Murder in a Small Town – season 1

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

An excellent TV series.

Murder in a Small Town is a Canadian mystery–drama television series which premiered on Global in Canada, and Fox in the United States on September 24, 2024. …

It is based on the Alberg and Cassandra Mysteries, a series of novels by L. R. Wright.

It was filmed at Gibsons on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast.

In Canada, I watched it free (ad supported) on the Global TV website — but it was a pain.

The romance is consummated half way through the first episode.

Rossif Sutherland — son of the Donald — is the small town police chief.

The gorgeous Kristin Kreuk was a gymnast in Vancouver until grade 11. She’s of Dutch and Chinese Jamaican descent.

The entire cast is good.

Mya Lowe as Corporal Edwina Yen is great. You might recognize her from Yellowjackets.

I’m impressed that the show is nuanced on subjects like racism. And sexual harassment.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

History of the Canadian National Anthem

On By Rick McIn government, musicLeave a comment

Originally, the current Canadian National anthem was composed in French, celebrating Quebec.

The lyrics are totally … separate and distinct … in the 2 official languages.

“O Canada” (French: Ô Canada) is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée composed the music, after which French-language words were written by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier.

The original French lyrics were translated to English in 1906.  Multiple English versions ensued, with Robert Stanley Weir‘s 1908 version (which was not a translation of the French lyrics) gaining the most popularity; the Weir lyrics eventually served as the basis for the official lyrics enacted by Parliament.  Weir’s English-language lyrics have been revised three times, most recently when An Act to amend the National Anthem Act (gender) was enacted in 2018. 

The French lyrics remain unaltered.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

‘Gens du pays’, written by Gilles Vigneault and Gaston Rochon for the 1975 St-Jean-Baptiste celebrations on Mount Royal, Montreal is almost a national anthem in Quebec.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Holmes, Margaret & Poe by Patterson and Sitts

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A cute idea. In New York City, 3 intriguing, smart, and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations.

… Could they be related to Sherlock Holmes, Jane Marple, and / or Edgar Allan Poe? 😀

Holmes, Margaret & Poe: The Greatest Crime-Solving Team of the Twenty-First Century

by James Patterson (Author) , Brian Sitts (Author)

This book is popular, BUT I’d rank it far below the (very average) standard for a Patterson.

There are 3 or 4 … maybe 5 different plot threads. NONE of the detectives impressed.

It’s an easy read. Sometimes hard to follow.

Give it a miss.

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben

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Harlan Coben is a good writer — best known for his Myron Bolitar series.

I Will Find You (2023) is a stand alone novel. Excellent.

An innocent father serving life for the murder of his own son receives evidence that his child may still be alive, and must break out of prison to find out the truth.

I was hooked from the first line.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Twisters 2024

On By Rick McIn moviesLeave a comment

Twisters is a 2024 American disaster film.

…  a standalone sequel to Twister (1996)

As a Hollywood summer blockbuster, it worked. Grossing $371 million worldwide.

I got through the thing only because the special effects are so amazing. HOW did they create that kind of video?

Some of the technology shown is based on REAL current science. The Phased Array Radar, for example.

But disrupting a tornado in real time is still not possible.

The plot is cliche. Best ignore it.

I wasn’t much convinced by any of the cast. Glen Powell was probably best. I thought he was Justin Hartley for the first part of the movie. Those two are very similar.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Another Girl by Peter Grainger

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Peter Grainger STILL doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry. Yet he’s a beloved author with a cult following.

A Kings Lake Investigation, Book #5.

Sadly, his best character — D.C. Smith — has retired from the police.

But of the books NOT including D.C., I’d say this is best, so far.

On the other hand, it’s a slow moving police procedural. No car chases.

Serena Butler goes undercover to battle organized crime.  And has trouble getting back out.

Prime Suspect: Tennison

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

Excellent British TV.

I was sorry only 1 season was produced.

Prime Suspect 1973 (also known as Prime Suspect: Tennison) is a British television detective drama series starring Stefanie Martini as the young Jane Tennison. It is a prequel to the long-running Prime Suspect series that had starred Helen Mirren. …

Set in Hackney, the series depicts 22-year-old Jane Tennison (Stefanie Martini) as she begins her career as a woman police constable (WPC) in 1973 with the Metropolitan Police Service. At a time when women were beginning to be gradually integrated into the police force, Tennison has to deal with sexism, as well as difficulties in her home life, as her family disapprove of her career choice.

Great television despite at least 2 unbelievably blatant plot holes.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.





Bloody Genius by John Sandford

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Quite good, as are all of the Virgil Flowers books.

Bloody Genius was published 2019.

At the local state university, two feuding departments have faced off on the battleground of PC culture. Each carries their views to extremes that may seem absurd, but highly educated people of sound mind and good intentions can reasonably disagree, right?

Then someone winds up dead, and Virgil Flowers is brought in to investigate… and he soon comes to realize he’s dealing with people who, on this one particular issue, are functionally crazy. Among this group of wildly impassioned, diametrically opposed zealots lurks a killer, and it will be up to Virgil to sort the murderer from the mere maniacs.

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

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Odd Hours (2008) is the fourth novel in the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz. 

I liked the first 3 books in the series, but can’t recommend this one.

I can barely recall the plot, it seemed so random and disjointed. Coyotes, nuclear weapons, murders in a church, an angry ghost of Frank Sinatra.

Odd Thomas is a fictional character who first appeared in Dean Koontz‘s 2003 novel of the same name, Odd Thomas. He is a twenty-year-old man who lives in the fictional desert town of Pico Mundo, California, and is able to see the spirits of the dead. He is able to make himself heard to them but they cannot speak to him, although they may make signs or mouth words. This fact complicates much of the books. …