BLATANT SELF PROMOTION

I have a new non-fiction book out called
WHO’S WATCHING YOU?
Published by Disinformation, and currently at fine stores and Amazon.com -- but you need the US edition. There is a Brit version by John Gibb in which I had no hand.
The blurb reads…
“The threat of terrorism and the corresponding climate of fear encouraged by the government have together eroded our freedom to live our lives in peace and quiet away from the prying eyes of hidden cameras. The government is tightening its grip on us by watching and recording what we do. They are doing this because they know they can and because knowledge is power. But exactly who are "they" and why do they want to know so much about us? This book includes chilling, accurate, and up-to-date descriptions of the methods the government (and private company proxies) use to watch us.”

Buy one. Buy two. Scare yourself shitless at all the creepy stuff they're doing to you.

MAYBE NOT ELVIS AND TENNESSEE, BUT...

A rare and very blurry picture of poet Michael McLure, giving the finger, followed by Jim Morrison with a beard and six pack of Bud, and maybe or maybe not Pamela Morrison with her head down. (Sent by fidicen)

A MORAL QUESTION MARK

Should with I have laughed with quite such unrestrained glee when I heard that Paris Hilton got 45 days in Sybil Brandt or some similar slam or correctional institution for violating her DWI parole? What was that Dylan couplet – “And that even the nobles get properly handled/Once that cops have chased after and caught them/And that the ladder of law has no top or no bottom”? Seemingly, though, Hilton will be in some kind of isolation for her own protection which I guess means a lot of disappointed diesels.

The secret word is Time

CRYPTIQUE – But it doesn’t apply to me, does it?

ODD, ANYWAY YOU LOOK AT IT

ALSO I have a reflection on guns and death in this week's LA CityBeat. Seems to go well with the the pic of Elvis and Tennessee. (Although a pic of Tennessee and Hank Williams, now that would be something. Right?)

WALLOW WITH EAGLES

I am in that unhappy state of being damned busy and fucking tired. No time or energy to be original, but here, to preserve continuity, is a very important philosopical statement from the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, contributed by the very excellent fidicen.

‘From somewhere deep in my memory, I heard a snatch of some half-remembered conversation between a construction worker and a bartender at a bar in Colorado. The construction man was explaining why he shouldn’t have another drink: “You can’t wallow with the pigs at night and then soar with the eagles in the morning,” he said. I thought briefly on this, then shrugged it off. My own situation was totally different, I felt. In about three hours, I was supposed to be down on the docks with my camera and tape recorder to spend another day on one of those goddamn boats. No, I thought, that geek in Colorado had it all wrong. The real problem is how to wallow with the eagles at night and then soar with the pigs in the morning.’ –Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt

I am a baby rhinoceros called Zuri, and I am still learning to wallow. Baby pandas may be more cute, but Eugène Ionesco never wrote a play about them. (Pic from Valerie)

The secret word is Absurdity

MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

“Perhaps it’s just as well that you won’t be here to be offended by the sight of our May Day celebrations.” —Lord Summerisle to Sgt. Howie from The Wicker Man

It’s the festival of Beltane. But where are the fires on the hillside, the banners of Pendragon, and the masked, anonymous, antlered copulation, goddamn it? This is all very disappointing. (But I’m probably too old anyway.) Almost as disappointing as…

...it is also May 1st and another year has passed in which we have failed to overthrow capitalism. Indeed the forces of repression seem to be having it all their way as Steve M. notes in this report from the old country…

“There are now 266 powers under which UK state officials can raid an individual’s home. These include “checking for foreign bees”, “inspection of high hedges”, “surveying seal population” and “checking for offences related to stage hypnotism”. Info comes from the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank (via The Week). The Centre’s research show that most of these powers have been created by Parliament in the last two decades...”

The secret word is Maypole,

But I don’t think this one going to fly, and these poor girls do look as though they’d definitely benefit from some pagan flaming. (pic from Valerie)

DOC'S PAPERBACK CLASSIC'S #8

For Peromyscus, see yesterday’s comments.

KENT DOESN'T HAVE EARTHQUAKES

I’m sorry. I find myself wholly disturbed. It’s just not supposed to happen. An earthquake in Kent is akin to finding a live plesiosaur in Central Park Lake. I’ve never heard of anything so outrageous. Earthquakes happen here in California, not the South of England. My mind boggled when Valerie sent me this BBC report that “homes in five streets in Folkestone had to be evacuated because of structural damage including cracked walls and fallen chimneys. The magnitude 4.3 tremor struck at 0819 BST and experts said its epicentre was a few miles off the coast in the English Channel. One woman was taken to hospital with a neck injury.” Do we now have to contend with the Maidstone fault line or something? In this instance I am not attaching any kind of apocalyptic significant to this ridiculous seismic event. I am simply appalled.

The secret word is Trembler

Mstislav Rostropovich -- RIP

Bobby 'Boris' Pickett -- RIP

GENDER REDRESS

Some of the women who regularly read Doc40 have expressed a certain disapproval with recurrent posts that feature scantily clad, or even, at times, naked young women. One very good friend of the blog even went to so far as to call these posts “pornography”, although after some debate, during which I became a tad indignant, we compromised on the term “cheesecake” but she still wasn’t happy. Unfortunately as Dark Prince of this domain, although not wishing to offend feminine sensibilities, I really don’t intend to cease publishing classic pinups, retro-bikini girls, sex kittens (with or without whips), and pulp fiction lesbians, but, when this still of Marlon Brando with his shirt off arrived synchronously from HCB – a reference to my Brando essay (see last Thursday) – I hoped its posting might do something to redress the balance.

MORE BAD BUZZ

This rather strange picture is of a bee fully loaded with pollen, and it appears because Mike has sent us a link to a very interesting new theory on bee disappearance.

DENIAL IS A MANY SPENDORED THING

The secret word is Emphysema

And no, I haven’t resumed smoking.

Doc40 is an affiliate of the White Panther Party.