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.
Escape from our weary world for the adventure of a lifetime. This epic Australian film from over 4 decades ago has it all. Romance, music and scenery to die for, and arguably the best and most thrilling horse chase in film history. I will never forget it, and neither did others who have seen it.
Read MoreIn his first Western Director Howard Hawks captures the Wild West in a profound way. It’s not shootouts at the OK corral, but a desperate Texas cattle baron who will do whatever it takes to survive. If that means branding over a neighbor’s cows, shooting gunslingers who dispute his right to the land, or even horsewhipping his own cowboys and threatening to hang deserters, then so be it.
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No wonder it was banned in China, and its director and star were placed under gag orders. To Live depicts all too well the brutal upheavals of the communist revolution in this poignant saga of one family trying to survive its embrace.
Read MoreJust 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.
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“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 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 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 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.
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Finally, a love story for grownups. It’s Downton Abbey without all the pomp and circumstance and a heroine who is not afraid to get her hands dirty.
Read MoreClick on Index to access SEARCH
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.
