Recommended reading - Pulp Fiction: The Crimefighters (2006):

Pulp Fiction: The Crimefighters

Edited by Otto Penzler.

Published by Quercus.
Hardcover.
Published 2006.

ISBN-10: 1905204566
ISBN-13: 978-1905204564

Description:

“These stories still cut, still tear, still even shock …

These guys went places maybe they shouldn’t and we love them for it.”

– Harlan Coben.

Some writing has an edge that time just can’t dull.
Welcome to the world of pulp fiction.
Within these pages are the very best crime stories from the pulp magazines of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
These are stories of the mean streets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
These are stories in which danger and death are always just around the corner.
These are the stories which created crime fiction as we know it today.

On this day in music history:

Factotum by Kristin Asbjørnsen (2006)

Deva by The Luminous World Orchestra (2007)

Threading the Ether by The Luminous World Orchestra (2010)

Factotum

Album by Kristin Asbjørnsen,

released August 15, 2006.

The soundtrack to the movie Factotum (2005).

Track list: On The Bus; Reunion; I Wish To Weep; Farewell I; Slow Day; Ice Plant Overture; Pickles; Still Awake; Quirky Waltz; Dreamland II; Slow Day Fragments; My Garden; In The Kitchen; Beside You; Drunk Driving; Remembering; Shoes; If You’re Going To Try; Horse Race Groove; Farewell II; Slow Day II.

Deva

Album by The Luminous World Orchestra,

conducted by Steven Chesne,

released August 15, 2007.

Track list: Cantus Firmus; The Thaw; Mantra; Child King; Maya; On the Hill; Passage; Gathering; Sweet Face; Orange Lullaby.

Threading the Ether

Album by The Luminous World Orchestra,

conducted by Steven Chesne,

released August 15, 2010.

Track list: Dawning; Gratitude; Om Mane Padme Hum; Ascension; Asatoma; Buddha of Compassion; Seedling; Day of Atonement; Gate.

Recommended reading - The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries (2006):

The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries

Edited by Mike Ashley.

Published by Running Press.

Published 2006.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0786718935

ISBN-13: 978-0786718931

Description:

Mystery conundrums from crime's finest storytellers.

This ingenious new anthology from Mike Ashley presents nearly 30 impossible mysteries and bizarre crimes guaranteed to fascinate and intrigue. Among them are some crimes so impossible that they’re near perfect, and others so perfect that they’re impossible to solve.

In all, the delight is in unravelling the puzzle and trying to work out what on earth happened.

Cases include:

A man in an all-glass phone booth, clearly visible and with no one near him, is killed by an ice pick.

Someone sitting alone in a room is shot by a bullet fired only once and that was over 200 years ago.

A man enters a cable-car carriage alone and is visible the entire journey but is found dead when he reaches the bottom.

A man vanishes at the top of the Indian rope trick and is found dead miles away.

A dead man continues to receive mail in response to letters apparently written by him after he'd died.

The stories include several brand new masterpieces as well as lesser known rare gems – from such names as Robert Randisi, Edward D. Hoch, Joseph Commings, Peter Tremayne, Bill Pronzini and Gillian Linscott.

On this day in music history - Phobia, by Breaking Benjamin (2006):

Phobia

Album by Breaking Benjamin,

released August 8, 2006.

Track list:

Disc 1: Intro; Diary of Jane; Breath; You; Evil Angel; Until the End; Dance with the Devil; Topless; Here We Are; Unknown Soldier; Had Enough; You Fight Me; Outro; Diary of Jane (Version); (CD-ROM Track). / Disc 2: Polyamorous (DVD); Home (DVD); Shallow Bay (DVD); Breakdown (DVD); Topless (DVD); Away (DVD); Diary of Jane (DVD); Dance with the Devil (DVD); Until the End (DVD); Had Enough (DVD); Sooner or Later (DVD); Break My Fall (DVD); So Cold (DVD); Breath (DVD); Evil Angel (DVD).

Recommended reading - The Origins of the American Detective Story (2006):

The Origins of the American Detective Story

By LeRoy Lad Panek.

Published by McFarland.

Paperback.

Published 2006.

ISBN-10: 0786427760

ISBN-13: 978-0786427765

Description:

Edgar Allan Poe essentially invented the detective story in 1841 with Murders in the Rue Morgue. In the years that followed, however, detective fiction in America saw no significant progress as a literary genre. Much to the dismay of moral crusaders like Anthony Comstock, dime novels and other sensationalist publications satisfied the public's hunger for a yarn. Things changed as the century waned, and eventually the detective was reborn as a figure of American literature. In part these changes were due to a combination of social conditions, including the rise and decline of the police as an institution; the parallel development of private detectives; the birth of the crusading newspaper reporter; and the beginnings of forensic science. Influential, too, was the new role model offered by a wildly popular British import named Sherlock Holmes.

Focusing on the late 19th century and early 20th, this volume covers the formative years of American detective fiction.

