Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 193
July 2, 2020
July 2, 2020: The Thursday Update!
As I impatiently await word on TimEscape and that other heavyweight sci-fi project, I’ve been keeping busy on other development fronts. I just delivered a rough pitch (and admittedly overly-detailed pilot breakdown) for the time travel series I’m working on with Doug and Kristin, signed a deal to script consult on a big foreign sci-fi series that looks to be a lot of fun, and had a phone call today about developing a mixed genre series for an old friend. In the meantime, I’m pursuing news on that epic sci-fi comic book, the North American adaptation of that Korean series, and development discussions with that other comic book company.
Hey, did you remember to add a comment to this blog’s June 30th 5000th Anniversary entry for a chance to be one of three entrants to take part in a ultra-special zoom call with yours truly and three other blog readers? There’s no telling what we’ll discuss. Stargate? Dark Matter? These weird cluster headaches I’ve been getting lately? Winners will be announced in tomorrow’s blog post!
Today’s movie-themed question…
What's a movie that would make a great (live-action) t.v. series?
Answer with a gif. pic.twitter.com/TAOUSqMOIF
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) July 2, 2020
Amazing People With Whom I Have Worked…
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Louis Ferreira played the role of Colonel Everett Young on #Stargate Universe. He's a brilliant actor and fun, and funny, guy. pic.twitter.com/kfkCwhSUCM
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 30, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Foodie, Potterhead, and comics connoisseur Natalie Cooper was the development and social media coordinator on #DarkMatter. She championed the show at Prodigy Pictures, putting it on the radar and on the road to a sale and eventual green light! pic.twitter.com/FrhOImj6d6
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 31, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Anita O'Toole was the Head Cutter in the #DarkMatter wardrobe department, a key contributor to show's amazing costumes, and the designer-creator of an awesome two tone tie. pic.twitter.com/ESRkgtNfDQ
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 1, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Akiel Julien (@akieljulien) played the role of Bohdi-2 in #UtopiaFalls. A young up-and-comer, he seized the opportunity presented, demonstrating incredible range and depth as a multi-talented performer. pic.twitter.com/4eIOQ6hSJK
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 2, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Bruce Woloshyn was a digital effects supervisor and senior digital composing artist on #Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis. A great guy who delivers incredible work. pic.twitter.com/8UyRTAonGE
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 3, 2020
The post July 2, 2020: The Thursday Update! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
July 1, 2020
July 1, 2020: Stargate, smash burgers, and suspect wardrobe choices!
Thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a comment on my 5000th entry. As promised, I will be selecting three random winners – say, Friday – for our extra special zoom call. And who knows? If it goes off without a hitch and no one ends up seriously injured, I may do another one down the line.
Over on twitter, I’ve joined the #30DayComicsChallenge. Each day, I answer a comic-related question and post my answer in the form of a comic book. Questions like “What was the first comic book you ever read?” or “What comic book would you recommend on a date?” The other day, it was…
#30DayComicsChallenge Day 18
A comic you'd share with a child
Shiver by Junji Ito
P.S. Not fond of kids. pic.twitter.com/MlPpe2E0LM
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 30, 2020
Quick! Name the episode!
Meanwhile, came across this interesting concept art the other day. In the likely event you’re looking to build your own gate…
Food-related question of the night. How do you prefer your burgers cooked? I was watching this last night…
And was quite captivated by Goldburger’s smash technique of really flattening out these corners for maximum crispness.
Okay, tonight’s film-related question of the day is…
Worst wardrobe decision in a movie?
Answer with a gif or pic. pic.twitter.com/T5I3E8y7Mj
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) July 1, 2020
The post July 1, 2020: Stargate, smash burgers, and suspect wardrobe choices! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
June 30, 2020
June 30, 2020: Happy 5000!
Hard to believe, but this is my 5000th post. Back on November 21st, 2006, in an entry titled, appropriately enough “The Beginning”, I started this blog, initially as a food journal to document at two-week trip to Asia. When I returned home, however, I decided to keep it going. I figured that it would be a good thing in that it would force me to write on a daily basis. For as long as it lasted. And, well, it’s lasted somewhat longer than I’d originally imagined. Closing in on 14 years. In that 14 year span, I have written an entry for every day (sometimes two) on topics ranging from film production to pugs to rambling rants. And you have all been kind enough to come along for the ride. So thanks for that.
Some interesting stats:
The #2 and #3 most popular search terms that led people to this blog were “Joe Mallozzi” and “Joseph Mallozzi” (for a combined 141,644 total searches)
However, the #1 most popular search that led people to this blog was “Julia Benson” (150,270 searches).
This blog’s most popular entries were this one:
May 12, 2011: Stargate: Universe, Beyond Season 2! What Might Have Been!
And this one:
My second most popular month of blogging was May of 2011, which I believe coincided with the Stargate: Universe cancellation.
My most popular month of blogging was September of 2017, which I believe coincided with the Dark Matter online campaign.
