The Quail There are three 911 quail in a cage next door and they are the sweet delight of our mornings, calling to us like small frosted cakes: bobwhitebobwhitebobwhite, but at night they drive our God-damn cat Jake but at night they drive that puffy lipidpirate Michael Moore crazy. They run around that cage like pinballs as he stands out there, [thick neck bibbed, knife and fork poking from pale
June 18, 2004
A Poem from 1968, Revised by the Ghost of Richard Brautigan, 2004 (fifteenth in a series)
June 18, 2004
Smiley’s People
Ted Kennedy responds:* “Feh. What do the Russians know about spying, anyway…?” **** h/t michele update: This sounds eerily familiar to me, somehow…
June 18, 2004
For Cynthia Dunn, carpe diem is more than some pedestrian hedonist bromide
Cynthia: “I’d like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor, insignificant preamble to somethin’ else.”
June 18, 2004
I was just wondering…
Has anyone ever figured out definitively how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop™? Because let’s face it: turtles are remarkably stupid creatures, and I just plain don’t trust owls — winged nocturnal rodent muggers, the lot of ’em.
June 17, 2004
The (very brief) protein wisdom interview: Madonna
protein wisdom: “So, Madonna, let’s begin by –“ Madonna: “– Esther.” protein wisdom: “I beg your pardon?” Madonna: “Call me Esther. I go by Esther now. It’s part of my spiritual desire to attach my energy to a new name, a new being.” protein wisdom: “I’m afraid I’m not following –“ Madonna: “That’s because it’s a Kabbalah thing. It’s very esoteric.” protein wisdom: “So what does that mean, you’re no
June 17, 2004
The Quite Specific Humility poem
for Dick Trickle Were you to pour everything I know about fixing carburetors into a paper cup, you’d still have plenty of room left-over for a full can of Pepsi — or maybe just tap water, if you’re not really into Pepsi.
June 17, 2004
Atkins hesitation, 3
On the lunch menu today: center-cut Hippo thighsteak sauteed in lightly-salted lard dollops and smothered in a paste of cold Oregonian goose liver. With steamed, french-cut green beans. So. Do I feel thinner yet? Too early to tell, really. update: You know what really hits the spot? One of them sugar-free, low-carb, “tropical fruit”-flavored popsicles. Like an orgasm on a stick, almost.
June 17, 2004
Q: Has anybody here, seen my old friend John…?*
A: “…Tall guy, kinda looks like a pampered whippet…? Yeah, he’s in the crapper, I think.”
June 17, 2004
Hell, I can’t even find the goalposts any more
From USA Today: “President Bush on Thursday disputed the Sept. 11 commission’s finding that there was no ‘collaborative relationship’ between Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terrorist network responsible for the attacks.” “There was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda,” Bush insisted following a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House. “This administration never said that the 9-11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda,” he said. “We did say
June 17, 2004
How ‘bout some movie recommendations, protein wisdom…?
Why, certainly, blog title field! As luck would have it, I’ve just seen two remarkable films based on novels once thought impossible to bring to the screen: John Schlesinger’s 1975 Day of the Locust (from the Nathanael West novel), starring William Atherton, Burgess Meredith, Karen Black, and Donald Sutherland; and George Roy Hill’s 1972 Slaughterhouse-5 (from the novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.), starring Michael Sacks, Ron Liebman, and Valerie Perrine.