December 31, 2010

Changing the look

I know you are going to say, “But you just changed it!”

The old dark blog, I absolutely loved the look of it, but it was hard to read. It wasn’t just the fancy font I was using, the font was too small. So I changed it, and I kind of liked the new look, then I noticed the search box was over my page title. Yes, you can go down to the side bar and click there but …. I didn’t like it.

So I am trying this one. I think the font is readable and I like the colors and the way it is set up. Of course that is my header, my books on my bookshelf and other places so something is the same, and the content is the same. I’ll try not to change again, at least not this week.

Posted by on December 31, 2010 in Miscellanea.

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December 31, 2010

Books read in 2010

20. The Tiger’s Child ~ Torey Hayden ~ 12/20
19. The End of Marking Time ~ CJ West ~ 12/3
18. Stones Skipping on Water ~ Richard Taylor ~ 9/28
17. Blindness ~ Henry Green ~ 9/9
16. Child 44 ~ Tom Rob Smith ~ 8/26
15. A Twisted Faith ~ Gregg Olsen ~ 8/21
14. Red Mist ~ Richard Taylor ~ 8/9
13. Killer Clown ~ Terry Sullivan ~ 7/9
12. The Chicago Killer ~ Joseph R Kozenczak ~ 6/21
11. Shutter Island ~ Dennis Lehane ~ 6/14
10. Die, My Love ~ Kathryn Casey ~ 6/8
9. The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez ~ Philip Carlo ~ 6/1
8. While They Slept ~ Kathryn Harrison ~ 5/15
7. Eight Days in Darkness: The True Story of the Abduction, Rape, and Rescue of Anita Wooldridge ~ Angela Roegner, Anita Wooldridge ~ 5/4
6. Great Expectations ~ Charles Dickens ~ 4/8
5. Case Histories ~ Kate Atkinson ~ 3/24
4. Slammerkin ~ Emma Donoghue ~ 2/3
3. When Will There Be Good News? ~ Kate Atkinson ~ 2/1
2. Replacement Child – A Memoir ~ Judy L. Mandel ~ 1/8
1. Conflicts with Interest ~ Michael Ruddy ~ 1/4

Posted by on December 31, 2010 in 2010, Uncategorized and tagged .

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December 22, 2010

While waiting ….

for my next book review, since I am going away this weekend might not be until next week, I am providing this link.

Neil Gaiman has written an article that everyone that has intellectual property should read, that includes authors, musicians, artist, artisans etc. Click on this link to read it, and then pass it along.

Posted by on December 22, 2010 in Miscellanea.

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December 12, 2010

The End of Marking Time by CJ West

C.J. West has written a frightening book. Not a scary book, not a ‘lock your doors and windows, turn on all the lights and hide under the covers’ book, a frightening book. Frightening in a 1984, George Orwellian “Big Brother” knows what you are thinking way. A look into a world where our civil liberties have been more or less eradicated and paranoia dictates our actions.

The protagonist, Michael O’Connor, is a criminal on his way to serve a 5 year sentence when he is shot and ends up in a coma for 4 years. When he comes out of the coma, instead of serving out the remainder of his sentence, he is thrown into an ultramodern criminal justice system, that he has no idea what is happening and what is expected of him.

There a no longer any prisons, criminals now enter reeducation programs and are called relearners. With ankle bracelets and sensors everywhere, they are able to live freely in the community. But as Michael learns, they are not really free. Their every movement is tracked and Michael becomes paranoid, thinking they are all out to get him. All the right that he had before are gone. There are no rights for relearners.

Michael comes to realize that he is fighting for his life. With no prisons to send relearners who don’t re-learn and become law abiding citizens, there is only one punishment left. With no clear guidelines on what to do, Michael has to do what he thinks is right and hope he made the right decision.

C.J. West has done an excellent job of creating a world without rights and civil liberties. In the way that 1984 was a “what if” book, this is also a great “what if” book, what if the prisons were eliminated? How would the authorities control the criminals? What if one class of persons lost their civil rights? How would the rest of the world treat them?

This book grabbed me from the first page and as Michael related his life story, kept my interest; at first I didn’t like the end, but looking back, it was the only one that really fit. Anything else would have left me feeling cheated.

