ABOUT FUCKING TIME
After only a sixteen month wait, someone has finally posted something new on the Supermodels Personals site. Whoever writes it, the shit is funny, and as irascible Uncle Lou long ago instructed us – "first thing you learn is that you’ve always got to wait."
http://supermodelpersonals.blogspot.com/

AND ON OTHER LINKS
Shane has sent this link to a fascinating but alarmingly dense treatise on paradox...
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n17/jame02_.html

Gawker tells how, on the Animal Farm that is now the alt press, Mike Lacey’s new Village Voice has just dispatched Bob Christgau to the glue factory.
http://www.gawker.com/news/village-voice/the-dean-is-dead-198022.php

Hipspinster is blogging up a storm.
http://hipspinster.blogspot.com/

I would also have a rant for you to read on the Katrina and 9/11 "anniversaries", except the fucking LA CityBeat website (which I innocently hoped would one day join the 21st century, but...) is currently down. (Repeat Lou Reed quote. Fade to black.)

The secret word is Up

FLICKER-FLASH-POW: LATER EDIT
The LACB site is up again so here's the column...
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=4303&IssueNum=170

(The photo is from Jon and we figure it's an industrial action by Brazilian miners)

HAPPY LABOR DAY, BROTHER AND SISTERS!

Graphic transmitted by Munz

Picture by mickryan
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/38444732/

AFGHAN OPIUM CROP BREAKS ALL RECORDS
I was happy to read the following in today’s New York Times since it pretty much confirms everything I was ranting on about in LA CityBeat back in July... http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3994&IssueNum=161 )
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 2 — Afghanistan’s opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year, the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said Saturday in Kabul. He described the figures as "alarming" and "very bad news" for the Afghan government and international donors who have poured millions of dollars into programs to reduce the poppy crop since 2001.
He said the increase in cultivation was significantly fueled by the resurgence of Taliban rebels in the south, the country’s prime opium growing region. As the insurgents have stepped up attacks, they have also encouraged and profited from the drug trade, promising protection to growers if they expanded their opium operations.
"This year’s harvest will be around 6,100 metric tons of opium — a staggering 92 percent of total world supply. It exceeds global consumption by 30 percent," Mr. Costa said at a news briefing."
I would, however, advise Mr Costa not to worry about under-consumption. Mood I’m in, I could make up the difference on my own. And wouldn’t the world be mightily improved by a whole lotta old fashioned opium dens with cushions, fans and beautiful – should we call them flight attendants? – to keep the pipes filled and lit?

The secret word is Dream

In Europe they would seem to have fewer illusions. But meanwhile, back in the USA...

THIS REALLY DESERVES TO BE READ BY EVERYONE
In an uncharacteristic solo wrap to his MSNBC show Countdown, Keith Olbermann delivered the following and gravely angry editorial after Donald Rumsfeld’s extraordinary speech to the American Legion in which he brought the oozy art of rabid innuendo to a previously unrivaled level.

"Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis—and the sober contemplation—of every American. For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve." For the full text...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12131617/#060830b

The secret word is Algae (which I believe is the name for the green stuff that floats on stagnant ponds.)

THEY DON’T MAKE IT EASY
The following story comes from some girl who also supplied the Bush/Hitler graphic above...
"The level of nicotine that smokers typically consume per cigarette has risen about 10 percent in the past six years, making it harder to quit and easier to get hooked, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Department of Health. "

For the whole foul story...

THIS CULTURE IS TAKING LEAVE OF ITS SENSES SO RAPIDLY, IT CAN MAKE A POOR BOY’S HEAD SPIN
Did you hear about what’s going on in Maine? I got this from MSNBC. Seems that up there in Maine – which is, after all, deep Stephen King country – the National Guard has come up with what’s being called the ``Flat Daddy" and ``Flat Mommy" phenomenon, in which life-size cutouts of deployed service members are given by the Maine National Guard to spouses, children, and relatives back home. The Flat Daddies ride in cars, sit at the dinner table, visit the dentist, and even are brought to confession, according to their significant others on the home front. ``I prop him up in a chair, or sometimes put him on the couch and cover him up with a blanket," said Kay Judkins of Caribou, whose husband, Jim, is a minesweeper mechanic in Afghanistan. ``The cat will curl up on the blanket, and it looks kind of weird. I've tricked several people by that. They think he's home again." Does the name Rupert Pupkin ring any bells?

