Wednesday, 12 November 2025

Telephoning The Fish






“Do you know the fellows that found her in The River?” 


Jabbo Franklin and his brother, Bubba.” 


“What do they do?” 


Fight at The Moose, make fun of people that’s not bothering them — someone just comes in The Moose after a simple drink, worn out from looking at the bereaved all day, and it’s ‘Set down there, Lamar, and play “Filipino Baby.”’ Make a person play ‘Filipino Baby’ over and over on that sticky old bar piano. That’s what Jabbo likes. ‘Well, make up some damn words if you don’t know it,’ he says, ‘and make the damn thing rhyme this time.’ He gets a check from the Veterans and goes to dry out at the VA around Christmas. I been looking for him on this table for fifteen years.” 


“We’ll need serotonin tests on the fishhook punctures,” Crawford said. “I’m sending the pathologist a note.” 


Them hooks are too close together,” Lamar said. 


“What did you say?” 


“The Franklins was running a trotline with the hooks too close together. It’s A Violation. That’s prob’ly why they didn’t call it in until this morning.” 


“The Sheriff said they were duck hunters.” 


“I expect they did tell him that,” Lamar said. “They’ll tell you they wrestled Duke Keomuka in Honolulu one time too, tag team with Satellite Monroe. You can believe that too, if you feel like it. Grab a croaker sack and they’ll take you on a snipe hunt too, if you favor snipe. Give you a glass of billiards with it.” 


“What do you think happened, Lamar?” 


The Franklins was running this trotline, it’s their trotline with these unlawful hooks, and they was pulling it up to see if they had any fish.” 


“Why do you think so?” 


“This lady’s not near ready to float.” 


“No.” 


“Then if they hadna been pulling up on the trotline they never would have found her. They prob’ly went off scared and finally called in. I expect you’ll want the game warden in on this.” 


“I expect so,” Crawford said. 


“Lots of times they’ve got a crank telephone behind the seat in their Ramcharger, that’s a big fine right there, if you don’t have to go to the pen.” 


Crawford raised his eyebrows. 


To telephone fish with,” Starling said. “Stun the fish with electric current when you hang the wires in the water and turn the crank. They come to the top and you just dip ’em out.” 


“Right,” Lamar said, “are you from around here?” 


“They do it lots of places,” Starling said. 


Starling felt the urge to say something before they zipped up the bag, to make a gesture or express some kind of commitment. In the end, she just shook her head and got busy packing the samples into her case. It was different with the body and problem out of sight. In this slack moment, what she’d been doing came in on her. Starling stripped off her gloves and turned the water on in the sink. 


With her back to the room, she ran water over her wrists. The water in the pipes wasn’t all that cool. Lamar, watching, disappeared into the hall. He came back from the Coke machine with an ice-cold can of soda, unopened, and offered it to her. 


“No, thanks,” Starling said. “I don’t believe I’ll have one.” 


No, hold it under your neck there,” Lamar said, “and on that little bump at the back of your head. Cold’ll make you feel better. It does me.” 


By the time Starling had finished taping the memo to the pathologist across the zipper of the body bag, Crawford’s fingerprint transmitter was clicking on the office desk.

Tuesday, 11 November 2025

Loki’s Spear







Nick Fury: Agent Romanoff, 

would You escort Dr. Banner back to his…


Bruce Banner: Where? You rented my room.


Nick Fury: The cell was just in case…


Bruce Banner: In case you needed to Kill Me, 

BUT YOU CAN’T! I know! I tried! (A BEAT) I got low

I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and 

The Other Guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused 

on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged 

me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!


[Banner slowly gets upset as he looks 

at Romanoff, who gets unnerved.]


Bruce Banner: You wanna know My Secret

Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?


[Black Widow and Fury place their 

hands on their guns upon natural instinct]


Steve Rogers: Doctor Banner... put down The Spear.


[Banner looks down in shock 

to see he is holding Loki’s Spear]


[ Tony and Bruce’s algorithm complete’s it’s task with an audible chime ]


Tony Stark: — Got it.


[Banner puts down the scepter 

and walks over to the computer.]


Bruce Banner: Sorry, kids. You don't 

get to see my little party trick after all.


Monday, 10 November 2025

The Cook Report



Roger Cook Sep12 Murdoch NotW Lies 
Kill The Cook Report, UK's most popul...

Thursday, 6 November 2025

Persona and Parameter




Dr. Saunders :
You sent Echo out on
a high-risk engagement?

‘Topher :
Dr. Saunders, hey, so
good of you to annoy me.

