Tens of thousands of people living within the danger zone of Mayon Volcano in the Philippines were forced to evacuate to emergency shelters in mid-December 2009 as small earthquakes, incandescent lava at the summit and minor ash falls suggested a major eruption was on the way. On the evening of Dec. 14, the local volcano observatory raised the alert level to Level 3, which means "magma is close to the crater and hazardous explosive eruption is imminent."
This natural-color image of Mayon was captured on Dec. 15, 2009, by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. A small plume of ash and steam is blowing west from the summit. Dark-colored lava or debris flows from previous eruptions streak the flanks of the mountain. A ravine on the southeast slope is occupied by a particularly prominent lava or debris flow.
The Phillipine Star said on Dec. 22 that "ashfall blanketed at least three towns in Albay, raising new health fears for thousands already bracing for an eruption that could come at any time ... Health officials warned the tiny particles could cause respiratory problems or skin diseases, and could affect the thousands of people crammed into evacuation centers.
Also on Dec. 22, CNN reported that "tens of thousands of people have already fled their homes. More than 9,000 families -- a total of 44,394 people -- are being housed in evacuation camps after authorities raised the alert status of the country's most active volcano" as "fountains of red-hot lava shot up from the intensifying Mayon volcano."
The festivity of Christmas is around the corner and the shopping malls and other centers are all filled with beautiful gift baskets. The celebration of Christmas takes place with great pomp and show. It is the tradition of Christmas to exchange gifts among the closed ones. There are gift items like cards and chocolates that will never go out of fashion. But, when it comes to gift something special you must look for more and more hi tech products are getting launched. So, it's always better to look out for the more popular gifts to be presented on Christmas. Here are given some popular Christmas gift ideas that will enable you to know about the top 10 Christmas gifts 2009:
2009 Hot Christmas Gifts
Digital Camera One of the best gifts that you can give to you loved ones this Christmas is a digital camera, preferably one with 10 MP resolutions. Whether they are sitting at home, enjoying on a picnic or having a candlelit dinner, the digital camera will help them capture the precious moments and keep them forever. Can there be a better gift than this!
Nintendo Wii The latest gaming console of Nintendo, known as Wii, is just the gift for your teenage kids who swear by their video games. Apart from the legendary Nintendo franchises like Mario, Zelda and Metroid, it also offers new classics like Wii Sports and Wii Play. You can also create your own Mii character and even play with your friends, in the Wii games.
Apple iPod Touch After the sensation created by Apple iPod, it is now the time for the product's latest version to make news. Apple iPod Touch is equipped with the same multi-touch user interface that was introduced in the iPhone. Apart from that, it also features Wi-Fi wireless networking, Safari browser, Google Search or Yahoo! oneSearch, YouTube application and iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.
Caster Board Move over skateboards. The year 2009 has brought the caster board into preview. It is basically a two-wheeled, self-propelled vehicle. Unlike a skateboard, while riding it, the feet do not need to leave the board to gain speed. In fact, more than a skateboard, it is a snowboard that riding in caster board reminds one of.
Apple iPhone Released by Apple in July 2008, iPhone is becoming one of the most-wanted Christmas gifts gradually. An internet-connected multimedia smartphone, it features a flush multi-touch screen and minimal hardware interface. Apart from being a camera phone, it serves as a portable music player and a mini laptop. Apple iPhone is perfect for those who love to own the latest gadgets.
Universal Remote This Christmas, present your parents or grandparents with a universal remote. It can be programmed to operate a number of electronic devices within the house, such as TV, DVD player, music system, air conditioner, and the like. The remote will comprise of a power button, channel and volume up/down selectors, numeric keypad, set button, etc.
Hannah Montana Toys Hannah Montana is the name of a television series that debuted on Disney Channel in March 2006. The central character of the series leads a double life: as a school girl - Miley Stewart in the day and a famous pop singer - Hannah Montana in the night. The series became a hit amongst teenagers and now, Hannah Montana toys are amongst the most preferred gift items.
Lamaze Toys If your child is still an infant, then Lamaze toys present the perfect choice for Christmas gifts. Based on Lamaze Philosophy of Parenting, these toys help parents contribute towards the development of their child. The selection of Lamaze toys differs according to the stage of a baby's development. Go ahead and buy these toys for your baby, helping him grow properly.