GLENN FORD -- RIP

TOUCHED AND AMAZED
(But also aware that this will quickly get self-indulgent and boring, but this self revelation so prevents me from turning back.)
Well, the eradication of the demon nicotine continues. I permitting the jones three fags yesterday and that’s it. I hope, by the weekend, the gaspers will be history, excluding maybe the odd lapse while drinking. (Never strive for total perfection, it is an affront to the gods.) Meanwhile the encouragement continues. The most original (with illustration left) comes from Jon...
"How often have you paused to ask yourself, "How long could I hold my breath if I was called upon to rescue a babe from the clutches of a gigantic octopus?"
He also includes an entire webpage of octopus and babe related pulp and comic art. Which you gotta admit is weird.
http://www.cyrune.com/pulp.html

Alan proves a comrade in arms...
"Yes, good luck with quitting the ciggies, Mick. I had to, (after 39 years), as I have a dodgy heart valve they want to fix. Trouble is the valve is hereditry so I begrudge giving them up. Worst is finding something to do when you usually smoked, ie after a beer, a coffee, food, everything! They say it's more addictive than heroin, and they stick us in a padded cell to get over that. Nevertheless, good luck, and as an afterthought, I loved the parallel in 'Conflagration' of the Bowie to Jones knife - I noticed if no one else did! Stick with it, the world needs Mick Farren around!" – Alan. (Alan is at http://alanburridge.freeuk.com )

"Hang on in there over the nicotine withdrawal, if it's your programme plan then it should work for you so ignore all other advice/suggestions." – Miriam

But that enough self-pity. The normal attacks will resume after this.

The secret word is Craving

Have a Futurista Tuesday, boys and girls!







Is the secret word Distorted?

"Farren will never quit. These human-alien hybrids are pathetic suckers for nicotine."

BUT IN FACT I’M HANGING IN AND GETTING LOTS OF SUPPORT...

"You don't know me, and i only know you through yer blog and albums, but good luck with quiting the smoking. i'm trying to quit right now(first time at 30), and it's harder than i thought. the brain starts to go funny after prolonged abstinence.
it might just be me, but the ramsey case seems to be straight up exploitation of a sensational and disgusting crime, endlessly regurgitated by the media to feed the morbid fascination of the pixilated masses. i don't watch tv, but friends of mine who do say it's a non-stop media frenzy. sick. what did this guy eat on the plane? blah blah. as for tv itself, if i want to watch a bee with a french accent extoll to me the virtues of using the latest nasal spray, i'll do six hits of acid. haven't watched tv for 7 years now, and glad of it. advertizing resembles bad trips, and tv shows and news programs bring to mind 1984. it seems that for those that have disconnected from the boob tube, when going back it seems more than surreal, it truly resembles brainwashing. but of course, as the anarcho-punk band Crass put it, "big brother aint' watchin' you mate, you're fucking watching him." death to the cathode ray tube..ptoofffffff, – -sam

Wish i had some good advice about quitting smoke, but i'm a wretched tobacco sucker myself... may the Force be with you. – best, nuno

Hey, good luck, amigo. Horrible fucking drug. Horrible fucking companies, who profit from it too. – aeswiren

In fact, I’m sticking to self-devised program despite the fact that the jones really fucking sucks, but all this posting sets me up for so much public humiliation if I fail, I am compelled to succeed. Zen ego-logic, ese? (But where is the comfort of Kim Novak?)

