Archive
I Just Realized Something
The word “no-one”, or possibly “no one”, is basically never written as “noone”, because it’s so easy to read it as “noon” with a silent “e” on the end, which is a fairly well-known surname.
So. The Donald Westlake novel Smoke,* one of the good ones, which is about a guy who becomes invisible? The invisible guy’s name is Freddie Noon.
That’s why he named him that!
I first read Smoke when it came out, back in 1995. Took me until now to figure that out.
As you were.
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* Recommended!
22/11/2012 Superhero of the Day: Wondergirl
Note: not the same as Wonder Girl.
29/9/2012 Superhero of the Day: Beatgirl
9/7/2012 Superhero of the Day: Impulse
Impulse, aka Kid Flash II, Flash IV, Bart Allen.
26/5/2012 Superhero of the Day: Vladimir Putin
On Little Willie John
It’s just possible that some of you out there aren’t fans of R&B music from the ’50s and early ’60s. I mean, I don’t know why you wouldn’t be, but I admit the possibility that you aren’t.
And if not, you probably haven’t heard of Little Willie John.
Little Willie John is the great forgotten R&B singer. In terms of talent, he was right up there with Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson and… well, maybe not quite James Brown and Ray Charles; let’s not get crazy. But he got thrown in jail and eventually died there, and over the years his fame shrank rather than grew.
His most famous songs are “All Around the World” and “Fever”, and he had other great ones like “Need Your Love So Bad” and “Leave My Kitten Alone”, but my favourite is one that was used in the Lone Star* soundtrack, “My Love Is.” I like it because it’s quiet and simple, but gives the impression of being inexorable and even a bit ominous.
Anyway, I was recently reading Susan Whitall’s biography* of John, and one of the things I learned from it is that, before he died, John recorded one last album worth of material which wasn’t released for legal reasons… but that it’s now available on CD. (Nineteen Sixty Six: The David Axelrod & HB Barnum Sessions.) I ordered it, received it today, and have listened to it. And it’s awesome.
Seriously. I would have gotten it just for the sake of completeness; after all, they aren’t making any more new Little Willie John music these days. I’m not surprised I like it, but I am surprised at how good it is, and how different from his other stuff. It’s less R&B and more… more soul or blues, or both, or something. I wonder what he would have sounded like if he had survived into the 1970s.
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* Recommended.
On Deadly Animals
Somehow we seem to have collected a trio of vicious killers when all we were looking for was regular house pets. Here’s the tally so far:
Mia (veteran dog):
– killed one rabbit in a fenced corner of our yard
– killed another rabbit while I was walking her through the park on a leash
– killed a mouse in the basement
– chomped a live crow while I was walking her on a leash; the crow only got away when I yanked on the leash
– again while on the leash, grabbed up a small dog that was on the end of his own leash, and was preparing to snap his neck when I intervened; the other dog owner was not at all impressed
– has had about five unsuccessful encounters with skunks; this item probably doesn’t belong on this list but I feel that it helps to illustrate the pattern of behaviour
Hannah (apprentice dog):
– has caught and killed at least one squirrel and possibly two; this brings the total number of squirrels I have ever heard of being caught and killed by dogs to one or possibly two
Webster (cat):
– caught and tormented the local chipmunk
– killed two mice in the basement
– made life hell for the baby rabbits in the vicinity of the house, stalking and catching them on multiple occasions
They all three of them are the most loyal and affectionate of pets. With us, they are. With all humans, really. With the rest of the animal kingdom, somewhat less so. I don’t remember this kind of thing going on with the dogs and cats I grew up with.*
Is it us?
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* Well, with the dogs, anyway. I’m sure the cats accounted for their share of birds
