The slush puddles in downtown Baltimore right now are no joke. I just stepped out for lunch, and now I feel like hanging my socks up to dry.

Bumming me out right now: the January entertainment drought. It comes every year, but it's hitting especially hard right now. I know it's not the end of the world or anything, but shit is just awful right now. There is nothing on TV, nothing in the movies, no albums coming out, no shows coming through town. There aren't even any hot shows with local bands coming up. Looking at the Ottobar schedule is just not a fun thing to do (Sage Francis in February, Blonde Redhead in April, and, um, that's it). Why does every band stay home in winter? Why doesn't anyone crank out an album or put out a halfway decent movie? Don't people realize there's a killing to be made? People are bored! But then again, Monster is out and I'm not even sure if I want to see it. And I'm definitely stopping by the record store after work to cop the new Air. But I'm a music critic, and I don't even feel like writing right now. I need inspiration bad.

Pissing me off right now: people shitting on Howard Dean for that speech in Iowa (though the Lil Jon MP3 mix is stupid funny). My best friend told me last week that he thinks Dean is crazy. Apparently the people of New Hampshire agree. I haven't been of voting age for all that long, but Howard Dean is the first politician I've been able to vote for who actually stands some chance of winning major office who has excited me. At all. And we're throwing him away like garbage because he got fired up giving a speech. Heaven forbid we have a presidential candidate who shows any enthusiasm. That is bullshit. I call bullshit.