It's showtime, folks.

Roy Scheider, aka Joe Gideon, Buddy Russo, and Martin Brody, has died.

Monday links

So, why did I not sleep past seven either day this weekend?

Cats. Motherfucking cats.

Saturday, Jack and Tori decided to chase each other, as has been known to happen. Only after three passes through the house, they decided to take the route that ended with them on my ankles. I don't know which of them landed there first, but it was enough to wake me at seven.

Sunday, at Five Fucking AM, Jack decided to attempt the amazing feat of jumping from the nightstand to the bed, a whole six inches away. Naturally, he missed. Naturally, he grabbed for anything in range, including my arm. I woke up with ten pounds of cat dangling from one claw embedded in my arm. Not fun.

Anyone know a good taxidermist?

As to links:

1. The Forbidden Kingdom Trailer is up! Yes, I know it might suck, but I still want to see it. Jackie Chan and Jet Li together, just like in High Risk (only with Jackie himself, instead of Jackie Cheung doing an incredible imitation).

2. The Kevin Smith Casting Chart, in case you were wondering which regulars were in which films.

3. Tomorrow is Darwin Day, when good little boys and girls dress up as evolutionaries and try to scare candy out of Ben Stein.

4. Ellen Page in a horror movie directed by Sam Raimi? Oh, yes!

5. Planet Earth, inverted. Nifty!

6. The Tragedy of the Commons, explained with Smurfs.

7. The Boskone Preim Schedule is up!

8. Maureen Johnson is holding a contest. It involves literature and zombies.

9. douglas_clegg on the value of giving away free fiction.

10. Vanity Fair's Hitchcock re-creations are damned nifty. Seth Rogen in North by Northwest and Charleze Theron in Dial M for Murder are my faves.

11. Finally, Yendiopolis needs residents.

Explaining Heath Ledger's death

underpope pointed out an amazing blog this weekend: The Graveyard Shift. It's written by Lee Lofland, a retired police officer, and it's aimed at providing accurate knowledge and understand of police procedures to writers.

Today's entry (a guest entry by Dr. D.P. Lyle, who's written a number of useful books for writers himself) explains the process by which a coroner examines a body, in the context of Heath Ledger's death.

Hee!

Are my wife and I on the same wavelength?

Yep.

I just sent her a link I thought she'd need to read.

I then went into Google Reader, only to find that she'd marked that very link as a shared item. :-)

Tim Dorsey

So, why didn't anyone tell me that there was an author who was basically like an gonzo version of Carl Hiaasen years ago?

I finished Florida Roadkill last week, and am a few pages away from the end of Hammerhead Ranch Motel. The latter just featured the funniest sex scene this side of an Anita Blake novel, only this time, it was intentionally funny. Both books feature murder, mayhem, Florida history, and some brilliant moments.

Definitely not for everyone, but if you can tolerate loads of violence, lots of drug use, and bad things happening to bad people (often in heftier doses than the law would ever allow), the books are a blast. The first book provides a few more accessible characters, but the closest thing to a hero in the second one makes Dexter seem like a classical hero.

Heh

I just realized that I've picked up Brenda Leigh Johnson's habit of saying "Thank you so much," when I really mean, "Jesus Fucking Christ, why don't you just do the thing you're fucking supposed to do in the first place?"

All things considered, I suppose it's the more polite thing to do.

Steve Gerber, R.I.P.

Steve Gerber has passed away. :-(

I need to dig up my issues of Howard the Duck and give them a good re-read.