watched plenty of PBS last night... 7.31
and it completely got past us, otherwise we'd have mentioned Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History,
which led into the G. Vidal program we mentioned previously.
Both were examples of what television broacasting could aspire to,
such a shame they've convinced the masses that Big Brother, Survivor,
well, you name it, is the stuff that's worth seeing, what a load of utter crap...
undisputed proof l'Marquis' ahead of his time... 7.30
hearkening back to d'monkey post circa 6.28.00,
(google cache of this particular link available here,
we'll make that more efficiently located later...)
& from today's Chronicle business section, Webvan founder eases back into the fray with Web content venture hey, mebbe he offer l'Marquis a job, if not a percentage...
weblog, journal, on line diary, web reportage...
whatever da'hell ya wantz to call it,
from SF Gate, S.F. Chronicle reporter David Baker's Iraq Journal
Behind the Scenes: Plan 63... 7.29
tippin' our ol' red fez in the direction of The Morning News;
l'Marquis also has many questions for the cad-ministration,
and knows it's not likely he'll receive answers of any veracity,
but ourowndamnself & others like Jon Carroll ask anyway.
Okayokayokay, while we're at it, here are some interesting numbers
from the very interesting site, Public Education Network
fighting off this Am's tending towards depression...
reading news headlines is not necessarily good for one's mental health;
oh, newly arrived on-line, interesting reading atNYRB;
alright, so sometimes the news is bad (yahhhhh! Oftentimes!!!)
but sometimes it be good, okay? next up, a recent sampling: bad news #1; bad news #2; the recent good news;
okay, but let's not kid ourselves now, okay? We are all aware of
how dire the situation is in this country regarding education,
and yourstuly still sees bleak times & little reason for optimism ahead...
no saucy, spicy adventures to relate to thee... 7.28
with godddesses or even a sole aspiring goddess, just another weekend, just another brief respite from the day-to-day
hi-jinks on the killing floor at Fishwrap Central Classifieds. Two things happened that made us happy, one of them being
getting our Epiphone out of the shop, where the girl had a little adjustment done, some shaving of her bracing, new bridge saddle and fretwork, oh my, she's like another guitar altother, sounding much brighter, those mid range frequencies really enhanced by the work on the bracing, and the action, oh, well now the Epi plays like a dream, if only yourstruly can manage
to maintain focus and develop our ability, then we'd really deserve having such a nice instrument around. That other piece of business? Well, ol' Jane who lives in little cottage on the northern end of l'Marquis' estate, well, one of her plants is
this H U G E L Y overgrown cymbidium orchid, had become so pot bound that its growth split the clay pot it was in and it desperately required attention, which was beyond ol' Jane's capability. We were lucky to attain the assistance from friend L, known to some as OrchidGirl, who gave up her saturday to visit the estate (we provided nice grilled halibut dinner as partial exchange) and guide us thru the division and transplanting process and where once was one humongous plant, well there is now
seven separate (and so far) much happier individuals. Hurrah for the orchidgirl and, by the way, where's that damned ointment for our aching back?
Another enjoyable thing we managed to take part in had to do with a DVD we watched, and we'll approach specifics in a roundabout way (do we know any other way but the roundabout, some of you may be asking?, no...) First, some two months or
so ago ourowndarnself had the pleasure of seeing L'Homme du Train (The Man on the Train), our interest largely piqued by
our fondness for the director, Patrice Leconte, and one of the principals in the film is the wonderful Jean Rochefort, whom
we always have a great affection for (by the way, should any of you be so inclined, see The Hairdresser's Husband, also directed by Leconte & also starring Rochefort, one of l'Marquis' very favorite films...). Okay, so, what we brought home from
our local video emporium was film about a film, actually a film about the non-making of a film, and one of the primary reasons this non-making occured had to do with the aforementioned J. Rochefort. The film we are speaking about (the one about the non-making of a certain film) is the documentary Lost in La Mancha, a verite behind the scenes record of the calamity that befell the efforts of another favorite director of ours, Terry Gilliam, in his attempt to finally (after some 10-12 years) bring his tale of Don Quixote to the screen, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Now, here would be an opportune time for mineownself to wander off in some direction where we sing the praises of Mssr. Gilliam, the films of his that we love so dearly, etc. etc, but no, we're reining in that impulse and will save that for perhaps some other time. For now, all we would like to communicate here is that viewing Lost in La Mancha's definitely not for everybody, perhaps you enjoy this kind of "let's take a look at what goes on behind all the smoke and mirrors" record, and if so, well, hie thyself off and even though watching this particular documentary is like watching a slow motion and very detailed record of a terrible train wreck, it is entertaining, and one gets a very good idea of the complexity involved in mounting a major motion picture,
and to some degree, the demons that drive these creative souls, particularly the demons hounding Mssr. Gilliam. The one thing
that you'll discover in this two disc set, a nugget of pure gold in the supplementary material, is an interview, oh, just under an hour's length, with Salman Rushdie making the inquiries to T. Gilliam, something that yourstruly enjoyed immensely, these two bright minds engaged in repartee & talking story, well, we wished it had gone on for at least another hour. oh dear, it's nearly a quarter of the hour to 6, ourowndamnself better get his ass in gear...
