So what exactly is she hiding?
And have you heard about this 46-year old whiskey?
Book of the Month: Art Bell, What She’s Hiding
Oh, Art Bell. You had me on page one.
Attorney Harry Gladstone gets a phone call on a sweaty, August morning. A rat-tat-tat conversation carried on in declarative sentences ensues. An awkward elevator moment. Yeah, that’s the New York City I know.
The publishing industry has trained me to crave a beach read, a novel that jump starts my summer with a story that I really look forward to restarting each night when I settle into bed. What She’s Hiding: A Thriller (Ulysses Press) sure fit the bill.
The dialogue is snappy. The femme fatale, Leslie Dunlop, is an infuriating, ball-busting piece of work. And Henry is a mensch and a schmuck who for all his bristles is hard not to like—I was pulling for him as he got sucked deeper into a very dangerous situation. Oh, Leslie, your secrets are other people’s problems too.
I could say more but what’s the point—buy this book and you will enjoy it.
Oh, and if the name “Art Bell” rings a bell, no this is not the Art Bell who used to host that AM radio show about the paranormal. This Art Bell is the guy who worked at HBO and launched what became Comedy Central. Which helps explain why I often chuckled while reading What She’s Hiding.
Wes Anderson Breaks Down Every Movie He's Ever Made
Wes Anderson makes films featuring unusual and outright weird individuals. Who can forget Steve Zissou, the flaky Jacques Cousteau like character (played by the loopy Bill Murray) who embarks on an Ahab-like quest for a jaguar shark?
Anderson discusses each of his films in this 55-minute Vanity Fair video, from his 1996 debut (Bottle Rocket) to his latest (The Phoenician Scheme). You can watch the full flick here. My favorite Anderson films might be Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The French Dispatch. Enjoy!
Ohio Weirdness
National Review’s Jack Butler visited Hamilton, Ohio to take in some Ohio weirdness.
Surrounded by a fence, atop a square base and a semi-trapezoidal pedestal, was set a large beadlike stone: spherical, with holes on either side, allowing a view through to the other end. Here, over Symmes’s remains, was a representation of the hollow Earth.
John Cleves Symmes, Jr. was a remarkable fellow who propagated a kooky theory: the earth is hollow and there might be life within it. Each year, Hamilton, which is north of Cincinnati, hosts a Hollow Earth Festival and flock to his grave.
Really.
So why do they do this? Read Jack’s marvelous missive to find out.
Interesting reads you may have missed
Airmail reports an Ohio guy, Cory Michael Smith, stars in the new film, Mountainhead, which spoofs billionaire and wanna-be-billionaire tech bros…. (Read more)
404 Media reports the Central Intelligence Agency ran a fake Star Wars fan website, which the spy agency used to communicate with agents overseas…. (Read more)
AARP magazine has an interview with Rod Stewart, who is 80. (Really). He claims he keeps in shape by running 100 meter dashes and is making more albums…. (Read more)
Variety reports an HBO documentary on Billy Joel is being screened in New York City and soon will be available to watch by the rest of us come July 18…. (Read more)
Modern Luxury gushes over a 46-year old Irish whiskey…. (Read more)
Vanity Fair reports on Blondie turning 80 years old, and how she responded when David Bowie exposed himself to her… (Read more)
Quote of Month
“[P]eople who … complain too loudly about what they’d call a bad day of fishing have seemed to me to be missing the point. I once heard the story of a man who was fishing in a war-torn region of Africa when he was captured by insurgents who killed him, skinned him and hoisted his hide on a pole like a flag. Now that was a bad day of fishing.” -John Gierach