Review: The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Girl on the Train starts out in a painful rendition of the mind of a blackout alcoholic. I can't say that this first section of the book is easy or enjoyable to read, but I must commend Paula Hawkins or her chilling rendition of the realities of the disease known as Alcoholism.

Once Rachel is established, you travel through the minds of 2 other women to get a more complete telling of the story. This psychological thriller is chilling in it's regard to human emotion and mentality.

It will keep you guessing and hoping for and against certain information to be exposed or outcomes to be revealed. This is a book the exposes aspects of sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies. It does such a good job that I was personally affected due to experiences with both in my own life. It was very chilling to say the least to see how something can so easily spin out of control in life.

Amazing job creating this environment to make the reader feel such, and makes me highly suspicious that she has experienced many of these personalities in person. 5 Stars for a brilliant creation.

This book is currently being made into a major motion picture as well!

View all my reviews

Spectacular Female Mugshots: Dumb Criminals Part 6

In this edition of Dumb Criminals, I decided to choose based on some of the spectacularly awesome mugshots that are out there on the web.  You could probably spend years going through all of them, so here is just a sampling of some of the great ones that I found of women!  Enjoy!


Let's start off with the woman who gave zero fucks: Tracy Mabb.  She has possible one of the top 10 greatest mugshots of all time.  She was arrested in Florida 2 years ago for peeling off her clothes on the South Dixie highway around 5:40pm.  According to the report: "She pulled her long shirt up in front of drivers and pedestrians and exposed her entire body, including her breasts, vagina and buttocks, in a “complete vulgar and indecent manner.”"  The article jokes about how she must not have been taught how to expose her vagina in a polite and decent manner ;)  The actual charge was "exposing sexual organs."  I have heard of public indecency many times, but exposing sexual organs is definitely a new one haha.  Tracy was asked to put her shirt back on, and instead of complying she responded with "I don't give a fuck."  This sounds like a real winner to me.  Attention whore of the year for sure, and an exemplary example of somebody who truly gives "zero fucks."  Give it up for Tracy and her epic mugshot. 

You can find the full article here: Naked Florida Woman Gets Arrested

Let's move on to a perfectly great example of a mother showing her child what NOT to do when they grow up; Marsia Emanuel.  Marsia allegedly hailed a school bus that was transporting her daughter and other students.  She boarded the bus, then after some yelling in a foreign language she beat the bus driver.  During police questioning she decided it would be a great idea to add some icing on the cake and pulled down her underwear.  Perhaps it was a last ditch effort to offer herself to get off with minimal charges.  Or perhaps it was her way of trying to say that she was only crazy because it was "that time of the month."  Either way, this woman was acting like a crazy person, and I am thankful that the crazy was able to spill over onto the mugshot for our viewing pleasure! 




You can view the original article here: Marsia Emanuel was all mouth and vagina

Next we come to a tragic story of somebody who watched a LOT of CSI, but didn't fully grasp the concepts.  Angela C. Ferranti was involved in a car crash and then fled the scene.  Police arrived at the scene and located a sandals and a pair of shorts.  Thanks to the tracking skills of a dog named "Kilo", Ferranti was located in a wooded area wearing only bra and panties.  She claimed that she stripped down to her underwear to avoid the ability of a dog to track her by scent.  She was arrested on charges of DUI, Drug paraphernalia, leaving the scene of an accident and no registration...  I guess maybe next time she will run a little further and cover her scent better...  Or she could just skip the drinking and driving and save herself the hassle.  You can't be too mad at her attempt though, because it left us with a great mugshot :)

You can read the full story here: Woman in bra & panties can't elude police

Now we come to a woman who had a serious love of Girl Scout cookies; thin mints to be exact.  Hersha C. Howard was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a fight with another woman over a box of Thin Mints...  In her defense it was probably the last box, and you just can't share Thin Mints, they are MUCH too delicious.  Howard was really feigning for some Thin Mints when she discovered that the cookies were *gasp* GONE!  According to police reports Hersha went into her roommate's room while she was sleeping and accused her of eating her cookies.  The roommate allegedly fed the cookies to Hersha's children when they were awake at 1am (oh no they will be Gremlins by morning).  The roommate offered to pay $10 for replacement of the cookies (that's WAY more than they originally cost, but nothing can cover the price of hunger for Thin Mints).  So of course Hersha refused and the arguing got physical which is when the roommate ran down the stairs being chased by Hersha who was brandishing a pair of scissors.  Instead of throwing the scissors at her like someone who was really angry, she instead opted to ditch the scissors and pick up a board (where the heck she got that from, no one will ever know) and instead struck the roommate while she was running (The board must have seemed more appropriate with it's longer reach and easier to hit a moving target with than the scissors).  In the kitchen the roommate ended up on the floor and was beaten by Hersha.  The roommate's husband got Hersha off of her (the roommate) while she made a mad dash outside.  Instead of stopping Hersha like any good husband would, Hersha instead was able to run outside and again beat the roommate...  this time with a sign.  Ok ok...  so did she rip the sign off of a pole, or was it just laying on the ground already, or maybe she magically picked it up in the house, just like the random board.  This story seems kind of fishy to me.  Maybe that roommate bitch shouldn't have fed her cookies to the kids...  Moral of the story...  Never touch a woman's Thin Mints....  This is one of those times were the saying "Bitches Be Crazy" is definitely appropriate!   However, once again we were rewarded with a winning mugshot!

