"While the actual working cowboy disappears, along with the genuine nonworking Indian, the make-believe cowboys flourish and multiply like flies on a pecan pie. Everywhere you see them now, from California to Florida, from Texas to Times Square, crowding the streets in their big white hats, tight pants, flowered shirts, and high-heeled fruity boots. From the rear many of them look like women; many of them are women. Especially in the small towns west of the Mississippi, where cowboyism as a cult grows in direct ratio to the disappearance of cattle-herding as an accupation, you will see the latest, the Mr. and Mrs Cattleman couple in authentic matching Western costume - the husband with sunburnt nose and belly bulging over a steerhorn buckle heavy enough to kill a horse with, and his wife, a tall tough broad in gabardines and boots with a look on her face that would make a Comanche blanch."

E. Abbey Desert Solitaire (1968)

My friend's film

Sandbags

"Set in 1987 war-torn Beirut, Sandbags recounts the true story of Edmond Naim, Governor of the Lebanese Central Bank. We follow the man in charge of the Lebanese currency and governmental payrolls on a fateful day that will ultimately lead him to an unprecedented historical feat: Edmond Naim will sleep in his office from 1987 till the end of the civil war, keeping the Lebanese Fort Knox machine well oiled and operational.

Caught between two capricious seceded governments, away from his family and guarded only by two Security officers, Naim endures a harsh work routine with constant shelling at and around his bank, civil strife and gunfire on the roads, and constant pressure to keep the Gold safe."

Let's be honest, it sounds great. Unfortunately they're a few grand short on funds, so, if you're a fan of the arts or just want to get your name in the credits of a worthwhile film, I encourage you to consider donating a few dollars.

Wouldn't it be great if this helped save the rainforest?

makes you want to take an ape home to play with

in the land of make believe

Today I met up with some childhood icons and a bit of American television history. I like to think I do this frequently, but today was different.

Mr. McFeely even had me say "speedy delivery" in Italian for our picture and told me of his visit to KUED some years ago. What a neighbor that man is!

denti di giudizio

in memory of my very first post, i repeat that fall is a nice time of year. this year i won't be enjoying the change of seasons three times over, but i'm finding plenty of pleasant things to do instead. i think it all began with a Labor Day visiting Niagara Falls, where i believed (falsely) that people had aching desires to enjoy nature's majesty and power

while in reality it's seems more connected desires for wax museums and haunted houses.

Annamaria and i held off until just recently for our halloween experience, which was masterfully brought to us in the form of Diamanda Galás gurgling razors and low-note piano keys for over an hour.

in efforts to balance our diet of this year's fall experience we took a little jaunt out to Hartwood Acres to tour the mansion there. i thought that was pretty worthwhile as well, and have a photograph to prove it.

the next addition to the parade of autumn delights would be nothing else but a wonder movie and concert by Califone. they played a cacophonous soundtrack to their kind of scary, kind of kooky, kind of silly film and topped everything of with a very enjoyable group of songs. i was so satisfied that i bought the new cd and a t-shirt!

one of the next adventures will be thanksgiving in phoenix. the last time we had thanksgiving there we had great napkin holders.

So every time I go down near Moab I try to stop by the T-Shirt Shop and pick out a design to remind me of the olden days when Grandma would buy a shirt for all us grandkids.

biking adventures with Gus pt II

kind of like sasquatch

So a dream came true for me on Wednesday when I was up mountian biking with my friend Gus in American Fork Canyon. We ran across one of these guys

about this color too. I've wanted to find a rubber boa for about the past 16 years or so, so I was pretty pleased when Gus managed to spot one on the trail without running it over. You can find some more info and more pictures of the boa featured above here.