NOTHING would make us happier... 7.25
& that includes passionate liaison with several goddesses simultaneously...
the magnificent M. Morford, Watching BushCo Crumble,
Ratings slipping...
so, shall we all work just a little bit harder to bring this about, eh? (Yah, BOTH the demise of the cad-ministration AND my opportunity
to cavort with goddesses of every hue & complexion...)
whooo hoooooo, you can vicariously visit...
d'monkey environs around Berkeley/Albany courtesy S.F. Chronicle's BAY TRAIL ADVENTURE
North in East Bay to Albany Bulb guided tours available, we even throw in a free lunch...
we wantz some of whatever he's having... 7.24
three days in a row, GO Riley Dog GO!; Of Flags and Gags Stiffly
how they wave behind their
SUVs and pickups
frayed soon to tatters within
the seventy mile an hour winds which drive
the interstate
symbols
not so much of patriotism
as of cupidity born of ignorance
and complacency
as of my country ever more wrong
than right
flags
become more useful now
as gags as blindfolds as earplugs
~ Al Buono
(via the aforementioned R.Dog)
Hurrah for The Atlantic online...
reading this particular story on our ride homeward yesterday Pm,
happy to see it available on line alongside some other interesting items
from the current month's issue: The Texas Clemency Memos.
here here! nicely said... Mr. Piatkowski, writing at rabble news,
a feature of rabble.ca, discovered via google news;
whilst on the subject of Canadians, deserving of a good scratch behind the ears
is the esteemed Riley Dog (what, Again?--- Yessssss!) for pointing us in this direction...
l'Marquis doesn't visit MeFi all that often...
although we realizing that may be a habit we have to modify;
something from MeFi today, re important upcoming event.
okay now, enough of us, hie thyselves off & visit C.J., stumpy&dante&Co., S.J. Green's plep, the wonderfulness that is Riley Dog, the all too marvelous efforts of Mark W at wood s lot, oh gosh, dere's so many others, and where the hell's Ethel these days, we bet it has something to do with that aggravation known as Blogger, huh Steve?
actually had our fill of sunshine & blue skies...
fairly early in the day yesterday, so we hied ourself to a matinee, more about what we saw a little later,
but let us mention first what the film we viewed brought to mind and in this we'll digress a bit, as when
we were attempting to recall our mention of a particular Wim Wenders film, well, the grey matter was un-cooperative, so
(another reason we love google so...) we launched google and typed in: dumbmonkey "wings of desire" and received just the results we needed, a primero visit our link to brief mention alongside some linkage re wonderful film Wings of Desire, and then l'Marquis will tell you that our matinee choice was Northfork and those of you who've seen the film already might readily see what these two films have in common, other than the fact they're both very singular works, products of singular vision, well, in the case of Northfork, the intertwined vision of the brothers Polish. Oh, yah, we know a good many people are not going to like it, something about a film that makes you think, that requires something from the viewer other than simply sitting there having the plotline (if there is one) spoonfed to you, and nope, there are no superheroes, no car chases or big explosions, just a story, and a curious & compelling one it is too. We arrived early enough to enjoy sitting through some previews (so far the Landmark theatre chain is not subjecting their customers to commercial ads other than the movie previews and those are largely indy film titles...). Sofia Coppola's got something headed our way, appears it might be a pleasant surprise (and fans of Bill Murray will no doubt eat it up...); ooooo-oooooh... another very interesting item coming soon, with a certain legendary musical presence surrounded by a large cast of notable names & faces, Masked and Anonymous; and then one other we'll make quick mention of here, again looks a lot more interesting than some of the major studio excesses we've got to wade through, American Splendor. Then, Later that same day, ourowndarnself relaxing after nice dinner of grilled chicken and garden salad complete with home grown tomatos (mmmmm mmmmm good...) we caught that Bravo program, Inside the Actors Studio, actually about the last 40 minutes of it with guest of honor Jeff Bridges and guess what? Well, we had also made some previous mention of our own appreciation of Mr Bridges' work but
again couldn't remember precisely when, so rather than searching thru our own archived output, we did that google trick mentioned earlier once more, and, yesssss, we'll just cut to the chase now, here's a brief appreciation of J. Bridges from April '01...
