You’re Fat! You’re Ugly!

Would you rather…
play the lead in The Yvonne De Carlo Story,
or
referee the “View/Apprentice” smackdown?

a) We’re looking for a vampire-religious figure type…
b) That’s no fair, he’s wearing his coach on his head.

The studio passed on The Life And Times Of Agnes Moorehead.

– bob

A Bag Of Warm Hammers

Friends,

It’s time for another omnibus urp-blog. Excited yet? Who isn’t?

  • Idyllwild, CA – The wind storms last weekend were harrowing. The numbers came out in the paper saying that wind speeds were somewhere in the 35 MPH range. I really wouldn’t be surprised if they topped 50. The power went out on Sunday for a few hours, and I have to say that night is much darker here when the power is out than down in the light-polluted lower elevations. I dragged out the lantern and cars driving by actually slowed down to marvel at the mystery of that sole light source. Phenomenal.
  • Apple iPhone – I raised the point with the editors of The Unofficial Apple Weblog, but they seemed to dodge a bit. My thought is that the iPhone is awfully sexy and a design triumph for Mr. Ive, granted. Why, however, can’t I have just the iPod part without the phone? A touch/widescreen video iPod with a camera, mail, web browser, and Wi-Fi? I can certainly do without Cingular (and their $60 a month data plan, yikes.) so the only thing holding them back must be the competition with the base Macbook. Or competition with the phone itself. Maybe Q4. I hope my 4th generation iPod holds out that long.
  • President’s Troop Buildup – Sounds like Mr. Bush Goes To Cambodia to me. Y’all remember LBJ, right? He said nearly the exact same things, didn’t he?
  • The PR Stunt – I’ve been schooled on the nature of Mr. Kowalczyk’s comment. Apparently, he’s a really nice guy who is a longtime friend of Jimmy Two-Beers and thought that we’d like to know about the publication of the poem. I guess some of the comments I made were inflammatory. Who knew! All I saw was a press release, kinda. I must be very bitter and angry about something. At least that was the gist of the charge. Not angry.

Lots more tomorrow. It’ll be lovely.

Your pal,

bob

i Need A Washcloth

Would you rather…
begin a Thuper ThighMaster Sales Marathon until you can afford to rebuild your Malibu home,
or
have your iPhone banned from Kentucky Fried Chicken for all the wrong numbers you’ve dialed?

a) At least I don’t have a bottom as big as Iraq!
b) (911) 911-9119

The celebrities are sad, won’t you please help?

– bob

The Model Of Efficiency

Would you rather…
that your pancreas is impounded because you couldn’t show proof of health insurance,
or
get approval for your surgery at the DMV?

a) Sir, do you know how much insulin you were producing?
b) It says here you’re due for an emissions check.

Keep this card in your wallet. Keep this card in your…

– bob

None, They’re Co-Locating

Would you rather…
seek answers to problems that haven’t arisen yet,
or
seek those answers from people unqualified to be of any assistance?

a) Would the space aliens prefer red or white?
b) How many webmasters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

“When I get around to installing the software, what problems will I have?”

It’s gonna be a long day.

– bob

BREAKING: Google Used, Searches Performed

Dear Calendar Aficionados,
I think you can file this in the Psst, What Time Is It? drawer. I just received a comment to a post from 2000-and-freakin’-three, people. Not just any post either. It was a post republishing a poem that was meant to call me out on my pro Iraq War stance. As I recall, the poem in Arts Thursday was meant to be a scathing indictment of my naivete. It holds up fairly well though, if you go in for that kind of thing.

Apparently somebody does, because here’s David Kowalczyk to clue us in on the great (if late) news…

Just to let everyone know that
“Going to Gitmo” was published in hard copy in Volume 1, Issue 1 of Gentle Strength Quarterly, a journal of fine arts out of Los Angeles.

Hawley-meigs (now just Hawley) had two other poems in that inaugural issue, as well as being a featured poet, with four (4!) poems in Issue 2.

Issues can be obtained by sending a check or money order for $8 for each copy ordered, payable to DO Designs, to the following address:

Gentle Strength Quarterly
16161 Ventura Bolevard, #406
Encino, CA 91436.

