My daughter has inherited my sense of rhythm.

My daughter is dancing to Barack Obama.

I kid you not; currently Obama is on television, saying something vaguely important about health care. His shirtsleeves are rolled up, and he's wearing that incredulous look on his face that seems to ask why he has to explain the reasoning behind trying to make sure that everyone in his country is allowed to, y'know, not die. (Note to Obama detractors, especially that one lady last night who was famously screaming, "get outta my health care!": YOU DON'T HAVE HEALTH CARE. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT.) He looks wearily paternal, like he just finished a twelve-hour shift at the factory and has now come home to find his children asking for piggyback rides and bedtime stories. Despite that apparent fatigue, his words are calm, measured, and straightforward.

And my daughter is dancing to him.

I mean, my daughter dances to a lot of things; it doesn't matter what we put on the stereo, whether it be metal, hip-hop, rock, punk, r&b - once it starts, so do her kneebends, and then her hands go up in the air and her head does that sort of half-nodding thing that means she wants to bounce to the beat but her co-ordination's not quite there yet, and then we all laugh because, y'know, we're white and we're dancing, but it's fun, right? And now she's dancing to a press conference.

I don't get it. Then again, she's lately taken to spinning around and around and around and around until she's so dizzy she keels over and smacks her head on the coffee table, but just comes up laughing, and I didn't think that kind of self-destructive behaviour started until they reached puberty and started listening to My Chemical Romance. I guess it's true: they grow up so quickly...

...any one else notice how badass Obama seems these days? I mean, this is a guy who was once considered the whitest black man in America, and this was before Michael Jackson passed away (Too soon? Naw...); now, every picture you see of him is like a cross between George Clooney and Shaft, and every news clip seems empty if you're not playing some James Brown in the background.

I'm just sayin' is all: brotha's got it goin on.

OHMIGOD NEW MUSIC Y'ALL SHOULD LISTEN TO:

1. I had a disagreement with Big Clint a few years back over The Roots, wherein the big galoot actually uttered the phrase, "...The Roots play hip-hop that only white people listen to...", a statement so jaw-droppingly inane that it's taken me a few years to respond: Yeah, like black people are actually gonna tell us what they listen to; every time they do, we steal it from them.

This is their new single; listen to it and tell me that they haven't inherited James Brown's title of the Hardest Working (Band) In Show Business.

2. One Be Lo has a new track out, one that didn't make the cut for his upcoming album, B.A.B.Y.; if you haven't heard S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M., or any of his work as One Man Army, then you're missing out on some of the best hip-hop you'll ever hear - and while I'm white enough to cringe every time someone refers to the cops as 'pigs' (due to the fact that most of the people who I've heard use the term are as white as me, and their definition of harassment amounts to mere inconvenience...), I'm also white enough to understand that I've had a pretty lucky upbringing, given that I was never judged because of the colour of my skin, nor discriminated against because of it, nor outright beaten or arrested because of it, so I can pretty much just shut up and let One Be Lo have his say.

Now I must go rake leaves and then burn them in an offering to Ye Gods Of Winter, so that they don't send snow demons and ice witches to plague our house this season. I'll put in a good word for y'all, but it'll cost ya.