Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Royal Birth, The Pope, and Whitey Bulger

From the messy desk of Paul Levine...

I know Patty disagrees with me.

I don't know what our Brit, Jackie, thinks.

I don't care what Jim Born thinks.

But here's my take on the Royal Birth (as well as every Royal Marriage, Royal Visit, and Royal Poop).

I don't care.

The British surrendered at Yorktown.  The Treaty of Paris of 1783 specifically states (if I recall my sixth grade history) that we don't have to care.

Meanwhile, as I write this, Pope Francis is riding down the streets of Rio de Janeiro in an SUV, thronged by well-wishers, as he tosses free condoms to the crowd.  Okay, I made that last part up.

The New York Times reported today that rampant inflation in Brazil (a cheese pizza costs 30 bucks) has folks outraged. 

Yes, it is still "The" New York Times.  Down here in Miami, the daily papyrus has dropped "The" from its name, so that it's now just "Miami Herald."  (I thought they were saving ink but one of my Facebook punster friends said they were cutting "articles.").

Man, I'm rambling today with random thoughts.

I'm so glad the federal courts don't allow televising trials, or I'd spend every waking moment watching the Whitey Bulger case in Boston.  George V. Higgins couldn't make this one up.  What writer of legal thrillers would ever have a member of the gallery leap to his feat and proclaim "That's a fucking lie!"  Well, it just happened.

Or how about this matter-of-fact reporting on the testimony of Stephen (The Rifleman) Flemmi.        

"Once she was dead, Mr. Flemmi said he assumed his usual role, taking the corpse to the basement and removing her clothes and teeth while Mr. Bulger took a nap."
CNN.com's coverage is very good, and you can find it here. 
What's new?  On Sunday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on "Pulp Friction," I'll be interviewing Vicki Hendricks, queen of sexy noir.  You can listen and call in here.
Finally, those crazy kids at Amazon are running a sale this week and next.  I woke up the other day to find out they've reduced the price of the Kindle version of "The Deep Blue Alibi" to 99 cents.  What a deal.  You'll find it here. 
 
I'll be traveling the next three weeks, so until then, just assume your usual roles.
 
 
 



3 comments:

  1. As you already know, I LOVE the Royals. The scrunched up face before the scream was adorable.

    It's hilarious and a little silly for Miami to drop the THE, but it's the Los Angeles Times, not The Los Angeles times so I guess Miami has taken Michelle Obama's message to heart and dropped a little weight.

    Whitey might be doing a little better if he had Jake Lassiter defending him.

    I LOVED The Deep Blue Alibi and please don't tell me you're dropping the THE.

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  2. from Jacqueline

    Though I have a certain respect for the Queen (despite the fact that, frankly, her main cares are racehorses and corgis), I think the whole British royal family could be wound down a notch or two. I'm thinking Sweden, or Norway, or Liechtenstein. Let them keep the odd (very odd) palace, but let them get jobs, all of them, and then wheel them out for those special events that need a bit of human bling every now and again (you get a palace, you have to work for it). That way you basically keep the pomp and ceremony that many claim is the tourist draw, but you do away with a bit (not all, but a bit) of snobby elitism and shameless fawning that still exists in Britain. And as far as the baby is concerned, well, very nice and all that, but I liked the headline news from The Spectator - "Woman Has Baby." And the babies we should be more interested in are those born to mothers who do not have enough food with which to nourish their young. So maybe take the "The" away from "Royal." Kind of brings it down to earth a bit, so instead of "The Royal Family," it's Royal family. I'll have to tell my pal, the one whose last name is "Royal."

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  3. Love your ramblings, always. And if I didn't already have TheDBG, in ebook and paperback, I would take that 99 cents offer.

    VICKI HENDRICKS! Whoaaa, Paul. Miami Purity and Iguana Love, OMG, I'm glad you're on the air. Otherwise your fans might see you blush...not just a pink blush, a bright red blush! Be ready for anything. Or on the other hand, maybe she's shy but I doubt it.

    That woman has BB. Love her writing...it's strong, noir and excellent. Sometimes I have to be very creative using adjectives when I write reviews on her books. I like to stay family friendly on Goodreads.com and with her writing, well, not a family night read.

    I will be there Sunday night! Will be thinking of questions in the meantime.

    You ask JBorn what HE thinks of the Miami Herald dropping the "The"? Or do you care?

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