LINKS
A Bob Dylan anecdote
http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/blowin.asp

A dry but handy site that monitors the evil moves of multinationals
http://www.oligopolywatch.com/

Blog of Jon who is one of the good guys
http://www.cheblogs.com/roller/page/njon/

(The email here is still byron4d@msn.com )

IF THE UTTERANCES GROW DISTORTED...
Once again – and I hope for the very last time – I am wrestling with the cutting down and ultimate elimination of cigarettes from my life, and the dismantling of all that early programming by Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, James Bond, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, FDR, and Oscar Wilde. I tried a while ago, but no-kidding fate violently intervened and pretty much whacked me back to square one. (Do not pass Go and pick up a carton of Merit on the way.) But here I am, trying it all over again, swearing to retire the black and silver Zippo, while admitting that the romance of the coughing-outlaw, lunger-poet is definitely not all it’s cracked up to be, and is seriously inhibiting other areas of potential adventure. So wish me luck and look kindly on any weirdness in my though processes because this shit ain’t easy.

The secret word is Wheeze

I seem to be on an ursine kick this weekend, but also need an excuse to post this great graphic from Valerie...

THE BEARS ARE PISSED!
They’ve been shot at in New Jersey, messed with in Montana, the polar bears in the arctic are seeing their environment melt to slush around them, and now fucking Bush wants to hand it all over to his oil baron masters. Also I understand that studies show male polar bears’ genitals are shrinking due to pollution. (I got this fact from Bill Maher, but I guess he’s as good a source as any.) And Butterstick the cam-panda (left?) is grown and wholly forgotten. Would you blame the bears if they came looking for payback? And wouldn’t it be nice if one of them ate Christopher Hitchens.

The secret word is Paddington

ROBERT REDFORD WANTS YOU TO WATCH THIS VIDEO, AND SO DO I AND SO DO THE BEARS

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/redfordarctic/action.asp?step=2&item=52387

DOGGONE BUMMER
Pluto is no longer a planet. After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, leading astronomers stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. And I’m bummed, or, as HCB puts it "Woke up this morning, dug around in my pants and found I was missing a planet. They can't take that away from me." The question of of the exact nature Goofy has not been resolved.

IN THE SAME EMAIL, HCB ALSO REMARKS
"Funny you'd bring up Lee Harvey in connection to Karr – I thought of Oswald as soon as I saw him. Same vacancy or whatever that quality is in his eyes. Someone who has really crossed that border. Meantime they're showing more footage of JB Ramsay on stage in her bathing suit.
(Spoiler warning)
"Don't know if I mentioned this, but the whole deal with Little Miss Sunshine is all about a kid who wants to go to one of these pageants, but who is completely unsuited for the thing. Meantime, unbeknowst to the audience and the girl's family, her porn crazy coke and dope snorting grandpappy Alan Arkin has tutored her to do a strip to Superfreak, which is the climax of the picture. I keep wishing they'd play that song when they show JBR on these segments."

"Don’t worry about the morning after, darling. The night before is going to be complicated enough."

FINALLY SOME REPRODUCTIVE GOOD NEWS
Adults may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription - but only with proof they're 18 or older, US federal health officials decided Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration ruling culminated a contentious three-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive.

The secret word is Finally

A COUPLE OF LINKS
The radical yippie archive of the late great Stew Albert
http://www.stewalbert.com/

And this – if nothing else – presents a weird cross section of humanity...
http://www.elvisinfonet.com/index.html

CRYPTIQUE – Why is there something instead of nothing?

THE ANNALS OF FLATULENCE
I cannot help but wonder who organized yesterday’s cable news inundation of items about how George Bush totally adores fart jokes and even "cuts a few for laughs." I figure the Democrats hardly have the wit to pull something so perfectly frat house, so it has to be the work of some faction of Republicans attempting to get out from under the escalating national dislike of their President. Unfortunately no one – not even the History Channel – had the audacity to work in a resume of previous world leaders famous for their farting. But here on Doc 40, audacity is our business. Heading the list, of course, would be Adolf Hitler (left), who broke wind continuously as a result of his bizarre, self-designed, vegetarian diet that seemed to consist of lentils and cabbage, followed by chocolate eclairs. Unlike Bush, however, Hitler did not find this in any way amusing, and was profoundly embarrassed by his odorous affliction. (It must be made clear that Doc40 is in no way likening – or even comparing – our President to Hitler. It’s just that a fart is a fart.)

