Good mothers stop monkeys going bad.

The All Music Guide gets reworked. The unrivaled music information site recently got a facelift, as well as a number of new features, including music samples and sortable search results. Hopefully the new incarnation will be even better than the awesome predecessor; one drawback, though, is that most of the new features require sign-up, albeit free of charge. I'll miss the signature chunky yellow scheme, but the sleek new metallic seems pretty slick as well.

Bulwer-Lytton winners! A yearly contest for deliciously horrible writing. more inside

Ronstadt praises F9/11, all hell breaks loose. Before singing "Desperado" for an encore Saturday night, the 58-year-old rocker called Moore a "great American patriot" and "someone who is spreading the truth." . . . some of the 4,500 people in attendance stormed out of the theater. People also tore down concert posters and tossed cocktails into the air. more inside

The official rules for calling 'Shotgun' in an automobile. more inside

Ashes and Snow. Photography by Gregory Colbert. (Flash, resizes window, via wood s lot.)

Guinea Man Discovers 182-Carat Diamond! I'm sure it will bring him joy and happiness like diamonds have done for the people of Sierra Leone. more inside

Isometric pixel art, isometric pixel art, isometric pixel art, isometric pixel art How do they do it?

False Advertising - A Gallery of Parody "Ads" for various companies / industries with a subversive bent.

RateBeer.com , "widely recognized as the most accurate and most-visited source for beer information," has announced the "World's Worst Beers." Cheers!

London Meetup? Back in June there was a talk of a UK meetup in the London area when certain Monkeys happened to be in the area. I think late August was mentioned. (that's London, UK, not London, Ontario, though it is a mistake easily made) more inside

Cambodian Healing Bull. (RealMedia) Also: The fence-post Virgin Mary and the bleeding statues and something about a shrine that drinks yogurt or something. From the BBC.

"This land will surely vote for me!"

Bizarre Op-Ed of the Day Note: the date this op-ed was published is July 18, 2004. Barbara Ehrenreich tells Ralph Nader that it's over (when did it ever begin) and then writes this: more inside

Is anyone really surprised? Arnold Schwarzenegger is throwing a hissy-fit over legislators' delay in pushing his budget through. On Saturday, he called them "girlie men", twice, and asked voters to "terminate" those who oppose him (by voting against them). more inside

Trade cards, simple to fancy, some diecut. Here one may meet Uncle Sam hawking oysters, join a polar bear party, or eye a lassie who likes her malt. Mercantile ingenuity knows no bounds.

Blondestar. Always There. Always On. "The following conversation is real. It took place on Tuesday, June 8, 2004, between a BlondeStar advisor and a subscriber." (click on big blue box to listen to 1 min. 14 sec. MP3 file) more inside

Spider-maaan, Spider-maaan, Does whatever a spider can... Apart from in this instance spin webs. Instead he's got to rely on the Batman Lookalike Trapeze Artist Union to safely guide him through the skies of New York. Or, uh, something. [Flash]

Alien in 30 Seconds. [Flash] Performed by cartoon bunnies. From the makers of Titanic, The Shining, and The Exorcist. Via ABS.

Inexplicable object of the week. I searched, I did. Can it really be no one's posted it here yet? Including a suppos... supplement to this post.