SoCal Meteorologist Rankings - #4 Jackie Johnson

It may be a shock to some that Jackie Johnson is ranked a paltry #4 in my rankings since Jackie burst onto the weather scene here in SoCal only a few years ago and has become very popular due to her looks. My wife used to work at KCAL and I remember a certain friend of mine trying very hard to get her to set him up with Jackie... nice try bud. As appealing to the eye as Jackie is, to me she seems a little too stoic and lacking of an outgoing personality. At times it actually seems forced. You can tell that she takes forecasting very serious but weather.com is also serious, the viewing audience appreciates a little personality to lighten it up. Like I mentioned before, much of the newscast is devoted to drive by's, bank robberies, etc. Let's have some fun when the weather comes on... since it's SoCal, weather is never a serious topic like it would be most any other place. But a small victory for Jackie will be that she is the only meteorologist in my rankings to score a perfect 10 on appearance which definitely drove her overall score up and can't be too bad for the confidence.
Jackie is from Michigan and dated Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame last year for a while. You can find her on Channel 9 and Channel 2.

Knowledge and Professionalism: 8
Entertainment Value: 7
Appearance: 10
Total: 25

Santa Monica Place - Update

At the end of the promenade once stood a dilapidated mall called the Santa Monica Place that originally was opened in 1980, during the large indoor mall boom that this country went through. Although it was designed by one of my favorite architects, Santa Monica's own Frank Gehry, and had also been in several films including the Terminator and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the mall had seen better days. It became a relic of the 80's with the subpar chain retail stores and greasy food court eateries. The malls of the 80's and early 90's are no longer desirable places to shop, especially in Southern California where the weather is too nice to spend a full day of shopping indoors. The only time I would go there was to shop at Macy's but the rest of the mall was very quiet and kind of eery.

Macerich, a REIT (I work for a REIT as well) based out of Santa Monica purchased and has completely gutted Santa Monica place and is putting in more of an open air shopping center with outdoor dining terraces and high end retail stores.

From Macerichs website:

The retail attractions of Santa Monica Place include a new Bloomingdale’s and a new Nordstrom plus a growing roster of specialty stores: Burberry, Kitson, Nike, CB2, Tory Burch, Juicy Couture, Hugo Boss, Michael Kors, Ted Baker, AllSaints Spitalfields, 7 For All Mankind, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Coach, Ed Hardy, True Religion, Joe’s Jeans, Swarovski, Ben Bridge Jeweler, Angl, Bernini, Charles David, Parc 81 (formerly Michael Brandon), East 5th Hub (formerly ROC/Republic of Couture), Eva Varro and Solstice Sunglass Boutique. Newly signed for the property are, on the first level, Betsey Johnson, Barneys Co-Op, Johnny Was, Pandora, L'Occitane, White House Black Market and Bird Pick Tea & Herb; and on the second level, Chilli Beans, Tous, Foreign Exchange, Kensington Luggage, Sea of Silver, and GNC. As well, Love Culture will open a larger, 10,069-square foot store rather than the 7,500-square foot space originally planned.

The rooftop Dining Deck will offer ocean and city views and a carefully selected set of chef-driven restaurants and quick-casual dining options. Already announced restaurants include two concepts from nationally recognized restaurateur Richard Sandoval, Zengo and La Sandia, plus Pizza Antica, Ozumo Sushi, and XINO Restaurant + Lounge.


I think this will be a great extension of the Third Street Promenade, whose retail stores are more aimed towards tourists. It will be nice to not have to drive to Century City or South Coast Plaza to get some nice shopping in. I am sure traffic will be worse now, but at least we are walking distance to the Santa Monica place.

SoCal Meteorologist Rankings - #5 Dallas Raines

Here's the thing about Dallas Raines, you either love him or hate him. There is no middle ground on his likeability. I personally used to hate him but now fall into the latter group. Initially I had a "you have got to be effing kidding me" moments when I first watched Dallas doing our local weather several years ago. Who is this guy with a ridiculous name, orange overtanned skin, and cheesy car salesman persona. I couldn't stand him. But he grew on me like mold. He is actually an extremely talented weatherman, second only to one other who shall be mentioned later. He communicates well, has a lot of energy, and seems to be much more detailed when we do have weather systems coming through the Southland. You just have to get over his shiny veneer and accept Dallas for who he is. And I have to give him some credit, he came out and was very forthright when he found out he had prostate cancer which was a very brave thing to do.


