Picking and Choosing

• Salma Hayek may never outdo her eye-popping, jaw-dropping snake dance in the otherwise mediocre 1996 film, From Dusk Till Dawn, but Jennifer Proffitt is applauding her performance as a femme fatale-cum-drug lord in the crime-thriller film Savages, based on Don Winslow’s 2010 novel of the same name. “Even in the trailers,” writes Proffitt, “Hayek’s character, Elena, comes through as ruthless, a woman in a man’s world. What makes Hayek even stronger is her male counterpart and enforcer played by Benicio Del Toro--a character who makes you wonder just how crazy he is and how long it will take before he snaps. You gotta love a woman who can muzzle a creature like that and look awesome doing it.”

• In addition to mid-July’s Poisoned Pen Conference, which I reminded you of in my last wrap-up post, don’t forget about the 2012 Write Now! Conference, “Criminal Minds: Investigating Today’s Writing Scene,” which is being sponsored by the Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths chapter. As Mystery Fanfare’s Janet Rudolph notes, that convention will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, on August 11 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information can be found here.

• On top of those events, the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference will take place in Corte Madera, California, from July 19 to 22. Don Winslow (him again?) is to be the keynote speaker.

• Really? The 1983 TV series Casablanca--which featured ex-Starsky & Hutch co-star David Soul in the Humphrey Bogart role, and lasted for a mere five episodes--has been released in DVD format? Hmm. I guess that, with the 70th anniversary of the Bogart film coming up in November, this seemed like a good idea to somebody.

• William Boyd’s quite splendid 2006 spy thriller, Restless, is going to be adapted as a two-part TV miniseries by the Sundance Channel and BBC. “Filming is set to get underway this summer in South Africa and the UK,” reports Omnimystery News. “Restless is expected to air late in the year on BBC One and the Sundance Channel.” Word is that Boyd wrote the screenplay himself.

• Another movie worth adding to my Netflix list.

• Thumbs up to the U.S. Supreme Court for its decision, announced earlier today, to uphold the Affordable Care Act.

• R.I.P., Don Grady. “Although best known as Robbie Douglas on My Three Sons, arguably his biggest legacy will be as a composer,” recalls blogger Terence Towles Canote. “He was very good when it came to writing music.” Canote explains that “Following his acting career, Mr. Grady worked as a composer in television and motion pictures. He served as a composer on the films Switch (1991), Passings (2000), and Good Neighbour (2001). He composed the theme song for the Phil Donahue Show and music for the mini-series The Revolutionary War. He adapted music for Blake Edwards’ movie Skin Deep (1989).”

• Finally, this seemingly good news: Author Janet Evanovich “will team up with Lee Goldberg--author of the ‘Mr. Monk’ novels based on the USA Network series Monk--to write a new book series. According to the publicity materials, it will feature FBI agent Kate Winslow and international fugitive Danny Cole and will be ‘a thrilling combination of crime, romance, and adventure.’ The first in the series is scheduled for publication in Fall 2013.” I only hope this writing partnership works better than the one we were all lead to believe Evanovich had established with Stephen J. Cannell a few years back.