The monkey is very sad today with the news of the passing of Mister Rogers.
Fred Rogers, host of 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood', dies
Mister Rogers has been around for as long as the monkey can remember. His patient and soothing manner was often the target of satirical jibes, but small children everywhere understood him completely. Because he spoke directly to them, uncondescendingly on their own level.
While lovedoll holds dear the simple but infectious little songs on the show, I was always very inspired by the way people and puppets lived in harmony in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. We all can get along.
And I know I couldn't have been the only one that wanted Daniel Tiger for my boyfriend.
The more sensitive and intelligent of us in the primate community obviously had a special affinity with Mister Rogers, as seen here when Mister Rogers Visits Ko-Ko.
My monkey sadness was eased a bit after reading these suggestions on processing such sombre news.
Although this pathos filled excerpt made me see that he was perhaps needed now more than any other time...
Find out what your child knows, has heard, or imagines. Some children may ask, "Who killed him?" Killings are so prominent in the news that they may naturally become linked to any death.
Good night, sweet King Friday
From: "Carlito"
To: "lovedoll"
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 10:26:14 -0500
Subject: truth
I love your site and it is a great pick-me-up for a Monday Morning
From: "Carlito"
To: "lovedoll"
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 10:26:14 -0500
Subject: truth
I love your site and it is a great pick-me-up for a Monday Morning
I didn't know there was that Game Boy simpson's game
CP
-----------------------------------
From: lovedoll [mailto:lovedoll@sockmonkey.diablita.org]
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 6:47 PM
To: carlito
Subject: Re: truth
carlito
that's very nice of you to say. I feel as if it's just sort of going out
there into nothingness since I've received no comments, but I can tell
from my server stats that there _are_ people who visit. perhaps I need to
submit it to some blog review sites.
I try and write an entry a day, but I get a bit behind as I do it from
the office mostly. I have three pending right now as a matter of fact.
did you notice my little mention of you?
15 nanoseconds of fame,
blog monkey
:(|)
-----------------------------------------
From: "Carlito"
To: "lovedoll"
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 09:52:51 -0500
Subject: RE: truth
LD
you need more "t & a" to get the traffic
but it is still a great site
I get mentioned? thank you
CP
-----------------------------------
From: "Carlito"
To: "lovedoll"
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 10:45:25 -0500
Subject: the small and the soft
some t & a, well at least some t
[I'm such a geek]
CP
-----------------------------------
There's just something so appealing about the word "muffin".
Google Search: duck muffin condom
Salon May Not Survive Beyond February 
I've been reading Salon for about two years now. And yes I will admit that it's mostly their excellent Sex section that I spend the most time browsing, but really the entire site is the perfect example of what a smart timely online news and lifestyle magazine should be. And I always appreciated the fact that for the most part it was free to readers with an option to subscribe for further site access.
But all of that is changing now with their financial difficulties and I find myself torn as to how I should react.
Their new business model of either subscribe or click through Flash commercials to get to the content is understandable given their dire need for revenue, but no less annoying to the semi-casual reader.
I wanted to be fair however, as I have always enjoyed the writing on this site, and so I followed the "Day Pass" link to a multi screen Flash commercial highlighting their Personals. The funny thing is, I'm already an avid fan and customer of Salon/Nerve Personals (but that in of itself will be the subject of a whole other entry here...).
The commercial was about 30 seconds long and I had to interact with it to move from screen to screen. I imagine they want to be sure that the visitor is actually looking at the screen and not simply waiting for the Flash animation to finish while they attend to other desktop activities. After clicking through 3 screens I was allowed to enter "Salon Premium".
Will this get tiresome on a daily basis? Sure. Will people end up subscribing just to avoid the click through? Well therein lies my internal conflict.
In my heart, I want to support this site. I reference it on a weekly basis and as I mentioned before, it introduced me to the more intelligent side of online personals. But with the publishing of this story that states they may not make it to March - well, is anyone going to be motivated and supportive enough to subscribe to a dying publication? Will I? Truth be told, despite all my good intentions, no.
Money is tight for all of us right now and the risk of losing even $18.50 is too much to ask. It's too bad this story had to fill me with such doubt as to my ability to save them. Hopefully for Salon I'm alone with this opinion.
But in the meantime, I'll do the click through to get my daily dose of Sex. Fucks knows the "free" porn sites have gotten me used to that.
Yeah yeah... so it's February 14th. 
While I firmly hold the belief that Valentine's Day is merely a merchandising scam, I'm not going to bitch and moan about not having anyone to kiss and cuddle with today. 
However, this little sermon makes me want to celebrate old school:
Be Nobody's Valentine
(excerpt)
It should be without saying that the Christians should avoid Valentine’s Day like a plague. In God’s eyes, it is still “Lupercalia”, the “Day Of The Wolf.” Men become wolves, as they carry on the Satanic rituals of fornication, which means sexual intercourse without marriage. We have heard of the “wolf whistle”, and we all know that wolves do not whistle. It is lustful men and women, who carry on Satan’s blasphemy to this very day.
Ahhhh yeaaaahhhh.... Nothin' says lovin' like Ritual Fornication.
UPDATE
Awww... I must acknowledge the reciept of some lovely prezzies from two absolute sweethearts:
Cody - Thank you so much. You Are The Best. XXX
Andy - Oh fuck, just what I need - a dozen brownies. The monkey thanks you and loves you anyway.
Just when I was begining to worry over my Simpsons fanaticism, I read this and realized that there are bigger dorks out there than even me:
Jedis Become a Force to Be Counted
However, though this is a recent news story, in 2001 when the census was actually being polled this site labeled the whole campaign a hoax.
Surprisingly what hasn't been mentioned is the number of forms received with race listed as "Klingon".
While I am certainly not the first to admit when I'm wrong, I will cop to it if pressed. (thinking it over, I'll allow quite a lot when pressed... but anyway...)
Back in December I railed against Wishlists and CyberBegging as tawdry and shameless. This little excerpt from a Wired magazine article last year influenced my opinion:
Cam Culture: The Please Gimme Economy
The proliferation of flirty Cam Whore and LiveJournal sites showcasing pretty angst ridden teens and patronized by a voyeuristic and (usually) much older web audience makes me wonder what the point of subscription porn sites are anymore.
Purchase a few Amazon items and be rewarded with a personal peek of digital teen flesh.
On the other hand, at least you're getting something for your generosity. CyberBeggers simply hold out the virtual cup and wait for sympathetic surfers to bail them out of their financial holes. These sites don't want prezzies, they want the cold hard stuff.
CyberBegging Sites Popping Up On The Web
But you know, you gotta give it up to these sites. They've figured out a way to make the internet work for them by preying on some basic human emotions. Send a present and get the thrill of interaction with a teen toy. They might even tell you they luv u. Send a buck or two and feel the good christian glow of helping someone pay off a credit card maxed out from designer wear purchases.
Well, you know what? Since xmass cleaned me out last year, I can ill afford to be righteous. And besides, no one got me what I really wanted...
So, with much chagrin, I must admit that I too have been seduced by the Dark Side. I am now a present whore.
Oh jeezus - I just googled this and now I really feel fucking dirty...
The Simpsons Hits 300th Episode!
I am a Simpsons fan from way waaaay back. I remember the little bumpers they used to show on the Tracy Ullman Show back in the late 80s. The show has had it's ups and downs over the years... for awhile the writing was rather spotty, but the last few seasons have been absolutely stellar.
And I'm not just a casual fan, I'm a fucking geeek about it. I have the first episode guide, collect the action figures and playsets, am able to recite large chunks of episodes verbatim and am unable to make the sound "mmmm..." without lapsing into my weak approximation of Homer's voice.
I have made friends based on shared Simpsons fandom and have even judged boyfriends by how receptive they are to watching the show with me. (I know in my heart that my true love will be just as big a Simpsons freeek as I)
This fine little item 
is my latest acquisition. Open a beer and you hear this. And although I think it rocks, I may end up giving it to someone else who might love it as much as I. I do shit like that. I found a Lionel Hutz figure on eBay last year and as much as he is one of my very favorite characters, I ended up giving it to a lawyer friend for his birthday. Needless to say, he was touched.
Almost even more exciting than the 300th ep, is an Inside The Actors Studio dedicated to the show. I missed the first airing of this (dammit!!) but it's being rebroadcast Saturday Feb 15 at 12am and Sunday Feb 16 at 10am.
Okay, so the British Michael Jackson interview was finally telecast last week here in the states. And of course, now everyone is up in arms again over his alleged pederasty.
Originally I had no intention of weighing in with my views on the subject. I did not watch the interview although it has been the subject of much coverage on the local news here in LA so I have seen and read quite a number of highlights from it. But there seemed to be no need for me to comment on it, as it is the subject of much discussion all across the web.
But then today I read the court papers posted on The Smoking Gun and was aghast by their graphicness.
Jacko: The Original Child Abuse Allegations
This was back in '93 and somehow, even after that account, the case was dropped and swept under the carpet. Somehow... actually it's fairly obvious how that happened. He paid millions to the boy's family to keep it out of court. And they took it.
