Snow! Possibly!

[cleolinda]

I'm going to go ahead and get the linkspam out now--I'll post about Cloverfield when I get back from the movie tonight. I really don't think we'll have power or connectivity issues until tomorrow, if at all, but I find that preparing for things tends to prevent them, in a superstitious way.

For y'all wondering why a prediction of five inches of snow would send Birmingham into a (gleeful) panic, here's a few things that I don't think that Northerners, Westerners, or non-Americans are aware of: for one, winters in the South can hold steady at 40 or 50 degrees Fahrenheit, with a few dips down to the 30s or below, or perhaps none at all. We've been having a pattern this winter of an extremely cold week (19-20 degrees) followed by a week in the 60s and 70s, then a couple of days of rain and thunder. Then the cycle starts back up again. One year I got a faint dusting of snow on my birthday, and that was big news. Schools have actually been closed for a 60% chance of flurries. New anchors still refer to WINTER STORM '93 in ominous tones. If we have snowplows and de-icers, I sure as hell haven't ever seen them, although my mother reports that trucks full of sand are stationed in the streets around UAB Hospital--because people will need to get in no matter what.

We don't know how to drive on ice or snow because we don't get any. Well, sometimes we get a little ice, but life pretty much shuts down because we don't know how to drive on it. The 5:00 news actually had a helpful checklist of driving tips this afternoon ("Drive slowly"). Furthermore, Birmingham is wonderfully hilly--I don't want to say "mountainous," precisely, but we do have the Red Mountain Expressway. We have tons of bridges and valleys and twists and curves. And a city full of people who don't know how to drive on ice. Plus, we're a very treesome area; even downtown has trees along the streets (it's very attractive). So you have all these ancient trees piled up with snow. And then dead branches break off. And they fall on your roof and your car and your power lines. And then you have exposed power lines lying around in the street. Actually, in the old neighborhood where I grew up, you'd see entire trees fall over during a big snow (say, six inches). I remember when our street was closed off because a giant tree was lying across the road. Another tree actually fell over so completely that its roots were completely aboveground, like giant woody tentacles. And this was a very middle-class, close-to-[suburban]-downtown, American Beauty-type neighborhood. We're not talking farms here.

I think we'll be totally fine. Mom did the weekly grocery shopping this morning before she went to work, just to be safe. Sister Girl opens Panera tomorrow at crack-thirty, but we're hoping they'll close the store. I don't think we've actually had significant snow at this house (we moved here in 2001), so I don't know if the power lines are more reliable here; it's equally woodsy, though. We've never had trouble with pipes, though, so we have all the hot baths we want, and a gas-log fire. No gas range--my mother's been wanting one, like we had at the old house (she had it put in because--wait for it--branches were always taking down the power lines), but other than that, we've got batteries and candles and lighters and lanterns and what-have-you. My internet connection is finicky, though, so I don't know that I'll have that, even if we have power. We'll see. I'm curious to see how it shakes out, but I'm not terribly concerned. It's usually more inconvenient and hilarious, and maybe a little tiresome than anything.

The Smart Bitches and their readers match Nora Roberts' $5000 pledge to help the black-footed ferrets.

Chess genius Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland.

Fleeing to Mexico thwarts death penalty. "The reason: Mexico refuses to send anyone back to the United States unless the U.S. gives assurances it won't seek the death penalty — a 30-year-old policy that rankles some American prosecutors and enrages victims' families."

Creationist museum to auction mastodon skull.

Sex, class and exposing the heart of Jane Austen.

Stephen Fry breaks arm.

Snakes on a plane: Ton of reptiles seized.

25,000 names submitted for polar bear.

Go Fug Yourself has a book!

You walks like this all the time?

Gawker: What The Hell Are 4chan, ED, Something Awful, And "b"?

WGA strike: Any end in sight?

