3 1/2 minutes, 10 Bullets

Documentary on shooting of black teenagers in Jacksonville by irate white guy who claimed he felt threatened when teenagers didn't turn down music and told him to fuck off. Killer says he thought he saw shotguy.

Brave testimony by man's fiancee who says she never heard him, in the time they spent together after they fled, mention a shotgun or any weapon.

First trial ends with mistrial on murder, but conviction of attempted murder for firing at three other boys in car who didn't have weapons. Weird verdict.

Retrial. Conviction of first degree murder. Life.

Comments

Puppy, Story by George Saunders

PUPPY Dysfunctional family has puppy that they need to get rid of. Mom places ad; family is coming over. Description of family. Mom: husband changed from long-haired attractive to stooped old man. Husband: talks constantly of living on a farm and doing what needs to be done, though he never lived on a farm. Conversations together: Sell and move to Arizona, get hooked on phonics for kids, buying a car wash. . . wonderful randomness. Straight-laced suburbanite comes to look at puppy. Seems like she will buy it, even though she is repelled by house. (Dog turds on carpet, filthy.) She is proud of how accepting she is until she looks out window and sees white trash's son tied by harness to a tree. Reader knows he is a menace to himself, darting across I-90, for example. Suburban mother beats hasty retreat, leaving dog to be (probably) drowned by dad who does what has to be done. Suburbanite remembers her own pathetic ch...

Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler

Bryant & May--Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery, Book 1 Lots that I liked. Crime novel that is also historical fiction. Fowler gives insight into London during the blitz. Danger from street cars, some looting during blackout, stiff upper lip British still going to theaters, etc. Fowler also takes reader backstage into the workings of a theater. I learned a lot about the physical complexity of a major theater--production is a tremendous production. I liked both the main characters. Bryant, the eccentric loner who thinks out of the box. May, the more traditional "bright" guy, who is able to appreciate Bryant and help by keeping him in the real world, a little. Plot revolves around murders committed while cast rehearses and then performs Offenbach's scandalous version of Orpheus and Eurydice. The murders are on the gruesome-detail side given the general British coolness of the rest of the text. Spoiler coming. The denouement wa...

Napoleon, Ch 18 Blockades

"The first qualification of a soldier is fortitude. . . . Courage is only the second." Conquers cities of present day Germany. Spandau, Berlin, etc. Shortage of men in France . . . Russians next, but his mind is on Britain. He wants to use trade sanctions to force Britain to its knees, but this doesn't work either. French (and others in empire) need to trade with Brits. Smuggling results. Also, unintended consequences crop up. Example is shoes: Napoleon requires 200,000 pairs of shoes from Hamburg. Hamburg can't supply these to Napoleon, so they buy what they can't produce from Brits. So much for the sanctions! British are supplying uniforms and shoes for Napoleon, and making $$$. . . . Continues after the Russians in December 1806. . . has to withdraw, 40% of his army out of commission. Horrible battle with Russians, thousands killed. Napoleon in tears . . . dire moment, Napoleon orders full out cavalry attack . . . Eylau a massacre without any result . ...

Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

Search This Blog