Veterans Day:

In honor of all who serve, and all who have served.

We will never forget.

Photograph of Sgt. George R. Kost, shown in LIFE magazine.

December 25, 1944.

Volume 17, Number 26.

Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.

Laini Taylor, on writing and reading:

I write because, as wonderful as life is - and it is truly wonderful - it isn't enough.

It does not, for example, contain dragons.

I find this unsatisfactory.

So I read.

And I write.

- Laini Taylor.

Recommended reading - The Blue Knight

 

The Blue Knight

by Joseph Wambaugh.
 
First published 1972.
Published by Grand Central Publishing.
Mass Market Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0446509191
ISBN-13: 978-0446509190
 
Description:
 

Ex-cop turned #1 New York Times bestselling writer Joseph Wambaugh forged a new kind of literature with his great early police procedurals. Gritty, luminous, and ultimately stunning, this novel is Wambaugh at his best – a tale of a street cop on the hardest beat of his life.

 

The Blue Knight.
 

Twenty and two. Those are the numbers turning in the mind of William "Bumper" Morgan: twenty years on the job, two days before he "pulls the pin" and walks away from it forever. But on the gritty streets of L.A., people look at Bumper like some kind of knight in armor – they've plied him with come-ons, hot tips, and the hard respect a man can't earn anywhere else. Now, with a new job and a good woman waiting for him, a kinky thief terrorizing L.A.'s choice hotels, and a tragedy looming, Bumper Morgan is about to face the only thing that can scare him: the demons that he's been hiding behind his bright and shiny badge...

 

“Marvelous … realistic, frightening, touching in its humanity. – Detroit Free Press.
 
“An extraordinary piece of craftsmanship.” – Los Angeles Times.

Born on this day – Anna Katharine Green:

Anna Katharine Green

Writer

November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935

Credits:

The Leavenworth Case (1878); A Strange Disappearance (1880); Hand and Ring (1883); Behind Closed Doors (1888); A Matter of Millions (1891); The Doctor, His Wife, and the Clock (1895); That Affair Next Door (1897); Lost Man's Lane (1898); The Circular Study (1900); One of My Sons (1901); Initials Only (1911); Mystery of the Hasty Arrow (1917); That Affair Next Door (1897); Lost Man's Lane (1898); The Circular Study (1900); Agatha Webb (1899); The Woman in the Alcove (aka A Woman of Mystery) (1906); The House of the Whispering Pines (1910); XYZ (1883); The Mill Mystery (1886); 7 to 12 (1887); The Forsaken Inn (1890); Cynthia Wakeham's Money (1892); Marked Personal (1893); Miss Hurd - An Enigma (1894); Dr. Izard (1895); The Filigree Ball (1903); The House in the Mist (1905); The Millionaire Baby (1905); The Chief Legatee (1906); The Chief Lagatee (1907); The Mayor's Wife (1907); The Sward of Damocles (1909); Three Thousand Dollars (1910); Dark Hollow (1914); The Step On the Stair (1923); The Defense of the Bride (poems) (1882); The Old Stone House (1891); A Difficult Problem (1900); The Amethyst Box (1905); Masterpieces of Mystery (1912); The Golden Slipper (1915); To the Minute, Scarlet and Black (1916); Room Number 3 (1919); The Collected Mysteries of Anna Katharine Green (2011); The Bronze Hand (1897).

Born on this day – Beverly Bayne:

Beverly Bayne

Actress

November 11, 1894 – August 18, 1982

Born on this day – Robert Ryan:

Robert Ryan

Actor

November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973

Born on this day – Kurt Vonnegut:

Kurt Vonnegut

Writer

November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007

Credits:

Books:

