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okayokayokay...       5.31
we're back,
and now you'll see that the reason behind National Masturbation Month
has been to prepare you for the magnificent event known as Globalgasm
and as the next BIG event is scheduled for tomorrow,
we hope you did your homework...
okay, not going to make any sense, or rhyme,
or effect a harmony of linkage here:
the truth behind green M & Ms & masturbation;
and yes, little Matilda,
there are liberated Christians amongst us, & they masturbate too;
a little something here for the kinder, gentler, fairer sex;
(H U H ? ! ?)
a little something else about & for those allegedly kindler, gentler, & fairer folk
and, okay, despite the fact that they are not always kinder, gentler and fairer,
we still like 'em, like 'em a lot, matter of fact----   no another time for those stories,
one more juicy yummy nugget of linky goodness for the kindergentlerfairerfolk;
and one other link to share with you all this Am, something for everybody

late arriving news bulletin... 5.30
Two Words: AMERICAN SAMIZDAT

Only 2 more days left...
of celebrating the wonder that is National Masturbation Month!
but alas, yourstruly has his hands full this Am (AND HOW!!!)
so the continued linky goodness relating to celebrating the joy of masturbation
will not be available to our devoted dozen readers till LATER today...
ciao, bambini!

lordy, how time flies! Only 3 more days left...        5.29
to celebrate National Masturbation Month,
and yourstruly is here to help you make the most of it!
First, a caveat: Intended for the Most Immature of Audiences, be forewarned.
& now, without further ado, let's check how well informed you are,
a little quiz, What's your Masturbation IQ?;
okay, so now we know you are all "A" students (had lots of practice, huh?)
so here's a list of 52 of the worst places to get caught doing what comes naturally,
we're fully aware our erudite audience could come up with a few additions to the list
and for some of us, this kind of punishment is really more of an inducement;
some folks would have you believe that this really came from la casa blanca,
those of you who've stopped by here often enough know our regard for the resident,
well, it is quite low, lower than whaleshit & that's on the bottom of the ocean...
but we have seen some of those items featured in that link elsewhere before;
and speaking of that particular resident, there's this odd little item;
uh oh, here's something else about that nincompoop masquerading as head of state;
in reality, the nimrod in the white house would have us utilize this kind of equipment;
s e r i o u s l y ,
take a good look at the tight-lipped countenances of the Mr. & Mrs. sometime,
don't you think they could enjoy a Camp David weekend with some of these items?
Perhaps some of you didn't do as well on the quiz above as we hoped,
in that case, we'll offer up the Sex Toy Playground to you,
& hope you do Lots Of Homework

holyboy! only four more days to celebrate...      5.28
the joy that is known far & wide as National Masturbation Month! Although there are great numbers of us that find ourselves compelled to celebrate all year round, bad eyesight and hairy palms notwithstanding, isn't it lovely to have a reminder that if you can't be with the one you love, you can love yourself up one side and down the other, and exercise that imagination of yours in the bargain as well. No one gets hurt, you don't have to call anybody the next day, no reason to buy flowers or an expensive dinner, well, not unless
you really want to make a good impression on yourself, eh?

