As you can see, it looks smashing. Thanks Keith!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Finally
Back in August my friend Keith and his family drove across the country to be in Denver for a few days right before the Democratic party convention started. While he was out there he picked me up a cool poster and I finally got it framed and hung in my office.
As you can see, it looks smashing. Thanks Keith!
As you can see, it looks smashing. Thanks Keith!
Congrats!
Look at these two sweet looking kids:
Aren't they beautiful? It's everyone's blog pal Angry Ballerina and her new husband. They've gotten hitched and I just wanted to congratulate them on doing so. Don't be mad I copped the photo from your blog Angry. I was going to leave a comment on your blog but since now one has to create a profile and log in to do so, I just figured it was easier to steal your beautiful picture and do a blog post over here about your nuptials.
I wish you crazy kids many years of happiness!
Aren't they beautiful? It's everyone's blog pal Angry Ballerina and her new husband. They've gotten hitched and I just wanted to congratulate them on doing so. Don't be mad I copped the photo from your blog Angry. I was going to leave a comment on your blog but since now one has to create a profile and log in to do so, I just figured it was easier to steal your beautiful picture and do a blog post over here about your nuptials.
I wish you crazy kids many years of happiness!
Two Reviews You Can Use!
I finally saw this the other night:
I thought the first two thirds of it was fantastic. It was the film adaptation of a comic book that someone like me, a recovering comic book geek, has always dreamed of. It had everything. It had action, well drawn characters, great cinematography, a decent script, cool gadgets, guns, babes, the whole nine yards.
And then they went and ruined it with the last third of the film. I hated the whole Harvey Dent/Two Face subplot. It was fine as long it took a back seat to the battle between the Joker and Batman but when they let it take center stage, it was a one way ticket to snooze town for me.
All in all though, I still recommend this movie for the following reasons:
I had read a review of this book when it first came out and I filed it away in the part of my brain that was supposed to remember book titles. Unfortunately for me that part of my brain took a vacation for many years and I forgot the title but not the premise of the book. So I searched in vain for many years for a book about dogs that could talk. I picked up one book by a female author about talking dogs but it wasn't this one, I ended up reading it anyway but I didn't really like it. Then as luck would have it I was in the foyer of the local used book store the other day and I saw the book I had been searching for for the past few years. I paid the two bucks they were asking for it and I took it home.
Monster Dogs is a quick though at times disturbing read. It tells the fictional tale of a group of dogs that have been bred to become more like us humans. They are bred for their size and intelligence and they are surgically altered beginning almost at their birth, they're fitted with arms and given voice boxes. The idea, hatched by their creator Augustus Rank, was to turn them into ultra loyal dog soldiers.
Their story is told in part by one of the dogs, a human female who befriends the dogs, through the diaries of their creator, and through an opera libretto of their early years as the dog/human hybrids. It's a fascinating story really and the author, Kirsten Bakis, tells it very well. Her writing is spare and elegant and her story telling, for the most part, is direct and engaging. Her novel is at times achingly melancholy, bizarre, and compelling. The only let down is towards the very end when she lets the story wander but I was willing to overlook it due to the strength of the rest of the book. I recommend this book highly but I want to warn all those pet lovers out there that there are parts to it that you will find very disturbing to read.
I thought the first two thirds of it was fantastic. It was the film adaptation of a comic book that someone like me, a recovering comic book geek, has always dreamed of. It had everything. It had action, well drawn characters, great cinematography, a decent script, cool gadgets, guns, babes, the whole nine yards.And then they went and ruined it with the last third of the film. I hated the whole Harvey Dent/Two Face subplot. It was fine as long it took a back seat to the battle between the Joker and Batman but when they let it take center stage, it was a one way ticket to snooze town for me.
All in all though, I still recommend this movie for the following reasons:
- Heath Ledger.
- Heath Ledger.
- Heath Ledger.
You got a sense during his short career that this guy could act. He was good in things like Ten Things I Hate About You early in his career and by the time Brokeback Mountain came along you saw he'd graduated to the master class of movie acting. Then he went and turned in the best performance by anyone in a film in the past 30 years. I'm not shitting you. He's that good in this role. He's so good in this movie in fact that it drags like crazy when he's not in in the camera frame. I'd be surprised if he did not get a posthumous Oscar nomination for his performance. And if he gets nominated, he ought to be a shoo in to win.
Is this film worth your time? Yes. Will you love it? Probably not but you will be impressed by it.
I just finished reading this the other night:I had read a review of this book when it first came out and I filed it away in the part of my brain that was supposed to remember book titles. Unfortunately for me that part of my brain took a vacation for many years and I forgot the title but not the premise of the book. So I searched in vain for many years for a book about dogs that could talk. I picked up one book by a female author about talking dogs but it wasn't this one, I ended up reading it anyway but I didn't really like it. Then as luck would have it I was in the foyer of the local used book store the other day and I saw the book I had been searching for for the past few years. I paid the two bucks they were asking for it and I took it home.
Monster Dogs is a quick though at times disturbing read. It tells the fictional tale of a group of dogs that have been bred to become more like us humans. They are bred for their size and intelligence and they are surgically altered beginning almost at their birth, they're fitted with arms and given voice boxes. The idea, hatched by their creator Augustus Rank, was to turn them into ultra loyal dog soldiers.
Their story is told in part by one of the dogs, a human female who befriends the dogs, through the diaries of their creator, and through an opera libretto of their early years as the dog/human hybrids. It's a fascinating story really and the author, Kirsten Bakis, tells it very well. Her writing is spare and elegant and her story telling, for the most part, is direct and engaging. Her novel is at times achingly melancholy, bizarre, and compelling. The only let down is towards the very end when she lets the story wander but I was willing to overlook it due to the strength of the rest of the book. I recommend this book highly but I want to warn all those pet lovers out there that there are parts to it that you will find very disturbing to read.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
My year end political wrap up
The big political news this year was obviously Barack Obama's historic victory. I didn't support Obama in the beginning but I was behind him one hundred percent in the end because the choice was to move forward with the smart black guy or stay anchored in this conservative Republican hell we're in right now. 