This to me is the truly disgusting fact - that parents would sell out the children that they supposedly love and cherish. They took anywhere from 15 to 40 million in exchange for their child's alleged "emotional distress". What could they have possibly told the boy? That 'everything is okay now that we have the dosh'? 'Just forget that he did you in the bath, sweetie... look at our new house!'
An excellent article in the British paper the Sunday Herald asks this very same question - and more.
"Jackson is not a charged or convicted paedophile, so instead of demanding 'would you let your child sleep with this man?', why are none of the angry tabloids asking 'would you forgive a paedophile for abusing your child if he paid you off?'"
And what about the family of the boy shown in the interview? Also in the Herald, this article is frankly almost more disturbing than Jacko's comments on the joy of bed sharing.
It seems to me that Jackson is displaying all of the classic signs of a survivor of child abuse. And despite the fact that he may not want to continue the cycle, as many end up doing, he is still contributing to it no matter how "sweet" he may think he's treating these boys.
In doing research for this entry I googled "pederasty" and of course hundreds of hits came up. But what was most surprising to me were the number of support groups run for and by "BoyLovers". I trolled through the forum of one such site and read posting after posting that was filled with earnest longing and zeal towards their "young friend(s)". At first I will admit that it made my flesh crawl, but after reading further my attitude slowly began to shift. The disgust was pushed to the background and I found myself filled with pity for these men. Their postings seemed like those of teenaged girls yearning for the pop stars and cute boys at school that they could never hope to have.
To us simple folk, Jackson seems to have it all going on; unbelievable wealth, talent and fame. And because of people willing to soullessly pimp out their precious children, he can easily buy a boy to share his bed, as a llama or a chimp for his personal zoo. And no one of any authority can stop him. Not even himself.
Michael Jackson seems to simultaneously embody two of the western world's favorite maxims:
1. The rich can buy their way into and out of anything.2. Money cannot buy you happiness.
After speaking with a friend from the east coast about visits to Disneyland (amazingly enough he hasn't been yet!), I got to thinking about all the times I'd been there as a child and some of my fave rides.
I know this is definitely going to date me, but this one was soooo fucking awesome, even in the 70s.
This site is amazingly thorough in it's dedication to the ride and going through the wealth of material on here brought back a flood of memories. Even if you're too young to remember, you must check it. C'mon!
And is it just me, or does "atom-mobiles" sound like a cool band name?
Getting totally blinged out on a swap meet budget has it's drawbacks apparently...
Two Charged With Glue Dentistry
Oh... Oh... it just don't get much better than this:
Web Magazine Retracts Virus Attack Story
My fave part is how indignant the writer who got hoaxed is that a brother journalist would do such a thing. A journalist who completely fabricates a sensational story and then sucks others into validating it??
Oh what is this world coming to?...
Dell to Make Floppy Disk Drives Optional
When Apple made the decision to ex floppy drives over 2 years ago I must admit that I was not ready for it. I upgraded from my workhorse Quad 650 to a shiny new G3 350 back in 1999 and for awhile I considered buying an add-on drive to handle all my old floppies. But I finally decided to make good use of the internal Zip and have since never looked back.
Will windoze users do the same? Or will they insist on continuing to use the old media? Time will tell.
You get two today:
Google search: cum stained feet
AND
Google search: come stained feet
Actually, I'm surpised there weren't more hits...
More on the Spector murder case. I'm quoting here because the site is loaded with those annoying flash pop ups. (who thought those fucking things up??)
From Hollywood.com:
One of his ex-wives, former girl group lead singer Ronnie Bennett Spector, said she did not believe he had it in him to shoot anyone to death. But she also said she had felt fear during the time they were together in and felt like a prisoner at times in her own home."My heart goes out to the woman and her family. I don't know what the circumstances are. I can only say that when I left in the early '70s, I knew that if I didn't leave at that time, I was going to die there. I've said it in my book over 12 years ago, and I still believe it to be true now,'' she wrote.
This makes no sense to me. "He couldn't have done it, but I was scared for my life when we were married"??
Doubt this will help the defence any...
Can't really comment on this yet, although Spector has always been known to be a freak...
Music Producer Phil Spector Arrested in LA Murder
And from what little info is available at the moment, it seems there could be yet another LA celeb trial to sensationalize in the media. just what we need...
Heard on CNN today that shuttle debris was showing up on eBay. It sounded like a hoax to me, but then I found this thread and this thread on an eBay forum.
It seems that most are simply opportunists cashing in on old Columbia memorbilia. Although apparently at least someone posted an auction for debris as a joke.
I appreciate a twisted sense of humor more than most folks, but it seems like everyone is just begging for any excuse to fly into moral hysteria.
What about the children????
