|
el chango tonto icq#391595 for current monkey biz go HERE |
|
spizzerinctum joesparks steely D poot encarta quiz java poetry cruelmonkey Ralph howstuffworks straight dope
Jon Carroll Leah Garchick APOD nerve poem CNN SI ESPN Sporting News Laker Link Sacto Bee NBA @ random
monkey-biz jan ~ feb ~ mar |
to spend some of your summertime in front of the big screen more in the same vein here & here. be sure to get the venusian viewpoint here. roundball, again (it is the playoffs you know) & dumbmonkey agrees w/ M. Heisler's assessment ahora es Domingo, y en el otro lado del mundo my new friend in Greece tells me they are celebrating Easter. Here's our Poetry Link o'the Day, with an additional poem here, here and here. Altho National Poetry Month ends today, don't think for a minute you'll not see any more poetry around here. eeeeek, just hope the dumbmonkey doesnt subject you to his own attempts... in the 4th, shooting 8 of 24, 10 assists & 7 rebounds for the game; Phoenix wins, K.J. w 10 pts & 6 assists Penny Hardaway has his first playoff triple double. damn, P- what took you so f**kin' long... end of season roundball wrap-up from MSNBC's Alessandro & plainly stated, without any hesitation, one man's opinion on what the modern black athlete owes Muhammad Ali. ohh, why the hell not take this poll. not likely dumbmonkey fit in here anywhere, anyway... dumbmonkey always willing to share & somehow the idea of serendipity gets involved here, so how do we start? First, we'll mention nice note from out of the blue: I went to the mail box today and got me a pound of coffee from Peets. I feel like I won the lottery. I read your site on and off (mostly on) via swallowing tacks via the sxsw voting page! (Just so you know how I got here!) Thanks again... name withheld to protect the Innocent so we says to ourowndamnself- WOW, somebody really be reading this drivel... & yah, we gotz one of those statisical gadget thingies, and we don't look at it too often (BULLLSHIT!!!!), so we almost pee'd our pantaloons yesterday w/numbers approaching stratosphere; why this be, we wonder, and then discovered kindness of strangers, the fair Elise, the gracious Patti,& bonny Jessica have posted linkage to humble dumbmonkey, so now (tears in our eyes) the pressure is ON, & we feel compelled to deliver... so more re our introductory theme: dumbmonkey once employed as Peetnik, no, not barista in shop, rather as customer srvc/phone sales rep, but attentive enough to begin training to become Tea/Coffee trainer himself & best thing about this j-o-b was opportunity to learn MUCH about lore and history of tea & coffee; what are the subtleties of these beverages; what it is that elevates a fine coffee or tea from the humdrum & mundane. In that regard we bring you this, courtesy of our own govt. Then there's this example, which has nothing to do w/coffee or tea, but that's okay, as that's not necessarily what we are goin' on about here. we'll wrap it up with this link, because we may have drawn this string out as long as we possibly could, but mainly because there is something inherently serendipitous in perusing weblogs, many of you will know exactly what we are referring to, and in closing, we would like to offer a bow alongside a tip of the ol'red fez to ALL the blogsters, especially those we've had the pleasure of some contact with (however small it may have been) as in some way, small though it may be, we thinks it makes the world a better place by fostering MORE communication and self-expression BLOG ON, RIGHTEOUSLY! YIKES! is Right... from Salon, along w/ Mssr Ellsberg expressing regret Quelle Horror!!! Steiner, courtesy the Washtington Post a beautiful day (again) in the SF Bay Area cloudless blue skies, sunny & warm now, but possibly a little breezy later, be a great day to mess about in boats, or just mess around in general... caught this NYT piece this AM, and we'll include this one for our fellow skeptics alongside this one, also from same source. we'll be back with more later, got to get faithful poochster over to the Vet for a quick look over... looks like they've finally found cousin cecily!  serious blast from the past stuff & hard to say exactly why, but probably had something to do w/innocent inquiry to me this am, via email, along the lines of "are u a doper?" and w/out providing the acutal context underlying this particular question, you might assume a number of things, but let's go with the most common assumption and figure, yeah, that dumbmonkey got LONG hair, his silverback frame infer that approx age places him solidly into sixties & seventies when young punky monkey, so for those of you out there who may be considered contemporaries ( no, not CONTEMPTIBLE, tho some of you may be ) let's revisit the artist known as Gilbert Shelton. our personal fave of his characters was the Hog of Steel. dumbmonkey's affinity for Shelton probably lies in our tejano roots, our personal theory being that those of a certain sensiblity experiencing growing up in texass, likely to evolve into being kinda twisted & strange in many ways. SO... to celebrate that very thing, as well as the spirit of youthful indiscretion (YEAH BABEEE!!!) here some links: Freaknet Wonder Warthog abbiehoffman.com links keep on truckin' revisited hmmmmm, what IS that smell in your bedroom, johnny? whoops, almost forgot this Poetry Link o'the Day dumbmonkey playing nursemaid but does NOT look good in starched whites. Faithful poochster is doing well, altho needs assist getting up and down stairs (Whooo, got to put her on Lo-cal diet, almost had a hernia picking her up)seeing Vet again on Sat AM to assess her progress. we packing her up into car in a few moments cause we NEEDS COFFEE!!!! & then we back to complete our daily poetry link thingie. Go to chez elise 'cause she has a nice link you oughta see, couple of 'em, matter of fact. & am volunteering my services as handy-monkey par excellance to la belle Heather for any assist w/her IKEA collection. DAMN THAT IKEA, traffic