5000 posts
12,613,867 views
2,216,351 visitors
185,711 comments
And counting.
So how to celebrate this milestone? Besides virtual birthday cake? I gave it some thought and came up with…a zoom call. I mean, it’s all the rage so why not?
Simply leave a comment on this blog entry for a chance to be one of three lucky blog readers to be selected for the 5000th Anniversary Zoom call with yours truly (with a possible guest appearance by my pug, Suji, although her schedule is pretty tight so no promises). Later this week, I’ll announce the three winner after which I will coordinate a time for all four of us to jump on a 30 minute zoom call during which we will discuss…well, whatever you like. Stargate, Dark Matter, any of my projections in progress, food, current events, or why The Princess Bride remake is such an awful idea.
Happy Blog Anniversary!
And grab a slice of cake before you go!
The post June 30, 2020: Happy 5000! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
June 29, 2020
My Top 12 Favorite True Crime Novels
Alright. Moving on to the very best in True Crime. THESE are my Top 12 favorites…
#12. Down City: A Daughter’s Story of Love, Memory, and Murder – Leah Carroll
Leah Carroll’s mother, a gifted amateur photographer, was murdered by two drug dealers with Mafia connections when Leah was four years old. Her father, a charming alcoholic who hurtled between depression and mania, was dead by the time she was eighteen. Why did her mother have to die? Why did the man who killed her receive such a light sentence? What darkness did Leah inherit from her parents? Leah was left to put together her own future and, now in her memoir, she explores the mystery of her parents’ lives, through interviews, photos, and police records.
DOWN CITY is a raw, wrenching memoir of a broken family and an indelible portrait of Rhode Island- a tiny state where the ghosts of mafia kingpins live alongside the feisty, stubborn people working hard just to get by. Heartbreaking, and mesmerizing, it’s the story of a resilient young woman’s determination to discover the truth about a mother she never knew and the deeply troubled father who raised her–a man who was, Leah writes, “both my greatest champion and biggest obstacle.”
#11. Siberian Education:Growing Up in a Criminal Underworld – Nicolai Lilin
n a contested, lawless region between Moldova and Ukraine known as Transnistria, a tightly knit group of “honest criminals”—exiled there by Stalin-live according to strict codes of ritualized respect and fierce loyalty. Here, tattoos tell the story of a man’s life, “honest” weapons are separated from “sinful” ones, and authority is always to be distrusted. Beyond the control of any government and outside the bounds of “society” as we know it, these men uphold values including respect for elders and an unwavering adherence to the truth with passion-and often by brute force.
In a voice utterly compelling and unforgettable, Nicolai Lilin, born and raised within this exotic subculture, tells the story of his moral education among the Siberian Urkas. A bestseller in his home country of Italy, this unique tale of an extreme boyhood “will produce a thrill of pleasure that is hard to forget”
#10. American Fire: Love, Arson, and Live in a Vanishing Land – Monica Hesse
Shocked by a five-month arson spree that left rural Virginia reeling, Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse drove down to Accomack County to cover the trial of Charlie Smith, who pled guilty to sixty-seven counts of arson. But Charlie wasn’t lighting fires alone: he had an accomplice, his girlfriend Tonya Bundick. Through her depiction of the dangerous shift that happened in their passionate relationship, Hesse brilliantly brings to life the once-thriving coastal community and its distressed inhabitants, who had already been decimated by a punishing economy before they were terrified by a string of fires they could not explain. Incorporating this drama into the long-overlooked history of arson in the United States, American Fire re-creates the anguished nights that this quiet county spent lit up in flames, mesmerizingly evoking a microcosm of rural America – a land half gutted before the fires even began.
#9. Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty – Melissa del Bosque
Drugs, money, cartels: this is what FBI rookie Scott Lawson expected when he was sent to the border town of Laredo, but instead he’s deskbound writing intelligence reports about the drug war. Then, one day, Lawson is asked to check out an anonymous tip: a horse was sold at an Oklahoma auction house for a record-topping price, and the buyer was Miguel Treviño, one of the leaders of the Zetas, Mexico’s most brutal drug cartel. The source suggested that Treviño was laundering money through American quarter horse racing. If this was true, it offered a rookie like Lawson the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the cartel. Lawson teams up with a more experienced agent, Alma Perez, and, taking on impossible odds, sets out to take down one of the world’s most fearsome drug lords.
In Bloodlines, Emmy and National Magazine Award-winning journalist Melissa del Bosque follows Lawson and Perez’s harrowing attempt to dismantle a cartel leader’s American racing dynasty built on extortion and blood money.
#8. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer – Michelle McNamara
For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.
Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called “the Golden State Killer.” Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.