Robot Dog One of the most popular Christmas toys for 2009 is the robot dog. It is nothing, but a robot that is designed to resemble a dog, in appearance as well as in behavior. Many toy companies have come out with robots, covered with synthetic hair, which have been programmed to act like dogs. They give paw, sneeze, become hungry and even need to pee, just like a live mutt.
LCD TV If you are ready to spend the moolah, then go ahead and gift an LCD TV to your loved ones. It is the latest gadget as far as TVs are concerned and is sure to be liked by the recipient, especially if he/she loves to watch movies at home. If it's someone very close to you and you can afford to spend more, a home theater system is not too far away either!
Shoppers swamped Wal-Mart in Sacramento, Calif. to take advantage of Black Friday specials in 2008. This year, the release of Wal-Mart's Black Friday sales for 2009 was an attempt by the retail giant to walk a fine line between harnessing the power of the Internet and being stung by it. (Newscom)
Wal-Mart’s Black Friday sales for 2009 are now alive in full color on the Internet. From door-buster TVs to a $198 laptop to a $59 GPS system, the retail titan’s Black Friday plans have been laid bare at last.
Where just this past weekend Wal-Mart was brandishing its brace of lawyers at the leak of several movie and videogame prices, Wednesday it OK’d the release of its entire clutch of Black Friday secrets ahead of its own Nov. 23 release date.
Why the change of heart? The move speaks volumes about a company trying to harness the Internet’s viral power while not tipping its hand too soon.
Over the weekend of Nov. 15, a user on a forum hosted by the website DVDTalk.com posted Black Friday prices for several DVDs, Blu-Rays, and videogames.
Since Wal-Mart had already sent letters this summer warning websites like DVDTalk and others not to publish its Black Friday deals early, what happened next came as no surprise. The company’s lawyers quickly contacted the site’s owners, Internet Brands Inc., and demanded that the post be removed. DVDTalk took the item down.
“We try to be good corporate citizens. While we didn’t editorially post it, we respect everyone in the retail space,” says DVDTalk director Brent Conver.
Then on Tuesday, Wal-Mart confirmed the price of six Black Friday items to CNN. After a user e-mailed him a high-quality copy of Wal-Mart’s Black Friday circular, BlackFriday.info founder Jon Vincent called the company to negotiate its wider release and was allowed to publish the entire flyer Wednesday.
“I was saying, listen, this thing is all over the place, it’s kind of stupid to not let us post it. They gave us permission,” Mr. Vincent says. “They realized they can’t stop the Internet.”
In an e-mail message, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Tara Raddohl wrote that Wal-Mart has “not confirmed the accuracy of any leaks or circulars currently posted, nor have we given the day after Thanksgiving circular to any site or media outlet.”
But why admonish DVDTalk and then give BlackFriday the juice? Several reasons, Black Friday analysts say. First, because many Black Friday sites are tiny operations with a small crew or single proprietor, a Wal-Mart lawsuit threat carries a lot of weight. When CNN came calling, the threat of litigation was diminished.
“The difference is Wal-Mart knows they can’t litigate CNN out of existence,” says Michael Brim, founder of BFAds.net.
Further, the many sites pursuing and posting the latest Black Friday deals don’t want to spoil relations with their golden goose, an issue not faced by CNN. BFAds makes a small commission from Wal-Mart for each shopper that passes through its portal en route to a purchase on Wal-Mart’s website.
What could be seen as a corporate giant bowing to the pressure of the savvy Web sleuths might, in fact, be an integral part of Wal-Mart’s marketing strategy. In terms of timing, Vincent says it may have been almost perfectly placed.
“We’re only about a week away from Black Friday so it’s not too far away. People are going to be taking the next week off probably so now is kind of a good time to reach them before they check out,” Vincent says.
Noting that his site’s Black Friday post was Alexa.com’s 7th most popular on the Internet Wednesday afternoon, Wal-Mart’s release certainly generated interest.
“Tons of people are visiting our site and they’re getting tons of exposure,” he says.
By working diligently to keep their ad off the Internet before the right moment, Wal-Mart may have safeguarded its best Black Friday secret: Its deals really might be the best.
“Their ad this year is great. I think it beats all the other Black Friday ads,” Vincent says. “They want all the other ads to leak out and then their ad goes out and they one-up everybody.”
By battling when they need to and then carefully allowing their promotions to slip, Wal-Mart walks a fine line in the holiday market: whetting consumers appetites without sacrificing too much commercial edge.
“They basically want the best of both worlds,” Brim says.
