This recently released Blu-ray collection of Marilyn Monroe’s movies should give those of you who haven’t upgraded to Blu-ray the excuse you’ve been looking for to buy one. Here are some of Marilyn’s most iconic movies in hi-def sharpness and color. It’s like watching these films again for the first time. If you don’t want to stimulate the economy like I did, get your local public library to buy this wonderful set!
Book 1:

Disc 1: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Disc 2: How to Marry a Millionaire
Disc 3: River of No Return
Disc 4: There’s No Business Like Show Business

Book 2:

Disc 5: The Seven Year Itch
Disc 6: Some Like it Hot
Disc 7: The Misfits

For the past seven seasons, The Closer has been the highest rated drama on cable. The series stars Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief of Police who specializes in interrogations of crime suspects that conclude with a confession. The first four seasons focused on solving murders. In Season Five, Brenda Leigh Johnson’s team became a unit called “Major Crimes.” This gave the writers more freedom to explore other crime plots. One of the aspects of this series that I enjoyed the most was the occasional humorous episodes usually featuring G. W. Bailey as crusty Louie Provenza and his partner, Andy Flynn (Tony Denison). Many of the cast are going to be part of the program’s morphing into a new series, Major Crimes, which will premier directly after the concluding episode of The Closer. I’ll miss The Closer and I’ll give Major Crimes a try for a few weeks.

Longmire on A&E wraps up its first season tonight. For my money, Longmire was the best cable program this summer. Great cast! Robert Taylor plays Walt Longmire, the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming. He’s a wily veteran detective who solves some baffling cases. The scripts are above average. If you missed this fine series, you can watch Longmire online at the A&E website. It may be available to you on-demand with your cable system. And, I’m sure the DVD set will show up in stores within the month. I’ll be looking forward to Season Two of Longmire.

You don’t have to know much about the Bourne trilogy of movies to enjoy the latest installment: The Bourne Legacy. Without giving much away, all of these movies are chase movies. The Government wants to shut down a secret spy operation and instead of giving everyone a severance check, the Government decided to kill everyone associated with the secret program. Only, they didn’t quite kill Jason Bourne and in The Bourne Legacy they didn’t kill Jeremy Renner’s character (although they tried really, really hard!). Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton lead an impressive cast on this summer action thriller joy-ride. You will love the incredible motorcycle chase in Manila! GRADE: B+

Evan Lewis occasionally blogs about Race Williams, classic Private Eye, and I’ve finally gotten around to reading one of his classic adventures: The Hidden Hand. The Hidden Hand is a secretive crime lord who has put a $50,000 bounty on Race Williams’ head. The adventures in The Hidden Hand were originally published in a different form in Black Mask back in the June, July, August, September, and October issues in 1928. Obviously, this is a fix-up novel, but for those of you who like your noir straight, then this Race Williams novel will take you directly to the Dark Side. Race Williams is tough as nails, gets gassed, manages to survive a sniper attack, and eliminates gangsters with ruthless efficiency. If you’re looking for action and violence, The Hidden Hand has plenty!

Kim Stanley Robinson’s new SF novel, 2312, starts around page 70. Robinson develops a solar society of space colonies on Mercury, Venus (being terraformed), Mars, the asteroid belt, and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. On top of all this, Robinson introduces possible murders committed by (or with the assistance of) quantum computers (early artificial intelligence). At 561 pages, 2312 is one of those big Summer Books people take to the beach. There’s plenty here to ponder. GRADE: B

Most readers recognize Nick Hornby as the author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Juliet, Naked. Hornby also wrote two good screenplays: Fever Pitch and An Education. But I’m not only a fan of those works, I love Nick Hornby’s “Stuff I’ve Been Reading” column in The Believer magazine. Hornby boldly lists the books he’s bought that month…and the books he’s actually read. And Hornby’s reviews not only concern the books he’s reading, but his life, frustrations, addiction to soccer, etc. It all gets blended into entertaining, humorous riffs about books and life. More Baths Less Talking is the fourth collection of Hornby’s book reviews. I’ve read the three previous collections: The Polysyllabic Spree (2004), Housekeeping vs. the Dirt (2006), and Shakespeare Wrote for Money (2008). I recommend all of them. GRADE: A

It’s been 44 days since my total knee replacement surgery on my right knee. I’ll be in front of a class of students in 27 days. So far, my recovery has been a bit tougher than last summer’s recovery from getting my left knee replaced. My right knee had more arthritis and bone spurs. More issues. I had little pain last summer. This summer, I was popping Lortabs like they were Tic-Tacs. But the Good News is that the metrics are improving on all fronts. I have full extension of my new right knee. I can bend my new knee 104 degrees. I can ride a stationary bike for 10 minutes (but it hurts!). The swelling in my new knee is decreasing. Strength is slowly returning. I’m getting better range-of-motion daily. Pain is lessening incrementally day by day. And today I got the Green Light to return to the pool! Last summer, those daily trips to the pool accelerated my recovery immensely. For those of you with knee problems, total knee replacement surgery is a viable option to retaining your mobility. The recovery takes a few months, but if you work at it you’ll be happy with the results. I am!

Thank you all for the kind wishes, gifts, and advice during my recovery. Your positive karma gave my physical and mental health a boost!

Summer is the perfect time to get caught up on the stacks of DVDs and Blu-rays that have grown over the past years. Predators appeared in 2010 to lack-luster reviews. Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in the first Predator movie back in 1987. My favorite predator movie, Predator 2 (1990), starred Danny Glover. Predators is a mixed bag. Oscar Award winner, Adrien Brody, and a group of violent mis-fits find themselves stranded on a planet-sized game preserve where they’re hunted by alien predators. It should come as no surprise that there’s plenty of action and violence in this movie. But producer Robert Rodriguez and director Nimród Antal add enough twists and surprises to make what could have been a predictable action film fairly entertaining. Grab some microwave popcorn and enjoy! GRADE: B

Here’s another hefty group of P. G. Wodehouse audiobooks that I’ve been listening to. For those of you who haven’t tried Wodehouse’s wonderful confections, you’re missing some entertaining delights. I’m very fond of the CDs narrated by Martin Jarvis (Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves), Jonathan Cecil (Very Good, Jeeves, and even Ian Carmichael (Jeeves in the Offing. Right Ho, Jeeves is a BBC full-cast production with plenty of comic situations to laugh at. No matter who narrates these humorous stories, Wodehouse’s cleverness and wit shine through. Reading these stories is fun, but listening to them is even more fun! Check your local public library for these CD sets and find some time to listen to them. You’ll love it!