After Tom Brady deflated the Bills last week 40-32, the Bills face another divisional opponent in Miami this afternoon. The Dolphins are 1-1 (like the Bills) but look like a better team on paper. Their QB, Ryan Tannehill, is streaky. He runs hot and cold. But, when Tannehill is hot, he can put up a lot of points (like Brady). The loser of this game will be in last place in the AFC East. How will your favorite NFL team do today?
Nancy Meyers wrote and directed The Intern. From Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt in What Women Want to Meryl Streep and Steve Martin in It’s Complicated to Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton in Something’s Got To Give, Meyer blends relationship problems into a money-making souffle. In The Intern Robert De Niro plays a 70-year-old retiree named Ben who becomes a “Senior” intern at an Internet start-up company owned by Anne Hathaway’s character, Jules (who comes up with these names?). Jules has a Big Decision to make and sure enough, Ben helps her. But Jules also has relationship problems. Ben helps there, too. If you’ve seen any of Nancy Meyers’ movies, you know how all of these problems will shake out. GRADE: B
I started reading Hunter S. Thompson when he was writing articles in Rolling Stone about Richard Nixon. Later, those articles were collected in Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72. After that, it was Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream that fried my brain. Hunter S. Thompson’s writing style is unique. It’s hyperbolic. It’s funny. And, surprisingly, it often tells the truth. Thompson called his style of writing “Gonzo Journalism.” Picador Press has done us all a great service by publishing an inexpensive, thick volume (1000 pages!) collecting Hunter S. Thompson’s wonderful writings from The Great Shark Hunt, Generation of Swine, and Songs of the Doomed. The Gonzo Papers Anthology glitters with a brilliance that we solely lack today. Highly recommended!
Erroll Garner’s Concert By the Sea was one of those legendary jazz records. But, much of the music from that live concert wasn’t on the record. There were major problems over the rights to the music. Now, 60 years later, the complete concert has just been remastered and released in a wonderful 3-CD package. Plenty of great sounding music here! There are 11 previously unreleased tracks. If you have even a causal interest in jazz, you’ll want to hear this music. Erroll Garner is an underrated performer. This complete concert should change that. GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
Disc: 1
1. Announcer: Jimmy Lyons
2. Night And Day
3. Spring Is Here
4. I’ll Remember April
5. The Nearness Of You
6. Where Or When
7. Sweet And Lovely
8. Lullaby Of Birdland
9. Mambo Carmel
10. Teach Me Tonight
11. Will You Still Be Mine
12. I Cover The Waterfront
13. Bernie’s Tune
14. How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me?
15. It’s All Right With Me
Disc: 2
1. Announcer: Jimmy Lyons
2. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
3. Autumn Leaves
4. S’Wonderful
5. Laura
6. Red Top
7. April In Paris
8. Caravan
9. Erroll’s Theme/Announcer: Jimmy Lyons
Disc: 3
1. I’ll Remember April
2. Teach Me Tonight
3. Mambo Carmel
4. Autumn Leaves
5. It’s All Right With Me
6. Red Top
7. April in Paris
8. They Can’t Take That Away From Me?
9. How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me
10. Where or When
11. Erroll’s Theme
12. Post Concert Interview: Will Thornbury with Erroll Garner, Eddie Calhoun, Denzil DaCosta Best: September 19, 1955
Mr. Woodchuck, our neighbor who lives in a maze of burrows in our back yard, showed up to eat some apples from our apple tree. Clearly, Mr. Woodchuck is loading up on carbs to get ready for hibernation. Fall will be here soon!
I picked up this DVD set at BJ’s Warehouse for $7.99. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), The Seven Year Itch (1955), and Some Like It Hot (1959) look great on these DVDs. Marilyn Monroe dominated the decade of the Fifties. Of course, the fame took a personal toll on the actress. But these four movies show a star at the prime of her career. If you’re a Marilyn Monroe fan, pick up this bargain set! What’s your favorite Marilyn Monroe movie?
I wasn’t planning to read The Girl in the Spider’s Web because I have an aversion to Other People writing books “like” Agatha Christie, Robert Parker, Rex Stout, Robert Ludlum, and other dead writers. But The New York Times Book Review featured The Girl in the Spider’s Web on the cover so I decided to give it a try. First, David Lagercrantz writes nothing like Stieg Larsson. The novel starts off slowly. But by page 200, I was back in tune with Lisbeth Salander, the enigmatic and genius computer hacker. The plot revolves around a secret criminal group led by a mysterious figure called Thanos. If you’re a fan of this series, you’ll enjoy this book. If your haven’t read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you might want to give that a try. The movie versions of these books, especially the Swedish trilogy, are excellent. GRADE: B
After last week’s surprising 27-14 win over Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts, the Bills now face the reigning Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots and Tom “I Destroy My Cell Phones All the Time” Brady. As you might suspect, Buffalo Bills fans are whipped up into a frenzy. Tom Brady has a 23-3 record against the Bills. This is a huge game for both teams as the AFC East seems to be improving in quality. All four teams in the AFC East won their games last week. How will your favorite NFL team do today?
After having almost nothing worthwhile to watch this Summer, all of a sudden plenty of series are returning starting with Doctor Who. I admit it: I was lukewarm when I first saw Peter Capaldi as the Doctor last season. What a dramatic change after Matt Smith’s energetic performance. It was like watching Jeb Bush as the Doctor. But, Capaldi grew on me. And the fetching Jenna Coleman swiftly became my Second Favorite Companion (after Karen Gillian). For those of you who are Doctor Who fans, you’ll be watching this tonight. For those of you who are tempted by the Doctor Who phenomenon, just jump in. The water’s fine!
DELL published over 60 paperback titles featuring “Alfred Hitchcock” on the cover. These short story collections were fun reading and I read dozens of them back in the Sixties and Seventies. I chose Alfred Hitchcock’s Witch’s Brew because DELL, for some bizarre reason, published two different editions with the same title but with different sets of stories. The first DELL edition of Alfred Hitchcock’s Witch’s Brew was published in 1965. The second edition, with a cooler cover, was published in 1975. If you’re a completist, you’ll have to track down both editions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. To Whet Your Appetite… by Alfred Hitchcock (ghost written)
2. The Wishing-Well by E.F. Benson
3. That Hell-Bound Train by Robert Bloch
4. As Gay As Cheese by Joan Aiken
5. Madame Mim by T.H. White
6. Blood Money by M. Timothy O’Keefe
7. His Coat So Gay by Sterling E. Lanier (a Brigadier Ffellowes novelette)
8. They’ll Never Find You Now by Doreen Dugdale
9. The Widow Flynn’s Apple Tree by Lord Dunsany
10. In the Cards by John Collier
11. Strangers in Town by Shirley Jackson
12. The Proof by John Moore
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Introduction by Alfred Hitchcock (ghost written)
2. Premonition by Charles Mergendahl
3. A Shot from the Dark Night by Avram Davidson
4. I Had a Hunch, and… by Talmage Powell
5. A Killing in the Market by Robert Bloch
6. Gone as by Magic by Richard Hardwick
7. The Big Bajoor by Borden Deal
8. The Gentle Miss Bluebeard by Nedra Tyre
9. The Guy that Laughs Last by Philip Tremont
10. Diet and Die by Wenzell Brown
11. Just for Kicks by Richard Marsten
12. Please Forgive Me by Henry Kane
13. A Crime Worthy of Me by Hal Dresner
14. When Buying a Fine Murder by Jack Ritchie