MONK RULES
WELCOME to the Thelonious Sphere Monk Memorial WebLog
Wanna listen to Just A Gigolo by Monk.
Or Play "Some Other Toonz" by Monk
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My page on Saatchi Gallery: Go HERE.

Slow Day Blogwise
Just can't get too enthused about the Shrub getting sorta shot down by The Supremes. His congress will just pass him a law allowing carte blanche to continue his nefarious terrorist ways.
Ditto on the Worlds Cup. Soccer is the most boring sport in the world; possibly excepting TV Poker.
I'm outta here for the month.
Thanks to Deb Riggins (like the football player who I've never heard of) for the feedback. Nice to know there are a few strangers out there reading this drivel.
NYC Scene

©2006 Danny Dries
Don't recall shooting this, but I guess I did.
Top Cop Above The Law
Kerik pleads guilty but won't have to do the time. He only stole $200K. And that is a "misdemeanor"?
Go HERE.
Another Month Shot To Hell
I forgot my cordless mouse and hate working on my laptop without it. Settling in to my country routine: Sleep late, medicine and breakfast, yard work, video store, lunch and then lazy afternoons. In the evening I watch a DVD and then read myself to sleep.
And it's quiet with just the birds and me and no cars, nor sirens outside my window. Some days I don't even listen to music.
But I do miss my girls.

As Predicted
Amtrak about an hour late and no trains going past Albany due to flooding. Two or three days of mowing to do, just to catch up. One willow by the pond seems to be thriving but the one in the back looks dead with two tiny shoots at the bottom. I'll prune it and leave it be for now. One of the Locusts (we call them thorn trees) by the pond fell over for some reason. No big loss; two new ones sprout every other day. Went to the cash machine and discovered I've lost my cash card. Screwed cuz the ATMs around here don't seem to want to give me cash advances on my credit card.
Koi are thriving. Hot and humid. Did I mention all the grass there is to mow?
Here's An Oddity
We have a bird feeder in the shape of a house. The roof flips up so you can fill it with seeds. I filled it last month before I left. In the meantime the feed ran out and when I lifted the roof to refill it, a bird had built a nest inside and left one tiny redish beige egg. I have no idea how it got in, much less in and out to bring in all the twigs and grasses to build the nest.
5 Girl Sandwich

Kate, Megan, John, Minnie, Talia and Ali. Lucky John!
Amtrak
Getting gone for the summer. Ann and Nana are driving Emma up to camp. And Kate is packing for Paree.

Go Andre
"I don't need this championship to give me any more than it's given me. It's already given me so much. I'm not out there trying to extract more from this tournament. I'm out there trying to give it all I've got."
-- Andre Agassi @ Wimbledon

MacDries says, "Guys like Agassi, who have already proven themselves before they are even middle age have a tough row to hoe. How do you create a 2nd life and disprove F. Scott Fitgerald who claimed there were no 2nd acts in America.?"
I'm Thinking
Why don't people like Warren Buffet run for President?
Is it because they have better things to do? Perhaps not. Perhaps it's (as Bucky Fuller says) because politics it rather irrelevant. Invention is what will save the day and thus humanity. If scientists stopped working for the war industry and worked for the betterment of humankind they might come up with something better than TiVo or cell-phones with photo capability.
On A Poetic Tear
Emma's spitting out poems these days. You might want to go HERE for her latest.
Dogs Can Read

Up Country
Tomorrow I'm heading up country for peace and quiet but no doubt little art will get done. I have a few things to plant and a couple items of furniture to refinish. Maybe finish some writing as well.
Y'all have a good summer. I'll check in from time to time.
Latest Painting3

Latest Painting2

Finished them after all.
Latest Painting1

There is no more room in my studio once again. Need another closet cuz we lost one to our landlord who is putting in an elevator this summer.
Geezer that I am, that is good and bad news. Good cuz I won't have to schlepp stuff up two flights anymore. Bad cuz I need the exercise from schlepping stuff up two flights. On the other hand I can take my bike down more easily and get some pleasant exercise.
But I probably won't.
Graduation Day
Kate (The Great) Derry Dries graduates from LaGuardia High School today. Kate won a bunch of awards and an English scholarship, the amount of which is yet to be determined by I don't know what. Anyway, she did good and did well, and we are all proud of her. Nana is here to celebrate as well and we will all go to a swell lunch at Landmarc in the trendy TriBeCa today.
Anyone else notice that the City Hall area has now claimed itself part of TriBeCa which used to be bounded at Chambers Street?

