Merry Christmas from California

May your holidays be full of peace, joy, and glad tidings!

Happy (Be)Labor Day!

Season's Greetings from Crazy Town

If rocky were more ambitious, he'd start a project called "America Is Deranged; America Is Beautiful". These are scenes from my town. Believe me, it's only the tip of the iceberg--a bunch of lunatics screaming "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" on their front lawns. 

Happy New Year!

The morning-after Bloody Mary.

...

London Shots

Rex and Stoner discussing zombie movies in Picadilly Circus

Dinner with the very British Paul Settles and Stoner's favorite shirt from the David Byrne Emporium

Paranormal activities in the Tower of London. Can the Mentalist figure out what's going on?

Priorities

Why did Bush pass on Obama's invitation to Ground Zero yesterday?

Wait a minute -- it was Cinco de Mayo, right?

OH, Goddammit, George ----

May Day

May Day around the world. (Pitiful showing in the States, of course.)
.

An Easter Message: Fear God

A seemingly unusual religious radio station has announced that life as we know it will end on May 21, 2011 when severe earthquakes will leave many dead
 as the group ascends to Heaven to be with Jesus. The group, Family Radio is in the middle of an RV camper caravan tour of the United States as the group seeks to warn Americans about the coming doomsday.

Ringleader of the doomsday movement, Harold Camping, says that he has precisely calculated the end of time from Bible scriptures, figuring that the seven days of creation represent 1,000 year days and that one day with the Lord literally equals a thousand years while calculating forward from the time of the great flood Noah and his ark survived.

According to the UK Daily Mail, many in the traveling group have sold all their possessions in anticipation of the May 21 event. According to that newspaper, after the earthquakes and the catching away of the group into Heaven, another 153 days will elapse before the world is destroyed once and for all.

(Find all the math here.)

***

Happy Holidays, Redux

I spent the last week entertaining my 17-year-old niece and her girl friend. (Hut trip, skiing, movies, etc.) Despite frigid (-15 degree!) weather, we rang in the new year with a bonfire and watched fireworks over Aspen mountain. After driving the girls to the Denver airport, Friday and I took in a spectacular holiday lighting display at a ranch that is part of Denver's Hudson Gardens.


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Happy Holidays!

Denver Post

Amaizing Fun!

From The Denver Post: The Fritzler family this year turned to the U.S. Department of Defense logo in creating its 11th annual corn maze, a 13-acre tribute to the military and son Trevor's enlistment in the Army.

Birthdays!

I just noticed that rocky had one last week, and Stoner will on Friday. Here's to you(s)!

Happy Holidays

Minnesota

The ski season opened last Thursday here in Snowmass Village. There is a disconcerting (at least to skiers and resort merchants) dearth of natural snow, but I've been taking advantage of the clear days to get some remodeling work done. Over the last two days, however, a cold front has conspired with the clear night skies to drop our "low" temperature down to minus 7 degrees - a little too cold for outdoor work - and it's got me dreaming of warmer climes: Minnesota.

Friday and I are to be in Minneapolis 20-24 December, a visit happily coinciding with her parents' 50-year wedding anniversary. I should have time for other activities, though - anyone up for a Summit of ice-fishing? BYOSP*



















* Bring Your Own Swedish Pimple

It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers!

(Story here)

...and Stoner is disappointed that the only holiday fare at the cinema is Saw 12 and The Blair Witch Project 7: The Condo (below)...



...so he tracked down this excellent-looking direct-to-video horror anthology (from whence, the still up top)...and the genuinely-creepy Session 9, free in its entirety on the interweb.

And remember:
Either of these films is even creepier with the sound off and this album playing at high volume:

Happy Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers!

Belize City Boil Up

I've been getting into the Eccentric Soul reissue series on the Numero Group label. Each ES album compiles singles put out by a long-forgotten, regional soul music label. The music is often rough, raw and unpolished, but thoroughly enjoyable. As I was browsing the Numero Group website, I came across this title, Belize City Boil Up. It made me think of the great music I heard when I was in Panama, a mix of reggae, rap, and Afro-funk.

We Have A Winner

Hey, we won the latest Deep Blues drawing: a complete set of the posters created for Lake Elmo.

Let me know which one(s) you want!

(Naturally, Stoner is keeping this one.)
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Thanks Mr. Johnson!

Happy Earth Day!

Marley Is Dead, Killed in a Nuclear War

I want to see this now.

from the NYT:

December 20, 2007

By THOMAS VINCIGUERRA

HAS there ever been a holiday yarn as ubiquitous as Dickens’s “Christmas Carol”? Whether filmed in black and white or color, played straight or set to music, starring Alastair Sim or Mr. Magoo, this quintessential Christmas story is inescapable this season.

And despite so many incarnations, what is probably the darkest, most unusual version has been almost entirely forgotten.

It is “Carol for Another Christmas,” a 90-minute television adaptation written by Rod Serling, best known as the creator of “The Twilight Zone.” The first in a series of 1960s-era made-for-television movies designed to promote the activities of the United Nations, it was also the only television program directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the Oscar-winning writer and director of “All About Eve.”

Its pedigree notwithstanding, “Carol for Another Christmas” was shown just once on ABC, on Dec. 28, 1964.

(continued in Comments)

Our Democratic Society

Mail to "Any Soldier" is returned or tossed

It's a result of concerns that terrorists or war foes could send toxics or nasty messages.

By The Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Hundreds of thousands of holiday cards and letters thanking wounded American troops for their sacrifice and wishing them well never reach their destination. They are returned or thrown away unopened.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax scare, the Pentagon and the Postal Service have refused to deliver mail addressed simply to "Any Wounded Soldier" for fear terrorists or opponents of the war might send toxic substances or demoralizing messages.

Last season, despite the rule, officials say as many as 450,000 pieces of mail not addressed to anyone in particular managed to reach Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. But they were returned or thrown out, because the hospital lacked the manpower to screen all the mail, spokesman Terry Goodman said.

"A lot of this is because of security concerns because it's unsolicited mail that someone is going to have to go through," Goodman said. "Also, being a democratic society, there could be inappropriate mail from someone who, say, doesn't support the war, and then you've got a wounded soldier getting it."