hola, amigas & amigos...       1.31.06 closing out l'Marquis' natal month with just a handful of chewy, linky bits; first off, tippin' our ol'red fez in the direction of a certain C. Bromley, whose email our way reminded us that we aren't stopping in to visit the Democracy Now site as often as we used to (and datz because we out and away from our bay area home and not listening to KPFA most to hear the show like we used to...) and we'd certainly have remained ignorant of Gore Vidal's State of the Union without that note sent our way. Speaking about democracy, check out Jon Carroll's column today. From the Sunday NYT and something we'd caught initial mention of on the Sunday pm ABC news broadcast, Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him, some related linky goodness avail googled here. Typical cad-ministration bullshite, no?

in re the intro line used in previous post...       1.30.06 that nonsense, claptrap, and baldfaced lies likely to describe much of what will be delivered by the Moron-In-Chief during tomorrow night's State of the Union address and wethinks that we'll likely be elsewhere, engaged in something more personally rewarding during his dog and pony show, no doubt we'll read all about it in the next day's papers. how refreshing to witness a head of state willing to put his money where his mouth is, so to speak. Let us all keep a weather eye on the future fortunes of Evo Morales, recently elected president of Bolivia. Watch your back, amigo, thems the kind of shenanigans likely to get you on the receiving end of a bullet or bomb blast, particularly when that big bully in the norhern hemisphere develops a dislike for your politics. We'll not add any linky bits here, they be out there for thee to seek out on your own, but anybuddy besides myself notice those announcements of oil company profits in the news of late? we are all well and truly fucked, boyz und gurlz, and mostly, we got only ourowndamnedselves to thank for it... and as if things weren't depressing enough, l'Marquis got it into his head recently, upon recent visit to local publick library, to bring home William T. Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down, but let us make certain you are aware it is Vollmann's abridged version we are speaking about, still quite the weighty tome at 730+ pages. In his preface to the abridgement he writes: In its original form, Rising Up and Rising Down occupies seven volumes. The single justification which I can offer is that I believe it needed to be that long. This abridgement likewise has only one justification: I did it for the money. In other words, I can't pretend (although you may disagree) that a one-volume reduction is any improvement upon the full version. All the same, it's not necessarily worse. For one thing, the possiblity now exists that someone might read it. Mind you, Binky, it isn't easy going, our progress so far (after nearly a week of having the book in hand) is that we are barely a third of the way through, that progress best described as 5 pages forward, three back, seven forward, two back, three forward, three back, each time going back to pick up or reinforce something Vollman is making a point about. Now, why are we immersing ourself in this study of our species propensity for violence? Well, dammit, happens to be something on our mind a lot these days, and having the luxury of a surfeit of unstructured time available to oneself, why not exercise the ol' grey matter more than we are accustomed to doing. Can't say that this experience is going to make living in this world any easier to stomach, more likely the contrary. Yourstruly occasionally is given to imagining a world where most of us invest the time and effort to consider these issues, not just why violence is so prevalent, but why are so many folk going hungry and without in a world of (seemingly) so much plenty. Egads, anytime you step into an American supermarket, just look around you. Now imagine yourself a child of, oh, say eleven, who has spent those eleven years in a refugee camp somewhere on the Pakistan border and then somehow, courtesy some minor miracle, you find youself flown out of that misery and relocated to a modern American city, oh, maybe Houston Tx or Albuquerque N.M., makes little difference really, although a place like Los Angeles or New York might be way too much to handle. Anyway, what kind of shock and awe might one experience in their first visit to your typical big time grocery store, you know the kind we speak of. shite, here we go, you got us off and digressing again. Just seems important that yourstruly should be reading this right now and, mind you, it isn't the only thing we sticking our nose in, there's still our penchant for the daily news, a few favorite magazines, and in between hours long bouts with Vollmann's tome, lately been easing up with compilation of some food-related columns by Jim Harrison, all put together in recently remaindered (no doubt you'll find it in your local bigtimechainbookstore like we did) entitled The Raw and the Cooked. Ourself somewhat fond of the "older" J. Harrison stuff than the latter, much of what we reading in these essays sort of self indulgent and, well, we'll not dwell on the critical, but is has been interesting to note, as we move along from one piece to the next, the occasional comment on the political scene at the time he was writing the column now compiled, and how little things have changed since the early nineties, when most of these pieces were written. Examples? here, just a few: ... I don't want to deal with the beverage problem. Canadian whiskey sounds passably wild but isn't, though tequila is made from the agave cactus. I've never drunk a homemade wine that wasn't loathsome, so any strictures in this area would be unfair and prevent the likelihood of more immortal poems. Also, I can't listen to the news without a beverage -- the dark tales of how Republican rapacity mated with Democratic desuetude, monitored by a press with moral Alzheimer's, has imperiled the republic. ('91);   However grim the world, we are what we have evolved into. That's natural to us. In Paris there had been a cold sweat when a French journalist reminded me that several years ago I said in a moment of ire that I had become a writer to avoid shitting through my mouth like a politician. You can't take this out of the context we live with every day. Mark Twain had the notion that there is no distinctly criminal class in America outside the U.S. Congress. We may add the executive branch. There is currently a dimension of cynicism in Washington that sends even Hollywood scampering to the puke trough. The world is our wake-up call, but we need places like Montana on occasion to avoid drowning. ('92);   This brings us to George Bush. I have an office pool betting on the date of his invasion of Cuba to save his ass in the coming election. Since I am the only one in my office, I get to win. It's only a matter of time, and a dream told me it would be on the eve of the coming NBA finals between the Bulls and the Lakers. We are at the tether end of an era of greed and political chicanery not experienced since the 1920s and, before that, the 1880s, when a congressional vote could be bought for twenty-five grand. The price has gone way up, even considering inflation. If only the environmentalists could raise a couple of hundred mil to spread around Washington, they might get somewhere. Of all the various terms for bribery, "PAC" is the freshest minted. ('92); Alright, enough of that, too much like work, and we want to spend some time at play today, so, you all be good to one another now, or Johnny Chango might have to show up and kick some ass...

