Q. What did the Mummy ghost say to the baby ghost?
A. Put your shocks and boos on!
Q. What do spiders do for fun on Halloween?
A. Surf the Web!
Q. How can you tell if a Vampire has a cold?
A. The coffin!
Did You Know
In 1584 the French explorer Jacques Cartier reported finding 'gros melons' in the St. Lawrence region of South America. The name was translated into English as 'pompions' which eventually evolved into the word 'pumpkin'.
The largest pumpkin pie ever was baked in 2005 and weighed 2,020 pounds.
On This Day
On this day in 1926 Harry Houdini, the renowned magician and escape artist died in a Detroit hospital twelve days after being punched in the stomach by a student after a lecture in Montreal, before he was ready for it. The blow ruptured his appendix and he died from peritonitis after falling ill on a train.
On this day in 1892 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' by Arthur Conan Doyle was published. The book was the first collection of Holmes stories which had been previously published in magazines since 1887.
*When I was making a list of my favourite writers, I realised there were far too many for just one post so I'll start with Michael Connelly as I am currently re-reading his series of books about Hollywood Homicide Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch.
Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1956 but moved to Florida when he was twelve years old.
Michael's inspiration to write came from the books of Raymond Chandler and he chose to study journalism with creative writing at the University of Florida. After graduating in 1980 he worked the Crime Beat on newspapers in Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach. Along with two other reporters he was shortlisted for a Pulitzer prize in feature writing for a magazine story about a major airplane crash and its survivors. Following this success, Michael's journalistic career moved up a few levels and he became a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of America's largest newspapers.
His first Harry Bosch novel, 'The Black Echo' was written in 1992 and was partly based on a true story. It won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. So far there are nineteen Harry Bosch books, the nineteenth being 'The Burning Room' which will be published in November.
Michael also has three other book series featuring a Journalist called Jack McAvoy, FBI Agent Terry McCaleb and Lawyer Mickey Haller. Fifty-eight million copies of Connelly's books have been sold worldwide and he has been translated into thirty-nine languages. You can see a list of all his books on this Fantastic Fiction website page.
Harry Bosch was born in 1950, in Los Angeles to Marjorie Phillips Lowe. He was named Hieronymus Bosch after the 15th century Dutch artist and nicknamed “Harry.” He became an orphan at 11 when his mother, a prostitute, was murdered. He grew up living in a youth hall and foster homes. He joined the army and did two tours in Vietnam. Harry returned to Los Angeles and joined the LAPD in 1972. He became a detective after five years in patrol.
Harry lives in a house very similar to this one on Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Hollywood Hills. In one of the books his house is severely damaged and then demolished due to an earthquake. He later rebuilt on top of the pylons that hold it on to the hillside. Can't say I'd feel very safe living in one of these!
Harry has recently been brought to the small screen and is played by Titus Welliver. I know it's very difficult for book fans to agree with the casting of their heroes. I, for instance, was disgusted with the casting of Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross in the films adapted from James Patterson's books. I have not and will not watch these films. Even worse than that was the casting of Tom Cruise (a five foot seven inch slender brunette) to play the part of Jack Reacher (a six foot seven inch 'built like a brick shithouse' blonde) in the film of the same name taken from the books of Lee Child. I am so incensed with this one, that along with not watching the film, I have stopped reading Child's books. So I am pleasantly surprised, at least with the look of Titus Welliver's Bosch.
I may never know whether he is a good Bosch as so far it seems that the ten episode first series will only be available on Amazon Prime. Never mind, I'm sure the books will still be better.
So, Michael Connelly is definitely one of my favourite authors and if you love a good read I highly recommend him.
Yes... me! I'm really rather pleased with myself. I used to do a lot of cardmaking and scrapbooking but stopped for a while. I've been inspired by Mum and Tricia to get crafting again, on a smaller scale but I enjoyed making these cards. I even did the colouring in myself, with the wonderful Spectrum Noir Blendable Pencils. I have rummaged through my remaining stash.... borrowed a few things and will spend a teeny tiny bit of cash on a couple of embellishments and guess what? You're all getting handmade cards for Christmas.
.... And a lot more training in the training rooms please! There were some good dances, some bad dances and some rather mediocre dances, but unfortunately nobody set the dance floor alight this weekend. The scores ranged from a pitiful 15/40 (Scott & Joanne) to a respectable if not dynamic 33/40 (Jake & Janette and Caroline & Pasha). The judges seemed to be uniformly grumpy and faults were found with every couple.
The best dances were......
Thom & Iveta's Foxtrot
Caroline & Pasha's Quickstep
Jake & Janette's Jive (she was there somewhere)
Pixie & Trent's Rumba
I thought Thom & Iveta's Foxtrot was undermarked at 30/40. Thom is really starting to perform as well as he dances and this was a lovely, quirky and cute dance with fabulous outfits and theming.
Caroline and Pasha's Quickstep was very quick and had a lot of steps in it! Len said it was the best dance of the night 33/40
Jake & Janette's Jive was full of fun, although he did stumble slightly at one point. Again, a score of 33/40
Pixie & Trent's Rumba was romantic rather than raunchy and Pixie was tearful at the end of it, obviously moved. The judges then proceeded to trample all over it but still awarded her 32/40....go figure!
By far the worst dances of the night were......
Scott & Joanne's American Smooth
Tim & Natalie's Paso Doble
Scott tries his best but he's just bad with a semi-permanent trout pout that would scare the fishes! 15/30
Tim was doing more walking than dancing. They had great outfits and it was entertaining, but Bruno said he looked more like a mildly irritated goat than a raging bull. 19/30
The rest of the pack fell somewhere between 'mediocre' and 'good but not great', so I will list them in the order that they danced.
