

27 Of The Most Amazing '80s Weddings You'll Ever See

Brooklyn Leads the Way

The Brooklyn bookshop saving out-of-print science fiction, one ebook at a time 

Link via SF Signal.

Rotten Reviews

15 Classics Authors Who Need To Be Taken To The Burn Unit

Feeling Old Yet?

The Mindset List: 2017 List

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Woman stabs her friend in the cheek with a STILETTO HEEL during a brawl after a baby shower 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Beatrice Kozera, R. I. P.

Mail Online: Beatrice Kozera, the Los Angeles-born woman whose fleeting relationship with novelist Jack Kerouac was chronicled in 'On the Road,' - the book that defined a generation - has died. She was 92. 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Married Too Young

1962 MARRIED TOO YOUNG TRAILER DRIVE-IN CLASSIC - YouTube:

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The Best Elmore Leonard Movie Adaptations

The Best Elmore Leonard Movie Adaptations

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

Amazon.com: Kwik Krimes (9781612183008): Otto Penzler: Books: Entire novels are often written about a single crime, detailing every gruesome, dark detail until the last drop of blood spatters across the page. Yet in this mystery anthology, renowned editor and author Otto Penzler weaves together to heart-stopping effect more than ninety tales of brutality, terror, and unexpected demise, with each story told in a swift one thousand words or less. 

These crimes may be fast in both form and fallout, but none lack the dark impulses that too often guide human hands to ill ends. Prepare to be transported into the diabolical schemes of criminal masterminds…into robberies and pranks gone horribly awry…into closets crammed with skeletons…into families bound not by love but wickedness.

Celebrate H.P. Lovecraft’s Birthday With 20 of His Creepiest Book Covers

Celebrate H.P. Lovecraft’s Birthday With 20 of His Creepiest Book Covers 

Elmore Leonard's Rules for Writing

WRITERS ON WRITING; Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle  

Hat tip to Art Scott.


Twenty Year Death republished as 3 period paperbacks

Twenty Year Death republished as 3 period paperbacks 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Florida man throws sword over missing shrimp can 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Billboards from Around the Word

Billboards from Around the Word: 40 Awesome Advertisements 

Yes, it's a slideshow.

Hat tip to Stan Burns.

Song of the Day

▶ Deep Purple - Kentucky Woman (remastered version) - YouTube:

5 Insane Scams That Should Have Failed (But Didn't)

5 Insane Scams That Should Have Failed (But Didn't) 

Remembering Elmore Leonard: His Most Memorable Work on Screen Movies

Remembering Elmore Leonard: His Most Memorable Work on Screen 

Slideshow alert!

Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

The Golden Age of Radio

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Prosecutors: Man shoots friends, 1 fatally, over beer money

PaperBack



Edward Ronns (Edward S. Aarons), The Decoy, Gold Medal, 1951

Goodreads | Quote of the Day for August 20, 2013

Goodreads | Quote of the Day for August 20, 2013:  

“Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability.”

― H.P. Lovecraft

Elmore Leonard, R. I. P.

TMZ.com: Elmore Leonard -- the legendary writer behind "Get Shorty," "3:10 to Yuma" and "Justified" -- has died, three weeks after suffering a stroke ... TMZ has learned.

I'm Not Saying How Many I've Seen

Reaching new depths of desperation: 11 (mostly lousy) sequels released in 1983

Old Time Farm Crime

Old Time Farm Crime: The Coffee Spies of the 1700s

I'm Not Saying How Many I've Read

40 Trashy Novels You Must Read Before You Die 

Good Question

Can 'powdered rain' make drought a thing of the past?

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Sweaty couch spat sends Port St. Lucie woman to slammer 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Quote Investigator

Is That a Gun in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Glad to See Me?

Overlooked Movies: Summer of '42

This movie appeared about 30 years after the title date.  Now it's about 40 years since the movie came out.  Time flies.

As I've mentioned many times, I'm a sucker for a good coming-of-age story, or even a mediocre one.  I liked this one quite a bit, but there's no accounting for taste.

The truth is that even I am not old enough to remember the summer of '42, but there wasn't really much difference between that era and my own 15th summer.  Much of what's depicted on the screen with Hermie and his friends as they try to figure out what growing up is all about could have happened just as easily in the latter 1950s.  Anyone seeing this movie now might find the innocence of these boys hard to believe, but it's a pretty accurate depiction.  

Gary Grimes is very good as Hermie, but he hasn't made a movie in decades.  If Jennifer O'Neil never had another role as good as this one, she's at least continued working right on up until the present.  What an interesting life she's had.  I suppose the character she plays in the movie would be arrested for her behavior today, however tastefully it's handled, so be warned.

