d u m b m o n k e y

greetings & salutations...       9.27.06
in the midst of comtemplating quitting this venue altogether, and then contrarily, modifying the pococurante brand name to include those up-to-the-minute features like an RSS feed and comments and alladatshite, quien sabe que vamos hacer aqui en el chango tonto...
have often wondered what happens to a lot of that stuff espied in markets we frequent, and whilst doing laundry the other morning caught sight of the following item in the local free weekly, The East Bay Express; Waste, Glorious Waste Tales of urban grubbing in the land of conspicuous consumption, and thank the goddess for good folk like Cleveland Thomas Jr., eh Binky?
Unless you happen to be completely unconscious and unaware, you already likely aware of the sturm & drang surrounding the cad-ministration and the recent release of sections of a certain classified report. Once again, ourowndamnedself will point ye in the direction of Robert Scheer's commentary (courtesy S.F. Chronicle/SF Gate), as he has put it quite succinctly, A war against intelligence
Yea, verily, 'tis interestiing to be back in Califa, land of much happenin' on many fronts. The controversial muscle head guv working hard (no matter the size of his lead in the polls) to get reelected, and seemingly making more headway than the national government on important issues, such as greenhouse gas legislation. And who would of figured the rich folk of the Great State of California would turn out to be such fuckin' cheapskates. Okay then, now we be off to Grocery Outlet to finish off the day's shopping chores.

oh, 'bout midafternoon, whilst in the library...       9.24.06
these little chunks of linky goodness courtesy the fine mind behind wood s lot:
from dissident voice: Reflections on Our Inner Bush - Corporate Monkeys In Our National House Of Mirrors (go there just for the Mencken quote if naught else...); then ye might make a visit to Zeke's Gallery & his post pointing ye to YouTube link for Joan Gratz's "Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase" (Zeke credits Cyberday Blog )

happy birthday John Coltrane...      
and yah, babeee, you right, it was actually yesterday, but some folks 'round here (KCSM FM for one, altho ye wouldn't know it from the looks of their website) making a weekend celebration out of it. Heard some great stuff on the radio via both KCSM and KPFA (the "Forms & Feelings" plus "In Your Ear" programs) yesterday afternoon, and nice to be in a place where that can happen on the radio (both KCSM and KPFA are listener supported radio stations). Here be a couple of linky bits in honor of John Coltrane's 80th birthday: from Slate, by Stanley Crouch, John Coltrane's Finest Hour; more recently via SF Gate/San Francisco Chronicle, Greg Tate's Coltrane at 80 -- a talent supreme; Searching for John Coltrane (an interview with Lewis Porter on his book on John Coltrane) via Perfect Sound Forever; one of the finest young jazz players on the scene these days (who also happens to have some local roots) Joshua Redman talks about Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"; downloadable interview w/Coltrane available via the Slought Foundation (donation NOT required but is solicited). Some itunes mixes avail thru CSLUB's KJazz; probably much more linky goodness out there in celebration of 'trane's B-day, but life on a dial-up keeping yourstruly's surfing to a minimum currently, go out & mine some nuggets yourowndamnedself.
Okay now, not anythin' to do with John Coltrane, mebbe something in the jessferdahalibut category, reddit.com.
& happi birfdey to Steve L. out dere in Brooklyn NY...

much later that same day...       9.21.06
and before yourstruly forgets and heads off in search of a night's slumber, most of these next items from today's NY Times (perused whilst in the Albany publick library): Suits Say U.S. Impeded Audits for Oil Leases, alongside this followup also by Edmund L. Andrews, Interior Official Says She Will Not Try to Recoup Lease Money; Leafy Green Sewage (and truly, just where are ye going to go and buy your greens -- and how much will you be willing to pay for 'em -- when this kind of thing gets completely out of control?); I believe the first film I saw Ellen Barkin in was Tender Mercies, leastways that's what I remember, altho' it might have been Diner, jeez, things from that far back are a leeetle bit foggy memorywise. I know it wasn't in C & C's Up in Smoke as mineowndamnedself was not much of a C & C fan. Anyway, made some mention hereabouts some months ago about some crushes and I don't believe I mentioned Ms. Barkin, but will admit here & now to longtime admiration of Ms. B. Not sure what our favorite role of hers may be, but definitely up there in our top three would be her turn as Sunny Boyd in Johnny Handsome, now there's une femme tres formidable! And what, might ye be asking, is all this Ellen Barkin business about. Appears she got dumped by some dumbass rich guy. Hey Ellen,
fuck him & the limo he rode in on, eh?