Knowledge and Professionalism: 9
Entertainment Value: 8
Appearance: 7
Total: 24

SoCal Meteorologist Rankings - #6 Elita Loresca

Elita, a native of the Philippines, who moved to LA when she was 10 months old and after a brief stint doing the weather for the folks of Miami came back to make Channel 4 her home much to the delight of many Angelenos. Although I rarely see Elita doing the weather since I don't watch the news in the morning or midday while she is on, I have definitely heard a lot about her due in no small part to her being voted "America's Sexiest Newscaster" in 2006 by the readers of FHM Online magazine while she was in Miami. As far as I know this is not an annual poll so she seems to be the only meteorologist to hold this distinction as of right now and there is definitely a lot of competition out there. I pulled up a few clips of her weather reports and she is an above average weather reporter who is very calming and has a good style about her. I also have to admit, she seems to have a ton of fan sites online which definitely helped her ranking. It also turns out she is good friends with rival meteorologist Maria Quiban who ranked #8 in this poll.



Knowledge and Professionalism: 7
Entertainment Value: 7
Appearance: 9
Total: 23

SoCal Meteorologist Rankings - #7 Johnny Mountain

So here we are #7 and the first truly cheesy weatherman name. Who knows if Johnny's real last name is Mountain and if so why not be called John Mountain? But what I do know is that Johnny Mountain is cheesy. After some thought, I think if I were to become a weatherman I would opt for a name with more local relevance such as Jimbo Ocean or Jimmy Heatwave... Johnny Mountain seems better suited for a Denver based meteorologist.

I actually came pretty close to not including Johnny in these rankings as he has recently announced his retirement... I guess I will consider this my homage to a long illustrious career of forecasting the weather for us grateful Angeleno's. Johnny, no stranger to the tanning salon has always been well dressed, wearing a big smile, and has had above average energy which made him more than tolerable. The good and the bad of this is that the lovely Jackie Johnson and the annoying Josh Rubinstein will be picking up more air time. I really hope this "retirement" wasn't another wave of "restructuring" due to the slow economy. In any case... we salute you and your 30+ years of service to us Johnny... godspeed my friend and feel free to change your name back to something somewhat normal.

Knowledge and Professionalism: 7
Entertainment Value: 7
Appearance: 8
Total: 22

SoCal Meteorologist Rankings - #8 Maria Quiban

There isn't a lot of layers to peel back with the native Hawaiian nor any drama like our previous two meteorologists... and that's actually refreshing. Maria definitely has her fans and although I am not one of them, I certainly am in no hurry to change the channel when she is forecasting our sunny Southern Californian skies. Maria has her own basic travel website where you can go check out random information such as how much to tip people, how to pack, as well as several other pages still under construction... but I dig that she is trying. I am not sure how long she will be a weatherlady as she has built up a pretty solid resume on IMBD with filmwork lately (mostly playing a tv anchor or meteorologist though) but in the meantime we will all enjoy your appealing appearance and above average forecasting skills.

Knowledge and Professionalism: 6
Entertainment Value: 7
Appearance: 8
Total: 21

SoCal Meteorologist Rankings - #9 Mark Kriski

There is really nothing I can say about poor Mark Kriski that Howard Stern hasn't already said unless that is I chose to say some nice thing about Kriski. There are few people in this world that you do not pick a fight with, and I would say that Shock Jockey Howard Stern probably belongs to that list. Stern went on a tirade of the irrelevance of weatherman (specifically Kriski) for a good 20 minutes in retort to Kriski saying that Stern has been more irrelevant since leaving radio to go to Sirius, obviously something that Stern is pretty sensitive about. It's actually pretty hilarious how bad Stern rips on Kriski saying things like he has a spray painted head and a facelift, he's a f*@king douchebag, etc. Check it here if you are so inclined.