in that neighborhood is Horrible!, intended to see movie there coupla weeks ago, and left here in what we thought was PLENTY o'time, only to discover ourselves stuck in traffic for 20+ minutes & too late for intended screening. must get coffee NOW! oh yeah, did we mention not working today, HOOOOOHAAH!!! but dumbmonkey likes 'choke hearts! roundball, again? yah, sorry.... (NOT!) so here's Ray Ratto w/some thoughts on Lakers & at On Hoops, Marshon weighs in w/a few of his own here's some late breaking Laker stuff do noo yawkas 'preciate their Big Man? whoooweeeee, pacers getting SPANKED by bucks tonite nothing-absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats & the Pacific Sail Expo is happening this weekend in Jack London Square. dumbmonkey's weekend begins today at 3:30 (YEEEEEEHAH!!!!!) tho we be playing nursemaid to our faithful poochster who returned home yesterday afternoon, and is definitely on the mend. without further ado, today's Poetry Link o'the Day, where we'll feature another wonderful Woman poet, Marge Piercy. We include an introductory poem here, a few more here, here, here's another, & for good measure, one more. You'll also find her "foolin' w/words". Fat-pipe equipped folks may want to go here. dumbmonkey tips his ol' red fez to Dawn H., pal o'many years, for introducing him to the work of Ms. Piercy. welcome home D., been so long, & we look forward to hearing your tales of life on the road over the last year... what is the dumbmonkey goin' on about NOW??? waaaaal, we visited one of our fave places to check on news & discovered link for archived live recording of the California Guitar Trio at the Bluebird Cafe from 2.15. If you're a fan of really fine guitar-picking, check these guys out!  dumbmonkey is NOT as fond of early AMs as we once was, perhaps we have been at it for too long, beginning to much prefer a leisurely start to the day w/oppty for morning stroll & COFFEE FIX before attempting to put words together in anything resembling coherence. Cam-dogg update: surgery accomplished but Doctor called to ask if faithful poochster had experienced earlier injury as he discovered long scar on the leg operated upon, w/enough scar tissue built up around the stifle (knee) that he had to modify his original intention/method of accomplishing stability of the joint as he was unable to "harvest" quality & amount of material he required. Our furry campanion came to us late in her years, having adopted her from another family, & we recall being informed of her having had fracture from contretemps w/auto, but we seem to recall it having affected her right foreleg. After much search thru dumbmonkey archives (yah, that mess in the second bedroom) we located phone # of her original human companions but were unable to get thru, mystery tho, cause we would get many minutes of busy signal, then get thru only to get ringing phone w/out answering machine & no response AND attempts later had same results. ANYWAY... poochster be home this eve, & will require a little more attentiveness than usual, but Dr. says she likely to be her old self in 4-5 weeks. Coooool! Poetry anyone? Here's for a sample to whet yr appetite, & for more, go here. and if you still are seeking some movie-going suggestions, as you haven't got around to some from last year yet, here's some from the Village Voice. whilst watching pistons & heat go mano a mano saw TNT's blurb for the Rucker Tourney definitely safer from the comfort of your living room, especially for pale folks here's a little history lesson it's about time somebody got the Rucker on screen, & by the way, Laettner's such a fraud! OOOOOH LA LA!!! les digitaux divas hmmmm, wonder how many of 'em drive pick-ups? silly dog-related items provided thru the kindness of strangers. This silly link from the extremely competent & highly regarded Karen H. of the SFNA, and this pointed out to me by counterpart here in classifieds, who prefers to remain anonymous, from Leah G's column today: Sampson Bowers passes along a recent St. Helena Police Department report of a man who ``had tied his socks around a dog's neck to communicate mentally with the dog so it wouldn't run away.'' * * * * * a tip o'the oldredFez to ALL the kind strangers expressing best wishes for Cam-dogg's recovery, Muchas Gracias! offerings to any deities paying attention for the successful surgery & return home of the faithful poochster, undergoing operation to mend her ruptured ACL this AM. some dog poetry, in particular the collection of Doggy Haiku on page 1; more doggish poems; some doggerel; & we'll offer up this lovely poem, which we actually heard read by Dame Judith Anderson the night of Robinson Jeffers centenary celebration: The House Dog's Grave (Haig, an English Bulldog) I've changed my ways a little; I cannot now Run with you in the evenings along the shore, Except in a kind of dream; and you, if you dream a moment, You see me there. So leave awhile the paw-marks on the front door Where I used to scratch to go out or in, And you'd soon open; leave on the kitchen floor The marks of my drinking-pan. I cannot lie by your fire as I used to do On the warm stone, Nor at the foot of your bed; no, all the nights through. I lie alone. But your kind thought has laid me less than six feet Outside your window where firelight so often plays, And where you sit to read-and I fear often grieving for me-- Every night your lamplight lies on my place. You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard To think of you ever dying. A little dog would get tired, living so long, I hope that when you are lying Under the ground like me your lives will appear As good and joyful as mine. No, dears, that's too much hope; you are not so well cared for As I have been. And never have known the passionate undivided Fidelities that I knew. Your minds are perhaps too active, too many-sided... But to me you were true. You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend. I loved you well, and was loved. Deep love endures To the end and far past the end. If this is my end, I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours. Riles gets a Boo-Boo Lenny Wilkins bows out. DAMN! rather see Lenny W. w/the Warriors than Dave C. our medical term of the day is Anterior Cruciate Ligament so what is the dumbmonkey talking about now? well, it happened like this: faithful poochster & myowndamnself were enjoying our usual AM walk on Saturday, had just left Peet's and crossed intersection at Solano & The Alameda, old Cam-dogg spotted squirrel on ground some 35/40 feet away & we know how much she loves treeing a squirrel so we said "ok" & whooooosh she was off, but some 15/20 feet away goes "YEEEEELP" & pulls up lame, not horrendously so, or completely incapacitated (cattledog is a tough little beastie) & when we examined her, she gave no obvious sign of pain or soreness, but definitely unable to put weight on her left rear leg. We got her in to the Vet, who upon initial examination muttered something about "two in one day" as he had earlier exam of another poochster w/same problem. Making longish tale shorter, after he explained options our decision was to get the old woof (cam-dogg's 13 in october) into surgery, so that's where we'll be taking her first thing in the AM. damn! we always figured it would happen to us WAAAAYY before it happen to the faithful poochster a new week & new schedule which includes some early AMs, but around here, these may be the best parts of the day. Different schedule means posts may be more sporadic, but dumbmonkey knows the faithful twelve will continue to visit & see what's new... a mixed bag of links re Poetry today, firstly allow us to introduce you to Robert Haas, & along w/this short bio here's a Poet's Choice essay by him from '98; couple of his poems & an interesting piece on Haiku in N. America, somewhat related to Mr. Haas, yet worth reading. the Grey Lady & the MVP & somebody please tell Bill Walton "less is more" bunnies, eggs, baskets, bonnets, best, ham are all associated w/Easter, & here a few thoughts to keep things "in perspective" An Easter Story Ways to celebrate Oestara the Spring Equinox The Myth of the Resurrection Origins of Easter a reminder from Joseph Campbell and we'll close w/a few words from Alan Watts and (yah, taking the lazy way out again) today's Poetry Link o'the Day. & however you celebrate spring, whether you be Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Agnostic, or brave unbeliever, enjoy the day, revel in your friendships & love of family, and share a kindness w/a stranger. ooooh lala, turned into a really lovely day out here, clouds pretty much gone by noon, so no need for blazing fire, went for nice long walk at Cesar Chavez Park by the Berkeley Marina, enough breeze out to keep some kites up, the faithful poochster was pleased to revisit one of her fave doggie hang-outs & dumbmonkey's spirits raised a little higher, marvelous what a little fresh air, sunshine and blue skies can do for a mortal soul. & while we're here, & sorta hoops related but not really, here's a good bit on zenmaster Phil from the Sunday NYT mag on-line. HEY, anybody wanna come over and help us bake bread? This link in reference to last Sunday's Sympathy for the Microsoft Devil. Oh Yah, HaPpY EaRtH DaY!  readers, forgive us, for we know not what we do... dear pal o'mine for many years recently sent msg w/inquiry along the lines of "Why dumbmonkey???" we hope to avoid a b.brown style of exposition here so let's just say that our personal usage of term was basically as self-chastising epithet for occasional stupidity: misplacing keys in messy house, wearing mismatched socks, leaving stove burner on before going to work, you know simple DUMB things. Then we began find it very useful in describing the fool behind wheel in car ahead of us who doesn't use turn signals, or won't get off his cel phone while in bumper to bumper fwy traffic, the pitiful blockhead who stops dead in their tracks in front of you when you are walking down the street because, uh, duh, they're lost (f**king tourists!), & was heavily used by myowndamnself as attempt to curb back on talent we had developed for turning air around us extremely ugly shades of blue w/obscenities. Then we began playing around w/weblog-journal thingie, & we thought there would be occasion to feature the dumbmonkey sort of behavior we see around us often, and we didn't want to separate ourselves from it in a way, make it sort of an "everyman" kind of thing, 'cause you know, we ALL guilty of this kind of behavior at times, no matter how much we try to avoid. SO.... now, we rethinking that initial choice and maybe getting out of the dumbmonkey frame of reference, firstly because we believe change to be a positive thing (damn, just look at Pith & Vinegar, 3 major re-designs since we been paying attention and each one Better than the previous, YOU GO GIRL!), secondly 'cause there is just WAY TOO MUCH dumbmonkey behavior around and altho we never actually featured it in majority of our posts, we could never avoid it, 'cause it was featured in many other postings elsewhere, sometimes even plainly exhibited in the content of another blog (& we won't mention any here, 'cause we do not want to call down the enmity of any truly dumbmonkeys out there, they be dangerous when they gets mad). oh oh, we ramblin' on again... it has been suggested by those more personally involved w/the dumbmonkey that maybe he just needs his meds changed, but NO, that not the case. When you get to your silverback years you easily weary of the tremendous amounts of stupidity & lack of thoughtfulness in the world, particularly if you are the perceptive, intelligent sort (no, not blowing my own whistle here), and it delivers a BAD CASE OF THE BLUES more often than not. Much rather be celebrating the best, the brightest, those who strive to reach higher & farther, to elevate, educate, enlighten, exhilarate (& am now outa E-words). We'll mull this over this weekend, seems to be one given to stoking up a nice blaze in the fireplace, as it's drizzly & grey outside, maybe (HUH?