Great Grupp goose

©2006 Carl Grupp
I Repeat

Time to Go Joe. Join your Republicrat buddies. Go HERE.
Riddle Me This
What's the difference between Iraq and Vietnam?
George W. Bush had a plan to get out of the war in Vietnam.
Latest Painting

Blonde Joke (for Emma)
A blonde calls Delta Airlines and asks, "Can you tell me how long it'll take to fly from San Francisco to New York City?"
The agent replies, "Just a minute..."
"Thank you," the blonde says, and hangs up.
Busted! (again)
Rush Limbo caught with Viagra w/o a prescription. Dirty, dirty man.
Prom Shot

©2006 Kate Derry Dries

Why Am I Not Gay?
A new study claims that the more older brothers you have, the more likely it is that you will be gay.
I have 6 older brothers and 3 younger ones. I guess I'm the exception to prove the rule since I'm not gay and neither is Dennis, nor was David. Donald died before he was 2 so maybe he was the one destined. "Not that there is anything wrong with being gay".
Are "studies" really necessary? Some one should do a study on that.
Elvis & Diana
Hey Kate, heads up! Baby due in December. New album by Krall in September.
Big Brother
The Shrub cries foul for newpapers disclosing his foul and unconstitutional misdeeds. He ignores the Constitution in a vain attempt to stop terrorists from destroying the U.S. of A. In fact, by doing so, the terreorists have already won.
Father's Day Poem
Try to Walk Away

She lays her heart on the table
Broken in two
and tries to ask you a simple question
without stumbling over the words

you hadn't exactly expected
that
something so blunt
from her
who wasn't usually sharp
but was known to be soft around the edges

and you can't bear
to look in her eyes
her blue eyes
her soft blue eyes
that bore too far in to you

so you simply turn around
ignore the inevitable
and try to walk away

you try to walk away
try to walk away
try to walk away
and you can't

and that's why I do
that's why I walk away
because even though you try to deny it
it's obvious
I'm stuck in the middle

you try to walk away
you try to walk away
you try to walk away from her
and you can't
©2006 Emma Derry Dries
One Of Those Days...
when I'm sick of news and the internet and the usual. Trying to finish 2-3 paintings before I pack up for the country. Leaving on Thursday for July & August. The grass is gonna be knee high when I get there so I'll be mowing for at least a couple days.
More Doctors
Time fo my yearly Pacemaker check-up. But first I need to go buy a new fridge.

Warren Buffet
What a sweetheart! He's giving his 40 plus billion of wealth away, most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This is what the profit and the capitalist system should be. Use your ingenuity to amass huge wealth and then give it back to society in creative ways that do not involve the government. Hoo Ray Warren. We love you man!.
I'm thrilled by this in ways I can't remember.
Favorites
My Sparkler, Emma is always asking me questions, such as, "What's your favorite number or what's you favorite color?" Etc. Well I don't really have a such favorites, but... If you had to ask me who or what is my favorite music? I would have to pause and consider, Billie, Miles, Coltrane, Dylan, the list goes on. Then I have to settle and say, "Thelonious Monk. Anything, by any band he ever played with, if you put it on I would never take it off."
And if you had to ask me, "Who or what is your favorite artist, painting?" Etc. I would have to say, "Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'avignon. OK? Satisfied?
Vanilla is my favorite ice cream and also one of my favorite smells, along with lavender.
Favorite food would have to be fresh summer tomatoes and sweet corn, or potatoes.
Favorite movie, ever? Treasure Of The Sierra Madre or The Man Who Would Be King or The Maltese Falcon or Night Of The Iguana. But definitely something by John Huston. He didn't make too many bad movies. Then there is Preston Sturges... and Sullivan's Travels or The Lady Eve or The Great McGinty or ...
You see why favorites is not a great game to play? You can always think of something else.
What Remains
Two alligators were sitting at the side of the swamp near Washington, DC. The smaller one turned to the bigger one and said, "I can't understand how you kin be so much bigger 'n me. We're the same  age, we was the same size as kids. I just don't get it."
"Well," said the big 'gator, What you been eatin' boy?"
"Politicians, same as you," replied the small 'gator.
"Hmm. Well, where do y'all catch 'em?"
"Down 'tother side of the swamp near the parkin' lot by the capitol."
"Same here. Hmm. How do you catch 'em?"
"Well, I crawls up under one of them Lexus and wait fer one to unlock the car door. Then I jump out, grab 'em on the leg, shake the shit out of 'em, and eat 'em!."
"Ah!" says the big alligator, "I think I see your problem. You ain't gettin' any real nourishment. See, by the time you get done shakin' the shit out of a politician, there ain't nothin' left but an asshole and a briefcase."
Artist Of The Day

© 1965 Linda Dauw -
Linda Dauw Hatz, the mother of my twins, Aaron & Gretchen, was a very talented sculptor, Fellow at The American Academy In Rome 1967-69. Linda now lives in Minnetonka, Minnesota with her husband Dave Hatz. Nice folks.

