Excuse me Blain for this interjection… but I don’t believe this blog capable of bringing fame nor fortune to mine nor anybody’s life. I’m not excluding the possibility that anything’s possible. The way I do see Metroblogging Miami though is a porthole through random people’s eyes and colloquialisms. A chance to see things in a city through the words of an adventurous writer. It is an opportunity for people to talk about the life they see here, the life they experience, because that is all what Miami is. And history is never history until it is written.

So please, roaming writers of these city blocks, share your wit and let’s make this representation of Miami personal and accurate.

Your ideas are wanted.

We need six new bloggers now. This is a great opportunity for fame and ( perhaps) fortune here in Miami. The deadline is January 8th. You should be able to post six times a week – on any interesting Miami related subject you wish.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and family arrived at MIA this evening – and the flight overshot the runway.Read all about it. One wonders why he has to take public transportation if he’s still Prime Minister.

Taken the other day at the Miami Seaquarium. 6000 pounds , can leap 20 feet in the air.

In just two weeks Governor Jeb Bush will move from Tallahassee to Coral Gables, settling into apartment life. Two projects he will be involved in – literacy and the promotion of alternative fuels ,especially ethanol. Here’s a picture taken this morning as he is about to chair a meeting of The Interamerican Ethanol CommissionThe Indy Car he is standing in runs on ethanol and can go 240 mph!

There’s an old New England parable that goes something like this:

Once upon a time in a small town, a newcomer came upon an oldtimer sitting on the porch of the general store. “Howdy stranger “,he said,”- are you new around here? ” The newcomer said ” Why yes, I am, just moved here. Can you tell me what the people are like around here?” The old man said – ” Well, what were they like where you came from? ”

” Why they were a nasty bunch – liars, cheaters, all of them – ready to stab you in the back”

“Well, said the old man, I’m sorry to say, you’ll find them the same way here.”

Not long after, another newcomer crossed paths with the oldtimer. Once again:
“Howdy stranger – are you new around here? ” The newcomer said ” Why yes, I am, just moved here. Can you tell me what the people are like around here?” The old man said – ” Well, what were they like where you came from? ”

“Why they were warm and wonderful -great friends every one of them – ready to give you the shirt off their back.”

“Well, said the old man, I’m happy to say, you’ll find them the same way here. ”

Those of you newcomers to our Fair Metropolis – who have written disparaging comments – take this into account! Would you be happy anywhere?

Check out our 51st City – Auckland NZ – at the opposite end of the Earth.

This Saturday evening is the spectacular Winterfest Parade of festively lit boats parading 10 miles up the Intercoastal in Broward. See the Herald article for further details.

Art Basel-come and gone. The freaks, the geeks, and the pretentious dweebs from out of town have left. Not that they were a bad thing. I’d enjoyed them. Three-fourths of the enjoyment I procure from Art Basel Miami is simply from the people watching. And it’s not really just the naked people gallivanting around, calling attention to themselves, and calling it art. No. It was the people who dressed up in balloon costumes and walked around the Design District.
It was the two old Chinese women wearing matching black fur coats, a round fur hat with one white feather sticking up in the front, and ostentatious make-up with eye liner that curled from the slope of the end of their eyes all the way to their cheek bones into Twilight Zone swirls.
And there was color to the people. The kinds of people that came out were aficionados of subjectivity and design – combined. Therefore these people sported styles probably unseen around this coughing globe. Unique parfait shaped hats and criss-crossed, mix-matching rags scattered throughout the streets of Miami as if they’d bathed in Home Depot’s spilt paint section.
It was beautiful.
Art Basel is one of two of my favorite seasons in Miami. The other is mango season. Oh, and then there’s lychee season. But those are not in discussion.

So. Art Basel – Free booze. Free art. How can one go wrong?

Last nights howling winds,rain and cold put a damper on late night outdoor events. There was a great party at the Wolfsonian in the early evening. There will be some more shots here later today.