Actor/force of nature/internet meme Nicolas Cage owns some pricey comic books. And nearly 15 years ago, some were stolen from his home. Read Sandro Contenta's story about the crime and how an LAPD detective with a name that sounds like a character from a Superman comic solved the mystery.
It's exactly as strange as it sounds.
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Freedom, and Then What?
Slate published Linda Rodriguez McRobbie's piece "The Real Victims of Satanic Ritual Abuse" on Jan 7. It's the story of Frances and Dan Keller's release from prison in Texas. They were convicted of child abuse in 1992 -- symbolically, there were jailed for taking part in Satanic ritual abuse.
They're free because the charges, the trial and most of the media coverage, were entirely lies. The endless pursuit of the truth from a local news reporter, and some patient lawyers, finally helped get the Kellers, now divorced, released from prison after a successful appeal.
The Typing Monkey recommends the book Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend by Jeffrey S. Victor if you'd like to read about the religious fervor/group think nightmare in the United States that began in the 1970s and reached a fever pitch by the late '80s and early '90s.
As McRobbie says in her Slate article: The real victims were those accused. We'd add to that the poor kids that were coached, cajoled and probably psychologically damaged by being forced to repeat (and imagine) what adults wanted to believe was happening. And what they believed is, frankly, unbelievable.
We sincerely hope both of the Kellers can find some peace and a path to resuming something resembling a normal life.
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| Never share a seat on the bus again |
The Typing Monkey recommends the book Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend by Jeffrey S. Victor if you'd like to read about the religious fervor/group think nightmare in the United States that began in the 1970s and reached a fever pitch by the late '80s and early '90s.
As McRobbie says in her Slate article: The real victims were those accused. We'd add to that the poor kids that were coached, cajoled and probably psychologically damaged by being forced to repeat (and imagine) what adults wanted to believe was happening. And what they believed is, frankly, unbelievable.
We sincerely hope both of the Kellers can find some peace and a path to resuming something resembling a normal life.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Naked Came the Sasquatch
Bigfoot's about as scary as Bela Lugosi's bunion cream, but as lasting bit of folklore and the poster beast of cryptozoology, the hairy bastard's charm is irresistible.
Therefore, it's entirely possible that the news of an "explanation" for the Yeti, aka the Abominable Snowman, has already made it's way to you.
The diet version of the tale is that a bit of fur, thought to be sloughed off from the Snowsquatch, is probably that of a rare polar bear that once wandered the Himalayas, the mountainous region of Asia that gave rise to the legend of the Yeti. Read all about that here.
But a far more interesting bit of Sasquatch news broke this past week as well, and didn't stir up nearly the attention that it should have.
A naked 20-year-old man attacked a 58-year-old man with a rock in the backwoods of Oregon and it took police 90 minutes to find the victim and his attacker. All the while, the victim held the dude in the nude at bay with his hunting rifle.
The cherry on this sundae? The clothing-optional assailant claimed he was descended from Sasquatch. Despite his self-proclaimed lineage, he was still arrested like any other human who strips and assaults people in the forest.
Therefore, it's entirely possible that the news of an "explanation" for the Yeti, aka the Abominable Snowman, has already made it's way to you.
The diet version of the tale is that a bit of fur, thought to be sloughed off from the Snowsquatch, is probably that of a rare polar bear that once wandered the Himalayas, the mountainous region of Asia that gave rise to the legend of the Yeti. Read all about that here.
A naked 20-year-old man attacked a 58-year-old man with a rock in the backwoods of Oregon and it took police 90 minutes to find the victim and his attacker. All the while, the victim held the dude in the nude at bay with his hunting rifle.
The cherry on this sundae? The clothing-optional assailant claimed he was descended from Sasquatch. Despite his self-proclaimed lineage, he was still arrested like any other human who strips and assaults people in the forest.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Diana, Huntress of Bus Drivers
Ciudad Juarez in Mexico City may have a costumed vigilante, and she means business. The story, if it's true -- and this news report give it a squinty eye -- concerns direct and violent retribution against bus drivers in the city.
What did transit workers do to bring down the hammer of old-world justice on themselves? For years, it's believed that some drivers have been raping and killing female passengers, leaving their bodies in the desert.
But someone calling herself Diana, Huntress of Bus Drivers, alleges she's responsible for the recent shooting deaths of two drivers in the area. Each driver got two shots to the head, and police are investigating.
Read the story and cross your fingers that Diana has her targets straight. Her press release is chilling and righteous. And as has been pointed out elsewhere, if the police there put as much effort into stopping the rapes and murders of women as they are in attempting to find Diana, there'd be no need for Diana.
[Hat tip to The Stranger for the lead.]