I've never seen the sequel to this movie, and I've never been tempted to watch it.  I've never read the novelization, either, though for years after the movie's release there were dozens of copies of it in every used-book store I went into.

Summer of '42

Summer of '42 1971 theatrical trailer - YouTube:

Monday, August 19, 2013

Archaeology Update

GlobalPost: The earliest iron artefacts ever found -- funeral beads strung around bodies in a 5,000-year-old Egyptian cemetery -- were made from a meteorite, archaeologists said on Monday.

If This Isn't an Emergency, What Is?

NH Woman Arrested After Calling 911 And Asking For A Pen

Lee Thompson Young, R. I. P.

Mystery Fanfare: LEE THOMPSON YOUNG: R.I.P.

Aren't Things Like this the Reason 911 Exists?

People In Connecticut Started Calling 911 Because They Were Missing "Breaking Bad"

5 Badass Real Fugitives Who Put Action Movies to Shame

5 Badass Real Fugitives Who Put Action Movies to Shame

Song of the Day

▶ Chuck Willis It's Too Late 1956.wmv - YouTube:

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Will Rap 4 Weed: Woman Gets Creative with Street "Ad Campaign" 

Today's Vintage Ad


What 1939 Thought Fashion in 2000 Would Look Like

What 1939 Thought Fashion in 2000 Would Look Like 

Ivan G. Shreve on One of My Favorite Westerns

Thrilling Days of Yesteryear: Summer Under the Stars Blogathon: Randolph Scott and Ride the High Country (1962)

PaperBack



Richard S. Prather, Lie Down Killer, Gold Medal, 1962

Wear your favorite books

Wear your favorite books: Each of these shirts offered for sale by Litographs contains the entire text of your favorite public domain book.

10 'The Princess Bride' Facts

10 'The Princess Bride' Facts We Learned From Rob Reiner

The Writing Tools of 20 Famous Authors

The Writing Tools of 20 Famous Authors 

Uh-Oh or OK?

20 Historic Black and White Photos Colorized

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

A slice of history! Chef builds the world's biggest pizza weighing 100lb and measuring nearly 50 SQUARE FEET 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

New Poem at The 5-2

The 5-2 | Crime Poetry Weekly, Gerald So, Editor: Casey Zella Moir HIGH SCHOOL MEMORY

I Want to Believe!

Mayor baffled by buried 'alien head'

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Gator Update (Rehab Edition)

Alligator found in NY park, living in a pond, cops say: A nearly two-foot-long alligator living in the pond of a suburban New York City park has been captured and sent to a reptile rehabilitation preserve in Massachusetts.

Two things:

One: They should've just put him back in the sewers.

Two: I didn't even know they had rehab for reptiles.

Bad Guy

ba gu bru cabo trai YT - YouTube:

Sunday, August 18, 2013

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Sheriff: Buildings destroyed in teen riot over Cup O' Noodles 

Haji, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Haji, a voluptuous actress who played one of three homicidal go-go dancers in Russ Meyer’s 1965 cult film “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” died on Aug. 9 in Southern California. She was 67.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Rankings Annual 2012-13: COLLEGIATE LICENSING COMPANY NAMES TOP SELLING UNIVERSITIES AND MANUFACTURERS FOR 2012-13: (1.) The University of Texas at Austin (2.) The University of Alabama (3.)University of Notre Dame (4.) The University of Michigan (5.) University of Kentucky

Song of the Day

▶ Johnny Cash - Ain't No Grave [Official] - YouTube:

But Then You Knew That

Gomez And Morticia Addams Have The Best Marriage Ever

Today's Vintage Ad


Quote Investigator

A Short Story Must Have a Single Mood and Every Sentence Must Build Towards It

Criminal Genius of the Day

Whoops! Surf City Riot Suspect Arrested After 'Liking' His Own Photo On Police Facebook Page

PaperBack



Peter Rabe, Bring Me Another Corpse, Gold Medal, 1959


First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Police: Capitol Hill yard-peeing ended in ear-biting 

Why Are Soccer Balls Made of Hexagons?

Why Are Soccer Balls Made of Hexagons?

TMI

Tom Cruise demands a thong for stunt scenes: MOVIE star Tom Cruise demands custom-made thongs to wear during filming

Croc Update (Romance Edition)

Fearless love in a crocodile cage of death

10 Millionaires Who Disappeared

10 Millionaires Who Disappeared

Or Maybe You Do

13 Things You Might Not Know About Mae West 

Wild on the Beach

WILD ON THE BEACH Movie Trailer 1965 - YouTube: