Cold Weather

A major change in the routine at the San Fernando Valley's only winter emergency shelter will allow the area's homeless to find relief from the cold and rain 24 hours a day. From Dec. 16 through Feb. 28, the Trudy and Norman Louis Valley Shelter will be among three to stay open all day and night, unlike previous years when hundreds of homeless men, women and children marked time on the streets until nightfall, when the facilities reopened.

An unseasonably warm winter has given way to an early spring -- and that's making some folks just a bit nervous. It's not because the weather hasn't been lovely. But  the fluctuating temperatures have confused flora and fauna. Consider parts of the East Coast. On March 23, the mercury hit 83 degrees near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  This week daily highs in the East Coast have dialed back to “seasonal temperatures,” said Brian Lasorsa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Washington office.  On Friday temperatures near the airport capped off at 58 degrees.

'Cold Weather' MPAA rating: Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes Playing: At Laemmle's Sunset 5

Cracked heels, chapped lips, scaly legs, fissured hands, skin so tight and parched it practically hurts to smile. All can be brought on by dry, hot Santa Ana winds common in the fall or by the cold weather and heated rooms of winter - and Angelenos have experienced a taste of both in the last couple of weeks. Even without harsh weather conditions, just spending time in one of Southern California's desert microclimates can be hard on skin. But there are some solutions for soothing the dryness.

"Cold Weather," the third feature from filmmaker Aaron Katz, fuses the untethered emotions and ambient anxieties of his earlier work onto a purposefully off-beat detective story that launches him in a new direction. Where his previous features, "Quiet City" (2007) and "Dance Party, USA" (2006), were diffuse romances, making Katz seem something of a lo-fi sensualist and new American independent variation on art-house stalwarts Michelangelo Antonioni or Wong Kar-wai, "Cold Weather" has just enough of a jolt of conventional plotting to make it a more audience-friendly and, dare one say it, commercial picture.

Family dramas are a dime a dozen in the low-budget independent film world. But family dramas combined with the conventions of a film noir ? set in present-day Oregon, no less ? are few and far between. That's the unusual mix of "Cold Weather," a microbudget feature (it cost about $100,000 to produce) from 29-year-old writer-director Aaron Katz. If it sounds like a surprising blend, it may help to know that the man who created it was taken aback too. "I don't know, I didn't mean to write something like this," said Katz, sitting outdoors at a Los Feliz restaurant on a recent publicity stop in Los Angeles.

Game-time temperature for Friday's game between Oakland and the White Sox was 55 degrees with a northerly wind gusting at 32 mph in Chicago. Before the game, White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf once again suggested a scheduling format that would send cold-weather teams from Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Cleveland on the road to warmer locales for the first three series of the season.

Being out in the cold doesn't need to be a chilling experience if you are well prepared. So, here to go with ski trips, walks in snowy woods and cozy potluck suppers are some innovative items that will give you a warm feeling no matter how low the mercury dips. Products may be available in area stores. Prices do not include shipping and handling. Snazzy warmups: Silk has always been stylish--now it's warm and machine washable as well.

Seven people froze to death on Moscow streets over the weekend in the coldest weather for the date in the Russian capital in more than a century. All of the victims were drunk, officials said Monday. December has been cold and snowy in Moscow. The overnight temperature dipped to minus 14 degrees Fahrenheit early Monday, said Alexei Yakovlev, a spokesman for Russia's weather service. It was the lowest temperature recorded at this time of year in more than 100 years, Yakovlev said.

A long spell of freezing weather gripping Europe has taken the lives of dozens of homeless people, while blizzards have disrupted travel and balmy resorts have suffered freak snowfalls. Several dozen people trapped in their vehicles by avalanches in a tunnel in southern Russia were finally freed, but as many as 300 people were still feared to be inside the tunnel as snow continued to fall. Sections of the Danube River in Central Europe were frozen over, as were major canals in northern Germany.

Matthew Dunn, 34, flashed his best Popeye the Sailor grin as he boarded the van from Venice Beach to the Westside winter shelter. Julie "Julez" Arispe, 42, roused from a beer-induced slumber on the grass near Windward Avenue, clambered aboard with her guitar and bags of belongings and launched into an upbeat rendition of Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz. " With darkness bringing a damp chill to Ocean Front Walk one recent evening, both appeared relieved at the prospect of a hot meal and a cot inside the West Los Angeles National Guard Armory, about 7 miles inland.

First came the footprint. Then a series of them. Then a boy's rain-soaked striped shirt laid out on a log. By Tuesday afternoon, a four-member search team, one of dozens scoping the thickly forested San Bernardino National Forest, had the boy — alive, though tired and hungry. "Thank you … you saved me," the boy said in a low voice. Joshua Robb, an autistic 8-year-old who had been missing for more than 24 hours after running away from his elementary school in Twin Peaks, was found in "pretty good shape" in a rugged ravine 1 1/2 miles from the school, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department officials said.

Authorities said Tokyo and its surrounding area will avoid a massive blackout Thursday night despite fears that Japan's crippled energy grid was being over-taxed by cooler temperatures. Power demand surged Thursday morning as more people turned their heaters on to combat near-freezing conditions. Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda told reporters that if demand had risen to the same level again in the evening, large swaths of the Tokyo metropolitan area would be without power.

Family dramas are a dime a dozen in the low-budget independent film world. But family dramas combined with the conventions of a film noir ? set in present-day Oregon, no less ? are few and far between. That's the unusual mix of "Cold Weather," a microbudget feature (it cost about $100,000 to produce) from 29-year-old writer-director Aaron Katz. If it sounds like a surprising blend, it may help to know that the man who created it was taken aback too. "I don't know, I didn't mean to write something like this," said Katz, sitting outdoors at a Los Feliz restaurant on a recent publicity stop in Los Angeles.

'Cold Weather' MPAA rating: Not rated Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes Playing: At Laemmle's Sunset 5

"Cold Weather," the latest micro-budget movie from writer-director-editor Aaron Katz, is like an exquisite minimalist painting — its beauty will move you, its simplicity will fool you. For there are layers and complexities to be found in the film, like the many mysteries it slowly exposes. The opening image sets the mood, lingering on a rain-soaked window, its lovely gray blur accompanied by a surprisingly sunny tune from composer Keegan DeWitt's richly textured original score.

Federal Express, the world's largest overnight delivery service, said cold weather was disrupting air operations in Memphis, Tenn.; Indianapolis; and Newark, N.J. "We're trying to do all we can to make sure all deliveries are made by Christmas," said a spokesman for FDX Corp., the parent company. Separately, FDX's pilots union said its board voted to recommend ratification of a tentative labor agreement with Federal Express.

A cold weather shelter program for the homeless in Whittier is in danger of closing its doors for five weeks over the holiday season because of scheduling conflicts among the sponsoring churches and synagogues. "We are dealing with churches. Can you think of a time when a church building is more used?" said Whittier Area Interfaith Council board member Bea Comini. The shelter program sponsored by the Interfaith Council will be shut down between Dec. 8 and Jan.

Tommy Gainey and Mark Wilson topped the leaderboard at the PGA Tour's Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Ariz., reaching 11 under par before second-round play was suspended Friday because of darkness in the frost-delayed tournament, which will finish Monday. Wilson played 14 holes in the second round, and Gainey finished nine. Frost delayed play until just after 11 a.m. ? 94 minutes after the scheduled start, which was nearly two hours later than normal. Only half the field finished the first round Thursday after a four-hour delay.

While film festivals are most commonly thought of as launching pads for filmmakers, they also serve as stages to break out performers as well. This year's Los Angeles Film Festival may give just such a boost to an actress appearing in two films — Trieste Kelly Dunn. Writer-director Aaron Katz's slacker detective yarn "Cold Weather" was the toast of this spring's South by Southwest Film Festival, and much of the movie's emotional resonance comes from the performances by Dunn and Cris Lankenau, who play a sister and brother searching for a missing friend.