Lord of Burger

What’s a girl to do – if her father, a tyrannical 3 star chef, is suddenly assassinated, leaving millions in debt. Take over the restaurant, of course. Such is the premise of Lord of Burger – a new French comic book series. The art - and the slicing and dicing - owe a lot to Japanese Manga. I’m not much for superheros, but if she can make a chocolate soufflé rise to unnatural heights and skewer an uppity sommelier all in the same breath, that’s a whole different kettle of poisson. Some news from home:

Instead of doing our budget last night, G. and I spent the evening comparing Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal to “The Bandwagon” with Fred Astaire, the 1950s musical comedy that inspired MJ's choreography. Leave it to my French, tap dancing, cinema buff of a husband to know such a thing. This afternoon, G. found a version on Daily Motion (a sort of French Youtube), that puts the two together. Fred Astaire dancing to Michael Jackson – it works, I swear! The scene with Cyd Charisse in the night club (legs up to her eyebrows), is perfection. You can skip the first 3 minutes if you’re pressed for time. How’s that for some old fashioned pre-tax procrastination!

Augustin is trying desperately to crawl. He hasn’t yet figured out that the ass wiggle and the arm thing go together, so he does a lot of baby push-ups, then rolls over on the bear that plays a painfully slow version of “That’s Entertainment” (from one of G.'s tap class friends). He mews in frustration from time to time, and then puts his head down on the turquoise waves of his play mat. If he hasn’t got it by the time I go back to New York in early April, my mother will teach him - on all fours, if necessary. I can hear her now: “Come on, baby boy, you can do it. Get that tuches in the air!”

I’m really excited to be back in NY for a few weeks this spring! I’ve got a reading at Barnes & Noble Tribeca on April 7th, and will be joining Rachel Kramer Bussel for Nerd Sex Night (how cool is that – I’ve waited my whole life to put those two words together!) on April 15th. For those a bit outside the city, I’m doing a reading with Elm Street Books at the New Canaan Library in Connectinut on Monday, April 26th. In between, I’m heading up to NMH, my old high school in Western Mass to talk to some writing classes. I know the students will be my harshest critics yet!

Daylight savings time finally comes to Paris this weekend! Has spring sprung where you are?