A new picture at 1-18-08.com: the aftermath of the Slusho Chuai station whatever thing that happens in the online pre-story. Dead monsters? Dead victims of monster(s)? Is that a big bite taken out of... whatever it is? Meanwhile, I have a few spoilery Cloverfield links, but I'll save those for a couple of days at least. The rest of them: Review: Cloverfield - Everything I Have Ever Wanted From a Monster Movie; Review: 'Cloverfield' something to see; Nevermind the Monster -- Cloverfield Is All About 9/11 ("And then, just as you start to contemplate those other blasted buildings, those other terrified people trapped inside them, the monster arrives and suddenly everything is fun, B-movie goodness. It takes smart writing and directing to make a movie like this, that pushes raw historical tragedy right into our eyeballs and then deftly distracts us with old-fashioned entertainment. Sure, you can go see Cloverfield for the stomping and roaring, and you won't be disappointed. But when the movie's images of a destroyed New York fallen into chaos haunt you for days afterward, you'll start to realize that Reeves and his twangy-ass monster have given the U.S. its first great movie about 9/11"); 'Cloverfield': The Critics Are Split (New York critics in particular seem to be angry about the 9/11 imagery); io9 Talks To Cloverfield Director Matt Reeves; Defamer Hits The 'Cloverfield' Premiere; Stay After The Credits For More J.J. Abrams Mysterification; 'Cloverfield' is Out! It's Time to Talk Sequels, or rather, the same movie from a traditional perspective--or even another running-and-screaming perspective; Cloverfield Fans Weren't Fooled by codenames.

'Star Trek' Teaser Trailer, in Glorious Cell Phone-Quality.

So What Happened To Mad-Eye Moody In ‘Harry Potter [and the Deathly Hallows]’? Brendan Gleeson Raises An Eyebrow

Zack Snyder Discusses 'Watchmen' Storyboards.

'Defiance' Trailer, Starring James Bond.

Inkheart Gets Delayed.

Linney, Banderas and Garai Board 'Other Man.'

Possible XF2 spoiler noticed in new stills?

'Married Life' Pic Released, Revealing a 40s-Style Rachel McAdams.

'Shrooms' Trailer is Totally Trippy, Man.

Paglia Gave 'Teeth' Its Fangs; Movie Critics Take A Bite Out Of 'Teeth.'

First Look at Tarantino's 'Hell Ride' Poster.

Efron Meeting Welles, Overjoys Adolescent 'Citizen Kane' Fanbase. Am I the only one who thinks that Efron looks like a melted Ken doll?

Comments

[channonyarrow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're warm enough in Seattle to not really Get It when it snows, which is why I stay the hell home (having totalled one car in snow) when we get ANY snow. I know there are enough newcomers to the area who bitch and moan about people going ten miles an hour on the freeway because there's a quarter inch of slush, but dude, if that's what you want, go home. I don't have a good record of driving in significant snow, and neither does anyone else. In the snowstorm in January (I think it was) last year, there were points when freeway traffic was moving one mile an hour, and that wasn't a bad storm by anyone else's standards. Invariably, someone takes twenty four hours to get home because traffic is so bad. And we're also hilly, with actual foothills not too far away, though fortunately out of most peoples' range of travel.

Good luck to you - I hope your storm doesn't happen and that you're not super inconvenienced if it does!

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

The Smart Bitches and their readers match Nora Roberts' $5000 pledge to help the black-footed ferrets.
Awww!! I love when that happens. Oh, the power of the Internet and all its money.

'Star Trek' Teaser Trailer, in Glorious Cell Phone-Quality.
Oh yeah!! I forgot we get that. I'll wait to watch it in glorious big-screen quality

[apey1013.livejournal.com]

My roommate and I think Efron is made of wax.

[neveth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, snow here really freaks people out (here being the DFW/Dallas, TX area). We're moderately more equipped for ice just because things get icy here at least twice a winter, but we're not used to snow. Sleet, yes. But snow makes the city stop dead and we all rush outside and stare in wonder.

Yeah, they're calling for ice and sleet possibilities for the next few days - I imagine people are out stocking up. I know I sure as hell don't go out when it's icy unless it's an emergency - too many idiots on the roads.

[trileaderroses.livejournal.com]

Hee, I feel your pain. The only time I remember it snowing here in South Georgia was the Winter Storm of '93. We still speak of it in hushed tones.

"It hasn't been this cold since '93!"
"Oh, you're right. It was....That Storm. I remember it well."

[aliaspiral.livejournal.com]

We called it "The Blizzard" in North Ga. we got over two feet of snow and had no power or water for over a week!

[stringertheory.livejournal.com]

The only time I can ever remember it snowing (other than the kind that melted before it hit the ground - and even that was BIG news) was when I was around 5 years old (back in '90 or so) when it snowed in extreme-southern GA (Waycross, in fact).

