FFB: PUNAHOU BLUES by Kirby Wright (Lemon Shark Press 2005)...another thought.

Despite the fact that I'm about as close to the ideal audience for this novel as it could have, since I, like Wright, attended Punahou Academy in Honolulu in the 1970s (though I began sophomore year there in 1979, rather than attending as he did in the early '70s), and even came to Hawaii with my family from the Boston suburbs of New Hampshire (the mother of the protagonist has strong family ties back in her hometown, the Hub), I was disappointed. It's not ill-written so much as uninspired; unusually large chunks of the novel are devoted to recounting sports-related adventures of the young Jeff, whom we follow from late elementary school at the more overtly Christian Star of the Sea to his matriculation at Punahou for 7th Grade and passage through to high-school graduation, but Wright won't make anyone forget about William Campbell Gault nor Michael Shaara in these passages; they do demonstrate more engagement than much of the the rest of the book does, particularly the oddly muddled portrait of Jeff's borderline-abusive father, who is initially described as hapa-haole (literally "half-stranger" but in most contexts in the Islands meaning half-pale Caucasian, often half Asian or more often originally half-Hawaiian) and yet later his father is apparently only 1/8th Hawaiian; his ancestry is only a small part of what's out of focus about him, and the protagonist's mother also seems rather schematic, even more than either might actually be to a not terribly bright boy like Jeff. Wright drops a Whole Lot of Hawaiian words into his dialog, but relatively little of the common creole of Hawaiian Pidgin, so while people are always referring (believably) to makai (in the direction of the ocean) and mauka (in the direction of the mountains in the center of Oahu) and less common borrowed words, only some are likely to drop in much more than "da kine" (the Hawaiian Pidgin equivalent of "whatsits" or "you know, that thing"--from  "the [or that] kind of thing"--often used to emphasize the next adjective or noun, as in "da kine moke"--where "moke" or "moak" are somewhat oddly preserved from early 20th Century rather common US slang for "tough guy"; "da kine moke" = "really tough guy"--Brits and Aussies use or have used the term for donkeys and beat-down horses, respectively, apparently), and hardly anyone says "brah" (as in "bruddah" or brother/hey, you) or the odd bit such as "garans ballbearins" ("I swear" or "It's a lock/sure thing" after "guaranteed ball-bearings" originally). But, then, maybe Wright knew a lot of people who never said too much in Pidgin, and he does provide a useful glossary for those Hawaiian words that might not be utterly clear in context (I haven't read nor heard "akamai"--smart--for a long while). Weirder by me, and I'll definitely grant this might be more in tune with the times it's set in, since I wasn't there in those years, but was there very soon after (I recognize both at least two names of teachers Wright thanks in acknowledgements and the portraits of at least two faculty as being based on unfortunate people I remember as well), is that Jeff is continually obsessed only with blonde girls in his grades, till he finally discovers in his repressed, rather half-assed way that he can as well be attracted to a Korean-American girl by the last weeks of his last semester. Entirely too much of the book feels like an attempt at post-minimalist resetting of Dobie Gillis in a Honolulu context, and as such, it's rather unengaging...but readable. The first two chapters were first published in Chaminade Literary Review, the little magazine of the Catholic university on Oahu, and that doesn't surprise me...it's a reasonably good portrait, if spartan, of Oahu and bits of Molokai in its period...but it's not what it could be, and that's a pity.

And while the last day of the school year might well've been "Kill A Haole Day" in the early '70s, it was "Kill Haole Day" in the latter '70s and early '80s--articles the first things to be streamlined. Which was sad, but as a relatively big guy at Punahou, not something I had to worry too much about. (Pale Caucs particularly in the public schools likely to get roughed up a bit, not so much killed, by da kine mokes.) I was mostly more about laughing at seniors who tried to "discipline" me for eating in the Senior Dining Room or sitting on the Senior Bench with friends...which I barely recall doing as an actual senior. The Kangaroo Court nearly everyone on campus thought was just the greatest fun wasn't quite The Chocolate War-level insane, but rather too far along that spectrum for my taste. How better to get one ready for Skull and Bones, though?

For mostly more well-loved books this week, please see Patti Abbott's blog.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films and/or Other A/V: the links to the reviews, interviews, etc.

Get Carter

The selections (reviews, interviews and citations at the links below) of undeservedly (and a few deservedly) under-appreciated audio/visual experiences...As always, thanks to all the contributors and you readers...two approaches to How to Marry a Millionaire, the film, this week...through Bacall and Monroe...