At the time of the crimes, the Golden State Killer was between the ages of eighteen and thirty, Caucasian, and athletic—capable of vaulting tall fences. He always wore a mask. After choosing a victim—he favored suburban couples—he often entered their home when no one was there, studying family pictures, mastering the layout. He attacked while they slept, using a flashlight to awaken and blind them. Though they could not recognize him, his victims recalled his voice: a guttural whisper through clenched teeth, abrupt and threatening.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark—the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death—offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Framed by an introduction by Gillian Flynn and an afterword by her husband, Patton Oswalt, the book was completed by Michelle’s lead researcher and a close colleague. Utterly original and compelling, it is destined to become a true crime classic—and may at last unmask the Golden State Killer.
#7. El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency – Ioan Grillo
The world has watched stunned at the bloodshed in Mexico. Thirty thousand murdered since 2006; police chiefs shot within hours of taking office; mass graves comparable to those of civil wars; car bombs shattering storefronts; headless corpses heaped in town squares. And it is all because a few Americans are getting high. Or is it? The United States throws Black Hawk helicopters and drug agents at the problem. But in secret, Washington is confused and divided about what to do. Who are these mysterious figures tearing Mexico apart? they wonder. What is El Narco? El Narco draws the first definitive portrait of Mexico’s drug cartels and how they have radically transformed in the last decade. El Narco is not a gang; it is a movement and an industry drawing in hundreds of thousands from bullet-ridden barrios to marijuana-growing mountains. And it has created paramilitary death squads with tens of thousands of men-at-arms from Guatemala to the Texas border. Journalist Ioan Grillo has spent a decade in Mexico reporting on the drug wars from the front lines. This piercing book joins testimonies from inside the cartels with firsthand dispatches and unsparing analysis. The devastation may be south of the Rio Grande, El Narco shows, but America is knee-deep in this conflict.
#6. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland – Patrick Radden Keefe
In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville’s children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress–with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.
Patrick Radden Keefe’s mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.
#5. The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir – Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes―the moment she hears him speak of his crimes―she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.
Crime, even the darkest and most unsayable acts, can happen to any one of us. As Alexandria pores over the facts of the murder, she finds herself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky’s childhood. And by examining the details of Ricky’s case, she is forced to face her own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and reckon with a past that colors her view of Ricky’s crime.
But another surprise awaits: She wasn’t the only one who saw her life in Ricky’s.
An intellectual and emotional thriller that is also a different kind of murder mystery, The Fact Of a Body is a book not only about how the story of one crime was constructed―but about how we grapple with our own personal histories. Along the way it tackles questions about the nature of forgiveness, and if a single narrative can ever really contain something as definitive as the truth. This groundbreaking, heart-stopping work, ten years in the making, shows how the law is more personal than we would like to believe―and the truth more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.
#4. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI – David Grann
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.
In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, “the Phantom Terror,” roamed – virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. They infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most sinister conspiracies in American history.
#3. Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found – Gilbert King
In December 1957, the wife of a Florida citrus baron is raped in her home while her husband is away. She claims a “husky Negro” did it, and the sheriff, the infamous racist Willis McCall, does not hesitate to round up a herd of suspects. But within days, McCall turns his sights on Jesse Daniels, a gentle, mentally impaired white nineteen-year-old. Soon Jesse is railroaded up to the state hospital for the insane, and locked away without trial.
But crusading journalist Mabel Norris Reese cannot stop fretting over the case and its baffling outcome. Who was protecting whom, or what? She pursues the story for years, chasing down leads, hitting dead ends, winning unlikely allies. Bit by bit, the unspeakable truths behind a conspiracy that shocked a community into silence begin to surface.
Beneath a Ruthless Sun tells a powerful, page-turning story rooted in the fears that rippled through the South as integration began to take hold, sparking a surge of virulent racism that savaged the vulnerable, debased the powerful, and roils our own times still.
#2. Wise Guy – Nicholas Pileggi
“Wiseguy” is Nicholas Pileggi’s remarkable bestseller, the most intimate account ever printed of life inside the deadly high-stakes world of what some people call the Mafia. “Wiseguy” is Henry Hill’s story, in fascinating, brutal detail, the never-before-revealed day-to-day life of a working mobster – his violence, his wild spending sprees, his wife, his mistresses, his code of honor.
#1. The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer – Philip Carlo
There were times at home when Richard would have one of his outbursts and break things and then lock himself in his office. Merrick would ask him to please calm down, to “please relax, Daddy.” During these episodes, Richard would explain in a matter-of-fact way, “You know if . . . if I kill Mommy, if something happens and she dies, I’ll have to kill you all . . . I can’t leave any witnesses.”
“Yes, Daddy. I know, Daddy,” she said.
As strange and horrible a thing as this was to tell a child, Richard was trying to let Merrick know in advance—out of consideration—what might happen. He wanted her to understand that he was doing such a thing out of . . . love. Only out of love.
He loved Barbara too much.
He loved the children too much.
That was the problem. The only way he could deal with their loss, if he inadvertently killed Barbara, was to kill them. That was how Richard had dealt with all his problems since he was a child.