What did transit workers do to bring down the hammer of old-world justice on themselves? For years, it's believed that some drivers have been raping and killing female passengers, leaving their bodies in the desert.
But someone calling herself Diana, Huntress of Bus Drivers, alleges she's responsible for the recent shooting deaths of two drivers in the area. Each driver got two shots to the head, and police are investigating.
Read the story and cross your fingers that Diana has her targets straight. Her press release is chilling and righteous. And as has been pointed out elsewhere, if the police there put as much effort into stopping the rapes and murders of women as they are in attempting to find Diana, there'd be no need for Diana.
[Hat tip to The Stranger for the lead.]
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Dirty Deeds & the Men Who Investigate Them
Two book reviews that make us want both books in our possession:
Matthew Walther enjoyed Wretched Writing: A Compendium of Crimes Against the English Language by Ross and Kathryn Petras. The volume collects examples of head-scratching sentences from famous, and sometimes even reputable, authors. See what Walther's on about here via The Spectator.
The other comes from Josephine Livingstone, who we've tagged before, so I guess that makes us fans of her work. In her review of Bran Nicol’s The Private Eye: Detectives in the Movies, Livingstone is genuinely pleased that Nicol touches on a pet theory of hers: That the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo is a retelling of the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
And you know what? She's right. But it's Nicol's book she's discussing, and Livingstone gives it a scholarly scrubbing -- the kind of gimlet-eyed critical writing that doesn't happen often enough in the usual crap we read. Either way, The Private Eye sounds like catnip to us.
The other comes from Josephine Livingstone, who we've tagged before, so I guess that makes us fans of her work. In her review of Bran Nicol’s The Private Eye: Detectives in the Movies, Livingstone is genuinely pleased that Nicol touches on a pet theory of hers: That the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo is a retelling of the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
And you know what? She's right. But it's Nicol's book she's discussing, and Livingstone gives it a scholarly scrubbing -- the kind of gimlet-eyed critical writing that doesn't happen often enough in the usual crap we read. Either way, The Private Eye sounds like catnip to us.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
No Crime Too Small
Flavorwire has a terrific gallery of miniature pulp/noir/crime scenes constructed by artist Jonah Samson. Go look at it.
[Detail from a portentious scene in Mr. Samson's gallery.]
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Can We Stay at Grandma's?
Perhaps you've heard of Darlene Mayes, the so-called "Ganja Granny." According to news reports, the 73-year-old ran a four-state marijuana distribution operation from her rural Oklahoma home. And in case it's unclear, what she did is monumentally illegal.
Thing is, stories like Mayes' are becoming about as common as dime bags at a Foghat show.
A simple Web search on "ganja granny" turns up three other senior women who've earned the title. And the past five-plus years have seen news stories about elderly citizens in the United States turning to dealing controlled substances, frequently to simply pay the bills, but sometimes because they use the product -- most often marijuana -- themselves.
While the reports of Mayes' case don't specify if she was a smoker, there was paraphernalia in her home. However that's not really why we post this story.
The take-away for all of us at The Typing Monkey has been the big bag of questions and considerations the Ganja Granny case provokes.
There are multiple reports that as Baby Boomers age, they're turning toward controlled substances they may've enjoyed during their youth. Pain pills are common, yes, but marijuana use among their demographic is on the rise.
And having enough money to live a reasonable life after retirement age is a growing concern as well. There are only so many senior citizens willing and able to serve up smiles and fast food. Clearly the pot trade doesn't discriminate based on age.
Will Boomers final er, contribution to our culture be a push for the legalization of marijuana? Their numbers are legion and if past generations are any indication, soon they'll have nothing but time and the feisty anger of the old.
Thing is, stories like Mayes' are becoming about as common as dime bags at a Foghat show.
A simple Web search on "ganja granny" turns up three other senior women who've earned the title. And the past five-plus years have seen news stories about elderly citizens in the United States turning to dealing controlled substances, frequently to simply pay the bills, but sometimes because they use the product -- most often marijuana -- themselves.
While the reports of Mayes' case don't specify if she was a smoker, there was paraphernalia in her home. However that's not really why we post this story.
The take-away for all of us at The Typing Monkey has been the big bag of questions and considerations the Ganja Granny case provokes.
There are multiple reports that as Baby Boomers age, they're turning toward controlled substances they may've enjoyed during their youth. Pain pills are common, yes, but marijuana use among their demographic is on the rise.
And having enough money to live a reasonable life after retirement age is a growing concern as well. There are only so many senior citizens willing and able to serve up smiles and fast food. Clearly the pot trade doesn't discriminate based on age.
