Tuesday Night Music: The Pointer Sisters

Forgotten Films: THE MUSIC OF CHANCE

This is not only one of my favorite movies, but one of my favorite books. Few book to film projects turn out this well.



Paul Auster is one of those writers that I sometimes love and sometimes don't.
Patinkin is even more problematic, but this story puts both men in a great light. And, of course, Spader is Spader- wild and unpredictable. Can't wait to see him in The Office this year.

In this book and film, James Spader (Pozzi) agrees to finance Nash (Patinkin) in a poker game with Flower (Durning) and Stone (Grey). Things don't go well and eventually they grow much worse. Just like the best of noir.

This movie got one of my highest rankings in 1993. The book would rank a solid ten since Auster invented the story. The director(Haas) seems to have slipped into obscurity after this. Too bad. It was well done.

You can find more movie, right here at Todd's Cinema.

Simply Charity: The Bride's Ball

The Bride’s Ball will raise money for three local charities,  the Holistic Cancer Care Centre at James Cook University Hospital, Age UK (Darlington), and St Teresa’s Hospice, in Darlington – three of several charities with which the firm feels a close connection.

Joanne Gilligan of Latimer Hinks, whose battle with cancer inspired the choice of the Holistic Cancer Care Centre as a beneficiary of the ball, with Paula Whittaker of Poppy’s Bridal, in Darlington, and solicitors Natalie Palmer and Helen Thomas.

Latimer Hinks Solicitor, Helen Thomas, one of the event’s organisers, said: "This is the ultimate in dressing up, for ladies – and if not gentlemen! Putting on a wedding dress is something all girls dream of and this is an opportunity for anyone, to go all out and have a fantastic night, raising money for three great charities. We all have family members, friends and work colleagues affected by cancer, ageing and ill health and we wanted to support them by doing something different which was going to raise much needed funds.”

       The Holistic Cancer Care Centre was chosen because of the support a colleague  Joanne Gilligan has received during her own battle with cancer.

From Hardcase Crime

DATELINE; NEW YORK

After more than 9 years of detective work and negotiation, we’ve tracked down a lost novel by James M. Cain, the author of the noir classics MILDRED PIERCE, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and secured the rights for Hard Case Crime to publish the book. The book is titled THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS and it has never been published before in any form. We’ll be bringing it out in Fall 2012.

THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS is the story of beautiful young widow Joan Medford, whose husband died under suspicious circumstances. Desperate to make ends meet after his death, Joan takes a job as a waitress in a cocktail lounge, where two new men enter her life: a handsome young schemer she falls for and a rich but unwell older man she marries.

Darn, this is exciting news. How nice it is to have HCC out there locating such gems and making them available to us for such a pittance.

FIGHTS - Mayweather/Ortiz turns into the 3 Stooges; Canelo, Morales win...

What was a great night of boxing turned into one of the most outrageous moments in boxing since Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfields ear.  Three Stooges took to the ring in the main event.  Was it wild and entertaining?  Yes.  Was it cool?  No.  But we'll get to that in a second.

MORALES/CANO

Erik Morales is on his way out of boxing, but his signature grit and toughness, coupled with some great science, put away the game Cano.  Cano was taking it to the experienced Morales throughout the fight.  But he could not put the old man away.  Morales stayed in the fight and punished Cano for it, swelling his eyes so bad the ref had to stop the fight.  It was a great fight.

"Canelo"/Gomez

Gomez took it to the young Mexican boxing sensation, bringing a good set of science and skill to the ring.  But either Canelo was not threatened by Gomez, or he wanted Gomez to get tired.  The 1st-3rd round found Canelo letting Gomez just hit him with no answers.  It was a dangerous gambit, as Gomez was getting in some good punches with science. 

But in the 4th, Canelo turned it up and lit up Gomez with his signature power.  Gomez was out on his feet after a series of serious hits, and though I would have gave him a standing eight count, the ref was wise enough to stop the fight.  It was a good call.

MAYWEATHER/ORTIZ

The main event matchup started great, but then turned bizarre.  Here's what went down.

Ortiz pushed Mayweather with some good attacks, but could not beat Mayweather's speed.  But nobody can do that, apart from Pacquiao.