more summertime fun & diversion...
in the East Bay environs of Berkeley, the Pyramid Brewery,
located 901 Gilman (Gilman off ramp, mere minutes from freeway exit);
Pyramid Outdoor Cinema, yessiree, outdoors & al fresco,
nope, not much info on their site other than the Event Calendar,
the following info provided via ad in the East Bay Express,
7.19, Swingers; 7.26, Office Space; 8.9, Strange Brew; 8.16, Harold & Maude (****);
8.23, So I Married an Axe Murderer; 8.30, Bull Durham; 8.31, Slap Shot; 9.9, Spinal Tap;
shows begin (hmmmm, we'll see) at sundown, BYO Seating,
lot opens at 7pm, 5$ suggested donation (italics ours...)
we hope you'll all pardon...
our tardiness in mentioning that it is that time of year again. what time of year do you mean, dear Marquis?
that great & grand & joyous San Francisco Mime Troupe time of year,
dear boyz und gurlz, & you'll find this summer's schedule here.
yesssss, it is true...
yourstruly's clings desperately to hope for regime change,
of course we referring to the cad-ministration's regime;
OH, well, mind you, just talkin' Califonia here,
but perhaps the word will continue to spread...
& yesssss, we well aware of that old saw:
there's lies, damn lies, and then, statistics...
HohoHo- thanks New Yorker!, for republishing Seymour Hersh's
3.31 piece Who Lied to Whom online.
Hie thyselves off to buy the current (7.14 & 21) issue for
John Cassidy's Letter from Iraq, Beneath the Sand;
you can enjoy some local S.F. hi-jinks via this
link re fajitagate
ourowndarnself's not in the best...
of moods this Am, krankypantz on kinda tight wethinks,
so, for now, just this link to some fine Steve Bell cartoons,
oh, & we might as well, whilst we are here,
the esteemed Jon Carroll, How to lie like a good person. and while you are there, take a look for his wednesday column, very fine...
some encouraging words discovered... 7.15
on our BART ride home today, followed with some info via google:
and this heads up from over a month ago made us feel, uhhhhh...
well, like we hadn't been keeping up the way we ought to have.
oh oh, that one-note-Johnny's back again...
maybe a little more than a month past l'Marquis was listening to KPFA broadcast of Democracy Now, just because we happened to have that on the radio at the time, rather than by design, and great good fortune had it that on that day Arundhati Roy was being interviewed in regard to recent publication of War Talk. We'd long been aware of Ms. Roy & her reputation as fine writer, many of you have no doubt had the pleasure of reading her novel The God of Small Things, something ourowndarnself has yet to accomplish. but we did take along her Power Politics whilst on our little sojourn to the Desert Southwest. Both the link to War Talk and Power Politics have links to excerpts of each, in PDF form, and l'Marquis thinks that you'd be amiss in not examining both and perhaps then shortly afterwards hieing thyself to your local bookseller of choice (hope it's an Indy!) and acquiring same & purposefully adding to your personal store of knowledge.
An extraordinary woman, a wonderful & gifted writer, and if yourstruly'd been in New York City on September 13, '02, it's highly likely we'd have been in the Cooper Union audience. Oh, and we unashamedly shout "Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah!" for South End Press. Happy (b e l a t e d) Anniversary, folks!
slowly & patiently gathering our wits...
about ourself after brief holiday, well, what's left of them, at least.
Something caught yourstruly's eye whilst on said holiday, item re return of PBS program Soundstage, and while ourowndarnself's not a big fan of all of the artists who'll be featured this time around, l'Marquis is a great fan of Lucinda Williams, herowndarnself will be center stage on the July 31st broadcast
back in the city by the bay... 7.14
hot fun in the summertime... 7.12
will occasionally call for respite in the comfort of movie theatre with refrigerated air conditioning, particularly when the forecast high temp for the day is somewhere in the 102 degree neighborhood, so, yourstruly, in the company of monkeyMomz and brotherDave, hied ourselves to midday matinee of the only summer release we've been interested in seeing, but before we say a few things about that, let us mention that in our not-so-humble opinion, it's been Way Too Long since we've seen a pirate movie, and we not talking about space pirates or pirates in some alternate universe, we speaking of those 'arrr Matey kind of scalawags. Legend of Blackbeard always fascinated ourowndamnself and somewhere in the d'Monquis archives is aborted attempt at novel evolved into screenplay that had to do with high seas adventure based on E. Teach. Up until now, l'Marquis has studiously avoided the summer releases, just not our cup of tea to begin with, and, well, damn, nothing so far we've heard or read about anything has been compelling enough to make us change our minds, oh, but Pirates of the Caribbean, well, just the idea of adventure on the high seas, romance, and the opportunity to watch young Johnny D. and Geoffrey R. gambole in high style's enough to allow us to forget the big green fellow or that other large humanoid who wants us to vote republican (Feh!). Anyone who's viewed Quills can testify to Mr. Rush's scenery chewing ability, and the pleasure of seeing him alongside Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow is well worth the price of regular admission. A marvelous entertainment, great bits of action, lots of humour, and if one must see a film that is a bit of a special effects extravaganza, it is nice to see one that carries it off as well as this one. Great good fun and sure, there's a surfeit of empty calories, but tasty and refreshing none the less.