The secret word is Poot!

FROM THE SUBMERGED TO THE RIDICULOUS
After being creeped out all day by the absurd news debate about whether John Mark Karr (already he has the killer’s three names – as in Lee Harvey Oswald) drank champagne on his business class flight from Bangkok, punctuated by the bloody President telling us that we’ll stay in Iraq for as long as he’s in office, I watched When The Levees Broke, Spike Lee’s superb documentary of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, and could hardly believe I was living in the same country. Lee’s unflinching and gorgeously edited four part piece (two more tomorrow on HBO) brought the suffering alive and reminded us that, while the barrage of Karr obsession sweeps cable news, New Orleans is still in ruins, and the bastards who did nothing, far from being impeached, fired, or taken out the back and shot, still wield their vacuous and vicious power. And more hurricanes are going to come.

The secret word is Swine

But isn’t the future itself by very definition a continuous and unstoppable revolution, and the only option it presents is to shape its temporal insurection from a position we must perceive as altruism? (Or maybe revenge?) Because, come what may, we will not escape it.

Who would have thought, even maybe a dozen years ago, that such communication as this would have been possible, and, on this ethereal net, I would be free to ponder – pointlessly or otherwise – sadness and madness, the inconsequential and the crucial, the literary and the perfunctory, the weight of deprivation, the absence of adoration, the lack of liason, and the lightness isolation, to balance mortality and triviality, the mundane and the feline (who, right now, loudly requires me to go with him on a midnight adventure.)

La Rivoluzione Futurista advances, with its attendant wingmen, those two old lags Confusion and Delusion, while the horsemen shoot seven-come-eleven for our pitiable humanity.

The future, by nature, is revolution. We make of it what we can.

CRYPTIQUE – Or do you just want to be on the side that’s winning?

SOME WEEKEND LINKS
The blog of Donnel Alexander
http://www.myspace.com/donnellalexander
Political Dylan parody sent by 00Soul
http://-paulhipp-.cf.huffingtonpost.com/Audio%20Only.html
Mo’ Valley Boy
http://www.valleyboy.net/
Mo’ hipspinster
http://hipspinster.blogspot.com
And folks saying nice things about me (and the autobiography referred to is Give The Anarchist A Cigarette)
http://www.blackcatbone.34sp.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46693

OR DEATH?

INCORRECT? YEAH, BUT YOU GOTTA LAUGH
Doug the Bass writes...
OK, I have to admit it. "Politically correct" behavior and language has had a seriously negative effect on the state of humor. I confess that, as much as I detest nationalist stereotypes, few things strike fear into me like the concept of "New Age Standup". It's hard to escape the fact that humor remains the most intelligent form of cruelty. Still, that's no excuse for me forwarding this...
AND HERE’S THE JOKE...
LOGIC BADA BING
Vinny and Sal are out in the woods hunting when suddenly Sal grabs his chest and falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing; his eyes are rolled back in his head. Vinny whips out his cell phone and calls 911. He gasps to the operator, I think Sal is dead! What should I do?"
The operator, in a calm soothing voice says, "Just take it easy and follow my instructions. First, let's make sure he's dead."
There is a silence. and then a shot is heard.
Vinny voice comes back on the line, "Okay ... now what?"

The secret word is Goombah

THE BULWER-LYTTON FICTION CONTEST
(from Jude at Borderlands books in SF)
The winners of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for 2006 have been announced! In case you're not familliar with this august contest, (whose results are announced in July) their website explains it succinctly: "An international literary parody contest, the competition honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). The goal of the contest is the essence of simplicity: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels." This year's winner was submitted by Jim Guigli of Carmichael, CA: "Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean." For more startlingly bad opening lines, visit

http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/english/2006.htm.

