The water level of Lake Michigan is up 2 inches in the last month. Usually the lake level goes down in winter. The rise is because of above average runoff to the area rivers due to above normal precipitation (not lake-effect, which is basically water coming out of the lake that goes back into the lake – net gain zero). Lake Michigan is a whopping 11″ higher than it was one year ago (that’s a lot!) and that represents nearly 5 TRILLION (sounds like the federal budget!) gallons of water added to the lake. The lake is still 10″ below the long-term late February average. All the Great Lakes are higher than one year ago, with the exception of Lake Erie, which is exactly the same as last year. However Lake Erie is 6″ higher than average and Lake Ontario is 10″ higher than average. River levels are high due to Thursday PMs rain, so the lake level may add another inch this coming week. Enjoy the sunshine this Saturday, my solar panels are cranking out the heat right now!  Check out the visible satellite loop.  There’s a tornado watch for GA – FL. and a Winter Storm Warning for Northern Mississippi.

Season snowfall update:  LAN – 64.7″, Ionia – 68.0″, Grand Ledge 67.8″  Big Rapids – 72.4″,   BTL – 73.6″, Houghton Lake – 93.8″, Kalamazoo (WMU) – 99.6″, Hastings – 97.2″, Grand Rapids – 104.5″, Lake City – 115.8″ Holland – 122.3″, Oshtemo – 118.0″, Bloomingdale – 135.0″,  Muskegon -  147.8″, Ludington -  161.8″, Gaylord – 160.9″ Hart – 162.7″, 11 SE Kalkaska – 174.3″ Wellston (eastern Manistee Co.) – 191.7″, Mancelona – 204″, Munising – 215.5″  Marquette – 216.5″, Mancelona – 204″,    Allouez Township (Keweenaw Peninsula – Upper Michigan) – 259.5″ Twin Lakes (also U.P.) – 274. 2″, Snowbird, Utah – 358″, Alyeska, Alaska – 410″, Alta, Uah – also 410″ (coincidence),

There was a nice pairing of a thin crescent moon (looks like a smile) and the bright planet Venus Friday evening in the western sky.  The moon and Venus will still be shining brightly tonight, though not as close together.  The moon will be a little “farther back” in the sky each night. Venus is visible until around 9:20 PM when it sets.  The moon is about 240,000 miles from the Earth  and 20% of the moon will be illuminated by the sun’s light tonight.  You might be able to spot the rest of the moon very faintly.  That is due to earthshine (the light from the sun, bouncing off the earth and providing a little bit of light to the moon.  It’s hard to see, but Venus is also a crescent, with about 20% of its cloudy surface illiminated.   The distance from Earth to Venus varies from 23.7 million miles at the closest to 162 million miles at its most distant spot.  When Venus is farthest away, you won’t see it because it’ll be lost in the glare of the sun.  When it’s closest it’ll be hard to see as we’ll be looking at the dark side of the planet.

WOW!  It got to 101 Friday afternoon in McAllen, Texas!  That was the hottest they have ever had in February.  Laredo reached 98 and across the border, it was 105 at Monclova and 106 at Monterrey, Mexico.  That’s HOT!  They were cookin’ in the Lone Star State Thursday afternoon, too.   High temps. reached 97 at Comanche, 96 in Dryden, and 95 in San Angelo. An airport near Ardmore, OK. was up to 93. This area has been very dry. The humidity at Comanche was down to 6% Thursday afternoon. San Angelo has only had 0.82″ of rain since Oct. 13. That’s less than 8% of normal rainfall. When the ground is so dry, a higher percentage of the sun’s energy can be used to heat the air since it’s not being used to evaporate water.

Loud, Clear and Comfortable – SteelSeries Siberia Neckband Headphones Review

When you’re gaming, it’s important to know where your enemies are coming from, but you’re not always going to be able to see them coming at you.

That’s when it helps to have a good audio setup to let you know when a spy is trying to sneak up behind you, or a hunter is about to pounce.

Gamers can debate if they’d like a surround sound setup or would rather game with a pair of headphones, but for this review I’ll focus on the very loud and very clear SteelSeries Siberia Neckband.

It's good to hear your enemies, the SteelSeries Siberia Neckband helps you with that. (Image courtesy: SteelSeries)

Read on for the full review.

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New at Theaters (Friday): “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience”, “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”, “I’ve Loved You So Long” (Grand Rapids: new at Celebration! Rivertown)

Watch the trailer for “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience”

Watch the trailer for ”Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”

Watch the trailer for “I’ve Loved You So Long”

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BEST BET: See the drama with early oscar buzz “I’ve Loved You So Long” (Kristin Scott Thomas)… or get caught up on any movies you may have missed in theaters or coming out on DVD.

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New on DVD (Tuesday): “Extreme Movie”, “Sex Drive”, “The Haunting of Molly Hartley”, “What Just Happened”

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BEST BET(s): Not a great crop of movies coming out this week, but if you’ve seen everything else I’m recommending below, go ahead and rent “What Just Happened?”…. Robert DeNiro leads a great cast in a movie making fun… of the movie making process.

YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN: “Extreme Movie” is an “R” rated spoof-movie, “Sex Drive” is an “R” rated teen comedy about driving a long distance to hook-up, and ”The Haunting of Molly Hartley” is a horror movie that had a shaky showing at the box office and got mixed reviews.

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT: 

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Rick Beckett (on the left in the picture), co-host of the Rick and Scott Show on WOOD-AM (1300) passed away Thursday evening.  The likely cause was a heart attack.  I first worked with Rick on WZZR (which was WZZM-FM until about 1977 and is now WLHT) 30 years ago.  We did some funny bits together back then.  When he worked down south, he’d call me up in the winter to do a bit or two on the radio down there – usually along the lines of “How cold it is in Michigan?”.  Wish I had a dollar everytime we brought up the mullet haircut!  He’s been on WGRD and WKLQ (remember the Q-Zoo w/Darla).  Here’s some video of Rick, Scott Winters, Gary Allen, and Steve Kelly for a few weeks ago.  Here’s video of the 5th Anniversary luncheon at Celebration Cinema (you can see me at the head table next to Rick)  I’m sure some of our blog readers can share a story about Rick.  They are planning a special show on Rick this Monday from 9-12 AM on WOOD-AM.

We’re getting a steady downpour of rain tonight in West Michigan… which has me thinking… off the top of my head, what are the Top Five movie scenes involving rain?

Again, this is off the top of my head, and in no way as organized as my other lists… but I NEED YOUR INPUT.. PLEASE COMMENT WITH THE MOVIES I’VE LEFT OFF THIS LIST!!!

Five “Rain” Movie Scenes:

5. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett’s battle in the rain of Kamino in “Attack of the Clones” (2002), you can actually hear the rain hitting the lightsabers.

4. Neo and Agent Smith’s epic battle in the rain in “The Matrix Revolutions” (2003).

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Friday PM: This is a map from the GRR NWS of rainfall Thursday PM.  The heaviest was from Muskegon up into Newaygo Co.  Rainfall totals were 3/4″ to over 2″.  We’ve had several reports of water going over roads.   They did have a BLIZZARD WARNING for Marquette and Munising.  The low pressure center will come right over central Lower Michigan.  The storm spread heavy snow across northern Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and far northern Lower Michigan…with 4-8″ reported.  A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for areas north of a line from Frankfort to just south of Alpena.  The 16-day GFS plot keeps us on average a little cooler than normal for the first two weeks of March.  Here’s GRR discussion.  Looks like a pretty good shot of cold air on the way for the weekend.  March will come in not so much like a lion or a lamb, but more like a polar bear!

New local film project “The Genesis Code” coming soon, “La Linea” is on now hold

Attention hockey and movie fans…. its the next big movie project to get excited about… but this one may have more local involvement than the last.

“The Genesis Code” is coming and will be spending several million of its $8 million to $9.5 million dollar budget in West Michigan.

The movie is a drama about a college hockey player and his relationship with a female reporter at the school newspaper.   The story revolves around their struggle to balance their spiritual faith and what they are learning in their science classes.

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Jerry Zandstra, Vice President of American Saga Productions says that “The Genesis Code” was approved Tuesday for Michigan’s film 42 percent tax refund incentives by the Michigan Film Office in Lansing.

Shooting is set to begin in April in Lowell and Grand Rapids, but since the movie needs some scenes with snow, a second unit will be shooting some exteriors sometime in the next three weeks while snow is still on the ground.

When principal photography begins in April, scenes will be shot on the Calvin College campus with hockey scenes at the Van Andel Arena or the DeltaPlex.

A director will be hired soon, then the production company will confirm the cast, but they can’t name names until they are actually under contract… the word is that some of the actors/actress being considered are names we would recognize.

Zandstra tells me “We’ve taken a lot of photos already and sent them on to the producers. They review them, narrow the list, and then will come to make their final decisions. I can tell you that two of our executive producers are Jerry Offsay, former president of Showtime and Garry Hart, former president of Paramount Television.”

American Saga Productions is the company behind “Station House,” a reality-TV show about firefighters that was shot in Grand Rapids last year at the LaGrave Avenue fire station.

The production plans to hire local residents to take part, including an eventual casting call for people with Screen Actor’s Guild credentials.   Zandstra, a Christian Reformed pastor, will be one of the local actors, he’ll be playing a preacher in “The Genesis Code”.

 “La Linea” is now on hold

As for the other movie project that was planned from American Saga Productions, “La Linea” the TV movie miniseries starring Robert Duvall is on hold for the time being.

The story was to be set at the U.S.-Mexican border with Duvall playing a “tick rider” for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, watching the border looking for any diseased animals coming across the border.

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The latest from Patrick: “Market conditions turned ugly Weds. afternoon and prices will be climbing higher for many reasons. I am led to believe that we will see a hike as soon as today to 1.85 or higher. More soon! Get gas in the AM if you can find it cheap!”