#15: The Unborn In what is probably no match for It's Alive or the vat of bile known as The Suckling, The Unborn is David S. Goyer's (Blade: Trinity, The Invisible) latest foray into the world of the macabre. When a young pregnant woman (Odette Yustman) starts to slowly become possessed by the entity inside of her, all kinds of eerie revelations and horrific truths are unearthed. Despite the flick being rated PG-13, Goyer is smart enough to cast screen greats like Gary Oldman and Jane Alexander alongside fresher talent like drop dead lookers Megan Goode and Carla Gugino. The Unborn is delivered January 9, 2009.
#14: My Bloody Valentine 3-D Bludgeoning audiences on January 16, 2009 - a three dimensional remake of 1981 slasher classic My Bloody Valentine by editor-turned-director Patrick Lussier (The Prophecy 3:The Ascent) is one of the first to hit us all in the new year. When a man (Jansen Ackles) returns home two decades after a Valentine's Day massacre took place, he finds himself implicated in the madness as he tries to save a past flame (Jaime King) from being spiked by a maniacal miner. The movie also features Kerr Smith , Edi Gathegi, and Andrew Larson all trying to avoid a broken bloodied heart.
#13: The Uninvited With a title used about a dozen prior times in Hollywood, those who might assume this a remake of the classic 1944 ghost story is sorely mistaken. A remake it is however, only of Kim Ji-Woon's 2003 film South Korean specter spin A Tale of Two Sisters, which actually boasted an international R-rating (or equivalent of). This PG-13 offering from the British brothers Guard (Thomas and Charles), their debut feature certainly boasts greater acting talent than most horror flicks, including David Strathairn and Elizabeth Banks. The Uninvited infiltrates theaters in January 30, 2009.
#12: Friday the 13th (Remake) Michael Bay's remake machine Platinum Dunes is poised to bring back one of the largest icons of cinematic homicide - Jason Voorhees. With the predictable February 13th, 2009 (Friday) day of return, press and promo material has already revealed Voorhees to be rocking both the vintage hockey mask as well as the nascent The Town That Dreaded Sundown burlap sack over his dome (as seen in Part 2). Marcus Nispel directs (Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake), with Danielle Panabaker, Jared Padalecki, Amanda Righetti, Willa Ford and Derek Mears (as Jason) to star.
#11: Feast III: The Happy Finish Look, you know you reek of ultra low-budget cool when you release a sequel just a smidge over 4 months after its predecessor - but that is exactly the case with John Gulager's Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds and the February 17, 2009 DVD release of Feast 3: The Happy Finish (dude must have been shooting both simultaneously, Pete Jackson style!). If you've seen the prior two Feast pictures, you know what kind of hyper-energetic, of the wall craziness the flick will employ. For those in the know not, watch the prior two and get yourself educated (get started with a trailer for Feast II below!)
#10: Drag Me to Hell As a horror fan, if Sam Raimi's (The Evil Dead 1 & 2) return to the genre doesn't get you amped, nothing will! Set for a May 29, 2009 release, Drag Me to Hell focuses on a supernatural curse that is spelled on a young woman by a mysterious older Eastern European lady, setting stage for a bizarrely hellish world. Written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, the flick features the dude from those Mac commercials Justin Long, as well as Alison Lohman (a girl I'd probably drop to a knee and propose to if I ever saw in person) and Jessica Lucas, Sage Stallone, David Paymer and Flor de Maria Chahua.
#9: Piranha After the poor, glass shattering effort in Mirrors earlier this year, French horror director Alaxendre Aja (Haute Tension, The Hills Have Eyes) looks to get back on track with a 3-D re-imagining of the 1978 B-movie Piranha. When a tremor cracks a Lake Havasu lake bottom, a school of uncouth prehistoric fish is unceremoniously let loose to wreak bloody havoc on the townies. A late July 2009 release is tentative, with the script written by Aja along with frequent collaborator Gregory Levasseur (P2), as well as Josh Stolberg (Sorority Row).
#8: Final Destination 4 (3-D) No doubt a guilty pleasure for most, the Final Destination pictures somehow balance god awful acting with first rate fatalities - always doing so in deft, entertaining fashion. Slated for an August 21, 2009 release, the fourth installment will feature 3-D technology (a horror trend for 2009 and onward it seems). Directed by David R. Ellis (of Snakes on a Plane and Cellular infamy), Final Destination 4 will star the stunning Krista Allen, as well as Nick Zano, Richard T. Jones, Haley Webb, Billy Slaughter and Shantel VanSanten. Get those blue and red shades ready!
