STICKY POST
Sunday, 13. December 2009, 23:05:46
The Four Seasons
Supernova remnants and star formation in galaxy M83.
The beauty of the Creator's creation.
Merry Christmas to all.
STICKY POST
Saturday, 15. March 2008, 10:56:36
Pat Maginess, sea turtles, private-eye novels, private detective
"I would never shoot a cat. Unless they really had it coming to 'em."
-- "All My Todays"It was a long, dark, quiet drive back to Los Angeles.
-- from That Killer SmileSHORT STORIES:
"Those Songs We Sing to Ourselves"
"Remember Me"
"Hello, Robert"
"All My Todays"
"The Salesman"
"It's a Dog's Life"NOVELS:
That Killer Smile (Complete Novella).
Dusk Until Dawn (Complete Novel).
Darkness Around Me Like a Cloak (Novel Excerpts).
HISTORICAL:
Nick Carter: The Crime of the French Cafe (Anon/Piercy)
COVER ART MINI-STORIES:
As a service to my readers who might only have about two minutes
between Point A and Point B, I decided to post humorous bits using
the covers of old pulp magazines. Here's the link.
The Complete Cover Art Mini-Stories
REVIEWS:
Hollywood Confidential (Movie Review)
Margin for Murder (Movie Review)
The Proposal (Movie Review)
Best Detective Movies
Kiss Me, Deadly (Movie Review)
Attack of the Sabretooth (Movie Review)
Savior (Movie Review).
Bare Trap by Frank Kane (Book Review).
I, the Jury by Mickey Spillane (Review-Essay).
DaVinci's Inquest (TV Series Review).
The Snarl of the Beast by Carroll John Daly (Book Review).
Poisons Unknown by Frank Kane (Book Review).
V. I. Warshawski (Movie Review).
MISCELLANEOUS:
CSI: Noir
Survivor China Episode 2 (Parody)
The Jungle Book Revisited (Parody)
The Black Dahlia Revisted (Parody)
The Nazi Bastard Diaries
Einstein On Lunch (Tiny Tale #1)
Robespierre's Doll (Tiny Tale #2)
The White Book (Tiny Tale #3)
Curse of the Body Snatchers (Tiny Tale #4)
Bruce's Enormous Penis (Tiny Tale #5)
Red Rock (Tiny Tale #6)
The Gentlemen's Club (Tiny Tale #7)
Rising (Tiny Tale #8)
Barbershop Quartet #1
Barbershop Quartet #2
Barbershop Quartet #3
Barbershop Quartet #4
Check out what you've missed in the Archive.
Plus: Turtle Live Cam! (North Carolina (UTC -5) daylight hours)
DECEMBER UPDATE:
Well seem to be getting this update out a little late.
Oh well, no big thang I guess. Anyway November was a
pretty dreary month here. Thanksgiving was nice but
perhaps a bit too quiet -- what happened to all those
dysfunctional family dinners I used to go to? Ah, the
good old days. Didn't get much snow in November at all,
a great disappointment. And so far none to speak of
this month either. Also just a few days ago I almost
fell into respiratory collapse and had to go to the
ER up at Deaconess. They treated me with the speed of
a gunshot victim and pumped me full of massive steroids.
Which seemed to do the trick so after making sure I was
okay an hour later they sent me home with Rx for more
steroids. Makes me kinda restless, those steroids. I now
see why athletes on the damn things go ballistic every
once in a while. Fortunately I haven't been on them that
long. So the result is that while I am feeling very bad
physically my brain is pumping overtime. In fact I was
up to 4:30 the other morning reading Emily Dickinson.
Well one thing about all of it is that I am counting my
blessings even more than usual this Christmas. And I
wish a very happy holiday to everyone out there --
everywhere.
Best wishes to all,
Edward Piercy
That I have made all transformations
According to the dictates of my heart
In all places that have desired my ka
STICKY POST
Tuesday, 20. June 2006, 01:54:38
Music
To play the music, click on George or Glenn's picture.
(Please be patient. It will take a minute to connect with your media player.)
George Friedrich Handel
Suite in D minor HWV 447
Courante
Artist: Keith Jarrett
Format (MP3) / Timing (02:31)
Light and dark combined.
J.S. Bach
Partita in G Major BWV 829
Praeambulum
Artist: Glenn Gould
Format (MP3) / Timing (01:47)
Now playing in a galaxy near you...
Monday, 28. December 2009, 20:26:08
Culture, Movies
Last night I watched Beyond Rangoon (1995). Staring Patricia Arquette,
the movie is set in Burma (Myanmar) and is loosely based upon Aung
San Suu Kyi and the 8888 Uprising that took place there in 1988.
Since then, pretty much nothing has changed in Burma. The country in
2009 is still ruled by a military junta, and Aung San continues to be
under house arrest.
The movie reminded me somewhat of Salvador (1986), dealing with the
repressive U.S.-backed government in El Salvador in the early 80s (and
the stomping ground of the great photo journalist John Hoagland). And
then of course there was The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) about
Indonesia. And of course the emotionally brutal The Killing Fields (1984)
about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Wasn't it just recently that I was watching something very similar take
place in Nepal? And then of course last June's events in Iran have taken
place again over the past several days.
So what movie are we to see next? Beyond Tehran -- ?
It never ends. Evil just seems to be like some sort of virus that there's
no real cure for -- it just spreads from place to place. And lest I beat a
horse to death, I'll end this right now.
Saturday, 26. December 2009, 21:10:55
Culture
Just some stuff I threw together.
"The Band Played On"
By Charles B. Ward and
John F. Palmer
(1885)
Verse 1
Matt Casey formed a social club
That beat the town for style,
And hired for a meeting place a hall.
When pay day came around each week
They greased the floor with wax.
And danced with noise and vigor at the ball.
Each Saturday you'd see them
Dressed up in Sunday clothes,
Each lad would have his sweetheart by his side.
When Casey led the first grand march
They all would fall in line.
Behind the man who was their pride and joy. For . . .
Chorus
Casey would waltz with a strawberry blonde,
And the band played on.
He'd glide cross the floor with the girl he adored,
And the band played on.
But his brain was so loaded it nearly exploded,
The poor girl would shake with alarm.
He'd ne'er leave the girl with the strawberry curls,
And the band played on.
Verse 2
Such kissing in the corner
And such whisp'ring in the hall,
And telling tales of love behind the stairs.
As Casey was the favorite and he that ran the ball,
Of kissing and lovemaking did his share,
At twelve o'clock exactly they all would fall in line,
Then march down to the dining hall to eat.
But Casey would not join them although everything was fine,
But he stayed upstairs and exercised his feet. For . . .
Chorus
Casey would waltz with a strawberry blonde,
And the band played on.
He'd glide cross the floor with the girl he adored,
And the band played on.
But his brain was so loaded it nearly exploded,
The poor girl would shake with alarm.
He'd ne'er leave the girl with the strawberry curls,
And the band played on.
Verse 3
Now when the dance was over and the band played home sweet home,
They played a tune at Casey's own request.
He thank'd them very kindly for the favors they had shown,
Then he'd waltz once with the girl that he loved best.
Most all the friends are married that Casey used to know,
And Casey too has taken him a wife.
The blond he used to waltz and glide with on the ball room floor,
Is happy missis Casey now for life. For . . .
Chorus
Casey would waltz with a strawberry blonde,
And the band played on.
He'd glide cross the floor with the girl he adored,
And the band played on.
But his brain was so loaded it nearly exploded,
The poor girl would shake with alarm.
He'd ne'er leave the girl with the strawberry curls,
And the band played on.
Renoir, Moulin Galette.
Van Gogh, Dance Hall in Arles.
