http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-nLP02e8iQ
The old Army song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJybwgtR970
And the newer Army song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtKU_rSelvM
The Navy, in which Kitty's father served in World War II:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3D3Vuo98o4
The Marine Hymn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh5OlT-cslQ
The Air Force:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C95Cb2ByHNA
Semper Peratus, Coast Guard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pagjJ3DAabk
And may we never forget the cost:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTI7BAbc4ck
Small House of Everything
Monday, November 11, 2013
INCOMING
- Belinda Bauer, Blacklands. Mystery, the 2010 CWA Gold Dagger winner.
- James R. Benn, Billy Boyle and Rag and Bone. World War II mysteries featuring (who else?) Billy Boyle.
- Richie Tankersley Cusick, The Unseen and The Unseen 2. Omnibus volumes containing four (two each) YA Supernatural novels: It Begins, Rest in Peace, Blood Brothers, and Sin and Salvation.
- Lousi L'Amour, The Californios. Historical.
- Brad Meltzer, editor, The Mystery Box. Themed mystery MWA anthology with 21 stories.
- Linda L. Richards, The Next Ex. A Madeline Carter mystery.
- R. A. Salvatore, Dragonslayer's Return. Fantasy, the final book in the Spearwielder's trilogy.
- Mark T. Sullivan, Ghost Dance. Horror.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
THE HOODED HORSEMAN
With his faithful dog Flash and his face masked, the Hooded Horseman dispenses justice in the old west! Bud Fraser is the Hooded Horseman, and this time he takes on Tombstone Smith and his band of cattle rustin' varmints! And, of course, he wins the heart of the fair young damsel while poor Flash must suffer the indignities of being in blackface.
In the January-February 1952 issue (#21) of The Hooded Horseman, we also get an adventure of Injun Jones and one of the Bantam Buckaroo, plus a bunch of fillers. A good value for your dime? You betcha!
Enjoy.
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=16023
In the January-February 1952 issue (#21) of The Hooded Horseman, we also get an adventure of Injun Jones and one of the Bantam Buckaroo, plus a bunch of fillers. A good value for your dime? You betcha!
Enjoy.
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=16023
Friday, November 8, 2013
FORGOTTEN BOOK: INTO THE WILD BLUE WONDER
Into the Wild Blue Wonder: Pogo, The Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1 by Walt Kelly (2011)
Yeah, I know, this is Ross McDonald week for your merry crew of Friday's Forgotten Book bloggers. But, as it happened, this gorgeous book came across my desk, seducing me and revealing lost secrets of the past...hell, I'd bet that even Lew Archer would drop a murder investigation to delve into the origins of a certain Okefenokee marsupial.
And, yeah, I know, a book published in 2011 could hardly be called "forgotten," especially one about said certain marsupial. But, the comic strip ended so long ago that younger generations have grown up without the wonderful wit and guidance of Walt Kelly. What a shame! No wonder the world is in such a mess.
As all good Pogophiles know, the little critter came into existence in the December 1942 issue of Animal Comics. (That auspicious beginning was linked to a short while ago in this sterling blog, he said humbly.) A bit more than five years after, Kelly found himself the art director for the ill-fated, short-lived New York Star, a left-leaning newspaper that published six times a week (no Saturdays, thank you very much). It was there that the first Pogo comic strip appeared, from October 4, 1948 to January 28, 1949. The newspaper may have died, but Pogo did not. The Hall Syndicate picked up the strip beginning on May 16, 1949. The colored Sunday strips began on January 29, 1950.
Kelly fought for ownership and complete control of his characters and -- unusual for the day -- won. His determination to remain true to his vision was well rewarded. Pogo became a phenomenon.
Those early days were experimental ones for Kelly, as he began refining his style and characters. His artwork became more lush and organic. He experimented with color on his Sunday strips, making the swamp itself a fully-realized character. Gone were any human characters that were a part of his Animal Comics days. New characters were introduced, some to be discarded soon after as the cast was molded and gelled. The early Pogo relied on gentle wit and wordplay; the biting political and social satire were waiting offstage but would not appear before the footlights until later.
