Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly

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A terrific 2002 standalone novel by the author of the Harry Bosch books.

Would you risk your life for a woman you’d never met?

Henry Pierce has a whole new life — new apartment, new telephone, new telephone number. But the first time he checks his messages, he discovers that someone had the number before him.

The messages on his line are for a woman named Lilly, and she is in some kind of serious trouble.

Pierce is inexorably drawn into Lilly’s world, and it’s unlike any world he’s ever known. It is a nighttime world of escort services, websites, sex, and secret identities. …

Pierce’s skills as a computer entrepreneur allow him to trace Lilly’s last days with some precision. But every step into Lilly’s past takes Pierce deeper into a web of inescapable intricacy — and a decision that could cost him everything he owns and holds dear.

michaelconnelly.com
2019 Author Michael Connelly in Los Angeles (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Agatha Raisin – season 1

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Agatha Raisin is lightweight British comedy-drama.

Mostly comedy, I’d say. 

A high-powered PR executive retires to rural Biddestone, Wiltshire. 

Another fish out of water scenario. Agatha wears expensive high heels around town. Through the mud. 😀

Biddlestone had not had a murder — until Agatha Raisin moved there. Now they have one / week.

Season 1 first aired in 2016. 

My favourite character is Jason Barnett as the dimwitted DCI Denzel Wilkes.  His sidekick, Matt McCooey as DC Bill Wong is good too.

It’s quite formulaic. If you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all.

In praise of McDonald’s Jr. Chicken

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The humble, inexpensive Jr. Chicken is my GO TO SNACK when on the road.

AND it’s got 25% of your daily SALT requirements. You don’t want to run short on SALT. 😀

Juicy and flavorful. Identical every time.

Typically two of these cost less than the bigger McDonald’s chicken burgers.

97% thumbs-up on Chick Advisor.

related – Canada’s fast food chicken sandwiches ranked from worst to best

The Monster’s Bones by David K Randall

On By Rick McIn books, scienceLeave a comment

A great story. But I found the book a little dry. 

In December 1915, the American Museum of Natural History unveiled the very first mounted Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, irrevocably cementing the image of the towering reptilian carnivore in the popular psyche. For a generation, AMNH was the only place in the world where one could see T. rex in person.

Extinct Monsters
AMNH November 2015

The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World: Randall, David K

… the fossil-hunting exploits of Barnum Brown (1873–1963) …

Hailed as “the Father of the Dinosaurs” in his New York Times obituary, Brown discovered his first fossils in coal deposits his father dug up on the family’s Kansas farm. …

… famously discovered and excavated the first documented tyrannosaurus rex remains in Montana’s Hell Creek Formation. …

Publisher’s Weekly

The world’s first scale models were presented to the public at the Crystal Palace, London 1854.

© Wellcome Collection (CC BY 4.0)

Rebel Moon – part 1

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Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (2023) is an epic space opera film.

I’d only heard mocking reviews and wasn’t keen to watch it — before seeing a YouTube video on Sofia Boutella as Kora. Now age-41, she’s a badass. Former Rhythmic gymnast and dancer.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The start of part 1, I thought was quite good. 

Other actors introduced are compelling.

Charlie Hunnam as Kai is excellent, for example.

As the long movie progressed, it became obvious the plot was predictable.  Some of the dialogue inane.

It has neither the gravitas of Dune, nor the likability and humour of Guardians of the Galaxy 1.

SO — watch for the slow mo fight scenes. And the Star Wars like universe. 

Then go post your negative review on Rotten Tomatoes. 😀

I got through about half of REBEL MOON — PART TWO.

Not good. Dumb plot and too much violence.

TESTING Insta360 Ace Pro Features

On By Rick McIn cycling, videoLeave a comment

I mainly want my new Ace Pro as a primary VIDEO CAMERA.

BUT — finally tested it out as an Action Camera.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.  (only 720p resolution, by accident. Should be 1080p)

One feature I like is adding Telemetry data. IF you hit record from the iPhone app or Apple Watch, the Insta360 app tracks your GPS and can later add that information to the video.

I have speed and distance added in this example.

I also had the Insta360 app apply blur to make the footage look less digital, perhaps more cinematic.

As you can see, the stability is excellent for a bumpy bike path.

I threw in a couple of 4 second AI edited sections they call AI Warp. 

Overall … I’m not all that happy.  For some reason it exported in 720p rather than 1080p as I had expected. Also, the in-camera LUT is not nearly as good as it looked in the app on my phone.

More experiments needed.

Here’s how that Telemetry works.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

House of Secrets by Brad Meltzer

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The House of Secrets (2016) by Brad Meltzer and Tod Goldberg starts with the death of Jack Nash, world-renowned host and creator of the long-running “House of Secrets” TV series. 

That TV show investigates the meanings behind various symbolism, alleged secret codes, and conspiracies around the world.

The deadly car crash leaves his thirtysomething daughter, Hazel, injured and unable to remember exactly who she is.

The plot revolves around Hazel’s efforts, with the help of older brother Skip, to discover her father’s past and recover her own. 

Weirdly, Hazel is some kind of badass, street-fighting anthropology professor.

Unlikely?

Sure. 

Like Dad’s TV show, this book is full of historical mysteries. Hazel fits right in.

It’s got something to do with Benedict Arnold’s Bible. 

George Washington was devastated by the betrayal of one of his best friends.  I learned that here. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Lincoln Lawyer – season 2

On By Rick McIn books, TV1 Comment

I’d say the 2nd season is even better than the first.

I like everything about this TV show.

Everything BUT — for me — Matthew McConaughey is still the Lincoln Lawyer.

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plays Mickey in the TV adaptation. And he just doesn’t match the character in the book nearly as well as McConaughey.

The Lincoln Lawyer is attorney Mickey Haller, half-brother of Michael Connelly’s mainstay character Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch.

In season 2 he’s rich, famous, and successful. 

My favourite character is Becki Newton as Lorna Crain, Haller’s 2nd wife and office manager.  GREAT LEGS … say some sexist macho assholes. 🙄.

Her fiancé, Angus Sampson as Dennis “Cisco” Wojciechowski is excellent too.

ALSO Neve Campbell as Maggie (McFierce) McPherson.

It was good to see Elliott Gould as David “Legal” Siegel, Mickey’s mentor and a friend of his father.  He’s age-85 now.

10 episodes. All good.  Terrific finish.

On American Imperialism

On By Rick McIn books, economics, GOP USA, government, human rights, things getting betterLeave a comment

My love / hate relationship with the USA started early.

In University 1983, one of my textbooks in a sociology course was:

Under The Eagle: United States Intervention in Central America and the Caribbean

The history of the USA is damning.

No wonder Putin and others keep pointing out past wars started by the USA.

I spent a lot of time on a term paper: The Rise of American Imperialism and Precipitating Factors

Super critical of most American interventions in their part of the world.

I particularly criticized puppet dictators supported by Washington: Samoza, Trujillo, Batista, etc.

I only got a C+ / B- on the paper. 😀

Dalgliesh – season 2

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

Classy. 

Everything that’s good about television out of the U.K.

Dalgliesh is a British crime drama television series, based on the Adam Dalgliesh novels by PD James. Bertie Carvel stars as the title character, an enigmatic detective–poet. …

… investigating complex crimes in mid-1970s England.

Dalgleish is dour, understated, calm, quiet. Very British.

Season 2 is three movie length stories, each broken into two parts of about 45min.

He drives a 1971 Jaguar E–Type. That’s one bit of flash.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.