Friday, April 09, 2021

Weekend Links 4-9-21

 Maybe it's just me but this has felt like a strange week. The baseball season has just gotten underway and already in some quarters there is panic because teams aren't playing as well as they are expected to play. My take is that we're only a handful of games into a long season. It's far too early to be passing judgements on teams or individual players. Check back in around June and see how guys are doing. By then you should have a better idea of how the season is going to shake out. 

This week's roundup is mostly baseball and crime stories. Not sure why it worked out that way. Also, I normally try to only feature one story per website but this week I am breaking that rule as you will see below. It's my blog and I can break the rules if I want to, right? Anyway, here are this week's links:

It's Oscar season so time to rank the best movies that have won Best Picture. I can't vouch for the quality of all these films as I have only seen about a third of them. I don't know that I would necessarily be keen to see the ones I haven't seen, either. 

The story behind a new Netflix documentary about one of the world's most lucrative art heists. The thing that struck me is that the crime remains unsolved. I haven't seen the documentary so I can't necessarily vouch for it. 

Speaking of heists, who knew that stolen LEGO were so lucrative?

From the New York Times, how the New York Yankees luckiest batboy ended up in an unmarked grave. The story has a happy ending. 

Hard to believe that 40 years on, Fernandomania is still a thing. 

How a potato ended a catcher's career. Yes, you read that correctly. 

Anyone who reads this blog on the regular (and I know there are at least a couple of you) know that I link regularly to CrimeReasds. It is one of my favorite sites. This week I am featuring three of their stories (thus breaking my own rules because I can) as they are really good. 

First up, ranking Sherlock Holmes portrayals from worst to best. Honestly I didn't know that (a) there were so many and (b) that some of these portrayals existed at all. It's an interesting list of names. 

Next, Jane Healey, author of The Secret Stealers, uncovers the history of women who served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 

Finally, Flynn Berry, author of the new novel Northern Spy (which was just selected by Reese Witherspoon as her book this month for her book club) uncovers the history of women who were involved in the IRA. 


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