You can't go home again, or if you do you need to shoot your way out.

Under the "finally got around to" category, I finished my first Richard Stark, Parker novel. I first heard of the Parker character when I watched the amazingly gritty noir-esque Point Blank. It starred Lee Marvin in a great suit, and the principal from Animal House (what was his name... a Canadian I think) in a nasty role.

The end credits said based on the novel, so I went looking. I was surprised, in a really good way, when I found out that Stark was one of the pseudonyms of Donald Westlake. I read a ton of Westlake as a teen, loved the character Dortmunder, and the movie Hot Rock (Redford and Segal, if I recall). But I have found that going back and reading stuff I liked as a teen is often a sad affair. Reading the Stark novel (The Jugger), I found it really clipped a long, and I liked the darkness of the main character - he kills a guy and puts him in a hole that the dead guy had just dug. (Wait, does that make sense?) Anyway, it was hard boiled and sparse, but at the end of it, forgettable.

I might read another one, or watch Point Blank again, just for Lee Marvin. Onward to other summer books now - like Snow Crash, one that has been on my "got to get around to" pile for, oh, three or four years.

Mingo Fishtrap!

Okay, the Dutch lost, and I am okay with that. But I needed some musical solace. A good friend turned me onto this band... a group as awesome as their name, Mingo Fishtrap.

And a shout out to Nathan - I think you'll really like these guys. Great horns!

Drama on the Pitch

Consumed, as usual every four years, with the World Cup - and wondering why there are no great soccer novels. Or are there? The drama of this game is incredible. There is constant movement, flying bodies, some of the most fit athletes in the world, blowing horns (okay, those aren't so great), and very very witty announcers. Example: as players push and shove in front of the goal one player wrapped his arm around an opponent and the announcer talked about how so and so was the "object of his affection".

Okay - maybe it's funnier with an English accent.

So let me know if there is some great soccer novel that I have missed.

And meanwhile... GO ORANGE!!!

Talking, with commas

Reading Chandler for the first time, I know, I know, I don't know why I waited. I certainly understand how he reached his icon status. The Long Goodbye, (some say his best), is wonderfully paced and beautifully written, and I am barely a third of the way through - but this is a book to savour.

I would have loved to find the cover as shown to the left - delightfully surreal. (As are, for some reason, my use of adverbs in this post.)

Anyway, here is a just a few gems, and a reason for reading slow:

"I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars."

"One would think a writer would be happy here -- if a writer is every happy anywhere."

"He was a guy who talked with commas, like a heavy novel. Over the phone anyway."

I've known guys that talk with commas.

And I have a feeling that my next novel is going to have some heavy Chandler influences.

A Craig I really Admire

Not trying to turn this blog into a well look at this vid type blog - but I have been watching some clips of Craig Ferguson lately (a favorite Craig of mine), and geez louise, this guy is the best late night guy on television... maybe ever. His honesty, candor (wait, is that the same thing?), and general fall down on my ass funny storytelling combined with his "aw screw the conventions" attitude make his show feel so different from all the others.

Hard to know how much it is scripted, but the way his personality shines through makes the rest of the hosts look so damn artificial - even the great Dave. Letterman really started the move away from the smarmy Carson vibe (though, Carson was great in his own way, and perfect for his time) - but Letterman seems tired, Leno is a joke and not a good one, Fallon and Kimble (who?), and even as good as Conan is (and he is very very good), he pales in comparison to Ferguson. And Conan is on the road right now anyway, so before his new show he doesn't count.

The only ones IMO that come close to Ferguson are Stewart and Colbert - but that is a bit apples and oranges. I guess I am writing about this because I was watching an old clip (I'll link it below) where Ferguson gives an on air eulogy for his father - it is stunning TV, and as honest as it gets.

Watch him. He is the real deal (as in human) and you don't see a lot of that on the box these days.