food for thought... 10.31.06
from the NYT Science Times, One for the Ages: A Prescription That May Extend Life. Neither of those monkies look very happy eh? Nonetheless, perhaps yourstruly ought to seriously consider cutting back on his habitual sybaritic excess. Pal and ourself were having discussion yesterday, prompted by his viewing of The Last King of Scotland and his disappointment with the experience. That discussion went here & there over any number of topics but interesting to note that some of what we argued about had to do with the ideas presented in this NYT piece, An Evolutionary Theory of Right and Wrong. (remember BugMeNot for those pesky registration issues, kids!)
Okay, we'll bite... droppping in to visit wisdom after having not done so for some long while & noted the musically oriented meme mentioned there, so here goes, some tunes from discs getting heavy rotation in l'Marquis' CD player: Los Super Seven, album "Canto", song Calle Dieciseis, wonderful guitar line shadowing the melody thruout; Boubacar Traore, album "Kongo Magni", song Kanou, irresistible accordian (Yes!) riff with wonderful subtle guitar licks spicing things up; The Red Stick Ramblers, album "Bring It On Down", song Rattle My Cage, and am ever thankful for that afternoon I was listening to KPFA's America's Back 40 and first heard these guys; Freedy Johnston, album "This Perfect World", song Bad Reputation, yesssss Binky, no doubt olde news to most of ye, only recently heard this tune when watching Kicking and Screaming a couple of weeks ago and ye know how some songs can get under your skin? To round out this fivesome, the BeckerFagin Monster, 2003's "Everything Must Go", things i miss the most. and admit that initially there was something about the refrain's lyrics bugged me, but the damned thing has grown on me, something about the ineluctable sense of regretful longing imparted...
he's a talent for speaking succinctly... 10.24.06
just don't get him started on anything re the cats in the Carroll family.
Jon Carroll, from today's Chronicle, via SF Gate,
We don't need an exit strategy; we need a strategic strategy.
Momz & myself made brief visit to the city this morning (yessss, that be the city by the bay, the city that used to know how and is trying to reacquire that knowledge), cause, ye see, she wanted to see the newest temple of the religion of retail worship, oncet upon a time, the Emporium department store, now the Westfield San Francisco Centre, anchored by Bloomingdale's & immediately adjacent to that other major retail therapy outlet, Nordstrom's, and, well, my goodness, this place will most likely be a new level of hell post Halloween when momentum begins to swing in the direction of that major retail holiday in late December. Yourstruly will NOT be anywhere near that neighborhood on the day after thanxgiving, datz fo sure. Thinking of going back sometime and maybe trying out a couple of the eaterys there, take a few fotos, relish the sight of lovely lasses all over the place, and this boy bettah stop 'fo he gets carried away. OH, & on the way home looking thru a copy of Business Week someone had discarded on the Bart car we were riding in, happened upon wee graphic in the Up Front section (10.18 edition) re data in this news item from R.L. Polk re increase in the number of hybrid vehicle registrations with California leading the way and the big ape fella has got to tell you the evidence is very obvious here in the Berkeley/Albany environs. Makes a lot of goddamned sense (even makes a lot of sense without having to curse, JP...) and if yourstruly was seriously considering purchase of new vehicle AND staying around hereabouts, might make that very decision ourownself. Maybe that Camry Hybrid (tho' am feeling some uncertainty re U.S. built product, time will tell). Passed a car on the road yesterday that got me all curious and shit, compact vehicle of recent vintage with banner painted on the side proclaiming 100+ MPG alongside a URL, and am uncertain this URL is the correct one, but ye know we'll keep looking, maybe collide with the damn car whilst chasing it down the highway...
an hour or two later & think we found what we were looking for,
check out the second photo on this page...
motivation... 10.22.06
this is to say that some sizeable amount of additional energy needs to be focused upon getting motivated this morning. The happy couple are in hawaii and yourstruly is dogsitting, the vacant apt will be looked after by the presence of meine mutter when she arrives for brief visit tomorrow morning. Juno is the pooch, l'Marquis prefers Jun(e), that is to say, without that O sound at the end of Jun(e) (as in the month?)
