Valentine's Day spending hits a sweet new high: $17.6 billion

Valentine's Day spending is expected to reach an all-time high this year -- at least $17.6 billion. That's a lot of chocolate, cards, jewelry and unmentionables.

Those planning to celebrate the holiday are expected to drop an average of $126.03 per person, up 8.5% over last year, according to the National Retail Federation's annual survey. That's the highest total in the 10 years that the survey has been conducted.   

Valentine's Day is "one of the biggest gift-giving holidays of the year," federation Chief Executive Matthew Shay said in a statement. "It’s encouraging that consumers are still exhibiting the desire to spend on discretionary gift items, a strong indication our economy continues to move in the right direction."

The average male celebrating the holiday will spend $168.74 for the works -- flowers, dinner, gift, etc. By contrast, women will spend an average of $85.76.

Here's what all that spending looks like, according to the survey: Just over 35% of those surveyed will buy flowers, and 35.6% will treat someone to dinner. Nearly 19% of those surveyed will buy jewelry, and 13.3% will give their sweetheart a gift card. (We're pretty sure that those who give a card will not have an especially memorable Valentine's Day evening, but the survey did not explore that question.)

And just over half -- 50.5% -- of all Valentine's Day celebrants will buy candy.

One beloved chocolatier, See's Candies, sees about 3 million pounds of chocolate fly off its shelves this time of year. (See's, which recently celebrated its 95th anniversary, was the training ground for Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance in the famous "I Love Lucy" conveyor-belt scene.)

It might surprise you to know that Valentine's Day is not the company's biggest selling holiday, or even its second-biggest. Valentine's Day ranks No. 3, behind Christmas and Easter.

"Valentine's is a fairly short-selling season," See’s President Brad Kinstler told The Times. "The real sales don't start coming in until Feb. 1. And then it's a lot of activity compressed into a few days."

By contrast, the Christmas selling season begins after Thanksgiving and lasts until Dec. 24. And Easter is all about chocolate and candy, unlike Valentine's Day, which can also be about baubles and roses.

Kinstler said See's outlets will be jam-packed all day Tuesday with customers -- mainly men -- who woke up and realized they were about to be in the doghouse unless they came up with something super sweet, super fast.

When asked whether he was bringing home something sweet for someone special, Kinstler said: "Oh, I know what I am required to bring home." (See's dark chocolate butterchews are his wife's favorite.)

"But I did my shopping already, I didn't wait," he said.

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-- Rene Lynch

Photo: Red roses waiting to be shipped. Credit: AFP / Getty Images

Valentine's Day: Conversation hearts on Facebook? Sweet!

Before there was texting, there were conversation hearts -- and Valentine's Day just wouldn't be the same without them. Right now, someone, somewhere is sitting in a first-grade classroom getting his or her very first box of conversation hearts. You remember, dontcha -- those pastel hearts inscribed with sweet sayings such as "All Mine" and "Be True"?

This Valentine's Day will no doubt be awash in conversation hearts. The New England Confectionery Company (NECCO) produced a whopping 8 billion candy hearts for this sweet holiday, shipping 25 million units in all, including those classroom-exchange boxes. (They had the label on the back, so you could fill in the "To:" and "From:" lines and bring a bunch to school for all your friends and, of course, let that special someone three desks over know he or she had an admirer.)

But some things have changed. Pick up a box today and you'll notice the candy colors seem a little more vibrant, the flavors both tart and sweet. But what will really catch your eye? The messages. Over the years, the company has tinkered with the sayings ... to mixed results.

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Most folks were OK with ditching now-dated sayings like "Fax Me," in favor of "Text Me" or "Tweet Me," Al Gulachenski, the candy company's chief executive, told The Times. Other sayings that got the ax include "Melt My Heart," "Sugar Pie" and "Purr-fect" in favor of "Ur It" and "Hold Hands."

Some updates didn't go over so well. Racy sayings such as "Ur Hot," "Hottie," even "Bite Me" struck some as just too much, a sign that the company was trying a bit too hard to appeal to a younger generation. (Evidence: a Facebook fanpage called "Bring back the old conversation hearts!!!!!")

In days past, the company accepted recommendations via mail for updated sayings. "We used to do it the old-fashioned way. All year long, people would send in letters and we'd keep a tally. Nobody puts stamps on things anymore," Gulachenski said.

This year, for the first time, the company is turning to Facebook to allow customers to guide the conversation for next Valentine's Day. You can weigh in over at the Facebook page for CVS, which is a major retailer of the 'lil sweets.