Kelly did begin to draw caricatures with Kimbo Cat (representing Ward Kimball, a Disney artist and good friend) and Cully and Hawgshaw (who look and act suspiciously like newspaper publishers Colonel Robert McCormick and William Randolph Hearst, respectively), but the likes of Simple J. Malarkey were yet to come.
So along comes this book, the first in a projected twelve volumes. (The second has been published.) Publishing of Into the Wild Blue Wonder was delayed a number of years while editors Carolyn Kelly and Kim Thompson work to get the most pristine strips available and to enhance them to most closely represent Kelly's vision. The result is a sumptuous combination of art and literature (yes, I used the L word!).
The denizens of Okefenokee may be confused and sometimes simple-minded, but misunderstandings are usually resolved and comradeship renewed through friendly meals. In fact, food -- Pogo's food, to be precise -- is often the motivator in many of the plots. The plot of the first week has Pogo catching two fish, which Churchy la Femme should be "equally" shared; between Churchy, Howland Owl, and Albert Alligator, everybody has part of Pogo's half except Pogo. So it goes. And so we go into two year's worth of sly humor, twisted logic, and good-natured kidding.
Into the Wild Blue Yonder presents the daily strips from May 16, 1949 to December 30, 1950, the Sunday strips from January 28 through December 31, 1950, and the New York Star strips complete from October 4, 1948 to January 28, 1949. Some of the New York Star continuities were used and adapted for syndication.
There's also a brief introduction by Kelly's pal Jimmy Breslin, an interesting biographical sketch of Kelly by Steve Thompson, an article about the creative process in the Sunday strips by Mark Evanier, and an afterward by R. C. Harvey, annotating and giving some of the historical background of the strip from 1948 to 1950.
A well thought out and designed package. Highly recommended.
*************
For more today's Forgotten Books, including a passle of Ross MacDonalds, stop by Pattinase where our fearless leader Patti Abbott collects all the links.
Yeah, I know, this is Ross McDonald week for your merry crew of Friday's Forgotten Book bloggers. But, as it happened, this gorgeous book came across my desk, seducing me and revealing lost secrets of the past...hell, I'd bet that even Lew Archer would drop a murder investigation to delve into the origins of a certain Okefenokee marsupial.
And, yeah, I know, a book published in 2011 could hardly be called "forgotten," especially one about said certain marsupial. But, the comic strip ended so long ago that younger generations have grown up without the wonderful wit and guidance of Walt Kelly. What a shame! No wonder the world is in such a mess.
As all good Pogophiles know, the little critter came into existence in the December 1942 issue of Animal Comics. (That auspicious beginning was linked to a short while ago in this sterling blog, he said humbly.) A bit more than five years after, Kelly found himself the art director for the ill-fated, short-lived New York Star, a left-leaning newspaper that published six times a week (no Saturdays, thank you very much). It was there that the first Pogo comic strip appeared, from October 4, 1948 to January 28, 1949. The newspaper may have died, but Pogo did not. The Hall Syndicate picked up the strip beginning on May 16, 1949. The colored Sunday strips began on January 29, 1950.
Kelly fought for ownership and complete control of his characters and -- unusual for the day -- won. His determination to remain true to his vision was well rewarded. Pogo became a phenomenon.
Those early days were experimental ones for Kelly, as he began refining his style and characters. His artwork became more lush and organic. He experimented with color on his Sunday strips, making the swamp itself a fully-realized character. Gone were any human characters that were a part of his Animal Comics days. New characters were introduced, some to be discarded soon after as the cast was molded and gelled. The early Pogo relied on gentle wit and wordplay; the biting political and social satire were waiting offstage but would not appear before the footlights until later.
Kelly did begin to draw caricatures with Kimbo Cat (representing Ward Kimball, a Disney artist and good friend) and Cully and Hawgshaw (who look and act suspiciously like newspaper publishers Colonel Robert McCormick and William Randolph Hearst, respectively), but the likes of Simple J. Malarkey were yet to come.