Galápagos (1985); Bluebeard (1987); Player Piano / Utopia 14 (1952); The Sirens of Titan (1959); Cat's Cradle (1960); Mother Night (1961); Harrison Bergeron (1961); God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965); Slaughterhouse-Five (1969); Between Time and Timbuktu (1972); Breakfast of Champions (1973); Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! (1976); Jailbird (1979); Deadeye Dick (1982); Hocus Pocus (1990); Timequake (1997); The Big Trip Up Yonder (1954); 2 B R 0 2 B (1968); Who Am I This Time? For Romeos and Juliets (1970); God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999); The Honor of a Newsboy (2009); Confido (2009); Hall of Mirrors (2009); A Song for Selma (2009); Hello, Red (2009); The Good Explainer (2009); King and Queen of the Universe (2009); Little Drops of Water (2009); The Nice Little People (2009); Ed Luby's Key Club (2009); Shout about It from the Housetops (2009); FUBAR (2009); Basic Training (2012); Vonnegut by the Dozen: Twelve Pieces by Kurt Vonnegut (2013); Slice of Life (2016); Canary in a Cat House (1961); 2BR02B (1962); Welcome to the Monkey House (1968); Bagombo Snuff Box (1999); Armageddon in Retrospect (2008); Look at the Birdie (2009); While Mortals Sleep (2011); Sucker's Portfolio (2012); Sinbad (2016); Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974); Palm Sunday (1981); Like Shaking Hands with God (1999); Kurt Vonnegut on Mark Twain, Lincoln, Imperialist Wars and the Weather (2004); A Man Without a Country (2005); Letters (2012); We Are What We Pretend To Be (2012); If This Isn't Nice What Is? (2013); Pity the Reader (2019); Fates Worse Than Death (1982); Love, Kurt: The Vonnegut Love Letters, 1941-1945 (2020); Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970); Sun, Moon, Star (1980); Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children's Crusade (2020); The Flying Sorcerers (1997); The Wizards of Odd (1997); Wizards of Odd (1997); Learning to Live Finally: The Last Interview (2005); Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The Last Interview (2011); Big City Cool: Short Stories About Urban Youth (2002); Connoisseur's Science Fiction (1964); ABC of Science Fiction (1968); Best SF Vol 7 (1971); Masks (1971); Autumn Light: Illuminations of Age (1978); The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction (1980); The Golden Age of Science Fiction (1981); Space Odyssey (1983); A World of Fiction (1983); Great Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1985); Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century (1987); The Ultimate Frankenstein (1991); First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers (1994); Cybersex: Aliens, Neurosex and Cyborgasms (1996); The Flying Sorcerers (1997); Wizards of Odd (1997); The Playboy Book of Science Fiction (1998); Writers on Writing (2001); Big City Cool: Short Stories About Urban Youth (2002); Louder than Bombs: Interviews from The Progressive Magazine (2004); Favorite Science Fiction Stories, Volume 2 (2010); The Best American Mystery Stories 2010 (2010); Slaughterhouse-Five: Critical Insights (2010); Science Fiction Collection 002 (2011); The Fourth Science Fiction Megapack (2012); The Big Book of Classic Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction (2013); Lieu: Science Fiction Short Stories (2015); Grave Predictions (2016); The Ultimate Short Story Bundle (2020).

Awards:

1953: nominated for the International Fantasy Award for: Player Piano.

1960: won the Writers Guild of America Award for: Auf Wiedersehen.

1960: finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel for: The Sirens of Titan.

1964: finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel for: Cat's Cradle.

1970: nominated for the Nebula Award for: Slaughterhouse-Five.

1970: finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel for: Slaughterhouse-Five.

1971: won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play for: Happy Birthday Wanda June.

1973: won the Seiun Award for foreign novel for: The Sirens of Titan.

1973: won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation winner for: Slaughterhouse-Five.

1986: won second placed for the John W. Campbell Award for: Galapagos.

2009: won the Audie Award for Short Stories / Collections for: Armageddon in Retrospect.

2015: awarded a place in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, by the Science Fiction Museum.

2019: won the Prometheus Hall of Fame award, by the Libertarian Futurist Society, for: Harrison Bergeron.