I rejoiced along with millions of others when Obama crushed doddering old John "I tried to sell my soul to the right wing of my party but they weren't buying it" McCain on election day. And like a lot of you I am not comfortable with some of his cabinet choices, Vilsack as Sec. of Agriculture for one and Hillary as Sec. of State for another, I think she'd make a much better Attorney General and I think she'll be way too hawkish as Sec. of State. I'm also disappointed that he is letting that anti science homophobic preacher Prick Warren deliver his invocation. But when I step back and think about it all I have to recall the wise words of one of my favorite bloggers, Vikkitikkitavi, who says that politicians will always break your heart, that's what they do because they aren't interested in pleasing you, they are only interested in getting re-elected.
In the end it's Obama's cabinet and not mine, it's his inauguration not mine and he can pick and choose who the hell he wants and I can always bitch about it on my blog.
The other big Obama news item for me this year was the shocking discovery that he was responsible for all the misogyny and sexism in the world. How did I find that out? Why the lovely ladies and gents who founded this short lived political/bowel movement told me so:
Granted, I do not live in a "battleground" state so I did not see a lot of the back and forth ads that Hillary and Obama ran during the primaries so I really can't comment on the tone or content of those ads, but evidently all the ads that Obama ran pretty much said that Hillary should not be elected because she was a woman. And then all his pals in the media, you remember them don't you, they're the same ones who manufactured all this economic meltdown business so that their boy would win the Presidency, just jumped on that bandwagon and they beat up Hillary for being a woman as well.
The only problem with all of that is this: some of the PUMA people said that Obama was sexist because he did not demand the media stop their sexist teatment of Hillary. So according to that logic all the media sexism was Obama's fault. Which makes about as much sense as saying that the deaths in Rwanda while Bill Clinton was President was Hillary's fault because she didn't stop them even though it was her husband who was President.
So then the PUMA's went on to decry everything Obama said or did during his life after he won, or according to them, stole, the nomination. They pounced on Rev. Wright, who Obama denounced and distanced himself from, they brought up Bill Ayers, they howled when he talked about bankrupting utilities who wanted to build more coal powered plants, and most of them did the most treasonous thing of all, they supported McCain/Palin.
Now for them to throw their support behind the Republican ticket was perhaps the biggest slap in Hillary's face they could have ever given their one time glamour girl and heroine. There they were, McCain/Palin, out there on the hustings railing against everything Hillary had ever supported or worked for, equal pay for equal work, national health care for all, ending the war in Iraq, and all the other issues. It made perfect sense to them, oppose all the things their candidate wanted because they did not like the party standard bearer. They were perfectly willing to throw generations of women and their hard work in making this country a more equal place for the sexes under the bus just because they did not get their way in the nomination process.
They also held up Sarah Palin as a standard bearer for all women to look up to, even though she was diametrically opposed to all the positions Hillary ever stood and or fought for. They said that she was more than qualified to be Vice President and then Commander in Chief if something happened to McCain, after all she ran a town in Alaska and then the entire state of Alaska. And the PUMA's shrilly cried out that anyone who disagreed with their assessment of Caribou Barbie was sexist, just like anyone who didn't support Hillary was sexist. They snickered and guffawed when asked if Obama had any chance against a "war hero" and a woman with "executive experience." Then on election day they got their whiny asses handed to them.
Yo, PUMA's, we had a name for you people when we were kids. And that name is 'sore loser.' In 1992 I supported Tom Harkin of Iowa in the first primaries because he was a fire breathing liberal but when it became apparent that Clinton was going to be the nominee I sucked it up and I supported him 100% percent. When this last race started I backed Dennis Kucinich hard because his positions on the issues mirror my own but when it clear that he had no chance of winning and that most of the party was coalescing around Obama, I was all in, as they say on the horrendous poker television shows. But the PUMA's showed their political immaturity by refusing to support the nominee of the party. And they say they won't be back, well good. Don't ever come back, we don't need or want whiny sore losers like you in our party.
And finally as the year and yet another Bush crime family Presidency come to a merciful end, people like Laura "It's 5 o'clock somewhere in the world" Bush and Karl Rove are trying like hell to convince people that the Bush/Cheney years weren't an epic failure. But we all know that they were. Bush squandered the budget surplus, took us into two disastrous wars, stole our civil liberties, defanged all the US government regulatory agencies he could, and he presided over the worst economic melt down in over 80 years. If you're worse off today than you were 8 years ago, then I'd say Bush has been a failure. If you lost your son or daughter, mom or dad, sister or brother, or cousin to the war of terror on Iraq then I'd say that Bush has failed us all. All the people who died on 9/11 because they didn't believe the memo from the Clinton people that said that Bin Laden was determined to attack us here in the USA scream with one voice and they say that Bush failed in his job.
Rove and the rest of them like to chortle that in 50 years no one will remember that Bush had shoes thrown at him (Has that happened to any other President? NOPE) and they like to say that history will vindicate his current low poll numbers. What they are counting on is that people only listen to FOX news or to the latest right wing political pundit who will shout over everyone and proclaim that Bush has been the second coming of George Washington. But what they know in their devious little hearts though is that history is written not by paid political pundits or by party hacks, it is instead written by sober scholars who look at facts and place things in proper context. And it it precisely those people who will rightly judge Bush/Cheney to be the epic failures they really are.
