BUFFALO — This is hugely embarrassing, so let’s get the ugly facts right out on the table.

Ten days ago, I contrived to be a guest participant in the touring production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The Tony Award-winning show, the original production of which closed on Broadway last week after 1,157 performances, was in Buffalo at the Shea Theatre for five nights, en route to its arrival at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre on Tuesday - part of Dancap Productions’ inaugural season.

In spirit, Spelling Bee is a show like A Chorus Line, except the actors dance with words instead of their feet. Six preteeners, representing every colour in the American racial rainbow, compete for first prize and, along the way, sing songs that tell us something about their lives, hopes, dreams, conflicts and so on. You catch my drift. Here, winning isn’t everything, which is not a message Vince Lombardi would have saluted.

The script, by Rachel Sheinkin, is clever. Music and lyrics are by the estimable William Finn (Falsettos). Not his finest hour, but they seem to work.

As a police dispatcher, Amanda Banas has directed police in all kinds of weather conditions.

But this morning was one of the worst the Allegan County dispatcher has experienced as near-blizzard conditions greeted commuters following a 40-degree temperature plunge.
Press Photo/T.J. HamiltonThe Civil War monument stands in swirls of snow along Division Avenue in Grand Rapids on Tuesday night as the snowstorm started around 11 p.m.

The triple whammy — ice beneath a blanket of snow and white-out gusts exceeding 30 mph — gave pause to even the hardiest drivers.

“I’ve never been so scared in my life coming into work,” Banas said. “It took me more than an hour to go from Wayland to Allegan. I drove into the ditch twice because of the white-out conditions.”

Banas avoided getting stuck, but dozens of other motorists were involved in slide-offs and crashes across West Michigan.

Road crews battled ice and snow as they tried to clear roads. Temperatures fell from 47 degrees to 7 degrees in nine hours.

“The temperature dropped so fast, going from rain to freezing rain to ice, that it’s very slippery,” said Kent County Road Commission Maintenance Director Jerry Byrne.

The Road Commission had 80 trucks on the roads this morning. Byrne said blowing snow made visibility the biggest challenge for drivers. He traveled about 15 mph on Int. 96 this morning coming into work.

Across the region, the wind knocked out power to thousands in West Michigan overnight, although Consumers Energy was making steady progress restoring electricity.
Quick change

Temperature drop: 40 degrees in nine hours

Fastest freefall: 27 degrees from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Highest gust: 52 mph at 11:27 p.m.; 30+ mph today

Wind chills: 10 to 15 below zero today

Snowfall: 2 to 3 inches

Forecast: Today: slowly clearing, high around 10; warmer Thursday, chance of significant snow late.

SOURCE: National Weather Service

About 1,420 customers in Allegan County and 1,700 in Kalamazoo County were without power before dawn, but just 100 customers were powerless in Kent County.

Most schools in the area were closed. At least two outbound flights from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport, one to Dallas and one to Chicago, were delayed this morning, according to the airport Web site.

Police reported few serious injuries from crashes this morning, though dispatchers at the state police post in Rockford said troopers were having trouble getting to some scenes quickly as the morning rush got under way.

Weather conditions were expected to improve throughout today, although temperatures were not expected to rise much above 10 degrees.

Temperatures are expected to moderate Thursday, but another winter storm with significant snow is possible late Thursday night into Friday.

Mike Kalembkiewicz, a meteorological technician, said it took him 30 minutes to drive seven miles into work this morning.

“I couldn’t see anything. I had to keep stopping,” he said.

The return of bone-chilling weather comes on the heels of a late January warm-up. A steady Tuesday-afternoon rain flushed much of the area’s snow into local rivers before the wintry landscape was restored hours later.
Press Photo/Dave OdetteDavid Bauer, a resident of Vern Barry Place, cleans the sidewalks along Division Avenue early this morning. Bauer shovels snow for no pay for a couple businesses along the 100 block of Division.

Grand River levels were near flood stage in Comstock Park this morning, but the water was expected to begin receding Friday without spilling over the banks.

Schools canceled sports events Tuesday night in anticipation of the storm.

At AMR Ambulance Service, operations supervisor Craig Veldheer said staffing overnight Tuesday was at normal levels even though forecasters predicted travel would be treacherous. Veldheer had five crews on duty in Grand Rapids and several lined up for emergency call-in if needed.

“We’re constantly watching the radar and planning for the worst while hoping for the best,” Veldheer said. “Just like everyone, we kind of sit back and see what hits us.”

Veldheer, however, thinks the storm warnings kept drivers off the roads Tuesday night. Most crashes reported involved only minor property damage, dispatchers said.

