d u m b m o n k e y

a little trip down memory lane...       8.30.06
news item caught mine own eyes some days back regarding the passing of a certain Robert Hoffman, who in his more rambunctious days was co-founder of The National Lampoon. Personally, el chango tonto hopes that despite success and hobnobbing with wealthy Dallas, Tx. elite, that he never voted republican. Haven't checked myowndamnself, but something read at sumbuddy else's webpage states there is nary a mention of Mr. Hoffman's passing on the Nat'l Lampoon website (yah, we know and we agree, the Onion still mo' bettah!). Here's a blast from the past for ye of a certain age - ahem... 'nuf said 'bout that...
National Lampoon Covers, 1970 - 1998, in particular, this classic.
okay Jon Carroll, we never gonna forgive ye for this, goshdarnitall...
How many petals around the rose?;
LOTS (!) of great stuff (as is usual...) over at wood s lot, in particular, from a few days back, want to point ye in the direction of Making a killing: Lewis Lapham on the spoils of war; also from Mr. Lapham, in February of this year, The Case for Impeachment & an interview from The Progressive published shortly after.
Whilst mentioning other worthy contributors to the Wonderful World of Weblogging, again thanks to K.M.'s GITM for sharing this slew of d.f.m.p. (he credits webgoddess) and Yea, Verily! We Going To Need More Monkeys!
Yourstruly just finished reading Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan, goddamn, got to tip our ol'red fez in admiration to Mr. Shteyngart, will not forget my time spent with Misha anytime soon. Discovered a few other mentions of "Absurdistan" that appear to have naught to do with the book, but what the hell, we're all Absurdistanis on this bus!. BTW, Mr. Shteyngart @ 92nd St Y, NYC Oct 18

lil' of this, lil' of that...      8.26.06
courtesy the fine mind behind LinkMachineGo, we point ye towards Indexed;
no, s'not me: a fat lazy idiot tries to walk every street in Manhattan,
& "Thanks!" to SJ Green's Plep for ALL the linky goodness over the years.
a bunch of miscellaneous chunks o'linky goodness:
Curbed SF & its near relation, Eater;
Para Justicia y Libertad! (a fine blogroll of Freedom Fighters there...);
the marvels that be Acephalous, The Millions, Subtraction, Homeland Stupidity,
miss rachel; Borderlands e-journal, The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics;
brief note: watched Festival Express the other day and Man oh Man was it fun. Maybe a DVD will have more to offer in terms of performances and behind the scenes footage/jamming on the trainride, nevertheless, was a marvelous thing to see Jerry and Janis when they wuz young and beautiful, full of life and light...
if ye might wonder what Melanie of Brushstroke is up to these days,
ye might find some clue at Blog for Democracy. yay, Melanie!
the day beckons, must be on my way. Remember, katz und kitteez, final episode of Deadwood Season 4 tomorrow night, we shall see if the twin two-hour concluding episodes are a reality early next year. Meanwhile, who is next to die?

briefly, before I go hunting for coffee...      8.24.06
by Fred Kaplan, via Slate, What a Moronic Presidential Press Conference!; thanks to K.M. & his Ghost in the Machine for provision of heads up.
as he turned to leave the podium he giggled in anticipation knowing in a moment he would let rip a wet zinger of a fart, a clarion call of horrible eye-stinging beef-a-rino stink, reveling in his talent for flatulence...

que vamos hacer aqui ahora...       8.23.06
pos, quien sabe, vamos a ver, eh Binkski?
any of ye see that news conference of a few days ago, the moron in chief letting us know in no uncertain terms (a) that he ain't gonna back down on his war against terror (so we gonna stay in Iraq NO MATTER HOW BAD AN IDEA THAT IS -emphasis all mine, babykakes-); (b) Irag had nuttin' to do with 9/11. Can one avoid that vertiginous freefall into the bottomless chasm of utter depression when considering the fact we are stuck with this marvel of stupidity and shortsightedness for another two-plus years? And afterwards, this is even more grim, someone has to try to put together all that he and his hench-folk have ripped asunder. Said it here before & tho' I hates to, will say it again, We are Well and Truly Fucked.
(btw, said press conference (8.21.06) can be viewed at C-span.org)
Any of ye have opportunity to watch Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke? Yah, ye got to have access to HBO one way or another and that's a damn shame, this kind of thing is what CBS, NBC or ABC ought to be doing, instead of more of the usual shite and nonsense they inundate us with. Truly, ye ought to see all four hours of Mr. Lee's documentary, while it is a plain fact that there is nothing that can actually portray the IMMENSITY of the disaster that befell the gulf coast as a result of Hurricane Katrina, When the Levees Broke does a fine job of distilling an extremely large amount of information, interviews, and film & video footage into four worthwhile hours that every thoughtful citizen should see. Oh, what I would give to be in a crowd of citizens at some public event visited by Dangerous Dick Cheney, and have all of us raise our voices in a mighty chorus of
"GO FUCK YOURSELF, DICK!".
alright now, before yourstruly gets carried away, want to make sure to send el chango tonto's best wishes for a Happy Sixth Anniversary to Gordon Coale & His Fabulous G.C. webloggy-thing.
Certainly wasn't by design, just another happy accident when we reserved book by Mark Helprin (author of one of yourtruly's all time favorite novels A Winter's Tale), a recently published collection of short stories entitled The Pacific and Other Stories. Methinks it be the third story in the collection that moved me, and the plotline coincidentally happens to correspond to an event whose anniversary we are on the threshold of. Am aware of Mr. Helprin's conservative backround, some some previous work he has done writing speeches and the like on behalf of republicans & other conservatives. Me? Not true that I detest ALL republicans or conservatives, (some of my best friends are - NOT!); mine own awareness of Mr. Helprin's work came about years (!!!) ago, after reading what was likely his first work, alongside an early collection of his short works, respectively Refiner's Fire and Dove of the East and other stories. Not such a great fan that there aren't works of his I've missed (for the moment, at least), his latest novel for one (Freddy and Fredericka), and, yah, there are any number of things betwixt us that would likely lead to some interesting arguments. Nonetheless, if ye happen to be contemplating a long journey by rail or steamship (anybody still doing that these days?), I'd recommend finding a copy of A Winter's Tale and taking it along for company. Oh, that 3rd story in the collection I mentioned is entitled 'Monday'.

a tip of the ol'red fez in the direction of...       8.19.06
Station Charon for 'The Real Worms Inside The Apple'. Well said, Ed Encho. Thanks to Taylor Marsh for pointing us in Ed's direction.
"haggard, horse-faced crack whore...",
shite, couldn't said it better myowndamnedself...

buenos dias, gatos y gatitas...      8.18.06
como le ha jido? okay, okay, okay, somebuddy out 'dere bound to write and say "ye got it wrong, chango tonto" and, well, perhaps so, my attempt to utilize slangy spanish phrase inquiring "how ya doink?" likely mispelled or worse, quien sabe and quien gives a shite anyway, eh Binky?
some small excitement hereabouts, coming to funky little club, Rockabilly's,
(UGLY-ass myspace webpage available here; Danger Will Robinson, Danger!)
on Dyer St. this Monday (8.21), Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers. Sure it's a Monday night but what better way to start a week than some tequila shooters, some cold beers and some good music? The difficult part will be tryin' to keep the momentum up thru the following weekend. BTW, Ruby's tour dates/sites.
t'was a week ago yourstruly shrugged hisowndamnself out of his languid, listless, languidness, sort of initially inspired by having seen Oliver Stone's World Trade Center and, at that time, was contemplating saying something 'bout it. Earlier this week l'Marquis came across something by Jon Carroll after he saw Stone's movie. Then there was this in the Sunday NY Times, Once Again, the Tragedy You Can’t Avoid (and again, those of ye wishin' to avoid any registration hassles ought to try BugMeNot). Methinks the first phrase in the NY Times piece pretty much nails mine own feelings re films/telecasts on the subject of 9/11 & the WTC tragedy: "IT is too soon." Mind ye, these feelings haven't prevented me from reading a few things about that day and events afterwards, oh, like our mention of 102 Minutes back in June '05 and the very recent perusal of William Langewiesche's American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center, not sure why reading about that day seems easier than "viewing" anything, perhaps it has a lot to do with those images burnt into our brains, at least into those who spent hours watching the news broadcasts, unable to tear ourselves away from those scenes of utter destruction. That book by Langewiesche began as a three part series for The Atlantic magazine, and you can read those pieces without having to become an Atlantic subscriber (which is NOT a bad thing to be, okay Binky?), by utilizing Questia where Part Three is available in its entirety. Part One & Part Two can be accessed but ye will need to take advantage of their "Free Seven Day Trial Offer" if ye want to fully peruse 'em. Mebbe just do what yourstruly did and go to your library and check the damn book out. While we discussing Mr. Langewieshe, allow our mention of another book of his read recently, doing research on immigration & the S.W. desert border in particular, Cutting for Sign.
ahhh, the day beckons, see ye round katts & kitts...
hmmmmm...
re those Questia links for Parts 1 and 2 included in post:
try these: Part 1 ; Part 2