Aaron West: Zero for Conduct

Allan Fish: Los olvidados (aka The Young and the Damned)

Anne Billson: Scandinavian horror film

Anonymous: Angel Face; Nobody's Fool; Three Days of the Condor

Bill Crider: The Man in the Iron Mask (1998 film) [trailer]

B.V. Lawson: Media Murder

BNoirDetour: Shack Out on 101

Sicario

Colin: Dakota Incident

Comedy Film Nerds: Erin Foley

Cynthia Fuchs: Sicario; Black Mass

Dan Stumpf: Chamber of Horrors (1966 film)

The Dana Gould Hour: "Paging Dr. Cyclops"

David Cramner: Longmire (Season 4)

Help!

David Vineyard: Kraft Suspense Theater: "The Deep End" (based on The Drowner by John D. MacDonald)

Dorian Bartilucci: A Hard Day's Night; Help!

Doug Loves Movies: Sarah Silverman, Leonard Maltin, Owen Benjamin, Esther Povitsky

Elgin Bleecker: The Bastard (aka The Cats; 1968 film)

Elizabeth Foxwell: Tales of Tomorrow: "Age of Peril" (based on "Crisis 1999" by Fredric Brown)

Evan Lewis: Fallen Angels: "Fly Paper" (based on Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op story)

Cat People

Gary Deane: Slander

George Kelley: four Marilyn Monroe films

Gilligan Newton-John: School Spirit; The Invisible Maniac

How Did This Get Made?: Maximum Overdrive

Iba Dawson: Halloween recommendations

Ivan G. Shreve, Jr.: Half-Nelson

Jack Seabrook: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "The Derelicts"

Jackie Kashian: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work; Dana Gould; David Koechner
Courtesy Jackie Kashian:


Jacqueline T. Lynch: Holiday Affair

James Clark: Miami Vice (the film)

James Reasoner: Chino; Yuma 

Janet Varney: Mary Birdsong

Jerry House: Invasion of the Saucermen

John Grant: The Impossible Murder; Highly Dangerous; The Heart of Justice; "Monster"
Monster - Jennifer Kent from Jennifer Kent on Vimeo.

Jonathan Lewis: Drums Across the River; 40 Guns to Apache Pass

Judy Geater: Thunder Birds

Karen Hannsberry: Lilly Turner

Kelly Robinson: The Great Gatsby (1926 film)

Ken Levine: Emmys; Emmys some more; Emmys past

Kliph Nesteroff: Day at Night: "Archie Moore"

Curse of the Undedad

Kristina Dijan: The Phantom of Crestwood; City that Never Sleeps; The Hidden Hand; Curse of the Undead; The Cobweb; Yellow Sky; Get Carter (1971)

Laura G: I've Always Loved You; Jubilee Trail; Pollyanna (1960); The White Angel

Lindsey: Turner Classic Movies this week; Give a Girl a Break; The Talk of the Town (film); The Thin Man and its sequels

Lucy Brown: Heavens Above!

Marty McKee: 10 to Midnight; Vigilante Force; Vendetta

Mystery Dave: Frankie and Alice

Patricia Nolan-Hall: The Sunshine Boys; The Red Pony; The Shootist

Patrick Murtha: Hustlers Convention

De Tweeling

Patti Abbott: Twin Sisters (aka De Tweeling)

Pop My Culture: Paul Brittain

Raquel Stecher: Splendor in the Grass

Rick: The Bold Ones: The Protectors; Adam Adamant Lives!; The Baron

Road Stories: Cathy Ladman; Carrie Snow

How to Marry a Millionaire

Rod Lott: Angst; Lake Placid vs. Anaconda

Ruth: How to Marry a Millionaire (film); Flying Deuces

Sam Juliano: Cinema Paradiso

Scott A. Cupp: The Invisible Woman (1940)

Sergio Angelini: Ed McBain's 57th Precinct: Ice

Stacia Jones: June Bride

Stephen Bowie: Lee Harvey Oswald v. television

Stephen Mullen: Ivan's Children

Touch of Evil

Stephen Romano: 10 films of Obsession, Deception and Survival

Steve Lewis: Doctor Who: "The Monster of Peladon"

Victoria Loomes: To Have and Have Not

Vienna: Abilene Town

Yvette Banek: Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York 

Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York

The Invisible Woman

Friday's Forgotten Books: the links to reviews

Filling in this week for Patti Abbott,  who will return to hosting next week, and we find an array of famous names (Agatha Christie, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Millar, Leonard Michaels, Erle Stanley Gardner, Malcolm Gladwell, "Ed McBain" (my spellchecker refuses to believe in that name's existence), "Richard Stark", John Barth, H. P. Lovecraft, Brian Moore and more, with some of their more overlooked or less-bruited-about books these years...and Dashiell Hammett as guest reviewer in one spot (Anthony Price's job a bit easier, perhaps). If I've missed your or someone else's reviews, please let me know in comments...thanks, to all the contributors and all you readers. Todd Mason