You can find the original story here: Girl Scout Thin Mints Reported Stolen

The final mugshot of the night wraps up with a photo that is so spectacular that I will have to beg you to forgive me for the lack over interesting arrest story.  Arena Arnold, was charged with false impersonation after claiming to be a passenger in a crash.  She was in fact the driver of the crash, but after seeing her eyes, you may think that her claim of being a passenger could just be how she "sees" the road.  Ok ok that was mean, but I couldn't resist.  Enjoy the mugshot!



You can find the original story here: Rochester Woman Charged





In case you have missed any of the previous awesomely spectacular Dumb Criminal Blogs you can find them there:


Christmas Gone Wrong: Dumb Criminal Part 5

Social Networking Gone Wrong: Dumb Criminals Part 4

Women on a Rampage: Dumb Criminals Part 3

Robbers at Their "Best": Dumb Criminals Part 2

Incriminating Themselves: Dumb Criminals Part 1

Christmas Gone Wrong: Dumb Criminals Part 5

I have missed learning about some of the many dumb criminals out there, so thought it was time to come back and do one more before the year was up.  Tragically, the vast amount of dumb criminals on a day to day basis would enable me to write these blogs for a very long time without running out of stories.  Today I decided to focus on dumb criminals that messed up celebratory occasions.

To start us off I want to talk about 34 year old Krysta James.  She was charged with stabbing her fiance' in a fight over the wedding color schematic.  Now I know that this can be a stressful time, but the worst person you can stab would be the man that is about to marry your crazy ass, pick someone less likely to mess up the rest of your life, such as the caterer ;)  Oh, and did I mention that this also happened on Christmas Day.  Merry Christmas to you haha.

You can read the full story at: Woman stabs man during domestic dispute

Decorating the tree with family should be a happy time...  but not if there is only an ornament with your brother's name and none with yours according to Lewis Atwood.  Atwood was charged with assaulting his mother while decorating the Christmas tree once he discovered that there was in fact NO ornament celebrating his name.  This caused him to punch his mother in the face four or five times.  Apparently he was intoxicated at the time and lead to a misdemeanor assault charge.  I have a feeling that one of his previous outbursts had caused his mother to long ago smash the ornament with his name on it....

The full story can be found here: Man attacked mother in Christmas ornament dispute

If you are a marijuana user, wouldn't you want some as a Christmas present.  Apparently Randy Jesus Valdiva thought this was a very clever way to smuggle marijuana, by placing it in Christmas presents.  This was no small operation however, he had 20 pounds worth of marijuana in large boxes that were wrapped to resemble Christmas presents.  He was stopped by police as they said that he had criminal indicators and he allowed them to search his van.  Inside the presents was enough marijuana for a street value of $160,000.  It could have been a great plan if he wouldn't have gotten stopped.

The full story: Man smuggling marijuana in Christmas presents

Christmas tree decorating can be dangerous business.  In South Carolina a huge fight ensued among three sisters over Christmas tree decorating as a result of two sisters starting to decorate while the third was still at work.  The women were aged 24, 61 and 76.  A male relative tried to calm the tensions, but things escalated from there.  As a result there was yelling and shoving by all, enough so that at some point the police were called.  No charges were brought but the incident still shows how important Christmas tree decorating can really be.