She's accustomed to two folk primarily and housebound a good deal of the time, in a nice Berkeley neighborhood but without a yard of her own. She has been remarkablly flexible in accepting this other human as a substitute for her usual partners. Not a "barky" dog at all, a bit shy, a wee bit of nerves that she eventually calms herself out of. She and the Momz ought to get along just fine. 
Locally applicable linkage up next:
brave new theatres and perhaps discuss the content of some of those pictures over lunch, sometime...
Need to remember next time out to pick up some baking soda & baking powder, planning a carrot cake or banana bread (maybe both, who knows) over the rest of the afternoon, another winner of a day though, and maybe a walk with jun out at cesar chavez park... hmmmmmmm...
Howza 'bout a vampire film recommendation? Habit, dir. by fellow named Fessenden, happens to be the guy you're watching in the film, maybe in the Interesting Curiousities video selection; in that same sub-category, heading Lite Reading, just finished reading first novel by fellow named Legendre, in which the protagonist (an economics professor) meets up with a Vegas blackjack dealer, passionate moments follow, relocation of protagonist to environs of Phoenix/Tempe Az, marriage to blackjack dealer who joins our hero in Az, and as the story winds its way thru this soap opera writ large, we have these lovely disgressions in economic theory & eco-economics which are soon to be conjoined (in more ways than one) with assorted (very digestible to the lay person) digressions in cosmological theory, largely due to fortuitous introduction to fellow A.S.U. professor who happens to be an astrophysicist. Imagine the post-coital discussions that would be taking place in such Lofty Grey Matter Enviorns. Whooo-eeee, lemme tell ya, the things that our friend the one-time Vegas blackjack dealer and now married, bored, & aging sexpot with a bad jones for the slots puts herself thru, well, inspires some wondering about the influences upon the first novelist that likely effect the engineering of character/s one must accomplish and Oh! Yourstruly has rarely been so stimulated both emotionally and intellectually. Do things end well for our hero economist? That secret remains between the covers of Mr Legendre's potboiler, should ye not have the library habit, it'll be remaindered everywhere come summer, pick one up for your vacation.
five dollar antique... 10.18.06
Ha!, mebbe it more of a relic than a genuine antique, but for five bucks, jp got hisself a Hamilton Beach model D, and that is the ugly contraption itsowndamnedself right ova theah...
Bravo, with a tip of the olde redd fez to Laughingly Capricious, and get the word from her partner Studiously Decorous AKA Daringly Openminded AKA Stupendously Lovesick hisowndamnedself. Yes, we did put the mixer to good use, once we verified the damned thing worked, which it did, but I did have to slap it a good one to keep it running. Once slapped, all was well. Speaking 'bout recipes, via reddit,
the Best Pizza Dough Ever; we mentioned listening to Dylan lately, happen to be reading Greil Marcus' Like A Rolling Stone so may be reacquainting myself with some more of Robert's stuff; saw this NYT story the other day and thought it fitting Patti Smith would end the shows at CBGB; PBS has broadcast some interesting material recently, last night it was Frontline's The Lost Year in Iraq, a little while it ago Moyers on America gave us Abramoff, Inc.; local talking head, a longtime evening newscaster who is also (perhaps tens years on air now...) a radio talk show host mentioned in this Jon Carroll column ought to have known better. Unfortunate that Pete w. is one so enraptured with his own punditry he publicly utters a base stupidity expecting legions of fans as fond of him as he is of himself shouting Hear Hear! in support, and all we want to say is, get a blog, Pete, get a blog, you ol' blowhard...
had some help from a couple of friends... 10.17.06
over this weekend in our perpetual search for distraction and thanks to Janey & Phillippe said weekend ended in a triumphful evening of making a joyful noise on Sunday. Some pretty damn yummy homemade chicken soup was on hand, along with oven-cooked bbq ribs (not bad, they were...), and Phil brought along guitar, mandoline and harmonicas, Janey worked up enough courage to sing along on nearly all the tunes, ourowndamnedself just tried to remember which finger goes on which string at which particular moment and believe me, had me my hands full all evening long.