Conversation hearts have been around a long time. Since 1902, in fact, according to NECCO's history page. Now they're part of the national conversation, used as wedding favors, on edible wreaths and as inspiration for spinoffs. Such as mini cheesecakes. "They are a favorite; they are unique because they're something that's edible but also gives a message," Gulachenski said.

We asked Gulachenski whether this month was a mad, frantic rush at the candy company. Nope. In fact, it's just the opposite -- kind of quiet. "We stopped shipping Valentine's Day sometime in December. We're on to Easter," he said.

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-- Rene Lynch
Twitter.com/renelynch

Photo credit: New England Confectionery Company

Slain boys: Radio host gets death threat for deal with Westboro

Washington state-based radio host Bobby D says his job is pretty simple -- entertain listeners each morning with pop music, celebrity interviews, saucy banter and general zaniness. In other words, he's probably the last person you'd expect to find brokering the deal that kept Westboro Baptist Church protesters away from a funeral Saturday morning for two slain children.

But Bobby D did just that when he agreed to turn over a portion of the Bobby D Show on Monday morning to Fred Phelps Sr., founder of Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist. The church has gained notoriety for its extreme anti-gay views -- views that lead church members to protest outside funerals for U.S. soldiers.

The deejay's efforts earned him a death threat. "Yeah, someone threatened to blow us up," Bobby D told The Times. But many more people hailed him for stepping in and putting a stop to what likely would have become a media circus of protesters, counter-protesters and grief-stricken relatives.

Some of the comments posted on the blog for the Bobby D Show:  "Thank you…It was a gift to be able to celebrate the lives of two beautiful boys without any negativity." "Thank you for proving that good can triumph over evil." "Thank you sir, for displaying what true Christianity looks like."

Here's how events unfolded: 

Josh Powell horrified Washington, and indeed all of America, on Feb. 5 when he took an axe to his children -- Charles, 7, and Braden, 5 -- and then killed all three of them in a gasoline-fueled inferno in Graham, Wash. The deaths were the culmination of a disturbing family drama that dated back to the 2009 disappearance of the boys' mother, Susan Powell, when the family lived in Utah.

While this tragedy was playing out in headlines, Washington state legislators were on their way to approving same-sex marriage legislation that Gov. Christine Gregoire signed into law Monday.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church connected the dots between these two seemingly unrelated events. They laid the blame for the deaths on Gregoire and announced that they would protest outside the boys' funeral to remind everyone that the boys died because of the country's increasingly permissive attitude toward gays and lesbians.

That led counter-protesters to promise to be a buffer between Westboro members and grieving relatives. The boys' maternal grandparents, meanwhile, pleaded with everyone to stay away so the family could grieve in peace.

Bobby D said he was watching the events unfold much like any other Washington state resident -- it had nothing to do with him. Then, he came across an article that noted that Westboro congregants have increasingly been employing a new strategy: They agree to call off protests in exchange for radio time, which they believe gives them a broader audience.

"I thought, 'Hey, maybe I could do something here,' " Bobby D said. He knew the deal probably wouldn't gain him new listeners and would no doubt offend many. But he said he remembered an especially dark time during high school when he lost his mother, and then his best friend. He said he couldn't imagine how painful it would be to have Westboro congregants -- or anyone else -- causing a ruckus outside those funerals.

"On one hand, I didn't want to give these guys a venue to spew their hate," he said. "On the other, I thought, 'Man, I can stop these people from doing this.' "

Bobby D contacted Westboro, and church members agreed to halt the protest in exchange for air time. Bobby D interviewed Phelps on Friday and promised to air the conversation Monday morning, but only if Westboro steered clear of the funeral. Both sides kept the bargain, and the interview was broadcast as planned.

(Bobby D. also told Phelps that, during the interview,  he could not use the F-word -- referring not to the four-letter F-word, but the three letter F-word used as a pejorative for gays.)

You can listen to the interview here, as well as read more about Bobby D's decision.

The interview was difficult, Bobby D said. He had genuine questions for Phelps but also had to rein in his outrage at some of Phelps' answers. Bobby D said he didn't want to antagonize Phelps and trigger congregants to relaunch their protest plans.

Not everyone agreed with Bobby D's move, as evidenced by other comments left on his blog: "You’ve turned extortion into a business deal." "Bobby, you've been played." And "Trading air time for protests saves Westboro money in travel expenses and gives them a much wider outreach."