3 Of 4 Remaining Brothers

Dennis (Skinner)- 60, Daryl (Derb)- 73, Danny (MacDries)- 64 @ Honorary Brother Carl's home and media center. We were 10 brothers and 5 sisters originally. 3 sisters also remain
Summer Job

I am going away on vacation and I need someone to water my plants while I am gone. In the hot weather they'll probably need water twice a day. Minimum wage OK.
Numbers To Ponder
2735 total allies dead, 91 journalists dead; 42,889 Iraqi citizens confirmed dead, $320 billion spent so far.
Andre's On His Way

One of my fave athletes, Andre Agassi is gonna retire after the U.S. Open. Sure would be kewl, but not likely, to see him win another slam before he goes home to Steffi Graf and kinder.
Graduation Poem
Torn

It had been spoken about
For weeks
Anticipation
Of the day they might be let go

And then it crept up
Stealthily, overnight
And they couldn't be less prepared
For how they would feel

They stand in line
Clustered together
Afraid to break apart
Whispering
In what voices were so familiar

They had only
One moment
One last moment
They could all be together

Laughter
Tears
Reminiscence
Of what used to be simple

The tension rose between them
All of them
They were confused
Lost between
thrill
And anxiety
Lost between nowhere

They were 6
Among 6 billion
Trying to remember
Trying to forget
Trying to dream
And trying to hold on

They try to remember
The times they smiled
The times they laughed
And try to forget
The day that was stuck too far in their minds

And they wonder
Under the faded lights
Of the background backstage
What happened?
Where did the time go?
They couldn't say they're ready for it
None of it

And all they could do
Was think about
How maybe if they held on
To that moment
That single frame of time
The troubles they were sure to meet
Would stop in their paths

Maybe if they held on
To their places in the line of the eager
Time and troubles
Would let them be

Maybe if they held on
To that one second
They could learn to wish and dream

Maybe if they held on
Just to each other
Everything would be all right
-- © 2006 Emma Derry Dries
The Boss Talks
Go HERE.
Jack Gilbert
Failing and Flying

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.

Prom
Kate's off to Prom and Emma's off to her end of year dance which does not have quite the same weight. Otherwise they both looked great.
Sioux Falls

So the city finally got around to creating a beautiful park to showcase a beautiful sioux quartzite falls. Unfortunately, the Sioux River is so polluted it creates iceberg like piles of foam as it spills down. Maybe enough visitors will get the clue and do something about it. But I'm not sure the farmers are going to go organic and cease using chemical fertilizers.
Hitler v. Coulter
Take the quotes quiz. Go HERE.
Summer Sucks
10 AM, I'm dripping sweat and landlord can't install the AC until next week. I'm done with summer already.

Totally Kewl

Our friends Paul and Phyliss Van Amburg's farm is featured in an Upstate NY Newspaper. Go HERE.
Last year we bought a 1/2 pig from these guys and I'm telling you the pork brought back tastes from my childhood. The chickens and the eggs are: Awesome. The yolks are cadmium-yellow.
This year we are splitting a half of beef with some friends.
Charlie Parker With Strings
Brother Mike left behind a pretty good collection of music. Jazz and Cole Porter were his mainstays. In later days he developed a love for Bobby Darin and found it difficult to stop talking about him even after I told him I was not a fan. I feel Darin was just one more Sinatra clone. And not a very good one at that. Mike even liked the Kevin Spacey Darin film which I haven't yet even tried to watch. Besides, Darin stole Sandra Dee from me and I'm still a little irritated.
Mike's children are not Jazz fans and brother Dennis is not either. (I tell him that I find that his only failing as a person.) So I salvaged dozens of CDs and schelepped them back to Bunker City for me and Kate. Dennis will try to sell off Mike's LPs to a store for collectors of such things. My personal LP collection is stashed up country for posterity or when they become really valuable. If ever.
Mike had one CD of Bird with strings. I've always had a rather love/hate relationship with that concept (Mitch Miller on Oboe?) but I'm trying it again and finding it listenable.
I came at Bird backwards, as most people do, meaning they first hear other musicians who were influenced by Bird and then check him out. Lennie Tristano famously said that, "If Charlie Parker wanted to invoke plagarism laws, he could sue almost everybody who has made a record in the past ten years."
So I'm listening to Mike's CDs of Bird and find them fresh and fun and lyrical and I don't even mind the strings someone put behind him. He's got Diz and Miles and Red Rodney on trumpet. He's got Al Haig, Monk on piano. Max Roach and others on drums. How can anyone quibble. Not me.
Artist Of The Day
Ed Rath is a painter I used to know. He lives in DUMBO. Go HERE.
Bush Defaces Flag
Go HERE.
Cancelling AOL
I had a brief "free" AOL account while waiting for my DSL up-country. Then I cancelled it and went through voice-jail and hell before they would cancel. For a similar experience: Go HERE.
Who's Vulnerable
50 state Senatorial approval rates. Go HERE.
Or: Go HERE.
New In The Neighborhood