Dr. Saunders :
I had her flagged for romantic
or altruistic engagements only.
Does anybody read these?

‘Topher :
Her last romantic engagement turned
out to be extremely high-risk.
Maybe her engagement with
Rayna will turn romantic.

Dr. Saunders :
She's A Bodyguard?

‘Topher :
She's A Singer --
Persona and Parameter :
 
Two separate elements

Persona: She's a struggling singer
who just got her first break.

Parameter: She must protect Rayna,
which she will do instinctively
and unconsciously at all times.
So she doesn't even know 
she's A Bodyguard.

Dr. Saunders :
And this makes what better?

‘Topher :
Who do you want?
Someone who's paid to protect you
or someone who wants to protect you?
This is The Beauty of What we Do.

Dr. Saunders :
And what about Boyd?
He's not up to any
serious physical threat.

‘Topher :
Boyd? What are you guys, buddies now?
Oh, god, of course you are……
You both disapprove of everything.
You're gonna get married
and have scowly babies.

Dr. Saunders :
Don't be an idiot.

‘Topher :
Not to stress. 
We're sending 
in backup anyway.

Down off The Couch, BOB

Twin Peaks - Bob moment



CHARLIE MURPHY
Cause Rick is incorrigible
He shows up at My Brother's 
House, fucked up.

CHAPPELLE as RICK: 
Nice place, n***r!

CHARLIE MURPHY: 
So he had these dirty cowboy boots on. 
Pushed us out of the way, barged in The House. 
My Brother had these brand new couches, they were suede, right? And he gets on the couch and says...

CHAPPELLE as RICK: 
ha!

CHARLIE MURPHY: 
And just started grinding mud 
all into The Couch, man.

RICK JAMES: 
Yeah, I remember grinding 
my feet into Eddie's couch.

OFF SCREEN INTERVIEWER: 
You remember why you did it?

RICK JAMES: 
Cause Eddie could buy another one.

CHAPPELLE as RICK
F**k yo' couch, n****r! 
Ha ha! Buy another one, Ya rich motherfucker. 
Fuck yo' couch, n*****r. Fuck yo' couch! 
Darknesses! Darknesses!

CHARLIE MURPHY: 
Cause of my complexion, 
he used to call me Darkness. 
He calls Me and My Brother Darkness
Darkness brothers. See, this 
was long before Wesley Snipes
back then we was the blackest n*****s 
on the planet according to Rick James.

RICK JAMES: 
Eddie and both of them Darkness
Twin Brother darkness.

CHARLIE MURPHY: 
And we're standing there looking at him 
and he's looking right in our eyes 
as he grinds this mud.

RICK JAMES: 
See, I never just did things just to do them, 
c'mon, I mean, what -- I'm gonna do just 
all of the sudden just jump up and grind my feet 
in somebody's couch like it's something to do? 
Come on, I got a little more sense than that -- 

...Yeah, I remember grinding 
my feet into Eddie's couch.

[REWIND]


RICK JAMES: 
See, I never just did things just to do them, 
c'mon, I mean, what -- I'm gonna do just 
all of the sudden just jump up and grind my feet 
in somebody's couch like it's something to do? 
Come on, I got a little more sense than that -- 

...YeahI remember grinding 
my feet into Eddie's couch.

CHARLIE MURPHY: 
But then it was like 
'You know what? 
Let's handle this' 
We went over there and 
we held him down and 
we just wailed on his legs.

CHAPPELLE as RICK: 
Awwww! You Darknesses.!!
You black. MidnightEvil motherfuckers!!! 
Black Magic, Darkness, Darknesses,
Delirious motherfuckers
You're as cold as ice.

CHARLIE MURPHY: 
But still, Rick James, even after 
taking a beating like that --

CHAPPELLE as RICK
Fuck yo' couch, n****r!

CHARLIE MURPHY: 
This motherfucker's goin out, 
his legs is like linguine --

CHAPPELLE as RICK: 
I've been kicked out of 
better homes than this
I'll be back, you black motherfuckers. 
Wide-nose-havin' motherfuckers
They shoulda never 
given you n****s money!!!
 You don't know how 
to appreciate shit. 

You know, you can get another couch. 
But what am I gonna do about legs!

CHARLIE MURPHY: 
My Brother, you know, he's a lot 
more compassioniate than I am. 
He's lookin' and The Limo's 
driving off and he says 
'Wow man, Rick 
really needs help'. 

I was like 
‘Yo, we just gave him some help!’ 
Busted his fuckin' ass.

'I betcha he won't come over here 
and disrespect like that again.'