I rejoiced along with millions of others when Obama crushed doddering old John "I tried to sell my soul to the right wing of my party but they weren't buying it" McCain on election day. And like a lot of you I am not comfortable with some of his cabinet choices, Vilsack as Sec. of Agriculture for one and Hillary as Sec. of State for another, I think she'd make a much better Attorney General and I think she'll be way too hawkish as Sec. of State. I'm also disappointed that he is letting that anti science homophobic preacher Prick Warren deliver his invocation. But when I step back and think about it all I have to recall the wise words of one of my favorite bloggers, Vikkitikkitavi, who says that politicians will always break your heart, that's what they do because they aren't interested in pleasing you, they are only interested in getting re-elected.In the end it's Obama's cabinet and not mine, it's his inauguration not mine and he can pick and choose who the hell he wants and I can always bitch about it on my blog.
The other big Obama news item for me this year was the shocking discovery that he was responsible for all the misogyny and sexism in the world. How did I find that out? Why the lovely ladies and gents who founded this short lived political/bowel movement told me so:
Granted, I do not live in a "battleground" state so I did not see a lot of the back and forth ads that Hillary and Obama ran during the primaries so I really can't comment on the tone or content of those ads, but evidently all the ads that Obama ran pretty much said that Hillary should not be elected because she was a woman. And then all his pals in the media, you remember them don't you, they're the same ones who manufactured all this economic meltdown business so that their boy would win the Presidency, just jumped on that bandwagon and they beat up Hillary for being a woman as well.The only problem with all of that is this: some of the PUMA people said that Obama was sexist because he did not demand the media stop their sexist teatment of Hillary. So according to that logic all the media sexism was Obama's fault. Which makes about as much sense as saying that the deaths in Rwanda while Bill Clinton was President was Hillary's fault because she didn't stop them even though it was her husband who was President.
So then the PUMA's went on to decry everything Obama said or did during his life after he won, or according to them, stole, the nomination. They pounced on Rev. Wright, who Obama denounced and distanced himself from, they brought up Bill Ayers, they howled when he talked about bankrupting utilities who wanted to build more coal powered plants, and most of them did the most treasonous thing of all, they supported McCain/Palin.
Now for them to throw their support behind the Republican ticket was perhaps the biggest slap in Hillary's face they could have ever given their one time glamour girl and heroine. There they were, McCain/Palin, out there on the hustings railing against everything Hillary had ever supported or worked for, equal pay for equal work, national health care for all, ending the war in Iraq, and all the other issues. It made perfect sense to them, oppose all the things their candidate wanted because they did not like the party standard bearer. They were perfectly willing to throw generations of women and their hard work in making this country a more equal place for the sexes under the bus just because they did not get their way in the nomination process.
They also held up Sarah Palin as a standard bearer for all women to look up to, even though she was diametrically opposed to all the positions Hillary ever stood and or fought for. They said that she was more than qualified to be Vice President and then Commander in Chief if something happened to McCain, after all she ran a town in Alaska and then the entire state of Alaska. And the PUMA's shrilly cried out that anyone who disagreed with their assessment of Caribou Barbie was sexist, just like anyone who didn't support Hillary was sexist. They snickered and guffawed when asked if Obama had any chance against a "war hero" and a woman with "executive experience." Then on election day they got their whiny asses handed to them.
Yo, PUMA's, we had a name for you people when we were kids. And that name is 'sore loser.' In 1992 I supported Tom Harkin of Iowa in the first primaries because he was a fire breathing liberal but when it became apparent that Clinton was going to be the nominee I sucked it up and I supported him 100% percent. When this last race started I backed Dennis Kucinich hard because his positions on the issues mirror my own but when it clear that he had no chance of winning and that most of the party was coalescing around Obama, I was all in, as they say on the horrendous poker television shows. But the PUMA's showed their political immaturity by refusing to support the nominee of the party. And they say they won't be back, well good. Don't ever come back, we don't need or want whiny sore losers like you in our party.
And finally as the year and yet another Bush crime family Presidency come to a merciful end, people like Laura "It's 5 o'clock somewhere in the world" Bush and Karl Rove are trying like hell to convince people that the Bush/Cheney years weren't an epic failure. But we all know that they were. Bush squandered the budget surplus, took us into two disastrous wars, stole our civil liberties, defanged all the US government regulatory agencies he could, and he presided over the worst economic melt down in over 80 years. If you're worse off today than you were 8 years ago, then I'd say Bush has been a failure. If you lost your son or daughter, mom or dad, sister or brother, or cousin to the war of terror on Iraq then I'd say that Bush has failed us all. All the people who died on 9/11 because they didn't believe the memo from the Clinton people that said that Bin Laden was determined to attack us here in the USA scream with one voice and they say that Bush failed in his job.Rove and the rest of them like to chortle that in 50 years no one will remember that Bush had shoes thrown at him (Has that happened to any other President? NOPE) and they like to say that history will vindicate his current low poll numbers. What they are counting on is that people only listen to FOX news or to the latest right wing political pundit who will shout over everyone and proclaim that Bush has been the second coming of George Washington. But what they know in their devious little hearts though is that history is written not by paid political pundits or by party hacks, it is instead written by sober scholars who look at facts and place things in proper context. And it it precisely those people who will rightly judge Bush/Cheney to be the epic failures they really are.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Interview with a Pedestrian
My friend XUP (that stands for Ex-Urban Pedestrian) has resurrected the interview meme. Since I am my favorite subject to write and talk about I agreed to let her send me five questions. Here are her questions along with my answers.
1) You've talked a lot about your heart surgery. Are you a different person now than before you had the surgery? (Not just physically, but mentally, spiritually, philosophically?)
Yes. After the heart attack and the surgery I have become more aware about the things I eat and the kind of environments I allow myself to be in.
The biggest physical change has been my heart operates much better now, I have a nifty scar on my chest, and I have a little numbness left in my leg where they opened it up and took an artery, or vein or whatever it is they take, to make the bypasses with. Some days I think the numbness is gone for good but then it comes back a little. But don't get me wrong, it's not painful or anything, it's just annoying.