Whenever the topic of Snow in Georgia comes up and I mention this, people give me this look of: 'Snow? In Waycross?! Isn't that the swamp area? Is that even possible?' And I just giggle.

[trileaderroses.livejournal.com]

Well, fire is more likely in your part of the woods than snow, isn't it? ;)

(I'm in Valdosta.)

[stringertheory.livejournal.com]

Ah, this is true. Fires and a sudden influx of gators. *sniggers*

(I'm from Waycross, grew up in a teensy-tiny town in south-central GA, and now reside in the big ol' city of Macon. Nice to find another south Georgia peep out in Teh Interwebz. ;P)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stormthesea/]

I remember that, I think snow fell three feet where I live. However, I myself was three feet, so maybe it just seemed that way.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Interesting -- I'm still a little mystified by how little of the Cloverfield mythos made it into the actual movie, but honestly, if I were editing it and it began to drag, those would be the first places I would cut, and it seems to be well-received on the basis of its lean runtime and snappy pace. Maybe it's just a warm-up for the inevitable feature-laden DVD pack -- and, judging from the clip after the credits, [spoiler-pruf'd] .

[Overly spoilery graf deleted; sorry, upon reflection, too much information for opening night.]

Here's hoping y'all weather the storm. From my experience, though, snow's all good, but no ice, plzkthx.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Heh. Winter Storm '93. I remember that winter. That was the storm where my school was closed for a week and a half and by the time that snow stopped falling we had five-foot tall drifts behind my house. (That was also the storm where we ran out of milk and bread after a few days and thanks to the state of emergency my dad had to ride his snowmobile down to the mini-mart. Nearly got a ticket for it too, thanks to our idiotic mayor.)

And I'm torn about that mastodon skull. On one hand, I don't want that museum to get the money it needs to stay open. On the other hand, some real scientist please take that thing off their hands.

[killer-penguin.livejournal.com]

I know you guys aren't used to it, and I know I should be understanding.... but I can't help but always laughing hysterically when people freak out over a little snow or cold weather

mostly because I live in MN, where it's currently -2 degrees, but feels like -20 (so says weather.com), and we get snow every few days

so I try to be nice and understanding.. i really do try.... but... *giggle* I mean just a few inches? *gigglesnort*

...

XD

[viorica8957.livejournal.com]

Efron's the only HSM cast member I actually think might be talented, but I don't know about serious drama.

And you're right, he looks like a Ken doll whose owner put him in the microwave in lieu of a sauna.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

He was good in Hairspray, for what it's worth. (To me that's saying something--I think High School Musical was terrible.)

[viorica8957.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Hairspray was what made me like him (ish). But there's a big difference between a corny musical and a coming-of-age drama.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think that's one reason I'm okay with him. Disney hooked him for something I don't like but he has the ability to do other things. I guess I tend to cheer for the actors who don't manage to screw up their lives by getting into Hollywood. Obviously, he's just getting started and has lots of room to do such, but, eh, so far, so good. =P

[darreldoomvomit.livejournal.com]

birmingham=hilly?

when going downhill, put the car into neutral and slide down, don't try and use any gas at all, then put it into first gear and then drive for auto. and first gear and then second. etc. for standard when you are no longer going down hill.

i live on a very very steep hill (i on'y notice when it snows) and this works really well. it is scary, but don't brake hard. drive like you are driving in deep water.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

Wait, seriously? Trailer hitch balls. Don't these people have more important things to do? Sometimes I hate politicians.

As for driving in the snow--if you get any--you can't just drive slowly. You have to drive more slowly than usual, but you also can't accelerate or break rapidly. You have to do them extreeeeeeeeemely slowly, otherwise you will get stuck or fishtail. Fun times, eh? I doubt it'd even get that bad, though, because seriously, driving in one or two inches is not really a big deal--it tends to melt quickly. A foot or so? Different story.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

Yeah, our problem down here often tends to be "black ice" under the snow rather than dealing with big amounts of snow standing on asphalt. I don't know if that's as much of an issue elsewhere.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I don't think that's a huge problem here for us, but I don't really have enough personal experience (4 yrs) to vouch for that. Honestly, the biggest problem here is the people who don't associate snow with Ohio (I think people tend to think "Ohio=farms" and stop there) and freak out when we have a slight dusting that melts the instant it hits asphalt. Seriously. Ohio drivers are not highly intelligent. *headdesk*

[i-amthecosmos.livejournal.com]

I can only add that many Alabamians have a deeply ingrained terror of driving in snow, not just ice. And snow is fairly harmless, but we don't really know that.

