Mary Louise Eklund

Category: Tuesday Thoughts

  • Tuesday Thoughts – Podcast For This Month’s Listening

    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    These three give you plenty to ponder. Two are shows that both ficional and nonfictional.  Black Tapes is a fictional tale that sets itself as real – think Blair Witch style.  Generation Why goes into strange questions looking for information then triest to separate facts from fiction.  Finally the Trial Went Cold is all true, real cases that are cold but deserve answers.

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  • Happy Anniversary Mike!

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    Happy Anniversary to my partner in life. I’ve been Mary Louise Eklund over a decade longer than I was Mary Louise Bright. Sure marriage is work in some ways the hardest part for me were the seperations when he had to answer the needs of the Navy. I find every day life with him is so much more comfortable and right than without. I’ve always tried to support him in all his endeavors. I can firmly say he’s always supported me in mine even when he doesn’t understand why or exactly what I’m doing. Then again that’s love isn’t it letting each other be themselves and being stronger when you are together. So here’s to many more years with my better half.

  • Tuesday Thoughts – 37th Parallel by Ben Mezrich

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    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    Ben Mezrich writes books by looking at things most of society didn’t notice. His book on how Facebook starter The Accidental Billionaires or his one on how MIT ruled poker tables at casinos Bring Down The House made us aware of the stories we’d missed. When I heard he was taking on unexplained phenomena in a new book I went looking. He’s never part of the world he writes about but he gets to know it as an outsider then explains it to us, the other outsiders. I’ll admit I’m not an outsider on reading about and pondering the unexplained. So the things in The 37th Parallel didn’t shock or surprise me. This time I wanted to see how he treated the topic. In the end it was how he treated his subject that intrigued me more as a reader.

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  • Tuesday Thoughts – Black Mass

    black-mass-poster
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    Among my odd interests there is the one that finds organized crime intriguing. How those who are not concerned about laws make a business of breaking them. There are many types of crime organizations but when it comes to Whitey Bulger and his Winter Hill Gang of Boston working with FBI agents was unique. Then his being on the run for so long was also unprecedented. Needless to say I knew the story before we sat down to watch the movie. I was wary with Johnny Depp playing Whitey but… not as much as Benedict Cumberbatch playing the political office holding brother.

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  • Happy Birthday Patricia My BFF For Life

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    Patricia and I have been BFFs since 5th grade for me, 4th grade for her. This photo is from 2006 when we met in Chicago with our kids and took the Gangster Tour. She’s as silly as I am. Her lack of sense of direction but ability to find cardinal points on the compass compliments my sense of finding things via landmarks and gut feeling while never being able to point to North. We enjoyed taking weekends away each year when the kids were growing up. I’m heading down to Hollywood Florida to see here sometime around the first of the year. In the meantime go wish Patricia a very happy birthday on her Facebook account.

  • Tuesday Thoughts – Mystery makes these Podcasts

    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    I like mysteries. I like ones that are eventually solved and those not yet solved. I prefer real life mysteries but do enjoy a good fictional one now and again. However to feed my love of real life ones I listen to many podcasts and these are among those that answer that interest.

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  • Tuesday Thoughts – Dr. Mutter’s Marvels by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

    dr-mutter
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    Every Halloween I see articles about  The Mutter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The piece usually plays up the ‘creepy’ and ‘macabre’ aspects of the collection. While I owe a debt to one of these articles for making me aware of the museum I feel they do a disservice to what the museum really was and is – a teaching collection. It’s a tribute to the human body’s amazing diversity and endurance. The cases documented there are stunning and were collected to teach physicians of yesterday and today how to do no harm but help. So when I saw the book Dr. Mutter’s Marvels I was drawn to it. I wanted to know the history of the collection and the cases documented within. However, when I picked up the book I learned it was Dr. Mutter’s biography. My disappointment didn’t last through the introduction. The man is as riveting today as his collections.

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  • Tuesday Thoughts – The Night Manager

    night-manager
    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    I’ve always been a fan of John le Carre (whose real name is David Cornwell) novels. I like how sometimes in the spy stories there are no winners. I like the subtle shifts in them. I think he does wonders on the page. At times there are great movies from his work Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy comes to mind. Others are just okay Tailor of Panama (see Daniel Radcliffe before he was Harry). So I was ambivalent when I heard that Night Manager was coming to the small screen as a miniseries and updated to modern day.

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  • Tuesday Thoughts – More Podcasts Worth a Listen

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    Blind Stenographer using dictaphone from the Library of Congress collection. The image has no known copyright.

    My listening is as diverse as my reading. I’m not a big music person but I love a good story. So when walking, cleaning, driving, grocery shopping, or whatever you’ll find me listening to either an audiobook or podcast. I subscribe to around 30 podcasts at any given time. There are always new ones I’m trying out for those that podfade. Currently here are three I enjoy now – two are crimal based one isn’t but all are strange in an interesting manner.

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  • Tuesday Thoughts – Cartelland

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    The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique The required US legal disclaimer: All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique

    It’s been a few months since I watched this riveting documentary. Still I find myself thinking about it and just what did I take away from it. It is about the drug cartels in Mexico. It follows two men, one on each side of the border. Both are trying to protect people from the violence of the cartels.

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