Friday, December 5, 2025

On this day in the Star Trek universe - The Next Generation (1988)

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 2. Episode 3.

Episode entitled: Elementary, Dear Data.

Released December 5, 1988.

Directed by Rob Bowman.

Written by Brian Alan Lane, inspired by characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Dennis McCarthy.

Cast:
Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Diana Muldaur, Daniel Davis, Alan Shearman, Biff Manard, Diz White, Anne Elizabeth Ramsay, Richard Merson, Rosemarie Baio, Majel Barrett, Michael Braveheart, Jeffrey Deacon, Guy Vardaman, Mark Wilson.

On this day in television history - Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021)

Blade Runner: Black Lotus
Season 1. Episode 5.

Episode entitled: Pressure.

Released December 5, 2021.

Developed by Kenji Kamiyama, Shinji Aramaki.

Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, Shinji Aramaki.

Written by Brandon Auman, Margaret Dunlap, Eugene Son, Alex de Campi.

Based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

Opening theme: Feel You Now by Alessia Cara.

Music by Michael Hodges, Gerald Trottman.

Cast:
Jessica Henwick, Will Yun Lee, Brian Cox, Wes Bentley, Samira Wiley, Josh Duhamel, Barkhad Abdi, Stephen Root, Peyton List, Zehra Fazal, Keith Ferguson, Sunil Malhotra, Shinshû Fuji, Takaya Hashi, Takako Honda, Takayuki Kinba, Takehito Koyasu, Taiten Kusunoki, Tony Nakajima, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Arisa Shida, Hôchû Ôtsuka.

On this day in music history - The album Sketches, by Michele McLaughlin (2020)


Sketches


by Michele McLaughlin

was released on December 5, 2020.

Track list:

At First Sight; Hope; One Life; Waiting; The Traveler; Farewell Little Love; Forever Yours; The Right Choice; The Long Night; Relief; Home at Last; Lost; Unshakeable.

Thursday, December 4, 2025

Raymond Chandler, on writing:


The most durable thing in writing is style,
and style is the most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.

It pays off slowly,
your agent will sneer at it,
your publisher will misunderstand it,
and it will take people you have never heard of to convince them by slow degrees that the writer who puts his individual mark on the way he writes will always pay off.

- Raymond Chandler.


Born on this day – Lloyd Bacon:


Lloyd Baco
n


Actor

Director

December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955
Credits:
3 Cheers for the Irish (1940); 42nd Street (1933); 50 Million Frenchmen (1931); 6 Day Bike Rider (1934); A Child Is Born (1939); A Christmas Revenge (1915); A Dark Room Secret (1917); A Hotel Disgrace (1917); A Jitney Elopement (1915); A Night in the Show (1915); A Notorious Affair (1930); A Playwright's Wrong (1918); A Prodigal Bridegroom (1926); A Quiet Little Game (1915); A Rainy Knight (1925); A Safe Proposition (1916); A Sailor's Sweetheart (1927); A Sea Serpent's Desire (1918); A Slight Case of Murder (1938); A Very Honorable Guy (1934); A Waiting Game (1916); Action in the North Atlantic (1943); Affectionately Yours (1941); Afraid to Be False (1917); Alias the Doctor (1932); An Innocent Affair (1948); Behind the Screen (1916); Boy Meets Girl (1938); Brass Knuckles (1927); Broadway Gondolier (1935); Broken Hearts of Hollywood (1926); Broncho Billy and the Card Sharp (1915); Broncho Billy and the Land Grabber (1915); Broncho Billy and the Lumber King (1915); Broncho Billy and the Posse (1915); Broncho Billy Begins Life Anew (1915); Broncho Billy Evens Matters (1915); Broncho Billy Misled (1915); Broncho Billy Steps In (1915); Broncho Billy's Brother (1915); Broncho Billy's Cowardly Brother (1915); Broncho Billy's Greaser Deputy (1915); Broncho Billy's Love Affair (1915); Broncho Billy's Marriage (1915); Broncho Billy's Protégé (1915); Brother Orchid (1940); Butter Fingers (1926); Cain and Mabel (1936); Call Me Mister (1951); Captain Eddie (1945); Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938); Crooner (1932); Devil Dogs of the Air (1935); Don't Fail (1924); Easy Street (1917); Empty Heads (1924); Espionage Agent (1939); Ever Since Eve (1937); Extra! Extra! (1923); F.O.B. (1923); Finger Prints (1927); Fireman, Save My Child! (1932); Footlight Parade (1933); Footsteps in the Dark (1941); Frisco Kid (1935); Give My Regards to Broadway (1948); Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936); Gold Dust Gertie (1931); Golden Girl (1951); Good Morning (1924); Good Morning, Madam! (1925); Good Morning, Nurse (1925); Hands Off! (1921); He Was Her Man (1934); He Who Gets Smacked (1925); Hearts and Masks (1921); Her Lesson (1916); Here Comes the Navy (1934); His Fatal Move (1917); His Regeneration (1915); His Taking Ways (1917); His Thankless Job (1917); Home, Sweet Homicide (1946); Honeymoon for Three (1941); Honky Tonk (1929); Honor of the Family (1931); Hurry, Doctor! (1925); I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947); In Caliente (1935); In the Park (1915); Indianapolis Speedway (1939); Invisible Stripes (1939); Isn't Love Cuckoo? (1925); It Happened in Snakeville (1915); It Happens Every Spring (1949); Kill the Umpire (1950); Killing Time (1924); Knute Rockne All American (1940); Larceny, Inc (1942); Love's Languid Lure (1927); Manhattan Parade (1931); Marked Woman (1937); Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933); Meet My Girl (1926); Merrymakers (1925); Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949); Miss Nobody (1920); Miss Pinkerton (1932); Moby Dick (1930); Mother Is a Freshman (1949); Navy Blues (1941); No Defense (1929); No Luck (1923); Pay as You Enter (1928); Pearls and Perils (1917); Picture Snatcher (1933); Private Izzy Murphy (1926); Racket Busters (1938); Radio Romeo (1923); San Quentin (1937); Say It with Songs (1929); She Couldn't Say No (1930); She Couldn't Say No (1953); Silver Queen (1942); Sit Tight (1931); Smith's Customer (1927); Smith's Vacation (1926); Smudge (1922); Snakeville's Champion (1915); So Long Letty (1929); Son of a Sailor (1933); Sons o' Guns (1936); Square Deal Sanderson (1919); Stark Mad (1929); Submarine D-1 (1937); Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944); Take Your Time (1925); Taking the Count (1916); The Bachelor's Burglar (1915); The Bank (1915); The Blue Bonnet (1919); The Book Agent's Romance (1916); The Broken Gate (1920); The Burglar's Godfather (1915); The Champion (1915); The Convict's Threat (1915); The Educator (1922); The Escape of Broncho Billy (1915); The Famous Ferguson Case (1932); The Feud (1919); The Fighting Sullivans (1944); The Fireman (1916); The Floorwalker (1916); The French Line (1953); The Frogmen (1951); The Fuller Brush Girl (1950); The Funnymooners (1926); The Girl in the Rain (1920); The Good Humor Man (1950); The Grave Undertaking (1917); The Great Sioux Uprising (1953); The Greater Profit (1921); The Heart of Maryland (1927); The Host (1923); The House of Intrigue (1919); The I Don't Care Girl (1953); The Irish in Us (1935); The Kentucky Colonel (1920); The Lion and the Mouse (1928); The Midlanders (1920); The Mills Brothers in Broadway Gondolier (1935); The Night That Sophie Graduated (1915); The Office Wife (1930); The Oklahoma Kid (1939); The Optimist (1923); The Optimist (1923); The Other Tomorrow (1930); The Question of Today (1928); The Raspberry Romance (1925); The Rink (1916); The Road Demon (1921); The Singing Fool (1928); The Speeder (1922); The Tramp (1915); The Vagabond (1916); The Wild Goose Chaser (1925); The Window Dummy (1925); There He Goes (1925); Two Laughs (1917); Two Lips in Holland (1926); Uneasy Feet (1923); Vagabond Luck (1919); Versus Sledge Hammers (1915); Wagon Tracks (1919); Wake Up and Dream (1946); Walking My Baby Back Home (1953); Wedding Showers (1924); When Snakeville Struck Oil (1915); White Flannels (1927); Wide Open Faces (1926); Wine, Women and Song (1915); Wings for the Eagle (1942); Wings of the Navy (1939); Women They Talk About (1928); Wonder Bar (1934); You Said a Mouthful (1932); You Were Meant for Me (1948). 

Born on this day – Vedah Bertram:


Vedah Bertram


Actress

December 4, 1891 – August 26, 1912


Born on this day – Cornell Woolrich:


Cornell Woolrich


Writer

December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968

Credits:

Books:

Cover Charge (1926); Children of the Ritz (1927); Times Square (1929); A Young Man's Heart (1930); The Time of Her Life (1931);  Manhattan Love Song (1932); The Bride Wore Black (aka Beware the Lady) (1940); The Black Curtain (1941); The Black Alibi (1942); Phantom Lady (1942); The Black Angel (1943); The Black Path of Fear (1944); Deadline at Dawn (1944); Night has a Thousand Eyes (1945); Waltz into Darkness (1947); I Married a Dead Man (1948); Rendezvous in Black (1948); Fright (1950); Savage Bride (1950); Marihuana (1951); Strangler's Serenade (1951); You'll Never See Me Again (1951); Hotel Room (1958); Death is my Dancing Partner (1959); The Doom Stone (1960); Into the Night (1987); Nightmare (1956); Violence (1958); Beyond the Night (1959); The Ten Faces of Cornell Woolrich (1965); The Dark Side of Love (1965); Nightwebs (1971); Angels of Darkness (1978); The Fantastic Stories of Cornell Woolrich (1981); Four by Cornell Woolrich (1983); Rear Window (1984); Vampire's Honeymoon (1985); Blind Date With Death (1985); Darkness at Dawn (1985); Night and Fear (2003); Tonight Somewhere in New York (2005); Love and Night (2011); Death in the Air (2020); Senor Flatfoot (2020); All at Once, No Alice (2020); The Drugstore Cowboy (2020); Hot Water (2020); Dilemma of the Dead Lady (2020); The Cornell Woolrich Omnibus (1998); Four Novellas of Fear (2010); Speak to Me of Death (1935); The Screaming Laugh (1938); Through a Dead Man's Eye (1939); Somebody's Clothes-Somebody's Life (1958).

Movies and television:

A Intrusa (1962); Aa bakudan (1964); Actor's Studio (1949); Akai shisen (1980); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1956–1958); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1986); Arde, María, arde (1978); Armchair Theatre (1959); Bire on vardi (1963); Black Angel (1946); Children of the Ritz (1929); Climax! (1956); Cloak & Dagger (1984); Colgate Theatre (1950); Convicted (1938); Corsa in discesa (1989); Darkroom (1982); Deadline at Dawn (1946); Die Unschuld der Krähen (1998); Dro itsureba gantiadisas (1965); El ojo de cristal (1956); El pendiente (1951); Escapade (1957); Fall Guy (1947); Fallen Angels (1993–1995); Fear in the Night (1946); Fearful Dream (1966); Ficciones (1974); Four Star Playhouse (1956); General Electric Theater (1957); Gran Teatro (1960); Grande Teatro Tupi (1956); Gun Moll (1975); Hanayome wa nemurenai: Gôu no naka no shussan (1987); Histoires insolites (1979); Hit List (2009); House of Horror (1929); I Married a Shadow (1983); I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948); If I Should Die Before I Wake (1952); I'm Dangerous Tonight (1990); Intrigues (1985); Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1956); Journey to the Unknown (1968); Kamen no hanayome - Kurayami e no waltz (1981); Kuroi kâten (1982); La huella de unos labios (1952); La noche al hablar (1964); Les yeux qui hurlent (1973); Lights Out (1952); Lux Video Theatre (1954–1957); Manhattan Love Song (1934); Manhunt (1951); Martha (1974); Mississippi Mermaid (1969); Moment of Fear (1960); Mrs. Winterbourne (1996); Nash Airflyte Theatre (1950); Never Open That Door (1952); Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948); Nightmare (1956); No Man of Her Own (1950); Obsession (1954); Original Sin (2001); Phantom Lady (1944); Playhouse 90 (1956); Polis 3 (2001); Primera fila (1965); Rear Window (1954 / 1998); Rendez-vous en noir (1977); Robert Montgomery Presents (1950–1951); Schlitz Playhouse (1958); Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972); Seven Footprints to Satan (1929); She's No Angel (2002); Shisha to no kekkon (1960); Sít na bludicku (1983); Stage 7 (1955); Street of Chance (1942); Studio 57 (1957); Suspense (1949–1950); Suspicion (1957); The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962); The Best in Mystery (1954); The Boris Karloff Mystery Playhouse (1949); The Boy Cried Murder (1966); The Bride Wore Black (1968); The Chase (1946); The Ford Television Theatre (1955); The George Sanders Mystery Theater (1957); The Guilty (1947); The Haunted House (1928); The Hunger (1997–2000); The Leopard Man (1943); The Mark of the Whistler (1944); The Mask (1954); The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (1953); The Return of the Whistler (1948); The Revlon Mirror Theater (1953); The Silver Theatre (1949); The Web (1957); The Window (1949); Théâtre d'une heure (1966); Thriller (1961); Tras la puerta cerrada (1964–1965); TV de Vanguarda (1954); TV Teatro (1959); Union City (1980); Vikno navproti (1991); Yoru no wana (1967); You'll Never See Me Again (1973 / 1986); Your Play Time (1954).