Mentally I have changed a bit in that I don't suffer fools gladly anymore. And wrapped up in that is I don't allow myself to be put into stressful situations, most of which arise from being around members of my nutty family who live in the south. Most of the family I have who live south of the Mason Dixon line, and a few who live north of it as well, are toxic stressors to me and I avoid them like the plague. I don't need the stress or the hassle of being involved with them and I'm far better off with out them in my life. Another mental change is that sometimes my filter that is supposed to stop me from making bad comments about others sometimes doesn't work too well since the heart attack and in some cases it's a good thing but when I say mean shit to people who don't deserve it I feel like crap.
Spiritually I have not changed at all. I had come to the realization years ago that when humans could not explain the universe around them they needed to invent a god who made every thing and who loved them. The notion that I had to follow a set of rules laid down in the stone age in order to be a good person I found out was just nonsense. There may have been a person named Jesus who was born in the year zero but there's no way he was the son o' god because there is no god. But if you need to believe in that religious stuff then that's okay by me, just don't expect me to believe it and don't try to convert me to whatever religion you believe in.
I remain philosophically bankrupt just like I was before the heart attack.
2) You appear to be a great cook and gourmet. What would you request for your last meal and who would prepare it?
Thanks for the compliment. I don't consider myself a gourmet, just a well meaning gourmand.
My last meal would be cooked by someone other than myself because no matter how good a cook I may be, it's always nice to eat food prepared by someone else. I'd choose as a starter Southwestern Spring rolls from Damon's, that's a chain restaurant in my area. I'd have Pad Prik with pork from the Stir Fry Cafe, another local restaurant. I'd also have Tandoori chicken and aloo sag with na'an bread. For dessert I'd have coconut cream pie, banana pudding, and German chocolate cake. I'd wash it all down with a variety of Canadian beers and some Pinot Noir.
3) What's the most disgusting thing you ever smelled?
Rotten duck eggs. And the reasons why Bush/Cheney said we had to go to war.
4)If you woke up one morning to discover you would be Oprah for 24 hours, what would you do? (suicide doesn't count)
I rather like Oprah, she's very well meaning and I think she's a geniuely nice person so I would probably like being her for 24 hours. Having said that though, if I was her for 24 hours I'd spend the whole day playing with my new lady parts. And I'd do things with Steadman in the boudoir that are outlawed in a few US states and certain maritime provinces of Canada.
5) In keeping with the holiday, what's the best gift you've ever received?
Best Christmas gift I ever got was a book from Sparky. She gave it to me the first year we gave each other gifts. It was a book called The Dissenters. And it was a collection of essays by famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, Americans who disagreed with the prevailing political paradigm. It showed me that she really 'got me.'
She also gave me the best birthday present ever which was an aquarium, sadly I no longer have it because it sprang a leak but I loved that thing with a passion.
Excellent questions all Ms. XUP! Thanks for asking them!
If you'd like me to ask you five questions then please send me an email to monkeymuckATgmailDOTcom with the phrase 'Interview me' in the subject line.
1) You've talked a lot about your heart surgery. Are you a different person now than before you had the surgery? (Not just physically, but mentally, spiritually, philosophically?)
Yes. After the heart attack and the surgery I have become more aware about the things I eat and the kind of environments I allow myself to be in.
The biggest physical change has been my heart operates much better now, I have a nifty scar on my chest, and I have a little numbness left in my leg where they opened it up and took an artery, or vein or whatever it is they take, to make the bypasses with. Some days I think the numbness is gone for good but then it comes back a little. But don't get me wrong, it's not painful or anything, it's just annoying.
Mentally I have changed a bit in that I don't suffer fools gladly anymore. And wrapped up in that is I don't allow myself to be put into stressful situations, most of which arise from being around members of my nutty family who live in the south. Most of the family I have who live south of the Mason Dixon line, and a few who live north of it as well, are toxic stressors to me and I avoid them like the plague. I don't need the stress or the hassle of being involved with them and I'm far better off with out them in my life. Another mental change is that sometimes my filter that is supposed to stop me from making bad comments about others sometimes doesn't work too well since the heart attack and in some cases it's a good thing but when I say mean shit to people who don't deserve it I feel like crap.
Spiritually I have not changed at all. I had come to the realization years ago that when humans could not explain the universe around them they needed to invent a god who made every thing and who loved them. The notion that I had to follow a set of rules laid down in the stone age in order to be a good person I found out was just nonsense. There may have been a person named Jesus who was born in the year zero but there's no way he was the son o' god because there is no god. But if you need to believe in that religious stuff then that's okay by me, just don't expect me to believe it and don't try to convert me to whatever religion you believe in.
I remain philosophically bankrupt just like I was before the heart attack.
2) You appear to be a great cook and gourmet. What would you request for your last meal and who would prepare it?
Thanks for the compliment. I don't consider myself a gourmet, just a well meaning gourmand.
My last meal would be cooked by someone other than myself because no matter how good a cook I may be, it's always nice to eat food prepared by someone else. I'd choose as a starter Southwestern Spring rolls from Damon's, that's a chain restaurant in my area. I'd have Pad Prik with pork from the Stir Fry Cafe, another local restaurant. I'd also have Tandoori chicken and aloo sag with na'an bread. For dessert I'd have coconut cream pie, banana pudding, and German chocolate cake. I'd wash it all down with a variety of Canadian beers and some Pinot Noir.
3) What's the most disgusting thing you ever smelled?
Rotten duck eggs. And the reasons why Bush/Cheney said we had to go to war.
4)If you woke up one morning to discover you would be Oprah for 24 hours, what would you do? (suicide doesn't count)
I rather like Oprah, she's very well meaning and I think she's a geniuely nice person so I would probably like being her for 24 hours. Having said that though, if I was her for 24 hours I'd spend the whole day playing with my new lady parts. And I'd do things with Steadman in the boudoir that are outlawed in a few US states and certain maritime provinces of Canada.
5) In keeping with the holiday, what's the best gift you've ever received?