“People are hunkering down and staying inside,” Veldheer said. “The problem starts when second-shifters head home and third-shifters or day-time workers have to go in.”

Pellston Public Schools, Public Schools of Petoskey, St. Francis Xavier School (Petoskey), Concord Academy - Boyne, Boyne City Public Schools and Boyne Valley Alternative School, Vanderbilt Area School, North Central Michigan College classes in Petoskey, Harbor Springs Public School, Northwest Academy.

School closings for Tuesday

Due to weather conditions the following schools are cancelled: Buckley Schools, Cadillac Public Schools, Evart Public Schools, Lake City Schools, Manton Schools, Marion Public Schools, McBain Public Schools, Mesick Schools, Northern Michigan Christian of McBain, Pine River Schools, Reed City Schools, St. Ann’s in Cadillac and Cadillac Heritage Schools.

All YMCA programs also have closed due to the weather.

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Hit List: Burress, Cassel say the strangest things (Fox Sports)
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On yesterday’s XPN Morning Show I recounted meeting my neighbors’ hairless cat Captain Jack Sparrow, named for Johnny Depp’s character in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He’s very animated (the cat) and loves to pirouette around while holding a peacock feather in his mouth that’s five times longer than he is. One of our boardies requested a photo on this blog.

The cat looks like something that jumped off a computer screen or arrived from outer space. He’s multi-colored, grey and pink with translucent brown feet that seem to be made of rubber, and his neck skin wrinkles in concentric circles.

It turns out that hairless cats, which were bred after a mutation, need to be bathed a couple of times a week to prevent buildup of the oil that cats secrete. Cats with fur distribute the oil through their pelt when they lick themselves, but no such luck for the hairless ones. (Wonder why they’re called hairless if the thing they’re missing is fur…???).

Anyway, I got an e-mail from Ruth K, whose friend has a hairless cat named Flanny:

I mentioned that when my neighbors’ cat ran up, it looked like a chihuaha at first. Here’s Ruth’s chihuahua Elvis:
And here comes the musical payoff
……Flanny yodels

The Sphynx (also known as Canadian Skinless or A Cat Without Skin) is a rare breed of cat. The Sphynx appears to be a Skinless cat, although it is truly hairless. The skin should have the texture of chamois. It may be covered with very soft, fine down, which is almost imperceptible to both the eye and touch. On the ears, muzzle, tail, and feet, a short, soft, fine hair is allowed. Lack of coat makes the cat quite warm to the touch. Whiskers and eyebrows may be present, either whole or broken, or may be totally absent. Their skin is the color their fur would be, and all the usual cat marking patterns (solid, point, van, tabby, tortie, etc) may be found in Sphynx too. People are surprised by how different their personalities are. Many describe them as part monkey, pig, and human because of how intelligent, extroverted, and affectionate they are.

Many people with typical allergies to furry cats find that they tolerate the sphynx breed. This may be due to the fact that the proteins in cat saliva are often the culprit. Because sphynx lack hair and do not leave it behind, many have fewer difficulties living in harmony with the breed. There is no guarantee, however, and allergies vary greatly between individual people.

Sphynx cats are not maintenance-free. Their lack of hair results in increased body oils. Regular bathing is often necessary. Care should be taken to limit the Sphynx cat’s exposure to outdoor sunlight at length, as they can develop a sunburn, similar to that of human exposure. In general, Sphynx cats should never be allowed outdoors unattended, as they have limited means to conserve body heat in colder temperatures, and their curious nature can take them into dangerous places or situations.
Two-week-old Sphynx kitten.
Two-week-old Sphynx kitten.

The Sphynx breed is known for a sturdy, heavy body (many cats of this breed also develop a pot belly), a wedge-shaped head, and an alert, friendly temperament. Although hairless cats have been reported throughout history (hairless cats seem to appear naturally about every 15 years or so), breeders in Canada have been working on the Sphynx breed since the early 1960s. The current American and European Sphynx breed is descended from two lines of natural mutations:

* Dermis and Epidermis (1975) from the Pearsons of Wadena, Minnesota, USA.
* Bambi, Punkie, and Paloma (1978) found in Toronto, ON, Canada and raised by Shirley Smith.

Other hairless breeds might have different body shapes or temperaments than those described above. There are, for example, new hairless breeds, including the Don Sphynx and the Peterbald from Russia, which arose from their own spontaneous mutations. The standard for the Sphynx differs between cat associations such as TICA, FIFE and CFA.

