BITS AND PIECES

A Sentence I Liked:  "It was widely known in the Caxton that to ask David Copperfield even the simplest of questions required one to set a good portion of one's day to listen to the answer."  -- John Connolly, "Holmes on the Range"

Speaking Of:  Sherlock Holmes turned 164 this past week.  He has not had any cases for quite a while; he's retired in Suffolk, minding his own bees-ness

Books Read This Week:  Will F. Jenkins, Dallas (a 1950 Gray Cooper western tie-in), John Connolly, Night Music:  Nocturnes, Volume 2 (his second collection of short stories, mainly supernatural), and Brian Michael Bendis, Guardians of the Galaxy:  New Guards, Volume 2: Wanted and Guardians of the Galaxy:  New Guards, Volume 3:  Civil War II (both comic book compilations, and when did Ben Grimm become a Guardian anyway?  **sigh** Gone are the days -- the 60s and 70s -- when I kept up with the Marvel Universe).  I'm currently reading Donald E. Westlake's Forever and a Death, the James Bond that never was, a book cannibalized from a James Bond movie treatment that Westlake wrote in the late 90s.  No Bond here, but an interesting plot about a wealthy and amoral businessman who is planning to destroy Hong Kong.  In a bit of prescience. at times the villain reminds me of Donald Trump, except the villain is smart.

On This Day:  In 1297, Francois Grimaldi, disquised as a Franciscan monk, captured, with his men, the fortress at the Rock of Monaco, holding it for four years before being driven out.  It was up to his cousin and step-son  (families were a lot more intimate in those days, I guess) Ranier I, to establish the bloodline that would rule Monaco, with a few interuptions, to this day.  The Grimaldi family purchased the tiny principality from the Crown of Aragon, cementing their claim.

It's also the birthday of Wilkie Collins, born 1824, author of The Moonstone and The Woman in White, two early mystery novels well worth reading today.  And William Hartnell, the first Doctor Who, was born today in 1908.  And Elvis wiggled his way onto this mortal stage in 1935.  You may want to have a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich in his honor.

And on this date, Terry-Thomas (in 1990) and Pat Buttram (in 1994) shuffled off this mortal coil, taking their wonderful senses of humor with them.

The Golden Globes Were Presented Last Night:  The awards are given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a very small group of critics -- some of whom have written only a few reviews.  How then, are the Golden Globes more often an indicator of  good shows than the Oscars and the Emmys?  Just look over a list of Oscar-winning best films and count how many times you say, "Huh?"

News You Don't Have To Use:  An electrical fire on the roof of the Trump Tower was quickly extinquished by the New York City Fire Department.  Damage was slight and no one was evacuated.  The president and his family were not in residence.  UPDATE:  Two people have been reported injured -- a firefighter treated for minor injuries when debris fell on him and an engineer who and an engineer who refused medical treatment.

In Thailand, an American tourist overdosed on Viagra and went naked through the airport, yelling incoherently and throwing feces.  Airlines are now considering adding a new "feces fee."

Jake Tapper abruptly cut off an interview with White House spokesman Stephen Miller, saying, "You've wasted enough of my viewers' time."   The president used this an excuse to blast tapper for his treatment of Miller, a pugnacious know-nothing.

It's Warming Up:  A week of temperatures in the 30s and snow in parts of Florida, it's beginning to warm up here on the Florida Panhandle.  It's raining this morning, but I can live with that.

And How Was Your Week?