“But you, Merrick . . . You’ll be the hardest to kill. You understand that?”
“Yes. Daddy,” she said, and she did understand this. She knew she was his favorite, and she coveted that.
The post My Top 12 Favorite True Crime Novels appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
June 28, 2020
June 28, 2020: Suji Sunday!
Ready for walk. Let’s go!!!
Whenever I try to snap a photo of her napping, she instantly wakes up. And yet, I can’t shout her name and clap my hands when her back is to me, and she won’t turn around to look.
Suji eats an egg. Messily.
And some more pics from vault…
The post June 28, 2020: Suji Sunday! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
June 27, 2020
June 27, 2020: Yes/No? Movie-themed questions. Amazing people with whom I have worked.
A little Yes/No…
Cheesy Spicy Korean Chicken? Yes/No https://t.co/dwyDraVA0G
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 24, 2020
Octopus Eggs? Yes/No
You COULD eat a terrifying octopus egg in Japan, but SHOULD you? Let’s find out!【Taste test】 https://t.co/0b30YW8o0p via @RocketNews24En
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 26, 2020
Pond Water Cider? Yes/No
Mr Sato drinks stinky Pond Water Cider from Japan https://t.co/AzHj25Ybe4 via @RocketNews24En
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 27, 2020
Yesterday’s movie-themed question…
Your worst first-date movie?
Answer with a gif. pic.twitter.com/pzg5dZdoTa
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 26, 2020
Tonight’s movie-themed question…
Worst accent in a movie?
Answer with a gif or, preferably, an actual clip. pic.twitter.com/w3gDNVNxZV
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 27, 2020
Amazing people with whom I have worked…
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Christopher Binney (@JMChrisBinney) was a first assistant director on #DarkMatter, tasked with maintaining calm amid the trademark chaos of production. Chris was always pleasant and soft-spoken, but organized and efficient. pic.twitter.com/2XZfnzLQ0j
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 22, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Brandon Tataryn was first assistant director and assistant production manager on #DarkMatter. He was a lot of fun to work with, an avowed foodie – and the inspiration for the in-canon Tataryn's Disease. pic.twitter.com/LcTeFEduNa
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 23, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Katherine Hul was the Post Production Supervisor on #UtopiaFalls. She did a fabulous job of overseeing everything from edits to deliveries (and everything in between) on a very tight schedule. pic.twitter.com/Gz2cI4Q6Ok
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 25, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
I had the great fortune to work with the incredible Winston Lee on #UtopiaFalls where he was our visual effects compositing editor. Enormously talented, tireless, and infinitely patient. pic.twitter.com/X9mtjFgjT7
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 26, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
The amazing Amanda Alexander (@Amandalexander) was the script supervisor on about 100 hours of #Stargate (SG-1, Atlantis, Universe).
She has set up a gofundme page for her blind dog. Please check it out.https://t.co/K6aHunENDa pic.twitter.com/hUT8PSEXH3
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 27, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
James Tichenor was the Visual Effects Supervisor on almost 50 episodes of #Stargate. Friendly, focused, and clearly forward-thinking, he always talked up streaming potential and advised Ivon Bartok to buy Netflix stock back in 2004! pic.twitter.com/STmkczAlMu
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 28, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
I got to work with Lexa Doig (@LexaDoig), aka #Arrow's Talia al Ghul, when she played the role of Dr. Carolyn Lam on #Stargate. She's a great actress with a sharp sense of humor. pic.twitter.com/nixBI8e6bQ
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 29, 2020
The post June 27, 2020: Yes/No? Movie-themed questions. Amazing people with whom I have worked. appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
June 26, 2020
Tokyo’s lack of public trash cans is directly related to their low Covid-19 death rate. Let me explain.
One of the things that struck me on my first visit to Tokyo was the surprising lack of public trash cans. I’m not saying there aren’t that many around. I’m saying there are absolutely none to be found. If you’re looking for somewhere to toss that chocolate wrapper, apple core, or used tissue, you can expect to be holding until you get back to your hotel. (Also, shame on you. Eating and blowing your nose in public are frowned upon in Japan).
Why is this? Why is this major metropolis devoid of public receptacles?
The answer lies in the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, an act of domestic terrorism by a doomsday cult that killed 12, seriously injured 50, and left thousands of others with temporary vision problems. The government’s immediate response was to remove all public trash receptacles that could be used as drop-off points for future attacks. These future attacks never manifested, but the no trash receptacle policy was never reversed. And it has remained in place ever since.
And yet, for all this, Tokyo is an exceptionally clean city. Why? Because Japanese citizens are socially conscious. They see the logic in making small sacrifices (ie. holding on to your trash until you get home) for the greater good.
Can you imagine what would happen if public trash cans were removed in North American cities? The sidewalks and parks would be deluged with garbage. I mean, many North Americans can’t even be bothered to wear a mask to save a stranger’s life. Do you think these same people would give two shits about keeping their city clean?