Frankie & Kevin (Cha Cha Cha)
Not her best dance
Mark & Karen (Quickstep)
A little flat in places
Judy & Anton (Tango)
Better than her previous dances
Simon & Kristina (Charleston)
His best dance so far
Alison & Aljaz (Samba)
Good, but she's danced better
Steve & Ola (Salsa)
Great lifts performed effortlessly
Sunetra & Brendan (Salsa)
Wardrobe malfunction when B ripped his trousers!
THE RESULTS
This weeks dance off was between Mark & Karen and Tim & Natalie, so it was pretty obvious who would be leaving. Tim may not have been a brilliant dancer but he was very entertaining and seemingly a lovely man. He should have had at least one more week because the diabolically dire Scott Mills should have been ousted by now. Obviously, as a Radio 1 DJ, Scott has a huge fan base who are keeping him in way beyond his capabilities. Grrrr!
"It's a great treat to be on a programme like Strictly. For an old geezer like me, who comes along in his 64th year and he's slightly portly, and he thinks he's a bit over the hill, this last month, with this delightful teacher, has taken me to a very special place. I am fitter, I am a better person than I was a month ago as a result of this experience and I cannot tell you what a wonderful thing this whole programme is, so I commend you all and thank you."- Tim Wonnacott on his time on Strictly
Have you got a spare £59,500,292.67 in your back pocket? Would you like a view like this? Yes? Well, you can put your name down for one of the 104 apartments that will be available next year in what is now the tallest residential site in the Western hemisphere - 432 Park Avenue, New York. These fabulous residences actually start at a mere £10.5 million (approx) but you will have to pay the £59+ million if you want the penthouse.
This amazing structure is 1,396 feet tall and towers over the Empire State Building (1,250ft) and the Chrysler Building (1,046ft)
432 Park Avenue
Imagine waking up to these views every morning. Not sure I'd be too happy being on the 96th floor if the lift went out! Mind you, if I could afford the penthouse....I could probably afford a helicopter to pick me up from the roof if that happened.
It would seem that Donny Osmond was not a welcome addition to the judging panel, according to the supposedly die hard Strictly fans. Pish! It's an entertainment show and if there's one thing dear Donny is...it's entertaining. I read somewhere that people thought he wasn't qualified to offer an opinion in the matters of dance...er he did win 'Dancing with the Stars'.
Does that mean that Alesha Dixon wasn't qualified to be a judge either? I mean, she only won the whole thing as well. Even the ousted, and no doubt slightly bitter, professional dancer James Jordan waded in saying that Donny Osmond was 'spoiling the show' for him. People...people...get a grip! Donny was also guilty of awarding the first 10 of the series...shock horror! Yes, I am being sarcastic. Good on him I say. Frankie and Kevin's Paso Doble was magnificent and I too would have given it a 10.
Frankie and Kevin dance to 'America' from West Side Story
'America' from the 1961 movie 'West Side Story'
Other highlights of Movie week included Caroline and Pasha's Rumba which was miles better than the one performed by Simon and Kristina (who ended up in the dance off). Donny thought Caroline's dance was so good, he forgot who was the celebrity and who was the pro.
Caroline and Pasha's Rumba
Thom and Iveta did a charming Charleston to 'New York, New York' from one of my all time favourite films 'On The Town'
Thom and Iveta dancing to 'New York, New York'
'New York, New York' from the 1949 movie 'On The Town'
So, those were my standout dances for this week. As for the other couples.... Alison & Aljaz did a Jive which you could tell that Alison wasn't totally comfortable with. Steve & Ola did a fun Quickstep to 'I Wanna be like You' from the Jungle Book, Jennifer & Tristan did a Foxtrot to 'Mamma Mia' which unfortunately landed them in the bottom two along with Simon & Kristina. Judy and Artem danced a Quickstep to 'Don't Rain On My Parade' which wasn't great but she certainly looked like she was enjoying it.
Anton Du Beke and Judy Murray
Tim & Natalie's Charleston was very entertaining but they had a couple of prop malfunctions which didn't help matters. Scott & Joanne strode crustaceously (I think I just made that word up) down the comedy route with Scott being a Samba dancing crab in a routine which Craig said looked "Like a Lobster on acid". Ouch! Jake & Janette chose the theme from 'The Godfather' for their serious and slightly menacing Waltz which divided opinion among the judges. Pixie & Trent's Quickstep was very popular, earning them four nines, but Sunetra and Brendan's American Smooth to 'The Way You Look Tonight' also went down very well, earning a great score of 40 points. Mark & Karen's much anticipated 'Superman' Paso (Mark was off the chart excited about it) did not disappoint. Technically not the best, it was however the most fun filled dance of the night.
THE RESULTS
It turned out to be curtains for Jennifer Gibney and Tristan MacManus, whose Foxtrot didn't appeal to the judges as much as Simon & Kristina's Rumba when both couples danced again. So it's farewell to Jennifer and let's hope Tristan will be back next year.
Below are the rest of the dance videos from Movie Week should you wish to watch any of them.
Tracey x
Alison & Aljaz Jive to 'Footloose'
Steve & Ola Quick Stepping to 'I Wanna Be Like You'
Jennifer & Tristan's Foxtrot to 'Mamma Mia'
Simon & Kristina Rumba to 'Take My Breath Away'
Judy & Anton's Quickstep to 'Don't Rain On My Parade'
Tim & Natalie do the Charleston to 'Money, Money, Money'
Scott & Joanne Samba to 'Under The Sea'
Jake & Jannette Waltzing to 'The Godfather'
Pixie & Trent Quick Stepping to 'Be Our Guest'
Sunetra & Brendan's American Smooth to 'The Way You Look Tonight'
