You have been warned!!!

Sometimes apartment living gets me down.

My apartment building isn't that large--30 units--and I know people on all three floors. The landlady really tries to foster a community feeling by decorating for any and all holidays and by doing things like putting out candy for Halloween. People are generally cordial when passing in the hallway or sharing an elevator. The dogs who live here are social ice breakers. And yet ...it doesn't feel like a community.
Someone on my floor is UNCLEAR on the concept of what a trash room is for and assumes it's fine to leave smelly food trash on the floor rather than dump it in the chute. Someone in the apartment thinks that defacing the elevator door with obscene graffiti is an expression of creativity. Someone thinks that it's okay to let their dog piddle in the stairwell (because you know, it's just too far to walk that extra FIVE steps to the outside door). And then there are the people who prop the outside door open, thus negating the purpose of the locked garage. Three different cars have been stolen from that garage and the security tapes (yes, there is a security camera) who that all three of the thieves entered through an unlocked door.
I could make myself nuts complaining bout this stuff but instead, I use it in stories.
Yes, I will turn you into a hateful character that readers will mock!
I will expose and exploit your classless behavior.  I might even use your first name.
You'll likely never know.
You certainly won't change your behavior.
But I will feel a LOT better.

Shakespeare by the Sea

I had no idea when I began the Summer of Shakespeare that there was so much Shakespeare in the Southland or that so much of it was free. A company called Shakespeare by the Sea is celebrating its 15th season of Shakespeare this summer, touring Los Angeles and Orange Counties with Two Gentlemen of Verona and Romeo & Juliet. The performances are free and take place at parks throughout the area (most of which are not actually by the ocean).
Here's a list of the venues, along with donation thermometers to let you know if a performance is fully funded or not (in case you have a little extra cash).
For me, the nearest performance will be August 2nd in Glendale; the play will be R&J.
timeless Tales. Ticketless Admission.
FREE SHAKESPEARE!

All things Elizabethan

When you start thinking about Shakespeare, you inevitably start thinking about the Elizabethan era. I was looking for information on Elizabethan-era music, and ran across this site, which is simple but chock full of information about everything from Elizabethan cuisine to Elizabethan sports. I knew that they played tennis in Shakespeare's time (remember in Henry V when the French ambassador sends Henry a gift of tennis balls?) but I had no idea that they also bowled. They also enjoyed dog and cock fighting, as well as bull and bear-baiting. (Again, I knew about the bear-baiting but not about the bull-baiting.) Anyway, the site is a great way to while away a few minutes if you're taking a break from doing the things that pay your rent.

Smother Mother--New NoHo Noir

The heat is on over at NoHo Noir. We haven't heard from Shannon Garrick and her son Liam since he testified against the gang shot-caller who killed the motel owner. Shannon's mother Maeve McConnaughey is still here and let's just say, she's overstayed her welcome. Check out the latest installment here. As always, illustrated by Mark Satchwill.

No Shakespeare for me this Sunday

There's probably a quote from the bard about "best-laid plans" and so forth, but none comes readily to mind. I was supposed to go see A Midsummer Night's Dream tonight at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. (Free!!) Instead, I will be going next week. Stay tuned.

Review of Rome & Jewel (2008)

This hip-hop musical version of Romeo &Juliet has some great moments. John Rubinstein plays Mayor Capps (Jewel's father) as the whitest white man in Beverly Hills--all capped teeth and spray tan. Cleavant Derricks plays Rev. Q (Rome's father), who opens and closes the film with his sermons from the little South Central church where he's the pastor. These veteran actors anchor a surprisingly effective modern urban take on the story that would have worked a lot better if the young actress playing Jewel had had a better voice.  Everyone else handles the songs (which are fine) but her voice is so reedy and thin (especially in an awkward "Sweet Sixteen" rap where she's grinding all over Rome), that the energy of the movie just deflates every time she opens her mouth.
As the movie opens, Rome is at odds with his minister father, who is furious he's blown off an important church meeting to dog a girl named Roz. Rome admits "the bitch messed me up" and his friend DJ Mercury (Allen Maldonado, who's great) invites him to a sweet sixteen party where he's performing to take his mind off the girl.
The movie was only out for a week in what was probably extremely limited release and made less than half a million. That's a shame because it eally was a smart transposition of the timeless story of star-crossed lovers.

More free books!

I'm serious about cleaning out. Any books I don't give away here are going to the Prison Library Project as donations for their used book store. They sell paperbacks and hardbacks to raise money for their work. If you'd like to know more about them, here's a link.

All you have to do to claim the books is leave a comment on this post and I'll contact you and arrange for shipping (within the United States.)  See here for other packages on offer.

The Laura Joh Rowland package--Five novels in her fantastic Sano Ichiro novels about the Shogun's Most Honorable investigator. The titles are: Dragon King's Palace, Perfumed Sleeve, The Way of the Traitor, Concubine's Tattoo, and Black Lotus.

The Grab Bag Package--a little bit of everything. James Rollins The Doomsday Key,  Michael Gruber's Tropic of Night, Dorothy Miles Disney's Dark Lady (a Crime Club paperback from 1964), Carl Hiaasen's Star Island, Janet Evanovich, Sizzling Sixteen, Janet Evqanovich Smokin' Seventeen,

The Eclectic package--Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues, A. Lee Martinez' The Automatic Detective, She Nailed a Stake Through His Head (an anthology of Biblical Tales of Terror), Precinct 19 (true accounts of NYPD's 19th Precinct), David Manual, A Matter of Roses (first in the Faith Abbey Mysteries), C. S. Graham, The Archangel Project (political thriller set in New Orleans), Mafia Chic by Erica Orloff (a chick lit mystery), Winter Moon (fantasy novella collection with Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee and C.E. Murphy).

And more to come.  Ask and ye shall receive...