I would recommend this book to people who like books that make them think while at the same time be entertaining. There is nothing dry about this book, it can be read for pure pleasures sake.

Paperback: 284 pages
Publisher: 22 West Books (May 22, 2010)

Posted by on December 12, 2010 in 2010, Crime Fiction and tagged , , , .

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December 8, 2010

December 8, 1980 ~ In memoriam

Detail of the Dakota

30 years ago most of the USA heard the announcement by one of the most famous sports announcer on what to some was the most popular sports show, Monday Night Football on ABC. It’s still playing. Frank Gifford had just offered a bit of color commentary on the play that had just been run when Howard Cosell interrupted him…

“Yes, we have to say it. Remember, this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City… John Lennon, outside his apartment building on the west side of New York City, the most famous, perhaps, of all the Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty bound, we have to take.”

Lennon’s death lingers for those who were there

Em and I were going to go to Strawberry Fields. D was going to be out of town and she was going to take the day off. His plans changed, so ours did. I have to settle for this tribute on my blog.

Posted by on December 8, 2010 in Manhattan, Non-Fiction, True Crime, Uncategorized and tagged , .

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December 3, 2010

Whiskey and coffee

When I titled my other post “Bourbon and Burgers” I got 140 hits, I’m just wondering if whiskey is as popular as bourbon.

Every year at this time there is a holiday craft fair in Bryant Park. Click here. Em and I just love it. So many cute shops to look at and walk through. It’s also nice to pop in to warm up for a few minutes.

If you take the first entrance you come to walking down 42nd Street from 5th Avenue you will find the store I went to. First though, you have to walk past the evil Bald Man, Max Brenner, who makes the best chocolate. No! Keep walking, just keep walking, don’t get the chocolate pizza. Past the chocolate store, you will see a store with a lamb with a warm tummy in the window, I mean its a picture. This is Country Herbs, they have therapeutic herbal shoulder wraps, lumbar wraps, slippers and these eye masks. I bought shoulder wraps for Em and Me, and an eye mask for Em. Total price around $100. They also have sets which include the shoulder, back and slippers. These wraps can be used hot or cold. They recommend storing them in the freezer (to keep the herbs fresh), which means whenever you need them cold they are ready. Pop them in the microwave for 2 minutes to use hot. They are very soothing for achy neck and shoulders.

Now as I was leaving I saw a shop with baked goods, I don’t remember the name, so I walked to take a closer look. The young man there was very nice, when he saw that I really didn’t want a cupcake he asked if I would like a drink, hot chocolate or coffee. So I asked for coffee, he offered to put milk in it, I asked for Jameson’s instead. He couldn’t/wouldn’t do it. Starbucks won’t either. That lead to a discussion of different whiskeys. So that is the whole story of ‘Whiskey and coffee’.

This link will take you to a interactive map, you can move your cursor over the map and the names of the shops will show, click on them and you get a brief description of the shops. There are a few shops that don’t have anything. But you can click on Max Brenner and find out about his chocolate. If you must.

Posted by on December 3, 2010 in Manhattan, Uncategorized and tagged , .

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November 21, 2010

Bourbon and burgers

Mr. Biggs Bar & Grill
596 10th Ave, New York 10036
(Btwn 43rd & 44th St)
Phone: (212) 246-2030
Mr. Biggs

What can I say, I like Bourbon and I like burgers. In that order. Most of the reviews I read about Mr. Biggs said the food was good, the service not so good. That was not the case when Em and I went there, the food was good, the server was friendly, knowledgeable, quick and got our orders right.

Their selection of scotch was limited, although the server said that normally they had more. However they didn’t have the brand Em usually drinks so we both got Maker’s Mark. For appetizer we got chips with a Parmesan-spinach dip with a dollop of tomato relish. Em got a burger called ‘Juicy-juice’ (it has cheese inside the burger and should come with a warning label: Melted cheese will squirt out of this burger when you bite into it) and I got a turkey burger. Both burgers came with seasoned potato wedges which were good and a mesculin salad, which I didn’t eat because it had dressing on it.

