Divers and Sundry

Muddy's Grindhouse is fairly new, another location for the people who own the Muddy's Bake Shop I've written about before . Th...

Shanghai Express is a 1932 film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. It also stars Clive Brook,...

In memory of my mother, who died on this date on Thanksgiving Day a year ago. At 95, she was the last of her generation in her family, an...

Extremes is #2 in the Retrieval Artist series of science fiction detective novels by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I pick these up when I find t...

Portrait of Jennie is a 1948 fantasy drama film based on a short novel by Robert Nathan. It stars Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, Ethyl Barr...

I'm having Suisse Mocha this morning in a cup that I only use during the Autumn. I like the changing of the season from Summer to Autu...

Memphis : written and originally performed by Chuck Berry , I know the Johnny Rivers version embedded above better. Rivers had his 72nd...

Ronia the Robber's Daughter is a 1984 Swedish film based on the book by Astrid Lindgrin . This is a fun story and a lovely movie. via...

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) is a thriller/crime/action film directed by John Carpenter. By turns too slow and too violent, I didn't c...

Annihilation is book 1 in the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. Here's an example of a page-turner where I got so involved in...

The Bridge of Sighs (2003) is the first in the 5-book Yalta Boulevard sequence by Olen Steinhauer . I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery. ...

The Hills Run Red is a 1966 spaghetti western starring Henry Silva and Dan Duryea. Ennio Morricone does the music. Carlo Lizzani, who died ...

Fraud is a 1992 novel by Anita Brookner . I love this author and am quite pleased that she is not only prolific but is still alive. She wa...

Feelin' Good : by Junior Parker , who died 43 years ago tomorrow at the age of 39 during surgery for a brain tumor. This was recorde...

Alice is a 1988 claymation adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland . It's a very loose adaptation direct...

Dressed for Death (or The Anonymous Venetian ) (1994) is the 3rd book in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon . I picked up...

The Doll is a 1919 Ernst Lubitsch film about a young man who fears women but has been offered a generous dowry to marry. He buys a doll in...

The Hydrogen Sonata is one of the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks. I'm partial to big, sprawling space opera, and this is one. No comp...

Hour of the Gun is a 1967 John Sturges western, starring James Garner, Jason Robards, Robert Ryan, Jon Voight (in an early role), Steve Ihn...

Not to be confused with Memorial Day when we honor our war dead, Veterans Day is set aside to honor all those who have served our country ...