Amici:
The first time I read Charlie Williams was shortly after his first Royston Blake, Mangel story (Deadfolk) was published. Patrick (Irish) Lambe turned me onto what has turned out to be the funniest MF’er I ever read; Williams has no peer for this reader. The Mangel trilogy was one funny book after another (Deadfolk, Fags and Lager {now titled Booze and Burn} and King of the Road). Roytson Blake (he has his own FB page: Free the Mangel One) is an “unstable nightclub doorman” ... his life is an adventure of misadventures, each one funnier than the last. In his latest, One Dead Hen, Royston has been accused of being a serial murderer ... I’m just 60 pages in and was literally doing my walk around beautiful downtown Fords, New Jersey (the state's sister town to Mangel) reading while walking (sporting one of my brand new Buffalo Bills T-shirts). I was also smiling and laughing and taking the occasional look-see to make sure I didn’t run over a tree. I suspect I’ll finish by tomorrow evening and since TK doesn’t provide spoilers, I can already state emphatically yous should all BUY THIS BOOK. Royston Blake is drop dead hilarious ... and Charlie Williams is spot-on the best of the funny lot.Foreign Flicks ...
Lemon Tree ... a Palestinian widow seeks legal help to keep her lemon grove when an Israeli Defense Minister becomes her neighbor ... it isn’t just a battle against the state of Israel; there are Palestinian causes and customs fighting her as well. This was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. As frustrating as it is heartbreaking. And we think we have problems?
For My Father ... another from the same mid-east crisis, this one has to do with an attempt by a son to honor his father ... the dual politics and cultural infighting is equally crushing on both sides of the fence. Excellent movie ... and I’ll say it again. We think we have problems?
How I Ended My Summer ... from Russia and the arctic with tension and polar bears ... and maybe a touch of cabin fever ... tension that builds and builds ... this one was awarded several international commendations ... all I know is I was mesmerized by the mood the film sets from the very start. Like the French connection, this one didn’t need dialogue to make it’s points. Just a mesmerizing film about two men working at a polar research station in the arctic; one a veteran meteorologist, the other a grad student. Like I said, mesmerizing.
The walking, the dieting, the light lifting ... has led to a drop of two 5 pounds bag of excess baggage from the ugly one’s oversized carcass. As Dick La Monica would say, “It’s like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic.” Maybe, but as I edge ever closer to ducking below three bills, cattle everywhere sleep easier ... it’s all about the pets, amici.
And yes, cows are pets too ...—Knucks
