Abandoned books and/or movies #11

These are the books I have stopped reading over the past three months.

Rat Girl-- Kristin Hersh

Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar: Stories of Food During Wartime by the World's Leading Correspondents-- edited by Matt McAllester

Intern Nation-- Ross Perlin

Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper-- Geoffrey Gray

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts-- Julian Rubinstein

Los Macheteros: The Wells Fargo Robbery and the Violent Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence-- Ronald Fernandez

Foucault's Pendulum-- Umberto Eco

Ocean's of Words-- Ha Jin

Sleeping Where I Fall-- Peter Coyote

A Radical Line-- Thai Jones

The Making of Black Revolutionaries-- James Forman

Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour-- David Bianculli

What I have been reading lately #51

In December of 1944, the German army launched an offensive on the western front in a last-ditch effort to win the war. This offensive is commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge. At that time, Bill Davidson was a U.S. army soldier/journalist covering the war for Yank magazine. During the battle, he found himself trapped behind German lines with two Jewish German children to take care of. This book, written decades after the war was over, retells Davidson's efforts to get back through the lines to the Allied side and the various soldiers, resistance fighters, deserters, black marketeers, famous authors, and possible Nazi spies that he encountered along the way.

Left: Ernest Hemingway


Below: U.S. soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge

After the war, Davidson went on to write several biographies of Hollywood celebrities including Spencer Tracy, Sid Caesar, and Gary Coleman.  For more information, click here.

Where are they now? #2

One popular character on the television show Eight is Enough was Susan, played by Susan Richardson (picture below). On the show Susan married Merle "The Pearl" Stockwell, a minor league baseball player.

After Eight is Enough ended, Susan Richardson spent some time in a rock band and also battling drug addiction. However, most importantly, in 1987, she claimed she was the victim of a kidnapping and attempted murder in north Korea* by greedy filmmakers. It is unclear whether the filmmakers were themselves north Korean and/or whether they were working on behalf of the DPRK government; however, the north Korean government has allegedly been involved in many kidnappings, often of Japanese citizens, and has been believed at least once to have kidnapped a movie director to help with north Korean movie productions. Nevertheless, Ms. Richardson's claims do not appear to have positively impacted her acting career, as she currently works in a nursing home in Pennslyvania.

Former north Korean leader Kim Il-Sung

DPRK flag

The DPRK has a long and rich tradition of military parades. Enjoy the video below!




* The Korean peninsula is currently artificially divided into two separate countries - the ROK and the DPRK. The editors of Ape Canyon News Service have chosen to follow the common practice of labelling these two nations south Korea and north Korea using lower case "s" and "n" in recognition of this temporary division and in the hope that some day soon, the two Koreas will be united once again.

Where are they now? #1

Grant Goodeve (pictured then) used to play the role of David, the oldest son, on the popular television program Eight is Enough in the late 1970s and early 80s. For most Americans, Goodeve is just a fond, distant memory. However, if you are lucky enough to live in the Seattle-area, you can still see Goodeve on the local NBC affiliate King-5, where he appears regularly on such programs as Evening Magazine and Northwest Backroads.

Grant Goodeve (pictured now)