So! As far as brazen, callous PR stunts go, this is pretty low on the list. What’s next? A YouTube video of a kitten? A pinewood derby car sponsorship? A press junket to Peet’s Coffee & Tea? The mind reels.

Well, good luck with all the people with the words and stuff. And books. And Encino.

Your pal,

bob

Winner Of The Gorton’s Trophy

Would you rather…
treat everything you see as a giant Rorschach test,
or
design all the floats in the Long Beach Tournament Of Fish Parade?

a) Jackson Pollock on line two
b) …the rose petals are made of tilapia, fluke, and flounder…

It looks like an elephant, wearing a hat.

– bob

An Open Letter

Mister and Missus Dog have been returned to warmer climes to celebrate the new year. Once again I’d become used to them greeting me in the afternoon, tromping about with them, irrational exuberance, so dropping them off was no fun. I miss them already.

The girlie dog left me a little note regarding the picture post from the other day. I guess she’s feeling a little left out.

DEAR BIG MONKEY,
UR KIND OF MEEN. YOO PUT PITURS OF DUM DOG ON INNERNET – A BUNCH OF THEM! NO PIKTURS UV ME THO. THATS NOT KOOL. UR A JERK. IM BETER LOOKING THAN DUM DOG AND HES DUM ANYWAY PECUZ HE RUNZ IN THE FROZ RAIN BUT IM NEAR THE FIRES AND WAHRM. HES DUM. THANX FOR CHIKEN TREETS. NOW PUT MY PTURS ON THE INNERNET.
– WAY KYOOTER DOG


Sure, no problem. My pleasure.

Happy New Year!

Your pal,

bob

Breaking: Frontier Justice

Friends,

MSM dudes, including CNN, MSNBC, and some other cats are reporting that Saddam attended a certain necktie party as a featured guest. He’s a little taller now, less alive but taller. A certain cowboy-in-chief is reportedly saying “yee haw!”

You know, according to reports.

So, um, hooray for bloodlust, I guess.

Your pal,

bob

Mr. Dog

Hey Holiday-Makers!

Here’s the promised context-free picture post, and guess which pictures turned out the best? Those with Mister Dog in them. Here’s my end of year adventure summed up with (mostly) puppy photos:






So there you go. Where’s 2007?

Your pal,

bob

It Crunches Under Foot

Dear Heavy Sock Wearers,

You may have noticed a severe lack of posts over the last few days, maybe even a week. It wasn’t for lack of trying, or even lack of things to report on—there are bits of new posts sitting on no fewer than four computers—but they were missing a vital ingredient, pictures. In what is turning into an annual event, I’m going to need to purchase a new set of rechargeable batteries for my middle-aged Canon PowerShot. As it stands now, I get five shots, then no power. The end. (you could rehabilitate those batteries like this guy did. – ed Oh, that sounds like a great idea, except for the explosion part.)

The other lame-ass excuse involves weather (when doesn’t it? – ed) and the coldness therein. 20° this morning, five inches of snow, ice on the mountain roads, AND 50 MPH winds! I’m finding it harder and harder to keep up with the wood demand in the fireplace. Mr. and Mrs. Pup are happy to encourage my stoking the fire, but it doesn’t leave too much time for anything else, like writing (it didn’t seem to bother jack london. -ed Except he died at 40.).

I actually have a few pictures on the camera that I’ll present in a nearly context-free post later today. If you’re lucky, I may actually post them in chronological order this time. Wouldn’t that be a surprise!

Your pal,

bob

P.S. My vivacious writing partner has come down with something relatively brutal, so The Question is out of the question for a while. Both of our readers will be happy to know that we’ll be back up and running some time in 2007.

The Yule Bore

Would you rather…
mash global Christmas traditions into one,
or
revise the toy distribution system for optimum efficiency?

a) Right, eight tiny reindeer on a surfboard then we take a sauna…
b) So the elves hand off to Black Peter, then to Santa, then to Jesus? What?

Merrie Christmas everyone! The Question will return on Wednesday.

Your pal,

bob