One time I was getting on the ramp to 280 and it started snowing big fat flakes. I elected to drive a bit slower and turn my wipers on, but the car ahead of me stopped dead in the middle of the ramp. No moving to the shoulder, just refused to go any further. I went around the car, and after a second, the people behind me did as well.

My husband's from Minnesota, and he can't get enough of this story. "They did what?!"

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

Growing up in upstate New York, I used to laugh at people for not knowing how to deal with snow in North Carolina and the like. But seriously, you guys are lucky if you have, like, 2 snowplows lying around. My dad on the other hand? Has a truck with a plow attached to it. I *think* the worst snow fall I ever saw was 27 inches in one day. Oh, and if there are ever any leaves still attached to trees when it snows, they get too heavy, and that's when branches crack and whole trees fall over.

Of course, now I live in California, where people seriously don't know how to drive if it rains.

[enid-keaner.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain about the rain. People in VA have no idea how to drive in the rain - even though it rains all the time here. It's like, "Really? You DIDN'T realize that gunning down a hill at 70 mph in the pouring rain was an awfully bad idea? Really?"

[stringertheory.livejournal.com]

Ah, the Southern winter. As a fellow Southerner myself (living in Georgia), I know how you feel.

We actually had the 'In Case of Inclement Weather' meeting at work this week because there was a potential for the roads to be icy one morning. Of course nothing actually came of it all. Not a bit of ice to be seen and not even that much water from the rain, truth be told.

The reaction to weather 'round here has always tickled me. I've actually had school cancelled (back during high school) when it rained too much because the buses couldn't get down the dirt roads to pick up students. If it snowed at all in my hometown, the entire place would shut down. Not only would no one know how to drive in it, the city wouldn't have any equipment to clear the roads. It would be a catastrophe.

[bigeyedrabbit.livejournal.com]

Gah, what's worst is that nobody in the Souther college town can drive on ice either, but when the University closes due to ice storms, a lot of college kids seem to decide OH HAI HAPPY FUN VACATION SNOW DAY TIME and go out on the road and scare the living hell-crap out of me.

(Not to just knock college students -- I'll bet there are professors who take the same attitude, if I only knew.)

[bigeyedrabbit.livejournal.com]

the Souther college town

Um, obviously that was supposed to say "the Southern college town where I live." Yay incoherence.

[kittygopounce.livejournal.com]

Hehe =X You make me giggle.

Side note. Birmingham looks extremely like my home town in Australia. Tree-y. Except, we don't have raised/bridge-style roads.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

I get really tired of people laughing at Atlanta winters. Dude. The people who can't drive in the ice and snow here? Pretty often, they're not from Atlanta.

[life-on-queen.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, stay away from 'shrooms, man. It came out over here (Ireland) around Hallowe'en and the critics all pooped on it (although the Irish critics were kinder to home-made product than the English: Irish Times review here (http://www.ireland.com/theticket/articles/2007/1123/1195682052088.html)).

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

From the Austen article:

And then there's the carnal component.

"My mother was a difficult and unfathomable woman," declares Davies, "and I started trying to understand women at an early age."

...okay. Something about that transition is a little creepy.

[t4-flirt.livejournal.com]

I was born and raised in NE Ohio...so driving in bad weather was just a way of life. Having moved to SW Florida this summer, it amuses me greatly that some people freak out about driving in the rain.

[kels.livejournal.com]

RE: Possible XF2 spoiler noticed in new stills?

It looks more like a tan line from a wedding ring to me, which would make sense seeing as how the actor is married, and would have removed his wedding ring to play Mulder. I highly doubt that the character is (or will be) married in the film.

[all-shine-on.livejournal.com]

Actually, David and Tea both got tattoos on their fingers instead of rings and that's in fact what it is. No wedding ring for Mulder, at least this time (he once left it on for a flashback episode, causing considerable fanwank).

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

The Smart Bitches and their readers match Nora Roberts' $5000 pledge to help the black-footed ferrets.
that's fantastic.

