Just opened, got my coffee and my bagel and am settling in for the day.
The phone rings.
me: Hello, Phoenix Books.
young guy: Uh....this is Phoenix Books in San Luis?
me: Mmmm hmmm.
young guy: Uh....ah....is this a bookstore?
me: Mmmm hmmm.
young guy: Oh....ok, thank you.
me: Mmmm hmmm.
click
Saturday, July 9, 2005
Friday, July 8, 2005
London
I can't shake the feeling that if we'd kept our eye on the ball in America and finished the job on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda instead of haring off to Iraq following some Neocon Will-o-the-wisp there wouldn't have been an attack on the British.
So much for the the latest of the Bush administration's ever-changing rationales for the war, "we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them in our cities".
Note to Administration strategists:
we're not fighting the Cold War any longer.
This enemy can't be pinned down by tanks and battalions.
It's a different kind of war, please stop fighting it with tactics from 1968.
So much for the the latest of the Bush administration's ever-changing rationales for the war, "we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them in our cities".
Note to Administration strategists:
we're not fighting the Cold War any longer.
This enemy can't be pinned down by tanks and battalions.
It's a different kind of war, please stop fighting it with tactics from 1968.
Monday, July 4, 2005
Independence Day
We're open today, so I'm celebrating the 4th with the sweat of my brow.
The only customer thus far was a deranged bum with an armload of tattered newspaper wondering what time it was. The weather is spotless, our traditional early morning cloud cover having given up its occupation and retreated to wherever marine layers go in the off season.
Unpatriotic America-hating liberal that I am, I forgot it was a holiday. Which means going without coffee, since Christie seizes every opportunity to close up shop next door. I'm sacrificing as well as working hard. I feel a budding kinship with George Washington's freedom fighters at Valley Forge.
Except it's summer in California instead of winter in Pennsylvania and I'm working retail instead of going to war against the snappily dressed army of a global military power.
I like the 4th.
Any summer holiday involving liquor and BBQ is alright with me, and later tonight we'll be rowing upriver using those most admirable paddles.
The bigger picture this year is problematic, as the things I find admirable and worth celebrating about my country (tolerance, openness, optimism) are currently out of fashion.
I keep waiting for some bold Dorothy to upend a bucket of water at a press conference and rescue my country in a pillar of steam, but the flying monkeys and poison trees are far more adept at protecting the castle nowadays.
Lacking such a deus ex machina, comfort is left to the poets.
Here are some appropriate lines from the doomed Elliot Smith for America's bar mitzvah:
The only customer thus far was a deranged bum with an armload of tattered newspaper wondering what time it was. The weather is spotless, our traditional early morning cloud cover having given up its occupation and retreated to wherever marine layers go in the off season.
Unpatriotic America-hating liberal that I am, I forgot it was a holiday. Which means going without coffee, since Christie seizes every opportunity to close up shop next door. I'm sacrificing as well as working hard. I feel a budding kinship with George Washington's freedom fighters at Valley Forge.
Except it's summer in California instead of winter in Pennsylvania and I'm working retail instead of going to war against the snappily dressed army of a global military power.
I like the 4th.
Any summer holiday involving liquor and BBQ is alright with me, and later tonight we'll be rowing upriver using those most admirable paddles.
The bigger picture this year is problematic, as the things I find admirable and worth celebrating about my country (tolerance, openness, optimism) are currently out of fashion.
I keep waiting for some bold Dorothy to upend a bucket of water at a press conference and rescue my country in a pillar of steam, but the flying monkeys and poison trees are far more adept at protecting the castle nowadays.
Lacking such a deus ex machina, comfort is left to the poets.
Here are some appropriate lines from the doomed Elliot Smith for America's bar mitzvah:
i saw you in a perfect place
it's gonna happen soon but not today
so go to sleep and make the change
i'll meet you here tomorrow
independence day
independence day
independence day
Sunday, July 3, 2005
Swedish Sunday
In a stab at creating a family tradition here at the Baxblog, on Sundays I'll be sharing the culinary wisdom of Agnete Lampe with you, my friends. In her own words:
The Swedish smorgasbord with its many colorful and tasteful dishes has grown more and more popular abroad. Practically every foreigner, facing for the first time a Swedish smorgasbord, whether in Sweden or in some Swedish restaurant abroad, is thrilled by the mere sight. The thrill does not wane under the eating; rather it increases until one is filled with the desire to repeat the experience and, yet more than that, to share it with one's best friends.
See?
My desire is perfectly natural.
I'll break you in easy with some light fingerfood.
Here we go!
Fried Herring Stekt Stromming
1 1/2 pounds herring
salt
coating
bread crumbs, rye or whole wheat flour
to fry
2 tb butter
--------------
Clean herring, removing heads. Rinse well in cold water and drain. Rub with salt and leave 10 minutes. Dip in bread crumbs or flour and fry in butter until golden brown.
Bon appetite!
Saturday, July 2, 2005
Soviet graphic arts keep a-comin'
It's weird, I keep running into cool Soviet-era Russian links the past week.
Today's find is a trove of propagantastic children's books.
Good stuff.
Today's find is a trove of propagantastic children's books.
Good stuff.
Movie: Land of the Dead
An email review from my friend Pelf, fellow traveller through the stygian horror/splatter film underworld of the early-to-mid 80's along with being a published plawright and IMBD approved screenwriter.
His opinions on the genre can be safely graven in stone for a Charlton Heston coffeehouse reading.
Let's all thank Pelf for saving us the cost of a first run theater ticket.
His opinions on the genre can be safely graven in stone for a Charlton Heston coffeehouse reading.
Land of the SHIT.....er, Dead
An hour and a half of George Romaro TAKING A SHIT
would be better than this lame movie.
FUCK "Land of the Dead" is the first movie I can
remember ever WALKING OUT ON.
It makes ESCAPE FROM LA look like GENIUS.
Did Universal give Romaro five bucks to make this shitlog?
There are like, five zombies stumbling around at any one time (and a few
cgi shots of more...but hey) I think they could only pay for one day with Hopper and all his scenes look like there were shot in rapid fire in five hours.
John Leguzomo plays a guy named "Cholo" I think (I'm not joking)...they should've been men and just called him Nacho.
A truly embarrassing end to a great franchise.
It's sad that the REMAKE of Dawn of the
Dead was INFINITELY better.
Let's all thank Pelf for saving us the cost of a first run theater ticket.
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