This just in: the French government has responded to the U.S. representatives who deliberately slighted the republic by renaming dishes such as french fries "freedom fries" and french toast "freedom toast". The government of France has decided to get in on the act itself and has proclaimed that, from this moment forward, the Republic of France will be known as "The Republic of Freedom".
I got that joke off of one of the comments from Ikram Saeed's website.
Erin and I are now thoroughly sick of the snow. We're walking through trenches dug into the walkways. I'm reminded of the year where the temperature didn't rise above freezing from January to mid March. By the time the snow started to melt, we had piled it up six feet on either side of the driveway, and had to dig it away from our neighbour's foundations as he was afraid of water erosion from snow melt. That was the year I swore off snow shovelling, I think.
We've got a lot of snow, but according to Environment Canada, if you take the Great Lakes Basin as a whole, we're still in the middle of a pretty serious drought. So, Minnesota, Wisconsin, we seem to have some of your snow here. Would you care to come over and pick it up?
Actually, this winter has gone exactly as the weather forecasters predicted back in November. They said that weak El Nino winds would peter out by the time they reached the Mississippi, and arctic air which normally would come down over the prairies and the American Midwest would sweep over Ontario and the Eastern Seaboard instead. Thanks to the presence of the Great Lakes (now over 50% frozen over) and conflict with Gulf air, snow has been plentiful all up the Eastern Seaboard. I'm sure the Midwest and the Prairie Provinces may have appreciated the warmer weather, but I'm sure they didn't appreciate the lack of snow. Their drought is far more serious than Ontario's, and it looks like it's going to pick up right where it left off this spring. So, to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, my sympathies. There's one Ontarian, at least, which is rooting for you.
We did have a hopeful sign of spring, however. Another robin was spotted this weekend and today we've had sunny skies, mild temperatures and signs of melt. And if the Weather Network is to be believed, we're to see sunny skies and temperatures approaching the teens throughout this weekend.
Who knows: we may even be within striking distance of crossing 20'C for the first time this year. I wonder who will win the UW Weather Station pool...
:Angel: has been moving along at a very good clip. I was a little worried at the way the series seemed to be scrambling, piling on a bigger bad on top of the big bad, and pulling Angelus out of a hat, but Faith pulled it all together. There was just something intensely cool about seeing her again. The actress, Eliza Dushku, was supremely comfortable in the role, as though all the time that Eliza was away, she was still nurturing her Faith persona.
But there have been changes. Faith has matured while in prison, and is taking on a bit of an Angel role in terms of atoning for past actions. She's also impressed as anything by the changes she's seen in Wesley (and who wouldn't be?). The defining moment for Faith was two weeks ago when she is told that Angelus is back. In Cameron's words: "No more nonsense, no more baiting and sarcasm and self-loathing -- just a beat while this sinks in, and then 'Move away from the glass.' You've got to love it when all the extraneous detail is pared down to the *essentials*..." Indeed I do.
There have been some rumours afoot that Eliza Dushku could take the lead on a series called Faith once Buffy retires at the end of this season. Though it may be wishful thinking, especially considering how Eliza doesn't seem to want to tie herself down to long-term television roles, but I'd watch it. Dan and I were talking about what form the series could take. If, as we guess, Buffy ends with the closing of the Hellmouth, why doesn't Faith take the Slayer show on the road? Angel's got L.A. covered, and Faith is currently on the run, after all. And what if she takes Wesley with her, and they have a thing going. Talk about a complex relationship.