Will Boomers final er, contribution to our culture be a push for the legalization of marijuana? Their numbers are legion and if past generations are any indication, soon they'll have nothing but time and the feisty anger of the old.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Death and the Mouse -- Finale & Epilogue
Yes, we're late in sharing the nearly cliched conclusion of the ongoing saga of the first murder and first suicide in Celebration, FL.
On Dec 6, police arrested a homeless man and charged him with first-degree murder. The suspect knew the victim. In the realm of criminology, the mechanics of this crime are mundane.
More compelling about the sudden pall cast over this Disney-built town designed to emulate an Eisenhower-era idyll is the likely cause: money.
On Dec 6, police arrested a homeless man and charged him with first-degree murder. The suspect knew the victim. In the realm of criminology, the mechanics of this crime are mundane.
More compelling about the sudden pall cast over this Disney-built town designed to emulate an Eisenhower-era idyll is the likely cause: money.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Death and the Mouse -- Part II
Yesterday The Typing Monkey joined the crowd of horrified/mesmerized/guiltily titillated onlookers and shared the story of the very first homicide in Celebration, FL.
Today brings more fascinating Lynchian news from the no longer quiet village.
We could blurt out some collegiate nonsense and dig into the sociological, philosophical and cultural implications of these stories. But TMI is confident that our readers can and will do that on their own. So stop reading this and go talk to somebody about murder and suicide in the town that Disney built, as it's very much worth conversation.
But keep it civilized please. Two people are dead, afterall.
Today brings more fascinating Lynchian news from the no longer quiet village.
We could blurt out some collegiate nonsense and dig into the sociological, philosophical and cultural implications of these stories. But TMI is confident that our readers can and will do that on their own. So stop reading this and go talk to somebody about murder and suicide in the town that Disney built, as it's very much worth conversation.
But keep it civilized please. Two people are dead, afterall.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Death and the Mouse
In Florida is a town called Celebration. Disney built the planned community in the late 1990s. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, somebody murdered on of the residents of Celebration. It's the first murder in a town designed to shelter its residents from the harsh realities of the outside world.
That's all there is to say about that, though you should read this if you'd like to know what little else there is to know. Speculate, because you know we are.
That's all there is to say about that, though you should read this if you'd like to know what little else there is to know. Speculate, because you know we are.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
She's Crafty
The BBC history page has an article detailing the life and troubles of Helen Duncan, the second-to-last woman to be tried for witchcraft in the U.K.
That's right, she's the penultimate convicted witch in Great Britain. A woman named Jane Rebecca Yorke gets the honor of being the last witch on the books. Her story is equally interesting, but being elderly, Yorke didn't serve any jail time. Helen Duncan did.
[Tip of the pointy hat to Jen Newby's Writing Women's History blog.]
That's right, she's the penultimate convicted witch in Great Britain. A woman named Jane Rebecca Yorke gets the honor of being the last witch on the books. Her story is equally interesting, but being elderly, Yorke didn't serve any jail time. Helen Duncan did.
[Tip of the pointy hat to Jen Newby's Writing Women's History blog.]
Monday, May 4, 2009
From the Slow News Desk
In case you, like The Typing Monkey, don't spend a lot of time on sites such as Gawker, perhaps you were unaware of the strange case of the "Hipster Grifter."
It's all true, of course. Even the unusual part about the grifter turning herself in in Philadelphia, as was reported on May 4. And you read that right, the Hipster Grifter is a woman.
Apparently she's been juggling multiple boyfriends in Salt Lake City and then Brooklyn for a few years. The HG beguiles these young, indie-rock enchanted men the old fashioned way: with sex, promises of free entrance to music clubs, claims of pregnancy and faked terminal illness. That she's been using her actual name -- or at least what is believed to be her birthname anyway -- is only one of many amazing details in her story, summed up in this head-spinning three-pager from The New York Observer.
Gawker documented the Hipster Grifter with a series of posts that, perhaps unintentionally, illuminate our admiration of those who take advantage of us. And if there's any moral to take away from all of this, it's that Vice magazine should do more thorough background checks.
It's all true, of course. Even the unusual part about the grifter turning herself in in Philadelphia, as was reported on May 4. And you read that right, the Hipster Grifter is a woman.
Apparently she's been juggling multiple boyfriends in Salt Lake City and then Brooklyn for a few years. The HG beguiles these young, indie-rock enchanted men the old fashioned way: with sex, promises of free entrance to music clubs, claims of pregnancy and faked terminal illness. That she's been using her actual name -- or at least what is believed to be her birthname anyway -- is only one of many amazing details in her story, summed up in this head-spinning three-pager from The New York Observer.
Gawker documented the Hipster Grifter with a series of posts that, perhaps unintentionally, illuminate our admiration of those who take advantage of us. And if there's any moral to take away from all of this, it's that Vice magazine should do more thorough background checks.
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