first things first...       5.26
Feliz Cumpleanos a mi amigo estimado, Craig J., & we mentioned in our note of well wishes that there's likely reason to be laughin' and cryin', particularly considering the tenor of the times...
yourstruly has been singin' the blues ever since the events of November '00 and the arrival of our intellectually challenged alleged head of state, and all the resulting fallout upon his enthonement. Gah!
ennyway - - - Mark of wood s lot made mention of Blues for Peace on 5.22, Craig followed up with an image inspired by Mark, inspiring Garrett V. of dangerousmeta to get down & funky, and as you can see above, someone around here finally got around to picking up the ol' git & howling out some berkeley bluesy thing (missing the old faithful poochster who'd occasionally add her mellifluous voice to the melody) and maybe some other guitarists out there (hey Stumpy! hey Kevin! and we know a few others of you out there too!) be interested in picking up the thread and joining in, ukeleles are welcome too. Oh, and by the way, birthday wishes (belated ones in this case) are also extended to Gail A. of open brackets, and while we lingering hereabouts momentarily, also make mention of Gail's contribution to the literary effort titled Manual, in PDF format, mind you...
mmmmm-mmmmm-goooood! nice hot cuppa alongside whilst we perusing the news of the day, both on-line & off, altho' we'll be avoiding the political theatre for a bit, saving some linky goodness for a future American Samizdat post, which reminds me, the good Doctor saw fit to make mention of all the harbingers contributing to A.S. alongside his expression of thanks to the aforesaid harbingers on his own effort, so while we're at it, "Hey Doc! THANK YOU!!!".
okayokayokay, here we go, a regular sunday smorgasbord of linky goodness:
first up from the New York Review of Books, An Interview w/Ehud Barak,
alongside this Reply to Ehud Barak; yourstruly's plans for the weekend did not include the gathering to march in protest against the administrations policies that took place Saturday & led to some arrests, some news about the hi-jinks here, more background here (from SFindymedia), & as mentioned earlier, we'll not dwell long on politics here today.
SEX! oh yah, bound to get your attention eh, lads & lassies, for those of us still fumbling & bumbling our way in search of sexual nirvana (EUREKA! I Have Found It!),
there's The Sex Book (Damn!, I've just lost it again!); No, not this sex book,
nonono, i tol' ya already, NOT this sex book; ahhhhh....    might be The Sex Handbook, but now we are confused, is it The Sex Handbook or simply The Sex Book,
and you better tell me fast, 'cause a guy like me needs all the help he can get!
uh oh...     feel the need for a cold shower coming on...

egads! could it be friday?       5.24
AND a three day respite from the stultifying grind that is the j-o-b?
ourowndarnself is grateful, and Bro K returns from trip away today,
some plans, not major, for the weekend ahead, regardless, we wishing you
all pleasant days and some genuine recreation & enjoyment of the moment...
from M. Morford, "The evildoers are coming. Again."
from the May 27th issue of the New Yorker,
The Kindergarten of Hate;
and then, in the spirit of jessferdahalibut...
Sex Tips from Donald Rumsfeld, from Esquire On-Line;
and More, intended in the same spirit, okey?
from Poetry Daily, Letter of Resignation.
oh, how often i think to myself i'd like to resign from the human race...

thankful for the reminder to slow down... 5.22
stop and listen, provided by the esteemed J. Carroll
& by the way, today at Poetry Daily
not necessarily seeking inspiration...
but we'll take it where we can find it.
Whilst perusing bloggos favoritos en la manana,
came across interesting question posed by Andrew A. of GMT +9:
Who remembers the last LP Lester Bangs listened to?
It was on his turntable when he was found dead in his flat.
The first person with the correct answer will receive
a congratulatory Gloomy the Naughty Adult Bear postcard.
well, damn, my first guess is Let It Bleed,
but with Lester, jeeeeeeezzzzzzzz, difficult to say....
& in a roundabout way,
thanks to the inspiration provided by A.Abb,
we discovered the ironminds weblog has returned;
"who the hell is ironminds when they're at home?" you might ask
ironminds

it's our opinion that folks watch...       5.21
entirely too much television, particularly that really crummy
stomach turning type, ohhhhhhh, like, ahhhhhhhh...   nevermind,
we're SO certain you can come up with a few examples without
our assistance. ENNYWAY- new on PBS- FRONTLINE/WORLD;
a little bit of backround info avail here at this fishwrap link

mmmmmmmm, still rainy...       5.20
well, it was in the early Am...

