Plain English
I’ve been citing armed citizens killing predators. Sadly, I must report the negative counterpoint of the two fatal shootings of apparently innocent victims in upstate New York and Kansas City. It’s ammo for anti-gun folks. Meanwhile, headline from foxnews.com: “Nebraska lawmakers pass permitless concealed carry gun bill.” And this also from FN: “Quentin Tarantino admits he owns a gun for ‘protection’ while calling for stricter laws.” I enjoy his films, although they are in part a celebration of violence. Are they and other films contributing to the gunplay plaguing America?
I’ve been expecting it for a while. Netflix is ending its mail service. Although it has become increasingly difficult to find desirable titles to watch, I’ll miss it. It provided thousands of hours of entertainment.
Several nights ago Circle, channel 2–5 on OTA in NYC, ran The Bounty Killer (1965), a run-of-the-mill western featuring an interesting cast: Dan Duryea and his son Peter, the latter the title character; Audrey Dalton, Rod Cameron, Buster Crabbe, Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Steele and several unsung Hollywood stalwarts. Co-written by Ruth Alexander and actor Leo Gordon, it was directed by Spencer Gordon Bennett, his last big screen effort. Born in Brooklyn in 1893, he directed 121 films, career spanning 1915-’66, closing with a string of TV movies, the last Sakima and the Masked Marvel. He worked briefly as an actor, compiling four credits, the most notable The Perils of Pauline (1914), a serial. He went behind the camera in 1925 and became known as The King of Serial Directors, the most famous Superman (1948), starring Kirk Alyn as The Man of Steel and Noel Neill as Lois Lane. He passed away at 94 in 1987. Here’s a belated shoutout to a master of entertainment.
Headline from foxnews.com that doesn’t need a punchline: “Electric vehicles reportedly may be too heavy for old parking garages.”
According to an FN article by Christine Rousselle, a 2000-year-old garnet ring from ancient Rome has caused quite a stir at a UK auction. The intaglio has a carved image believed to be Augustus Caesar. Initially, it was estimated it would sell for between $186 to $248 in U.S. dollars. Bidding got heated and it went for $145,000. The emperor may have said: “Pecunia non olet.” In plain English: money doesn’t smell. I googled it.
Another gem from the Staten Island goombah:
Not much action today at the floating book shop, no buyers of Russian fare. My thanks to those who donated and swapped, and to Andy F-Bomb, who bought American Spartans: The U.S. Marines: A Combat History from Iwo Jima to Iraq by James A. Warren; and to Ira, who purchased Unsolved Mysteries of History: An Eye-Opening Investigation into the Most Baffling Events of All Time by Paul Aron; and to the young woman who took home the massive pictorial New House and this:
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