Best Christmas gift I ever got was a book from Sparky. She gave it to me the first year we gave each other gifts. It was a book called The Dissenters. And it was a collection of essays by famous, or infamous, depending on your point of view, Americans who disagreed with the prevailing political paradigm. It showed me that she really 'got me.'
She also gave me the best birthday present ever which was an aquarium, sadly I no longer have it because it sprang a leak but I loved that thing with a passion.
Excellent questions all Ms. XUP! Thanks for asking them!
If you'd like me to ask you five questions then please send me an email to monkeymuckATgmailDOTcom with the phrase 'Interview me' in the subject line.
I am pleased to announce...
...that in a highly competitive field and in an extremely tight race, Miss Gail Ishimatsu has been elected my 1968 Southern California girlfriend.
Miss Ishimatsu beat out the following young ladies from Coachella Valley High School:
I am sorry to have had to break the hearts of so many beautiful young women, especially those of Cheryl Enriquez and Linda Cervantes, but Miss Ishimatsu is now entitled to all the prizes, fame, and good will that comes from being named my imaginary 1968 Southern California girlfriend. In the end Gail won because she was smart as well as beautiful, she was voted the girl most likely to succeed in her senior class. My fez is off to you Gail Ishimatsu!
Miss Ishimatsu beat out the following young ladies from Coachella Valley High School:I am sorry to have had to break the hearts of so many beautiful young women, especially those of Cheryl Enriquez and Linda Cervantes, but Miss Ishimatsu is now entitled to all the prizes, fame, and good will that comes from being named my imaginary 1968 Southern California girlfriend. In the end Gail won because she was smart as well as beautiful, she was voted the girl most likely to succeed in her senior class. My fez is off to you Gail Ishimatsu!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Stay classy Israel!
You're not content with just stealing the land of the people Palestinian people because some book that was written in the stone age says it's yours. You're not content with ghettoizing the Palestinian people and making them live in refugee camps and then cutting off all access to modern amenities to all other Palestinians. Nope, you weren't content with all that so you're now bombing the shit out of the Gaza strip because you won't be satisfied until all the people who you want dead are dead.
Way to go Israel. With behvaior like that it's no wonder the Jeebus followers think they're the new chosen people.
Once again we see what happens when organized religion and small political minds mix.
Way to go Israel. With behvaior like that it's no wonder the Jeebus followers think they're the new chosen people.
Once again we see what happens when organized religion and small political minds mix.
Craig Clark, I have something of yours
Craig, dude, I bought your copy of the 1968 Coachella Valley High yearbook at a local flea market for $2 yesterday. I'm going to scan most of it and put in on Flickr. If you have any problems with that, then tough titty, you should have held on to it. Now the whole world will be able to see your high school yearbook in all it's glory.
And seriously people, it's full of 1968 black and white cheesy goodness. It will be on Flickr in all it's glory in a few days. I'll give you the link to the whole picture set when I get done. I promise.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Hey look...
...it's a chicken in a cardboard box.Okay you can go about your regularly scheduled business now.
WTF?
For some reason Google Reader decided to delete a bunch of blogs from my main blog roll. I've re-added the ones I know for sure it deleted, like Samurai Frog, Johnny Yen, Splotchy, Enriched Geranium and some others, but if you don't see your blog on my roll let me know and I'll look into it. I apologize for any inconvenience that Google has brought upon us all.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Double entendre of the year
I laughed like a maniac when took a photo of this product in Target earlier today:
If you're not familiar with all the definitions of 'rimming' then please go to the Urban Dictionary and look them up. I'm all about making you learn stuff this holiday season.
If you're not familiar with all the definitions of 'rimming' then please go to the Urban Dictionary and look them up. I'm all about making you learn stuff this holiday season.
It's a regular Algonquin round table at Sparky's parents house during the holidays
Here's a snippet of conversation from yesterday's Christmas dinner at Sparky's parents house:
Sparky's sister: Where did they do Uncle Freddie's brain aneurysm surgery?
Me: (Very quickly before any one else could answer) On his head.
Sparky: (As she gave me a dirty look) What are you? Twelve or something?
Sparky's sister: Where did they do Uncle Freddie's brain aneurysm surgery?
Me: (Very quickly before any one else could answer) On his head.
Sparky: (As she gave me a dirty look) What are you? Twelve or something?
Honestly though, what did she expect from a guy who buys himself this
for a Christmas present to himself? And anyways, that was a sweet set up by Sparky's sister, I had to go for the bad joke or I wouldn't have been me.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas from the family
That little blond kid sporting what looks like a Christmas morning chubby in his underwear is me. That's my sister Linda behind me and that's our Mom next to her. On the floor is my sister Sandy and next to her is my older brother Charlie and my Dad. My brother Karl was behind the camera and that's why he wasn't in the photo. The picture was taken around 1968 or 1969 I think. Even though we lived in the projects and were poor as church mice we always made out like bandits on Christmas morning. I loved getting up before the sun came up and running down stairs to see what Santa had brought us and watching every one open presents.Flash forward to today and it's just me and Sparky now on Christmas morning and I still love getting up, although it's not quite as early these days, and doing the opening presents thing. I think I speak for her as well when I say, "Happy Christmas everybody!"
I'll leave you with our new favorite Christmas song:
Odds bless us all, every one!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas programming changes
Please make a note of the following changes to your Christmas Eve and Christmas day TV schedule:
The Cat Who Shaved Christmas
BBC America will present:
Drinking and Driving: A Very Special Top Gear Christmas Special
Animal Planet will be broadcasting for the first time anywhere:
Happy holiday viewing everybody!
Country Music Television (CMT) will be airing starting at 7:30 EST A Kick Ass Southern Christmas which will be hosted by Kinston, NC native Jamie Pressley. 
Her special guests will include Jerry Lee Lewis, Emmanuel Lewis, Richard Lewis, and Louis and Oswald from The Drew Carey Show.