But Bobby D said he has no regrets. "I’d rather people be mad at me and hate my show than have these people ruin a day that was already going to be so horrible," he said.

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Twitter / renelynch

Photo: Bobby D at work. Photo credit: The Bobby D Show

Abraham Lincoln gets a Hollywood reboot -- as a vampire hunter

Abraham Lincoln is known by many labels. The Great Emancipator. The Rail Splitter. The 16th president. Honest Abe. "That guy on Mt. Rushmore." And the face of the $5 bill.

But this summer he'll be reintroduced to America with a new moniker: "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."

20th Century Fox honored Honest Abe on Monday by posting online a trailer for the hotly anticipated summer movie "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."

Compare that with -- yawn -- the various ways the rest of the country is honoring the 203rd anniversary of Lincoln's Feb. 12, 1809, birth. Some schools are giving students the day off; some states are shutting down all city, county and state offices; and no doubt the countless memorials and monuments erected nationwide in Lincoln's honor will see increased foot traffic all this week.

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is a fantasy-fueled horror-thriller that re-engineers Lincoln as a politician who, in his spare time, wields a battle ax in his bid to crush vampires and their slave-owning helpers. Lincoln is also out to avenge his mother's death at the hands of such a supernatural creature.

Benjamin Walker plays Lincoln in the movie, which is based upon the book of the same name by author Seth Grahame-Smith. The fictional tome expresses itself through Lincoln's previously undiscovered journal of his quest for vengeance, a quest that takes him all the way to the White House. (Not familiar with this new history-marries-horror genre? It's also given birth to the likes of "Alice in Deadland," "George Washington Werewolf," "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.")

The film is produced by Tim Burton and directed by Timur Bekmambetov ("Wanted," "Night Watch") and you can see both influences in the action-packed trailer, which is creating a lot of buzz online Monday. It's slated for release June 22.

Happy birthday, Abraham Lincoln.

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Jennifer Hudson tribute to Whitney Houston: The must-see video

Jennifer Hudson's tribute to Whitney Houston at the Grammys on Sunday night was a heartbreaking showstopper. And it's easy to see why.

The producers of the 54th Annual Grammy Awards had to scramble to find a way to revamp the awards show to honor Whitney Houston just hours after the singer was declared dead under mysterious circumstances in her Beverly Hilton room in Beverly Hills. The 48-year-old pop legend had long struggled with drug addiction.

Houston's memory loomed large over the awards, with host L.L. Cool J. starting the show by addressing the challenge of celebrating music on a night tinged with such heartache. "There is no way around this. We had a death in our family," he said before leading the audience at Staples Center in a prayer for "our sister Whitney."

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But all agreed — including Houston's mentor, Clive Davis — that Houston would have wanted the show to go on. So it did.

Hudson's emotional rendition of "I Will Always Love You" did not try to compete with Houston's version of the song. Instead, it paid homage and deference to a voice for the ages, a voice that influenced so many other performers, Hudson among them.

Wearing a somber yet elegant black dress and backlighted, Hudson's hair and makeup (particularly those glossy, nude lips) recalled Houston in her heyday. Still, Hudson nonetheless put her own twist on the song, finishing it this way: "Whitney, we love, we love you."

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Twitter / renelynch

Powerball jackpot mystery: Who won the $336.4-million prize?

The Powerball lottery jackpot hit $336.4 million Saturday, and one ticket -- bought in Rhode Island -- gets to claim the whole thing. But so far, no one has stepped forward to claim the prize, lottery officials said Monday.

The stereotypical reaction to winning the lottery -- Powerball or otherwise -- would involve lots of jumping up and down, not to mention hollering from the rooftops. In reality, winners -- especially of enormous jackpots -- often do the opposite. They hunker down. They lawyer up. They crunch numbers to decide whether it's better to cash out the ticket up front or take annual payments. And, presumably, they put the lottery ticket in a very, very safe place until they're ready to claim it.

"They are probably going to want to talk to a financial advisor and an attorney before they come forward," said Powerball lottery spokeswoman Melissa Juhnowski. She told The Times that the winner -- or winners, if the ticket was purchased by a group of players -- won't be able to remain anonymous forever; the names of lottery winners become a matter of public record in Rhode Island.

This much is known: The winning Powerball ticket was purchased at a Stop & Shop convenience store in Newport. The winning numbers were 1-10-37-52-57 with a Powerball number of 11. The chance of getting all those numbers to line up? About 1 in 175 million.

