April Words of Wisdom: COVID-19 Edition

We built the greatest economy in the world. I'll do it a second time. --President Donald Trump

When the COVID-19 horror is over and we go back to our normal lives, never forget that during the crisis we were not desperate for lawyers, actors, athletes or reality TV stars. We needed teachers, doctors, nurses, shop workers, delivery drivers and countless others who we usually take for granted.
--Unknown

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. --Benjamin Franklin

If you think the government has the right to forcibly vaccinate people for the good of society, what is to prevent them from forcibly sterilizing people, forcibly euthanizing people, or forcibly implanting a tracking device for the good of society? --Dr. Lee Hieb (Me: Bonus points for reading this in Rod Serling's voice)

I have no patience for injustice, no tolerance for government incompetence, no sympathy for leaders who fail their citizens. --President Donald Trump

Defiance, not obedience, is the American's answer to overbearing authority.
--Ayn Rand

You keep going. Because uncommon efforts in uncommon times lead to uncommon rewards and grace. --Brendon Burchard

No matter what you do for the Do-Nothing Democrats, no matter how great a job you are doing, they will only respond to their fake partners in the Lamestream Media in the negative, even in a time of crisis. I thought it would be different, but it's not. In fact, it's even worse... --President Donald Trump

Somebody needs to open an investigation into the Democratic Party to find out if they have any ties to America. --Laura Ingraham

The truth is readily available, if you want it. But, if you are satisfied with political rhetoric, so be it. --Thomas Sowell

How freaking funny. Elected officials who are still getting a paycheck, telling the people they put out of work, "We will decide who can start earning a living again, and when." --Lt. Col. Allen West

Weird...

Was looking at latex gloves on Amazon this morning, and this was one of the options:

Ummmm...

Don't buy products from other sellers? Piss off.

Another weird thing happened when I found the gloves I wanted (not these, needless to say) - I kept clicking on "Add to cart", but when I went to my cart, it showed zero items. I tried it multiple times and it kept happening. I have been ordering from Amazon for years and that has never happened. I did finally place the order by using "Buy with 1-click", but it was still just strange.

Really looking forward to the world getting back to what passes for normal. I know I'm ready to start getting out there.

Quarantine Humor: Crime Writer/True Crime Buff Edition

How about this story fodder!!!

You know it's just a matter of time, both in terms of stories based on this and someone actually doing it. Seriously, tell me this isn't a future episode of Forensic Files!

Tip 'o the hat to Moe Ellis on FB.

Galileo St. Honeysuckle reporting for duty!

This is how bored I am. There is a Psych Nickname Generator and I got Galileo St. Honeysuckle. And now I'm craving pineapple. If that seems odd to you, USA has a Psych binge-a-thon going on, so you can check out one of the funniest shows ever and learn what the whole pineapple thing is all about. You know, now that we've got nothing but free time on our hands.

Speaking of funniest shows ever that didn't get the Emmy love they so richly deserved, the Scrubs rewatch podcast is absolutely awesome. There's some great behind-the-scenes info and they're only up to episode 4. What has two thumbs and is loving this? This girl! Highly recommended.

Bummer of the Day: Bouchercon 2020 cancelled

So some not so good news today: Bouchercon 2020 in Sacramento has been cancelled, another casualty of the COVID-19 virus. I was surprised by the timing because it wasn't taking place until mid-October. I was hoping that things would have started getting back to normal in plenty of time for the conference.

The official announcement from their site:

Dear Bouchercon 2020 Community:

In the 50 years since the first Bouchercon, our community of mystery fans and authors have gathered together annually for several days to celebrate all that we love.

We’ve faced many changes and challenges, but never have we faced something like the global coronavirus pandemic, which is causing widespread disruption to every aspect of our lives.

We’re terribly sad to tell you this, but out of an abundance of caution and concern for the health and safety of our community, we are canceling Bouchercon 2020.

We have no way of knowing what the balance of this year holds for groups of people gathering, nor can we tell what the state of travel will be.

While we are canceling the actual Bouchercon convention, we are working to develop a different format for some of the Bouchercon events and activities such as the Anthony Awards, the short story anthology and the General Membership meeting. Nominations will continue to be open until June 5 for the Anthony Awards. As we work to develop other ways to present a traditional Bouchercon experience, we’ll keep in touch with you.

For those of you who had registered or provided sponsorships, we will be issuing full refunds. And for those with hotel reservations, we will be working with the hotels to cancel all reservations, although they, too, are closed now.

Although the members of the Local Organizing Committee who have worked on this for the last five years are saddened, we know this is the right step to take to keep all safe. And we know that there will be future Bouchercons where we can gather again to celebrate the world of mystery.

As with Left Coast Crime San Diego, I do feel bad for the organizers, who have been working on this event for years.

The next Bouchercon is August 26-29, 2021 in New Orleans. The Brother and I are looking forward to spending some quality time there. Hopefully the world will have returned to what passes for normal by then.

From the Department of It's Funny Cuz It's True: What's in our heads versus what ends up on the page

H/T to Creative Screenwriting on Instagram.

An expert has weighed in on the Carole Baskin thing

In case you've been living under a rock, you've heard about Tiger King, the absolutely insane Netflix documentary about Joe Exotic, his zoo, and his feud with Carole Baskin, the founder/owner of Big Cat Rescue.

Needless to say, there have been a boatload of memes about the series and its colorful characters, including Baskin, whose first husband vanished without a trace in 1997. There are people - including Joe - who believe that not only did Baskin kill her husband, but also that she disposed of his body by feeding his corpse to one of her big cats. Which brings us to this:

I guess he'd know.

There's a "Scrubs" podcast!!! And it's awesome!!!

I know this is pretty new, but how did I not hear about this sooner? There's a new podcast with Zach Braff and Donald Faison and they're going through every single episode of Scrubs.

The series, which ran from 2001-2010, was in my opinion one of the all-time under-appreciated shows. It's unbelievable to me that this show didn't dominate the Emmy's during the 2000's, especially in terms of the acting and writing. Scrubs could be gut-busting hilarious and yet punch you in the gut (think Brendan Fraser's brief but glorious arc as Ben Sullivan). There are parts of that show that are some of the funniest things ever, and parts that have reduced me to a sobbing mess.

Braff and Faison, who played best friends on the show, also became close friends in real life. The podcast will feature the two reviewing the show episode by episode. I'm actually listening to the first one as I'm writing this and it's hilarious. There's a lot of behind-the-scenes info and reminiscing. They will be doing the podcasts on a weekly basis and the first one is up on iTunes and iHeart Radio. They're also taking fan questions and plan on having a lot of other people involved with the show on in the future.

Let's face it, we all have a lot of free time to fill up right now and a weekly podcast and rewatching Scrubs will not only help fill that time, but make it entertaining.

More Corona Virus humor. Because we all need to laugh.

Leave it to The Babylon Bee to step up:

I think one of the funniest things about the "article" is the Studio City dateline, because I know from having worked in post production that that's actually where the Hallmark Channel's offices are located.

"My Funny Quarantine" indeed.