Gabby Giffords speaking truth to power

I admire Gabby Giffords so much. Watching her speech at the 2016 DNC brought me to tears. But because I write a lot of dark fiction, when I saw this meme, I had a thought. You know all those cheesy revenge fantasy movies out there? Usually with someone like Clint Eastwood or Jason Statham in them?
"Their mistake was they left him alive..."
I thought--if she'd died, people would have mourned her, but she didn't die and she came back to become the gun lobby's worst nightmare. I stand with Gabby; if you do too, find out more about what you can do at Americans for Responsible Solutions.

F is for Francis, Dick

I discovered Dick Francis in high school. By that time his career as a crime writer was well underway so that  once I read his first novel, Dead Cert, there were plenty of books for me to catch up on. (He would eventually write 40, most of which became international best-sellers.) A former jockey (he rode for the Queen Mum), he set his mysteries against a backdrop of horse racing, an arena I wouldn't normally have cared very much about. Most of the books were one-offs, but a couple "starred" Sid Halley, a one-handed investigator who was played by Welsh actor Mike Gwilym in the television adaptation. Gwilym is retired now, but in his day he did everything from Shakespeare to tough guys and Jason Statham reminds me of him a lot. 
Francis died in 2010 but his son Felix has followed in his footsteps with mysteries branded with the Dick Francis name. There's one coming out later this year that features the return of Sid Halley. I haven't read any of Felix's books, but I may have to pick up that one.

Month of streaming Netflix--SAFE

Netflix has a large selection of B movies (and C and D movies as well).  I'm quite fond of B movies, actually, especially when they star Jason Statham, so when SAFE popped up, I figured it was worth checking out. Statham plays a former cop-turned-cage fighter whose life has taken a spectacular downward spiral. (And the filmmakers do a GREAT job of making his world incredibly gritty.) When his path crosses a young Chinese genius who's fallen into the hands of a Russian mobster, he finds the fire in his belly to save her and himself.
The violence here is pretty brutal--lots of stomping and kicking and beating. Statham's character is introduced in a brief scene where he punches an opponent into a coma and the way it's shot, he looks massive and bestial. 
I lasted less than half an hour, checking out before Chris Sarandon showed up as the Mayor. 
I did enjoy Reggie Lee's performance as the young genius' "foster father." Lee is my favorite actor on Grimm, where he steals every scene he's in. Here he's understated and dangerous and really effective.Too bad not that many people saw it. The movie was written and directed by Boaz Yakin, whose career is all over the place.  He directed the sports movie Remember the Titans and co-wrote the screenplay for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. He's also one of the co-writers of the upcoming thriller Now You See Me, which looks like a lot of fun. This movie was ... not a lot of fun. So, minus for Netflix.