Today is the season's first snow in Dallas. Reggie is peering in the window while daddy and mommy slave away in the home office.

Slacker.

Steve Rubel is the man.

Tonight at 8 p.m. Central, we're going to interview Steve on our second episode of "Media Orchard Live" on BlogTalkRadio. Tune in and you can call in to the show and ask Steve questions.

We're going to discuss some heavy topics, such as:

1. Why Jimmy Wales, Second Lifers and others don't like PR people.
2. Why Edelman has taken so much grief over the past few months.
3. Whether telling chicks in bars that you're the "original PR doyen" is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
4. Whatever YOU want to talk about.

The call-in number is 646-915-8556. Get all the show details here.

Oh, by the way, I'm going to try to suck less than I apparently did the last time. So tune in!

(Disclaimer: BTR is an Idea Grove client...)

OK, first off, in response to those who have called and e-mailed wondering if our blog software is broken or what ... nope. We just haven't posted since November 17. That's the longest Media Orchard has gone without a post in well over a year, but it's been pretty much unavoidable.

How come? Well, have you read the Peanut Butter Manifesto?

Basically, we have a lot of client work, and we also started Spin Thicket, so to avoid spreading ourselves too thin a la Yahoo (Cathy's threatening to leak an internal Idea Grove memo), something had to give.

Unfortunately, that's been Media Orchard.

We plan to start updating Media Orchard again regularly soon, and should be able to get back up to our multiple-post-per-day pace sometime after the first of the year. That's our goal, anyhow...

In the meantime, for your MO fix, we offer two options:

1. Listen to "Media Orchard Live," our new live podcast. We're aiming to do a show every two weeks, and tonight we're excited to be interviewing PR doyen (had to use that word) Steve Rubel. So please tune in.

2. Become part of Spin Thicket. We believe in Spin Thicket and think it can be a great, fun resource for marketers and media types; so please, get involved. We plan to add some cool new community features once the traffic gets to the right level. So c'mon -- sign up and start posting!

See you in the funny papers.

The first published review of "Media Orchard Live," our new live podcast in which we interviewed Brian Clark:

Damn that sucked.

Scott could have done a much better job preparing for that call. He seemed confused, had low energy, and asked poor questions.

It was painful to hear...

Brian Clark's blog, Copyblogger, is one of the hottest on the Web. In less than a year on the scene, Brian has built up a subscriber base of more than 6,000 and is ranked in the top 900 blogs on Technorati.

How has he done it? And who is this man of mystery who describes himself only as "a serial entrepreneur, not a copywriter for hire"?

We'll see if we can find out tomorrow night. On Thursday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m. Central (9 Eastern and 6 Pacific for the time-zone challenged), we're going to interview Brian on our debut show on BTR. What's great is that you can listen live and call in to the show live to ask Brian questions.

The call-in number is 646-915-8556. Get all the details at www.blogtalkradio.com/mediaorchard.

We hate it when we don't keep up with Pick of the Orchard. Would someone please tell our clients to stop bothering us?

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch will appear on BlogTalkRadio tonight at 8 p.m. Central to discuss the TechCrunch New York Party and other Web 2.0 matters. And because it's BlogTalkRadio rather than a conventional podcast, you can call in to the show live. Get more details here.

Speaking of BTR, the company and its CEO, Alan Levy, were the subject of a just-published profile in .net magazine.

If you'd like to host your own BTR show, it's totally free; sign up here.

(BlogTalkRadio is an Idea Grove client.)

If you're not familiar with Pierce Mattie, it's a well-respected New York PR firm that specializes in the business of beauty. They have a fun blog -- and now, have decided to complement that blog with a live call-in show on BlogTalkRadio.

We missed their first show, but their second is today. The topic: Breast Implants 411, a Web site that shares information about breast augmentation surgery. The show's at 3 p.m. Central. Go here to listen and ask questions of Steve Hultgren, Pierce Mattie and Edy Eliza.