And talking of books, reports have come out of Crawford, Texas, that our President was seen looking at a copy of The Stranger by Albert Camus. We can only assume that, from the title, he assumed it was a western.

The secret word is Literacy

SELF ADVERTIZING
I discovered this glowing review of the 1996 Deviants studio CD cut in LA, and since, it’s a bit of a rare forgotten gem, I thought I’d toss it up while recuperating.
http://www.answers.com/topic/eating-jello-with-a-heated-fork

IS PLUTO A PLANET?
(AND THEREFORE WHAT THE FUCK IS GOOFY?)
Nearly 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries gathered in Prague Monday to come up with a universal definition of what qualifies as a planet and possibly decide whether Pluto should keep its planet status. For more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aCyILM8pzjwk&refer=europe

(Am still not feeling well, but have antibiotics and may live.)

The secret word is Hack

AND LET’S NOT FORGET THAT ELVIS DIED 29 YEARS AGO TODAY

I am feeling a little unwell today. Mo better tommorow, I hopes.

The secret word is Zygote

And right on schedule...
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR

FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
FEAR FEAR
OH, AND DID I MENTION TERROR?
(And of course the ever popular tax cuts for the rich and quantum profits for the oil industry?)
In the above, my friends, you have the entire 2006 Republican election campaign in a nutshell.
The illustration – send by Valerie – is Cruficied Grouper by Hugo Bruce. (And damn do I feel like a crucified grouper.)

BUT TO STOP YOU ALL GETTING AS DEPRESSED AS I AM,
here’s a bit of video of a monkey annoying Tigers. It was sent by HCB who advises turning off the ghastly audio.
Http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8811551493740102634&hl=en

The secret word is Signifyin’

GORE IS GREAT!
A couple of weeks ago interviewed Gore Vidal -- one of my heroes -- and here’s the teaser...

"[Bush and his cronies] are all sissies. Remember that," he says. "These are people who’ve never been in an army. The men behind the war in Iraq are cowards who did not fight in Vietnam. They’ve run away like the president, who I refer to as the Yellow Rose of Texas. They’re weak little people with an agenda – which is: ‘We’ve gotta show our muscle around the world. Running out of oil? We’ll take it. Show how tough we are. We’re macho.’ And we’re also dumbo, and that is the problem."

For the whole deal...
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=4180&IssueNum=166

I also managed a demented deliberation on TV commercials...
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=4177&IssueNum=166

VAMPIRE SEA SPIDERS!
Everyone knows we adore cute critters at Doc40, but these, drawn to our attention by HCB, seem pretty fucking extreme. (And don’t they look kinda familiar, Lt. Ripley?) Oh for the happy days of the pandacam.
"Weird spider-like creatures that live at the bottom of the ocean and use a 'straw' to suck on their prey are baffling scientists. These sea spiders, some of which are blind, are defying scientific classification. They crawl along the bottom of the sea floor, sometimes more than 6000 to 7000 metres down, where they live in the dark, feeding on slow-moving soft-bodied sponges and sea slugs."
For the full story...
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1675573.htm

The secret word is Bathyscape

ARTHUR LEE -- RIP

EVIL DOG EATS ELVIS’ TEDDY
The invaluable somegirl and also Valerie (welcome back) both sent versions of the following tale of horror...
"On Tuesday night the doberman pinscher guard dog, after six years' blameless service, went berserk: within minutes Mabel, a 1909 German-made Steiff teddy bear once owned by Elvis Presley, more recently the pride and joy of an English aristocrat, lay mortally wounded."
For the full story...
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1836014,00.html

or
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5240832.stm

CRYPTIQUE – Put a chain around my neck and lead me anywhere.