Time To Go, Joe

Join the Republicrats like Koch and Bloomberg.
Sounds About Right
The Shrub's Senate killed the minimun wage increase (@ $5.15 since 1997). These are the same guys & gals who want to kill the estate tax on millionaires. The same guys who can be counted on to raise their own salary yearly.
Busy Week Ahead
My Sparkler is graduating tonight, then dinner with her posse and parents. Friday I go for a sonogram and Kate's prom is that night. Saturday there are 2 parties, one in Connecticut and one in New Jersey. Sunday Nana comes to town. Monday I get my annual Pacemaker check-up and get a date for a new battery. Wednesday Kate graduates and Thursday Emma goes to camp and I head up to the country for the summer. Friday Nana leaves. July 1st is CodeFred's B-day. Kate goes to Paris on July 4th (Ann's B-day).
Then we get to breathe for a couple weeks.
Bush Does It Daily
Today is pee on Earth Day. Go HERE.
The 3 Graces

Left to right, Lucia, Schon & Terry, 3 old friends of mine, artists all from St. Louis who didn't know each other back in the day, all wound up in the Napa/Sonoma area 30 years later and became friends. They gathered for Lucia's 60th birthday.
Nothing wrong with 50 plus as far as I can see.
The 23rd Qualm
Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want.
He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.
He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness.
He restoreth my fears.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war,
I will find no exit, for thou art in office.
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.
Thou anointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out.
Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me
all the days of thy term,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever
One Upping
George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are flying on Air Force One. The President looks at the Vice President, chuckles, and says, "You know, I could throw a $1,000 bill out the window right now and make somebody very happy."
The Vice President shrugs and says, "Well, I could throw 10 $100 bills out the window and make 10 people very happy."
Not to be outdone, the Secretary of Defense says, "Of course, then, I could throw 100 $10 bills out the window and make a hundred people very happy."
The pilot rolls his eyes and says to his co-pilot, "Such arrogant asses back there. Hell, I could throw the three of them out the window and make 56 million people unbelievably happy!
Well, I'm Back
I'll try to catch up a bit this morning. Let me just say, there is nothing dignified about death by cancer.
And thanks Carl, for your great and entertaining hospitality, as always. Hope it wasn't too boring listening to the 3 brothers telling lies all that time.

Brother Mike

A life slips away into mere days, maybe only hours. Thus I'm off to try to see him one last time before he goes. The blog is on hiatus until next week.
Affirmation

To grow old is to lose everything.
Aging, everybody knows it.
Even when we are young,
we glimpse it sometimes, and nod our heads
when a grandfather dies.
Then we row for years on the midsummer
pond, ignorant and content. But a marriage,
that began without harm, scatters
into debris on the shore,
and a friend from school drops
cold on a rocky strand.
If a new love carries us
past middle age, our wife will die
at her strongest and most beautiful.
New women come and go. All go.
The pretty lover who announces
that she is temporary
is temporary. The bold woman,
middle-aged against our old age,
sinks under an anxiety she cannot withstand.
Another friend of decades estranges himself
in words that pollute thirty years.
Let us stifle under mud at the pond's edge
and affirm that it is fitting
and delicious to lose everything.
-- Donald Hall - Poet Laureate U.S.A
Go HERE for more.
Lieberman Won't Support Lamont
Joe will run as an Independent in Connecticut, if Ned Lamont beats him in the primary. Go HERE.
When Cloning Goes Awry
These are some creatures we don't see much up in the country. Go HERE.
Doctors & More Doctors
Emma gets her braces removed today and I go to see my new Urologist. One case is delightful and the other odious. Some people are young and others are older. Have a good day.

McCain Insane

Johnny claims Social Security, not The Shrub's tax-cuts to blame for deficits. Go HERE.
Roving

Rove's lawyer claims he will not be charged. Here's a different slant on the emerging news. Go HERE.
On The Road Again
And Tipper (sort of) throws Al's hat into the ring.
On The Road Again

Going to Sioux Falls on Thursday to see brother Mike who is slipping away too fast. Back on Wednesday, next.

Pogo Sez:
Friday the 13th comes on a Tuesday this month.

