Comic Book Image of the Week

This is the cover of one of the first comic books I ever owned.

It makes for such a nice springlike image.

Movie Quote of the Week

It is easy to understand why the most beautiful poems about England in the spring were written by poets living in Italy at the time.
--George Sanders, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

The Ays of March

It's official. March came in like a lion this weekend and judging from the number of wrecks I saw this morning when I was taking a friend and neighbor to one of the local hospitals, local drivers still have not got the hang of driving on snow and ice. (Not that it helps much to be able to drive on snow and ice if someone else's vehicle is sliding into you and you don't have room to avoid them.)

Anyway, I thought last week's cold spell would be our last for this winter but apparently I was wrong. We actually experienced temperatures in the teens here in Dallas last night. For that matter, we experienced so much sleet and freezing rain in the early afternoon that again I had to use one of my car keys to help open my gas cap cover because the cover was too frozen over with ice to open automatically. And of course, when I woke up this morning, the ground outside was still covered with ice and snow.

Anyway, spring can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned. And yet despite last week's cold spell, Dallas was already experiencing temperatures in the 80s before the end of February. Just imagine how hot it will be in this city come August.

I See the Girls Walk by Dressed in Their Summer Clothes...

And yet it's only April.

Moreover, if you can see such women at the local library, just imagine what the women at the local public park are wearing...

Movie Song of the Week: “The Spring Song”

Charlie Chaplin sings. No, seriously, he really does sing.

Pop Song of the Week: “The Safety Dance”

In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of Ren Fair.

Movie Quote of the Week

Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the spring time.
--Will Wright, Bambi (1942)

Movie Song of the Week: “Voices of Spring”

It took me a while but I finally found the ideal movie song for the first full week of spring -- and it's by Johann Strauss II. From 1941's Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, it is the oddest variation on this song that you are likely to find outside of the work of a certain comic trio. A more serious version can be found here.

Sing it again, Gloria Jean.

Primavera!


You can tell it's the first day of spring here in Dallas because it's so cold outside.

All week we've had temperatures in the 50s, 60s and even 70s. Then along comes the vernal equinox and suddenly we have temperatures in the early 30s and white flakes coming down from the sky that look suspiciously like snow.

It's enough to make me nostalgic for Detroit. At least up there the seasons don't act up so much.

Science Fiction Quote of the Week

Do you know what I think, standing here right this minute looking out at the city? I think that the warmth of the sun feels wonderful and that the air is as fresh as a new young wine and that the city has never seemed more sparkling or prosperous and that this is the most beautiful spring day in at least half a million years. And the last thing that’s going to cross my mind is that the weather may not hold or that great empires always crumble and are forgotten. But perhaps you and I are different, Thimiroi.
--Christine in Robert Silverberg’s “In Another Country”

Spring Has Sprung -- and Sprung Back

The first day of spring occurred last weekend so naturally temperatures here in Dallas dived all the way down into the 30s the day before yesterday.

It's not the first time Mother Nature has proved so unpredictable here in Dallas but still it was surprising. It warmed up again this afternoon but will it stay this way?

Who knows?