Posts

Crime Writers Steal?

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     Yes, this is a slight exaggeration but it struck me the other day as I was watching an episode of Columbo. The episode was titled "Any Old Port in a Storm" (S 3 E 2). The plot seemed familiar and I knew why by halfway into the story. My wife and I had just solved almost the exact same crime in "Underwood Cellars", a murder mystery party game by University Games. The game company had made enough changes to create entirely different clues, but the underlying premise was the same. Brothers own separate portions of a winery. One is found dead in a wine cellar accessible from the office of the other. The dead man's car is found in mysterious circumstances. If you have watched any Columbo stories you know that the murderer is apparent from the beginning. Not so in the Underwood Cellars game - you will have to work out a solution. There are many facts to sort through and not all are clues. Watching "Any Old Port..." Won't help you much. The solution ...
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           I realized it was time to switch gears a bit and get just a bit into the puzzle aspect of mysterious entertainment. So here is a picture of my first puzzle build for this blog - a ring release puzzle. You can find the plans for your own version  at https://www.instructables.com/Trapped-Ring-Puzzle/ . The article also gives a link to YouTube video with the solution, but I found that the creator of the video obscures the critical moves a bit with his hand. I recommend this alternate video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nEsJAbIVVAs .     My build happens to match the article because most of what you see was originally intended to be a set of coat pegs with almost the same dimensions. I just omitted the middle peg, added the elastic and the ring.     Even if you don't want to build this particular puzzle, you will find plenty of other ideas by this author out on Instructables. And if you're into solving but not bui...
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Keeping Up with the Past

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One of the things I have been doing to be well-informed in my craft and provide some material for this blog is to explore and many TV, podcast, radio, and other media-based crime entertainment series as possible. This gives me a chance to find things that my audience may like. It also lets me compare styles, themes, and plots of various shows. For instance, one episode of the Rockford files is actually a reworking of a Sherlock Holmes short story. Without ranking or reviewing at this point I just want to offer a list starting with the shows I am currently working through: Perry Mason - evening viewing Sherlock and Co. - podcast while commuting Columbo - TV movies during lunch hours Here are some others that I have watched. Unless marked "partial" I finished the entire series. Please don't take this list as recommendations. I would be very sorry, for instance, if you read this blog and then watched Broadchurch. I am sorry for anyone, including myself, who HAS watched Broad...
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Free Old-Time Radio Listening

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Here is a quick entry to get a resource out to you for some fun listening. I do some shopping around to find deals for my own physical media and the most efficient ways of getting audio media. Today's offering is a perfect example. Let me introduce you to Antioch OTR (Old-Time Radio). This Internet streamer runs a schedule of classic radio programs continuously. The programs cover many genres and there is no cost to listen. You can start streaming here: https://radio.macinmind.com/ Happy listening and I will bring you more soon.  Dean -- Dean Paczewitz
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What's In It For You?

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      I know that you would like to use your time well, even your leisure time. I want to tell you why you should spend some time reading this blog.     First of all, it could save you time. It is written to help you find entertainment that you will enjoy, based on my own tastes and research. So you can expect to learn about mystery, puzzles, and magic in my posts. The media I explore will include movies, TV shows, books, audiobooks, podcasts, games, video games, and puzzles. Most will be mystery or crime themed. Many will be older but still available.     Second, you may save money, I will often hunt down entertainment that comes from free streaming services, or from podcasts or online libraries.     Third. I will be keeping standards high. There is a lot of junk out there. My small knowledge of older entertainment is growing, and some vintage shows or books are still worth viewing, hearing, or reading. I will let you know when I like someth...
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Day's Not Over Yet

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 I apologize -  this should have been posted last night.  More reports on recommended reading, watching, and playing out soon. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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I Confess - I Liked it a Lot

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I have not been blogging recently but that is easy to explain: I have a full-time job, a part-time job, a commute of one-and-a-half hours each way most days, and a side business. But tonight I found the energy for the simple reason that I really enjoyed a show enough to get the word out. I have been following the Knives Out movies since the first. I found that first movie interesting, but very focussed on a specific political message. The second was more neutral than the first and was just more fun. I do find that the main character, private detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, to be a little hard to accept as a brilliant sleuth. The clues are good, his observations of them lead to a satisfying conclusion of the mysteries, but the general character doesn't seem to be a man who notices things or has subtle reasoning going on. That does clear up a bit in the newest Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man. I won't spend  a lot of time critiquing the other two movies because ...
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