View the story and police report here: Christmas tree decoration fight

And last but most certainly not least is the most heinous of all: A South Carolina woman,Patty White,  who has confessed to killing a family friend and burying her under the Christmas presents...  Why might someone do such an awful thing?  Apparently over some money, she killed her and then stole some debit cards and tried to get cash out of her accounts.   The woman who was killed, Michele O'Dowd was letting White stay with her because she had fallen on some hard times.  What better way to say thank you for having such a kind heart, and a Merry Christmas to you.  :(

The story can be found here: Woman buried under Christmas presents


You can find the previous Dumb Criminal Articles here:

Social Networking Gone Wrong

Women on a Rampage

Robbers at their "Best"

Incriminating Themselves

Seven Psychopaths

The previews of this movie definitely intrigued me, and then I heard good things about it.  It has an all-star cast bringing in names like Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrel, Abbie Cornish, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson.
Seven Psychopaths is about a movie script with the same movie being written by Colin Farrel's character who happens to be a dog thief, while also living in the real world and a psycho mob boss coming after them for stealing his dog.  
 I guess I should have known with the movie being British and having Woody Harrelson that this was going to be a weird ass movie haha.  I wouldn't say that it was a BAD movie per se, but it was definitely very strange and jumped around a lot.  As far as weird Colin Farrel movies go, I have to say that I prefer In Bruges to this one, and that movie was really weird, but the story line was really great.  The storyline in this isn't horrible, but it does seem shaky and is missing much flow.  Setting the movie up took about half of the movie.  Towards the end it takes on a different tone and you actually get the culmination of the movie script being written and real life going on.
Although the first half seemed to jump around like an episode of Lost, I got why people ended up with a good review of the movie.  If you can remember all of the jumping around it all gets tied back together and the holes are filled in.  The last half of the movie definitely redeems it and makes me give it a good 3 and a half stars.  If the first half would have been better it would have earned at least 4.  Definitely worth watching, but expect a weird jumpy beginning.  Enjoy!

You can go tot he official site at: Seven Psychopaths

Parker Review

Last night I watched the movie Parker.  This was mostly due to the fact the Jason Statham was in it, and I have a big crush on him.  Not to mention that he is also a great actor.  I was definitely hesitant to watch it when I saw that his costar was Jennifer Lopez...  I suspected that it would make the movie quality go down.  Luckily I went into the movie with this expectation as it was pretty much right now.

The story line was not bad but compared to other movies that Jason (yes we go by a first name basis now ;) haha) is in, it wasn't my favorite pic.  It didn't have much of a Thriller genre into it.  It was kind of a movie that tried to hit several topics and never really stuck with one.  I wouldn't necessarily

classify it as an action movie, because it did have some action, but not a lot.  It definitely wasn't much of a comedy unless you count the witty dry humor that follows Jason in every movie, but that was only on a few occasions.  It definitely wasn't much of a love story, although it seemed as though Jennifer Lopez's character would have wanted to make it into one.  It wasn't much of a suspense because there was a lot of predictability to it. 

On the grand scale of movies, I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars.  I love Jason but this movie really fell flat.  You can't even blame J Lo for that one.  She portrayed her role well, but the story line felt choppy and predictable.  There wasn't the kind of action and fight scenes that I love Jason for to show his amazing flexibility and acrobatic skills.  The story in and of itself was quite lacking.  Essentially it is just Jason/Parker has been double-crossed by his team of merry robbers and now he is back to get what is his, coming back from the brink of death several times.  And yep that is pretty much it for the meat of the movie.  I saw a lot of opportunities that could have made the movie much more suspenseful, such as if Nick Nolte would have actually been a bad guy that double-crossed him, I kept waiting for it to happen and was disappointed when it was just another point in the story with no real explanation or a really choppy one for background. 

Throughout the movie, you feel like you have come into the story towards the end or the middle with little to no background about what has happened thus far and you are thrown into something that looks like it will be thrilling and exciting and gets rather boring in the middle, picks up a bit at the end, but never makes the full recovery you were hoping for.  Once again 3 out of 5 stars for this one.  Probably really only 2 out of 5, but Jason gets an extra star for being so studly.  Even if he has an atrocious fake Texas accent. 

*I have discovered that this was a movie based on a book, so in this case I will assume that the book is better and that a lot of the holes in the story are filled in better in the written form of the story. 

Here is the official movie website: Parkermovie.com

Dumb Criminals Part 3: Women on a Rampage

This evening Dumb Criminals blog features women who were on some sort of a rampage.  I hope you enjoy their special kind of crazy. 

Let's begin by talking about Racquel Gonzalez, who allegedly assaulted her boyfriend for having an orgasm when she did not have one herself.  I can see why she may have been angry about this if it seemed to be par for her sex life.  However, I think that getting a new boyfriend would have probably been a better alternative.  After the alleged sex incident Gonzalez was apparently scratching and hitting her boyfriend going for the eyes and nose.  According to her boyfriend she has a troubled past and "goes off" on him all of the time.   Seems to me that her boyfriend liked to live dangerously and maybe he shouldn't have been quite so selfish in bed.  Luckily for him at least she didn;t go "Lorena Bobbit on his butt."  My advice to her is to find a new man or maybe just a vibrating one and she won't have that problem anymore.