YOU’RE JUST NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!
As many regular Doc40 visitors know our great and good friend Boss Goodman – former Deviants roadie, former Pink Fairies tour manager, former club DJ, concert promoter, and master chef at the Portobello Gold suffered a left-brain stroke back at the end of March. Since that time, he has received all kinds visits and notes of love and encouragement, but the one linked below really takes the cake. I can’t say more without giving away the surprise, but believe me, it’s scarcely believable.
(The pic was taken by Rich Deakin. It shows Boss at the country estate of Felix Dennis during his recovery from a heart episode that may have been a overture to the stroke. The sculpture, one of a series in Felix’s Garden of Fame is of a young Bob Dylan at the bedside of Woody Guthrie.)

Check this out!
http://www.mannorak.com/clintlet.htm

The secret word is Wow!

(And the headline below is purely coincidental and in no way a joke about Boss's famous girth.)

THE BIGGEST GODDAMNED DAMNED BLOB IN THE UNIVERSE
HCB sent over the following news report. There is no suggestion so far that it’s coming to get us, but you never know. (The blimp! The blimp! Fast and bulbous!)

An enormous amoeba-like structure 200 million light-years wide and made up of galaxies and large bubbles of gas is the largest known object in the universe, scientists say. The galaxies and gas bubbles, called Lyman alpha blobs, are aligned along three curvy filaments that formed about 2 billion years after the universe exploded into existence after the theoretical Big Bang. The filaments were recently seen using the Subaru and Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea. The galaxies within the newly found structure are packed together four times closer than the universe's average. Some of the gas bubbles are up to 400,000 light years across, nearly twice the diameter of our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy. Scientists think they formed when massive stars born early in the history of the universe exploded as supernovas and blew out their surrounding gases. Another theory is that the bubbles are giant gas cocoons that will one day give birth to new galaxies. The finding will give researchers new insight into what the structure of cosmos looks like at the largest scale. "Something this large and this dense would have been rare in the early universe," said study team member Ryosuke Yamauchi from Tohoku University. "The structure we discovered and others like are probably the precursors of the largest structures we see today which contain multiple clusters of galaxies," Yamauchi said.

The secret word is Jello.

RETRO DOGGONE
I discovered the reflection linked below in the course of my web wanderings and found it touching and poignant. Or maybe I just have a soft spot for cosmonaut canines.
http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2006/07/rip-laika.html

The secret word is Whimper

NOTE THE FABRIC

On the left is Miss Israel, on the right in Miss Lebanon. They are at war. Yet the beauty pagents continue as the rockets explode, nations tear themselves apart, and we fear the eventual nuclear option. Doesn't this all make it totally pointless and criminally absurd and increasingly push the mind to the end of its tether?

The secret word is Extinction

"Okay so Farren will be out here pissing and moaning that’s it’s to hot to blog – or do anything else for that matter – and how there are power outages all across the nation, and it’s the end of the world, blah, blah, blah, and then he’ll post this picture because – unlike Stephen Colbert – he thinks bears are adorable, but this bear has some fucking news for all you human’s, okay? This may look way cute, and way cool, but what you don’t know is that this lump of ice I’m sitting on is ALL THAT’S FUCKING LEFT OF THE NORTH POLE, YOU BASTARDS!"

The secret word is Torridness.

Meanwhile, an old friend becomes a new blogger at...
www.valleyboy.net

And I have a media column in today's LA CityBeat on TV coverage of the brand new war.
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=4103&IssueNum=164

HEAT?

I CANNOT LIE TO YOU...
So where have all the blogs been for almost a week? The answer is that it’s been too fucking hot (as 100F+ in some parts of LA) to do anything much of anything except my appointed tasks, which in that last 4-5 days have included a major interview with Gore Vidal which will appear in LA CityBeat on the next couple of weeks, and also two live shows which made me very happy. I confidently hope that normal service with be resumed as soon as the temperatures drops at least into the low eighties.

Meanwhile, the lovely hipspinster had been blogging up a storm about Sir Ian Mckellan and the fear of Mercury in retrograde...
http://hipspinster.blogspot.com/

And the Doug the Bass sent over the following with the comment with which I totally concur "Hey, what do you know? Something from the Ayn RandInstitute that I actually agree with."