In Japan, social responsibility has kept garbage off the streets AND the coronavirus in check. Mask-wearing was adopted way before this pandemic started because it was naturally assumed that taking small precautionary measures – like, say, wearing a mask to protect other people from catching YOUR cold or flu – would be a good thing.
It became part of the national psyche. So when the coronavirus hit, the widespread adoption of mask occurred with little fanfare. There was no need to cite articles establishing their efficacy. It wasn’t necessary to convince people that mask requirements weren’t an assault on their inalienable rights as freedom-loving citizens. They just did it because it was the right thing to do.
And how’d that work out? Well, let’s check the stats (as of June 26, 2020)
JAPAN
Total cases: 18,110
Total deaths: 980
UNITED STATES
Total cases: 2,547,093
Total deaths: 127,361
How does a country with less than a third the population of the U.S. see 130 times fewer deaths? Is it their well-marbled wagyu? Their automated toilets? Or maybe…
If 80% of Americans wore masks, Covid-19 infections would plummet.
Could it be…
Face masks may reduce Covid-19 spread by 85%.
Something else…
Face mask wearing rate predicts Covid-19 death rate.
We hadn’t thought of?
The faster a country required masks, the fewer coronavirus deaths it had.
Or is it that the Japanese actually give a damn about others?
The post Tokyo’s lack of public trash cans is directly related to their low Covid-19 death rate. Let me explain. appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
June 25, 2020
My Top 20 Favorite Crime/Mystery Novels!
A couple of days ago I posted a rundown of My Top 20 Favorite Thrillers.
Today, I offer up a list of My Top 20 Favorite Crime/Mystery Novels. If you’re a fan of the genre, check out any and all. You won’t be disappointed.
#20. Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyers
Some would call Detective Benny Griessel a legend. Others would call him a drunk.
Either way, he has trodden on too many toes over the years ever to reach the top of the promotion ladder, and now he concentrates on staying sober and mentoring the new generation of crime fighters — mixed race, Xhosa and Zulu. But when an American backpacker disappears in Cape Town, panicked politicians know who to call: Benny has just thirteen hours to save the girl, save his career, and crack open a conspiracy, which threatens the whole country.
#19. Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules–a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home.
When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders–a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman–have stirred up a hornet’s nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes–and save himself in the process–before Lark’s long-simmering racial fault lines erupt.
#18. Sirens by Joseph Knox
Infiltrating the inner circle of enigmatic criminal Zain Carver is dangerous enough. Pulling it off while also rescuing Isabelle Rossiter, a runaway politician’s daughter, from Zain’s influence? Impossible. That’s why Aidan Waits is the perfect man for the job. Disgraced, emotionally damaged and despised by his superiors. In other words, completely expendable.
But Aidan is a born survivor. And as he works his way deep into Zain’s shadowy world, he finds that nothing is as it seems. Zain is a mesmerizing, Gatsby-esque figure who lures young women into his orbit–women who have a bad habit of turning up dead. But is Zain really responsible? And will Isabelle be next?
Before long, Aidan finds himself in over his head, cut loose by his superiors, and dangerously attracted to the wrong woman.
#17. The Whites by Richard Price
Back in the run-and-gun days of the mid-1990s, when a young Billy Graves worked in the South Bronx as part of an aggressive anti-crime unit known as the Wild Geese, he made headlines by accidentally shooting a ten-year-old boy while struggling with an angel-dusted berserker on a crowded street. Branded as a loose cannon by his higher-ups, Billy spent years enduring one dead-end posting after another. Now in his early forties, he has somehow survived and become a sergeant in Manhattan Night Watch, a small team of detectives charged with responding to all post-midnight felonies from Wall Street to Harlem. Mostly, his unit acts as little more than a set-up crew for the incoming shift, but after years in police purgatory, Billy is content simply to do his job.
Then comes a call that changes everything: Night Watch is summoned to the four a.m. fatal slashing of a man in Penn Station, and this time Billy’s investigation moves beyond the usual handoff to the day tour. And when he discovers that the victim was once a suspect in the unsolved murder of a twelve-year-old boy-a savage case with connections to the former members of the Wild Geese-the bad old days are back in Billy’s life with a vengeance, tearing apart enduring friendships forged in the urban trenches and even threatening the safety of his family.
#16. Police At the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty
Belfast 1988: A man is found dead, killed with a bolt from a crossbow in front of his house. This is no hunting accident. But uncovering who is responsible for the murder will take Detective Sean Duffy down his most dangerous road yet, a road that leads to a lonely clearing on a high bog where three masked gunmen will force Duffy to dig his own grave.
Hunted by forces unknown, threatened by Internal Affairs, and with his relationship on the rocks, Duffy will need all his wits to get out of this investigation in one piece.
