I wonder if the bars are still on Blanche's bedroom window...

The Hancock Park (Los Angeles) house made famous as the residence of the Hudson sisters in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is on the market for the first time in almost 50 years. The price tag? Just under $3.8 million. No word on if the price includes a nosy neighbor on the driveway side.

The outside of the house is still instantly recognizable to most classic film fans, and speaking of the driveway, note the iron gate in case you want to cripple your annoying sister!

Alas, the interiors don't match the film. While the exterior of the house figured prominently in the story, interiors were filmed on a soundstage. In fact, if you scroll through the pictures in the listing, the inside of the house is depressingly modern. But the outside almost makes up for it. Not gonna lie, if I was some crazy gazillionaire, I'd buy the house and then pay a contractor to rebuild the interior to match the movie. 

I wonder what kind of looky-loo traffic they get.

Christmas post: Food for thought

Maybe....???

Snicked from the internets a couple of years ago and I didn't note where I got it. If it's yours let me know so I can give credit where credit it due.

Oh, snap

Last July Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez promoted #BoycottGoya when Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue expressed support for President Trump.

It didn't have the desired effect. In fact, it had exactly the opposite effect: Goya's sales shot up.

During an interview Monday, Unanue announced that thanks to the resulting 1000% sales increase following Ocasio-Cortez's tweet, he had named her Goya's "Employee of the Month" earlier this year. 

And that, my friends, is how you deal with cancel culture. 

From the Department of It's Funny Cuz It's True: Another joke about crime writers and their online searches

 

H/T to Jeremy Chin on WRITERSDETECTIVE - Q&A.

Walter Mosley is teaching on MasterClass

The legendary author is now teaching fiction and storytelling on MasterClass.

Mosley's debut novel Devil in a Blue Dress is a great example of getting right into the story. Despite the fact that there is a certain amount of backstory to be revealed - Easy Rawlins is a war veteran who has just lost his job and is worried about paying the mortgage on his beloved house - pretty much the first thing that happens is that Dewitt Albright walks into the bar Rawlins is drinking in and presents him with an offer that will change his life and launch him into a career as a P.I.

This is a very welcome addition to MasterClass and I look forward to taking his class.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas in California!

November Words of Wisdom

I'm sorry if you don't like my honesty, but to be fair, I don't like your lies. 

--Unknown

To me, there's no better feeling than arriving home. --James Farmer

Knowledge isn't free. You have to pay attention. --Unknown

Strong and truly brave men are rarely cruel and evil; meanness and cruelty are the traits of weaklings, never strong men. --Unknown

Where you look is where you will walk. What you think is what you will do. What you fill your mind with matters. --Greg Laurie

When nothing in society deserves respect, we should fashion for ourselves in solitude new silent loyalties. --Nicolas Gomez Davila

People living in a lie don't want to see the truth, because the lie protects them from the inner work they need to do to free themselves. They'd rather be enslaved to lies than to face themselves and their shadows. --Ali Zeck

It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steeps on the path, and to proceed. --Ram Dass

When you're stuck, go back to your character's motivation. --David Mamet

Neither pleasure nor pain should enter as motives when one must do what must be done. --Julius Evola

The truth is still truth, even if no one believes it. A lie is still a lie, even if everyone believes it. --Unknown

Fake people have an image to maintain, real people just don't care. --Hikigaya Hachiman

Just be honest with me or stay away from me. It's not that difficult. --Unknown

If you want to be wrong then follow the masses. --Socrates

RIP Darth Vader

David Prowse, who embodied Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, has passed away at the age of 85.

There were other aspects of Prowse's life - he was a champion weightlifter and his acting career spanned from the mid-1960's through 2016. He appeared in A Clockwork Orange, and his television appearances included The Beverly Hillbillies, The Saint, Doctor Who, Little House on the Prairie, Space: 1999, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and The Benny Hill Show. 

Although James Earl Jones provided Vader's deep, imposing voice, it was Prowse who gave him the imposing visual presence. Rest in peace, sir.

Recent reading: "Murder-a-Go-Go's"

Murder-a-Go-Go's: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of The Go-Go's 
(Edited by Holly West)

As the subtitle explains, this anthology features crime fiction inspired by the music of The Go-Go's, and by inspired, they mean very loosely inspired, at least a lot more loosely than I was expecting. Still, there's some good stories here, although if I'd read them as stand-alones I wouldn't have made the Go-Go's connection.

My favorites from this collection are "You Thought" by Susanna Calkins, "Fading Fast", a tale of revenge with an unexpected outcome (disclaimer: author Sarah M. Chen was my editor for "Christine Thirteen", also a tale of revenge - no wonder she liked it so much), "We Don't Get Along" by Diane Vallere, "Head Over Heels" by Craig Faustus Buck, and "Unforgiven" by Hilary Davidson.

It's not a quick read - there are twenty-five stories here, so it took me a while to get through them all. 

"Unforgiven" received a 2020 Anthony nomination. The anthology also features a forward by Go-Go Jane Wiedlin.

Yeah, thanks

Thanks a lot.

Thanks bunches. Los Angeles just got a whole lot more dangerous thanks to politicians playing games with our safety.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone except Gavin Newsom and Eric Garcetti

 

Snicked from the internets and I didn't note where from. If it's yours, let me know so I can give richly deserved credit.

Updated 9:37am: Ditto this guy and all the other politicians imposing draconian measures on us peasants while they go out and do whatever they want. Assholes.

But YOU...YOU have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Missing this

Yep, it's one of those days.