I have been watching Kriski off and on since I was in high school back in the 90's, back then he seemed like a used car salesman who would always flirt with Jennifer York in the Skycam helicopter.... kind of made your skin crawl sometimes actually. Over the years though Kriski has mellowed out and takes his job as seriously as he can while being on the KTLA morning news I guess and now that he has gotten the attention of Stern for a nano-second he is hated by millions of Stern listeners instead of just disliked by thousands of Angeleno's.

Knowledge and Professionalism: 6
Entertainment Value: 6
Appearance: 7
Total: 19

SoCal Meteorologist Rankings - #10 Jillian Reynolds

Jillian Reynolds (formerly Barberie) is part of the Entertainment (Not News) triumvirate of Good Day LA on Fox. Look, this team has their niche and it just happens to not be news reporting. They have a following of fans that enjoy their banter, cutting each other off as they speak, blunt remarks, and over caffeinated opinions.

Jillian has in fact made a great name for herself over the last decade or so. She is a spokesperson for Nutri System, she does a National weather segment on FOX NFL Sundays, and she has appeared in several men's magazines as a sex symbol. She's definitely entertaining to her Cougar nation and probably appeals to many Angeleno's in that she is completely self absorbed. You really can't take a meteorologist who reads magazine and sends text messages while on air seriously. Although Jillian may be a meteorologist by trade, she is really an entertainer (to those who find her entertaining that is) and she is an iconic representation of LA as she is probably the one newswoman that is recognizable across the country.

Knowledge and Professionalism: 4
Entertainment Value: 7
Appearance: 7
Total: 18

Jalames 1st Annual Southern California Meteorologist Rankings

When we consume our local news at night or morning we are exposed to a great deal of information and often many depressing stories about what is going on in Southern Cal and the rest of our country be it car chases, homicides, traffic, and as of late news about the recession and unemployment.... booo. I would say in a given newscast, 70-80% of the information that we consume is overwhelmingly negative... and then the weatherman/woman comes on and moods lighten! This is especially the case since we live in Southern Cal and aside from Rain, Santa Ana winds, occasional flooding, and fires our weathermen have great news of sunny skies and beautiful beaches... they are the purveyors of information that effect every single one of us. So there was an overturned semi on the 10 you say?? Well that may effect a few thousand for an hour or so but the weather is universal. We all talk about it and we all bask in it or shake our fists collectively at it. And this my friends is why our meteorologists are celebrities. But not just anyone will do.... this is LA, the entertainment capital of our country. The land of self obsession, vanity, and microscopic attention spans. Our meteorologists need to be excellent.


I have ranked the top 10 meteorologists for Southern California and did so based on the scientific Jalames Meterologist ranking formula:

Categories (each on a scale of 1-10):
Knowledge and Professionalism
Entertainment Value
Appearance

The maximum score would be a 30

I hope you enjoy the rankings as much as I enjoyed putting them together, obviously this is a very subjective ranking by yours truly and while you may disagree you would probably be wrong! I will rank them in reverse order starting at #12 and finishing at #1 over the next week or so... let's get started

Sustainable Seafood and Bad Shrimp

If you are like me and are enamored by the taste of a perfectly seared piece of Ahi or a perfectly cooked piece of Chilean Sea Bass (Thomas Keller has the best recipe for this), then you should also be cognisant of the sustainability of seafood as to preserve its availability for several years to come. Overfishing is rampant and types of fish that you may enjoy today may be extinct in our lifetime.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has created a handy pocket guide for you to print out and take with you to the market the next time you pick up some fish. Please use it.



Another Seafood item that I am passionate about is the huge supply of shrimp in our markets from Thailand and Vietnam. This could be the most lethal item in your supermarket. DO NOT EAT IT. Here is an excerpt from one of many articles I have read on this large influx of dangerous shellfish being imported into the US:

"Once the shrimp arrive stateside, less than 2 percent of the shipments are inspected, according to the FDA. About half of the inspected shipments are detained for safety, packaging, or sanitation violations. Shrimp account for nearly a quarter of all detained seafood. They comprise 38 percent of seafood turned away for salmonella violations, and 35 percent turned away for "filth.""

If you dare to read more, and I hope you do, check out this article.