It has been theorised that Sphynx hairlessness might be produced by an allele of the same gene that produces the Devon Rex (re), with the Sphynx allele being incompletely dominant over the Devon allele and both recessive to the wild type. However a different genetic symbol (hr) is given to the Sphynx gene and it is more likely that these are different genes interacting with each other. Sphynx were at one time crossbred with Devon Rex, but unfortunately this led to the introduction of some genetic diseases and is now forbidden in most breed standards associations. Herediary spasticity and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (a genetic heart defect) were introduced by the Devon Rex breed. The only allowable outcross breeds in the CFA are now the American Shorthair and Domestic Shorthair. Other associations may vary and the Russian Blue is a permitted outcross in the GCCF. In Europe mainly Devon Rex has been used for outcrosses.

In 1999 SGC Apophis Nordstrom of Classical Cats won the TICA International Alter of the Year. In 2006 SGC Classical Cats Valentino won the TICA International Cat of the year. In the Cat Fancier’s Association, GC, RW, NW Majikmoon Will Silver With Age was Cat of the Year for 2006. The following year, GC, RW, NW Enchantedlair NWA Cornflake Girl was Kitten of the Year. These awards are handed out for the highest scoring cats, across all breeds.

Popular culture

* A Sphynx, Mr. Bigglesworth, appears in the Austin Powers movies as Dr. Evil’s cat. Mr. Bigglesworth was played by SGC Belfry Ted Nude-Gent, owned and bred by Michelle Berge of Belfry Sphynx.

* In the Friends episode ‘The One with the Ball’, Rachel Green buys a Sphynx cat named Mrs. Whiskerson (”What am I gonna call her, Fluffy?”). Both Ross (”Why is it inside-out?”) and Joey (”It’s not a cat!”) think it’s hideous.

* In the reality TV show LA Ink, tattoo artist Kat Von D has a pet Sphynx named Ludwig.

* In the Disney cartoon series “Kim Possible”, villain Camille Leone is always seen with her Sphynx cat named Debutante.

* At the beginning of Ghostbusters 2, Peter Venkman (played by Bill Murray) introduces next week’s show as “Next week on “World of the Psychic”. Hairless cats… weird.” as he holds one up. Ghostbusters 2 was released in 1989.

As I’m sure you’ve already guessed from the title, Blood & Chocolate is about a girl who can turn into a wolf.

Let me give you some insight into how the title of this movie was chosen.

Marketing Guy#1: So, we’re thinking a movie called “Blood” will really get the male demographic interested.
Marketing Guy#2: Wait, what about the chicks? Girls don’t like blood.
Marketing Guy#1: What do girls like? Flowers? Backrubs?
Marketing Guy#2: Hmmm… “Blood and Foot Massages.”
Marketing Guy#1: No wait, I got it. “Blood and Chocolate.”
Marketing Guy#2: Yeah!
(high five)

That was a lie. Research tells us that this movie is based on the novel “Blood and Chocolate” by Annette Curtis Klause. She named the book after the 1986 Elvis Costello and the Attractions album.

No, that was another lie.

Research tells us the name “Blood and Chocolate” comes from a quote from a Hermann Hesse novel called “Steppenwolf.”

Research tells us that Steppenwolf was the band that sang “Born to be Wild.”

All of these facts are far more interesting than the actual movie, but this is a website called LameMovies.net, so you knew that already. Also you should know that everyone who works in my local video store thinks I have wretched taste in movies. This is the sacrifice I make for you (Lindsay Lohan’s I Know Who Killed Me coming soon).

The first indication that there’s going to be a problem with this movie is the dreaded “film by” credit. Anyone who fancies themself auteur enough to put “A Film by” credit in front of a Wolman movie called “Blood & Chocolate” is obviously incapable of delivering the goods. That’s just my opinion, and I am never wrong. Stanley Kubrick can put “A film by” on his flicks. Katja Von Garnier has not yet earned that privilege.

Research tells us that Garnier is a brand of hair products.

Anyway, the story concerns Vivian, a young girl who is not human. She is loup-garoux.

Research tells us that loup is the French word for wolf. And I think garoux might be like a French sauce made out of flour and fat. So loup-garoux literally means “wolf gravy.”

No, I’m lying again. Loup-garoux means werewolf I guess in French, even though they live in Romania. We learn that Vivian likes to run. Occasionally, for no reason, she’ll jump at a wall and sorta leap off it. Not in any kind of spectacular She-Wolf kind of way, but obviously I’m supposed to gather from this pathetic wall bouncing that Vivian is different. Vivian is special. Vivian can do things. Vivian works in a chocolate store, no doubt an effort by the screenwriter to shed some light on the title.