More 'bout all that in a bit, wanted to mention yourstruly been listening to Dylan's latest album since purchasing it two weeks ago, and now it be growing on me, as it initially didn't seem like much of an accomplishment to me. Lots of subtle stuff on this recording and am getting to like it a lot, in particular 'Nettie Moore', and there's a tab for it here along with MUCH more Dylan, and a bit of Lennon & McCartney stuff too, just work yer way back down the URL. Saw sweet documentary last week re the late Townes Van Zandt, Be Here to Love Me and certainly some of ye know what a wonderful songwriter TVZ was ( said to be an amazing performer too, if he was in spirit of it), so (again) wonderful thing to find a resource online like the Insurgent Country page where we found a buncha TVZ tabs. Keep Tabs Free! Keep Tabs Free!
In March brothers Dan & Dave along with yourstruly began meeting up at Dan's buddy Chester's house, setting up shop in his garage and putting concern on the faces of the neighbors when they heard the raucous noise of electrified guitars with Dan hard at work on the drumkit. Good to know the fellas are still at it, learned a lot from their recent experience in front of a small crowd, maybe they let me join in with them again next time 
the big apefellah be in EPTx. Have to ask Chester to send me a note of all the stuff he happen to have available for a working band, damn, methinks that except for a drum kit, he's got everything else, several amps, guitars (incl. bass), PA, mikes, stands, lights. Anyway, Phillippe is also no slouch musically, been at it for some time, the wee rig he currently uses onstage is shown alongside over there, ye can visit phil online (hmmmmm, that date there says he must not visit hisowndarnedself too often, eh Binky?) and get a load of the other things he be up to, and if ye happen to be interested, Phil currently co-ordinates the Open Mike night at the Freight & Salvage. d'Monkey's rig? Not much to it 'sides a kazoo & pennywhistle...
we leave ye now, with a couple of items for the wimmin in the audience:
a girl can never have enough shoes, right boys?
There be some fellas of our acquaintence that would enjoy this calendar as much as any red blooded girl would. One last thing for all to share, if ye didn't know already, Tony's been on a road trip.
not one to jump on the bandwagon... 10.15.06
what with the boys from Oak-town finally getting back into the ALCS, was more like we wuz running alongside the damned thing, until it began to careen crazily 'cross the road once the wheels fell off. What exactly happened to the Atheletics, well, mostly they ran into a better ballclub in the Detroit Tigers. One must tip one's ol'red fez inna direction of Jim Leyland, sly, cunning, foxy ol'school fella that he is, and it (really & truly) couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. So, now, we gonna be running alongside the Tigers hemi-powered bandwagon, and hope to see a pretty damn exciting W.S. when they meet up with St Louis. Distractions of this sort are very welcome presently, thankyewvurrymuch...
Visited long esteemed left-coast weblogger Gordon Coale the other day, and he provided us some interesting linky bits re bicycles, para exemplo el sitio Xtracycle where ye can acquire clever conversion kit (or maybe a bike built to spec) and if ye live in a neighborhood like yourstruly's, hellzbellz Binky, this could be your primary means of transportation (as it was for l'Marquis, oncet upon a time, see for thyself). If you visit Gordon's site and check the entry just before his mention of the Xtracycle folks, ye'll find this clever way to burn some calories, and goshdarnitall, that comes from some folks right here in the land of brave, home of the wierd, Berkeley, California. Since we talkin' bicycles this morning, allow us to point ye in the direction of SF Chronicle/SF Gate item from today's paper, Carless Escape: Rolling on the River which sounds like one hellaniceway to spend a day, and ye get bonus points if ye can avoid using your car altogether, Binky: bike ride to the Emeryville Station (ye could go to the Berkeley station but, hmmmmm, out under the overpass near Brennan's & Spenger's, and kind of exposed to the elements and whatever else might be lurking about...) and catch the train there and back, and be certain you got yourself a pump, patch kit, water along with whatever else ye figure ye need along for the trip. Promise ye some pics when we take up the challenge.
