Cozy Up with a Good Book

Keep warm this winter with the help of some cozy mysteries. These fictional detective tales are usually set in quaint towns and involve some sort of domestic crime, minus any graphic violence or language. The hero tends to be an amatuer detective, adept at solving puzzling problems. Cozies are very popular among readers looking for a light mystery that engages the mind. Get acquainted with this genre, or find a new favorite author, with this list of top-notch cozy mystery writers and their series' titles.

*Nancy Atherton - Aunt Dimity

*Emily Brightwell - Mrs. Jeffries

*Laura Childs - Tea Shop Mysteries / Scrapbooking Mysteries / Cackleberry Club Mysteries

*Mary Daheim - Bed-and-Breakfast / Emma Lord

*Carola Dunn - Daisy Dalrymple / Cornish Mystery

*Sarah Graves - Home Repair is Homicide Mysteries

*Carolyn Hart - Death on Demand / Henrie O / Bailey Ruth

*Joan Hess - Claire Malloy / Arly Hanks

*G.A. McKevett - Savannah Reid

*Maggie Sefton - Knitting Mystery

Do you have a favorite cozy series?

Beloved Novelist Passes Away at 77

Best-selling author Robert B. Parker passed away on Monday, January 18th in his Cambridge, Massachusetts home. A spokesperson for the Cambridge police department reported that the death was due to natural causes, but no other details have been released. Parker wrote more than 60 books, covering such genres as westerns, young adult and mystery. His most popular characters include Spenser, a detective whose first name is never revealed, and Jesse Stone, a small-town police chief. Spenser was the basis for a 1980s television series and Stone has been played by Tom Selleck in several made-for-TV movies.

The Associated Press reports "...he was acclaimed as a master in his own right. 'Hard-boiled detective fiction was essentially dead in the early '70s. It was considered almost a museum thing,' said Ace Atkins, author of 'Devil's Garden,' 'Wicked City' and several other novels. 'When Parker brought out Spenser, it reinvigorated the genre...I wouldn't have a job now without Robert Parker.'"

All information found in articles in The Associated Press and ArtsBeat blog of The New York Times.

2010 Golden Globes

January 17, 2010 marked the airing of the 67th Golden Globe Awards show. This annual ceremony is organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA.)

The HFPA began in the early 1940s, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the beginnings of World War II. Directors were working hard to fill audience demand for films offering escape and entertainment. At the same time, a group of Los-Angeles-based overseas journalists united to share resources. Informal meetings at private homes grew into group functions at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and an award presentation for notable accomplishments in the film industry.

What began as a group of journalists striving to cover all aspects of the entertainment industry has grown into a non-profit organization that has donated over $10.5 million to entertainment-related charities and hosts one of the three most watched award shows on television.

Here is some Golden Globe trivia:
1. The awards were given out by journalists until 1958, when Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. stormed the stage and took over the show. The stunt was such a hit that stars have hosted the show ever since.
2. The actors with the most individual nominations include Jack Lemmon, with 22, and Meryl Streep, with 19.
3. The only three-way tie in Golden Globe history was in 1989 between Jodie Foster (The Accused,) Shirley MacLaine (Madame Sousatzka) and Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist) for Best Actress.
4. Ricky Schroeder holds the title of youngest winner ever. He was nine years old when he won Best New Star of the Year in 1980 for The Champ.
5. The oldest winners of a Golden Globe are Jessica Tandy, Best Actress for Driving Miss Daisy in 1990 at the age of 80, and Henry Fonda, Best Actor for On Golden Pond in 1982 at the age of 76.

All information found at the HFPA's website. Visit this site for more information, including this year's winners.

Roeper's Best Films of the Decade

To continue the theme of "best of the decade," here is movie critic Richard Roeper's top ten films of the 2000s, along with a few of his comments.

