Just looked at our extended forecast for the middle-o-Oklahoma, and I'm seeing the possibility of an ice storm Sunday night, Monday and/or Monday night, so I thought I'd better get to bloggin' lest you not know what's goin' on in the world of your boy.

First off, I'm looking for more freelance writing projects. Just got done knocking out three articles for a tech magazine, and I've noticed a couple of ads for bigger articles. Like readers need a good book going at all times, I think I need a writing project.

This blog doesn't count.

Truth is, if you look at sites like PerezHilton.com and Gawker, they're more of an image-based, video-based platform. That's the way blogs are going. The notion that people will be interested in what I have to *write* just because I *write* it is baloney.

Our. Attention. Spans. Are. Shit.

Nevertheless, I don't have time to build and rebuild ryanwelton.com, although I am going to have to consider it soon. I'm also working on a blog for my Idol addiction, although I might just roll it all into this site.

Speaking of Idol

Three CDs released in the past couple of weeks, two on Tuesday, and I have an instant analysis. Who's got the best CD among Daughtry, Fantasia and Taylor Hicks?

Don't know. Truth is, I couldn't get through any of them without some sensation of complete boredom or a cringe in the small of my back.

However. I. Have. A. Small. Attention. Span.

But, their singles have distinct flavor. Daughtry comes through with white-boy, TV-theme rock-n-roll. Fantasia's all about trying to achieving an authentic, modern R&B vibe. Taylor Hicks just wants to keep the Idol-winner streak going ... Since Ruben Studdard won in 2002 and mildly flopped, Idol winners have killed.

My vote: The singles are all pretty good, but Fantasia's Hood Boy has a beat and a hook that is bad-ass. No cringe factor. It stands toe-to-toe with anything Missy Elliott or Mary J. can bring right now. Look for Ms. Barrino to emerge as a perennial critical favorite.

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?

Haven't seen many "new" movies this year, but I did watch a pair over the weekend. First, Nicholas Cage's "The Weather Man" and, second, "Clerks II."

Truth be told, I haven't enjoyed two movies back to back as much as these in a long while. If you include "Thank You For Smoking," which I watched the week before, and "Borat," which I saw at the theater about four weeks ago -- well -- I'm on a hot streak at the cinema.

First, The Weather Man is probably the best movie I've seen this year. It's right up my alley in that it's a complete downer. It's brutal.

However, it's subtle and both Nick Cage and Michael Caine (especially) are brilliant.

The gist of the movie is that Nicholas Cage is a TV weather guy. Not a meteorologist, a weather dude. Anyway, he works in a big market, gets paid big bucks but it doesn't keep the world from crapping on him.

Wow, and it craps on him, from the relationship with his wife to the one with his overweight daughter and, particularly, the one with his dying father (Caine).

This isn't actually a dark DRAMA. It's a dark COMEDY. Some of the humor in this film made me double over (camel toe). It was sincerely brutal, but enough so that it tickled my intellectual needs from a movie of this nature but was funny enough and universal in its theme enough that I could comfortably recommend it to anyone.

Michael Caine was freakin' out of this world. It's worth it just to watch his performance.

Now, I expected Clerks II to be a piss-poor attempt at recreating the classic original from the early 1990s.

I expected cringe moments.

I expected to be embarrassed for Kevin Smith and the guys who play Dante and Randall.

Nope. It was greatness. Personally, I think it was better than "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back," and definitely better than "Dogma."

I'm not sure what it is, but there is something about the characters Kevin Smith created that I can't really get enough of his movies. Hell, if there's a Clerks III, I'll be there.

Oh, and without giving ANYTHING away, they totally set this franchise up for Clerks III.

Ciao.