nonsense, claptrap, and baldface lies...       1.26.06 might be what ye'll find around here now and again, but definitely what's been dumped on us by the shovelful courtesy G.W.Bush, et al... amongst the many (and there be MANY) things yourstruly is grateful for, there's a place way up high on that list for the wonder that is Riley Dog and ye know what else, Binky? Ms. Essbaum has that kind of lower lip that l'Marquis loves to nibble and kiss, and ya know that usually leads up to something wunnerful, don't ye Binky? yea, verily, there's nothing like a heathen ape fella working hard to corrupt good christian womenfolk, doncha know? our bad, yes it is, as we had every intention of mentioning these things overheard by Eliot Weinberger in Iraq when we first came across it during a visit to Gail's Open Brackets a couple of weeks ago. Now that that's off our chest, mebbe we should also offer up apology to anybuddy who might have been caught in embarressing moment due to our lack of mention that fullminatia may not be entirely, ahhhhhh, what's that term, work safe? Ooops... also good to see el vato loco Pat T. back in bloggin' form after the hosting switcharoo biz, y'all know that question to that answer that is forty two, doncha? now we remember! was tryin' to recall wich blog we were reminded of when we first noticed fulminatia, and no, t'wasn't the good doctor menlo, goshdarnitall, t'was random abstract... okay, haven't provided new tab for ye in a leeetle while, no? so, let's light up a nice big spliff and play Casey Jones, and by the way, plenty more Dead tabs here