Patricia Abbott: Agatha Christie and I (Megan Abbott on women as audience for crime fiction)

Sanford Allen: The Store by Bentley Little

Sergio Angelini: Eleven Came Back by Mabel Seeley

Yvette Banek: Third Girl by Agatha Christie

Mark Baker: The Buccaneers' Code by Caroline Calson

Joe Barone: The Mystery of Swordfish Reef by Arthur W. Upfield

Les Blatt: The Book of the Lion by Elizabeth Daly

Brian Busby: The CanLit FoodBook edited by Margaret Atwood

Bill Crider: What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

Scott A. Cupp: Fat Face by Michael Shea

William Deeck: Murder on the Downbeat by Robert Avery; Corpse de Ballet by Lucy Cores

Martin Edwards: The Undetective by Bruce Graeme

Barry Ergang: The Last Best Hope by "Ed McBain" (hosted by Kevin Tipple)

Curt Evans: Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie

Fred Fitch/Westlake Review: Butcher's Moon by "Richard Stark" (part 3)

Barry Gardner: Shallow Graves by Jeremiah Healy

Ed Gorman: The Luck of Ginger Coffey by Brian Moore

John Grant: Spider Webs by Margaret Millar

Dashiell Hammett: Five books (1930) (hosted by Evan Lewis)

John Hegenberger: Maverick by Charles Coombs; Maverick: Legend of the West by Ed Robertson

Rich Horton: The Floating Opera by John Barth

Jerry House: He is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson edited by Christopher Condon

Nick Jones: Anthony Price blurbs

TracyK: King & Joker by Peter Dickinson

George Kelley: Alfred Hitchcock's Witches' Brew, the two (or three) different anthologies...

Rob Kitchin: Black Bear by Aly Monroe

B.V. Lawson: Poison for the Prince by "Elizabeth Eyre"

Steve Lewis: Storm Front by John Sandford; Death Hunt on a Dying Planet by Gary Alan Ruse

Richard Lupoff: World Without Women by Day Keene and Leonard Pruyn

Todd Mason: The Business of Science Fiction by Barry Malzberg and Mike Resnick

Neer: The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft

John F. Norris: Murder by Prescription by "Jonathan Stagge"

Juri Nummelin: Detour by Martin H. Goldsmith

Matthew Paust: Silvia by Leonard Michaels

James Reasoner: "The Iron Men of Venus" by Don Wilcox

Karyn Reeves: The D.A. Draws a Circle by Erle Stanley Gardner

Kelly Robinson: Strange by Charles Willeford

Richard Robinson: Sherlock Holmes by Gas-Lamp edited by Philip Shreffller

Dan Stumpf: The Red Planet by Russ Winterbotham

Nick Sweet: Franco: A Biography by Paul Preston

"TomCat": The Crystal Beads Murder by Annie Haynes

Prashant Trikannad: crime novels by some women writers

David Vineyard: Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz

some jazz singers and Buffy Sainte-Marie: Saturday Music Club on Thursday

Chris Connor: "Lonely Woman" (courtesy Jim C.)


Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake: "A Taste of Honey"


Abbey Lincoln: "Lonely House"


Blossom Dearie: "Lucky to Be Me"


Freda Payne: "Feeling Good"


Aretha Franklin: "Trouble in Mind"


Lola Albright: "How High the Moon"


Carmen McRae: "Just a Little Lovin'"


Betty Carter and Ray Charles: "People Will Say We're in Love"


Geri Allen, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington: "Unconditional Love"


Buffy Sainte-Marie on To Tell the Truth (with Victoria Racimo as another panelist)

Tuesday's Overlooked Films and/or Other A/V: the links to the reviews and interviews, and more

Bad Girls

The selections (reviews, interviews and citations at the links below) of undeservedly (and a few deservedly) under-appreciated audio/visual experiences...As always, thanks to all the contributors and you readers...a sizable but incomplete list at this late hour, and apologies for the later yet hour which will see its completion, but other tasks and errands have cut into the available time today. Thanks.