Boyfriend assaulted for solitary orgasm

Now let's talk about some serious hatred for The Eagles or maybe it's just hatred for a roommate.  Vernett Bader allegedly stabbed her roommate (also her ex boyfriend) for his refusal to stop listening to The Eagles.  Bader was reportedly peacefully watching television and told her roommate to turn his music off.  The roommate refused and continued to listen to the Eagles which understandably pushed Vernett to her limits.  The roommate reports that Vernett came at him with a kitchen knife and after he wrestled it away from her she went back for another one while he locked himself in the bathroom for safety.  Vernett alleges that she only stabbed her room mate in self defense as he was choking her.  Without any visible marks on her neck Vernett's story didn't hold up in court.

Room mate stabbed over The Eagles

We can't have dumb criminals without a little bit of drunken debauchery.  In March a woman was charged with a DWI after trying to run from the cops in a child's toy truck.  Of course this only occurred after she crashed into a mobile home and then thought she had found a new mode of transportation.   Did I mention that the toy was battery operated?   Kind of reminds me of  a Southpark Car Chase with a battery operated car going for the border at around 5 mph and the cop cars still happen to crash and burn.   But back to the topic at hand.  Jamie Craft allegedly had on a white shirt with no pants or shoes...  after crashing into a man's trailer she got into his son's Power Wheels truck and tried to drive away.  Needless to say the breathalyzer reported that Craft had a BAC of .217  So she was definitely highly intoxicated at the time...  Just goes to show that you should NEVER drink and drive....  especially in a Power Wheels truck.

DWI in Power Wheels

Speaking of cars, let's talk about a Phoenix woman who attempted to steal a car but could not figure out how to work the transmission...  Oh yeah it was an automatic.  The most difficult of all transmissions.....  A man was dropping his children off at a house and left his car running in the driveway.  That's right the keys are in the ignition and the car is already turned on.  The door is unlocked and waiting.  So Jasmine Hernandez jumps at the opportunity and frantically starts trying to figure out how to put the car in drive (or maybe reverse).  Either way she seems to be pushing on the gas pedal and turning on the lights and windshield wipers and not making any attempt to use the automatic gear shifter....  According to the police report Hernanez apparently was not aware that any cars were made without a column-mounted shifter.  Unluckily Hernandez already had a warrant out for her arrest...  Luckily it seems that no actual charges were filed in her botched attempt at car theft. 

Would Be Car Theft Foiled By Own Stupidity

*Warning: The following story is somewhat graphic and disgusting, read at your own risk.

Of course we couldn't talk about raging dumb women criminals without any mention of the West Virgina woman who threatened 2 men at knife point to "go down on her."  Melissa Williams was charged with assault and weapons charges after allegedly holding two men at knife point that refused her sexual demands at a hotel.  Apparently Williams lived 4 rooms down from her estranged husband and decided to pay him and his friend a visit.  During said visit she demanded that they "eat her pussy."  Her estranged husband reportedly declined the invitation but his friend agreed to it and approached Williams.  However, as he got closer he was met with a "horrible vaginal odor emitting from Melissa Williams."  Needless to say this caused him to change his mind.  Melissa Williams then reportedly uttered a line never before memorialized in a police report: “Somebody is going to eat my pussy or I’m going to cut your fucking throat.”  I really don't have anything more to add, I think that about sums it up haha. 

Woman's Demands Go TOO Far

Was it REALLY Worth It?

In this blog I would like to share my comments on some stories of people who killed or attempted to kill other people over some of the dumbest stuff.  Please feel free to comment.

First we are going to talk about a mother who stabbed her 17-year old son to death in a dispute involving ice cream.  Really?  Ice Cream?  You would rather kill your own son for some ice cream?  How did you manage to not kill him for the previous 16 years?  How is there not something to be done to save kids from situations like this?  I have to say that at least the mother only stabbed her son one time as opposed to multiple times.  However, it only took one stab wound to the chest to lead to her son's death.  The mother Robin Erwin did at least call 911, except that her initial claim was that her son had walked into a knife..  No one ever said which kind or flavor of ice cream lead to the death....  Apparently the police also seized 130 grams of marijuana as well.  Guess the munchies took over in this case.
Mom Stabbed Son Over Ice Cream

In an eye gouging case we visit Xulam Holman who REALLY REALLY wanted the remote control.  So badly in fact, that it caused him to gouge out his uncle's eyes.  This wasn't even about fighting about what was on tv.  Holman apparently used his thumbs to gouge out his uncle's eyes because the remote control was merely missing.  This event took place on New year's Eve after Holman had already pushed his elderly uncle down the stairs.  Holman's uncle reportedly lost one eye and has limited vision in the other as a result of the attack.  Holman was sentenced to 14 years.  Wouldn't it just have been easier to get up off your lazy butt and change the channel???
Eye Gouging Scuffle