Vivian belongs to a secretive clan of werewolves that live in Romania and hide their true nature from mankind to remain alive. Secrecy is paramount to these people, because throughout history man has hunted and killed them whenever they discovered their true nature. Vivian learned this lesson the hard way when her entire family was killed. So under no circumstances can anyone be told about their secret, but occasionally it seems okay to hunt and kill humans. Just keep the secret. Everything else is gravy. Wolf gravy.

So now Vivian lives in Romania making chocolate. The leader of the pack is Gabriel, and it is time to pick a new mate for himself. Vivian is most likely going to be chosen, but she doesn’t want this life. She doesn’t want to ride the wolf gravy train as the leader’s wife. She just wants to be left alone.

That’s when she meets Aiden, a human artist of graphic novels who is doing research for a new project about the loup-garoux legend. He doesn’t realize she’s a werewolf. She however, quickly realizes the danger Aiden is in for sniffing around (har!) and promptly starts dating him.

Then they actually have the dreaded date montage. Nothing in cinema makes my kidneys hurt more than the date montage. You know, a series of clips to music of them laughing, having fun, falling down, playing in fountains… sort of like a chewing gum commercial.

This spells trouble for the pack, and Gabriel orders Aiden run off or killed, and Vivian is forced to choose her loyalties. Man or Wolf.

The most interesting thing about the movie is that the loup-garoux are not portrayed as your typical werewolves. They turn into real wolves, instead of into those half-man, half wolf creatures we are used to seeing. The reason this is interesting is because when they change into a wolf (in a flash of glowing light), their clothes disappear. And when they change back to human form, they are naked.

The clothes don’t come back.

Where do they go?

Where are the clothes?

Research doesn’t tell us.

Overnight Delivery is a 1998 American movie directed by Jason Bloom. It was written by Marc Sedaka and Steven Bloom, but famed indie director Kevin Smith was hired to rewrite the script (uncredited). Exterior scenes were filmed in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It’s a romantic comedy about a man (Paul Rudd) who suspects his girlfriend (who’s attending college across the country) is cheating on him. He sends her a letter along with a photo of a girl posing topless with him, and a “faked” used condom. Then after he’s already mailed the letter to his girlfriend, he finds out she didn’t really cheat on him. He and his stripper friend Ivy (Reese Witherspoon) go on a cross country trip to stop the letter from arriving at his girlfriend’s dorm. Along the way he unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with Ivy instead.

Cast

* Paul Rudd as Wyatt Trips
* Christine Taylor as Kimberly Jasney
* Reese Witherspoon as Ivy Miller
* Larry Drake as Hal Ipswich
* Sarah Silverman as Turran
* Stephen Yoakam as the SWAT Leader

Trivia

Joey Lauren Adams was originally going to skip out on her part in Chasing Amy to play Ivy in this movie, but she lost the part to Reese Witherspoon. Adams’ boyfriend at the time, Kevin Smith, (though uncredited) wrote the final script used in the movie. Smith and Reese Witherspoon were never on the best of terms.

According to original reports, the original cut ran about 3 hours long

The 2000 film Road Trip has a similar plot.

During the end sequence where Ivy (Reese Witherspoon) and Trips (Paul Rudd) are talking to each other, you can’t hear what they’re saying because of the background music. But this is their conversation, according to writer Kevin Smith [1]:

REESE: Who wrote this shit?

PAUL: I think Kevin Smith.

REESE: Ugh! Didn’t he write Mallrats?

PAUL: Yeah, but he also wrote Clerks.

REESE: Who cares? No wonder this dialogue sucked.

In the scene when Ivy Drove Paul Rudd’s character, “Trips,” to the airport, the building in which he was dropped dropped off at is actually the Minneapolis Convention Center and not MSP International Airport.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is developing contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a large spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could hit North America.

Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, who heads of U.S. Northern Command, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the size of the satellite suggests that some number of pieces will not burn up as the orbiting vehicle re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and will hit the ground.

“We’re aware that this satellite is out there,” Renuart said. “We’re aware it is a fairly substantial size. And we know there is at least some percentage that it could land on ground as opposed to in the water.”

A U.S. official confirmed that the spy satellite is designated by the military as US 193. It was launched in December 2006 but almost immediately lost power and cannot be controlled. It carried a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor but the satellite’s central computer failed shortly after launch. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret.

Renuart added that, “As it looks like it might re-enter into the North American area,” then the U.S. military along with the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will either have to deal with the impact or assist Canadian or Mexican authorities.

Military agencies, he said, are doing an analysis to determine which pieces most likely would survive re-entry. But he cautioned that officials won’t have much detail on where or when it will crash until it begins to move through the atmosphere and break up.

Renuart added that there does not as yet appear to be much concern about sensitive technologies on the satellite falling into enemy hands.