Anne Billson: The 10 Most Beautiful Male Film Actors

Anonymous: Nobody's Fool

Bill Crider: Bad Girls [trailer]

Brian Wilson:  Rebel Without a Cause

B. V. Lawson: Media Murder

BNoirDetour: The Big Sleep (Lauren Bacall blogathon)

Colin: Jeopardy (1953 film)

Comedy Film Nerds: Owen Benjamin

Cynthia Fuchs: Goodnight Mommy: Hearts and Minds

Dan Stumpf: From Hell It Came

David Cramner: Longmire (Season 4)

Dorian: My Favorite Blonde

Elgin Bleeker: Ride the Pink Horse

Elizabeth Foxwell: The Evil Mind (aka The Clairvoyant); Haunted: "The Lamp"

Evan Lewis: G-Man v. The Fifth Column flip-book animation

Gary Deane: Cast a Dark Shadow

Gary Dobbs: Dad's Army

George Kelley: Lovejoy

Gilligan Newton-John: Zan, King of the Jungle; Trader Hornee 

Harry Harrison, Anne McCaffrey, Robert A. Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Ben Bova, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber: interviewed by Mike Hodel: Hour 25


Iba Dawson: Ingrid Bergman tribute at the Brooklyn Academy of Music


Ivan G. Shreve, Jr.: The Spider's Web and The Shadow

Jackie Kashian: Crazy, Stupid Love; Marc Price (Family Ties; children's programming host and producer; standup comedy) on his father, comedian Al Bernie, and water-reclamation and hydroponic farming; Marcia Wallace (The Simpsons; The Bob Newhart Show) and Gary Shapiro

Jacqueline T. Lynch: Martin Milner

James Reasoner: Yuma

Janet Varney: Kelly Carlin (on her father George and her life)

Jerry House: Lady Frankenstein

Joe Wilson and Murray Valeriano interview Laura House, Sarah Colonna and Kira Saltonivich: Road Stories (Part 1) (Part 2)

John Grant: The Heart of Justice; "Monster"

Jonathan Lewis: Tarzan and the Slave Woman; Seminole

Kelly Robinson: Absinthe

Lee Price: I Was Born, But...

Patrick Murtha: Cast No Shadow

Patti Abbott: Project Nim

Patricia Perry: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Patrick Murtha: Cast No Shadow

RTR: US tv series debuts, September 1965 (courtesy Bill Crider)

Sam Juliano: Anne of Green Gables (the telefilms from the Canadian series)

Scott Cupp: They Came from Beyond Space

Sergio Angelini: Sherlock Holmes in Washington

Stephen Mullen: Ivan's Childhood

Steve Lewis: Cleopatra 2525; Hudson Bay

Walter Albert: The Phantom Chariot

Yvette Banek: Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York 

FFB: ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S A HANGMAN'S DOZEN edited by Lisa Belknap (et al.?), Dell 1962

Having discovered for myself the results of Robert Arthur's industry in "Hitchcock" anthologies in 1974-75, my father had picked up this odd bird, Alfred Hitchcock's A Hangman's Dozen, for me among the front-cover-stripped paperbacks he'd buy at this shady display somewhere in Boston (the rest of us in the family still living in Enfield, Connecticut for that 1975-76 school year). Unlike the Arthur volumes, all the stories (rather than a few, mixed in with many from other sources) were from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, which by this time I'd seen around the Enfield Library, with oddly ugly covers and interior illustrations, but clearly something worth looking into. Meanwhile, this compilation wasn't quite as diverse nor horror-imbued as a typical AH Presents: anthology, but certainly close enough:

Courtesy The Hitchcock Zone:

Contents:

1. Bomb #14 by Jack Ritchie — from AHMM 2(8)
2. The Forgiving Ghost by C.B. Gilford
3. The Children of Noah by Richard Matheson — from AHMM 2(3)
4. An Attractive Family by Robert Arthur
5. Let the Sucker Beware by Charles Einstein
6. Fair Game by John Cortez
7. The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake)
8. Your Witness by Helen Nielsen
9. Blackout by Richard Deming
10. The October Game by Ray Bradbury — from AHMM 2(6) [as reprinted from Weird Tales magazine]
11. Stop Calling Me "Mister" by Jonathan Craig
12. The Last Escape by Jay Street
13. Not a Laughing Matter by Evan Hunter
14. Most Agreeably Poisoned by Fletcher Flora
15. The Best-Friend Murder by Donald E. Westlake

The Gilford, as were many of his, was a horror story, and the Matheson and the Bradbury classic were as close as realistic suspense fiction tends to get...and otherwise this was an impressive selection of short work, and in a few cases introduction to the writers in question...I think I remember even this early exposure to Evan Hunter being among the weakest entries in the book. Two from Donald Westlake is rarely a bad thing, and I remember the "Stark" as being particularly full of gallows wit; contributor Charles Einstein, of course, being a notable journalist as well as fiction-writer and the older half-brother of Albert "Brooks" and Bob Einstein (once best-known as Officer Judy on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and as "Super Dave Osbourne" in many contexts in the 1990s), and, like them, the son of comedian "Parkyerkarkus". Put together while Lisa Belknap was editing the magazine (whether the recently active Florida-based editor is the same Belknap or perhaps her daughter, I'm not sure), it set a high bar that the magazine best-ofs only fitfully would match in my reading experience.

For more of today's books, please see Patti Abbott's blog.