Monday Misinformation Menagerie...
...as you can tell, this post is a royal fake job, but aren't they all?

JUST GLEANED FROM THE NEWS: Not that I'm paying a whole lot of attention to this, because I'm not, but I understand there's some kind of situation that's brewing over there in Pakistan, and the U.S. is faced with how to deal with these guys. The U.S. under the bumbling Dubya-Bush administration, that is. Something about Pakistan's government turning fascist and jailing opposition and imposing media blackouts. Well, we already know we're going to be in Iraq until at least the end of this administration. After that, will the soldiers be crossing a few borders to war in Pakistan under divine Prezzidential authority? Quick, where are the diplomats? Pakistan does have nuclear power, after all. And I've always thot it's gonna be some rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth, third-world wacko (in a Pakistan-ish country) that's gonna set off the next nuclear device (or, "NOO-kya-ler" if yer Prezzident Bush).

WILL IT REALLY MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?: Steee-rike!!! That's what script writers in Hollywood and New York and who knows where else are gonna do, beginning today. As if there's any deliberate quality of writing in fictional TV these days, anyway. At least, the sitcoms have a good chance of surviving this. All they have to do is take old scripts from any sitcom program from seasons past, and use them old scripts in their new shows. Just change the character names around, and I don't think you need a script writer for that. Trust me, no one will know the difference. No one with any kind of long-term memory, anyway, which is probably what the networks will be banking on. And the experts tell us all to be on the watch for more reality shows. Somehow I think the terms "reality show" and "network TV" are mutually exclusive.

JUMPING ON THE GREEN BANDWAGON: NBC (no, not the National Biscuit Co.) is setting off on a highly original broadcasting idea...they're taking a cue from Nobel Prize Winner and Not A Prezzidential Candidate If He Has Any Sense AL GORE, and all this week, they'll be doing "Today" shows from Greenland, Antarctica, and perhaps the most desolate place of all, the Tri-Cities area of Washington State. (I'm kidding on that last one. Maybe.) It's suddenly fashionable to report on the Environment, which has been deteriorating FOR YEARS NOW. And get this; to start things off, NBC, on some of its' weekend's sports programs, did pre-game shows in the DARK, using only flashlight illumination. Yep, that's gonna solve the nation's energy bills. Although there was one positive effect: Chris Collingsworth, one of the sports guys, looks better if there's no light shining on him. Maybe the CBS Evening Nooze with Katie Couric should try that. Couldn't hurt their ratings. Not at all. Back to NBC...will the startling innovation never cease? They're using occasional GREEN back-lighting, at least on the "Morning Joe" talk show, this morning's edition of which host Joe Scarborough is absent. It's "GREEN" week, you see.

THEY'RE MOODY AND THEY'RE BLUE: There's a great 2-DVD/1-CD set that's just been released, featuring the complete story of the Moody Blues, one of my most favorite groups. It's amazing how much great music they put out between 1967 and 1973. They were churning out great albums during those years, and I put 'em right up there with The Beatles and all the other bands I continue to love oh, so much. Although, towards the end of the 'Moodies' video, the tone of the DVD gets a little-bit schmaltzy in a sort of pseudo-promotional way (it is the 'fully authorized story' after all), but there's plenty of good stuff to offset that. We even get to hear from Original Moody Blue Mike Pinder, who left the group just after it recorded its' weak reunion album, "Octave", which came out in 1977. When I bought that album way back then, I thought that "something was missing". Suffice it to say the group was undergoing a whole lot of turmoil at the time, which can definitely interfere with the muse. It was a largely lifeless record. I guess they had a "Moody Muse", ha ha...anyway, below is a picture of the DVD set, so you know what to look for...



DVD One is 2 and a half HOURS long; DVD Two is 92 minutes long. I haven't played the CD yet, but it consists of early music all of the group's members were involved with before there was a Moody Blues. While watching this DVD set, I learned that flute player/vocalist Ray Thomas had to retire in 2002; he'd been ill, implied the DVD. So I googled his name, and I found out that he'd had fairly severe feet problems which seriously affected his movement on stage. The affliction he was suffering? My old (and currently subordinated) nemesis, GOUT. Believe me, I wouldn't wish severe gout pain on ANYONE. (Well, I can think of a FEW people...) My own gout symptoms are largely non-existent. Of course, to achieve that, I'm taking 600mg of Allopurinol every day for the REST OF MY LIFE. And finally, how did this paragraph get to be about ME all of a sudden?

MAYBE IT'S NOT SUCH A GOOD DEAL AFTER ALL: You've heard about Wal-Mart's $4.00 prescription deal for quite a few "eligible" medications. I went to a Wal-Mart this week to see how many millions of dollars I could save on the stuff I toss into my system. I inquired as to Allopurinol, the drug I mentioned above. Yes, it's $4.00 for 30 pills. Trouble is, I take 60 pills a month. So Wal-Mart would charge me "twice four" ($8.00) since I'm taking "twice thirty" (60) pills per month. Not a whole lot cheaper than what I'm paying at my present home-grown pharmacy. I also take Ambien to sleep, since I'm really an insomniac (check the time I posted this, below). Ambien is NOT eligible under Wal-Mart's bargain jurisdiction. I was told that for a bottle of GENERIC Ambien, Wal-Mart would charge me $60. I presently get the same damn thing for $20, once again at my small, independent pharmacy. Oh yeah? That's how Wal-Mart hooks ya. They blast-out the big price cuts at maximum volume right in front o'yer face, all the while not really tellin' ya like it is. So far, I've been in a Wal-Mart twice in the last year. The last time, I bought a little teeny-tiny pack of fuses. Did I save money at Wal-Mart? Who knows?

NOT SOMETHING TO GET PUMPED ABOUT: Tourist season is all done with. Yaaay. Demand for fuel is down. Yaaay. Traffic on the Interstate Highways is down from Summer levels. Yaaay. We're in the season in-between air conditioners and ultra-high heating bills. Yaaay. And all of this means that gas prices are going down. Right? WRONG!!! Here on the coast, gas is up around $3.20 a gallon. If gas keeps going up at this rate, pretty soon the mandatory service-station attendant (remember, this is Oregon, after all), will take my debit card, punch in $20 bucks, and then proceed to put gas in my tank with an EYE-DROPPER.



I don't think it would be any cheaper to assemble some sort of automotive-"still"-device in your garage, then go to your nearest "Whatever"-mart, buy a case of oil, then take it home, DILUTE it and "cook" your own gasoline...not yet, anyway. That's assuming a gallon of gas is still cheaper than a rock of 'meth', anyway. And, depending on "Which-ever" mart you go to for your oil purchase, you probably won't get the best price anyway. P.S. I can just see it now: "Meth-lab to Fuel" conversion kits. We could see that soon on some late-nite infomercial...
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Back to the Moody Blues for just a minute...Their 'Days Of Future Passed' album was released in 1967. But, "Nights In White Satin", which was on that album, didn't become a chart hit until 1972. That's a pretty doggone long musical incubation period, huh?