If the winner chooses the cash option, the lump sum payment will be a record $210 million, the highest cash jackpot ever for Powerball, Juhnowski said.

Saturday's jackpot was high for two reasons: 1) ticket prices for the lottery jumped from $1 to $2 last month; and 2) no ticket-holder matched all six Powerball numbers last Wednesday night. That meant the top prize of $250 million went unclaimed and rolled over to Saturday's drawing.

Powerball has been called America's game and America's lottery, but it can't actually be played everywhere in the United States. Tickets are sold in 42 states (California is not among them), plus Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands.

Although Powerball officials are accustomed to dealing with winners, both big and small, Juhnowski said it never gets old. There was an air of excitement in the office Monday she said, and lots of water cooler talk. "We're all wondering what the winner's going to be like," she said.

And like the rest of us, they're also wondering: What is the lucky Powerball winner going to do with that  $336.4-million jackpot?

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Powerball jackpot hits $325 million: What you should know

Powerball mania has begun: Saturday night's jackpot is already at $325 million and is expected to drive higher as Americans plunk down their hard-earned money in a bid to strike it rich.

No ticket-holder matched the six Powerball numbers Wednesday night. That means the top prize of $250 million went unclaimed, and rolls over. The Powerball jackpot is now up to $325 million, or a relatively paltry $202.9 million if the winning ticket-holder decides to cash out up front.

Powerball has been called "America's Game" and "America's Lottery," but that is a bit of a misnomer. You can't play Powerball everywhere -- the $2 tickets are sold only in 42 states, plus Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands.

The Powerball game itself is pretty simple. Five of the winning numbers are pulled from a drum containing 59 white ping-pong-style numbered balls, and one red ball is plucked from a drum containing 35 red balls. That red ball puts the "power" in Powerball. The jackpot goes to a ticket-holder who matches all five white balls in any order, plus the red Powerball. In all, there are nine ways to win.

In case you're wondering, the chances of winning that jackpot are said to be 1 in 175,223,510.00.

If you happen to live in a state like, say, California that is a total party pooper and does not participate in Powerball, you might be wondering whether you can buy Powerball tickets online.

We'll let Powerball.com answer that question so that there's no uncertainty: "No one can sell lottery tickets by mail or over the Internet across state lines or the U.S. national border. No one. Not even us. No one." (Some lotteries legally sell tickets online, but only to their in-state residents.)

You're probably too smart to fall for a lottery scam, but you might want to pass along this warning from Powerball to those who might not be as astute: A fairly common ruse is to send an e-mail or letter, or to use a phone call, to tell someone that he or she has won the lottery -- and needs only to make a small deposit to collect said winnings.

"NO. It is a common scam," says Powerball.com, adding: "You never have to send money to collect a legitimate lottery prize."

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Photo: A Powerball ticket in Sioux Falls, S.D. Credit: Amber Hunt / Associated Press

'Lonely old widow' lawmaker becomes voice for same-sex marriage

Washington state is the focus of one of the most hotly-debated issues of our time: same-sex marriage. Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, is poised to sign a bill next week that would allow such unions. And she does so with the support of Washington state lawmaker Maureen Walsh, a Republican, who broke ranks in order to support same-sex marriage.

That's how Walsh became an online celebrity and champion for gays and lesbians everywhere.

Walsh explains in the must-see video above that she wrestled with the question of same-sex marriages for some time. A widow of several years, Walsh said she desperately misses her husband. And not just because of the sex. (Although she misses that.) She says she misses the emotional bond that they shared. And when she realized that, she said, she knew how she'd vote on the same-sex marriage issue.

"How could I deny anyone the right to have that incredible bond with another individual in life?" she says. "To me it seems almost cruel." Walsh also says she hopes to one day throw a great big wedding for her daughter, who came out of the closet a few years ago.

It's no surprise that this video has gone viral -- watched, shared, posted and commented upon thousands upon thousands of times in the last 48 hours.

One indicator of its popularity: Actor George Takei of "Star Trek" fame, known more recently for his advocacy of gay rights, posted it on his Facebook page. The video has so far been shared more than 6,000 times from that page alone. It also has more than 13,000 "likes" -- again, from that page alone.

Watch the video and see what the fuss is about. Note that there is one glaring error in the video. Walsh starts out a bit nervously and says "I don't wax as eloquently as the people on the floor here."

Whether you support same-sex marriage or oppose it, there's no denying that Walsh eloquently states her case.

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Anti-gay Westboro Church cancels protest at slain boys' funeral

This post has been corrected, as indicated below.

