Featured Reviews

Cat Person (story) (2017) - Kristen Roupenian  (Grade:C)

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Patsy & the Princes (1935) - Archibald Rutledge  (Grade:B+)

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Reservoir 13 (2017) - Jon McGregor  (Grade:A-)

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Dash Akol (story) (1932) - Sadegh Hedayat  (Grade:A+)

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Breatharians (Story) (2012) - Callan Wink  (Grade:B+)

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Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?: The Improbable Saga of the New York Mets’ First Year (1963) - Jimmy Breslin  (Grade:A-)

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The Boys from Brazil (1976) - Ira Levin  (Grade:B+)

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MOVIE REVIEWS:

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The Wild Bunch (1969) - Sam Peckinpah  (Grade:B-)

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Brothers Judd Daily

Brothers Judd QuasiDaily Bookmarks:
03/16/25:

James Madison, author of the Constitution and 4th President of the United States, was born in King George County, Virginia, on March 16, 1751.

March 16th is the birthday of the late, great jazz pianist, Tommy Flanagan (1930-2001). Born in Detroit, Tommy started playing professionally at 15 with other Motor City teenage stars-to-be such as Milt Jackson, Elvin Jones, Thad Jones and Kenny Burrell. By the mid-50's he was considered one of the leading bebop pianists, a position he enjoyed for the rest of his life. In the late 50's, he played on 2 of the most influential and popular albums of all time: Sonny Rollins's "Saxophone Colossus" and John Coltrane's "Giant Steps." Tommy was Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist and music director for many years, but spent the 80's and 90's as a headliner with his own trio (often with some combination of George Mraz or Peter Washington on bass and Lewis Nash or Kenny Washington on drums). His melodically sophisticated, swinging style is well-represented on his 1997 album "Sea Changes."

On March 15, 44 BC Julius Caesar forgot to "Beware the Ides of March" and was assassinated. Read Orrin's review of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (1599)(William Shakespeare 1564-1616) (Grade: A+)

Baseball became a professional sport on March 15, 1869. The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first pro team.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was born in Waxhaw, SC on March 15, 1767. Read Orrin's review of The Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson and America's First Military Victory (1999)(Robert V. Remini 1921-) (Grade: B+)

Sylvester (Sly) Stone (1944-) was born on March 15, 1944. Brothers Judd recommends Anthology by Sly and the Family Stone.

John Steinbeck's (1902-1968) great novel The Grapes of Wrath was published on March 14, 1939. Read Orrin's review

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879.

Adolph Ochs was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 12, 1858. He grew up to be a newspaperman & bought the The New York Times in 1897.

Douglas Adams (1952-) was born in Cambridge, England on March 11, 1952. Read Orrin's review of Last Chance to See (1990)(Douglas Adams (1952-) and Mark Carwardine) (Grade: A-)

Lawrence Welk bubbled forth in Strasburg, North Dakota on March 11, 1903

Bix Beiderbecke (1903-) was born in Davenport, IA on March 10, 1903. Read Orrin's review of Young Man with a Horn (1938)(Dorothy Baker) (Grade: B-)

H.W. Fowler was born March 10, 1858. Brothers Judd recommends A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) (Second Edition, 1965) (H. W. Fowler 1858-1933) (revised and edited by Sir Ernest Gowers)

Composer Samuel Barber (1910-81) was born in West Chester, PA on March 9, 1910.

Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy on March 9, 1451.

Mickey Spillane (1918-) was born in Brooklyn, NY on March 9, 1918. Read Orrin's review of I, the Jury (1947)(Mickey Spillane 1918-) (Grade: C+)

Rex (Ernest) Warner (1905-86) was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England on March 9, 1905. Read Orrin's review of The Aerodrome: A Love Story (1941)

March 8 is INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, a day that's been celebrated all over the world since 1910.

Kenneth Grahame (1859-) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 8, 1859. Read his classic The Wind in the Willows online.

John McPhee (1931-) was born in Princeton, NJ on March 8, 1931.