- Why does one go to a ski resort in the French Alps? It’s
not a rhetorical question. The simple truth is that a person who is wealthy
enough to book a weekend at a ski resort in an exclusive locale like the French
Alps does so because he or she wants to lounge by the fire sipping some sort of
stiff beverage after hitting the slopes in insanely expensive cold-weather gear
and zipping down the mountain while surrounded by other rich folks who are
escaping the travails and stress of the world around them. Snow is a necessary ingredient
in this mix, right behind piles of money and a general disdain for the common
man. So why is snow causing mass chaos in said French Alps? Probably because
snow on the slopes is good, but piles of snow on the roads in a country that
generally doesn’t deal well with mass invasions of any kind – weather or German
– is a recipe for disaster. Thus, a lot of snow and ice in the
French Alps have stranded thousands of vehicles, fouling up holiday traffic to
and from ski resorts in the region. According to authorities in the Savoy region, as many as 15,000
people spent Saturday night in emergency accommodation and hundreds more were
stranded at an airport in Chambery with some reporting a lack of facilities.
The wave of winter weather has also waylaid transportation in the United
Kingdom and Germany, but France has been hit hardest. Even with improving
conditions as the weekend wound down, it took until late Sunday for French
forecasters to lift an orange weather alert - France's second highest - of ice
and snow. . The French
government earlier urged drivers to "exercise the utmost caution" and
avoid travel if possible. Efforts are underway to stage emergency flights to
help bring home hundreds of holidaymakers stuck at Chambery Airport, in the
Savoy region, with stranded travelers taking up temporary residence at local
gyms and community halls. Even the famed gardens of Versailles were closed to
the public because of the weather, making it a tough weekend all around for
France……..
- Five armies were enough to hold the top spot at the box
office for another weekend. “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” won the race to
the top of the money mountain with $41.4 million, upping its two-week domestic earnings
to a robust $168.5 million. Newcomer and currently target of wild promotional
overkill “Unbroken” used an unrelenting torrent of TV commercials to sprint to
a $31.7 million opening weekend, placing second in the process. Fellow newcomer
“Into the Woods” slotted third in its debut with $31 million for the weekend, a
respectable start given its competition. That was more than enough to push past
“Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” which dipped two spots in its second
weekend by accrued another $20.6 million for a disappointing domestic total of
$55.3 million against its bloated $127 million budget that looks worse by the
day. The numbers weren't much better for “Annie,” which also fell two spots
with $16.6 million and isn't yet to the break-even point with $45.8 million in
earnings through two weeks in theaters. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1”
in on the other end of the continuum, with $10 million in its sixth weekend and
a whopping $306.6 million and counting domestically against a $125 million
budget. Finding the weekend’s biggest disappointment meant looking no further
than seventh place, where Mark Wahlberg’s “The Gambler” scored just $9.3
million in an uninspired effort that makes it a little tougher to watch the
“Good Vibrations” music video – but still fun. “The Imitation Game” made a
massive jump in limited release, earning $7.9 million as it placed eighth and
went from 34 theaters to 747 and saw its earning soar 823 percent for an
overall total of $14.6 million. “Exodus: Gods and Kings” was ninth with $6.8
million and $52.5 million total, while “Wild” capped the top 10 with $5.4
million for a four-week total of $16.3 million. “Big Hero 6” (No. 11), “Top
Five” (No. 12), “Penguins of Madagascar” (No. 13) and “P.K. UTV” (No. 17) all
fell out of the top 10, while the controversial “The Interview” landed in 16th……….
- Justice is supposed to be blind. Justices typically
aren't. Richard
Bernstein is officially changing that trend as he joins the Michigan Supreme
Court after working off the clock since November, preparing for 10 cases by memorizing
the key points of every brief read to him by an aide. Bernstein, has been blind
since birth, but won election earlier this year and quickly formulated a plan
for an assistant at his family's Detroit-area law firm to read briefs to him
for mid-January arguments, including a medical marijuana case and a labor
dispute covering thousands of state employees. "It would be much easier if
I could read and write like everyone else, but that's not how I was
created," Bernstein said. "No question, it requires a lot more work,
but the flip side is it requires you to operate at the highest level of
preparedness. ... This is what I've done my entire life. This goes all the way
back to grade school for me." One could argue that this arrangement is
putting a lot of trust in the integrity of the person reading to Bernstein to
not lie, distort or manipulate information in any way, but the arrangement
appears to have worked well so far. Other states have had blind judges on their
highest court’s bench, but not Michigan. Serving in his new post won't be as
demanding physically as Bernstein’s efforts to complete the Ironman triathlon,
which saw him bike 112 miles, run 26.2 miles and swim 2.4 miles with the help
of guides. He’s also been a fixture in southeastern Michigan because his
family's personal-injury law firm regularly advertises on TV and also because he’s
freaking rich, having spent $1.8 million of his own money to campaign on the
self-efficacy-based slogan of, "Blind Justice." Bernstein will be
sworn in on New Year's Day and will lean heavily on his law clerks to ensure
that he continues to be as informed as possible about cases coming before the
court in the days and weeks………
- The Golden State Warriors need more assholes. So says forward
Draymond Green, who wasn’t happy about a 100-86 loss to the Clippers on Christmas
night and chided his team because they "were too nice" in defeat. "I
don't know what the cause of it was, maybe everybody was a little too jolly,
Christmas spirit," Green said. "But it was too nice. It was
boring." Given the two teams' intense rivalry of late, that’s surprising
to hear. Green has been one of the most improved players in the NBA over the
past two seasons and had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes, but it wasn’t
enough to prevent Golden State's second straight loss. In actuality, their
previous loss to the über-terrible Los Angeles Lakers was more embarrassing
than dropping a game to the Clippers, but Green is concerned about the poor
shooting night and lack of aggression his team has shown in recent action. “Although
we missed shots, I don't think we went at them,” he said. Green’s expectations
for how the game would go stemmed largely from the teams’ rivalry based on a
history of on-court altercations and a seven-game playoff series last season
that the Warriors lost. "I mean, it's no secret we don't like them, and
it's no secret they don't like us," Green added. "So I don't know why
the game was that nice, trying to act like we like each other and we don't.
Boring game." He admitted that there are members of the Clippers he
doesn’t respect, but did not name any names. In his world view, the Clippers
are better at a game played in such a friendly fashion and therefore, the
Warriors need to stop being nice and start getting real. It seems like that
should be the tag line for a long-running reality series on MTV or something………
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