blessed rainy rainy-ness on this sunday morn...       5.19
far as we're concerned, few things finer than finding oneself awakening late on a sunday morning with the sound of rain falling outside, the scent of it filling the room thru the open windows, tires hissing as cars pass down the street, then rising and discovering the grey skies overhead, the quiet of the neighborhood, the eastern hills hidden in the low clouds...
Enjoyed late brekkie, again a solo jaunt, at previously untried little restaurant not too far away, sitting next to the indoor fountain, three small koi swimming about in the shallow depths, nice cuppa tea, enjoying perusing the sunday fishwrap where we came upon this story of Kevin Hoover & his Arcata Eye, something we first became aware of courtesy
J. Carroll, our mention of it about midway thru the aberration that was January '02;
also in the fishwrap, timely information for the traveler with furry companion alongside, and speaking of furry companions, amigo from the opposite coast thoughtfully sent us
link to Newsday story which we had originally seen in the fishwrap then sent that story link to a number of pals in our address book, including the aforementioned other coast pal; very nice pic of Mom & baby & fine furry companion at the original story.

"maybe one day we'll celebrate Un-Armed Forces Day..."       5.18
yahhh, right...   keep wishin' ya dumbazzcommiepeacenik...
we interrupt this program for a late breaking news item,
yourstuly has been amiss in mentioning the return of esteemed
compatriot blogster, Craig Jensen of Booknotes, C., this is for you.
we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...
a friend (and yes, we have a few) sent me a note yesterday morning, wondering what i think about this entire "what did they know, when did they know it & why didn't they do something about it" thing, and i promised him i'd get around to putting something down about it, but now is not the moment for that. For now, this poem from Neruda;
and that lovely gift was inspired by visiting The Daily Bleed for this day.
yesterday afternoon, after returning to the East Bay from the day's travails, while stopping in at the local supermarket i chanced to meet an aquaintence from years past, a one time regular at the video emporium i worked in for many years. We'd not run into & across each other for some time, and it was a pleasant meeting, even though we spent much of our conversation while standing across from the cheese section voicing our mutual discontent with the administration, the course this country has taken since the events of September, the abject, lemming-like nature of the majority of citizens as they goose-step to the pace & directon of that same administration, asking no questions, seeking no knowledge, simply following, like some great herd of dumb, cloven-hooved beasts, but we stopped before both of us were overcome by tears, the other shoppers giving us wide berth as we bitched & moaned, casting aspersions upon the members of the D.C. cabal...

oh yah, while we are at it hereabouts, happy to see two consecutive days of entries at environy, particularly happy to discover HellCat Maggie got herowndamnself published. HEY TONELLI! Maybe you should flex that muscle of yours at futurehell more often, kinda like practice, ya know?

w h e w . . .       5.17
yourstruly is SO looking forward to sleeping late tomorrow...
& yah, it is friday, right?
Bravo Les Pussycat Dolls,
& despite alienating perhaps half of the dozen regular visitors,
some eye candy for the fellas on this late spring friday...

we don't often make wagers...     5.16
but after reading this news about new faces on The West Wing
yourstruly is willing to bet that Lily Tomlin will be appearing
as Josiah Bartlett's new secretary...
Yo! JP! a note to thyself! - Who Cares!?!
bound to be both good & bad news...
contained in the following item from Scientific American;
some additional linky goodness; some related quotations;
& if your feeling old & creaky like yourstruly is,
at this very moment, anyways...
perhaps communing with some ancient ones
will allow one a little perspective on ageing...

this is to show you we are trying...     5.14
really, yah, really we are, but it seems so, ahhhhhh....
pointless????
from the Washington Post:
Healthy Fast Food - - For Adults
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Center for Science in the Public Interest
and, well,
always seems to be somebody w/a contrary opinion,
No?
CSPI NOT
& regardless of which side you might be on,
watch out for those troublesome anal oil leaks
falling in the "way more than anyone wanted to know" category:
seems like yourstruly will have to watch some of these movies
to make up for the paucity of the real deal in hisowndamnlife...
lies, all lies, don't you believe a word of what he says!
and why Bigger may not actually be Better
altho we know some people that will never be convinced of that...
why Smaller is Better
well, considering the usual fate that befalls the pitiful bastid,
maybe it's due to her disappointment upon, ahhhh,
perception of a particular shortcoming...

