I’m happy to report my deeply philosophical/angsty mood of the other day has proven as fleeting as the May snow of yesterday morning. Just so you know, I wasn’t the only one suffering in our household; my pooch kept gazing outside at the white expanse, then flopped to the ground with her trademark groan. Did you know a black lab, when distressed, can sound remarkably like a blue whale?

Even whilst in the dismals, however, a few things cheered me up. Now I shall pass them on to you:

1. Thanks to Glinda Harrison, I now know May 4th is National Orange Juice Day in the United States. I’ll never understand why they didn’t begin this tradition on the day I began Tartitude, but I won’t hold it against them.

The Tart was not paid for this announcement; she does not shill for the Florida’s Orange Growers Association. Nevertheless she hopes you all had 100% of your Vitamin C RDA yesterday, preferably served to you by someone with two day-old stubble, à la gentleman to the left.

2. How can anyone not smile back at the beaming face to the right? That’s Hilary Wagner at the IRA about to sign her first ARC’s and show off her glorious cover art and that blurb. What a blurb, huh? Rick Riordan saying, “Expect great adventures in Nightshade City.” Well Mr. Riordan, so do I and pretty much anyone familiar with Hilary and her writing. So glad to hear we are simpatico on this. By the way, thanks for the Lightening Thief series. As the mother of a reluctant reader, I greatly appreciate your work.

Peeps, expect to see more of H-bomb here on Tartitude if we can arrange a mutually convenient interview time, and if my man-candy won’t sully her YA/MG reputation too much. (Can’t hold back on the man-candy. That wouldn’t be right to suppress my artistic expression even while advancing another’s. ;))

3. This link was passed on by Bryn Greenwood. A warning: it’s explicit, contains a very masculine and bawdy sense of humour, but wickedly funny. Make sure you check out the comments section and understand they come with an implicit beverage alert: Hot Chicks with Douchebags

4. Last, a video that never ceases to make me smile. I think I’ve spoken about Green Card here. I think it vastly superior  to The Proposal — another movie which used the illegal-immigrant-status meme to force two individuals together long enough to fall in love.

Depardieu plays a crude, oafish, possibly unemployed man who marries a fastidious, socially conscious woman. The gap between them is perfectly symbolized by this: She spends her free time reclaiming urban dumps for community gardens, he mocks her for her optimism. 

In this video, he’s been hauled by one of Andie MacDowell’s friends to a high-brow dinner, where he masquerades as an important French composer. The hostess — the lady seen playing the piano at first — is about to move from her home and has already denied MacDowell’s impassioned plea to donate her trees to MacDowell’s charity. As I recall, this video represents the first exchange of gifts between this couple.

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