#7: Tyrannosaurus Rex With the recent announcement that Rob Zombie has been tapped to follow up his 2007 version of Halloween with a sequel, details on his greatly anticipated prehistoric project, Tyrannosaurus Rex have somewhat petered. Still, an August 28, 2009 release date is in line for the film starring Zombie's long time flame Sherri Moon Zombie, based on a script penned by Rob himself. Looking at Zombie's concept art for the film, we can't help but hope those depicted are none other than Danny Trejo and Ken Foree in the primary roles. I mean, who else could slay a T-Rex?!?
#6: SAW VI In as dependable an October calendar entry as Halloween itself, the 6th Saw episode is in line for what some studio execs deemed an "indefinite" string of Jigsaw releases to hit audiences in the near-to-distant future. Who knows what the hell the plot will resemble this time out, but let's hope the rote gimmickry of the last few will be replaced with some of the more simplistic methods of madness the best versions employ (if only to keep the thing at least halfway plausible). No script or casting details are clear at this point, but it'd be hard to see anyone other than Tobin Bell semi-titular role.
#5: The Wolf Man The much anticipated lycanthropic homage to Lon Chaney and sleek horror of old, The Wolf Man will see all kinds of Oscar caliber talent in this terrifying period piece, including Sir Anthony Hopkins and Benicio Del Toro in the titular lead (as well as make-up master Rick Baker). Scripted by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en, Sleepy Hollow), directed by Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III) - This version of The Wolf Man also features the lovely Emily Blunt, as well as Hugo Weaving, Geraldine Chaplin, Kiran Shah, and Sam Hazeldine. The flick howls into theaters on November 6, 2009.
#4: Giallo Italian splatter king Dario Argento is putting the final touches on his newest blood-drenched expedition, Giallo. Looking to rebound from the atrociously substandard effort Mother of Tears, Argento's new script (by Jim Agnew and Sean Keller) sees an American stewardess (Elsa Pataky) in Milan team up with an Italian detective (Adrian Brody, who replaced Ray Liotta, who replaced Vincent Gallo) to find and rescue her kidnapped sister from an unforgiving serial killer known as Yellow (which translates in Italian as giallo). No release has been ascertained, but damn this has serious potential!
#3: Jennifer's Body Let's just hope that the Oscar winning writer of Juno (Diablo Cody) can make something decent out of a title resembling one of those really awful 3 A.M. soft-core joints. Jennifer's Body, starring the hottest porn starlet who's yet to desert Hollywood for the valley, Megan Fox - the flick finds a possessed cheerleader going on a rampant homicidal binge, dispatching classmates and other faculty members. A roiled 2009 release is in place, with the always entertaining J.K Simmons and Amy Sedaris hopefully adding a few laughs.
#2: 25/8 All-world horror maestro Wes Craven looks to get back in the horror saddle by shooting a script he wrote himself, a task that has eluded him in the horror genre since 1994 (New Nightmare). 25/8 is about a deranged murder who returns to his hometown to torment a cadre of kids who all share the same birthday as the date he was supposedly left for dead. No definitive release date is set, but the flick certainly stars Max Thieriot, Shareeka Epps, Denzel Whitaker, Frank Grillo, and Dennis Boutsikaris. Let us pray Craven harks back to the raw brutality displayed 36 years prior in Last House on the Left.
#1: George A. Romero's Next Zombie Movie George A. Romero's last film in his zombie-filled "Dead" film series, Diary of the Dead, didn't quite reach the critical or financial success of Dawn of the Dead or Day of the Dead (or hell, even Land of the Dead for that matter), but that isn't stopping the godfather of the modern zombie film from birthing another sequel in his longstanding Dead series. Tentatively titled ...of the Dead, Romero's next film contains a story about a group of survivors stuck on an island loaded with hordes of flesh-eating undead, a story not unlike Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2. As long as Romero ditches the shaky camera gimmick and ups the zombie related carnage from the last stinker, we're intrigued to see what he'll come up with. We're not giving up on him yet.
Tens of thousands of people living within the danger zone of Mayon Volcano in the Philippines were forced to evacuate to emergency shelters in mid-December 2009 as small earthquakes, incandescent lava at the summit and minor ash falls suggested a major eruption was on the way. On the evening of Dec. 14, the local volcano observatory raised the alert level to Level 3, which means "magma is close to the crater and hazardous explosive eruption is imminent."