Movies and television:

1 Giant Leap (2002); 2081 (2009); 2Br02B (2016); 2BR02b (2016); 2BR02B (2017); 2BR02B: To Be or Naught to Be (2016 / 2018); 60 Minutes (1970); 90 Minutes Live (1977–1978); A Curious World (2016); A Man Without a Country (2012); A Matadeira (1994); American Experience (1997); American Playhouse (1982–1985); Automatic Thirteen (2007); Back to School (1986); Between Time and Timbuktu (1972); Breakfast of Champions (1999); Brooklyn Bridge (1981); Bus Stop (1961); Charlie Rose (2007); Curious Matter Anthology (2021); Deer in the Works (1980); Epicac (2008); Film '72 (1972); First Man (2018); FUBAR (2019); Full House (1973); General Electric Theater (1955–1958); God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut (2018); Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971); Harrison Bergeron (1995 / 2006); Here After (2020); 'Hick' Town (2009); Hollywood Insider (2021); I riassuntini (2018); Karikakramäng / Segment: Promenaad (1976); Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: A Self-Portrait (1975); Kurt Vonnegut: Reporter on the Afterlife (2023); Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021); Kurt Vonnegut's A Man Without a Country (2018); Kurt Vonnegut's Saab Dealership (2022); Langmuir's World (1998); Long Walk to Forever (1987 / 2014); Monkey House (1991–1993); Mother Night (1996); Moving Image Salutes Elia Kazan (1987); Moving Image Salutes James Stewart (1988); Moving Image Salutes Sidney Poitier (1989); Nelson Algren: The End Is Nothing, the Road Is All... (2015); Never Down (2007); New Nightmares (1993); Newsstand Theatre (1952); Next Door (1976); Now on PBS (2005); Poetry, Passion, the Postman: The Poetic Return of Pablo Neruda (1996); Real Time with Bill Maher (2005); Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love / Segment: Epicac (1974); Saturday Review (1986); Scary Stories Around the Fire (2024); Sicko (2007); Slapstick of Another Kind (1982); Slaughterhouse-Five (1972); Spegeln - för konst och kultur (1977); Tabu Vergeltung - Die Literaten und der Luftkrieg (2000); The ABCs of Book Banning (2023); The American Ruling Class (2005); The Big Trip Up Yonder (2014); The Civil War (1990); The Congress (1989); The Daily Show (2005); The David Frost Show (1972); The Day of Five Billion (1987); The Dick Cavett Show (1989); The Ford Television Theatre (1954); The Foster Portfolio (2017); The Larry Solway Show (1976); The Last Day of Charley E. Rays (2016); The Making of Slaughterhouse-Five (1972); The Man from Bagombo (2010); The Merv Griffin Show (1969); The Painted Boy (1995); Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg (1994); Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist (2007).

Born on this day – John Guillermin:

John Guillermin

Director

Writer

Producer

November 11, 1925 – September 27, 2015

Born on this day – Bibi Andersson:

Bibi Andersson

Actress

November 11, 1935 – April 14, 2019

Born on this day – William Matthews:

William Matthews

Writer

November 11, 1942 – November 12, 1997

Credits:

The Parataxic Mode: Concerning Defoe's Use of Irony in Moll Flanders (1966); Broken Syllables (1969); Ruining the New Road (1970); The Cloud (1971); Matthews' Compleat Palmistry (1971); Sleek for the Long Flight: New Poems (1972); Sticks and Stones (1975); Rising and Falling (1979); Flood (1982); Good (1983); A Happy Childhood (1984); Foreseeable Futures (1987); Sleek For the Long Flight (1988); Blues if You Want (1989); Curiosities (Poets on Poetry / essays) (1989); Selected Poems and Translations 1969-1991 (1992); The Mortal City: 100 Epigrams of Martial (1995); Time & Money: New Poems (1996); After All: Last Poems (1998); The Poetry Blues: Essays and Interviews (2001); The Satires of Horace (2002); Search Party: Collected Poems of William Matthews (2004).

On this day in movie history - Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Kansas City Confidential

directed by Phil Karlson,

written by George Bruce and Harry Essex,

based on a story by Rowland Brown and Harold Greene,

was released in the United States on November 11, 1952.

Music by Paul Sawtell.