one could easily provide ye... 10.12.06
with half a dozen (or more) reasons why you ought to pay a visit to Ralph every once in a while. Go there, allow thyself a leisurely perusal of the many mini reviews & what-not provided, ye'd be hard put to discover a more pleasureable way to spend fifteen or twenty minutes of your life, especially (perhaps) with a lovely hot cuppa of your favorite caffeinated beverage alongside (or a nice glass of vino tinto, depending on the time of day...), and the best thing about Ralph? No goddamned advertising and Pop-Ups and modern online nonsensical bullshit trying to sell ye something...
Hey, the fishwrap writes up local (two blocks away from chez d'monquis!) establishment Curry Cafe as a source of cheap eats (hmmmm, one supposes that might be true in relation to average meal prices in many of the Solano Ave. restaurants). Okay, so there aren't many dishes under five buck-a-roonies but the portions are fair and the food be yummy and l'Marquis make ye a deal if you want a beer (or vino tinto, vino bianco), ye bring us an order of the lamb curry (plus some yummy paneer naan) and he'll provide the cerveza and vino. Another review of Curry Cafe avail for ye here, und ja, ist wahr, oncet upon a time there was a High-Tech Burrito (who dreamed up that concept?) in the space, but ye'll be able to get past that, lil' darlings, believe l'Marquis when he tells ye...
later that same day... 10.11.06
had dropped off the blue subaru this morning for a little check up, all okay, which be a good thing thing, No? Returned to the house after picking up the car and checked email and a few sites, jessferdahalibut, and goodness knows we all got a lot on our minds these days, what with the state of the union and the state of the world at large, kinda fucked up in a major way, right? So, anyway, stopped in to visit the NYRB site and read this nice short piece by Peter Matthiessen, Inside the Endangered Arctic Refuge, the reading of which made me wish I'd been along on the trip, so in that same spirit of jessferdahalibut, I had to seek out some ANWR photos (mind ye, if ye go seeking ANWAR photos, ye will get a bunch a links, but not what I was looking for). This is a particularly beautiful one & there's many more at that site; ANWR.org (yah, an industry & drilling promotion org.) has their own collection, and I like this one; Lovely albeit brief slideshow available from the Wilderness Society folks, thanky very much; ye can go along on the trip that Jim Goldstein made (some great pano shots to be seen, kiddos...). Alright, datz enuf o'dat, mebbe ye seek out some of yer own and send us a URL or two...
so if ye have not figured it out yet...
yourstruly is back in the S.F. Bay area, ensconced once again within the familiar walls of chez d'Monquis, admittedly in somewhat spartan surroundings, acquiring only the basics that a household might require, as one remains uncertain 'bout just how long we'll be here, but, goshdarnitall, might be longer than one imagines...
In the city of Albany (city might be too grand a word, more a village or town, and only aspires to city-hood due to it's proximity to Berkeley on the south and east, El Cerrito to the North) there remain some Mom & Pop type of operations, but they've become increasingly rare, approaching the extinction you've no doubt noticed in a neighborhood ye might be familiar with, so it is good to see that the wee Italian deli known as Zarri's is still open for business. Very reasonably priced items in their small inventory, and ye can get a pretty darned good sandwich for less than Five Buck-a-rinos, Binky. Caught a local program on Sunday evening (in these days of vid-on-demand/vid-online am a bit surprised that we couldn't locate the show itself) whose subject matter was some of these wonderful one-of-a-kind joints that still exist in the Bay area, and Zarri's was mentioned, specifically news that there had been some manner of change in ownership/management along with the good news that the fellow now involved in that aspect was intent on carrying on the Zarri's tradition, such as it is. Should ye have hung around here long enough to have investigated the link re Albany earlier in this post, and checked out the Zarri's link located there (among a collection of other "Places of Interest" in Albany that yourstruly finds, ummmm, well, debateable to some degree, whatevah...), well, is true, appears Mr. Zarri senior is no longer on the premises to ring up your purchase. Yourstruly was unaware of this until viewing the Eye on the Bay story mentioned and stopped by intending to pick a sandwich for lunch yesterday, was too crowded (not only was it lunchtime, Albany High is only two blocks away...)and we didn't espy the old fellow there, ourowndamnedself high-tailed over to our other excellent cheapo sandwich option in the Westbrae district, the Westbrae deli (related linky bits here and here) again, a genuine Mom & Pop (and kids) operation.
