Brittle spits of ice are hitting the windows right now; yes, we're in the midst of a smallish ice storm. This is nothing like the "Wrath of God/Khan" ice storm that tortured all Lexington's trees and left the city without power last year -- I hope, anyway. So far, it just seems to be the kind of thing that keeps us cooped up inside, listening to the pinging on the windows, and admiring the windows that are coated in spiderwebs of ice, and that slows George down when he bounds outside. Oh, and it's closed the library, which is inconvenient, as THE TWO SAMS and READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN are both waiting for me there. Not that I need more books in the stack right now, currently alternating NEWJACK: GUARDING SING SING, Ted Conover's book from a couple of years ago, and THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson, which is just as fascinating as everyone says it is. I felt I hadn't read much nonfiction in awhile so I would do a bit of it, but find myself missing fiction even as I do it. It's just not the same, and especially there is some guilt even reading nonfiction during the week that news of the New York Times Book Review's misguided new strategy leaked out.

I wrote another thousand or so words on the new short story yesterday, but it's still not quite done. So, I have to go do that.

This day has been mostly consumed by severe sleeping in. Last night, we went to R.D. and Amy's for a lovely dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and roasted red peppers and red wine and etc. (We actually had the leftover red peppers in an omelet this morning, as they were nice enough to send them home with us.) We screened a movie called FREE ENTERPRISE, about two friends with a lifelong Star Trek obsession who live in L.A. and have relationship issues. Very funny -- and some great bits with William Shatner. Worth looking up, though I suspect knowing most of the people who read this thing, that I'm the only person who didn't know about this movie already. R.D. and Amy have the most excellent home theater with super comfortable seats, not to mention enough amazing original artwork to leave you wandering around staring at the walls. (And we are now the proud owners of a painting of Mojo Jojo -- yay!) R.D. also showed us this amazing book called THE SECRET ART OF DR SEUSS, of Theodore Geisel's private artwork that was released after his death. It's amazing stuff. Some of which can be seen here.

A very nice evening. And yes, now I must work.

Happy ice storm day to you. See you at the Golden Globes.

earworm: "Still in Hollywood," Concrete Blonde

rec: COSMOS LATINOS

namecheck: Holden "Monkey Kong" Hall