Westboro Baptist Church is backing off -- and claiming victory.

Church members, who have gained notoriety for protesting outside military funerals and for their extreme anti-gay agenda, have canceled plans to gather outside Saturday's double funeral in Tacoma, Wash., for brothers Charles Powell, 7, and Braden, 5.

But that doesn't mean Westboro Baptist Church is going away. Members agreed to cancel their protest only after a Tacoma, Wash.-based morning talk radio show promised them air time to preach their beliefs. “The Bobby D Show” interviewed the founder of the Kansas-based church, Fred Phelps Jr.

"Just finished interview with @bobbydshow. Bobby D. Was a real gentleman. Washington trip now canceled," Phelps tweeted just moments ago. Westboro spokeswoman Margie Phelps, who is also Phelps' daughter, also took to Twitter a moment ago to crow about the turn of events, calling the radio time "icing on the cake."

The no-protest-for-air-time transaction is not new, and may signal Westboro's new, shrewder strategy to reach more potential converts, notes the Washington Post. 

Charlie and Braden Powell died Sunday when their father, Josh Powell, took an ax to them before setting a gasoline-fueled inferno that engulfed the boys and himself -- the final tragic twist in a long, drawn out family saga.

Westboro congregants see the boys' death in Graham, Wash., as divine retribution for a same-sex marriage bill pending in that state. They target military funerals for the same reason, saying soldiers' deaths are punishment for the country's increasing acceptance of homosexuality.

News of the canceled protest will no doubt be a relief to the maternal grandparents of the boys. They pleaded for Westboro protesters -- and the well-meaning counter-protesters -- to stay away so that the boys could be laid to rest in peace.

[Updated at 11:07 p.m.: An earlier version of this story misidentified the radio host who interviewed Fred Phelps Jr. as a Catholic talk radio host who has the Twitter account @bobbydshow. In fact, Phelps was interviewed by a morning drive-time radio show in Tacoma, Wash., that has the Twitter account @thebobbydshow.]

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Photo: Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in October 2010, where they successfully argued that their protests are protected by the 1st Amendment. Credit: Shawn Thew / Associated Press

Madonna breaks silence, rips M.I.A. over Super Bowl 'bird'

Madonna broke her silence Friday morning on the uproar that followed her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, which was upstaged when fellow performer M.I.A. appeared to curse and gave the middle finger to the more than 110 million viewers watching.

Madonna said that she only learned of the antics after the fact -- and was none too pleased.

"I was really surprised," she told Ryan Seacrest during a call-in interview to "On Air With Ryan Seacrest." "I didn’t know anything about it. I wasn’t happy about it. I understand it’s punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy and positivity, it seemed negative."

She added: "It’s such a teenager … irrelevant thing to do … there was such a feeling of love and unity there, what was the point? It was just out of place."

We'll pause while you recall the days when Madonna was the anti-establishment icon causing controversy ...

Back to the news:

Madonna, 53, was poised to go down in Super Bowl history for a glamorous, star-studded performance that many say ranked as one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows ever. Now the performance also goes into the history books as being marred by the vulgarity and rude gesture -- which happened so quickly they escaped many audiences. The word and gesture also slipped by NBC, which was too slow to catch them.

The fallout over M.I.A.'s actions pales in comparison to the uproar -- and record fine -- that followed Nipplegate. (You remember, the now-infamous 2004 halftime show featuring Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson and Janet Jackson's nipple.)

Still, there seems to be an awful lot of radio silence about this "bird" flipping incident.

The Federal Communications Commission, which cracked down on CBS after Nipplegate, has declined to comment on whether it's conducting any sort of inquiry in the wake of the national flipping off, or whether it's even received any complaints. The NFL and NBC, which carried Super Bowl XLVI, have apologized. But they haven't answered questions -- such as those from the Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council -- or offered assurances about how they'll prevent this from happening again.

And M.I.A. herself? She appears to be, well, M.I.A.

She hasn't been seen from or heard from since Sunday, although her Twitter feed shows that she -- or someone with access to her account -- retweeted a post from Benjamin Bronfman. He's the son of Seagram heir Edgar Bronfman, father to M.I.A.'s child, Ikhyd, and if the New York Daily News is to be believed, main caretaker of the boy.

Bronfman's Tweet said: "its sad to see our media in such a state of unfounded gossipy nonsense when there are real problems in the world".

In recent hours, he has also Tweeted much support to M.I.A., including repeatedly calling her a "great" mom.

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Photo: Madonna performs during the Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images