Weather: More thunderstorms in the afternoon yesterday, but not as severe -- it just started to rain lightly as I was starting to videotape outside.

Wildlife: Hear no skunk, see no skunk, uh-oh we can still smell those stinkers at times.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Media Watch: I saw some of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction from 1994. Uma Thurman was very charismatic, and still is. John Travolta was actually good! I liked the weird 50's nightclub scene very much. Honorable mention: Rosanna Arquette.
The History Channel had an interesting show -- Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt.
From www.historychannel.com:
Famed as the "Valley of the Golden Mummies," Egypt's Bahariya Oasis is also home to one of the greatest concentrations of dinosaur remains on earth. The German scientist Ernst Stromer discovered the fossils in 1910, but his collection was largely destroyed during World War II. Remarkably, paleontologists did not return to Stromer's site for over half a century.
THE LOST DINOSAURS OF EGYPT is a gripping account of the Bahariya expeditions. Rare photos show Stromer's groundbreaking journey, while Josh Smith, the young leader of the 2000 expedition, talks about the rewards of working in "dinosaur heaven." And the cameras are rolling as Smith's team unearths the remains of Paralititan Stromeri, the second-largest dinosaur ever discovered. Video on sale HERE
The best part of the show was the way they told the story of Ernst Stromer -- he lost two sons in WWII, and his gigantic fossils were destroyed by Allied bombing over Munich in 1944. Luckily, one son came back from Soviet prison camps in 1950, and started a family. Prof. Stromer had some good glass negatives of his discoveries too. The artifacts may be gone, but the data remains, in a form that allows it to still be studied.

Weather: Thunderstorms built up around noon yesterday -- huge, high, billowing cells. The air was muggy and hot, and when the lightning started, a bolt hit the ball field right across the street! It terrified me when I heard that our receptionist was sent out in tht storm to roll up car windows. SCREW THAT! Let 'em get a wet ass -- people can be KILLED by lightning.

Wildlife: The male Yellowheads and Redwing Blackbirds fluff-up and posture at the box feeder. The females just fly up and eat. ("Get outta my way, boy!")

Charity Alert: It can't be easier than this -- The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Keeping Up To Date: Here's an improvement to the Historical Society's website -- Buy this book! Preview "Looking Back" by Kathryn McKay
How about Final Friday? They have these good-weather "art walks" in Helena, Montana and Missoula, Montana. Why not here? Welcome to the Hockaday Museum of Art
Here's some streaming FUNKADELIC! SHOUTcast from Juan in Florida

Media Watch: Despite what I wrote yesterday, my wife and I went to the local Borders Books and bought first editions of Bill Clinton's My Life. Yeah, we'll get them signed by the author somehow.
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy had some droll moments. Their client dressed almost as funny as Carson normally does, and it was hilarious to see Cressley trying to tone somebody down. The client was also unrepentantly slobby -- he left a half-dozen empty beer bottles standing on his new coffee table for about ten hours, even though he knew that he was bringing somebody home in order to impress them with Thom Fillicia's redecorating work. (No, he never cleaned them up.)
There's supposed to be a Steven King's Kingdom Hospital episode tomorrow night -- uh huh, we'll see. Maybe Trio Network will finish it on their FLOPS series. For now, here's a somewhat funny website that's part of ABC's media hype: Kingdom Hospital of Maine

Before I Forget: Rudy Valee was in two movies on TCM last Monday -- Gold Diggers In Paris (1938) and Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955) -- they're both C-grade pictures, set in Paris, with insipid plots of show business fraud. The 1955 movie was shot on location at times, but not the 1938 flick.
There were talented people involved in both films -- Busby Berkeley in Goldiggers, and Jayne Russell in Brunettes. Valee played an Ivy League con-man in both roles -- George Bush's role-model for sure!
TCM also played other Jayne Russell movies, including two of her best -- Macao and His Kind of Woman with her San Fernando Valley neighbor Robert Mitchum. The latter film is outright stolen by a very funny, upstaging, Vincent Price in the last half-hour. "B" Picture doesn't neccessarily mean BAD Picture!

Weather: It was cold and rainy for a couple of days, but yesterday and today are nice -- altough cooler than you'd expect on the summer solastice.

Wildlife: The cowbirds are still chasing the hawks and eagles around.

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

Media Watch: I'm not in the mood for Bill Clinton right now, so the news and talk shows are being clicked-through by very quickly. He was a better than average president though, but I'll visit this subject LATER -- much later.
Fleetwood Mac on PBS' Soundstage -- Mostly oldies, some originals, a second drummer (bad sign, Mick), and a mystery keyboardist (that's alright). Soundstage -- Fleetwood Mac -- PBS
Stevie Nicks once sang backup in a group called Fritz -- I even saw them in Salt Lake when they were opening for It's A Beautiful Day. My pal Michael G. Cavanaugh, the most popular local radio DJ at the time, introduced the band with a special mention of her beauty. "Thank you," she said with a look of surprise. Strangely enough, maybe it didn't happen all that often. Lindsey Buckingham was in Fritz too, but he had no discernable presence at the time I saw him -- kinda looked like a Q-Tip, all skinny with an unruly afro of black hair -- but the band had no discernable presence either, so he fit right in.
The point of this story is that Fritz was based in San Francisco, and Ms. Nicks performed on the same stages with Janis Joplin, and Joplin imitators like Lydia Pense of Cold Blood. This PBS performance displays a few of the unconscious mannerisms she likely aquired from Ms. Joplin -- to my eyes at least. Ms. Nicks has made some of the most evocative, original grooves in Pop music from her own soul, and none of her influences should EVER count against this fact.
Hey look at this! Mr. Buckingham has also done a solo Soundstage -- with Stevie Nicks as a guest!
Soundstage -- Lindsey Buckingham -- PBS