Cheech and Chong reunite

Cheech and Chong reunite as feud goes up in smoke

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Their feud finally having gone up in smoke, Cheech and Chong say they're eager to get back on the road for their first comedy tour in more than 25 years.

"We had such a legacy, such a history. We couldn't escape it, even if we tried," Tommy Chong told reporters at a news conference Wednesday at the Troubadour, the Los Angeles nightclub where the pair were discovered more than 35 years ago.

The duo said their "Light Up America" tour will kick off Sept. 12 in Philadelphia.

"It's going to be very theatrical," said Cheech Marin.

If Wednesday's news conference was an indication, it won't spare the pothead humor, either.

"We're definitely still smoking," Chong said when asked.

"I get transfusions now," quipped Marin.

"I like the taste," Chong said. "I'm old fashioned."

Marin told AP Radio earlier this month that he and the 70-year-old Chong had recently decided that if ever they were to reunite the time was now because, "You're not getting any younger and neither am I."

They tossed around some ideas and figured a comedy tour would be "the most fun" and "the least hassle," the 62-year-old Marin said.

Marin and Chong, who broke up amid creative differences, have tried to reunite before, but have always fought too much.

"It takes about three minutes for that to happen, Marin said. "There's this veiled hatred." But he added: "We've kind of resolved that."

During their original run, Marin and Chong released nine comedy albums between 1972 and 1985, were nominated for four Grammy Awards and won one. They also starred in eight feature films, almost always portraying a pair of comical stoners.

"We've gotten to the age where we don't feel like fighting anymore," Marin said, "because the end is a lot closer than the beginning."

Holy bat-weekend Batman...

We went to see the Dark Knight on Saturday afternoon. We did not wait in a long line, in fact, there was only one person in line ahead of us for the 5:30 showing. However, when we came out there was a line forming for the later showings. The movie itself was pretty much what I expected. It was not overwhelmingly great. Did it provide an escape of sorts for two and half hours? Yes. Though dinner before paired with Sierra Nevada's and Absinthe didn't hurt either. Would I go back and spend another two and a half hours again on it? Doubt it. The story line was incredibly weak and predictable with too much gratuitous violence. I wouldn't recommend it for children under 13, hence the PG-13 rating, but I did notice some rather young children in the theater. Ledger was a good, creepy Joker but I wouldn't say it was his best role. In fact, my favourite actors were Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. That's about all I can say about it without spoiling. The bat-cycle is pretty cool.

Meanwhile, it seemed like all the old Batman movies were playing on the tele this weekend and we let a couple of them play with commercials while I busied myself about the house. I even noticed a Toyota commercial that used a lot Batman themes, the Bat search-light (with the T for Toyota replacing the bat-symbol) and a lot of "POW" type graphics. Even the kiddie ride at the local market was playing the old Batman television show theme song. It's anybody's guess how much commercializing crap they will squeeze out of this run.

art by Josephine Wall

The Pearl
Said one oyster to a neighboring oyster,
"I have a great pain within me
It is heavy and round and I am in distress."
And the other oyster replied with haughty complacence,
"Praise be to the heavens and to the sea,
I have no pain within me.
I am well and whole both within and without."
At that moment a crab was passing by and heard the two oysters,
and he said to the one who was well and whole both within and without,
"yes, you are well and whole; but the pain that your neighbor bears
is a pearl of great beauty."
~Kahlil Gibran~

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

Harlem

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?


Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?


Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.


Or does it explode?

Woman tries to kill mice, shoots self

Criminal charges sought for 'mouse shooter'

link to article

By Glenda Anderson
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 11:34 a.m.

A Potter Valley woman who wounded herself and a man July 3 while attempting to kill mice with a .44 magnum revolver may be charged with negligent discharge of a firearm, authorities said Thursday.

Debra Due, 43, was trying to eliminate mice in a travel trailer on her property for a new tenant who was moving in when the accidental shooting occurred, said Mendocino County Sheriff’s Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.

The tenant and a man had begun moving the woman’s belongings into the trailer at 9:30 p.m. July 2, he said.

At about 1:20 a.m. July 3, Due, who was intoxicated, went down to the trailer with her gun, holstered under her left arm, Smallcomb said.

“Being a good landlord, she comes down to take care of this mouse problem,” he said.

But as she drew the revolver from its holster, it slipped from her hand, hit the floor and fired, Smallcomb said.

The bullet went through the woman’s right kneecap then struck a set of keys hanging on the man’s belt loop. The bullet glanced off the keys and tore a hole in the man’s pants, he said.

The bullet traveled between the man’s pants and his under shorts, grazing his groin area before coming to rest in his coin pocket, from where it was recovered for evidence, Smallcomb said.

“He’s really lucky. If it didn’t hit him in the key chain, who knows what would have happened,” he said.

Due was taken to Ukiah Valley Medical Center for treatment an later discharged.

The Sheriff’s Office has submitted the case to the District Attorney’s Office, suggesting that Due be charged with negligent discharge of a firearm, Smallcomb said.

Smallcomb said there may be a lesson to be learned from the accident.

“I guess you don’t drink and shoot mice at the same time,” he said.