Cast:

John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston Foster, Neville Brand, Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam, Dona Drake, Mario Siletti, Howard Negley, Carleton Young, Don Orlando, Ted Ryan, Orlando Beltran, Ray Bennett, Chet Brandenburg, Barry Brooks, Charles Cane, Edward Coch, James Conaty, Tom Dillon, George Dockstader, Paul Dubov, Paul Fierro, Eddie Foster, Dick Gordon, Tom Greenway, William Haade, Al Hill, Harry Hines, Paul Hogan, Don House, Vivi Janiss, Helen Kleeb, Paul Kruger, Mike Lally, Roger Moore, House Peters Jr., Lee Phelps, Sam Pierce, Paul Ravel, Joey Ray, Carlos Rivero, Ric Roman, Frank J. Scannell, Sam Scar, Jack Shea, Charles Sherlock, Brick Sullivan, Charles Sullivan, Phil Tead, Archie Twitchell, George D. Wallace, Kay Wiley, Jeff York.

On this day in movie history - The Blue Knight (1973)

The Blue Knight

directed by Robert Butler,

written by E. Jack Newman,

based on the novel by Joseph Wambaugh,

a four-part made-for-TV film,

was originally broadcast on NBC from November 11 – 14, 1973.

Music by Nelson Riddle.

Cast:

William Holden, Lee Remick, Joe Santos, Sam Elliott, Eileen Brennan, Vic Tayback, Anne Archer, Lucille Benson, Ja'net DuBois, Mario Roccuzzo, Jamie Farr, David Moody, Gloria LeRoy, Richard Collier, Kenneth Wolger, George DiCenzo, Raymond Guth, Emile Meyer, Ernest Esparza III, John Quade, Janit Baldwin, Arell Blanton, Helen Boll, Simmy Bow, Don Calfa, Lou Cutell, Alan Fudge, John Furlong, Stan Haze, Howard Hesseman, Randy Kirby, Jon Korkes, Arthur Malet, Karmin Murcelo, Rudy Ramos, Paul Reid Roman, Lee Weaver, Jason Wingreen, Richard 'Dub' Wright, Harry Arnie, Katharine Bard, James Beach, Nanci Beck, Norland Benson, Roxanne Bonilla, Claire Brennen, Thomas Paul Carey, Ric Carrott, Stanley Bennett Clay, Patrick Dennis-Leigh, Larry Duran, Joseph X. Flaherty, Ben Frommer, Eddra Gale, Janie Greenspun, Raven Grey Eagle, Margie Haber, Monika Henreid, Janear Hines, Jan-Minika Hughes, J.S. Johnson, Richard E. Kalk, Wayne King Sr., Dudley Knight, Maryann Krakow, Bob Lauher, Norma Lee, David Lipp, Jay W. MacIntosh, E. Jack Neuman, Douglas T. O'Dell, Tim O'Denning, Danny 'Big Black' Rey, Richard Sarradet, Jeffrey Sayre, Christopher Seitz, Ken Smedberg, Nick St. Nicholas, Michael Stearns, Jack Tesler, Russell Thorson, Tom Tolbert, Dino Washington, John Sylvester White, Clint Young.

On this day in movie history - Monster’s Ball (2001)

Monster’s Ball

directed by Marc Forster,

written by Milo Addica and Will Rokos,

released at the American Film Institute (AFI) festival in the United States on November 11, 2001.

Music by Asche and Spencer.

Cast:

Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger, Peter Boyle, Coronji Calhoun, Sean Combs, Mos Def, Charles Cowan Jr., Taylor LaGrange, Taylor Simpson, Gabrielle Witcher, Amber Rules, Anthony Bean, Francine Segal, John McConnell, Marcus Lyle Brown, Milo Addica, Leah Loftin, Larry Lee, Troy Poret, Paul Smith, Marshall Cain, Will Rokos, Anthony Michael Frederick, John Wilmot, Dennis Clements, Stephanie Claire, James Haven, Ritchie Montgomery, Clara Hopkins Daniels, Carol Sutton, Bernard Johnson, Hulon E. Crayton II, Jeanette Kontomitras, Earl Maddox, Anthony Marble.

On this day in movie history - Beat the Devil (2021)

Beat the Devil

directed and written by David Hare,

based on the monologue play by David Hare,

was released in the United Kingdom on November 11, 2021.

Music by George Fenton.

Cast:

Ralph Fiennes.

On this day in music history - The album Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya, by Enya (1997)

Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya

by Enya

was released on November 11, 1997.

On this day in music history - The album Winter Poem, by Secret Garden (2011)

Winter Poem

by Secret Garden

was released on November 11, 2011.