OPPONENTS OF EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH AREOPPONENTS OF HUMAN LIFE JULY 20, 2006
"President Bush's claim that embryonic stem cell research violates 'the dignity of human life' is morally obscene," said Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. "This research has the potential to rescue millions of individuals from painful and life-threatening diseases. Anyone who places the welfare of a few undifferentiated cells above that of actual human beings cannot claim to value human life. "There are no rational grounds for ascribing rights to an unconscious cluster of cells smaller than a grain of sand. But the opposition to embryonic stem cell research is not based on reason--it's based purely on religious dogma. From the development of anesthesia to the introduction of birth control, religion has consistently opposed scientific and medical progress. Today, with their assaults on evolution, cloning, and stem cell research, the religious right is attempting to drag us back to the Dark Ages. "Anyone who values human life must stand up forscience and against President Bush's attempt to impose his religious agenda on America."

The secret word is Swelter

Need I comment?

MICK AND ANDY DO IT AGAIN
Yes my friends, we’re doing it again. Mick Farren and Andy Colqhoun have not one, but two live performance outings with their two-man alien blues this coming weekend. The first is Saturday (July 22) when we get up on a bill with John Sinclair & The Blues Scholars, and Michael Simmons. That will be at Rae's Lounge, 10939 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, 90034 - (310) 202 8464 (That’s a few blocks west of Overland.) Kicks off around 9.00PM.
I figure the above will be the more alcoholic and raucous of the two events, although much can be said for a more relaxed (and maybe hungover) Sunday evening (7-10pm) with same crew plus John Feins & Louie Lista at the Synergy Café Lounge, 4445 Overland Avenue, Culver City, 90230 (310) 559 8868 ( http://www.synergycafelounge.com/

The secret word is Attend

MICKEY SPILLANE -- RIP

from... http://www.cheblogs.com/roller/page/njon/

THE BLOODY RED SUN OF BUSH’S NEW WORLD
As the air-conditioner struggles in an overheated LA, I avoid the news. After a marginal recovery, the Israelis are bombing Beirut back into the 1980s, while on the level of the neocons playing their grand game of Risk-For-Real, a massive war zone is being created stretching from the Mediterranean to the Himalayas, right to nuke-packing India and Pakistan. If history is anything to go by, it could take the world five hundred years to recover from the first six of this century. Or maybe 5000. At times like these I begin to agree with the friends who tell me it’s fucking hopeless and we might as well just medicate and be damned. Making George fucking Bush president was about as smart as giving a belligerent fifteen year-old a bottle of scotch, a 357 magnum, and the keys to a Ferrari. I also hear a paranoid runor that Rummy has an obsession. He wants to let of a nuclear device in the worse possible psychotic way. He hardly cares where any more.

The secret word is Fantastic

OPEN THE POD DOOR, HAL
Regular readers will know that, over the last few month, we’ve more that once discussed The Singularity, that moment a quarter of a century or so in the future when Ray Kurzweil thinks computers will be smarter than we are, and human and machine will merge and blur. (And I suspect may be the cyberpunks' version of The Rapture.) The following comes from HCB who has been rather quiet for a while but seems to be feeling better and we all wish him well.

SIGNS THE SINGULARITY HAS ARRIVED
by Dave Price
With all the worrying about the future of technology, it's important for people to know when the Singularity has arrived. This helpful guide will provide some hints as to when you may have passed the event horizon in the predictability of human technological development.
10) You're late to work because can't remember where you left the encryption keys to your backup consciousness cache.
9) TV watches you more than you watch it.
8) Your divorce proceedings include nasty fight over who owns the source code to your wife's operating system.
7) Your cats have higher incomes and several more advanced degrees than you. Occasionally, they let you pet them while they do differential calculus (they think you're so cute when you do that).
6) You're evicted from your body, which is seized by the county and sold for back taxes.
5) More computers own people than people own computers. Video game violence takes on an entirely new meaning.
4) Civilization collapses and rebuilds itself several times during your daily commute to work. This generally causes you only a slight delay.
3) Political analysts are surprised when third-party AI candidate is elected President with 99.99999% of the vote as several trillion voters are created minutes before polls close.
2) Goldfish crackers beg you for mercy, try to wriggle away, then scream when you bite into them. Your kids love this.
1) "Blue Screen of Death" no longer just a figure of speech."