okay, so yourstruly shows up... 7.11
in the desert southwest for brief holiday & whilst visiting brother Daniel at chez dannyP, ourowndarnself's teasing him re not keeping up with l'Marquis by not dropping in and perusing the adventures of d'Monquis, and he says "well, I have, but it's always some political bullshite..." and, well, has ourowndarnself become a one-note Johnny these days? No, we think not, what we really think is that our pronounced and emphatic dislike of that empty suit currently residing in la casa blanca might be the "political" stuff that hermanito D doesn't care for, & could that possibly be because said hermanito cast a vote in the republican direction last time around, hmmmmm? ahhhh, well, you know, "to forgive is divine" and many folks have forgiven yourstruly's worst excesses on occasion, and we've still some forgiveness to seek out in certain quarters, so we willing to cut our hermanito D a certain amount of slack, just as long as he is willing to look closely at what that slack-jawed rapscallion says and does. Very interesting moment in the Oak-town airport awaiting flight out of the Bay Area and the ABC news program was being watched on those ubiquitious terminal TV monitors, and (hurrah for ABC) lead story that day was the
admission that the administration had fudged the facts re
that sale of nuclear materials by Iraq, and yah, sure, too little too late, because if ABC news was really the top notch news organization those overpaid & way too comfortable folks imagine themselves to be, that story would have been investigated thoroughly to begin with and broadcast before Georgy et al sent troops over into... ahhhhhh, enough, no wonder l'Marquis's prescribed blood pressure medicine these days, we blame it all on those idiot republicans. Yah, right! Another example, well, how about this jewel from today's fishwrap, & ohhhh, if only the Furies managed the Department of Karmic Repercussions, ol' George'd end up suffering some debilitating awfulness and find the relief provided him by such a prescription unavailable to him due to his own stupidity and shortsightedness. These trips to the hinterlands are interesting for two primary reasons, the first being that living in the Bay Area, particularly in Berkeley and working in S.F., one can develop a huge misapprehension about what folks are seeing & hearing out there in the hinterlands, leading to occasionally getting too comfortable with the idea that wiser heads of a more liberal/humanitarian bent will prevail. W R O N G ! Sorry, hate to break the news to you boyz und gurlz but it be ugly out here, and admittedly, we are not (nor are we about to) making a grand tour of the pleasures afforded one in the hinterlands, but there is one hellalot of that God And Country stuff going on out here, and (brief example) whilst many of the nation's papers have printed stories about that Nigerian nuclear material sale and the
"Big Lie" (there are so many Big Lies that fool and his administration are responsible for, this really pales in comparison to some of the others) the local rag has been
running front page stories re news released by the Pentagon re the fate of the 507th (HQ'd in EPT) and nary a discouraging word re el residente & his cohorts. Patriot Act? Okay with us! George Bush talks to God? Hey, Great, We do TOO! Scary, boyz und gurlz, some scary shite going on out here. Ennyway, we rambling on here entirely too long, got to tend to some slightly sunburned shoulders and get ready to head out for shopping trip with the MonkeyMomz and MonkeyNephews, maybe catch local AAA farm club team action tomorrow before winging our tired monkey ass way back to the Bay. oh yah, did we mention that it be TOO FRICKIN' HOT out here?
egads. untold numbers of dead Iraqis... 7.8
and with local lads dying every bloody day yet,
isn't there something the slightest bit criminal about
the decisions made by the current adminstration that have led us to this juncture? oh, & we'll bet you didn't see any of their sons go off to slaughter...
damn. wanna bet... 7.7
god tol' him something about oil in Africa for the taking: Bush has another agenda in Africa oy! you can color us completely unsurprised...
don't serial killers get their orders...
from the same source? what's he goin' on about now?