#15. Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
Hailed as the most suspenseful and compelling novel in decades. Presumed Innocent brings to life our worst nightmare: that of an ordinary citizen facing conviction for the most terrible of all crimes. It’s the stunning portrayal of one man’s all-too-human, all-consuming fatal attraction for a passionate woman who is not his wife, and the story of how his obsession puts everything he loves and values on trial–including his own life. It’s a book that lays bare a shocking world of betrayal and murder, as well as the hidden depths of the human heart. And it will hold you and haunt you…long after you have reached its shattering conclusion.
#14. The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill
Laos, 1976: Dr. Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old medical doctor, has been unwillingly appointed the national coroner of newly-socialist Laos. Though his lab is underfunded, his boss is incompetent, and his support staff is quirky to say the least, Siri’s sense of humor gets him through his often frustrating days.
When the body of the wife of a prominent politician comes through his morgue, Siri has reason to suspect the woman has been murdered. To get to the truth, Siri and his team face government secrets, spying neighbors, victim hauntings, Hmong shamans, botched romances, and other deadly dangers. Somehow, Siri must figure out a way to balance the will of the party and the will of the dead.
#13. For Those Who Know the Ending by Malcolm Mackay
Martin Sivok is in trouble. Tied to a chair, plastic strips biting his wrists, inside a deserted warehouse. . . There are only so many ways this scenario can end, most of them badly. For now his best hope is figuring out who put him here – and staying conscious long enough to confront them.
To stay awake he reviews the past year of his life: evading the law in the Czech Republic by running to Glasgow, settling into a borderline respectable relationship with his landlady, and getting back into the life at the very bottom of the criminal ladder, alongside Usman Kassar, a cocky, goofy kid anxious to prove himself.
The job should be simple: Smash heads, grab cash, run. The trouble with being two outsiders is, you don’t always know whose heads are too dangerous to crack, or whose cash is too hot to handle…
#12. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
In medieval Cambridge, four children have been murdered. The Catholic townsfolk blame their Jewish neighbors, so to save them from the rioting mob, the Cambridge Jews are placed under the protection of the king. King Henry II is no friend of the Jews—or anyone, really—but he believes in law and order, and he desperately needs the taxes he receives from Jewish merchants. Hoping scientific investigation will catch the true killer, Henry calls on his cousin, the King of Sicily—whose subjects include the best medical experts in Europe—and asks for his finest “master of the art of death,” the earliest form of medical examiner. The Italian doctor chosen for the task is a young prodigy from the University of Salerno, an expert in the science of anatomy and the art of detection. But her name is Adelia; the king has been sent a “mistress of the art of death.”
In a backward and superstitious country like England, Adelia faces danger at every turn. As she examines the victims and retraces their last steps, Adelia must conceal her true identity in order to avoid accusations of witchcraft. Along the way, she’s assisted by one of the king’s tax collectors, Sir Rowley Picot, a man with a personal stake in the investigation. A former Crusader knight, Rowley may be a needed friend … or the fiend for whom they are searching. As Adelia’s investigation takes her along Cambridge’s shadowy river paths, and behind the closed doors of its churches and nunneries, the hunt intensifies and the killer prepares to strike again…
#11. The Drop by Dennis Lehane
Three days after Christmas, a lonely bartender looking for a reason to live rescues an abused puppy from a trash can and meets a damaged woman looking for something to believe in. As their relationship grows, they cross paths with the Chechen mafia; a man grown dangerous with age and thwarted hopes; two hapless stick-up artists; a very curious cop; and the original owner of the puppy, who wants his dog back. . . .
#10. The Force by Don Winslow
He is “the King of Manhattan North,” a highly decorated NYPD detective sergeant and the real leader of “Da Force.” Malone and his crew are the smartest, the toughest, the quickest, the bravest, and the baddest, an elite special unit given carte blanche to fight gangs, drugs, and guns. Every day and every night for the eighteen years he’s spent on the Job, Malone has served on the front lines, witnessing the hurt, the dead, the victims, the perps. He’s done whatever it takes to serve and protect in a city built by ambition and corruption, where no one is clean—including Malone himself.
What only a few know is that Denny Malone is dirty: he and his partners have stolen millions of dollars in drugs and cash in the wake of the biggest heroin bust in the city’s history. Now Malone is caught in a trap and being squeezed by the Feds, and he must walk the thin line between betraying his brothers and partners, the Job, his family, and the woman he loves, trying to survive, body and soul, while the city teeters on the brink of a racial conflagration that could destroy them all.
#9. Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg
The headline reads ? LOCAL GIRL SLAIN, BODY FOUND IN TRASHCAN. When Richard Bone sees a picture of conglomerate tycoon J.J. Wolfe in the newspaper, he’s struck by how closely he resembles the man Bone saw dumping the body: could this millionaire redneck be the killer? Bone’s close friend Cutter, a crippled Vietnam vet, is convinced that Wolfe is the killer. With nothing much more to lose, the reckless Cutter and handsome gigolo Bone hit the road to the Wolfe headquarters in the Ozarks, totally unprepared for what awaits them.