WRONG! WRONG!  
You're talking about 
Rick James, man.

RICK JAMES: 
Cocaine's a helluva drug.

That's Why They Put The "I" in "F.B.I."







"THE FOLLOWING STORY IS INSPIRED BY ACTUAL DOCUMENTED ACCOUNTS"

SCENE 1
COLLUM NATIONAL FOREST, NORTHWEST OREGON
(A woman runs through the forest, grunting as she trips and stumbles over logs and rocks. She is wearing a nightgown and runs through the foliage. She falls over a tree root and stumbles into a small clearing. A loud roaring starts and the wind grows stronger. She looks up to see a light growing, shining through the trees. A silhouette steps out of the light, walking towards her. The leaves around her begin swirling up in a circle, like they are in the center of a tornado. The figure stands over her as the light engulfs them both. Morning. The girl is face-down on the ground, dead. Officials walk around, murmuring to each other. The assistant coroners lean over the body as coroner John Truitt and Detective Miles walk over to the body.)

JOHN TRUITT: I put the time of death between eight and twelve hours ago. No visible cause, no sign of battery or sexual assault. All we have is this.

(He pulls up the back of her nightgown to reveal two small bumps on her lower back. Miles looks at them.)

MILES: Can we turn her over?

(They do so. Miles stands.)

Karen Swenson.

ASSISTANT CORONER: Is that a positive ID?

DETECTIVE MILES: She went to school with my son.

(He walks away as Truitt stands.)

JOHN TRUITT: Would that be the class of '89, detective? It's happening again isn't it?

(Miles keeps walking.)




SCENE 2
FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.
(Agent Dana Scully walks up the stairs and around to a desk where a woman sits.)

SCULLY: Agent Dana Scully.

(She continues through a group of offices and down a hallway. Reaching the door to Section Chief Blevins' office, she knocks.)

SCOTT BLEVINS: Come in.

(Scully walks in and sees Blevins sitting at his desk.)

Agent Scully, thank you for coming on such short notice. Please...

(He motions for her to sit down, which she does. A man smoking a cigarette leans against a file cabinet. He walks around to behind Blevins and leans against the wall. Another man sits next to Blevins.)

We see you've been with us just over two years.

SCULLY: Yes, sir.

SCOTT BLEVINS: You went to medical school but you chose not to practice. How'd you come to work for the F.B.I.?

SCULLY: Well, sir, I was recruited out of medical school. Um, my parents still think it was an act of rebellion, but, uh... I saw the F.B.I. as a place where I could distinguish myself.

THIRD MAN: Are you familiar with an agent named Fox Mulder?

SCULLY: Yes, I am.

(Blevins and the man look at each other.)

THIRD MAN: How so?

SCULLY: By reputation. He's an Oxford educated Psychologist, who wrote a monograph on serial killers and the occult, that helped to catch Monty Props in 1988. Generally thought of as the best analyst in the violent crimes section. He had a nickname at the academy... Spooky Mulder.

(She smiles at the Cigarette-Smoking Man, who gives no response.)

SCOTT BLEVINS: What I'll also tell you is that Agent Mulder has developed a consuming devotion to an unassigned project outside The Bureau mainstream. Are you familiar with the so-called "X-Files?"

SCULLY: I believe they have to do with unexplained phenomena.

SCOTT BLEVINS: More or less. The reason you're here, Agent Scully, is we want you to assist Mulder on these X-Files. You will write field reports on your activities, along with your observations on the validity of the work.

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man stubs out his cigarette.)

SCULLY: Am I to understand that you want me to debunk the X-Files project, sir?

SCOTT BLEVINS: 
Agent Scully, We Trust You'll 
make the proper scientific analysis. 
You'll want to contact Agent Mulder shortly. 
We look forward to seeing Your Reports.

(The elevator rings and the door slides open. Scully steps out into the basement and comes to an office secluded in the back. She knocks on the door.)

MULDER: Sorry, nobody down here but The FBI's Most Unwanted --

(She opens the door to see Agent Fox Mulder sitting at his desk, going over some slides. Walking slowly to him, she sees various pictures of UFO's and a poster that reads "I Want to Believe" with a UFO on it. He looks at her.)

SCULLY: 
Agent Mulder. I'm Dana Scully, 
I've been assigned to work with you.

(He shakes her hand.)

MULDER: Oh, isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded? So, who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?

SCULLY: Actually, I'm looking forward to working with you. I've heard a lot about you.

MULDER: Oh, really? I was under the impression... that you were sent to spy on me.

