BLIZZARD VIDEO OF THE DAY

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BANK OF KEV AND TWISTED SISTER

A JACK BAUER CHRISTMAS

HEAVY RAINS SOAK LOS ANGELES

It's been a wet one these days.

Authorities and residents were bracing for flooding, thunderstorms, hail, tidal surges and even small tornadoes Wednesday as the worst of a seven-day series of storms was expected to sweep into Southern California.

Wednesday's storm was projected to be the most intense of the week, the result of a powerful, cold storm from the Gulf of Alaska colliding with a river of subtropical moisture from the western Pacific Ocean.

"When you get the very cold air mixing in with the very warm air, it can be quite volatile," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. Forecasters said the system could produce lightning and possibly waterspouts offshore and small tornadoes on land.

Patzert said Wednesday is "definitely going to be the main event."

Rainfall rates were expected to be as high as 0.75 to 1.5 inches an hour, which could cause flooding not only in foothills and mountains but also in low-lying areas, said Stuart Seto, a specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

"The ground is already permeated. There's already a lot of moisture," he said. "With the thunderstorms, the rain rates come faster.… We're going to see a lot more runoff."

The weather warnings caused Los Angeles County officials to order the evacuation of 232 residences in La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge, foothill suburbs under threat of flood waters draining from the fire-scarred slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich pleaded with residents to heed the order: "If you fail to comply, it could result in death," he said.

Debris flows are capable of sending water, tree trunks and car-sized boulders powering down streets at up to 35 mph. "People need to be aware of how dangerous debris flows can be," said Sue Cannon of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Sierra Madre officials told some residents to be prepared to evacuate immediately.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties because of the storms.

 I will not be parking my car under a tree that's for sure.

KEV ASKS THE QUESTION:

How could we survive the season if we did not have a Yule Log?

 

MMMMMM Yule Log! 

Of course there is this Yule Log as well. 

CHRISTMAS PARTY UNDER AIR FORCE ONE

Some photos from the Christmas Party I attended at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library last Friday.

IT was a fun night had by all and a good warm up for CPAC 2011!

PRESENTS FOR KEV - PART 2

This would be an awesome book to have on my shelf.

Talk about being difficult to buy for...

(For those of you humor impaired I know the "book" does not exist but it still would be cool to have a replica of it on my bookshelf. Or a version ghost written by someone.)

THE 2010 TEDDY BEAR TOSS

NOTE TO MY READERS: Due to scheduling issues I will not post my Presents For Kev - Part 2 post today. To make it up to you I give you video of the Teddy Bear Toss.

PRESENTS FOR KEV - PART 1

One of the interesting things people often say to me is that I'm difficult to buy for. To be fair they have a point since often I have no idea what I want for Christmas either. However sometimes something comes along that is just cool enough that I go: "I want this for Christmas."

Here it is. Courtesy of TheWrap.com

 

Download the addictive game from the Apple App Store, play the slingshoting game for hours. Need a way to include your kids or significant other? Get them the officially licensed plush -- remember to not bring up its resemblance to other family members – then play the game some more. Suddenly it’s New Year’s Eve. ($24.95 -- Amazon)

 It's angry, its a bird, its a head and its plush. What is not to love.


TOMORROW: The Book Kev Wants To Read Over The Holidays.

NEIL CAVUTO TAKES ON CHIRS MATTHEWS

The always insightful Neil Cavuto goes right to the heart of the matter.

UPDATED: A&P SUPERMARKETS FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 - STORES TO REMAIN OPEN FOR NOW!

If you grew up in the New England then this Supermarket chain name is very familiar to you. If you did not then this is yet another example of the weakening economy.

PORTLAND, Oregon – The fall into bankruptcy court by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. is the culmination of years of decline but creates an opportunity for its competitors and could mean further consolidation in the supermarket industry.

The nation's oldest grocer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday after years of struggling with enormous debt, falling sales and rising competition from low-priced peers.
The company, which owns A&P, Pathmark, Super Fresh and other grocery stores, is scheduled to head to court Monday.
The lack of a prenegotiated bankruptcy plan leaves it unclear who will wind up owning the company or how creditors will be paid under this arrangement, though common shareholders will likely see their stakes lose all value.

Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm representing A&P in bankruptcy, did not return a call for comment.

A&P can come back as a viable competitor because it has good locations in the densely populated Northeast and strong brand names, retail consultant Burt Flickinger said. He expects competitors from discounters and supermarkets to large retailers will be evaluating A&P's assets.