The Senator From West Virginia
"History will prove it was wrong to invade another country without provocation. That is wrong. That was wrong then, and it would be wrong 50 years from today, to attack a country without provocation. Pre-emptive strikes -- that doctrine is unconstitutional."

"What a woman of grace; she (Erma, his wife of 68 years) was the greatest woman I have ever met. I have met queens and the wives of shahs and great women from all over the world. ... To me, to me now, this was the greatest woman I ever met in this world. Yes, she was great because she was good.
-- Robert Byrd (D-WV)

MacDries says, "Senator Byrd just replaced another old KKK collegue as the longest serving Senator. Republican turncoat Strom Thurmond never really changed his ways. Byrd did and has apologized on many occasions for youthful stupidity. All of which proves that age does and does not produce wisdom. And sentiment does not equate with senility."
The Rude Pundit
This time Rude discovers a bit of plagarism via Ms. Coulter. Go HERE.
Spring Sprung

©2006 Danny Dries
Now There's A Follow-Up
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi lived for 52 minutes after a U.S. warplane bombed his hideout northeast of Baghdad, and he died of extensive internal injuries consistent with those caused by a bomb blast, the U.S. military said Monday.

MacDries says, "52, not 61. Give that reporter a Pulitzer."
Crud
By now the crud has proceeded on it's nasty journey. There is a point when you realize you are getting sick. Then a period when you are in the midst of it. But one seldom notices the point when the evil germ has finally been vanqished. Only later do you discover it is gone and it is such a relief.

Cars, Of Course
We all loved it. I especially loved the Tow Mater character. Doc (Paul Newman) was kewl too. I am, however getting a bit sick of Owen Wilson (Lightning). George Carlin was the typecast hippie pothead.
Winners & Losers
CodeFred says: "According to Kerry he did not win. In order to win you must not concede to your opponent. Kerry said: "I spoke to President Bush, and I offered him and Laura our congratulations on their victory."
No matter what the votes are, the winner must claim victory, Kerry instead claimed defeat. Never has any Democratic candidate been so anxious to lose. Kerry seems to even believe that Laura was running, which may explain a lot about Kerry's marital relationship.
Even if Kerry had gotten the votes, he would have found some way to lose."

MacDries replied: "I suppose. Except he was no more clueless than the rest of us. Most of the media did not even want to consider that there might be a second contested election. Me? I just assumed the Democrats had blown it again. As they will when they fail to take the House in 2006."
"We all "know" JFK stole Illinois and Nixon was savvy enough to not contest it. Then there was "Landslide Lyndon". Perhaps it is time to have a cheat-proof system of tabulation."
Our Birds
These are our country birds thus far; plus a Pileated Woodpecker which I've only heard and seen his destruction. Go HERE.
What Passes For Punditry
"It is going to be a gang rape. There is going to be a gang rape by the Democratic Party, the American left and the Drive-By Media, to finally take us out in the war against Iraq."
-- Rush Limbaugh, on Haditha
Cars
Family date to go see Cars. Pixar makes about the only movies that we all want to see.

The Buck Stops Over There
'I'd rather they beat up on him (Brown- FEMA) than me or Chertoff.' "
-- George W. Bush
Yes, Kerry Won In 2004 - But Who's Counting?*
"It's not the people who vote that count; it's the people who count the votes."
-- Joseph Stalin
*repeat
Don't Get Me Started
In case you don't live in NYC, you should know that the subway system on weekends is totally random. The A, C, 1 & 2 lines are a crap shoot. You get on one and you never know where you might wind up. Uptown trains run on downtown Tracks, A trains mysteriously turn into Fs and spit you across the Manhattan bridge into the bowels of Brooklyn.
So, it took me an hour to get from Penn Station, a normal 10 minute ride.
Do yourself a favor and take a cab.
Back To Bunker City
Emma is in a play today, last performance of The Odyssey.
It's cold and cloudy up here anyway. See ya later.

Not Exactly ART
But it is art. Sand Art. Go HERE.
The Unitary Executive
Ever wonder why The Shrub has never vetoed a bill? He doesn't need to; he's found a better way. Just ignore them and proclaim The Unitary Executive Power. And his Republican congress will not call him on it because they are too f***ing stupid and love playing pretend power.
This is probably the most important and despicable Presidential grab for power ever. Or at least since James Madison wrote the Federalist Papers. I say Cheney/Rove have genius. Check it out. Elizabeth Drew explains: Go HERE.
Lula Mae Hardaway-76, R.I.P.
Mother of "Little" Stevie Wonder (Steveland Morris), co-writer on several songs, including the hits I Was Made to Love Her and Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours. Not a bad resume.
Let's all put on Talking Book for Lula Mae and her baby.
Bye Bye Tom

No more DeLay. He' not in jail yet, but he's gone from congress at least. Still he does get a nice pension and he'll be lobbying till he drops.
It's A Slow Day
In case you haven't noticed. And I'm not at all interested in looking at Al Zarqawi's bloody face. Going for a walk.
Not Often
Seldom are there so many new movies I want to see at once. But today I found three: Cars opens today as does Prarie Home Companion and then there is An Inconvenient Truth. I'll see them in that order and maybe wait for the DVD on the latter. Preaching to the converted, y'know.
Cloudy/Cool
Just like a farmer, always talking about the weather.