So along comes this book, the first in a projected twelve volumes. (The second has been published.) Publishing of Into the Wild Blue Wonder was delayed a number of years while editors Carolyn Kelly and Kim Thompson work to get the most pristine strips available and to enhance them to most closely represent Kelly's vision. The result is a sumptuous combination of art and literature (yes, I used the L word!).
The denizens of Okefenokee may be confused and sometimes simple-minded, but misunderstandings are usually resolved and comradeship renewed through friendly meals. In fact, food -- Pogo's food, to be precise -- is often the motivator in many of the plots. The plot of the first week has Pogo catching two fish, which Churchy la Femme should be "equally" shared; between Churchy, Howland Owl, and Albert Alligator, everybody has part of Pogo's half except Pogo. So it goes. And so we go into two year's worth of sly humor, twisted logic, and good-natured kidding.
Into the Wild Blue Yonder presents the daily strips from May 16, 1949 to December 30, 1950, the Sunday strips from January 28 through December 31, 1950, and the New York Star strips complete from October 4, 1948 to January 28, 1949. Some of the New York Star continuities were used and adapted for syndication.
There's also a brief introduction by Kelly's pal Jimmy Breslin, an interesting biographical sketch of Kelly by Steve Thompson, an article about the creative process in the Sunday strips by Mark Evanier, and an afterward by R. C. Harvey, annotating and giving some of the historical background of the strip from 1948 to 1950.
A well thought out and designed package. Highly recommended.
*************
For more today's Forgotten Books, including a passle of Ross MacDonalds, stop by Pattinase where our fearless leader Patti Abbott collects all the links.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
ASK NOT
Ask Not by Max Allan Collins (2013)
This is the one we've been waiting years for and it doesn't disappoint. In fact, Ask Not is one of the most engaging books Collins has ever written.
Nathan Heller, ex-Chicago cop turned P.I., has been around for thirty years, beginning with 1983's Shamus Award winning True Detective. Over the years he has been involved with many cases involving historical crimes and real life mysteries, from John Dillinger to JFK. Collins' well researched books have touched on Ma Barker and her gangs, the death of Mayor Anton Cermak, the Lindburgh kidnapping, the assassination of Huey Long, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the Roswell sightings, the Black Dahlia, and many others. From the beginning of his protagonist's career, Collins had planned to eventually have Nate Heller investigate the Kennedy assassination, which he has now done in a trilogy beginning with Bye Bye, Baby (2011, about the death of Marilyn Monroe), followed by Target Lancer (2012, about an assignation plot targeting John Kennedy in Chicago shortly before the fatal Dallas trip), and concluding with this book.
Heller had been recruited in 1960 to set up a meeting between the mob and the CIA which created Operation Mongoose, a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. That operation failed but a number of characters involved -- including some Cubans -- were involved in the plot to kill JFK in Chicago in the fall of 1963. In 1964, almost a year after JFK's assassination, Heller had arranged to take his teen-aged son to a Beatles concert in L.A. Walking to his car after the concert, Keller and his son were almost run down by a car driven by someone whom Heller had recognized as one of the Cubans involved in the Chicago assassination attempt.
Back in Chicago, Heller's business partner brings in a case involving the death of an office manager of a firm that Billie Sol Estes, the corrupt friend of Lyndon Johnson, had owned a large share in. It seems that a number of people involved with Billie Sol Estes died from apparent accidents or apparent suicide -- four by carbon monoxide poisoning and one in a suspicious plane crash.
This investigation takes him to Dallas where he runs into an old friend, gossip columnist Flo Kilgore -- a fictionalized version of Dorothy Kilgallen. Flo has been investigating the JFK assassination and the many suspicious (and convenient) death of witnesses and peripheral figures involved in the assassination. Concerned for her safety, Flo hires Heller as a bodyguard while she is in Dallas. While accompanying Flo, Heller begins to see how large the conspiracy was to kill Kennedy.
Heller is known for his discretion; he has held many secrets of people in the past. His reputation for discretion, though, does not seem to be enough to keep him and his family from being targets in this latest killing spree.
