The Fat Lip

Many years ago I was walking down the sidewalk, minding my own business, when a kid suddenly took a swing at me with his fist. It wasn’t a knockout blow, but it did cut my lower lip. I spat blood on the drunken punk’s shirt and wrestled him to the ground. I felt like killing him, but that wouldn’t have improved my career path. So I sat on him until the police arrived.

My attacker got off with a $100 fine, and I got off with a fat lip. Someone told me, much too late, that I should have sued the jerk. I realize now that I could have used the services of simmons jannace & stagg, but that excellent firm didn’t yet exist at that time.

The law practice of Simmons, Jannace, & Stagg was formed ten years ago as a firm that dealt primarily with commercial and general liability litigation in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Today, the firm has expanded its practice to include labor and employment, municipal law, real estate, and many other areas of interest to its growing list of clients. These clients include some of the largest corporations in the country, such as Home Depot, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Best Buy, and many others.

Simmons, Jannace, & Stagg has retained this list of clients by providing new ways to resolve conflicts, thereby offering its services at a reasonable cost. And the firm is equally adept at representing small companies and individuals. I’m an individual. If I ever get another fat lip, I’ll know who to call.

Dark Passage

Some film-noir fans don’t like this movie because the plot strikes them as too improbable. I prefer to say that Dark Passage has an imaginative plot. The trouble begins with Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) doing time in San Quentin for a murder he didn’t commit. Who wouldn’t sympathize with the guy? He breaks out of the joint by hiding in an outbound barrel aboard a truck. With police sirens coming his way, Parry rocks the barrel back and forth until it tips over and rolls off the truck. Luckily, the barrel rolls into the tall grass instead of over a cliff. Next, a plastic surgeon enters the story, followed by Irene Jansen (Lauren Bacall). What will happen next? Plenty.

Classic Film Noir

Patrick knows a bargain when he sees one, and this is it. "Classic Film Noir" provides nine movies on three disks, all for only $9.98. The visual and audio quality of each film is quite good. The nine titles are D.O.A., Detour, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The Hitchhiker, Quicksand, Too Late for Tears, Hollow Triumph, The Man Who Cheated Himself, and The Stranger. Some of these titles have already appeared in the list of my film noir favorites at Patrick's Film Noir Store. If money is of no concern, the visual and audio quality of each movie is likely to be better in an individual DVD. You decide.

Long Vacation

I’m presently spending a long vacation at a pleasant spot in the South Pacific. I planned the whole thing myself, which could explain why I made a stop in Australia when I felt no need to stop anywhere near Australia. I might have been better off had I taken advantage of the services provided by Vacations.net.

Vacations.net can help you plan an all inclusive vacation at its newly redesigned website. This website is easy to use, offers savings of up to 50 percent off of standard rates, and includes beautiful pictures of vacation sites. It also provides information on the customs, culture, and history of your destination.

Because the Vacations.net website is so easy to use, you can book your all-inclusive vacation anytime you have access to a computer with an internet connection. Visual images and virtual tours make your vacation planning far simpler than my recent experience. If you’re looking for beautiful beaches and sunny skies at resorts in locations such as Jamaica, Mexico, or the Dominican Republic, make your first stop at Vacations.net.

Detour

This classic example of film noir proves that if you want to get to California, you should travel by any means other than hitchhiking. A chump named Al makes a series of mistakes that make it obvious that he should have stayed in New York. Martin Goldsmith wrote the script, and Edgar G. Ulmer directed this must-see film. Tom Neal played Al. Buy this movie for only $9.99 at Patrick's Film Noir Store.

High Sierra

This film noir favorite profits from the direction of Raoul Walsh and a screenplay written by the youthful John Huston. Humphrey Bogart plays the professional criminal Roy Earle, whose release from prison leads inevitably to his shootout with police in the High Sierra. This early example of film noir hints at how the genre will develop later in the 1940's.

Bullion

At a time when real estate, stocks, bonds, and many other kinds of investments seem full of danger and uncertainty, one of the oldest ways of preserving wealth remains an alternative—bullion. No sensible person would suggest that investors should put all their savings into gold and silver, but one can see that bullion deserves a place in any investment portfolio.

Gold and silver have served as a means of protecting wealth since the time of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. In the present era, Monex Deposit Company provides a convenient way for the public to buy gold and silver. Bullion is not the kind of thing you should store with your childhood stamp collection. Monex can provide for safe delivery to an independent bank or depository of your choice. Both gold and silver are available in either coin or ingot form.

Silver may be especially attractive to investors at the present time. Yearly demand for silver now exceeds production. Likewise, gold remains as attractive as it has for centuries. Regardless of whether you prefer gold or silver, Monex can provide safe delivery and competitive prices.

Key Largo

John Huston, the film noir genius, directed this masterpiece about a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) and his pals who hold the residents of a hotel hostage. The hotel happens to be in the Florida Keys, and a hurricane happens to be in progress. Humphrey Bogart plays the returning war hero who takes on the bad guys with the help of Lauren Bacall. This movie cleverly exploits the familiar theme of a group of strangers united by common enemies. Buy it at Patrick's Film Noir Store.

The Hitchhiker

Ida Lupino directed this film noir classic. Daniel Mainwaring wrote the screenplay. Two chumps (Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy) pick up a hitchhiker (William Tallman), which proves to be the worst mistake of their lives. This hitchhiker takes them for a ride they won't soon forget. Buy this film at Patrick's Film Noir Store.

Railroads, Bridges, and Power Plants

Civil engineers work in the branch of engineering that plans and constructs large public works such as railroads, bridges, and power plants. In other words, they do the kind of work that I could never do. In the 1800’s, my great-grandfather patented and built three kinds of steel-truss bridges for railroads, streets, and highways. But I’m not my great-grandfather.