A&P does have impressive foothold in the Northeast and its real estate holdings are also quite impressive as well. Stop and Shop and Food Lion will be looking at these assets with great interest.

UPDATE:  RedState.com reports.

For the time being, the company does plan on keeping its stores open, having secured $800 million worth of financing.

A&P secured $800 million in debtor-in-possession financing from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and will have immediate access to a $187 million loan and $200 million in letters of credit, allowing it to keep stores open, according to the filing.

FREEZING COLD WEATHER HITS THE EAST COAST...

From AccuWeather.com...

Painfully cold, arctic air sweeping across the Midwest has already been driving temperatures well-below zero. Across much of Minnesota, western Wisconsin and the eastern Dakotas, lows were down to 10 to 20 degrees below zero this morning.

Today, the bitter cold is overspreading the rest of the eastern half of the country. While actual temperatures may not fall below zero early this week, horrendous winds will make it feel that way for millions.

This graphic shows projected RealFeel®

temperatures at 7 a.m. EST Tuesday with purple representing values below zero.

AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures, which provide a measure of how cold it feels with the wind factored in, have already dropped below zero as far south as Atlanta this morning. Early Tuesday and Wednesday morning, these values will be near zero all the way east into New York City and Philadelphia and stay in the single digits all day Tuesday.
In Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, people will have to endure RealFeel® temperatures that stay below zero for 36 to 48 hours straight. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in very quickly in such extreme cold.

Since many of these places have picked up snow from the blizzard this weekend, roads are in tough shape. Any travelers who end up being stranded could find themselves in a life-threatening situation if left too long in the brutal cold.

Farther south across the country, temperatures have dropped into the teens and even single digits this morning from Oklahoma to Tennessee and the eastern Great Lakes. Even northern portions of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia have dipped into the teens.

Yesterday while at a industry brunch I mentioned that when the East Coast is freezing it is usually warm on the west coast. Several at the brunch agreed with me.  

...WHILE THERE IS A HEAT WAVE IN LOS ANGELES

From AccuWeather.com 

Several records were broken throughout the West on Sunday. The unusually warm weather will persist in the Southwest today.

As Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski predicted early in the weekend, Sunday's temperatures surged 10 to 15 degrees above typical mid-December highs across Southern California, southern Nevada and Arizona.

On Sunday, new high temperature records were set or tied in several Western cities and towns, including Phoenix and Yuma, Ariz., San Gabriel, Long Beach and Burbank, Calif., Winnemucca, Nev., Klamath Falls, Ore., and Stanley and Burley, Idaho.

A high temperature of 83 degrees in Los Angeles, Calif., on Sunday broke the record of 82 degrees from 1952.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON TEASER TRAILER

GREEN ALPHA FIGHTER ON SALE AT ROBOTECH.COM

 

The Masterpiece Collection Alpha Fighter - Lancer VF/A-6I is on sale in the Robotech.com store for the recession busting price of $59.99 USD!

The Masterpiece Collection continues with this all-new series based on the Alpha Fighters! These high-quality, ultra-detailed transformable Veritechs offer an authentic re-creation of the next generation of Robotech mecha.

Limited to a production run of 15,000, each volume is packaged in our trademark "book-style" box with slide-out tray, allowing for safe storage and "mint-in-box" packaging.

EACH MASTERPIECE ALPHA FEATURES:
- Full transformation into Fighter, Guardian and Battloid mode.
- Die-cast metal and plastic construction.
- Opening cockpit hatch with removable pilot.
- Retractable landing gear with real rubber tires. 

Click here to place your order!

GORDON GEKKO SAYS

"

Gordon Gekko: It's not about the money - It's about the game.

"

CAN CHRISTIANS SAVE THE LION?

TheWrap.com has an article that will annoy the people "who know this business" (who shall remain nameless for now) 

After the second "Narnia" film disappointed at the box office in 2008, Fox and Walden Media are hoping that a targeted play for churchgoing audiences will make “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader" a hit.

“We’ve gone back to doing faith outreach in a manner that is consistent with the first film,” David Weil, CEO of the Anschutz Film Group division of Walden Media, told TheWrap. “In the second film there was more of an effort to broaden the base and appeal to teenage boys. By doing that we lost some of our core and heartland audience.”

The consequence of that more action-heavy campaign was an almost 50 percent drop in receipts. Costing $225 million to make, "Prince Caspian" made $420 million worldwide.

Heres the kicker...