we be borink...       1.23.06 thinkin' many of you might enjoy stopping in and visiting fullminatia; l'Marquis tips his ol'red fez in appreciation of what he's got going on there, and yah, mebbe the Netherlands is the place where we ought to consider spending the rest of our days on this earthly plane. Might as well, while we here, mention just a couple of interesting items we noticed over the weekend; from the NYT Sunday magazine, The Animal Self; same source, different subject, and we not sure why, but we find this little house extremely appealing. Been experimenting a tiny bit with some new tunings on the guitar, came across this collection of alternate tunings to share. Received very interesting thing in the mail the other day, appears to be an invite to take part in someone's effort here online, and has us pondering upon what we might submit their way, check out Ovi magazine, and if and when a submission of ours is accepted, we shall let thee know (hmmmmm, mebbe Finland is the place to spend those latter days...". Sister Victoria dropped by for a visit yesterday, graced us with her presence long enough to watch a midafternoon video matinee (a wonderful alternative to the football playoff action). Brother Ken and son Ken jr. alongside as well, and yourstruly pretty sure we all enjoyed watching Junebug, check it out yourowndamnedself. And you know what Binky? If you finds hugs are in short supply in your environs these days, make yourself a nice batch of chocolate chip cookies, mainly for yourowndamnedself, maybe share 'em, who knows, might get a hug or two in return, 'cause ye know, nuttin' says lovin' like sumptink from da oven...

quickly now, vite, vite...       1.20.06 so, not anybody yourstruly knew personally, but someone dear to neice G. has run out of heartbeats, after some lengthy struggle with this mortal coil, so the Momz & ourowndamnedself paying our respects at this afternoon's funeral, maybe bro Dan & partner Janet be free afterwards and we go off and raise a few in salute to the old guy. In the meantime, some chewy, linky bits of goodness to pass along. Saw mention of recent recording in New Yorker of 1.16, entitled I Have the Room Above Her, the very fine drummer Paul Motian in trio w/the talented (and how!) Bill Frisell along with saxophonist Joe Lovano and ye know that l'Marquis is gonna go out and find that thing and give it a serious listening to. Lo and Behold, in the NYT online today, nice piece on Mr. Motian, who has been doing his thing for many years, and mention therein of new album coming soon by larger ensemble who will be at the Village Vanguard (damndumbmonkey ought to get his bigbrownbutt to NYC one day, right Binky?) next week. Garden of Eden is the title of the coming release, both of the discs mentioned are on the ECM label. HEY, by the way, those of ye in the S.F. Bay area would be well advised to check out Yoshi's during Jan 24-29 'cause Mr. Lovano gonna be there with McCoy Tyner (who'll be at Yoshi's for TWO WEEKS!!). okay you pretty little things you, from New Yoker issue mentioned earlier, interesting look at the year in film, Chill, by Anthony Lane. One of our personal favorite directors has a new film in release and we looking forward to checking it out, we talking about Terrence Malick's The New World. Now, the last thing we gonna leave ye with? We enjoyed our visit this morning with long-esteemed columnist for the S.F. Chronicle, Jon Carroll, and yea, verily, yourstruly shall strive to keep his own mind ripplier...

jessferdahalibut...       1.18.06 alrighty now, katz und kitteez, some quick and dirty action for ye, gettin' to some things recently experienced before that shot to hell short term memory of ours kicks in. First up, from the NYT Sunday Book section, and oh man, ain't it the truth, sister: The Place You Love Is Gone; yah, just ask our ol' pal Stumpy Delko. Pretty damn sure that the film we about to mention has not been released in the EPTx environs, and that's too bad, sure, a story 'bout a broke down pimp in Memphis, well, some folks might find themselves dismissing it out of hand, sort of like that love story between two young men garnering much critical attention these days, and goddammit, just a damn shame folks be like that. ANYWAY, now available on video and worth your attention, Hustle and Flow; seriously, some really fine work by everybody in the cast and the DVD has some good stuff in the Special Features re what it took to get this thing made. While we talking about film here, always worth a visit to amigo K.M.'s GITM and see what the young fella has to say, and not just about movies either. Going to mention some S.F. Bay area related items here (could be we feelin' just a wee bit homesick, certainly know we miss that regular relaxed amble up Solano to Peet's we enjoyed on many a morning there at the Albany house): mentioned here previously, from the folks at SFGate/S.F. Chronicle, the Culture Blog, alongside something "new", their World Views column has become a 'blog'. There are a number of sites you'll discover over at Gothamist, one providing some focus on S.F. is SFist. Take a leap across the bay and drop in on Kid Oakland and damn, oncet upon a time there were a couple of other Oak-town related links we knew of, gonna have to do some checking up on 'em and see if they still bloggin' away, but in the meantime, check out all of the chunks of chewy, linky goodness available to you at Berkeley Blogs (a tip of the ol'red fez to Ben over at LinkStew for keepin' up the good work). Shite! almost forgot to mention our buddy John's Information Junk. Goshdarnitall, time to wrap this up and we're going to respond to very courteous email message received on Monday, some Cal alumni got a new site up and running, with intent to "provide a different approach for small businesses to connect with local users without relying on advertisements and listings". They be GetVendors.com and all of the minions here as well as l'Marquis hisowndamnedself wish 'em the best of luck. Now we gonna go out and find us some yummy green enchiladas to munch upon...

geegoshO'whillikers, where doth the time goeth...       1.17.06 hugs all around, gatitos y gatitas, make sure you get in on as many as you can as one of these days they might be in terribly short supply and you gonna wish that you had stocked up on those wonderfullywarmandrejuvenating abrazos grandes, then again, ye might be a tad on the misanthropic side and if so, well, yourstruly can understand your reluctance... ourowndamnedself's tryin' to maintain an even strain, a few worries 'bout this and that, but nothing threatening to overwhelm our usual capacity for coolness under fire. Found ourselves visiting Las Cruces a couple of times since last posting hereabouts, checked in on place called Nellie's out there, and it pains us to do so, but we can't really recommend the place to ye. Might be best described as being the next size up from 'a hole in the wall' and (they do get busy there...) it can be a pretty tight fit at lunchtime (they don't do dinner at Nellie's), and if you want to wait for your table, chances are you'll do it outside, again, space inside is at a premium. Menu consists of the usual tried and true mexican specialties, and no, Binky, we haven't tried everything on that menu, just been a little disappointed in what we have had opportunity to try. Prices aren't bad, but then again, L.C. and EPTx are are both places where you can find plenty of good and inexpensive mexican chowchowchow, and, goshdarnitall, rice, beans and tortillas simply shouldn't cost you too much ANYWHERE, right? Our last visit at Nellie's l'Marquis tried an order of flautas de pollo AKA chicken rolled tacos (the tortilla rolled up cigar style w/filling inside, then fried) and, well, we were plainly and simply disappointed in what was presented to us, three rather undernourished appearing flautas, a decided lack of sabor to the chicken filling, accompanied by wee dollps of guacamole and sour cream (s.c. being something l'Marquis can always do without, thenkyewvurrymooch...) complete with requisite servings of rice and beans alongside. Got to tell you da trutt Ruth, for a bit over six bucks, our luncheon left a lot to be desired. The Momz had enchiladas and if there's anything that the Lady Esther knows, it be enchiladas and Nellie's were nothing to write home about, so to speak. This was during one of those busy lunchtimes, too, when it takes a L O N G time to get attended to, perhaps an even longer time for the comida to show up. Okay, so we can provide ye some good news alongside this not so good news, our visit to the L.C. Farmers & Crafts Market on Saturday led to discovery of La Morenita, nice family run joint located in the middle of what's referred to as the Downtown Mall -- not really a mall by 'modern' standards of mall-dom -- where the mall is bisected by Las Cruces Ave. Yourstruly was a tiny bit too late for brekkie so we settled for one of the combo plates offered for lunch that included taco, flauta, enchilada and tamale. Pretty damned good, all excepting the flauta in this case, which was really bad, either WAY overfried -- both tortilla and filling were inedibly tough -- or perhaps old, from yesterday, hey, we weren't going to make an issue of it, because the other items were muy sabroso, and there was substantially more provided on the plate (as far as the guac, s.c., rice, beans and ensalada) than say, oh, Nellie's? We not talking GARGANTUAN portions, let us simply describe them as generous without being overly so. Lady Esther ordered the gorditas, and the young fella taking her order asked her if she was really hungry which was his subtle way of providing forewarning as to the (in this case the adjective applies) gargantuan size of these gorditas, and there were THREE of them, Binky. Momz could handle one, ourowndarnedself ingested one (ALMOST more than we could handle, alongside our own order) and we brought the other one home, or intended to, actually, as yourstruly got up to pay the check and left the wrapped goody on the table. After exiting we enjoyed another circuit of the vendors and their wares, a post-repast stroll to augment the digestion of lovely luncheon, only to remember "oh shite, we forgot our gordita!" whilst heading to the car in the parking lot. Folks at La Morenita were very nice (Momz wasn't about to leave that big yummy thing behind) and cooked one up fresh to take home with us, as no one could account for the one left behind earlier (l'Marquis suspects it was big, ugly dude at table behind us who noticed its abandonment and took it home hisowndamnedself...). So, the moral of the story is, if you happen to visit L.C. on a Wednesday or Saturday, mebbe imagining you might enjoy checking out that downtown mall action on market day, then while doing so thinkin' "Damn. I am hungry!", yourstruly heartily recommends you allow yourself a really nice meal at La Morenita, ye can tell 'em a friend in El Paso told you about the place.

hey-low, you little monkies you...       1.13.05 yourstruly been on sort of a emo-rollercoaster of late, something about this natal week, this time & place, and - probably - entirely too much navel gazing has had us alternately joyful and depressed, we all know, most of us at least, that the world's in a terrible mess, and ourowndarnedself not at all sure that the U.S. of A. is doing much other than contributing to the terrible mess part. Suppose if we was reading just crap like so many people do (if they read at all...) that we might avoid increasing our knowledge of the fucked-up-ness of things, ahhhhhh, but then we'd likely have to perform major surgery on our character, such as it is, find some way to modify l'Marquis' essential nature. hey, looky here, someone writing for he NYT spending some 36 hours in Silver City, N.M., a place we have developed some small affection for. We suggest visiting in the warmer part of the year, begin with spring and maybe come back again in autumn, see how the seasons seem to differ there; if you are inclined to do anything wilderness related, camping, hiking, that kind of thing, the Gila Wilderness beckons. A pretty damned interesting day trip awaits thee just a few miles away should you choose to visit the Gila Cliff dwellings. All that and much cheap-ass NewMex mexican food is mentioned in that piece. The article mentions something about heading to Silver City via Interstate 10 connection thru Deming N.M. (one of the most gawd-foresaken places on the planet) and unless you happen to be making excellent southwestern U.S. road trip, you might likely find yourself having chosen to fly into EPTx and make the trip west on I-10 heading to Las Cruces where we recommend you keep a weather eye out for the Interstate 25 exchange and head north on I-25, till you get around the Caballo reservoir, then seek out Hwy 152 and head west on that up into the southernmost section of the Gilas, a fine trip thru some heavily forested mountains, certainly a much more esthetically rewarding trip than the hour on 180 out of Deming, abeit a bit "windier".

lots of stuff to say...       01.06.06 just not enough time to get around to it, not right now at least, so we gonna do the quick and dirty kinda post: firstly, re the colors/layout of the present d'monkey, intending something kinda celebratory to jump into '06, the seventh year of dumbmonkeybusiness as well as l'Marquis' natal month, and damn, the days are too short and the nights are too chilly and we just wanna have a leetle more fun than we been rationed of late, okay Binky? On that D. Letterman/Bill "I'm really dumb as a fuckin' post" O'Reilly, business recently, had to chuckle to ourowndamnedself when we ran across this item, courtesy DemBloggers Esteemed amiga Euphorbita continues (in her very generous way) to pass along choice bits of linky goodness our way, subject line of one recent item is as follows: Yet in the media/punditry's desperate, mob-like rush to kiss the fat white ass of power even as it farts the most foul-smelling lies right in their face...; Oh yea, verily and ain't it the truth sister! Entire item is available here, please check it out. Then, just this morning we discovered a timely heads up from Euphorbita from those wonderful gals over at Code Pink (don't ask what Bill "I'm almost more full of shite than George Bush" O'Reilly thinks of those women...), and you can go visit their Women Say NO to War site to find out more for yourowndamnedself. Muchas Gracias, Teresita! okayokayokay, last item to share with thee for now, ye preeety leeetle theeengs ye; yourstruly in the middle of reading very interesting book written by Gerald Posner, and you can read a little about Secrets of the Kingdom here. Man (l'Marquis was already thinking we -- mostly poor, middle class, downsized, unable to get decent medical insurance, struggling to maintain an even strain daily -- was already well and truly fucked) oh man, we are in deeper shite than you could ever imagine, Binky, hate to tell ya...

David is smarter than Bill ANYDAY...       01.04.06 caught the exchange btwn Letterman and O'Reilly late last night, and Dave begged off any debate claiming he wasn't smart enough to engage in one, but we know better. Thanks to T. Goddard's Political Wire for pointing out link to vid of said exchange available via the considerate horsesasses at NewsBusters. Fuck you, Bill O'Reilly!

Stop the presses! Abramoff pleads guilty.
C-Span has some very good coverage on this matter, plus much live coverage tonight.
Other sites to visit re this & related issues:
Democracy 21; the Daily DeLay; Source Watch J. Abramoff page;
Jack in the House; Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
we'll try to offer up more as the details come in.

hello ye preeety leeetle theeengs...       01.03.06 whew! glad that's all over, for another year at least. Certainly a wee bit less troublesome for ourowndarnself as we high-tailed it outta town (EPTx that is) for the majors and spent a relatively peaceful, albeit prettygoshdarned wet, week & a half mostly by our lonesome self. Thanks to the generousity of pals Phillipe & JaneyKakes, got to stay in their cozy wee apartment on Oxford street for a few days before our departure; funny how yourstruly was jonesing BIGtime to indulge penchant for channel surfing whilst stuck indoors during the worst of the rainy-ness inundating Norte California, good thing that J & P got satellite after the week in the Albany house and only regular broadcast available. Yah, we did rent some DVDs to pass some time, think we mentioned one or two in recent posts, and goshdarnitall, never got it together enough to venture out to the Balboa theatre in S.F. to catch The Best of Youth. Perhaps one should admit to having been somewhat, ahhhhh, unwilling to go out in the inclement weather, and as we had to put some of the few hours of decent weather available to other uses, oh well, asi es la vida, No? Good news, though, The Best of Youth will be available on home video formats within six weeks or so. Had that other little problem, how to manage the schedule of any prospective attempt to see the six hours or so that make up TBoY, get in early and sit thru both showings on one day? late PM showing of parte uno, then return again to catch parte due? ANYWAY, yourstruly wanted to keep things simple and his owndamnedself comfortable, so there. Hey, looks like (according to quickie google to dig up relevant linkage) TBoY might be already available on disc, check out this link from GreenCine. Alright, did you have yerself a happy new year celebration, Binky? The gang here in EPTx met up over at la Casa de Bro K, who put together sizeable feast for the family, one and all seemed to have enjoyed themselves immensely. l'Marquis kept his usual low profile, walked to downtown Berkeley from P & J's (funny how new year's eve and Xmas eve were both pretty decent days in the East Bay, weatherwise) to the California theatre to catch a movie, one of two we managed to see in theatres during our visit. Hey, ye know what? Check it out kids, this little roadhouse on the info-autobahn has been around now for six years, and this post marks the beginning of year seven. Hmmmmm...   what's that ye say Binky? Maybe 6 years too many? ohhhhhh, Binky, thy name is Cruelty. Happens that l'Marquis hisowngoddamnedself be celebrating b-day pretty darn soon too, quelle co-incidence! Might be time for some serious debauchery across the border...