We got some excellent, if mostly overlooked, information this week from the Rothbury folks. In their email detailing the new 2-day ticket (complete with a lower price), they broke down which headliners are playing on which days.

In case you missed it, here’s what we now know…
Friday (7/3): String Cheese Incident
Saturday (7/4): The Dead
Sunday (7/5): Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Friends

There are plenty of interesting pieces to take away from this small announcement. (more…)

The Associated Press Reports two different clips in the end credits of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

UPDATE 5/2/09: The version I saw at Celebration! North in Grand Rapids included Col. Stryker and Deadpool in the end credits… anybody in West Michigan see a different version?

this is straight from AP:

LOS ANGELES — Fans of “Wolverine” who watched the online leak of the film won’t miss one thing by skipping the theatre — they’ll miss at least two.

Director Gavin Hood says the theatrical version of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” due out Friday, features two different “Easter egg” endings. The short bits of footage play after the credits and reveal important information about key characters. Hood says the two endings play on separate prints, so different theatres may show different footage.

The full-length work print leaked last month has a different ending than the one recently screened for reporters.

I haven’t seen a screening yet, so I’ll be right there waiting to the end like everyone else this weekend!!

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Happy Friday PM! The map is nearly live radar and it’ll be empty most of the next four days (Suturday thru Tuesday).   Here’s live local radar and regional radar.   Check out the satellite radar loop, current Michigan weather observations, and the latest GRR discussion and the national lightning loop.   We still have some river flooding…the Grand in Comstock Park has come to almost 3 ft. over flood stage (level at 14.7 feet early this Fri. PM).  This is about the 3rd flood this year in Comstock Park  (click for river data and Flood Warnings and Advisories).    LONG RANGE: I think  we will see basically dry weather until next Wednesday PM.  There will be showers from North Central Indiana southward on Saturday, with the next significant rain for most of us coming Wednesday Night/Thursday of next week.  We’re still looking at below average severe weather for a while in the Great Lakes.  The GFS has more rain here May 9 with showers and upper 40s for the 5th/3rd Riverbank Run, but we’ll wait on more data before committing to that, with breezy and cool conditions for the Big Tulip Parade of Bands on Sat. the 9th in the afternoon.

<–click the picture (2 times) for full screen.  Up to 60″ of new snow has fallen on the east side of Glacier National Park in Montana.  Here’s more pictures.  Schools closed and drifts up to 12 feet high blocked roads leading to the town of Browning.  Johnny Noe of the St. Mary’s lodge reported snow falling at 2″ an hour with five feet of new snow and drifts up to the 2nd story!  It was the worst snowstorm in at least several years.  Interstate 15 was closed for 75 miles from Shelby to Cut Bank.  Icy roads were blamed for two traffic fatalities.  And…a nuclear missile will be removed from a silo in western North Dakota.  Following record snowfall in North Dakota this winter, the Air Force placed sandbags and built earthen dams around the silos, but water still leaked into one of them.  Now…get this:  “A Minot AFB spokesperson says the missile will be tested as a precaution.”  Don’t you wonder how they test a nuclear missile?  Call McGuyver?

Click on the picture to see full screen. Note the snow that is left in the Porcupine Mts. of the Western U.P, up the spine of the Keweenaw Peninsula, in the higher elevations to the east around Herman, east of Marquette, on Michipicoten Is. and to the north of Sault Ste. Marie on the east side of Lake Superior. Also note the frozen lakes on Isle Royale and up north of Lake Superior (inc. Lake Nipigon). Here’s the Lake Michigan picture.

This is a map of current (well, a few days ago) sea surface temperatures relative to average.  Go here and you can click on this image and make it zoom in to a particular area.   You can check a map of sea surface temperatures (not relative to average) here (see if you can find the Gulf Steam off the E. Coast of the U.S., the cold currents off the W. Coast of the U.S. and Chili – places that don’t get hurricanes because of the relatively cold water)  On the map above, the blue color indicates where the water is cooler than average and the yellow indicates where the water is warmer than average. First, note that the La Nina (cooler than average water in the Equatorial Pacific) is ending and a weak El Nino (warmer than average water in the Equatorial Pacific) is beginning. “WEAK” is a very important word here. When we have a strong El Nino (1982-83) we have warmer weather and less snow in the winter. That is NOT the case with a weak El Nino. In fact, some of the coldest winters in Michigan (1976-77) occurred with a weak El Nino.  A weak El Nino usually (not always, but usually) brings slightly cooler than average temperatures in the summer to Michigan (hint here on our long range weather) – but more on that in later posts. (more…)

Looks like the oddsmakers in Vegas are as fond of the Lions draft picks as I am.  betus.com lists the Lions as the biggest longshot in the NFL to win the Super Bowl in 2010.

How’s 200 to 1 odds sound?

Sounds about right to me.

Let’s see… they pick a QB, TE and a Safety with their first three picks.

I recall most of the draft experts saying this was a weak class for QB’s and Safeties.  I recall most of the draft experts saying this was a deep draft for Offensive Lineman and Linebackers.

I’d like to see the odds for the Lions going 0-16 again, because I’m pretty sure, after this draft, they’d be lower than 200 to 1.  They’d probably be closer to the 100 to 1 odds they’ve posted for the Lions to win the NFC.

 A student and two professors from Calvin College will travel the world next school year as Fulbright Scholars.  The three received the awards from the U.S. State Department.
(more…)

The thriller “Obsessed” topped last week’s number one “17 Again” by more than $17 million in the last weekend before the summer movie season begins.  The long delayed drama “The Soloist” (originally scheduled to release in November) opened in 4th, while “Fighting” was just behind “17 Again” in 3rd and the DisneyNature documentary “earth” was a close 5th.

The four new movies helped turn around a two week decline at the box office: the top 12 combined for nearly $104 million at the box office, a 3.6% increase from last weekend.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Obsessed”  – $28.5 million (1st week)

2. “17 Again” – $11.67 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 51% of audience from last week)

3. “Fighting” – $11.44 million (1st week)

4. “The Soloist” – $9.72 million (1st week)

5. “Earth” – $8.55 million (1st week)

(more…)

We’ve had at least a trace of rain on each of the last 10 days, and we’ve had 2.71″ in the last five days in GRR – some areas have had over 4″ of rain in the last five days!  Here’s live local radar and regional radar.  The map on the right is the Severe Weather Outlook area for Thursday.  It comes up almost to Chicago.  Check out the satellite radar loop, current Michigan weather observations, and the latest GRR discussion and the national lightning loop.  Only a couple of sprinkles south of G.R. now.  Skies are partly cloudy from G.R. North.  We still have some river flooding…the Grand in Comstock Park will come to about 1 to 1.5 ft. over flood stage.  (click for river data and Flood Warnings and Advisories).  Here’s national severe storm reports. Check out Tuesday’s highs (impressive low 90s on the East Coast).   Portland, Maine had their hottest April Day ever with a high of 92 yesterday!

Lake Michigan is still cold.  The water temp. at the mid-lake buoy west of Holland is only 37.6 and the high temp. yesterday at the buoy was just 41.9.   The next rain comes Thursday PM and we may see a couple of rounds of showers/t-showers between Thurs. PM and Saturday AM.  The Japanese model is looking rather cool for early next week.  Continue to resist planting frost sensitive plants unless you can cover them up.  We’re still looking toward mid-May for that.  Finally check out the Ski Brule rotating web cam video from last Wednesday (4/22).  It looks like mid-winter!  This is starting the 4th week of May!  Almost all of the snow has melted in the last 6 days…but really…the U.P. is a different world!