10. Hotel Rwanda (2004) - "One of the most heartbreaking and inspirational movies I've ever seen, based on a true story."
9. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) - "Epic, exotic, romantic, gorgeous - and filled with breathtaking fight sequences."
8. 25th Hour (2002) - "Works as a social commentary, a crime story, a buddy film and a story about the bond between father and son."
7. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - "'The Usual Suspects' meets 'It's a Wonderful Life,' with a whole lot of 21st century Charles Dickens, as well."
6. Mystic River (2003) - "If Clint Eastwood had never acted in a single frame of film in his life, he'd be an American treasure for his work behind the camera."
5. House of Flying Daggers (2004) - "The most beautiful film of the decade."
4. Memento (2001) - "Ingeniously inverted puzzle that goes from finish to start, like Hitchcock walking backward."
3. Traffic (2000) - "Soderbergh's sprawling masterpiece about the myriad ways in which drugs have invaded our culture is a triumph of style and content."
2. In America (2003) - "In this beautiful, heart-wrenching, fictionalized version of his own story, director Jim Sheridan explores the theme of 'aliens' in America while continually referencing another alien: 'E.T.'"
1. The Departed (2006) - "Great, juicy performances, a brilliant screenplay and enough twists and turns to leave you breathless."

Do you agree with this list?

For Roeper's complete list of the 100 best movies of the decade, along with comments and honorable mentions, read his Chicago Sun-Times article.

Rolling Stone's Best Albums of the Decade

Rolling Stone has compiled a list of "the most important music of the '00s as chosen by more than 100 artists, critics and industry insiders." This list includes 100 albums considered to be the best of the past decade. Here are the top ten albums with brief quotes from the magazine.

10. The College Dropout / Kanye West - "Maybe all he wanted to do was become an international superstar, but in the process, Kanye expanded the musical and emotional language of hip-hop."
9. Kala / M.I.A. - "The London-via-Sri Lanka art-punk funkateer came on like she knew she was kind of a big deal, and it didn't take her long to convince everyone in earshot."
8. Modern Times / Bob Dylan - "Mother Nature's revenge, silk-suited robber barons, the spiritual and romantic salvation always just beyond reach: Modern Times is history repeating itself, in Dylan's specific echoes of Slim Harpo and Memphis Minnie, and his refusal to bend even in the harshest winds."
7. The Marshall Mathers LP / Eminem - "...a masterpiece of psychodrama, 18 tracks that solidified Em's position as the new decade's most fascinating pop star and rap's most inventive new voice."
6. Funeral / Arcade Fire - "Built on family ties (leader Win Butler, his wife, Regine Chassagne, his brother Will) and a rich, folkie musicality, the band made symphonic rock that truly rocked, using accordions and strings as central elements rather than merely as accessories, with a rythm section that never let up."
5. Elephant / The White Stripes - "After they grabbed the world's ear with White Blood Cells, it turned out Jack and Meg were just getting warm. They went from minimal to maximal on Elephant, with a hot-blooded rock throb that blew every other band off the radio."
4. The Blueprint / Jay-Z - "...what really stands out is the rapper's sheer musicality: the new flows, timbres and tones that Jay-Z unveils in every song, with a virtuosity that marked him a vocal stylist on par with pop's greatest singers."
3. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot / Wilco - "Wilco's great leap forward was a mix of rock tradition, electronics, oddball rhythms and experimental gestures: a new vocabulary for an overwhelmed, dislocated age where we'd need to draw on both history and invention to survive."
2. Is This It / The Strokes - "...there was no missing the burn marks left by the guitars and Casablancas' vocals, mixed to the fore and ringed with distortion like he was singing from a pay phone. We got only two more albums from the Strokes, but they inspired a ragged revolt in Britain, led by the Libertines and Arctic Monkeys, and reverberated back home with the Kings of Leon."
1. Kid A / Radiohead - "...the weirdest hit album of that year, by a band poised to be the modern-rock Beatles, following the breakthrough of OK Computer. In fact, only 10 months into the century, Radiohead had made the decade's best album - by rebuilding rock itself, with a new set of basics and a bleak but potent humanity."

Visit Rolling Stone's website for the complete list. Do you agree with these selections? What were your favorite albums of the last decade?