Her special guests will include Jerry Lee Lewis, Emmanuel Lewis, Richard Lewis, and Louis and Oswald from The Drew Carey Show.********
Spike TV will be running their popular The Twelve Boobs of Christmas marathon again this year. 
********
Hallmark Channel will run, at various times so check your local listings, the following made for TV movie:
The Cat Who Shaved Christmas ********
BBC America will present:
Drinking and Driving: A Very Special Top Gear Christmas Special********
Animal Planet will be broadcasting for the first time anywhere:
Where Rudolph Came From.
********
A & E offers up two very special episodes of their popular show Intervention. The first episode shows us a celebrity intervention:
and the second shows us the first ever intervention on a person under the age of 4.
********
Canadian Broadcasting Company will be showing
The Canadian Bacon that Saved Christmas.
********
Sci-Fi network has decided to air 
It's a Mansquito Christmas! yet again.
********
And The Simian Network will air my holiday movie classic Don't Fling Poo at Santa Claus (Unless you want to have your monkey ass kicked you mutha-uckers!).
Happy holiday viewing everybody!
Hibernation
No ladies and gentlemen, I am not going into hibernation nor is the blog. It seems however that my usual barrage of political posts are for some reason, perhaps it's because of the holidays and all the good cheer that they bring me.
This year is especially good cheery because I don't have to deal with any of my crazy family who live near by and I have not had any contact with my crazy aunt and her offspring. They all bring a huge amount of stress into my life and I'm sooooooo much better off without them (if any of them read this they'll be dialing their mother to tell her I said that and just as soon as she hangs up the phone she'll take me out of her last will and testament and I have but one thing to say about that and it is, "Hooray!").
Another reason for my good cheer this week is the post holiday party glow at our place, we're both so happy so many folks came over this past Saturday and that they got to share in our first holiday in our new to us house. Sparky and I both could not be happier to be out of our old condo and in our new house, and considering we did it all while the economy was melting down is nothing short of a Christmas miracle.
But fear not my peeps, all this good cheer will only last for so long and soon I'll be back to doing political posts and sharing my opinions with you, which will piss off more than one or two of my trolls. Speaking of which, one of my trolls left me a comment, which I deleted, telling me that I should back up my opinionated political posts with facts and links. It seems that this troll has no concept of what a blog is for, especially this one. So if you're reading this Mr. Troll, and I know you are, this blog is not some term paper or academic treatise where I have to put footnotes or links in my political posts, it is however a place where I can and do make my opinions known and if that pisses you off then, well, that's just icing on the cake.
Yes, boys and girls after Christmas I'll be doing posts on the "riots" in Greece, the out going criminals who currently occupy the White House, the incoming Obama administration, and of course there'll be more anti corporate posts to coincide with the crash of our faltering free market economy. I'll be there to sift through the pieces and to interpret what happened and to speculate on what is going to happens as we watch the death throes of the conservative movement and conservative free market economics.
This burst of good cheer won't last forever, it will pass like a shoe that's been whipped at the head of our Idiot in Chief, and then I'll get back to my mix of the political and the pop cultural with a dish of silliness on the side.
This year is especially good cheery because I don't have to deal with any of my crazy family who live near by and I have not had any contact with my crazy aunt and her offspring. They all bring a huge amount of stress into my life and I'm sooooooo much better off without them (if any of them read this they'll be dialing their mother to tell her I said that and just as soon as she hangs up the phone she'll take me out of her last will and testament and I have but one thing to say about that and it is, "Hooray!").
Another reason for my good cheer this week is the post holiday party glow at our place, we're both so happy so many folks came over this past Saturday and that they got to share in our first holiday in our new to us house. Sparky and I both could not be happier to be out of our old condo and in our new house, and considering we did it all while the economy was melting down is nothing short of a Christmas miracle.
But fear not my peeps, all this good cheer will only last for so long and soon I'll be back to doing political posts and sharing my opinions with you, which will piss off more than one or two of my trolls. Speaking of which, one of my trolls left me a comment, which I deleted, telling me that I should back up my opinionated political posts with facts and links. It seems that this troll has no concept of what a blog is for, especially this one. So if you're reading this Mr. Troll, and I know you are, this blog is not some term paper or academic treatise where I have to put footnotes or links in my political posts, it is however a place where I can and do make my opinions known and if that pisses you off then, well, that's just icing on the cake.
Yes, boys and girls after Christmas I'll be doing posts on the "riots" in Greece, the out going criminals who currently occupy the White House, the incoming Obama administration, and of course there'll be more anti corporate posts to coincide with the crash of our faltering free market economy. I'll be there to sift through the pieces and to interpret what happened and to speculate on what is going to happens as we watch the death throes of the conservative movement and conservative free market economics.
This burst of good cheer won't last forever, it will pass like a shoe that's been whipped at the head of our Idiot in Chief, and then I'll get back to my mix of the political and the pop cultural with a dish of silliness on the side.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Word of the week
From 1969, here's Katherine Ross with this week's word of the week:
"Verjuice is this week's word of the week. It's a juice that is acidic or sour because it is made from green or unripened fruit. It can also refer to a person who is sour or who has an acidic or sour temper."
"Verjuice is this week's word of the week. It's a juice that is acidic or sour because it is made from green or unripened fruit. It can also refer to a person who is sour or who has an acidic or sour temper."
For no reason at all...
...I now present some art by some of my favorite comic book artists:
Bernie Wrightson:
George Perez:
Jack Kirby:
Steve Ditko:
Howard Chaykin:
Brian Bolland:
Walt Simonson:
And my all time favorite, Bill Sienkiewicz:
Walt Simonson:And my all time favorite, Bill Sienkiewicz:
That's all for now.
Monkey Movie Review
They took away our free HBO and Cinemax channels but they left us with The Movie Channel On Demand and I caught this last night on it:
This film is about what happens when two brothers who need lots of money to correct their sorry lives decide to rob their parents jewelry store. The robbery goes wrong and it starts a tsunami of bad shit that eventually catches all the characters in it's wake.