- maybe?) catch some hoops on TV, put some of my overlooked & ignored affairs in order, and spend some time in contemplative state of mind, go and zen out for a bit. Before we allow ourselves to go and do that, we will still provide the valiant & devoted readership we have garnered w/today's Poetry Link o'the Day, & yessssssss, we are taking the EZ way out again, be forgiving, willYa? & be sure to think positive healin' kinda thoughts for Heather, 'cause that gurl is seriously battling something, & such a shame to have it come along and whip her ass like this on her first, what, 72 hours in S.F. Get Better Jezebel!!! this personal note to K.M., enjoy the playoffs, & we wonders what yr boss be thinking bout all this Miami/Cuba-you know what stuff? we hopped into the waybacklink machine to visit an old fave fierce & they have changed things around a bit there, sorta kinda miss the old list of fiercely "whatever" links, but happy to see somebody there still on the task, tho' it does seem a leeeeetle bloggy now... more outrageous beauty from APOD ahhhhh, well, a Good Day after all... stopped by my post box on the way in to the j-o-b, rec'd the latest issue of DoubleTake. oh joy, oh rapture!!! makes a great gift, give someone you love a subscription words fail us (as they often do) in attempting to express just how painful it is to have to work today, first friday we've had to attend the j-o-b in several weeks, tho' we are hopeful we will have monday off in recompense, & it would have nothing to do w/this christian affair being held this weekend, as we are the heathen godless sort of primate After a LONG nite of heaping curse upon curse on the corp entity known as PacBell (blow up that ballpark if they don't shape up) as DSL in N. CA. was down for, well, conservatively about 6-8 hours last evening. admittedly, dumbmonkey too lazy to switch over to dial up connection, but why increase one's frustration, bettah to have gone out for long walk w/faithful poochster, play a little Homeworld, catch up on reading, but DAMN, sure got a DSL monkey (WHOOOO!) on MY back... speaking of reading, marvelous story by Louis Erdrich in the New Yorker of 4.17, entitled Revival Road, & yah, you guessed it, Ms. Erdrich is featured in our Poetry Link o'the Day, and as a special bonus, this story,. Don't have scanner so cannot add more poems for your reading pleasure, but will provide this excerpt from above mentioned story, & you tell me if it isn't poetry: For when he steps into my room it is as though I am waking on some strange and unlikely margin. As though the ocean has been set suddenly before me. Landlocked, you forget. Then, suddenly, you are wading hip high into the surge of waves. There is so much meaning, so much hunger in our mouths and skin. This is happiness, I think every time. I've had lovers, several, and what I like best is the curious unfolding, confessional quality of sex. I seek it, demand it of Heissman, and for a matter of hours he is bare to me, all candor and desire. He begs things of me. Put your mouth here. In nakedness we are the reverse of our day selves. dumbmonkey bids "Welcome to S.F." to la belle Heather of harrumph!, alongside best wishes for her continued recovery, but also a request for NO MORE MIDI! try this instead. the nitty-gritty (?) on 420 oooooooh, dis is one SLEEPY dumbmonkey this AM... so the posts be at a minimum, makin' it eeeeeezzzzzzzzy on ourselves here is bits & pieces on Jim Carroll left over from yesterday's search & we might as well include this one too. Be sure to check out yesterday's Terra site post, bettah if you have that fat pipe thing happening, pretty graphic-intensive there... dumbmonkey plainly ignorant when it comes to hockey (having grown up in desert & largely a left-coaster since then) but BIG CHEERS to S.J. Sharks for 1st round success. Be sure to visit post of 4.17 and GET YOUR FREE COFFEE!!! & we freely admits to fact that on a sunny summer day, sometimes there is nothing nicer than sitting in a beautiful ballpark, maybe hotdog & brewski in hand, enjoying the national pastime, so dis'dumbmonkey hopes A's continue winning ways as encouragement for us to do that very thing. and now we takes our sleepy eyed self in for shower and prep for the j-o-b, we thankful it is a Beautiful Day by the Bay dumbmonkey offers up this news bite and the Terra page remember, it's the love of money at the root of evil... a tip of the ol'red fez to GirlHacker for posting this alongside this w/a salute to her astute & intelligent presence amongst we blogsters definitely a Nat'l Poetry Mo. related link Jim Carroll, Sat, April 22nd, Great American Music Hall a dumbmonkey hat trick! We 2nd that emotion: Ray Ratto on Warriors new coach. Focus on Women Filmakers at the S.F. Film Fest Announcing the 2000/2001 Season at Cal Performances YESSSSSSS!!!! Eleven Seconds has re-designed, Bravissimo! go get 'em Spaceman Spiff! from NASA, in honor of Earth Day tho' we'll be charitable & NOT enumerate their recent failures... we'll also avoid comment on the hemisphere-centric viewpoint of the photo & for today's Poetry Link o'the Day, a favorite of many, e. e. cummings: devoted fans might like to know about Spring; dumbmonkey had oppty to read this one on KSAN radio WAY BACK in '74 (ahhhh, what memories...); Mssr C. shares his viewpoint on Ignatz, Krazy K., Offisa Pup, et al; a bit more biographical mat'l; this is one of dumbmonkey's all time favorites and you'll find a bunch more here we'd discover article by William Finnegan entitled After Seattle in the April 17 New Yorker in which Mr Finnegan spends some time alongside Juliette Beck of Global Exchange, some mention made of Direct Action Network and The Ruckus Society amongst others, & we're provided w/some history of the IMF, WTO & World Bank. Go, buy it & read it. MOONSTRUCK J. Carroll's column refers to marvelous photo book, and here is link to exhibit itself Exhibit was also featured in New Yorker of 4.10 & here's more on Project Full Moon Big Game in the West only of interest to pro hoops fans, Sonics @ Kings Laker-haters go here Kosmik Shenanigans went outside front of house little bit ago to check on something in car and found this kiddie book  interesting bit on cinema during the last year from the Village Voice Take One oooooh, tough to go back to the j-o-b after 4 days away, & was off-balance enough this AM (after a night full of dreams) that when faithful poochster & hisowndamnself arrived at the Solano Peets for his usual, dumbmonkey realized his wallet was still at home, fortunate primate that he is tho, the Peetniks recognised his shaggy visage & extended the courtesy of one "on the house". Hurrah!! now that's Excellent Customer Service! And in similiar fashion (taking it easy, maintaining an EVEN strain) we present this site as our Poetry Link o'the Day. we take a moment to remember a momentous day in local history, courtesy of tne NYT. We'd also like to mark the passing of the esteemed primatologist Sherwood Washburn. we likes that sunrise picture A LOT! okay, fun to fantasize & speculate but we are talking about the U.S. Govt here, and Area 51's probably just someplace they wasted a lot of our money here's the MSNBC story & more on sat imaging/images aaaiiiiyiiiiyiiiii.... that's the sound of dumbmonkey heartsick w/bad crush saw this lovely human interviewed on mcneil/lehrer & then later on c. rose(c'mon charlie, put up some transcripts dude), she seems a Very Nice Person! and she has such pretty eyes too!  wait for me in the cemetery & bring my absinthe... R.I.P. Edward Gorey fans of J. Bellairs click here Monday evening in the Capitol from the Post & from Indy Media ol' Will's birthday is coming up so in honor of that, let's go search thru the sonnets & as some of you may only have time to peruse the current post, here is something from Sat that may interest the coffee lover amongst you: This bit of news for coffee lovers, Peet's asks you to celebrate Coffee Freshness Week by visiting their quiz at www.peets.com/freshness & enter to win a FREE POUND of Peet's. They intend to give away as much as 25,000 pounds to encourage folks to throw away their old stale YUCKY coffee and see the difference that freshly roasted coffee makes. Monday AM's action per the Post El Pato Cojo en San Francisco hmmm, wonder if he stopped by Good Vibrations? & Christian Bale speaks up in The Scotsman "Mikey 'Zine" in D.C. oh yah, right... this is news? ooooh, this is nice... from the folks at Poetry Daily & the pen of Lisa Russ Spaar; here's some backround on her anthology Aquainted With The Night. whilst we were examining things poetical this AM, lovely cuppa Assam in hand, we happened across The Blue Moon Review getting down to business in D.C. Bill Gate's Money from Sunday NYT Magazine more news from D.C. alongside this from the IMC & Salon weighs in w/piece by Bruce Shapiro & if interested, go here for more on Congressman Bernie & the Global Sustainable Development Resolution Samedi, Samstag, Sabado and dumbmonkey has returned from his morning walk w/faithful poochster, double short latte in hand. This bit of news for coffee lovers, Peet's asks you to celebrate Coffee Freshness Week by visiting their quiz at www.peets.com/freshness & enter to win a FREE POUND of Peet's. They intend to give away as much as 25,000 pounds to encourage folks to throw away their old stale YUCKY coffee and see the difference that freshly roasted coffee makes. FOR REAL, folks, dumbmonkey once had the pleasure of being employed by these folks, and have firsthand experience w/their roasting schedules, the quality of coffee selected by their buyer, their commitment to excellence & the practice of what they preach. They'll be giving away 5K pounds a day, so don't be shy, COME & GET SOME!!! as for today's Poetry Link o'the Day, some unknown poets, go here and for some more, go here and here. for fellow hoopsters, Lakers triumphed altho struggling in much of the first half, V. Carter took it to the Knicks, the Pacers hung in, & something happened to Tim Duncan. & Riles gotzta chill just a little, Miami heading for their usual early round flame out just from his intensity alone... Now, go out & GET SOME! the power of the state is mobilized (yah, so what else is new) & that Nobody gets it. we are indebted to J's Pith & Vinegar for this link & looks like both Knicks and Lakers have their hands full... ooooh, & this is the "more" we referred to on 3.29.00 sailing small boats on the blustery bay is a real challenge big fluffy cumulous clouds & an occasional shower, no doubt a rainbow or 2 out there & we spent part of our morning w/some really dumb monkeys at the IRS office in Oakland (wierder yet to have to go thru a metal detector in both the Fed bldg & the County bldg we visited later, f**kin' shame). Part of our life the last few years has been devoted to assisting old neighbors, now both deceased, & as this responsiblity now has made us executor of the estate, we find ourselves in odd situations now & again and HAVE LEARNED A LOT!!! IF you ever approaching similiar place in your life & have need of some advice or moral support, let me know, been thru the drill, believe me. This AM? Typical right hand has no clue what left hand be doing: we had requested Employer ID# from our friendly IRS last year in Nov, rec'd it promptly, & now rec'd letter coupla weeks ago sayin "HEY, where's your application for Employer ID# (tax bullshit) PLUS another letter re unwillingness to send refunds to estate account as they have no documentation of status/appointment of the dumbmonkey as executor- DOH!! not only have we already received & deposited over $3K in refunds from past taxes.... shhhheeeeeeessssssh, we be ranting, sorry, but we really dislikes wasting so much time on other peoples inefficiency. Anyway, that over for now, & we looking forward to peaceful Fri nite watching some hoopin' and then (what else?) MORE hoopin'! yessssss, we be in MAJOR chillin' mode... & then tomorrow we going to the MOVIES!!!! & we wanna know, did anybody else beside myowndamnself get teary at end of this weeks West Wing? dumbmonkey's turning into ol' softy in his silverback years... a rainy friday morn, nice tho; dumbmonkey keepin' it quick & dirty... scheduler has seen fit to allow us another fri away from the hustle of deadlines on the j-o-b, bless her soul. First here is a bit of news on the Washington DC actions, something on the farthest object yet discovered & to go alonside that, here is another lovely image from APOD. dumbmonkey thinks that anyone named Algernon Swinburne could hardly have become anything but a poet. More here & brief bio here. & these links for Elise, "if you really liked that link, you'll appreciate these": Maps of the Solar System The Hubble Deep Field Galileo Home Page recorded on the night of Dave Letterman's post surgery return MPEG, 19 megs, bettah hav'a faaaat pipe, bruddah! do YOU have what it takes? More News from Washington, D.C. hey! nobody told me about Skeeter D. link credit to NYT, for more go to Mondo Media WHOA! Mebbe it was winning all those Pulitzers but the Post had Technical Difficulties when it came to the post below, or maybe Mr. Greider was speaking FRANKLY apologies for this late entry & yes, only moments away, William Greider, live, on Int'l Finance and more from Day 4 & this, jest fer da halibut... aujourd'hui, pour mes camerade internautes, Paul Verlaine a few poems here et ici... WATCH OUT, it's the GRIM SHADOW BRAIN Power(s): Lycanthropy Source of powers: Mutant mutant Weapon: Mind Cannon Transportation: Dog Skis some things cannot be forgiven & dumbmonkey has occasionally overlooked some of his lesser behaviors & boorishness because we believed that, fundamentally, Coach Knight held the best interests of his players uppermost during the time these young men were under his tutelage. We have read books by others with access to the Indiana team, know something about his past & his charity, and of some of the things that are important in his life. We think he has yet to come face to face w/his faults, and that his stubborn unwillingness to admit that some of his behavior is cruel and disrespectful is going to be the fulcrum upon which his disgrace will be effected. The game deserves better, the parents of the young men who trust Coach Knight to mentor their sons deserve better, & the players deserve better. Vladimir Nabokov yessssssss, dumbmonkey is aware Nabokov's reputation as prose stylist certainly outweighs any thought of him as a poet, or does it? Again, we like to bring up the issue of craftsmanship & it's in this regard we salute Nabokov today. His centenary was celebrated last year & this link from the NYT will interest any of you who have enjoyed his work. Zembla can be found on the site linked above & is provided for those of you who'd rather avoid any NYT reference/contact. oh, & be sure to visit Frownland. still defrosting you can catch a glimpse of P. Farley's Apocadex, official teaser for The Apocamon, coming "really really soon" Peeps, anyone? dumbmonkey don't care for 'em much, likes CHOCOLATE much more!!! dumbmonkey keepin' it simple today... we read this poem in a magazine some years ago, rediscovered it this morning when cleaning out an old checkbook, seem to recall liking the poem so much we copied it down (rather than ripping page out of magazine belonging to coffeeshop where we spend many morns on regular basis, & we didn't want to be impolite) and here it is: Great Dog Poem #2 Now that the Great Dog I worshipped for years has become none other than myself, I can look within and bark, and I can look at the mountains down the street and bark at them as well. I am an eye that sees itself look back a nose that tracks the scent of shadows as they fall, an ear that picks up sounds before they are even born. I am the last of the platinum retreivers, the end of a gorgeous line but there's no comfort being who I am. I roam around and ponder fate's abolishments until my eyes are filled with tears and I say to myself "Oh Rex, forget, forget. The stars are out. The marble moon slides by." Mark Strand and here are a few more by Strand. want more? 'cause sometimes it's good to take a moment & remember the way things were Day One, Washington, D.C. & some more from the Post an alternate view to the He Hormone testoserone essay originally from 4.2 NYT Sunday mag, by A. Sullivan. Credit to Slate. a few things accomplished, but more to do yet dumbmonkey becoming accustomed to making time for this posting biz, so to the matter at hand: today's Poetry Link o'the Day features la princesse noire de la poésie , Nikki Giovanni. You'll find some of her work here and here. yeeeehah! jessamyn is coming to SF, she's gonna be at the Anarchist's Bookfair, & it's a f**king shame E.G. Smith won't be there. Here's some related info. darnitall, she probably too busy while in town to take dumbmonkey up on offer for nice dinner out... oh yah, the promised Foo Fighter Letterman clip wellllll, we made it but somehow (DUMBmonkey!!!) overlooked the fact we had to convert to mpeg, cause it is an ABSOLUTELY HUGE 178 megs in .avi, altho it looks & sounds good, but we also kinda have abrupt cut at end, & dat's enuf said, cause the truth will set you free, but also occasionally embarrass the hell outa ya...  