thank the goddess that the hole I fell into...      
wasn't too deep to climb out of. Hey dere, Binky, how you are baby-kakes?
Moi?
jes tryin' to maintain an even strain, kiddo...
okay, Vite Vite! quickly now: courtesy the fine mind of the lovely Gail Armstrong & her Open Brackets, yourstruly points ye to item from the Guardian by Martin Amis, The Age of Horrorism; then, from earlier in the week, courtesy the esteemed Jon Carroll's fine column in the S.F. Chronicle, this one in re the conservation of outrage and ye might want to check out J.C.'s column today whilst ye be visiting thereabouts, plenty to see via SF Gate, datz fo' sure.
what else to mention? oh, the weather has been stupendously nice 'round these parts since the return of el chango tonto to chez d'Monquis. Despite the ugly reality of the many chores awaiting our attentions, nice that the clerk of the weather has been so awfully cooperative. Also, not that yourstruly is any kind of serious baseball fan, it has always been fun to see the Oakland A's be as competitive as they've been for the last several seasons, and right at the top of their division this season and playing some pretty exciting baseball, too, with some amazing come from behind wins and the power hitting of a certain Frank Thomas.
That be it for now, katz und kitteez, will make some effort at longer post later...

quick stop by the library...       9.14.06
check in on the mailbag and drop a few choice linky bits into the ether, first up, from yesterday's S.F. Chronicle, Robert Scheer's Subverting democracy with the big lie; then a bunch of food & caffeine related links via the NY Times: Things You Don’t Know, Can’t Know and Don’t Want to Know ; For Perfectly Cooked Chicken, Use Both Sides of the Grill ; artisanal espresso, anybody? (ahh, da hell widdit! just gimme a good, strong cuppa java...).
OkeyDokey, enuf o' dat. Briefly now,
our replies to yesterday's Dear Abby and Mind Your Business columns:
Dear No Hugs Please, if you and your family are serious about getting Uncle Harry to mind his P's and Q's, just give the lecherous ol' goat a swift and emphatic kick in his bolas each time he attempts to enfold some unwilling woman in embrace. He ought to get his priorities straight soon enough.
Now, l'Marquis replies to "Well Groomed in Greenbrae":
Dear WGinG, perhaps we ought to go out and have a drink, maybe four or five or, even better, a dozen. Enough to make certain we kill that BUG THAT CRAWLED UP YOUR ASS. Jeebus-Keerist, ye live in the S.F. Bay Area, you dumbfugg. You want well groomed? Go live in Kansas or Nebraska or Ohio or someplace like that. Yourstruly will wager LARGE you voted republican in the last couple of elections too, didn't you, you well-groomed, narrow minded arsehole with very large stick up your ass...
Whew! now we be feelin' MUCH bettah...

pronto quickly now...       9.13.06
ten minutes left on my 30 minutes library usage, so Vite Vite!
be sure to drop in on Mark's wood s lot for some timely linky goodness;
just in time for el chango tonto's bay area arrival, the S.F. Chronicle checks out a bunch of taquerias. Maybe (? ! ?) yourstruly be able to get back here later on and add some other news, for those of ye who are wondering, the drive was uneventful, the blue subaru aquitted itself admirably, and even though 'tis nice to be back in the land of foggy morns and eves and much cooler temps (even the guitars sound better 'round here), am missing some of 'dem ol' folks back home. So for now, it be arrivaderci, bambini!