At any rate, Mayweather won round 1 and 3 on my card, with Ortiz taking the 3rd.  In fact, he was on his way to winning round 4, backing Mayweather up and punishing him with punches when out of nowhere he decided to headbutt him.

After reviewing footage, here's what happened. 

Cortez seperated the two as Ortiz apologized.  Cortez deducted points holding Ortiz by the wrist after scolding him.  While Cortez is deducting points, Ortiz is still trying to apologize to Mayweather.

As Cortez informally sends them to their corners, the says, "Let's go", but then doesn't pay attention to what's going on in the ring.  He's still communicating to someone on the outside.

Ortiz, still penitent, gets Mayweather again who takes the hug.  Ortiz, with his hands down and still trying to apologize, then gets clocked once by Mayweather.  Ortiz turns to Cortez, who missed the cheap shot but is stunned back to the action moments before Mayweather cold-cocks Ortiz with a straight right sent right down the middle, hitting Ortiz on the button.  He's KO'd.

It took me a while to figure out what I just say, as the titty bar I was watching it at was quite loud.  But here's the ZombieBloodFights.com take on the events.

It all starts with Ortiz, who, like a 'pendejo' did that headbutt.  Everything started there.  The fact was, with that flurry, he was really taking it to Mayweather, riding a wave of momentum before he pissed it all away with the headbutt.

Cortez does his job, but then starts the fight informally with a 'let's go'.  Then, he supposedly gives this command to start the fight again and is not paying attention to the fighters.

Ortiz was a douche for the cheapshot, but Mayweather becomes the biggest dick in the world as he cold cocks Ortiz, who is clearly not ready to fight and is still trying to get over his stupidity.  He payed for it in the end.

Then, not only does Mayweather accept winning with the cheapshot, he then yells at the stupid old man Larry Merchant for asking the hard questions he always asks.  I hate Larry Merchant, because he can also be a total douche to the fighters.  But for him to stand up to Mayweather after Mayweather told an old man he should be fired because he "doesn't know shit" about boxing was epic.  I'm not much for Merchant, but I can respect that.

I understand retribution in sports.  It's similar to life.  You screw somebody over (Ortiz), you can expect retribution (Mayweather).  I get it.

But when you call yourself the best in the world, control every aspect of contract negotiations to protect your record (see Pacquiao), insist to come in last instead of the champion (Ortiz), assault and choke a boxing champion (Ortiz) at the press conference, and burn your own money, you are not a king of boxing, you are a tyrant.

Like most tyrants and tyrannical governments with large resources of money and power, there is nothing they won't do to retain their power.  And they will crush anyone who stands in there way by any means necessary.

It was legal, but it felt more like a finish to a match with a pro-wrestling from the Heenan Family.  The late Bobby Hennan distracts the ref while his charge cheats to KO the good guy with dusters or something, then the ref turns around, sees the guy knocked out, and counts the bad guy the 1-2-3.

"Win if you can.  Lose if you must.  But always cheat."

On the other hand, there's something to be said about that.  Let's face it, when someone works very hard to get what they've earned, they will do what they need to do to protect it.  They worked hard to get it.  And if they want something bad enough, they need to be ruthless enough to keep it.  Nice people can get far in the world. 

But face it, it's the people who are cruel enough, or, perhaps its better to say, know when to be ruthless, who get what they want in life.  People who will show kindness and smarmy sincerity when they need to, or lie, cheat, and back door their way into what they want get places.  I experienced that in my time in flat track derby, but that's another story.

When you add money, power, and talent to that, you get some of the most successful people in the world.  And, right now, Mayweather is one of those, and still undefeated, because he was ruthless enough to crush a guy who was foolish enough to believe he was fighting a guy that wasn't capable of that kind of ruthlessness.

Is Mayweather a douchebag?  Yes.  Is Ortiz stupid for starting the whole mess?  Absolutely.  Could Cortez have been more emphatic about the restart and had them in their corners where they belonged?  Yes.

But some of the most ruthless people in the world are also the smartest.  On Saturday, September 17th, 2011, that was Mayweather:  still undefeated, still making paper, still champ.

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the noted zombie horror series "Down the Road" from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  He is also the author of the combat sports story "Pit Fighters: Baptism by Fire" and the upcoming "Pit Fighters: Double Cross".