FireWater / BoiToi

I know, you're getting tired of my obsesssion with my Koi.
Read This Slowly
"I was not pleased that Hamas has refused to announce its desire to destroy Israel."
-- George W. Bush

MacDries says, "I think I got that. But I'm not sure."
Spielberg Redux
Thought maybe I was being unfair so I tried Munich again this morning. I made it 25 minutes this time. Don'tcha just hate it when someone is trying to diddle you and they are so sincere?
Gave up and worked in the garden instead. I transplanted a half dozen ferns from down the road up into the rock garden, plus a few other nice looking wild plants. Don't know their names.
Not A Fan Of Spielberg
But Kate recommended Munich so I rented it. Watched about 20 minutes and bailed. If you want to see the difference between a movie and propaganda, rent Paradise Now and compare it to Munich
Also watched Shopgirl which was sort of harmless. Steve Martin was rather dull. Probably autobiographical, takes place in his rich LA art gallery milieu.
Poppy

Shrooms

Found this sucker in the ravine, just under the bridge. Haven't identified it yet but it's pretty thrilling. Shrooms everywhere after all this rain.
Only In India

*via Midnight Mango

So Much For Weather Forecasts
I came up here yesterday cuz the reports said 5 days straight of sun and 70. Rain today, rain tomorrow and rain on Friday. When I go back on Saturday, the sun is supposed to come out.
Re: 666
The five pointed star found on the U.S. flag is known as the Pentacle and has traditionally been known to symbolize the earth, truth etc. When you turn the same star upside down it becomes the Pentagram and symbolizes the devil, etc. It also has been known to refer to the number 6. So when you look at the GOP logo you see a stylized elephant with three stars on its back. The stars are pentagrams. Three pentagrams = 666. Could it be the republicans are Satan worshipers?
*via Mike Derry
Go HERE.
Only In Mexico

*via Midnight Mango
All Things We Suspect...
and then plenty more. Watched The Corporation last night. If this is not the greatest documentary ever, I don't know what is. And long as well. The guy named Ray Peterson steals the movie and ought to be President. You can also actually understand what Noam Chomsky is saying and Michael Moore really ought to shave regularly. Ugliest whiskers in the whole darn world.
Rent it!!! It will confirm much and p*** you off more.
Chip & Dale
Those damn chipmunks got my sunflower seeds for a third time and this time I buried them deep and tamped them down and put wood chips over them. How do those little buggers know where they are?
Raining lightly so no mowing today. Gonna go snatch a willow seedling from Nina BS.
Antidisestablishmentarianism
Opposition to separation of the church and state.
As a child we were told this was the longest word in the dictionary. Don't know if that's still true, or ever was but do know it's still a stupid idea.

Even If Ya'don't...
love Jackson Pollock, you'll love this site. Go HERE. *via NinaBS
Read Between the Lines
"Perhaps in some elite circles, the reason I have not gotten more support... is because they don't believe I can be controlled."
-- Elizabeth Harris (R-FL)

MacDries says, "So, what you're saying is... you can be controlled and might even like to be controlled, eh Liz?"
Define Cliche
Rufus, the least talented of the Wainwright/McGarrigle dynasty is going to recreate Judy Garland's legendary 1961 Carnegie Hall Concert.
In her 47 years on earth Judy Garland acted in 32 feature films; starred in 30 of her own television programs; appeared in 1,100 nightclubs, theater or concert performances; won a Tony for a record-breaking engagement at the Palace Theater; married five times; produced three children; earned and spent millions of dollars; conquered and succumbed to a variety of addictions, including Benzedrine and alcohol; and recorded 100 singles and a dozen albums, among them "Judy at Carnegie Hall," which won five Grammy awards and has never been out of print.

MacDries says, "What a concept. Not to mention chutzpa. I'll wait for the DVD."
The Burning Bush

*via WlfSng
New Blooms

Irises, Lilies, Poppies, Peonies and others the names of which I don't know.
Ann Coulter Slashes Out @ 9-11 Widows
If there is a bigger politcal slut in America, I've never run across her. Go HERE.
Kathiie Griffin says, "Who wears a cocktail dress at 7 in the morning?"