And yes, Efron does look like a melted Ken doll.

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I found the Zac Efron vid in that link trippier than the "Shrooms" trailer. Why are there flashing roads? Weird stock-footage metaphor?

[eofs.livejournal.com]

I used to get fed up of people scoffing at the way two inches of snow brings most of the UK to a grinding halt. But now I just point out that the cost of having such extensive coverage of gritters/snowploughs for the single annual day of snow would actually be higher than the money that's lost due to the number of people who can't get to work on that one day.

It's the same as the 'friends' of mine who scoffed when all of Europe had the heatwave back in 2003. We were met with a tide of "pfft, 100°F is nothing!" Which it isn't when you've got airconditioned cars and houses and offices and shops and cafes and restaurants and everything else. Air-conditioning is most certainly not standard in cars here (you wanna cool down? Open a window) and I have never been in a residence anywhere in Europe which has air-conditioning. Ever. And it's not even normal to have fans. So yes, when it's 100°F+ outside with 90% humidity and your only method of cooling down is to open the window, it's not nice. It was also not exactly nice of them to be laughing at us given the 35,000 people who died as a direct result of the heat...

</rant>

[metonymy.livejournal.com]

Yeeeah, as a Northerner with a bunch of Southern friends, I have gotten used to pointing and laughing. My school district doesn't close unless there's, like, a foot of snow on the ground - and that's only because it's regional and the hilltowns get an extra two or three inches. But I get whimpery when the temperature goes over 85, so it evens out.

Am I the only one who thinks that Efron looks like a melted Ken doll?

Hellll no. I refer to him as the Celebretron 3000. He has DEAD EYES.

[pygmymetal.livejournal.com]

LOVED CLOVERFIELD!!!

Saw trailers for Hellboy II (SQUEEE!!!!!!! will no doubt be better than Hellboy I!!!! (but will there be kittens?)), Ironman and Star Trek.

I died and went to heaven!!!!!!!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Huh--we didn't get Hellboy. We got Iron Man, The Eye, and like three other things I was totally meh on.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

We just moved from Virginia to Nebraska. We knew it would be much colder and snowier there, and made the not-so-unlikely assumption that Nebraskans, having much more experience driving in the snow, would probably be able to handle it far better than people in the Northern Virginia area, who panic the second a flake hits the ground.

Judging by the number of accidents I witnessed the day before yesterday, Nebraskans have not yet figured out that you slow down on interstate on-ramps when the roads are slick. I am truly boggled.

[auriatetsukai.livejournal.com]

If the Washingtonians (particularly the Seattlites) forget completely how to drive in snow, then of course there's no hope for the south. xD

And Inkheart, delayed a whole year!? I was simultaneously hating and WANTING this movie, but come on!

[ocarina.livejournal.com]

I moved to Ottawa, where we now have feet and feet of snow outside, but I still remember the storm of '93. I lived in Atlanta, but my 7th grade class trip to Washington was coming back the night it snowed. The bus stopped at a hotel on Lenox road, near the malls, and no one's parents could come pick them up because a) snow plows are fictional creatures, and b) no one knows how to drive in flurries, let alone inches and inches of snow. Except my dad, ex-yankee. He not only drove to come get me, he did it over some serious hills. And thus my parents did not have to pay an expensive hotel bill and I got to camp out in a neighbor's house with 2 other families around a wood stove.

And then I moved to Canada, where my New Brunswicker husband had not only heard about '93, but still remembered it being reported on the news in Canada! It actually was big, no kidding! And then we built a giant snowfort out of just the first snowfall.

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

I remember traveling through the States on March Break as a kid and getting delayed somewhere...I forget where, because it was snowing (lightly) and the whole city just shut down. I'm Canadian so my family and I were like, 'seriously? You're seriously freaking out about this?'. We went to some restaurant across from our hotel and our waitress said, in this thick Southern accent: "Oh yeah, I went out of my house this morning and I slipped on some ice and I though, Lord, I ain't going out in this weather and turned around and went right back inside!". We ended up not getting back in time for school starting after March Break.

[dzurlady.livejournal.com]

Stephen Fry breaks arm.
Snakes on a plane: Ton of reptiles seized.
The Snakes text links to the Stephen Fry article, btw.