I bought this book because it is set in the Houston Heights. I started to read it, but life is w-a-a-a-y too short to spend it reading books as bad as this one.

Poor Cornell Woolrich. Such a master of noir and so often overlooked and forgotten. Most do not know he is the writer behind Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Truffault’s The Bride Wore Black, and others. Worth reading and this book is a good place to get aquainted with his work.

I’m not incredibly superstitious, but every now and again, I find myself tripping over one, which is why I have never gotten around to watching this movie before now: I simply do not believe in giving undue attention to anything having to do with hell. I mean—just consider what happened when I went to see The Exorcist. Or, that is you could consider it were I to tell you about it, except that I am not going to tell you about it so you can’t really give it the consideration it deserves. Except that it really did put me off of movies that glorify demonic activity.

It wasn’t until I saw the preview for Hellboy 2 in the theaters that I realized Guillermo del Toro was responsible for Hellboy 1. And even more than my abhorrence of hell movies is my unabashed admiration for the work of Guillermo del Toro. Sigh! Such a dillemna. After having seen Hellboy, it did not disappoint me in quality. Well crafted and enjoyable with the eternal del Toro struggle between good and evil. Worth putting aside superstitions for.

In Duo-Vision! Entirely cheesy, so early-1970s groovy, and very entertaining in a Psycho-takeoff kind of way. It is a bit of a come-down for Madeleine Sherwood to go from playing all that Tennessee Williams and Alfred Hitchcock (and the Flying Nun, no less!) to this, though.

If you are single and looking for a good reason to be thankful you are single, this is the book for you!

Peter Ustinov is not really what I pictured when I was reading the Agatha Christie books, so it is to his credit that I found him so believable as Poirot. This movie is worth watching for the costumes alone - 30s amazing, especially the costumes for the women - but add the scenery and the visuals alone make this a great watch. The storyline is pure Agatha Christie—a good yarn albeit a little hokey and over-acted in places.

I bought my iBook G4 used. I love it. It is very light - less than 5 pounds - and very small - a 12” screen (diagonally) - so it is great for travelling, which is what I wanted. Especially with airlines charging these days for extra bags and having weight restrictions, every little bit helps, right? I mainly use it for writing, but it is also set up for wireless and navigates the web with no problem. You don’t have to be a genius to operate it and that works for me because I am certainly no genius.

Not one of Max Allan Collins’ best. Kind of a disappointment, really.

I’m half way through this book; this is the first one I have read in this series, but already it reminds me of the similar series by Anne Perry featuring the characters William Monk and Hester Latterly. The characters of Frank Malloy and Sarah Brandt could easily be Monk and Latterly with different names. However, Thompson doesn’t seem to be as effective at capturing the essence of an era as Perry is. There are many things about the book that make me realize this is a story about a by-gone era, written from the perspective of the 21st century—character attitudes and world views, especially. Perry seems to have more of a gift of letting go of this present age and allowing herself to be fully absorbed in another.

This generation’s Godzilla. As a matter of fact, if I had understood Japanese, I am almost sure that is what the frightened man was trying to tell them as they raced past him in the streets—about how he last saw this critter hanging around Tokyo…