Charlie's Books

Charlie's Books
Buon Giorno, Amici!

Our motto ...

Leave the (political) party. Take the cannoli.

"It always seems impossible until it's done." Nelson Mandela

Right now 6 Stella crime novels are available on Kindle for just $.99 ... Eddie's World has been reprinted and is also available from Stark House Press (Gat Books).

Friday, April 27, 2012

An Amazing Guy … Magic City Review ... Zimmerman’s $200K … Obama’s Big Stick … Hockey/Rangers/Knicks … 6 weeks to Shutter Island …

Amici:

Next week my son, Dustin, will be donating bone marrow. He signed up for the National Marrow Donor Program a while back and a match was found; he’ll be helping to save someone’s life. How friggin’ cool is that?

Here are some FAQ’s about the process:

Is Dustin amazing or what?

You’re goddamn right he is.



Magic City ... they could rename this one the 1959 T&A festival ... or the 1959 T&A&PH (ph = pubic hair) ... that’s about all this STARZ original series offers. The women are very beautiful and most often very naked ... the men are complete caricatures of what they’re supposed to be and in the end, a lot of great scenery (Art Deco) and a wonderful potential of American-Cuban history is bypassed for a dopey plot hidden by tits (lots of tits) and ass (lots of ass) ... and as I mentioned earlier, some pubic hair.

Here’s what the Huffington Post had to say about it (and TK agrees):

 

So who put up the $200K for Mr. Zimmerman? Inquiring minds want to know. He didn’t win it from a scratch off and there wasn’t a money wheel (as far as we know). Something tells me it’s a bunch of people in favor of the shoot first and ask questions later law a.k.a. Stand Your Ground and Kill some motherfuckers. Regardless, Mr. Z forgot to mention there was a nifty $200K tucked away during his bail hearing. I’m not sure what the legal implications of this happens to be, but one has to wonder why the court didn’t know about the money, whether Zimmerman was withholding the information or not.

I mean, it seems akin to the Stand Your Ground law, no? He attacked me so I shot him. I don’t have any money so please set my bail low.

Is this an assumption of innocence or an assumption that people potentially charged with murder won’t lie?




Obama’s Big Stick … Uncle Joe. Come on, yous gotta love it.



Go Rangers … I can’t remember watching hockey this much, except for during the Olympics. I am now, though ... and with much anticipation. I haven’t been a huge fan of the sport, but after watching the handshakes at the end of the first round of the playoffs, apparently hockey etiquette, I am now a fan. Say what? Well, let’s not get crazy. It isn’t the NFL and I won’t waste my time watching regular season games—what bother? Like the NBA, pretty much half the league makes it to the playoffs anyway—but the playoffs are another story. The best of seven series are a great tournament format for people like me who want to watch something else besides the grass grow (and/or MLB) while waiting for the NFL to get re-started.

And who isn’t dying in anticipation of this NFL season? My beloved New York State Buffalo Bills open up in Moonachie against the Fatso Rex Ryan’s Y-E-T-S, Yets, Yets, Yets. We’ll be sporting a ferocious defensive line and the Yets will be in absolute and total turmoil (somebody say Tebow-Sanchez---and notice who got top billing here at TK).



As for the Knicks … well, maybe they weren’t the dumbest organization in all of sport (as TK suggested—that editorial genius has been fired, by the way) … but let’s face it, watching the NBA playoffs doesn’t require a start to finish, 2.5 hour investment. Just turn the game on with about five minutes left and enjoy the show. Can the Knicks knock off the Heat? I doubt it. I seriously doubt it. But wining a couple of games would be an accomplishment to build on next year (under coach Mike Woodson, a Tone Loc voice double). Not one game, amici. Two. At least two. And no matter how many games it takes the Heat to beat the Knicks, Steve (Novocain) Novak rocks.







In six weeks or so, the ugly one will depart for the campus of SNHU for the start of his third semester in the MFA program. Make no mistake, it’s a wonderful program I only wish was longer (and cheaper). I have nothing but sincere praise for the enjoyment I get from doing the work. And I don’t mind (so much) campus life ... but five days after I’m almost used to sleeping like a 19 year old again, we depart for the Isle of Shutter off the New Hampshire Coast (several miles off the NH coast).

There’s no sugar coating this joint, amici. It is a terrible place. I don’t need no special inspiration (a cup of coffee (real coffee) and a cigarette will do fine, thank you). I don’t need no stinkin’ deserted isle without enough electric to run a friggin’ air conditioner and/or heater ... I don’t need to pass wind an entire floor of rooms can hear ... and I WANT TO SHOWER EVERY FRIGGIN’ DAY ... I don’t need to climb up and down unlit trails sabotaged with slippery rocks and potholes ... or listen to a foghorn every thirty friggin’ seconds. WTF is that thing going off for anyway? Are they expecting friggin’ company? Trust me, it’s not coming.


I could start in on the coffee but I won’t. I know I sometimes whine like a little girl, but honestly, when you can see the bottom of your friggin’ cup of coffee, it AINT’ FRIGGIN’ COFFEE! So, it’ll be six days on a campus with a bathroom that is somewhat private (there are four suits in each bathroom share) but at least the doors aren’t made of cardboard so there’s a chance you won’t have to listen to one another’s bodily functions. Five days on campus and five nights in hell.

So what’s a person to wear to such a sentence?

What’s that Joker quote again? “Wait’ll they get a’load of me.”




—Knucks

Shutter Isle ... here we come ... music by which to prepare ... remember this number, amici ...
24601 ...



I couldn’t embed the original cast with Colm Wilkinson ... so that fugazy’ll have to do.