One good turn deserves another, so here is a quick review of James Ellroy’s LA Confidential.
Even if you saw the movie, read LA Confidential. The book is very, very good, even better than the movie.
The Big Nowhere (video review)
James Ellroy is one of my favorite novelists and his book, The Big Nowhere is near the top of the list when it comes to detective/crime fiction. Here’s a brief video review.
If you’re looking to read one the great stories of the past century, look into Ellroy’s “LA Quartet” as it has come to be know. It begins with The Black Dahlia, moves on to The Big Nowhere, continues with LA Confidential, and wraps up with White Jazz. I’ll be reviewing the other books soon here at the video blog.
John’s Roast Pork, video review
It’s been too long since I last posted about John’s Roast Pork. And it’s been a much longer time since I first stopped in here with my friend, the captain. He was the one who took me from our side of South Philadelphia to the other side for a roast pork sandwich that became my gold standard. That was 20 years ago this month. I’ve been plugging my arteries ever since. Here’s a video review of the place.
I hope to interview John himself one of these days and also his mother, Vonda, who with her husband John, started this institution back in the 1930’s. Seriously, if you want a cheesesteak or a roast pork sandwich, go nowhere else. Go to John’s.
Pattern Flying
It looked like it would be another good day to go flying. Weather reports indicated the visibility was fair and getting better. So, I worked up a flight plan, headed to the airport, and rolled out the Cessna 172, looking forward to a day above the ground. As soon as I took off, the conditions were worse than had been reported. Sure, it might have been “good enough” for someone else, but these were below my minimums, mostly because of the mist. When you’re flying, you have to consider the worst case. Sure the visibility at cruising altitude may be legal, but what if you can’t see large portions of the ground due to mist and fog. You lose an engine and down you come, landing in what? You don’t know what. Not good. Hence, upon seeing the conditions didn’t suit the mission, I ended up flying pattern, which is always good practice. Here’s the video:
After a few laps around the patch, practicing short field takeoff and soft field landings, I headed back to the hangar. Sometimes, that’s how it goes. (By the way, those stripes you see on the video are due to an anomaly created by the spinning propeller and the shutter speed of the video camera.)
