I just got back from a screening of the Two Towers. I suppose I succumbed to the hype of the impending Return of the King, and decided that I better catch up on the 2nd episode before the next installment arrives. Fortunately, there are cinemas in the city playing Fellowship and Two Towers in anticipation of the Return.

When I stepped into the cinema about 5pm, blowing snow had just started up. 3.5 hours later, something like 4 inches had accumulated and there were ploughs everywhere and cars crawling along honking and generally making a fuss. Right outside the Paramount, there were several cars in a row that were waving what turned out to be Iraqi flags, there was honking, screaming, chanting ... all this in a blizzard that was just mercilessly dumping snow, reducing visibility to near zero.

I was pleasantly surprised by the news of Saddam's capture this morning, but was skeptical of the reported joyous reactions by Iraqis. From reading actual baghdadi blogs, those kind of reports make “good” news for Western media, but don't always reflect the sentiment on the street. So it was doubly surreal and encouraging to witness the joyous ripples of Saddam's capture this far away, in the most unlikely setting ...