One of the things noticed during our lengthy sojourn to the desert southwest (and EPTx in particular) is the number of small churches that have sprouted up, much like the weeds will do there after a summer thundershower. l'Marquis does not begrudge one their choice to believe or not believe, only prefers that ye be considerate enough to keep such a thing to yourowndamnedself and don't even think about proselytizing anywhere within his earshot. It is our belief though that all churches and reliqious institutions be taxed, just like the rest of us are, and so it gave yourstruly a wee frisson of pleasure to see the story in today's NY Times (remember folks, BugMeNot to avoid those pesky registration hassles...), part of a series they've run lately on the latitude provided churches & the folks that run them by the government, ye will find links to the other parts of the series on the page linked to above. NO exemptions for these folks, please, but maybe cut some of these remaining Mom & Pop places a little slack tax-wise, they be working SO hard...
and hey, ye think yer saddidey nite was a rocky one, BInky?
j-myn locked herself inna garage
so... 10.09.06
here ourowndamnedself is, reading newsy stuff and droppin' in on some bloggos favoritos, and we catch item in the online NYT, and familiar name in story rings a bell in the ol' noggin and am saying to myself "Aha, so this be the film we've heard about...", and pardon us whiles we backtrack just a bit, only to provide solid foundation for what is to come. Steve L has been an amigo of ours for some years now, becoming acquainted initially whilst he was providing us with marvelous stuff on site known as cabinet, since defunct and now entirely (it appears, unless ye visit the Wayback Machine) unavailable, but he still be hangin' out wit'us online at environy. Ourselves made one another's acquaintence in person some years ago (fuck! how long ago was that?) and that was when el chango tonto met up with Stumpy's (steve AKA Stumpy Delko AKA Dante Oblomov) Very Significant Other, Lori C. okayOkayOKAY, now, some years later we (jp & his Momz) have opportunity to meet up with Steve and Lori in (of all places) Flagstaff Az, while she is in town to attend local filmfest & promote (oy! t'was two years ago...) This Land is Your Land. Alright then, time passes (and passes) and a few months back yourstruly made mention of Mark Cuban's 2929 films and turns out that the theatrical release of Lori's film (forgive us fo' dat, we know it ain't only L's movie...) is being handled by 2929's Truly Indie and by now you are likely sayin' "just what in the fuggisthisguytalkin'bout?" so alright, here is the NYT item, Mom Dies, Dad Doesn’t Grieve, and So a Film Is Born.
Oh, my, was one of the loveliest weekends ye can imagine, weatherwise and with the many many options to choose from in the way of distracting oneself from one's mundane reality, well, was no wonder streets in the city suffered some large degree of gridlock. Appears that the many folk who attended the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Fest had a marvelous time, some pics here, courtesy S.F. Gate. Hey, Jon Carroll just got back from a brief holiday, and lo & behold, he hung out in one of our favorite places, the Mono Lake environs. Was it only a year ago ourowndamnedself was passing thru the area? Jeebus, seems like longer than that...
