This quote is way better/way worse:

And last, I don't really like writing, even if I somehow make a living out of it.

On voit.

Always sooooo charmant, Joseph!

Sacre bleu... La preuve est deja dans le pudding des 'Comments' ici.

(Ergo: Hot dang ... The proof is already in the pudding of this site's 'Comments' section.)

Wow -- a fellow traveler of Seipp's and Alkon's decrying the nasty tone of bloggers a la mode? Strange...

Bienvenue, Emmanuelle.

I always wondered the translation of "hot dang"

I think Emmanuelle manages to have a mind of her own. PS Cathy and I don't exactly think alike. In terms of my politics, she's referred to me as a "wingnut" while standing next to me, and I think I've said something similarly (mildly) insulting. Then again, both Cathy and I have a sense of humor about these things. Try it sometime. It's very relaxing.

PPS I do find it amusing that people who claim to find Cathy and me appalling and far too present here and elsewhere find a way to weave us into every other conversation here. I believe Emmanuelle, who is quite popular, in th U.S. and abroad, does have quite a few other friends and acquaintances.

Like Amy, I almost never agree with Cathy's politics but we effortlessly manage to have a lot of fun and be friends. She's a terrific writer and observer with a good sense of humor. And believe it or not (since people seem to object to that) she’s open-minded: she knows how to listen. And she challenges what you have to say and sometimes reconsiders certain things. I don't find her tone nasty, ever. Lots of posts in her blog are provocative, and she has strong opinions, but I never find gratuitous insults.

About hot dang: isn't like sacrebleu! or sapristi!some kind of old-fashioned swear word? Can't find it in the dictionary. Oh well. Thank you Kevin for the mention.

I don't find her tone nasty, ever.

What about the column in the Weekly about rich people having kids as fashion accessories? Or was that Amy's column? It was a bit nasty, especially if you're a rich parent...

Now that I think about it, it must have been Amy, because no one with kids would ever have written it, and Cathy has (I believe) a precocious daughter who has her own column or blog.

Unless it was a review of the Hollywood Interrupted book? The chapter that is being mentioned a lot is about celebrity nannies and certain stars having kids as "fashion accessories" pawning them off the multiple nannies, the rent-a-dads to play baseball with them, etc.

Welcome back, Emmanuelle! (And please come back from Paris soon, Amy!)

Well, girls, as I always say, this is why we're the ones who organize the L.A. Press Club parties. As you can see from some of the clueless, charmless comments here, there just aren't that many L.A. journalists with actual social skills.

I love it--I really do--when Seipp et Cie suddenly turn all mommiekittens and concomitantly announce that they are much nicer people than most everyone else.

Poor, maligned, rich, fashion-accessorizing parents! America, lately, is the land of the insulted. Humor-minus, and then some. Very distressing.

Dear Ted,
If you are a committed parent -- no matter what your income -- obviously, I'm not talking about you. Poor people, too, have kids for the wrong reasons. It's not an income-dependent thing. It's an irresponsible idiot-dependent thing. I don't understand how people can waste their lives getting all huffed up about stuff like this...and feeling all offended about Arnold's girly men remark. Can'tcha just laugh? It's good for the digestion.

PS My boyfriend sent me a picture of a kid in a cage from a picnic he went to in Michigan. I will very likely be excommunicated from our relationship if I post it. But I can talk about it -- and mention that it's my fantasy situation for many people's children (the underparented ones -- not the bright, well-raised ones like Cathy's daughter). All the little girl in the cage lacked was a muzzle!

Elections are supposed to be 'polarizing' in order to give people a real choice between two or more obvious alternatives. But today many people complain the candidates of the two major parties are too much alike on too many issues. So the problem is not the fact that people are "polarized", but the meanspiritedness of many of them -- this is what creates the bad "atmosphere". And yes, part of this problem is that some bloggers use cyberspace as a way to project their own brand of boorishness and vulgarity into the debate.

The Irish have an adage for people like Amy:

"Old maids' children never cry."

Joseph,

You got a little Petit Robert on my shoes.

Joseph/you got a little Petit Robert on my shoes.

Ne pas moi--c'est le pigeon.

Joseph, I don't Amy and Company don't claim to be nicer than everyone else -- just more charming than most of the posters here. (Not too difficult, admittedly...)

As a longtime LA parent may I just say Los Angeles leads the world in the baby as bauble trend? If you can't see that you need your peepers refurbished.