Dance Hall (1941).
USO dance, 1940s.
American Bandstand (1952-1989).
Marilyn Monroe and Eli Wallach, The Misfits (1961).
Technically not a dance hall, but I couldn't resist putting
in a photo of Marilyn dancing.
Robert Duvall and Luciana Pedraza, Assassination Tango (2002).
Tuesday, 22. December 2009, 19:13:30
Culture
My mom is a Catholic. So every once in a while I will pick up bits of
information about the Roman Catholic Church via a religious cable
channel that she watches, the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).
Well I recently found out that the Church is considering a move to
change the Feast of the Epiphany, which for ages has always been held
exactly 12 days after Christmas, to a Sunday. It's a little unclear yet
whether they will make the Epiphany a fixed Sunday (say the 3rd or the
10th of January) or whether the feast will be fixed by the calendar
itself (say the second Sunday after Christmas, which this year would
be the 10th). I don't know which of these two possibilities they will
enact yet, but my guess is that if they follow anything like the Easter
example (the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring
Equinox) that they will do the later.
Now assuming that is the case, and assuming that the Church would
not want anything less than the current 12 days to allow for regular
liturgical feast days, then that would mean that there could be as
few as 12 days or as many as 17 days between Christmas and the
Epiphany.
Now of course we all know the old beloved Christmas song "The
Twelve Days of Christmas."
12 Drummers Drumming
11 Pipers Piping
10 Lords a Leaping
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids a Milking
7 Swans a Swimming
6 Geese a Laying
5 Golden Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
That song only works in the case that the Epiphany is 12 days after
Christmas. But if the celebration of the Epiphany is changed as the
Church is thinking about doing then that would mean the number of
lines could vary from the current 12 all the way up to 17. So it would
be necessary to in certain cases add more lines to the song.
Hmmm. I've been thinking, and here are a few suggestions to fill in the
gaps:
17 Horses Prancing
16 Woodchucks Chucking
15 Lions Lounging
14 Dachshunds Dashing
13 Seals a Diving
Etc. as traditional
I was briefly considering using lines that would reflect the contemporary
world, sort of layering them over the old lines like archaeological strata.
Maybe something like "16 Cell Phones Ringing." But that doesn't sound very
much like Christmas, even though I'm sure a lot of them will be ringing over
Christmas. In any case after thinking it over I decided to keep the mostly
depressing present world out of it as much as possible and stick to nice
animals.
Everyone would have their own suggestions which would probably differ
from mine. Which is another thing that would make this change difficult:
Actually getting everybody to agree on something.
I really don't think that new lines to the song would be created. Most
likely people would just keep singing the same song with 12 lines in
the round. But the change would mean that the underpinning of the song
would become loosened. It would be divorced from its original historical
context.
All of which, of course, reminds me of two basic principles that I always
like to keep in mind: 1) Calendars are human constructs that are only
approximately connected to reality; and 2) If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Saturday, 19. December 2009, 19:50:39
The Republic of Bullshit
The Loch Ness Ostrich?
This recent photo has been said to present
conclusive proof for the existence of the
Loch Ness Ostrich.
Sceptics say that it is not an ostrich. But
personally, I think it's an ostrich.
Not to be confused with the famous
Browne's Addition Ostrich, which lives
here in Spokane. In fact in this photo
I caught it passing by my desk.
Thursday, 17. December 2009, 22:12:49
Sasha
Sometimes, especially early in the morning when
she first gets up, our dog Sasha likes to do her
yoga workout.
First you raise your tail up and back and stretch
your front legs out in front of you rather parallel
to the ground, getting in a good long stretch.
Second you push forward onto your front front paws
and raise your chest, simultaneously lowering your
tail, extending your back legs low to the ground,
getting in another good stretch.
Sasha recommends this workout to any girl who wants
to keep a nice figure.
Of course, Sasha also recommends rolling over on
your back and showing your nipples. So...
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