the pleasure of reading a good book... 10.07.06
is something I've always cherished. Good news to wake to this morning whilst enjoying coffee and a leisurely perusal of some news sites and bloggos favoritos, Cormac McCarthy has a new novel published, The Road. Yourstruly came late to his appreciation of McCarthy's works, having immersed myself in them during that first summer we spent (somewhat recently) in our journey back to the desert southwest. And while making mention of literature enjoyed of late, I have to mention David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, absolutely marvelous, so unlike his Number Nine Dream, yet still a marvel of the printed word on paper, a sumptuous buffet of style & technique between two covers. I'd read his Ghostwritten some years ago and enjoyed it (not as much as I liked both N.N.D. & C.A.) then passed the book on to a friend who wasn't quite as taken with it as mineownself,
ahhhh, ye know what that's like, am certain that my affection for McCarthy is not a universal response either. Will have to put the title on my wish list at the library today...
okay then, so far so good... 10.06.06
a few things to mend and tend to on this new layout and then perhaps discover addtional motivation for implementing some ideas in mind to freshen things up hereabouts, but first, great big shout out to Mark at wood s lot in celebration of seven years of giving us some mighty fine linky goodness. Kudos and Thanks for all the fish!
It may not be Mudville, but there is certainly Joy in Oak-town tonight, as the A's swept the Twins in a decisive fashion. Again, yourstruly not a bigtime baseball fan but have rooted for the Athletics many times during my thirty year(plus) residency in the East Bay, and goodness knows it is good to have something to distract me from all-too-constant navel gazing and worry 'bout some folks some distance away now. So, next up, either the Tigers or the Yankees; methinks you can imagine who the locals would love to see next.
Spent some quality time in one of the local cinemas today and very glad to see Mr. Scorsese up to some of his old tricks with The Departed. Never imagined he lost his way, but I was never as fond of The Aviator or Gangs of New York as many of the other films he's made, and he's done all that other stuff lately, you know, the Dylan thing and the Blues thing, supposed to be some kind of Airbus documentary he is working on currently, ANYWAY-
if you aren't already aware (and I know that a great many folks in the good ol' U.S. of A are going to be in that category) The Departed is an inspired remake (watching the credit roll I was sort of surprised mention of this came so late in the credits & oh Yah, great soundtrack...) of wonderful Hong Kong film that received a lot of positive attention a few years back, Infernal Affairs which, as it turns out, is part of a trio of films of which mineowndamnedself has only seen the initial film of the three. If Mr. Scorsese wants to claim he's never seen I.A., I suppose I'll just have to take him at his word, and altho' it has been a little while since I've seen it (did catch I.A. on cable a couple of times over the last summer), t'was interesting to see the tweaks and mods made to original screenplay, story and characters, kinda like seeing something happen in an alternative universe. The names in the original are all BIG stars in H.K. cinema, so it be rather fitting that Scorsese has a cast of comparable heavyweights in his version. Go see it, definitlely excellent filmmaking, and Oscar-as well as Other-Award-winner Thelma Schoonmaker is on hand as usual(hmmmmm... would it be a "Martin Scorsese film" without Thelma?). Good stuff, Binky.
boredom, I suppose... 10.04.06
is what has led yourstruly to feckin' around with the look of the space. A good ballgame just ended 'tween the boys from Oaktown and those Minnesota Twins, leaving A's fans in a celebratory mood, up 2 games to zip. Coliseum be rockin' on Friday afternoon!
Twenty years of Yummy Stuff! (Yourstruly tossed out over nine years worth of Chronicle Food Sections I'd saved when making the move to EPTx a couple of years ago) To celebrate the occasion, they've provided one recipe for each of the 20 years in today's food pages and ye can bet that I'll be trying a few of these out.
Visited by old pal whilst working out in front yard of chez d'Monquis the other day, someone I'd not seen for many months. We were speaking about a good many things, some of our conversation concerning many of the issues of the day and he said something about being able to remember when he was a child and believed that the President of the United States had to be a great man. I think it likely I believed something akin to that, that one had to have some manner of integrity and goodness, some measure of "greatness" to be the leader of Americans. True then, perhaps, that we've the government we deserve?
Not sure how long this new look will hang around, or that mineowndamnedself will find motivation enough to keep plugging along, nos vamos aver, amigos...
a change of scene, a change of pace,
the month of many changes that was september...
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