The people next to us got the wings and they were huge! The food came out quickly, was hot and good. Our server kept her eye on us and our water glasses. We had a Groupon and before we ordered she made sure to explain how it worked. Em said her burger was medium not rare. That was the only complaint I can think of. There is a happy hour on Friday and drinks and bar food (not completely sure about that might want to check first) are half price.

We got there a little bit after 12:00 and only a few tables were filled. As we were finishing up people were coming in, a few seemed to be regulars. There are T.V.’s behind the bar, when we were there college football was on so I imagine they show most sports. It seems that it would be a really crazy hopping place on Friday nights! One last thing, the website has not been updated in a while, the appetizer and the burger Em got are not on the online menu.

2 drinks (top shelf, not house liquor), 1 appetizer and 2 burgers cost us between $40-$50

Posted by on November 21, 2010 in Manhattan and tagged , .

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November 15, 2010

New books I have

Nathan Hale by M. William Phelps ~ November 13

Shattered: The True Story Of A Mother’s Love, A Husband’s Betrayal, And A Cold-Blooded Texas Murder by Kathryn Casey ~ November 13

True Stories Of Crime From The District Attorney’s Office by Arthur Cheney Train ~ November 13

The Australian Book Of True Crime by Larry Writer ~ November 13

Posted by on November 15, 2010 in Acquisitions, History, True Crime and tagged .

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November 14, 2010

Unstoppable

Director: Tony Scott
Writer: Mark Bomback
Stars: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson

With an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, a veteran engineer and a young conductor race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe.

Have you ever seen previews for a movie, and then when you saw the movie the previews were the only good part? That is not the case with this movie. If you like action films, you must see this movie, if you like hot hunky young guys doing battle with a train because its the right thing to do, you must see this movie. If you like older guys you’ve know for years doing the right thing that still make your heart go da-thump, da-thump, you must see this movie. If you like smart women that don’t overcompensate, you must see this movie.

Unstoppable was inspired by the real-life CSX8888 (crew) Y11615 incident that took place in 2001 in Ohio. CSX8888 was a single engine pulling 47 cars, 22 of them loaded, for in-yard car switching. All six “gross errors” committed by the engineer responsible for CSX8888 are reproduced in Unstoppable.

The danger factor was increased for dramatic effect. The engineer and conductor were at first at odds, and then realized they had common values and worked together to stop the train. They were working class heroes that most people can relate to. The action is fast paced, a head rush that doesn’t let up till the end. This is an amazing movie.

Posted by on November 14, 2010 in Movie, Thriller, Uncategorized and tagged , .

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November 9, 2010

A Speakeasy


Flute Bar & Lounge
205 W 54th St
btw 7th & Broadway
New York, NY 10019

On the sidewalk on 54th Street between 7th Avenue and Broadway there is a little blue sign at the top of a flight of stairs, at the bottom of the stairs is a lighted blue wall with a door to the left, through the door is Flûte. To the right is a bar, to the left is a lounge area with end tables and couches. There are some ‘nooks’ with little tables and couches placed against the wall. The space on West 54th Street in NYC was once home to the Prohibition-era speakeasy, Club Intime.

Candles and menus were set out on the tables. The menu consisted of specialty cocktails, mostly featuring Champagne along with a wide variety of sparkling wines, and some very yummy sounding desserts. At the suggestion of the waiter Em got a drink called “Antoinella” (not sure of the spelling), it had grapefruit juice, strawberries and champagne and I got a Sidecar, consisting of Brandy, triple sec and lemon juice over ice, served in a mug so that “if the cops bust in we can tell ’em we’re having a tea party”. Em said her drink was very good, but she drank it down too fast for me to get a taste.

We got a dessert that was a banana wrapped in a crepe, sliced with chocolate sauce drizzled on the slices with chopped pistachios on top. Very yummy. The servers were attentive, a little on the slow side, but that contributed to the relaxed atmosphere of the establishment. When we wanted our check it was brought promptly. This place is definitely going on our list of places to go back to.

Two drinks and one dessert (to be shared by two) was $38.

Posted by on November 9, 2010 in Manhattan and tagged , , .

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