“I’m not aware that we have a security issue,” he said. “It’s really just a big thing falling on the ground that we want to make sure we’re prepared for.”

The satellite includes some small engines that contain a toxic chemical called hydrazine _ which is rocket fuel. But Renuart said they are not large booster engines with substantial amounts of fuel.

Video images of the satellite captured by John Locker, a British amateur satellite watcher, show it to be about 13 feet to 16.5 feet across. He believes it weighs a maximum of 10,000 pounds. Locker calculated its size with data on its altitude and location provided by other amateur satellite watchers, using the International Space Station as a yardstick.

Satellite watchers _ a worldwide network of hobbyists who track satellites for fun _ have been plotting the satellite’s degradation for a year. They estimate it is now at an altitude of about 173 miles, and Locker believes it is dropping about 1,640 feet a day.

Where it lands will be difficult to predict until the satellite falls to about 59 miles above the Earth and enters the atmosphere. It will then begin to burn up, with flares visible from the ground, said Ted Molczan, a Canadian satellite tracker. From that point on, he said, it will take about 30 minutes to fall.

In the past 50 years of monitoring space, 17,000 manmade objects have re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Mirai Nagasu’s mouth dropped open when she saw her scores. And that was before she realized she’d knocked off former world champion Kimmie Meissner.

“Wait, it’s 12 points?” Nagasu said, her eyes widening when she heard how big a lead she had on Meissner. “Wow. That’s exciting.”

Get used to it, kid. If the 14-year-old keeps skating like this, there’s going to be lots more excitement to come.

Nagasu pulled off one of the biggest upsets ever at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Thursday night. In her very first senior nationals _ heck, her very first competition as a senior _ the teenager won the short program with a spectacular performance that showed amazing flexibility, strong jumps and a presence on the ice well beyond her years.

Her score of 70.23 is the second-highest ever by an American woman in a short program, and it would stack up against anyone in the world. She had a 12.65 lead over Meissner, and it will be almost impossible for the defending national champion to beat her in Saturday’s free skate.

About the only one with a real shot at catching Nagasu is Ashley Wagner, second with 65.15 points. Rachael Flatt was third with 62.91 points. Even if Nagasu wins, though, she can’t go to the world championships because she’s too young.

“It was just fun out there,” Nagasu said. “I’m not going to let any of the pressure from being in first bother me.”

Reigning junior world champ Caroline Zhang said she wasn’t bothered by the expectations of her, but she sure didn’t live up to the hype with an uncharacteristically conservative program that has her in seventh place. She stepped out of the second jump on her triple flip-triple toe combination, and was so slow going into her double axel she almost came to a complete stop.

“I just wasn’t skating well for me,” Zhang said. “It just was a pretty slow performance.”

Nagasu’s precociousness is nothing new. She came to the national championships last year as a complete unknown _ she’d never even made it to the final qualifier _ and skated off with the junior title. She then finished second to Zhang at junior worlds, part of a 1-2-3 American sweep with Ashley Wagner.

But while Zhang and Wagner moved up to the senior ranks this fall _ and right into the world spotlight _ Nagasu stayed at the junior level to get more experience internationally. She routed the competition, winning everything she entered.

There’s a big difference between juniors and seniors, though, and no one quite knew what to expect from her here. She was so excited Wednesday night she couldn’t sleep, getting her in trouble with her mother.
source:washingtonpost

It’s such a shame,” she said. “I was really skating well. I was pretty confident going into this, but I just lost it. . . . I changed the whole program after the Grand Prix final so this wouldn’t happen again.”

Flatt finished her program spilling very different emotions than Meissner. She pumped her fists and grabbed her head in disbelief. Flatt hit seven triples and four doubles and described the night as “great.”

Wagner, meantime, nailed seven triple jumps, including a triple Lutz-triple loop combination — the most difficult element any skater attempted. She also hit three clean double jumps, with only one mistake: she two-footed the landing of a double loop. That little flub essentially cost her second place; she trailed Flatt by just .17 of a point.

Wagner responded more coolly and calmly to the performance than any of the other top skaters, looking pleased but not crazed with joy.

“On the ice when I was getting ready and they called my name, I was like, ‘Just go for it,’ ” Wagner said. “I’ve got nothing to lose.”

After the opening fall, Nagasu seemed temporarily nervous and shaken. She received a deduction on her next element, a triple Lutz-triple toe combination, but was clean thereafter.

“I’m very excited,” she said, “and speechless.”

Notes: Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto put forth what they described as their best free skate in years to claim their fifth straight U.S. title early Saturday evening with 216.07 total points. They topped less acclaimed training mates Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who earned 206.82 points.
source:washingtonpost