In case ice cream wasn't enough, we had a 13 year old girl who killed her grandmother's husband over milk.  Granted the guy seemed like a real asshole.  Labrina Brown and her grandmother's husband did not seem to get along very well.  She had reportedly pulled a knife on him several times previously.  On the morning of the killing, Labrina had poured herself a bowl of cereal and asked her grandmother's husband for the milk.  He decided it was a better idea to pour a glass for the baby and then pour the remainder of the milk down the sink so that Labrina couldn't have any of it.  Anyone who has ever poured themselves a bowl of cereal and then realized that they were out of milk, know the anger and frustration that this can lead to.  However I don't know that I have ever actually wanted to kill anyone because of it.  She readily admitted to police what she had done and showed no remorse. 
Killing for Milk

Have you ever had a concert that you just HAD to go to?  For 39-year old Robert Lyons this was an Avril Lavigne concert.  And he wanted his mother to arrange sky box tickets for him.  When she didn't do so he became enraged and hit her with a champagne bottle twice. After which he stabbed her 9 times.  If that wasn't enough he doused her body in household cleaners and insecticides.  Afterwards he went to a local Hooter's restaurant where he was apprehended by police.  Lyons apparently suffered from bipolar disorder.  I guess Avril was more important than his mother's life. 
Avril Lavigne worth killing for









We end the night with another tv related murder.  Clarence Newcomb killed his grandmother over what to watch on tv.  Clarence apparently strangled his grandmother over what to watch on tv.  The show in question was never specified, but it seems like Clarence was  very ungrateful grandson that was 25 and being supported by his grandmother.  His friends reported that he showed up at their house confused and carrying a baseball bat.  He has admitted to killing his grandmother after the altercation. 
Grandmother killed over a tv show

Stranger In Their House....

Celebrity Trespassers

There have been many stories throughout the news about celebrity burglaries.  I honestly feel bad for them and totally understand the amount of money spent on security.  It would be a complete violation to have your house broken into.  You would never feel safe in your own home again.  Here are a few stories in which the burglars or trespassers were actually caught by the celebrities whose houses their infiltrated. 

First let's talk about Nicholas Cage and his interesting ordeal in 2011.  While in bed with his wife he awoke to a man wearing his leather jacket and eating a fudgesicle in front of his bed.  Did I mention that the leather jacket was ALL that he man was wearing (unless he dripped some fudgesicle on himself haha).  Apparently Nicholas Cage was able to talk the man out of the house and did nto press charges when the police arrived.  The man that broke into his house was reportedly mentally ill, but as I was saying before, Nicholas Cage reportedly did not feel safe in that home afterwards.  This may or may not have been helpful for his role in the movie "Trespass."  You can view the full article here: Nicholas Cage Trespasser







Next we come to a trespasser in Moby's home.  In 2011 he woke up and went out into his living room to a stranger standing next to his couch.  Apparently the man was tripping on acid and decided to stop by Moby's house.  Moby reportedly did not lock his doors at the time, making it easy to get inside.  The nice guy that Moby is, he did not press charges, just gave the man a sweatshirt and some money for breakfast and sent him on his way.  Moby wrote about this incident himself on his blog that can be found by following this link: Moby's Stranger in his house







Next we come to a little different kind of trespasser.  The Jason Priestly fan kind...  can you see where this might be going?  In January of this year Jason Priestly had to come home due to an alarm being set off.  Although the cops were already on the scene he got graced with the trespassing presence of a superfan who refused to leave.  She was reportedly in Priestly's bed wearing a pair of his Calvin Klein undies.  Although he didn't find her while he was in the house, I still thought this was worthy of mentioning.  You can read the story at: Jason Priestly's superfan

Lastly we come to my all-time favorite dumb criminal breaking into a celebrity's house.  Whoever this person was must have not known anything at all about LL Cool J (Todd Smith) or never seen a photograph of him to even think that this would be worth an attempt.  Last year a 56 year old man reportedly broke into LL Cool J's house and ran into him.  His reward for his efforts were a broken nose, jaw, and ribs.  The family was sleeping when the silent alarm was triggered immediately waking LL Cool J who took care of the problem himself.  After giving the man what he deserved he held him until the police arrived.  Must have been a desperate attempt, as this attempted burglar was charged as a 3rd striker.  You can read the full story at LL Cool J Burglar