Often been surprised by a movie after what a film critic said about it? Ever felt cheated out of big bucks on the recommendations of a punk 24-year-old? Or really loved the ones they panned? Well, you no longer need to feel out of step with the current movie review band. Different Drummer is for you. Read more about our take on the film world. And get ready to relive your favorite movies with the recipes that follow each review. You can find many other great recipes in Different Drummer’s own Appetite for Murder: a Mystery Lover’s Cookbook, too.
Just change the point of view and “the greatest story ever told” becomes new and fresh again. This time it is the disciples, uneducated and often lost and confused, who frame this exquisite narrative about Jesus.
Read MoreThink Father Brown time warped back about 8 centuries. Cadfael’s not a priest but a 12th century monk who solves medieval mysteries.
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This isn’t just a slap in the face to the glamorized intrigue of the spy world; it’s a punch in the gut, a leveling one that bends you over and leaves you groaning. An unflinching portrait of moral compromise that slowly eats away at a man’s soul, whether he is on the right side or not.
Read MoreThis 1987 film is even better than I remembered. Action, adventure, and a superb cast of characters who gain courage from each other as they fight against entrenched corruption both inside and outside the law.
Read More“Four weeks that changed the course of history.” It doesn’t get much bigger than that. If you missed this tremendous film when it was in the theaters, watch it now!
Read MoreThis 2011 Oscar winner is an examination of a British class system that clamps its iron jaws on kings as well as commoners, grinding both beneath its stiff upper lip. It’s not so much a wonder that the king stammers, but that everyone else does not.
Read MoreThis 1945 classic delves into the unconscious to uncover a crime. All the clues are locked in the memory of a profoundly disturbed amnesiac who may or may not be a murderer.
Read MorePaul Newman, so young and gorgeous in this 1967 epic, fills the screen by trying not to in this tale of a likeable yet self-destructive rebel.
Read MoreKnowing that it would probably never get by the PC police today, we enjoy this film even more today; it has the delightful lure of forbidden fruit.
Read MoreThis critical and box office success has as much action as the Bond or the Furious franchises, and it was all done 6 decades ago. Along the way, in between evading trigger-happy Nazis, a hull-crushing storm at sea, and a dizzying climb up a sheer black wall made extra dangerous by the storm, the characters have time for some pretty insightful ruminations on the ethics of war.
Read MoreIt’s official. Hollywood has its Mojo back. (At least it did in this 2014 epic.) Thanks to Brad Pitt, it’s now okay to be a macho warrior, even outside the realm of the Marvel movie franchise.
Read MoreTom Clancy. Harrison Ford in his heyday. What’s not to like? Take a trip back a few decades to a world a little more sane. A narrative not preachy, not edgy, and completely devoid of the nihilism that seems to have taken up permanent residence in today’s Hollywood.
Read MoreDid you know Ian Fleming, the famed author who created 007, was a real spy who cut his teeth on one of the biggest deceptions of WWII? Operation Mincemeat, as it was dubbed with typical English gallows humor, involved “the most unlikely of secret agents,” a corpse.
Read MoreTruth and Illusion. You won’t always know the difference as the American Revolution comes roaring to life on screen in blood red, patriot blue, and cowardly white. Lust and loyalty, betrayal and bravery, deception and death – they are all there in a kaleidoscope of images that bleed into each other.
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Probably the most significant Holocaust film ever made, with Steven Spielberg using his directorial clout to raise awareness of one of the worst atrocities of the last century. Over a quarter of a century later, Schindler’s List is even more relevant today.
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Appetite for Murder: A Mystery Lover’s Cookbook
Also available here
by Kathy Borich
A tantalizing slant on cooking and crime. Relive your favorite classic detective stories and then whip up the food that caught the culprit.
"Look, you don't have to go to law school to figure out there's something very, very wrong at Lady Bird Lake," Nancy Grace says in the episode's opening of her “Austin Serial Killer Fears” episode. She even derides the police who refer to the events as “unfortunate incidents.” Yes, she is a bit over the top, and some of her guests are so called experts not really familiar with the Austin area or the specific cases, but she does have a point.
Move along everyone. There’s nothing to see here. That seems to be the escalating nonchalance citizens are getting from the Austin Police Department regarding the 12 bodies that have been found in or very near Ladybird Lake in Austin Texas in the past 22 months. The last three - one February 6th , another April 9th, and a third on April 13th have not even been identified.
Different Drummer herself has noticed the weak city response in terms of safety measures as she and her husband ride past the Rainey Area near Lady Bird Lake. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. What good are some pallid lights and a split rail fence if there are big gaps with only a sign to warn those of danger? Certainly, someone drunk, as may or may not be the case, probably would or could not read it.
Update: They are beginning to install electricty along the path for better lightning as of April 2024
February 6, 2024
“A body was found Monday, Feb. 6, 2024, in a Texas lake, the same site where other deceased individuals have been discovered in recent months, authorities said.
“At least five people have been found dead at the lake, which is a portion of the Colorado River running through downtown Austin, since last year.” –Louis Casiano, Fox News
The body is that of a woman, which differs from the previous drownings, all of which were men around age 30. As usual, the police are mum and saying there are no signs of foul play, but what else is new? –DD
Different Drummer will keep you informed as further details emerge. Below is the area where the recent body was found.
In 2023 alone, five bodies have been found in in Lady Bird Lake, and according to local reports, as many as eight in the past 10 months.
Different Drummer and her husband Gary have been biking this trail around the lake for decades. They live in the thick of it, on a quaint tree-lined street across the river from the glittering Austin Skyline.
Follow our two Cycling Sleuths chronicle where their path crosses those who did not return home to their loved ones.
Smiley Face Connection: February 2024 Update: Another Body Found
The Serpent’s Tooth: A Texas Mystery
Austin is now the trendy number one city, but back in the eighties it was more laid back – not so many skyscrapers and urban hipsters. Just outside of town, you'd be likely to run into old cowboys, ranch hands, and a diamondback or two. And just maybe – an accidental death not as accidental as it seems…
Complete with Texas Recipes for the Oktoberfest Dinner where all is revealed.
An Illustrated Introduction to Classical Horsemanship: Concepts and Skills from A to Z
by Gary Borich
A comprehensive resource in a succinct alphabetical format that brings the beginning rider through every aspect of learning to train and ride for show and trail.