In this case, Christian moviegoers may hold the key to getting the series back on track. Walden and its new partner Fox (stepping in for Disney, who left after the second movie faltered) are determined to win over the faith-based crowds they say helped make 2005’s “The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe” a $745 million worldwide smash.

That constituency is also credited with playing a pivotal role in the success of films such as "The Blind Side" and "The Passion of the Christ."

“What Fox has done is really take the Christian community seriously and make stong overtures to this group," says Philip Cooke, a media consultant focused on the Christian market, "Disney let that community wander away."

Fox and Walden have been reaching out to faith-based communities directly or through third-party consultants. With the help of Christian consulting group Grace Hill Media, the studio launched several websites with taped messages from religious leaders such as Franklin Graham and articles about the movie’s theological underpinnings.

It's a interesting article and worth the read.

VANCOUVER OLYMPIC VILLAGE CONDOS TO HAVE HUGE PRICE CUTS

For the 2010 Olympic games the city of Vancouver built a large Olympic village to house the athletes. To pay for the construction the goal was to sell the units as condos when the games ended. However, with few buyers the development went into receivership leaving Vancouver Tax Payers on the hook.

This report will show you how much.



Notice how they are projecting a 30 million loss, do you really think that number is stable. Who thinks its actually going to go up.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

This video is quite impressive but I must add: Do not try this yourself.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Every form of media control guaranteed by the high capital costs of entering film, book, record, or news distribution have crumbled with the simple low cost tools of digital media. The only thing left to them is their copyrights, and if they can't keep adding new ones, they will be left standing still, holding an icecream cone melting in the blast furnace of the future.

There is an immense and growing marketplace of ideas up for grabs. Go out there and get rich exploiting it. If you are successful, what you stand for will communicate itself to millions of people despite all the handicaps of having to reach them partially through the decaying media culture. 

Thomas H. Lipscomb  

Senior Fellow, Annenberg Center for the Digital Future (USC)

UNEMPLOYMENT RISES TO 9.8%

Unemployment has risen back up to 9.8% and Reuters has the story. 

U.S. employment increased far less than expected in November and the jobless rate jumped to a seven-month high of 9.8 percent, dampening hopes for a self-sustaining economic recovery.

Nonfarm payrolls rose 39,000, with private hiring gaining only 50,000, the Labor Department said. However, overall employment for September and October was revised to show 38,000 more jobs than previously estimated.

Economists had expected payrolls to increase 140,000 last month and the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 9.6 percent.

HotAir.com Ed Morrissey thoughts on this. 

Department stores lost 9,000 jobs, and furniture and home furnishings stores lost 5,000.  The latter may be part of the fallout from poor performance in home sales as well as weakness in retail sales. Manufacturing dropped 13,000 jobs.  Wage growth was also flat in November across the board.

The increase in the overall rate appears linked directly to job losses rather than a return to the workforce of discouraged workers.  Those numbers have actually increased slightly year on year.  When they begin entering the workforce again, the overall rate will rise even higher, even if the overall job creation numbers improve.  That isn’t what happened in November.

Since the unemployment rate has gone up we must haul out our drunk and depressed Stromtrooper.

IN THE BATTLE FOR WORLD DOMINATION....

NEW PRODUCTS FOR PRE-ORDER IN ROBOTECH.COM STORE

To kick off the holiday season Robotech.com has announced several new products available for pre-order.

    Zentraedi Light Artillery Battlepod

Toynami continues their "bad guys" line with the Zentraedi Light Artillery Battlepod!

Zentraedi Light Artillery Battlepod is made of a sturdy vinyl and stands about 10 inches tall, compatible with the 1/100 scale of the VF-1 transformable action figures!

Each Light Artillery Battlepod features:
• matching scale with 1/100 VF-1 series
• approximately 10 inches tall
• 11 points of articulation
• rotational cannon joints
• vinyl construction


SHIPPING IN JANUARY

 SDF-3 Coffee Mug

Finally, you can drink your coffee just like the crew of the SDF-3! This high quality ceramic mug holds 11 fluid ounces (325 mL) and features silver imprints of the SDF-3 logo and sihouette!

                      SDF-3 Commander's Cap

            This military-style baseball cap comes in navy blue and    features PIONEER SDF-3 embroidered in gold across the front, along with the silhouette of the SDF-3. The cap is adjustable to fit all sizes and also features the addition of distinctive commanders' leaves (also known as "scrambled eggs") decorating a sturdy curved bill in the front.