Snow Day

This charming piccie is of me in front of Aventura late last night. Check out the really cute snow bear they made out of the snow which fell in mounds Tuesday!



Okay, so that's not me. It's a poor little child in East Dulwich, braving the suddenly arctic conditions back in my homeland.

But I tell you, it could be me.

We in South Florida are freezing our patooties off during the record lows this week. As I write, I am checking the Firefox AccuWeather extension I have -- and the reading says 43F/6C!

Brrr. Pray for me and pass the churros y chocolate.

"He Could've Run With Jesus Christ And Still Lost"

One of the most accessed blogposts on Sundries is the one I did during Hurricane Katrina, about ex-Vogue writer, current Newsweek contributor, and general Mississippi heroine, Julia Reed. Indeed, if you Google her name, you'll see that my post is the first hit.

I recently bought her The House on First Street book, precisely centered around her Katrina experiences, though I was sad to hear I just missed her book signing down here in South Florida.

I think I know why I like Julia Reed. She strikes a dissonant note from the usual commenters in the world of journalism, combining the vaunted Southern art of conversation, with a no-frills deadpan voice. As was said about Joni Mitchell, if you want to sound like her, you have to drink that Bourbon and smoke those cigarettes for YEARS.

The effect is not hyper-combative like Chris Matthews, or bimbo conciliatory like Mika Brzezinski, but someone you would actually like to draw out in conversation.

Here she is talking of Palin, McCain, her dad's opinion of Barack Obama's win (suspiciously close to mine, without the Zenness), and her book.



ADDED: The two politicians mentioned by Reed, as the reason why her father took Obama's nodoubtaboutit win (which he predicted) so well, are Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, the two Senators from Mississippi -- both Republicans.

That's precisely why I didn't take the gaspipe on November 4th. I thought to myself, hey, I still have Mel Martinez (R-FL) as my Senator, whilst the three-fer Republicans, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the two Diaz-Balarts, Lincoln and Mario, were ALL re-elected that day. It wunn't even close either.

So America turned Left? Really? Well, in South Florida, we're still Right. As Tip O'Neill said, all politics is local...and my local is still Republican.

Now if you live in Oregon, and are Republican, then yeah. Take the gaspipe.