bilious blather & poppycock...     5.13
certainly not one of my personal top ten weekends of all time,
seems like any plans we have been making are disintegrating as
they approach some semblance of solidity, & can weather be TOO nice?
a few things did catch my eye over the weekend and we want to
make mention of them here just in case anyone else seems to give a damn.
say goodbye to Black Sparrow Press;
the B.S.P. site;
am thankful i stopped by randomwalks
for clueing me in to this Chomsky item;
and this kind of makes me sad, really, i mean,
used to be yourstruly rode a bike all over town,
and now, well, i certaintly don't ride to work on one,
but sure would like to. Yah, I know, "so why don't I?"
ya know, that's an excellent question...
more related linky goodness: www.btwd.org;
hey hey, my my, rock and roll will never die...
a biography on Uncle Shakey: one likes it; another not so much...
gonna be kind of hit & miss for a bit around here, gurlz & boyz,
not feeling particularly motivated, in kind of a funk, so please don't
expect more than some light and intermittent activity hereabouts...

the weekend approacheth...     5.10
and am feeling like i've got so much i want to say about any number of things,
but as soon as i've planted m'keester in front of this damned thing
i am "blocked" and cannot begin to put word together with word,
phrase with phrase, at least in some comprehendable fashion...
so,
i'll take the e-zzzzzzzzzzzzy way out & just add some links:
from the NYT, review of bio of Chet Baker;
chetbaker.net;
tribute/fansite on C. Baker;
link to pic of C.B.,
along w/some other nice pics of other jazz masters;
well, not what you might expect, but what the hell,
How Chet Baker Lost His Teeth
and if yourstruly wouldv'e gotten his lazy keester outta bed earlier
perhaps the dumbmonkey might have had enough time
to upload some C.B. tunes...

perhaps the opportunity today...     5.9
to provide those dedicated dozen readers of ours
some chewy linky goodness throughout the day...
like this item, No Exit, from the NYRB
it is our opinion that stupidity remains unconquerable
and there's a hell of a lot of proof of this,
if you visit, oh, say Florida, for example...
from the New Yorker on-line: How to Conquer Stupidity

thanks be to riley dog...     5.8

much more riley dog

there was this news item from the LA Times...
that we ran across whilst reading the paper, quaint & lovely
old habit that it may be, re the Attorney Generalissimo & gun ownership;
yourstruly will not pretend to be a scholar regarding this particular issue,
all we know are the facts there are entirely too many guns about, someone profits from
an industry that lobbies hugely on its own behalf, an industry that is indirectly
one of the causes of much of the misery we all suffer through these days.
some related linkage here, here, here, and here.
personally i am repelled by guns, and am not fascinated or charmed by them in any way. My good friend Geoge G. loves to hunt, is raising his sons to hunt and use rifles, and i've little difficulty with that, seeing as my friend is a responsible man and is likely to pass on some sense of that to his sons; where i begin to have some problems is with glorifying the weapon, where it becomes less a tool w/a specific utilization (aquisition of food) & more of a instrument of destruction and power.

the decline of western civilization...     5.6
appears to be well under way.
but then we'll bet you didn't need us to tell you that, eh?