I can’t build bridges, but I use them anytime I go somewhere. I need to use the structures that civil engineers can create only after years of study and work. I benefit from flood control and irrigation systems, even though I may never see the dams and waterways that make them possible.

In order for these engineers to complete the work that society requires, they must be associated with the right Civil Engineering Firms. That’s where CSI makes its contribution. CSI recruits civil engineers for the engineering firms that need those recruits. CSI has a four-member management team with over 60 years of recruiting experience in the field of civil engineering. In addition, CSI has a staff of 14 professional recruiters located throughout the United States.

CSI recruiters do not waste their time shuffling through piles of ancient resumes. Instead, they work with the candidates who are calling or submitting resumes right now. Using a database of job seekers, CSI recruiters place over 25,000 telephone calls in a typical month. Given the success of these energetic recruiters, CSI now represents over 50 top-flight civil engineering firms. By first understanding the needs of each firm it represents, CSI knows the best candidates for each job before anyone picks up a phone.

Thanks for the bridges, guys. I need them.

Contemporary American Fiction

An appalling sameness has descended on contemporary American fiction. The subject matter rarely departs from the relationship between two lovers, regardless of their sexual preferences. This kind of story has a long history and its value cannot be denied. I would never suggest, for example, that the tragic love of Romeo and Juliet has no merit.

But I would suggest that an unending succession of love stories could eventually drive the reader from her book and into the world of unending reruns of I Love Lucy. It’s hard to contend that one is better than the other. Each, Lucy or the story, repeated long enough, could send the reader-viewer into catatonia.

Contemporary American fiction also suffers from a lack of place, which traditionally became known to the reader on the first or second page. As I read stories in literary journals, I keep looking for clues to the location of the characters. Where are these people? I ask. In Cleveland? In St. Louis? Or on one Jupiter’s many moons? I want to know where the characters happen to be. If the reader knows that detail, he can start to make more sense out of the actions and motives of the characters. If a love-sick chump lives in Kansas, he can’t end it all by jumping off the George Washington Bridge, can he?

But the one characteristic of contemporary fiction most likely to send me in search of a bridge is the typical story’s humorlessness. Who is teaching all the young writers that literary fiction cannot include humor and still remain literary? I know that someone is out there, slandering the reputations of Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Flannery O’Connor, John Kennedy Toole, and many more of the greatest writers in history.

I won’t put up with this. Like it or not, the stories that I write (and sometimes publish) will continue to take the humorous high road whenever appropriate. I have one or two of these waiting on my hard drive. Let the bidding begin. I hear one laugh. Do I hear two?

Bingo

Back when I was a child, longer ago than I care to discuss, I used to attend neighborhood bingo parties with my parents. I recall that on one occasion I won a small vase. I still have that vase somewhere, and someday I may find it.

In that receding past, I never dreamed that bingo might become available in nearby casinos, but that has now become a reality close to the town where I live. In that same childhood, I had no idea what a computer was, so it never occurred to me that one day a person might sit at a computer screen and play bingo.

That childhood has vanished, and I can now play bingo online at PartyBingo.com merely by going to http://www.partybingo.com/. And if I decide to play, I can win prizes far more valuable than that vase I won many decades ago.

I can also play a variety of games such as 90-ball bingo, bingo royale, and many others as described at http://www.partybingo.com/games/. If I get lucky, I might win a tasty jackpot prize.

Of coure, I might not get lucky. I might lose money. Before I do anything else I should read about Responsible Gaming at http://www.partybingo.com/responsible_gaming/.

Now I will give some sage advice. Do read that page on Responsible Gaming at http://www.partybingo.com/responsible_gaming/. If you’re not at least 18 years old or whatever the legal adult age is where you live, PartyBingo doesn’t want your business. Go read a book. Play baseball. Gambling of any sort is not for you.

Here’s another piece of advice from your aging bingo player. It’s the oldest piece of advice in the book. Only gamble what you can afford to lose. If you’re losing next month’s rent, PartyBingo doesn’t want your business.

Now I’m going to go look for that vase.

Double Indemnity

Raymond Chandler adapted James M. Cain's masterpiece to create a perfect screenplay. The story remains the same in both book and movie. Why would a man with a good job and no police record allow himself to be drawn into a conspiracy to commit murder? Only money or a woman could do it, and in this case we have both. Sorry, America, take a look at yourself in the mirror. And remember to buy this classic film from Patrick's Film Noir Store.

MagsDirect.com

Despite what you may have heard, television has not killed the magazine industry. For my part, I know that I get plenty of traditional mail from magazines that want me to subscribe. MagsDirect.com offers a convenient way to order subscriptions online.

Simply go to http://www.magsdirect.com/ and a screen will reveal what kinds of subscriptions you can buy from MagsDirect.com. A list of categories includes Cars, Entertainment, Health, Sports, and numerous others. At the top of the page, you can read that MagsDirect.com offers its subscriptions at the "lowest prices allowed by publishers.” I don’t have the time right now to poll all the publishers. So I can neither confirm nor deny this claim.

I like to be entertained, so I clicked on “Entertainment.” A page at http://www.magsdirect.com/entertainment-magazines.html revealed that I could subscribe to Reader’s Digest and People. A closer look showed that MagsDirect offers both Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. I like to read mysteries. So those two publications caught my attention.

Once you’ve found something you like at MagsDirect, you can simply click on “Subscribe” and complete the whole process online. You can, in fact, find over 1000 magazines at http://www.magsdirect.com/.