H. Sorensen, S.F. Chronicle, The Madness of King George;
FACT: Phil Bronstein is Editor/Exec VP of the S.F. Chronicle;
FACT: glamourpuss Sharon Stone & P. Bronstein have been married 5 years:
FACT: yourstruly l'Marquis' been employed by S.F. Chronicle for 5+ years;
FACT: Stone & Hubby Phil have decided it's high time to sever their alliance;
draw your own goshdarned conclusions boyz und gurlz, & if a postcard from Hollywood & yourstruly shows up in your mailbox,
well, we're all trying to be adult about it, it's the modern thing to do...
and about that holiday that passed recently, what is the thing folks have about fireworks alongside all that patriotic hoopla? gives us the heebiejeebies personally, and in re to that particular kind of hooray for the r, w & b kinda holiday frame of reference, it would've
done us all a lot of good had folks spent some time listening to this (and following up by buying book for themselves and extra copies for their friends and family then READING the damned thing) along with their cold brewskies, charred animal flesh of indeterminate origin & watermelon delight... sorry, got our kranky pantz on again...
sorta in your face about it... 7.3
but that's okay, trying to make a point here, right? Not Counting Niggers you & ourowndamnself know the truth about this blithering idiot
& his cheap suit marauders, why are the editors of the major
papers
and network news operations so cowardly, it's way past time to bring
the shenanigans of the current administration to a screeching halt
yourstruly free from the j-o-b, but still...
CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION...
altho it a good thing that Craig J. is paying attention.
thanks for the Bush Went AWOL link, C.J.! last evening, yourstruly was watching some news highlights, caught some of a press conference with the braying jackass hisowndamnedself, responding to question put to him by ABC correspondent re WMD & lack of success in location of same, and the braying jackass's countenance took on that hateful smirk we've all become WAY too familiar with, the one that says "you dumb shite, I am the 9/11 President and don't you forget it, I have Carte Blanche and you & those of your ilk can just go fuck yourselves" then proceeded to EVADE answering the question providing his usual line of soon to be trademarked bullshit beginning with "we know Saddam had them, he used them on his own people..." and ohhh, our head was spinning, nausea wracked our not so slender frame, and we grew faint yet managed to switch off the idiot box in time. We got a great snippet of interview with Patti Smith after a concert she
gave locally recently, and we gonna try and convert it for
usage here, she says something very plainly and wholeheartedly that many of us will be moved by. Damn G.W. Bush and his minions, Damn his administration, and take pity on those that mindlessly support him, blindly believing he has their best interests at heart. What a colossal disgrace this fellow is...
ohohoh, before we run off and engage in some recently
de-criminalized sodomy, we remind you to read J. Carroll
okay, so while we on the subject of... 7.2
old white guys that people have love/hate relationship with,
here's something by Norman Mailer from the NYRB online.
a moment of levity...
yessssss, boys will be boys,
even in San Francisco...
oftentimes around chez d'Monquis...
it's a struggle to keep up with things, partly 'cause there's a lot we paying attention to personally, then now and again ourowndamnself's overwhelmed by some perverse combination of ennui & hopelessness, particularly on one of those days when we have watched Judge Judy AND seen el residente in a televised news conference within a matter of hours of each other, well, it just deflates our personal balloon of hope & optimism. Ennyway... something that just got our attention is PBS program being broadcast later this month, and we really don't care how you feel about this particular person, all we can tell you is Gore Vidal is someone who has spent much of his life Paying Attention (and taking notes); again, you might appreciate his efforts just a little more, regardless of how you feel about him ultimately, if you happen to invest just a little of your own time and watch the American Masters broadcast (July 30 airdate) The Education of Gore Vidal. l'Marquis will make an effort to remind thee of the broadcast later this month. American Masters has space intended for a webpage regarding the program, but there's not much there yet. okayokayokay, PBS is trying to confuse us. You'll note one of those links shows date of KQED broadcast scheduled for July 5th-- WHOOO HOOO!, so Check Your LOCAL Listings
you should see yourstruly's facial expression...
whenever he sees that empty suit residing in la casa blanca
these days, ineptitude personified; Monkey See, Monkey Speak
this next should've actually been w/the earlier entry,
the one about the really good Canadian stuff, Woof Woof, Riley Dog, Woof Woof sometimes we wish sumbuddy would marry us...
HAH!, no no no no no, we joking like a Big Dog!
'allo! and happy canada day, ehhh...
H. Hertzberg contemplates your Northern Light
the horribly dissonant melody that inspired the madness that was June
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