I think if you do it two years in a row, it becomes a tradition, and you have to keep doing it.
Also, I really do like this song.
Merry Christmas, you guys.
And what was in those ships?
December 25th, 2015A Christmas Story.
December 24th, 2015I’ve been threatening to tell this one for a while now. What pushed me over the edge was this (because, hey, Christmas story), and a conversation with my mother about the first “Star Wars”, which filled me with nostalgia. (Or that may have been indigestion from a combination of three cup chicken and the pills I’m taking; sometimes, I can’t tell the difference.)
(We were trying to reconstruct the circumstances around seeing “Star Wars”. My father took my sister and I to the theater at Greenspoint Mall in Houston (which was the closest good one) to see it first run. My younger brother didn’t go with us, because he was roughly 2 1/2. So the questions that came up were: what did we do with him, and when did he first see it? I always thought my dad took us as just a nice gesture, while my mother thinks she had a Tupperware party going on that night and wanted to get us out of the house.)
End of introductory digression.
One year, over the Christmas break from school, I decided I wanted to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Anyway, I checked it out of the school library and brought it home with me.
1D20.
December 24th, 2015Speaking of Ross Thomas, I’ve been meaning to link to (and bookmark) Ethan Iverson’s “Ah, Treachery!” essay for a while now. There are a few things in it that I disagree with, but I think Iverson’s essay is generally perceptive about Thomas and his writing; I find myself referring to it periodically.
Young Joseph Wambaugh and the hobo, from the LAT.
Dave Barry’s year in review, in case you haven’t seen it yet.
For the record: NYT obit for Joe Jamail.
Obit watch: December 24, 2015.
December 24th, 2015Marine Gunnery Sgt. Eden Pearl.
Sgt. Pearl was critically injured by an IED in 2009, and died on Sunday as a result of his injuries.
Fernande Grudet, aka “Madame Claude”. I note this here for two reasons:
1) Hookersnblow.org.
2) In one of my favorite Ross Thomas books, The Seersucker Whipsaw
TMQ Watch: December 22, 2015.
December 23rd, 2015We pretty much have all of our Christmas shopping done now, barring a possible few last minute gifts or accessories for gifts already purchased. With that out of the way, we can focus on TMQ.
And what does he have to say this week?
Obit watch: December 23, 2015.
December 23rd, 2015Joe Jamail, noted Houston attorney.
He was also a major booster, contributor, and power behind the scenes in University of Texas football. Here’s an article from Texas Monthly in 2014 about the relationship between Jamail and UT.
And another TM article (by way of Popehat) profiling Jamail.
Now that’s a eulogy.
Art, damn it, art! watch (#50 in a series)
December 22nd, 2015I don’t remember how this originally came up – I’m pretty sure it was by way of someone’s Twitter – but over the weekend Mike the Musicologist and were discussing odd gingerbread constructions. I wouldn’t exactly call them “houses”…
I got to wondering: has anyone ever done a gingerbread Fallingwater?
That would be a “yes”, Bob. And the conversation moved on from there. But I had it in the back of my mind: could you do a gingerbread Guggenheim? Doesn’t seem like it should be that hard, should it?
The answer is also “yes”.
And a gingerbread Tate Modern. And five other museums.
(Now I want to do a gingerbread Reichstag. Mostly because at the end of the Christmas season (which, as we all know, is January 6th), I can pour brandy on it and set it on fire.)
Shrimp for Christmas!
December 22nd, 2015I’ve been trying to keep up with the Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow trial. Really, I have.
But the press coverage has been kind of pathetic. I keep looking for stories in the San Francisco newspapers, but no joy.
The latest update is from the LAT: apparently, we’re now into the defense phase of the trial, and “Shrimp Boy” is testifying.
…
Do you want to read that? I kind of want to read that, though “Chow doesn’t always understand English and that his diction and tenses are not always used correctly.”
Worse than Ashley Madison?
December 22nd, 2015Obit watch: December 18, 2015.
December 18th, 2015British mystery writer Peter Dickinson. The Telegraph.
Dickinson is a writer who’s fascinated me since I read HRF Keating’s Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books
Unfortunately, I’ve also always had some difficulty finding his work in the US: somewhere I have a paperback of The Poison Oracle
Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm. I may have to revisit this after Christmas…
Cahiers du cinéma: The Library of Congress recommends…
December 16th, 2015I just have one thing to say about the latest list of movies added to the National Film Registry…
TMQ Watch: December 15, 2015.
December 15th, 2015After last week’s “slit your wrists” opening, we were hoping to find something light and funny for this week. We didn’t have much luck, alas.
We did briefly consider doing something with “All I want for Christmas is a goat”. But then we listened to “Holy Night”. Or at least we tried to; we had to shut it off 30 seconds in. With all due respect to ActionAid, they could use this to torture prisoners at Gitmo.
So the heck with trying to find something light and funny. Let’s just jump into this week’s TMQ…
TMQ Watch: December 8, 2015.
December 10th, 2015Instead of snark, and before jumping into this week’s TMQ, we wanted to throw up a link to something we found by way of a retweet from Popehat:
…
When I tell people the insane details of my childhood, they have the same two questions.
Why in the hell would anyone do this to their own son?
And then …
Why in the hell didn’t anyone put a stop to it?
Please go read this now, if you haven’t already. This week’s TMQ will be here when you return…
Yearly administrative note.
December 4th, 2015This is your yearly reminder: if you use the Amazon search box on the right hand side of the page to buy stuff, I get a small kickback.
Said small kickback, as you all know, goes to purchasing toys for crippled orphans supporting this blog, mostly by enabling our purchases of Robert Ruark and Jack O’Connor books, along with other crap in general.
(Speaking of Ruark, I’m reminded that I have two historical notes coming up back to back before the year is over. One of those should be of some interest to Lawrence…)
(And speaking of Lawrence, I would be remiss if I did not note, as I do every year, that books from Lame Excuse Books make fine presents for the holidays, especially if you have SF or horror fans on your shopping list.)
I believe I recommended Amy Alkon’s Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck
Another book that was loaned to me by a friend, and that I’ve almost finished – I will be purchasing my own copy, so I have no qualms about recommending it – is Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
I don’t see a shipping date for Archer Season 6
cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra
Edited to add: Also. If I’ve managed to irritate you, please consider supporting the fine folks at Popehat through their Amazon link instead.
Also also: I haven’t given them any money, but I’ve always been kind of fond of the HouChron‘s “Goodfellows” program.
Also also also: the Reason Foundation is having their annual fundraising drive. And they will accept bitcoins, too.
TMQ Watch: December 1, 2015.
December 3rd, 2015Have you ever had one of those days when you don’t want to even look at the newspaper, or do much of anything except curl up in a ball and shut out the world?
Yeah. Us too. After the jump, this week’s TMQ…