doggish days...       8.14.06
and around here, more humid than usual. One thing is getting acclimated to the constant presence of the sunshine and heat of a desert environment's days, another altogether is trying to accustom oneself to anything more than single digit humidity numbers. Damn, even jumping in the pool is only a momentary respite as once you're out, ye get clammy and sticky oncet again. Maybe ought to head over to the library and enjoy the refrigerated AC there, goodness knows there's nothing worth seeing in the local theatres and besides, library's free. Oh shite,
'tis Monday and the damned place is closed. Oh well...
whilst running errand in the, ahhhh, central part of town this Am, was listening to NPR and caught good story about Dan Penn. Won't try to bullshite ye into thinking I know a lot about the guy, only that he was responsible for putting a LOT of good music into this world. Nice to know tho', that he still be at it. Here be some tablature for one of my own personal fave songs he had something to do with, recorded by nearly everybody and their kid sister too, by the way, 'Dark End of the Street'. Great pic of Mr. Penn on intro page at this site. If you listen to the show, ye can hear him play a few bars of 'I'm Your Puppet' (oh yah! James and Bobby Purify!), another killer tune, right Binky? Maybe go out and find a copy of this to add to your collection (saw Spooner Oldham playing w/Neil Young on his 'Heart of Gold' vid-disc recently). Lil' bit more of Mssrs. Oldham & Penn's shenanigans here (another great pic of some good ol' boys) and here.
Hacienda Brothers tour dates & info here

hola, chiquititas y chiquititos...      8.11.06
ohjeeebuskeerist, where shall we begin? Dryin' up 'round these parts, after the rains of the week previous. Some folks dealing with the heartbreak and anguish of facing major expense in trying to restore their homestead to some semblance of what it had been previous to the arrival of the deluge. Some pictures available here (courtesy EP Times website) for any curious souls amongst ye.
the post ye are perusing is the latest of several abortive attempts to d'monkey something, occasionally am waylaid by onedamnedthing or another, but l'Marquis' inactivity can be blamed on some large degree of ennui that has overcome us of late. Let's see if we canna' shake ourself outta the funque, okay Binky?
Via Media Matters, add your name to list of folks who're weary of hateful shite and the less-than-honorable souls that promulgate same. Talking 'bout less than honorable, that nasty cow A.C.'s been up to her usual high standards of contemptible behavior (again, courtesy M.M.F.A.). Oh, must control impulse to get sidetracked into anti-A.C. rant (with plenty of edifying linky bits, mind ye).
let's play it safe (Boo! Hiss!) and give ye some linky goodness to enjoy:
daily dose of imagery;
Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist;
(l'Marquis is an unrepentant Groucho Marx-ist...)
Capitol Hill Blue;
and whilst we're perusing Wash. D.C. environs,
FishBowl DC;
(tucker carlson's a putz and good to know we not alone in that opinion...)
new on the d'monkey radar: The Futurist; Yankee Pot Roast;
a few handfuls of fine blogs courtesy Ovi Magazine; J. Emerson's scanners;
brief note here: reminded by recent post on scanners mentioning the newly released "World Trade Center", t'was seeing it ourowndamnedself the other day that shook us up out of the ennui previously mentioned; got something to say about it and these trying times we are enmeshed in presently, but might take a bit o'time to get some clarity on what we wants to say...
okay, just a coupla more and we outta here: The Oil Drum; A Brooklyn Life; ShelterPub.com; Keep the coffee coming; mykeru; Freezerbox; Bernardinism.
some credit where it be due: that last link and another mentioned ealier in that hodgepodge of linky goodness came our way via the astute Finn once introduced to us as Hemaworstje, who can currently be espied at hopsakee, and we must say, ye got a fine eye, hombre...

holy boy!      8.03.06
nearly forgot to mention, the 150th issue of Ralph.
and el chango tonto looks forward to the next one hundred and fifty...

slumber disturbed by early morning thunder...      
sometime during the night, oh, maybe 1-2 in the morning, yourstruly was awakened by the rumbling of thunder overhead, induced by the many flashes of lightning, accompanied by the sound of rain falling on the ground outside (the windows were open throughout much of the house), the roof above. Occasionally a montrous thunderclap would punctuate the more peaceful thunder-rumbles and hiss of the rainfall; all this went on for nearly an hour, difficult to tell lying there in the dark, appreciating Mother Nature's handiwork in that time of no-time.
Discovered a few folks seeking out Mark Morford's electric car item when I took a look at the Official Record of Visitors earlier, most of them being directed to last month's post re the Tesla (the first half of that day's post actually) and other current alternatives. One of those erstwhile seekers from as far away as Nairobi, wonder how wind of Mark Morford got out that way, hmmmmmmm. Say, wonder if some of those folks are also aware of the recently released documentary Who Killed the Electric Car. Damned shame (again) that film fare like that shall never make here here to the hinterlands, and even greater shame, only a few vid-outlets are likely to carry a title like that. PBS June broadcast of NOW program "Who Killed the Electric Car?" is available for viewing on-line (NOT the film, mind ye, ye who might be easily confused...).
okay, now, what else might yourstruly be overlooking. Oh yah, getting much attention here and there (unfortunately, not the mainstream media outlets whereby most of the sonambulent amurrican publick gets its new) recently published book by Thomas E. Ricks, Fiasco; some excerpts available at the Washington Post site. Yourstuly caught C. Rose interview with Ricks last week, ye might be able to still see it for free here (am still astounded by the habitual ineptitude of C. Rose as an interviewer), and as the book tour thing is in full swing you're likely to catch him in any number of places, for example, he visited with K. Olbermann briefly on yesterday's Countdown (ye can seek out that linkybusiness yerowndamnedself, Binky...). T'was a mention (link there led to post at Dissident Voice) over on esteemed M.W.'s wood s lot that caught me eye and had me hasten down to publick library to fetch copy of The Bush Agenda: Conquering the World, One Economy at a Time. Infuriating indeed. Here be interview w. Ms. Juhasz via Democracy Now!. Ye will find lots of good stuff linked there on the various pages & sites pointed out to ye, Seek and Ye Shall Find...

yo pienso que semos todos mojados en este camion...       8.02.06
that ought to translate to something like " i think we're all wetbacks on this bus..." (tippin' the ol' red fez to the firesign theatre's i think we're all bozos on this bus.. for inspiring the attempt) and news that undoubtedly will fit nicely in the 'Be Careful What Ye Wish For...' category. Wet like a muthafukka hereabouts yesterday, from dark thirty in the morning till well after five in the Pm, serious rainage from a sizeable storm system that seemed to park itself above the local environs and continuously generate moisture that eventually rained down all over el paso county. Ye can seek out details yourowndamnedself at the usual local media outlets like elpasotimes.com, ktsm.com, kvia.com, kdbc.com (mebbe not them, they got knocked off the air by the flood in their basement), kfox.com. Rainy-ness all the day long interspersed with intense thundershowers, mostly concentrated along eastern and western sides of the mountains and resulting in some substantial mud and debris flows. Flooding is a typical thing in these environs any time a substantial thunderstorm passes thru, so ye might imagine what 12-15 hours of pretty constant rainfall punctuated by the regular appearance of severe thunderstorms would result in, one wet, soggy bunch of brown people, datz fo' sure. Powers that be closed the interstate into El Paso from Las Cruces because of the backed up traffic resulting from large and deep pond of water that formed in the Piedras/Cotton street basin, and as the rainfall was concentrated on areas south of the dams at Caballo & Elephant Butte, el Rio Grande approched flood stage late in the day, nearly broaching its levees. Not terribly serious here at chez Esther's, a very soggy backyard topped with, oh, maybe two inches of water here and there after the saturated soil shouted "No Mas!"; a pool that was filled to the brim, and a couple of wet doggies that appreciated the kindness of their human who kept them inside throughout the day instead of wretchedly cold, wet and huddled in their doggyhouse. Yourstruly has seen plenty of rainfall in his time, the bay area can be a pretty damn wet place to live in the worst winters (nothing like Seattle/Vancouver/Portland & environs to be sure, yet wet nevertheless) where we've seen rainfall for days at a time, and yes, streets flooding in Marin, hillside homes sliding off their perches and even scarier, coastside homes disappearing as the cliffs they are built upon erode and cascade down upon the surf crashing below. Never saw anything quite like what was seen in these local environs tho', those torrents of water pouring down and out of mountainside arroyos, there's bound to be some folks waking up today and discovering rattlesnakes and tarantulas where few wandered before. More rain forecast but nothing like yesterday's deluge expected, no doubt that's a good thing.