(Disclaimers: BTR is a client of the Idea Grove, and Breast Implants 411 is a client of Pierce Mattie.)

You can find it at the bottom of our sidebar. Yes, we made ours obnoxiously large, but you can configure it to about any size you like.

Find out how to get your own here.

From the AP:

Loretta Nall, the Libertarian Party's write-in candidate for governor of Alabama, drew wide notice with her cleavage-based campaign...

Nall attracted the most attention when her campaign offered T-shirts and marijuana stash boxes adorned with a photo of her with a plunging neckline and the words: "More of these boobs." Below that were pictures of other candidates for governor and the words: "And less of these boobs"...

The 32-year-old blond from Alexander City, who called for legalizing marijuana, a pullout of Alabama National Guard troops from Iraq remains upbeat and is talking about a run for Congress in 2008.

OK, not really. But she definitely showed some guts on Monday -- and it looks like it's going to pay off on the endorsement front. Mucho props.

The Idea Grove isn't hiring right now, but Spin Thicket is. We're looking for a smart, funny college student or early-career creative type to help us manage our new Spin Thicket site in his/her spare time. Expected time commitment: five to 10 hours per week. If you're interested, e-mail us right away. Time's a wastin'.

We discuss our love for goofing off in today's post at MarketingProfs Daily Fix. Check it out.

Dear Fundamentalist Politicians:

I want to help you. The term "embryonic stem cell research" is so clinical, nonjudgmental and precise -- it just doesn't work for you. For heaven's sake, you can't rally public opinion against something when you call it "embryonic stem cell research."

Look, you guys are good at this. You came up with the brilliant "death tax" to replace the horribly accurate "estate tax." Why? Because the great majority of your base doesn't have million-dollar estates -- but all of them will die. And while your base probably doesn't care too much if Uncle Sam takes a small chunk of Paris Hilton's future inheritance, they certainly don't like the idea of taxing someone just because they died. So even though "estate tax" is the more accurate term, "death tax" works. You're slowly but effectively convincing a lot of lower- and middle-income people to support one of the most regressive tax cuts imaginable.

"Pro-life" is genius as well. The reality, of course, is that you are "anti-abortion," or more specifically, "anti-abortion rights." But being anti-rights is a tough sell in America; in fact, being "anti" anything just sounds so -- so negative. So you convinced the media and the world to call you "pro-life," even though this is a rather vague term. It could just as easily be the label given to death penalty opponents, or anti-war protestors, for example. But you nabbed it first; great job!

Now, to your current rhetorical dilemma. You people have been trying out this talking point about how embryonic stem cell research is the "trading of one life for another." It's a nice idea -- but too many words. It's also too complicated and morally ambiguous; your side is not good at ambiguous.

You need a label, a scary one. This ad in Missouri is a step in the right direction.

Since I try never to criticize without suggesting, here are my thoughts for possible terms to replace "embryonic stem cell research":

1. "first step to cloning"

Clones scare people; you saw Star Wars Episode II, right?

2. "human egg violation"

You have to use "violation" instead of words like "destruction," since the embryos come from fertility clinics and will be destroyed anyway. Destroyed, but not violated.

3. "using babies for parts"

This may be the way to go. If anyone quibbles over the accuracy of the wording, you can just call them liberal pansies. That almost always works.

Good luck!

Sincerely,

Scott

Miniskirt? Check.
Midriff exposed? Check.
Cleavage popping out? Check.
OK, then -- you're ready to search for the top landscaping sites! You go, gal!

Thanks to everyone for making the first week of Spin Thicket fun. Below are the RSS and FeedBurner links. We invite you to subscribe today:

http://www.spinthicket.com/spinthicket.rss

http://feeds.feedburner.com/SpinThicket

Please let us know if you have any problems subscribing.

And no, it's not the video of John Kerry mangling a speech and bashing U.S. troops. It's this one: