Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

What's the Buzz:

Marketing Daily has rounded up the trend forecasts for 2010 and finds:
   --Pantone recently named turquoise the color of the year, for its "deep compassion and healing, a color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky."
   --Minneapolis-based trend-spotting firm Iconoculture predicts that everything about water will be hot. "Water-sustainability savvy is mainstreaming."
   --JWT Intelligence advises we can expect our world to be smothered in bacon, appearing in everything from cocktails to lollipops to cupcakes. (Pass the Baconnaise!)
   --Iconoculture predicts people will become much more careful about their privacy, and will cut back on their use of social media.
   --Hand-me-ups: JWT coined this folksy phrase for passing along outdated cell phones and other devices to one's parents, once newer models are available.
   --JWT's forecasters also like anything slow, including a bounce in handwritten letters, and the intriguing designation of slow beverages that contain mood-calming ingredients.
   --Iconoculture sees evidence of consumers actively matching small extravagances with fiscal countermeasures in indulgence offsetting.
   --Whether they are fighting BPA or E. coli, hating on TARP or just throwing some friendly neighborhood Tea Parties, Iconoculture finds an upsurge in grass-roots activism.
   --Lifestyle Insights, an agency specializing in marketing to women, notes "the crafting business has grown up and become a $30 billion industry with no let-up in sight." Think knitting, scrapbooking, canning, etc.
   --JWT says silent dance parties (bring your own iPod) are on the rise, as is the acceptance of new versions of dry shampoo. (Ick --spray it on, brush it out.)
   --Be prepared to see more jeggings, an allegedly fashionable cross between skin-tight leggings and blue jeans, for those who feel skinny jeans just aren't tight enough. Women's Wear Daily predicts spring versions made of extra stretchy fabrics. (A yeast infection waitin' to happen! --Kaye)

The Weather:

Warning: Note mention of AccuWeather.
   If you think this winter has been the toughest in years, you're right. The folks at AccuWeather say this winter is setting up to be the worst in 25 years.
   The last time such a large area of the country was so cold was back in January of 1985. (Pacelli)

Stars and their movies:

TAYLOR SWIFT will make her big screen debut in "Valentine's Day," which opens two days before on February 12th. The singer co-stars with JULIA ROBERTS, JESSICA ALBA, ASHTON KUTCHER, JENNIFER GARNER, JAMIE FOXX and others. The soundtrack will feature JEWEL's new single, "Stay Here Forever." Taylor has also relaunched her Web site at taylorswift.com. (Marino)

Movies that will suck:

Warning: note language.  
   Great news --KEVIN FEDERLINE is branching out to the big screen! The former backup-dancer-turned-infamous-ex-husband and reality star tells AbsoluteNow.com that he plays a border patrol agent in the latest "American Pie" movie. FedEx hopes that the public will realize his natural talent and wishes everyone would stop seeing him as such an (ahem) "ass." (Lee)