#8. The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
In the summer of 1986, two tragedies rocked Oklahoma City. Six movie-theater employees were killed in an armed robbery, while one inexplicably survived. Then, a teenage girl vanished from the annual State Fair. Neither crime was ever solved.
Twenty-five years later, the reverberations of those unsolved cases quietly echo through survivors’ lives. A private investigator in Vegas, Wyatt’s latest inquiry takes him back to a past he’s tried to escape—and drags him deeper into the harrowing mystery of the movie house robbery that left six of his friends dead.
Like Wyatt, Julianna struggles with the past—with the day her beautiful older sister Genevieve disappeared. When Julianna discovers that one of the original suspects has resurfaced, she’ll stop at nothing to find answers.
As fate brings these damaged souls together, their obsessive quests spark sexual currents neither can resist. But will their shared passion and obsession heal them, or push them closer to the edge? Even if they find the truth, will it help them understand what happened, that long and faraway gone summer? Will it set them free—or ultimately destroy them?
#7. Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane
Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired to find four-year-old Amanda McCready, abducted from her bed on a warm, summer night. They meet her stoned-out, strangely apathetic mother, her loving aunt and uncle, the mother’s dangerous, drug-addled friends, and two cops who’ve found so many abused or dead children they may be too far over the edge to come back. Despite enormous public attention, rabid news coverage, and dogged police work, the investigation repeatedly hits a brick wall. Led into a world of drug dealers, child molesters, and merciless executioners, Patrick and Angie are soon forced to face not only the horrors adults can perpetrate on innocents but also their own conflicted feelings about what is best, and worst, when it comes to raising children. And as the Indian summer fades and the autumn chill deepens, Amanda McCready stays gone, banished so completely that she seems never to have existed.
Then another child disappears. . . . Dennis Lehane takes you into a world of triple crosses, elaborate lies, and shrouded motives, where the villains may be more moral than the victims, the missing should possibly stay missing, and those who go looking for them may not come back alive.
#6. The Bomb Maker by Thomas Perry
A threat is called into the LAPD Bomb Squad and when tragedy ensues, the fragmented unit turns to Dick Stahl, a former Bomb Squad commander who now operates his own private security company. Just returned from a tough job in Mexico, Stahl is at first reluctant to accept the offer, but his sense of duty to the technicians he trained is too strong to turn it down. On his first day back at the head of the squad, Stahl’s three-person team is dispatched to a suspected car bomb. And it quickly becomes clear to him that they are dealing with an unusual mastermind–one whose intended target seems to be the Bomb Squad itself.
As the shadowy organization sponsoring this campaign of violence puts increasing pressure on the bomb maker, and Stahl becomes dangerously entangled with a member of his own team, the fuse on this high-stakes plot only burns faster.
#5. Get Carter by Ted Lewis
Doncaster, and Jack Carter is home for a funeral – his brother’s. Frank’s car was found at the bottom of a cliff, with him inside. Jack thinks that Frank’s death is suspicious, so he decides to talk to a few people. Frank was a mild man and did as he was told, but Jack’s not a bit like that.
#4. IQ by Joe Ide
A resident of one of LA’s toughest neighborhoods uses his blistering intellect to solve the crimes the LAPD ignores.
East Long Beach. The LAPD is barely keeping up with the neighborhood’s high crime rate. Murders go unsolved, lost children unrecovered. But someone from the neighborhood has taken it upon himself to help solve the cases the police can’t or won’t touch.
They call him IQ. He’s a loner and a high school dropout, his unassuming nature disguising a relentless determination and a fierce intelligence. He charges his clients whatever they can afford, which might be a set of tires or a homemade casserole. To get by, he’s forced to take on clients that can pay.
This time, it’s a rap mogul whose life is in danger. As Isaiah investigates, he encounters a vengeful ex-wife, a crew of notorious cutthroats, a monstrous attack dog, and a hit man who even other hit men say is a lunatic. The deeper Isaiah digs, the more far reaching and dangerous the case becomes.
#3. Green Sun by Kent Anderson
Hanson thought he had witnessed the worst of humanity after a tour of duty in Vietnam and a stint as a cop in Oregon. Then he moves to Oakland, California to join the under-funded, understaffed police department.
Hanson chooses to live – alone – in the precinct that he patrols; he, unlike the rest of the white officers, takes seriously his duty to serve and protect the black community of East Oakland.
He will encounter prejudice and hate on both sides of the line… and struggle to keep true to himself against powerful opposition and personal danger.
#2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
#1. The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
Frank Machianno is a late-middle-aged ex–surf bum who runs a bait shack on the San Diego waterfront when he’s not juggling any of his other three part-time jobs or trying to get a quick set in on his longboard. He’s a stand-up businessman, a devoted father to his daughter, and a beloved fixture in the community.