Hardaway burns the Knicks in OT seems there's this contest going on sort of a minimalist thing it seems (dumbmonkey a minimalist from waaaaaaaayyyyyyy back) & this is one of the finalists, which is also included as an addition to today's Poetry LOD a tip o'the ol'redfez to the Metafilterers something a little less, ahhhh... linear for today's Poetry Link o'the Day a lighthearted item, some recipes, & an opportunity to travel vicariously. a primero, this bit of nonsense from Esquire on-line, you've no doubt seen 'em before, fill in the blanks & possibly have a giggle fit; & after reading about the slaughter in the Staple Center, we went in search of something tasty to try today, when we typically likes to do some cooking, perhaps enough to provide a meal or two to enjoy during the week instead of "comida pronto" or "helado"; then back to ESQ for that vicarious enjoyment of a bike ride thru Cuba as we finished our morning coffee in prep for going outdoors to wrestle w/overgrown foliage in the garden. & caught another episode of West Wing & found it hard to look away, 'tho we had seen substantial amounts of earlier episodes, enough to have some awareness of the characters involved, we couldn't zap ourselves to next channel (xcept for damn commercials) AND what is this w/The Jackal? so we spent some time online & discovered this where people are taking their TV viewing seriously! We learned The Jackal is on album by Ronnie Jordan ("A Quiet Revolution") in the discussion forums, & was surprised by amount of response & level of participation we perused there. Many other shows are also featured on the MIGHTY BIG TV site, & wondered had we overlooked any post about this place before. We've occasionally noticed a partisan attitude on a few of the blogs re fave tv shows, cartoons & the like (Windowseat for one, the Sports Night blog another), guess we gotzta watch more often, don't like being so clueless, and if anybody knows, again in re The Jackal, was that the only time the tune was used in the show or what? This late post will go on just a little longer as we recently enjoyed watching (on video)Drop Dead Gorgeous, largely fluff & unsubstantial, but gets kind of a NASTY edge going as it progresses, and was pleased to see Allison Janney (C.J. in the West Wing) as Ellen Barkin's tall, randy trailertrash neighbor. Go ahead & watch it, tell 'em dumbmonkey gave it 3 bananas... cool, cloudy saturday morning, w/hint of rain & something silly, some bad craziness, & then, for good measure, a little disinformation to get your weekend off to a good start... & now, w/that out of our way today's Poetry Link o'the Day, a tribute to Adrienne Rich. Some more info here courtesy of Womynlynks; a little more about her work awaits you here. dumbmonkey indebted to friend of many years, D. Hawk, for introduction to A. Rich forewarned is forearmed... dumbmonkey be posting some silly stuff tomorrow AM... "The joy that isn't shared dies young." Anne Sexton mundane details & errands took up enough of dumbmonkey's morn that our initial post of the day appears a bit later than usual. Is it worth waiting for, you may ask, HELL YAH!!!! today we feature a woman on our Poetry Link o'the Day, a commanding presence in modern poetry, Anne Sexton. we'll include links to poems here, here & here, for those of you with little time to dawdle, but come again and visit the links later, where you will find more, but what we really want to accomplish w/these links, is create an overpowering urge to hie thyself to your closest bookstore or library and seek out these poets, feast your eyes & soul on their words, reel about drunkenly from the pleasure of it, & perhaps inspire you to create some poetry of your own... okay... it works, Foo Fighters, an acoustic Everlong the fatter yr pipe the better, & we get the Letterman show version up this weekend for DAN fans particularly, like ourowndamnself, the sssslllooooww ones... you can now read all of Shapeshifter the latest P.S. Farley graphic novelette, & Electric Sheep Issue 3 will be available Monday... join dumbmonkey in some stargazing tonight, for a fairly rare occurance in the night sky for info, go here design yr own Multi-plier at the Gerber BYO site makes great gift, HINT HINT... will be more careful w/page update... is our mantra for the day, after yesterday's embarrassing & humbling experience, & we'd like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to those comrades in this particular community who have been kind enough to add the dumbmonkey to their collection of recommended links, it humbles us to be so well thought of. there is simply not enough room to include ALL of the sites we peruse & enjoy, and those included in the list of la creme are admittedly unabashed favorites of the dumbmonkey & are there (w/exception of 2) without any formal exchange of reciprocal linkage arrangements. They are all actually folks we would enjoy inviting to dinner and getting to know a little better, so to each one of you who read this today, know that should you ever be tempted to visit the left coast, particular anywhere near that foggy city by the bay, you would be amiss in not letting us be aware, it would be our great pleasure to share a good meal w/you. and now with that out of the way, let's get to the Poetry Link o'the Day, today featuring Pablo Neruda (some of us may require the assist of Babelfish to better understand this page, even the dumbmonkey). An additional link here and then some extra poems (what the hell, U know???): Sonnet XVII Love I like for you to be still times like this we convinced of the wisdom of title we gave this addition to pita-land/webblog-ville. why Abada Abada (like to hear it from Lady Jessamyn's mouth myself sometime) or why Swallowing Tacks (likewise) or Pith & Vinegar, Squishy, & on & on (you'll notice most of those sites are run by women, not that we haven't been interested in the fellas, but nowhere near as interested quite frankly). So what is he going on about? well, in the finest dumbmonkey behavior we were closing out our workday w/a glance at some of J. Carroll's archived columns and came across one in particular that we attempted to post, the url was not linking, causing difficulty & frustration, and in a hurried hissyfit (guyz have'em Too!) dumbmonkey managed to delete his 4.5 post in it's entirety. DOH!!! DAMN! DOH!!!! & aren't we glad we not B.Brown otherwise we really be pissed at ourselves.... so what follows is somewhat of a reconstruction, as well as a lesson in mindfulness, of the value of patience & being unhurried, of allowing oneself the