COCKTAIL BETTY RUBBLE: ON THE MAKE (#fridayflash)

Click play for some mood music Note: In honor of today's Google Doodle and the fact that everyone's favorite prehistoric cartoon is 50 years-old today, I give you this kooky piece of flash.Betty Rubble knew it was time.It had been more than a year since Barney Rubble left her for Gabbie Gabbro, that slutty secretary from Mr. Slate's office. Betty thought she should've known better. She had the same job 15 years ago when Barney used to make up excuses...

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WAIT... WHAT?

Get your "Gym, Tan and Literature' on because Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi is writing a novel. Yup. That shouldn't make too many of we scribes angry, huh? The pint-sized, pickle-loving reality star is getting paid to pen a romance novel. Gallery Books announced that Snooki has a novel called "Shore Thing" scheduled to come out in January. The publisher said the novel will tell of love on the boardwalk, complete with "big hair, dark...

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THE FOUR BOTTLES IN A MAN'S LIFE...

This comes to me from the great and hard-boiled Paul Brazill and I thought it was too funny not too share. Check out Paul's blog You Would Say That, Wouldn't You for all you need to know on what's going on in the world of pulply crime ficti...

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THE 'EMPIRE' STRIKES BACK

So "Boardwalk Empire," has taken a huge chunk of my time lately as covering the new HBO series has become a new beat of sorts at my job. So I apologize if I haven't popped by your blog. I just have to get a handle on some timing and I will be back to norm. That said, each week I will link to my lengthy "Boardwalk Empire" recaps chock full of tidbits and Atlantic City lore. They will be located on the web site of my newspaper.Episode Two: "The Ivory...

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TICKLING THOSE IVORIES (#fridayflash)

Please click play for some mood music He played amid the smoke-filled room. The rumor was that Sam got his job because he looked like Bogart. Distractingly so. In fact, he usually told the dolls in Toot's Shor's Place that he was once Bogie's stand-in on the Warner Bros. lot. And they ate it up. As usual.This new one, though, -- Virginia -- was different. She didn't buy Sam's cock-and-bull act and, on occasion, even went out of her way to give him...

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ELMO GETS HIS FIRST ... CHUBBY

This gives new meaning to learning about the letters T & A ... "Sesame Street" may be a production of the Children's Television Workshop, but a new music video featuring one of its most beloved characters may be deemed too scandalous for children's television. TMZ reports that after an advance clip was released of a cleavage-baring Katy Perry singing "Hot and Cold" on the show (with Elmo), parents were so scandalized that the number will now...

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NEW BOND OPENING SEQUENCE ... WELL SORT OF

This may be the closest we get to a new James Bond film for quite some time. In April 2010, EON Productions suspended development of "Bond 23" indefinitely due to MGM's crippling debt and uncertain future.The film series has grossed over $4 billion (nearly $11 billion when adjusted for inflation) worldwide, making it the highest grossing film series ever.So that said, enjoy this shagadelic opening sequence for the videogame "Bloodstone: 007" out...

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TIMES HAVE CHANGED...

... All I can possibly wonder is: What was Madison Avenue thinki...

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DIVORCE YOUR LOVED ONE WITH DIGNITY (#fridayflash)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Frank Sinatra. Oozes atmosphere. It was taken on the set of "Marriage on the Rocks," a 1965 movie comedy with Sinatra, Deborah Kerr and Dean Martin. It centers on an ad-agency president who flies to Mexico to celebrate his nineteenth wedding anniversary, but ends up divorced by mistake.While Frank Sinatra divorced Ava Gardner in 1957, I've always imagined him getting a quickie divorce from her over the border...

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YO! GIVE THIS SCRIBE SOME RESPECT

I've always wondered why people have always hated on Sly Stallone. OK, I'm a tad biased since he was on every single one of my walls growing up. But, as a writer, he's given us two of the most mythic heroes in modern pop culture (all the while grossing about $4 billion for Hollywood). That's hard to do even once. Come to think of it, I'd like to think of him as John Wayne with a Fountain Pen.This month, there is an extensive interview with Sly...

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THE BIRTH OF THE COOL

So, let's say it's about 1955 and you're in Greenwich Village -- specifically at Cafe Bohemia. You're going to see this up and coming trumpet player people have been buzzing about.Suppose it's a crisp autumn night in the city and the wind whips through the street. You walk up to the club with your cupcake, and under the marquis you see ... this. Cool, huh?Thanks to the awesome blog "If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger....

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BUMS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS (#spokensunday)

It's #SpokenSunday time. This is a piece that was inspired one cold afternoon last December. That said, "Bums Celebrate Christmas" can be found HERE.As always, follow the #SpokenSunday fun on Twitt...

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SHADE (#fridayflash)

Press play for some mood music When Shade pistol-whipped her husband, Amberlee let out a cry and fell to the ground. That pissed him off so he pistol-whipped him again shooting her a look that said, "Don't back down now.""Get me some rope," Shade said. She didn't move."Rope!" Shade shouted. "This pig's not gonna hogtie himself."Amberlee, stood up, fixed her dress and headed towards the utility closet when she heard him shout, "And some whiskey, too!"She...

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IS YOUR ROOMMATE AN IDIOT?

... Just askin'. Gotta love that 'Pabst Bee...

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SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

Allow me to pimp it a bit with a small dose of shameless self-promotion. 1) I was featured in At the Bijou's 100 Authors of September series where blogmaster Absolutely-Kate Pilarcik matches a current scribe (in this case little 'ol me) with two other like-minded authors she thinks are of the same ... ilk. I'm honored. She paired me up with good 'ol Buk and some scribe with wanderlust named Jack Kerouac. Fab Kate has posted some quotes from each...

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THE FIRST WRIST (#fridayflash)

It was on a Saturday. He didn't think of the man he killed when he went into the joint. Come to think of it, he didn't even think much of him during his stint. He'd used a hammer and, at the time, claimed it was self-defense. No one really knew. But time passed and lawyers did what lawyers do. And he was released with time served.More than half a million people in the country are released from prison every year. And they all need work.Monkey wrench...

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