CRYPTIQUE – How far down the rabbit hole do you really want to go?

SYD BARRETT -- RIP

I'd write more only I feel like shit, cold, sore throat, who knows what? In other words Syd's dead and I ain't feeling so good myself.

But our pal hipspinster has been writing lots including an unusal incident that befell us on July 4th. http://hipspinster.blogspot.com/

IT'S THE RAPTURE! RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIVES!








and here's the theme from MrMR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P3qYmOWJCY&search=the%20doors%2C%20the%20end

BOOK SIGNING SATURDAY
ANOTHER ADVERTISEMENT FOR MYSELF
I’ll be signing copies of my new novel Conflagration (and anything else you care to bring) between 2pm and 4pm this coming Saturday (July 8th) at Dark Delicacies – one great bookstore – which is located at 4213 W. Burbank Boulevard in Burbank. The toll-free phone number is 1-888-DARKDEL.

LA CITYBEAT (read all about it!)
I have a stunning analysis of the state of the opium war in this week's LACB
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3994&IssueNum=161

"We’ve got twenty-five hundred dead, people running all over the world doing stupid things, and officers asking, ‘What the hell is going on?’ "

In the current New Yorker, Seymour Hersh warns that Bush and his odious henchpeople are about to something really fucking stupid – and maybe nuclear – in Iran. To the point that even the Pentagon has started to balk.

"Inside the Pentagon, senior commanders have increasingly challenged the President’s plans, according to active-duty and retired officers and officials. The generals and admirals have told the Administration that the bombing campaign will probably not succeed in destroying Iran’s nuclear program. They have also warned that an attack could lead to serious economic, political, and military consequences for the United States."

Read this and weep...
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060710fa_fact

The secret word is Help!

FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED
As far as we both could tell, Andy and I acquitted ourselves quite excellently last week in our first alien blues outing in a hell of a long time, and will be doing it a whole bunch more. Our pals hipspinster and coiled soul seemed both to most dig the rebop...
http://hipspinster.blogspot.com/

http://coiledsoul.livejournal.com/66854.html?mode=reply

Pic by Alex

BEEN REAL BUSY, BUT...
But here’s a riff from the new LA CityBeat on the mob (as in lynch, not Tony Soprano)

http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3982&IssueNum=160

IS THIS ANY WAY TO START THE WEEK?
I open the LA Times and read the following. It ain’t like it’s news. It’s just that, each time anyone takes a serious look, it’s so much worse than we though it was. Meanwhile the oil barons have their shills and trolls out telling us it ain’t happening and that Al Gore is homosexual. These bastards have to be hurt.

"The Greenland ice sheet — two miles thick and broad enough to blanket an area the size of Mexico — shapes the world's weather, matched in influence by only Antarctica in the Southern Hemisphere. It glows like milky mother-of-pearl. The sheen of ice blends with drifts of cloud as if snowbanks are taking flight. In its heartland, snow that fell a quarter of a million years ago is still preserved. Temperatures dip as low as 86 degrees below zero. Ground winds can top 200 mph. Along the ice edge, meltwater rivers thread into fraying brown ropes of glacial outwash, where migrating herds of caribou and musk ox graze. The ice is so massive that its weight presses the bedrock of Greenland below sea level, so all-concealing that not until recently did scientists discover that Greenland actually might be three islands. Should all of the ice sheet ever thaw, the meltwater could raise sea level 21 feet and swamp the world's coastal cities, home to a billion people. It would cause higher tides, generate more powerful storm surges and, by altering ocean currents, drastically disrupt the global climate."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-sci-greenland25jun25,0,6885120,full.story

The secret word is Ruin

Cartoon by Toth (sent by Valerie)