Recommended reading:

 
Four Novellas of Fear

by Cornell Woolrich.
 
Paperback.
First published 2010.
Published by A. J. Cornell Publications.

ISBN-10: 0972743987
ISBN-13: 978-0972743983
 
Contents: Eyes That Watch You, The Night I Died, You'll Never See Me Again, Murder Always Gathers Momentum.
 
Description:
 
Cornell Woolrich, best known as the author of "Rear Window," is unsurpassed in his ability to create and sustain sheer suspense. In his tales of terror, ordinary people find themselves in the most extraordinary circumstances and, as readers, we share their spine-tingling tension every step of the way. Here, collected for the first time, are four of his most nail-biting novellas.
 
Eyes That Watch You
Greedy Vera Miller plots her husband’s murder right under the nose of her mute, paralyzed mother-in-law. After all, the old lady won’t be able to tell anyone about the crime. Or will she?
 
The Night I Died
Nice guy Ben Cook, goaded by his scheming common-law wife, fakes his own suicide and moves to another town all to trick his life insurance company into making a large payout. No one en route or at the new address will recognize him, will they?
 
You’ll Never See Me Again
Ed Bliss’s new bride, miffed by her husband’s insults about her biscuits, promises that Ed will never have to see her again and storms out! When she doesn t return within a few days, Ed begins to suspect foul play but when he reports the crime to the police, he’s the first one they suspect!
 
Murder Always Gathers Momentum
For his wife’s sake, Dick Paine approaches a former employer for back wages he is owed but things go terribly wrong and the old boss ends up dead. Now the guilt-ridden Paine, who’d never before committed a crime, is convinced that people will figure out what happened. As his paranoia gathers momentum, anyone he meets is at risk of becoming his next victim.


Cornell Woolrich from Pulp Noir to Film Noir

by Thomas C. Renzi

Published 2006.

Published by McFarland.

Illustrated edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 078642351X

ISBN-13: 978-0786423514

Description:

Extremely popular and prolific in the 1930s and 1940s, Cornell Woolrich still has diehard fans who thrive on his densely packed descriptions and his spellbinding premises. A contemporary of Hammett and Chandler, he competed with them for notoriety in the pulps and became the single most adapted writer for films of the noir period. Perhaps the most famous film adaptation of a Woolrich story is Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954). Even today, his work is still onscreen; Michael Cristofer’s Original Sin (2001) is based on one of his tales.

This book offers a detailed analysis of many of Woolrich’s novels and short stories; examines films adapted from these works; and shows how Woolrich’s techniques and themes influenced the noir genre. Twenty-two stories and 30 films compose the bulk of the study, though many other additions of films noirs are also considered because of their relevance to Woolrich’s plots, themes and characters. The introduction includes a biographical sketch of Woolrich and his relationship to the noir era, and the book is illustrated with stills from Woolrich’s noir classics.