occasional error & dummonkeymindedness, as long as one doesn't Make a Habit of IT!. our day started with a fresh Poetry Link o'the Day alongside additional links to more on Robinson Jeffers here and here. we also alluded to attending centenary celebration of Jeffer's birth, in attendance alongside Dame Judith Anderson, Clint Eastwood, & others, & that one day we'd share the tale of that fine evening in '87. whew, we got that out of the way... LATER THAT SAME DAY dumbmonkey hard at work providing best kinda numba one customa suvvisss & in between calls reading remarkable bit of reporting in the Chron (where dumbmonkey is employed) & proudly posts this news story w/disclaimer warning NOT TO READ WHILE EATING!!! alongside today's John Carroll column in attempt to share some feeling & appreciation of the great place where we both live. ooookaaaaay.... so far so good.... just after a nice little break (YUUMMMMY white chocolate chip cookie & COLD milk) dumbmonkey returned to find a maddening message from Mouchette, the little darling, as well as one from Papa Dumbmonkey, w/the following: This is wild, but I found this website that uses government files to find an actual photograph of ANYBODY. I was shocked to find that with no trouble at all, it brought up an (old) picture of me. You should see if they have you in the database too! Kind of makes you wonder what the government knows about each of us. Believe me, it's worth the time, so go to: http://www.bpent.com/fbi & MAN OH MAN, we WuZ SHOCKED!!!! so far so good, now comes the hard part... once upon a time, dumbmonkey was experiencing great unhappiness in chosen career(not really that, just job that we stayed in longer than we should have) and came upon a column by the aforementioned & highly esteemed J.C., and it made all the difference in the world, matter of fact, we still have the original column saved in our medicine bundle. years later, during our tenure w/Williams Sonoma, we shared it w/co-worker wrestling under weight of trying to decide to break free & move ahead with his own company or continue to tread water in corp. culture. he moved on, much happier now, we believe. & now, we want to share again, and perhaps it will make the same difference for you or maybe someone you know and care for who is also struggling w/similiar weight. go here now. ooooooh dumbmonkey head hurting & we dizzy & can't see, need COLD BEER, vite vite!!!! Salon interview w/R. Wright; a little left coast tourney perspective; if you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear a flower in your hair & then catch a flick or two at the 43rd S.F. Int'l Film Fest; & one of many more to come in Abril this one courtesy of Starving Artists Mateen, MoPete, Mr. B, Mr. G & the M.S. Spartans for acquitting themselves w/dash & some style (altho Florida had their way inside much of the game, & somebody gonna take Dupay down hard one day cause that's mugging, not defense) & as we lower the curtain on another year's March Mayhem, you'll no longer have to put up with the March Madness Link o' The Day, but you'll likely see an occasional link to NBA playoff notes. and Yes, we hadn't mentioned this, thought it might be obvious by earlier posts that dumbmonkey has a poetic side (yah, hard to believe, we know) but April is "National Poetry Month", altho we want YOU to celebrate poetry every month of the year, so here's the first of what is intended to be a Poetry Link of the Day. & isn't Lady E. elegant in her red fez? ooooooohLALA! for Jarmusch & Lurie fans... go fishing w/John & Jim tonite, on IFC. oh my, PEACE brother-man! here is dumbmonkey at work & surfing fave blogs inbetween providing EXCELLENT customer service, then K.M's unsubtle challenge stares him in face and he just has to laugh out loud... Peace, brah, let's get our guitars & jam instead... and while we here we wanna post this for general news purposes, and this(& some more here & lots more here) neither of which is the actual article we intended to post (found in the local fishwrap, but fm a news service & not on fishwrap's website)& we rambling on, but we think dat's cause our testosterone levels have skyrocketed due to earlier challenge so now dumbmonkey gonna go out and KICK SOME ASSS!!!! & it was great to see KJ back on the hardwood in Phoenix... we be back later, gotta get back to the J - O - B ! internal server error, my ass! "frankly my dear, i don't give a damn..." if you're already aware of Perceptual Robotics & their camera page, which we ran across when seeking a camera for the new ballpark. altho all these cams now making me verrrry wary about scratchin' me ass in public... Another Broken Trust the trail of broken treaties has no end... dumb 60 minutes/E.Bradley mistake in the Clapton piece, it was Jack Bruce in Cream, NOT Jeff Beck.... DOH! real fans know they were Yardbirds & so was Jimmy Page the Top 10 Links of March it's an incredibly beautiful day, albeit a bit hazy, tho the wind may kick up later. dumbmonkey & faithful poochster going out to play, catching knicks@lakers later, so for now, a reprise of spring feverish linkage... Numero Diez SUMMER Numero Nueve ENGLAND Numero Ocho POLITICS Numero Siete MISCELLANEA Numero Seis STML Numero Cinco aaaaaahhrrigggghhhhht... Numero Quatro SPRINGTIME BEAUTY Numero Tres MEA CULPA Numero Dos UMBRELLA Y, a finalmente, El Numero Uno Thirsty Monkey the one-time Thin White Duke & while we're at it, "Does testosterone make the Man?" seems so. w/link credit to NYT Sunday mag the ayes have it Spartans & Gators go head to head Monday nite & here's a fan's perspective on the NCAA & March Madness must remember today is april 1st... & not recoil in shock & horror as when we visited Jessicuh's Pith & Vinegar this AM. YIIKES!!!! & so, here is this for a wee bit of history, and this from a master of venomous pranks to inspire any shenanigans you've in mind. we just NOT gonna surf the bloggs today, heart cannot take it... |
oingo altavista Crayfishy DMOZ MRQE Online assist la creme... |