It's hard to like any of the characters in this film because they are all so morally repellent. Even the one character who tries to do the right thing ends up doing the wrong thing. By the end of the film you are rooting for everyone to be killed off or imprisoned for their crimes.
Having said that, I'll say this, I liked all the performances in this downbeat heist gone wrong film. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, or Phil Sey Hoff to his buddies, turns in his usual stellar performance. He's playing the opposite of the lovable loser he played in Owning Mahowny. In Mahowny at least his character knew he was doing wrong and tried to do something about it. In this film his character knows he's doing wrong and he keeps on piling more wrong on wrong.
Ethan Hawke manages to shake off his post Uma divorce depression long enough to turn in a gritty performance as the whiny younger brother who is roped into his big brother's scheme.
Marissa Tomei shows off her natural assets through out the film and I for one was glad to see them, both of them. But all kidding aside she's very good in the film as well and I'd say that even if she wasn't topless in parts of it.
Albert Finney is also good despite doing most of his role with his mouth hanging wide open. It's as if ol' Al is giving a master class in mouth breathing acting for future generation of actors. But you know what? If' I can do a third of what he does when I get to be his age, I'll be doing good.
This film is not for the faint of heart or those who don't like seeing seedy criminals get their just rewards. If you like movies about petty criminals that have no honor then this film is for you. I recommend it but be prepared to not like any of the characters in it.
This film is about what happens when two brothers who need lots of money to correct their sorry lives decide to rob their parents jewelry store. The robbery goes wrong and it starts a tsunami of bad shit that eventually catches all the characters in it's wake. It's hard to like any of the characters in this film because they are all so morally repellent. Even the one character who tries to do the right thing ends up doing the wrong thing. By the end of the film you are rooting for everyone to be killed off or imprisoned for their crimes.
Having said that, I'll say this, I liked all the performances in this downbeat heist gone wrong film. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, or Phil Sey Hoff to his buddies, turns in his usual stellar performance. He's playing the opposite of the lovable loser he played in Owning Mahowny. In Mahowny at least his character knew he was doing wrong and tried to do something about it. In this film his character knows he's doing wrong and he keeps on piling more wrong on wrong.
Ethan Hawke manages to shake off his post Uma divorce depression long enough to turn in a gritty performance as the whiny younger brother who is roped into his big brother's scheme.
Marissa Tomei shows off her natural assets through out the film and I for one was glad to see them, both of them. But all kidding aside she's very good in the film as well and I'd say that even if she wasn't topless in parts of it.
Albert Finney is also good despite doing most of his role with his mouth hanging wide open. It's as if ol' Al is giving a master class in mouth breathing acting for future generation of actors. But you know what? If' I can do a third of what he does when I get to be his age, I'll be doing good.
This film is not for the faint of heart or those who don't like seeing seedy criminals get their just rewards. If you like movies about petty criminals that have no honor then this film is for you. I recommend it but be prepared to not like any of the characters in it.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Please welcome...
...two new sponsors to the blog!
The first new sponsor is Workers United for Radiation Free Produce who remind you to:
And our second new sponsor is Shelf Shop.
Located out on Route 14 just past the George W. Bush Home for the Criminally Insane, Shelf Shop now sells more than just shelving systems. Lazlo, Minnie, Gert, and the gang now also sell a full line of protective undergarments
and braces, supports, and trusses.
They'd also like to remind you that even though Lazlo Jr was never actually convicted of anything, he is no longer doing any deliveries near elementary schools and karaoke bars.
The first new sponsor is Workers United for Radiation Free Produce who remind you to:
And our second new sponsor is Shelf Shop. Located out on Route 14 just past the George W. Bush Home for the Criminally Insane, Shelf Shop now sells more than just shelving systems. Lazlo, Minnie, Gert, and the gang now also sell a full line of protective undergarmentsand braces, supports, and trusses.
They'd also like to remind you that even though Lazlo Jr was never actually convicted of anything, he is no longer doing any deliveries near elementary schools and karaoke bars. ********
As always, please do your best to patronize our sponsors.
Funny Stuff
If you have the cable or the satellite TV and you get FX on your system, then do yourself a favor and check out the show Testees some time. It's hugely misanthropic, acerbic, and funny as hell. It was made and/or produced in Canada so you know it's good. 
The premise of the show is that the guys in the above photo work as human guinea pigs for a drug company. Yeah, I know, it sounds dumb but when you actually watch a whole episode, you will howl with laughter. If you haven't seen it yet I recommend catching the episode where the guys go blind for a few days, it's comedy gold.
Testees on FX, it now carries the Dr. Monkey seal of comedy approval.
The premise of the show is that the guys in the above photo work as human guinea pigs for a drug company. Yeah, I know, it sounds dumb but when you actually watch a whole episode, you will howl with laughter. If you haven't seen it yet I recommend catching the episode where the guys go blind for a few days, it's comedy gold.
Testees on FX, it now carries the Dr. Monkey seal of comedy approval.
The Purpose Driven Party
One of the reasons we moved to a bigger house was to be able to have many friends over at once. There was hardly any room for guests to park at our old condo and it got really crowded feeling if more than 6 people were in the old place at once. Thank goodness with our new place we have neither problem. There is plenty of parking out on the street and we've got more than enough space to have many friends over at once. So this year we decided to have a holiday party!
We'd been buying food and supplies, such as paper plates, napkins, etc, for a few months now and then the week before hand we went into overdrive. We cleaned and decorated the place and we baked and cooked for a few days prior as well. And as the day of the party arrived, we were ready.