You can find out more about his books at:  http://www.zombiebloodfights.com/

This has been a ZombieBloodFights.com production

ZOMBIES - FLU REVIEW - Wayne Simmons brings zombies back to Belfast

Wayne Simmons made a splash with his first outstanding "Drop Dead Gorgeous" about a mysterious apocalypse that eventually became an attack of the living dead women.  It was an outstanding bizzare story that you should look for right now.

Simmons follows up "DDG" with his next outing, "Flu".  Flu once again brings the zombie apocalypse with a Euro vibe to the world.  And it is yet another well written piece of zombie fiction.

The story follows a group of people trying to work their way through the growing zombie apocalypse brought on by a strange flu virus that is killing people and bringing back zombies with severe runny noses.  A woman ends up with a group of rogues and all try to survive from day to day in Belfast, Ireland, dealing with each other and the growing booger-filled flesh eating hordes. 

Just like his first work, Simmons has put together a great, well paced story with great peaks and valleys moving to the finish.  There are some great chapters that end with tremendously power.  Thirteen and fifteen come to mind.  The scene builds to a great emotional climax that matches the cruelty of the apocalypse outside.

Simmons also provided a great balance of character development without leaving out the threat of the zombies.  They are always there, and there is always danger.  And you expecially don't want to be the one that sneezes when you're with your buddies.

Simmons brings yet another aspect of the z-poc to his story that adds an extra element of sympathy, sadness, and awkwardness.  Like in "Drop Dead Gorgeous", a small female child takes the role of key plot point.  I felt so bad for the child to be a part of the apocalypse.  But the reality of it is that children will be a part of the end as well, and having the child there brings some true humanity and concern to the story and the group trying to survive. 

Chris "Fucking" Jones of Physical Graffiti calls Simmons writing, "...like the grotesque lovechild of George A. Romero and Charles Dickens.  And I think that's an apt description, because Simmons writes in a clear, concise, and deliberate fashion.  Like some of his Euro zombie lit contemporaries Iain McKinnon and Remy Porter, Simmons uses great word choices to describe the events, emotional experiences, and dangerous circumstances the characters find themselves in.  Simmons doesn't just pound out a gory living dead story, he carves it with the care of a master sculptor using language, truth, and zombie horror to elevate his zombie apoc work into true zombie literature.

In short, its a great story that you need to check out today.  A great story with a deliberate pace, meaningful characters, and a great finish.

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the "Down the Road" zombie horror series from Simon and Schuester and Permuted Press.  His most recent work, "Codename: La Lechusa" is a superhero story about a single mom who doubles as an assassin at night.

You can network with Bowie at http://www.zombiebloodfights.com/

This has been a ZombieBloodFights.com production

Why Do You Read?

I found myself typing a comment on a blog saying I don't really read to be entertained. Is this true? Or is what entertains me different from what entertains you? I'm not sure. But books I enjoy share certain attributes. And I bet your favorites do too.

For instance, right now I am reading a novel about a woman with Alzheimer's who's losing her memory day by day. Not entertaining in the usual sense, but the writing is so good and her experience so relevant and poignant, I don't mind being sad about it. But is this entertainment? I don't know.

What entertains me is good writing.

Books have to be well-written for me to enjoy them. And by well-written I mean that they must pretty much adhere to new writing/speaking norms. I can't get past writing that uses words other than "said" for attribution. I can't take too many adverbs or adjectives. Exclamation points must be almost non-existent. I hate puns. Even the most clever, takes away from the story.
I don't want to find too many obscure words when simple ones will do.

I can't take long descriptions of what a character is wearing or looks like. Descriptions (IMHO) must serve a purpose other than filling a page. As a reader, I like to create my own mental picture of what characters look like unless there is a reason for the writer to tell me more-for instance, the dragon tattoo on Salander's back was a necessary fact. That Jack Reacher is a giant is a necessary fact to understand why he can't be physically overcome by his adversaries. ( I don't however need to go shopping with him).

And this might be annoying to many of you. How do you feel about the use of complete sentences in stories? People don't always speak in complete sentences so why do characters in novels? I picked up a copy of a popular crime fiction magazine at Bouchercon and nearly every character seemed like the same person. Not just in one story but in many of them.

I have a lot more characteristics that make a book good for me really, but what are some of yours? What do you insist on finding in books you read?