MacDries says, "If you've got legs show them. She clearly hasn't got a brain. Warren Beatty must have blown her off one time; it would explain her incoherent hatred of liberals or even moderates.
Billy Preston, 59 R.I.P.
Billy "5th and Best Of The Beatles" Preston died of kidney failure.
Go HERE.
Only In America

*via Midnight Mango
DNDC
Don't know and Don't care about this 6-6-6 thing.
Newer saw Omen but it's a great Japanese restaurant on Thomson Street. Once sat next to John Cage, Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham having dinner. None of them knew who I was nor did they seem to care.
Gettin' Out Of Here
Going up country until Saturday. Now that the windows are open and the construction continues daily in the building, the quiet will be lovely. Plus the lawn needs mowing and the sun's out again.
Crud Update
UTI it's called and Doc gave me a different antibiotic. I didn't tell him I'd already started some on my own. Doctors don't like it when you self-medicate, even with prescription drugs. So the syndrome eased up a bit in the night but hasn't totally gone away.

Jesus Said
I saw a photo today of a protest in favor of Bush's gay bashing marriage amendment proposal. A sign proclaimed: "Jesus said 1 man + 1 woman = marraige. Matt, chapter 19.
So, long as it has been since I popped out one of my New Testaments, I re-read Matthew Chapter 19. It's only a few paragraphs. Not like reading a chapter of Faulkner.
Not much of a mention of marriage except for divorce. What is the justification for divorce? Adultery. That's pretty much it. Not a word about buggery, homosexuality, lesbianism. Not a word. As Casey Stengle used to say, "You can look it up."
The Other Draft
The one where political parties clamor for a particular candidate to toss the old hat into the ring, so to speak. Or the one where the party at convention is deadlocked and the boys smoking cigars in the backroom persuade the noble reluctant candidate to accept the nomination to save the party and thus the country.
Has this ever actually happened? I don't know. I don't think so. It sounds like a Hollywood movie.
Well, this year it looks like Al Gore might be "drafted" to stop a Billary Rodman disaster flik in Y2K8. He sounds sincere when he says he has no plans. Yet, it is a convenient time for his disaster flik An Inconvenient Truth to premiere. And he is certainly the story of the month. He must be toying with the idea.
Speak of tickets, try these: Gore/Clinton? Gore/Kerry. Gore/Edwards. Gore/Warner.
The Campaign slogan: He Won Once - Re-Elect Al Gore.
The oppostion: McCain/Guiliani. McCain/Allen? (who is he?) McCain/?????

MacDries says, "What I want is another government to trust so I can forget about politics, and news, day to day. I'm too old for this s***. And my younger girls are too young to run for President. Even though both have actually expressed the possibility that they may one day give it a shot."
What Next Rummie?
This is next: DoD to remove Geneva Conventions info from the Army Manual. Go HERE.
The Sweetest Seduction
The schizophrenic NYTimes gets spun and spins for the Bush Administration analyzed by BuzzFlash.
"You don't just need to resurrect the debacle of Judith Miller's pre-Iraq war farcically badly-sourced reporting or the puff pieces that New York Times White House reporter Elisabeth Bumiller writes about Bush and his staff. You can look at almost any daily "background" piece on the White House and see just how much the New York Times political reporters are an extension of the Bush "spin machine." Go HERE.
Go HERE to get Bumiller's basic confirmation of the same stuff.

MacDries says, "Everyone says what an evil political genius Rove is and this pretty much shows why."
Cars
Coming June 9th. Go HERE to view the trailer.
Show Your Work
Charles Saatchi Gallery in London has a site where you can upload your work and have a free site. Can't hurt. Even David Salle has a page and he's a famous art star (to some people). Go HERE.
My page: Go HERE.
The Crud Hangs On
Been popping antibiotics but still...
Call my endocrinologist today.

Where I Come From
©1990, enamel, collage on wood , irregular 72"x 48"
My baby Kate The Great is off to college soon. How soon they fly.
Ram Rahman

If you're in the vicinity of Madras, stop by and say Hi to our old friend and neighbor.
An Inconvenient Truth
The trailer. Go HERE.
Again, The Crud
It gets worse at night when I'm horizontal. Was going to hop a train up country but now I think I'll see a Doc instead. All I need is another doctor.