(He smiles.)

SCULLY: If you have any doubt about my qualifications or credentials, th...

(He stands and takes out a paper from a pile with his telephone as a paperweight.)

MULDER: You're A Medical Doctor, You teach at 
The Academy. You did your undergraduate degree in Physics.

(He takes off his glasses and looks at the paper.)

"Einstein's Twin Paradox :
A New Interpretation. 
Dana Scully, Senior Thesis." 
Now that's a credential, rewriting Einstein.

SCULLY: Did you bother to read it?

MULDER: I did. I liked it.

(He takes a slide canister and puts it into the slide projector.)

It's just that in most of my work, the laws of physics rarely seems to apply.

(He walks past her and turns off the lights. She glares at him slightly.)

Maybe I can get your medical opinion on this, though.

(He presses a button on the control and a slide comes up on the viewscreen of Karen Swenson, face-up.)

Oregon female, age twenty-one, no explainable cause of death. Autopsy shows nothing. Zip.

(He changes the slide to that of the two bumps on her back.)

There are, however, these two distinct marks on her lower back. Doctor Scully, can you ID these marks?

SCULLY: Needle punctures, maybe. 
An animal bite. Electrocution of some kind.

(She walks up to the viewscreen. 
He changes the slide to that of 
a molecular diagram.)

MULDER: How's your chemistry
This is the substance found in the surrounding tissue.

SCULLY: It's organic. I don't know, is it some kind of synthetic protein?

MULDER: Beats me, I've never seen it before either.

(The next slide is of a boy face-down on railroad tracks, his shirt lifted in the back.)

But here it is again in Sturgis, South Dakota.

(The final slide if of a close-up of another set of bumps.)

And again in Shamrock, Texas.

SCULLY: Do you have A Theory?

MULDER: I have plenty of theories.

(He walks over to her.)

Maybe what you can explain to me 
is why it's Bureau policy to label these cases 
as "unexplained phenomenon" and ignore them. 
Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?

(He whispers the last few words eerily and she smiles.)

SCULLY: Logically, I would have to say "No."
(He nods, having expected that Answer.)
Given the distances needed to travel from 
the far reaches of space, the energy requirements 
would exceed a spacecraft's capabilties th...

MULDER: -- ‘Conventional Wisdom’. 

You know this Oregon female? 
She's the FOURTH person in her 
graduating class to die under 
mysterious circumstances --

Now, when Convention and Science 
offer us no Answers, Might We not 
finally turn to The Fantastic as 
A Plausibility?

SCULLY: 
The Girl OBVIOUSLY died of SOMETHING -- 
If it was Natural Causes, it's plausible 
that there was something missed in the post-mortem; 
If she was Murdered, it's plausible 
there was a sloppy investigation. 

What I find Fantastic is any notion that 
There are Answers BEYOND The Realm of Science -- 

The Answers are THERE -- 
YOU just have to know Where to LOOK.

MULDER: That's why They put The "I" in "F.B.I." 

See You tomorrow morning, Scully, bright and early.
(He walks back over to his desk and sits down.)
We leave for the very plausible State of Oregon at Eight A.M.

(She smiles and walks out.)




SCENE 3
AIRPLANE TO OREGON
(The drink cart passes Mulder
who is lying down across a row of seats, 
sleeping, headphones in his ears. 

Scully is sitting nearby, wearing glasses 
and flipping through newspaper clippings 
of the dead teenagers --
People are murmuring in the back, but 
the sounds of their voices are covered 
by the jet engines --
Scully focuses on the name "Dr. Nemman." 
The overhead loudspeakers rings.)

PILOT: I would like to ask all passengers 
to fasten their seatbelts, as we're about 
to make our descent...

(Scully starts putting her things away 
when the plane starts shaking violently. 

People scream and things are tossed about 
as Scully grabs on to her seat. She looks at Mulder, 
who is awake now but still lying down in the seats passively. 
The Plane finally is brought under control and she sighs in relief. 

He turns over and looks at her -- )

MULDER: This must be The Place.

Sunday, 2 November 2025

The Human Heart




JOR-EL’S GHOST :
The Virtuous 
Spirit has no need for 
Thanks or Approvalonly 
The Certain Conviction 
that What Has Been 
Done is Right.

Develop such Conviction 
in yourself — 
The Human Heart on 
Your Planet is 
•still• subject to 
Small Jealousies, LIES, 
and Monstrous Deceptions.
It is much more fragile 
than Your Own….

LUTHOR yanks 
the crystal out.

LUTHOR
…….So much for 
Moral Rearmament