Frank’s also a hit man. Specifically: a retired hit man. Back in the day, when he was one of the most feared members of the West Coast Mafia, he was known as Frankie Machine. Years ago Frank consigned his Mob ties to the past, which is where he wants them to stay. But a favor being called in now by the local boss is one Frank can’t refuse, and soon he’s sucked back into the treacherous currents of his former life. Someone from the past wants him dead. He has to figure out who, and why, and he has to do it fast.
The problem is that the list of candidates is about the size of his local phone book and Frank’s rapidly running out of time.
And then things go really bad.
The post My Top 20 Favorite Crime/Mystery Novels! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
June 24, 2020
June 24, 2020: What I’ve been missing. And more Amazing People With Whom I Have Worked.
Even though my wife claims I’m very sociable, I am, to a certain extent, quite anti-social, preferring the option of sitting at home with a good book over outings and parties. And so, to be honest, this whole lockdown thing hasn’t been all that hard. As someone who enjoys routine, and has spent plenty of time writing from home, I got this. Still, there are a few things I do miss:
Matinees
Lattes from my favorite cafe
Farmers Markets
Browsing a good bookstore (although, in all fairness, I haven’t done that since I moved away from Vancouver)
Going out for tacos
Going out for fried chicken
Going out for dim sum
Going out for dessert
Discovering new restaurants
So, what have YOU all been missing?
Holy Smokes! I’ve have truly been remiss! It’s been over a month since I updated my rundown of the Amazing People With Whom I Have Worked…
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Grant Boyle was First Assistant Director on #DarkMatter and #UtopiaFalls. A hell of a nice guy with a great attitude who can always be relied upon to ensure a smooth-running set. pic.twitter.com/TVT5v2kOxw
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 14, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
The enormously talented Kelly Diamond was Art Director on #UtopiaFalls. Before that, she was the Assistant Art Director on #DarkMatter for two seasons. pic.twitter.com/tBlEwmljAg
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 15, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Derek Filiatrault (@DerekFilly) was first assistant director and second unit director on #UtopiaFalls. He was always the calm and disciplined force at the heart of an occasionally chaotic set. I'm a huge fan. pic.twitter.com/7BiR1V4WvU
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 16, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Saddened to hear of the passing of the great Fred Willard. He guested on #Stargate as Vala's opportunist dad, Jacek, and I remember how we all looked forward to watching the dailies for HIS scenes. A true master of comic performance. pic.twitter.com/4t2XnPiMwY
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 17, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Writer-Producer Nikolijne Troubetzkoy (#Killjoys #OrphanBlack #Transplant) is my story editor, creative counterpoint, and voice of reason on #TimEscape, the new sci-fi series I'm developing. She is absolutely brilliant. pic.twitter.com/GkLjmnxbGq
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 18, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
I worked with actress Rachel Luttrell (@rachel_luttrell) on five seasons of #Stargate Atlantis where she kicked ass (often, literally) as Athosian leader Teyla Emmagan. pic.twitter.com/pLCThC8Mu0
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 19, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Jamil Walker Smith played the role of Master Sergeant Ronald Greer on #Stargate Universe. A really solid actor and an incredibly warm and gregarious guy behind the scenes. pic.twitter.com/x7nwae8QZ7
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 20, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Actor Brendan Murray played the role of Victor, the revolutionary-minded android, on #DarkMatter. I was a big fan of his sympathetic, nuanced performance. pic.twitter.com/TQ7s65edXy
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) May 21, 2020
The post June 24, 2020: What I’ve been missing. And more Amazing People With Whom I Have Worked. appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
June 23, 2020
June 23, 2020: Hey, conspiracy theorists, what’s the endgame? Not too fruit loopy, please.
To those who dismiss the severity of the virus because of what they deem a low death rate – Trust me, you still don't want to get it.
What they don’t tell you about surviving COVID-19 https://t.co/mWILB7WNUw via @SFGate
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 23, 2020
I honestly don’t understand the mindset behind not wearing masks. It seems to come down to people not being told what to do – like, say, wearing seatbelts or not opening cabin doors while in flight.
Yes, I know that many conspiracy theorists hold that the virus isn’t that dangerous (despite the 120k+ death count and rising) and that the death statistics have been overstated (even though data demonstrates a significant uptick in the overall death rate in comparison to previous years suggesting these numbers are actually understated), but I’m still having a hell of a time getting anyone to explain why we’re being lied to? Authorities tanked the economy because…? They are heavily invested in mask companies? Please, do tell.
Yesterday’s film-themed question…
Your favorite supporting role that stole the movie.
Answer with a gif. pic.twitter.com/HNmHtowo6t
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 22, 2020
Tonight’s film-themed question…
What movie have you watched more times than any other?
Answer with a gif. pic.twitter.com/p6TlfSZFs6
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 23, 2020
The post June 23, 2020: Hey, conspiracy theorists, what’s the endgame? Not too fruit loopy, please. appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.
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