On this day in movie history - Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light (2006):

Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light

documentary directed by Gary Leva,

was released in the United States on July 18, 2006.

Cast:

John Alton, Drew Casper, Roger Deakins, John Debney, Edward Dmytryk, James Ellroy, Glenn Erickson, William Goldman, Jane Greer, Haden Guest, Patricia King Hanson, Brian Helgeland, Peter Honess, Rick Jewell, Janusz Kaminski, Eric Lax, Carol Littleton, Michael Madsen, Christopher McQuarrie, Frank Miller, Eddie Muller, Kim Newman, Christopher Nolan, John Ottman, Nicholas Pileggi, Sydney Pollack, André Previn, Graeme Revell, Henry Rollins, Theresa Russell, Paul Schrader, Talia Shire, Newton Thomas Sigel, Alain Silver, Audrey Totter, James Ursini, Gordon Willis, Lili Fini Zanuck.

On this day in movie history - Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man (2006):

Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man

directed and written by Richard Alwyn,

released in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2006.
Cast: Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Matthew Ashforde, Julie Covington, Emma Dewhurst, Ian Falconer, David Mallinson, James Cameron Stewart, Brian Timoney, Sue Wallace, Mitchell Zhangazha.

On this day in movie history - Candy (2006):

Candy

directed by Neil Armfield,

written by Neil Armfield and Luke Davies,

based on the novel Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction by Luke Davies,

was released in Australia on May 25, 2006.
Music by Paul Charlier.

Cast:

Abbie Cornish, Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Budge, Roberto Meza Mont, Tony Martin, Noni Hazlehurst, Holly Austin, Craig Moraghan, John Lee, Noel Herriman, Tim McKenzie, Tara Morice, Maddi Newling, Patricia Lemon, Barry Jaggers, Cristian Saliadarre, Leo Cowan, Jason Chan, Luke Davies, Sean O'Riordan, Adrienne Pickering, Damon Herriman, Lette Webb, Sandy Winton, Rebecca Watt, Nathaniel Dean, John McNeill, Doreen Mullen, Felix Kerdijk, Felino Dolloso, Paul Blackwell, Lee Lin Chin, Anni Finsterer, Alicia Hannah-Kim, Brian Houston, Michael Ienna.

On this day in movie history - An Inconvenient Truth (2006):

An Inconvenient Truth

directed by Davis Guggenheim,

a documentary written by and presented by Al Gore,

was released in the United States on May 24, 2006.
Music by Michael Brook.
Song I Need to Wake Up by Melissa Etheridge.

On this day in movie history - Marie Antoinette (2006):

Marie Antoinette

directed and written by Sofia Coppola,

released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 24, 2006.

Music by Dustin O'Halloran.

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Steve Coogan, Judy Davis, Clara Brajtman, Rip Torn, Melody Berenfeld, Asia Argento, Molly Shannon, Sebastian Armesto, Shirley Henderson, Al Weaver, Marianne Faithfull, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, Io Bottoms, Aurore Clément, Céline Sallette, André Oumansky, Guillaume Gallienne, Jean-Paul Scarpitta, Lucien Rolland, Mary Nighy, Clémentine Poidatz, Camille Micelli, Paul Fortune, Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni, Alexia Landeau, Joe Sheridan, Katrine Boorman, Sarah Adler, Jean-Marc Stehlé, Rose Byrne, Paul Jasmin, Francis Leplay, James Lance, Mathieu Amalric, Jamie Dornan, Carlo Brandt, Raphaël Neal, John Arnold, Danny Huston, Scali Delpeyrat, Chloé Van Barthold, Phoenix, Lauriane Mascaro, Gaëlle Bona, Tom Hardy, William Doherty, Florrie Betts, Dominic Gould, Jago Betts, Axel Küng, Driss Hugo-Kalff, Fabrice Scott, Alain Doutey, Bo Barrett, Joseph Malerba, Susan Graham, Noel Bajandas, Xavier Bonastre, Hamish Bowles, Khasan Brailsford, Denzel Chisolm, Madison Clapp, Laurent Cotillard, Daniel Delfosse, Montana Efaw, Krystal Ellsworth, Sabine Glaser, Manon Grosset, Shannon Holtzapffel, Galen Hooks, Jeremy Hudson, Charles Hurez, Rebecca Hyland, Philippe Héliès, Spencer Kayden, Laurent Koffel, Morgan Larson, Johann Lorillon, Isabelle Montoya, François Noah, Jeanne Raimbault, Paddy Sherlock, David Walliams.

On this day in movie history - Brick (2005):

Brick

directed and written by Rian Johnson,

was released in the United States on April 7, 2006.
Music by Nathan Johnson.

Cast:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas, Noah Fleiss, Matt O'Leary, Emilie de Ravin, Noah Segan, Richard Roundtree, Meagan Good, Brian White, Jonathan Cauff, Reedy Gibbs, Lucas Babin, Tracy Bitterolf, Ari Welkom, Cody Lightning, McJoel Hamilton, Lauren Johnson, Dylan Lujano.