The Writer's Life 7/6 - Goombahs Make Good

Enrico Colantoni popped up in last night's episode of American Gothic, playing a sleazy politician. Are there any other kind? Anyway, Colantoni is ubiquitous on TV. Only in his early 50's, he is in the midst of a remarkable career. IMBd lists 74 credits under his name, but that does not tell the full story. He was in 149 episodes alone of Just Shoot Me, 75 of Flashpoint, 64 of Veronica Mars, 35 of Hope and Gloria, 23 of Person of Interest, 20 of Remedy, and he has multiple appearances in several others. He attended Yale Drama School. A native of Toronto, he has managed to father six kids with two wives, despite his busy schedule. Well done, paisano.

Since 1900, players have had six hits in a game only 73 times. The rare accomplishment has occurred three times in the past week. Last night Chase Utley of the Dodgers went 6-7 in the team's 14-inning loss to the Orioles. He joins Wilmer Flores of the Mets and C.J. Cron of the Angels who each went 6-6 recently. Believe it or not, that is not the  MLB record for hits in a game. Rennie Stennett of the Pirates went 7-7 in 1975.

"TWA Flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic shortly after takeoff from JFK airport on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 passengers on board. Although initial reports suggested a terrorist attack, FBI and NTSB investigators blamed a fuel tank explosion. Skeptics have long questioned the official story, and new evidence has surfaced that suggests a widespread conspiracy..." Those words describe a new book, TWA 800 by Robert Cashill, listed at Amazon. I just heard him interviewed on radio. I wavered on mentioning the book here, as I'm suspicious of conspiracy theories, since they are often so lucrative to an author. I ran an on site search and spotted three other books on the subject. I will not read the book. I did skim through a recent NY Post article on the doomed flight, and was shocked to hear that hundreds of eyewitnesses believe the plane was shot down. The official explanation is that an electrical fire caused the explosion. Other theories are an errant Navy missile and, of course, terrorism. I doubt it's the latter, as the slimes are always quick to claim credit and, as far as I know, no one has for 800. Cashill believes the truth was covered up because the presidential election was only months away. That doesn't ring true, either, although nothing seems beyond the Clintons. A cover up like that would require complete silence from so many people. I would love to see Billary crash and burn, but legitimately. If the media even bothers to mention this, it will be spun as desperation, part of the "vast right wing conspiracy."

This goombah had a surprisingly good day at the floating book shop. It was as humid as it gets out there. I felt a heaviness in my chest the entire the entire session. I kept envisioning the tall drink I would buy from CVS after I closed down. I had a dollar coupon in my pocket and a gift card to pick up the rest. I found an 80-calorie organic green tea listed at $1,57. The computer charged $1.27 and, when I was reminded to take my receipt, I found two other dollar coupons previous customers had neglected to claim attached to the long slip of paper. My thanks to CVS, and to the kind folks who bought books, including the two Shelleys, the little one purchasing Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and the big one choosing Nicholas Sparks' See Me. Thanks also to Kinesha's husband, who dropped off a bag of paperbacks she'd read in a couple of weeks. Some days you just get lucky.

Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

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