Recommended reading - The Big Knockover and Other Stories by Dashiell Hammett (1981):

The Big Knockover and Other Stories

By Dashiell Hammett.

Published by Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

Published 1981.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0140029419

ISBN-13: 978-0140029413

Description:

Nine short stories. Includes the unfinished novel, Tulip, and a memoir by Lillian Hellman. Short, thick-bodied, mulishly stubborn, and indifferent to physical pain, Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. He is also the hero of most of the nine stories in this volume. The Op's one enthusiasm is doing his job, and in The Big Knockover the jobs entail taking on a gang of modern-day freebooters, a vice-ridden hell's acre in the Arizona desert, and the bank job to end all bank jobs, along with such assorted grifters as Babe McCloor, Bluepoint Vance, Alphabet Shorty McCoy, and the Dis-and-Dat Kid.

George R. R. Martin, on books:

A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone,

if it is to keep its edge.

- George R. R. Martin.

Go Pens!

January 29, 2026

Pittsburgh Penguins: 6

Chicago Blackhawks: 2

YEAH!

GO PENS!

On this day in television history - Justified (2013):

Justified

Season 4. Episode 4.

Episode entitled: This Bird Has Flown.

Released January 29, 2013.

Directed by Bill Johnson.

Written by Graham Yost, Taylor Elmore, Ingrid Escajeda, VJ Boyd, Leonard Chang.

Based on the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.

Music by Steve Porcaro.

Cast:

Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Walton Goggins, Ron Eldard, Robert Baker, Jim Beaver, David Dean Bottrell, Joshua Close, Jenn Lyon, David Meunier, Abby Miller, Lindsay Pulsipher, Paul Rae, Navi Rawat, Jeffery A. Baker, Corey Weber.

On this day in the Star Trek universe:

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1994)

Star Trek: Voyager (1996 & 1997)

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 7. Episode 14.

Episode entitled: Sub Rosa.

Released January 29, 1994.

Directed by Jonathan Frakes.

Written by Brannon Braga, Jeri Taylor, Jeanna F. Gallo, René Echevarria, Naren Shankar.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jay Chattaway.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Michael Keenan, Shay Duffin, Duncan Regehr, Ellen Albertini Dow, Michael Braveheart, Cullen G. Chambers, Tracee Cocco, John Copage, Elliot Durant III, Fumiko Hamada, Gary Hunter, Tim McCormack, Keith Rayve, Oliver Theess, Mikki Val.

Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2. Episode 15.

Episode entitled: Threshold.

Released January 29, 1996.

Directed by Alexander Singer.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor.

Written by Brannon Braga, Michael De Luca, Kenneth Biller, Lisa Klink.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jay Chattaway.

Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Biggs-Dawson, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Raphael Sbarge, Mirron E. Willis, Majel Barrett, Andrew Christian English, Tarik Ergin, Louis Ortiz, Susan Rossitto, Richard Sarstedt, Cindy Sorenson.

Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3. Episode 15.

Episode entitled: Coda.

Released January 29, 1997.

Directed by Nancy Malone.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor.

Written by Jeri Taylor, Lisa Klink.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Dennis McCarthy.

Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Biggs-Dawson, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Majel Barrett, Len Cariou, Steve Carnahan, Damaris Cordelia, Debbie David, Tarik Ergin, Heather Ferguson, Susan Henley, Kerry Hoyt, Louis Ortiz, Richard Sarstedt, John Alex Tampoya.

On this day in movie history - The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996):

The Battle Over Citizen Kane

documentary directed by Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein,

written by Thomas Lennon and Richard Ben Cramer,

was released in the United States on January 29, 1996.
Episode from season 8 of the PBS documentary series American Experience.
Narrated by Richard Ben Cramer.
Music by Brian Keane.

Cast:

William Alland, Thomas Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, Jimmy Breslin, Richard Ben Cramer, Marion Davies, Leonard de Paur, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Richard France, William Randolph Hearst, William Herz, Sam Leve, Norman Lloyd, Nancy Loe, Frank Mankiewicz, David McCullough, David Nasaw, Louetta Santucci, John Tebbel, Ruth Warrick, Orson Welles, Vern Whaley, Gloria Widelock, Robert Wise, Jack Carter, Charles Chaplin, Gary Cooper, Cecil B. DeMille, Maurice Ellis, Joan Fontaine, Myrna Loy, Louis B. Mayer, Louella Parsons, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, Rosalind Russell, David O. Selznick, Norma Shearer.

On this day in movie history - Matinee (1993):

Matinee

directed by Joe Dante,

written by Charles S. Haas,

based on a story by Jerico Stone and Charles S. Haas,

was released in the United States on January 29, 1993.
Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Cast:

John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, Lisa Jakub, Kellie Martin, Jesse Lee Soffer, Lucinda Jenney, James Villemaire, Robert Picardo, Jesse White, Dick Miller, John Sayles, David Clennon, Lucy Butler, Georgie Cranford, Nick Bronson, Cory Barlog, George Carson, Joe Gonzalez, Belinda Balaski, Charles S. Haas, Mark McCracken, Archie Hahn, Naomi Watts, Chris Stacy, Allison McKay, Glenda Chism, Aaron Stormer, Lana Bucciarelli, Richard Rossomme, D. Christian Gottshall, Bernard Blanding, Dennis Neal, Luke Halpin, Eulan Middlebrooks, Elizabeth Dimon, Shane Obedzinski, Summer-Healy Chapin, James Scott Hess, Shawn Edward Watkins, Danny Hanemann, Jesse Zeigler, Andy Isaacs, Joe Candelora, Steve Zurk, Mary Moriarty, John Paul Lehman, Jacob Witkin, Tracy Roberts, Marc Macaulay, Timothy Bass, Jeff Breslauer, Molly Conole, Peggy O'Neal, Colette Piceau, Steve DuMouchel, Kurt Smildsin, Michael T. Kelly, Ike Pappas, Brett Rice, Chris M. Allport, Robert Cornthwaite, Joey Fatone, Caroline Macey, Kevin McCarthy, Sherrie Provence, William Schallert, Elijah Vorrasi.