If you like the show, you'll LOVE the book-PART TWO!

OK, I thought the first book in the series was just a great ride through the world of Adrian Monk, and it was. The second one, wow, it's even better.
It seems Natalie Teeger is on her way to Hawaii, for a friend's wedding. She's not sure how to tell Monk she'll be gone for a week and leaves it up until the last minute, only telling Monk the day before she leaves.
BAD IDEA.
Needless to say, Monk tags along (the how of him getting to Hawaii is hilarious), and leaves a trail of mayhem wherever he goes. The hotel is reprimanded for rolling their towels instead of folding them, the inequities of the mini-bar having two candy bars while having ONE of everything else is a cause for near panic by Monk, and the Hawaiian police are in for the surprise of their loves as Monk jumps in (un-asked, of course) to solve a crime.
I'm a huge fan of Monk, and I'll be the first to admit that last season was uneven. There were brilliant episodes, and there were horrible ones. The fix is easy, hire Lee Goldberg to head the writing team!!!! His two Monk novels have been wonderful fun, while giving us some good insights into the characters. We've learned more about Natalie in two books than we learned in all of a season and a half!! We even get development on Dr. Kroger!
Goldberg's got these characters running perfectly, and the episodes he's written have been among the best, so unless it's an issue of availability, it would make sense to have him oversee the writing, and hopefully pen four or five a year. It would also serve to make Monk a long term success.
You hear me, Breckman?
I won't go into spoilers, but let's just say that Monk tackles the case like nobody else would, and a good time is had by all.
Highly recommended!!!
So when does the next Monk novel come out?

Craptacular Classic of the Week!!!

Hey hey, I'm back with one truly shitty-ass movie to mock, pick on, and kick when it's down.
I'm mean like that.
We have Cemetary Gates!
"A mutated Tasmanian Devil is 'rescued' by two eco-activists and escapes near an abandoned cemetary where a group of students are filming a zombie movie", that's the summary from the back of the box, and I HAD to rent this.
Let's see, dumb college students who get stoned while making a shitty student film? Got 'em.
Scientist sans a clue? Got him.
Minimum of three hot chicks? Got 'em.
Incredibly horribly cheap FX.
Oooohhh....yeeeeaaahhh.
144 gallons of food coloring and ketchup to cover up the fact that good fake blood ain't cheap?
They got it.
Actually, that's not entirely fair.
The blood is pretty extensive, but when you have a monster with huge claws savaging human flesh, there should be more than just blood. We see it spurting everywhere, but we don't see actual wounds on the people, one scene has the monster literally just rubbing his paws on a guy and you can clearly see they make no actual contact, but the blood is flying.
THIS is the kind of film making that gets noticed in the Craptacular Classics!
We also get a lot of (I'm sorry, a whole freaking shitload of) off camera mayhem, with bodies flying back into camera after being ripped up by the beast.
Nothing like off camera gore, eh?
Just to make this film interesting, they give us a semi-Deliverance family of rednecks (I'm sorry, Appalachian-Americans), who are plotting to steal the cameras, a couple of old hippies who go out to "see what the animals see", (their hallucination is ANIMATED! bwahahahahaahahaha!), a bicycle rider, and a couple of passerby who also get mutilated.
Kind of busy for an abandoned cemetary, no?
Then...the BEAST!
Looks like a set of fake paws/claws, a head piece, and then all we see is a guy hunched over on all fours wearing some bad shag carpet in the distance shots.
But WAIT!
There's some deep meaning here, it seems the student making the film, is the son of the scientist, and the mutated monster was a family pet....named...are you ready for this?........Precious.
Folks, it's gotta be...

A FOUR FLUSHER!!!!!
It might have been improved if the other two chicks had gotten nekkid. The other scientist was hot, with huge knockers.

Life Truly Sucks At Times

Life is no bed of roses for me of late.
A phone call three weeks ago kinda rocked me to the core.
Not sure if this is the place to vent, but I have to, or I'm gonna lose my mind.
It seems my sister in law, who I have known for 26 years, is NOT the person I beleived her to be. Nor is she the person ANYONE thought she was.
Apparently for the last four years she's been fooling around on my brother.
I go into "family defense" mode at that.
NObody hurts my brothers or my mom and gets forgiven. EVER.
The fooling around I can understand as their marriage hasn't been perfect.
The...um, embezzlement and giving of the stolen cash to the other guy is what I'm really having trouble with.
Seems her skills at bookkeeping are pretty good, if you don't mind her putting it all in her bank account.
600,000 dollars or so at latest count. Two of the companies she's worked for have gone bankrupt.
People out of work. Suffering big time because of her deeds.
And she gave it all to the other guy so he could play at being a motorcycle racer?

Why did all this happen?
What happen to my big brother's sweet girlfriend/fiancee who was so cool? The one who went to all that work to get opening day tickets to the Empire Strikes Back for my 13th birthday so my brother could take me out for a great day? The one who set up a pair of tickets to see the NHL return to the Bay Area in an exhibition game at Oakland to feed my hockey madness? The one of a thousand kindnesses?
What turned her into this?
I don't know.
But this just hurts like hell.
If she didn't care about my brother, fine, divorce him (hey, being married to him CAN'T be easy), but don't pull this kind of shit, and for crying out loud, maybe think of your KIDS?
The kids who won't be seeing their mother for, I dunno, eight years I think is what they're saying now.
Selfish bitch.

This has had me messed up for some time.
It doth sucketh, big time.


Now for a small bit of hopeful news.
Date tonight.
She seems marginally sane.
Keep your fingers crossed.