Face It!
We live in a beautiful Land of Idiots. The idiots we elected. The idiots who elected or didn't elect them. And the idiots who refuse or don't know how or lack the will to get rid of them.
And We the People of these Un-United States Of America, among the best educated, the most fortunate, have become the most terrorist nation on Earth.
Do what we say or we will bomb you and you know we have the bombs. Don't doubt it.
John Hodgman
My FAVE on The Daily Show is John Hodgman. Go HERE for his stuff.
Today's Engrish

Now That's Foreign Policy, Patriarchal Style
"One of the things I would do if I were president would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, 'Stop the bullshit.'"
-- Senator John McCain

MacDries says, "Maybe have to substitute camel for bull for it to get across. I'm just guessing. And how about the Kurds, John? And the new-born Christians?"
Scooter Defense Slows To A STOP
"...the only question the jury will be asked to resolve in this matter will be whether the defendant intentionally lied when he testified before the grand jury and spoke with FBI agents about statements he purportedly made to the three news reporters concerning Ms. Wilson's employment. The prosecution of this action, therefore, involves a discrete cast of characters and events, and this Court will not permit it to become a forum for debating the accuracy of Ambassador Wilson's statements, the propriety of the Iraq war or related matters leading up to the war, as those events are not the basis for the charged offenses. At best, these events have merely an abstract relationship to the charged offenses."
-- District Judge Reggie B. Walton
The Shrub
He must actually be President since he will kick dirt on gays tommorrow. And as we all know by now, Cheney has one of those L girls for a daughter and she's been living in sin for a while now.
Definition
Activist Judge: A judge who rules opposite to the way you would like.
The Crud Continues
Ann went up country, says, the grass is long but too wet to mow. Typical. Emma is up in Lake George with her small posse and Kate is still sleeping. Another bad night with countless trips to the BR.
All very interesting.

The Shrub Pushes For A Gay Marriage Ban
Who gives a f*** who wants to get married. To parphrase what Kinky Friedman has said, "Let them get married and be as miserable as the rest of us."

MacDries says, "That's a really good use of time, Shrub."
Here's What I'm Thinking
Even if the liberal tax & spend Democrats were twice as bad as the Republicans say they are, they would still be a humongous improvement over what's been going on since The Shrub was annointed in Y2K, and then spuriously "re-elected" in Y2K4.
There is no loyal or dis-loyal opposition. America has a Dictatorship. And not a benevolent one; an evil, devious, god-spouting idiot. Who woulda thought America, land of the free, home of the brave would allow this?
And some people are already positing a 3rd Shrub administration.
Makes ya shudder, duddn'it"?

MacDries says, "Just because the NSA hasn't got anything on me, or you, they now have the power to intimidate the free flow of thinking and discourse. And that's enough."
Then There Is The Boss
Glory Days. Go HERE.
The Genius Who Used To Be Called Artist
Go HERE.
Pave Paradise, Put Up A Warehouse
Help Darryl Hannah and others save a Community Farmer's Market in South Central LA. Go HERE.
To Save The Farm Go HERE.
2004 Election Stolen
Robert Kennedy Jr. says so and it seems plausible. Go HERE.
Achtung!!!!
Freddo over at the Justice Department now wants your internet provider to keep all records of your browsing habits indefinitely. If the ISPs don't do it voluntarily, the JD will seek legislation to force them. And they are not just looking for child porno freaks and terrorists.

MacDries says, "The end is not in sight. I'm back to bed for my first nap of the day."
Keeping Up With The Crud
This thing is hanging on.

Connecticut Voters
You might want to read this interview with Ned Lamont who will be challenging Bush's favorite Democrat, RepublicRat Joe Lieberman in the primary. Joe should go. Go HERE.
The Posse

These girls have been hanging out together since K1 and now they are all off to different colleges. (L-R) Carla, Mia, Megan, Kate, Hannah, & Donata. Great bunch of girls. Picnic tonight for all the familys but I'm feeling too punk to go. Sorry girls.
It Ain't News
It's PR and I don't wanna hear any more about: The DaVici Code, Tom Cruise or Katie, Paris Hilton or Nicole Ritchie, Brangelina, Jolie-Pitt, Katy Couric, Jennifer & Whomever, Jessica Simpson, Hillary Clinton, American Idol, Barry Bonds, Martha Stewart, JLo, Puff P Diddy or Diddy... the list continues as I think of them. Chuck Close.
Congressional Sale-A-Bration
Get yours now. Go HERE.
Global Warming
Laurie David, the producer of An Inconvenient Truth has a site with other good links. Go HERE.
Willie Nelson On The Daily Show
And other celebrities like Billy Connolly who is a hoot. Go HERE.
The Crud Slowly Creeping Away
Another month shot to hell. Graduation picnic tonight for Kate and posse. And I'm going to hit the couch.

Back at'cha Shrub. You little twerp!
Go HERE to see the whole tape.

For The Latest Dries Art GO HERE
For The Latest CyberToonz GO HERE
I've never actually watched an episode of The Simpsons (I'm more of a Pixar kind of guy) butt...
*Dislaimer

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