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!

Katie needed a GPS for the Altima we’re lending her. With her new hospice job, Katie needed a way to find her clients in the Boston area easily. Bill Crider and other friends recommended the Garmin GPS line. Diane, Katie, and I went to BEST BUY and found the Garmin Nuvi 50LM at a reasonable price. The audio is crisp and clear. The Garmin features accurate maps with an easy to use interface on a nice, big 5″ touch screen. We picked the model with the life-time updates (an extra $30). If you’re looking for a GPS for your car, consider the Garmin line.

My son, Patrick, and his Pittsburgh friends would meet each Tuesday for dinner. Patrick hosted the dinners because his apartment had a huge dining room. Each week, two of the friends would make dinner for the others with the responsibilities rotating among the group. All that came to an end this week as Patrick packed up his stuff and is moving to his new loft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He begins his teaching job at the University of New Mexico on August 13. So this “last supper” was the final time this group could enjoy the ambiance and camaraderie. Click on the photo for an expanded view.

In other breaking news, my daughter, Katie, begins her new job at a hospice on Monday. Katie called this position her “dream job.” When I was Katie’s age, my dream job was to be a librarian. Good luck, kids!

Lawrence Block published 69 Barrow Street back in 1961 while writing as “Sheldon Lord.” He followed it up with Strange Embrace in 1962. Block, like many writers such as Robert Silverberg and Harry Whittington and Donald E. Westlake, supplemented his regular writing income with quick profits from churning out “sleaze.” But Lawrence Block’s sleaze is of a high order. Both of these novels are suspenseful and worth reading. Hard Case Crime uses the old ACE Double format of two novels bound together with two Robert McGinnis covers. For all these reasons, I found this book a must-buy! And I’m hoping for more!

I’ve been a fan of David Brin’s work for decades, especially his Uplift series. Now, Brin shows up with a 556-page novel with a dozen major characters. An “artifact” is discovered that might be the item that leads to First Contact with advanced aliens. But, Brin plays it close to the vest: is the artifact a hoax? Is it a ploy by evil aliens to conquer Earth? Brin explores a society divided by technology. Some human embrace artificial intelligence, others want to restrain it. There are still terrorists, gangsters, political groups all empowered by trillions of dollars and powerful new computer technology. If you’re a Brin fan, you’ll want to read Existence. If you’re in the mood for a large-canvas SF novel of the near future, Existence bursts with ideas and speculation. GRADE: B+

Joss Stone burst on the music scene a decade ago with The Soul Sessions, a CD of covers of soul songs. Now Joss Stone is back with another CD full of soul goodies. If you love this genre of music like I do, you’ll want to hear these songs interpreted by Joss Stone in her unique style. Check out the song samples below.
TRACK LIST:
1. “I Got The…” – Labi Siffre
2. “(For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People” – Eugene Record (of the Chi-Lites)
3. “While You’re Out Looking For Sugar” – Ronald Dunbar, Edyth Wayne (AKA Holland-Dozier-Holland), written for and originally performed by Honey Cone
4. “Sideways Shuffle” – Tim Renwick
5. “I Don’t Wanna Be with Nobody But You” – Eddie Floyd
6. “Teardrops” – Cecil Womack, Linda Womack
7. “Stoned Out of My Mind” – Barbara Acklin
8. “The Love We Had (Stays On My Mind)” – Terry Callier, Larry Wade
9. “The High Road” – James Mercer (The Shins), Brian Burton (Danger Mouse) (AKA Broken Bells)
10. “Pillow Talk” – Sylvia Robinson, Michael Burton
11. “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” – John D. Loudermilk

Bonus Tracks on the Deluxe Edition

12. “First Taste of Hurt” – W. Turbinton
13. “One Love in My Lifetime” – Terri McFaddin, Leonard Perry, Lawrence Brown (originally performed by Diana Ross)
14. “Nothing Takes the Place of You” – Toussaint McCall
15. “(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count the Days” – B. O’Dell, Yvonne Williams

Total Recall, the remake, opens Friday. However, just in time for that release, this new Blu-ray of the original Total Recall shows up. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a 21st-century construction worker who discovers that his entire memory of the past derives from a memory chip implanted in his brain. Very little of this movie resembles the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” that the movie was supposed to be based on. But director Paul Verhoeven turns the question of identity into a satisfying thrill ride especially when Schwarzenegger gets to Mars. I don’t know much about the remake of Total Recall, but it will be hard to top this version.

Marvelous Beth Fedyn sent me a get-well card and a book while I was in REHAB. The book was Alan Furst’s Mission to Paris, a book I already had waiting in my AMAZON cart. Beth probably remembered from our DAPA-EM days that I was a fan of Alan Furst’s spy novels. Furst has carved out a niche in spy fiction. He sets most of his books in Europe just before World War II. In Mission to Paris, a European actor and Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is in Paris to make a movie for Paramount France. The Nazis plot “political warfare” against France by using bribery, intimidation, and corrupt newspapers to shape public opinion to their political ends. The Nazis decide to recruit Stahl as a tool in their propaganda campaign. Stahl resists and finds himself involved in a dangerous game of influencing the French in the months preceding the German invasion of their country. If you enjoy spy fiction with a strong historical flavor, I highly recommend Alan Furst’s work. Thanks Beth! GRADE: B+

While recovering from my knee surgery, audiobooks became my main diversion. The BBC dramatizations of Simon Brett’s Charles Paris humorous mystery novels were the perfect entertainment for a Lortab addled patient. Bill Nighy plays the failed actor, sketchy husband, but canny mystery solver masterfully. The supporting cast is good, too. I particularly like Suzanne Burden who plays Nighy’s feisty long-suffering wife, Frances. Jon Glover, who steals every scene he’s in, plays Nighy’s Machiavellian agent, Maurice. This fifth audiobook set came out in May 2012. I can recommend all of these audiobooks: Murder in the Title, The Dead Side of the Mic, A Series of Murders, and Cast in Order of Disappearance. I hope more become available soon. If you’re looking for humor and clever dialogue and a delicious murder mystery, these dramatizations deliver.