The Introverted Detective

 I'm back to researching after the holiday season ended. Here's another Silly Symphony. This was made in 1932 and features two trees having a romance.  Courtesy of Pinterest.com The Silly Symphony cartoons seem to have less dialogue than I expect. What this one excelled at was telling a story of two trees romancing, with no words at all. It is all visual with an orchestra behind it. I loved it. Let's count the ways.  What I loved about it This was a feast for the eyes. While The Old Mill was better, this was still amazing. You see the whole story portrayed in visuals alone, with the musical support behind it to reflect the scene. The conflict between dead evil tree and nice tree is laid out before you in a way that everyone can understand.  A toddler could watch this and understand it. This makes it family friendly. While I do think some media doesn't have to be family friendly (example, Lonesome Dove), cartoons of the 1930s were aimed at the whole family. The parent...

 I love the In Death series of suspense novels (written by JD Robb). I collect them. This is one of the smaller books. Let's talk about a return serial killer and a Christmas spent solving crime.  Eve Dallas is having a Christmas of love and new traditions with her husband Roarke, until a serial killer named Dave - specializing in torturing people for long periods of time - gets out of the mental health facility to get back at the people who put him away. He leaves the judge of his trial in a public area and kicks off an investigation that interrupts Eve's Christmas celebration.  Thoughts This was a shorter read, a ten-chapter read that reminded me how much I loved this series. I don't have anything negative to say. I won't spoil it. These do have a formula if I remember the series correctly. Eve is in some sort of danger, as always. In this case, she's on Dave's hit list.  It was only ten chapters. This one was compelling and short. If you need a quick suspense...

 Here's to the only Bond novel that made me cry. Let's talk about On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Blofeld's personal attack against James Bond.  This was a five star read. Yes, Fleming fantasized some dialogue from Tracy, but otherwise it was one of the best Ian Fleming Bond novels. I expect some sexist moments from him because every book has proved to have one or two. He wrote this in 1963 and grew up in the 1950s, a sexist era if I ever had to name one.  The plot of this one is James Bond meeting a woman named Tracy at a familiar casino (the one from Casino Royale). He then makes a deal with her father (after a surprise meeting) for information on Blofeld. After finding out that Blofeld sought a high title, he pretends to investigate such things as someone from that office, meeting Blofeld at a ski resort of Blofeld's making. He finds out Blofeld's researching allergies in some rural young women and escapes the place (after someone accidentally blew his co...

 This year's TBR was mostly rolled over from last year's list. I have learned that DNF-ing (Do Not Finish) a book is not a crime. Instead, it opens you up to more books you'll enjoy. Let's look at how the TBR went.  This year I knocked out about half the TBR, opting to not follow it after I was in a reading flow. In my reading flow, I decided I had no trouble deciding on what to read next and didn't need the guidance. Surprisingly, most of the books I read were picked up on a whim. I threw some challenges in this year, as usual.  Challenges The library challenge is when a book must come from a physical or digital library. Easy challenge, especially if you are not sure of some books and want to test-drive them before you buy them. It pays to see if your local library has a copy.  The One-Shelf challenge is picking a shelf, then limiting your reading options to what is on that shelf. It means you read what you have. It's an easy way to attempt reading only what yo...

 If you like a cute little owl singing Jazz, you'll like this. It's a Merrie Melodies cartoon about a young owl that likes to sing Jazz, gets kicked out, and goes viral over the radio. His cute little owl family hears him and they run to support him.  Courtesy of themoviedb.org This was so cute, but I had to go to Vimeo to find it. YouTube gave me trouble with finding it.  Here is the link to the one I watched.   If this link doesn't work, comment below.  What I loved about it There is nothing to dislike here. A cute little owl family comes around to liking Jazz. They hatch some owl eggs, get multiple little musicians, and one of them is singing Jazz. The others are singing opera, playing violin, and playing flute. They try to teach him not to sing Jazz, but instead, the father kicks him out. The mother calls the police to go find him. It sounds like the owls are Italian.  After a hilarious depiction of the Gong Show, our little owl (Owl Jolsen) succeeds in...

 I found this before, but didn't review it. This had enough cursed ghosts in it that any child would probably want to turn it off. The song is typical jazz you might hear in a jazz club, but the ghosts chasing Bimbo the dog are something else.  Courtesy of paramountcartoons.fandom.com This is a 1930 cartoon about Bimbo trying to steal a chicken, running away into a cemetery, then getting haunted by all the ghosts in the cemetery that want to kill him. Yep, Fleischer has more cursed content to give. I found this, then realized I'd found it long before. This is the second time I've seen it. It's still a little strange, even after all the Fleischer I've taken in.  The Good I did find some good in this, and that was the music. I was swaying to the jazz without thinking about it. Listening to the song alone is okay (despite some of the dialogue being about Bimbo's death). If you've ever swayed along to a song naturally, you'll know the music is not the proble...