My wife grabbed Ask Not as soon as it came into the house and I had to wait (patiently, I swear! -- don't listen to her) a couple of days until she had finished the book. Kitty had long been interested in the subject since she had read an article in the mid-Sixties (which she still has) about many of these "coincidental" deaths; the article emphasized Dorothy Kilgallen's excitement as she told friends that she "broke" the Kennedy case, and was soon after found dead in her apartment, her notes missing.
Ask Not is a suitable capstone for Nathan Heller's saga. Luckily, it may not be. Future Hellers may be in the offing -- about Robert Kennedy's assassination, the assassination of Martin Luther King, and the Watergate break-in. Great news for Max Allan Collins fans.
In the meantime, check out Ask Not, a well-developed, fully-realized thriller that is sure to garner multiple award nominations
This is the one we've been waiting years for and it doesn't disappoint. In fact, Ask Not is one of the most engaging books Collins has ever written.
Nathan Heller, ex-Chicago cop turned P.I., has been around for thirty years, beginning with 1983's Shamus Award winning True Detective. Over the years he has been involved with many cases involving historical crimes and real life mysteries, from John Dillinger to JFK. Collins' well researched books have touched on Ma Barker and her gangs, the death of Mayor Anton Cermak, the Lindburgh kidnapping, the assassination of Huey Long, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the Roswell sightings, the Black Dahlia, and many others. From the beginning of his protagonist's career, Collins had planned to eventually have Nate Heller investigate the Kennedy assassination, which he has now done in a trilogy beginning with Bye Bye, Baby (2011, about the death of Marilyn Monroe), followed by Target Lancer (2012, about an assignation plot targeting John Kennedy in Chicago shortly before the fatal Dallas trip), and concluding with this book.
Heller had been recruited in 1960 to set up a meeting between the mob and the CIA which created Operation Mongoose, a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. That operation failed but a number of characters involved -- including some Cubans -- were involved in the plot to kill JFK in Chicago in the fall of 1963. In 1964, almost a year after JFK's assassination, Heller had arranged to take his teen-aged son to a Beatles concert in L.A. Walking to his car after the concert, Keller and his son were almost run down by a car driven by someone whom Heller had recognized as one of the Cubans involved in the Chicago assassination attempt.
Back in Chicago, Heller's business partner brings in a case involving the death of an office manager of a firm that Billie Sol Estes, the corrupt friend of Lyndon Johnson, had owned a large share in. It seems that a number of people involved with Billie Sol Estes died from apparent accidents or apparent suicide -- four by carbon monoxide poisoning and one in a suspicious plane crash.
This investigation takes him to Dallas where he runs into an old friend, gossip columnist Flo Kilgore -- a fictionalized version of Dorothy Kilgallen. Flo has been investigating the JFK assassination and the many suspicious (and convenient) death of witnesses and peripheral figures involved in the assassination. Concerned for her safety, Flo hires Heller as a bodyguard while she is in Dallas. While accompanying Flo, Heller begins to see how large the conspiracy was to kill Kennedy.
Heller is known for his discretion; he has held many secrets of people in the past. His reputation for discretion, though, does not seem to be enough to keep him and his family from being targets in this latest killing spree.
My wife grabbed Ask Not as soon as it came into the house and I had to wait (patiently, I swear! -- don't listen to her) a couple of days until she had finished the book. Kitty had long been interested in the subject since she had read an article in the mid-Sixties (which she still has) about many of these "coincidental" deaths; the article emphasized Dorothy Kilgallen's excitement as she told friends that she "broke" the Kennedy case, and was soon after found dead in her apartment, her notes missing.
Ask Not is a suitable capstone for Nathan Heller's saga. Luckily, it may not be. Future Hellers may be in the offing -- about Robert Kennedy's assassination, the assassination of Martin Luther King, and the Watergate break-in. Great news for Max Allan Collins fans.
In the meantime, check out Ask Not, a well-developed, fully-realized thriller that is sure to garner multiple award nominations
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
BAD JOKE WEDNESDAY
My neighbor's Halloween pumpkin is looking pretty sick right now so he's trying to fix it with a pumpkin patch.
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