Cole Parker

Lovely! C

That generates a huge helping of WOW! C

I've seen people using that knee knocker to tighten the carpet. I wouldn't want to spend a day doing that!

I don't listen to KUSC as much as I used to for the same reason: they play a lot of music I don't like. For you, Mike, it's music made for films. More me, it's Baroque composers, guys like Vivaldi, Handel, Scarlatti, Telemann, Corelli and Purcell. Their music comes on and I run to the radio to turn it off. Okay, not run. Shuffle. But I don't hear much film music at all when the radio's on. There are times, like around the Oscars, where they'll play a lot of it, and I agree most of it isn't worth much, but most of the time, they don't play film music at all. Oh, another exception to that would be when Jim Svejda has a film composer in studio and is interviewing him. Then he'll present lots of that guys scores. Another great time to shut the thing off. My music tastes parallel my writing preferences: Romantic. Brahms, Strauss, Rachmaninoff, Mendelsohn, Chopin, Dvorak, guys like that. They don't play enough of it! C

He needs the foot pedals raised to meet his feet, and amazingly, he is able to reach octave spans with him small hands. Mike, you used to listen to From the Top. It's still on, and it still provides us great confidence that America's youth is still incredibly talented. I'm associated to a degree with an outstanding youth orchestra in L.A., and I can assure you, we don't take a back seat to anyone, anywhere, when it comes to the ability of kids playing incredibly difficult classical music. I was in the audience at the Disney Hall when they gave a performance which included music from John Williams' The Cowboys Overture. The crowd gave them a standing ovation. John Williams was in the crowd and was standing and clapping along with everyone else. Then he got the same ovation when he was recognized. There's no reason to despair America's young musicians! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPCpccUo8Lwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPCpccUo8Lw C

Very cute 9-year-old!

For you of weak stomachs and those who are anxiety-challenged, be advised, coming soon at your favorite website, a new story of unutterable menace. Beware. Especially for you suffers of acrophobia. C

All of these entries seem to be of quite high quality. Impressive. C

Wasn't it the Algonquin Table? With Dorothy Parker and James Thurber and Robert Benchley and those guys. Oh, wait: the Algonquin Round Table. A little before my time, but way before yours. I don't think they twerked back then. But they did drink a lot. C

I'm not sure algorithms twerk. C

Man, that's some comparison. can almost see the last three going together in some ways, but Agatha? I'm aghast.

LESLIE THOMAS WROTE A FEW BRITISH POLICE MYSTERIES THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE OKAY. PERHAPS SOME OF OUR ENGLISH COHORTS COULD ENLIGHTEN US AS TO WHETHER THEY'RE WORTH PURSUING. Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective (1976) Dangerous in Love (1987) Dangerous by Moonlight (1993) Dangerous Davies and the Lonely Heart (1998)

This one's worth a glance

Probably should start all the Agatha Christies next.

I already had at least one request for a sequel. Not going to happen, I think. C

Thanks so much, guys! I was concerned when I wrote this that stepping outside the box might not be accepted. So many of these stories are boy meets boy, boys like each other, they solve some problems and then walk off into the sunset; the end. Writing a story where boy meets boy, boys like each other, then walk away from each other, well, I could see lot of complaints coming for that. A great letdown being the consensus opinion. But not you guys! I'm very pleased to see I got away with it. I ended up liking this one quite a bit. So glad I wasn't alone. C

Oh no you don't! Don't go throwing enticing words at our FreeThinker. He's ours. You can't have him. You do manage to make England so, so attractive, though. C

Poor choice. Read it in one day and you're out of reading material again. Best to make it last at least another day, maybe two. You did see the free ebook sites mentioned here yesterday, didn't you? Bet you could find more old mysteries there. C

Not heard from a number of people. Blue, Pecman, Jamie, Des—probably a whole lot more, too. It's sad. C

Flattery? No, deserved comment.

Wow!, I thought, 46 chapters! Then I saw how long they were. Looking forward to reading it. With your name on it, it has to be good. C

Did they still have those when you were young? I went to the kids' matinees. which cost a dime, and saw those serials. Guys like Lash Larue and Hopalong Cassidy starred. But I'd have guessed those serials were out of fashion by the time you were allowed out of the house on your own. I'm talking about the 1950s here, back in my youth. C

They have none of those books at my local L.A. county branch. Could order them, I guess. I've done that in the past.

Ofttimes humor and sarcasm don't translate well over the internet.