a warm & sunny day at chez d'monquis aujourd'hui...     5.5
i was walking in the park one day, in the merry merry month of may...
& what is just so goddamned frickin' merry this month, i wannaknow & wannaknow now.
yourstruly is consumed by housekeeping chores of one variety or another,
madly humming to himself Neil's A Man Needs A Maid as he performs mundane task after even more mundane task, damn dumbmonkey...    can't you afford to hire help? maybe we'll even address the official arrival of may hereabouts, but not likely,
perhaps later this week, and man, have we got a lot of urls to add to autreblog...
getting the grill going outside, nothing fancy, just some quality sausages, a pair
of lovely portobellos, some vino bianco, along w/simple green salad w/cherry tomatos... You will notice the POW addition off to the left, at this point in time
the postcard of the week will be some reminder to me of a particular sort of
responsibility one shouldn't shirk if one wants one's weblogging credentials
to be remain intact and unsullied. What else? oh yah, for youse out dere enjoyin'
da playoffs--- And Man!, weren't those last game fives something to see.
WHOOOO HOOOOOO!
what a treat, being in the Bay Area long enough to have been aware of J. Kidd,
High School Hot Dog, watch his St. Joe's battle for State, watch him play at CAL (watched K.J. there too!) when Cal get bumped out of the Big Dance w/J.Kidd at the helm, observed his years of immaturity & seasoning at Dallas, then Phoenix, and now, taking the game in hand and stepping up big-time to lead the Nets (THE NETS!!!!) into the playoffs. Another notable performance to mention in the playoffs to date is that of young (19 fucking years old I KID YOU NOT) Tony Parker showing nerves of titanium in the playoffs after aquitting himself in admirable fashion all season long. NINETEEN Goddamn years old. Those tired old Laker guards better watch out
( and yesssssss, we bleed Forum Blue here in chez d'monquis... )
been busy lately doing a bit of reading and writng outside of the arena of blog, and want to mention my gratitude at whatever it was in my youth and upbringing that fomented ourowndamnpassion for reading. it may have been just the simple fact of being a lonely, near-sighted, skinny, un-coordinated bookworm (pre-geek before geekishness became the lifestyle choice it seems to be). Been catching up on a number of things i've had squirreled away for awhile, also picking some things up again, rereading portions of them.
what follows is a brief list of some interesting titles, you can find most of these available in any well equipped bookstore, and please, if you live in a place where you can buy them from your local independent bookstore (not Monolith Books Inc, Okay?,
of any shape or color...) please do so, they'll appreciate your business.
Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James W. Loewen;
Don't Know Much About History, by Kenneth C. Davis
Dirty Little Secrets, by James F. Dunnigan;
this other Dunnigan link is provided as FYI only,
NOT to promote the agenda of the originating site;
Day of Deceit, by Robert B. Stinnett;
Stinnett interview here, w/comments,
again we offer up a similiar caveat re source site;
something that should be on everybody's bookshelf,
as well as part of any Junior High cirriculum
A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn;
H. Zinn interview, mp3 file, available here;
Chapter XVI from the People's History linked here.

uh oh, time to enjoy the playoff atmosphere at chez d'monquis,
game 1, Spurs at Lakers, and the grill is nearly ready to go, too...
two last items for y'all today: if you're in the hinterlands and looking
for an alternative to your local Monolith Books, Inc,
or that online Monolith try Common Courage Press;
and something new to us,
maybe new to you too:
Freespeechdotorg

realizing we'd be truly remiss...     5.3
in our responsibility to our local readership if we didn't mention
the San Francisco Millennium Marijuana March and Rally
taking place tomorrow...
ohohoh & the ugly step-sister known as...
Oakland, California celebrates 150 years of city-dom;
always in the shadow of its more glamourous sibling across the bay,
Oakland's really a darned nice place, guided tours can be arranged
with yourstruly, lunch included...
and while we're in the East Bay...
CAL intends to give peace more of a chance,
more on the UCB Center for Peace & Well-Being,
and just a little more background info here;
& while we're immersed in the fishwrap, read J. Carroll.
of late, I've found it increasingly difficult to accomodate
the many throngs possessed of that tiny-minded,
microscopic perspective hothouse of prejudice & ignorance
that passes for intellect...

we are laying off our responsiblity hereabouts...     5.2
of late, is true, no reason in particular,
just kind of tired of ourowndamnedschtick...
wanted to mention two things in particular tho',
at American Prospect, we discovered Tapped,
an explanation for the new arrival can be found here;
and then, 'cause we always give good weight in terms of
extra added chewy linky goodness, late late spring Ralph