some stuff 'bout some stuff...       9.5.06
in the news of late. CRIKEY! I can imagine that expletive exploding from the bubbles expelled from the late Steve Irwin's breathing apparatus when meeting up with his moment of truth diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Have to say that I can kind of admire the fact that he was doing the thing that he loved to do, getting up close and personal with the wild creatures whose world we have usurped to some degree and whilst I can't imagine he planned on running out of heartbeats at the age of 44, he was out there doing the very thing he wanted to be doing, 'stead of being run over by some drunken lout. His was not an ignominious death.
Some of ye who stop by here now and again (and I extend my heartfelt thanks for your bad habit...) may already be aware of my enjoying the work of Keith Olbermann, my appreciation of much of what takes place on his MSNBC program. I was watching the night of his commentary inspired by the recent speech by Donald Rumsfeld. There are any number of places you can view said commentary and I'd probably have made earlier mention of it here if it weren't for the fact that most folks still dropping in hereabouts are most likely already aware of Olbermann's commentary and I fear that, these days at any rate, d'monkey isn't on the Must Be Viewed list of many of those other people. Ye know the ones I speak of, methinks. Anyway, I don't visit those other people's weblogs either, as it's bad for my blood pressure and overall emotional equilibrium. I did visit Tony Pierce's busblog the other day and wanted to share this post with ye, as it struck a responsive chord within ourowndamnedself. Ye know, oncet upon a time, before the consolidation of media ownership that has occured over the last thirty years, one might have imagined one of those network anchor types (Uncle Walter perhaps?) giving vent to some disagreement with the powers that be. Such a shame those days seem to be a thing of the past, don't ye think, Binky?
link for Olbermann via Truthout, that link passed along to us by left coaster Euphorbita (Gracias!), but pretty sure ye can find that elsewhere, kidz...

changes in the air...       9.2.06
yea, verily, ourowndamnedself back in the bay area sometime soon, not certain for how long, could be for some little while. In some ways quite weary of this ass-backwards backwater border town and looking forward to some extended reacquainting mineownself with once tres famiiar environs. Will somehow manage to do this and live with the constant undercurrent of worry & concern for certain family members who'll remain here in the shadow of the Franklin Mountains.
Quickly now; whilst perusing some bloggos favoritos came across this link to CNN story re Smartest Cities in Amerika (tip o'da ol'red fez to Señor Vreeland's dangerousmeta!). Being the long-homesick chauvinist bastid I is, wondered how the wee town of Albany, Ca. would measure up, methinks pretty damned smart, more than likely. Yah, mebbe some kinda dumb thing to ponder upon, but having had some experience in this, this dumbmonkey would rather live in a place where he be surrounded by a bunch of smart folk 'stead of the other way around. Discovered related survey from a few months back on the same subject, U.S. Smartest Cities via BizJournals and ye will find a link there that shall lead ye to some cities suffering from a shortage of brainpower. Both of these surveys make mention of data provided by the Census Bureau, and, well, you know what they say 'bout statistics, right Binky? No? well, ye know there be three kinds of lies:
lies, damn lies, and statistics. ANYWAY, another study we gonna mention here provides us with some idea of the relative literacy level of U.S. cities; am pretty sure yourstruly mentioned this study hereabouts shortly after arriving here two years ago, and personal experience/observation leads l'Marquis to agree with EPTx's place WAY down on that list. News story making headlines here the other day was that EP County is the one of the poorest counties in the nation, and what can ye say, there definitely be some correlation between that bit of relevant data (how economically "healthy" the locale is) and how many smart people decide to hang around and make a go of it there. The border remains the major factor, of this there is no doubt, largely because this border is shared with Mexico (as opposed to the neighbor on the northern border) and all that that implies (egad, that was an ugly thing there at the end of that sentence, No?). Since yourstruly is a solo act, this particular realidad feo is of small consequence, what I mean more specifically is that if I had to, for example, contemplate raising a family here, I would be doing some SERIOUS contemplation of alternatives. Certainly one wearies of dealing with dimwits and folks whose most intricate thought processes are devoted to deciding which bar offers the best happy hour prices, who appreciate living in a town with six WalMarts (and two more to come) --
oh oh, better stop before the ranting REALLY starts...
just so ye know yourstruly can (grudgingly) give credit where credit is due,
will make mention of some positive things the EPTx area offers ye:
The Newspaper Tree; KRUX FM (alright, so it's Cruces & not EPTx, gimme a break as radio in this burg is the SHITZ -- NOT the shizznitz); X-Mtn Rd; wanna go hike in the desert? check out the E.P. Ridgewalkers and yah,
ye can find cowboy boots and cheap mexican food all over the place...