We served homemade egg rolls, chips and dips, cheese balls, chicken wings, ham biscuits, fresh cut veggies, tortilla roll ups, and some of our guests brought such things as baked brie with cranberry and orange sauce on top, stuffed jalapenos, spicy tofu cubes. We also had a dessert table that was filled with all manner of homemade cookies and brownies and other desserts that some of our guests brought, such as candied pretzels and pumpkin cheesecake. We had various iced teas, holiday punch, wine, and beer. To make a long story longer, we were ready to throw down on some holiday partying.
A bunch of nice folks that Sparky works with came by and sampled the hospitality. Some came bearing gifts even though they were told not to. We accepted the gifts and they accepted all the food and drinks they wanted. So in the end it worked out.
Also in attendance were my friend Keith and his sons Cameron, he's the older one, and Quinn, he's the one talking.
We all play disc golf together and Keith got me in to helping out with the film festival that we have here in Johnson City. They also came bearing gifts. They gave us, among other things, a holiday CD and Quinn let me borrow his copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They had out of town guests coming in that evening so they didn't stay too long. But luckily for us as the evening wore on a ton of other friends showed up.
The gal is a new friend of ours who we met last night named Lisa, the handsome guy in the middle of the photo is Bobby, he's head honcho at our local library. The character on the far right is man o' the cloth, friend of teh gay, evolution defender, peace activist, and all around decent guy, Rev. John Shuck. John came bearing gifts as well. He gave us this calendar as a gag gift:
As you can see from the cover it's got quotes from Rick Warren in it. Here's a few of them:
We'd been buying food and supplies, such as paper plates, napkins, etc, for a few months now and then the week before hand we went into overdrive. We cleaned and decorated the place and we baked and cooked for a few days prior as well. And as the day of the party arrived, we were ready.
We served homemade egg rolls, chips and dips, cheese balls, chicken wings, ham biscuits, fresh cut veggies, tortilla roll ups, and some of our guests brought such things as baked brie with cranberry and orange sauce on top, stuffed jalapenos, spicy tofu cubes. We also had a dessert table that was filled with all manner of homemade cookies and brownies and other desserts that some of our guests brought, such as candied pretzels and pumpkin cheesecake. We had various iced teas, holiday punch, wine, and beer. To make a long story longer, we were ready to throw down on some holiday partying.
A bunch of nice folks that Sparky works with came by and sampled the hospitality. Some came bearing gifts even though they were told not to. We accepted the gifts and they accepted all the food and drinks they wanted. So in the end it worked out.
Also in attendance were my friend Keith and his sons Cameron, he's the older one, and Quinn, he's the one talking.
We all play disc golf together and Keith got me in to helping out with the film festival that we have here in Johnson City. They also came bearing gifts. They gave us, among other things, a holiday CD and Quinn let me borrow his copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They had out of town guests coming in that evening so they didn't stay too long. But luckily for us as the evening wore on a ton of other friends showed up.
The gal is a new friend of ours who we met last night named Lisa, the handsome guy in the middle of the photo is Bobby, he's head honcho at our local library. The character on the far right is man o' the cloth, friend of teh gay, evolution defender, peace activist, and all around decent guy, Rev. John Shuck. John came bearing gifts as well. He gave us this calendar as a gag gift:As you can see from the cover it's got quotes from Rick Warren in it. Here's a few of them:- "I'm hung over like a motherfucker, hand me $20 from the collection plate so I can buy me some Mad Dog 20/20."
- "When I masturbate I think of cute little puppies, sunshine, and of course, Jesus."
- "Pass me the white bread and mayonnaise or I'll have Jesus smite you. I am not playing around bitches, give me some of that white Protestant soul food or your ass is going to hell in a '73 Pinto."
In return I gave John a button that had a picture of Jesus smoking crack on it that said, "Crack Whores for Jesus." It was a pretty even gift exchange I'd say.
Also in attendance was the smartest man in the world, our friend Joseph, 
he's the one on the right. He's got a doctorate in political science and he speaks many different languages. And he also had the good sense to marry the smartest woman in the world,
Vanessa. She's the one on the left. She is the chair of the biology department at my old college and she not only teaches two or three classes plus labs a semester, she also does research that gets funded by the NIH and other important groups. She's forgotten more biology than I ever knew. And as you can tell by how she's mugging for the camera, she's also beautiful and fun. Some of you eagle eyed readers may recognize the beauty queen sitting next to Vanessa, it's my blog and real life buddy Snad! It was through Snad that we met most all of the folks who came to the evening portion of the party. She and her brother Mike, that's him flashing the goofy smile and wearing the red tie,
founded an anti war activist group called Concerned TN Citizens and that's how me met all the other great local folks we now call friend. Snad's husband John is also a stand up guy. Here's a shot of them getting ready to kiss:
Aren't they sweet? 
Speaking of sweet, the couple in the above photo are sweet as well. Their names are Brian and June. Brian is originally from Scotland and June is from Venus. Oh no, that's not right, she's originally from West Virginia. Both of them are fun folks to be around. June is not only whip smart and funny, she's also crafty. She's a knitter and she just made Sparky a beautiful scarf. When I asked her to knit me a thong, she politely declined while Miss Vanessa tried to suppress her gag reflex:
And this hottie's name is Donna:
She's Bobby's wife. She's not only beautiful, she's also smart, super nice, and funny. She and Bobby have a daughter who is going to be even more beautiful than her mother is, if you can believe that. I'm not sure what Bobby and Donna were up to before they arrived at the party but for some reason as soon as they got to our place Donna felt the need to wrestle our fridge. I'm happy to report the only injury in the bout was sustained by our refrigerator. It just goes to show you that although she may be beautiful, Donna can be deadly as well.
All in all the party was a great success and we'll be eating the leftovers for weeks to come. I'm glad we had so many people drop by and that they enjoyed themselves. When I was growing up in the social, political, and cultural backwater that is Lee County Virginia I dreamed of having smart, funny, good looking friends and I'm so glad that that dream finally came true.
Thanks to all of you who came by and made our first holiday season in our new place such a great one!
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