Welcome To Black Friday Live! On Brandchannel!

Ladies and Gentlemen... Let's get reaaaaddddy to rrrrummmmmmmmble. It's Brandchannel's first (and maybe last) annual Black Friday Live! coverage.

Black Fliveday! Branck Friday! Black Fridannel!

No???

So, just me and the handful of readers who are either outside the US, stuck in a mall with WiFi, or too gastrointestinally damaged to move from beneath their laptops where they fell last evening (email me; I'll call 911). Maybe some of you are new super brand-loyal Mototrola Droid users. (If you are one of these people email me! The first one will receive a fancy brandchannel reward, to be determined later by me.)

Anyway. Let's go first to the weather. Yes, the weather. And I don't mean the "forecast for big discounts."

As early as Tuesday, CNBC was already doing segments on how the weather might impact Black Friday sales. On Wednesday, AccuWeather said the Northeast, specifically New Englanders, were the worst off. Also, the weather there would be bad. (Kidding!) But seriously, let's look at the national weather as of this morning.

Whoops. That's the (very well branded) Nasonex national pollen map. Shoppers that suffer from pollen allergies should be fine, even in the south. But those in the upper Midwest with bee sting allergies should probably shop online today.

That's better. Everything looks fine.

And you think that just because its central charcateristic is that it takes place completely indoors, Cyber Monday is safe from the weather? Nope. "Storm Could Disrupt Cyber Monday Shoppers:"

"Depending how strong a storm system becomes as it tracks from the Pacific Northwest toward Texas, there could not only be major travel delays, but perhaps power outages and property damage late in the weekend and on Cyber Monday."

Indeed, Mother Nature shops at Wal-Mart.

Black Friday is technically just getting going but for many retailers who stayed open this year on Thanksgiving itself, it already started yesterday.

So far, no one is reporting tramplings, profits.

Seriously folks, check back throughout the day for lots of Black Friday updates and other Black Friday brand-related hijinks. See soemthing interesting? Email it to me. For all Black Friday Live! posts go to the Black Friday Live! tag.